Month: December 2003

More bad news for Jews

A distressing article in today’s SF Chronicle: more on the growing anti-semetism in Europe. Given that I have close members of my family currently living in Austria and Italy, reading these sorts of articles is deeply upsetting. I don’t want to see my family become targets because they’re not just Americans but also Jews.

I also don’t want to sound like the worrywart who sees danger around every corner while comfortably ensconced in her safe zone. I drive over the Golden Gate Bridge 5 or 6 times a week; that’s about as “risky” as my behavior gets.

But getting back to anti-Semetism, there’s a longstanding debate as to whether cricitism of Israel is in and of itself anti-Semetic. I for one definitely believe that such is not the case. Some of the most vocal critics of Israeli policies are, after all, Jews. However, I also think that people who hate Jews can and do find a socially acceptable outlet for their bigotry in the criticism of Israel.

The hard part is trying to tell the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and criticism of Israel based on anti-Semetism. William F Buckeley Jr took a whole book to come to the conclusion that Pat Buchanan was anti-Semetic.

Here’s Norman Podhoretz on the subject: “In our own day Israel has become the touchstone of attitudes towards the Jewish people, and anti-Zionism has become the main and most relevant form of anti-Semetism”.

Sounds about right to me.

The Veil Descends

Found a long, highly informative article in US News & World Report today about the level of secrecy in the Bush administration. Yet more reasons to be disgusted by what this administration has done to our country. It’s quite long but worth a read.

As far as personal veils of secrecy go, I haven’t heard back from Allstate yet about my car, so I’m still in limbo. I just hope it’s all done with soon so I can get out of that dirty, smelly loaner car.

You’re in good hands (I hope)

So last night shortly after I pulled onto highway 101 to head home I was hit by another car, spun across the highway and off the side of the road. The other driver said she was swerving to avoid something and didn’t notice there was someone on her other side. It probably looked pretty wild – 2 cars spinning across 3 lanes of traffic hitting each other as they spun. Thinking about it, I’m a little surprised the rest of the drivers on the road managed to get out of our way.

It all happened very fast and my main impression as we spun was mostly of blurring shapes in my window with me gripping the wheel and wondering what was going to happen next. She ended up down the embankment and I ended up half on the shoulder and half in the slow lane, facing into oncoming traffic. I’m not certain but I think I was hit twice and spun 510 degrees while heading off the road. At any rate, I was not hurt (albeit very shaken – I could barely stand for a few minutes because my knees were weak). My poor Saturn is another story. The polymer panels on the back left door and above the left rear tire are both badly busted. There’s a big dent on the left edge of the back bumper, and most troubling to me, the left rear tire is on an angle instead of perpendicular. I’m told this means the strut is bent. I figure that’s why I did not end up in the ditch like the girl who hit me.

The car is not drivable and was towed to a nearby body shop. The back of the envelope estimate I got last night is quite close to the Blue Book value of the car so at this point it’s about even odds whether or not Allstate will repair my baby or write her off. The repair guy assures me she will be fixed, not totaled, but I want to be prepared for either possibility. I also tend not to believe anything that anybody in the automotive field tells me until I get outside confirmation. I know that not every auto mechanic is dishonest, but as a woman with a limited knowledge of automobiles, I also know I can get taken advantage of if I’m not careful.

Prior to this the worst accident I’ve been in was a fender bender about 18 years ago, so I don’t have a big pool of experience to draw on for how to react. I was pretty calm overall. Shaken definitely but not angry. Maybe because nobody was hurt and the girl who hit me was so obviously upset and apologetic about it. Maybe it’ll hit me later. We’ll see.

I did get a little upset when the tow truck driver told me that there was no place to rent a car in Santa Rosa and he’d be happy to drop me off at the 24 hour Denny’s so I’d have a place to wait while I figured out how to get home. Visions of being stranded at Denny’s, 50+ miles from home and not a change of clothes or even a toothbrush with me, were kind of scary. Fortunately the body shop that took my car has a loaner car – a 10 year old Honda with 120000 miles on it and a roof so low my head brushes against it when I’m sitting at the wheel. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I took it and got home only about an hour later than normal.

I hope the car is repairable. I am really fond of my Saturn and losing her would make me very sad. I should know more in a day or so after Allstate gets a person up there to look at the car.

I’m not surprised but I am disappointed

I don’t know how long this URL is going to work, but here’s a link to the “Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union” report mentioned in this and other news articles.

The bottom line is that attacks on Jews and Jewish property, religions institutions, and symbols in Europe reached alarming heights in 2002. The report seeks to look at what happened and try to assign some causal factors to the upswing. One of the hot button parts of the report follows:

Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts mainly committed by young Muslim perpetrators mostly of an Arab descent in the monitoring period. Many of these attacks occurred during or after pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which were also used by radical Islamists for hurling verbal abuse. In addition, Islamic circles were responsible for placing anti-Semitic propaganda in the Internet and in Arab-language media.

It’s been suggested in some circles that the report was suppressed because the EU is unwilling to deal with the underlying issues the report details. Whether that’s true, I don’t know. As my sister once told me, Americans generally don’t have a good grasp of EU attitudes and beliefs, and she, having lived in Europe, is generally right about that sort of thing. I try to keep that in mind as I try to keep up with what’s going on in Europe.

That said, I’m saddened but not surprised by either the report or the fact that it hasn’t been published yet. Anti-semetism is nowhere near as bad as it used to be (for which I devoutly thank God) but it’s still out there and should not be ignored becasue it’s politically inconvenient to deal with it.