The Way to No-Thing

A thought on Ultra Orthodox Modesty

2012-02-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

It just hit me. It is about sex and sexual desire and not upholding any nuanced religious law.

How do I know this?

Because the men attacking young women and girls are doing just that, attacking young women and girls.

You never hear about them attacking a senior lady.

Something to think about.

If Israel had been around the Holocaust would not have happened

2012-02-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

I hear that a lot from Jews; both in and out of Israel.

From the Jerusalem Post:

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=256504

Newly established “Medal of Light” award aims to shed light on those who work to improve lives of Shoah survivors.

-------- Here is the point which interested me the most:

The foundation’s Kalinsky also said that one of the the aims of the new award was also to raise awareness to the plight of an estimated 207,000 elderly survivors living in Israel, whose living conditions are very bad and whose needs increase as they grow older.

According to the organization, an estimated 50,000 survivors live below the poverty line and close to 35 survivors die each day. Roughly 60 percent of the survivors are immigrants from the former Soviet Union that arrived here during the 1990s and there are still some that are not eligible for certain specific pension funds aimed at helping survivors financially.
------------

And this information is publicized fairly often, that Holecause survivors go hungry, homeless, without proper medical care,
and on and on and on.

The State of Israel is Lucky I guess, soon they will all be dead and they can stop the meger funding they do offer.

Or is that bad for the State of Israel? Will the appointed political hacks who run the government holocaust funds lose their piggy bank?

Here are the facts:
1- Holocaust survivors have been treated pretty shabbily by the State of Israel over the years.
2- Not one Holocaust survivor should ever go hungry or homeless or without medical care in the State of Israel. Ever!
3- Israel has absolutely, barefacedly, hypocritically wrapped itself in the corpses of Jews while turning away from those who survived.
4- Not one shekel should go from the government to any holocaust museum and Israel has no right to hold a holocaust remembrance day until all the survivors are dead or fed.

The private organizations and individuals who are doing what they can are wonderful, but it shouldn't be needed. Israel utilizes the Holocaust at every turn, it is the government's job, it is their responsibility to provide for these survivors. This is why you have a government, to take care of issues affecting society. And since it's founding, Israel has disgustingly and brazenly absolved themselves of this responsibility.

Jewish Evolution

2012-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Life is change. Nothing stays the same.

Religion is no exception. Every religion has evolved; changed dramatically from what it once was.

I am Jewish, so my focus is on Judaism. I understand it best, I feel it instinctively. It is part of who I am.

But it could be any religion.

Look at Judaism: We used to sacrifice animals, now we pray in temples.

Yet so few religious jews know that temples were an invention of the Greeks, as they shifted from animal sacrifice to prayer in temples. And the Greeks ruled ancient Israel at the time, and the Israelites adopted prayer in temples. As we know from the story of Hanukkah, the majority of Jews at the time were assimilated Hellenists.

Or the concept of heaven and hell, or the messiah; none of which is mentioned in the old testament. jews adopted these concepts from other cultures.

In fact, Judaism originally was a polytheistic religion.

early Jews believed God had a wife.
The bible speaks of witches and magicians and talkers with the dead, all of whom drew their abilities from powers other than Yaweh.
In the 10 commandments it states, I am your God. Thou (you) shalt have no other Gods before me. Before me implies that one may have faith in other gods, but that Yaweh, the God of the Israelites, is the most powerful god of all.

And I read this great article in Haaretz newspaper:

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/gur-hasidim-and-sexual-separation-1.410811

Gur Hasidim and sexual separation

A really interesting article on how A sect of Ultra orthodox Jews relate to human sexuality.

My personal take is that over the last generation or more, there has been a huge shift where the other ultra-orthodox jews have tilted towards this group's outlook on sexuality.

But a few lines of particular note:

"Gur Hasids drew the inspiration for separation from the heritage of Kotzk, a small Hasidic sect that existed in the early 19th century - the path of which Gur saw itself as continuing.

"The Kotzk Rebbe essentially claimed that love for the Lord and love for a woman do not go together. There is a rivalry between spirituality and sexuality, so sexuality has to be abolished," notes Wasserman, explaining the rationale"

This is the Christian concept of sex. When their system evolved and banned priests from sexual relations this is the exact same concept that was used to create their new reality.

