Renee's Big Adventure

Allan Tarasiewicz - Not Like Any Other

2006-09-11T06:16:00.000+03:00

I searched the internet looking for information on Allan Tarasiewicz so that I could attempt to create a post in his memory that would make his family smile. The one thing that kept coming into my mind was that he seemed like an ordinary guy. I mean, I knew that if I met him at the supermarket or just walking down the street, I wouldn't have known that I had just met a hero as he didn't wear an "S" on his chest. He would have seemed like a just a regular guy. But that's not true, he wasn't a regular guy. He was a hero. Not just to his family, his loving wife of almost 25 years Patricia Ann (Patty) Whitfield, not just his daughter Melissa or his son Allan T., and not just to his mother Connie, or his two brothers, Harry Joseph Jr. and Mark, and his sister, Cathy Mizzi-Gili. He was a hero to every child that looked at a fireman and said that's what I want to be when I grow up (as Allan Tarasiewicz did). He was a hero to every man, woman, or child that called for help during the most traumatic events in their lives ~ a fire. He was a hero because Allan Tarasiewicz did the opposite of what the majority of us want to do in the face of danger ~ run in the opposite direction. No, Mr. Tarasiewicz didn't run in the face of danger, he ran into danger because he loved his job, he loved helping people. He was a hero.

I can give you links to several stories that give you the stats of his life: he was 45 when he died. He was the shortest man in his firehouse so the rest of the guys in his firehouse built him a booster step so he could easily climb onto the rig. He was the prankster of the firehouse; one time serving up a meal of breaded chicken cutlets. It wasn't until someone complained about the toughness of the chicken that they found out that they were actually eating breaded and fried dirty, old sponges. He was a member of Rescue 5 (who lost 11 men on 9/11). And he loved being a fireman.

But I think his daughter said it best in her tribute to firefighters:

"Firemen, you are not like any other. You are our heroes, the men all kids dream to be. When everyone's at their weakest, you stay strong and never give up hope. If we could only have more people like you in this world, maybe, just maybe, it really could be a perfect world."

Thank you Mr. Tarasiewicz, for being our hero. May you rest in peace.

You too can own one!

2006-08-26T13:33:00.000+03:00

Some things just leave me speechless.

UK: 21 drawings attributed to Hitler to be auctioned

Drawings made when Nazi leader was a soldier serving in Flanders during World War; auctioneers say some could sell for up to USD 8,000

Associated Press Published: 08.26.06, 01:11

Twenty-one watercolors and sketches attributed to Adolf Hitler will be sold by a British auction house on September 26, officials said Friday.

The drawings were made when Hitler was a soldier serving in Flanders during World War I, said Ian Morris, auctioneer at Jefferys Auctioneers at Lostwithiel in Cornwall in southwest England.

The images, mostly pallid landscapes, are not regarded as adept, but the auctioneers say some could sell for up to 5,000 pounds (USD 8,000) a piece.

"They were painted in his formative years before he became political," Morris told British Broadcasting Corp. Television, "so you could look at the pictures and see the psychology inside the man's head, rather than what he became."

Holocaust survivor Ellen Davis said the sale was an attempt to remember Hitler as an artist, "when he is remembered as a monster. He was not an artist."

"If I had it (a painting) in my house, I think I would have my house fumigated - I would put it out on my lawn and set a match to it," she said.

Speechless, but nauseous.

The "Human Rights Watch" Watch, Installment 1

2006-08-25T19:23:00.000+03:00

This is an excellent piece written by Allen Dershowitz. The opening paragraph:

"Who will guard the guardians?" asked Roman satirist Juvenal. Now we must ask, who is watching Human Rights Watch, one of the world's best-financed and most influential human rights organizations? It turns out that they cook the books about facts, cheat on interviews, and put out pre-determined conclusions that are driven more by their ideology than by evidence.

These are serious accusations, and they are demonstrably true.

Tihs was published in today's Jerusalem Post. Unfortunately, they don't have an online version of the article so here's a link to the article on an online blog. Read the article, skip the idiotic comments after the article.

All your fakes are belong to us

2006-08-24T20:21:00.000+03:00

Pretty cool comment on the latest fauxtagraphy scandles, starring Green Helmet and Flat Fatima. Not to be missed.

