The New York Times Crossword in Gothic

09.01.07 -- Enigma

36A JACQUELINEDUPRE

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Saturday, September 1, 2007

Puzzle by Karen M. Tracey, edited by Will Shortz

JACQUELINEDUPRE (36A Cellist who debuted at London's Wigmore Hall at age 16) was a British cellist, today acknowledged as one of the greatest exponents of the instrument. In 1971, Jacqueline du Pré’s playing began an irreversible decline when she began to lose sensitivity in her fingers, as well as in other parts of her body, and in 1973 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the disease that caused her health to deteriorate until her death in London on October 19, 1987, at age 42.

This is an elusive and enigmatic crossword full of mischief, music and mystery.

Joining Jacqueline du Pré (click on names for music videos) in music are EOLIANHARP (14A Music maker “played” by the wind) (I prefer that it would be spelled “Aeolian”); MISSSAIGON (60A "Madame Butterfly,” updated); GYNT (61A Peer on a stage); SAROD (21D Indian lute); and OLGA (Grammy-winning merengue singer Tañón). For more of Jacqueline du Pré “Elgar Cello Concerto 2nd movement”; and for a variation on Peer Gynt, Apocalyptica - Hall of the Mountain King -- playing the music and audience into a frenzied storm!

Mischief’s afoot with the clues for PLANB (1A Backup); TOTS (6A Squirts); CCUP (10A Size in a lingerie shop), haven’t seen it in a crossword before; ENTERS (10A Boards), thinking of maybe ASEA (62A Being tossed, maybe); HOUSEPET (20A Fluffy, perhaps) , now that’s a cute one; ASKUP (39A Invite to one’s penthouse suite), perhaps it just sounds mischievous; REED (41A Fen bender), not your everyday “fender bender”; SAFESIDE (50A Cautious people stay on it); BADRAP (5D Wrongful slammer sentence, say), I so wanted “Bum rap”; THX (6D Appreciation abbreviation); RDS (46A Holders of shoulders, e.g.); UNDETERRED (12D Not put off), not delay; PEST (13D Raid victim), a product in the clue; AVASTMATEY (26D Salt halter); and UPDOS (37D Beehives, e.g.).

Mysterious clues lurk with ERASMUS (38D He wrote “In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king”); HESHE (48A Inclusive pronoun); MICKEYFINN (27D It’ll knock you out after you knock it back); GASGUZZLER (57A Expensive choice for a commuter); CREPEPAPER (11D Pinata decoration); SPRUCE (9D Smart); POINDEXTER (17A Stereotypical nerd); MYRON (47A Ancient Greek sculptor famous for his athletes in bronze), who knew?; MALONE (52A Shakespearean scholar Edmond), another who knew; and EXILED (23D Like Shakespeare’s Prospero, e.g.), I knew -- SHAZAM (45D Gomer Pyle expletive)!

Stretching somewhere in between elusive and enigmatic are the acrosses: 16 Basse-Normandie department; 18 2004-06 poet laureate Kooser and others; 22 Tears; 2 Trainee; 25 Zodiac symbol; 28 PAX Britannica; 29 Navajo handicrafts; 31 Car rental company founder Warren; 33 Country with coups d’etat in 2000 and 2006; 35 Airline purchased by T.W.A. in 1986; 40 Robed dignitary; 42 Availed; 44 It lands at Landvetter; 56 Problem ending; 59 Big name in contact lens cleaners; and MEANS (63A Statistical calculations).

Falling in the same category as the above are the downs: 1 Tio PEPE (sherry brand); 2 Crazy; 3 Set down; 4. Bronc rival; 7. Curses; 8. Palm smart phone; 10 Fashionable resort area; 15 Instant success?; 25 Javanese chiefs; 29 1996 Golden Globe winner for “Truman”; 30 Variety listings; 32 Like some diamonds; 34 Lord of fiction; 48 Where the Fulda flows; 49 Cartoonist Segar; 50 Pioneering puppeteer; 51 Place of honor; 54 Rialto sign; and 55 Coastal avifauna.