Judaism switched from Polygamy to monogamy directly from the reality of the dispersion from Israel and Jews living in majority non-Jewish countries.

and flash forward to the 19th century and we see the direct adoption of the Christian view of sexuality by Jews who had been living as a minority in Christian countries, for hundreds of years.

Look at the many flavors of ultra orthodox jewry today. The constant battles in Israel over separate seating on public busses, separate functions for men and women, sperate sidewalks on public streets!

all from Christianity. All of it. Every last drop.

Early Judaism was deeply rooted in the present.

The concept of a woman's modesty in Judaism comes from the story in the bible of Rebecca going to the well.

She went through the well, passing shepards, men, and the waters from the well came up to her.

As a tale, this is the story of a woman doing manual work, living in the world with men. She walked past the men, she was grounded in her reality and maintained her dignity.

This is the story which is pro the mixing and interaction and abilities of men and women to co-exist as equals.

Today, ultra orthodox Jew's have taken his empowering moment of our forbearer's history and twisted it beyond all recognition.

Today Jews have a State of Israel. We no longer need to adapt to living as a minority in Christian and Muslim lands.

Let's get back to Judaism. Let's be who we were meant to be; a people living in the world, a people with history and a family with legends and traditions, a people with guidelines on how to live in the real world, not cut ourselves off.

"corporations Are people... my friend"

2012-02-04T01:29:00.000-08:00

Yup. Mitt Romney is right when he said that corporations are people.

Mitt was referencing the supreme court which upheld corporation's right to donate to political campaigns as they too have a right to freedom of speech.

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart had a funny take when they said that if corporations are people than Mitt Romney was a serial killer.

And while they made their point hilariously, they touched on a much deeper issue, that people have more responsibilities and less benefits than corporations.

People in a society are members of a social compact. We used to live in tribes and over tens of thousands of years we have transformed tribal living into large societies. But as people, our basic structure remains the same, we live within a group and most of us live within the accepted guidelines of the society... we uphold our social compact so that we can live as social beings.

I'm a capitalist. I'm all for corporations making money.

But if corporations have the rights of people, than they should also have the responsibilities of people.

In a community people shop, live, hire and interact. People instinctively recognize that we need to rely on and support each other in order to thrive.
Corporations rely on our communal structure to make and transport and sell their goods. The police that protects the community protect corporations as well.

And yet if a corporation decides to move overseas or outsource in order to cut labor costs or taxes, than how are they abiding with the terms of the communal social compact?

People are bound by law and their community regardless of their geography. If an american goes overseas and does something which is illegal in the states, they can be prosecuted in the states for their behavior overseas; for example, pedophilia.

And yet American corporations can hire slave labor or what we regular people call slave labor, with no legal consequence.

If Corporations are people than they have rights and they have responsibilities.

If corporations are not people than get them the hell out of polotics.

An Interesting Thing on the way to Israeli Restaurant Review #2

2012-01-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

So after my Kanibar fiasco I was anticipating the opportunity to eat out and write a review of a typical dining experience in Israel which is usually awesome.

Lucky me. Who knew it would come so soon.

The next day was a friend's 40th birthday. ( Hi R. Luv ya babe!)

6 of us went out to Temple Bar in the G center in Kfar Saba.

http://www.templebar.co.il/

I arrived first. While I waited I started chatting with the guy working the door. Big guy but fit and trim, maybe early 20's, nice smile... real friendly. And I speak hebrew with such an obvious American accent that anyone who knows a lick of English auto switches from Hebrew so they can practice their English.

So we started talking. He asked me where I was from, why I came to Israel... all the usual questions.

And I asked him where he is from.

And that's when things got sketchy.

You won't know it, he said. - Ok, maybe I will, and if not, I will now.
Yeah, it's no place you've been, he said. - Right, I haven't been to most of Israel, this is how I learn.
It's near Netanya (a big well known city not too far from me). - Great, I know Netanya a bit, what's your area called?
I'm not Jewish, he said quietly.

Huh?

I'm not Jewish he repeated in almost a whisper.

I paused. It took me a while to figure out where that came from and what that meant.

After I remembered that I aint in Kansas anymore, I looked him square in the eye and I said, Buddy, I'm from the United States of America. There are over 300 Million people in the USA and you wanna know something?

yeah...?

Most of 'em aint Jewish.

His face lit up and a big smile and wave of relief washed over his face. We shook hands and he said, I'm from Bakko, I'm an Israeli Arab.

