Ashkaspaz

Did you read about the Berkeley peace activist who walked into the standoff over at Yassar Arafat's compound on Monday? Rob Lipton, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, together with some pals and an Israeli counterpart got to within a hundred yards of the action until Israeli soldiers figured out they weren't supposed to be there.

Rob may have meant well, and for sure he's going to have great slides to show at his presentation over at the Ashkanaz cultural center when he gets back, but did he really think that he was going to be helping out?

We got him via voicelink last night:

Raven: Dude, what's up?
Lipton: Pretty intense over here, man. [sounds of gunfire]
Raven: So what's going on over at the compound?
Lipton: It's pretty rough, hard to believe. You can't get a smoothie anywhere. We had to lug in our own radicchio, roasted plum vinaigrette, and duck rillettes with pistachio oil. Pretty basic.
Raven: What about bread? Anything decent available?
Lipton: Oh man, talk about bunk—we sent Amhred out to score a baguette and he came back with a braided challah. Which totally didn't work.
Raven: I hear you. Can't beat that Cheeseboard crust.
Lipton: So we're down to our last provencal saucisson, right? Which more or less demands coulommiers, but locally you can't get anything but chevre, and we're dying out here, man.
Raven: How are you fixed for tartufata? Can you hang there?
Lipton: Jason improvised a sugoloso 'cause we just happened to score some sun-dried, but parsely isn't basil so we're totally screwed.
Raven: Keep the pinot grigio cold, boys. We're rooting for you.
Lipton: Cool. Tell the folks back home we need some Carpegna prosciutto real bad—not the San Daniele—the Carpegna. We're hurting and we need staples here.

Those are our people out there, hanging tough in difficult conditions. Do what you can for Lipton and the boys.

Pole Position

Remember Lech Walesa? Former leader of Solidarity and President of Poland? I thought he was dead, but turns out he's back, and with a vengeance as host of his own nationally televised fishing show.

"I've tried many subjects so I can add one more," Walesa said Tuesday of the offer to host the weekly show, which will start next month. Still, he wasn't promising to keep his thoughts on other issues to himself.