Last, but not least, for the enigma of enigmas, we have ENIGMA (43A Knot) -- how a "knot" is an "enigma" is truly an enigma!

I'm puzzled!

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For today’s cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

The “Jacqueline du Pré” belongs to the group of the shrub roses. Blooming from summer until autum she has cup shaped, ivory colored flowers of with notched petals and red stamens giving a smell of nutmeg.

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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Zionist Role in Armenian Genocide

All along the Armenian genocide has been shrouded in darkness, and now we begin to glimpse the reason. It seems that krypto-Jews such as Judeo-Bolsheviks working with Ataturk engineered the isolation of Turkey by the invention of a new Turkic language for its people, the illegalization of 2,000 years of Aramaic as the official language, and finally the marginalization and killing of the Armenians. Today, the City of Watertown voted to have an official Armenian Genocide Day, and the ADL screamed bloody murder. They claimed that genocide was an Israeli concept and that to share it with Armenians would be wrong. What the ADL never mentioned was how their Jewish relatives created and finished the Armenian Genocide in order to help control Turkey so that Israel could form.

Headlines in Today's video include among others:

| Bodies of Last 2 Missing Romanov Children Who Were Shot and Burned in Acid by Immoral, Heartless Jewish Red Commissars Found Near Yekaterinberg | Rothschild-Related German Banks Pulling Out of Iran in Support of U.S. Israel Terror Empire | Zionist Nazis in Jerusalem Burn Controversial Crematorium After Its Location Is Revealed in Jewish Newspaper | New Surge Report Paints Grim Picture, Iraq's Total Destruction May Be Good News for the Israeli Terror State's Regional Ambitions | Israel Hires Slick Wall Street Firm to Push Positive Propaganda Spin About Israel's Friendship with America on Eve of Book Publication Dissing Israel's Effect on American Foreign Policy | Jewish Lobby Viciously Threatens Economic Lifelines to Colleges and Universities if they Allow Discussions of the Upcoming Book on Israel's Negative Effect on America | Turks in ADL-Israel Squabble over Armenian Genocide, Pulls Plug on Jewish PR Firm | Jewish Newspaper Produces Obvious and Gross Revisionist History for Studies of Same in Recent Article Apologizing for Israeli Terrorism | Selfish and Boneheaded Jewish Bigotry Reflected in the Turkish Holocaust Canard | Damaging Freedom of Speech by Zionists: Vile Anti-American Jewish Intellectual Terrorists Attempt to Kill Publicity of Walt-Meirsheimer's New Anti-Zionist Lobby Book |

08.31.07 -- Cano, Canon, and Cannons

3D THECRUSADES -- "Celestial Light", Gustave Dore

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Friday, August 31, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Paula Gamache, edited by Will Shortz

Very little in the way of the familiar presents itself in this Friday crossword puzzle. The canon of crosswordese is left far behind as this construction marches with a salvo of cannons to awaken the dusty corners of the solver’s cerebral sensibilities.

Led by THECRUSADES (3D Fights with knights), this is a STORMY (62A Violent) and ECLECTIC (18A Catholic) TOUGH (47A “Deal with it!“) puzzle that registers a sizeable ECHO (41D Come back) on the RICHTER (8D Scale developer).

Pay no attention to this paragraph, it's nothing more than a squirrel running up and down a foul pole being watched by 54,000 souls under a full moon, but having just watched the Yankees HOSE (26D Spray source) the Red Sox 5-0 with two home runs by Robinson Cano, a double RIP (56D Turbulent water stretch) off Curt Schilling’s RIGHTARM (16A Exchange for something you really want?), Chien-Ming Wang pitching a no-hitter into the seventh, broken up by Kevin Youkilis (who doesn’t stay on the base path, unfortunately), a DOOVER (57A Second chance) over the head of Youkilis by Joba Chamberlain, and Tony Francona going into a SNARLY (45D Bad-tempered) SPUTTER (39A Speak explosively in anger), I knew it was going to be difficult not to comment on the Broom in the Bronx!

