Criticism of Israeli policy is not anti-semitic -- if you want to hear plenty of it listen to arguments in their parliament. However, criticism of Israel absent that of any other country does raise legitimate suspicions. For example, in Ramallah (as well as in Tehran), if a man is suspected of homosexual conduct, the usual reaction is public lynching. Ten miles away in Jerusalem, the Supreme Court hears arguments about the route of Jerusalem's gay pride parade. Yet, guess which gets more public attention. A New York Times poll this week shows 84% of Palestinians approved of the slaughter of eight teenagers in a Jerusalem school. That attitude has remained fairly steady since before the State's establishment, so it is not as if it is somehow explained, or even justified, by recent actions.

Luckily, Israelis like Shai Agassi are not deterred by the region of hate that surrounds them, and instead challenge themselves to innovate not just for Israel but for the world. That's why Israel has more companies on Nasdaq than any country other than the US.

Tim - Israel receives zero economic assistance from US taxpayers. It does receive some US military aid which it spends almost entirely in the US, reducing the US trade deficit and creating US jobs.

Kent - Yea, I guess you're right, Silicon Valley millionaires never had an original idea or created anything worthwhile, did they? Oh, and sure, it makes a whole lot more sense to have two separate drive-trains in an auto when you can do just fine with a single, much more efficient one. Yea, right.

I have yet to successfully sync iPhone with Entourage. No Entourage option appears under the "info" tab on the iPhone page in iTunes.

Does Albert's comment imply that this has to be done indirectly -- via Address Book? I hope not, that sounds very cumbersome.