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Indiana Jones and the Lesbian in My Welding Class

But first, a quick comment on the Ukrainian elections. Yushenko takes our hopes and prayers with him for not only a fair election outcome (he leans westward, after all) but also for a speedy recovery from his mysterious ailment that has destroyed the appearance of an otherwise handsome dog. I feel even stronger saying this because his wife is an American.

Her name is Krista and I've been nothing but friendly to her. In my private mind and talks with my wife I do refer to Krista as "it" and "she", finally settling on "she-it", but only because she has rebuffed my amicability in every way. She is a public school teacher, ardent Kerry supporter, short-haired, mannish, talks-like-a-guy/walks-like-a-guy/desperately-wants-to-be-seen-as-a-guy dike from hell. When I step out to go to the bathroom she closes my textbook (supposedly it crossed over the invisible line of the table we are forced to share) and didn't bother to mark my spot. Her other offenses, personal and public, are myriad but worst of all she chided me last week for "talking with my mouth full" (which it wasn't) when I was bantering with the teacher. Her and I seem to be the only degreed people in there and I'm as conservative as they come while she's an idiot. We were made to take sides against each other but I have been consistent in my friendliness by complimenting her on salient points she makes in her mannish diatribe and involving her in conversations which she knows nothing about. Her response was to make fun on me in front of the whole class with the "mouth full" comment, which did bring a few chuckles.
I was furious, but said nothing. I don't like to fight anyway, and much less with a woman; it's just not in my programming. So I let it slide, satisfying myself with after-the-fact retorts I WOULD have said like "I bet you say that to all the girls," and "what is it about heterosexuals that pisses you off so much,". These little jewels went unspoken however, but I was even tempted to make little cheat cards with responses on them so I'd be ready next time (she always seems to zing me AFTER I make an overture of friendship, so I'm doubly unprepared).
Well, karma caught up with her this week. Aside from her usual bout of making a pretend-man ass out of herself our instructor (a fine Missourian, salt of the earth type) took a hand. He needed to show me a welding technique and assumed Krista needed to learn it too. She didn't. So she was a little surprised when he called me over to HER booth and proceeded to use HER project to demonstrate a technique she already knew. We found this out because she told us she already knew the technique but the teacher didn't care and used her project as a drawing board for my benefit anyway. And to add beautiful insult to glorious injury he did the unspeakable, and deliberately so: to stabilize the piece used in his demonstration he welded her project to HER welding table, which we each have to individually grind clean after each class. This simply isn't done. If the piece in question needs to be clamped to the table then a small steel stabilizing plate is welded to the piece itself. Even I in my august laziness have never (intentionally) welded anything to my work table, mainly because it would be such a pain in the ass to grind clear...which I'm sure it was for Krista. She seemed aghast but said nothing as the teacher took ample time to royally screw up her little project for my benefit while making about 10 minutes of extra after-class grinding work for her to do.
Quite silently, I cheered.
Then, later in class, the teacher was in my booth showing me another technique and in response to my many questions began speaking quickly and in technical terms. Still trying to be one of the boys WITHOUT a penis to speak of (sorry, couldn't resist) she walks by my booth and says out loud, "Hey, try speaking English to him." Now, I don't know what she meant by that but either that comment or previous ones or perhaps even her periodic and unwarranted animosity towards me finally got noticed because the good Missourian teacher makes the "mm-yah, mm-yah, mm-yah" sound in mockery of her little cross-gender attempts at male comraderie. I don't know if she noticed or not, but it sure felt nice. She spent the rest of the class kissing his ass and trying even harder to fit in, which in and of itself probably worked against her because she should have been working.
The moral of this story: let patience have its perfect work and let vengeance be the Lord's - He will repay, and boy did he ever.
And in the nick of time too because I was just about to whip out my zinger cheat cards...

Some Quick and Random Thoughts

Anrold Schwarzenkegger, although I enjoy many things about his entertainment and political career, should NEVER be allowed to subvert the U.S. Constitution and run for president. Might as well make Stalin the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

Life is way too short NOT to have patience.

The royalty of Great Britain really needs to apologize for monopolizing terms like "your highness" and "your royal majesty". Here in America, I reserve those terms for addressing God.

Marital sex is the greatest thing since pre-marital foreplay.

Boxers smell.

Japan is closing its consulate in Kansas City, Missouri, and this makes me sad. They are moving their operations to Chicago (like it's not cold enough here!) in order to free up funds to open consulates in Southeast Asia. With any luck I'll obtain an interview with the Japanese consulate before he leaves Missouri and maybe invite him or his underlings out for good-bye sushi (I know this great little places where the Wasabi will curl your toes).

Yasser Arafat is still dead and that's a really good thing (the bastard).

www.refdesk.com has a "word of the day. Today's word is "cajole", which is okay. I liked "denouement" better.

Millionaire Jimmy Walter, a democratic philanthropist, has offered a reward of $100,000 to anyone who can prove that the World Trade Center collapsed in the manner espoused by the U.S. government. The point being made is that it is a physical impossibility in terms of engineering, and none of the naysayers (who are too busy saying "nay", I suppose has stepped up to claim the prize). Details at: http://www.rense.com/general59/mega.htm.

Lawrence of Arabia was gay.

Amelia Earhart was from Atchison, Kansas and was not only one gutsy broad but was pretty hot too.

Techin

Techin - the Japanese word for "heaven and earth"

Russia, when it's not busy interfering in the Urkrainian elections and using biological weapons against the defrauded should-have-been president there (Yushenko, I believe) appears ready to renig on the 1956 treaty with Japan to return to them the four Kuril islands seized immediately after World War II.
Anyone that thinks George Bush is Hitler reincarnate should try living under Putin. HIS choice (Putin's, not Bush) for the Ukrainian president is an ex-mobster with two convictions for armed robbery.
I do believe it's time to unleash and unyoke Japan. They have succeeded in global affairs like few other nations we have warred with. They are an honorable and industrious people and have been staunch allies. I can even forgive that little joke on the former President Bush where he ate some bad sushi (or something) and collapsed on the Japanese prime minister...right after puking on him. It has been said that vomit is the cement for all good diplomatic relations, but it's only been said by me and then only after a glass of wine.
Japan has been our bulwark against communist expansion in the Far East. They helped us immensely during Korea and Vietnam. They are standing firm against China, who after 2000 years is exploding on to the world stage and making the Pacific Ocean their own little pond, much like Japan did in the 1930's. Currently Japan is trying to outbid China for the construction of a trans-Siberian oil pipeline to fuel and energy-hungry Asia, and I hope they pull it off. When I say "unleash/unyoke" I mean "let" the Japanese amend their own constitution and field a military above and beyond their current SDF (Self Defense Force). The SDF already has one of the largest military budgets in the world and has recently sent its first "troops" overseas since 1945 to help us in Iraq.
We want and need these people on our side, free and unfettered. It won't help to wait until events come to a head with China because then we lose face and embarrass the Japanese with our predictable neediness. It needs to be done now to be viewed as magnanimous and generous, granting them the respect as equals they deserve.
The four Kuril islands in dispute are Etorofu, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, the last of which is uninhabited. The Kurils are gorgeous! The entire area is the equivalent of an untouched natural preserve, and reknowned as one of Asia's last undeveloped areas. They are now home to over 20,000 Russians who really, really need to go home. Russia is completely up in arms over the negotiations, which are being stalled, but they are also hurting from the seriously curtailed Japanese investment in their economy due to their stalling, and NO ONE can outlast the Japanese in negotiations. They are the most patient people in the world.
They are also still samurai with the hearts of warriors, and adversaries to be feared. If we cut them loose now they will keep the Pacific open to trade traffic for ALL nations, unlike the Chinese who are currently the largest source of pirating in the world (literal jump-on-board-your-ship, shoot-you, steal-your-stuff pirates! It happens all the time.) Bear in mind that we of the United States are the largest debtor nation in the world. Our treasury bills are funded in a huge way by the Chinese government. They have interfered covertly in U.S. presidential elections. They are buying real estate on both ends of the Panama Canal and have a bid in to refurbish and expand it. The own and operate the largest and busiest port in the world. They possess the largest operating submarine fleet, not including Russia who can't access their own port in the Black Sea. And they are the number one oppressor of Christian peoples in HISTORY.
And they're coming our way.
Let Japan go. MacArthur's dead. World War II is over. The samurai are needed once more; their vigilance, their honor and their courage. And we need allies while we get our financial and ethical house in order.

