Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Moonbat/Terrorist Supporter Dictionary (via BEAJ)

Bacon Eating Atheist Jew has come up with a politically incorrect yet strangely accurate dictionary. Oh, and it's very funny, too.

All the world's a stage. Especially Qana.

I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but this post from Confederate Yankee based on this Israel Insider report is convincing me that Qana is a staged bit of theatre, with the building collapse being done by Hezbollah and the dead bodies being sent from Tyre to Qana for the benefit of the gullible world press. (Warning - pictures of dead people.)

What is indisputable is that Hezbollah, especially the "Green Helmet Man", paraded the same dead baby in front of cameras for a very, very long time.

Keep in mind that Hezbollah keeps very tight control over what reporters can see and when.

Read those articles along with this one from Riehl World View. The evidence isn't "Loose Change" stuff - I know how easy it is to "raise questions" about any historic event, and Holocaust deniers have done it for decades. The problems with this story are far deeper than that, and the alternate explanation passes Occam's Razor. Recent history shows that it is more than plausible that Hezbollah would stage everything from the building collapse to the transportation of bodies - and possibly the Beirut protests as well.

UPDATE: Backspin brings more evidence, although it does not appear as credible to me :
1. A huge anti-Qana poster was erected in Beirut in a remarkably short amount of time. I'm a little skeptical of this only because it would assume a much, much larger conspiracy. My guess is that a large inkjet plotter could make a sign in that timeframe but Iam no expert.

2. The Red Cross says that 28 bodies were recovered, not 57. This is something but in general I would discount that as well without any other evidence - exaggerating the number dead is not nearly as egregious as staging the entire event (except in the case of Jenin, when dozens turned into hundreds.)

3. Christians in Lebanon are claiming that Hezbollah staged it, transporting disabled children to the building in Qana for Israel to bomb it. This doesn't make sense at all to me - Lebanese Christians are not the most reliably truthful people either, and it sounds more like propaganda than a verifiable report.

I would love tosee a real reporter who was on the ground at Qana look at the evidence mentioned above on the other blogs and comment. Someone on the ground can much more easily disprove or bolster those arguments.

Crack Cocaine for Koranic Crazies

No, I didn't make up this phrase - it comes from an article by Greg Strange:

At the recent Arab Conference of Iraqi Neighbors in Tehran (sounds so innocuous, doesn‘t it?), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad imparted these words of wisdom to his audience: "The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilize to remove this problem. It is a . . . regime that prevented the progress of the region's nations . . ."
It's the kind of talk that absolutely brings the house down at conferences in that part of the world. It's like pushing a button that sends impulses directly to the pleasure centers in the radical Islamic brain. Call it crack cocaine for Koranic crazies.

Actually, given the subject matter of this particular conference, you wouldn't think the main focus of discussion would be the need to eliminate Israel. But you can bet your sweet Koran that if a conference gets hosted in Tehran about anything from sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to thirteenth century Persian poetry, somebody's going to find an excuse to bring up the Zionist regime.

Very funny, but if you think he is exaggerating, you haven't been following the GoozNews from Iran.

The Iranian media is foaming at the mouth even more than usual in falling over itself to denounce the "Zionist regime." But since it gets so, well, repetitive to hear Ahmadinejad's latest attempts to top himself, they need to find other spokespeople who are willing to demonize Israel.

It's like a who's who of nobodies and Iranian flunkies:

Iran's embassy in Armenia condemns Zionist crimes in Lebanon
Cleric says Israel 'politically dead'
Assembly of Experts condemns Zionist regime's crimes in Qana
’I ask God to arouse the dignity of Muslims and destroy America, Israel and their associates,’ says General Safavi.
Asefi Terms Israel Greatest Violator of Human Rights
Iran embassy in Riyadh condemns crimes of Zionist regime
Iranian embassy (in Athens) condemns Israel's attacks on Lebanon
Iran's Swiss embassy condemns Israeli's savage air raids on Qana
Embassy condemns Israeli crimes as being against int'l conventions (Moscow)
Iran embassy condemns Israeli war crimes in Qana, southern Lebanon (North Korea)
Judiciary chief condemns Zionists' Qana bombing
Iranian Embassy in Jakarta condemns Israeli war crimes in Qana
Iranian children condemn Zionist regime's crimes in Lebanon
Iran's Embassy in Kabul condemns Qana bombing
Iranian Embassy in Manila grieves at Israeli war crimes in Qana
Iran Embassy in New Zealand voices outrage at Israeli war crimes
Elham says Qana killing shows Zionists' weakness
Iran’s military chief suspects Bush is a “Zionist”
Indian Parliamentarians outraged at Zionist's action on Lebanon
Hamas Calls on World Muslims to Stand up to Israeli Crimes

