Arlen Specter proves that you can't believe anything politicians say

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on March 19, 2009 that:

Specter staying on Republican ticket

Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday tried to snuff speculation that he was preparing to bolt the Republican Party in the face of a conservative uprising that threatens his bid for a sixth term.

"To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket," Specter said in a statement released by his campaign manager.

Now, a little more than 30 days later, Specter has converted to the Democrat party.

Specter To Switch Parties

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, according to sources informed of the decision.

Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota. (Former senator Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

Specter as a Democrat would also fundamentally alter the 2010 calculus in Pennsylvania, as he was expected to face a difficult primary challenge next year from former represenative Pat Toomey. The only announced Democrat in the race is former National Constitution Center head Joe Torsella, although several other candidates are looking at the race.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs needs a teleprompter

As he doesn't think very fast on his feet.



FYI, don't suggest this or that, say, "I was not briefed on that, I will find out and get back to you." Do NOT say, "Contact the White House" when YOU are the White House, for the purposes of that meeting!

I would think that the Air Force would be to blame. Apparently they told the NY Police Department about the planned flyover, but then told *them* not to tell anyone about it because it was top secret! How stupid is that?

Meantime, in a year when Obama is whining about carbon footprints, meanwhile flying in his own pizza chef to make dinner for him and a few friends, Obama keeps flying places to give speeches that could just as easily be televised from the WHite House. Sure, all things being equal its better if Obama is delivering his speeches in person, but things aren't equal, are they? Obama believes in Global Warming, therefore shouldn't he be acting in a more responsible manner, as he expects the citizens of the US to do???

HOw much did it cost for that photo op, for getting the planes ready, etc., and their carbon footprint, and what was the bloody point? It's the POTUS's plane, not him! Nobody cares about that!

Another Case of Do As I Say, Not As I Do

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/27/2009-04-27_plane_stupid_mayor_bloomberg_outraged_over_military_photoop_involving_lowflying_.html

This past weekend, Air Power Over Hampton Roads had a ton of airplanes using up a ton of fuel, to entertain thousands of individuals for free. It was a great show, and great photo ops were had.

Then we get the President's photo op. President Obama, the guy who is saying that Cap and Trade is great, and that we all need to inflate the tires in our cars (that's true, by the way, we should. Visual looks of tires don't give good info.), that gas is okay at $4 a gallon and will hopefully go higher so people will stop driving so much...

And yet when the time comes for a photo opportunity, and an opportunity to scare New Yorkers silly, Obama's minions lose no time doing it.

Supposedly the New York police department was told, but they couldn't tell anyone because it was a secret??? If the president wans't on board that plane, why did it need to be a secret?

What was even the point of it? Photo ops consists of presidents getting out of planes to shake the hands of soldiers or other individuals for a job well done. A Presidential Plane flying next to the Statue of Liberty - something that can't happen anymore anyway - ridiculous!

The hypocriticalness of political correctness

First off, let me say that I support gay marriage. Secondly, let me say that I support people's right to free speech. Hell, white supremacists can march on Civil War battlefields, but a woman can't say that she things marriage should be between a man and a woman?

THis is an excerpt from an article from the Washington Times:

Apparently, the Miss USA organizers agree. Instead of apologizing for Mr. Hilton's vile behavior, the pageant director of the Miss California contest, Keith Lewis, sent a note to Mr. Hilton throwing Miss Prejean under the bus: "I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman. ... Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family."

If that's the case, why was Perez Hilton even allowed to introduce politics into his question? Of course, what the author provided was just an excerpt of the letter, perhaps the letter was blaming Hilton as well as the contestant for Hilton's "gay rage" afterwards.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/25/tolerance-in-the-age-of-obama/

Then there's this little bit of free speech denied:

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last week, former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo came to speak against legislative proposals to provide illegal-immigrant students in-state tuition discounts not available to law-abiding Americans and legal immigrants.

Protesters at the institution of higher learning responded by blocking Mr. Tancredo with massive banners and screaming, "No dialogue with hate." Adults in the room stood by while students smashed a window a few feet from where Mr. Tancredo stood. Physically threatened, Mr. Tancredo was forced to leave without delivering his remarks.

