Boker tov, Boulder!

Where are the freaking feminists?

www.freep.com

ABU QASH, West Bank -- Rofayda Qaoud -- raped and impregnated by her brothers -- refused to commit suicide, her mother recalls, even after she bought the teenager a razor with which to slit her wrists. So Amira Abu Hanhan Qaoud says she did what any good Palestinian parent would: restored her family's honor through murder.

Armed with a plastic bag, razor and wooden stick, Qaoud entered her sleeping daughter's room Jan. 27. "Tonight you die, Rofayda," she told the girl, before wrapping the bag tightly around her head. Next, Qaoud sliced Rofayda's wrists, ignoring her muffled pleas of "No, mother, no!" After her daughter went limp, Qaoud struck her in the head with the stick.

Killing her sixth-born child took 20 minutes, Qaoud told a visitor through a stream of tears and cigarettes that she smoked in rapid succession. "She killed me before I killed her," said the 43-year-old mother of nine. "I had to protect my children. This is the only way I could protect my family's honor."

Two of her sons are in a West Bank jail, serving minimum 10-year sentences for statutory rape.

UPDATE Wednesday: Kinda funny, this week's Torah portion has also to do with honor.

"... a full life can heal and restore all lost honor."

Two great ladies

Kol hakavod to

Anne Bayefsky: Fatal Failure

& Claudia Rosett: Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004

More from Ottawa

Much more from photoblogger Paul Denton.

UPDATE: Total disconnect from the Globe and Mail:

Ottawa — As outraged protest goes, it was a very Canadian affair.

The biggest demonstration Tuesday against U.S. President George W. Bush was a mostly peaceful, almost festival-like day of bongo drumming and whistle blowing.

It ended with a candlelight vigil that transformed Parliament Hill into a small sea of twinkling lights.

Television images focused on a brief clash between a few demonstrators and riot police, but the vast majority of marchers were upbeat in their disdain for Bush.

What's wrong with this picture?

LGF: Paul Denton is posting photographs from Ottawa of the moonbats converging to protest the visit of President Bush.

See all about it.

EBay bid for blogger hits $1,500

CBS.MarketWatch.com

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - There's a price on Jeremy Wright's head. Tuesday morning, it was $1,500, as half a dozen bidders indicated their interest in the Winnipeg, Manitoba, blogger's assistance.

Wright also writes the Ensight.org Weblog, concentrating on business and technology. He founded the blog and says he has sold it to an American company for $15,000. He will continue to write it and be paid a monthly salary.

Wright is offering his services to companies that want to step into the blogosphere but also want a hand to hold as they do it. When he started the auction he was hoping for an offer of $750 for three-months of part-time work. The sale ends Friday.

article continued...

I had no clue such things even existed:

"We're seeing blogging progressing in terms of corporate use - some of them will be internal blogs, some will be external, some will be just for industry insiders and journalists - that kind of interest in blogging is really exploding."

".... Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Microsoft (MSFT) are both doing blogs very successfully. Microsoft has about 1,500 bloggers, and Sun has about 300, including its COO. And they're seeing value in terms of getting real information from customers really quickly."

George Bush clanks when he walks

Power Line

President Bush has nominated Carlos Gutierrez to be the next Secretary of Commerce. Here is what the president had to say about the new secretary [from a transcript].

Carlos Gutierrez is one of America's most respected business leaders. He is a great American success story. As CEO of the Kellogg Company, he has been an effective, visionary executive. He understands the world of business, from the first rung on the ladder to the very top. He knows exactly what it takes to help American businesses grow and to create jobs. I look forward to having his creativity and expertise in my Cabinet.

Carlos' family came to America from Cuba when he was a boy. He learned English from a bellhop in a Miami hotel and later became an American citizen. When his family eventually settled in Mexico City, Carlos took his first job for Kellogg as a truck driver, delivering Frosted Flakes to local stores. Ten years after he started he was running the Mexican business. And 15 years after that he was running the entire company.

Hamas bomb-maker gets 67 life terms

JPost

The Judea Military Court sentenced Hamas member Abdallah Barghouti to 67 life sentences for his involvement in a number of deadly terror attacks perpetrated against Israel.