...and on and on it goes. Every single time any Muslim says anything bad about Israel, the crack Iranian press is right on that scoop. Truly a model of journalistic excellence.

My minor Huffington Post adventure

For some reason, the left-wing Huffington Post called me an Israeli blogger and posted a link to this posting. As a result, I have been getting quite a bit of traffic as well as comments.

In addition, there were some comments left on the HuffPo site itself criticizing my posting.

The funny thing is, all the criticisms completely ignore the post itself. Not one has yet disputed any of my facts. Apparently, just the existence of a pro-Israel post is enough to get certain people in a non-thinking, mantra-spewing mode where all they can think of are the old canards about Israel. Here are a few:

WTF? Why is this even on HuffPo? It's pure poison propaganda. Blogger even admits he's not even in Israel.

This gentleman evidently didn't notice that I wrote that myself on the posting well before he wrote this. Perhaps he didn't actually read my article - yet he feels qualified to criticize it. (The word "poison" was a bonus.)

I remember once about a jointly agreed upon UN resolution 242, and another 338....I wonder if they were enforced .....?????????

Here's someone who has no clue what the text of 242 and 338 are.

This is THE GRAND GUIGNOL OF HYPOCRISY, considering it's coming from a nation holding the world record for violating UN resolutions.
Not to mention a country ILLEGALLY armed with *NUCLEAR WEAPONS*, in defiance of the entire world.
Of course the US is even more hypocritical (if that's possible...), because our government provided the Israelis with the know-how to build them, but at the same time invaded a sovereign country for the mere (and totally baseless) suspicion they might have been considering tinkering with nuclear power (which of course they NEVER did. As EVERYBODY knew, including the neocon cabal.)

Again, not addressing a single point I made, but quick to jump on the "Israel and the US are evil" mantra.

I admit that I had to look up what "Grand Guignol" meant, and I was not surprised to see that the reference made no sense. But it sure sounded intellectual!

And, of course the "zinger":

What law does israel follow when it massacres children?

Yes, those bloodthirsty Jews again, always massacring children. Oooh. What wit.

And in my own comments section, I get things like

Steal land, ignore world opinion, bribe American politicians through AIPAC, collect billions of American tax dollars, repeat ad nauseum.

While each of his "arguments" can be demolished rather easily, is it utterly impossible for Israel-bashers to stick to the topic?

It would have been nice for someone to actually disagree with the points I was making, or perhaps to correct a mistake. It is possible (though not easy) to criticize Israel in a skillful and non-hypocritical manner.

Apparently, HuffPo readers are not quite on that level.

Where are the peace demonstrations?

Of all the so-called anti-war and pro-peace groups that exist worldwide, how come none of them have managed to have a rally where they condemn Hezbollah along with Israel? (Peace Now is the possible exception to this.)

Makes one wonder how committed to "peace" these groups really are....

Three more asymmetries

I've recently posted about the asymmetry in international law where terrorist organizations have no incentive to follow the law while states do. I also posted on the asymmetry of tactics when one party in a conflict has an interest in seeing its own civilians die. In addition, I posted about the asymmetry of outside parties treating a terrorist organization and a state "evenhandedly."

These are not small advantages in a war. When one party has its hands tied behind its back because of legal and moral constraints while the other is free to do whatever barbaric acts it pleases, it becomes far more difficult for the moral party to truly win.