According to campus reports, leftists had prepared for a week to mount a speech-squelching demonstration. The same thuggish tactics have been used at Columbia, Georgetown and Michigan State universities to shut down speakers who support strict immigration enforcement. The UNC administration apologized for the students' tantrum but took no steps to examine its own culpability for fostering a climate of intellectual vandalism and intolerance.

Seems like it was the leftist students who were "hate-filled." They should all be shipped off to Mexico for a month or two, and try doing the same kind of thing down there. The cops would have them in jail so fast (because they'd obviously have money that could be extorted) before you could say Jack Robinson.

But of course that's the thing. You can't have a dialog with the left. They don't want to listen to your reasoned arguments, they want to call you a racist immediately, so that instead of being able to make your reasoned arguments, you're forced to defend yourself from their accusations.

Sad...and a sad state for the US, which is going to become a third world country before very long, thanks to those people....and for all right-minded people who stand by and give them sanction - "the sanction of the victim," as Ayn Rand calls it.

Game: Let's Kill a Baby

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217100229&subSection=Macintosh+Platform

What sicko could even invent a game where a crying baby is silenced by shaking one's IPhone until it dies. (The game ends when the baby's eyes turn into X-es, signifing death.)

Worse, what kind of sicko would even want to play this game?

Apple on Thursday apologized for offering on its App Store the "deeply offensive" Baby Shaker iPhone application that sparked protests from groups fighting infant abuse.
The company acknowledged that it made a "mistake" approving the application, which depicts a crying baby and has users quiet the infant by vigorously shaking the smartphone. The quieted baby is shown with crosses on its eyes to indicate it's dead.

Their apology:

"This app is deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store," an Apple spokeswoman told InformationWeek. "We sincerely apologize for this mistake."

She declined to discuss whether the incident indicated that the company's approval process was less than foolproof and in need of review. "We do have a process and this was a mistake," she said. "I don't have any comment beyond that."

Sounds sincere to me.

on the other hand, as usual, people who can make some money out of this debacle look like they're gearing up to do so.

Apple's refusal to disclose how the application found its way onto the App Store was one of several complaints the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation had with the company's apology, which the group called "stale."

"Who is this apology directed to?" said Patrick Donohue, founder of the foundation. "It's directed at the media to kill the story. This is the most cynical apology I have ever seen."

The popularity of the App Store is evident in the 1 billion downloads reached Thursday in nine months. Many users of the online store and the iPhone are young men who as first-time fathers are often the ones who shake crying babies out frustration, causing severe brain damage or death, Donohue said. "You literally couldn't have asked for a worse form of messaging for the demographic that are specifically targeted to prevent shaken baby syndrome."

and

A company called Sikalosoft developed Baby Shaker, which sold for 99 cents. The application is not the first controversial one connected to the App Store. In February, Apple rejected as "potentially offensive" an application that would have shown clips from South Park, the irreverent TV cartoon known for its scathing social commentary.

Frankly, I'd forget the IPhone and go after Sikalsoft and whichever idiot there created this app.

Want the dictates of your will to be carried out?

If you're poor or middle class, I don't think lawyers and judges will care a great deal about where your money goes. You can leave it to your mistress or your dog, and they don't care. It's what you wanted.

When you leave billions of dollars in money, and you specify that that money is ALL supposed to go to dog-related charities, you can bank on your bequests NOT being carried out. So, if those are really your wishes, the only thing to do is start liquidating your estate while you are still alive, and making donations to the charities of your choice, rather than bequests.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_en_ot/us_helmsley_dogs

Helmsley's estate announced 53 charitable grants Tuesday, the bulk of which went to New York City hospitals and medical research. The largest grant, $40 million, went to a digestive diseases center at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, while $35 million went to start two research facilities in Helmsley's name at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The estate for Helmsley — who died in 2007 at age 87 — divided $1 million equally to 10 animal rights charities, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and several groups that train guide dogs for the blind.

