According to the Arab News, those on the hajj are getting a quite different message than that reported a few posts below.

With the annual pilgrimage taking place while discontent moves throughout the Islamic world, the Kingdom’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh denounced all acts of terror in the strongest possible words. Delivering the sermon in the majestic Al-Namira Mosque, he said: “Islam has forbidden violence in all its forms; it has forbidden hijacking airplanes, ships and other means of transport and has forbidden all acts that would undermine security. God says the penalty for those who fight God and his Prophet and spread violence and terror is to be killed or have their hands and legs chopped off.”

He then questioned why Islam is branded by some as a religion of terror given its strong opposition to terror. “You must know of Islam’s firm stance against all these terrible crimes that are attributed to it,” he remarked.

I will take back everything I said below if this is indeed true (although it seems that some in attendance didn't appreciate the message).

It's almost odd how little you hear, if anything at all, about people who may have been injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It seems that people either made it out or they didn't. In Israel, we know that it is common for the various suicide bombings to create more injured than dead (about 6 to 1) according to this article from the Washington Post. Read about some of them and remember. Help them if you can by clicking on the right side of this page.

I don't care what I've been taught by my politically correct New York friends and the politically correct media. Islam is a dangerous and evil religion.

Millions of pilgrims pray outside Mecca as hajj nears end

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The cleric who delivered the sermon Friday at the annual hajj pilgrimage had a simple request: God grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world.
The prayer by Sheik Saleh al-Taleb to 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets came as the hajj neared its climax.

"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere," al-Taleb said. "Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists."

In my synagogue we pray for our country (that's the U.S. by the way), we pray for our leaders and we say numerous prayers for peace, not only for Israel, but for the whole world.

The sermon above is not unique and it is fully approved by the Muslim authorities in charge of the single most important event of the Muslim calendar. It is one of the pillars of Islam to attend the hajj and listen to shit like this. The religion demands it.

Can you imagine the Pope at Christmas Mass telling millions of people to kill the bastard Jews or the chief rabbi of (pick a country) telling Jews on Yom Kippur that they must force the evil Muslims to pay for their crimes?

These are not militant extremists - it's the peace loving Muslims that are the extremists - they are extremely silent.

Anyone who supports Islamic organizations and says that they just tune out the militant message in favor of whatever social good they perform is just as evil as the evildoers themselves.

There - my rant is over - politically correct mind control is taking over again - Hamas is good, they build schools, hajj sermon is good, look at all the people from different backgrounds it brings together - wahabbism is good, look at the pride it instills in otherwise disenfranchised peoples, death to Israel and the Jews the gretaest threats to world peace....

Finally, I am going to make my one admittedly potentially bigoted ignorant statement here - please name one aspect of Islam the religion (not Arab culture) that has benefitted mankind in a positive way. You know something like love thy neighbor, find inner peace, turn the other cheek, etc. I honestly don't know of one. Something unique please, I'd love to hear it. Hiding women from public view might be funny for The Man Show, but would not count as a positive here.

Co-op City in the Bronx is where I grew up - it always makes me sad to read how it's literally been falling apart. It truly was a wonderful place to grow up 30 years ago when it was new.

Discovered among the ruins of the ex-Iraqi regime - a list of Saddam's closest foreign allies who received millions each from the "oil-for-food" program run by the U.N. Needless to say, Saddam's most vocal supporters were the primary beneficiaries.

There's a new entry in Webster's for a**hole:



American Ronald Harry Duffy is seen in a reproduction of a federal police photo taken at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport on Wednesday. Duffy spilled a cup of water in the face of a crying baby during a flight to Brazil and will be deported.

My favorite part of the article is that "flight attendants had to "restrain other passengers who wanted to beat him up."

There doesn't seem to be much else to add to the news about the latest suicide bombing in Jerusalem. How ironic though that the bus line that was attacked runs between two Hadassah hospitals, with most of the victims being sent back to where they got on the bus in the first place..