We chatted a bit more and then my part showed up.

How happy I feel that a random person could offset a drop of what he has to walk around with every day in Israel.

How sad I feel that he walks around with this every day.

Now onto the review.

Overall Great!

Downside: The fries weren't great, which is a bit disappointing.

Upside: Fantastic decor, spacious and comfortable interesting ambience. Wonderful service. A huge beer and liquor selection. Irish/Israeli pub motif. Fantastic menu. Great food. Fair prices. Great presentation of food. Great service. (yes I said this before but service is a huge criteria for me). Decent live music, but not so loud that you couldn't interact with friends, in the middle of the week. Loads of parking.

Definite Must Go.

I had the sampler platter of sausage, wings, spring chicken and other assorted meats. But I sampled my friends foods... fish n'chips, Shepard's pie and more.

It was all really really yummy and the service was good and the prices fair.

What more do you want?

Presidential Religious Litmus Test

2012-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Ken Starr recently wrote an article calling on Americans to ignore Romney's faith as in America there is no religious litmus test to be president.

Ken Starr is correct.

And yet there are a few nagging points which need to be made.

Where is Ken Starr on President Obama? As a leader in the GOP he writes an editorial for a presidential candidate from his part but says nothing as his party continues to paint President Obama as a muslim. He allows this behavior to continue because the President's religion does matter to a large percentage of the population.

Yes, there is no religious litmus test in America. A qualified candidate may run for office no matter his or her religious beliefs. But why does this mean that the voter should not take the candidates religion into account? If a Mormon Democrat was running for office do you believe that Ken Starr wouldn't take that into account when he decided who to vote for?

So what we really have here is once again, the leader of a political party wrapping himself in the cloak of righteousness when in truth, he flings rhetoric to gain more power.

Yay for democracy!

Israel Restaurant Review #1

2012-01-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

I've eaten at some amazing places: Trotter's, Carlos', King Louis 15th and Tru to name a few. And I love just as much to chow down on a hot dog and fries or a good pizza. All I ask is that the food be yummy and the service good.

In fact, I often find that the service makes the difference in how the food tastes. A bad server won't tell you if a dish is too salty, or won't bring the food on time, or make good recommendations. And when you're paying good money for food, if the service is bad your perception of the food is affected.

So now, after dozens of years of cooking non-professionally and professionally eating food from all over the world, it's time to start reviewing restaurants in my new locale: Israel.

A couple of my basic guidelines:

1) If you're an expensive restaurant than you better be great. If you're good or just ok than you're not worth that kind of money. There are too many top places to throw away the same cash on good.

2) have good service for your price range.

3)Don't Cheat! Don't you dare switch sauces in the bottles. If you're going to fill up a heinz ketchup bottle, for example, it better be with Heinz Ketchup. But if you put some knockoff in there to save a few pennies, how can I trust you on anything expensive? like the quality of your meat and produce, the time you spend on food safety & hygiene etc.

By and large I love Israeli food. Most of the places I've been have offered good value for their money, the food is fresh and the service friendly. There are loads of world class restaurants tucked away in little corners happily working their magic.

So I really expected that the first review would be of one of my favorite places. And just by chance I happened to take my kids to a fairly new local upscale hamburger place which was profoundly disappointing.

Kanibar Restaurant in Hod HaSharon. www. kanibar.co.il

Upside:

The food was tasty. They cooked the meat in my hamburger properly.

My daughter's schnitzel was juicy and full of flavor with a great even and pretty crust topping.

Yummy Fries (aka Cheeps)

It was the middle of the day and they attract a young crowd and even some kids, so the service was reasonable for that time of day.

Downsides:

#1 they put the meat and the vegetables on the wrong sides of the bread. You want the meat to be on the bottom and everything else building on top. There are reasons for this: 1st, simple construction. You want all your loose materials sitting on a solide wide base. 2nd, lettuce and onions and cheese etc. contain a lot of moisture. With the heat of the hamburger and juice dripping down, the moisture from those toppings get released and your base becomes a gooey mess. The alternative is to eat the burger upside down, with the round side down and the flat side of the burger roll up, which creates a terribly unpleasant sensation in the mouth. So good tasting patty killed by execution.

#2- they were out of some of the toppings I ordered. Really? No hot peppers? Walk down the street to the vegetable stand... literally just down the road.

