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My Part-Time Job

Have to go to work shortly.  What is my job?  Driving mom and dad to the doctor.  Yes, you are reading the blog of an unpaid chauffeur. 

No, I don't mind.  It gives me great pleasure to be able to do this for them.  I do have the option of refusing, and they could go to see doctors out in Virginia instead.  But we are hooked into the best medical care in the DC area by way of the best internist in the universe.  I found our internist when I worked as an RN.  Nurses that I respected said he was a good doctor, and they were right.  He listens, takes everything seriously, is there when you need him, and gives great advice.  Plus, he knows the best docs in DC and refers us to them when we need to see a specialist. We all - me, husband, all three kids, and my parents - see him.  Husband and I had our first appointments with him back in the mid-80s.  He knows our histories very well. 

I wouldn't think of making my parents switch.  My father especially has a complicated health history.  Docs that don't know him tend to screw him up.  Case in point - he fell and broke his neck in 2005.  He was taken by ambulance to a Virginia hospital where our doc doesn't practice.  We should have had him moved because he almost died as a result of the fact that they did not understand his medications and cardiac history. And they were stupid and uncaring and treated him like an old man who was about to kick the bucket so why should they bother anyway?*

I am not the most forward person, I don't like to be emotional in public, but these folks heard from me. And when I was through, they knew exactly what I thought of them.

My advice: If you have family members in the hospital, don't assume anything.  Keep a close eye on them.  You know you family member better than anyone.  You can spot changes that will not be noticed by others - particularly those who are careless.  Don't hesitate to point these things out and don't be afraid to be a PIA about it.   

Have to run!

*Note:  Good medical care is available in Virginia - we just had bad luck, which is why it's good to stick with docs you know. 

Blogging Hiatus....

I hate to call it that officially, because I never know when and if I'll have some free time to blog. For the moment, it's looking as though I won't have the time to, however. 

This place may remain quiet for a bit longer.

Back asap.

Singapore Airlines Suites

"Beyond first class" 

Be sure to watch the video after the first part finishes.

Dennis Prager: The Case For Judaism

Prager recently gave a talk on this subject which I can't recommend highly enough.  It is summarized here. 

You Tell Em, Mister

I will be Hamas’ worst nightmare.

                - Senator John McCain

Schedule Changes

I am taking three classes this semester (portrait, figure drawing and Hebrew).  Daughter has begun an internship every Friday from 9-5 pm in a distant place involving the dreaded Washington rush hour, and I am driving her back and forth. As a result, I have lost a big chunk of time that I usually use to blog. Thus, few posts. I'll be back to posting more regularly eventually.

Last semester, I took portrait drawing and really enjoyed it.  The teacher basically allowed us to do our own thing and went around making suggestions to us. He did occasional demonstrations - the eyes, the nose, the ear, the mouth, etc.  I started out very rough, but could see improvement as I went along, and I was really inspired by it.

This time, I have a different teacher (she teaches both the portrait and figure drawing classes).  She tends to be more obsessive-compulsive, and started us all from the very beginning - telling us how to set up the easel, how to hold the conte crayon (sanguine or black, on newsprint), etc etc.  We had to draw boxes she'd set up, we had to do blind contour, she's given many long lessons, and frankly, it's been a bit frustrating.  I am trying (on the advice of my children, who very adorably both independently said the same thing to me, "Mom, do you want to learn?  Then listen to the teacher." Heh.  Echoes of past mommy-isms reverberating back to me) to be patient and attempting to incorporate what she's teaching.  The thing of it is, is, what I am producing now looks like utter cr*p. Whereas, I'd actually begun to like what I was doing previously.

Well, today is our 4th figure class.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will actually allow us to draw people, instead of blocking out big shapes and making stick figures showing how they are posed.

I hadn't taken a "life drawing" class in quite a while. Our model was absolutely fearless.  Took off her robe and practically did gymnastics.  There was no pose she did not think of, no part of her she was unwilling to expose.  The instructor thanked her and observed to us how fortunate we were for having such a "giving" model. (I heard a woman mumbling under her breath that it was really a bit more than she needed to see...)

I missed last week's figure class due to preparing for Passover.  One of my classmates told me that there was a male model last week.  She said he was about 70 years old and was president of the artist model guild or some such thing.

