Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Divestment (2004)

(2004) Dry Bones cartoon: During the mid-1970's the United States adopted two laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes
Today's cartoon is only six years old. I came across it but did not remember doing it. And I was struck by the point it made. Especially in light of the growing BDS movement. I decided to do some research. Here's what I found.

"During the mid-1970's the United States adopted two laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes. These "antiboycott" laws are the 1977 amendments to the Export Administration Act (EAA) and the Ribicoff Amendment to the 1976 Tax Reform Act (TRA), [which is found in Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code]."

Primary impact:

The Arab League boycott of Israel is the principal foreign economic boycott that U.S. companies must be concerned with today. The antiboycott laws, however, apply to all boycotts that are unsanctioned by the United States.

Who is covered by the laws?

The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to all "U.S. persons," defined to include individuals and companies located in the United States and their foreign affiliates. These persons are subject to the law when their activities relate to the sale, purchase, or transfer of goods or services between the United States and a foreign country. This covers U.S. exports and imports, financing, forwarding and shipping, and certain other transactions that may take place wholly offshore. -more

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So is the cartoon correct? Are they getting away with possibly illegal secondary boycotts by calling them divestments?

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Changing Sides?

Now that the Turks and the Iranian Persians are on one side, and Israel and the Arab states are on the other . . .the “Arab Israel conflict” is a threat to Arab independence and needs to be replaced by “Arab Israeli Unity”! : Dry Bones cartoon.
"Arab Israeli Unity"?!!
Arabs and Israelis standing together against a common threat?!!
Is it a possibility?

* * *
Recent events are moving quickly. Here's a current assessment from the Asia Times Online:
The great chess game of the Middle East
Aug 28, 2010

it is hard to avoid the fact that despite all threats on the Jewish state, Israel profits to a certain extent from Iran's belligerent posture.

. . . "The countries of the Arabian Peninsula are infinitely more interested in the threat from Iran than in the existence of Israel and, indeed, see Israel as one of the buttresses against Iran."

For the first time since its creation, Israel finds itself in the same camp as many Arab states, and for better or for worse, having a common enemy is perhaps the best way to make friends in the Middle East.-more

And a "hot off the press" news item just reported by the Palestinian Maan News Agency.

Egypt: 3rd weapons cache found in 48 hours
Aug 29, 2010
Al-Arish– Ma'an
– Egyptian State Security discovered a third weapons storehouse within 48 hours on Tuesday, security sources said.

Egyptian forces were informed that smugglers were attempting to transfer explosives and weapons to a storehouse in the Sinai peninsula, sources told Ma'an.

Forces raided the area south of the Al-Arish port city and discovered 65 anti-aircraft missiles, 35 anti-tank missiles, as well as large quantities or ammunition, the sources added.

Egyptian security forces said they discovered weapons and explosives on Monday, hidden in the border city of Rafah, prepared for smuggling into Gaza through tunnels.

Security sources told Ma'an that Egyptian forces raided a cemetery in Rafah, 3 kilometers from the Gaza border, and found a weapons cache including anti-tank land mines.

A second weapons store was found in the Al-Ahrash border area, which included machine guns and ammunition, also prepared for smuggling into Gaza, sources said. -more

Your thoughts?

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Friday, August 27, 2010

More Hitler in Hell

Hitler in Hell  boycotts, divestment and sanctions target Israel  : Dry Bones cartoon.
I've decided to turn the Hitler in Hell cartoon of two days ago into a series.

Here's some positive news as reported in the Forward:

JCPA Taking Direct Aim at Anti-Israel Boycotters

"With anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts gaining visibility, the Jewish community’s main public-policy coordinating body is for the first time confronting the BDS movement as a specific and stated priority.

At its recent annual plenum, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs passed a resolution stating that BDS should now “be regarded with the utmost seriousness and urgency.”

“This is a very serious matter,” JCPA’s executive director, Rabbi Steve Gutow, told the Forward. “We need to wake up, whether we are on the right, left or center.”

The JCPA, an umbrella body representing Jewish community relations councils across the country and more than a dozen leading national Jewish groups, adopted the anti-BDS resolution at its plenum in Dallas on February 23. Gutow said that JCPA member groups are planning to create a permanent body that would respond to the activities of the BDS movement.

