That’s typically called a backhoe. It has an end-loader on the front, the scoop that lifts and dumps loads. It has a hoe out back (seat spins 190 degrees).

Why do I think this important? Because not recognizing the differences between a backhoe, an articulated end loader (first event), and a bulldozer (what both were called) could get you hurt or killed.

The backhoe shown today is most dangerous at the back half, where the boom can swing rapidly side to side. The boom has a bucket that can be dropped down quickly. The scoop on the front can only go up or down, not left or right.

The articulated end loader is fast, can bend in half and turn quickly, and more of a menace. A bulldozer is very powerful, but a tracked vehicle that is less maneuverable, has a narrow blade, and the blade only goes up and down.

Just step aside from a dozer, stay away from the swinging boom on a backhoe, but watch out for that articulated end loader; best you could do would be to turn more tightly than they can, which is pretty darned tight.

Sorry to harp on this, but it’s a bit more like the difference between most snakes and venomous snakes. It can be useful to spot the differences. Hell, I know snakes and still froze once when a snake I knew was harmless was also right in my face. I eventually got over it and was able to act, based on knowing it was relatively harmless. Not easy to get past if all snakes look alike.

The problem with Seth Levy’s solution is that if Israelis were to stop using Palestinian labour where access to anything than can be used to maim or kill is part of the job, the usual suspects would call it collective punishment and denounce it as a racist act. And I expect that there are Palestininian owned construction companies.

When the State executes a murderer or keeps them in jail for life, that creates order because the State is the plan of society. When the State fails in it’s responsibility and people find it imperative to resort to vigilantism to protect their lives, then that creates chaos, because it enforces the futility of trusting the State in the minds of the people.

Thank you, Ehud Olmert, for making Israel a more dangerous place to live.

‘Do you have a gun on you?’
- Nope.
‘Bulldozer?’