Happy 2012

A Happy 2012 to all of us!

New Year (1999)

January 1, 1999

In 3 days it'll be the first day of 2012.
Today's Golden Oldie is from the first day of 1999.

Mr. Shuldig and his dog Doobie are my favorite characters. I can allow Shudig to express gushy, sweet, and optimistic thoughts knowing that Doobie's blunt realism will rescue the cartoon from a sugary overdose.

* * * Speaking of "Dog Years", there is an online site on the topic. It begins with:

"A widely held belief is that one dog year is the same as 7 human years. Although that could be used as a very rough guide, it ends up being misleading, especially when used to calculate younger or older dogs. That could be a problem in certain situations such as figuring out pet insurance, or the health of a dog (whether a veterinarian checkup is needed, etc)." -more (includes a dogyear/humanyear calculator

Taliban Fighters

Israel's struggle against anti-Zionist, anti-female, anti-Israeli, intolerant fundamentalist Jewish thugs goes on.

The latest, from YNet:

Hundreds protest women's segregation in Beit Shemesh
"Hundreds gathered in Beit Shemesh Tuesday for a demonstration protesting the growing demand by radical religious elements to exclude women from public life in Israel.

"Public outcry against the radical demand to shun women from public events and for segregation between the sexes on busses, sidewalks and even in lines in the supermarket, became especially strident over the weekend when seven-year-old Na'ama Margolis was spat on in a Beit Shemesh street by haredi man who claimed she was not dressed "modestly enough."-more

Boom! (1985)

February 4, 1985

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1985.

The "BOOM!" in Israel these days is the snowballing story of a cultural war against Israeli society by elements of the population that want public buses and sidewalks to be segregated between men and women.

It is portrayed by the media as a battle for Israel's future.
They may be right.

The "latest" as I write this:

Haredim riot in Beit Shemesh after segregation signs removed
Dozens of haredim riot, hurl stones as officers, municipal inspectors remove signs calling for women's exclusion; some signs already put back up; municipality to install hundreds of security cameras.

"Police forces accompanied by Beit Shemesh municipal inspectors removed public signs calling for segregation between men and women in the city on Sunday. This prompted dozens of haredim to crowd around the officers. They hurled stones and cursed the officers. Some haredim called police "Nazis." There were no reports of injury."-more

Mr. Shuldig's Plan

Mr. Shuldig, with his plan to end 2011 in a "positive" mood.

China Search

Happy Holidays to all!

There is, at present, a unique opportunity to improve Jewish-China and Israel-China relations. I am looking for a donor, probably hedge fund manager, CEO, board chairman, etc., who has the ability to fund our taking advantage of this unique opportunity . We are tax-deductible in the U.S.

The Dry Bones China Project can, with a donation of about $50,000 deliver its first unique "product" to China in June. If you are that donor please contact me at blog@mrdrybones.com

If not, would you contact someone who does fit that description?

If you'd like to make a donation of any amount just click on Donate.

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Segregated Buses?!

The latest furor in Israel is about demands by "Haredim"(falsely identified as "ültra Orthodox"). What they now want is buses segregated by sex. i.e. women to the back of the bus. So I did this cartoon suggesting that they wear blindfolds. Funny, no?

"No" says the LSW (Long Suffering Wife). She says it's been done. She says that some Haredi men have been spotted wearing veils!! I pooh-poohed the notion, but did a google image search, just to check. Turns out she was right.

Men in Veils?

20th Century Farewell (1999)

November 28, 1999

Today's Golden Oldie is a Hanukkah cartoon from December 1999. A Farewell to the 20th century.

Those of you who get freaky about when the 21st century actually began, please control yourselves, relax, and have a Happy Hanukkah!

Pass it On!

Tonight's the "second candle" and we'll be with grandchildren.

The plan is to pass on our civilization ( cleverly hidden in "gold foil"-wrapped chocolate Hanukkah coins).

Hag Sameah! Happy Holiday

Hanukkah (2000)

December 11, 2000

Today's Golden Oldie is a Hanukkah cartoon from from December 2000. Tonight is the lighting of the first candle.

