October 7, 2008 | 8:42 am

Poll: Palestinians prefer McCain

All these months the Republican Jewish apparatchik have been telling me that Palestinians favor Barack Obama over John McCain in the U.S. presidential election. Al-Jazeera reported that Palestinians were phone-banking for Obama, and at one point the Democratic nominee was given the Hamas stamp of approval, though that was withdrawn after Obama’s speech to AIPAC. And then there was that poll that showed Israelis preferred McCain.

Israeli support reversed in July to Obama and now, surprisingly, it appears Palestinians prefer McCain too. Look at this info from the Palestinian Center for Publican Opinion and its director Nabil Kukali:

the most significant finding the poll results unveiled is that a substantial rate of the Palestinian public (33.5 %) are at present in favor of Mr. John McCain, the candidate of the US Republicans, as the coming President of the United States of America, whilst Mr. Barack Obama, the candidate of the Democratic Party, scored (27.7 %). (30.4 %) of the Palestinians said they “favor neither of them” and (8.3 %) declined to answer.

Dr. Kukali indicated in his comments on these results that the modest support for Mr. Barack Obama could be attributed to his previous declarations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that agitated among the Palestinians a feeling of discontent as he said that “the City of Jerusalem should remain the capital of Israel and must be kept unified. And the right of the Palestinians to re-claim Jerusalem should be left to the negotiations between the two conflict parties”. “Mr. Obama emphasized thereby the legitimate right of Israel to annex the whole city”, Dr. Kukali said.

I don’t buy that explanation. McCain has been portrayed from day one as a career defender of Israel and a leader whose foreign policy would remain deeply committed to protecting her. I can’t imagine that lingering sentiments over what Obama said at AIPAC, which he retreated from the next day, could really have overshadowed that. Something else is at play here, but I don’t know what.

(Hat tip: Jewlicious)

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Tags: barack obama, israel, john mccain, palestinians, president 08

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October 6, 2008 | 4:16 pm

Worshipping Allah at the Jesus Christ Mosque

In Israel, Jesus Christ had his tomb. On Broadway, his play. And now in Jordan, God’s son has his own mosque:

A mosque named after the central figure of Christianity is the latest milestone of interfaith coexistence in Jordan.

Both Muslim and Christian leaders expressed delight when the Jesus Christ Mosque opened a few months ago in the tranquil town of Madaba, 30 km south of the capital, Amman.

‘This is a message to the world that Muslims consider Jesus Christ their own messenger because he informed humanity beforehand that the Prophet Mohamed was coming,’ the mosque’s prayer leader, Belal Hanini, told DPA.

‘It also proves that Islam is a religion of tolerance and has nothing to do with extremism,’ he said.

Not really sure how naming a mosque after a figure whom Muslims consider their own prophet “proves” anything. But it’s still kind of interesting.

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Tags: islam, jesus, middle east

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October 6, 2008 | 2:00 pm

Sarah Palin and me

The highlight of my eventful weekend was definitely meeting Sarah Palin on her visit to the Southland. This beat my meeting with Israel’s Ehud Olmert by a long shot.

And you thought I was a Palin hater.

Here we are at the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair. You wouldn’t believe how enlightening our conversation was. She’s not nearly as shallow as Tina Fey would have you think.

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Tags: personal, sarah palin

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October 6, 2008 | 10:15 am

Cartman the evil evangelist

Wednesday is a huge day on my calendar. It’s been blocked off for about three months for the return of “South Park.” It’s also Yom Kippur. And this year I’m going to do Yom Kippur, fasting and all, and then I’m going to write a short essay about doing the holiest day in the Jewish year for the first time. I’m pretty sure that precludes my watching “South Park” until at least Thursday night.

Hopefully I’ll survive.

In the meantime, Cartman, who is the leading reason any country would move to ban the greatest show on Earth, is getting his own special edition DVD. It’s called ”The Cult of Cartman,” and it features 12 great episodes—among them, “Awesom-O,” “The Death of Eric Cartman” and “Cartoon Wars Part I.”

Here he is making his pitch:

But, shockingly, the two DVD set, omits at least five of the greatest episodes centered around Cartman. Each of these episodes, four of which are two-part series pieces, have religion at that little sinner at their core.

In ”Go God, Go,” Cartman freezes himself because he can’t wait for the Nintendo Wii to be released, but his plan goes awry and he is unfrozen 500 years in the future, a godless world where atheists are at war over what to call themselves—proving people, not religion, cause wars—and use expletives like “Science H. Logic.”