Can't imagine what lies in store for today's class.

Compare and Contrast: The Messianic vs the Power Hungry Leader

Obama the Messiah vs Clinton the soulless - which would be worse? A fascinating analysis from Carolyn Glick.

Michelle Malkin: The snob vs the liar.

Egypt: Sudden Believer in Walls

Egypt Builds a Wall and Changes Its Tune on Israel's Barrier - David Schenker
In January 2008, Hamas demolished the Gaza-Egypt border fence, allowing an estimated 700,000 Palestinians - nearly half of Gaza's population - to stream into the Sinai desert. Then reality set in. The prospect of Hamas hooking up with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood terrifies the government of Egypt. With tensions along the border increasing, Egypt has softened its position on Israel's West Bank barrier.  In March, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said, "Whoever wishes to build a security fence on his land is free to do that." Subsequently, it was announced that Egypt, with $23 million in U.S. assistance, would build its own fence along the border with Gaza. At the end of the day, the Gaza border is a matter of Egyptian national security. So despite the comparisons that will be drawn between the Israeli and Egyptian barriers, Cairo had few alternatives other than to move ahead with a wall of its own. The writer is senior fellow and director of the program in Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. (Weekly Standard)

Al Qaeda Wants Credit For 9/11

And they would appreciate it if Iran would stop blaming the Jews.

Jews and Catholics

A moving article written by former NYC mayor, Ed Koch.

Feeling Toxic?

Extract nasty elements from your body while you sleep with CleansePatch.

Order yours now.

Happy Passover!

Heading out of town to visit relatives.

L'shanah haba'ah yerushalayim!

Last Night's Debate

I watched about 45 minutes to an hour of it (cooking and eating and household noise interfered a bit).  Though the liberal blogosphere is strenuously objecting, I thought all the questions I heard were fair. 

Prior to the debate I was thinking that this was going to be the end of Hillary Clinton's campaign.  In the past, she did not come off well debating Obama.  But to my surprise, she did a terrific job.  She came across as direct, to the point and did not let up on her opponent.  When asked if she thought he could win the election, I was impressed by the way she responded yes, without hesitation - - and followed up by saying she was the better candidate, of course.  This set the right tone for her to attack him later.  Though Obama tried his best to turn things around, he was not able to do it. Hillary was successful in pulling off being fair to him, yet attacking his campaign quite pointedly at the same time.  She seemed correct in what she was saying, but not mean, and in control of herself, fresh, and energetic.  Obama seemed unable to keep up.

Ms. Clinton was more on target, emotionally appropriate and clear than I've ever seen her.

I followed coverage from my favorite commentators at The Corner and Contentions as the debate was going on.  I highly recommend visiting both for good discussion of the details and implications.   

Though Hillary won the night, both candidates scored points against each other. The real winner of the evening as a result: John McCain.

Lovely. Just Lovely.

Abbas Honors Palestinians Who Helped Kill Israeli Civilians (Jerusalem Post)
    The Al Kuds Mark of Honor, the PLO's highest medal, will be given to two female terrorists who helped kill Israelis, Israel Radio reported Wednesday. Mahmoud Abbas has the final say when choosing the Palestinians to be honored with the medal.
    They include Ahlam Tamimi, who drove the suicide bomber that exploded in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 people, and Amra Muna, who seduced Ophir Rahum over the Internet and then lured him to Ramallah where he was murdered.
    See also Sbarro Terrorist Driver "Not Sorry" - Raanan Ben-Zur (Ynet News)

And in the meantime, Jimmy Carter is hugging members of Hamas:

Former President Carter angered Israel's government Tuesday by embracing a Hamas politician during a visit to the West Bank, ignoring Israeli and U.S. designation of the Islamic militants as a terror group. Israel accused Carter, the broker of the first Arab-Israeli peace accord, of "dignifying" extremists. But Carter vowed to meet Hamas' supreme leader this week in Syria.

Carter, a Nobel Peace laureate, also laid a wreath at Yasser Arafat's grave, another break with U.S. policy during a private peace mission to the Middle East that includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria - where the virulently anti-Israel Hamas movement has its headquarters. Carter returns to Israel on Monday.

Carter has been shunned by Israel this week, and the White House has criticized him for his willingness to meet with Hamas leaders.

