Yesterday was my mother’s 93rd birthday – when I called her early in the morning to wish her Happy Birthday, she said she was already all dressed up in a sweater I sent her from Israel, complete with makeup, polished fingernails and decked out in all her jewelry. Good for you, mom!

One of the funniest stories she tells on herself was when she spit on the Crown Prince of Norway. Not intentionally, of course, but when you do something like that, it would tend to linger in your memory.

She and my father had been at some sort of reception for the Crown Prince at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Finger food and drinks were being served, and when she came upon the Crown Prince at an unexpected moment, she’d just taken a bite of something. It caught in her throat – haven’t we all done that – and when she tried to speak, she spewed whatever it was all over the Crown Prince.

Uffda.

The Crown Prince, she said, was very gracious. He just kept smiling and nodding, acting as though nothing had happened -- although as he moved away, he unobtrusively brushed the debris from his suit and the banner with all the ribbons and medals. “He was a real gentleman,” my mother said.

Maybe he was used to being spit on.

One would hope so, since that’s what the Community Organizer did yesterday, too. He spit on Norway, the very country that -- in terms of unmitigated humor -- had just awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize, which, among other benefits, also gives him, personally, $1.4 million. (That’s not all honoring the Community Organizer cost – the Norwegian government also earmarked 92 million kroner, $16 million to cover his security during his visit.)

Now Norway is wondering if they got their money’s worth.

Not just that after dithering for months, their Peace Prize winner had finally decided to send an additional 30,000 young men and women to Afghanistan to put their lives on the line for his photo ops – his word – and to heal a rift in the Democrat party. That was offensive enough to the “peace” loving Norwegians.

What they’re really ticked about is that the Community Organizer refused to play the game. He refused to take part in all the hoopla that the Nobel Committee assumes it’s buying when they give millions of dollars away with no strings attached. Nobel Prize recipients can spend the cash anyway they wish, but the Nobel Committee expects to be able to extract their pound of flesh by making the recipients socialize with Norwegians when they come to pick up the check.

I dunno – I guess if someone wanted to give me $1.4 million and pay another $16 million to make sure no one offed me while I was in their country, I guess I’d agree to a tea party or two without much fuss.

Not so the Community Organizer. Among other social slights, he refused to lunch with the King of Norway. No one said they were serving lutefisk and lefse, either, so it probably wasn’t the abundance of white food he found offensive. He just didn’t want to waste his valuable time hanging out with the King, who might possibly regale him with Ole & Lena jokes, straight through the dravla they’d offer up for dessert.

Beyond that, the most ungracious Community Organizer also refused to attend a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children's event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honor at the Nobel peace centre.

Tsk, tsk. Not a very gracious guest, is he?

If nothing else, Norwegians are exquisitely polite, so Siv Jensen, of Norway’s populist Progress party, was one of the few who’d comment on the extraordinary rude behavior of the US President. “He should respect the monarchy,” Jensen said.

Of course if the Nobel Committee – not to mention Norway itself – had studied the character of the Community Organizer a little more closely, they wouldn’t have been surprised. As far as the Community Organizer is concerned, he is the King of the World, not to mention the Universe.

Why would he stoop to pay any kind of respect for such lesser beings as other pretenders to his throne? As The One, the most perfect human ever to walk the earth, surely he has the right to just grab the cash and run.

No one in the world could even suggest that he utter a ‘Mange tusen tukk.’

One can only dream of the day when the American people will rise up and say, “Sayonara, Big O! Hasta la Vista, baby -- write when you get work.”

Oh-oh. The mice have taken over, figuratively speaking. The cats are in trouble.

There’s bad news from the National Security Cabinet that met today.

What was the topic? The PA’s refusal to agree to enter negotiations with Israel.

During the session, Bibi said, “It seems as though the PA has adopted a strategy of rejecting negotiations with Israel in order to avoid demands made by Israel and the international community that necessitate compromise on their part. This is a mistaken approach.”

With all due respect, Mr. Prime Minister, what the Arabs are doing is NOT a mistake. In fact, it you had any sense, it’s exactly what you'd be doing, too.

The Arabs have indeed refused to enter negotiations, make “gestures” of peace to Israel contrary to their own best interests, or to soften their demands in any way. Quite the contrary, they have stepped up their demands.

