Someone died in a local traffic accident because of some stupid ass.   Stray donkey causes fatal crash on I-45

I swear that traffic was lighter today than normal, even though I left for work later than I normally do.  I wouldn't doubt if people are staying home out of fear that Satan is waiting for them.  Maybe they're just in line to see the remake of The Omen, which opens today (of course).  Then again, maybe it's all just a big misunderstanding.  Beast's Real Mark Devalued to '616'

For the first time since a concerted effort to return art stolen by the Nazis during the Holocasut began, a painting is being returned from Texas - the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth to be exact.  Kudos to them.  Honestly though, the artwork doesn't seem like anything to write home about.

Glaucus and Scylla, a magnificent 1841 circular painting on wood that has long been a highlight of the Kimbell's permanent collection, was purchased in 1902 by Jewish art collectors John and Anna Jaffe, British citizens who lived in Nice, France. After Anna's death, in 1942, the painting was among 60 items confiscated by the pro-Nazi Vichy government in Nice. It was sold in 1943 at an auction of "Jewish property." The Kimbell purchased it in the mid-'60s from a gallery in New York.



Big special election in California today to fill the House seat left open due to the resignation of Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham after pleading guilty to corruption charges.  Final polls show Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby in a dead heat.  Busby lost to Cunningham in 2004 by a 20 percent margin, so the question is whether the impending close results have to say about this case of corruption in particular versus people's views on Republicans in general.

Remember all the hoopla over the big cut in anti-terror grant money for NY budgeted by the DHS?  Of course you do, it happened only last week!

But do you remember when, in 1994, the federal governement seriously cut back on AIDS research grants to New York City?  Wasn't a "thinking" Democrat in the White House then?

New York City is losing three of its four community-based clinical trials, a decision that is prompting outrage here and igniting a debate on whether there is a right to participate in clinical trials.

The Federal Government, which pays for the research, has decided to place only one of its 16 programs in New York, the city in the United States with the most people with AIDS. Within three years, the number of New York patients being treated in the trials will decline to 534, from 2,130.

Officials at the National Institutes of Health say their motive was scientific, to pick the best research projects. But New York community groups and politicians, including Senators Daniel P. Moynihan and Alfonse M. D'Amato and Representative Charles B. Rangel, are fighting the shift, protesting that a city with such a high proportion of AIDS patients should have a commensurately high proportion of the research dollars.

It's deja vu all over again.

In the War on Terror, the Department of Homeland Security studies threats to the United States and determines which targets are most likely to be hit, which are the easiest or hardest for terrorists to hit, what the casualty counts might be, etc.  Think CTU on "24".

While Americans can work up a pretty good sweat regarding traitors to Jack Bauer, will anyone get upset at ABC News for releasing an "Official Use Only" threat assessment produced by DHS?  Here is the footnote on the cover page.

(U) Warning: This document is UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (U//FOUO). It contains information that may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). It is to be controlled, stored, handled, transmitted, distributed, and disposed of in accordance with DHS policy relating to FOUO information and is not to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid “need-to-know” without prior approval of an authorized DHS official.

In it's excitement to prove that the DHS is screwing New York and Washington by cutting their anti-terror grants, ABC News "obtained" and published a recent detailed report on the terrorist threat to the U.S. rails system. 

There really isn't a need to tap American's phones to find out who's giving info to al-Qaeda.  ABC News is publishing helpful hints for all the world to see.

The ABC report also mentions that, "New York's rail terminals and commuter rail lines are at the top of the terrorist hit list, according to a Department of Homeland Security strategic report".

First of all this is misleading because the report that was leaked to them was only concerned with the U.S. rail system, commerical and public.  It did not concern itself with other threats (to air traffic, nuclear power plants, ports, etc.) so there is no way to know if the targets mentioned are at "the top of the terorirst hit list".  What about schools or malls?  Secondly, it actually says that it would be more likely that an attack would occur on a train traveling between cities (which are generally not traditional commuter lines like the LIRR or Metro-North), and not in the rail terminals themselves.