Probably my favorite is ”Christian Rock Hard,” in which Cartman discovers that making bad Christian music is a surefire way to get rich quick.

“You don’t even know anything about Christianity,” Stan says to Cartman.

“I know enough to exploit it,” he responds.

Cartman, predictably, blows his achievement of selling a million records with an extravagant, self-indulgent festival—and then explodes when he learns he didn’t win his $10 bet that his band could go platinum because Christian albums don’t go platinum; they go myrrh.

In the clip after the jump, from the second of the two-parter “Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?” Cartman again shows that he doesn’t have a sincere bone in his body. His tent revivalism was all a ploy, a scam built on children’s fear of hellfire, just another way for him to get rich.

What makes Cartman so funny is how he embodies everything we hate. How then, in a series titled “The Cult of Cartman,” could some of the most relevant, memorable religious episodes with Cartman at their center be left out? For that matter, why wasn’t ”The Passion of the Jew” included in this set?

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Tags: cartman, cult, south park

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October 6, 2008 | 8:14 am

Mahmoud says ‘Zionists are crooks’

Because I know you place so much value in the wisdom of Iranian nutjob-in-chief, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, you should note his latest observations of those filthy Jews Zionists:

“The Zionists are crooks. A small handful of Zionists, with a very intricate organization, have taken over the power centers of the world. According to our estimates, the main cadre of the Zionists consists of 2,000 individuals at most, and they have another 8,000 activists. In addition, they have several informants, who spy and provide them with intelligence information,” Ahmadinejad said in this video. “But because of their control of power centers in the U.S. and Europe, and their control of the financial centers and the news and propaganda agencies, they spread propaganda as if they were the entire world, as if all the peoples supported them, and as if they were the majority ruling the world.”

I’m not sure how Ahmadinejad’s lackies came up with that estimate of 2,000 true Zionists but, indeed, the Elders of Zion have been a successful bunch. It never ceases to amaze me that such a despised scapegoated people could achieve so much power and influence.

Yeah, I know we’ve been down this road over and over.

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Tags: israel, mahmoud ahmadinejad, zionism

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October 5, 2008 | 9:59 pm

Azzam the American not dead

I try to never lead you astray, but last month I wrote about some broad speculation that Azzam the American—aka Adam Gadahn—a former Southern Californian who converted to Islam and later radicalized to the point he became the spokesman for al Qaeda—yeah, he’s been charged with treason—was dead.

Well, he’s not.

Over the weekend, Gadahn turned up in a 32-minute video on the Internet, in which he talks about current events and blames the American financial meltdown on—what else?—our status as infidels.

“The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the extending crisis their economy is experiencing. The crisis, whose primary cause, in addition to the abortive and unsustainable crusades they are waging in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, is they are turning their backs on Allah’s revealed laws, which forbid interest-bearing transactions, exploitation, greed and and injustice in all its forms and demand the worship of Allah alone to the exclusion of all false gods, including money and power.”

Oh, the financial crisis is punishment indeed. For being greedy and manipulating the markets and ignoring history. But—sorry, Gadahn—this is not a smiting from above.

(Hat tip: LAObserved)

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Tags: adam gadahn, al qaeda, terrorism

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October 5, 2008 | 9:44 pm

Tina Fey does Sarah Palin again

I stopped watching ”Saturday Night Live” when I was in high school. It just hasn’t been funny for a long time. During the past few years, I’ve tuned in to quite a few good digital shorts, but with the national emergence of Sarah Palin and the return of Tina Fey, well, I just might need to start blocking off my Saturday nights. Fey was hilarious last weekend simply parroting what Palin said in her interview with Katie Couric.

Last night, she was even funnier. Take a look.

P.S. It appears I wasn’t the only one who found Joe Biden to be more than a bit condescending and his use of the third-person quite odd.

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Tags: joe biden, sarah palin, satire, saturday night live

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October 5, 2008 | 11:48 am

Palin gets feminist endorsement, says Obama would ‘pal around with terrorists’

Sarah Palin was in town yesterday for a rally in Carson. In the following video, which is after the jump, Shelly Mandell, the L.A. president of the National Organization for Women says Palin is “what a feminist looks like.”

Mandell gets booed when she says she is a lifelong Democrat, “but I know Sarah Palin cares about women’s rights, she cares about equality, she cares about equal pay, and as vice president she will fight for it. ... Change must come to Washington and Sarah Palin has what it takes to lead that charge. ... She is a reformer who will break up that ol’ boys network.”