And what’s happened? As Bibi says, they have avoided any demands being placed on them by either Israel or the “international community.”

Israel, on the other hand, is beset with demands everywhere we turn. Why? Because we've been signaling “weakness” in every possible way.

We’re willing to compromise, we say. We’re willing to give. Just tell us what you want, and we’ll do our best.

And what’s happened to Israel? We’re inundated with demands, which -- should we give in -- would weaken us still even more.

Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister. What the Arabs are doing is smart.

Maybe if we said "no", too, the "international community" would find some other place in the world to tinker. The Arabs have made it clear they're not playing the game. If we made it clear that we're not playing either, maybe the spectators would give up and go home.

I wish with all my heart that Bibi would do what the Arabs are doing. Maybe then we could move closer to a real peace, on terms we could live with.

For the record -- just in case there's anyone out there who cares (other than me) -- the 'Blogspot' program operates on US time, not Israel time.

My computer shows the right time in Israel -- Blogspot continues to operate on US time.

That means you should know I'm not posting on Shabbat. I know, I know, you wouldn't think I would. But every time I see it, I cringe. It looks as though I'm putting a stumbling block in front of the blind, and all that.

I tried a few simple things to try to correct it, and failed.

If there's any guru out there who knows how to correct this pervasive little issue, let me know. I'd be grateful.

Today is December 7, “a date that will live in infamy”, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt said – and indeed it does, although in most of the major media, it’s been forgotten. If any stories on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, appear, I haven’t seen them.

For those of you in Berkeley who eschew such memories, on this day, 68 years ago, 2,402 Americans were killed and another 1,282 wounded as 235 Japanese aircraft, in two separate waves, swooped down on a US Naval base in Hawaii in an allegedly surprise attack. Not as many as 9/11, true. But hardly a day to be forgotten.

The ‘what did he know, and when did he know it?’ question about FDR’s knowledge about the attack remains lost in history. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn’t. In any event, the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into WWII, which made possible the summary defeat of both Hitler and Japan. Books, stories and film recount how the greatest generation fought that war, ended the twin tyrannies, and ushered in a far less deadly cold war instead. The various countries of the world still didn’t like or respect each other, but for a respectable number of years, none of them set about trying to conquer the world again. They saw the consequences of taking on America, bolstered by the combined forces of Europe – minus Germany – and were deterred by the threat. In short, attacking the US had lost its luster as a viable battle strategy.

Up until the Islamists came into the picture, that is.

Muslim Arabs had been close confederates and allies of Hitler. At the end of WWII, they didn’t have the resources or technology to plot out their own plan to conquer the world, but with the world demand for their only natural resource – oil – rose, they came to take their place at the world table, albeit mostly as a spoiler. Because they controlled by default – mess with them, they turn off the spigot – a new era arrived in which the Middle Eastern Arabs played a pivotal role.

Then came terrorism.

The Arabs, unwilling or perhaps unable to develop military strategies of their own, they found a new banner under which to fight: for Allah they fought, dedicated themselves to defeating the world through jihad and to save it for Allah, through terror.

(Either that, or else it’s just a nasty bunch of fellows who like to rape, rob, pillage, burn and destroy, anyway, and saying they’re doing it the name of Allah gives them more latitude.)

What did the world do this time? Facing Islamists, the world tread softly. A “war on terror”, Bush said. Not a war on the enemies who killed 3,000 Americans in a single horrifying day.

Too afraid of offending someone’s ‘religious’ sensitivities, the countries of the world cowered, praised Islam as a “religion of peace” and assured Muslims we meant no harm, all we wanted to do was douse the flame of terrorism that burned in their midst. We did it for their sake, we assured ourselves and them, over and over. To this day, we refuse to recognize a proven and openly bloodthirsty “religion” as an enemy.

So where are we today? We’re waffling, all of us. Still unable to denounce Islam for what it is, for what it has become, we appease, we threaten sanctions, we backtrack, we compromise.

In the last two weeks, leaders of Israel and the United States both committed two totally ridiculous errors – no other word works, except maybe ‘insane’ and that’s not quite right, because they know full well what they’re doing, both of them.

In the US, the Community Organizer, after months of trying to pull off a Bubba-like ‘triangulation’ between his Democrats who want to flee from Afghanistan, and those who worried about our soldiers still over there, he placed term limits on the war, pre-announcing an end to the US effort. In essence, he said, “We’ll fight you for another year, and then we’ll quit, pull out and come home.”

