Cool article about how Neutron stars can warp Space-Time!
And yes, sometimes I am somewhat geeky and studious! :) Besides, this is a REALLY COOL PICTURE. I mean artist's rendtion...:)
According to this Reuters article, Toy R Us has become the latest company to recall China-made products, in this instance, wood coloring cases Toys R Us sold online and at their stores between October 2006 and August 2007. Just lovely.
According to the article,
The spate of recalls has sparked concern over the quality of products made in China, and the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection will also hold a September 19 hearing on how to protect U.S. children from toys, jewelry and other imported products containing lead paint.Here's how the hearing should go:
In yet another Republican scandal, Idaho Senator Larry Craig proclaimed that "I am not gay. I have never been gay." Read the article here.
Nothing New Under the Sun!
3,000 years ago, Moses said:
"Park your camel, pick up your shovel, mount your ass,
and I will lead you to the promised land."
3,000 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt said:
"Lay down your shovel, sit on your ass, light up a camel
this is the promised land."
Today, Bush will steal your shovel, sell your camel, kick your ass,
and tell you know there is no promised land.
Psalm 23 - Retold
Bush is my shepherd I shall not lie
He leadeth me beside the still farms and small towns.
He restoreth my doubt in the Repulican party
He guideth me down the path of untold debt for the party's sake.
My wages he will freeze but my expenses runneth over my income.
He cuteth taxes for the wealthiest surely.
Poverty and hard living shall follow the Republican party
and I shall live in a rented house forever.
Tests
Q: What did George W. Bush get on his S.A.T.'s?
A: Drool.
Ok, that's enough for now!!! :)
If you want more, click!
So someone, identifying themselves as anonymous, though I have a pretty good idea of who it is, quoted to me from the Mises Institute about how wonderful Wal-Mart has been for the economy. I responded, and noted how un-backed-up (is that a word?) the article was.
I was just perusing online and found this article on wikipedia, and article that uses actual citations for its research.
Here are some examples of the evils of Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once said, "I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment." You go, Sam!
Additionally, Wal-Mart's low wages have indirectly increased the costs of many social services programs, as many of its employees are forced to apply for government-funded health care, food stamps, and other programs to make ends meet. A 2004 estimate of the costs to California taxpayers was approximately $82 million per year. A report by U.S. Democratic Congressman George Miller cited that a 200-employee Wal-Mart store may indirectly cost federal taxpayers $420,750 to finance free-lunch and health-care programs for children of low-income Wal-Mart employees, tax credits for low-income families, and similar programs.Then there's this. And this. And this. And don't forget about health insurance, which leads back up to the health-care program for children quote above... Or "imports and globalization... Oh, and here's a great quote from here, something not often brought up:
In the mid-1990s, Wal-Mart had a "Buy American" campaign, which was eventually cancelled. By 2005, about 60% of Wal-Mart's merchandise was imported, compared to 6% in 1995.Funny, that. A "Buy American" campaign! And according to that article,
In 2004, Wal-Mart spent $18 billion on Chinese products alone, and if it were an individual economy, the company would rank as China's eighth largest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada.
Enigma 4U, guest posting over at DovBear, pointed us readers toHODS - Halachic Organ Donor Society. See, most people, myself included, who are frum, believe it is assur to become an organ donor. Apparently, this is not the case. Many, many rabbis have cards from HODS, the Halachic Organ Donor Society. Some of these rabbis include two from my own community, Rabbi Moshe Tendler, Rabbi Maurice Lamm, Rabbi Norman Lamm, and a large number of others.
Check it out, and if you can, get your own Halachic Organ Donor Card. The fee is $18, and the return is the possibility of saving someone's life.
I know it's kind of morbid, but remember, when people die, all that's going to happen is their organs are going to rot away anyway. Why not actually put them to good use and save a life or two?
Ok, all you RWNJs! You can relax now! My stint over at DovBear has ended after a week of fun!
