Greeks All Go-Go Down The Pan...

Radical Leftists Reject Coalition Government!

ATHENS: The Greek conservative leader said the country's radical leftist Syriza party has blocked any efforts to cobble together a coalition government during talks earlier Sunday with the Greek president that are seen as a last ditch effort to avoid repeat elections.

Coalition? No friggin' way Antonis...not even with us Socialists!

Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting, New Democracy party chief Antonis Samaras said he can't understand the blanket rejection. (Dow Jones)

A Radical Leftie spoke-in-the-wheel confided to me: "We are much more interested to action our Mission Utopia." And what's that then? "Oh....like we'd all live in caves, dance naked around the camp fire and commune with any other Greeks who might actually survive our Glorious Revolution. Though a great many of the population could still starve, catch the plague or perhaps go mad with Stone Age syndrome." he mused in his Marxist way.

Memo to Antonis Samaras (photo left): Which portion is it of the Leftie Loon agenda you "can't understand"? (Photo: Copyright Control)

From King David's Time...

Archaeological find from the time of 

King David's kingdom.

Two small containers unearthed at Khirbet Qeiyafa are believed to be the first ever archaeological evidence of Judean ritual dating from the time of King David, about the 10th century B.C.

The two small containers (above photo) one of clay and one of stone, were unearthed at the site called Khirbet Qeiyafa near Beit Shemesh. Containers of this type, which look like model shrines, are known to archaeologists from other sites, but Prof Jossi Garfinkel the head of the Hebrew University says the Khirbet Qeiyafa finds are unique because they reveal motifs known from the biblical description of Solomon's Temple. Furthermore, the models resemble the description of Solomon's Temple in the biblical Book of Kings. 

The Khirbet Qeiyafa site.

The ruin is on a rocky slope overlooking the Elah Valley in Israel's western lowlands, contains remnants of a walled city dating back 3,000 years. Originally the walls rose to a height of some six meters. Along the walls, which still stand three meters tall in some places, archaeologists have discovered the remains of 99 dwellings.

Hebrew script on fragment of pottery.

Profosser Garfinkel says he thinks these models, which predate Solomon's Temple, show how depictions of a Solomonic-like shrine were present in the local architecture of the ancient East. (WJD.com) 
(Photos: Copyright Control)

Sloppy Boy, Jamie!

JP Morgan Chase CEO: "we were sloppy"!

Two days after JP Morgan Chase & Co revealed it lost billions of dollars on bad trades, CEO Jamie Dimon said the embattled bank was "sloppy" and had committed "errors in judgment. But we intend to fix it and learn from it and be a better company when it's done."

Oh what a sloppy boy, Jamie.

So...you were a bit sloppy and you're going to "learn from it"? Jamie my boy, sloppy is a word one would reach for when perhaps one was not formally attired at some important function; or perhaps a plate of watery and unappetizing food like sloppy stew was placed before one in a posh eatery. 
Regarding you and your comrade clowns, one might reach for some other words; like...oh lets see. How about, you tossers are smug, arrogant chancers, who are up to your old, repellent, unreconstructed ways? Perhaps being dropped on your heads from the top floor of your very plush building might be a tad careless and sloppy. 
You and your fellow incompetents couldn't be in charge of Nathan's hot dogs and fries at Coney Island. Just walk...before you're all pushed.
(Photo: Copyright Control)

USA: So You Still Think "It's The Economy, Stupid"?

This is what is happening right under your nose. And the economy, important as it is, ain't the most crushing concern you should have. Get involved!

(Video: Copyright Control)

Friday's Song Pic #4

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (Russian: Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər], English: /rɨˈdʒiːnə ˈspɛktər/; born February 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, now from New York. In New York, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17.

Regina Spektor: "Samson"

Spektor was born in Moscow, Soviet Union in 1980 to a musical Russian Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Soviet college of music and now teaches at a public elementary school in New York. She learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather.[2] She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union.
Spektor first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking and realized she had an aptitude for songwriting. 
(Wikipedea) (Video/Music: Copyright Control)

Destiny And The Desert...

Personal reflections of a volunteer from Kibbutz Revivim, Israel.

Sophia Wu from China shares her impressions and observations of her voluntary time period in Kibbutz Revivim. Her detailed, yet sensitive writing style is a great source into a volunteer’s world, exploring through her eyes the joy of discovering new ways of living.

Sophie Wu

Sometime, I feel it is fate that brought me to Revivim: The first time I heard about kibbutz volunteering was from one of my friends in New York. And I thought it would be an interesting experience. So I applied.

In the beginning, I was writing the stories in a diary to myself as I know unique experiences like this will never be repeated again in my life. But gradually, my friends on Facebook, and Weibo readers, kept writing comments telling me how much they love my stories and how much they got inspired by them. Very recently, a short paragraph I wrote about the silent two minutes for the Holocaust Memorial Day on Chinese “Weibo” was forwarded by Israeli Consulate in China's “Weibo” page. Many people in China read it and wrote their comments, some as follows: “Such a respectable strong nation!”, “Quality of citizen”, “These are the chosen people”, “ The whole nation united as one person.”, “I want to cry”, “solute, Israel”, “Respectable country, respectable people”, “That was why Israel was not defeatable.”, “Israel, I am on your side!”. The Israeli Consulate in China's Weibo was interested in forwarding more of my stories to their page, so that more Chinese will get to know the real Israel and learn more about the alternative way of life - “kibbutz”.