Now do as I did and donate to one of the charities on the right. Or any other that comes to mind. Shaking your head is not enough!

Just found a link to this old article from the New York Times. Does anyone else have a question about why I moved?

For around $470,000, recent listings show, you could buy a four-bedroom, four-bathroom traditional house in Dallas with granite kitchen countertops and vaulted living room ceilings. In Columbus, Ohio, you could buy a sprawling four-bedroom house with two fireplaces, a whirlpool and a ravine outside your front door.

Or you could buy a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

And believe me, the price they mention for the Dallas home is overstated by about $50-75k even if it was a brand new home in an upscale neighboorhood.

If you think political discourse in the U.S. is always striving to meet new lows, get a load of this comment from a British MP regarding Tony Blair:

``(Blair) is a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet. He is barely human in his elusiveness. Nailing Blair is like trying to pin jelly to a wall.''

Once again to show that I really am a fair person and have a sense of humor, there was an absolutely hilarious letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News. I can't link to it, but here it is from Russell Kumpe of Lewisville, TX:

This just in: Officials are accusing the Bush administration of job creation program related activities. However I have personally seen no evidence of this.

If the "liberals" out there come up with a radio network with hosts that have a sense of humor like this, I'll be the first to listen.

At least when reports come out of Iraq, all the news sources seem to get the number and description of the casualties right. Why is that so different from the Israeli-Palestinian sitiuation?

From this morning's Jerusalem Post:

IDF troops killed at least nine Palestinians in Gaza Strip Wednesday according to Palestinian reports.

According to reports, all but one of the Palestinians killed were combatants. At least four of them are confirmed to have been Islamic Jihad members.

From today's Clarin of Argentina (translated by me):

"Israeli soldiers today killed thirteen Palestinians and wounded another ten during an Israeli attack on a neighborhood just south of Gaza city. The dead Palestinians were young civilians and residents of the Al Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza..."

This caption from a Reuters photo seems to lend more credence to the J-Post version:

"Islamic Jihad, one of the main groups behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis, vowed revenge, saying four of its fighters including two field commanders were among those killed during fierce gun battles in Gaza City."

Just look at how these weasels fight mixed up among the civilians:

Al Franken is kicking ass and taking names.

When I flew back to Dallas from LaGuardia a few days ago, they had instituted some sort of more detailed security check. The security line, usually 2-3 people long was about 100 people long and it took me about 15-20 minutes to get through. All of this for nothing apparently.

Woman gets past N.Y. airport security with stun gun, knife

This is exactly the issue. Much was made yesterday about David Kay's belief that no weapons of mass destruction would be found, undermining President Bush's credibility. Kay clarified his remarks somewhat with respect to the President.

“It’s an issue of the capabilities of one’s intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information,” Kay said. Asked whether President Bush owed the nation an explanation for the gap between his warnings and Kay’s findings, Kay said: “I actually think the intelligence community owes the president, rather than the president owing the American people.”

This statement from the prior day's article in the New York Times clearly places the blame on Bush and not the intelligence services:

Dr. Kay's statements undermined one of the primary justifications set out by President Bush for the war with Iraq. Mr. Bush and other top administration officials repeatedly cited Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons as a threat to the United States, and the lack of evidence so far that Saddam Hussein actually had large caches of weapons has fueled criticism that Mr. Bush exaggerated the peril from Iraq.

Also, from an recent interview with Mr. Kay where he states (indirectly) that at least something was going on:

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Dr Kay, who last week resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said that he had uncovered evidence that unspecified materials had been moved to Syria shortly before last year's war to overthrow Saddam.

"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he said. "But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD programme. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved."

This is just weird - Weapons, WTC Photos Found After NYC Blast. Artists are weird.