Feh.

Jewish Heritage Day: As part of Jewish Heritage Day, the Marlins this afternoon will give away Mike Jacobs T shirts — even though they wrongly assumed that Jacobs is Jewish.

"They said it wasn't done intentionally but I don't know about that,'' Jacobs said. "It's a big joke around here.''
Click the little promotion star in the Marlin's schedule for May 28 to see that this was not a joke.

For  a few days now, I've been reading up on these violent protests in Iran, but I never really bothered to check if the MSM were really ignoring the story or not.  (You would think that any kind of upheaval in Iran where people die would be news).  Turns out the NY Times is indeed half-heartedly covering the story.  Apparently, some of the riots started when an Iranian newspaper published a cartoon or a cockroach speaking Azeri.  This pissed off parts of the Azeri community which apparently make up 25% of Iran's population.

Since the Times didn't publish an image of the offending cartoon, I figured I'd try to google the image.  I put in the words "Azeri" and "cockroach" in the search bar.  What was my result?

"Did you mean 'American cockroach'"?

Boy, somebody out there doesn't think much of us....

A CNN reporter remembers the marines serving around Haditha as being unusually restrained and cool under fire.

A New Yorker essay on Oriana Fallaci.  Muslim hater or prophet? (Have to read this later)

Subway opens a kosher store in the JCC of Cleveland.

Look out for the spawn of Satan, coming to a maternity ward near you on 6/6/06.  Some moms are inducing early.  My second daughter was born by a scheduled C-section on September 19, 2003.  I almost wanted to have my wife do it on September 11 as a sign of re-birth and hope, but figured that it would really make a terrible birthday.  Turns out that she was born about 8:50AM right about the time of the attacks, so that was a good enough connection for me.

This "fake town" is a short bicycle ride from my house.  We go there (without the kids) for a movie or the occasional nice lunch/dinner.  It is indeed a Disnified version of urban America - great place to spend a few hours - very pricey stores - not necessarily where I'd want to live.  Maybe if I were single.

I think I'll have a little dessert after lunch today. 

Making Texas Cows Proud

"Blue Bell ice cream, to be specific, which is made in out-of-the-way Brenham and which many people consider the best in the country. So many people think so that Blue Bell, though sold in only 16 states, mostly in the South, and sold for a premium price, ranks No. 3 in sales nationally....."



*drool* 

Damn, it's only 7:30 in the morning.

*drool*

Quit it!

*drool*

Hey, people can write whatever they want, but I'm having a little trouble understanding the motivations of this particular novelist....

When the author switched the protagonist's politics to Nazism, he explained, it was because he "thought he had something to say from the standpoint of a Gestapo officer."

He went on: "I think I felt I could understand the animosity and hatred which a German would have for the Jews. Nobody's trying to see it from that point of view. I guess I have stuck my neck out here in a number of ways, but that's what writers are for, maybe."

He laughed and added: "I sometimes think, 'Why did I do this?' I'm delving into what can be a very sore subject for some people. But when those shadows would cross my mind, I'd say, 'They can't ask for a more sympathetic and, in a way, more loving portrait of a Nazi.' "

Hans is lovable, or at least appealing; he's in many ways the most moral and thoughtful character in the entire book......

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Now read the real story about John Updike's newest novel, "Terrorist" as reported in the NY Times.

When Mr. Updike switched the protagonist's religion to Islam, he explained, it was because he "thought he had something to say from the standpoint of a terrorist."

He went on: "I think I felt I could understand the animosity and hatred which an Islamic believer would have for our system. Nobody's trying to see it from that point of view. I guess I have stuck my neck out here in a number of ways, but that's what writers are for, maybe."