Meanwhile, back at the puzzle, Paula Gamache could probably pitch a no-hitter! Mixing fast balls like HUGMETIGHT (29D Short, close-fitting jacket), curve balls, ala PRICETAG (7A Shock source, sometimes), knuckle balls, as SOUTHERNCROSS (33A Constellation seen on the flags of Australia, Samoa and Papua New Guinea) and change ups in the form of PIGPENS (40D Dumps) crossing with DIRTPOOR (50A Hard up), her construction is worthy of a Wang or a Schilling!

With ACTFOR (1A Be an agent of) and MAHALO (15A Hawaiian “thank you”) combined for an OPENER (17A Handle, e.g.), our MADAMESPEAKER (38A Parliamentary address) could ORATE (48D Give a stemwinder) daring all and sundry to LAUGHATME (28A 1965 Sonny Bono hit). Will Shortz chimes in with the double-clued CHEESECAKE (10D Skin pics?) and TAT (12D Skin pic?) like a closer with a cutter! Shortzesque To ATEE (30D)!…but let’s get to the ROOT (52D Lexicographic concern) of this puzzle!

In between, GYMSHOES (20A They might just squeak by in a basketball game) prove not to be SNEAKERS; AUTOS (24A Runners with hoods) perplexes; ECLECTIC defined as Catholic defies any thesaurus (go ahead, let me know if you find it anywhere!); DANTES (37A “_____ Peak” [1997 Pierce Brosnan film]) is here no Inferno; and SPOTREMOVER (25D Cleaning product that may be useful after a party) seems to indicate messy guests!

If Cano comes up to bat against this canon of cannons, he’d better hope it’s a repertoire by Mike Mussina, uh, a little slower -- AMORAL (1D Unscrupulous); CAPITA (2D Pantheon heads?); PRESUME (7D Gather); IGLOO (9D One-room house, typically); ETCS (11D Truncation indications: Abbr.), GMC (14D It has pickup lines); AGORAS (23D Ancient meeting places); NDAK (34D Home of Theo. Roosevelt Natl. Park); OTO (58D Tribe visited by Lewis and Clark); CMDR (35D U.S.N. position); HAIR (36D Eyebrow makeup); DOGE (50D Bygone magistrate); and REDELM (44A Tree with double-toothed leaves and durable wood) -- any one of them could bring a swing of PICKETERS (43A Striking figures), and a FAN-(4D Cool, in a way)-out to AHS (64D “I get it” responses) -- but don’t make a BET (55D See, say) or take ODDS (51D) on it!

Celebrities at the game include OLEG (5D Hockey player Tverdovsky); RORY (6D Youngest of the Culkin brothers); ARI (13D Agent Gold on HBO’s “Entourage”); RIC (19A Wrestler Flair); ARNETT (32D Desert Storm reporter); and EAPOE (31A “Berenice” author, briefly), all admitted with no CHARGE (35A Club’s cover).

SHH (25A Sound from a silencer), there’s more -- ATRA (22A Grooming brand introduced in 1977); HESS (27D Amoco alternative); DIESE (42A This, in Thuringen); RRS (46A Regulation targets for Theodore Roosevelt: Abbr.) TMEN (49A Catchers of some ring leaders); ODA (53A Seraglio section); ABROGATE (54A Void); HEIGHTEN (59A Opposite of diminish); and STPETERS (61A Cardinals’ gathering place).

Gamache game over! Do the MATH (21D It has many functions) and DOTELL (60A “Let’s have it”)!

Perfection?! -- worth twice the price of admission!

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For today's cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Today’s Video: Squirrel On Yankee Stadium Foul Pole!!!