Just thought this would be of interest for those from my adopted hometown:

Orthodox Jews putting down roots in area built for black professionals

Even though many of those that perpetrate suicide bombings are not poverty stricken Arabs, it is hard emotionally to not fall in line with the liberal belief that the reason these horrible acts are committed are due to the desperation of poverty and dead end lives. Luckily, we have this Lebanese parliamentarian to put things in their proper perspective for us:

Walid Jumblatt, chairman of the Druze Socialist Progressive Party, said the Jan. 14 attack by Reem Al-Riyashi joined her with "the columns of the brave jihad warriors and broke the atrocious and troublesome Arab silence, the helplessness and the retreat that precede failure and disintegration."

The political leader's comments were translated by the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

"She offered hope in a sea of complacency, indecisiveness, and fear," Jumblatt said of the suicide bomber. "It is a new Intifada. It is the Intifada of the revolutionary Palestinian woman and of the land, opposing the 'Jewification' [of Palestine], the Jewish reality and the Arab regimes. Did it come out of despair?"

The lawmaker answered his own question: "No, and again no," he said. "It is an act of belief, and it is the correct path, because the fall of one Jew, whether soldier or civilian, is a great accomplishment in times of decline, subservience, and submissiveness, as a way to undermine the plan to 'Jewify' all of Palestine.

Smokin' em out. Living proof of al-Qaida in Iraq

U.S. officials claim they now have living proof that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network may be behind some of the terrorist attacks in Iraq. The officials tell NBC News U.S. special forces captured a top al-Qaida leader during a raid in Iraq on Thursday.

He’s Hasan Guhl — in the top 20 of al-Qaida leaders. Called “The Gatekeeper,” he’s responsible for providing money, transportation and safe havens for al-Qaida terrorists.

Intelligence sources say Guhl was sent to Iraq by bin Laden or his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. U.S. officials call Guhl’s capture huge because he could provide critical intelligence on what al-Qaida plans in Iraq.

According to terrorism expert Neil Livingstone, “If Hasan Guhl talks to his interrogators, he’s probably going to have a good idea of how many foreign fighters are in Iraq today, how much money and outside support is coming in.”

In a separate raid last week, U.S. special forces netted another big catch. He’s Husam al Yemeni, also known as “Firas” — No. 2 in the terrorist group Ansar al Islam and suspected of planning and executing terrorist attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq.

Another big acquisition for one of my NY faves - Jaromir Jagr goes to the NY Rangers.

Why is it exactly that we believe that our most famous athletes should be moral role models? Here is one of mine from when I was growing up.

Namath Wants to Stop Drinking

If anything like this ever came out about Tom Seaver, I would be devastated.

First Mr. Rogers, then Captain Kangaroo. Whatever happened to women of Romper Room anyway?

'Captain Kangaroo,' Bob Keeshan, Dies at Age 76

You must read this story about this escapee from the Palestians' internal cycle of violence. He even has a website. The only problem is that now instead of wanting to kill us, he probably won't rest until he converts us. I'll take the seond option any day.

The unmaking of a terrorist: Palestinian blows whistle on culture that turned him toward Jew-hatred.

This report seems not quite conclusive, but I know that you, dear reader, would love for someone to prove that it actually happened....

Study: Red Sea parting was possible

Can't someone just do some kind of underwater dig to see if their are any chariots or anything under there?

There has been more than enough intrigue and controversy over the Pope's supposed approval of Mel Gibson's upcoming "The Passion of Christ". "It is as it was" he supposedly said. Peggy Noonan who wrote excitedly about the papal review now has some concerns as to what he actually might have said, if anything.

Just to bring a little humor into the situation, The Borowoitz Report has a it's usual type of fun with this particular issue. My favorite quote:

In other news, the Dalai Lama today denied widely published reports that he called “Along Came Polly” “the feel-good movie of 2004.”

Can't put it any better than I saw it on Drudge..DEAN GOES NUTS. Seriously, can you imagine a President who goes apesh*t like this every once in a while?

I'm not sure how long this link to the actual video footage will be up.

I don't like Naomi Wolf that much to begin with, but I hope to G-d that this article represents only the 100 or so self-important young New York Jews who represent this trend (and that's assuming she's getting their views on Jewishness right). I would bet her $18 (chai) that not a dozen Jews outside Manhattan (and even fewer non-Jews)know anything about these goings on. The only reason I know about this stuff is because I'm an internet junkie who loves Jewish stuff and is originally from NY.