He laughed and added: "I sometimes think, 'Why did I do this?' I'm delving into what can be a very sore subject for some people. But when those shadows would cross my mind, I'd say, 'They can't ask for a more sympathetic and, in a way, more loving portrait of a terrorist.' "

Ahmad is lovable, or at least appealing; he's in many ways the most moral and thoughtful character in the entire book......

The Jewish holiday of Shavuos begins Thursday evening, June 1.   There are a number of places in the Torah where we are commanded to celebrate this holiday. Including:

Deuteronomy 16:9 You shall count seven weeks for yourself; from[the time] the sickle is first put to the standing crop, you shall begin to count seven weeks.
10 And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to the Lord, your God, the donation you can afford to give, according to how the Lord, your God, shall bless you.
11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, -you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your cities, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are among you, in the place which the Lord, your God, will choose to establish His Name therein.

12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and perform these statutes.


Shavuot is the culmination of the counting of the 49 days of the Omer. These are the number of days between Passover and Shavuos.  It marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in synagogues on Shavuot just as they were in the desert on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago.


More at the usual sites:

Chabad
Aish.com
Judaism 101
Jewish Virtual Library
OU.org


Note of interest - since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Christians gave it the name Pentecost. However, the actual Christian commemoration of Pentecost occurs on the seventh Sunday after Easter.

The Ontario wing of Canada's largest union has voted to join an international boycott campaign against Israel "until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination."

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And in Toronto today...A walk along the lakefront to raise funds and celebrate Israel’s accomplishments turned nasty and police carted away marchers and protesters after the two groups clashed. About 30 protesters wearing black stood defiantly against the annual Walk With Israel fundraiser. The group’s spokesman, Abbie Bakan of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), questioned what is being celebrated by the United Jewish Appeal Federation’s event.

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The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Britain's biggest union of college teachers, is to vote Monday on a resolution enjoining its 67,000 members to boycott Israeli colleagues who do not distance themselves from what it calls Israel's "apartheid policies."

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French police opened an investigation Monday after suspected members of an extremist group marched through a Jewish quarter in central Paris shouting anti-Semitic slogans over the weekend. Shoppers in the historic Marais neighbourhood, one of the busiest districts in the Jewish area of Paris, were left in shock early Sunday evening after a group of extremists terrorized community members with anti-Semitic verbal abuse.

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In Jerusalem, a 14-year-old Jewish boy was lightly injured in the back in a stabbing attack, police said Saturday.

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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said that Germans should no longer allow themselves to be held prisoner by a sense of guilt over the Holocaust and reiterated doubts that the Holocaust ever happened. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Ahmadinejad said he doubted that Germans were allowed to write "the truth" about the Holocaust and that he was still considering traveling to Germany for the World Cup soccer tournament.....Iran's first World Cup match is against Mexico in Nuremberg (ed. - of all places!) on June 11, and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Iran's president would be welcome to come because Germany wants to be a good host.

Genesis - Chapter 9

15. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and between you and between every living creature among all flesh, and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16. And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature among all flesh, which is on the earth."

17. And God said to Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant that I have set up, between Myself and between all flesh that is on the earth."

First, a thank you to Pope Benedict XVI for visiting Auschwitz.  It means a lot more to me than when Oprah visits. (OK, I would like to find a torrent of the show somewhere.)



Here's the report of the German-born Pope's arrival at a mass given for 900,000 people.

Benedict made a triumphant entrance in his popemobile, riding through a sea of flags — red and white for Poland, yellow and white for the Vatican — with the choir singing the refrain, “Poland welcomes you, Poland thanks you.”

Well, one thing's for sure, it's better being the Pope than the Chief Rabbi.

Poland's chief rabbi, (American-born) Michael Schudrich, was attacked in a central Warsaw street on Saturday in what the Interior Ministry said was probably a provocation meant to portray Poland as an anti-Semitic country.

"While I was walking in Warsaw, someone yelled 'Poland is for Poles'...I went back and asked him why he said that and then he hit me and sprayed me with something like pepper gas."