Her estate was worth $137 million (supposedly - who knows how much of that Madoff or other swindlers had?), you would have thought they could spare a million each for those ten animal rights charities, instead of dividing a measley million up between them.

But a surrogate court judge ruled in February that trustees for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust had sole authority to decide which charities benefit from her estate.

"Throughout their lives, the Helmsleys were committed to helping others through the innovations of medical research of responding to those in need during critical times and in other areas," the trustees said in a statement Tuesday. "We now have the privilege of continuing their good works by providing support where it will make a difference."

So much for trusting trustees.

Private property rights in USA eroding quickly

So now we get this story, which is utterly obscene.

Valley couple can't kick stranger out

SPOKANE -- A stranger moves into the backyard of an elderly Spokane couple's property and now they can't get that woman to leave.

The woman has been living in their garage for almost a month but even so police say she isn't trespassing because police say the property owner's son invited the woman to live in that garage.

Since when should that even matter? The son doesn't own that property, this elderly couple does! The fact that they don't have the right to evict a squatter is beyond obscene.

It all started when Don allowed his stepson to move into the garage three months ago.

"He moved different people in, he had as high as eight people in here at different times and we told him no you stay there and no one else," Bain said.

When Don asked for the guests, including the woman to move out there was a confrontation and his stepson was arrested and taken to jail. The woman and another man stayed without a lease and not a dime paid for rent.

"She don't even pay the light bill," Bain said.

Don called police, hoping they'd be forced to leave, but police say the woman isn't trespassing.

"First of all we understand this is a frustrating situation for the Bains, but she was allowed to live in this facility," Lt. Stephen Jones with the Spokane Valley Police Department said.

Police say it doesn't take much to establish residency...

"There's no cut and dry test for this other than she's been living there for a period of time, her belongings are there and the current resident invited her in and allowed her to live there," Lt. Jones said.

Um, Lt. Jones... the current resident is in jail, and he didn't own the place he was living in, either!

This is just ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than having to allow homeless people to take up space in public libraries and so on.

Round up the homeless and send them to Madagascar or somewhere where they can make their own living off the land, and take them off the public purse. Any immigrants who are homeless - assuming they're illegals - send them back where they came from.

Like your pet? Say goodbye.

http://www.nohr669.com/

.R. 669 stands for House Resolution 669 and is titled "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act". It is a bill currently before Congress that if passed will change the way that the US Government classifies animal species that are not native to the United States. H.R. 669 will make it illegal to breed and sell many animals that are very common in the pet trade.

How About Making the Risks Relatively Large?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5GsQddXmwLT46d8IS07UFzCVkfA

The Somali pirates who took a US merchant captain hostage for five days were heavily armed but inexperienced youths, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday, adding that the hijackers were aged 17 to 19.

The pirates who kidnapped Captain Richard Phillips, three of whom were killed by US Navy snipers Sunday, were "untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates told a group of 30 students and faculty members at the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia.

"There is no purely military solution to" piracy in the region, he added.

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids."

>>>As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids

In other words, start paying them money - giving them welfare - so they'll stop kidnapping people and holding ships for ransom?

Here's a way to solve the piracy problem - kill all the pirates. Have a few planes in the area with heat-seeking missiles, and as soon as a pirate vessel leaves its moorings, shoot it out of the water.

Yes, the pirates are poor - although rich enough to buy weapons, apparently - but is it the fault of the US that the Somali government can do nothing for its people? Or rather, wants to do nothing for its people? Let us not forget there are two different tribes in Somali, and like the Hutu and the Tsutsi in Kenya, they both hate each other and think the other tribe inferior. Weird how that happens, isn't it?

Obviously the stakes are raised now. American ships and French ships will now have their crews killed on sight, apparently, which will necessitate Navy ships escorting them. No big deal - that's what navies are for!

Here's info about Somali from the Wikipedia...it's apparently the Muslims who are the pirates...

