Janus

Janus: the Two Faces of the (Possible) Future
By S. Daily Warren

The primaries are in town and on the tube and it’s time we faced some facts about our candidate choices and political reality. In politics there are things that everyone knows but never thinks about. Bypassing the fallacious idea that any candidate is actually being candid, here’s an example: watch the poll results on CNN and then the same on Fox. In your heart you know that #1.) they are preaching to their own choir and no one else, and #2.) these polls are intended to direct public opinion, not reflect it.

Clinton and Obama are another fine example of this. Everyone knows that, in spite of the preseason wrangling, they will be on the same ticket together, as president and vice president respectively. I don’t even think of them as individual candidates, or even as Frankenstein and his monster. I rank them on their entertainment value alone, and in that light I can discuss them individually. (Please note that John Edwards will not be mentioned as he is too busy trying out for American Idol.)

Ladies first. Mrs. Hillary Clinton. President Clinton…again. Politically speaking, and not only in a marital sense, this woman is a viper. From the Rose Law Firm, Whitewater, Travelgate, and the F.B.I. Filegate, this little lady knows how to play hard ball in her bid for the presidency. And what would that make Bill? First Gentleman or First Mate? The basic policy of a resurrected Clinton White House would be to stop the war in Iraq and bring it home for better viewing, let government administer health care because of government’s sterling record of financial management, and put a carbon tax on ranchers for cow methane.

The problem is former President Bill Clinton. Watching this guy in action is more fun than releasing a bag of monkeys at a high society cocktail party. The primaries are just warming up and already he’s floating involuntarily towards the media limelight like a moth to flickering flame. He simply can’t help it. He’s the original class clown and we all miss his dramatic lip-biting and pain-sharing. As president, his scandals were embarrassing on a national and international level. As First Ladies Man we can enjoy his antics without worrying about him hitting on interns while a war breaks out.

Now, Obama. Barack Hussein Obama, that is. Besides a pair of ears that make him look like Dumbo taxiing for a take-off, he also gives off this creepy JFK/MLK hybrid feeling, like he’s fresh out of a plastic injection molding plant. But for a junior Senator he’s also a fairly slick political player and gives as good as he gets jab-wise. But clearly there’s no real Clinton/Obama rancor to be found, for the simple reason that Barack isn’t pushing up daisies in Fort Marcy Park. If he were really a threat and not an ally-in-waiting then she would be slinging grenades and not mud. In layman’s terms, the two are in cahoots and can be expected to announce the dawn of a new era of political correctness based solely on race and gender.

What can we expect from a Clinton/Obama administration? Trouble at home, much the same way Republican administrations can at times give us trouble abroad. But a democrat White House will certainly include bigger government, socialized medicine, sweeping military cuts and the continuance of spending far more than we take in on an already bloated socialized federal budget.

The only thing I’m certain of is that I find the whole process tedious, repetitive and depressing; like a Three’s Company episode (without the fine acting) where they simply rewrite the same screenplay over and over. This form of deceptive political theater is also one of those things we know but don’t think about. But that’s not the real harm here. The victim is the future.
Reagan democrats, conservative baby boomers, N.O.W. members, abortion activists, N.R.A. members; all of these groups and many like them have one thing in common – they as groups are aging and no new masses are swelling to replenish their ranks. There are veritable legions of potential voters out there, especially on the web, who have yet to be tapped or even related to. The sense of disenfranchisement that many of us are feeling with the political system is unfortunately something pre-voters are being born with these days. If picking a candidate – conservative or liberal – is a way of fixing the system then realize we’re not just helping ourselves now, we may be affecting the next generation out there who (somewhat plausibly) may not even see the reason for voting.

Up to Jerusalem

Up to Jerusalem
By S. Daily Warren

Modern Israel is between a rock and a hard place. Palestinians are demanding land under threat of assured violence, the Arab world is united against them and, in some cases, their very existence, and its staunchest ally – the United States – is actively pursuing a policy of peace through concession.

Yet, Israel has literally become a blooming place in the desert, agriculturally and industrially. Israel has its own space agency and can launch satellites, has research centers in nanotechnology, genetics and biotechnology, and a cutting edge aviation industry. In addition Israel has, arguably, one of the finest standing armies in the world to the extent that ex-IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldiers have become all the rage in Hollywood, serving as personal body guards to a number of celebrities like Brad Pitt, Michael Bolton and Naomi Campbell. On the technology front in a bold move to eliminate Israel’s dependence on foreign oil by 2018, international investors are creating the first national infrastructure for electric cars. They see Israel as the perfect place to test and develop new technologies. Why? In the words of Shah Agassi, a principal mover in the electric car plan, it’s the most chaotic place he knows.