While efforts to promote boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeting Israel are nothing new, an international BDS movement embracing a shared platform emerged only in 2005, in response to a call from Palestinian NGOs. Thus far, the BDS movement has taken various forms in different places, pushed forward by decentralized groups of activists around the world with the aim of branding Israel as an international pariah, drawing inspiration from efforts against apartheid South Africa. In the United States, the movement has launched boisterous public demonstrations, such as those that have greeted the Israel Ballet on its current American tour." -more

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Palestinian Statehood (1988)

(1988) Dry Bones cartoon: Yasser Arafat and the question of Palestinian Statehood.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon of Yasser Arafat (in fatigues, sunglasses, and signature 5 o'clock shadow). It was done 22 years ago this month!

Back in August 1988, King Hussein of Jordan called PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat's bluff by saying that he'd recognize a Palestinian State as soon as it was declared.

The decades slip by, the "Palestinian" leadership continues to threaten a unilateral declaration of statehood ...and never does! So what's going on?

I'm ready to hear your opinion as to why the terrorist leadership of the Arab populations of the West Bank and Gaza have never declared statehood.

Nu?

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hitler in Hell

Hitler hell the devil and Nazi Boycott Divest Sanctions : Dry Bones cartoon.
It all began with boycotts. Boycotts that were taken to defend against an imaginary Jewish threat. For info about the Nazi BDS program I turned to the History Place to track events of 1933:

Nazi Boycott .
Above: Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels delivers a speech to a crowd in the Berlin Lustgarten urging Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. He defends the boycott as a legitimate response to the anti-German "atrocity propaganda" being spread abroad by "international Jewry."

Below: Nazi storm troopers block the entrance to a Jewish-owned store. Their signs read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" and "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!"

Nazi Boycott .

On April 1, 1933, a week after Hitler became dictator of Germany, he ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores. But the boycott was mostly ignored by German shoppers and was called off after three days. However, the unsuccessful boycott was followed by a rapid series of laws which robbed the Jews of many rights.

On April 7, "The Law of the Restoration of the Civil Service" was introduced which made 'Aryanism' a necessary requirement in order to hold a civil service position. All Jews holding such positions were dismissed or forced into retirement.

On April 22, Jews were prohibited from serving as patent lawyers and from serving as doctors in state-run insurance institutions.

On April 25, a law against the overcrowding of German schools placed severe limits on the number of young Jews allowed to enroll in public schools. -more

And it all began with the supposed victims fighting back with what they claimed was a legitimate response ...an anti-Jewish boycott to "defend" against the Jewish "threat".

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Army Withdrawal Lebanon (1985)

(1985) Dry Bones cartoon: Israeli army pulls out of Lebanon in 1985.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 25 years ago in 1985. Back then the Israeli Army withdrew from Lebanon and we were shocked at how the locals celebrated by killing each other with even greater enthusiasm.

I picked it because as I write this, the U.S. Army is withdrawing from Iraq ...and everyone is nervous about the possible escalation of violence.

The latest from the AP:

Attacks in Baghdad kill 3, wound 20 people
By SAAD ABDUL-KADIR (AP)
BAGHDAD — A spate of bombing attacks in Baghdad killed three people and wounded 20, police officials said Monday.

The strikes came a week before the deadline for all but 50,000 U.S. troops to be out of Iraq — a military drawdown that has raised fears the country's already shaky security will worsen.

In one of the bombings, Baghdad police said unknown attackers in a speeding car threw a grenade in the mixed Sunni-Shiite eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad around 6:30 a.m. Monday.

The blast killed one policeman and wounded another, a city police official said. A medic at Baghdad's Ibn Al-Nafees hospital confirmed the casualties.

Late Sunday, a grenade attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in Amariyah, a Sunni area in western Baghdad, killed one soldier and injured 2 others around 11 p.m., police and hospital officials said." -more

Your thoughts?

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Strategic Alliance

relations with Greece in the post Israel-Turkish alliance : Dry Bones cartoon.
In the period of the post Israel-Turkish alliance, things are moving really quickly.