How nuts is that? When do you ever tell an enemy that as far as you’re concerned, the war will end in a year? Before, in the entire history of the world, people who did that were called ‘traitors’ and they were shot at sunrise.

And then in Israel, Bibi did much the same thing when faced with a different issue. As the criminally naïve Community Organizer continued to put the screws to Israel, Bibi caved. Even though everyone on the face of the planet – excepting those who inhabit the White House – knows that “settlements” are not now nor have they ever been the issue, Bibi succumbed to White House pressure and announced a 10 month construction freeze in Judea, Samaria and – apparently -- Jerusalem.

How nuts is that? Assume for a moment that the “settlements” – Judea and Samaria – really did have something to do with Arab aggression. Of what possible negotiating value would a ten month freeze in construction have? None.

Absolutely none – as was instantly obvious. The Arabs, the Community Organizer and most of Europe instantly knee-jerked, “That’s not enough!” – and indeed, if the goal is to get rid of Israel as a whole, it isn’t. A ten month construction freeze accomplishes not one single thing – except imposing financial and quality of life penalties on the brave Zionists of Judea and Samaria.

(Assuming they go along with it -- at the moment, there are excellent signs of rebellion, and as much as I value unity, I applaud them for just saying no. It is never necessary to be complicit with your enemies in engineering your own death.)

So the Community Organizer pre-announces the end to the war, signaling that he’ll accept defeat in a year’s time or so, after thousands more American soldiers have died, fighting for what, exactly? Giving their lives to prevent a rift in the Democrat party? Is that what the American military is for? Photo ops and political cover?

While in Israel, Bibi announces a time-limited construction freeze, which has absolutely zero value, not only because “settlements” aren’t a real issue at all, but also because of course the whole world won’t accept it as enough anyway. It’s an insane action that serves only to damage Israeli citizens – all of us – not to mention further stalling any possible “peace” agreement that could be had.

Sigh.

Why isn’t there someone in the US or Israel who could have merely quoted one of Winston Churchill’s most magnificent speeches? True, their own speech writers can’t top Churchill, but still they could have quoted The Statesman.

Here’s what Winston Churchill said on June 4, 1940, when faced with Hitler’s threat to conquer the world:

“The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in G-d's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

Now there’s a leader.

On Shabbat, I walk a long way to shul – couple miles, maybe, although I don’t have any good way of knowing exactly how far it is. Through trial and error I’ve found a route that’s the shortest and has the fewest hills – not that there are very many real ‘hills’ in Beersheba, but on excruciatingly hot summer days, every little up-and- down mound I can avoid makes it easier.

Going – as compared to coming back – is usually a nice morning walk. It’s not terribly hot, there are no cars at all so I can walk in the street, and there’s rarely anyone else around at all, at least until I pass through another neighborhood where there are several Hassidic shuls. Then there are lots of people on the street -- mostly men with their little kids tagging along -- all heading in the opposite direction.

One of the things I pass is what must be a group home for mentally disabled adults. Hard to tell exactly who lives there, or why, but usually on Shabbat morning I’ll see one or two of the residents, sometimes walking very very slowly on the sidewalk. More commonly, they’ll just be standing in their yard, looking out into the street. The whole place is absolutely silent. I’ve never heard anyone, inside or out, say anything or indeed make any kind of a sound at all.

There’s one man there that I’ve been seeing every week for virtually the entire time I’ve lived in the Old City, going on five years. It’s impossible to tell how old he is – anywhere from 40 to 70, I’d say, although if I had to guess, probably closer to the younger range. He’s looks seriously unwell and is excruciatingly thin. He seems hardly able to take a single shambling step, although he does leave the yard and make it to the street where he walks a few yards.

Week after week, as he sees or hears me coming, he turns his head and stares at me, and watches every step of my progress walking past him. From the first time I saw him, and saw how intently he was looking at me, I couldn’t simply ignore him – I’d be passing him within just a few feet. Normally a woman wouldn’t speak first to an unfamiliar man, but there was no way I was going to ignore him, walking so close. So every morning I’d say, “Shabbat shalom!” and walk on.

There was never any acknowledgement. Never any sign he’d even heard me. His vacant expression never changed.

Until yesterday.

