World News
Check out this video – it is Obama at the Kotel at 5 AM.
I am surprised that Obama’s handlers didn’t make the effort to learn about the Wall’s daily prayer services. At 5 AM the pious Jews of Jerusalem are at the Wall to pray with the rising sun (about 1,000 people are there on any given morning – all year long). Before staging a massive media event at an important holy site – I think it is important to learn what goes on there so as not to disturb the regulars. (Though to be fair, it doesn’t look like anyone cares.)
A few points from the video:
- I think Obama looks great in a kipa – maybe he is really Jewish. Has anyone explored this possibility?
- Obama didn’t kiss the Wall. I think he is afraid. I often find that non-Jews are afraid to get too close (Jews push their bodies right up to it, kiss it, hold on to it.)
- Although Obama looks great in a kipa, his security team looks ridiculous. If Obama really wants to be president, he needs to teach his team about Jewish fashion.
- Why is Obama wearing a black bracelet and how did he avoid the red string people? Maybe Madonna and her Kaballah friends can send him one – I would hate for Obama to feel he missed out on an essential cultural experience.
I am surprised that Obama was up so early. You may say, “jetlag.” But I say, “forget jetlag, if he had eaten a shwarma then clearly he would be sleeping.” Once again – more proof Obama is a flawed (albeit stylish) candidate.
July 24th, 2008
This kind of thing really ticks me off:
In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone
“It’s humiliation,” Perry said.
Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.
“He yelled at me to get the belt off. ‘I told you to get the belt off.’ So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle,” Perry said.
At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.
“She was yelling ‘I have power, I have power, I have power,” Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
I fly a lot and I think the TSA has taken this security thing a little too far (compounded by the fact that they are idiots).
100% of all airline terrorism is perpetrated by one group of people – Muslim men between the ages of 16 and 45 (100% – no other group has ever hijacked a plane).
Like hello you brainless ninnies – identify the bad guys and go after them. Old men in wheelchairs, hipsters with body piercings, children – and any other demographic you can think of – do not hijack planes. It is has never happened – ever.
Stop being politically correct and actually do your job and protect us. Don’t torture obviously innocent people. Don’t waste our time. Let us bring liquids on airplanes – and leave us alone!
July 23rd, 2008
This is not cool. The city of Boston announced today that they are doubling fines for parking related infractions. Excuse me but I think this is abusive and wrong. Contrary to the smug comments of butt-head Boston Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin:
“Let me emphasize that if you don’t park illegally in Boston you will not be affected by this action.”
– Everyone knows that parking tickets are a part of everyday life when living in the city. The increase will not serve as a deterrent in any way; rather, it is just another cheap attempt by the city of Boston to generate more revenue on the backs of the people.
Similar to the completely out-of-touch comments by the mayor last year vis-à-vis reserving spots shoveled out during snow emergencies, this increase is easy to be in favor of when you have your special reserved spot in the city lot. Park in the streets with the rest of us, be victimized by the over zealous traffic cops stressing to meet quotas, and then pass this type of parasitic, abusive increase - punks!
July 1st, 2008
Esther and Guy call it quits and apparently it was Kabbalah that ruined their marriage.
GUY RITCHIE and MADONNA’s marriage has been thrown deeper into meltdown after he told her he’s quitting Kabbalah. Madge has become increasingly involved with the mystical Jewish religion, but her film director husband is a step closer to hitting the road after losing his faith.
The real news to me is that I didn’t know there was a “Jewish mystical religion.” I always thought Kabbalah was just a deeper aspect of traditional Judaism – you know, the stuff you study after you have mastered the basics.
But what do I know? Far be it from me to question the faith of my mystical sister Esther. I just hope she can get it together and find a new guy more sensitive to her spiritual needs.
June 27th, 2008
I just heard on the radio today that Norman Mailer had someone read an obituary at his funeral that he wrote about himself years ago.
It is an important and powerful exercise we should all do - what do you want people to say about you after you are gone? If you can’t sum up your life in a slogan for your tombstone - write up a full-blown obituary. Being real with your mortality is a powerful tool to get focus about your goals and what is ultimately important.
November 14th, 2007
Today I experienced surreal at a whole new level. Charmin (the toilet paper people) has opened public potties in Times Square. Outside on the street are videos of happy children dancing, cartoons featuring smiley bears (having fun with toilet paper), and a crew of “Charmin” dressed staff encouraging one and all to “go in style” while in NYC. OK, fair enough, no biggie right?
So I went in and up the escalator and into a whole new world! The “Charmin toilet world” features soft plush carpet, happy music, lots of dancing staff – AND TOLIETS! So many toilets! Clean, white, pleasant smelling public toilets! The staff was happy to help, open the doors, they were always smiling, always happy, and they clean the toilets after every use. After using one of the 20 toilets I was escorted to an area where I had the option to get my photo taken (I think it was on a sled in fake snow), and then finally out and back into the real world. If the whole world could just be like the Charmin public toilets we would have peace and an end to all strife. The rumor is that the toilets won’t be there forever, go now and experience a little slice of heaven before it is too late.