But through war, religion and history Israel means many things to many people. To some, she’s an investment. To others, Israel’s very existence is an insult and a desecration of holy sites. Others see it as the birthplace of their religion, and some as a fulfillment of prophecy. Everyone sees it as a political quagmire, in spite of the 20-year work of Canadian (and non-Jewish) lawyer Jacques Gauthier, whose long-term legal research proved conclusively that "Jerusalem belongs to the Jews by international law."

Archaeologically speaking, the religion of Judaism was undeniably born and matured in Israel. Islam claims the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the Temple of Solomon once stood, as the place where Mohammed ascended into heaven on a flying horse. And Christianity’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands right next door.

Strict followers of Biblical Christianity can point to a page in their Holy Scriptures and say the rebirth of a Jewish nation was foretold, and that Israel will be the center stage of global politics and the place of the Apocalypse. If you’ve ever wondered what the Wailing Wall is, the answer is that it’s the last remains of the second Temple, the holiest site in Judaism. It is literally an exterior stonework wall on the other side of which, where both first and second Temples once stood, is the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Israeli and dispersed Jews wail there for the loss of their Temple, the second one having been destroyed by the Romans in the first century. Literal believers in the New Testament understand that fulfilled apocalyptic prophecy and the Second Coming of Christ will occur there, and that a new Temple will by then be present. Any Rabbi worth his kosher salt can tell you that this third Temple can only be built right there.
If the eye of the world is on Jerusalem, then the world’s contact lens is focused squarely on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount itself is administered by the Islamic Waqf, who forbid Jews to pray there. Technically and militarily it is sovereign Israeli soil. Knowing that at this moment in Iran the government there is bulldozing the three thousand year old tomb of its own King Cyrus to build a dam, archaeologists in Israel struggle to preserve any remnants of their own equally ancient culture. They’ve done this by actually digging under the Temple Mount, a series of efforts that has produced startling artifacts and dramatic political upheaval.

As Palestinians and Israelis vie for control of Jerusalem; as the United States continues its support with a peace-at-a-price policy; with Europe growing increasingly distant and even financially supporting Israel’s enemies; and with Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza every single day, all eyes indeed are upon Jerusalem. Unfortunately, many of those eyes are looking through a rifle scope.

Janus, the Two-Faced God(dess)

Janus -
By S. Daily Warren
Another administration is passing and it’s time to start thinking of a new president, so I was faced with a tough choice: either watch the Democrat Party primary debates or blow torch my own face off. I decided to watch the primaries, but am still keeping the blow torch within easy reach.

Oddly, there are things that everyone knows but not everyone knows they know them. For example, watch the poll results on CNN and then the same on Fox. In your heart you know that #1.) they are preaching to their own choir, and #2.) these polls are intended to direct public opinion, not reflect it.

Clinton and Obama are another fine example of this. Everyone knows that, in spite of the preseason wrangling, that they will be on the same ticket together, as president and vice president respectively. I don’t even think of them as individual candidates, or even as Frankenstein and his monster. I rank them on their entertainment value alone, and in that light I can discuss them individually. (Please note that John Edwards will not be mentioned as he is too busy trying out for American Idol.)

Ladies first. Mrs. Hillary Clinton. President Clinton…again. I have two words for you: "Please shoot me in the head with a bazooka before she speaks again." Oh, too many words. How about: "Screeching harpie?" If it weren’t for the expression "cowboys love fat calves" this woman would have no hope of Midwest votes for the presidency. And what would that make Bill? First Gentleman (snicker) or First Mate? This dynamic duo wants to stop the war in Iraq and bring it home for better viewing, let government administer health care because of government’s sterling record of financial management, and put a carbon tax on ranchers for cow methane.
The problem is former President Bill Clinton. Watching this guy in action is more fun than releasing a bag of monkeys at a high society cocktail party. The primaries are just warming up and already he’s floating involuntarily towards the media limelight like a moth to flickering flame. He simply can’t help it. He’s the original class clown and I so miss his dramatic lip-biting and pain-sharing. As president, his scandals were embarrassing on a national and international level. As First Ladies Man we can enjoy his antics without worrying about him mistaking the nuclear "football" for a real pigskin and tossing it around on the White House lawn…to the cheerleaders delight, of course.

Now, Obama. Barack Hussein Obama, that is. Besides a pair of ears that make him look like Dumbo taxiing for a take-off, he also gives off this creepy JFK/MLK hybrid feeling, like he’s fresh out of a plastic injection molding plant. But for a junior Senator he’s also a fairly slick political player and gives as good as he gets jab-wise. But clearly there’s no real Clinton/Obama rancor to be found, for the simple reason that Barack isn’t pushing up daisies in Fort Marcy Park. It’s impossible for me to separate the two because to me they are Mrs. Hyde and Mr. Hyde, sans Dr. Jekyl.

