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December 31, 2007
Chestnuts Roasting on an Exploding Planet
The site LiveScience has a compulsively readable section of Top Ten lists, from useless limbs to killer tornados. For readers with a sweep of vision, you can't do better than "Top Ten Ways to Destroy Earth." The list proceeds according to probability. The one way you need to least worry about is Total Existence Failure:
You will need: nothingMethod: No method. Simply sit back and twiddle your thumbs as, completely by chance, all 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms making up the planet Earth suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously cease to exist. Note: the odds against this actually ever occurring are considerably greater than a googolplex to one. Failing this, some kind of arcane (read: scientifically laughable) probability-manipulation device may be employed.
Utter, utter rubbish.
This being Kesher Talk, I like to present an opposing view, from that eminent scientist-philosopher Maimonides. The last two of his 13 Principles apply here. Take it away, Rambam:
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await His coming every day..13. I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen
Doesn't that make you feel better? It does for me.
Van | 12/31/07 at 08:39 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things
December 29, 2007
A Wee Bit o' Klezmer from Scotland
I've been listening to a klezmer CD that came my way lately, and I like it. "Zing!" by the Yiddish Song Project combines some original tunes, such as "Chicken Soup Freylekhs - A Love Song" with classics like "Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn" and repositioned jazz numbers like "Whoopee."
YSP is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the personnel is Stephanie Brickman (vocals), Phil Alexander (piano and accordian), and Jo Nicholson (clarinet). Brickman has a great, clear voice, just right for Yiddish song stylings.
I asked Brickman about the group, which started playing around Hanukkah 2006. She said in an email,
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Van | 12/29/07 at 09:39 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Doing Jewish
December 25, 2007
Children's Faces, Before and After
The site English Russia has a moving photo feature showing Russian children before and after they were adopted. The transformations are stunning, and show the sublime power of love and attention.
Van | 12/25/07 at 08:15 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Tikkun olam
December 18, 2007
Snookered, Too
I should have followed the "48 hour rule" and waited to see how the Princeton attack noted below played out. Even as I was mouthing off, the hammer was coming down on the perp -- the "victim" of the attack. He confessed to being behind the emails and self-mutiliation. The Daily Princetonian reports on the whole sordid affair here.
The university administration kept a cool head in this case, so hats off to the folks in Nassau Hall. I guess this means I shoudl double my Annual Giving donation into the high two figures.
Van | 12/18/07 at 06:29 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Wackademia
December 16, 2007
Hate Crime Hits Princeton; Philosophical Discussion to Follow
[Monday update: The Princeton Tory is poking holes in this story, so I'll reserve judgment on what really happened.]
This is a story I will watch with a personal interest; as a Princeton graduate, I'm very curious about the university's response and rhetoric following death threats to conservative students and a faculty member, and a physical attack against one of them. Details here in the Princeton Tory. The story says:
After receiving multiple death threats, a Princeton student was beat unconscious last Friday in what appears to be a politically-motivated assault. The attack came after emails saying, "WE WILL KILL YOU," were sent to the officers of a student group that promotes traditional views of marriage and sexual ethics . . .The attacks came two days after Nava and four others, including prominent politics professor and conservative scholar Robert George and Rhodes Scholar and Tory Editor-in-Chief Sherif Girgis, were sent email death threats. One message said, "SHUT THE F* UP WE WILL DESTROY ALL OF YOU WE ARE WATCHING YOU YOU DONT BELONG HERE WE WILL KILL YOU."
A rally was supposed to be held Saturday, the day after the attack, on campus, but it didn't happen.
The threats and attack raise a philosophical question never widely asked: can a hate crime be committed against a conservative? Gentlemen, start your precepts!
Continue reading "Hate Crime Hits Princeton; Philosophical Discussion to Follow"
Van | 12/16/07 at 09:59 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Wackademia
December 14, 2007
GOP Royalty Rides Forth for Glory in 2008
Two themes are intertwining in the presidential campaign these days. First, many people feel blase about the Republican candidates. The New York Times says so, so it must be true. Second, many people feel uneasy about Hillary Clinton as president, since that would mean a Bush or Clinton had been president since 1988 (and if you push back to include president or vice president, the streak goes back to 1980).
So the time is ripe for a dark-horse GOP candidate to emerge and sweep the field. What Cincinnatus will lay down the plow to serve Republic and party? In my view, the GOP must combat the Clinton dynasty with its own royal family, with a candidate with all the political steel and experience of Hillary Clinton and none of the extraordinary baggage.
Laura Bush, alas, must wait a cycle or two. I'm thinking of the banner-carrier of two great Republican names, a candidate whom all Americans can rally around. She's tanned, rested and ready.
I'm referring, of course, to Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
Continue reading "GOP Royalty Rides Forth for Glory in 2008"
Van | 12/14/07 at 07:00 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - GOTV '06 to '08
December 13, 2007
Required Reading: NY Times' Spineless Comments Pages
To get a rousing sense of what people are thinking, get ye to the new comments sections on some articles in the New York Times. Because the site gets a worldwide audience, the stories can get some eye-opening comments.
Case in point: Today the Times threw itself open for comments on the story, "Shootings Test Limits of New Self-Defense Law," about how a man in Texas shot and killed two illegal immigrants robbing a neighbor's home. The story says this:
Continue reading "Required Reading: NY Times' Spineless Comments Pages"
Van | 12/13/07 at 08:02 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: NYC
December 11, 2007
Death to Kapos (!?)