#3- There was some brown stoneground style mustard in the Heinz Yellow Mustard bottle.
I happen to prefer a nice brown to the fluorescent yellow on my hamburgers. But they cheated! or the mustard had gone way way bad and I will be puking later.

#4- chicken wings came out barely coated in sauce and cold under the sauce there was. Yuck, cold wings and warm sauce. The microwave rectified the problem :-(

#5 - The onion rings: Decent but could buy the same at the grocery store frozen aisle. If you don't have great onion rings than don't bother.

My Recommendation: Don't go. Loads of great places for the same money.

The ATM Citizen or Let's All Break the Law

2012-01-21T03:59:00.000-08:00

There are lots of reasons to not break the law.

The three primary reasons are:

1) Punishment
2) Social compact
3) Morality

What does it mean when the government turns it's citizens into ATM machines?

Go to downtown Chicago. The system in place is that if you drive into the city and pull over on a main downtown road, even just to drop someone off; if you wait in your car with the engine running a meter maid will walk by and put a ticket on your car.

They don't tell you to move. They don't give you a warning. They put a ticket on your car and walk away.

That situation by itself is a disgusting way for a government to treat its people.

But then you can go a few blocks away, to city hall, and what will you see? All the important people's fancy cars parked with their engines off on the side of the road. There are plenty of cops there, they are stationed there to protect the important people's cars. Tickets? Ha! Forget about it.

This is just one example out of dozens.

When the citizens are turned into ATM machines it means that government has broken it's social compact with the people. Without a social compact there is no morality.

And so, it appears that the only reason not to break the law is fear of punishment.

This is freedom?

And it's the same everywhere.

In Israel they claim with pride that their president was tried, convicted and sentenced for rape. "What a legal and fair country," cried the Israelis.

Yet what they forget is that Katzav, the disgraced president, was offered the "VIP" justice deal. All he had to do was plead guilty to a misdemeanor and it would all be swept under the rug. The government begged him to take the deal. Finally finally finally, despite all the pressure and begging and pleading, and Katsav still wouldn't take the deal, Israel was forced to try him the the judicial system.

I doubt a regular citizen would be offered the deal they made him.

All we are to the government is an ATM machine.
Global recession? People out of work? Businesses failing? and the government officials vote themselves pay raises and better benefits.

Break the law? The law is broken. Just don't get caught.

Israeli Peace & Women's Sexual Desire

2012-01-16T23:15:00.000-08:00

The religious claim that neither exist.

The right claim that Israel's neighbors don't want peace, all they want is to kill Jews. They claim that peace is impossible to achieve and therefore giving land for peace is a tactic to drive the Jews 1 step closer into the sea.

The religious also claim that men have sex drives that are almost uncontrollable. Women don't suffer from sexual desire but women are the cause of men's urges. Therefore, because men are so easily tempted and turned on, it is the women wo must be put out of sight to prevent men from being tempted.

Except in both cases the religious right are proven wrong by facts on the ground.

We know peace is possible because Israel has achieved peace.

Israel has peace with Egypt and Jordan. Further, Israel has a cold peace with a number of other countries in the region. Just read WikiLeakes and you can uncover even more instances of Israel working closely with numerous Muslim and other countries.

Similarly, men are not all diddling themselves in the privacy of their bathroom. These men are having sex with women. If women have no desire for sex, than how are these hyper-sexual men getting women to have sex with them?

The fact that Israel has peace proves that Israel can have peace.
The fact that women have sex proves that women also want sex.

It's unfortunate that the orthodox are taught from such a early age that everyone hates Jews and that Jews are the chosen people... and at the same time they are taught that men are weak and can barely contain themselves sexually and women must be especially modest and chaste... to protect men and because that is their nature.

Imagine what might be if people were taught that they are not especially special by virtue of their blood?

or imagine what might be if people were taught that although men and women may express desire differently, both have sexual desires and that behaviors between consenting adults are not twisted and deviant.

All I am asking is that people look at what is, and not just what they are taught.

Why Egypt Should DUMP the Israeli Peace Treaty

2012-01-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

One of the hallmarks of a democracy, of a stable country with voting and equal rights, is the concept that future governments are responsible to uphold the agreements formed by previous governments.

Egypt's previous government was a dictatorship.

The government before that was also government of brute force.