What can we expect from a Clinton/Obama administration? Trouble at home, much the same way Republican administrations can give us trouble abroad. But democrat White House will include bigger government, socialized medicine, sweeping military cuts and plague. Fiscal plague at least, since democrats from the time of Roosevelt have been adept at buying the nation out of recession by printing money like toilet paper, and the dollar’s already sliding.

The only thing I’m certain of is that I find the whole process tedious, repetitive and depressing; like a Three’s Company episode (without the fine acting) where they simply rewrite the same screenplay over and over. This form of deceptive political theater is also one of those things we know but don’t think about. But that’s not the real harm here. The victim is the future.

Reagan democrats, conservative baby boomers, N.O.W. members, abortion activists, N.R.A. members; all of these groups and many like them have one thing in common – they as groups are aging and no masses are swelling to replenish their ranks. There are veritable legions of potential voters out there, especially on the web, who have yet to be tapped or even related to. The sense of disenfranchisement that many of us are feeling with the political system is unfortunately something pre-voters are being born with these days. If picking a candidate – conservative or liberal – is a way of fixing the system then realize we’re not just helping ourselves now, we may be affecting the next generation out there who (somewhat plausibly) may not even see the reason for voting.

Gaza "Crisis" Solved

Solution to the "Gaza Crisis"

It’s the Gaza Plumbing Sale Extravaganza!!!

Come one! Come all! Step right up to the Egyptian border, throw down some greenbacks and walk away with all the plumbing supplies your heart desires. You can use these little dandies for such easy to tackle jobs as: plumbing repair, plumbing remodeling, home extensions or add-ons for that second bedroom your fifth wife is always whining for.

But if you really want more bang for your buck….just buy the supplies! You don’t need hardly anything else; some plumbing pipe, just a little 1/8" plywood for the stabilizer fins, some chemical propellent (gunpowder works just fine), and some common fireworks fuse which can be homemade but I honestly don’t know how. Badda-bing, badda-bang - - - you’ve got a Qassam Rocket!!!

(for those of you who don't know, a Qassam rocket is fired into Israel from Gaza about 1/hour of each 24 hour day, last I heard. It's basically a pipebomb made from hardware store-grade plumbing pipe with a quarter stick of dynamite on the end with an unreliable fuse. And if you've ever stunned baby seals into a coma so you can skin their hides while their still alive and screaming, as I have, then you know that 1/4 stick of TNT packs a pretty good whollop!)

They come in red, green and fucia, have a range of up to 17 km and enough explosives and "payload" (meaning clever little things like broken glass and roofing nails) to really, really, really piss someone off. Juuuuuust a little too little to actually call an act of war. We had bottle rocket fights when I was a kid, and the goal was always to toss an M-80 into the other teams stash, setting off the whole works.

Now you can look at this a number of ways, and I prefer to look at it with my head tilted a little to the left and a glazed look in my left eye. #1 – punks throwing pipe bombs w/o the guts to do it by hand. #2 – cover screen activity to hide what may be on the agenda next: some sort of bio/chemical attack. It is possible, and its likelihood depends entirely on how much money Hamas or Fatah or Limbaugh can get their hands on to buy close-out products from the old U.S.S.R. (they have GOT to be running out of that stuff eventually! What the hell is the shelf life of Anthrax anyway???). But I prefer #1 – a bunch of punk kids with no moxy whatsoever shooting unguided….but very heavy and packed with a powerful, shrapnel-spraying payload…pipe bombs at anxious Jewish civilians. People get hurt and people can or already are being killed. It’s like a black guy living in a white neighborhood and every once in a while one of your neighbors uses a wrist rocket to fire an M-80 at your backyard while you’re having a BBQ. It’s very annoying and it could put your eye out…or your hand off…or your leg ruptured.

(by the way, ensuring the long-term security of my italicization fixation, you may find a description of the Qassam rocket that is continually fired into the "Palestinian"/Israeli border town of Sderot at this link: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hamas-qassam.htm)

Now, to date the Israeli PR machine, for whom I have much respect, has responded with press releases based on the shell-shock paradigm and that the rocket attacks which mostly miss are causing tragedy in that regard. That sucks. It may be all you have, but it still blows. Try this: round up 100 teenage sons of right-wing conservative Jewish fathers, teach them via email how to build a potato gun (see: http://www.spudtech.com/) and promise them free music downloads for their iPhones if they’ll launch, say, 10 rounds into Gaza, twice a week, after school. The potatoes, however, have to be fresh and preferably Idaho (new potatoes are no-go, Navajo). That way, you’ll be solving the Gaza hunger humanitarian crisis AND giving the little schmucks some payback for a really snotty, underhanded way to wage a "war of liberation". Ick.

