Earlier today, General Petraeus gave a press conference on the current state of affairs in Iraq. The transcript of that press conference is here. Allow me to quote the General. If you haven't read the news accounts yet, please don't cheat by checking now.

The operational environment in Iraq is the most complex and challenging I have ever seen -- much more complex than it was when I left last in September 2005.....

The situation is, in short, exceedingly challenging, though as I will briefly explain, there has been progress in several areas in recent months despite the sensational attacks by al Qaeda.....

We have achieved some notable successes in the past two months, killing the security emir of eastern Anbar province, detaining a number of key network leaders, discovering how various elements of al Qaeda Iraq operate, taking apart a car bomb network that had killed 650 citizens of Baghdad, and destroying several significant car bomb factories. Nonetheless, al Qaeda Iraq remains a formidable foe with considerable resilience and a capability to produce horrific attacks, but a group whose ideology and methods have increasingly alienated many in Iraq.

This group's activities must be significantly disrupted, at the least, for the new Iraq to succeed, and it has been heartening to see Sunni Arabs in Anbar province and several other areas turning against al Qaeda and joining the Iraqi security forces to fight against it. That has been a very significant development.....

The extremist militias in Iraq also are a substantial problem and must be significantly disrupted. There can be no sustainable outcome if militia death squads are allowed to lie low during the surge (they are no longer active now - ed.) only to resurface later and resume killing and intimidation. There have been some significant successes in this arena as well..... However, while we continue to battle a number of such groups, we are seeing some others joining Sunni Arab tribes in turning against al Qaeda Iraq and helping transform Anbar province and other areas from being assessed as lost as little as six months ago to being relatively heartening.....

....progress on key laws has been slow, though there has been some progress....

The presence of coalition and Iraqi forces and increased operational tempo, especially in areas where until recently we had no sustained presence, have begun to produce results. Most significantly, Iraqi and coalition forces have helped to bring about a substantial reduction in the rate of sectarian murders each month from January until now in Baghdad, a reduction of about two-thirds. There have also been increases in weapons caches seized and the number of actionable tips received.

In the Ramadi area, for example, U.S. and Iraqi forces have found nearly as many caches in the first four months of this year as they found in all of last year.

Beyond this, we are seeing a revival of markets, renewed commerce, the return of some displaced families and the slow resumption of services, though I want to be very clear that there is vastly more work to be done across the board and in many areas, and I again note that we are really just getting started with the new effort.....

Our achievements have not come without sacrifice. Our increase in operational tempo, location of our forces in the populations they are securing and conduct of operations in areas where we previously had no presence...have led to an increase in our losses. Our Iraqi partners have sacrificed heavily as well, with losses generally two to three times ours or even more.
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Now, based on this, I might suggest that the headline could be "Surge Shows Signs Of Slow and Steady Progress" or "Improvements Seen in Ramadi and Anbar Hot Spots" or "Extrajudicial Killings in Iraq down by Two-Thirds - Families Begin to Return". Even "Losses Increasing Amid Signs of Improvement". But noooooooooo....

The NY Times apparently felt "Petraeus Eyes Long Commitment in Iraq" is more appropriate. MSNBC leads with "Iraq War May Get Tougher". CBS News has "War May Get Harder". All of these reports were sourced through the Associated Press. This twisting of words apparently comes primarily from the following exchange....

Q General Petraeus, you said that things may get worse before they get better in this effort. Can you expand a little on what the American and Iraqi public should be potentially braced for?

And are higher U.S. casualties inevitable as a result of your new approach? You mentioned that your losses have gone up since you moved into the neighborhoods. Is that likely to continue? Is that something they should also be braced for?

GEN. PETRAEUS: I mentioned this because as you move into areas that you've not operated in before, as you contend with elements that were in those areas that in some cases were not challenged -- I mean, there are some element -- areas that were -- that had become, to some degree, sanctuaries for certain extremist organizations.

As that takes place, I think there is a very real possibility that there's going to be more combat action and that, therefore, there could be more casualties, and that's really all that I am implying with that. I don't want that to become the central message of this by any means.

Nevertheless, this did become the central message, even though it should be pretty obvious to any idiot that when you step up military operations against the enemy you will have more casualties. Everything mentioned at the top of this post was totally ignored.

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en·e·my (ĕn'ə-mē)
n., pl. -mies.

1. One who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes the interests of another; a foe.

The Associated Press reporter is clearly an enemy. At least of the General.

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I should mention that Petraeus did also say, "Because we are operating in new areas and challenging elements in those areas, this effort may get harder before it gets easier."

There is a big difference between "harder" and "worse". "Harder" is an expectation, "worse" is an outcome. Of course the AP reporter doesn't see the distinction.

Q General, Lolita Baldor with AP. You said just now that things are likely to get -- may get worse before they get better. (At least she caught herself with the subconscious "likely" slip of the tongue). Again, Petraeus didn't say this. And later another reporter parrots their AP colleague's mistake.

And I return to the statement above.

Q General Petraeus, you said that things may get worse before they get better in this effort. Can you expand a little on what the American and Iraqi public should be potentially braced for?

If you comment, please do not tell me how the war is screwed up and Bush is a failed commander in chief. I won't deny that. I am strictly talking about how the themes of this press conference are being transmitted to the American people, relatively few of whom will bother to read or watch the entire event.

Dennis Miller has his debut as a talk radio host tonight. Click here to find your local radio outlet. Tonight's guest list inlcudes Rudy Giuliani.