According to Reuters:

Israel and Greece seek to expand military ties

(Reuters) -" Israeli and Greek leaders discussed expanding military ties on Tuesday including sharing military know-how and holding joint war games, officials said.

Israel has been keen to expand ties with Greece as its relations with Turkey -- another strategic Mediterranean partner -- soured since an Israeli raid on a Turkish-backed aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip in May.

As he wrapped up his two-day trip to Greece, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- the highest ranking Israeli to visit the country -- said the two nations were "opening a new chapter." -more

According to the AFP:

Greece reassures Arab allies over Israel ties

ATHENS — "Greece moved Wednesday to reassure Arab allies over the strength of its friendship, following an improvement in ties with Israel after a landmark visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Improved Greek-Israeli ties were "for the good of Greece and all of the Middle East region... and do not exclude our close cooperation with the Arab world, and particularly our Palestinian friends," Dimitris Droutsas, Greece's Deputy Foreign Minister, said in an interview with radio station Flash.

"Our rapprochement with Israel is not opposed to our traditional relationship of exceptional trust with the Arab world," he said, adding that the improvement in ties had been discussed with "all our friends in the Arab world".

Meetings on Monday and Tuesday with the visiting Israeli prime minister were "very useful and entirely successful because we achieved the fixed objectives: deepening of relations and cooperation with Israel," Droutsas said."-more

And the Wall Street Journal weighs in with:


Greece Woos Israel After Its Fallout With Turkey

"With Greece still gripped by a severe debt crisis, it needs to extend a hand of friendship to potential allies that will assist with its recovery. Athens has been keenly aware of how relations between Israel and its traditional ally Turkey hit rock-bottom after the Israeli’s military incursion into Gaza and the deadly attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

Israel on its part is keen to deepen ties with Greece because of Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation. Having a new ally that is a NATO member and a EU member can only strengthen its standing in the international community.

For Greece, a stronger alliance with Israel can be beneficial in many ways. Military cooperation may lead to more intelligence sharing, preferential terms in buying Israeli made weapons systems and a re-launching of joint military exercises. But the economic benefits are probably foremost in the mind of Papandreaou." -more

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Obama's Religion

Obama's Religion : Dry Bones cartoon.
The actual survey result says that:

"A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined. More than a year and a half into his presidency, a plurality of the public says they do not know what religion Obama follows."

A new national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) now say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Only about one-third of adults (34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009. Fully 43% say they do not know what Obama's religion is. The survey was completed in early August, before Obama's recent comments about the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center." To read the entire report click HERE.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

the Holidays (1980)

(1980) Dry Bones cartoon: the Jewish Holidays.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 30 years in 1980.

The Jewish New Year was approaching and locals were worried about the year that was about to unfold before us. I thought it would be funny to show Mr.Shuldig trying his best to cheer them up while showing that he shared their Jewish pessimism.

30 years have gone by and I think that the scenario described by Mr.Shuldig in the cartoon is STILL a possibility.

This year Rosh HaShana begins at sundown on September 8th 2010 ushering in a succession of holy days, holidays, and half-holidays which is simply called, in Israel, "the Holidays".

So don't worry ...Have a Happy Holiday!

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Word Quiz 2010

Optimism, Pessimism, Public Opinion, Iran, Nukes, U.S.A., Israel, IDF, attack: Dry Bones cartoon.
Like the guy in the last panel of today's cartoon, I'm still trying to answer the question.

Is it any easier for you to answer?

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Palestinian Talks (1985)

(1985) Dry Bones cartoon: Palestinian Talks.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 25 years ago in 1985. Back then, Mr. Shuldig (my alter ego) was tired of the "breaking news" about the Palestinians actually being ready to negotiate.

"Hussie" referred to King Hussein of Jordan. An Arab country that would sign a peace treaty with the Jewish State nine years later (in 1994).

Mubarak was, and is, the President of Egypt. An Arab country that had signed a peace treaty with the Jewish State six years earlier, (in 1979).

* * *
Here in 2010, 25 years later, the latest news is a possible "breakthrough" with the Palestinian leadership!! Under pressure from the Americans, they may be ready for direct talks!