Italian Somaliland gained its independence from Italy on 1 July 1960. On the same day, it united with British Somaliland, which gained independence on 26 June 1960, to form the Somali republic. The Somali state currently exists largely in a de jure capacity; Somalia has a weak but largely recognised central government authority, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), but this is only the latest in a string of ineffectual, externally recognized governing authorities.[4]

De facto control of the north of the country resides in the regional authorities. Of these, Puntland, Northland State, Maakhir, Galmudug, acknowledge the authority of the TFG and maintain their declaration of autonomy within a federated Somalia, while Central, Southern Somalia, and Kismayo (the third largest city in Somalia) are under the control of the Islamic Courts Union and Al-Shabab. Baidoa is currently the seat of the TFG, and Somalia's commercial centre. On the other hand, the Somaliland region in the north, with its capital in Hargeisa, has unilaterally declared independence and does not recognise the TFG as governing authority.[2] It is unrecognised internationally due in part to opposition from the TFG and other countries, such as neighbouring Ethiopia, which fear ensuing secessionist movements.[5]

Interestingly, while AIDS is ravaging much of Africa, it is relatively unknown in Somalia, due, it is presumed, to the Muslim religion there. (Although one wonders if it's that, or if it's because, with the country being in such a state of flux, there's just no way to know who has AIDs and who doesn't?)

What were these people thinking?????

When I was a kid growing up, the Frito Bandito was on all the airwaves. And I loved that character! But of course he had to go, because he was apparently insulting to Mexicans.

Now Burger King has just launched a new "Tex-Mex" burger in Spain, and it most defnitely is insulting to Mexicans..all you have to look at it. Tall cowboy, short, fat Mexican.

And I'm wondering - did they have their Spanish advertising people come up with this, or did they come up with this gem in the USA? I mean, you're trying to sell something to Spaniards, why would you want to show someone short and fat... that's not the way to do it!



I just wonder sometimes if advertising people have ulterior motives... but even if they do, surely the people buying the advertising are smart enough to know when something is offensive? I mean - if that fat, short Mexican had been a fat short woman, the reaction would have been the same, surely.

It's one thing to be ridiculously politically correct, and its quite another to be stupid. A blustering bandito is funny, kind of like a Mexican Yosemite Sam, but a short, fat guy matched up against a tall lean cowboy... how can they not see that that would be offensive? (Never mind the fact that they use the Mexican flag like a cape - which is tabu in Mexico. Quite a change from the US, where you can burn the US flag without fear of recrimination. Freedom of speech, don'tcha know.)

But then, what do I know? A few years ago there was some kind of campaign where a lot of black guys went around saying, "Yo." I thought for sure that would be pulled quickly because it was offensive, making them look stupid, instead, it turned out to be extremely popular.

ANd quite a few times I've seen a commercial about phone service in Barbados, making the Barbadians look like total idiots. It's funny, but they do look stupid. And yet, it doesn't seem to have been pulled, either, and I would have thought people of color would have thought it offensive.

If only I had the power to vaporize people...

A couple of days ago, an Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart, was killed by a hit and run driver. Two other people in the car with him were also killed, but of course since the pitcher, being so high-profile, is the one getting all the press.

Until today when a website called TMZ printed a photo of the woman who was killed, Courtney Stewart.

This site allows people to comment on their articles, and for every 3 or 4 comments that express their sorrow at the waste of such young lives, or anger at the killer and his driving drunk and with a suspended license, there is at least 1 vile comment by someone actually expressing joy that this young woman is dead.

Of course these people don't have to use their correct names when they post - that's the anonymous safety of the internet. It's too bad, because I'd really like to track each one of them down, frogmarch them into a bathroom, and stick their head into a toilet for several minutes. (To be sure, if they're too big, I'd hire someone to do it... neverthless, no more than what they deserve. They are as big a waste of air, space and food as the loser who killed them in the first place.

http://www.tmz.com/2009/04/09/person-who-drove-adenhart-so-cal-girl/

Intimidation rules in the USA today

If somebody wants to buy a pet from a breeder, it is nobody's business but their own.

Yet PETA has seized upon the fact that Vice President Biden bought a dog from a breeder, saying that it meant a dog at a shelter was killed (yet - most pets in PETA care are killed) and now this poor women is getting death threats and being harassed by various agencies.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bidens-Puppy-Breeder-Never-never-never-again.html?yhp=1

This type of crap is what is bringing down America.