Thank you all for giving me this opportunity to work and live in this amazing place called Revivim. I have lived in and traveled to 20 different countries in my life: China, US, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Bali, UK, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland. I thought Israel was just going to be the 21st country I visited. It turned out to be the best experience ever in my life.

I was absolutely fascinated by the kibbutz and its concept of “give all you can and take what you need”. I really like what British Author Victoria Pybus wrote in her book "Kibbutz Volunteer": “...it is a commitment to an ideal, and experiment in a way of life....It was through the rejection of the old order that the romantically inspired youth movements of central Europe were born....The young pioneers desired to create a way of life through a return to nature and simple values such as loyalty, brotherhood and truth."
To me, kibbutz is the last Utopia in reality on this planet. In my opinion, a true Utopia should be a place where race, religion, nationality doesn't define a person, a place where Jewish, Christian, Muslim are working and living together in harmony. And kibbutz is such a place. Take Revivim for example, they have people from Europe, America, Africa, Asia living under the same roof. They have a Bedouin chef, Asian residents and volunteers, and Christian members. If this is not Utopia, where else in the world could it ever be? The fact that Revivim is in the middle of the desert makes it more unique and charming because you cannot take anything for granted. Even a small flower or a tree is something unusual and not easily grown. As one of the Revivim member described to me, when his father was asked by Kibbutz Movement to help build a kibbutz many years ago, his father said he only wanted to do that in the desert because in the north it would be too easy!

Volunteers from all over the world

Since day one after I arrived in Israel, I have been writing stories of my life here in both English and Chinese. The English update is for Facebook. And the Chinese one is for a Chinese equivalent of Twitter called “Weibo” (like a mini blog). The stories included the unique communal way of life at the kibbutz (number for each member, dining room, laundry, colbolit, car system...), my life (sandstorm, full moon in the desert, sunsets, flowers in the desert, power outage, Gaza rockets shooting, film festival at Revivim, dancing with seniors... ), my volunteer work (olive factory, kitchen, house cleaning, dish washing), Revivim (history, cow farm, member system, motivation system, kibbutz kids, kindergarten, zoo, library, magic trees garden, sports facilities, moadon, pool bar, moo bar, race, farmer's market...), kibbutzniks and their stories, Ulpan students and other volunteers, Jewish holidays and tradition at Revivim (Shabbat, Purim, Pesach, first cut of wheat, the Holocaust Memorial Day...), Israeli history, Yad Vashem, Sudanese refugees, and Bedouins.

The people at Revivim have the talents of creating everything out of nothing. There are always some cultural events/activities/ceremonies going on to bring people together as one community. And of course as you can imagine, I have been participating at every single event if possible. Revivim members/residents/ulpan students are really special people: simple, real, sincere, down to earth, warm-hearted and know so much about nature. They totally made my experience here: coffee, cake, special Artemisia and Achillea tea, BBQ, homemade chicken soup, first time making matzah ball and pita, opera and film watching, art studio, volunteer trip to the Dead Sea and Masada, flowers at Tze'elim and Nahal Habesor, Sunset at the Large Crater, Yeroham Lake, Golda Meir Park full moon watching in the desert, gentle dancing, tennis lesson, pool billiards lesson, horseback riding lesson, olive trees field tour and growing technique lesson, Karaoke at nearby Kibbutz, trance party, Neve midbar Spa, volunteer work at Meir Panim......People here answer my questions about Jewish tradition and Hebrew songs. They share their life stories with me. They explain to me what's going on at the holiday ceremony. Between all of these new experience and my volunteer work, I am happily busy running around every day!

This country, the people and Revivim, taught me a lot of important lessons for life: courage and positive energy, forgiveness and tolerance, true happiness that simple life can bring, selflessly serve others. No matter what lies ahead in the future, I know where I should turn to when I need advice, courage and inspirations. Revivim will remain my spiritual home for the rest of my life. (C) Sophie Wu

The Kibbutz link is below:
http://eng.negev-net.org.il/htmls/article.aspx?C2004=12760&BSP=12606

Who Cares...Move On Dino!

"You sold your soul to the devil!" fumed Labor party veteran Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (photo below) at newly installed Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as the Knesset approved a new coalition government by a vote of 71-23. Ben-Eliezer was not alone in his sentiments, and the dramatic Knesset session was marked by bitter rhetoric from a shrunken but notably more energized opposition. Nonetheless, the new government sailed into power relatively easily, with only minor legal issues surrounding possible secret agreements between Mofaz's Kadima party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And further more...

With Israel under the dark cloud of threatened extinction, it's just so typical of the political pygmies of the Left and the also rans of the religious lot, the latter who have held the Israel to ransom for far too long. They are yesterday's people who are more interested in the usual Knesset knockabout and point scoring than contributing anything to Israel's security. Grow up, and move on for fuck sake! (Photo: Copyright Control)