Movie Quote

This one is for my dear brother Scott. Scott, who went down to Amarillo to "take care" of my father and immediately got drunk, pressured dad for money, ran off and stayed strung out with some scumbag junkie cousin for 4 days.

The quote is actually a reference to "The Godfather, Part II":

"Hey Scott, you ready for that boat ride yet, Fredo?"

Movie Quote

Every once in a while I plan on putting down hilarious or otherwise awesome movie quotes, with dedications.
This one is dedicated to my brother Scott and my uncle Robert.

"Kaminski drank the brakes."

From "The Beast of War", about Russian soldiers fighting in the Afghans who become lost in their T-62 tank. Kaminski, a complete lush and idiot, makes a special intoxicating brew using brake fluid, the consumption of which strands and dooms the soldiers and their tank.

To My Aunt Norma on Thanksgiving

Dear Aunt (Ain't) Norma,
First of all, I want to wish you and yours the happiest of Thanksgivings. When it comes to things I am thankful for, one of the first things that come to mind is the very fact that I have a family.
But mostly this letter is about your brother Robert.
Norma, I salute your steadfast loyalty and uncritical acceptance of Robert, recognizing such devotion as a character trait with strong Christian roots. By your unwavering support you provide an environment where a man can change his ways and find acceptance in the eyes of God and man, perhaps even accomplishing a change of heart and soul that will one day guide such a man into the folds of heaven. And while this remains a possibility I have yet to see the fruits of this or such a reward to your committment to Robert as a man and as a member of this family.
I have said before that when I hear your voice I hear the echo of my mother. I hope you understand to even a small degree that incredible closeness that she and I shared, which makes it doubly hard (as it was with her) to offer the slightest disappointment. But I too have my Christian principles, poor as they may be, and in accordance with your words to me on this subject several months ago, I am indeed handling this matter in a Christian manner and to the best of my ability.
Before going any further let me say to you that I am NOT above the discipline that I advocate. I have experienced it firsthand. At the time I found it heavy-handed, arrogant, legalistic and merciless but it was not unwarranted. I broke the rules, important ones, and the penalty was quite clear: I was to be put out of the congregation. In my case, as with Robert I am sure, there were mitigating circumstances, but there is a very important reason why that is of little importance and that reason is this: when the rules that bind us together (as a Christian family or simply an earthly family) are transgressed there comes a point where the comfort of the guilty is outweighed and superceded by the survival and unity of those offended.
In Robert's case he is undeniably guilty and this has been known for a long time. On our side as a family we are now faced with a threat to our integrity as a family.
There is a very short list of "crimes" in the Christian church that simply cannot be tolerated because of the dangers to the other members of Christ's family. One is sexual sin (mine was smoking pot, which is not on the short list - I call that my mitigating circumstance - but was damaging to others because it affected and offended my first wife, Kim, so dramatically). Another is blasphemy. Yet another is rejection of the doctrine of Christ, that is to say, the guilty party just doesn't believe in Jesus anymore. But the one at issue here is, in my mind, even worse because it is a direct attack on the rest of the family, Christian or otherwise. That is the sin of division. When a man or woman is guilty of trying to divide the family and set one member against another, no one in their right mind would argue that such a person is a threat to our unity and must be dealt with instantly.
All that being said, is there now any doubt that Robert is dividing this family, setting one against the other? Whether he does so out of spite or malice or because he honestly believes himself to be "in the right" and "much maligned" is irrevelevant: the sanctity and integrity of the family is paramount, and for good reason. If we as a family are whole and undivided we can resolve any problems and face any challenge. If we are divided we are crippled and even the smallest disruption could sink our familial ship. There is never, ever any good reason to divide the family and cause a schism as he is doing now. It is inexcusable, and if I ever needed any confirmation that I'm doing the right thing then I consider this to be it. What he has done has more than merited my responses. What he's doing now proves me right and is tantamount to burning his only bridge back into our little fold.
But, out of respect to you, let's assume that he actually thinks he's being picked on and abused without cause or reason. He's wrong, and here's why (this is a SHORT list of offenses that I've endured from this man):
* He introduced himself to my wife by groping her while drunk on the dock.
* He has slandered my name to everyone in the Ozarks that will listen, calling me (Scott is a witness) a "punk" and a "little shit" and that I treated him unfairly.
* He has destroyed through ineptitude or sabotage, accidentally or deliberately, a very long list of valuable items, including the dock, the jet ski ramp, the white minivan (which has the only wheelchair lift my father could use), the red Chevy truck, an oxy-acetyline welding unit, 2 wire feed welding units, uncounted numbers of hand tools rusting in the rain, and worst of all the most valuable 17 acres in our entire neck of the Ozarks (what was once beautiful land is now covered with burning garbage, junk, old tires and 55 gallon drums of toxic waste).
* He has threatened me on several occasions, reminding me that certain items of questionable origin (motor homes, trailers, trucks and said barrels of waste ) could "get me in trouble with the law", when he himself is responsible for bringing these items onto the family's land. My father may have instructed him to do some of these things, but only a fool would have done it and Robert is sly but no fool.
* He has stolen or allowed to be stolen more items than I can count, including: two jet skis, a double jet ski trailer, a 12 gauge shotgun, 2 walkie talkies, two chain saws, hand tools, power tools, a television set, a VCR, a complete dremel set w/ bits, my brother's concrete finishing tools and even cash money that should have been returned to my father after purchases. Not to mention that when he was still living in our house I confiscated a one ounce gold Krugerand from his nightstand that had made its way from my father's collection.
* He lived in our house with Lori and I immediately after our marriage and did everything but flat out refuse to leave. He never paid rent, never helped with the bills and never said thank you.
* When forced to leave the 17 acres the last time he repeatedly broke in to the trailer and stole things to support his drinking.
* He drilled holes in the electric meters allowing electricity to be stolen from the power company. Again, this may have been at my father's request, but if JR Warren told me to rob a bank I would tell him to take a flying leap.
* He has littered trash, beer cans and vodka bottles from one end of my property to the other.
* And he has never once thanked me or repaid me for several cash advances or letting him stay on my land.

Norma, let it be said once and for all that I have done more for this man than you and Becky combined, and he hates me for it. I have fed, clothed, housed and employed him and otherwise put up with his hateful behavior for YEARS now, and his character has always been consistently vile and reproachful. When confronted with his behavior he feigns injury and solicits pity. When finally brought to task and made to answer for what he's done he sets one family member against another with wild lies and exaggerations of mistreatment. I have never met anyone of such deplorable character and I have been more than patient in my dealings with him. That patience is now expired. He is banished forever from our lands and our lives and no one with the name of Warren wants to ever see him here again. If he shows up, breaks in or violates my wishes or the law in any way I will have him instantly arrested and prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law. You must understand that your support of him now goes beyond family loyalty. He is hurting and has hurt those you claim to also love. You are enabling this behavior. I will no longer do so.

