Opinion Forum

Palestinian Heroes Little Worse than Venomous Snakes

March 14th, 2011

Very lightly reported in the principal media, several heroes of Palestine “broke into the house of Udi and Ruth Fogel (36 and 35 years old, respectively), and stabbed them to death along with their 3-month-old daughter, Hadas, and two sons, Elad (3 years old) and Yoav (11).” YouTube promptly removed a video — not of the actual murders (there apparently was none to remove) but showing still photos of the dead Israelis. As all left thinking people know, YouTube did the right thing. The many heroes of Palestine have for too long been disparaged in the media. While these heroes’ efforts to produce true peace will not likely be effective other than for the few Israelis noted above, I look forward to viewing, at YouTube and elsewhere, videos showing the peacefully joyous reactions of these

residents from the southern city of Rafah [who] hit the streets Saturday to celebrate the terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Itamar where five family members were murdered in their sleep, including three children.

Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying the joy “is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank.”

This brings me to the venomous snakes which want to come into our yard to play with us and with our puppies. In many respects like Palestinian heroes, these pitiably downtrodden snakes are peaceful beings; unless hungry and wanting to assert their natural rights to food, or disturbed after asserting those rights and then merely wanting to relax and bask in the warm sunlight as they also have every right to do, they are harmless. Yet I have sometimes sinned by trying to drive them away or even to kill them (the snakes). May Allah — whose beloved children we all are — hear my confession and have mercy upon me.

Having learned much from Dear Leader Obama, I have resolved to give peace a chance. I am eliminating all remaining (but fortunately ineffective) barriers to snake entry and otherwise making them feel as welcome as my own brothers and sisters. Given enough warmth, affection and puppies to kill they could easily become loyal comrades to comfort me as I slide even further into librul senility.

Continue reading this article at The PJ Tatler »

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: celebration, Fogel, Israel, murder, Palestinians, satire, stabbing, terrorism
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (5) | Home

5 Responses to “Palestinian Heroes Little Worse than Venomous Snakes”

Tom Carter | March 14th, 2011 at 8:58 am

I’d say that Palestinian terrorists are actually worse than poisonous snakes. At least the snakes are unthinking creatures of nature, doing what they do without malice and the intent of evil.

Palestinians (and other Muslims, I’m sure) celebrating the cowardly murder of an entire young family in the dark of night as they slept in their home says about all that needs to be said. It’s hard to imagine how any peace can ever be constructed with primitive people like this.

Dan Miller | March 14th, 2011 at 12:15 pm

Like congregants in the Religion of Peace, many snakes are not dangerous and there may well be more non-venomous than venomous. Most of the latter are not dangers unless they are very big. Some of the former can’t do much harm. Coral snakes, which we have here, are small and very pretty. There are also faux-coral snakes, with their colored bands reversed in sequence and distinguishing them requires either a knowledge of herpetology or handy pictures for immediate reference. The venomous ones do not have fangs and inject their neuro toxins via their teeth. Their mouths are small and little children attracted to play with the pretty creatures are probably mainly at risk although adults have also been bitten. The risk of being bitten is relatively small but the consequences are often very bad. Coral snake anti venom has a short shelf life and is stocked in few places; unless an anti venom injection is given within about forty-five minutes, death results. It generally takes longer than that to drive from a rural area where bites are the most likely to the nearest hospital which stocks the injections and many people here do not have cars.

When jihadist and non-jihadist Religion of Peace brethren hang out together, as seems often to be the case in the United States and elsewhere, they (like coral and faux-coral snakes) can be difficult to distinguish until too late. In a combat situation overseas, distinguishing one from the other in time to prevent bad things can be impossible; the paranoia and recklessness attributed by some chairborne types to those who must make such decisions is probably merited only rarely.

Tom Carter | March 14th, 2011 at 2:27 pm

I remember the snakes of Panama well, particularly the Bushmaster and Fer-de-Lance. They were constantly found slithering around in the Canal Zone (that’s how old I am!), particularly in the housing areas. Children and pets were at serious risk from snake bites. There was more than one instance of a mom looking out the kitchen window and seeing a kid sitting on the ground playing, with a Bushmaster in the grass nearby. Needless to say, resolving that situation took a certain steely coolness to get the kid out of danger without scaring the kid or the snake. Gorgas Hospital, the Army hospital in the Canal Zone (right across 4th of July Ave from Panama City territory) was a world leader in developing anti-venoms and treating poisonous snake bites. It was said that if you could get someone to Gorgas within 30 minutes of the bite, they could be saved.

Speaking of the reptiles of the Middle East (and, unfortunately, elsewhere), the analogy of not being able to tell the poisonous ones from the harmless ones is apt. My philosophy with snakes was always to treat any snake as being poisonous, i.e., kill them. It would be wrong to extend that kind of thinking to certain kinds of people, but then again….

Dan Miller | March 14th, 2011 at 6:35 pm

My philosophy with snakes was always to treat any snake as being poisonous, i.e., kill them. It would be wrong to extend that kind of thinking to certain kinds of people, but then again….

Gasp! What a horribly non-PC statement; I am shocked, simply shocked. Please wash your mouth out with ~~scotch~~ lye soap. Surely, you could get guidance from a mid eastern herpetologist. The Army must have more than several on the payroll.

When one of our cats brought a rather docile coral snake into our house some years ago, it had several translucent egg sacks on the outside of its body. Jeanie and I separated the cat and kept our pup, Shadow, away while I used a broom to sweep the snake out the front door and killed it with a machete. While I was doing the latter, Jeanie checked the internet and found that it was a real, not faux-, coral snake. We disposed of the body and associated egg sacks in a trash can and made sure that it remained shut.

We also have Fer-de-Lances here at 3,200 feet AMSL. They are called something like Eques, because of their X marks. I understand that there are bushmasters as well, although I don’t recall having seen any. In addition, we have some delightful venomous snakes which spend lots of time in trees and enjoy attacking workers in the coffee and orange fields. Some of our delightful snakes are quite aggressive.

Ron Wilson | March 20th, 2011 at 1:38 am

As we age there are events that shake us, cause us to question everything. Throughout mans history of senseless killing, horrendous and despicable acts. This event truly burdens my heart. How can this be justifiable to anyone. Let us all demonstrate the grace of the grandfather and the daughter. They are truly what is right in mankind.