I head Dennis being interviewed on local talk radio here in Dallas this morning. When asked about his turn towards conservatism after 9/11, he clarified that "if Hillary Clinton were to become president, I'm backing her because she's my president." That to him, is what being a good American is. I agree.

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Jewish Theological Seminary to Accept Qualified Gay and Lesbian Rabbinical And Cantorial School Students

"Moreover, the decision to ordain gay and lesbian clergy at JTS is in keeping with the longstanding commitment of the Jewish tradition to pluralism. That commitment has been all the more central to Conservative Judaism. Pluralism means that we recognize more than one way to be a good Conservative Jew, more than one way of walking authentically in the path of our tradition and of carrying that tradition forward. It means, too, that we respect those who disagree with us and understand that in the context of all that unites us, diversity makes us stronger."

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I've heard of the Mitvah Tank, but the "Matzoh Bus" is new to me.

(CBS/AP) SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. A full-size school bus that had been converted into an oven, complete with smokestack, exhaust fans and working fire, was discovered by police after a neighbor said he smelled smoke.

The red and white bus, in the backyard of a residence owned by the rabbi of a Hasidic Jewish congregation, was turning out thin crisp matzo crackers for next week's Passover holiday, said Sgt. Lou Scorziello of the Spring Valley police.

Jeez, it's been a long time since I've been around these parts. I've been spending a lot of time networking, seeing recruiters and going on interviews to try and find a new job. After giving things a lot of thought, I've decided to say "screw it" and go into business for myself. I have a CPA license which I'm going to transfer from NY to Texas and hope to formally start my own practice in June. While I plan on doing the usual tax returns, payroll, etc. I am hoping to build a nice base of small corporate clients for whom I can do a little audit work / operations consulting.

Now that I've decided what I want to be when I grow up (isn't 40 the new 20 - or something like that?), maybe I can spend some more time here.

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An Arizona principal tells an army wife that her 8 and 11 year old kids can't take an extra week off to be with their dad who is coming home from Iraq on a two week leave. Principal says he was in the army too and "supports the troops", but "rules are rules".

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Can someone tell me where I can find a clip of the original "Jane, you ignorant slut" segment of the old SNL with Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtain. I remember seeing it again awhile ago and even though I knew what was coming, it was still one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

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SEATTLE - The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle returned to its old building in downtown Seattle on Sunday months after a fatal shooting spree forced the group to move out last summer. On July 28, 2006, accused gunman Naveed Haq walked into the building and opened fire, killing one woman, Pam Waechter, and seriously injuring five others, including a pregnant woman.

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Iran captures British soldiers. Accuses them of spying. Britain denies it and demands their return. According to the Geneva Conventions, soldiers in uniform can't be considered spies. Dozens of civil rights lawyers fly to the Middle East to defend the soldiers. (You didn't really believe the last one, did you?)

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Saw Rocky Balboa. Liked it more than I thought I would. I think my decision to open my own business and the "go for your dream" philosophy of the movie, campy as it is, made me feel a lot better about my decision. Isn't that what movies are supposed to do in the first place?

Saw Quinceanera. Started off a little depressing, but turned out to be a pretty good movie. After seeing that and Babel (which I liked only because I was fascinated with the different cultures that were represented), I'm a little overloaded on Mexican-American culture and hispanic hip-hop, mijo.

Casino Royale was just plain old fun. The Illusionist didn't do it for me, but I know it did for a lot of other's including the wife and the guy at Blockbuster who rented it to me. I believe both were filmed, at least in part, in Prague which looks like a beautiful place to go.

This morning, I went to the Dallas Holocaust Museum with my parents.  It is currently housed in temporary quarters a block behind the old Book Depository which houses the Sixth Floor (JFK) Museum.  Due to the temporary nature of the exhibits, the space is relatively small.  Nevertheless it is extremely well done, catering mostly to high school classes who come there for field trips.  I was personally familiar with most of what was on display, but there was one part of the exhibit relating to a "The Bermuda Conference" with which I wasn't familiar.  The  conference was a futile effort by the Allies to come up with a plan for rescuing Jews from Europe during the war (held at a luxury resort of course).

We were lucky enough to be present for a lecture and slide show presentation given by the museum's founder, holocaust survivor Mike Jacobs. At first, I was interested in going more to see the reaction of the hundred or so mostly gentile high school students than to hear Mr. Jacobs' personal history.  I had recently read several fiction and non-fiction books relating to the Holocaust, aside from learning extensively about the subject since I was little, and didn't really feel the need to hear more right then and there. I am now incredibly embarrassed that I even entertained those feelings.

It's one thing to read an account of Nazi torture and barbarism in a book.  It's quite another to listen to a man as he tells the story of German soldiers throwing babies out of top-floor windows and shooting at them on the way down as he was forced to watch, helpless to do anything.  You could see Mr. Jacob's eyes move up towards the ceiling as he began the story, obviously reliving the scene in his mind at that very moment.

The students were extremely well-behaved (aside from the one girl who couldn't figure out how to put here phone on "vibrate"). Of the few questions offered up at the end, two students just commented on how much respect they had for Mr. Jacobs while thanking him for sharing his story with them.  I'll never know what the majority of the kids were thinking, but I left feeling good about the future after leaving the lecture.  As a Jew, it is sometimes hard to imagine that anyone could grow up in this country not knowing much about the Holocaust given the significant media attention given to the subject.  And yet.....

Below is a rendering of the new building that the museum is hoping to erect, with the large yahrzeit-candle style detail on one corner.



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I meant to post this awhile ago, but never got around to it.