"I thought when Joe Biden bought a puppy from me, what an honor," Brown told the Daily Local News. "Out of millions of breeders in the country, in the world, he picked me."

That was December.

When the story got out, Brown faced backlash from pet lovers who thought the Bidens should have opted for a shelter over a breeder to find their new puppy.

PETA seized the moment as an opportunity to blame the killing of shelter animals on people who buy from breeders. The organization's TV commercial, "Buy One, Get One Killed" ran in Delaware after the Biden puppy story made headlines.

Dog wardens from the state showed up at Brown's Wolf Den kennel, repeatedly, for inspections.

"I was cited for a piece of kibble on the floor and five strands of dog hair. They took a picture of that, they walked around, snapped pictures and don't tell you why," Brown told the newspaper.

She was found "not guilty" for each citation, but hiring a lawyer for the court hearings has cost her $4,000 so far in legal fees.

Brown says she and Biden both received death threats from animal activists.

Now, where do I get my facts about PETA:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/5106600/Peta-under-fire-over-claim-that-it-khttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/5106600/Peta-under-fire-over-claim-that-it-kills-most-animals-left-at-its-US-headquarters.htmlills-most-animals-left-at-its-US-headquarters.html

But now Peta - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - is itself on the receiving end of angry words over its own treatment of animals after it emerged that the organisation put down 96 per cent of the animals handed into its American headquarters. Of 2,216 animals taken to its premises in Norfolk, Virginia, last year, 2,124 were put to sleep - almost six per day. Homes were found for just seven.

The high-profile charity, famous for its "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaigns, has euthanised more than 20,000 pets in the last decade, according to figures it has supplied to Virginia state officials.

Injure your thumb and get millions. Get murdered, family gets nothing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169009/Family-father-stabbed-death-thugs-denied-compensation--tried-fight-back.html

England has gone to the dogs, I'm afraid, and of course the US will not be far behind.

A young man was woken in the middle of the night by 4 youths outside his house being too noisy. He goes down to ask them to be quiet, he makes the mistake of stepping outside, and was stabbed to death.

Since he "contributed to his own death" by stepping outside, his family deserves no compensation.

Meanwhile, prisoners in UK jails are routintely given millions of dollars because their human rights were violated (they were denied cocaine), and a woman at a department of defense job injured her thumb (oh, horrors) and gets a half million pounds in compensation!

The family of a man who was stabbed to death by teenage thugs after he asked them to keep the noise down have been denied compensation - because he tried to fight off his killers.

Kevin Johnson, 22, was brutally murdered by the gang who invited him to 'meet Mr Stanley' during a confrontation outside his home moments before plunging a blade into his chest, arm and back.

The young father collapsed a few feet from his front door whilst the trio - aged 19, 16 and 17 - ran off in 'triumphant mood' before stabbing their second victim a short distance away.

According to the CICA the parents, child, husband, wife or partner of a person who died as a result of a violent crime can claim up to £11,000 for the loss of their life.

Yet that figure is dwarfed by the amount paid to an RAF typist last year who injured her thumb at work and was awarded half a million pounds by the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Johnson, who works as a taxi driver, said his case simply highlighted how badly victims' families are treated by the Government.

He said he and his wife, Kath, 59, their son's fiancee Adele Brett, 28, and their one year old son, Chaise, were condemned to a life sentence after his death in May 2007. The rejection for compensation had only added to their pain, he added.

Recent figures showed that inmates in British prisons were awarded £6.5million for injuries between 2005 and 2007, for claims including assaults, medical negligence, unlawful detention and sports injuries.

Drug-addicted prisoners at some jails received compensation because their human rights were breached when they were denied drugs such as heroin and substitute substances.

Will Grounding Your Children Become Illegal?

It appears to be headed that way in Canada.

Quebec dad sued by daughter after grounding loses his appeal

The family's legal wrangling started with a dispute over the girl's internet use.