"Next-generation" Jewish consciousness? It looks something like this: we can commemorate the Holocaust without having to believe that no other ethnicity has suffered comparably. We should not have to buy into the notion that Palestinians today somehow have to pay for the sins of the Germans 50 years ago. We resist, as Douglas Rushkoff's book Nothing Sacred: the Truth about Judaism suggests, a definition of Jewishness - of "chosenness" - rather than a commitment to ethical behaviour. When you shed the identity of victim, you have to face your people's capacity for being oppressors as well.

I have started a new family tradition. I added a Hanukkah candle and a prayer for the Palestinians last year, longing for their own holy places today. If Jews did that all over the world and Arabs reciprocated, that really would be a miracle.

Exactly - it would be a miracle because for every "Peace Now" or "Rabbis for Human Rights" organization, there are exactly zero Arab organizations publicly defending Israel's right to exist. And how does she think that mainstream Jewish thought allows people to believe that the Palestinians need to pay for the sins of the Germans? The Palestinians need to pay for the crimes of the Palestinians. They were Nazi allies as I recall.

What's also interesting is how little she talks about the one thing that makes Judaism unique - it's religious traditions. The only place she comes close to talking about religion is in her derisive mention of the concept of "chosenness". This concept is debatable for those who do not take the bible literally, but it is not debatable that Jews brought monotheistic religious practice to the world. It is exactly this religious practice that gave us the moral standards to which we in the West are accustomed to, or at least striving for. Ms. Wolf seems to think that morality comes naturally to Jews as if it were inbred.

It's late and I'm tired. This criticism may not be as coherent as I'd like it to be, but it does make me wonder how someone with the same ethnic background as myself can think so differently about the big picture issues of our generation.

This looks like a great non-partisan site for checking whether those negative political ads you see, are in fact, accurate. Brought to you by my alma mater.

FactCheck.Org - Holding Politicians Accountable

I love the quote in their header from Daniel Moynihan - "

60 years after D-Day, the economic invasion of France has begun. We will show no mercy! Liberte! Fraternite! Grande No-Fat Latte!

Starbucks Coffee Company Celebrates the Opening of Its First Store in Paris

This is just silly. Oy vey.

APPLE SAYS NO WAY TO OY VEY

With friends like these.....

Teenager Survives Hit-and-Run, but Is Killed by a Second Car

Then, a second vehicle, its headlights off, came speeding down Roosevelt Avenue toward the spot where she lay, the police and family said. Her friends scattered, and the car ran over Ms. Guzman's head, killing her.

I hope I remember to come back to this site - it's amazing that this stuff hasn't seen the light of day in 60 years.

Incredible WWII Photos Released

Included are pictures of D-Day and Auschwitz - you can see the plumes of smoke from the crematoria and prisoners being led from their barracks.

Here's a direct link to where the pictures will be made available - Aerial Reconnaisance Archives

Another classic cover from the New York Post.

File this under - "who knows if it's true, but WOW if it is".

Israel seeks return of Temple artifacts - Rabbis urge Vatican to permit search of storerooms for treasures

I just think this is an amazing photo, so I'm posting it even though it has the copyright watermark in it.

For donor, Gibson film evolves into 'Passion'
Movie supporter buys thousands of tickets for Plano megaplex opening

Since I live roughly between the church and the movie theater, I think I'll make sure not to wear my Israel Defence Forces t-shirt to the supermarket that morning.

Let's say you were a non-religious black man who married a white Jewish woman, but you didn't know she was Jewish. Then you separate, get custody of the children and raise them in a household where your relatives and the children's caretakers are members of an extremist Islamic group that hates Jews. Now the mother announces her Judaism to the world and wants the children back. Who's family could possibly be that screwed up?

Michael Jackson's, of course.

Thanks to Jewschool for the link.

This can only be good.