Hate crime charges have been dropped against the five Jewish teens arrested for attacking a Pakistani man outside a Midwood Dunkin’ Donuts late last year.  Several of the teens are still up on assault charges though that can bring a sentence of up to 15 years in jail.

Sportswriter's son and Messianic (not a real) Jew David Newhan tries for a roster spot with the Mets.

Newhan bounced around the A's organization and was traded to the Padres in 1997. He made his major league debut with San Diego in 1999.

Then, Newhan said, it all started going wrong. He batted .140 in 32 games. The next year he hit .150. He was traded to Philadelphia and made the team out of spring training in 2001, but he injured his shoulder crashing into a left-field wall and missed most of that season and all of 2002 after having his second shoulder operation.

It was about this time that Newhan started reading scripture and the Old Testament for guidance, and soon, he said, “a different train pulled into the station.” He still held fast to his Jewish beliefs — he had his Bar Mitzvah at a conservative synagogue — but he said that accepting Jesus Christ helped guide him through this rocky period. He observes Passover and Hanukkah and considers himself a Messianic Jew.

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A Cailfornia camera store owner says "some of my best customers are Jews" after refusing a man service because photos of his turn-of-the-century relatives were considered to be  "Jewish terrorists"

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Did supporters of a Scottish soccer club give their Israeli hosts the "Red Hand of Ulster" or "Heil Hitler" salutes?  It appears to have been the first, although their is quite a bit of on-the-field acrimony nevertheless.

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Better late than never, I guess, but this smacks of political pandering and is somewhat offensive.

Islip leader urges U.S. citizenship for Anne Frank

Anne's cousin Edith Gordon, 78, who recently moved from Setauket to San Diego, questioned whether the U.S. should try to claim Anne for its own.

"It doesn't seem right to me somehow, when we didn't let her into the country," she said.

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Too many of these stories wind up in tiny local papers instead of on page A1 of the national papers (you know who you are).  And I know this story is not unique at all.  Thanks for your service and your honesty, sir.

It is one medal no soldier wants to earn.

U.S. Army Cpl. Matt Murray is one of the lucky ones. In person, he accepted his Purple Heart medal for being wounded in combat, the result of an improvised explosive device that detonated under the vehicle in which he was riding. He found out later his neck was broken.

The 2002 Plano Senior High graduate joined the Army Feb. 24, 2004. He arrived in Iraq in August 2006 and his stay was shortened by the attack......

Now, he’s at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. in recovery. He only stayed in Texas for about two weeks in mid-January. He said his recovery and therapy should be complete by the end of March, at which time he will return to his unit in Iraq.

“I have good friends in Plano, but not in the same way as the brotherhood built in the Army. I wouldn’t have wanted to fight next to my friends in Plano,” Murray said. “It’ll be nice to be with my brothers again. They’re still over there and I’m laying in a hospital bed watching this …. on T.V. I need to be over there with my brothers. Nothing is under my control. I think we need to get out of there, personally. I think we are getting caught in the cross fire of a civil war.”

But Murray said he is proud of his service to his country and “if we don’t fight the fight, then who will?”

Is There a Historical Right to the Land of Israel? A serious, scholarly look at the issue.

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Fox News is coming out with it's own version of The Daily Show called The 1/2 Hour Newshour. First airing Sunday night at 10PM ET.

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LA's mayor wants the whole city Wi-Fi'd by 2009. Houston and other cities also have plans underway.

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Howard Stern has gotten engaged to long-time girlfriend Beth Ostrosky. All the x-rated details here.

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Is "Studio 60" on it's last legs? I've enjoyed it, but maybe because I didn't overdose on the West Wing, so it's style is relatively fresh to me. I do have to say that I was not happy about giving one of the major characters a drug problem.

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Yes, it's real.

From President Bush's press conference today:

Q As you know, a growing number of troops are on their second, third or fourth tour in Iraq. There have been a growing number of reports about declining morale among fighting men. I spoke personally to an infantry commander -- tough guy, patriot -- who says more and more of the troops are asking, questioning what they're doing here. Does this come as a surprise to you? Are you aware of this? Is it a minority opinion, is it a growing opinion, and does it concern you?
THE PRESIDENT: I am -- what I hear from commanders is that the place where there is concern is with the family members; that our troops, who have volunteered to serve the country, are willing to go into combat multiple times, but that the concern is with the people on the home front.

Now, obviously one can find voices from the military that express discontent at the current state of things in Iraq and think that the planned surge will be useless. I also imagine that I'd be pretty upset if I had to spend so much time away from my family on life threatening missions. Then again, I'm not in the military.

In this news report, ABC News was able to find troops who wanted to be clear about their feelings regarding the anti-surge resolutions being pushed by the Democrats.

If a deficit falls in a budget report, does anyone hear it?  From BizzyBlog.

The federal budget deficit, already down almost 50% from a few years ago, is down another 50% through the first four months of this year compared to 2006.

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Jennifer Rubin, a freelance writer for ABCNews uses the Mitt Romney flap I posted about earlier to pontificate about Why So Few Jews Vote  for Republicans.  I do give her credit for writing that, " It is doubtful either of these groups (the NJDC or RJC) believe Romney is really an anti-Semite."   However, she does write that Romney's probable excuse is that he is oblivious to Jewish concerns. She then goes on to assume that Romney just must not have Jewish advisors, which is easily debunked based on my last post regarding Romney's recent trip to Israel with Jewish supporters and campaign staff. 

She then writes that if they were better informed, they would have said to themselves, "You know, a lot of Jews really hate Ford, and it might mess up your message. Let's try Edison's lab to make a point about American innovation."