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

08.30.07 -- Why?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Victor Fleming and Bruce Venzke, edited by Will Shortz

Today’s puzzle asks who, what, when, where, almost how, but not why -- missing by one (and a half?) the Five Ws, also known as the

Five Ws (and one H) or simply the Six Ws.

WHERETHEBOYSARE (27A 1961 Connie Francis Hit); WHENIFALLINLOVE (3D 1952 Doris Day hit that was an even bigger hit for the Lettermen in 1961); WHATINTARNATION (12D “Huh?!”)(Tarnation, in this case, is a colloquial synonym for damnation); and WHONEEDSENEMIES (61A End of a line about “friends”) extend the entire 15 squares top, bottom, left and right of today’s puzzle, while SALCHOW (37A Eponymous rink jump) almost takes care of the How?...but no Why? Why?

Huh?

SINISTER (19A Up to new good) seems to be the operating word for this Thursday thrashing -- EXHUME (15A Dig up); PIRANHAS (16A Vicious sorts); NEUTER (20A Sterile, in a way); LIVEALIE (63A Not be honest about oneself); ONIONS (64A Ingredients in many stews); SNEERSAT (65A Derides); TURNTO (66A Become, as mush); DEEPSET (43D Like some eyes); and DETACHMENT (30D Troop group) join WHATINTARNATION and WHONEEDSENEMIES as forbidding fare.

The positives, EXHILARATE (2D Thrill); ENSURE (11D Protect); ELEVATE (39A Bring up); IRAISE (32A Hold ‘em challenge); ONTHEWAY (7A En route); and PERMITME (58A “Here, I can help you”) are a meager MENU (59D Button on an iPod).

AARE is back from Tuesday‘s puzzle, and close behind are AMES, ASHE, ATL, AWLS, CREE, EELS, EERO, ENID, ENOS, ENDO, EONS, ESSO, DAH, LANE, NAFTA, NEWS, NIB, SEED, SOLD, SPEC, SRI, TEX, TRON, VEAL, WIPE; and YSER

Theatricals, outside of Doris Day, Connie Francis, and The Lettermen, include Debussy’s “Air de LIA” (21A); DANCE (49A Bolero, e.g.,); NEIL Jordan, who wrote “The Crying Game” (45A); NEWMAN (1A Seinfeld’s “sworn enemy”); NIA (50A Long on screen); and VLADIMIR (40D One of the men waiting in “Waiting for Godot”).

Wandering aimlessly about the grid are such entries as NEWS (1D Google heading); MURIATIC acid (old name for hydrochloric acid)(4A); NETTV (6D Web-based service); OPERATE (7D Be in charge of); HAYES (10D First sitting president to visit the West Coast); NISAN (25d Passover month); LIENEE (46D Mortgagor, e.g.); RHIN (56D Nose: Prefix); DELRAY Beach, Fla. (44A); ARLENE (55A Children’s author/photographer Alda); and OXEYE (31D Kind of daisy).

That should cover it, ORNOT (53D Optional phrase)!...but, again --

Why oh why no “why”?!

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For today's cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

Colombia seeks Israeli mercenary

United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC)

The AUC paramilitary group has been linked to the drugs trade

Colombia is to seek the extradition of an Israeli mercenary, convicted in absentia of training death squads, who has been arrested in Russia.

Yair Klein, a former Israeli colonel, was held at a Moscow airport on an international arrest warrant.

He was sentenced to 10 years for training drugs traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries in the 1980s.

Prosecutors say those trained went on to carry out some of the country's most notorious political assassinations.

"Colombia's government is going to make a formal petition to the Russian foreign ministry, so he is sent here to pay his sentence," Colombia's foreign minister Fernando Araujo told reporters.

