Instapundit knocks out Meryl Yourish’s server with this post:

NOT ALL WOMEN ARE ROLE MODELS, at Ms Magazine. Israeli women don’t count, apparently.UPDATE: More here.

As the second link (Powerline) explains:

The American Jewish Congress submitted this understated advertisement about the status of women in Israel to Ms. Magazine. Underneath the attractive photographs of Israel’s foreign minister (Tzipi Livni), Supreme Court president (Dorit Beinish), and speaker of the Knesset (Dalia Itzik), the ad reads: “This is Israel.” I think it is fair to say that in most parts of the United States it would be deemed an utterly innocuous ad.

Ms. rejected the ad.

Israel is just too controversial for the daring chicks at Ms. As the Powerline story says, the AJC claims, “When Director of AJCongress’ Commission for Women’s Empowerment Harriet Kurlander tried to place the ad, she was told that publishing the ad ‘will set off a firestorm’ and that ‘there are very strong opinions’ on the subject — the subject presumably being whether or not one can say anything positive about Israel.”

This is just such a nice piece of red meat for conservatives and, really, any kind of social critic. It doesn’t get much jucier — the lefty hypocrisy about free expression (yes, this is not a First Amendment issue; but it remains a free expression one), the fashionableness of antisemitism-veiled-as-anti-Zionism, even among a readership that must have a significant Jewish component, and the need the AJC obviously felt to try to buy this ad in the first place — too little, too late, it seems.

UPDATE:  More here.  Ms.‘s statement doesn’t move the needle, in my book — it’s preposterous.

Terhune Avenue, Passaic, westward at sunrise.jpgOriginally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

Early yesterday morning, in Passaic, New Jersey. I love these moments, where dark and light wrestle in full view and the atoms are crackling with anticipation.

What’s not to love?

Over Peter Detmold Park approaching East River

Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

Just a reminder — there will be spring.

Good Shabbos!

Ok, so maybe my participation here isn’t quite as thrilling as Neil Armstrong’s moment, but hey, I’m still excited. 🙂

I’ve followed Ron’s comments on Dean’s World for a while, as well as occasionally dropping by here. He has impressed me as someone who thinks hard about things before opining.

Recently Ron invited me to start blogging on “Likelihood” for various reasons, including the fact that I’m very much not a carbon copy of himself.

So. For those not familiar with me from Dean’s World or my own Gantry Launchpad, I shall offer some form of resume. I suppose a good first step would be here. The tone seems a touch dramatic to me, now, but I have no reason to retract any of those statements.

I shall elaborate one the above precis. I am not a minarchist, nor am I a libertarian, as I significantly deviate from both philosophies. There are some things government does well, or at least more effectively than the private sector. I, for one, would prefer not to live in a city where law enforcement or the courts are run by private enterprise.

Perhaps some correspondence with Ron would be illustrative; from an email I sent to him:

Just to clear things up, I am a Independent dedicated specifically to neither conservatism, libertarianism, nor minarchism. I am strong on 2nd Amendment rights, illegal immigration (although Michelle Malkin regularly makes me ill on this topic) and the supremacy of local government.

On the other hand, I can’t stand PC foolishness, hate speech, or people who want to tell me what to drink, eat, or think.

I can also understand (and can sympathize with) the origin of pacifism and anti-war sentiment in this country, even though I think the leading Dems (yes, I’m talking about that jackass from Nevada) are wrong.

BTW, people who blame FDR for the expansion of the Federal government are off-base; they should blame LBJ and Nixon. Yes, I said “Nixon.” 🙂 That bad boy had more to do with the extension of modern government of any president besides Johnson.

Now. You tell me where I land, politically.

I’ll just take a moment here to thank Ron for this opportunity, and I hope my work here will live up to his (and your) expectations.

Fine carousel at Garden State Plaza

Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

A fine carousel at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, arguably the shopping capital of the world — except for Sunday.

Pershing Square overpass

Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

In front of Grand Central Station, of a precious pre-holiday-season evening.

Holiday Fair

Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

At Grand Central Station. Some very unusual and pretty things!

Crystal Energy Reading, Horatio Street

Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman.

Taking the Lincoln Tunnel into the City is a lot more direct, but coming up town on Hudson Street via the Holland is almost always far more interesting. And then some.

That’s the punchline of an old Jewish joke about a blessing that is part of the traditional thrice-daily prayers, which begins, “On the saintly (i.e., the tzadikim), and on the pious (the hasidim) …,’ asking for a special blessing in their merit. Why, the jape goes, doesn’t the blessing go in the opposite order — “on the hasidim, and on the tzadikim“? Answer: “Never start with a hasid!”

The New York Court of Appeals agrees, refusing to get involved in a succession fight among rival groups of one of the largest hasidic groups, the Satmar hasidim. What does that have to do with LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®? Well, of course, it recalls our discussion of the still-active trademark dispute among rivals in the Bobov hasidic group. And it reinforces our argument: Secular courts, and other agencies such as the Patent and Trademark Office, will be well advised not let their good offices be part of this “fun.”