Usually if I'm reading commentary by someone on the Far Left, I just sort of shake my head and laugh at the poor writing and conspiracy theories on full display. I do have to give style points however, to the person who wrote this regarding President Reagan's death:

Perhaps, the custodians of Bitburg should erect a cenotaph for Reagan on those chilly grounds, if the Earth in Simi Valley refuses to receive his corpse.

That's incredibly strong imagery. Nice writing. Commie bast*rd.

On Ice Cream Trucks and Heroes:

Mayor Bloomberg of NY apparently has proposed a new noise code that would make it illegal for Mister Softee ice cream trucks to play their music. (Listen to what the jingle sounds like here.)

I was in NY recently where I grew up and the one thing that I saw and heard that reminded me of my childhood was the Mister Softee song. Please mister mayor, don't take that away from us.

Perhaps I don't have a right to complain since I don't live there anymore, but surely there must be some kind of compromise.



UPDATE: The NY Times comes out against Mister Softee.

Meanwhile, the NY Post gives voice to pro-Softee Councilmen.

And the mayor's new plan would limit ice cream trucks to welcoming bells, not the looney Mister Softee tune that so jangles the city's nerves — particularly when the offending truck keeps cruising around the same neighborhood for hours on end.

Speaking of an ex-New Yorker, generally held to be a hero to all footbal fanatics, Bill Parcells really said something incredibly stupid yesterday:

Mr. Parcells was asked during a news conference about the approach his assistants, including quarterbacks coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, use in calling plays.

"Sean's going to have a few ... no disrespect to the Orientals, but what we call 'Jap plays.' OK? Surprise things," Mr. Parcells said.

As Howard Stern said this morning, that's like a double slur. He might as well have said no disrespect to the kikes, but I think we can "Jew down" the opposition.

Of course he apologized, but I can't imagine how drunk or high I would have to be to say something like that at a press conference.

Just in case you're reading this and happen to be in Copenhagen - the Danish Jewish Museum opened today.

The Danish Jewish Museum is housed on Slotsholmen, which has been the seat of Danish government for some 800 years. The Museum is in Christian IV's Royal Boat House in the old part of the Royal Library and has its entrance in the Library gardens. It is situated close to the many other cultural institutions and tourist sight on Slotsholmen: the Royal Library, the National Archives, the Danish Defence Museum, Christiansborg Palace, the Theatre Museum and the State Apartments.



The museum was designed by Daniel Liebskind, architect of the new World Trade Center site in NY. This page will show you models of what the museum is supposed to look like.

This is a brilliant plan! Sharon wants the Egyptians to take over the occupation of Gaza. Let's see of they take the bait and insert themselves into the "cycle of violence".

Israel and Egypt Conferring on the Gaza Pullout Plan

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt met with the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, on Monday, their third meeting in the past six months. Both men expressed support for a plan to increase Egypt's security presence along its border with Gaza, and to send the Egyptian police into Gaza itself to help train their Palestinian counterparts, according to Israeli officials.

There's an article on the NY Times website about the recent announcement that the U.S. will be pulling troops out of South Korea. The teaser sentence reads as follows:

The proposed cutback is sparking debate about whether Washington is turning its back on an important Asian ally.

So, if we stay we are imperialists and if we leave we destroy a friendship (boy do the Bush-haters have the President in a corner!). Are these really the only options 50 years after the war ended?

Besides, not everybody is happy that we're still hanging around (although this was a year and a half ago).

North Korea has 1.1 million soldiers which I doubt are anything but ill-equipped and poorly clothed and fed. I doubt that taking out one percent of that amount on "our" side will have much effect. Besides, as the article also mentions, the modernization of our armed forces means that we don't need as many bodies on the ground to have the same impact in battle.

Just for fun (seriously) I decided to "google" the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797). I was reading an article about something Jewish related and decided to check out the biography behind this man whose name I have heard a million times but know nothing about. For those who don't know:

Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, also known as Ha-Gra, was the foremost scholar-sage of Lithuanian Jewry in the eighteenth-century, and has become the spiritual forefather for much of the non-Chassidic yeshiva world. Known for his greatness in Talmudic and Kabbalistic study, he likewise mastered astronomy, mathematics and music. His system of Talmudic study focused on trying to find the true meaning intended by the sages in the text.

Known for fierce opposition to Chassidut, which was initiated in 1736 by the Baal Shem Tov, he and his followers in this anti-Chassidic Movement were known as "Mitnagdim," or opponents. Their opposition was based on the beliefs, vigorously denied by Chassidic leaders, that Chassidut took liberties with the Oral Law, that it substituted emotion for intellect in the Study of Torah, that its form of prayer departed too far from the traditional form of prayer, etc.