There are more asymmetries that Hezbollah takes to full advantage:

Hezbollah lies while Israel tells the truth. Since the war began we have seen Hezbollah consistently lie - about its supposed destruction of many Israeli tanks, about how only a tiny number of terrorists have been killed, about how they do not shoot from mosques. We have seen Hezbollah stage demonstrations and ambulance scenes for TV cameras. And there is more and more evidence that the Qana tragedy may have been the result of Hezbollah actions - and maybe even Hezbollah planning. Or at the very least, a carefully choreographed manipulation of facts by Hezbollah.

On the other hand, it takes Israel hours or days to research and disseminate the truth to counter terrorist lies, and by the time they can accurately show the facts, the world has already passed judgment.

There is literally nothing that can be done to fix this, although the world media is complicit in uncritically reporting clearly staged events and statements from people who have a track record of lying. Until the press acts more responsibly we have a clear disadvantage to those who care about the truth.
The definition of victory. While Israel has been rightly criticized over not being clear as to its objectives, Hezbollah merely needs to survive to be able to declare victory. So a core group of Hezbollah fighters who stay in bunkers and who don't even bother to fight can emerge after the war as heroes - which has huge geopolitical implications, pushing the balance of power in the Middle East towards Iran and Syria.

A prizefight where one boxer only has to live to be declared the winner is a difficult fight to win.
Susceptibility to pressure. Israel, as a member of Western civilization, has to worry to some extent about what the world thinks. It has to worry about sanctions and calls for a cease fire and about public opinion, both from without and within.

Hezbollah, on the other hand, has the full support of rogue terror states. Immoral acts do not pressure Hezbollah to moderate - quite the opposite. In the moral universe they inhabit, terror is rewarded and co-existence with Israel is regarded as the biggest evil. The only pressure that may have worked would have been from the Lebanese, but Hezbollah has effectively used its media manipulation and human shields to ensure that they support the terrorists.

Putting these together, and we have a war like no other, that will almost undoubtedly result in Iran being strengthened as the center of the Islamic world, poised to become a superpower.

And the West is largely clueless as to the importance of this war.

UPDATE: Welcome to those coming from the Huffington Post and AlterNet, but unfortunately I do not live in Israel.

Amnesty International: When even-handedness is stupid

Amnesty International, pretending to be even-handed as always, suggests writing letters to all the main parties involved in the Lebanon conflict as a means to pressure them to avoid civilian casualties.

Here is their sample letter to Nasrallah:

Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my concern about the killing of civilians in both Lebanon and Israel. In the week since 12 July, more than 300 Lebanese civilians, including dozens of children have been killed by the Israeli air strikes against Lebanon and hundreds more have been injured. Amnesty International condemns unreservedly the massive attacks carried out by the Israeli military against civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout Lebanon, and is calling on Israel to immediately cease such attacks and to respect international humanitarian law.
We are also concerned about Hizbullah attacks against Israeli civilians, some 15 of whom have been killed by rockets launched by Hizbullah. Such attacks have also caused substantial damage to homes and other civilian property.
I urge you to ensure that Hizbullah’s armed wing put an immediate end to the targeting of Israeli civilians, notably the launch of rockets into Israeli towns and villages and that Hizbullah fighters do not initiate armed attacks from residential civilian areas and avoid locating military objectives within civilian areas. I also call on you not to harm the two Israeli soldiers whom Hizbullah captured and to grant them access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Sincerely,

The letter to Olmert is a bit longer, adding bits about "proportionality" and helpfully adding

Such attacks are a blatant breach of international humanitarian law and some amount to war crimes.

There is an interesting bias that AI shows by not mentioning war crimes or international law to the Hezbollah chief.

But the more idiotic part is that AI knows very well that Nasrallah doesn't care in the least about what some Westerners are mailing him. It would be far more useful to send messages to Santa Claus asking for a cessation of hostilities.

Hezbollah's very goal is the destruction of Israel:

The Necessity for the Destruction of Israel
We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. This enemy is the greatest danger to our future generations and to the destiny of our lands, particularly as it glorifies the ideas of settlement and expansion, initiated in Palestine, and yearning outward to the extension of the Great Israel, from the Euphrates to the Nile.
Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.
We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Therefore we oppose and reject the Camp David Agreements, the proposals of King Fahd, the Fez and Reagan plan, Brezhnev's and the French-Egyptian proposals, and all other programs that include the recognition (even the implied recognition) of the Zionist entity.

