Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84.

What an incredible life this man led:

The son of a butcher, the mime was born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, France. His father Charles, a baritone with a love of song, introduced his son to the world of music and theater at an early age. The boy was captivated by the silent film stars of the era: Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx brothers.

When the Nazis marched into eastern France, he fled with family members to the southwest and changed his last name to Marceau to hide his Jewish origins.

With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance, altering children’s identity cards by changing birth dates to trick the Nazis into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton’s army.

His father was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.

“Yes, I cried for him,” Marceau said. But he said he also thought of the others killed.

“Among those kids was maybe an Einstein, a Mozart, somebody who (would have) found a cancer drug,” he told reporters in 2000. “That is why we have a great responsibility. Let us love one another.”

May he Rest in Peace.

HT: Jules Crittenden

Clark Hoyt, the public editor of the New York Times has an article in today’s edition that states the MoveOn.org ad violated the advertising terms of the Times.

But I think the ad violated The Times’s own written standards, and the paper now says that the advertiser got a price break it was not entitled to….

…The ad infuriated conservatives, dismayed many Democrats and ignited charges that the liberal Times aided its friends at MoveOn.org with a steep discount in the price paid to publish its message, which might amount to an illegal contribution to a political action committee. In more than 4,000 e-mail messages, people around the country raged at The Times with words like “despicable,” “disgrace” and “treason.”

President George W. Bush called the ad “disgusting.” The Senate, controlled by Democrats, voted overwhelmingly to condemn the ad….

… FreedomsWatch.org, a group recently formed to support the war, asked me to investigate because it said it wasn’t offered the same terms for a response ad that MoveOn.org got.

Did MoveOn.org get favored treatment from The Times? And was the ad outside the bounds of acceptable political discourse?

The answer to the first question is that MoveOn.org paid what is known in the newspaper industry as a standby rate of $64,575 that it should not have received under Times policies. The group should have paid $142,083. The Times had maintained for a week that the standby rate was appropriate, but a company spokeswoman told me late Thursday afternoon that an advertising sales representative made a mistake.

The answer to the second question is that the ad appears to fly in the face of an internal advertising acceptability manual that says, “We do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature.” Steph Jespersen, the executive who approved the ad, said that, while it was “rough,” he regarded it as a comment on a public official’s management of his office and therefore acceptable speech for The Times to print.

By the end of last week the ad appeared to have backfired on both MoveOn.org and fellow opponents of the war in Iraq — and on The Times….

…How did this happen?

Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org, told me that his group called The Times on the Friday before Petraeus’s appearance on Capitol Hill and asked for a rush ad in Monday’s paper. He said The Times called back and “told us there was room Monday, and it would cost $65,000.” Pariser said there was no discussion about a standby rate. “We paid this rate before, so we recognized it,” he said. Advertisers who get standby rates aren’t guaranteed what day their ad will appear, only that it will be in the paper within seven days.

Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communications for The Times, said, “We made a mistake.” She said the advertising representative failed to make it clear that for that rate The Times could not guarantee the Monday placement but left MoveOn.org with the understanding that the ad would run then. She added, “That was contrary to our policies.”…

…For me, two values collided here: the right of free speech — even if it’s abusive speech — and a strong personal revulsion toward the name-calling and personal attacks that now pass for political dialogue, obscuring rather than illuminating important policy issues. For The Times, there is another value: the protection of its brand as a newspaper that sets a high standard for civility. Were I in Jespersen’s shoes, I’d have demanded changes to eliminate “Betray Us,” a particularly low blow when aimed at a soldier.

Who am I to argue with him on this topic, but what do you want to bet it happens again in the future?

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.Isaiah 17:1 KJV

We’re beginning to hear a little more about what happened in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007.

We are reading today that Israeli forces, probably dressed in Syrian uniforms, infiltrated what is a nuclear facility in Syria. This was done to gather samples of material in the secret military facility to determine if they were nuclear weapons or not.

It was discovered it was nuclear material originating from North Korea and confirmed to the White House before Washington would give its blessing on the attack.

Israeli sources admitted that special forces had been accruing intelligence in Syria for several months, the report said, adding that evidence of North Korean activity at the installation was presented to President George Bush during the summer.

According to the Times, North Korea and China believed that North Koreans were among the dead in the subsequent alleged IAF air strike.

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Israel and the United States had collaborated on intelligence ahead of the alleged IAF raid.

According to the Post report, Israel informed the US over the summer that North Korean personnel were in Syria in order to assist the country’s nuclear weapons program. The intelligence in question reportedly included satellite imagery.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted Binyamin Netanyahu adviser Uzi Arad in reference to the Syria operation. “I do know what happened, and when it comes out it will stun everyone,” he said.

Needless to say, Israeli sources are not too happy with Netanyahu for confirming this secret raid.

So, why have I begun the post with a quote from the prophet Isaiah? Because Damascus is the only city that has never not been a city since its inception. It has never been destroyed as Jerusalem or any other city in the history of man.

In other words, it is unfulfilled prophecy, and if we believe the Bible is the inerrent Word of God then we know at some point it must be fulfilled.

Just when that time is we don’t know so anything I say here is purely conjecture except for the fact I know Damascus will be destroyed one day. I just don’t know when.

Obadiah gives us a little more of a hint about what will happen:

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it. Obadiah 1:8 KJV

Jacob and Esau were twin brothers. Jacob received his father Isaac’s blessing by tricking him into thinking he was Esau, and it was Jacob who became Israel and fathered the original twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was one of Jacob’s or Israel’s twelve sons.

Esau, on the other hand, married a woman who worshipped a false god and became one of them.

In this passage Jacob is Israel and Esau is the Arabs or Muslims since Iran is not Arabian.

What is the best educated guess as to how Damascus will be destroyed? We see that in Zechariah:

And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Zechariah 14:12 KJV

Using the vocabulary he had in the fifth century B.C. Zechariah seems to have been describing nuclear annihilation. Not just to Syria but to all people who have fought against Jerusalem, or Israel.

Although the Israelis do not admit it, it is a well-known secret they have nuclear capability.

Surely they have thought about a scenario where they would have to annihilate Syria (Damascus) without killing themselves. How about if they have a neutron bomb that will kill people but leave buildings intact and allow other people to go there safely afterwards?

Except Isaiah says Damascus will be a heap.

I don’t have all the answers and am not a biblical scholar, but I can read and I can ponder. I just can’t figure out how it will all come about. But I know it’s going to happen and if Damascus keeps trying to wage a destructive war against Israel I also know Israel will destroy Syria even if it means its own destruction.

They have no choice.

From the “I thought I’d seen, read or heard it all it all” files:

Check out what is for sale on ebay.

Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay.be this week was an unusual item: “For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts … free premium: the king and his court (costs not included).”

Can you guess who spoke these words and what it pertained to?

Sort of like that. But they’re space invaders. They have laser weapons and stuff and bust down your doors and rough up your women and throw you on the ground, really, I mean.

I’m not surprised.

It seems Jack Hanna had a bit of trouble with an airport turnstile.

“I was stuck like a worm. My eyes were as big as grapefruits,” he said. “I can’t describe the feeling in my stomach. I can’t move up or down. The bars are on your face.”

That description doesn’t sound too funny, but believe me when you read the story and find out how this happened you might just have your Sunday laugh.

And in conclusion, do you suffer from parakavedekatriaphobia?

I was glad I don’t. Just attempting to pronounce it was enough to bring on an anxiety attack.

Have a great Sunday all!