'Either way, he doesn't have authority over this child anymore. She sued him because she doesn't respect his rules. It's very hard to raise a child who is the boss.'

— Kim Beaudoin, the father's lawyerShe had been living with her father after her parents split up when he grounded her in 2008 for defying his order to stay off the internet. The father caught her chatting on websites he had blocked, and alleged his daughter was posting "inappropriate pictures" of herself online.

Her punishment: she was banned from her Grade 6 graduation trip to Quebec City in June 2008, for which her mother had already granted permission.

The father — who had custody — withheld his written permission for the trip, prompting the school to refuse to let the girl go with her classmates.

That's when the girl asked for help from the lawyer who represented her in her parents' separation, and petitioned the court to intervene in her case.

Since when does a 12-year-old girl get to sue a parent for being grounded for breaking the rules of the home???

This wasn't a case of physical or emotional abuse, but rather of a spoiled brat, apparently, who didn't want to obey her father's rules.

The court should never have accepted the case in the first place, but should certainly never have judged for the 12-year-old girl.

Parents already can't spank their children. Now they can't ground them? Soon they probably won't even be able to touch them without permission from the state!

Obama bowed, why lie about it?

Here's the video of Obama nodding to the Queen and King of England. Then, when he meets the Saudi King, he doesn't nod his head, he bows down low...something that Americans - nor anyone else except subjects to that king - do!



I already posted this once. The reason I'm posting it again is because the White House (albeit an anonymous spokesperson) is denying that Obama actually bowed. It's just that Obama was so much taller than the Saudi king that when he nodded his head it only seemed as if he were bowing.

Jeez. They know people were stupid enough to vote for Obama, do they really think they're stupid enough to watch the video with their own eyes and not be able to tell that he's not nodding, he's bowing?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html

The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.

"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing, or at least it reportedly did on the occasion of a Clinton "near-bow" to the emperor of Japan.

Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move.

"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars," wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab.

The video shows Obama dipping toward the king as G-20 leaders greet one another at the ExCel Centre in London.

So...if Obama really did bow, why not just say so. Why try to deny it with such a lame excuse?

Anyone want to take odds that Obama is going to "convert" to Islam within a year or so? That will really help him with the Middle East! Of course, women in the US better get used to wearing burkhas....

Religion = stupid traditions

Many years ago, I read about some orthodox Jewish community in New York (or some other city, can't really remember which one) that wanted to put little signs on various lamp posts in the blocks surrounding the community, which would symbolically make the area part of the home. This was because orthodox Jewish women aren't allowed to leave their homes during the weekend, but they wanted to do so. So, by putting these little symbols on the lightposts and so on, they would be able to say that they were legitimately still in their homes despite the fact that they were going down to the market to buy food, etc. etc.

And I thought....my god how stupid is this.

(And after a little research, I find that it has happened as late as 2008. The symbol is called a Eruv. Jews - even guys I guess, aren't supposed to carry things, or cross boundary lines on the Sabbath, but of course since they don't want to be inconvenienced, they put up an Eruv - some stupid little sign that means nothing at all - so they can feel okay about breaking one of their laws.

http://jonathanturley.org/2008/10/02/religious-controversy-grips-the-hamptons/

An Eruv is just a path essentially, through properties in a community. The Eruv or pathway is commonly held by the local orthodox community and permits free travel on the Sabbath. The Laws of Moses which now are enforced in the Talmud prohibit various forms of travel on the Sabbath, including prohibiting carrying any objects, including groceries, children, in thoroughfares or anywhere that crosses property lines. Its a broad prohibition against unorthodox travel on the Hebrew holy day. Unfortunately these laws were written for Jews living on Judean soil during ancient times. Today being widely dispersed in our communities, its hard for them to set these up. Basically Jewish law permit strolling through a courtyard on the Sabbath, thus, the community effectively creates a courtyard that runs through peoples yards and properties to allow kosher travel on the Sabbath.

Now we get another stupidity that has been apparently going on for 2,000 years.

A creative way to deal with Passover food ban

At 9 this morning, New Brunswick resident Jose Mendez, a non-Jew, will become owner of a huge amount of food he'll never eat.

