The Swashbuckler

When I was a kid a popular movie genre was the "swashbuckler." The heroes of these movies were daring, devil-may-care characters who crossed swords with crowds of assailants, evaded capture by swinging on curtains or chandeliers over the heads of their opponents. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise seems to be a contemporary version.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's predicament reminded me of how those cinema heroes beat impossible odds, thus the cartoon.

If Dry Bones is one of your heroes, how about tossing us a bit of support? Help us fight the crowds of bad guys. Click on drybonesproject.com/365

After FIFA?!

According to the Washington Post:

"The biggest news story of the year was breaking, but the journalist responsible was fast asleep.
It was just after dawn on May 27 when Andrew Jennings’s phone began ringing. Swiss police had just launched a startling raid on a luxury hotel in Zurich, arresting seven top FIFA officials and charging them and others with running a $150 million racket. The world was stunned.
The waking world, that is. If Jennings had bothered to climb out of bed, he wouldn’t have been surprised at the news. After all, he was the man who set the investigation in motion, with a book in 2006, “FOUL! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals,” followed by an exposé aired on the BBC’s “Panorama” program that same year, and then another book in 2014, called “Omerta: Sepp Blatter’s FIFA Organised Crime Family.”-more

So when WILL they expose the UN?!

Being Normal

We should be better than to sink to the level of "normal" countries.

the breaking story:

Court convicts former PM Olmert in Holyland graft trial
For first time in history, ex-PM convicted of taking bribes.
Judge claims Olmert 'lied in court,' after new info given in high-profile case -more

Arafat's Money (2002)

August 18, 2002

Today's cartoon is from 2002.
Ten years ago this month!

Seven years later, in 2009,According to a CBS 60Minute report:

Arafat's Billions
By Tricia McDermott
"Yasser Arafat diverted nearly $1 billion in public funds to insure his political survival, but a lot more is unaccounted for.
Jim Prince and a team of American accountants - hired by Arafat's own finance ministry - are combing through Arafat's books. Given what they've already uncovered, Arafat may be rethinking the decision. Lesley Stahl reports.
"What is Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority worth today?" asks accountant Jim Prince. "Who is controlling that money? Where is that money? How do we get it back?"
So far, Prince's team has determined that part of the Palestinian leader's wealth was in a secret portfolio worth close to $1 billion -- with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture capital funds in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands.
Although the money for the portfolio came from public funds like Palestinian taxes, virtually none of it was used for the Palestinian people; it was all controlled by Arafat. And, Prince says, none of these dealings were made public.
"Our whole point is to bring it out of control of any one person," Prince says.
That's what happened with the portfolio money, which is now under the control of Salam Fayyad, a former World Bank official who Arafat was forced to appoint finance minister last year after crowds began protesting his corrupt regime." -more

Neo Nazi (1999)

Today's golden Oldie is a cartoon from October 1999.

Jörg Haider's Neo-Nazi Freedom Party had just won second place (about 27% of the vote) in Austria's October parliamentary elections.

* * *
The present. October 2010. Sunday morning, on the flight back to Israel I read a copy of the Financial Times.

The name of Jörg Haider jumped out at me from the pink pages. Haider died in a car crash back in October 2008 but was now big news in October 2010. Apparently the Neo-Nazi had been receiving money from Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi!

The story was headlined Corruption:

"When Jörg Haider was killed in October 2008 after his car veered off a road in Carinthia on the way to a family party, many Austrians quite naturally thought they had heard the last of the populist, anti-immigration politician. But two years on, Mr Haider remains an almost daily talking point in the Austrian media thanks to his alleged links to a series of financial scandals, including the near-bankruptcy of Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA), a Carinthian bank.
In addition to HGAA, investigators are said to be tracking millions of euros in secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein belonging to Mr Haider, including purported donations from Saddam Hussein and Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader." -more

* * * Your thoughts?

Olmert Hits Bottom

Yup, the Olmert government has hit rock bottom and is now preparing to dig us even deeper into the hole! Probably with some outrageous offer to appease the Syrians. * * * Meanwhile the investigation into mounting corruption charges against our bumbling Prime Minister continues. Olmert's lawyers, of course, are crying foul. Here's the latest as reported by the Associated Press:

"JERUSALEM — Lawyers defending Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert against a widening web of corruption allegations launched their cross examination of a key witness Thursday by painting him as a lying, litigious businessman with an unsavory reputation and a faulty memory.

They also tried to erode the credibility of law enforcement authorities by suggesting that in their zeal to nail the prime minister, they alternatively intimidated the witness and offered him special treatment.

American Jewish businessman Morris Talansky did major political, if not legal, damage to Olmert last month by alleging the Israeli leader accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in part to fund his penchant for high living. Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but promised to resign if indicted.

The outrage provoked by Talansky's testimony in May seriously damaged Olmert's credibility among Israelis and prompted his Kadima Party to set new leadership elections, to be held by Sept. 25." -more

* * * Your thoughts? Predictions?

Olmert and the Envelopes of Cash

Much of the Israeli fascination with the unfolding saga of corruption in high places is focussed on the "envelopes".

Driver: I personally handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash
"Avi Sherman, a limousine driver who drove Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, testified to police on Thursday that he personally gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash from several businessmen, among them U.S. businessman and fund-raiser Morris Talansky and American billionaire Daniel Abraham". -more

Predictions Thread: The Jerusalem Envelope
"Ever since Long Island businessman Morris Talansky’s testimony that he gave Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert more than $150,000 cash in envelopes, it looks like Olmert’s days are numbered. " -more

Olmert 'took cash in envelopes'
"Mr Talansky raised thousands of dollars at meetings in New York
A US businessman has testified he gave envelopes full of cash to Israel's prime minister but said he did not seek or receive any favours in return.
Morris Talansky told an Israeli court he did not know how the money was spent, but linked it to Ehud Olmert's "love" of "expensive" luxury goods.
Police are investigating whether the PM took up to $500,000 (£250,000) in bribes or illegal campaign donations." -more

* * * Kosher Nostra is a play on Cosa Nostra, the proported "real name" of the Sicilian Mafia. -more

* * * So is the Olmert and the Envelopes story big where you live?