The Russian authorities have refused to provide details about Klein's capture and have not commented on the extradition request. BBC

War With Iran It's already started

For months we at Antiwar.com have been monitoring the situation between Iran and the United States, parsing the words of administration spokesmen for any hints of when and how hostilities between the two countries might begin. We've been running reports from insiders saying that the Cheney faction is pushing for an attack, that Bush is quite amenable but is biding his time, and that an assault on Tehran is imminent. Now the president has come out openly with his warlike intentions. In a speech delivered Tuesday, he reiterated recent charges by Washington that Iran is arming and training Iraqi Shi'ite groups who are launching attacks on American forces in Iraq, and he announced: "I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."

Translation: The bombing begins shortly.

A recent blog item on LewRockwell.com does much to confirm this well-grounded suspicion. In a letter to Rockwell, a former Hillsdale College student describes the celebratory attitude toward war held by Hillsdale lecturer Victor Davis Hanson and his fellow neocons (Bill Kristol, Midge Decter, Harvey Mansfield), adding this chilling anecdote: More...

71% of Israelis Want US to fight their War against Iran

Fully 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran's nuclear program, according to a new poll.

The survey, commissioned by Bar-Ilan University's BESA Center and the Anti-Defamation League, found that 59 percent of Israelis still believe the war in Iraq was justified, while 36 percent take the opposite view.

Some 65 percent believe that the United States is a loyal ally of Israel, with only 11 percent saying the opposite. A slightly higher proportion, 73 percent, described U.S. President George W. Bush as friendly. Forty-eight percent attributed U.S. support for Israel to strategic considerations, while 30 percent credited American Jewry and 17 percent cited shared values and a shared democratic tradition. More

Sarkozy affirms alliance to Israel

In addition to pledging France's friendship to Israel and warning Russia and China, conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's first significant foreign-policy speech yesterday declared that "France was, and still is, hostile to the war" in Iraq.

PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy used his first major foreign-policy speech to signal a shift from his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, casting himself as a "friend of Israel" and taking a tougher line on Russia and China.

But despite his admiration for the United States, Mr. Sarkozy said Mr. Chirac was right to oppose the war in Iraq, which he called a mistake.

"France was, and still is, hostile to the war," he said, calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

He also cautioned against military action being used to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, warning that an attack on the Islamic regime would be "catastrophic." WPost

Hillary Clinton Willing to Nuke Iran

08.29.07 -- All Thumbs

19A OWEN (Wilson of "Zoolander")

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Jayne and Alex Boisvert, edited by Will Shortz

It appears that most folks, including today’s puzzle celebrity, are all THUMBs when it comes to committing suicide. At times, when it’s done “unintentionally”, it succeeds (e.g., the doctor who performed an appendectomy upon himself, but unfortunately fainted during the procedure).
OWEN (19A Wilson of “Zoolander”), thankfully is one of those who was all THUMBs in attempting to do so -- read Owen Wilson Suicide Attempt. Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an Academy Award-nominated actor and writer (for his work on the screenplay of “The Royal Tenenbaums”), but he is best known for his successful comedic roles in Wedding Crashers and as Hansel in Zoolander.

Today’s puzzle gives us no less than four THUMBs in four squares of the puzzle -- e.g., the word THUMB is squeezed into a tiny little box four times. THUMBONESNOSE (20A Expresses scorn); UNDERMYTHUMB (29A 1966 Rolling Stones hit); THUMBTHROUGH (43A Scan); OPPOSABLETHUMB (51A Human hand characteristic); along with their obligatory downs of TOMTHUMB (1D Barnum midget); SORETHUMB (26D It may stick out); THUMBNAIL (33D King of sketch); and THUMBSUP (56D Encouraging sign).

The entries above and below OWEN, e.g., LOON (16A Canadian dollar bird) and WAYS (22A Means’ partner) are, I am sure, purely coincidental. Other than that, the remainder of the puzzle is fairly standard stuff, with a few exceptions -- BORAX (15A 20 Mule Team compound); ARENT (18A Ain’t grammatical?); SCREED (26A Blowhard’s speech); PENAL (41A Prison-related) and PUSS (63A Face, slangily); ELEE again, this time properly clued as 21D Gen. Robert _____; and URIAH (29D Dickens’s _____ Heep) crossing NAIAD (38A Nymph of Greek myth) in dead center of the grid, resulting in the central square containing the letter and/or word “I”.