Is there a word in Polish for "ironic"?

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In a related note, I recently finished "The Wall" by John Hersey, the author of Hiroshima who wrote most of his best work in the 1940s and 1950s.  It's a fictional story based on the true account of a solitary Jewish man who lived in the Warsaw ghetto and kept an archive of everything that happened to him and his acquaintences throughout the deportations, uprising and ultimate liquidation of the ghetto.  There are love stories, births, deaths (of course) and the day-to-day moral issues of what happens to people who know that their every action, even facial expressions, can result in life or death.  Even though this is "just" a work of fiction, I am amazed that I'm only discovering it now as I think it can add so much to everyone's understanding of what it must have been like to be Jewish in Poland during WWII.  I highly recommend it to anyone.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke this morning to a Joint Session of Congress.

Strength, without courage, will only lead to brutality. Courage, without strength, will only lead to futility. Only genuine courage and commitment to our values, backed by the will and the power to defend them, will lead us forward in the service of humanity.

To the Congress of the United States and to the great people of America, I wish to say 'Chazak Ve'ematz' be strong and of good courage, and we, and all peoples who cherish freedom, will be with you.

The Bible tells us that as Joshua stood on the verge of the Promised Land, he was given one exhortation: 'Chazak Ve'ematz' 'Be strong and of good courage".

Strength, without courage, will only lead to brutality. That is represented by Abu Ghraib.

Courage, without strength, will only lead to futility. That is represented in the article "Only Cowards Think We're At War" which appeared recently at the Huffington Post.

I've been listening to NPR a liitle more, just to listen to something other than the Bush-bashing and whining you hear all the time on conservative talk shows.  Seriously.  (If you don't think Bush is ever criticized on talk radio, you really haven't been paying attention lately, especially since all of the immigration fuss started).

I've actually thought most of the news coverage I've heard was relatively fair, or at least not way off the mark.   Then I heard an opinion piece by Deborah Mathis, a syndicated columnist and professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University regarding her thoughts on black Republicans. 

"If (Republicans) Steele, Swann, and Blackwell only look black and don't remember black...well, you might as well Al Jolson."

I'm white and I don't remember the last time I was more offended by something I heard on the radio.  I'm trying to think of a paralell to what a fellow Jew might call me becuase of my conservative beliefs, but I can't think of a similar insult.  Audio here.

Now I know I'm mixing a little bit of apples and oranges here, but remember when there was a big uprorar not too long ago (by Bush critics mostly) when NASA scientist James Hansen was being harassed into not giving speeches that contravened Bush policy? After all , who would be for stifling dissenting opinions in the search for truth?

The ACLU might be an example.

ACLU May Block Criticism by Its Board.

"Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.

"Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state.

Via Israellycool, the video of Israel's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, sung by Eddie Butler.

More here:  Black Hebrew Eddie Butler to represent Israel at Eurovision Song Contest.

In other Israel-related news - looks like the IDF caught a big fish.  The BBC is unclear on why the Israelis would still go after someone whose group hasn't sent any suicide bombers into Israel for the last 15 months.  Does that mean we should have stopped looking for bin Laden years ago?

U.S. President George W. Bush has alienated Muslims around the world by using absolutist Christian rhetoric to discuss foreign policy issues, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says.

I'm not sure what "absolutist" Christian rhetoric means, but I'm not sure that President Bush is using it. Would absolutist rhetoric include statements like these...

When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race -- out of every race. - September 17, 2001

Islam is a peace-loving faith that is practiced by more than one billion people, including millions of American Muslims. These proud citizens contribute to the diversity that makes our country strong, and the United States is grateful for the friendship and support of many Muslim Nations that are vital partners in the global coalition to fight against terrorism. - November 5, 2002.