My Problem with the Passion

My Problem with the Passion

Okay, sure, everything Icon productions did was spectacular, right down to the Arimathean translations. But you’re doing a movie about the Savior of mankind, right? So…..what? You depict two hours of torture and twelve seconds of resurrection. Great. Most of that movie was like having a web cam in an abattoir.

Let’s get the good bits out of the way. The part where Marymom picks him up (as a child) out of the dirt: kicked ass. Drawing in the dirt to save Mary Magdalene: super cool. Even the part where he dealt with the priests after being arrested wasn’t bad. But then, then you got a tour of the Armour Hot Dog processing plant. Can’t you just say he was disfigured more than any man? Do you have to show it AND the autopsy photos?

Well, the good bits didn’t take long. Oh, and the lighting was good.

Now, on to my problem. The whole point wasn’t to show how beef jerky is made, but to dramatize our L-rd’s words, acts and deeds. To put a realistic Hollywood face on the original Christian ministry. Icon did fine with the realistic face part, it was just the wrong face.
And don’t get me started on Italians! When the rabbis demanded the Messiah be crucified Pontius Pilate acted like someone just shit in his milkshake. What? Crucifixtion!?! Why, I’ve never heard of such barbarity! Here I am, a nice guy doing an honest day’s work and suddenly you want to use up all my milled lumber for some pet BDSM passion play. Pilate responded as if he’d never heard the word before. Are you kidding me? You could hang power lines from Rome to Damascus on the crosses the Romans put up. We all know that the Romans not only invented (or at least perfected) crucifixion but that they also made it a spectator sport and sold nachos. Enough about the Agony of Pilate and his poor little conscience.

Mother Mary got some good breaks, and I won’t gainsay that. I didn’t know the woman but I’m sure she rocked.

Mmmmm, let’s see. Who else was involved? Could it be…..JEWS. Nahh, must have been the Hittites.

I can’t even bring myself to categorize (right now, at least) the injustice and lack of empathy splattered upon Israel during this flick. The only redeeming thing about this justifying groundwork laid out for Roman Catholicism is their depiction of "saint" Peter as a bullheaded retard. A hero with faults? Yeah, I can deal with that. Otherwise, the Passion was a combination Vatican snow job and hit piece against Judaism….oh so cleverly disguised, I might sarcastically add.

Let’s talk real Yeshua. Where was the woman at the well? The marriage at Canae? How cool would it have been to have shown a twelve year old Yeshua sitting in the Temple of Solomon instructing the Rabbis in doctrine? And the resurrection! Sheesh, he didn’t just get up and go get a burger! There was doubting Thomas and the Ascension, even a good meal, all kinds of killer stuff. No, instead we got what would be in any other market underground pornography.
Thanks, Mel. And you can thank the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for nudging you a bit on that drunken, anti-Semitic rampage you went on with the LAPD on car-cam. Truth be told….the truth will always be told.

Now, the apologetics.

Politics – the whole Pilate/Herod back and forth thing, that was bureaucracy. Get caught up in that and you end up getting scourged before you get crucified. What a gyp. You gotta watch out for bureaucracy; it’s not just for corporations any more (ahem, churchianity). The politics of social upheaval should also be considered, especially when you realize that it was in the Roman’s best interest to stay with the status quo and squash any upstarts.

Religion – The Jews expected a Messiah. They were slaves and whores under the Romans (with the Inquisition in mind, imagine how bad the Romans were before they started hanging crosses around their necks!). What the Jews got instead was a really nice guy who only got mad once when he called out the priesthood on using the Temple of G-d as a swap meet…and then paid for every sin ever committed past, present or future on behalf of all mankind. That little thing. That message never quite got through because that message is freedom. The Greeks and then, ostensibly, the Romans may have legalized "freedom" in their time, but the Jews actualized it and spiritualized it in their own time the day they walked out of Egypt with a load of goodies, slaves one day and kings the next.

(little word to the wise here for ‘ol Mel: next time you want to whack on Israel, do it in the presence of a 19 year old IDF commando who’s seen combat in Gaza and Samaria. You can count on honest audience feedback in that kind of situation AND it keeps my irritating habit of italicizing alive!)

Basically, the Jews in 1st century Israel got "raptured". I use the term very loosely because it’s not just the doctrine of evangelicals and fundamentalists, it’s also very thinly and at times (apparently) contradictorily defined in the Word of G-d. The way they read the Bible back then talked about a whole can of whoop-ass dumped on the enemies of Israel and the establishment of a king and a kingdom. They didn’t realize that the Theocracy they lived by would be literally and physically reestablished with G-d Himself being in their midst man-to-man, so to speak. That’s a tough one there, when you’ve been taught something all your life and are then faced with the choice of whether your teaching was wrong or your eyes are lying. And any good Jewish psychiatrist worth his kosher salt will tell you that the mind can make the eyes see whatever it wants to. If you simply reverse the roles of Jew and Christian and throw the rapture into the mix it’s easy to see where one could be dreadfully wrong and not know it. Or not admit it. Everyone who’s never done that say "Aye!" ……cricket.