Longer entries hanging around throughout the puzzle include NEUROSIS (38d Anxiety may be a symptom of it); TRINKETS (4D Tchotchkes); ABASED (5D Brought down); FLOWER (10D Lapel insert); RHYMES (44D Rappers’ skill); AUDIBLES (39D Quarterback’ play changes); and EXTENDED (9D Like some warranties).

Shorter, less-frequently seen entries include SAONE (58A Rhone feeder); PANE and PONE side by side; joining with the oft-seen ODOR, MAGI, TILT, KLEE, NYE, IAN, ORATE, ALLA, ESC, MULTI, ZITI, HER, QUAY and QTIP, IDLE, INNER, SEEDS, SEEP, ECRU, YALTA, MILLE, META, URDU, ZONES, LOGO, IDAS, OREO, RISERS, VANS, IOWA, JOEY, INNS, YEN, NEAL; with pleasant appearances by BORNE (6D Held up); CRUST (27D Pie part); RANCH (28D Dressing choice); GREEN (35A Eco-friendly); and, if one is not all thumbs, REDEAL (45A Start a new hand).

Last, but not least, we have POE (41D Rue Morgue’s creator).

Remind you of anyone?

For whatever AILS (50D Has a fever say) today’s puzzle celebrity -- get well soon!

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Today's video rerun -- A Nightmare of a Crossword

Cartoon? The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

Grandson of Nazi Resigns From Serving Grandson of Nazi

So Karl Rove, the grandson of the man who helped build the Birkenau Death Camp and helped run the Nazi party, Karl Heinz Roverer, the Gauleiter of Oldenburg and Reich-Statthalter (Nazi State Party Chairman for his region), is to quit the White House after faithfully serving the grandson of the man who helped finance the Nazi Party and facilitated Hitler's rise to power. About time too, I'd say.
It might seem a bit unfair to tar Rove and Bush with the same brush as that which depicted their grandparents (they haven't managed to re-create the horrors of the Second World War on anything like the scale of the 1930s and 40s) but there are too many parallels to dismiss the issue completely; an obsession with world domination, detention camps in eastern Europe and elsewhere, torture, illegal invasions and occupations, war crimes...

If Rove was 'Bush's Brain', he's a brain the world could well do without. Not that his presence in the White House made Bush seem any less brainless. But just how gone is Karl Rove? As Agitprop points out: More...

The Next War Draws Nearer

Hardly a week passes in which I don’t get a message from someone within the great bureaucratic wasteland on the Potomac about the Bush Administration’s latest schemes relating to war against Iran.

Now we’re going through another one of those periods in which the pace is quickening and the pitch is becoming more intense. I continue to put the prospects for a major military operation targeting Iran down as “likely,” and the time frame drawing nearer.

When will Bush give the go ahead? I think late this year or early next would be the most congenial time frame from the perspective of the war party. Some of the developments that go into my call: Harper's

Israel wages war on army of refuseniks

WHEN Arik Diamant's mother discovered her son was to refuse to do reserve duty for the Israeli army she pleaded with him to reconsider his decision, even offering to resign her job and work in a charity of his choice.

But the former paratrooper and now software engineer was determined. "My parents were terrified that the ramifications of such a decision would destroy my life and endanger my career opportunities," said the 34-year-old co-founder of the Courage to Refuse movement. While Diamant and 600 fellow reservist refuseniks are making headlines over their choice, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is becoming increasingly worried that the numbers of Jewish men evading army service is on the rise. The trend is particularly noticeable among those aged 18 to 21, who under Israeli law must serve three years in the military. Scotsman

Zionist US ambassador to UN: Middle East turmoil could cause world war

According to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, turmoil in the Middle East could lead to another world war.