Miss Rubin might be interested to know that Neil Baldwin, author of Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate writes that Edison was at best, "a passive anti-Semite".  Maybe if she would have googled "Edison" and "anti-semitic", she could have found this out pretty easily, as well as a number of other sources that raise concerns about Edison's attitude towards Jews.  Then again, Ms. Rubin, like the Democrats, must know all there is to know about Jewish issues.

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More Global....Cooling?  Just got my electric bill from January.  I live in north Texas.  The average temperature in January 2007 was 19 degrees colder than in January 2006.  Tomorrow's high is 36.  Thursday it will be 38.  I wonder how it's going in NYC?  If you look at these pictures, you'd think the melting polar ice caps have just relocated.

Earlier today, Mitt Romney announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.  The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) has made a big deal of the fact that Romney chose the Henry Ford Museum as the site for his announcement claiming it as an "embrace of Henry Ford".  It should be mentioned that the Museum is really a tribute to Americana more than to Ford himself, and there are several prominent Jewish members of the museum's board of trustees. I'm having trouble even finding a biography of Henry Ford of any kind on their website.  The NJDC says that the museum is "a testament to the life of Henry Ford".  I've never been, but it sure doesn't seem that way from where I'm sitting.

Part of the reason for the NJDC's anger might be that they got cut out of a Romney trip to Israel a few weeks ago.

The former Republican governor of Massachusetts returned last week from a five-day trip to Israel, accompanied by Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), and Mel Sembler, a member of its board of directors.

In this and other links, the NJDC makes a point about Romney's veto of a bill that would have provided reimbursement to some Medicaid patients for the extra costs of kosher meals back in 2003.  I don't know enough about the specifics to comment (was that part of a larger spending bill without a line item veto?), but in any case, I hardly find the granting of additional moneys to a particular interest group to be anti-Semitic.

Personally, I do contribute the annual membership fee to the RJC, although I think the professionalism of that organization's campaigns leave a lot to be desired as well.

I'm sorry I can't find the blog where I read this particular thought last night, but until the NJDC can convince me that no Democratic Jews drive Fords or work for Ford, use IBM equipment, etc. I'm not buying their case that Romney is fanning the flame of anti-Semitism. 

I recently finished reading "The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million" by Daniel Mendolsohn.  It's a fascinating story about finding one's lost roots, even if it means traveling the globe - several times, hiring interpreters and tour guides, and reconciling with ones most immediate family members.

I mentioned to my rabbi that I was reading the book and he said he heard an interview with the author on NPR, something which I actually waited to hear until after I finished the book.  We wondered whether Mendelsohn does any public speaking on the subject and I suggested that the "voice" of the author in the book seemed to be one of a relatively shy, sensitive man, who might not be comfortable doing a lot of public speaking.

Oddly enough, when I started listening to the interview, I couldn't help but think to myself - "he does sound, well, not just soft-spoken, but gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that).  I did a little more online research, and he seems to have received much critical acclaim for writing about his experiences coming out, and living openly as, a gay man in New York, so no secret there.  It was only then that I realized that he didn't mention any romantic interests although the book is extremely personal and takes place over a period of several years.

It also made me wonder - considering the strict German upbringing of much of his family - wouldn't his open homosexuality have had some bearing on the feelings towards his family, or theirs to him?  When he talks about strains between he and his brothers, does his sexual orientation have anything to do with it at all?  If so, he doesn't say.  Was he perhaps even looking for some sign of homosexuality in his search for his great-uncle?  The one who looked so similar to him that survivors would cry just because of his resemblance?  I think I would have wanted to know, assuming I had written a book openly describing my sexual history as a sort of biography.  But I digress - I'm just curious, really.

This book is a must read for anyone, like myself, who has family that perished in the Holocaust - many of whom we know nothing about.  Mendelsohn frequently brings up a salient point - shouldn't we be just as interested in how these people lived as how they died?

It took me awhile to find the time to get through the first half of this 500-page book.  However, as you get closer and closer  to finding the truth of his family's history, there's no putting the book down.  I read the second half in one long sitting that ended at 12:30AM.

More on the author's work can be found here.

It all started this weekend when the AP reported that, "U.S. military commanders in Iraq have shown members of Congress explosive devices that bear Iranian markings as evidence Tehran is supplying Iraqi militants with bombs".

The article clearly mentioned that members of Congress were being allowed to see the evidence and that the administration is being cautious in making the direct accusation that the Iranian government is behind attacks on coalition forces, so there shouldn't be a problem.  After all, someone is sending arms to the militants - I imagine they don't have RPG factories in Fallujah.

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A short while ago, MSNBC's lead article was "U.S. general: No evidence Iran is arming Iraqis".  Apparently, this is meant to prove that the Bush administration is already cooking the intelligence books so that it can invade Iran to make more blood/oil money for their friends or Israel, or whatever it is that people think.

Part of the problem is that MSNBC confuses the words "evidence" and "proof".   According to the news report, the General in question, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said:

 - Iranians had been arrested as part of militant networks that produced roadside bombs
 - Some of the material used in the devices were made in Iran.

And more specifically:

“What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers.”

This is all evidence of Iranian government involvement.  Of course there's circumstantial evidence such as Iran's providing weapons and money to other groups fighting against the West such as Hamas and Hizbollah, but that is besides the point.  What all this is not, is proof, which is the accumulation of evidence which allows one to assert something is true.

Now, getting back to the main topic.  Did the administration earlier claim as truth that Iran was supplying our enemies, or only that we have some evidence that suggests that the Iranian government might be involved?

