Munich - Open Letter to the Editor,

I'm just passing it on:

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; December 21, 2005



Open Letter to the Editor,



Steven Spielberg’s film, MUNICH, is based on fraudulent information. Tragically, because he is such a good filmmaker, audiences will be deceived into taking his account, “inspired by real events,” to be the truth.



Israel’s newspaper, Haaretz, reports that “the movie is based on a book in which there is no truth.” Research confirms this. Canadian journalist George Jonas’ 1984 book : Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, is used by Spielberg as his reference. Mr. Jonas relied largely on the information given him by Yuval Aviv, a man who posed as a Mossad agent, “even though he had never worked in the Mossad and certainly had not participated in operations to kill those involved in the athletes’ murder.” His only security experience was when he worked as a security guard for El Al in New York. Shaister.com tells us that “Zvi Zamir, who was head of Mossad during that period, has also stated on several occasions that he has never known Aviv and there there is no connection between what is related in Jonas’ book and what really happened.” Zamir also states that he was never contacted by Spielberg for the true facts in the case, and he is surprised that the director would “rely on this particular book” for his source material.



Dec. 21 marks the anniversary of the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988, which is related to the same Yuval Aviv and his fraudulent actions. The bombing, which claimed the lives of 243 passengers and 16 crew members. There were 37 students on board flying home from an overseas study program in London. One of those students was the only child of Susan and Dan Cohen, who have never ended their efforts to avenge their daughter’s death. The Cohens are very disturbed about the fact that Yuval Aviv, the same Mossad imposter who tried to take advantage of them, is the man whose fraudulent information was the source for Steven Spielberg’s new film, “Munich”.



According to the Cohens, Aviv’s “unscrupulous practice of telling tailor-made stories to the highest bidder” is illustrated by the fact that Aviv wrote a report exonerating Pan Am in the 103 matter which gained him much media attention. Aviv had previously contacted them “and offered information that would prove that Pan Am had been negligent in preventing the disaster,” just the opposite of what he was saying on behalf of Pan Am.



Spielberg does a disservice in basing his film on fallacious material, and presenting the Munich massacre and Israel’s response as a “perpetual motion machine” and a “quagmire of blood for blood”. He describes the massacre as a “response to a response”. One must ask Spielberg what the Arabs were “responding” to when they carried out their murderous deed.



By falsely creating an atmosphere of moral equivalency in his film, Spielberg adds to the pain and suffering of the Pan Am 103 families and all others who have been affected by the murderous actions of terrorists. By choosing to deceive his movie going public about the true nature of the “clash of civilizations” and Islam’s war against western civilization, he contributes to the threat to Israel, America, and the western world.



Helen Freedman

Executive Director

Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI

Funny Street Names.

I didnt write this. I've got lazy. I dont write. I need to start to write my own stuff. but in the mean time. All creativity in the writing of this artical belongs to .aol.com

Its just well written and full of fun facts.

If you're heading through North Dakota over the holidays, don't be surprised if your directions take you down Smashed-In Buffalo Head Road. Then again, if you're passing through the Detroit suburbs, try not to blush if you get off at Exit 69, otherwise known as Big Beaver Road. And appropriately enough, not far from the University of Michigan's school of political science, you might pass the intersection of Nixon/Bluet.


From Lois Lane to Chicken Shack Drive, the U.S. is lined by roadways with some wild, weird and wacky names. How did they get that way? Politics and history, mistranslations and vanity, as well as the occasional, odd sense of humor have made for much more interesting travel than were we simply a land of Main Streets and Broadways.


No doubt the oldest road names in America are those left by the Spaniards along the Florida and Gulf Coasts, the Southwest and California. The most obvious is El Camino Real -- the "Royal Road," running much of the length of old Spanish California. It's certainly a lot more colorful name than the King's Highway that spanned early settlements along the East Coast.


Those early settlements paid obeisance to the Crown, with roads like King, Prince or Queen. In areas settled by the French, including Detroit, modern-day residents still struggle to pronounce street names like Beaubien, Cadieux and Navarre. (Then again, Detroiters also pronounce Freud St. as Frood, and Goethe as Goatee.)

Early American street names often reflected their purpose, such as the Boston Post Road, running from New York City to Boston. There are plenty of these functional roads: Atwater, River, Canal and Railroad, Lake Shore, Market, Main and Broadway.


