Happy New Year

Happy New Year.

My resolution is to quit smoking; everything.

Anyone else?

Do you like spit?

A group of extreme right wing orthodox Jews, in Jerusalem, protest. They protest often. Their latest victim is the computer giant, Intel.

It doesn't even matter why they are protesting. They say religion, I say money and power. Tomato Tomahto.

What stands out as unusual is the deal the police made with the Rabbi at the head of these protests.

I think the quote from the haaretz newspaper article sums it up best:

"Ultra-Orthodox protests over the past few months have subjected police to verbal and physical violence, which was said to represent a transgression of limitations set last summer by Rabbi Weiss, after officers warned him they may not be able to control their men if they continue to be subjected to spits and taunts."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137999.html

I'm from Chicago. You have a row of riot police standing in a line and a group of protesters start to spit, they are going to crack some skulls. Taunts are taunts. The police are adults and are trained, or are expected, to be able to handle taunts. But spitting is considered assault. Spitting on police is considered assaulting an officer. These are criminal assault charges and may be charged after the cop subdues their assailant.

AND THE POLICE IN ISRAEL ARE BEGGING THIS RABBI TO PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE STOP SPITTING ON THE POLICE OFFICERS.

Any commander who ordered their officers to stand still and be spit on doesn't deserve to lead.

Gilad Shalit: Prisoner of War

Gilad Shalit is a prisoner of war. Gilad has rights under a variety of global treaties. If the Palestinians want their "human rights," they should follow rules regulating captured soldiers.

Many people call him a kidnapping victim. I disagree with this label. Gilad was in uniform and captured by the military arm of an opposing government .

When someone is kidnapped they are a victim of a crime. A mugging or rape victim have no rights other than criminal courts. A prisoner of war has rights granted and enforced by global treaties. The U.N does not deal with local crime. If Gilad Shalit were defined as a prisoner of war Israel gains leverage. If they cannot bring him home, at least utilize every weapon to make his life more bearable.

Peace and Economic negotiations hinge on both sides agreeing to obey rules governing Prisoners of War and other such trust building issues.

The Palestinian government has status in the U.N. The Palestinian government has declared itself as existing as an entity.

You say you are at war. You say that living at war against a much stronger military force gives you the right to break the rules of engagement. You want your State? Earn it. Follow the rules governing Prisoners of War.

ObamaCare and the Hypocrites

The Republicans are raising hell over the deals that were cut to pass a health care bill. The GOP rant and raves against Sen. Nelson, for example, horsetrading his health care vote for goodies for his state.

So why doesn't any Republican stand up and say, "Since the Democrats have the sixty votes to move this bill forward I am willing to vote for this bill for free and you can rescind the goodies offered to Sen. Nelson."?

The reason that no Republicans will stand in for any democrat vote is that they want the goodies too. If they kill horse trading how will they be able to trade their votes when they have power?

So they scream while they bide their time until they can get their hands in the cookie jar.

Is Mark Kirk a Pedophile?

Politics.



Mark Kirk is a Republican in Illinois. Kirk is running for another office. A rival of his has taken out ads claiming :



a) Mark Kirk is Gay

b) Mark Kirk helped cover up former Rep. Foley's dalliances with congressional pages. These boy pages were around 16 years old and therefore Kirk is a pedophile by default.



Political speech is the most protected form of speech. Therefore there are few rules limiting political speech. And, if any television or other ad producer runs and ad for a candidate, they are bound by law to run all ads by any candidate regardless of content.

Once again we have people who want to lead scapegoating homosexuals to further their agendas.

The recently divorced Mark Kirk denies that he is gay. He should not have to.

As for the second claim, that Kirk is a pedophile by default for covering up Foley's gay affairs with congressional pages: There are really three separate claims:

1) That Kirk's alleged homosexuality makes him more likely to be or assist pedophilia.

2) That Kirk helped Foley cover up his behavior.

3) That Foley's actions constituted pedophilia

Not to argue the "wrongness" or legality of what Foley did, but to label it pedophilia is inaccurate. And it demeans the claim of pedophilia. And to imply that homosexuality equals gay or that homosexuality is on its own a valid reason to disqualify a candidate echoes millenia of verbal hatred towards minority groups. After all, if homosexuality is reason enough to make someone "bad" why not the Jew as well?

Its time voters everywhere sent their candidates a message: we are tired of campaigns run on scapegoating and fluff and lies and rhetoric.