The Red Cross Ambulance Incident

2006-08-24T20:08:00.000+03:00

How the Media Legitimized an Anti-Israel Hoax and Changed the Course of a War

Ok, this is pretty long. Follow the link above but try not to look at how far away the bottom of the page is from the top because then you might not read it. And it's pretty important that you do read it. It's amazing. The entire story. You see, the entire world press reported on an incident that simply never happened.

On the night of July 23, 2006, an Israeli aircraft intentionally fired missiles at and struck two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances performing rescue operations, causing huge explosions that injured everyone inside the vehicles. Or so says the global media, including Time magazine, the BBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and thousands of other outlets around the world. If true, the incident would have been an egregious and indefensible violation of the Geneva Convention, and would constitute a war crime committed by the state of Israel.

But there's one problem: It never happened.

I'll give you picture as a tease and ask you to look at it closely ...... see anything fishy?

No? Ok, try this one. It's the same ambulance, different lighting.

Now I'm no expert on fauxtagraphy or ambulances or forensic evidence but if the top of that ambulance was hit by a missile, wouldn't you expect the edges of that huge whole to be jutting down into the ambulance instead of being so neatly folded over the outside????

Click the link. Read the story. Just do it!!

The sky didn't fall!

2006-08-23T13:23:00.000+03:00

We're all still standing!! That's the good news. The bad news is that Amnesty International is accusing Israel of war crimes. So what else is new?

Amnesty: Israel deliberately hit civilian targets

Rights group Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of deliberately targeting civilians during its campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon and said the Jewish state may be guilty of war crimes.

So my question for Amnesty International is whether or not Lebanon is guilty of war crimes for harboring and abating a terrorist army within their sovereignty that calls for the genocide of the Jews?

And then of course, there's the thousands of ketusha rockets aimed and directed at civilian targets by the Hezbollah, causing over 100 deaths, 100s of injuries, and a million people to either flee the north to refugee camps in the south or retreat to bomb shelters for a month. That barely got a mention in their (cough cough) report.

It's 3:00 PM

2006-08-22T15:07:00.000+03:00

And all is well. No sign of Armageddon (yet).

The Sky is Falling!

2006-08-21T19:33:00.000+03:00

Today might be our last full day on this earth. Tomorrow is August 22 and, according to Muslim legend, might have a great significance for us this year.

What is the significance of Aug. 22? This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to "the farthest mosque," usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.

So tomorrow might just be our last day on earth. If it's going to be my last day on earch, gosh darn it, I'm going to enjoy. First of all, I'm not going to the gym. As a matter of fact, I don't plan on sweating at all tomorrow. I'm going to turn the air conditioning on bright and early. I'm going to go out for lunch. A good lunch. A nice, thick hamburger and definitely ice cream for dessert. The real stuff. The stuff they sell in the Italian ice cream parolor down the road ~ not the low fat, no carb stuff that currently fills my freezer. Yum!

I asked Noga (my dog) what she would like to do on her last day on earth and she's still contemplating it. I'm thinking an open field might in order for her to run a bit. She doesn't have the same no sweating rules as I do. I asked Michel what he thinks about for his last day on earth. He said he'd get back to me on Wednesday.

Cartoon of the Day

2006-08-21T08:57:00.000+03:00

Today's cartoon comes from Cox & Forkum.

I've also included a quote from their explanation of the cartoon, via the Boston Herald, in an article entitled "With doublespeaking French, honor gets lost in translation."

In recent weeks, France stepped forward to act as a broker of peace in Lebanon. “Act” is the key verb in that last sentence, as it now would seem that the only other verifiable part of the sentence is “in recent weeks.”

To correctly parse that sentence, one must understand that when France suggested it wanted to broker peace in Lebanon, it did not necessarily mean “broker” or "peace” or “Lebanon” in the way we might understand those words. The same is true when France further suggested it wanted to “lead” a “strong” “multinational” “force” there.

I don’t speak French, so I have no idea what the actual French words are for those concepts or what possible nuances there may be. I’ve been relying on news reports in English, which now inform me that the French do not intend to send any significant number of troops to what is supposed to be a force of 15,000 in Lebanon, like everyone thought they said they would.