Hip-hop star joins anti-Semitism fight

What a shame that the African-American and Jewish communities have seemingly drifted so far apart in the last 30 years. I cry every time I read MLK's I Have a Dream speech. Please read it as a tribute to Dr. King and remind yourself what it means to be part of this ongoing project we call America.

According to Honest Reporting's blog, perhaps Reuters reporting is becoming a little more...well...honest.

Improvement in Reuters terminology (all text below comes from linked post)

Reuters, the recipient of the 2003 Dishonest Reporting 'Award', frequently misrepresents Hamas' ultimate aim of destroying Israel by using the following descriptive phrase:

The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement faxed to Reuters. Hamas has spearheaded a 28-month-old Palestinian militant uprising against Israel for a state in Gaza and the West Bank.

From this, the typical reader likely identifies with Hamas' 'freedom fight'. But Reuters coverage of yesterday's suicide bombing at the Erez checkpoint in Gaza showed noticeable improvement:

Sworn to Israel's destruction, Hamas has spearheaded a Palestinian uprising that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza in September 2000.

We've seen this change in terminology more than once from Reuters lately. It seems letters of protest, demanding accurate description of Hamas' goals, are working.

I'm glad to see that Dennis Miller is getting another opportunity to host his own show. However, isn't there a law against this kind of headline from the New York Times?

The Joke Is on Liberals, Says Dennis Miller, Host of His Own Show Again

Not only is Dennis Miller not quoted as saying "the joke is on liberals" anywhere in the article, but he is quoted as saying he is for gay-marriage and abortion rights. What's up with that?

The changes keep coming for the Knicks - Lenny Wilkens Announced as Knicks Head Coach....and they seem to be taking notice.......Knicks Shoot 60 Percent from Field

This is a great story. Bravo to Jacqueline Murekatete and David Gewirtzman and bravo to the Times for publishing it.

Fighting Hate, Across Cultures and Generations

You Don't Have to Be Jewish To Want a Bar Mitzvah Party

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this. The only thing I do know is that there are obviously a lot of non-Jewish parents who don't know what to do with all the money they have and as a consequence have a lot of spoiled children. As far as I'm concerned the Dallas girl featured in the article has a certain resemblance to a certain character from Willie Wonka...




But Daddy, I....WANT......MORE! (actually it has come to my attention that the "I want it" girl is Veruca Salt and not Violet Beauregard who is depicted above). Anyway, they were all obnoxious.

The only benefit is that if we can lift the national awareness of bar-mitzvah parties to the level of Christmas, we can finally say to our children - "look they have Christmas, but you get a bar/bat mitzvah!"

If these people are supposed to be the fringe element of radical Islam, why does it seem like the most violently anti-Semitic and radical are leaders (not just members) of the largest mosques?

Islamic leader indicted in Cleveland

I didn't realize that Honestreporting.com had a separate weblog called Backspin. Gotta add it to the list.

Here's a funny post from Israpundit:

Oh, that's how they did it
A very long time ago, in a place far, far away, there was a country that had constant incursions by would-be terrorists trying to destroy their country. This is what they did to keep the barbarians away click here

My Mets once again failed to get the big fish, although it seems like they made a repsectable offer amid some health concerns.

Guerrero Chooses Angels, but Mets Express No Regrets

Best line in the article - Resorting to damage control Saturday night, the Mets took the unusual step of holding a conference call to announce that they had not signed a player.

I don't think I've ever seen as blatant an example of selective hearing and spin as the New York Times editorial today regarding IMF criticism of the US budget deficit. According to the Times:

...it was nice to see staff members of the fund's Western Hemisphere department hold a press conference last week to publicize one nation's worrisome trends, which threaten foreign investors and the global economy. Who was in for the scolding? Haiti? Argentina? Mexico? Not exactly. It's the United States the fund is worried about.

There is a certain poignancy now in having the I.M.F. preach the so-called "Washington consensus" to Washington.

The fund's report warns that America's profligacy and its voracious appetite for credit will drive up interest rates around the world, threatening the global economic recovery and American productivity growth.