That was from the 1985 Hizbollah Program, and in 1996 it had not moderated:

We will work on the strong and efficient continuation of the Resistance until our occupied land is completely liberated and restored to the national sovereignty, until our people in the occupied strip are released and able to secure a free honorable decent living away from any direct or indirect presence of the usurping Zionists. We will also work on confronting the logic of the theatrical negotiations that seek to establish Israel's position at the expense of the people of the land.

So Hezbollah rockets towards Israeli civilians is a direct part of who Hezbollah is. It is the major reason they built up their arsenal to begin with! The targets from the beginning were meant to be civilians, and the Hezbollah defenses from the beginning were meant to be civilians. (See this amazing letter.)

Writing a letter to Nasrallah asking him to stop rocket fire is like asking him to disband his organization - it is absurd.

Now, the Amnesty International goal is to be

concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.

Hezbollah's goal is to take away the human rights from a specific group of people.

The very idea of treating Hezbollah and the State of Israel identically in Amnesty's actions is not evenhandedness - it is effectively one-sided because of the nature of each entity. One side is susceptible to pressure and the other one isn't. One side respects human rights and the other side doesn't. One side tries to minimize human pain and the other side seeks to maximize it. To treat them the same is to confer legitimacy on an inherently immoral and illegitimate group of thugs.

Sometimes - in fact, usually - being "evenhanded" is anything but.

Interesting stuff

The Qana building collapsed eight hours after Israel hit it. Everyone is being careful not to jump to conclusions, but it is very strange. Either way, the US says that Israel has agreed to suspend airstrikes for 48 hours.

An Australian newspaper has pictures of Hezbollah terrorists dressed in civilian clothes with their weapons in a suburban neighborhood.

Israel has videos of rockets being fired from Qana, from behind residential buildings, and near homes.

Naomi Ragen writes a powerful piece that ends with:

If you hide behind your baby to shoot at my baby, you are responsible for getting children killed. You, and you alone.

The perfect weapon

The perfect Hezbollah weapon is lots of dead Arabs.

This morning's events in Qana underscore the basic asymmetry of fighting an utterly immoral organization and the major advantage Hezbollah has in this war.

As I mentioned before, the fact that international law does not fully address a situation such as this gives the terrorists a gift. Human Rights Watch pretty much says so, in an article about Afghanistan that mixes international law and their restrictive interpretations of that law:

Q: What are the legal constraints on methods of attack?

A corollary to the principle of civilian immunity is the basic prohibition of indiscriminate attacks. An attack is "indiscriminate" when its effect is not or cannot be limited to military targets and so it harms military targets and civilians or civilian objects without distinction. Typical examples would be the carpet-bombing of populous areas where military targets are interspersed, or the laying of anti-personnel landmines, which cannot distinguish between civilian or military feet. Indiscriminate attacks also include those which, as noted above, may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects which would be excessive in relation to the "concrete and direct military advantage" anticipated from the attack. Human Rights Watch considers that the evaluation of whether an attack may cause excessive harm to civilians must be conducted for each attack and potential target, and not with regard to the conflict as a whole.

The law requires precautions and choices where civilians are at risk from attacks. The duty to take all feasible steps to minimize injury to civilians and civilian objects requires commanders to choose the means of attack that will minimize incidental harm to civilians. Where a party to the conflict has precision weapons at its disposal, it is under a duty to use "smart" rather than "dumb" bombs in or near populated areas. Likewise, where various military targets offer a similar military advantage, commanders must choose the target that threatens the least danger to civilian lives and civilian objects. Each party to the conflict also has the duty to provide "effective advance warning" of attacks that may affect the civilian population, "unless circumstances do not permit," such as where the element of surprise is critical to the success of the attack. So, for example, if a bridge or major highway is useful to the military as well as civilians, the opposing military is obliged to determine whether there are alternative targets whose destruction offers a similar advantage but less risk to civilians, or whether warnings are feasible before bombing, or whether there is a time of day for attack that would minimize potential harm to civilians. Finally, where an attack would be indiscriminate, or the target questionable, the attack must be cancelled or suspended.