Tony Snow did seem to definitively accuse the Iranian government in the following exchange in yesterday's press briefing:

Q Tony, when Diane Sawyer interviewed Iranian President Ahmadinejad earlier today, he said that this presentation was based on fabrication. Is the U.S. administration confident that there is conclusive evidence that Iran is providing these weapons to Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Yes.

I'm willing to give Snow the benefit of the doubt here, and perhaps more than I should, in that he may have misspoke and the question is taken somewhat out of context when looking at the entire press briefing.  Obviously he doesn't mean "the Iraqi government" when he said that "Iran" is giving weapons to "Iraq", so maybe he meant to say Iranians in general as opposed to the Iranian government.  (Going to my earlier point, the proper phrase would have been "conclusive proof", not "conclusive evidence".  They obviously have evidence, both physical and circumstantial).  A few minutes earlier, the following was asked:

Q Tony, the senior military officials made this presentation in Baghdad on background about the evidence against Iran active inside Iraq. Can you talk about the significance of that presentation, about its timing, and what it really means in context of the war right now?

MR. SNOW: What it means is that there is evidence that there's been some weaponry coming across the border into Iraq and it's being used to kill Americans.

Snow did not mention or accuse Iranian personnel of being involved - I imagine on purpose.
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My favorite part of the article comes at the end, when an Iranian government official is reported to have said, “Such accusations cannot be relied upon or be presented as evidence. The United States has a long history in fabricating evidence."

This from the folks who can't find enough evidence that the Holocaust occurred.

Iranians live in some kind of bizarro world.  In my opinion:

The Iranians say the Holocaust never happened - it did
The Iranians say they are not supplying the insurgency in Iraq - they are
The Iranians say that any day now they will have a nuclear weapon - they won't.

In some ways, it's easier to read the Iranian government than our own - at least we know when they are lying, which is always.

For Times haters, the good news is that, like many newspapers, it is suffering from some business setbacks. But I wish it no evil. I just want it to get back to what it once was. - Jay Ambrose

Yup.  *Sigh*

In today's editorial on Iraq, we are told, "Americans need to hear Mr. Bush offer something truly new — not more glossy statements about ultimate victory, condescending platitudes about what hard work war is..".  A few paragraphs later, we are informed, "Mr. Bush must make clear to both Iraqis and Americans that without significant progress, American forces will not remain. We’re under no illusions. Meeting those challenges is going to be extremely tough."

Er...you mean "hard work"?  Right out of the President's playbook...hypocrites.
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I didn't realize this - The Florida Gators became the first program to hold football and men's basketball titles at the same time Monday night with a 41-14 victory over top-ranked Ohio State.

I actually went to a couple of football games in Gainesville when I lived in Tampa from '94-'97 since I had a friend who was an alum and his dad was a booster.  If you haven't been to a college game with 80,000 people and a battle of the bands, you don't know what you're missing.  I even got to see a Florida-Florida State game once.  G-d, that Tomahawk Chop was annoying (video here).  Great memories.
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Bahraini winner of a marathon in Israel has his citizenship revoked for the crime of participating in a sporting event held in the Jewish State.  No loss to them I guess, he's Catholic anyway. One less infidel.
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Strike One - McGwire Snubbed From Baseball Hall of Fame

I think I'm officially sick of politics.

Bush finally has a plan to change course in Iraq (we think). Democrat leaders complain saying this in a letter to the President.

"Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain."

"Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror."

Nothing wrong there with a legitimate difference of opinion. However, they then use the following as their smoking gun argument:

In a recent appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General John Abizaid, our top commander for Iraq and the region, said the following when asked about whether he thought more troops would contribute to our chances for success in Iraq:

"I met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the Corps commander, General Dempsey. We all talked together. And I said, in your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said no.

That's pretty hard-hitting.  Except that General Abizaid already publicly stated he was against the Democrats' plan, perhaps in the same appearance before the Armed Services Committee.

Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, rejected a call from some Democrats for a phased redeployment of forces beginning in four to six months.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Abizaid said such a move would result in an increase in sectarian violence.

How dare the Democrats use this man's own words to support a plan that he is clearly against!  It took me all of two minutes to figure out his stand using Google.

If I was the general I would be furious.

Great sermon by a Conservative rabbi about how Jews should stop fighting with one another about specific religious practices.  From Yid with Lid.

“Don’t Quarrel About the Way:”
Is Halacha a Source of Unity or Division?
Parshat Vayigash 5767 By Rabbi Mark B Greenspan

It’s no accident that when we talk about the Jewish tradition we often refer to it as “a way of life.” While belief is central to our religion, Judaism is not just a creed but a way of living and a practice to follow along life’s journey.

The word we use for Jewish law is a reflection of this. In Hebrew Jewish law is called Halacha. This word comes from the root halach which means ‘to go.’ Halacha, then, is ‘the way go’ in life; it’s the road we choose or the one that we’re supposed to follow.

Anyone who has ever gone on a road trip knows that it’s not always so obvious how we get from point A to point B. There is often more than one way to reach one’s destination. Of course, one can stop by the AAA office to get a triptik or you can turn on your computer and check map-quest. But the directions that they provide aren’t always the fastest or the best.

Usually the best way to reach one's destination is to ask someone who has already made the journey. You can try navigating the trip on your own, but one never knows what one is going to encounter along the way. That’s true not only in geography but in spiritual matters as well. That’s why Judaism provides us with Halacha, a way to go in life.

