The longest journey starts with a single step.This is it!

This is the beginning of a discussion of possible solutions to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. The suggestion was made by and credit is due to shadesofgrey. If possible (and I have reason to think that it is possible) I will create a new blog called, appropriately enough, Roadmap for Peace. My goal is to have shadesofgrey and O G San share some of the administrative authority of this blog. The blogs purpose is to put forth concrete ideas and possible solutions to the conflict tha...

This is a wonderful article that put a smile on my face. Ikea is the largest chain of furniture stores in the world, with annual sales of over $12 billion. But the founder, Ingvar Kamprad, who may be the richest man in the world or only number 13 (whats a couple of billion dollars between friends?) is also among the world's most........well, frugal is the second word that came to mind. Kamprad founded Ikea in 1943 when he was only 17 and, despite being forced to officially retire, he re...

Once again, an Israeli airstrike has eliminated the leader of the terrorist group Hamas. A month after the assasination of Yassin, the new leader of the group Hamas, recognized by the US State Dept. as a terrorist organization, has been killed by an Israeli airstrike. Israel took this action after a Palestinian suicide bomber attacked the industrial area in Erez, killing a border patrol officer and wounding three others. Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir said this was not th...

Common people sometimes do uncommon things. These are the real heroes and they deserve our respect. Every generation seems to have its own Holocaust, to produce its own deathcamps. Yet, at the same time, every generation produces those unafraid to stand up to the evil, to be that generations Oskar Schindlers. During the ethnic cleansings in Rwanda, men like Evariste Nyatanyi stod up to mobs and saved lives. Click on the link to read their stories.

More news from Essorant: I'm also updating my 'Colours' skin pack to add Toolbar icons and animations. Anyone who has already bought a serial key will be able to download the updated versions for free when they are ready (I'll email owners when the time comes). Don't forget! Your purchases help feed my two starving children and pay for my wife's shopping habit. (Ok, they offset the costs of hosting the website... but that just sounds boring.)

I admit that I do not not know what to think of Sharon's withdrawal plan. Is it a political maneuver, offered knowing that the Palestinians will reject it? Surprisingly (to me) Arafat has offered conditional support. Is it the first step on the road to peace? I have linked to CNN's coverage of the plan, so you can read it for yourself. What do you think of it?

In April and May 1994, the world stood silent while Hutu extremists killed nearly a million of their countrymen in a rampage that lasted 100 days. I was a part of that silent crowd. In studying the events of World War II, I have often asked "How could THEY do nothing?" With Rwanda, the question is more personal. "How could I do nothing?" And the truth is, as during World War II, I did not know or understand the magnitude of what was occuring and it was far, far away. Additionally, as...

I have said before, and this is an old joke, that all Jewish Holidays may be explained as follows: they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat! Tonight, the second night of the Passover Holiday, is no exception. Tonight I had dinner with over a hundred of my closest friends. We held a Passover meal with many participants, many readers. Not only adults, but children participate in the telling of the old story. We have a common mission, to make some small, incremental difference that mov...

Every man, woman and child, every people, race and religion, all humans will face times of adversity. All of us will have to overcome the forces that hold us down, that keep us from finding our own Promised Lands. These are our own, personal "times of bondage in Egypt" if you will. Tonight, on the first night of Pesach or Passover, I want to express what I see as the universality of the struggle to be free. The Passover Holiday is one that belongs to us all. It is often thought of as a "Je...

Recent articles and some posts here share the perspective that The Holocaust or Shoah was a single episode of anti-Semitism in Europe, an aberration if you will. History shows otherwise. The purpose of this post is to examine the history of anti-Semitism in Europe as a pattern of hateful and violent events, not a single episode. If you know my writings, I always caution against the demonization of any people, Jew or Arab, European or non-European. I do not believe that the majority of any ...

For the past couple of weeks, I have been using MyIE2 as my browser. It really is an add-on to Internet Explorer that allows you to open multiple web pages in the same Window. They show as tabs at the top. Installation is trivial and you will find that all you Favorites have been imported from Internet Explorer. If you have read any of my blogs, you know that I tend to quote a lot of internet sources. Having the pages all available in one Window is less memory intensive and having them ...

I blogged a lot this week. This is the 6th or 7th post for me, a one week personal record. A couple of Humor posts (is there going to be a sub-category of Humor>Bad Jokes just for me?), a couple on world events and some of the usual miscellaneous maunderings. I am thrilled that I could post them all on the same site. I felt good when I wrote them and even better when I read some of the responses. To tell you the truth, I feel loved. WAIT! I mean that in a manly, macho kind of way. For m...