It was really funny. I posted about Jews living in Big Cities, and people got offended. I posted a viable solution to the price of kosher meat, which was to call your local wholesaler and buy from him, and people got offended. So, I figured, if people are going to be offended anyway, I might as well post something a little more controversial and did a "Chareidi" bashing post, though it was pretty toned-down for me. And funny, no one really got offended in the comments!!
I just don't get it! :)
Anyway, I'd like to publicly thank DovBear for the opportunity to post my thoughts on his blog and look forward to future opportunities to post there again. :)
'Course, how will you know to if you can't read it...?
Funny thing about the artist of this comic strip: He's a die-hard Republican. But all this is the fault of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" idiocy, which basically lowers the level of education instead of tailoring for higher level and lower level. It's a good way to control the population and how much it thinks and how educated it gets, isn't it? :( I guess it's one of the good things about being frum and by default having my kid in a private school, and a really good one at that. They don't have to conform to this stupid "No Child Left Behind" program that is destroying the American Education System.
Well, at least the donuts are comforting...This artist is also a Republican, or at least a Conservative. But he, like the artist of Mallard Fillmore, is sick of the education system in this country being down in the dirt and is even more sick of the rampant outsourcing that is taking jobs away from Americans.
Here's what I find fascinating: Who, by definition, should be the "All-American" party, the one that espouses family values, is anti-flag burning, and supposedly fights for the American way of life? The Republican Party. The Democrats, us Liberal Wieners, are always so worried about everyone else. Republicans are the ones who are supposed to be worried about the US! Yet here they are, supporting Big Business to make it Bigger Business, supporting outsourcing to help Big Business grow, and destroying out Education System to keep most Americans dumb. Some party, huh?
It's kind of ironic how the Chareidim keep heaping on the chumras, be they about Tznius, making it seem more Taliban-like than Jewish, or about Pesach, always adding to the list of what's kitniyos (Pot?! Come on!!!), or about concerts, or any other slew of things that have been reported in the news and on other blogs. All this has been, in essence, an effort to close themselves off from the rest of the world, claiming they want nothing to do with the outside world and that they don't want the outside world to affect them.
Good. If that were the case. Here's the irony, though: By becoming more and more right wing, or, in their eyes at least, "frummer" than the rest of the Orthodox world, they are more and more reflecting the outside, non-Jewish world, especially fundamentalist Muslims and Christians. They are not closing themselves off from the outside world. They are making themselves more like some elements in the outside world.
Look at the Arab Fundamentalists - They scream and shout about their religion and how it's the only "emes." Sound familiar? They make their women dress literally from head to toe in shapeless clothes. Sound familiar? Ok, thankfully, the Jewish RWNJ (RIght Wing Nut Jobs) aren't doing so yet, at least when it comes to covering up women's faces with burkhas. However, Rabbi Adlerstein, over at Cross-Currents, has inferred more than once that he won't mention who's who in the RWNJ world without upping his life insurance for fear of his life, the same way many "normal" "middle of the road" Arabs simply don't object to the fundamentalism because they like staying alive. On the other hand, Rabbi Natan Slifkin was put into Cherem simply because he mentioned theories of the age of the universe that, while mentioned by great Torah scholars of the past, are not as universally accepted or popular as say, the theory of Hakadosh Baruch Hu Bara Olam Yashan (God created an old [looking] world).
Look at the Christians - They espouse family values. That's all you hear from them, especially their politicians. But where do you hear about troubled families, messy divorces, and infidelity the most? The Chrisitian Right, especially their politicians.