I guess this does go to show that you don't have to be a Chabadnik to be considered a Torah scholar.

His disciples created one of the first yeshivot in Volozhin, Lithuania which I believe may still be standing today, even if in a state of disrepair.



As a post-Holocaust Jew, I've always imagined that any trace of Jewish existence in Eastern Europe was wiped out during WWII. How amazing it must be to be able to reach out and touch even a little bit of that centuries-old history and tradition!

What I found most interesting of all is that you can buy a biography of the Vilna Gaon online from Wal-Mart!

Is Arab culture really so different from European culture that this story does not apply to today's Middle East?

The prisoners' conscience by Natan Sharansky

In 1983, I was confined to an eight-by-ten-foot prison cell on the border of Siberia. My Soviet jailers gave me the privilege of reading the latest copy of Pravda. Splashed across the front page was a condemnation of President Ronald Reagan for having the temerity to call the Soviet Union an "evil empire." Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's "provocation" quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth – a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.

...I understood that there had been much criticism of Reagan's decision to cast the struggle between the superpowers as a battle between good and evil.
Well, Reagan was right and his critics were wrong.

Those same critics used to love calling Reagan a simpleton who saw the world through a primitive ideological prism...

The NY Times has a story about one woman's return to her Jewish roots. After reading stories like this, I can't help but wonder what created such strong feelings of feminism/liberalism that no branch of traditional Judaism was able to satisfy her needs. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Coming of Age, and Back to Her Faith

Dr. Kessler had been searching for a way back to her faith for some time, visiting various synagogues. But she and her husband, who have been married almost five years, couldn't agree on the proper setting. "I wanted the female energy to be respected," she said. Yet they didn't want a place that seemed wacky.

With nine other people - friends and fellow members of the congregation - they sat in a semicircle facing the rabbi, Burt Aaron Siegel, who, in his billowy white trousers, two votive candles flickering on a table behind him, looked more like an Indian mystic than a rabbi. The impression was not altogether wrong. Rabbi Burt, as he is called, was the senior rabbi of the Riverdale Temple 25 years ago, before turning psychotherapist, explorer of the spiritual universe and Kundalini yoga teacher.

Rabbi Burt mentioned that Dr. Kessler was among nine women (none of the others were present that night) studying for a group bat mitzvah. After a homily about unconditional love, the rabbi ended the session by chanting the word "Shalom" again and again, stretching out the last syllable so it sounded like the Ommm at the end of a yoga session.

Note: Paragraph 1 posted above was reported after Paragraphs 2 and 3 in the story which I think was the wrong placement given the "wacky" quote.

My sister, who is only a few years older than Dr. Kessler, spent her high school years in El Paso. I have to ask her if they knew each other.

But wait, there's more...

"Miriam was one of the few women who really played a role in the Torah," Dr. Kessler said, explaining why she chose this subject. "She was Moses' sister. I'm going to talk about how most Western religion is a patriarchal system, and it's not healthy, it's not balanced, especially not for women, who suffer from autoimmune disorders way more than men.

??????

I'll be waiting for the "we were wrong" opinion pieces now that the al-Sadr uprising is over in Iraq. I'll be waiting a long time, I imagine. Maybe longer if I also wait for some praise for Donald Rumsfeld for directing this particular military operation. Wasn't Iraq supposed to be in flames by now? The Sunnis joining with the Shiites and the Kurds to drive out the Americans? Luckily our president knows how to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys and doesn't lump all Iraqis together as the press seems to do.

Shiite leaders and American officials said the armed followers of Mr. Sadr, known as the Mahdi Army, had cleared out of many parts of Najaf, and seemed to be getting ready to leave altogether. The Shiite leaders said American forces, who encircled the city in recent weeks, had also cleared out of the city center and areas near the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.

The withdrawal, coupled with the reported meeting of the rival clerics, gave rise to hopes that Mr. Sadr's two-month-long rebellion may be ending.

A moment of silence for the one man who affected my politics and patriotism more than anyone else I can think of.

In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. -- Ronald Reagan

God Bless Ronald Reagan.

I can't claim that this is the most inspired letter I've ever written to the NY Times, but at least if it doesn't get published there, it will get published here.

----------------------------------------------------------

To the Editor:

In "Jobs and the Recovery" (Op-Ed, June 5) you claim that President Bush relabeled his tax cut package from a refund of recent surpluses to a stimulus measure when the economy began to falter. In fact, both of these "selling points" were an inherent part of the plan. According to the 2000 Republican Party Platform, "It’s time for an economics of inclusion that will let people keep more of what they earn and accelerate movement up the opportunity ladder."