Rabbis like to think that they know what’s best for others but that may not always be the case. We tend to argue a lot. We tend to think we have the answer. I believe that’s what Rashi had in mind when he tries to understand what Joseph’s told his brothers. At long last Joseph reveals his true identity. With the words, “I am your brother, Joseph,” he comforts his family by assuring them that all that has transpired was God’s will. Joseph then instructs his brothers to return home and bring their father and families back to Egypt to live out the duration of the famine. As they prepare to leave, he says to them, “Do not be quarrelsome along the way!”

What did Joseph have in mind when he told his brothers not to be quarrelsome? Rashi offers two explanations for this statement, one that’s obvious and one that’s not so obvious. The obvious explanation is that the brothers should not be reduced to blame and recriminations as they return home. It would have been so easy for each to blame the other for what happened. Joseph tells his brothers to let bygones be bygones and to focus on the future rather than the past.

Rashi also offers a second explanation that, at first glance, is a little surprising and odd. He interprets the words “al tirgazu baderech” to mean, “Don’t argue about matters of Halacha on your way home.” Rashi understands the word baderech, literally “along the way,” to mean, “Don’t argue ‘about the way.’” In other words don’t argue about Halacha, about our way of life. For Rashi, Joseph and his brothers were Torah scholars just as he and his contemporaries were. He imagines them arguing about matters of law and loosing their way as they returned home to Canaan. Joseph imagined them being so caught up in some matter of Halacha that they would miss the turn off to Canaan! Joseph wanted them to return quickly to Canaan and not to get distracted by the minutia of Jewish law.

While Rashi may not have been offering us a literal explanation of this verse, I believe he was trying to teach us a lesson. Too often Halacha is a source of contention and disunity rather than a unifying force that brings us together. We seem to get lost “along the way” while we are trying to do what is right in the eyes of God. It is so easy to say “You’re wrong,” and “You’re wrong” or “This is the only right way” of interpreting what God asks of us… As much as Halacha and tradition can be a blessing too often it’s a source of disunity and friction.

This past week I found myself struggling with this issue, particularly with regard to matters of Kashrut. What could be more basic or fundamental to traditional Judaism than our dietary laws? Kashrut teaches us how to live a life of holiness and to show reverence for all life. For traditional Jews Kashrut serves as a defining characteristic that separates the Jewish people from others. Because we eat differently we live differently. Of course we struggle with this practice – we want to live in the larger world of American society but we also understand the need to maintain boundaries which define us as a community. And Kashrut does this more effectively than any other aspect of the Jewish tradition. Of course not all Jews follow the practices of Kashrut and many follow some aspects of Kashrut but not others. Kashrut has become more of a continuum of practice rather than a black and white set of rules for many traditional Jews.

For those of us who are serious about the practice of Kashrut, however, we find ourselves dismayed if not downright confused by the varieties of practice and controversies in the Jewish community today that Kashrut seems to cause. Rather than making it easier Rabbis seem to be making it harder to keep kosher. And I think that is wrong.

Consider the recent Kashrut controversy in the Five Towns. Glatt Gourmet, a well respected grocery store found itself at odds with the Five Towns Va’ad Hakashrut. About two months ago a group of local orthodox rabbis from the surrounding communities issued a statement condemning the store for hiring a separate Mashgiach to supervise the store. They argued that Glatt Kosher was undermining the Va’ad’s credibility. This week it was announced that the family that has owned the store had chosen to sell the business after years of service to the community. Now I don’t live in the Five Towns and I don’t know all the ins and outs of the community there. But I have to believe that something is amiss.

What exactly did the owners of Glatt Gourmet do that roused the ire of the Va’ad Hakashrut? What- ever it was, the Va’ad would not say. This week in a letter criticizing the Va’ad Hakashrut, Asher Mattathias wrote that: After setting up a false, transparent issue with a local business enterprise, sowing division in its wake, our vaunted Five Towns continues on a seemingly irreversible downslide…the Va’ad’s actions precipitated a round of layoffs among the Gourmet’s most vulnerable personnel… and even the speculation of eventual, if not imminent bankruptcy, of this Cedarhurst institution.

In a word what is happening in the five towns is a chilul hashem – a desecration of God’s name. Kashrut has become a blunt instrument for settling scores. It is hard to convince people to practice Kashrut when those who are vouchsafed with preserving this practice seem hell-bent on making it harder and even less savory to keep kosher – and I don’t mean taste.

The truth is it didn’t start yesterday. The problem of Kashrut in America started with Glatt Kosher meat. How a Hungarian custom became an American Jewish standard of Kashrut is beyond me. Frankly it has little to do with Kashrut.

Here in Oceanside I found myself wrestling with my own Kashrut issues. We Conservative Rabbis have basically opted out of the Kashrut supervision business locally – this is seen as the domain of the Orthodox. And yet orthodox rabbis do not seem to be of one accord in making such decisions. When a local business approached me with a request for my approval, I found myself caught between two orthodox rabbis, one who I consider too strict and the other too lenient! So despite the statement that appeared in last weeks newspaper, I have not given my approval to any local business yet, and I won’t do so until certain issues are resolved. Kashrut is more than just food – it must also take into consideration of Shabbat observance. And unfortunately many of our Kosher facilities locally don’t. I hope in the coming weeks to be able to come back with a definitive conclusion on this issue.

As Conservative Jews we are committed to Kashrut, but I’m not sure we are doing ourselves, or the Jewish community a service by making it appear that we don’t have a stake in encouraging and promoting not only the proper practice of Kashrut but a moral practice of Kashrut as well. Instead we have allowed the quarrelling within the orthodox community and the abuses within this community to undermine one of our most sacred practices. We often forget that Kashrut means proper or fit. Kashrut ought to be determined not only by the rituals but by moral standards as well.