Then there's Chareidi politics. Pretty much the same as that of the Christian Right. It's practically halacha to vote for the Republicans because they are so good for "family values" and for religion. Never mind the history of Christian hatred toward Jews. Never mind the Halacha that Eisav Soneh L'Yaakov - Eisav hates Yaakov. Never mind they believe the only way their "Savior" will come back will be if the Holy Land is not in the hands of infidels, and Jews don't happen to be infidels (we just need "Saving"). Never mind that that idiot Bush's White House policies and his illegal war in Iraq has caused the Arabs to hate Israel (which they see as the US's proxy in the Middle East) and Jews even more than they already did (not that they needed an excuse, but Bush gave them one anyway - is that how a "friend" of Israel acts?), making him pretty bad for Israel and the Jews, not as great as so many people, especially many in the RZ community, believe.
My wife and I are big fans of a show called Stargate-SG1, which, sadly, ended it's ten year run in June. The Episode titled "Line in the Sand" made a very poignant point about people in authority corrupting stories in religious texts to fit their own agendas. In this particular episode, one character, Tomin, had been reading from the "Book of Origin," a ficitional Bible of some very powerful beings trying to force their religion on the rest of the galaxy. In the story, the main character, Markon, did not want to accept the religion and left his village. However, he had second thoughts, accepted the Ori, and was accepted back.
The Prior, the equivalent of a priest or a rabbi, of the Ori (hence - Origin), skewed this story and instead decided that the story meant the village that took him back in was destroyed, thus using the story to achieve his own goal of destroying a village that would not accept the Ori in the Stargat episode:
"The village will be destroyed. They have been touched by evil. There is no salvation for them. Markon walked away from the Ori to satisfy his hunger. But no matter how much he ate, he did not feel full. Realizing his mistake, he ran back to the Ori. But they denied his pleas and struck down the village that welcomed him back, and the hands of the Ori enveloped all those who welcomed him back. The village was destroyed. All those who stand by and accept transgressions must be punished."
Said Tomin to the Prior, "Forgive me Prior, that is not the implication of the text. The Ori granted forgiveness when Markon realized his mistake and blessed the village with their light for showing him the way back to the Path."
The Prior roared back at him, "You DARE to question my judgement?!" "No," said Tomin. "It's just not how I was taught."
"There are many words, but only one TRUTH," retorted the Prior.
And this is what's been going on in the Chareidi RWNJ world. No longer is the precept of Shiv'im Panim LaTorah accepted. Texts are skewed or misrepresented when convenient. There can be only one way, their way, and how dare someone question them or say something not in line with what they and their gedolim decree? And if you go against them, it's Cherem! Which is pretty much the same as destroying the village. Let's desroy the person.
I truly believe that these RWNJs are simply no longer Torah Jews. Let them go about their merry way, make their own lives miserable, and simply leave them to their own devices until they self destruct. The rest of the Jewish world can be there to gather in the Chareidi "kids at risk" and teach them how to be happy, normal, Torah observant Jews.
It's really time to simply discount this tiny minority of people who think they are the only Emes and start rebuilding the rest of the Orthodox world as a normal society/religion without all the craziness of the RWNJs. And if they don't like it, well, tough. Let them put the rest of us in Cherem.
I've cross-posted this at DovBear et al
An article by Rabbi Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn Direct and to the point. Maybe more Rabbonim will start to get the idea as well. One can only hope. I'd love to get in touch with this guy...
Quote from this Reuters article:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned from office on Monday, ending a controversial tenure as chief law enforcement officer that blemished the administration of President George W. Bush.Hmm. Is this the ONLY thing that has marred the Emperor's (and his administration's) reign? If only...:)
It's always been a source of puzzlement to why Jews, doesn't matter what type (O, C, R, Nothing), insist on living in big, giant cities, like New York and Los Angeles. I mean, honestly, what's the attraction?
I'm a big city person. I've lived in both New York and Los Angeles. In fact, I mostly grew up in Los Angeles (minus about six years in Israel). The problem with these places, aside from the obvious jokes one can make about both LA and NY, is they are TOO DAMN BIG!! But, I hate the big city. New York was awful. People there acted horribly, were quite rude, and it was way too overcrowded. In LA, people were a bit nicer, but again, there were just too many!