Again, I wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving (and I mean that, oddly) and Robert still goes out to the world with my love and my best wishes. I do hope he gets his life in order and achieves a change of heart and spirit, because drinking is not his problem.

His problem is that he is evil.

Kindly and sorrowfully,
Spencer Daily Warren

For Todd

November 14, 2004
Mr. Todd Henry,
I keep to myself most times so I was unaware of your loss. Let me first extend my most heartfelt condolences and my best wishes for your speedy return to the world of the living.
It is forward of me to write you this way, so I apologize in advance. I do so only because I would have literally given my right arm if during my time of loss someone had told me what I’m about to tell you. The wisdom I’m about to share is that precious. I call it the Curse, the Eagle and the Bear.
In this time of darkness I at least know that you have good friends around you. Your people are known to me and I couldn’t recommend any better. The one good friend that was with me when I lost my first wife imparted some rough wisdom of his own once upon a time. We sat at a table over lunch, mine untouched, and I had been months in the black throes of depression. Finally he looked at me and said, "You know what you should do?" I muttered, "What?" And suddenly he yelled, "ANYTHING!". It was good advice and I never forgot it. So the first pearl of wisdom is to stay busy. In the last five years I have painted, learned to sail, started an aquarium, bred dogs, truly learned to fish, studied calligraphy, taken up martial arts including sword fighting, learned to weld, read about a thousand books and most recently (among many others) have studied stone masonry. It takes little money – I picked the stones off the side of the highway and bought mortar for $3 a bag – and it’s good productive exercise that is richly satisfying. Do something, anything.
But more importantly than just busy time, because I likewise felt and succumbed to the temptation to medicate myself into numbness, is to stay busy on yourself. It’s what she would have wanted and you owe it to Chris to both survive and flourish. There is no escape from what you’re feeling and the consequences of your loss, accept that right now. You can run and try to hide but it follows like your shadow and MUST be confronted. Embrace it. Cry every tear and fully experience every emotional state, and the sooner the better. Anything left unsaid, undone and unfelt will poison your entire soul. Read every old letter over and over, study every picture until your eyes hurt, talk about her until you’re hoarse. Get it all out and make no apologies for it. I personally used to beat my mattress and pillows with a tennis racket and wander back to every single place my wife and I frequented. It helps, and I cannot stress enough that your system needs to be purged. This is not forgetting or disrespecting, this is survival. Do it. If you don’t you will be stuck in this horrible hole for years, perhaps decades, perhaps forever. The only way out is through.
First, the bear. You will be tempted to hibernate and go into a depressed semi-state of existence. This is dangerous and if you do it have some guidelines and someone to look after you. When I did it I came dangerously close to passive suicide because no one was there. I don’t recommend this walking death to anyone but if you do it then have some supervision. Your body and mind in the process of healing may make you do it anyway, and this is the pearl of wisdom of the bear: the only cure is exercise. Depression is a physiological state. Your heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, lethargy sets in, sleep time increases dramatically and energy levels drop to almost nothing. When you get to this point you must be shaken out of it. If your friends truly care for you they will get your body moving, jump-start you so to speak, and get you out doing things that require actual physical effort. If they love you they should beat you savagely. I say this only partly tongue in cheek because your self-preservation systems have shut down and you need to be reminded to live again. Danger does this, and so does adrenaline. Use this and wake up. There is no period of rest and you have not earned the right to lay down. Left to itself you are guaranteed ONE YEAR of this depressed state, at minimum. Rigorous exercise can cut this down to a month. You’re in your mid-thirties as I am and neither of us can afford a year to blow on self-pity and apathy. This is how the bear awakes and recovers from hibernation; he hunts, he kills, he lives.
Second, the eagle. When a bald eagle suffers serious illness or injury or loses a mate (they mate for life, as you probably know) he performs something close to a ritual. He will fly to the highest, most inaccessible nesting place in the mountains or forests he can find. There he will make a place for himself, safe from enemies, and systematically pluck every feather from his body that he can reach with beak or talons. Unprotected and naked he is offering himself to the universe (or God, if you prefer as I do) and the elements have their way with him. Like the bear, he is faced with the choice of either getting up off his ass and living again or dying right there in those rocks, and invariably he decides to live. The decision to die is the decision to do nothing, or worse, not to decide; that is truly death. And very soon, quicker than you would think, he is reborn with new feathers and a new gleam in his eye and returns to the land of the living. He may even find a new mate and even if he does not he at least lives again. This pearl of wisdom says two things: 1.) that you honor the dead by ritually and metaphorically killing yourself (true suicide is the worst disgrace a man could possibly offer to a lost love) and then being reborn, and 2.) that there is no going back, ever. You must go forward and there will be a new (and better) you, a sum of the wisdom and love and memories of who you were and who you were with as well as the new Todd Henry who has survived the unsurvivable. Be the eagle. Go, make your place, destroy the old, be reborn into the new.
Lastly, the curse. We are all born under the curse that rests upon the Earth and every one of it’s inhabitants. It must be paid. Again, there is no escaping this and men have tried for thousands of years. They have all failed and always will. Only death (not ritual but actual) will satisfy the curse. Chris has done this. She is gone, yes, but she is also free. She has paid her dues and is square with the house again. For her, the curse is lifted. Mourn her, but also envy her because she has established equity and balance with the universe and will never have to pay again.
Remember that there is no such thing as time. Every moment is encapsulated for eternity. She is always with you and you'll never be alone. Everything that has happened and will happen quite simply is. Remember this in the dark watches of the night because Chris had a life full of beautiful, precious moments and she gave them to you. They are yours forever and no one can take them from you. I know you will keep them well, and honorably.
Be at peace, my friend. And my most sincere apologies for not knowing about and attending the services for your beloved wife.
Truly,
Spencer Daily Warren

To Save

This is an example of the fundamental break I have taken from baptoid mentality, because they (the bapstards) would never, EVER praise someone that they didn't believe to be firmly in their theological camp.
The subject of this email is Kelly Wayne Warren, and the theme is "credit where credit is due".
I am following my own path, and when I say "my own" I of course mean that while it may be irregular it is no less ordained of God than the most important baptisk ministry.
Part of that path has been to preserve, to SAVE, some of the good things that have been handed down to us (JR's children) by way of his labors and efforts. In this I have enjoyed moderate, although hard-won, success.
Kelly has made that success much easier.
He has thrown in his chips with me (and the path) by taking over my father's place and the 17 acres of beautiful Ozark land it lies on. This means that the squatters must go and the junk must be hauled off, an easier task to say than to do. But Kelly has helped to do it. Not perfect help, I'll grant you, but sincere help.
Because of this, because of his efforts to evict the squatters and preserve what has been given to us, at personal expense to himself and while showing great patience and endurance during the process of the same, I am dedicating this short blog to Kelly.
Thank you, my brother.
Take your place with Rocky as one who has earned his laurels.
Love,
Spencer

An International Jewish Holiday

Today is a great day. Millions of freedom-loving people should be partying in the streets. Banners should be hung, confetti should be thrown and wives should do for their husbands that one, special thing that they only do on special occassions (YOU know what I mean!).
Why?
Because Yasser "Kill the Jews" Arafat is dead, and the world is a safer place.
For the United States, this is an unprecedented victory in the war on terror, we're just too stupid and near-sighted to realize it.
For Israel, it reminds me of one of the oldest Jewish jokes in the 20th century.