"Zalmay Khalilzad told the daily Die Presse the Middle East was now so disordered that it had the potential to inflame the world as Europe did during the first half of the 20th century," Reuters reports.

The Middle East "is going through a very difficult transformation phase. That has strengthened extremism and creates a breeding ground for terrorism," Khalilzad said in remarks translated by Reuters into English from the published German. "Europe was just as dysfunctional for a while. And some of its wars became world wars. Now the problems of the Middle East and Islamic civilization have the same potential to engulf." Raw Story

Pro-'surge' group is almost all Jewish

Four of five members of the board of a campaign promoting President Bush's policies in the Iraq war are Republican Jews.

The board of "Freedom's Watch" includes Ari Fleischer, Bush's former press secretary; Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition; Bradley Blakeman, a senior White House staffer in Bush's first term; and Mel Sembler, a longtime RJC leader and former ambassador to Rome.

Brooks told JTA that the fifth member, William Weidner, a casino operator in Las Vegas, is not Jewish. However, Weidner's wife, Lynn, is Jewish and is active in that city's federation. Blakeman is the group's president.

Brooks said it would be a mistake to regard the group as having a Jewish direction.

"It's a coincidence that several of the board members are Jewish," he said, noting that half of the donors contributing to the group's first $15 million ad campaign are not Jewish.

The ad blitz will promote Bush's "surge" policy in Iraq ahead of September, when Congress is set to assess the success of the influx of additional U.S. troops into Iraq.

Brooks said the aim ultimately is to build a grassroots organization that would promote Republican domestic and foreign policies and would replicate similar groups backing Democrats.

"This is a clear message to conservatives and Republicans and others who see what has happened on the left to let them know with Freedom's Watch that the cavalry is coming," Brooks said.

Of eight donors named Thursday in Politico, a political newspaper, four are Jewish: Sembler; Richard Fox, the chairman of the Jewish Policy Center, an RJC-affiliated think tank; Ed Snider, the founder of the Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey franchise who has been elected to several Jewish Sports Halls of Fame; and Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino operator who recently launched a giveaway newspaper venture in Israel. JTA

Zionist Banking Nations Conspire to Muzzle Noriega by Transferring Him to France to Face More Charges

A federal judge in Miami paved the way Friday for Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian general ousted by the American military in 1989, to face money laundering charges in France once his prison term in the United States ends next month. Manuel Noriega in 1989. He was convicted in absentia in France for money laundering.

Judge William M. Hoeveler of United States District Court rejected arguments by Mr. Noriega’s lawyers that his status as a prisoner of war in the United States required the Bush administration to return him to Panama.

Mr. Noriega may still appeal the ruling, which will keep him in United States custody for some weeks or months... It was the first Bush administration that ordered an invasion in 1989 to oust Mr. Noriega, who was once an asset of the Central Intelligence Agency and Drug Enforcement Administration but was later found to have accepted payments to allow cocaine bound for the United States to pass through Panama. Associated Press

Zionist White House Liar: "Gains Made by Surge"

President George W. Bush said that U.S. armed forces, working with local leaders in Iraq, are making the military gains that are necessary for political success and stability.

``As security improves, more Iraqis are stepping forward to defend their democracy,'' said Bush today in his weekly radio address. ``Young Iraqi men are signing up for the army'' and ``coalition and Iraqi forces have doubled the number of joint operations,'' he said.

Bush continued making the case for his troop ``surge'' ahead of a report to Congress Sept. 11 from the U.S. commander in Iraq and the ambassador there on the effects of the additional 30,000 troops he ordered there earlier this year.

Some members of Congress are showing impatience with the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq and expressing doubts that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is capable of bridging the country's political divides.