What the video doesn’t show is Palin’s comment that Barack Obama would ”pal around with terrorists.”

Sadly, this passes as political rhetoric. We’ve heard before from John McCain that Obama would endanger Israel because he’s not hardline enough. I disagree. Of course, this association still draws suspicion that Obama seeks to change American course in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his connection to Bill Ayers doesn’t help his street cred. But Palin has definitely taken past claims to a new level.

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Tags: barack obama, sarah palin, terrorism

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October 5, 2008 | 10:42 am

Jackie Mason says Silverman’s a ‘sick yenta’ for telling Jews to vote Obama

Remember that video for The Great Schlep in which Sarah Silverman says Jews should stop being scared of Barack Obama and vote for the Democratic nominee for president, who is, as she informs us, “circum-supersized?” Well, Jackie Mason, a Jewish comedian from a much different era, didn’t like Silverman’s politics or her insinuation that Jews who don’t vote for Obama don’t like black people:

“You’re not a bigot and don’t let her convince ya you are,” Mason says in the above video, the fastest two-minute rant I’ve ever seen. “She’s a sick yenta for mentioning it.”

Mason says you should vote for John McCain, but not because he says so; because your conscious does. The video was produced for the Republican Jewish Coalition—they don’t like Obama—and sent to its subscribers. RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks explains:

“Jackie Mason tells it like it is and there is no one else like him in the Jewish community. A central theme of this video is Mason’s outrage at the arrogance and self-importance of Sarah Silverman and her Hollywood friends for telling people whom they should vote for. In addition, Mason points out that Silverman fails to make the case for why Obama should be president. While it is our hope that people will be entertained by this video, the message is a serious one. At the end of the day, no amount of Hollywood star power will erase the fact that Barack Obama continues to have a problem in the Jewish community.”

Thanks also to the Web Guy for sending the video along. Click here to see the Silverman video that got under Mason’s skin.

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Tags: american jews, barack obama, entertainment, jackie mason, politics, republican jewish coalition, sarah silverman

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October 3, 2008 | 8:54 am

Media: Palin did good, but Biden won big

Photo: Reuters

I was incredibly impressed by the woman who took the stage at Washington University last night. She didn’t appear to be the Sarah Palin of that disastrous Katie Couric interview; she didn’t seem to be anybody we had yet seen. And, except for her obnoxious colloquialisms and a few times when she spoke in a circle, I thought Palin cleaned the floor with the knowledgeable yet completely uninspiring Joe Biden.

Boy, was I wrong. I must have been. Maybe you were too. How else could undecided voters and the mass media completely disagree with me?

“Palin Was Fine, But This Debate Was No Contest” is the headline for Time columnist Joe Klein. (Yep, same Joe Klein.) A little bit of his column is after the jump.

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Tags: joe biden, media, president 08, sarah palin

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October 2, 2008 | 9:20 pm

Remember Ramadan: football and fasting

SoCal Muslim footballers

Ramadan is over now—thankfully, this year Iraqis got to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr without having to worry about being kidnapped—but for the month of September, Muslims worldwide fasted from food and drink and smoking and sex when the sun was above the horizon. And you thought Yom Kippur was tough.

Last week, the Baltimore Sun wrote about the struggle of fasting for Muslim athletes. Before that, the Columbus Post-Dispatch had a profile of The Ohio State’s Nader Abdallah, a football player keeping the faith despite a really big game against USC. And, a few years before that, I wrote a feature about a high school varsity player. His name was Hytham Elsherif, and he was a well-built starting O-lineman for Diamond Bar High School.

I’ve definitely written better stories, but this remains one of my favorites. Hytham (not pictured) was a cool, inspiring dude. An excerpt is after the jump:

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Tags: islam, muslim americans, sports

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October 2, 2008 | 7:35 pm

Open Thread: VP debate

Just got done liveblogging the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. I’m wiped and not really able to process my thoughts. In short I was very surprised with how well Palin did; at one point I thought she was mopping the floor with Biden, who suffers from the same boring, drab, experience curse that John McCain is under.

My favorite moment didn’t come from one of Palin’s Joe Six Pack references but from discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here goes:

6:51 p.m.—Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Biden: “Nobody in the United States senate has been a better friend of Israel than Joe Biden.” He has been a major, major supporter. But referring to himself in the third person. Brad doesn’t like it. Brad doesn’t like it one bit. Brad’s not sure he can trust somebody who thinks so highly of himself.