The heady moment of peace brokering having passed, uponsober reflection, the French now say they already have a general and some staff in south Lebanon ordering about UNIFIL, the U.N. monitoring entity there. That’s plenty of leadership, the French suggested: All France needs to contribute now is another 200 combat engineers.

In tactical terms, when it comes to securing a Middle East conflict zone, that can be referred to as “squat.”

Iran military training plane crash

2006-08-20T10:12:00.000+03:00

Iran has been flexing her military muscles of late, showing the world her military strength and holding training exercises that started Saturday and could run for as long as five weeks. Ataollah Salehi, commander-in-chief of Iran's army, said: "The enemy has gone mad facing Hezbollah's strength and we should keep ourselves prepared given the history we have from our mad enemy."

And this just in from the Jerusalem Post:

A military training plane crashed outside the capital of Tehran after catching fire, state-run television reported Sunday.

The broadcast said the plane was making an emergency landing on a highway in northeast Tehran but it crashed after a wing of the plane hit a water reservior and burst into flames. The television said the only person in the plane, the pilot, parachuted safely.

I'm not sure about the "mad" part, but I am pretty happy to hear about the accident and wish them the same success for the next five weeks.

Israel disrupts arms delivery to Hezbollah

2006-08-20T09:45:00.000+03:00

And the great leader Kofi Annan condems Israel.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said an Israeli raid in Lebanon on Saturday violated the U.N.-backed truce and made him “deeply concerned.”

“The secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701,” a spokesman for Annan said in a statement posted on the U.N. Web site. “The incident involved an Israeli raid in eastern Lebanon on Saturday.”

Israel said the commando attack on a Hizbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon was defensive and was designed to disrupt weapons supplies to Hizbollah from Syria and Iran.

All this happened at the same time the French sent in their 50 troops to act as peacekeepers. Yeah, that should do it.

History Test

2006-08-20T09:30:00.000+03:00

Apparently, this history test has been around for at least a year but I just got a copy now and so I'm adding it here.

Do you remember?

1. In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
A. Superman
B. Jay Lenno
C. Harry Potter
D. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
A. Olga Corbett
B. Sitting Bull
C. Arnold Schwarzenegger
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
A. Lost Norwegians
B. Elvis
C. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
A. John Dillinger
B. The King of Sweden
C. The Boy Scouts
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
A. A pizza delivery boy
B. Pee Wee Herman
C. Geraldo Rivera
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
A. The Smurfs
B. Davy Jones
C. The Little Mermaid
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
A. Captain Kidd
B. Charles Lindberg
C. Mother Teresa
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
A. Scooby Doo
B. The Tooth Fairy
C. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
A. Richard Simmons
B. Grandma Moses
C. Michael Jordan
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
A. Mr. Rogers
B. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
C. The World Wrestling Federation
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take
Out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
A. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
B. The Supreme Court of Florida
C. Mr. Bean
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
A. Enron
B. The Lutheran Church
C. The NFL
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
A. Bonnie and Clyde
B. Captain Kangaroo
C. Billy Graham
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Nope, .....I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?

So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winning and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim males between the ages 17 and 40 alone because of profiling.

As the writer of the award winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "stupid is as stupid does."

Photo Presentations of Haifa Destruction

2006-08-19T21:11:00.000+03:00

We've all seen the many, many photos of the destruction in Lebanon but there hasn't been too much said or shown re the damage done to the north of Israel from the over 3000 rockets fired by the Hezbollah. Vital Perspective has two very good PowerPoint presentations showing a few of the rockets that fell and the damage they did. It's a miracle that more people weren't hurt up in the north and you'll think so too when you see this.

Palestinian Journalists Protest Kidnapping

2006-08-19T20:36:00.000+03:00

Have you seen this man? This is Steve Centanni, a Fox news correspondent. He was kidnapped along with his cameraman, Olaf Wiig, last Monday and neither have been heard of since. While kidnappings of westerners has become somewhat commonplace in Gaza, more than two dozen foreigners have been abducted by Palestinian militants, usually in an attempt to settle personal scores, but this case is particularly worrisome since none of the usual characters have admitted knowledge of this incident and this is the longest foreigners have been held.