"Americans hold a deep respect for the Islamic faith, which is professed by a growing number of my own citizens," Bush said. "We know that Islam is fully compatible with liberty and tolerance and progress... - October 22, 2003

I could go on of course. And it's not hard to find those voices who think Bush and others have all bent over a little too far to be nice. I find it hard to see how the consistent, positive promotion of Islam translates into "absolutist Christian rhetoric". But maybe it's becuase he keeps saying that God is on our side? Let's put aside the fact that leaders of every religion say that in times of crisis, making it HUMAN rhetoric as opposed to Christian rhetoric. Now let's see some of that "God is with us and only us" talk.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. - State of the Union 2005

So becuase Bush mentions God often, he is accused of being a Crusader even when he specifically says that we cannot know what God ultimately wants and that our victory is not by any means inevitable!

The real issue here is that Jews and Christians in the U.S. (read - liberals) don't like Bush's mention of God because they either don't believe in God or more often believe that God would not want us to follow the path that the Bush administration has taken. For those that do believe in God, do they NOT believe that God moves and chooses as He wills? Of course they do.

Finally as for Albright's ridiculous claim that, "I worked for two presidents who were men of faith, and they did not make their religious views part of American policy," she said, referring to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats and Christians.", I would like to quote President Carter himself.

"You can't divorce religious belief and public service ...
I've never detected any conflict between God's will
and my political duty. If you violate one,
you violate the other."

Just wanted to pass on a comment I heard on talk radio this morning.  Laura Ingraham (who I do find kind of screechy and Ann Coulter-ish) was playing a clip of Judge Judy who was ripping into some guy for not wanting to pay child support to his ex-wife or something like that.  Anyway, Judge Judy said something like, "it is the children's right to have the financial support of both parents".

I never thought about it that way - I always thought of child support as being the right of the guardian parent (even if the law proscribes that the money is spent on the children's needs).

If the law doesn't read that way, it probably should.

Nice article in the Charleston Post & Courier (of all place) about Radio Jai in Argentina (pronounced Chai with the guttural "ch" which means "life" in Hebrew) .

Buenos Aires' Radio Jai lone voice for Jews

I actually listen to the Coffee Break program (yes it has an English name!) every once in a while over the internet at work. Not too long ago I sent them an e-mail during their show and they responded and talked about it (all in Spanish, of course). They then thanked their "new listener" from Texas!

It's amazing that there is no 24 hour radio station with a Jewish focus in the U.S. Are guess we're all just too divided amongst ourselves to come up with a format.

The Dixie Chicks: America Catches Up With Them

In a three page web-article on the Dixie Chicks, the NY Times tries to make the claim that most Americans are now embarrassed that George Bush is President of the U.S. Or that it's a good idea to criticize the choice of the fellow citizens to an overseas audience as we're about to go to war.

The album arrives at a time when approval for President Bush has dropped to as low as 29 percent, in a recent Harris Interactive poll.

There's no doubt that the President is extremely unpopular now as the article points out by using the lowest poll number it can find. But unpopular is different than embarrassed. And it's not like most other Presidents haven't had their moments in the doghouse.

On Amazon.com, preorders recently placed "Taking the Long Way" at No. 5 in a Top 10 that also includes albums with antiwar songs by Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Simon and Pearl Jam.

Since when does the Amazon.com better reflect overall record sales than Billboard? Only one of the albums mentioned by the Times is actually in the top 10 (Pearl Jam) and that probably has more to do with the fact that a great band has come out with a new album after a long absence than becuase of it's anti-war stand. Besides, why would anyone think that the top selling albums represent "Americans" in any way shape or form? 50 Cent anyone? Nick Lachey?

Natlaie Maines sings as "I'm Mad As Hell" in the single that plays as you open the Chicks' website. Because a liberal's righteous anger is the only anger that is valid. She still doesn't get the fact that when she said she was embarrassed that Bush was Presdient she wasn't just insulting the man, she was insulting the intelligence of everyone that voted for him. I guess we all see the light now. After all, who doesn't like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Simon?