Carter is also urging talks with Syria:

"Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in a final peace agreement, they have to be involved in discussions that lead to final peace," Carter said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

While Syria helps to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon:

Israel Says Syria Arming Hizbullah Despite UN Resolution
Syria is supplying Lebanon's Hizbullah militia with rockets in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak charged on Tuesday. The resolution called for the disarming of all militias - an allusion to Hizbullah as well as to Palestinian militant groups - and the prevention of illegal arms sales and smuggling operations in Lebanon. (AFP)

Commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The Jewish prayer for the dead echoed Tuesday across what was once the heart of the Warsaw ghetto as Polish and Israeli leaders marked the 65th anniversary of a doomed battle waged by young Jews against Nazi troops.

Israeli President Shimon Peres and his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, led a crowd of 1,000 gathered beneath the stark granite Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto in ceremonies honoring the Jews who rose up on April 19, 1943 in the face of imminent death and held off German troops for three weeks.

Survivor Hela Rufeisen, who was part of the fight as an 18-year-old, remembered the goal of the insurgency was simple.

"They are killing us, so we have to fight and hurt them, too," recalled Rufeisen, one of a few ghetto fighters who attended the ceremony.

Link

************

Marek Edelman, the last surviving commander of the 1943 uprising in the Warsaw ghetto by a handful of scrappy, poorly armed Jews against the Nazi army, becomes emotional when he speaks of the fighters he led.

"I remember them all — boys and girls — 220 altogether, not too many to remember their faces, their names," says the 89-year-old doctor, who still works in a Lodz hospital. Edelman will lay a wreath in their honor at the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto on Saturday, the 65th anniversary of the uprising.

The Nazis walled off the ghetto in November 1940, cramming 400,000 Jews from across Poland into a 760-acre section of the capital in inhuman conditions. On April 19, 1943, German troops started to liquidate the ghetto by sending tens of thousands of its residents to death camps.

Several hundred young Jews took up arms in defense of the civilians — the first act of large-scale armed civilian resistance against the Germans in occupied Poland during World War II.

"It was the first, most important and most spectacular" instance of Jewish armed resistance to the Nazi Holocaust, said Andrzej Zbikowski, head of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Edelman said the Nazis "wanted to destroy the people, and we fought to protect the people in the ghetto, to extend their life by a day or two or five."

Then 24 years old, Edelman took command of one of the revolt's three groups. His fighters, between the ages of 13 and 22, scraped together guns and ammunition that they and the Polish resistance managed to smuggle in from the outside.

His brigade included 50 fighters known as "brush men" because their base was a brush factory.

"There weren't enough guns, ammunition. There was not enough food, but we were not starving. You can live for three weeks just on water and sugar," which they found in the homes of those deported to death camps, he said.

They adopted hit-and-run tactics. With time, as supplies and forces began to run low, they resorted to attacks at night, for more safety.

"Every moment was difficult. It was two or three or 10 boys fighting with an army," Edelman said. "There were no easy moments."

But they were outnumbered and outgunned.

"It lasted for three weeks, so this great German army could not cope so easily with those 220 boys and girls," he said with a grain of pride.

The uprising ended when its main leaders — rounded up by the Nazis — committed suicide on May 8, 1943. The Nazis then burned down the ghetto, street by street.

About 40 fighters escaped through Warsaw's sewers and joined the Polish partisans.

"No one believed he would be saved," Edelman said. "We knew that the struggle was doomed, but it showed the world that there is resistance against the Nazis, that you can fight the Nazis."

Link

Leora of HP

An overdue link and recommendation:  Every once in a great while I come across a blogger whose interests line up with mine and with whom I feel an immediate affinity.  Leora is one of those.  But more, she's a wonderful writer and artist, very knowledgeable about Judaism and a very nice person as well.  I am glad that she stopped here and commented weeks ago, thus allowing me to find her blog and make her acquaintance.

For those interested in art, Judaism, nutrition, psychology, parenting, website design and/or Highland Park, New Jersey, or if you simply want to read an excellent new blog, I highly recommend visiting Here in HP.  Oh and by the way, there's a wonderful interview of Leora up on the Iconia blog, regarding the intersection of faith and art.