Now, let's read what was actually said at the IMF press conference (transcript here) regarding our current deficit spending:

The federal fiscal balance has swung from a surplus of 2½ percent of GDP in fiscal year 2000 to a deficit just under 4 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2003. This will provide extremely valuable short-term support to the U.S. economy, cushioning the extent of the downturn, after the unprecedented collapse of the asset price bubble and the September 11th attacks. It has also put the economy on a path for what now looks to be a robust expansion. This fiscal support has been especially timely since the global economy has generally lacked other sources of growth.

Summing up, the recent expansionary stance of the U.S. fiscal policy has certainly been beneficial, supporting the global economy at a difficult juncture.

Just becuase the shot in the arm hurts and may cause an immediate adverse reaction does not mean that it doesn't prevent an illness that would be many times worse.

Not a good idea - mentally disturbed man enters the lion exhibit at the Buenos Aires zoo.



This link has a video!

Could Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona be the next Evita of Broadway?

Musical charts Maradona rise, fall

Former Treasury Secretary O'Neill may be right about Bush being an idiot (after all isn't that what he's really trying to say in his new memoir?) The question is, if you are anti-Bush and given a choice - would you believe someone who's steadfast and does not share your beliefs, or someone who shares your beliefs and speaks out of both sides of their mouth?

Per The Drudge Report:

Jan. 12, 2003:

O'Neill: 'I'm determined not to say any negative things about the president and the Bush administration'...

Jan. 10, 2004:

O'Neill: Bush's performance at cabinet meetings resembled that of 'a blind man in a room full of deaf people'...

Ther've been false reports before, I wonder if this is finally it.

Possible Iraqi Blister Gas Weapons Found

If the stuff has indeed been buried for 10 years, who knows what else could be anywhere else.

How many chemical or similar weapons would we have to find in order for those who have criticized Bush for looking for non-existent weapons admit that they exist?

Iraq's Arsenal Was Only on Paper - Washington Post - January 7, 2004

Did Iraq really have weapons of mass destruction? - Slate May 30, 2003

Whimper of Mass Destruction - Village Voice June 18, 2003

"I stood up to this administration and even when 70 percent of the American people supported the war, I believed that the evidence was not there, and I refused to change my view. As it turned out, I was right," Mr. Dean said. - Howard Dean - Washington Times June 25, 2003

Update - It WAS a false alarm - no WMDs yet.

This is pretty outrageous if you ask me. I can't even believe they found 1,200 people to buy these shirts.

'Jewish girls' T-shirts tee off many, but sell like hotcakes

This year, a line of Urban Outfitters T-shirts decried by some Jews as exploiting stereotypes of Jews as moneygrubbers and Jewish women as spoiled princesses is also flying off the shelves — into the closets of willing buyers.

The Philadelphia-based chain is hawking a T-shirt emblazoned with the logo “Everybody Loves a Jewish Girl” along with images of dollar signs and shopping bags. Also available are “Everybody Loves a German, Irish or Italian Girl” tees, featuring images of, respectively, a beer stein, shamrock and pizza slice.

“That’s pretty bad. That’s an unbelievably bad idea from them,” said Sarah Lefton, founder of an offbeat Jewish-themed apparel company, Jewish Fashion Conspiracy.

“With a shamrock for the Irish and pizza for Italians, you’d sort of expect a bagel for the Jewish T-shirt. And they come up with a shopping bag and money. That kind of stereotype isn’t even funny when Jews make it on each other.”

By the way...just checked out the Urban Outfitters website and found all the t-shirts except the Jewish one.

Sometimes there's just some great writing you come across in the blogs (or at least referenced to in the blogs)

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

If only the words "error" and "truth" were capitalized to read "Error" and "Truth", it would seem even more like divine commandment.

Quote is from John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty". Courtesy of Au Currant

In other sports news, the Knicks are still sucking. What an embarrassment.