I'm not one to click on banner ads, but an ad on Israel Insider made me pause, do a double take and then click. You find the ad on top of comments on stories, so I can't link to it. But the text says:
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR KAPOS WHO CARVE UP THE JEWISH CAPITAL.
Clicking the link goes to the website of One Jerusalem. In contrast to the inflammatory ad, I didn't see anything on the well-done site calling for executions of Jewish politicians. So in one sense I was relieved and felt that the headline was more of a gruesome tease than a policy direction. The site says this:
Israel has upheld its moral and ethical obligations to the people of the world and has earned the right to retain sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, according to the present boundaries. Israel's decision, as a free and democratic nation, to designate a united and undivided Jerusalem as its capital, should be respected and recognized by the entire international community.
That's a position that's reasonable and free of berzerker overtones. But still . . . death to kapos?
By the way, in assembling this entry I learned that a website exists called www.kapos.org. Horrifying, you think, a sick joke. No, it's simply the website of the Kentucky Association of Pep Organization Sponsors. Could this be the most unfortunate acronym ever? To be clear, here's what KAPOS has to say for itself:
KAPOS was formed 52 years ago for the purpose of promoting and improving the art of cheerleading. Goals of cheerleading include leading the fans in an organized manner and encouraging teams to perform to their maximum potential, and hopefully win. Good sportsmanship and strong school spirit are essential elements in attaining these goals.
Van | 12/11/07 at 09:28 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Israel vs. the world
December 10, 2007
Open Letter to the Dixie Chicks: What About the Terror in Mexico?
Dear Dixie Chicks:
You caused quite a stir when you said you were ashamed to be from the same state as the President. The backlash against your comments caused dark mutterings about suppression of free speech and artistic rights in the U.S. More recently, you spoke out about a murder case in Arkansas -- you are compassionate, and I credit that emotion.
Given your sensitivity to threats to artists and others, I would like to see you speak out against real repression of artists just south of our home state of Texas.
You see, singers there have more to worry about than whether people are questioning their patriotism and forcing them to play in smaller venues.
In Mexico, performers are being murdered. Puts your torments into perspective, doesn't it? According to this Associated Press story,
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Van | 12/10/07 at 10:20 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Useful idiots
December 06, 2007
On the Banks of the Rio Grande
In recent days I've become addicted to reading the website Rio Grande Guardian, published out of McAllen, Texas and covering the border and immigration issues, along with news from Mexico. Having grown up in the area, I find most of the stories compelling. On the whole, the Guardian is anti-fence, with opinion columns toppling over into total moonbattery, such as this gem by a local college professor:
I understand I live in a nation harboring xenophobic, nativistic racists - fearful little people who have difficulty maintaining bladder control if there is the minutest change in their small minded little world. For the most part, we call these people Republicans, though you will find them among Democrats too, especially in the South, and in particular when the “alien” is African American. But, for the most part, those little people moved to the Republi party. (I say Republi party since Republis have trouble saying or writing Democratic party.But that is what one would expect from small-minded little people.
Still, the Guardian does a great job pulling together the local perspective in an area on the front lines of immigration and Mexican issues. I paid it a very high compliment by signing up for its daily emails.
I'll have more to say on articles it runs later -- for now, just take a look and get an intense, first-hand view of one of the defining issues roiling the 2008 presidential campaign.
Van | 12/06/07 at 10:57 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Domestic Politics
December 04, 2007
Home for Hanukkah with Ron and Ellen
Ah, it's Hanukkah, Judaism's wonderful cold-weather holiday, with a nip in the air to make the candles burn even more brlightly. What better time for couples to share their mutual affection and love than now, to see their pasts and happy futures reflecting in the dancing flames?
America's favorite Jewish couple, Ellen Barkin and Ron Perelman, might be thinking those very thoughts these days, as they come together once more to talk about their powerful emotions for each other. While they are, alas, divorced, I am sure they still have a deep bond of caring.
Continue reading "Home for Hanukkah with Ron and Ellen"
Van | 12/04/07 at 08:14 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Holy Days
December 02, 2007
Hillary v. Barack: Get Me Rewrite, Sweetheart
A few days ago the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an intriguing article about Spelman College women discussing how to vote next year:
The dozen or so Spelman College women had come together in a basement classroom, after hours, to hash over a choice unimaginable just a few generations back.Fliers posted across campus summed up the thrust of their conversation: "Should you vote for Barack Obama because of your race, or should you vote for Hillary Clinton because you are a woman?"
With Democratic primaries quickly approaching, black women throughout Atlanta and across the nation are asking each other that question.
This may be a shocking thought, but other people are asking themselves that question, too. In fact, I would like to see a rewrite of the article from a slightly different Southern perspective. So, let's do a thought exercise that starts,
The dozen or so Duke University lacrosse players had come together in a basement classroom, after hours, to hash over a choice unimaginable just a few generations back.Fliers posted across campus summed up the thrust of their conversation: "Should you vote for Barack Obama because you are a man, or should you vote for Hillary Clinton because of your race?"
Continue reading "Hillary v. Barack: Get Me Rewrite, Sweetheart"
Van | 12/02/07 at 12:08 PM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - GOTV '06 to '08
