Day: January 5, 2006
“God considers [Israel] to be His. You read the Bible and He says ‘this is my land’ and for any Prime Minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says ‘no, this is mine.’ High School for Scandal: Abramoff Among Infamous Alums of Beverly Hills High
Besides having a place at the center of major scandals over the past few years, what do Jack Abramoff, Monica Lewinksy and Lyle and Erik Menendez have in common?
Yup. They’re graduates of Beverly Hills High School. New York has it’s “fame high school.” In Los Angeles, we have our “scandal high school.”
There is no parity between the Menendez brothers killing their parents and the political maelstroms caused by Abramoff and Lewinsky. What these four alumni have in common is the fact that scandal turned their names into household words.
BHHS itself is clearly not a corrupting influence. The ratio of famous BHHS graduates to infamous ones is easily four to one. The famous grads include Nicolas Cage, David Schwimmer, Alicia Silverstone, Lenny Kravitz, Carrie Fisher, Tori Spelling, Julie Kavner, Betty White, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Reiner, Marlo Thomas, and Richard Chamberlain – just to name a few of the better known alums.
Holy Rollers Plan Holy Land Theme Park
Lord, please smite ’em: A consortium of U.S. evangelical Christians and the Israeli goverment are negotiating a deal for an evangelical theme park near where, legend has it, Jesus fed the multitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The leader of the Bible-thumpers is Hugo-hatin’ nutcake tee-vangelist Pat Robertson.
The Israelis are planning to lease the land — about 125 acres — for free and the Jesus freaks will spend about $48 million to create what is tentatively called the Galilee World Heritage Park. It would be located northeast of the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and Capernaum, Jesus’ hometown. Plans call for a garden and nature park, auditorium, Holy Land exhibition, outdoor amphitheaters, information center and a media studio (Heeeeere’s Pat — Live from the Holy Land!).
Despite the million additional visitors the park is projected to bring to Israel, some Israeli Jews are suspicious of the evangelicals’ motives. The Guardian describes it this way:
The primary reason [the American Christian right has been among the strongest supporters of Israel in the U.S.] is that according to the Old Testament, Israel was given to the Jews by God. Fundamentalist Christians believe that in order for Jesus to return, two preconditions are Jewish control of the land of Israel and the conversion of the Jews to Christianity.
And that Rapture Plan doesn’t sit well with some Israeli Jews:
Yossi Sarid, a former government minister and member of the Knesset, said he was wary of the friendship of the American Christian right and projects such as the Galilee centre. He said: “I am not enthusiastic about this cooperation because I have no desire to be cannon fodder for the evangelists.
“As a Jew, they believe I have to vanish before Jesus can make his second appearance. As I have no plans to convert, as an Israeli and a Jew, I find this a provocation. There is something sinister about their embrace.”
But in the end, Israel seems willing to trade the souls of the Jews for the tourism dollars of fundamentalist Christians:
Avraham Hirschson, the Israeli tourism minister, said: “I’m not a theologian, I’m the minister of tourism, and I’m not interested in the politics of our tourists as long as they come here. They come here as tourists, and they’re friends of Israel.”
Pensito Review: Over Half a Million Readers Since Sept. 1
According to Webalyzer, the web traffic software provided by our hosting service, Pensito Review has had 504,807 readers (translated to Geek: “unique visitors”) since Sept. 1, 2005.
Another number that blows us away is that Webalyzer has recorded 849,659 “page views” over the same period. We’re told this number represents readers who venture beyond the homepage and spend time reading our archives and other articles.
This month also marks an anniversary of sorts for us. We launched a beta version of the site on Blogger in January 2005, before moving to this permanent address two months later.
Thanks a million to the half-million of you have stopped by – and especially to all of you who have spread the word about Pensito Review.
First Human Avian Flu Deaths in Eurasia Confirmed
Health authorities in Turkey have reversed an earlier diagnosis in the death of a 14-year-old boy who they now say died of avian flu last weekend. They had said his death was caused by pneumonia. His sister died today and two other siblings are hospitalized with flu symptoms.
Health authorities have confirmed that the strain of flu that killed the boy and his sister was of the H5 variety, but said further testing will be required to determine if it is the H5N1 strain that killed more than 70 people in Southeast Asia in 2005.
The children worked on a poultry farm and allegedly became infected after eating an infected bird. The World Health Organization says that there still are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus.