The bombs Barghouti prepared were used in the attacks at

the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in august 2001, in which 15 Israelis were killed and 130 wounded;

the Sheffield Club in Rishon Letzion on May 7 2002, in which 15 Israelis were killed and 59 wounded;

and the bomb attack in Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall on December 1 2001, in which 10 were killed and 191 wounded.

It's only a few extremists

Palestinian supporters of the Hamas ... in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Monday, Nov. 29, 2004 ... (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

See also: Israelis, Palestinians and Americans join forces against family violence.

Time for Sufganiyot

Shalom from Yerushalayim.

You've got to hand it to them -- the soldiers of the IDF are terrific! The protection they afford us against terror is second to none. Along with the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, they provide the main buffer against worldwide Islamic terror.

As we unfortunately saw yesterday in Gaza, the soldiers' lives are fraught daily with danger. The terrorists continue to increase in sophistication and the vigilance and preparedness of the troops must stay ahead. They are under a lot of stress and pressure.

We have had the privilege for a couple years now of sending Pizza, Hot Soup, Burgers and other special food items from you to our serving soldiers all around Israel, including very difficult areas such as Gaza and Shechem. We wish to thank you once again on their behalf for all of your support.

Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Light, starts next week and now you can also treat the soldiers with traditional Jelly Donuts (sufganiot) to give them at least a brief holiday break from their arduous tasks. The soldiers always appreciate your gifts and especially your greetings, letting them know that they have support from all around the world and that people understand and appreciate their daily trials and tribulations at the forefront of the fight against terror.

You can participate in our Donut Project by going to our website, www.PizzaIDF.org. Also read some of the encouraging messages people like you have sent with their gifts as well as letters and photographs of the soldiers.

We can send your relatives and friends a certificate indicating that, in lieu of Chanukah presents this year, you have sent a gift in their name to our soldiers.

We wish you and your families a Happy Chanukah -- and once again thank you for all your support until now.

Shimon Aharon
http://www.PizzaIDF.org

You can help even more by printing and distributing this flyer (takes a long time to load).

Even the smallest contribution will be well appreciated:

Hi :)

My name's Tova and I serve as a fighter in the combat engineering troops of IDF. During a period of my life about 2 monthes ago when I was feeling down and dperessed for numerous reasons, me and my company were holding the line in Gush Ezion near Bethlehem. One night when I was on patrol with 4 of my platoon mates, a car stopped at the check point we were at and gave us 2 pizzas and a coke, along with a note from someone in the USA who donated it.

I can't even begin to describe in words how good it made me feel...it was about 4am, freezing cold, we were all asking ourselves what the hell's wrong with us that caused us to enlist in the first place...the thought that someone else, someplace in the world, think we're doing a good job, an important job that's worth helping to, was totally a foreign one. It made me smile constantly for at least a week, and I still get happy every time I think about it, and every time I'm feeling down.

I saved the note and I'd also like to take this chance to thank all of you out there who're thinking of us and appriciating what we do, and are willing to donate your time and money to make us happy.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,

Tova

Please be generous.

al Jazeera broadcasts new al Qaeda video

Exerpts from al Reuters (seems only appropriate)

"These days America is playing the election game in the United States, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"As for the American elections, the two candidates are competing for Israel's favour -- that is, competing for the crime against the Muslim nation in Palestine which has lasted for 87 years to continue.

"This proves that there is no solution with America except to force it to submit to what is right through force..."

"We tell the American nation: Vote for whoever you want, (George W.) Bush or (John) Kerry or the devil himself. This does not concern us. Our concern is to purify our countries from aggressors and to stand up to whoever attacks us or violates our sanctities or robs our riches.

"Our final advice to America, although I know they will not heed it: You must choose between two methods in dealing with Muslims. Cooperate with them with respect and based on mutual interests or deal with them as free loot, robbed land and violated sanctity.

"This is your problem and you must choose. And you should know that we are a nation of patience and we will continue fighting you until the last hour...

"If we are the nation of enly had fallen a long time ago silently and without the clanging of weapons or raids. And those lands that are not occupied by crusader forces today will be their targets tomorrow... "