So what did you think of the 92-minute affair? The comments are open.

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Tags: joe biden, president 08, sarah palin

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October 2, 2008 | 5:45 pm

Liveblogging the vice presidential debate

5:48 p.m.—I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for the VP debate for some time now. Joe Biden has pretty much disappeared from the campaign trail and Sarah Palin has been gobbling up lots of negative attention. In 10 minutes we get to see them square off. (@god is predicting “Tonight might set the record for OMGs!” on Twitter.) Stay tuned ...

6:02 p.m.—Gov. Palin and Sen. Biden take the stage. “Can I call you Joe,” she asks when she shakes his hand. As in Joe Six-pack?

6:03 p.m.—Biden receives the kickoff, fielding a question about our untoward economy and what should be done. “We are going to fundamentally change the focus of the economic policy. We are going to focus on the middle-class,” Biden says.

6:05 p.m.—Palin’s response begins with a hypothetical, howya doing? on a soccer field sideline. She punches back at Barack Obama and says John McCain has put “obsessive politics aside and the country first.” Biden deeply sighs.

6:08 p.m.—Palin seems very well prepped, very capable. Like an entirely different person—actually, her hair is different too—from the woman who appeared on CBS Evening News.

6:09 p.m.—Moderator: “Governor, senator neither of you really answered that last question about what you would do as vice president.”

6:10 p.m.—What??? Palin is blaming predatory lenders and not greedy homebuyers. What ever happened to personal responsibility. And now she just mentioned Joe Six Pack and then three phrases later invoked the Holocaust with “Never again.”

6:12 p.m.—Biden: Yada, yada, yada. “We let Wall Street run wild.” This has become the popular, though untrue, simple answer to what went wrong in the housing market. A major part of the problem, definitely, but this jalopy had a lot of moving parts.

6:14 p.m.—Arguing about taxes. I hate how the candidates appeal to the moderator in these debates instead of directing their comments at each other. It’s childish, like when two parents are fighting with each other by addressing all their comments to their kid.

6:15 p.m.—Dodgers game two against the Cubs starts in about 20 minutes ...

6:18 p.m.—Palin says increasing taxes on the middle class is not patriotic. She’s the only one of the four who can even claim to be somewhat upper-middle class. How many houses does McCain have again?

6:20 p.m.—Uh oh. Biden mentions that McCain supports tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil.

6:22 p.m.—Moderator just asked an awesome question: What promises of your campaign are you not going to be able to keep? Biden’s list is long. Palin responds that McCain “doesn’t tell one thing to one group and then turns around and tells something else to another group” and says that Obama voted for the bill that gave oil companies tax breaks.

6:24 p.m.—Palin’s last comment is significant because it is indicative of the hypocrisy of Washington. Candidates rail against policies that they themselves supported in one form or another. Which brings me to the bailout bill and the gall that the Senate had to stuff it with pork.

6:28 p.m.—We’re less than a half hour in and, I have to admit, Palin is dominating. Regardless of the substance of her statements, she is winning this debate big time.

6:31 p.m.—Moderator: “Governor, what is true and what is false about what we have heard about climate change?”

Palin: “We know that it is real. I’m not one to attribute every activity of man to changes in the climate ... but there are real changes going on in our climate. I don’t want to argue about the causes. I want to argue about how we are going to get their to positively effect the impact.”

Hmmm ... call me crazy, but I think we need to know the causes if we are going to effect the impact.

Biden responds that causes are clearly man-made. “If you don’t understand what the cause is, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a solution.”

Hey, I just said that.

6:35 p.m.—Palin just said “raping” in a vice presidential debate. Kudos.

6:37 p.m.—Same-sex benefits time.

6:38 p.m.— Palin: “I am tolerant and I have a very diverse family and friends, and some might not agree with me on this issue.” In other words, Some of my best friends have gay friends.

Both Biden and Palin say they oppose sanctioning gay marriage at the federal level.

6:40 p.m.—On to Iraq. Same story we’ve heard for the past six months. Regardless of the rhetoric, at least Iraq is getting better.

Interjection: A friend just informed me that Palin told Katie Couric that her best friend was gay.

6:43 p.m.—Did she just say “Tal-a-ban-ee”? As in Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq. I think it’s pronounced differently than the radical I