Jimmy Carter: Enabler of Tyrants

All I can say is, good for Israel for refusing to help with his security when he meets with Hamas this week.  If he thinks they are so wonderful, what does he need security for anyway?

In his latest indefensible move, he decided it was a good idea to lay a wreath at the tomb of none other than the Godfather of Terrorism, Yassir Arafat:

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter laid a wreath of red roses at the grave of Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat during a visit to the West Bank City of Ramallah on Tuesday.

"He and Mrs. Carter and his son Jeff wanted to pay their respects to President Arafat," Carter's trip director Rick Jasculca told Cybercast News Service. But the former president didn't make any comments there, he said.

Dubbed the "godfather of terrorism," Arafat was linked to the deaths of two American diplomats in the Sudan in 1973 -- one of many terror acts laid at his feet.

Read the ghastly history of Arafat's role in the assassination of two US diplomats, U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel and U.S. charge d'affaires George Curtis Moore, in 1973. Successive US leaders, with the exception of George Bush, decided to work with Arafat despite knowing of his involvement. Through the years, they cooperated with him in the faulty belief that he might help to bring about peace in the region.  But to lay a wreath now, to honor him after his death, when we know what we know...Carter is a real piece of work.

Frank Gaffney enlightens us as to more of Carter's legacy of incompetance:

Jimmy Carter's pathetic need for political rehabilitation following a presidency widely regarded as one of the worst in American history is once again making news. He reportedly will meet this week with Khaled Mashaal, the Syrian-based leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian arm, Hamas - an internationally recognized terrorist organization.

Mr. Carter maintains this is no big deal since he has met with Hamas officials before. Indeed, in keeping with his Carter Center's self-appointed status as global election monitor, the former president did officiate in January 2006 when the Brotherhood's terrorists defeated those of Fatah led by Yasser Arafat's longtime crony, Mahmoud Abbas.

In point of fact, it seems there is scarcely a serious bad actor on the planet with whom Jimmy Carter has not met. He is a serial tyrant-enabler, the very personification of Rodney King's risible appeal, "Can't we all get along?" Mr. Carter has come to epitomize the notion that "dialogue" is always in order, no matter how odious or dangerous the interlocutor - or the extent to which they or their agendas will benefit from such interactions.

As Barak Obama (whom Carter has all but endorsed) is as wedded as the former President to the idea of condition-free dialogue with tyrants, it is worth reflecting on just a few of the many example's of how this Carteresque practice has produced disastrous results:

• In 1979, then-President Carter undermined the Shah of Iran and made possible the Ayatollah Khomeini's return to Iran and subsequent Islamic revolution. Although the uber-mullah returned the favor with the sacking of Embassy Tehran and seizure of its personnel that assured Carter's would be a one-term presidency, the regime thus born has ever since been a blight on its own people and a state-sponsor of terror and nuclear wannabe that represents an ever-growing menace to its region and the world.
• In 1994, Citizen Carter made a mission to Pyongyang at a time when then-President Bill Clinton was first confronting evidence of North Korea's illegal pursuit of nuclear weapons. The former president's intervention gave rise to a deal that lent invaluable prestige to the regime, perpetuated its hold on power and utterly failed to preclude the North's acquisition of a nuclear arsenal.
• In 2004, Jimmy Carter ignored abundant evidence of official vote-rigging and election fraud in a Venezuelan referendum, handing victory to Hugo Chavez and clearing the way for the most destabilizing accretion of power in the Western hemisphere since Fidel Castro's communist revolution in Cuba - a model and inspiration for Chavez.

In short, thanks in no small measure to Jimmy Carter's proclivities and meddling, the world is a considerably more dangerous place.

Read the rest.

More on Carter's "Tour of terror":

The trouble with having an open mind, the novelist Terry Pratchett once observed, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. That caveat seems especially relevant in light of the news that Jimmy Carter will travel to the Middle East this week to meet with, among others, Khaled Meshal, the notorious Hamas commander living in exile in Damascus.

It isn’t clear who convinced the former president that the road to peace in the Middle East lies through one of its leading saboteurs. But Carter’s justification for the trip – he intends to come with an “an open mind and heart to learn from all parties” – is an object lesson on the perils of open-mindedness.