Q: What about the use of civilians as "shields" for military targets?

Parties to the conflict are required to take precautions against the effect of attacks on civilians to the maximum extent feasible. Among these precautions are removing the civilian population from the vicinity of military objectives and avoiding locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas.

Should one party violate this rule by using the presence of civilians to shield military targets, the opposing force is not excused, in calculating the legality of an attack, from taking the risk to civilians into account. That is, it is still necessary to weigh the concrete and direct military advantage of any attack against the prospective harm to civilians.

We see from here a some pertinent facts:

International law, at least HRW's interpretation thereof, confers a great advantage on a party that cynically and maliciously places civilians into harm's way.
Israel's actions are still within international law, in the sense that they have warned residents for weeks to leave the area and did everything humanly possible to avoid civilian casualties while still attempting to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets directly at Israeli civilians.

While on paper both Israel and Hezbollah are responsible for avoiding civilian deaths, in reality only Israel suffers repercussions for those deaths.

Hezbollah has learned a very important lesson from the Palestinian Arabs in the territories - the military and propaganda advantage of dead civilians on the Arab side is enormous. The one side that gains the most from Arab deaths is the Arab side. Israel has no incentive to kill civilians - it has great disincentive to do so - but Hezbollah and Hamas want to show dead Arab kids on TV and the Internet.

The visceral disgust in the West at seeing dead civilians makes Qana a perfect storm for Hezbollah. While no one in the Arab world mourns Western civilian deaths (in fact, they often celebrate them), well-meaning dupes in the West will naturally react with compassion and anger at seeing dead innocents - and the kneejerk reaction is not to blame those that put them in harm's way deliberately, but the ones who killed them accientally.

Another related factor that works in Hezbollah's favor is the famous double standard by the West towards Israel. While Israel is expected to do everything possible to wage an oxymoron of a humanitarian war, there are no such parallel expectations from Arabs. The enlightened, Western world assumes that Arabs are crazy anyway and therefore the world doesn't hold the Arab world accountable for its immorality. The word "responsibility" only applies to one side. Arabs bombing children are just a "dog bites man" story, and the overwhelming pressure is always, inevitably towards the side of the conflict that actually exhibits morality.

So there we have it. A combination of Arab cynicism and Western compassion combine to place the one side of the conflict that has moral and even legal justification for what it is doing at a great disadvantage compared to the cold-blooded murderers and terrorists.

According to the international community, the Israel has no defense against a Hezbollah that fires rockets at Israeli civilians and runs into apartment buildings immediately afterwards. Israel is expected to accept the losses indefinitely rather than risk the lives of the civlians that Hezbollah is using.

Ultimately, such misplaced compassion will end up resulting in more 9/11s, more Madrids, more Balis as the perceived Hezbollah victory emboldens terrorists worldwide to accelerate their war against the West.

CAIR shows its colors, again

There is a marked contrast between the condemnation of the Seattle terrorist done by the local Seattle Muslim community and the "condemnation" done by the national CAIR, front for Hamas.

Here's the Seattle condemnation:

The Muslim community of the Greater Seattle area watched in horror as news broke of a shooting at the Jewish Federation building. While many of the details of this shooting remain to be determined, what is clear is that a senseless and ruthless act of violence has taken place and resulted in the loss of at least one life.

We categorically condemn this and any similar acts of violence. We pray for the safety and health of those injured and offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of the victims of this attack. We also hope that the perpetrator of this crime is brought to justice.

There is no room for such acts of violence in our city and community. When one of us is attacked, none of us are safe. We refuse to see the violence in the Middle East spill over to our cities and neighborhoods.

We reject and categorically condemn any attacks against the Jewish community and stand in solidarity with the Jewish Federation in this tragedy.

It is unequivocal, it has no wiggle room, no big BUTs, and seems heartfelt. (The only nit to pick was not admitting that the shooter was Muslim with the "While many of the details of this shooting remain to be determined" phrase. But that is pretty minor because the statement itself is very strong in support of the victims.)

