-------- Original Message --------
Subject: WHERE ISRAEL DID GET WIPED OFF MAP
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:56:51 -0600
From: Angie Cope <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: American Geographical Society Library
To: Maps-L <[log in to unmask]>
Being the collectors of kitsch that we are, a staff person here at the
AGSL actually has a copy of this globe. Israel is in fact on the map. If
you look closely at the image included in the article - there is a
number 2 circled where Israel should be.
What this article demonstrates - is that people don't know how to read a
map or globe. There is an index with about 16 places labeled - and
indexed at number two is a place by the name of Israel.
That's actually pretty nice for a $5 globe.
Angie
AGSL
opinions expressed are my own
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: New York Post story from Alice Hudson
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:24:00 -0500 (EST)
From: [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: Alice Hudson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
*Alice Hudson* thought you would find this story from NYPost.com
interesting:
WHERE ISRAEL DID GET WIPED OFF MAP
By ANDREA PEYSER
Click on the link below to access the story.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/where_israel_did_get_wiped_off_map_qbXJETmT4RA4NuOHuxzeBI
It looks as if Iran has found allies in its quest to wipe Israel off the
map -- the dopes at your friendly neighborhood Target store.
On sale exclusively at Target is this innocent-looking toy globe.
Thousands of these trinkets have already moved out of malls, from Queens
to Honolulu, and landed in living rooms and kids' rooms across America.
But folks who forked over a buck for the miniature worlds got less than
they bargained for.
These planetary models contain just about all the countries on Earth --
from France to China, Singapore to Spain. But there's one glaring
exception:
Israel.
In the spot where Israel should be, this word is printed: "Palestine."
Some of those who unwittingly purchased the Israel-free orbs feel as if
they've played a role in a modern-day Final Solution.
"They're teaching kids there is no Israel, only Palestine," said Rabbi
Gary Moskowitz, who bought a globe at the Queens Center Mall for his
5-year-old daughter. "This encourages terrorism. This foments hatred."
Bob Kunst learned of the globe's omission when a friend's 12-year-old
daughter in Florida asked innocently, "Where's Israel?"
"The very people who deny Israel's existence also deny the Holocaust,"
he said.
After receiving complaints, Target, which sold the globes for several
weeks, finally responded. On Sunday, it began yanking the globes from
its 1,744 stores in 49 states (Vermont is Target-free), and destroying
them. We hope.
"We didn't want to offend any of our guests," said Amy Reilly of Target
customer relations, who initially said the omission of Israel was due to
lack of space on the item. (Isn't "Palestine" a longer word?)
Devrian Global Industries of New Jersey, which imported "tens of
thousands" of globes from China, apologized. "Obviously, it was a
mistake. We obviously offended some people. Now we're pulling them off
the shelves," said chief merchandising officer Larry Fine. No estimate
on how many were sold.
So is this much ado about little? I think not. The movement to
marginalize and even destroy the Jewish state has lately picked up
steam. Israeli products are boycotted in Europe. Arabic textbooks deny
Israel's right to exist. Even the Obama administration has voiced
policies of appeasement: In Cairo last June, President Obama went so far
as to equate the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust with Arab
dislocation in the Middle East.
And, of course, there's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's infamous
quote: "Israel must be wiped off the map."
The globes were made in China by the Ningbo Beilun Beixin Plastic and
Hardware Co., and were inspected and approved by the American firm
Bureau Veritas. Its officers wouldn't comment, citing "client
confidentiality."
None of this explains why so many people missed the flaw. Or did someone
willfully look the other way?
Devrian, meanwhile, wants to talk to the Chinese manufacturer, to make
certain such a thing doesn't happen again. The company is having trouble
doing so. With Chinese New Year approaching, officers said, no one is
available to translate.
Israel will have to wait.
Ford goes on charm offensive
Harold Ford Jr. was on the phone, hepped up on adrenaline and caffeine,
though it was past 6 p.m. and I was craving cocktails. He was psyched
after meeting with a bunch of abortion-friendly ladies to discuss what
he calls his pro-choice voting record.
"Ex-pecially the votes I made in Tennessee," he said, slipping into a
boyish drawl that the new New Yorker is trying hard to lose. Oh, but why?
"I am against late-term abortion," he motor-mouthed. "And I'm for
parental notification. Except in cases where a child is afraid of his or
her parent." Whoops! "Her parent," he corrected. "Excuse me . . ."
It's come to Ford's attention that his outclassed maybe-political rival,
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, suffers from a wee case of fatal attraction.
Where he goes, she goes.
On Monday, Ford met with black leaders on Long Island. Gillibrand "put
together a trip on Saturday, knowing Harold was going to be there,"
laughed an insider.
"I hear she has someone following me with a video camera," Ford snarked.
He bragged about his wife of nearly two years, Emily -- who, I've heard
him boast, is a babe of 28. She "is my 'director of research,' " he
said, getting Harold camera-ready to talk without drooling. So, you like
smart women, do you?
"I don't know any other way."
Good answer. The guy might have a future.
She said the t-word! Sanity hits Planet Janet
Baby steps, Janet.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday made a drive-by
visit to the city, where she refused to talk about the terror trials
looming over Manhattan, failed to mention 9/11 or al Qaeda, and did not
speak about CIA Director Leon Panetta's scary claim that enemies are
poised to strike again in three to six months.
But the woman who has refused even to utter the word "terrorism" --
preferring the loony phrase "man-caused disasters" -- has, finally,
learned to use the t-word. Twice.
Speaking to members of her advisory council, she said, "Terrorists will
go to great lengths to attack us." Then she digressed into a spiel about
the need for "faith- and community-based" groups to fight homegrown bad
guys, and prevent "an actual terrorist attack."
Mayor Bloomberg was blunter. He said if Washington cuts funding to the
city's radiation detectors, as threatened, you might as well kiss your
assets goodbye.
"The explosion of a nuclear device could cost thousands of lives,
devastate our national economy and plunge us into further conflict
overseas," he said.
With that, Napolitano was off like a jackrabbit. When I tried to
approach her, I was tackled by an aide who protested, "There's no time!"
At least she's made progress.
The state of this union is rotten
In the real world, a man doesn't sit on his backside for nine years
while drawing a six-figure salary. But we're not talking about the real
world. This is the city's Department of Education, where your taxes and
mine lavishly support typing teacher Alan Rosenfeld as he spends his
days in a "rubber room."
Rosenfeld hasn't taught a day since 2001, when he was accused of leering
at the rear ends of junior-high girls. This being the school system,
Rosenfeld was cleared to teach again. But Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
thinks that's too dangerous. So there Rosenfeld sits, drawing a $100,000
salary and working on his legal business, as The Post reported, while
accruing a pension that's the envy of working stiffs everywhere.
How does he do it? Simple. This city is a slave to the teachers union,
which protects Rosenfeld's rights while trampling on yours. And now,
there's nothing you, the mayor, or the chancellor can do about it. An
outrage.
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