For one thing, there is little to be learned from Khaled Meshal. His resume speaks gruesomely for itself. A Hamas veteran, Meshal is suspected by Israeli authorities of being the mastermind of several high-profile terror attacks. The June 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit reportedly was carried out on his orders.

Less compromising than even his counterparts in Gaza, who have at least paid lip service, however implausible, to the idea of honoring a peace treaty with Israel, Meshal makes no effort to conceal his true aim: destroying the Jewish state through a relentless campaign of terrorism.

...Whatever else may be said of Carter’s forthcoming meeting with Khaled Meshal, it is entirely in keeping with his disgraceful post-presidential career. Whether out of a dangerous naiveté or genuine malice toward Israel – and there is evidence that both are at play in Carter’s aggressive advocacy for the Palestinian cause – Carter has become a pawn of terrorists who have the blood of countless Israelis, as well as Americans, on their hands. That Carter continues to see these committed killers as peacemakers is only further proof that an open mind should never be confused with a wise one.

Read the whole thing.

Take Me Out to the zzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ.......

On Saturday, it was husband's birthday and we went with our friend and his 10 year old daughter to see the Nationals play Atlanta at the new National's ball park.  Husband hadn't seen the new park yet and was really looking forward to it. 

If you haven't seen this ball park and if you like that sort of thing, you may enjoy these pictures.

Rain delay.  The game did eventually go on. 

 

A view from within.

I took this one because I thought it was very cool that they had flowering trees with pansies planted around them inside the ball park.  And I'll bet they thought no one would notice. 

 

Man wearing furry costume.

 

This is a picture of the big screen with the guy who sung the Star Spangled Banner on it.  They showed different images of the DC monuments as he sang.  Just below the crowd, you can see a narrow screen where they showed coordinating pictures.  It was a nice effect.  The head you see on the bottom of the screen?  A celebrity who shall be revealed below.

 

Does this man look familiar?  He wrote a smashing column in today's paper. I mean, he really hit one out of the park. The bases were loaded but I seem to have run out of appropriate baseball metaphors.

 

Wind....

 

...ing....

 

...up....

 

...for the pitch.

Picture of the day:  See the blur going into the glove?  I can't tell you how many pictures I took trying to capture the ball.  This was the closest I could get.

 

The stadium and crowd. Most folks seemed to be wearing red, don't you think? Lots of hats....did the sun come out?  I don't quite recall...what does it say on that sign over there?  Borders books? Maybe I'll get over there tomorrow...Looking forward to going to dinner tonight....maybe I'll order the ribeye....have to make sure to remember to call the irrigation people....the new bushes need water....though it did rain today...wonder if it rained in Virginia too?

 

Shame on me.  Allowing my thoughts to wander when people worship so conscientiously at the altar of baseball that they take down every little thing that happens during the entire game.

Why?  Why do they do this? Do they have deep discussions about it later?  Do they look back and remember each play?  Do they check the news reports to make sure they are accurate?

Why?

Oh, what's this?  They are throwing shirts?  Me!  I want one!  Me! 

I don't know why I want one. 

That is the last thought I remember before falling asleep on husband's shoulder. He didn't mind.  He saw I was having trouble staying awake and beckoned me over.  Nice comfy shoulder.  Ahhh.

The Tax Poem

Tax his land, tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.

Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his ties, tax his shirts,
Tax his work, tax his dirt.

Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
Teach him taxes are no joke.
Tax his car, tax his grass,
Tax the roads he must pass.

Tax his food, tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his sodas, tax his beers,
If he cries, tax his tears.

Tax his bills, tax his gas,
Tax his notes, tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers, tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.
Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.

Put these words upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove me to my doom!"
And when he's gone, we won't relax,
We'll still be after the inheritance tax.
               

                   - Author unknown

A Story About Character

I am still learning about Senator John McCain as he runs for the office of president of the United States.  I recently read the following story about him which I thought was very telling.

...we were on the road, and McCain was reminiscing about his early political career. When he was elected to the House in 1982, he said, he was "a freshman right-wing Nazi." But his visceral hostility toward Democrats generally was quickly tempered by his tendency to see people as individuals and judge them that way. He was taken in hand by Morris Udall, the Arizona congressman who was the liberal conscience of the Congress and a leading voice for reform.