When a community becomes so huge as to number in the upper hundreds of thousands people, or even in the millions, that community ceases to be a community. Oh, sure, there are smaller shuls which one may join, larger ones in which one may be active. And within the confines of those shuls, certainly, there is some sense of community.
But what about community in a larger sense? A community to which everyone who is Jewish belongs? That dies when a community becomes a population. And that's the difference between a community and a population. A community, like the one in which I currently live, is close-knit, friendly, and gives you a sense of belonging. Shuls do things in conjunction with other shuls. They support each other in many endeavors.
On the other hand, a population is just that, a population. A population does not give one the sense of a community. You are invisible most of the time, unless you are within the framework of your shul or social circle.
I've never understood why Jews tend to congregate in large metropolitan areas. Certainly, with New York, which was the immigrant drop-off point, it made sense that a Jewish community would form there. But why stay? Even more relevant, why MOVE there?! Again, I understand NY has much to offer in the way of conveniences, restaurants, etc. But as someone who lived there, as someone who knows people who live there, it's just awful!
LA has become similar, unfortunately. It's even become a joke the New Yorkers like to call LA New York West.
When you lose a sense of community, you lose a sense of self as well, I believe. You lose, even, a sense of worth, unless you are very influential in many circles, and usually that means lot of money. What about all the rest who aren't wealthy?
Here's the other problem: There are so many beautiful small cities or towns where a Jewish person can settle quite comfortably and spend thousands, even hundreds of thousands, less than it would cost to live a Big City. In my new town, for instance, which has a substantial Jewish community, and even a Jewish Federation that is friendly toward the Orthodox community (don't know about New York, but certainly not the case in LA - they hate Orthodox Jews there!), a house that would have cost between $900,000 to $1.2 million in LA costs between $125,000 and $300,000 here. And in LA, the house would be smaller as it would have no basement and a tiny backyard. And it would only be three bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms. Here, it would be four or five bedrooms, two or three bathrooms, have a finished basement and nice sized backyard.
Take it even further. On our drive from LA to where we currently live, we went through some really gorgeous, gleaming towns that are just dying for an opportunity to have their community expand a bit. Even better, what about starting new communities, living in truly amazing places like the Rocky Mountains? On our way here, we passed through the Rockies. Let me tell you, I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life. From the bright night sky to the clean air, from the Colorado River to the wooded towns all along the way, all I could do was say "Ma Rabu Ma'asecha Hashem!" It was so clean, so crisp, and so incredibly beautiful. And yet, no Jews lived there. What's up with that?! If I weren't frum, or not Jewish, our drive would have ended right there. We'd have stopped, found some way to make a living, and settled there.
This is something I've always wondered. Why do Jews live in big, ugly cities instead of in beautiful places?
I've crossedposted this at DovBear et al
My kid starts Kindergarten today!! School until 3:30 PM! WOW! It's like a whole new world for me! I wish him lots of success and fun this next step along his educational journey!
And D, I love you very much!!
Aba
Click! Another Republican jumping (sort of) the bandwagon!! Or is warwagon?
Last week, Rabbi Harry Maryles of Emes Ve-Emunah posted a very insightful essay about the bigotry of the Chareidi/Yeshivish community against Baalei Teshuva. In it, he laments the treatment of Baalei Teshuva as second-class citizens - frum, but will never quite be completely accepted by the "FFB" world. Some of the comments on this post were great (including, of course, those of Yours Truly!). Some were disgusting. One of my comments quoted the famous Chazal statement "B'Makom She'Ba'alei Teshuva Omdim, Ein Tzadikim Gemurim Yecholim La'Amod" - Ba'alei Teshuva stand in a place where even completely righteous people cannot stand. The meaning of this Chazal is clear - Ba'alei Teshuva hold so lofty a level due to their Mesirus Nefesh in giving up a Torahless life and devoting themselves to Torah and Mitzvos, that even complete Tzadikim, who have always been devoted to Torah and Mitzvos, can never reach that level.