...and then again, maybe not.

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Monday, August 16, 2010

the Mosque

the Mosque at Ground Zero: Dry Bones cartoon.
Here's an interesting analysis by dissenting Muslims. It was published in the Ottowa Citizen. It's called Mischief in Manhattan:
"We Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith and in Islamic parlance, such an act is referred to as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.

The Koran commands Muslims to, "Be considerate when you debate with the People of the Book" -- i.e., Jews and Christians. Building an exclusive place of worship for Muslims at the place where Muslims killed thousands of New Yorkers is not being considerate or sensitive, it is undoubtedly an act of "fitna"

So what gives Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the "Cordoba Initiative" and his cohorts the misplaced idea that they will increase tolerance for Muslims by brazenly displaying their own intolerance in this case?

Do they not understand that building a mosque at Ground Zero is equivalent to permitting a Serbian Orthodox church near the killing fields of Srebrenica where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered?

There are many questions that we would like to ask. Questions about where the funding is coming from? If this mosque is being funded by Saudi sources, then it is an even bigger slap in the face of Americans, as nine of the jihadis in the Twin Tower calamity were Saudis". -more

The column was written by Raheel Raza, the author of "Their Jihad ... Not my Jihad", and Tarek Fatah, the author of "The Jew is Not My Enemy". Both sit on the board of the Muslim Canadian Congress.

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Your thoughts?

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Friday, August 13, 2010

Summer 2010

ice cream, double dip, recession, roller coaster, amusement park, economy, summer: Dry Bones cartoon.
Two current (issued within two days of each other) expert opinions about whether or not to worry about a double dip recession.

1. No reason to worry:

No fear of double dip recession: US treasury chief

WASHINGTON: "US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dismissed fears of a double dip recession in an interview aired on Sunday, but warned of a slow US recovery with the economy only gradually gaining strength.

Geithner was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether he thought the economy would dip back into recession before things got better.

"No, I don't," he answered. -more

2. Start worrying:

Chance of double-dip recession is high: (Reuters)

- "The state of the economy is worrisome and there is a high possibility of a double-dip recession, one of the property market's most well-known economists said on Tuesday.

Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University and co-developer of Standard and Poor's S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes, told Reuters Insider he does not know where home prices may be headed, but believes the economy may be on a precarious path.

"For me a double-dip is another recession before we've healed from this recession ... The probability of that kind of double-dip is more than 50 percent," Shiller said.

"I actually expect it." -more

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As for me ... I plan to worry. It's the Jewish thing to do.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Water from Turkey (1999)

(1999) Dry Bones cartoon: Turkish water delivered to Israel by tourists.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done in 1999!!

Back in 1999 the question of how Israel could meet its water needs was being debated. We thought we should put all our efforts into desalination. But our staunch, stable, loyal and reliable middle eastern friend and ally, Turkey, offered to sell us the water instead. They even suggested filling giant plastic balloons with water and floating them to us. That was pretty creative idea, so I tried to come up with an even more creative alternate plan.

Just eleven years later we are now faced with an anti-western and unfriendly Turkey. If you're interested in the deal they were trying to sell us, here's the story as reported in 2001:

Israel plans water pipeline from Turkey
Mediterranean conduit could thwart serious crisis in Jewish state

"...In 1999, Turkey believed she could remedy Israel's chronic water shortage by sending enormous water-filled plastic bubbles hauled by tug boats across the Mediterranean Sea. Turkish officials claimed that they could "meet Israel's water needs several times over" and that their plan was "cheaper than desalination."