Read all about it here.

Cartoon of the Day

2006-08-19T11:11:00.000+03:00

See, the thing is that Bibi is responsible for putting Kadima in power. His overthrow of the Likud was the catalyst for the creation of Kadima. Had he not done that, the Likud party would still be in power (probably).

So now everyone is really unhappy with Olmert but where do we go from here? I'm hearing whispers of Bi-bi Bi-bi in the streets but I'm not sure I could vote for him after what he did ..... it's a tough call. But a change is definately in the air.

My Thoughts on the Cease Fire

2006-08-19T11:03:00.000+03:00

I haven't really gone into this cease fire and how I feel about it. I think I'm still in shock over the whole situation really. Did Bush and Olmert really think that anyone was going to walk up to Nasrallah and demand that he hand over their guns? How could they agree to such an agreement? So no, they had to know that the Hezbollah would never agree to disarm. And perhaps they even guessed that the cowardly Lebanese government would classify them as national heroes and refuse to even request that the Hezbollah disarm. So now what? Do we go back? If so, why are we giving the Hezbollah time to rearm themselves? Why are we giving the citizens of Lebanon a chance to repopulate the south?

And now, since the Lebanese government is now being complacent with the Hezbollah, are we considering them and the Lebanese citizens the enemy now?

I think every Israeli is asking themselves these questions and waiting to see what the answers will be. It's very much on all of our minds ~ I'm even dreaming of Hezbollah rockets landing in Kiryat Shmona now.

Cartoon of the Day

2006-08-18T17:24:00.000+03:00

Took a few days of blogging off but I'm back and here's today's cartoon of the day.

Justice in Palestine

2006-08-15T12:10:00.000+03:00

This is the story as per Reuters:

Suspected Palestinian collaborator killed in W.Bank13 Aug 2006 13:43:19 GMT
Source: Reuters
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
More JENIN, West Bank, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Gunmen from a Palestinian militant group shot dead a man suspected of collaborating with Israel in front a crowd of people in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, witnesses said.

Television pictures showed the handcuffed and blindfolded man, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, being forced to kneel in front of a mound of sand before being shot several times in the chest by at least two gunmen dressed in combat uniforms.

A crowd of several dozen people cheered and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) as the man fell backwards and died. Witnesses said the 25-year-old was killed by members of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group allied to Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

They said the man had confessed to informing on members of Islamic Jihad, another militant group, to the Israelis.

The Aqsa Martyrs Brigade confirmed that some of its members had taken part in the killing. Executions have occurred in the past when suspected collaborators have been discovered.

Note that the article didn't come with any accompanying photos. It's not that the photos weren't available though, because they are.

For some reason I'm unable to upload photos at this moment and forgive me but I forget the code to do it manually. Here's the link and I'll add them later.

Do follow the link. Do look at the pictures and Do note that although Reuters says there was "a crowd of several dozen", the blurb accompanying one of the photos says:

Palestinians, some taking pictures with their mobile phones, gather around the body of an alleged 'collaborator' after gunmen, who identified themselves as members of the Islamic Jihad group, shot him and killed him in a public square in the West Bank town of Jenin Sunday Aug. 13, 2006. The man, who was executed in front of hundreds of people, was accused by the gunmen of giving information to Israeli authorities, helping them to kill two militants last week in a targeted attack, said witnesses and Islamic Jihad members. The victim was identified as Bassem Malah, 22, who worked in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al Fahm. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

According to some sources, the accused man, who was due to be married next week, confessed to his crime after being interrogated by a "truth squad."

I think it's interesting that I couldn't find ONE story online that used a picture to describe the scene and that there were clearly more than "a couple of dozen" people watching this "event."

I guess only pics of people killed by Israelis are newsworthy these days.

Unfortunately, I think BiBi Hit the Nail on the Head

2006-08-14T17:42:00.000+03:00

Netanyahu: There will be another round in this war
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) told the Knesset that "unfortunately, there will be another round [in this war] because the government's just demands weren't met" by the cease-fire agreement that went into effect Monday morning.