The nation is dotted with Plank Roads and Turnpikes. Early enterprising pioneers would lay wooden boards, or planks, to get travelers out of the mud on primitive trails. You'd pay your penny and they'd turn a wheel, raising the gate, or pike, to let you pass.


What about Deer Lick Road? It was likely a landmark for early settlers and travelers, just like Lime Kiln Lane and Smashed-In Buffalo Head Road.


After the Revolution, it became popular to name streets (as well as towns, counties and schools) after national heroes and leaders. We have countless Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison Streets. And the trend continues with modern leaders, hence the ubiquitous Martin Luther King boulevards.


But can anyone tell us who Fangboner Road., near Toledo, Ohio, was meant to honor?


Baby Boomers, otherwise known as the Me-Generation, have taken to heart that old rock and roll lyric, "Everybody Is a Star." The postage stamp-sized Pleasant Ridge, Mich., regularly auctions off the right to name a local street. So do a number of other cities across the U.S., so that's why you can find a Chicken Shack Lane leading to Elm Street. And why not honor your favorite comic book character, as one fan did with Lois Lane in Southfield, Mich.?


Early roads would weave and bob, following the local terrain. As a result of the Northwest Territory Act of 1787, lands north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania were laid out in North-South and East-West grids.


So rapper Eminem hung out on Detroit's Eight Mile Road, the Motor City marking distance to a central point downtown. Other cities name their grid roads alphabetically, while in New York, Avenues run North-South and Streets run East-West.


Early New York was a maze of winding lanes. Finally, city fathers tried adopting the grid system, but it didn't always work right, so in Greenwich Village, you'll find the intersection of West 4th Street and West 4th Street.


Like the politically-charged intersection of Nixon/Bluet, intersections can create some unexpected complications of their own. New York offers us another, the anti-feminist meeting of Bangher and Leever.


The U.S. doesn't have a monopoly on odd names, of course. Some European names reflect ancient events or leaders, often in dialects no longer spoken. Politics also can play havoc. According to the online research site, Wikipedia, "Names are sometimes manipulated for political purposes; the name of Svetogorska Street, in Belgrade, was changed six times since 1872."

While there are plenty of odd and uncommon street names across the country, most communities show a surprising lack of imagination. Yet the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that even the ordinary can be a little odd.


You might think that First Street would be America's most popular road name. Think again. It follows Second and Third Streets, though Fourth Street does indeed come

in fourth place. Main Street? It ranks a relatively minor seventh on the top-10 list

Shana Tova!!

Have some insight on this holy day.

Torah lessons: Curtosy of Chabad.org

Chassidus Chabad opens the gates to the chambers of Chochma and Bina, enabling one to know and to recognize - with intellectual comprehension - "He who spoke and the world came into being. (1)

It awakens the feelings of the heart so that it is aroused with the emotion engendered by that particular intellectual comprehension. (2)

And Chassidus Chabad shows the way that each individual - commensurate with his innate abilities - can "approach the Sacred," to serve G-d with his mind and heart.

Footnotes: (1) See Siddur p. 30, line 37 (Baruch She'amar); compare
Tehillim 33:9.
(2) Of G-d. A specific intellectual contemplation arouses
(or engenders) a specific emotion related to it.


B"H

Scientific Revolution
---------------------

From this we know that the true purpose of all technology and modern science is neither convenience nor power, but a means to discover G-dliness within the physical world.

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe
-words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman
Kislev 19, 5766 * December 20, 2005


B"H

Science & G-d
-------------

In the nineteenth century, many scientists had no use for G-d. Instead, they worshipped a tight chain of cause and effect that left no room for miracles, providence or prophecy.

But then the scientist looked into the atom and the wonder of the universe opened before him. The iron chain of cause and effect was loosened and Determinism deposed from its throne. Today, once again there is room for G-d in the minds of men.

The Gift of Torah in Your I-Pod.

Alrighty, this is a trip and a half.

I recently found out about this, The Shas-Pod. Yes that's right ladies and gentleman, I said it. Its a 20gig iPod. You now have the Kosher choice. You now have the abilty to have all of shas in your poket. I can jsut imagin seeing Rabbis all over the place with there IPODS full of shas. :)

Happy Chanukkah!!