Recently the Rabbinical Assembly set up a commission to establish a special certification called Tzedek Heksher, literally righteous supervision, for meat processors which would review not only the ritual practices of the plants but the social and legal standards of Kashrut as well. Those who produce kosher food need to treat their workers properly, to practice ritual slaughter in ways that address the suffering of the animals and they need to provide for the safety and the rights of the workers. I think this is a wonderful first step – it is a way of showing that for us as Conservative Jews – Kashrut is important not only as Halacha, as a ritual practice, but as a moral practice as well.

I guess Jews are destined to argue along the way. We simply can’t avoid it. But at the very least maybe we can learn to have a little humility and respect for one another and to realize that just because we aren’t all on the same page doesn’t mean we don’t care about tradition. I am happy to say that when I spoke with Rabbi Muskat at Young Israel, he very respectfully said that while he understood that the religious needs of our communities are different from one another, he appreciated our attempt to encourage the practice of Kashrut even if it is not exactly the same as his.

Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai almost always disagreed in matters of Halacha. But the rabbis chose to record both of their opinions. So why does the law follow Beit Hillel over Shammai in most cases? The Talmud says that even though both opinions were valid, the disciples of Beit Hillel were kindly and humble; they taught their own rulings as well as those of the school of Shammai. In the end, then, Halacha was decided not by who was right but by those who were humble…. Let us argue but let us be humble enough to listen to one another. And let us remember that spirituality is more than just the sharpness of a knife or the smoothness of a lung. It is in the intent and the respect we show one another.

Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Mark B Greenspan

Apologies to the lyricists of "The Wizard of Oz"......

Ding Dong! Hussein is dead. Which Hussein? Saddam Hussein!
Ding Dong! Saddam Hussein is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, Saddam Hussein is dead.
He's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
Saddam Hussein is dead!

As Mayor of the Sadr City, In the center of Iraq, I welcome you most regally.

But we've got to verify it legally, to see

To see?

If he

If he?

Is morally, ethic'lly

Spiritually, physically

Positively, absolutely

Undeniably and reliably Dead

As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined him.
And he's not only merely dead, he's really most sincerely dead!

"The irreducible, glorious dignity of difference".

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Now that's a fire! How to kill thousands of bees without an exterminator. Lots of flammable liquids involved.

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I am now relieved that we are making the financial sacrifice to send our girls to private school.

Middle School Girls Gone Wild

They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust their chests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lap dancers without laps. They don’t smile much. Their faces are locked from grim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to hold onto. “Don’t stop don’t stop,” sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. “Jerk it like you’re making it choke. ...Ohh. I’m so stimulated. Feel so X-rated.” The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

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Now that I think about it, I guess I would be embarrassed to go to the box office and ask for a ticket to "Dreamgirls" when there is so much other manly entertainment being offered. I will probably see it on DVD with the doors closed and the blinds shut tight to hide my shame.

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Saddam Hussein will soon be executed. The New York Times is sad - the three year long trial where the outcome was never in doubt feels "rushed" to them.

A carefully conducted, scrupulously fair trial could have helped undo some of the damage inflicted by his rule.

I am thinking of starting a business by reprinting this article in Arabic and selling it to the Shiites for toilet paper. You know, Hitler killed himself and Germany was able to recover from Nazism pretty quickly. I'm not sure that a decades long trial covering all his crimes would have helped the healing. Talk about ivory tower moral judgments - jeez.

Go Ethiopia! Islamist Forces in Somalia Are on the Retreat

Islamist forces in Somalia beat a hasty retreat today to their stronghold in Mogadishu, Somalia’s battle-scared capital, crumbling faster than anyone expected after a week of attacks by Ethiopian forces.

Burhakaba, a large inland city, fell first, followed by Dinsoor, not far away, and then Bulo Burto, where just a few weeks ago the Islamists in charge were threatening to behead people who did not pray.

The Islamist fighters, who had seemed invincible after taking Mogadishu in June, now seem powerless to stop the steady advance of the Ethiopian-backed forces of the transitional government.

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I'm not sure how building a new settlement in the West Bank (Maskiot) is supposed to help bring about peace.

Then again, take a look at this recent balance sheet of Israeli and Palestinian actions and populating an abandoned army base doesn't seem so bad in the grand scheme of things.

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Question: Will Saddam Hussein's imminent death change the situation on the ground in Iraq? Will Sunnis give up hope? Will Shiites feel even more emboldened to attack Sunnis? Will anyone even pay attention?

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The Conspiracy Museum in Dallas is closing it's doors after more than a decade of operations. It's being replaced by a Quiznos which we all know is owned by the secret One World Government. More here from NPR.

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I was incredibly annoyed with the constant shots of Carrie Underwood watching the Cowboys at Texas Stadium during the broadcast yesterday evening. (She has been rumored to be enamored of quarterback Tony Romo). Who gives a crap, really?

For anyone who's not familiar with Dulce de Leche, it's a totally addictive caramel-like spread. The article has recipes. As the article says, if you buy it, you should try to get a good brand like La Salamandra or La Pataia.

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My folks are in Israel for the first time in their lives (their in their early 60's). Needless to say, they're predicting snow starting tonight throughout the country and generally cold weather for the rest of the week. I'm so upset for them!

Meanwhile, the 61st post "cease-fire" rocket has hit Sderot and other places in southern Israel. My folks won't be going there.