"The [kidnapped] soldiers weren't returned home, the Hizbullah was not disarmed … Right now, we are [merely] in an interim period between wars," Netanyahu warned. "And there is no one who will prevent our enemies from rearmed and preparing for the next round."

Be Brave ~ Be Strong

2006-08-14T10:22:00.000+03:00

Grab your tissues and watch this video from Voices For Israel. If it comes through choppy then let it completely download before you play it.

Cartoon of the Day

2006-08-14T07:44:00.000+03:00

Pictures of the Day

2006-08-13T12:16:00.000+03:00

This picture was taken at a stop the war rally in San Francisco. And here's more.

Cartoon of the Day

2006-08-12T07:17:00.000+03:00

Condoleezza Rice depicted in the Palestinian Controlled Al Quds as pregnant with a monkey. The image's caption read, "Rice speaks about birth of new Middle East."

More on Fauxtography

2006-08-11T18:04:00.000+03:00

Israel vs. Hezbollah, right vs. wrong

2006-08-11T13:55:00.000+03:00

I told you I loved this man. Another great piece by Joseph Farah

How people view the conflict in Lebanon is a barometer for determining their ability to discern right from wrong.

If you hear someone fudge on this conflict, it is an indication of a moral failing, a weakness in their heart, a defect in their brain, a darkness in their very soul.

There is no better picture of evil in the world today that the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Founded by the mullahs in Iran, facilitated by two generations of dictators in Syria, it was Hezbollah that killed 241 U.S. Marines sent to Beirut to protect the Lebanese people. Collectively, its terrorist attacks – from Latin America to Asia – have probably killed more innocent people than have been murdered even by al-Qaida.

Hezbollah is bigger and better armed than al-Qaida. And it has maintained an operational alliance with Osama bin Laden's terror network for years.

Quite simply, Hezbollah seeks in the short term to kill all the Jews in the Middle East or scatter them abroad. In the long term, it seeks to impose a worldwide Shiite theocracy like the one currently enjoyed by the people of Iran.

In the other corner, we have Israel. It is hardly a flawless and perfect state. There is no such thing in the world and never has been. But it is a legitimate state founded where no other state existed by a consensus of world opinion following the murder of 6 million Jews in Germany's concentration camps. Israel served as a refuge for nearly 1 million Arab Jews persecuted throughout the Middle East – more, by the way, than even the most exaggerated claims of Arab Palestinian refugees displaced by the war of 1948.

As many other observers have pointed out, you don't need to know much about the complicated history of the Middle East to understand the difference between Israel and its enemies. If Israel's enemies – including Hezbollah – had the power to destroy Israel, it would do so in a heartbeat. Israel, however, actually possesses such awesome power and, of course, has never used it.

There is no moral murkiness here. The raw, unadulterated evil that is Hezbollah is on display for all to see. The basic decency and compassion of the Jewish state has been on display for nearly 60 years.

Yet, look around us and see how many people are still "confused." A recent Los Angeles Times poll showed most Democrats are incapable of making any distinctions between these two warring parties. Sadly, a third of Republicans are also unwilling or unable to distinguish good from evil when it comes to this conflict.

Looking outside the U.S., the picture of moral confusion is even worse. At least half the world is cheering on Hezbollah.

This has nothing to do with Israel's behavior or the behavior of the U.S. Nothing we or the Jews of Israel could do would change the opinion of those aligned with Hezbollah. Like the pharaoh in Egypt, their hearts have been hardened. It will take an act of God to get people like that to see the light – something to hope and pray for, perhaps, but not something any argument will change.

It's disturbing to me to see so many people living in moral confusion – moral darkness. It's worse to think so many Americans are falling into this abyss. It's even more shocking to see so many Israelis incapable of understanding the stakes in this conflict.

There are a lot of people getting weak in the knees right now.

It's not without precedent.

It happened before in 1939.

The dangers we face in the world today are comparable to what the world faced back then – maybe worse.

Today, the Nazis are those claiming to be the original Aryans. In fact, that's a derivation of the name of their country – Iran. They speak openly of wanting to destroy all the Jews. They are working feverishly on the development of nuclear weapons – something Hitler could only dream about.

It's not a time for going wobbly. It's not a time for moral confusion. It's not a time for myopia in distinguishing right from wrong.