"Turkey has spent $150 million on a terminal it built at the estuary of the Manavgat River, located on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. This water would be transported to Israel in two tankers, each with a capacity of 250,000 tons, from Manavgat to an unloading terminal that would be built south of Ashkelon in Israel. The water would then be transported by a pipeline that would be built to the Neguhot reservoir south of Kiryat Gat and integrated into the national water system." -more

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

2010

Signs of the times, earthquakes, floods, ice bergs, volcano, volcanic clouds : Dry Bones cartoon.
According to Time's EcoCentric Blog two days ago:
The Asian Floods—Signs of Climate Catastrophes to Come?
"They haven't gotten anywhere near the attention they deserve, but the floods that have struck much of Asia over the past couple of weeks may be the biggest humanitarian disaster in recent memory—bigger even than the earthquake that hit Haiti in January and the 2004 Asian tsunami. Both of those catastrophes killed far more, but the floods have affected 13 million people in Pakistan alone, and parts of India, China and North Korea have also suffered from the rains. The floods will destroy homes and business, wreck agriculture and destroy infrastructure, leave disease and disability in their wake. Flooding in China has already killed more than 1,100 people this year and caused tens of billions of dollars of damage. In shaky Pakistan, where the public has been enraged by the government's typically fumbling response to the flood, it could even increase support for hard-line Islamic groups."-more
And for a list of disasters (both man-made and natural) from prehistoric times to the present, check out ArmagedonOnline.com

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

U.S. Arms Sales (1976)

(1976) Dry Bones cartoon: American weapons sales to Egypt.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 34 years ago in 1976.

Here, in 2010, the latest news is that once again Israel is nervous about U.S. Arms sales to the region.

According to latest reports:

U.S. to sell F-15 fighter jets to Saudis
August 9, 2010

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- "The United States plans to sell F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, but made clear to an anxious Israel that it won’t include long-range weapons systems.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Obama administration said it would sell 84 F-15 planes to Saudi Arabia in a 10-year, $30 billion deal.

U.S. officials clarified to Israeli officials who expressed concerns that this would undermine Israel's military advantage in the region that the deal would not include long-range weapons systems or other arms. The U.S. officials made it clear that Washington did not make changes to the deal at Israel’s request. Haaretz reported that Israeli fears were assuaged after U.S. officials clarified the details.

Israel and Washington have held meetings over the past 18 months on maintaining Israel’s security advantage in the Middle East. The Saudi deal, which the Obama administration is expected to formally announce next month, had been a source of tension at many of the meetings, according to the Journal." -more

I find it interesting that India, another American ally, is nervous about U.S. Arms sales in its region!! Here's the situation as just reported in the Hindustani Times:
US arms: India against US 'blank cheque' to Pakistan
New Delhi, August 08, 2010

"India has conveyed its concern to the US over arms sales to Pakistan and is against giving a "blank cheque" to Islamabad, which could use the sophisticated weapons against it as it did in the past. "We have shared our concerns with Washington. We have said all along that Pakistan cannot be given a blank cheque in such matters," Foreign Secretary Nirpama Rao said.

She said that assistance extended to Pakistan "ostensibly for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations could very well be used against India as the history of the last sixty years goes".

The US is "increasingly aware, and alert, and attentive" to India's concern on this issue, Rao told Karan Thapar in 'Devil's Advocate' programme on CNN-IBN.

Apart from the sale of F-16s worth $ 1.43 billion, the US is also financing $ 477 million for almost 60 mid-life update kits for its older fleet of F-16s A/B combat aircraft and financing part of 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers. Pakistan is also getting 20 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters and 121 refurbished TOW missile launchers from the US, according to Pakistani media reports" -more

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Monday, August 09, 2010

In the Oval Office

Obama ignoring the ticking Iranian Nuclear Time Bomb : Dry Bones cartoon.
The Obama administration has managed to alienate America's friends without picking up any new allies. Most intriguing is his loss of popularity on the Arab Street and in the Muslim world. According to a report published three days ago by the Christian Science Monitor:
New poll: angry at US, Arabs support an Iran nuclear bomb
A majority of Arabs said it would be a positive development if the Iran nuclear program built a bomb – a first in the Arab Public Opinion Poll. Pollsters say it's part of an anti-US Arab backlash.

By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer / August 6, 2010
Washington

"A new poll of Arab opinion finds that for the first time a majority of the public across the region – including a sizable minority in Saudi Arabia – believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be a positive development in the Middle East.

The portion of the Arab population thinking that way has doubled since a similar survey a year ago, in part because of huge majorities this year in Egypt and Morocco. Egypt, which makes up a quarter of the Arab world, was not in last year’s survey.