Ehud Olmert has met with Palestinian Chairman Abbas and has decided to release $100mm in funds, open roadblocks and possibly release prisoners. This seems more like a move to convince Palestinians to back Fatah over Hamas as opposed to any step forward for peace. I sure don't feel that my parents are any safer because of this.

I don't consider myself to be a particularly good person with pets or children and aside from my own (to which I have grown accustomed to and love of course) I hardly know what to say or do with anyone else's.

Anyway, early this morning I decided that I would go out for a brisk walk which has been my exercise of choice for a while. Granted, it was about 42 degrees with a strong wind and light drizzle and I hadn't gone out in about a month, but I had just bought some outdoorsy type bad weather gear the day before so that I wouldn't have an excuse not to exercise. Besides I was looking forward to the Peace On Earth that generally accompanies Christmas morning (as I listened to a podcast of Sunday's "Meet The Press" on my iPod.

About 5 minutes from home, before I walk into a local nature preserve, I see a dog that's hanging out in a driveway but looks kind of lost. Not being good with pets, I just assumed the owner was inside and I ignored it. A few minutes later as I was in the preserve, all sound muffled by the iPod and the protection of a hoodie and a rain jacket, I barely hear the sound of metal jangling behind me. It's the dog - a black part-Labrador mutt with white spots on it's legs. I'm not totally heartless and obviously the dog trusts me, so I bend down and call her over. "Oreo" says the tag and it's got a phone number. Only problem is, I left without my cell phone, I'm in the middle of a place that purposefully has no modern amenities and there is absolutely no one in sight.

Not really knowing what to do, I continue my walk and Oreo is following me (while occasionally sniffing the ground for an appropriate spot to relieve herself). It's frickin' cold and I'm really feeling sorry for her. It takes about 10 minutes to get the other end of the trail where there's a firehouse - I figure I can find some kind of telephone - but it's closed up tight of course. Not much firefighting on Christmas morning. Not wanting to have Oreo follow me unleashed on a dangerous main street towards the local CVS (which was still a good 5 blocks or so away), I decided to walk her towards my house through the residential neighborhood, hoping that someone would appear that I could ask for a phone.

Finally, as I was only three blocks away from my house, and after I successfully prevented Oreo from chasing a rabbit into the woods (phew!), I flagged down a couple in a yellow hummer who probably thought I was an idiot walking my dog without a leash. Luckily, they stopped and when I explained the situation they lent me their cell phone. I only got the owner's answering machine, but left a message with my name and number and mentioned that I was going to try to lead Oreo to my home and keep her in the backyard. I was really hoping the owner hadn't gone away for the holidays. I thanked the couple in the Hummer, we wished each other Merry Christmas, and then Oreo and I continued our trek until we got to my house. Oreo was so friendly and obedient, I actually began to understand those stories where a kid finds a dog in the street and just forms a bond right away.

When I got home, I told my wife (who is a vet and THE queen of animal lovers) to keep our own two dogs inside while she tried calling all the numbers on all the tags Oreo had - her owner, her vet, the local SPCA. No answers. While we were waiting for a response, I hung out in the back, still freezing, with Oreo, while the wife prepared a bowl of dog food. When she opened the door to let Oreo in, I heard a commotion - it turns out the owners teen-aged son had came by to pick Oreo up. The owner had left a message saying her husband and son were coming but I guess we didn't get it amidst all the other calls we were trying to make. The young man couldn't thank us enough and must have said "Merry Christmas" three times - he probably didn't see the unlit electric menorah in the window that I've been too lazy to take down. :-)

All's well that ends well - I felt really proud of something I had done for the first time in a long time. And when I think of all the improbable circumstances that led me to help Oreo back to her home, I have to say it was a true Christmas miracle!

Prosecutor will not seek death penalty in Jewish Federation shooting

SEATTLE (AP) - King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said Wednesday he will not seek the death penalty against Naveed Haq, the man accused of shooting six women - one fatally - at a Seattle Jewish center in July, because of the gunman's long history of mental illness.

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Somehow, I don't think it's a good thing that people should be publicly excoriated solely for insulting someone because their Jewish. Judith Regan apparently had a documented anti-Semitic incident three years ago. I wonder who hates her so much that they would dig this up?

Previous Incident Reported Involving a Fired Publisher

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The 60 Minutes piece on the International Tracing Service's Holocaust Archives was outstanding and very emotional. It's amazing how every survivor seems to have story of an indignity or terror they suffered that, while not unique to them, has perhaps never been told. One man told of how trenches were dug behind the barracks at one concentration camp to use as latrines and bodies that were not quite dead were thrown in them, forcing the inmates to urinate on their dying friends and relatives.

And yet Muslims all over the word are being taught that these things never happened.

I saw pictures of masses of skeletons, even of kids. I heard horrifying accounts of some of the people who had survived the terror of Auschwitz and Sobibor. I told my half-sister all this and showed her the pictures in my history book. What she said was as awful as the information in my book.

With great conviction, my half-sister cried: "It's a lie! Jews have a way of blinding people. They were not killed, gassed or massacred. But I pray to Allah that one day all the Jews in the world will be destroyed."

Hopefully, things like this will help - Muslims, Jews Hold Peace Meeting In D.C.
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Few signs of Christmas cheer in the Jewish state

One tiny place in the whole f***ing Western World where a Jew doesn't have to hear "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" and we're supposed to feel sorry for the Christians who decide not to live with their billion colleagues in the dozens of countries where Christmas is a national holiday. Give me a break. How about a story about how wonderful it is for Jews to have a place not to deal with it.