'FIRE CHANEY'

It would be hard to convince me that the Mets' signing of Mo Vaughan a while back was not one of their biggest mistakes ever.

Vaughn will not play in 2004

Vaughn is scheduled to make $15 million this year, and the club has a $2 million buyout option for 2005 on the six-year, $80 million deal he signed with Anaheim prior to the 1999 season.

Nice.

I found the on-line site for a quarterly periodical called Azure which seems like a pretty serious publication for discussing Jewish themes. I am only now reading one of the articles, which is about the base differences between Judaism and Christianity and it seems very insightful.

The author begins by writing something that exactly identifies my early understanding of these differences. Simply put, the Christians believe the Messiah came and will return and the Jews were just waiting some more. Other differences were minor. Later on, this point was brought forth...

For Christians, redemption is essentially an act of divine grace, the salvation of a humanity that is incapable of saving itself. For Jews, however, the reverse is true: Redemption depends entirely on the repentance of man, who is responsible for his own fate. As such, the difference in the respective religions' approach to the messiah is, in truth, a difference in the understanding of man's own moral capacity, and of the nature of good and evil itself.

Wow.

Here's a link to a great game via Normblog.

"U.S. oil inventories last week slid to their lowest levels since 1975" Where is all the oil we're supposedly stealing from Iraq?

One of the economic issues that the Democrats are using against Bush is the ballooning of the deficit to about $400bn. I'll be the first to admit that I'm all for a balanced budget, but given that we are at war and we needed to get ourselves out of a recession, the amount is not outrageous as a percentage of GDP (3.7%). Here's some detail on current and projected budget numbers from the Congressional Budget Office.

Recent history shows that from 1982-1994 the deficit was at our above this percentage yet there has been no discernible long-term negative effect on our economic position in the world as far as I can see.

Well, you might say, what is important is how much debt is outstanding as we keep adding it on year after year. Good point. If you refer to the charts linked to above, debt outstanding is about 37% of current GDP. This number is still below the historical average for the last 20 years when the percentage ranged from 33% to as high as 49.5%. Also, as the economy bounces back these numbers will get better over time.

Yes, the dollar amounts sound scary - biggest deficit in history! $400bn! - largest debt ever! $4 TRILLION! The fact of the matter is that if I am in debt for $50,000 and someone with half my assets is in debt for $25,000 it's basically the same thing. In fact, one could argue that I was more solvent since my additional assets makes it easier to pay off debt before cutting into the meat of what I really need to live on. Therefore the percentages do matter, it's not just playing with numbers. Our GDP has doubled since 1989, so our capacity for debt has likewise doubled. $4 TRILLION to us now is the same as $2 TRILLION was to us then.

Also we have low interest rates, low inflation and historically low unemployment which is heading downward.

Comments welcome. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

At times it is indelicately said that an animal must be "destroyed" to avoid further pain and suffering. That word came to mind when I thought of what needs to be done to these people:

Couple sues Wal-Mart over broken grocery bag

Once again, the Bush administration has managed to piss off another country. This time it's Argentina. Or at least that's the gist of this article.

We don't take orders from U.S., Kirchner says

Not withstanding the fact that this is most likely much to do about nothing and is pure Argentine populism at work, why can't we have an opinion that countries that support Cuba and don't pay their debts are wrong? I'd feel a lot better about the anti-American crowd if I had any belief that what they are doing is right. If we are heavy-handed about some things that may make us clumsy, but not necessarily wrong.

Ultimately, what happens when other country's politicians act this way is that foreigners begin to resent America (and believe me this is getting major play in the Argentine media) and the American people remain clueless because nobody cares about Argentina/Bolivia/Brazil, etc...

This is the famous leader I am most like. Who are you? (See link below).

What Famous Leader Are You?

Just found a quote I like (attributed to Dennis Miller) about the radical anti-war left:

Everybody in the world (to them) is Hitler. Bush is Hitler, Ashcroft is Hitler, Rumsfeld is Hitler. The only guy who isn't Hitler is the foreign guy with a mustache dropping people who disagree with him into the wood chipper. He's not Hitler.