"There's a prophecy that Yasser Arafat will die on a Jewish national holiday."
"Really. Why?"
"Because whatever day that sonuvabitch dies on will BE a Jewish national holiday."

For myself, I have a new twist on an old gentile joke to celebrate.

"When I die I want to go peacefully in my bed, like Yasser Arafat. Not screaming in tortued agony like the thousands of innocent Jews he sent to an early, undeserved grave."

In a word, Yasser Arafat and anyone who whines over that pile of shit can kiss my red, white and blue/Jew-loving ass. This is the man who put the "uck" in "you suck". This is the only man in history to address the United Nations with a loaded pistol on his belt. The fact that he received the Nobel Peace Prize proves that such an august award is actually the Gotohell Piece of Shit Prize. If I could hock a loogie from here to Egypt I would spit on this bastard's grave.

I don't mean to be insensitive to Palestinians (the hell I don't); I guess we all need our heroes. Mine are Hitler, Mussoline, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Aedi Amein, Jeffery Dahlmer, Ted Bundy and Barbara Streisand...just to name a few. I honestly wish the pukehead was still alive today so that he could die all over again just so I could relish the moment. And next time let's throw in a few boils and some rectal bleeding just for good measure.

Seriously, folks, I really disliked the guy. I considered his virulent and violent anti-Semitism to be a personal attack on my family and God Himself. If he could be MORE dead then I couldn't be MORE pleased. I hope they reserved a very special place in hell for him - next to the furnace maybe - and please0hplease let there be no such thing as reincarnation. But if there was and if there's any justice in the universe I'm sure Yasser would come back as Jerry Seinfeld's pet pot-bellied pig....the one that died from boils and rectal bleeding.

As a footnote, let's stay in perspective here and I'll try to be serious. I'll do so by commemorating at least a few (a VERY few) of this pig's victims:

The murdered atheletes at the 1972 Olympics
The 21 children murdered at Ma'alot
All the victims of the so called "Intifada"...(we love you/we remember you)