"...Mo reached out to me in 50 different ways," McCain recalled. "Right from the start, he'd say: 'I'm going to hold a press conference out in Phoenix. Why don't you join me?' All these journalists would show up to hear what Mo had to say. In the middle of it all, Mo would point to me and say, 'I'd like to hear John's views.' Well, hell, I didn't have any views. But I got up and learned and was introduced to the state." Four years later, when McCain ran for and won Barry Goldwater's Senate seat, he said he felt his greatest debt of gratitude not to Goldwater—who had shunned him—but to Udall. "There's no way Mo could have been more wonderful," he says, "and there was no reason for him to be that way."

How McCain repaid his debt.

Hat tip: Throwing Bullets 

So Much to Blog...

...so little time. Heading out the door to art class - back later.

The Road to Change is Paved With Questionable Intentions

Iran. Must. Not. Obtain. Nuclear. Weapons.

In reaction to Charles Krauthammer's latest column, Noah Pollak writes:

This is the question of whether Iran, upon acquiring a nuclear weapon, would need to actually launch an ICBM at Israel to destroy the country, or whether it could attempt to pick it apart through a relentless campaign of terror wars launched by its “non-state actor” proxies. Please pardon me for quoting something on this subject that I wrote previously:

The Jewish state already has a problem in the number of its citizens who tire of the warfare, terrorism, and Arab hatred that are regular features of life in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live abroad, many permanently, because they seek a “normal life,” and many Jews will never immigrate to Israel exactly because of the absence of such a life. All of this is only in the face of Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists who kill with crude weapons. Now imagine those groups with the support of a nuclear patron. Imagine daily life in Israel conducted under the constant threat — the Iranians would surely take every opportunity to remind Israelis — of nuclear annihilation.

The Iranians are probably smart enough to know that if they’re patient, nothing so dramatic as nuclear war will be necessary. Simply by possessing a nuclear capability and regularly threatening to use it or supply it to its proxies, Iran will accomplish the psychological and economic attrition of Israel. This goal will be achieved without firing a shot — or at least without full-scale war.

Krauthammer’s column is intended as an attempt at envisioning a U.S. security strategy that would protect Israel in an Iranian nuclear era. Its failure to present a plausible scenario for doing so should underscore the importance of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in the first place.

Click link to see the following being discussed in comments - - >  If Iran nuked Israel, would the US take the survivors?

God forbid it should ever come to that. 

Facebook People

You who visit from Facebook, be ye friend or foe?

I've had several visitors from a particular Facebook page over the last couple of days.  Not sure what it's all about.  Wondering who linked and why? 

I can't visit their page because I don't have a Facebook page of my own.  Why don't I?  Because it would compromise my internet anonymity, which is already somewhat compromised as it is. 

Why am I anonymous? 

1.  So that my blatherings don't embarrass anyone close to me.

2.  For reasons of safety. 

3.  Because it's nice to just have this spot for me and me alone.  I can say things here in ways that I can't/won't elsewhere.  And I don't have to explain anything.  And no one calls me a radical extremist.  Next to the apolitical person I once was, I am now a radical extremist to some who knew me when.

The end.

Of this post.

Sorry, but I am sleep deprived and am too tired to find a more graceful way of ending.

A Story That Shook Me Up

Is antisemitism going more mainstream in the US?

See the video.

Read further commentary from Roger Simon.

From My Email Box

Writer Naomi Ragen was sent the following by one of her readers, who asked if she was reading too much into it.  Ragen thought not, and I agree.

Here are lyrics to a song that Sheryl Crow sang on Dancing With the Stars:

Out Of Our Heads

Out Of Our Heads
Lyrics: Bottrell/Crow Music: Bottrell

If you feel you wanna fight me
There's a chain around your mind
When something is holding you tightly
What is real is so hard to find

Losing babies to genocide
Oh where's the meaning in that plight
Can't you see that we've really bought into
Every word they proclaimed and every lie, oh

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts

Someone's feeding on your anger
Someone's been whispering in your ear
You've seen his face before
You've been played before
These aren't the words you need to hear

Through the dawn of darkness blindly
You have blood upon your hands
All the world will treat you kindly
But only the heart can understand, oh understand

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

Every man is his own prophet
Oh every prophet just a man
I say all the women stand up, say yes to themselves
Teach your children best you can

Let every man bow to the best in himself
We're not killing any more
We're the wisest ones, everybody listen
'Cause you can't fight this feeling any more, oh anymore

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

Let Them Eat Horseradish

Reach to Recovery

Reach to Recovery is a program from the American Cancer Society which matches up breast cancer survivors with women who are newly diagnosed or undergoing treatment.  I'm a volunteer and I've worked with a few women.  Tonight, I had an especially moving and emotional phone call. 

