Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• Drunk Russians drown escaping heatwave - World news - Europe - Russia - msnbc.com

  "More than 1,200 people drowned across Russia in June this year, he said, including 233 between July 5 and July 12. "The majority of those drowned were drunk," he said. "The children died because adults simply did not look after them." Last week six children drowned in the Sea of Azov in southern Russia because the summer camp employees who were minding them were drunk."

• Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

  ** Yet we call him an "extremist" not a terrorist** "A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday. "

• Israel still can’t prove their version of the flotilla attack

  **Israeli narrative of flotilla attack still be exposed as lies, lies and more lies** "The IDF claims that their soldiers were stabbed, axed, and shot at. But despite their multi-million dollar multimedia production and all of the footage that they stole from the journalists that they arrested, they produce no evidence for any of this. They claim to have been shot at, but can produce no photos or videos of injured soldiers, no firearms (except for the captured soldier’s gun that was never fired), no spent shells, no gunpowder on activists' hands, nothing."

• Drunk Babies!: Pics, Videos, Links, News

  "This campaign, developed by the Dentsu advertising agency features pictures of appearingly “drunk babies” to promote the L'universe de Chocolat company's Chocolate With Whisky line of alcoholic-confections. I just hope they can manage to crawl over to their next piece. "

• U.S. To Jordan: Change Your Nuclear Program or We'll Cut Aid - International Middle East Media Center

  "The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordon could lose its pecuniary aid from the United States should it continue to enhance its nuclear program without cooperation with Israel, Israeli news source Ynet reported. Amman ignored Israeli requests to be involved in the extraction and enrichment of uranium which prompted the threat from Washington. The U.S. and Jordan discussed Jordan's nuclear plan for six months, but the Jordanians were unable to obtain US approval."

• Lawmakers probe hospital that may have infected veterans with HIV - CNN.com

  "The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs will hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon into the safety lapses at the John Cochran VA Medical Center in Missouri. The hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. The center in St. Louis, Missouri, recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan."

• Why is the U.S. Treasury Department subsidizing zealots who oppose our foreign-policy objectives? - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

  **For once I actually kind of agree with Hitchens** "So here we have found a means of a) alienating even the most flexible and patient Palestinians; while b) frustrating the efforts of the more principled and compromising Israelis; while c) empowering and financing some of the creepiest forces in American and Israeli society; and d) heaping ordure on our own secular founding documents. When will the Justice Department and the Congress and the Supreme Court become aware of this huge and rank offense, which is designed to bring us ever nearer to holy war?"

• Israel prevents delivery of oxygen to hospitals

  "Seven oxygen machines donated to the Palestinain Authority by a Norwegian development agency were seized by Israeli officials en route to hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza, the Ramallah-based health ministry said. The machines, the ministry said in a Thursday statement, were confiscated by Israeli officials who claimed that the generators attached "came under the category of possible use for non-medical purposes" if they were delivered to the southern Gaza governorates. "

• Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar - Telegraph

  "The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson. He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion - only that Jesus bore a "staurus" towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a "pole". "

• Israeli FM: No Palestinian state by 2012 - Yahoo! News

  **surprise surprise** "Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Tuesday that there was "no chance" a Palestinian state would be established by 2012 — a message that threatened to cloud the latest visit by President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy. The comments by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman drew swift Palestinian condemnations and could put Israel at odds with the international community, which has set a 2012 target for brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians."

• Lebanon arrests 'Israeli spy' from mobile phone company - BBC
  

  "Lebanon has arrested a man accused of spying for Israel for more than 15 years, the country's Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas has said. Mr Nahhas said the man was a technician with one of the country's two main mobile networks, and could have had access to sensitive information. Lebanon, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, has made a series of similar arrests in the last year, as part of an operation to dismantle spy networks."

• Inspectors find safety flaws where airline food is prepared - USATODAY.com

  ** I don't think I'll be eating airline food anymore** "Six months ago, Food and Drug Administration inspectors say, they found live roaches and dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count" inside the Denver facility of the world's largest airline caterer, LSG Sky Chefs. They also reported finding ants, flies and debris, and employees handling food with bare hands. Samples from a kitchen floor tested positive for Listeria, a bacteria that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. It's also dangerous to pregnant women."

• Fareed Zakaria - The fantasy of an Iranian revolution

  "I have been deeply supportive of Iran's Green Movement. I wrote about it, highlighted it on television and showcased its advocates. But I do not think it was likely to overthrow the Iranian regime. To believe that, one has to believe the government in Tehran is deeply unpopular with a majority of Iranians, holds onto power through military force alone and is thus vulnerable to a movement that could mobilize the vast majority in Iran who despise it. None of this is entirely true. "

• Op-Ed Contributor - Let Jordan Enrich Its Own Uranium - NYTimes

  "QUIETLY and with barely any public confrontation, Israel is creating a new enemy for itself: the Kingdom of Jordan. In the situation that we justifiably or unjustifiably find ourselves now — boycotted and isolated — we do not need to lose the only Arab state with which we have peace-like relations. "

• Questions for Tzipi Livni - Israel's Opposition Leader - Interview - NYTimes

  "Your parents were among the country’s founders. They were the first couple to marry in Israel, the very first. Both of them were in the Irgun. They were freedom fighters, and they met while boarding a British train. When the British Mandate was here, they robbed a train to get the money in order to buy weapons. It was a more romantic era."

• On the Verge of Historic Change?

  Washington repeats it ironclad commitment to Israel’s basic security in its 1967 borders, suggesting that the US is finally clarifying that its support for Israel does not include unconditional support for Israel’s colonization policies, notes Rami G. Khouri.

• Study puts Colorado high-speed passenger rail price tag at $22 billion « Colorado Independent

  High-speed passenger rail service on dedicated tracks along the Interstate 25 and Interstate 70 corridors will cost $22 billion and likely require up to 50-percent funding by Colorado taxpayers, a Rocky Mountain Rail Authority (RMRA) spokesman said this week.

• Editorial - Mr. Obama and Israel - NYTimes.com

  After taking office last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel privately told many Americans and Europeans that he was committed to and capable of peacemaking, despite the hard-line positions that he had used to get elected for a second time. Trust me, he told them. We were skeptical when we first heard that, and we’re even more skeptical now.

• Jordan faces tough nuclear test - The National Newspaper

Jordan is looking to take advantage of an abundant resource - uranium.

• With No Jobs, Plenty of Time for Tea Party - NYTimes.com

  Tea Party members are all to willing to take the government "handouts" against which they are so insanely protesting.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Good news.

My paper from over a year ago has finally been published in the Journal of Middle East Media. You can find my paper here.

It has also been picked up by a site that consolidates information on the Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanScope, and is one of the lead stories. It has also been translated into Arabic, although it seems to be a machine translation. Regardless, it is nice to have a tangible product after some much work on this paper.

Thank you to everyone who had a role in the process, editing, critiquing and challenging my arguments.