Happy Holiday, Hag Sameah!

Have a Happy

Hannuka, Chanukah, Chanukkah . . . however you spell it, it stands for our eight-day "Festival of Lights".

And it begins tomorrow night!

Have a Happy!!

Hag Sameah!

China Update

Funding: The Dry Bones Project (DryBonesProject.com) needs funding to carry out its unique strategic plan ... a way to use graphic novels to engage and enlist the Chinese in a common struggle; the battle to reject the willful denial of history, and to strengthen China/Israel relations.

The question::the pertinent question is "Will the works produced by the Dry Bones Project be allowed into the restrictive and tightly controlled Chinese internet and academic environment?"

The answer seems to be yes: We just received a letter from Professor Wang Hongxu ... Secretary General of the Center of International Strategic Studies at the Central Party School run by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ...Its main task is to offer policy recommendations and advice to the Central Communist Party.

Dear Yaakov,
This project is really exciting. I fully support you and hope you success! I think you will succeed!"
Wang Hongxu
Central Party School
Beijing, China

If you could be our funder, please contact me, Dry Bones cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen . If you are not a potential angel, maybe you know someone who is or who could be?

To help with a donation please click on DONATE

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Attacks by Jewish Youth

According to a report from the New York Times:

Israel gets tough on Jewish settlers

"After two days of Jewish settler violence that has shocked much of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that some radical Israelis would be treated the same way as suspected Palestinian militants - detained for long periods without charge and tried in military courts.

The disclosure of the new laws followed an urgent meeting of the country's top legal and security officials and showed how worried Mr Netanyahu and his lieutenants have become about militants of the far right who attack not only Palestinians in the West Bank, but also the Israeli army there." -more

Good News Bad News (1996)

December 02, 1996

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1996. Fifteen years ago this month.

I've always had two weaknesses. One is a love of "Good News, Bad News" jokes and the other is a compulsion to go for a laugh when the situation seems frightening.

This King Solomon cartoon about a threat from Syria is an example of both.

What the ?

In the digital world in which we all are now forced to live, the old rule "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" is no longer honored.

Your thoughts?

Rabies (1976)

December 10, 1976

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1976. Thirty Five years ago!!

In 1976 there was a rabies scare in Jerusalem. Sad to say I was unable to resist going for a joke, using Doobie, Mr. Shuldig's dog, shown misreading the story in the Jerusalem Post.

Telephone Talk

The LSW (Long Suffering Wife) just informed me that we've signed up for another three years with our mobile phone provider (those crooks) and that they offered us a new phone. Either an iPhone or a Blackberry. She turned down the new phones.

I'm happy with the phone I've got. I don't want a new phone . . . but everyone showing off their new phones and apps is really starting to bug me!! The LSW says that it bugs me because I'm turning into a grouch!

When I showed her this cartoon she said that it proved that she was right,

WANTED

Wanted: The Dry Bones Project is searching for an angel/donor!

The Dry Bones Project needs funding to carry out its unique strategic plan. It is a way to engage and enlist the Chinese in a common struggle; the battle to reject the willful denial of history. We need financial backing for this plan which educates against the erasing of the thousands of years of history of the Children of Israel in the Land. It builds a linkage between the two ancient civilizations (that of the Chinese and that of the Jews) which have each survived centuries, to reach these dark, dangerous, and rapidly globalizing times.

If you are who we are looking for, if you could be our funder, please contact me, Dry Bones cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen . If you are not a potential angel, maybe you know someone who is or who could be?

To make a U.S. Tax-deductible donation, or to donate through Pay Pal, please click on DONATE

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Mysterious Mishaps

Who knows what's really happening? But here's some speculation from the Miami Herald (datelined Jerusalem):

Iran explosions prompt speculation of secret attacks

JERUSALEM -- "A series of mishaps at Iranian nuclear facilities and weapons sites may be part of a covert organized attack on Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to Western intelligence officials.