See it all here.

Negotiations are underway to erect a memorial to Argentine soldiers in the Falkland Islands. I've always read about the war primarily from an Argentine perspective and thought it was encouraging that Argentina has been trying to have greater ties to the Islands (without taking them over again, I assume). Little did I realize how much anti-Argentine feelings still remain in the Falklands themselves until I read this article:

Argentine War Memorial on the Falklands advances a stage further

I am relieved to know that I will not have to shell out $100 to see Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in "The Producers". A $6 matinee at the local multiplex works fine for me and leaves me money for about 15 more movies.

When You've Got It, Flaunt It: Film Deal for 'The Producers'

The Magen David has made it to Mars! Thanks to Josh Harvey.

Reflecting Pools Picked for 9-11 Memorial

Speaking of sports, is there anything more New York Jewish than being hand-wringingly concerned about the fate of our local teams? I figure it's time to add a little more sports content both to my life and to the blog.

I was walking through the mall a few days ago and as I passed by the various athletic-wear stores, I thought I might want to by an "authentic" jersey - any sport would do. Then I got to thinking, which athlete's name and number could I proudly wear on my back? I couldn't really think of one - so I didn't buy anything. If I do eventually get something it will probably be generic or I'll put my own name on it.

News of the week that matters to me is that the Knicks have gone out and gotten Stephon Marbury and Anfernee Hardaway in a huge trade with Phoenix. There has been little joy in Knickland for several years and I'm pretty excited about the possibilities. Unfortunately, the 10-23 Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Knicks tonight, or as the Times so aptly puts it - New Look, Old Story

Every thirty- and fortysomething Met fan is in mourning tonight for Tug McGraw.

His trademark catchphrase "Ya Gotta Believe!" was the "Carpe Diem" of our youth.

Mark Steyn hits it right on the head about the deabte about trying Saddam in an international court - President Bush understands that the transnational establishment's interest in this case is not to pass judgment on Saddam but, by reasserting its authority, to pass judgment on America

Response to the post below as found on the Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal. (By the way there was a second Bush=Hitler video.

Outrage.org by Jack Rosen of the American Jewish Congress.

More Bush = Hitler fun from anti-Bush supporters like Michael Moore and Jeanine Garofalo at moveon.org

If you think I am defaming these individuals in any way, guess who's judging the contest that resulted in the posting of this video to their site? From the moveon website:

The top 15 finalists are also being sent out to our panel of celebrity judges which includes Michael Moore, Donna Brazile, Jack Black, Janeane Garofalo, Margaret Cho and Gus Van Sant. These judges will determine which ad wins the contest overall.

This is just plain wrong. I will assume it's true even if it does come from a San Francisco publication. It is however ridiculous to assume that the goal is to protect the president from knowing that people oppose his policies. He just has to pick up a newspaper or turn on the news to see that.

Quarantining dissent
How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech

I think that this note has gotten very little attention considering the Orange Alert we're under and the canceled flights to Washington. I originally found it in the UK's Sun newspaper as a final note to an article about the flight cancellations.

Dulles' TSA Chief Charged With DUI

Hitler fled to Argentina after war, says writer

There's one thing I gotta say about that Hitler, if he did pull this off, he lived in the most beautiful place on Earth. I've been to Bariloche and it is spectacular.

Now aren't you glad we caught Saddam Hussein so we don't have to read similar stories about him in 2062 A.D.?

I know I would be pretty upset if this happened to my synagogue - Threat closes New Jersey synagogue.

This reminds me of a story - when I was living in Buenos Aires, I would go to a local conservative synagogue on Friday nights with my girlfriend/fiancee/now wife, and one evening we were confronted with more than the usual security - armed guards, police cars, etc. At first we thought that there was a threat, but we decided to go in anyway - we didn't feel that anyone should prevent us from praying on Shabbat. As it turns out, the Israeli ambassador to Argentina was visiting that night, but I did get the brief feeling of what it might be like to not feel safe during a services.