In addition, one or two years of "booming deficits" are no more of a threat to our long-term economic health than were the Reagan-era deficits which preceded 20 years of almost constant growth.

Unfortunately, I was sitting shiva last week with my family as one of my aunts passed away. We spent most of the time having semi-Talmudic discussions about various Jewish laws and the topic of the wigs came up. You know, the ones they are burning in Brooklyn because they're not kosher.

Someone did bring up a good point. Would it have been so wrong for one of the rabbis involved to ask that the wigs be donated to non-Jews who could use them? Think of all the female cancer patients that would love to have an expensive wig that was otherwise destroyed. We all agreed that it was disgusting that they were burned instead.

Since we are mostly Conservative, perhaps we were missing some point of halacha here. If we were, I'd love to know.

And a little child shall lead them...

Elementary School Yearbook Contains Anti-Semitic Message

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Students at Key Biscayne Elementary will have to hand over their yearbooks today to have a message of hate removed.

An eighth-grader wrote an anti-Semitic remark in German in the comments section. Though misspelled, translated, it means, "Death to the Jews." About 450 copies of the yearbook had already been distributed by the time a parent noticed the phrase and contacted the school.

This has to be one of the silliest letters I've ever seen written to the NY Times.

To the Editor:

Re "Addressing Cadets, Bush Sees Parallel to World War II" (news article, June 3):

I would be fine with the president's citing parallels between World War II and the war on terrorism except that in the case of this war, Iraq did not attack us, and in World War II, Japan did!

BRANT THOMAS
Brooklyn, June 3, 2004

Um, I seem to remember part of WWII having to do with some European countries that didn't attack us, but were allies of our enemy, the Japanese. All of them together were called the Axis Powers. Sort of like "Axis of Evil". In this current war we go after terrorists and the countries that harbor them - their allies.

Heh.

Job growth still strong at 248,000

Payroll growth in April and March was revised higher by a total of 74,000 jobs. In the past three months, the economy has created 947,00 jobs, the best three-month gain since the summer of 2000.

So far in 2004, the U.S. economy has created 1.2 million jobs, an average of 238,000 jobs a month, after shedding 2.7 million between March 2001 and August 2003.

According to a survey of 400,000 business establishments, job growth was widespread across industries. Over the past three months, 75.4 percent of 278 industries have added workers.

I'm not sure why a random month like March 2001 was used for the jobs analysis above, but perhaps including February when Bush was already in office would have made the numbers slightly better.

If you've been following the Kerry campaign you know that since the economy is on the uptick he is searching for ways to differentiate himself from Bush in the War on Terror.

His latest scam is to convince Americans that Bush does not have us prepared for WMD attacks here in the U.S. becuase he's concentrating too hard overseas. Well that would be true, except....that it's not.

Kerry was the ONLY senator - that's right - 99 for and 1 MIA, that did not vote for a Bush initiated BioWeapons defense bill.

Check it out at California Yankee. Link via Instapundit via VodkaPundit.

You just had to wonder if Ray Bradbury was OK with Michael Moore using the title of the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451" for the title of his anti-Bush movie. It turns out he wasn't happy - simply because Moore is an "a**hole", not because of the politics involved.

Ray Bradbury rips Michael Moore

"Michael Moore is a screwed a--hole, that is what I think about that case," Bradbury said according to an English translation of the story. "He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking me for permission."

Continued the author: "[Moore] is a horrible human being – horrible human!"

When asked if he agrees with Moore's political positions, Bradbury replied, "That has nothing to do with it. He copied my title; that is what happened. That has nothing to do with my political opinions."

According to the Swedish daily, Bradbury said he had tried to discuss the issue with Moore several months ago, but that the director avoided him.

Now I'm not sure that there's a real issue here regarding the title of the movie. If the reporting is accurate though, it does show that Michael Moore is perhaps not a courteous man.

This is slightly off topic for my blog, but only partially so. As you maybe aware the Multiwife hails from Argentina. The Economist has published a spot-on country survey. If you want to know what Argentina's all about, read it all. I wish more people would go there so that I could share with them what a wonderful country it is. Adios y suerte!

The Bush campaign has an excellent graphic on John Kerry's flip flop from "Get Saddam" to "Get Bush". You have to see it and read all Kerry's statements, but here's a clue of what you'll get.

November 1998 - Kerry Backs Regime Change in Iraq
April 2003 - Kerry Says US Needs Its Own Regime Change

I can't verify this, but someone told me this is John Kerry on the campaign trail, flipping and flopping - Ouch!

Exactly.

Rules of war enable terror by Alan Dershowitz.

The Geneva Conventions are so outdated and are written so broadly that they have become a sword used by terrorists to kill civilians, rather than a shield to protect civilians from terrorists. These international laws have become part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.