So give ‘em a break, people. The Jews did NOT kill Jesus, the Romans did. Even the bloody Romans admit it, with the caveat that at this one unique moment in history they had no choice in the matter because of the overwhelming domestic political power of a tiny nation they conquered decades ago and ruled with an iron fist. And give ‘em a break on the rest of it too. If twenty years from now Mexico conquered the entire Southwest United States and George Washington materialized in the midst of it and said, "Be nice to everybody." then you’d be a little pissed too.

Quite literally….the Passion blew. It not only blew chunks but it also blew what was perhaps the last chance to dump millions of dollars into a real depiction of the beauty of Christianity and the Christ Himself, an epic of G-d’s undying love. I hope we get another chance, and aside from bonehead LaHaye or whatever his name is and his 47 books about the Apocalypse, I hope they get it right next time.

Hinge Day

At day's end I can tell you that today was hinge day. Between Huff and McField, news at home and in Israel, job confusion and general path-wavering it was a strange day to be sure. To top it all off, the very South Park episode I referenced in today's earlier entry is airing right now on Comedy Central. Just trippy.
The weirdest part was Von, a fellow recovering baptoid. She held my account in suspension all this time. Her and McField started a Bible study last Friday and my name came up. And I've been thinking about them lately too.

I have no choice but to end with a quote from the song on the South Park episode (which is the commemorative 100th episode, for all the losers like me):

"Let the flag of hypocrisy...fly from the highest pole.
We're a little bit countryyyy, and a little bit rock and roll."

Jerusalem Bushwhacked!

(does anyone know who actually invented italics? 10-1 he or she was drinking...and a Republican! Leans to the right, get it? Of course you do...)

Bush Mega-Tour Rocks Jerusalem

In case some of you are deaf, dumb, blind, paralyzed, comatose, gay, spontaneously combusting, off-the-grid, emotionally isolated or gay I should inform you that President George Bush is currently on a diplomatic mission to Alderan, also known as the Middle East ("Where he is part of the rebel alliance and a traitor! Take him away!!!"). Anyone who doesn't even remotely recognize the Star Wars reference has every characteristic listed above.

(Just out of curiousity, does putting a killer idea in my blog constitute a copyright? Or does it just make the hack who steals it lame as hell? Here's my idea: a spoof of the original Star Wars movie...Episode IV: A New Hope, to all you true losers out there...but depicting the Empire-Rebel Alliance conflict as Israel vs. the Palestinians. Start the spoof out with a hook, making people think there's only one level to the satire and that the view espoused is that the Jews really are evil and the terrorists are the freedom fighters. Wow. Epiphany. Modern Islamo-fascist jihading terrorists ARE today's freedom fighters. They fight for their freedom of religion. Is it really their fault that the religion they were born into cannot coexist peacefully and equitably with any other faith on the planet? This is true of the core of Islamic belief as espoused in the Koran...Quran....Q'ran...Coriander...whatever but, and think about this, it is NOT true of any other religion in history that has survived and prospered. Anyway, I'm so far off the track here I'm on a bus. Back to the satire. After the initial introduction of the victimizied Palestinian "Rebels" and the evil Galactic Jewish Empire, simply tell the truth. Show the tactics, aims, goals, ideologies, methods and mindset of these warriors of justice. Then show the same of their "oppressors", Israel. Show Israel's restraint, her compromises, the disrespect she tolerates, the snubbing at the bargaining table she endures, the broken promises of shattered and deceptive peace treaties. And end the parody....and please keep it shorter than this paragraph and devoid of anything italicized or showing " ... ", ... end the parody with what cinematographers call a pullout shot. Keep backing the camera away google earth-style from the planet until all muslim nations appear. Then show the borders and their expansion. Show the overwhelming number of violent hot spots and how they happen to materialize on the borders of expanding muslim countries. The power and magnitude of the evil empire of Israel will come clearly into focus as a country of seven million and the size of New Hampshire surrounded by one billion muslims and half the world. Okay, done with the satire. Back to Bush.

When President Bush arrived he was met by a flurry of activity, making the foregoing the understatement of this new year. Peace Now was there protesting the settlements and outposts in Judea and Samaria. The Jonathan Pollard people were there asking for the return of one of their countrymen enjoying questionable (and long term) judicial care in the United States. Hassidics greeted him with reminders about the Biblical title to the dirt beneath their feet. A signed letter was presented by the Temple Mount people who for some odd reason want to practice their beliefs at the holiest site of their faith. For all I know Sheehan and Sharpton showed up too, if for nothing else than those killer kosher nachos.