But it isn't really. After all, you can't argue with success. Apparently people like being bamboozled.

Sarah Palin: The Classless Version of Al Gore

Sarah Palin was recently spotted sporting a "McCain / Palin" sun visor with the name McCain blacked out.

I thought Al Gore erred in distancing him from Bill Clinton when he ran for the Presidency. But at least Al Gore had the sense and decency to publicly laud the man who catapulted Al to stardom.

Al retained his stardom and used his failed election to enhance his image (and pocketbook).

Sarah retained her stardom and used her failed election to enrich her pocketbook through infamy.

Sarah does not have the internal fortitude to show grace under fire.

Hey Sarah: a pit bull with lipstick is just a freaky looking pit bull.

Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World

Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sumerians_look_on_in_confusion_as

Michael Lorenzo Chanukah Song

Michael Lorenzo: wishing for better times

Monks Can't Have Wives

It is easy for a man achieve enlightenment when there are no women around. Try to be enlightened when you're married. See how far you get with that.

Many fundamentalist sects do/have segregated the sexes.

In Israel, the Ultra Orthodox have even worked to get certain buses separate seating: men in front, women in back. And there have been reports of orthodox men harassing and possibly worse on non-segregated buses against women who refuse to sit in the back of the bus.

So it is interesting: that this religion, which believes enlightenment can only be achieved through a wife, marriage and family, have developed this strain of militant anti-women.

http://haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=801449&contrassID=19

China's Power Play

If China blocks the U.N / USA from imposing sanctions on Iran that will signal Israel's need to bomb Iran. Israel will be forced into this position by China which has absolutely everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Iran and sympathizing countries will blame Israel, the USA, the West etc. The USA will owe more favors and use up more goodwill: to say nothing of actual resources. China will grow closer and stronger with these commodity producing nations.

Regime Change

Hesder yeshiva rabbis: Torah law is above IDF headline of article on Haaretz Newspaper.

Are these Rabbis openly subverting and countermanding the elected leadership of Israel?

When will Israel bomb Iran

Iran is running out of time and options. The pieces are all falling into place. Spies are being caught in Iran. The president of the USA has started warning other world leaders that Israel is poised to strike. Iran is test firing new missiles.

The question now is, will Iran pull back from the brink? or will Israel bomb Iran?

I think the dye is cast. I predict Israel will bomb Iran in the next six months.

Anyone else have a prediction?

I am interested in the fallout: What will be the counteraction by Iran? Will Israel be successful? (I don't think they will be 100% but they may not need to be) What impact will it have on the economic markets? On political alliances and power structures?

Quite a lot to contemplate.

Happy Chanukah

We celebrate the victory of fundamentalist religion over the people who instituted naked aerobics.

YAY.

Religion bad for children?

I was helping my 8 year old niece with her Religion homework: they were reading the book of Joshua.

I listened to another niece, 10 years old, recount the story she read in her Religion class: the story of Judah and Tamar.

In both cases I asked aloud: "Is this information really appropriate?"

If these stories were taught in any other class, in Reading or History or Literature, the information would be deemed entirely inappropriate. These stories would not be brought up for discussion.

Why do we change our view when the information is taught as Religion?

conversion

A lady I know took her children and left her allegedly abusive husband. She moved back to her parents home. The first thing people ask when they hear the story is, "so she's tired of being jewish?"

The lady was a convert to Judaism.

Maybe she is tired of being Jewish. After all, the local community offered her no support. The shelter for abused Jewish women told her to go home to her non-Jewish parents because there are few resources available for abused women in the orthodox jewish world. But she did not take the kids and leave her husband because she is tired of being Jewish. She is tired of being Jewish because she is tired of abuse with no recourse. She is tired of being jewish when most people never truely accepted her as Jewish. If they had, after all these years, their first question upon learning that she left her allegedly abusive husband would not be, "so she's tired of being Jewish?"

What is jew

I argued with my Dad and said, "If Hitler would have killed them as Jews then I accept them as Jews."

My Dad replied, "I will not let Hitler be the arbiter of what it means or who is Jewish."

and that makes sense.

My brother in law says that the Charedi and Dati Leumi, Orthodox Jewery in general, are to be respected for their beliefs because when they come to round us all up, they are the ones who carry on the history regardless of how flawed they are as humans.

And they are to be pitied because while I get to live how I want, they have to trade going out on a Friday night in order to preserve history so that when we get rounded up someone will know why.

I wonder what this victim mentality has created.