The woman lives in my town, is 62 and just lost her husband recently.  She had a mastectomy this past February and is debating whether to undergo chemotherapy. 

Her will to live was lost with her husband. She could barely talk about him - they'd had a long and happy marriage. She felt alone and lost.

What could I do?  What could I say?  How could I help?

In her case, chemo will give her a 5-7% improvement in odds of not having a recurrence.  I said everything I could think of to convince her to do it.   I could really understand how she felt, but as I told her, one day she will wake up and it will be spring and the sun will be out, the flowers will be blooming, and she will be glad to be alive and glad she gave herself a better chance for a long life.  She has 2 children, one grandchild and another on the way. I shamelessly told her to do it for her children, and that she shouldn't deprive her grandchildren of their grandmother.

She said she has friends who have offered to help, but she hated the thought of asking them for anything.  I suggested that instead of thinking she was asking for help, she was instead providing an opportunity for others to feel needed and good about themselves. That people like to help others and they would especially like to be able to help a friend. And of course I told her she could call me.

I suggested that she consider thinking about trying one dose, and seeing how it goes.  People react in different ways - maybe she would be one who got through it more easily. She said she hadn't thought of that, that maybe she would try it. 

I'll call her back in a few days to see what she decides.

Battlestar Gallactica: The Story in 7 Minutes

McCain Sings Barbra

He's got a good sense of humor. He was pretty funny on Letterman recently as well.

Spring Pansies in the Rain

They've come back very nicely from the way they looked a few months ago, after an ice storm squashed them flat:

Question: Why Won't Osama Bin Laden Attack Sweden?

Maybe it's because he and his family used to vacation there.  Lots of big happy smiles, blue jeans and not a burqa in sight. See the photo.

From Deep Within His Gut...

...this guy loves Obama.  Why?  Because of what it says about us:

...the greatest thing about Obama isn't really about Obama at all, per se. It's actually about, well, us.

This is the great revelation: We still got it. The collective unconscious, the deep sense of inner wisdom, that intuitive knowing that borders on a kind of mystical proficiency, where millions of people can actually look beyond rhetoric and media spin and merely feel the presence of something great in the room? Yep, still there. Who knew?

See, this is what I hear most from relatives and readers and friends and newborn activists who were never activists before: Obama speaks to the intuition. It's about the sixth sense. It's not just what he says or how he behaves in the debates or the policy wonking or the "Change" banners or any of the typical, tangible factors — although those have proven to be remarkably positive, too.

It's this: People feel it. They hear an Obama speech or read the articles or talk to like-minded folk, and they squint their eyes and weigh everything and then dismiss all that surface crap and get that look on their face that says, you know what? This guy gets it. He feels right. It's not a trick of light. It's not complete bulls—. It's not the usual spin and manipulation and fakery. There is actual meat on this bone.

...I trust the shockingly widespread sense, not merely of hope and change, but of collective wisdom swimming though the air like an electrical surge between every smart, creative person on the planet right now, a bolt of energy that says: Hey, we're still together. We still got it. Smart, intuitive people are still a force. There is life in the revolution yet.

Sweet holy Moses. What a bunch of blanched shoelaces.

Whoa

Nice assets.

Just Think of it as an Economic High Colonic

Larry Kudlow writes:

An Economic Cleansing 

Recessions are part of capitalism. They happen every so often. We’ve had two in the last 25 years. And it looks like we are entering a third one after today’s jobs-loss report.

The unemployment rate went up to 5.1 percent. Non-farm payrolls have fallen for three straight months. Private payrolls have fallen four straight months. And the entrepreneurial small-business-oriented household survey is below its November peak, showing a loss of 678,000 jobs.

These are relatively mild job losses so far. So one can hope this will be a relatively mild recession. But frankly, no one knows for sure.