President Bush then used American magic on 'em, which brings a patriotic tear to me eye. South Park captured it best during a Cartman dream showing the founding fathers forging the founding documents (I sure wish there were an "f" word for documents). Some wanted peaceful coexistence with everyone, some wanted an aggressive military, all wanted prosperity and the freedom to be contradictory (like granting liberty to owners of slaves). So they found a way to eat their cake and have it too. Nothing was written down, they just said one thing and did another. The magic is all in the casting. Get your cry baby sissy wah-wah liberals to speak for you, especially diplomatically. And get your flesh-eating, flinty-eyed pulpit-pounding conservatives to do your dirty work for you. The left hand is Amnesty International and the right hand is Guantanamo Bay. Works like a charm! We call this American politics and it was deployed magnificently in Israel by our Commander-in-Chief.

Upon arrival the president said, paraphrased but accurate, the following:
- he wants a peace treaty signed by the end of his term. Hey, who wouldn't...even though it will probably be signed in or next to the neighboring nation currently under U.S. military occupation.
- he wants to see a Palestinian state within the year.
- he actually referred to Israel, while in Israel, as a Jewish state.
- regarding Jerusalem and the stated Palestinian intention that it be the capital of their new state, Bush's statement was precisely the kind of magic I referred to. Quote:
"I know Jerusalem is a tough issue. Both sides have deeply felt political and religious concerns. I fully understand that finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace, but that is the road we have chosen to walk."
http://www.ou.org/index.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fnews%2Freleases%2F2008%2F01%2F20080110-3.html
- he did, however, meet for coffee with Benjamin Netanyahu and the meeting lasted 45 minutes longer than planned. Netanyahu's quote is:
"Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and will remain under Israeli sovereignty for eternity" declared the Likud Party Chairman and leading contender to be Israel's next prime minister.
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2303
...and this last one really gets my crank...
- he declared Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity (formerly Schwartz's Stables) to be the holiest site in Christianity. Mr. President, the birthplace is really cool and all but it's kind of the place of his death and resurrection that put the meat in the burrito, if you catch my drift. Here's the quote:
"For those of us who practise the Christian faith, there isn't a more holy site than where our saviour was born," Bush said as he came out of the church.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080110162608.ngb016gw&show_article=1
(note: the Church of the Nativity is currently under control of the P.A., so that means throwing stones will be provided free of charge to all followers of Mohammed)
Okay, Mr. President, you're an idiot. And I'm actually quite well-disposed towards the man. But the holiest site in Christendom, while I don't know what that would be, is certainly not a goat stall. Not to mention that the Little Drummer Boy was gayer than Boy George.
I suppose I should wrap this up with something lame like, "...and that's all the news that's fit to print" or whatever, but I'll probably just go with this: politically we are ALL between a rock and a hard place, as always, in the Holy Land and the only thing politicians know how to do is squirm. So we won't act surprised but we will keep an eye on the twists and turns so at least we know where these vipers are currently at.

As a post script let me throw one more quote out there, about Jerusalem. It is the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation's response to Bush's statement today on the Holy City:

The Orthodox Jewish community appreciates President Bush's record of staunch support for Israel's security and Israel's character as a Jewish state. The President's efforts to facilitate a successful peace process between Israelis and Palestinians is to be commended.

However, we must state that, from our perspective, the fate of Jerusalem is not "a tough issue." Jerusalem was established as the capital of Israel and the Jewish people more than three thousand years ago. It has never served as the capital of any other nation. Jerusalem is the city toward and for which Jews have prayed throughout the millennia. In modern times, it is only since being unified under Israeli sovereignty that Jerusalem has been a secure and free city in which people of all faiths may visit and worship at their holy sites freely and without fear.

What is necessary at this time - and throughout the coming peace negotiations - is a recognition that there is no equivalence between "both sides" when it comes to Jerusalem. The weight of history and destiny tell us that Jerusalem must remain the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel and the Jewish people.

Being an arrogant ass it's not often that I say this, but....I couldn't have said it better myself.

AWESOME Hit Piece on Ron Paul

(the irritating habit of beginning each entry with meaningless intalicized drivel will continue until further notice...)