An explosion last week outside Iran's third largest city, Isfahan, is thought to be the most recent strike, though details on the intended target are still unclear. A sprawling military base and nuclear facilities are outside Isfahan, and intelligence officials across the Middle East said there was strong evidence that the explosion had done some "significant structural damage."

"We have seen enough evidence to know something has happened, but we are unclear on what at this point," said one Western diplomat whose work includes the region, speaking only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "There are a number of parties interested in sabotaging and weakening the Iranian regime."

The second such incident in as many weeks cast doubt on Iranian claims that these were "accidents" and "coincidences," and it set off speculation of a coordinated attack by Israel, whose officials long have threatened a strike against Iran's nuclear program. Israeli officials denied direct involvement, but the growing number of mysterious or unexplained blasts and deaths has many suspecting an official program of sabotage." -more

Research (1981)

December 29, 1981

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1981. I found it while rummaging through cartoons I drew thirty years ago this month.

I like it when one of my cartoons makes me smile. This one did. I did not remember doing it at all.

Question: did it make you smile?

Second question: is the cartoon "silly and sweet" or "deeply cynical"?

Offending American Jews?

Since the creation of the State of Israel the question of aliyah from America has been a touchy topic. The old and bitter joke was "Definition of a Zionist: Someone who gives money to an organization to send another Jew to live in Israel". So Israel has tread lightly on its call for the in-gathering of America's Jews to the homeland.

So what's happening now is an angry reaction to our call to Israelis living in America to come back home!

Wow!

In an op ed piece in the NY Times entitled "Come Home to Israel", an offended Roger Cohen shares his insight with statements like

"I know several Israeli expatriates or would-be expatriates and their feelings are consistent. They are troubled by the illiberal drift of Israeli politics, the growth of a harsh nationalism, the increasing influence of the ultrareligious, the endlessness of the “situation,” and the tension inherent in a status quo that will one day threaten either Israel’s Jewishness or its democracy."

He also chides the Jewish State for failing to recognize that

"President Barack Obama is offended (by ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank against his express request)."

Problem is that Roger can't seem to accept that Obama is America's president. He is not Israel's leader.

In the old days, American Jews were upset about Israeli Aliyah activists trying to "steal" their kids. Now they're upset about our attempts to bring our own citizens back home??!

Wow!

If you're interested here's a link to the NYTimes piece.

Your thoughts?

Vanunu (1986)

December 01, 1986

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1986. Twenty Five years ago!!

In 1985, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at Israel's top-secret facility at Dimona, brought his camera to work and took about 60 photos of the place. These photos were then published in a London Sunday Times' exposé about Israel's "nuclear weapons program".

In 1986 he was tried in a secret trial. The country was shocked! So was I! Most people were shocked about what he had done. I was shocked that nobody asked how he was able to saunter around taking snapshots of the place.

Vanunu was convicted and was released in 2004, after 18 years in prison.

* * * The Guardian is now beating the drums for the guy in a piece published just last month (November 2011):

Mordechai Vanunu deserves freedom from Israel

"Vanunu's attempts to leave Israel have been dragging on for more than seven years now. He was released from prison in 2004, after serving 18 years, and told that he must wait another six months before he could leave the country and must not talk to any foreigners in the meantime. Since then, a cruel game of cat and mouse has been going on, with Vanunu periodically arrested and detained for technical breaches of his conditions." -more

Holiday Travel

Below is from a letter to President Obama written by Dr. John Eibner
CEO of Christian Solidarity International:

"Dear Mr. President,

Today, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) issued a Genocide Warning concerning the 12 million-plus members of endangered non-Muslim minorities in North Africa and the broader Islamic Middle East.

Conditions for genocide against non-Muslim communities exist in varying degrees throughout the region stretching from Pakistan to Morocco. The crisis of survival for non-Muslim communities is especially acute in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is already a “religiously cleansed” state.

CSI’s Genocide Warning reinforces similar alerts issued earlier this year by senior statesmen:

We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse program of religious cleansing in the Middle East." – French President Nicholas Sarkozy, January 7, 2011.

"Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only because they are Christians. What is happening to Christians is a genocide.” – Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayal, January 3, 2011.

“The most recent developments [i.e., deadly Islamist attacks against Egyptian Christians in May 2011] fill us with dread. …The aim of the Islamists is to stoke up hatred and violence.” – Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, June 27, 2011.

Five months after the pogroms referred to by former Chancellor Schüssel, the U.S.-financed Egyptian army joined radical Islamists in attacking non-violent Christian demonstrators in Cairo, killing at least 25 people.

Most acts of Islamic supremacist violence against non-Muslim minorities receive little media attention in the United States. Take, for example, just a few of the cases that have come to the notice of CSI since the beginning of the so-called “Arab Spring”:

Egyptian Christian teenager, Ayman Nabil Labib - murdered by schoolmates after refusing to remove a cross necklace.

Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani - sentenced to death for having allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity."

Catholic priest, Fr. Mark Rybinski - murdered in Tunisia.

27-year-old Pakistani Christian nurse Shaista Samuel– raped by Muslims and subjected to pressure to convert to Islam.

Libyan Jew, David Gerbi - prevented from reopening the synagogue in Tripoli by Islamist mobs declaring: "There is no place for Jews in Libya!

CBS Reporter Lara Logan - sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square in Cairo by a mob of Muslim men chanting "Jew! Jew!"

Iraqi Christians Hanna Polos Emmanuel and Bassn Isho - kidnapped and shot dead near Kirkuk.

These and most other acts of violence against non-Muslims in the Islamic world are not, for the most part, committed by members of Al Qaida or related terrorist networks. Instead they are perpetrated by both state and non-state actors, many of whom are military allies of the United States. They are all inspired by a deep seated culture of Islamic supremacism - kindred in spirit to white supremacism and anti-Semitism. -read full letter

Dry Bones China Project

Flash! Announcing a new Dry Bones Project!!

Israel’s enemies try to erase the pre-1948 history of the Jews in the Land of Israel. But China has not yet been infected with this denial of Jewish History.

We propose to inoculate the 1.3 billion Chinese against this modern libel with exciting, popular, online, and free to download apps and eBooks …in a form and with content that will appeal to both the Chinese establishment and Chinese university students alike.

Yup! A unique project to bring China and the Jews closer together through educational, digital, Chinese-language, graphic works written and drawn by award-winning Dry Bones cartoonist, scholar, and political analyst Yaakov Kirschen (me)

For details visit http://drybonesproject.com

Is Syria Nato's Next?

Is NATO going to do it again? Is Syria NATO's next target?

Here's the view from Iran.
According to the Tehran Times:

"Russia is sending its warships to Syrian waters in a move aimed at preventing any foreign attacks against Syrian territories.

According to Russian sources, the recent move conveys the message that Moscow will block any NATO-led attack under the guise of “humanitarian intervention,” The Nation reported.

Russia has been voicing support for Syria, which it says is currently going through a civil war.

The Western military alliance, NATO, has been making efforts to demonize the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his forces, while downplaying attacks by opposition forces.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has also recently warned the West against any 'Libya-style' military intervention in Syria." -more

The Way We Were (1976)

November 28, 1976

Today's Golden Oldie is from the winter of 1976. Thirty Five years ago!!

I lived in Jerusalem back then and there is nothing that seemed as bone-chillingly cold as those winters in Jerusalem. Part of the problem was that Jerusalem's stone buildings were built to be cool in the summer heat, but when a snowy Jerusalem winter blew in, they were even cooler. Another part of the problem was that we all kept warm with small heaters that burned what we, in our local English dialect called "neft". It wasn't until years later that I learned that "neft"was actually kerosene!

They way we got our "neft"was to shlep a "jerry can" to a gas station or to wait for the neft delivery truck which had a tank from which patrons would fill their jerry cans, jugs, and bottles.

In the cartoon a frigid Mr. Shuldig is trudging home buttoned up against the cold, and musing on the inflation that was ravaging the country at the time.