A lot of Keynesian economists expect the tax rebates will promote recovery. But I doubt it. It’s a demand-side nostrum where only about 20 percent of the checks will be spent. It creates no economic-growth incentives. The 2001 rebates were of little consequence, and it wasn’t until marginal tax rates were cut in 2003 that the economy recovered strong. Even worse, Papa Bush raised taxes in 1991, which retarded recovery.

As a guess, the recession began in November or December. The stock market is basically flat today. And with all the pessimism out there, investors may have already discounted the economic downturn, with the market reaching a low on January 22. It’s up about 4 percent since then, which may mean shareholders are anticipating a new economic rebound in the second half of this year.

Recessions are therapeutic. They cleanse excess from the economy. Think about excessive risk speculation, leverage, and housing. Recessions are curative: They restore balance and create the foundation for the next recovery. Despite the housing and credit problem and the sub-prime virus, banks are still lending to businesses. So we don’t have a genuine credit crunch across the board. That is very good.

Link

Where the Sun Doesn't Shine

An open thread for people to discuss anything related to their colonoscopies.

(I realize that with this post, I relinquish all hope of presenting this as a serious blog.)

Under the Weather

Experiencing some side effects from the past two days regime of osmo(bleh)prep (don't be fooled by the smiling woman) followed by colon(ugh)oscopy (am feeling some leftover mental muddiness resulting from demerol and versed - - by the way, if you have a colonoscopy and are given a choice, ask for fentanyl over demerol, unless you like the idea of being awake and feeling every twist and turn of the scope.  On a scale of 1-5 yeeeeows, I would give it a 4).

Will be back when the side effects clear.

Lack of Blogging

Daughter has walking pneumonia. Had to run her around to doctor and pick up prescriptions. I am going for a colon(ugh)oscopy tomorrow involving prep today.  Time and energy are lagging, thus no blogging.

Will be back asap.

Nice News

After reading this article yesterday, I was left feeling fairly pessimistic about the state of the economy.  I'm still concerned (and I know I am not alone in feeling that way) but for the moment at least, things are looking up.  Let's keep fingers crossed and pray to all of our assorted Deities that it is a signal of a turning tide:

Stocks Surge on Bank Hopes, Econ. Data
Tuesday April 1, 11:42 am ET
By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer

Wall Street Surges on UBS and Lehman Brothers Stock News, Better-Than-Expected Economic Data

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street kicked off the second quarter with a big rally Tuesday on rising hopes that banks slammed by the credit crisis are working through their problems. A report that U.S. manufacturing is faring better than expected last month also sent stocks higher and helped propel the Dow Jones industrials up more than 250 points.

Financial stocks were among the big winners after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Switzerland's UBS AG issued new stock to help bolster their balance sheets. With that upbeat news and the second quarter ahead of them, investors appear quite willing to make some bets that the worst of the damage from the credit crisis has been felt. Moreover, the moves buttressed the view that financial services companies are taking aggressive action to improve their capital bases and stave off the potential of a collapse similar to Bear Stearns Cos.

Analysts believe there must be a recovery in bank and brokerage stocks to lead major stock indexes higher. Some of the biggest financial players had their biggest moves this year -- Citigroup Inc. shot up 9 percent, JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 6.7 percent, and Lehman surged 11 percent.

"This is a nice way to begin the second quarter," said Todd Leone, managing director of equity trading at Cowen & Co. "All the financials are up big, and there's a sense that things are turning. We definite have not seen the last of the credit crisis, but we're getting closer."

link

American Thoughts Regarding Israel

Poll: U.S. Voters Support Israel (JTA)
    Americans likely to vote in November strongly believe the U.S. should take Israel's side in its conflict with the Palestinians, according to a poll of 800 likely voters conducted on March 18-20 and released Monday.
    "The militant actions by Hamas and disarray among the Palestinians have moved Americans to side with Israel even more strongly than in the past," said Stanley Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
    93% agree Palestinians must stop their missile attacks before a two-state solution can bring peace to the region.
    84% of Americans agree Israel should remain a Jewish state and a homeland for the Jewish people. Only 20% believe that Jerusalem should be divided.

Not sure how accurate this is.  800 is a pretty small sampling. The fact that only 84% think Israel should be a Jewish state - - wonder what percentage believe that France should be a French state?

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