The associated link is to one of the finest hit pieces on a politician I have ever seen, especially since 9/10's of its effectiveness will be realized simply by its headline, "Angry White Man". It's a long read but is masterfully done, and should be read by anyone considering Paul as one of the accepted presidential candidates, especially his supporters. The article was posted today on the New Republic web site and already has 408 comments, probably because it was headlined on the Drudge Report as "Shock Docs" (for newsletter excerpts) and "Ron Paul Newsletters Unearthed....hates everybody, yadda-yadda-yadda"

(interesting side note here: as of 3:30pm today, both Ron Paul stories have been taken off the Drudge Report site)

I haven't been through the responses to the article(s) but I can tell you that they will be representative across a broad spectrum that will include radical lunacy. As a hit piece, its effectiveness will be enhanced by the written responses to the article, and that may even have been its purpose. I can also tell you that the article is probably factually correct to a "t". I've seen and even read some of those newsletters. There is some real garbage out there, in print and on foot. But it was and remains a free press expressing itself, and not all of it was bad. Some of the federal reserve and CFR/Bilderbergers/whoever stuff is so poignantly close to the truth that it actually merits some reporter to write a piece like this. When's the last time you heard a journalist or even an author or media personality quote JFK as saying he would smash the CIA "into a thousand pieces" or that he would return us to a gold/silver standard? These are just two of the thousands of virtually unknown but completely accurate statements of research that you might find in these rag papers floating around out there. Many of them commited suicide by allowing hate under their banner and Ron Paul's on his own as far as I'm concerned: you stick your name on it then you better know what it is.

This one article and the newsletters the reporter dug up in University of Kansas and Wisconsin archives might very well doom Paul's campaign. Not as much his chances of achieving the White House (slim to none) but doomed in the sense that Paul's campaign is also about letting an anti-establishment personality assume the stage of "respectability". It might be a long time or perhaps never before someone pointing out the lie we deniably live every day is allowed into Paul's position of publicity. It truly is the democratic process at work as millions of a similar mindset (see list below for "Mind Settings") express themselves politically and lawfully under the protective umbrella of our constitutional republic. These people are as likely to change their minds as an Hassidic Jew is to sit down and enjoy a ham sandwich. They're not going away and as long as they're even a little bit right their numbers will grow. The potential for eventual revolutionary violence could probably be accurately calculated by a savvy sociologist, which I'm not. When the process has been exhausted, or when (G-D forbid) someone takes a pot shot at these people then there will be trouble because most of them are armed to the teeth.

So where are we at? The hit piece by James Kirchick of the New Republic is almost certainly factually accurate, and he's a damned fine writer too in that he's very careful about what he says, conceals as best as possible his agenda (we ALL have them) and gets his facts straight. Ron Paul, whom I currently still endorse, was foolish to have been associated with some of the garbage that's quoted. Paul's platform continues to be uniquely sound and sane and the acceptance of anti-establishment viewpoints in the public arena is one of the landmarks of our republic. He can maintain his platform AND denounce the fraction of luntics out there and not lose a vote. The backlash from this article's research will almost certainly have an effect upon Paul's unprecedented fundraising and public support because fear of association with stupidity will drive some away.

I'll be looking for an official press release on this from Paul's people as the issue gathers momentum. I doubt that it will go away, because the very purpose of these primaries is elimination, whether it's above the board or under the table. The last quotes I heard from him called it "old stuff" and "ancient history", and when asked specifically about his views on Martin Luther King he unequivocally said that MLK rocked balls. But we have yet to see anything formal and the staffers of the other elephant candidates are writing drafts much faster than I am. Mit Romney will probably go after him the hardest, but Thompson will be more eloquent yet in a law and orderly fashion. Huckabee's got his own problems. If the Dems pitch in, he's finished. And they very well might, even at this early juncture.

And I do oh-so-wish someone would do a similar piece on Romney. Want to talk about a checkered past! Temple mormonism has everything from magic underwear to secret handshakes to even an (alleged) oath of treason against the government of the United States taken by generations of hardcore Utards. Don't get me wrong, Romney or any other mormon has the right to be president if they meet the constitutional qualifications. I just disagree with his slick merging into the Christian mainstream. But I suppose the Salt Lake Citiacs are saying the same thing about Paul and his "militia people" trying to merge with the same political crowd.
If there's one thing I do know about life it's this: everybody gets what's coming to them. If Ron Paul is a "closet hater" - the only thing worse than a regular hater because then he becomes a lying coward as well - then G-D will indeed know His own, one way or the other.

Great. Now I have to go home and tell my wife that I officially endorsed Hitler for president.



As promised, the basic Mind Settings of Ron Paul Supporters:
- smallest government possible
- strict constitutional interpretation (especially gun rights)
- end the welfare state
- reverse some of the centralization of power of the federal branch, especially the ATF and IRS
- something not quite right about the official version OK City and 9/11
- end "foreign entanglements" (quoted the U.S. Constitution), meaning military NOT economic or societal isolationism. In other words, stop being the world's policeman.
- general conservatism with an underlying anger at current affairs coming to a slow boil.