Why should the Egyptian people, after risking their lives for the hope of democracy, be bound to the agreements of dictators who grabbed power and vast wealth in part due to the agreements they made with other governments?

Egypt should dump the Israel peace treaty... and every other agreement formed by their dictators.

Not today and not all at once. But elections are coming up. Let the parties state where they stand on oil contracts, military agreements, peace treaties; everything.

After the elections the new democratically elected Egyptian government can decide on a case by case basis which agreements to uphold, which to renegotiate and which to cancel.

I hope they uphold the peace treaty with Israel. I think peace is in everyone's interests. I like peace.

But the newly free people of Egypt should make that choice and not be bound to the residue from dictators.

Drugs Vs. Pot

2011-11-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=547427

The Centers for Disease Control reports overdosing on prescription painkillers is an epidemic in the United States, especially for men.
Government researchers say more people suffer deadly overdoses from prescription painkillers compared to heroin and cocaine combined.
Nearly 15,000 people died from prescription overdoses in 2008.
The CDC says there needs to be changes in the way the drugs are prescribed in order to cut back on misuse.

Not one person has died from a pot overdose, neither recreational pot or medically prescribed pot.

Who is against medical pot and why?

New Joke

2011-10-25T05:38:00.000-07:00

Two Yeshiva Boys are in a bar having drinks. After a while a girl walks over and starts chatting with one of them.
After a few minutes she asks him if he wants a blowjob.
He gets up and runs out of the bar as fast as he can.

His friend follows him out and asks him what she said that made him run out like that.

He answers “I’m not exactly sure but it had something to do with getting a job!”

We Have Our Own Interests

2011-10-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

I remember, one of the first things I saw when I visited Yad V'Shem, the Holocaust Museum, were pictures from American Planes of the camps and train lines.

Israelis, Jews from as far back as I can recall often held these pictures and other events like turned back boats and late entry to the war as proof that America failed. "America hated the Jews too," they said.

And the answer that America had its own interests was never accepted. Because it was the Holocaust and it happened to us.

And than I heard Israeli President Peres, at the beginning of the Arab Spring, defending Assad & Mubarak as men of stability.

I read Wiki Leaks and learned of secret deals between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

And selling "defense" weaponry to whomever can pay.

And on and on and on.

And I ask people, how can Israel support, trade and defend dictators with barbarous regimes?

And the answer is always the same: We have our own interests.

Adult Medicine

2011-10-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

A number of years back I was in an accident. The lowest disc in my spine shattered and the shards floated into the spinal canal and began to carve up the spinal root sac.

I had a number of surgeries and treatments and years of rehab.

I also had loads of pills. I had morphine, Vicodin, Felxerall, Valium, Oxycontin and Lyrica just to name the main drugs I was taking.

And they didn't work. Or rather, they did work for pain in the sense that if I took enough, eventually I would pass out and not feel the pain. But there was no in-between; either I took enough to get unconscious or I was devastatingly high but still in pain.

I have been prescribed medical cannabis.

And it works. I am functional, I can work, I can interact and it more effectively deals with the pain and nerve involvement than any pill I've taken.

These doctors have given me back a life.

What I don't understand is who is against this treatment? Why is it even an issue? How can anyone imagine that Medical Marijuana is worse than the pills they gave me?

It's nice to be treated like an adult and get the most effective treatments with the fewest side-effects. Why can't everyone have this? Why do you need to be in the right location, the right State or Country? Why do you need to go through years of disgusting and noneffective treatments before they finally give you something cheap and simple that works?

And every single person I see at the dispensary says the same exact thing. Every time a doctor, nurse or staffer walks by they are greeted by a row or people all of whom stop them and thank them and are grateful for getting their lives back. Cancers, MS, Accidents and more... across the board.

It's a flower, a plant. Please stop being stupid.
It's time we stopped putting religion and politics above the well being of real people.

A Tale of Two Israels

2011-10-10T01:31:00.001-07:00

My orthodox brother lives in an Orthodox community in the Jerusalem side of the country. I like to tell him that I live in a Mediterranean country. I live not far from the sea. In my area there are all the restaurants and shopping and clubs and malls and bars and events you could hope to find living in a European style country at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. And he lives in the Middle East.

That split between Israels was crystallized for me this past Yom Kippur.

This was my second Yom Kippur in Israel. This was my brother's 21st.

