America's tax dollars at work

The US props up Israel to the tune of billions of dollars per year.

Great to see how some of it gets spent...

The Israeli ambassador to the sun-kissed Central American paradise of El Salvador is for the high jump after being found "in a street, drunk, wearing only bondage gear", the BBC reports.

Tzuriel Refael - on his first ambassadorial assignment following elevation from "a foreign ministry position" - was apparently discovered by police on the streets of the capital San Salvador two weeks ago in a rather more uncomfortable position, viz: inebriated, with his hands tied and gagged with a rubber ball in his mouth.
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An Israeli foreign ministry official told AFP: "Our ambassador has been recalled immediately. During the 60 years of the State of Israel, some of our diplomats have caused us embarrassment, as happens in every country. But an ambassador behaving indecently on a public thoroughfare, that has never happened before."

Whatever his fate, Refael can consider himself lucky. In El Salvador's darker days, people who turned up on the country's streets with their hands tied were normally minus their heads - the work of death squads attached to fun-loving former prez Roberto D'Aubuisson. Good to see things have moved on in that troubled land. ®

Israelis vote for Eurovision nuclear apocalypse but wait a minute, Israel isn't IN Europe

From The Register http://www.theregister.com/
Israelis have "voted overwhelmingly" to send a song having a poke at Iran's nuclear ambitions to this year's Eurovision Song Contest, the BBC reports.

In a move likely to have Mahmoud Ahmadinejad choking on his Rice Krispies this morning, Teapacks' Push the Button will wow the Helsinki crowds in May with lines such as: "The world is full of terror, if someone makes an error, he's gonna blow us up to kingdom come."

This raises an interesting if pointless question - what would one rename Snap, Crackle and Pop in Farsi?

The song continues, in traditional Eurovision style: "And I don't wanna die, I wanna see the flowers bloom, don't wanna go kaput-kaboom."

The fun-filled ditty was selected by Israeli music-lovers from among four Teapacks offerings, including the "facetiously titled" Salam Salami, "so-named after the group discovered that its original lyrics, with words taken from the Bible, broke Eurovision Song Contest rules on suitable content".

Defending their contribution to peace in the Middle East, Teapacks say "it is their role to stir up controversy". Singer Kobi Oz explained: "The idea is to do something that crosses the accepted norms."

And just to prove how far Eurovision has come since the days of Cliff Richard and Abba, former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins will on 17 March battle former East 17 star Brian Harvey and ex-Atomic Kitten Liz McClarnon for the honour to represent the UK in Finland. Reports that Marilyn Manson and Iggy Pop will this year give forth for Cyprus with a rendition of the old favourite Gonna Greece your partition, Gonna stuff your Turkey are unconfirmed. ®

You can see the video (as of this writing) on YouTube at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpWYFoSrmRA

Lyrics are in English, French, Hebrew and Italian.