#1 Threat

The number one threat facing America today is not terrorism or plaguerism (thank heaven), but ... teenagers going to movies.
It has to be stopped, now.
Not only are they ruining an industry by text messaging in a darkened theater because they have no where else safe to go or to do (personal bitch, there...sorry), but by putting purchasing power into THE WORST FILM SEASON IN HISTORY they encourage the ongoing decomposition of cinema. The product is terrible beyond description, and it just goes on and on because this "season" has now lasted about a decade if not more.
Now, to my younger readers which amount to exactly none, let me say - "Dude! I'm 40 and you want to know how many times I got laid in a theater? Or how many times I met a babe or even semi-babe in a theater? Take a wild guess."
(message coming in, folks - message for you, sir!)
My real grief (is that what blogs are about?) is this: they've invaded the theaters, their ridiculous electronics are ruining what should be an excellent experience, and they're complete lack of knowledge about real life and society at large and small endangers everything I've spent a lifetime building.
They should all be killed. Now.








...of course, I don't mean teenagers I mean movie producers.

(post script - posted in plain sight of every newborn baby in every delivery room in every hospital that brings human beings into this world should be this sign: "You have now been born. You will experience some mild discomfort that will worsen over the next 80 years. Please stand by.")

Okay, this kid kicks ass

(this manner of beginning my blogs in parentheseseses and italics has become habit and has lost all personal meaning. please do not read anything into it such as homophobia, islamophobia, heterophobia, phonofobia, liposuctionophobia or even phobiaphobia. i do suffer from all those maladies but they have NOTHING to do with my choice of formats)

I did a quick search on YouTube using the parameters "gay" "idiot" "smells" and after thumbing through the multiple videos of my family I came across something that was diametrically opposed to my original search intentions. I found Nissan Elgavy (which is Missourian would be "Toyota with Gravy"). Nissan has a YouTube account and his link is associated with this entry.

By now, Nissan should be serving in the IDF (an acronym for "Incredibly Destructive Frews"..."Frews" being my own term for Free Jews, something the world had never seen until 1948). But when he posted the first of his Tube videos that I watched he was only 17. His English was terrible - it's like those Hebrews have a different word for everything! - his writing plagued by typos, and his proofreader recently commited verbacide. But his message, meaning and purpore are clear, and let me tell you this kid has got a pair, churchbell sized and glimmering brass. It's real easy for me to sit on my lazy butt and cheer "Go, Israel, Go!" or write letters to the editor of the Daily Hate protesting that the man dressed as a gay lumberjack in my family photo is actually my brother. But this kid's in the thick of it. I'm more like Harold Ramis in Stripes when he's expressing himself to the rest of the platoon by saying, "If we ever go into any real combat, I just want you guys to know I'll be right behind you, every step of the way."

Not only does Nissan express the honorable tenets of loyalty, patriotism, passion, devotion and dedication but he does so with a meaningful manner of outreach. If you can, take a look at some of his videos. They won't knock your cinematic socks off but it's like holding a magnifying glass up to someone's soul and liking what you see. I don't have half the cajones this soldier has and I'm probably twice his age!

So mention Nissan Elgavy in your prayers if you would. He's on the front lines of more battles than he knows.

Bugs Bunny Was Jewish!

Diddely-dee, diddely-dye...all that see are rainbows in the skyyyyyyyyyy. Oh, diddley-dye.

You wanna know what I did this weekend? Of course not, but I'll tell you anyway: I cleaned up on poker! Smoked 'em like a Christmas ham...no kosher jabs intended. And after such a monumental weekend - where I realized that your average goy is easy pickins' - I suddenly realized my latest epiphany....that Bugs Bunny was Jewish!

Allow me to present my evidence....
- he shrugs a lot in difficult situations
- he eats vegetables during moments of stress

Case closed.

The reason my poker reference was included was because my wife taught me to see internal truth, the truth of one's soul. Some souls are deeper than others, such as my (boy) friend Ron and maybe Joe and possibly hot and freakishly strong Nancy Nicholson. But you have to give everyone a chance so Wes Maier and Kevin Robinett are in there somewhere. That internal truth-sense I'm being taught by my wife has helped me realize the obvious truth that the first person I lie to is myself. Knowing that, and more importantly knowing that most others do NOT know this, I've been able to succeed where I have historically failed. This weekend's poker was a prime example where I didn't become personally invovled, where I watched others do what they do, and where I used that knowledge to clean their clocks. It was a piece of cake! Made twenty some odd bucks, too.

Thank you, Lori. I am your younger brother in the faith and I rely on you for more than you know. I love you, Princess, and I am yours for all time.
Spencer