November 27th, 2006
I thought the Green Party was all about a clean environment, peace and love. It turns out they are vehemently anti-Israel, grossly misinformed, hostile and wrong. Look at this 5 point proposal the Massachusetts wing of the party submitted to their national body:
The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, in consonance with its adherence to its Ten Key Values, has the following position on the issue of Palestine. This statement will be submitted to the national party through the International Committee:
- The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts calls for the end of all American military and economic aid to Israel. Additionally, the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the following means to bring pressure to bear on Israel: Divestment initiatives that seek to withdraw institutional investments from Israel state bonds and corporations that do business with Israel; academic boycotts of Israeli academics and academic institutions.
- The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts calls for an ecologically sound commitment to equitably sharing and conserving all water and other natural resources among all peoples of the region.
- The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports full implementation of the Right of Return for each Palestinian refugee, which means each Palestinian has the right to choose to return to his or her home and lands. This right is a fundamental human right and is enshrined in international law for all peoples of the world.
- The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts rejects all apartheid-based governmental systems and calls for a secular, democratic governing entity for all people in the geographic region of historic Palestine (today referred to by some people as Israel, the West Bank and Gaza). We support a democratic system with equal rights for all in which the peoples of the region democratically decide their future.
- The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts recognizes the right of Palestinians to self-defense as well as nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation and the Israeli project of forced displacement of the indigenous Palestinian population which has been ongoing since 1948. The right to resist occupation is guaranteed to all peoples of the world by international law.
It is probably a good idea to contact these guys and give them a piece of your mind.
Green-Rainbow Party - PO Box 440353 - Somerville, MA 02144-0004
(978) 688-2068 - office@green-rainbow.org
November 14th, 2006
On NPR today they featured an official apologist for agro-business. His main claim was that in spite of all the hype about organic, pesticide-free farming, the non-use of chemical fertilizers leads to an increase (by necessity) of more manure-based fertilization. The heavy reliance on manure actually is a main source of bacteria growth and all sorts of nasty orgo-illnesses. Although the hippy farmers argued, I found this line of thought compelling. Organic food is big business so it is not surprising that they probably have something to hide.
In related news, my ever-friendly barista at the ERC informed me that in spite of what you might think, lighter coffees are actually stronger. His theory is that in order to make a darker roast, you need to cook it more. As is true with everything – the more you cook something, the more you deplete its essential nutrients. Being that the main nutrient in coffee is caffeine, it only makes sense that the extra cooking to get it darker will diminish the caffeine content as well. (My mother claims that espresso is actually naturally decaffeinated due to the extreme cooking it is subjected to. Her logic is indeed in line with the revelation from my barista.) It seems like a reasonable proposition to me, except that after I drank my “lighter” Costa Rican blend, I didn’t shake with the same caffeine buzz I usually enjoy.
Speaking of farming and coffee, this Rosh Hashanah begins the fifth year of the seven year shmita cycle. Year seven is shmita – the year the land lies fallow. Years three and six are the years that we give ma’aser ani (a percentage of the crop to be given to the poor) in addition the regular tithes we are expected to give. On years one, two, four and five we give ma’aser sheni – the tithe we take for ourselves to eat in Jerusalem. Being that this year is a ma’aser sheni year, I am going to keep away from manure and weak coffee when I choose the produce I take with me to Jerusalem.
September 20th, 2006
Why is everyone so bent out of shape about the new Facebook?
On Tuesday morning the popular social networking site unrolled a new feature dubbed the “News Feed” that allows users to track their friends’ Facebook movements by the minute. For many of Facebook’s 8 million-plus student users, it was too much. Within 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of students nationwide organized themselves to protest the new feature.
When I logged in I was asked if I wanted to see the new “news feeds.” Of course I clicked “yes” and I thought it was great. I love that Mary and Jim are now friends, and that Bill just posted pictures of Barbara drunk and assaulting a campus cop, or that Sandy wrote on Kim’s wall. Why all the hubbub? Now I have up to date, down to the minute, reports of everyone’s latest cyber moves – I have complete virtual knowledge of everyone in my network.
If we aren’t friends yet then friend me now – the whole world will know!
September 7th, 2006
Why? Because they are idiots.
“Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying.”
According to this article, the man was “Hasidic.” I am sorry but:
- Hasidic men are VERY conspicuous. Even the uninitiated can recognize them a mile away. Among those who do not know what a Hasidic Jew is, they can still clearly recognize that they are NOT Muslim-Islamic-potential terrorist types
- Praying Hasidic men (while they may look a little odd) do not, have not, and never will highjack an airplane or pose any type of threat whatsoever (except standing in the isles and blocking the bathroom)
The airplane was heading towards the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray. “He was clearly a Hasidic Jew,” said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. “He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.”
“He wasn’t exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth,” Faguy added. The action didn’t seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous. “The attendant actually recognized out loud that he wasn’t a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave,” Faguy said.
Air Canada has clearly gone too far. As a matter of fact, the whole airline industry is out of their minds. Stop wasting our time, stop harassing us, learn how to identify the bad guys (start with Muslim men ages 14 – 45, they have committed about 100% of the terrorist acts on airplanes – hint – could be a good target group), and let the rest of us fly and pray in peace.
September 5th, 2006
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