The beginning: from September 2000 to 7 October 2001.
List of names by date:1 Sept 27, 2000 - Sgt. David Biri, 19, of Jerusalem, was fatally wounded in a bombing near Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.
2 Sept 29, 2000 - Border Police Supt. Yossi Tabaja, 27, of Ramle was shot to death by his Palestinian counterpart on a joint patrol near Kalkilya.
3 Oct 1, 2000 - Border Police Cpl. Yosef Madhat, 19, of Beit Jann, died of gunshot wounds sustained in a gun battle with Palestinians at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
4, 5 Oct 2, 2000 - Wichlav Zalsevsky, 24, of Ashdod, was shot in the head in the village of Masha on the trans-Samaria highway. Sgt. Max Hazan, 20, of Dimona, died of gunshot injuries sustained near Beit Sahur.
6 Oct 8, 2000 - The bullet-riddled body of Hillel Lieberman, 36, of Elon Moreh was found at the southern entrance to Nablus.
7, 8 Oct 12, 2000 - First Cpl. Yosef Avrahami and First Sgt. Vadim Novesche, 33, two reserve IDF soldiers, were lynched by a Palestinian mob at the police building in Ramallah.
9 Oct 19, 2000 - Rabbi Binyamin Herling, 64, of Kedumim, was killed when Fatah members and Palestinian security forces opened fire on a group of Israeli men, women, and children on a trip at Mount Ebal near Nablus.
10 Oct 28, 2000 - The body of Marik Gavrilov, 25, of Bnei Aysh was found inside his burned-out car, between the village of Bitunia and Ramallah.
11 Oct 30, 2000 - Eish-Kodesh Gilmor, 25, of Mevo Modi'in, was shot and killed while on duty as a security guard at the National Insurance Institute's East Jerusalem branch. Another guard was injured. Amos Machlouf, 30, of the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem, was found murdered in a ravine near Beit Jala.
12, 13, 14 Nov 1, 2000 - Lt. David-Hen Cohen, 21, of Karmiel and Sgt. Shlomo Adshina, 20, of Kibbutz Ze'elim were killed in a shooting incident in the Al-Hader area, near Bethlehem. Maj. (res.) Amir Zohar, 34, of Jerusalem was killed in the Nahal Elisha settlement in the Jordan Valley while on active reserve duty.
15, 16 Nov 2, 2000 - Ayelet Shahar Levy, 28, and Hanan Levy, 33, were killed in a car bomb explosion near the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. 10 people were injured in the blast. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
17 Nov 8, 2000 - Noa Dahan, 25, of Moshav Mivtahim in the south, was shot to death while driving to her job at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza.
18 Nov 10, 2000 - Sgt. Shahar Vekret, 20, of Lod was fatally shot by a Palestinian sniper near Rachel's Tomb at the entrance to Bethlehem.
19 Nov 11, 2000 - Sgt. 1st Class Avner Shalom, 28, of Eilat, was killed in a shooting attack at the Gush Katif junction in the Gaza Strip.
20, 21, 22, 23 Nov 13, 2000 - Sarah Leisha, 42, of Neveh Tzuf was killed by gunfire from a passing car while travelling near Ofra, north of Ramallah. Cpl. Elad Wallenstein, 18, of Ashkelon, and Cpl. Amit Zanna, 19, of Netanya were killed by gunfire from a car passing the military bus carrying them near Ofra. Gabi Zaghouri, 36, of Netivot was killed by gunfire directed at the truck he was driving near the Kissufim junction in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
24, 25 Nov 18, 2000 - St.-Sgt. Baruch (Snir) Flum, 21, of Tel-Aviv was shot and killed by a senior Palestinian Preventive Security Service officer who infiltrated the Kfar Darom greenhouses in the Gaza Strip. St.-Sgt. Sharon Shitoubi, 21, of Ramle, wounded in the Palestinan shooting attack in Kfar Darom, died of his wounds on Nov 20.
26, 27 Nov 20, 2000 - Miriam Amitai, 35, and Gavriel Biton, 34, both of Kfar Darom, were killed when a roadside bomb exploded alongside a bus carrying children from Kfar Darom to school in Gush Katif. Nine others, including 5 children, were injured.
28 Nov 21, 2000 - Itamar Yefet, 18, of Netzer Hazani died from a gunshot wound to the head by Palestinian sniper fire at the Gush Katif junction.
29, 30 Nov 22, 2000 - Shoshana Reis, 21, of Hadera, and Meir Bahrame, 35, of Givat Olga, were killed, and 60 wounded when a powerful car bomb was denotated alongside a passing bus on Hadera's main street, when the area was packed with shoppers and people driving home from work. 60 were wounded in the blast.
31, 32 Nov 23, 2000 - Lt. Edward Matchnik, 21, of Beersheba, was killed in an explosion at the District Coordination Office near Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip. (The joint DCOs were established at the borders of Palestinian-ruled areas under the interim peace accords and were responsible for coordinating security and humanitarian cooperation.) Sgt. Samar Hussein, 19, of Hurfeish, was killed when Palestinian snipers opened fire at soldiers patrolling the border fence near the Erez crossing.
33, 34 Nov 24, 2000 - Maj. Sharon Arameh, 25, of Ashkelon was killed by Palestinian sniper fire in fighting near Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip. Ariel Jeraffi, 40, of Petah Tikva, a civilian employed by the IDF, was killed by Palestinian fire as he travelled near Otzarin in the West Bank.
35, 36, 37 Dec 8, 2000 - Rina Didovsky, 39, a Beit Hagai school teacher on her way to work, and Eliyahu Ben-Ami, 41, of Otniel, the driver of the van, were killed when a car full of gunmen opened fire on the van near Kiryat Arba. Sgt. Tal Gordon, 19, was killed when gunmen in a passing car opened fire on an Egged bus traveling south from Tiberias to Jerusalem on the Jericho bypass road.
38 Dec 21, 2000 - Eliahu Cohen, 29, of Modi'in was shot and killed tonight by Palestinian terrorists waiting in ambush on the road between Givat Ze'ev and Beit Horon.
39, 40 Dec 28, 2000 - Capt. Gad Marasha, 30, of Kiryat Arba and Border Police Sgt.-Maj. Yonatan Vermullen, 29, of Ben-Shemen, were killed when called to dismantle a road-side bomb near the Sufa crossing in the Gaza Strip. The bomb was dismantled, but another bomb exploded, killing both and injuring two other soldiers. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
41, 42 Dec 31, 2000 - Binyamin Zeev Kahane, the son of the late right-wing leader Meir Kahane, and his wife, Talia, were killed when Palestinian snipers opened fire while they were driving on the Ramallah bypass road. Five of their children, aged two months to 10 years, were injured.
43 Jan 14, 2001 - The bullet-ridden body of Ron Tzalah, 32, of Kfar Yam in Gush Katif, apparently killed on Sunday night (Jan 14), was found the following morning near the Kfar Yam hothouses.
44 Jan 17, 2001 - Ofir Rahum, 16, of Ashkelon, traveled to Jerusalem to meet a young woman with whom he had conducted a relationship over the Internet. She then drove him toward Ramallah. At a prearranged location, another vehicle drove up and three Palestinian gunmen inside shot Rahum more than 15 times. One terrorist drove off with Rahum's body and dumped it, while the others fled in the second vehicle.
45, 46 Jan 23, 2001 - Motti Dayan, 27, and Etgar Zeituny, 34, cousins from Tel Aviv, were abducted from a restaurant in Tulkarem by masked Palestinian gunmen and executed.
47 Jan 25, 2001 - Akiva Pashkos, 45, of Jerusalem, was shot dead in a terror attack near the Atarot industrial zone north of Jerusalem.
48 Jan 29, 2001 - Arye Hershkowitz, 55, of Ofra, was killed by shots fired from a passing car near the Rama junction north of Jerusalem.
49, 50 Feb 1, 2001 - Dr. Shmuel Gillis, 42, of Karmei Tzur, was killed by Palestinian gunmen who fired at his car near the Aroub refugee camp on the Jerusalem-Hebron highway. Lior Attiah, 23, of Afula was shot to death by terrorists while traveling near Jenin.
51 Feb 5, 2001 - St.-Sgt. Rujayah Salameh, 23, was killed by sniper fire near Rafah.
52 Feb 11, 2001 - Tzachi Sasson, 35, of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim in Gush Etzion, was shot and killed by Palestinian gunmen as he drove home from Jerusalem.
53-60 Feb 14, 2001 - Simcha Shitrit, 30, of Rishon Lezion; Staff-Sgt. Ofir Magidish, 20, of Kiryat Malachi;Sgt. David Iluz, 21, of Kiryat Malachi;Sgt. Julie Weiner, 21, of Jerusalem; Sgt. Rachel Levy, 19, of Ashkelon;Sgt. Kochava Polanski, 19, of Ashkelon;Cpl. Alexander Manevich, 18, of Ashkelon;and Cpl. Yasmin Karisi, 18, of Ashkelonwere killed when a bus driven by a Palestinian terrorist plowed into a group of soldiers and civilians waiting at a bus stop near Holon, south of Tel-Aviv. In addition, 25 people were injured in the attack.
61 Feb 26, 2001 - The body of Mordechai Shefer, 55, of Kfar Sava, was found in an olive grove near Moshav Hagor. An autopsy revealed that he was murdered. Investigators suspect terrorist motives.