The findings, however, say less about a change in Arab opinions of Iran than they do about a change in opinions about another country, say the organizers of the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll: Arabs have soured on the United States of Barack Obama." -more

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Your thoughts?

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Friday, August 06, 2010

Tell Tale Signs

You know you're in the future when... : Dry Bones cartoon.
Back in the Seventies, the post-67 wave of immigrants to Israel from the West were trying to adjust to the realities of life in the country. At that time Dry Bones was the star feature of the Jerusalem Post; the paper they all read. And the most popular Dry Bones cartoons were full pagers with Mr. Shuldig that were entitled "You Know You've Been Here Too Long When..."

Those cartoons wryly tracked the little things that we did which were signs of our having gone native ...like calling a grocery store a makolet when speaking English, or smelling the cottage cheese (don't ask!).

We were strangers in a strange, new, exciting, and bewildering land.

Here in the 21st century many of us feel the same way. Like immigrants to a strange new land called the future. I thought about that when I did today's cartoon. Maybe I should start a series called "You Know You're Living In The Future When..."

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Thursday, August 05, 2010

Heat Wave (1987)

(1987) Dry Bones cartoon: Heat Wave.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 23 years ago in a heat wave in August of 1987.

Comic strips are like little movies. But they are missing sound. So the "shouting" in the cartoon is drawn in an attempt to get you to "hear" the loud voice and feel the cadence of speech of the complainer, in this case King Solomon.

I was amused to discover that I had unconsciously "stolen" the trick of repeating the phrase "Boy is it hot!" with the emphasis switching between boy and hot. It had already been used in exactly the same way four years earlier, in this cartoon, which I posted two days ago.

Oh, and by the way, the heat wave here in Israel continues and ...boy is it hot!

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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Assessment

Turkey, Afghanistan, Palestinians, Iran, Syria, Obama : Dry Bones cartoon.
Today's cartoon can be seen as a serious assessment of the situation ...or as a blatant grab for a laugh. Personally, I find it funny, which explains the joke-telling expression on the face of the guy delivering the punchline in the last panel.

And your assessment of the Obama administration's record so far would be?

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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Heat Wave (1983)

(1983) Dry Bones cartoon: heat wave.
Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 27 years ago during a Summer heat wave in 1983. I'm posting it because this week Israel has been hit with a sweltering heat wave.

So what's the weather like where you are?

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Monday, August 02, 2010

No Big Deal

ShanHamas firing missiles at Israel : Dry Bones cartoon.
The latest news from Ynet. Datelined last night, Aug 1 2010 8:18PM. :

Clinic patients 'stunned' by rocket attack
Rehabilitation center treating post-traumatic stress, victims of hostilities hit by rocket for fourth time

Ilana Curiel Published: 08.01.10, 20:18 /

"Less than 24 hours after sustaining a direct hit from a Qassam rocket, the hydrotherapy rehabilitation center in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council has nearly returned to business as usual.

"Though people were hesitant and there were some who cried, we are at 100% capacity. Even after a day like that, people who were wounded in the past by Qassam rockets and hostile acts came here," said the manager of the center's rehabilitation ward, Irit Tzedek.

"This is the fourth time since rockets have started being fired at the western Negev that the rehabilitation center – which treats handicapped IDF veterans, victims of terrorist attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder patients – has sustained a direct rocket hit. Funding for fortifying the building, it should be noted, was raised by center employees themselves without any assistance from government authorities or the Defense Ministry." For many patients, the rehabilitation center is like a second home. Amos Lilo, a handicapped IDF veteran wounded during the Second Lebanon War, believes the hit to the center is worse than destroying a house. "Please excuse the comparison, but this is a place for treating the handicapped. It's like damaging a hospital," he said.

"Lilo, who uses crutches to get around, insists on walking up to the second floor to see with his own eyes the destruction incurred by the rocket. "It is very painful. I am stunned by the damage. I am even more stunned by the personal insult. Targeting a center like this is like targeting my caretaker. At first, I didn't understand that the rocket hit here, even though I know that this is an area prone to misfortune. It is a little stressful to hear a siren every few hours, especially for trauma victims." -more

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