Israellycool

As you can see, excitement abounds here in the Holy land. Talk of war, rocket attacks….there’s definitely much to think - and blog - about.

Having said that, I haven’t forgotten the significance of this day.

May G-d bless America, and all of the free world.

We are in this together.

Update: If you have a 9-11 tribute, let me know in the comments and I’ll provide a link to it.

Don’t worry…I’m not going to become one of those blogs that mostly posts YouTube videos, and not much else. But I just had to share this video with you.

US President George Bush has had some nice words for outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The president praised Blair, calling him extremely effective as a leader and “dogged” when he gets on a subject. “I appreciate the fact that he can see beyond the horizon. And that’s the kind of leadership the world needs,” Bush said.

Perhaps not the best choice of words.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has a new pastime far from fund raising for worthy causes — designing a crossword puzzle for The New York Times.

 

Clinton wrote the clues for an online crossword puzzle published this weekend by the Times, filled with puns, pop culture references and plays on words.

 

The theme of the puzzle is “Twistin’ the Oldies,” with clues seeking updated versions for baby boomers of musical hits by artists such as Neil Sedaka and Carly Simon.

 

In an editor’s note, Times’ puzzle editor Will Shortz wrote: “The clues in this puzzle are a little more playful and involve more wordplay than in a typical crossword. You have been warned.”

 

Shortz told Reuters the Times gave Clinton the puzzle grid and the theme, and the former president provided the clues. Shortz said he did very little editing.

 

“I wanted it to be Clinton’s voice, not my voice,” Shortz said. “I touched up a few things here and there, but basically what President Clinton wrote for the clues is what appears in the puzzle.

 

“His clues make you laugh out loud,” he added. “He’s got a flair for this.”

 

Answers will be posted the weekend of May 11, the Times said.

 

A known crossword buff, Clinton appeared in the 2006 movie “Wordplay” about devotees and an annual puzzle convention.

With Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visiting Washington DC, US President George Bush spoke to the Queen at a special ceremony on the White House lawn…

“After all, you‚Äôve dined with 10 US presidents. You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 - 1976.”

Drats! What can I do to rescue the situation?

“Umm, she gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.”

A short while later..

“You know your’e a f****** moron!”

For the humor impaired: This is one of my regular fake caption photo stories. Do not read into it any anti-Bush or anti-America sentiment on my part. For the record, I think Bush’s gaffe was hilarious, and he handled it very well. The Queen needs to quit acting like a right royal pain in the rump.

The Who Are You Trying to Fool Award of the day goes to Christian Bottorff of the Tennessean, for this report on a cab driver with issues.

A disciplinary hearing is set for tomorrow for the Nashville taxi driver who is accused of trying to run over two students after a heated discussion over religion last week.

The hearing for driver Ibrahim Sheikh Ahmed, 37, is on the agenda of the 1:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday of the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission.

Ahmed was arrested Feb. 18 on charges of criminal homicide after police said he hit Ohio student Jeremie Invus with his United Cab Co. van. Ahmed is in the Metro Jail awaiting trial.

Another student, Andrew Nelson of Dayton, Ohio, dodged the van as it sped toward them.

According to a police report, the three men had a conversation about religion while in the taxi that “became heated.” Shortly after the men paid Ahmed, he chased them in his van across the parking lot and over a curb, police said.

Metro police spokeswoman Kris Mumford said one of the students is Catholic and the other is Lutheran. Mumford said that Ahmed’s religion was not known.

Hmmmm..

Two moles have been found inside the White House and dealt with.

At this stage, it doesn’t look like they have caused any damage.

The NYPD has recruited an unorthodox new officer - its first Hasidic cop.

 

Joel Witriol, a 24-year-old Talmud scholar from Brooklyn, starts his training at the department’s Police Academy today. “I realized there were so many things you could do [as a cop] - everything from community service to fighting narcotics,” Witriol said, coming off the heels of a stint with the department’s auxiliary police force. “There are a hundred things, and every day is different.”

 

Witriol has a degree from United Talmudical Seminary in Monroe, where he studied “religious stuff, mostly.”

 

He’s also held part-time jobs doing everything from driving a delivery truck to working for a furniture company.

 

But the Brooklyn native wanted something more - and believes he found it five years ago when, while volunteering for an ambulance company, he heard about the police auxiliary. “I decided to go and check it out,” Witriol said. “I went for training and passed.”

 

Growing up in Williamsburg, Witriol admitted that he had the same cops-and-robbers ideas about policing as many youngsters. “I thought it was only about arresting people,” he said.

 

But his auxiliary work in the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights - home to a large Hasidic community - was an eye-opener for him.

 

Auxiliary officers, who do not carry weapons, are “eyes and ears” for the department, Witriol said. “They do patrolling, they go to parades.

 

“I saw a lot of things that were going on in the precinct,” he said.

 

The police officers “are not only locking up people, but they are helping people, too. I figured it’s a good future.”

 

Before he signed on with the department, Witriol asked for some advice from his father, a bus driver.

 

He said, “If you do it, just do the right thing,” Witriol recalled.

 

Because of his religion, Witriol will need exemptions from police hairstyle rules so he can keep his beard and his peyoses, the long side locks worn by Hasidic men.

 

He’ll also have to be excused from working on the Sabbath and on Jewish holidays.

 

Witriol said the Police Department doesn’t have any problem with his needs, so long as they’re backed up with a letter from a rabbi.

 

Department sources note that the NYPD has granted a number of religious exemptions to its rules in recent years.

 

When Witriol graduates from the academy, it is believed that he will be only the third Hasidic officer in the United States.

 

The other two officers include an Hasidic man hired a decade ago by the sheriff’s department in Rockland County.

 

And Witriol says his older brother was an officer in Newark before becoming one of that department’s chaplains.

 

Though his religion sets him apart, Witriol is eager to fit in with his fellow officers. “I want to be a cop,” he said, “together with everyone.”

 

He added that he knows that he can be “absolutely helpful with the community.”

Since Sept. 11, 2001, federal air marshals have been traveling on thousands of flights. Their job is to track suspected terrorists and deter anyone who might try to highjack a plane. But some marshals are concerned about what happened when one of their bosses was reported sleeping on a flight.

 

The concern is about the agent in charge of the Denver office, Tony Hedges. According to a former senior United flight attendant, Hedges, who was carrying a gun, was sleeping on a flight to Washington, D.C., which makes him vulnerable to being disarmed.

Do you ever get the feeling that the MSM photographers are trying to get a particular message across with their photographs?

Take these recent US political photos.

This AFP photographer seems to be implying that Donald Rumsfield is some kind of court jester..

..while this Reuters photographer seems to think that Director of Central Intelligence USAF General Michael Hayden runs a Mickey Mouse operation..

..and this Reuters photographer seems to have included some advice for US Vice President Dick Cheney..

But it’s not all negative. This Reuters photographer seems to have a very high opinion of US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.