62 Mar 1, 2001 - Claude Knap, 29, of Tiberias was killed and 9 people injured when a terrorist detonated a bomb in a Tel Aviv to Tiberias service taxi at the Mei Ami junction in Wadi Ara.
63, 64, 65 Mar 4, 2001 - Naftali Dean, 85, of Tel Mond; his niece, Shlomit Ziv, 58, of Netanya; and Yevgenya Malchin, 70, of Netanya were killed in a suicide bombing in downtown Netanya; 60 people were injured. The Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
66 Mar 19, 2001 - Baruch Cohen, 59, of Efrat, was killed by shots fired at his car while driving to work in Jerusalem from his home in the Gush Etzion area. After being hit by bullets, he lost control of the car and collided with an oncoming truck.
67 Mar 26, 2001 - Shalhevet Pass, age 10 months, was killed by sniper fire at the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in Hebron.
68, 69 Mar 28, 2001 - Eliran Rosenberg-Zayat, 15, of Givat Shmuel and Naftali Lanzkorn, 13, of Petah Tikva were killed in a suicide bombing at the Mifgash Hashalom ("peace stop") gas station several hundred meters from an IDF roadblock near the entrance to Kalkilya, east of Kfar Saba. Four people were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
70 Apr 1, 2001 - Staff Sgt. Ya'akov Krenschel, 23, of Nahariya, an IDF reserve soldier, was killed in a firefight between army and Palestinian forces southeast of Nablus.
71 Apr 1, 2001 - Dina Guetta, 42, of Haifa, was stabbed to death on Ha'atzmaut Street. Her murder was the initiation rite into a terrorist cell apprehended in July.
72 Apr 2, 2001 - Sgt. Danny Darai, 20, of Arad, was killed by a Palestinian sniper after completing guard duty at Rachel's Tomb at the entrance to Bethlehem.
73 Apr 21, 2001 - The mutilated body of Stanislav Sandomirsky, 38, of Beit Shemesh, was found in the trunk of his car near a village north of Ramallah late last night. Terrorist motives are suspected.
74 Apr 22, 2001 - Dr. Mario Goldin, 53, of Kfar Sava, was killed when a terrorist detonated a powerful bomb he was carrying near a group of people waiting at a bus stop on the corner of Weizman and Tchernichovsky streets. About 60 people were injured in the blast. Hamas claimed responsibility.
75 Apr 28, 2001 - Sgt. Shlomo Elmakias, 20, of Netanya, was killed and four women passengers wounded in a drive-by terrorist shooting attack on the Wadi Ara highway in the Galilee.
76 Apr 28, 2001 - Simcha Ron, 60, of Nahariya, was found stabbed to death in Kfar Ba'aneh, near Carmiel in the Galilee. The terrorists responsible for the attack were apprehended in July.
77 May 1, 2001 - Assaf Hershkowitz, 30, of Ofra, was killed when his vehicle was fired upon and overturned at a junction between Ofra and Beit El.
78 May 8, 2001 - Arnaldo Agranionic, 48, was murdered by terrorists as he guarded the Binyamin Farm, a lonely outpost where he lived, on an isolated hilltop east of Itamar in Samaria.
79 - Yossi Ish-Ran, 14, and Kobi Mandell, 14, both of Tekoa, were found stoned to death in a cave about 200 meters from the small community south of Jerusalem where they lived.
80, 81 May 10, 2001 - Constantin Straturula, 52, and Virgil Martinesc, 29, two Romanian citizens employed by an Israeli contractor, were killed in a bomb attack while repairing a vandalized fence at the Kissufim Crossing into the Gaza District.
82 May 15, 2001 - Idit Mizrahi, 20, of Rimonim, was fatally shot in a terrorist ambush as she drove with her father and brother on the Alon Highway to attend a family wedding. Terrorists fired 30 bullets, 19 of which hit the family's car.
83-87 May 18, 2001 - Tirza Polonsky, 66, of Moshav Kfar Haim; Miriam Waxman, 51, of Hadera; David Yarkoni, 53, of Netanya; Yulia Tratiakova, 21, of Netanya; and Vladislav Sorokin, 34, of Netanya were killed in a suicide bombing at Hasharon Mall in the seaside city of Netanya, in which over 100 were wounded. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
88 May 18, 2001 - Lt. Yair Nebenzahl, 22, of Neve Tzuf (Halamish), was killed and his mother seriously wounded, in a Palestinian roadside ambush north of Jerusalem.
89 May 23, 2001 - Asher Iluz, 33, of Modi'in was killed outside Ariel en route to supervise a road paving in the area, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire in an ambush.
90 May 25, 2001 - The burnt body of Yosef Alfasi, 50, of Rishon Letzion, was discovered near the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
91 May 29, 2001 - Gilad Zar, 41, of Itamar, was shot dead in a terrorist ambush while driving in the West Bank between Kedumim and Yizhar. The Fatah Tanzim claimed responsibility for the attack.
92, 93 May 29, 2001 - Sarah Blaustein, 53, and Esther Alvan, 20, of Efrat, were killed in a drive-by shooting near Neve Daniel in the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem. The Fatah Tanzim claimed responsibility for the attack.
94 May 31, 2001 - Zvi Shelef, 63, of Mevo Dotan, was killed in a drive-by shooting attack in northern Samaria north of Tulkarem. He was shot in the head and died en route to hospital.
94-115 June 1, 2001 - Marina Berkovizki, 17, of Tel Aviv;Roman Dezanshvili, 21, of Bat Yam; Ilya Gutman, 19, of Bat Yam;Anya Kazachkov, 16, of Holon;Katherine Kastaniyada-Talkir, 15, of Ramat Gan;Aleksei Lupalu, 16, of the Ukraine;Mariana Medvedenko, 16, of Tel Aviv;Irina Nepomneschi, 16, of Bat Yam;Yelena Nelimov, 18, of Tel Aviv;Yulia Nelimov, 16, of Tel Aviv;Raisa Nimrovsky, 15, of Netanya; Pvt. Diez (Dani) Normanov, 21, of Tel Aviv;Simona Rodin, 18, of Holon;Ori Shahar, 32, of Ramat Gan;Liana Sakiyan, 16, of Tel Aviv;Maria Tagilchev, 14, of Netanya;and Irena Usdachi, 18, of Holon were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself outside a disco near Tel Aviv's Dolphinarium along the seafront promenade just before midnight on Friday. Sergei Pancheskov, 20, of the Ukraine; Yael-Yulia Sklianik, 15, of Holon;Jan Bloom, 25, of Ramat Gan;Yevgenia Dorfman, 15, of Bat Yamdied subsequently from their injuries. 120 people were wounded in the bombing.
116 June 11, 2001 - Yehuda Shoham, aged 5 months, of Shilo, died of injuries incurred in a fatal stoning on June 5. He was critically injured by a rock thrown at the family's car near Shilo in Samaria.
117 June 12, 2001 - Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis, 34, a Greek Orthodox monk from the St. George Monastery in Wadi Kelt in the Judean desert, was shot and killed while driving on the Jerusalem-Ma'ale Adumim road.
118 June 14, 2001 - Lt.Col. Yehuda Edri, 45, of Ma'ale Adumim was killed by a Palestinian informant for Israeli intelligence in a shooting attack on the Bethlehem bypass tunnel road connecting the Gush Etzion bloc with Jerusalem. One of his security guards was seriously injured.
119, 120 June 18, 2001 - Dan Yehuda, 35, of Homesh was killed in a drive-by shooting attack between Homesh and Shavei Shomron, near Nablus. Alex Briskin, 17, was moderately injured. Doron Zisserman, 38, of Einav, was shot and killed in his car by sniper fire near the entrance to Einav, east of Tulkarem. Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
121 June 20, 2001 - Ilya Krivitz, 62, of Homesh in Samaria was shot and killed at close range in an ambush late Wednesday afternoon in the nearby Palestinian town of Silat a-Dahar.
122, 123 June 22, 2001 - Sgt. Aviv Iszak, 19, of Kfar Saba, and Sgt. Ofir Kit, 19, of Jerusalem, were killed in a suicide bombing near Dugit in the Gaza Strip as a jeep with yellow Israeli license plates, supposedly stuck in the sand, blew up as they approached.
124 June 28, 2001 - Ekaterina (Katya) Weintraub, 27, of Ganim in northern Samaria was killed and another woman injured late Thursday afternoon by shots fired at the two-car convoy on the Jenin bypass road.
125 July 2, 2001 - Aharon Obadyan, 41, of Zichron Ya'akov was shot and killed near Baka a-Sharkia, north of the West Bank city of Tulkarem and close to the 1967 Green Line border, after shopping at the local market.
126 July 2, 2001 - The body of Yair Har Sinai, 51, of Susiya in the Hebron hills, missing since Monday (July 2) was found early Tuesday morning shot in the head and chest.
127 July 4, 2001 - Eliahu Na'aman, 32, of Petah Tikva, was shot at point-blank range just inside the Green Line at Sueika, near Tulkarem.
128 July 9, 2001 - Capt. Shai Shalom Cohen, 22, of Pardes Hanna, was killed and another soldier was wounded when an explosive charge detonated beneath their jeep after leaving the Aduraim IDF base south of Hebron.