Senator John Warner, a senior Republican from Virginia, called Aug. 24 for the president to announce a partial troop drawdown by Sept. 15. Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Aug. 20 that he had lost confidence in Maliki and that the Iraqi parliament should replace him. Bloomberg

Zionist Brzezinski Embraces Obama Over Clinton for President

Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.

Obama ``recognizes that the challenge is a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America's role in the world,'' Brzezinski said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt.''

``Obama is clearly more effective and has the upper hand,'' Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, said. ``He has a sense of what is historically relevant, and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world.''

Brzezinski, 79, dismissed the notion that Clinton, 59, a New York senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is more seasoned than Obama, 46. ``Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president,'' Brzezinski said. Bloomberg

08.28.07 -- Elementary!

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Linda Schechet Tucker, Edited by Will Shortz

Clues to solve today's puzzle with BASILRATHBONE (26A Sherlock Holmes portrayer) :

Across: 1. Russian space station; 4. "The Song of ROLAND" old French epic; 10. Spill the beans; 14. Half of dos; 15. Blackboard appurtenance; 16. Like hands after eating potato chips; 17. It's worth listening to; 19. Info in a used car ad; 20. Toll; 21. Conduct a survey; 23. Republic from which Montenegro gained its independence; 25. MAH-jongg; 26. Sherlock Holmes portrayer; 33. Nabokov heroine; 35. "Don't TREAD on me" (slogan of the American Revolution); 36. Where San Diego is: Abbr.; 37. Art DECO; 39. Expensive coat; 41. Cravings; 42. Not silently; 44. Laughing; 46. Drivers' org.; 47. Perfect shape; 50. Building wing; 51. Sale markdown indicator; 54. Variety of rose; 60. Decorative sofa fabric; 61. River of Switzerland; 62. Where the first words of 17-, 26- and 47-Across may be found; 64. It may be in the doghouse; 65. Its alphabet starts with alif; 66. Bard's "before"; 67. Hightail it; 68. Tennessee team; 69. "Help!".

Illustration: The "dancing men" code from "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" (1942)

Down: 1. Scents used for perfume; 2. Senseless; 3. English philosopher called "Doctor Mirabilis" ; 4. One who sees it like it is; 5. Fort ORD, former Army post on Monterey Bay; 6. Source of basalt; 7. Purchase stipulation; 8. Place for a crick; 9. Imagined; 10. Cry of glee; 11. Stead; 12. Chester Arthur's middle name; 13. Polar explorer Richard; 18. Isle of exile; 22. Sis-boom-bahs; 24. Snobs put them on; 27. Memorize, as lines; 28. Raging mad; 29. He lost of Dwight; 30. They're controlled by the moon; 31. "Peter Pan" dog; 32. Actress Lanchester, who married Charles Laughton; 33. "Madam, I'm ADAM"; 34. Place to get a Reuben; 38. Catcher of sound waves; 40. ENTR'acte; 43. Mid seventh-century date; 45. Haberdashery items: Var.; 48. Dated; 49. Smell; 52. Old Oldsmobile; 53. They may be dominant; 54. Knife handle; 55. Where Bill and Hillary met; 56. LaBREA Tar Pits; 57. Hatcher or Garr; 58. Part of Q.E.D.; 59. "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" group; 63. Winning cry in a card game.

The solution? Elementary!

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

Bad for the US, bad for Israel

In essence, the authors argue in the book that a loose coalition of individuals and organizations shape US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction and that this lobby has pushed policies that are neither in America's national interest nor Israel's long-term interest. No other "ethnic lobby," the authors claim, has so diverted US policy away from the American national interest.

"The Israel lobby is the antithesis of a cabal or conspiracy," they state. "What sets it apart, in short, is its extraordinary effectiveness."

The authors stress that supporters of Israel "have every right to advocate their positions, and it is wrong to question their loyalty when they do. Yet it is equally legitimate for critics to point out that organizations like AIPAC are not neutral, or that the individuals ... are motivated by an attachment to Israel that is bound to shape their thinking about many foreign policy issues." More...