Everything was as usual. He stood in the street, just off the sidewalk outside the home. I passed by, said ‘Shabbat shalom!’ and walked on. His expression didn’t change, he didn’t make a sound.

Not until I was maybe 20 feet farther along. Then I heard him say, “Geveret!” – something comparable to “Hey, lady”, but that’s the standard Israeli phrase, not an insult.

At first, I couldn’t believe it was him, talking -- but there wasn’t anyone else around at all. I turned around, and there he stood, with one hand raised in a sort of wave. “Shabbat shalom!” he said, and there was something like a smile on his face.

I said, “Shabbat shalom!” again, then had to turn and walk on quickly. I didn’t want him to see my tears.

News stories today remind me of an encounter I had with an anti-gun demonstrator back in Sacramento.

Those were the days when gun ownership was under attack – still is, probably, but more so then. A group of demonstrators were marching outside the Capitol, many of them carrying signs. One woman’s sign read, “COLLECT ALL HANDGUNS NOW! GUN OWNERSHIP SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!”

Which strikes me as utter insanity. Obviously the only people who would comply with such an edict would be honest, law-abiding, tax-paying, honorable people. The criminal class would laugh – they’d love it. Confiscation of handguns and outlawing all guns for private citizens would render everyone helpless against their thievery, burglary, mugging and worse.

So I walked up to the lady as she marched in the circle, shouting, over and over, “NO GUNS!” I asked if I could speak with her. We stepped aside, and I explained what I thought about her desire to make all gun ownership illegal, and for the government to confiscate handguns. Didn’t she know what would happen? That then only criminals would have guns, and that citizens – good citizens – would be helpless against them?

She admitted she knew that, and she understood that’s what would happen. She agreed it wasn’t good, and that in fact was dangerous. “I know it won’t work,” she said, regarding the sign she herself was carrying. “I realize that disarming good citizens will cause a lot of problems because people wouldn’t be able to protect themselves.”

So why was she demanding that it be done, then? “Because we have to do something. I know this won’t work, but it’s better than doing nothing.”

Well, that left me flummoxed. What can you say in the face of such irrationality?

But here we go again – on two separate issues, the Community Organizer is demanding laws be passed, even though he – not to mention countless millions of other Americans – know and admit that not only will it not work, but it will actually prove harmful.

First is ObamaCare. The analysis of the Congressional Budget Office is that under both plans now in the House and Senate, some 24 million people will still remain uninsured – up from the alleged 17 million uninsured right now.

But worse than that, the Democrat plan will raise every family’s annual insurance bill by about $2100. Think of it: an EXTRA -- on top of whatever they’re paying right now -- an EXTRA $250 a month, for a plan that will not only not solve the alleged problem of uninsured Americans, but will also make it far more expensive for regular people to buy it. And that doesn’t even mention the rationing of health care, which will hit everyone across the board.

But does that stop the Democrats? Not at all. The Community Organizer and his loyal henchmen still insist it needs to be done. Failure to enact this legislation is not an option, they say. Yes, it won’t work. Yes, it will make matters worse. Yes, we know all that, but we desperately need to do it anyway. It's better than doing nothing.

Then comes the infamous “Global Warming” -- renamed “Climate Change” after three years of record breaking cold and snow the world over.

As an aside, I want those of you with whom I’ve argued about this over the years to know how charitable I’m being. You insisted that “Global Warming” was real, that I was just ignorant when I said it was nothing but a Democrat hoax designed to force taxes and lifestyle changes on Americans they wouldn’t otherwise accept. I refused to believe the sky was falling, and you styled yourselves as valiant “Chicken Littles”, struggling to save the world. Now that the truth is out, and we know that the “scientific” studies were cooked, that none of it was true – I’m being kind. I have NOT forwarded a single news item to you, bearing those painful words, “I was right.” Trust me, my fingers have been itching to gloat at you, but I think I've restrained myself rather admirably.

So anyway, now the truth is out. The science was faked. None of it was real. Scientists changed and altered data and imposed professional harem – exile and ostrasization -- on any of their colleagues who dared disagree. So it’s not true. There is no “Global Warming”, no “Climate Change” – or at least no studies at all that prove such a thing.

