[Stewart_B]

Naw, my page is just going to be simple stuff nothing commercial.

[meadsjn]

Still you have a target audience. Your main page took 35 seconds to load on a rural 26kbps dial-up. Most people in the hinterlands don't have high-speed access unless they have a satellite connection, and they would only have that if they have money to burn.

Your rolling headline links to the Israeli news are pretty neat.

Some people are prejudicial towards sites with black backgrounds, or high contrast, or bright colors, or moving, blinking stuff. Those are all personal preferences. One way to guage the effectiveness of your site is to have some honest, close friends (preferably those who share the views you are trying to represent) review it and provide useful feedback, even if it isn't flattering.