129 July 13, 2001 - Yehezkel (Hezi) Mualem, 49, father of four from Kiryat Arba, was shot and killed between Kiryat Arba and Hebron while protesting a shooting attack in the area the previous day.
130 July 14, 2001 - David Cohen, 28, of Betar Illit, died of injuries sustained in a drive-by shooting in Kiryat Arba on July 12.
131, 132 July 16, 2001 - Cpl. Hanit Arami, 19, and St.Sgt. Avi Ben Harush, 20, both of Zichron Yaakov, were killed and 11 wounded - 3 seriously - when a bomb exploded in a suicide terrorist attack at a bus stop near the train station in Binyamina, halfway between Netanya and Haifa, at about 19:30 Monday evening. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
133 July 24, 2001 - The body of Yuri Gushchin, 18, of Jerusalem, brutally murdered, bearing stab and gunfire wounds, was found in Ramallah.
134 July 26, 2001 - Ronen Landau, 17, of Givat Ze'ev, was shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists while returning home from Jerusalem with his father.
135 Aug 5, 2001 - Tehiya Bloomberg, 40, of Karnei Shomron, mother of five and 5 months pregnant, was killed when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the family vehicle between Alfei Menashe and Karnei Shomron. Three people were seriously wounded, including her husband, Shimon, and daughter, Tzippi, 14.
136 Aug 6, 2001 - Yitzhak Snir, 51, of Ra'anana, an Israeli diamond merchant, was shot dead in Amman, in the yard of the building where he kept a flat. His body was found the following morning.
137 Aug 7, 2001 - Wael Ghanem, 32, an Arab Israeli resident of Taibeh, was shot and killed by Palestinian assailants on the road near Kalkilya. Police believe he was murdered because of suspected collaboration with Israeli authorities.
138 Zohar Shurgi, 40, of Moshav Yafit in the Jordan Valley, was shot and killed by terrorists while driving home at night on the Trans-Samaria Highway.
138-152 Aug 9, 2001 - Giora Balash, 60, of Brazil;Zvika Golombek, 26, of Carmiel;Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, of the U.S.;Tehila Maoz, 18, of Jerusalem;Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, of Jerusalem; Michal Raziel, 16, of Jerusalem; Malka Roth, 15, of Jerusalem; Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, of Neria;Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, of Neria;Ra'aya Schijveschuurder, 14, of Neria;Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, of Neria;Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, of Neria;Lily Shimashvili, 33, of Jerusalem;Tamara Shimashvili, 8, of Jerusalem; and Yocheved Shoshan, 10, of Jerusalem were killed and about 130 injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria on the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
153 Aug 9, 2001 - Aliza Malka, 17, a boarding student at Kibbutz Merav, was killed by terrorists in a drive-by shooting at the entrance to the kibbutz in the Gilboa region, west of Beit She'an. Three teenage girls who were with her in the car were injured, one seriously.
154, 155, 156 Aug 25, 2001 - Maj. Gil Oz, 30, of Kfar Sava; St.-Sgt. Kobi Nir, 21, of Kfar Sava; and Sgt. Tzahi Grabli, 19 of Holon were killed and seven soldiers wounded when two Palestinian terrorists infiltrated an IDF base in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip at about 3:00 AM Saturday morning. The attackers, members of the PLO Fatah faction and of the Palestinian security forces, were killed by IDF soldiers. The Democratic Front claimed responsibility for the attack.
157, 158 Aug 25, 2001 - Sharon, 26, and Yaniv Ben-Shalom, 27, of Ofarim, were killed when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on their car as they were returning home on the Jerusalem-Modi'in on road Saturday night. Their children, aged one and two, were lightly wounded. Sharon's brother, Doron Sviri, 20, of Jerusalem was fatally wounded and died the following day.
159 Aug 26, 2001 - Dov Rosman, 58, of Netanya was killed in a shooting attack shortly before 17:00 on Sunday afternoon near the entrance to the village of Zaita, opposite Kibbutz Magal. Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
159 Aug 27, 2001 - Meir Lixenberg, 38, of Itamar, father of five, was shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists from a roadside ambush while traveling between the communities of Har Bracha and Itamar, south of Nablus.
160 Aug 29, 2001 - Oleg Sotnikov, 35, of Ashdod, a truck driver employed by Dor Energy, was killed in a terrorist shooting attack outside the Palestinian village of Kutchin, west of Nablus.
161 Aug 30, 2001 - Amos Tajouri, 60, of Modi'in, was shot in the head at point-blank range by a masked gunman in the Arab village of Na'alin, while dining at a restaurant owned by close friends.
162 Sept 6, 2001 - Lt. Erez Merhavi, 23, of Moshav Tarum was killed in an ambush shooting near Kibbutz Bahan, east of Hadera, while driving to a wedding. A female officer with him in the car was seriously injured. Fatah-Tanzim claimed responsibility for the attack.
163, 164 Sept 9, 2001 - Ya'akov Hatzav, 42, of Hamra in the Jordan Valley, thedriver, and Sima Franko, 24, of Beit She'an, a kindergarten teacher, were killed in a shooting attack 300 meters south of the Adam Junction in the Jordan Valley. A minibus transporting teachers to the regional school was attacked by Palestinian terrorists.
165, 166, 165 Sept 9, 2001 - Dr. Yigal Goldstein, 47, of Jerusalem; Morel Derfler, 45, of Mevasseret Zion; and Sgt. Daniel Yifrah, 19, of Jerusalem were killed and some 90 injured, most lightly, in a suicide bombing near the Nahariya train station in northern Israel.
168 Sept 11, 2001 - Border Policemen Sgt. Tzachi David, 19, of Tel-Aviv, and St.-Sgt. Andrei Zledkin, 26, of Carmiel, were killed just after midnight when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Ivtan Border Police base near Kibbutz Bachan in central Israel. A Fatah group claimed responsibility for the attack.
169 Sept 12, 2001 - Ruth Shua'i, 46, of Alfei Menashe, was traveling home around 19:30 PM when shots were fired from a passing vehicle near the village of Habla near Kalkilya. She sustained injuries to her head and stomach and died en route to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.
170 Sept 15, 2001 Weisshaus, 23, of Jerusalem, was fatally shot late Saturday night in a drive-by shooting on the Ramot-French Hill road in northern Jerusalem.
171 Sept 16, 2001 Sgt. David Gordukal, 23, of Upper Nazareth, was killed in the exchange of fire on Saturday night in the south of Ramallah, during which five senior Palestinian terrorists were arrested and a number of Palestinian positions and a Force 17 camp were attacked.
172> Sept 20, 2001Arit Amrani, 26, of Nokdim, was killed Thursday morning and her husband Shai was seriously wounded in a shooting attack near Tekoa, south of Bethlehem. The couple's three children who were traveling in the vehicle were not injured. Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
173 Sept 24, 2001 - Salit Sheetrit, 28, of Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu was killed by gunfire shortly after 6:30 near Shadmot Mehola on the Jordan Valley road. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
174, 175 Oct 2, 2001 - Liron Harpaz, 18, of Alei Sinai, and Assaf Yitzhaki, 20, of Lod, were killed when a Palestinian terrorist cell infiltrated the northern Gaza District community of Alei Sinai, opening fire on residents and hurling grenades into homes. 15 others were wounded in the attack.
176, 177, 178 Oct. 5 ,2001 - Tali Ben-Armon, 20, an off-duty woman soldier from Pardesia, Haim Ben-Ezra, 76, of Givat Hamoreh, and Sergei Freidin, 20, of Afula were killed when a Palestinian terrorist, dressed as an Israeli paratrooper, opened fire on Israeli civilians waiting at the central bus station in Afula. 13 other Israelis were wounded in the attack. Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
179 Oct 5, 2001 - Hananya Ben-Avraham, 45, of Elad was killed by Palestinian terrorists in a machine gun ambush near Avnei Hefetz in central Israel.
180 Oct 7, 2001 - Yair Mordechai, 43, of Kibbutz Sheluhot was killed when a Palestinian suicide terrorist detonated a large bomb strapped to his body near the entrance of the kibbutz in the Lower Galilee.
181 Oct 17, 2001 - Rehavam "Ghandi" Zeevi, 75, Minister of Tourism was killed when a PFLP terrorist(s) assassinated him in the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel in revenge for the killing of PFLP head Mustafa two months earlier by Israeli Defense Forces.