Now, look at what the national CAIR said:

We condemn this senseless attack on a religious institution and offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured. The American Muslim and Jewish communities must do whatever is within their power to prevent the current conflict in the Middle East from being transplanted to this country. We also urge local, state and national law enforcement authorities to step up security measures at synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions of both faiths.

As they have done countless times, CAIR takes an action done by Muslims and tries to spin it into a situation where Muslims are the victims. It tries to take advantage of the situation to score political points.

Most abhorrently, it implies that the Jewish community in America is threatening the Muslim community in America, to the extent that they need "security" protection.

This disgusting, sickening, terror-supporting organization is beyond contempt.

Some weekend links

Too many interesting things today to comment on, but here are a few worth looking at:

Arab columnist says Israel's leaders are descended from Nazis who impersonated Jews

Map of Greater Beirut and exactly how much of it was destroyed by Israel

Krauthammer's latest essay

Video of Hezbollah using civilians as human shields

A demonstrator with an Israeli flag holds a sign reading 'I am a terrorist' during a protest to call on Israel to stop its military strikes against Palestinian people and Lebanon, on Friday, July 28, 2006, in downtown Vienna.

He's probably not a real terrorist, just a terror-supporter. But a man can have dreams, can't he?

Reminds me of an old joke:

A Jew accidentally bumped into an anti-semite while crossing the street.
"Asshole!" said the anti-semite.
"Goldberg," bowed the Jew.

By the way, notice how the AP characterizes Israel's defensive actions - not as strikes against Palestinian Arab terrorists and Hezbollah, but against "Palestinian people and Lebanon." No bias there at all!

Fatah official: Without Oslo, no intifada

The ZOA quotes MEMRI (but I cannot find this on the MEMRI page yet):

A senior leader in Fatah, Ziyad Abu ‘Ein, the Palestinian terrorist group lead by Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, has admitted that the Oslo peace process provided the Palestinians with the means to launch what he termed a “great Palestinian intifadah,” the campaign of suicide bombing and terrorism against Israeli civilians since September 2000 that has claimed the lives of almost 2000 Israelis and wounded and maimed over 10,000 more.

Abu ‘Ein made this statement in an interview on Al-Alam TV earlier this month, stating that, although the Oslo accords had not been the “liberation of Palestine” [ i.e., the destruction of Israel] that the Palestinians sought, “there would have been no resistance in Palestine if not for Oslo. It was Oslo that strongly embraced the Palestinian resistance … If not for Oslo, there would have been no resistance. Throughout the occupied territories, we could not move a single pistol from one place to another. If not for Oslo, the weapons we got through Oslo, and if not for the “A” areas of the Palestinian Authority, if not for the training, the camps, the protection provided by Oslo, and if not for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners through Oslo -- this Palestinian resistance could not have carried out this great Palestinian Intifada, with which we confronted the Israeli occupation” (Al-Alam TV, July 4, translation courtesy of Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI), July 27).

To these people, the words "dialogue," "peace" and "truce" are just code-words for "strategies to destroy Israel ."

With the help of the gullible West and leftist Israelis.

UN/terrorist collusion in Gaza (video)

Here is a video that clearly shows (at the end) Palestinian Arab terrorists, with guns, hiding in a UN-labeled ambulance.

I don't know the source or date, but it doesn't look faked.

(H/T Seraphic Secret)
UPDATE: LGF identifies it as being a Reuters video shot on May 11, 2004.

The challenge has been met - but is still ongoing

Mazel tov!

This morning we reached our goal of matching $1000 in contributions towards various Israeli charities. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

I'm keeping it going for now, so I will still match anything given at least through the beginning of Shabbos. I am speaking with others who are interested in continuing this challenge; it would be nice to coordinate a larger project with multiple matchers but I'm not a very good organizer and this was mostly on the honor system anyway. If anyone wants to pledge their own matching contributions, let me know at the elderchallenge-at-gmail.com address and I will, IY"H, try to find the time to increase the scope.

Another idea is if anyone wants to donate gifts (like T-shirts or other tchatchkes) for people who contribute a minimum amount.

But for now, let's see how high we can go today! Thanks again to my readers - you rock!