The day after Yom Kippur I spoke with my brother and we talked about the holiday. I told him how interesting it is that the streets in my area are filled with people on bicycles. No cars drive on Yom Kippur. So the roads are absolutely filled with walkers and bikers. It is a real cultural event in Israel to bike ride on Yom Kippur. I taught my 8 year old how to ride her two wheeler and by Yom Kippur afternoon she was zipping down the streets with the crowd. My 5 year old son was happily racing her on his bike with training wheels.

And this event, which is ineffably linked to Yom Kippur in Israel for a huge chunk of the country, is virtually foreign to my brother's community. He's read about it in newspapers, but even if he weren't in shul all day, they don't bike around his neighborhood on Yom Kippur.

And I think that may be part of Israel's problem. When Israel presents herself to the world, the world sees the Israel of the Middle East, not the Israel of the Mediterranean .

With Peace Like This Who Needs...

2011-09-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

Wasn't there a peace treaty? Aren't there rules governing these sorts of behaviors? Wasn't the uprising about a better quality of life and not about hating Jews?

I guess it's true, you may not cut off your nose to spite your face, but you will cut off your nose to spite a jew.
Egypt bans export of palm fronds ahead of Jewish holiday of Sukkot

Agriculture Ministry to issue special licenses allowing import of lulavs from Spain, Jordan and the Gaza Strip, so that no major shortage is experienced in the run-up to the holiday.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/egypt-bans-export-of-palm-fronds-ahead-of-jewish-holiday-of-sukkot-1.385247

Egypt has barred the export of palm fronds - used ceremonially in the upcoming Sukkot holiday - to Israel and to Jewish communities abroad, the Agriculture Ministry has learned.By Amiram Cohen

The move by the Egyptian government comes just weeks before the fall holiday when the lulavs are in demand. In the past, Israel has imported about 700,000 palm fronds a year prior to Sukkot, representing about 40 percent of the total demand for them every year here.

Palestinian Statehood

2011-09-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

The train is coming down the tracks.

Maybe it won't arrive on time, maybe the ride is rough, but it's coming.

Rather than whining and looking like a spoiled baby and begging the US to stand alone and prevent Un recognition, Israel should use this UN vote as an opportunity.

Free Gilad Shalit. Demand Human Rights. Insist that if the Palestinians are UN recognized that they must speak with one voice, the UN cannot recognize the PA and allow Hamas to be a separate gov't entity.

Israel and the US should offer to also recognize the Palestinians in the UN if the Palestinians show that they deserve recognition by acting within acceptable codes of conduct.

The train is coming either way. Israel needs to get on board or get out of the way.

NEW BLOG ALERT

2011-09-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

I have started another blog

http://angrygodschildren.blogspot.com/

common sense

2011-09-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

Like the man says: they call it common sense because it's common.

We think we know all sorts of things and we explain our actions accordingly. But from what I've seen, we are almost always wrong.

So let's make a pact.

Let's all agree that we are almost always wrong: wrong about what we know, our perspective, our understanding, our choices; wrong across the board all the time.

And then maybe we can give up on our dearly held ideas.

Believe in something? You're wrong.
Know something? You're wrong

So let's start being right by living with the knowledge that we are wrong.

Silly Jews

2011-09-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

Israel is a strange place full of silly Jews. When it comes to criticizing Israel on policy they demand that you separate Israeli and Jew into separate ideas. But they want Israel recognized as a Jewish country and is bound and based upon Jewish (religious) history and rules. Does anyone else see the problem here?

So an example of silly Jewish behavior: The Israeli society is based on a 6 day week with Saturday as the day off. Kids go to school sun-fri. Many people have Friday off work but many do not.

Here's what's crazy. Saturday, the one day off, just about everything is closed, except for specific spots and some gas stations and a few restaurants here and there. No public transport, no grocery stores just about nuttin.

I mentioned to a few people how crazy this situation is, that the one day people have off they can't get anywhere and do anything.

The response is: this guarantees that everyone gets a day off.

But that is a specious argument. Places are closed because god told these people to keep Sabbath and so they pass religious based laws forcing religion on people. Plenty of non-Jewish countries found ways to guarantee everyone gets a day off a week without shutting their country down for a day a week.

I really wish religious people would be honest. Instead of trying to find secular arguments to justify their religious behavior I'd rather they just say, we believe in god, our god said this, and we have the political power to make it happen.