Red and Blue, My Ass

Black and blue is more like it, as in the losers of the latest presidential AND gubernatorial AND congressional elections are back to their old self-deceiving whining act. The liberal mindset (which seems unable to accept defeat and learn from it) is now seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress syndrome while simultaneously attempting to rationalize their defeat without admitting that A.) the majority of Americans do NOT agree with them and B.) they got their asses royally kicked.
What we're hearing from the news and entertainment media now are tales of people swarming the Canadian immigration web site because they can't bear to live in America anymore. We're also hearing about the ideological division between red and blue states which boils down to nothing more than an "I'm smart/right/and pretty" vs. "you suck d*ck for beer money" mentality. There's even been talk of dedicating specific reporters from the mainstream media to cover the "red" states as foreign correspondents.
Can everyone say "WAHHHHH!!!!"? Can I have an "Amen!" from the Midwest?
For as long as I've been eating Cheerios and saying goo-goo I've been hearing about "the coast this" and "the coast that". Well, let me tell you something, folks - I've been to the coast and it ain't all that great! Sheesh!!!
California, which is nothing more than New NEW Mexico in many respects, barely even speaks the language anymore. They've been the whore of the Arabs, the Japanese and now several third world countries south of the border. The best thing that ever happened to them was when Arnie Schwarzenkegger got elected and I don't even like the overstuffed steroids-popping imbecile (although I think his public service stand-up routines have been classic!). The basis for the entire Californian economy is smog and debauchery. You have to sell healthy white babies on the black market just to purchase overpriced real estate. This is the state that invented AIDS. When the Japanese bought the entire state during the eighties my first question was, "Did we get a good price for it?". The best moment Hollywood has produced was in the "Superman" movie when Lex Luthor executed a plan to drop California off into the Pacific Ocean. Hollywood's lowest moment was when the plan failed. The best tourist attraction in that cursed place is the San Andreas fault where once a year I make a pilgrimage to pray on the faultline. My mantra every year is "Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please."
The only thing I can say about Washington and Oregon is that any person or any place so closely associated with the birth of Starbuck's should be destroyed, period.
Now let's travel to the east in a fruitless search for knowledge and wisdom.
I have a special place in my heart for the east coast because I imported my Jewish wife from there and she is just THE BOMB! However, when she arrived inland she looked like she spent 28 hours riding coach on Chicken-Plucker Airlines. She was thin (it's the law out there for women, as it is out west) to the point of emaciation and she had at that point in her life spent more time in therapy than in public education. She was surrounded by friends who barely knew her and family that were only thinly related by blood...a fact they were vigorously contesting in court. She was an altogether lovely person trapped in an altogether unlovely place.
Additionally, everything I needed to know about environmental awareness I learned from my wife as she sold her house in New Jersey. EPA law requires that uranium mines be closed when radon levels reach twelve. The radon level in her house was over 30! But the realtor had a great solution. They took a section of pvc pipe, drilled a hole in the ceiling and pumped the radon out into the neighborhood for all good people to enjoy. Personally, I liked that little solution and have long considered that to be our farewell gift to New Jersey and it's fine sorta-gay ex-governor. Don't take that last comment as bigotry because I firmly believe that if you're going to sample the forbidden fruit, hey! at least go kosher.
Unlike California they don't invent new deadly diseases on the east coast - they import them for reverse engineering and then mass produce them for the rest of the country. On a trip to Florida years ago I stopped to offer a couple of bucks to two young panhandlers outside a McDonalds. My hand froze in mid-gift as I took in the open sores and pale pallor of the recipients. One of them said to me, "I won't bite you." to which I replied, "you promise?".
Since all the factories closed on the east they now only manufacture stress. Everyone runs top speed everywhere they go because they're all like country dogs in the city: if they simply walk they get bitten in the ass by other dogs and if they stand still they get screwed. My wife let her car registration lapse accidentally in Jersey once and was pulled over late at night. The chivalrous officer, in compliance with state law, IMPOUNDED HER CAR and left her STRANDED ON A DARK HIGHWAY. This in a state where serial killing is considered a spectator sport.
Ahh, yes - the east is a grand place gone horribly wrong. They have lost control of their state and local governments, of their purpose and their very lives. It is filled with people who live in a place where no one can afford to live, financially or emotionally, and these are the people who are bitter because the rest of the country doesn't want to elect one of these self-destructive masochists to the highest office.
No wonder they hate us: we're happy.

Oh, and one more thing. God bless the U.S. Marines and other allied armed forces who are as I write liberating the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Way to go, boys and girls; go get 'em! Tell them the same thing Rowdy Roddy Piper told the aliens in "They Live" -
"I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum....and I'm all out of bubble gum."

And happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps. We love you crazy bastards but you are proof positive that some members of the population simply MUST be segregated from the society at large.

The Goodness of Fire

Is there anything better on a cold night than a hot, popping fire? Not just the kind in a fireplace but even (or especially) a campfire. It's unique in every characteristic, so I suppose no two fires are alike just as no two snowflakes or people are alike, regardless of all this cloning nonsense. The way a fire pops and sparks, the way the flames curl around the logs, the way the embers glow in the darkness; all of these attributes of fire are one-and-only's.
Even the heat of a real fire is special, as any old man will confirm. It warms the very bones in a way that no other heat source can quite pull off. Everything hot heats the air, this is simple to understand, but some sources do more than that, their heat is "thicker" in some strange way. Just as a microwave cooks things from the inside out (did you know that tanning salons work on exactly the same principle?) so a nice fire cooks things from the outside in. And unlike other agents of warming such as an electric stove or propane furnace a real fire goes more than just skin-deep. The closest any of them come to the full-body warming of a real fire is a boiler furnace, I do believe, and that's just because of the water element that permeates the air around you and somehow sticks to you. This is in contrast to a natural gas furnace where the heat is dry and seems to just roll off your skin. I call it "cheap heat", although this refers to its warming quality and certainly not to its out-of-pocket expense. Even the smell of a good fire is wonderful. It's not a smell you mind having on your clothes or in your house, and it smells good on both the inside and outside of your home. My wife says that a fire is like a having a barbeque: when you have one everyone knows it and they're all jealous. I'll take a humble home with a great fireplace over a mansion with nothing but a furnace and ultra high gas bill anyday.
No, I think Kevin Costner said it best (for once) in "Dances With Wolves"...or was it "Ballet With Badgers"? I don't recall. He was sitting in a tee-pee, or maybe it was a wigwam. I don't know, I must be too tense. Circled around the fire, the presence of which in a packable mobile home of the prairies raises the American Indian to genius in my book, were other braves of the Sioux tribe and the leader, Chief Grey Water I think his name was. Costner comments, after hearing some wise words from the chief, "He reminds me that at his age a good fire is better than anything." And for once the prince of post-Wolves bad movies is right as rain. It makes me think of my own father who is already seeing snow on the ground in Amarillo, living in a trailer among both native and imported trailer trash and not being able to enjoy a simple fire. It reminds me of my ex-wife who had a house built to specifications and was a.) nice enough to ask me (her fiance' at the time) if we needed a fireplace and b.) dumb enough to have a propane fireplace installed. While her tragic error had nothing to do with the dissolution of our marriage I'm relatively certain that most courts do recognize such foolishness as sufficient grounds for divorce. All in all, such memories remind me of what we've lost as a people and as a civilization.
Have we lost the appreciation of a simple fire? Have we parted with the wisdom of its familiar warmth and contribution to the pleasure of our lives? Do people (American people, I have no doubt) truly make videotapes of a roaring fire in a festive fireplace and try to sell them, and does anyone actually BUY such a thing?
The presidential elections are now over and we shall continue along our erratic path, but I don't think for a moment it is the path of wisdom. We have become rich and spoiled, and as a wrote in an email to a Russian penpal not too long ago, modern Americans remind me of the Romans about 10 minutes before the Visigoths came pouring over the 7th wall. Anyone who doubts this reasoning would do well to consider the site of Mexico's most ancient and glorious pyramids, a stunning wonder for the eye to behold...except for the Wal-Mart just erected on the premises.
Think well on this, and give a thought also to advice I offered to most people I know: buy gold. When I offered that counsel gold was around $350 per ounce. Now it stands at $435 as the dollar drops and international investors express their displeasure at our choice of president. As for me, I'm going to sit by my fire and refrain from kicking on the natural gas furnace as long as my wife will let me.
Because Mr. Costner is right: a good fire is better than anything.
Although "The Postman" and "Waterworld" both sucked the big one.