The Chareidi twisting of this Chazal was nauseating: One person, who uses the handle "Chareidi," had this to say about complete tzadikim not being able to reach the level of Ba'alei Teshuva: "I believe it was the Kotzker (might be wrong on that) who said that tzadikim gemurim can't stand there 'vaal tzi shtinkt'." Chareidi | 08.15.07 - 2:36 pm. Do I need to translate that? Essentially, it means "because it stinks [there]."
That's just lovely, isn't it?
But is the way the FFB community set up the "Kiruv" system the correct way? I'm going to have to say no. And this includes ALL of them: Chabad, Chofetz Chaim, Aish, Gateways, etc. The whole kit and kaboodle got it WRONG! You know why? Because every single one of the organizations claiming to "do Kiruv work" is being dishonest with those "being Mekareved."
New Ba'alei Teshuva are not told how their lives will be. They are not told they will be second-class citizens. They are not told it will not be easy to find a shidduch in the Chareidi/Yeshivish/FFB world. And they are not told everything they need to know about being shomer Torah U'Mitzvos. They are fed the information a little bit at a time. The feeders, these organizations, control how much a BT knows and when the BT will know it. They do so because they are thus able to control many aspects, if no all of them, of a BT's life.
Perhaps it's time to drastically change Kiruv. People who don't know halacha should not immediately be thrust into being completely shomrei Torah U'mitzvos. They should first be taught EVERYTHING they need to know BEFORE they "become" frum. I know there are issues with this, such as the fact that since the BT is already Jewish, every moment he or she is NOT keeping Shabbos, or kashrus, or whatever, is a problem because they are transgressing certain mitzvos, both negative and positive.
But I think, perhaps, if they are treated as a Ger, a convert, things might be drastically different. A Ger, correctly, is taught all he needs to know BEFORE he or she converts. This is done because the Ger needs to know EVERYTHING they can about being a Torah observant Jew.
Should a BT, who is already a Jew, not enjoy the same courtesy? Should someone who is wiling to give up his/her way of life not be told up-front what it's all about, including all the how-tos, BEFORE taking the plunge? Again, I understand the big issue here, unlike the case with a Ger, is that the potential BT is already Jewish and should be observing as much as possible as early as possible. On the other hand, when God gave the Israelites the Torah at Har Sinai, he didn't expect them to know everything at once. He commanded Moshe Rabbeinu (which, by the way, is why he is RABBEINU) to TEACH Bnei Yisrael the Torah so they could keep the Torah. The Israelites promised "Na'aseh V'Nishma" - we will do and we will hear, in that order, but that promise is more esoteric. They promised to keep whatever God had in mind for them. But the needed to learn everything they promised to keep!
How is a Ba'al Teshuva any different. Before his commitment, he kept nothing. Now, he comes and is committed to keeping Torah and Mitzvos. That is the first step. The next is to teach him what he needs to know. The last is to take that final plunge.
Remember also, doing it the way it's done now is no guarantee a person will remain frum. I know plenty of people who didn't because of faulty instruction and blatant dishonesty. If Kiruv organizations fear the BT leaving the fold if the organization is honest with the BT, then the organization is not teaching anything near to what the Emes should be, are they?
This is a theory in the workings, in development. Any thoughts on how to improve it?
OMG!!! This site is a GREAT!!!! I LOVE COMIC BOOKS!!! Did you ever want to know what super-heroes belong to what nationality or religion? Click to find out!! Want the Jewish ones? Click here to find out!!
Thanks to Dry Bones for the tip! :)
Ah! Now I can go into Shabbos HAPPY!!! :)
There's a little known absolute fact in the Chareidi/Yeshivish world that God gave many more than Ten Commandments on Two Tablets at Har Sinai. God gave, in fact, MANY commandments on many tablets! Here, finally, we present photographic proof of this. And this MUST be why Chareidim believe all the Chumras are Torah Mi'Sinai! :)