Don't tell me you're forcing everything to close for my benefit, I don't need your help thank you very much. Don't tell me circumcision is healthy because that reason plays no part in why it is performed. You do it cause your god says so. If you're going to live like you're in the middle ages at lease have the balls to stand behind your actions.

Why Jews are Hated and why Turkey gets away with it

2011-09-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

To be the master you must kill the master.

1st. We carry a label. Right from the start we are in a category, regardless of what a non-jew knows or doesn't know about jews, we have a label. Having a label is fine when you're a majority, but when you're a minority most people you meet regard you as different. And different always carries a level of cognitive dissonance, aka: a freak out factor.

2nd: many jews are obviously different, whether through their dress or food requirements or just not working on saturdays; increasing the fear factor.

3rd: wht is the place as the jew. How can we exist when the other religions are so much more populated and came after the jews... we should have died off and be studied by academics. Our existence is an affront to their world understanding.

4th: we came first. (not with everyone, but with the people who don't like us. The Chinese for example, are fine with Jews. Which is a case in point.) Can Christians and Muslims take their rightful place as leaders of the world as long as old man jew is still around? It'd be like a CEO living at home with his mom.

5th: we just won't die.

I meet a lot of people from Russia and France and South America who tell me they left because of Anti-Semitism. I can't relate. I grew up in the U.S. I simply don't have that type of exposure to Anti-Semitism that they've had.

So maybe it's the American in me who thinks 'if they come with a knife, you come with a gun, they send one of yours to the hospital you send one of theirs to the morgue.' I hear an awful lot of Jews saying Thank God we have Israel or we could easily be wiped out. But I don't see Israel walking the walk. I know Israel is busy with all sorts of conflicts, but Jesus Christ guys, don't be such pussies.

Turkey is talking some serious smack and the best we can do is wring our hands and bitch and moan. What's the definition of insanity? Why doesn't Israel stand up for herself. Not with the same lame boring arguments that know one cares about unless you're the one making the argument, but with righteous zeal. Israel should be louder. Stand up fer christ's sake. Raise the roof.

This is what happens when you're busy making Nobel prize winners. You get a nation of geeks who get picked on.

Its ok, when we grow up we get all the hot chicks.

Reconnect

2011-09-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted. A lot has happened in my life and it did not feel appropriate to write under those circumstances.

But I'm back baby!

I've been rebuilt, better, stronger, faster. Version 2.0

It is time I started my march to take over the world.

Journey of a thousand miles is starting right here.

Go ahead bitches! Tug on Superman's cape

God's Wife - Judaism Revealed

2011-03-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

I've long argued that Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, there are more than enough clues in the bible to make that argument. And now researchers have uncovered more evidence that early Jews prayed to multiple Gods, that Yaweh, the Jewish God, had a wife.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/22/fertility-goddess-asherah-was-gods-wife-edited-out-of-the-bible/

Fertility Goddess Asherah: Was 'God's Wife' Edited Out of the Bible?

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/22/fertility-goddess-asherah-was-gods-wife-edited-out-of-the-bible/#ixzz1HSghYZYK

Of course no evidence will ever sway believers, because belief isn't rational. If you have an idea you can change your mind, like a rational adult. A belief is based on a person's need to have security, to have answers. Even if you say you don't understand the answers you can rely on your belief that something out there is controlling things, that there is reason, that nothing happens without reason. Believers fear randomness, it insults and assaults their sense and sensibilities. So no evidence will sway their belief, but still, sometimes you have to let out a mighty yawp.

Thou Shalt Kill

2011-03-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-stabbed-in-hebron-hills-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.350898

Palestinian stabbed in Hebron Hills in suspected 'price tag' attack
Mahmoud Awad, in his twenties, was taken to the hospital with knife wounds to the chest from attack suspected of being motivated by Jewish ultra-nationalism.

I'm completely disgusted.

I wonder if these attackers, on both sides, would commit these atrocities if they were secular or do they just use religion as an excuse to justify their actions.

A point to recognize is that terror by Palestinians is not an existential threat to Israel's existence and terror from Israeli's will not prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

UFC 128 Recap

2011-03-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

4 out of 5 aint bad.

And give it up to Bones, not only did he beat Shogun, he tore him apart.

The king is dead. Long live the king.