But what is the Community Organizer doing? Going right ahead with his plans. Pushing for “Climate Change” plans for the “global community” – allegedly to combat this terrible menace. Setting off for Copenhagen, again “putting his credibility on the line”, as several reporters phrase it. ‘What credibility?’ some of us might be asking, but nonetheless, he’s off and running. He’s going to press for punitive world conformance to solve a problem that doesn’t exist – and that he knows doesn’t exist.

Back home, he’s continuing to push his killer economic legislation, ‘cap and trade’ -- read that ‘cap and TAX’ – that represents the largest tax increase on American citizens in history. His legislation imposes a tax on energy everywhere it is consumed on everything it is used to make or provide.

Will it work? No – of course not. It doesn’t need to “work” – the problem they’re trying to solve doesn’t exist.

Will it do actual harm? I don’t even have to tell you what all these tax increases are doing to the American – not to mention world – economy.

Will any of that stop them? No, of course not. Just because their ideas won’t help anyone, and will actually make matters considerably worse, is no reason not to implement them, anyway. After all, “We have to do something”.

Tell you what: The one thing we really do need is “regime change”. In America.

“Ill Omen – Girl in the East Wind with Ravens Crossing the Moon”

Above is a painting by a British artist, Francis MacNair (1874 – 1921)

It’s daytime here, so there’s no moon at the moment, but there are plenty of ravens –which is to say crows. Crows – birds of the Corvid family – are plentiful in Israel. They rarely fly so artistically against the moon, but they are, nonetheless, clever little beasts. Israeli crows have actually been observed using breadcrumbs to go fishing. People feed them little pieces of bread in the park, and then watch as the crows pick up the bread, fly over to the pond, drop the bread in, and thus lure an even better meal: fish!

But it’s that blasted east wind, not crows, that’s the topic under discussion today. Today’s weather forecast was for a strong east wind – and the moment I went outside this morning, I noticed it. The wind came from an unusual direction, although at daybreak, it wasn’t all that strong.

Now, however, it’s really ripping out there – systematically knocking all my plants off their perches, where they were previously standing so serenely on the railing of the outside-room. I’m still considering what to do about it. Putting them back on the railing seems pointless. Better to go take them all down, I guess.

Normally an east wind in Israel blows hot and sandy, carrying the heat and sand of the eastern deserts into every nook and cranny of every house, no matter how carefully you try to shut it out. After a sand storm here, I literally shovel sand out of the corners. Nothing at all prevents it from coming in.

But today the east wind isn’t hot. In fact, it’s quite chilly. That makes it even more unusual.

No matter what, I always think of an east wind with a certain amount of trepidation. In the first place, it’s odd, coming from a different place as it does. It’s something odd that you sense, even if there’s no rational basis to it.

Secondly, however, from time immemorial, an east wind has been used as an omen – not for good but for evil.

In the Chumash (Hebrew Bible) the east wind is mentioned 17 different times. In Genesis, when Yosef interprets Pharaoh’s dream, he specifies that it’s the east wind that blasted away at the corn, destroying it seven years in a row. Later, in Exodus, Moshe summons the east wind to bring the locusts into Egypt, and then later, uses it to part the Sea of Reeds to permit the Israelites to escape – and drowning Pharaoh’s armies in the process. Most usually, the east wind is depicted as destructive.

Literature followed the same pattern:

The Greeks, who lived and wrote not that far from Israel, preferred to leave the east wind out of things. They named the east wind Eurus, but refused to associate it with any of the three Greek seasons. (Sensible of the Greeks to have only three seasons – live in these parts awhile, and it starts to make sense.)

Later, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’, the characters sing incantations to the three winds, and just as did the Greeks, they left out the east wind.

They say:

“ "You left the East Wind to me," said Gimli, "but I will say naught of it."

"That is as it should be," said Aragorn. "In Minas Tirith they endure the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings. ..."

All that said, good old Sherlock Holmes, as usual, refused to bow to convention.

In Conan Doyle’s story “His Last Bow”, Sherlock and Dr. Watson chat while their prisoner struggles with his bound hands. Sherlock points to the moonlit sea and says, "There's an East wind coming, Watson."

"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm,” Watson replies.

"Good old Watson!” Sherlock replies. “You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's G-d's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared."

Today, Israel suffers under the blast of the east wind. But it's not just today, it's ongoing, covering the last several weeks.

Will it blow through, leaving a better stronger land, once the storm has cleared?

We can only hope.