For the entire length of Passover, which starts tonight and ends next Thursday at sundown, Mendez will legally possess thousands of bags and boxes of bread, pasta and other leavened foods, or chametz, stored in the homes of Jewish people from the East Brunswick Jewish Center.

Once Passover ends, ownership will uneventfully revert back to the original owners.

Similar deals are struck -- usually for $1 or no money at all -- between Jews and non-Jews around the world each Passover, and have been for centuries. The switch in legal possession is seen as helping Jews fulfill the biblical commandment against eating or owning leavened foods during the holiday, without having to dispose of large quantities of forbidden foods and suffer substantial financial loss.

So, instead of making an effort to use up all their leavened foods before passover, so they won't own any for that week, they just do this deal where they "symbolically" hand it over to a non-Jewish person, even though the food stays in their house and they really own it.

How ridiculous is that?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm an anti-ridiculousite. I'd say the same thing about those Catholics and their little tradition of eating a piece of bread and drinking wine and having some ashes put on their forehead, or the Muslim traditions of women having to wear burkhas on their head, and all the guys praying seven times a day.

All trappings and mummery.

Obama thinks Austrian is a language...

When people get up in front of a microphone in front of thousands of people in an audience and millions more watching at home (well, since this was a political speech, maybe a few dozens watching at home) I suppose it's easy to have a slip of the tongue here and there. Heck, sports broadcasters do it all the time.

And as people have commented on this video at YouTube, other politicians have made simiar gaffes. Apparently Dan Quayle said he had to learn more Latin so he could converse better with people in Latin America...and I'm sure Quayle was smart enough to know they speak Spanish all throughout that area...just a slip of the tongue...

Nevertheless it's amusing...

A reporter asks Obama a question... and I must say he looks so smug and arrogant out there with that little smile on his face....you can tell he thinks everyone in the room idolizes him.... maybe they do...

Here's the thing... I don't watch those late night shows like Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien or David Letterman, but you know they excoriated Bush over his idiosyncratic use of the English language - like the way he pronounced nuclear, the use of the term "strategery" and so... what I want to know is, when are they going to start making jokes about Obama and his teleprompter, or his gaffes with the language? (From believing there are 57 states to reading out someone else's speech, to giving the British PM DVDs which don't even work in England...)

While Michelle Touches, Obama Bows

(View the video to see it as it happened).

All the news is about Michelle Obama. Some are saying that she broke protocol by touching the Queen. Just saw another article that spun it thusly "Michelle Charms Queen into Breaking Protocol."

Yeah, right.

But, while Michelle and her designer dresses are being thoroughly covered, the fact that President Obama actually bowed down to the King of Saudi Arabia is not even mentioned. I think it's safe to assume that Obama isn't going to be giving this King 50 DVDs either. (I don't know if a Japanese diplomat bows when he meets people, after all, bowing is part of Japanese culture. But it is not a part of American culture...but perhaps its a part of Islamic culture? Hmmm?)

Interestingly, I've never heard anyone criticize the oil sheiks. Everyone in their country lives in poverty except the oil sheiks who have gazillions of cars, gazillions of wives and gazillions of children... and yet it's American businessmen that are being stigmatized, or "American oil companies" and so on.

Michelle Obama touched the Queen of England!!!

I'm about to tune in to Rush Limbaugh to see if he's going to make a big deal out of it.

It isn't. The Queen of England touched Michelle Obama on the back when she was showing her something, Michelle merely returned the favor. After all, if someone touches you - in a non-sexual manner, they are implicitly givng you permission to touch them back. It was two women, one very old, not two men, for goodness sake.

But yes, apparently protocol says the Queen can touch you, but you must never, ever touch her, and Michelle Obama broke the rule. Frankly, considering that the world is on the edge of the abyss, it's a non-story. I'd like to see how untouched the Queen would be if she tried to walk amongst the mom rioting in front of the bank of Scotland. They'd do a lot more than touch her on the back.

In reading the articles around the world, I really do despair for the country. Capitalism is over, socialism is coming to the forefront... wealthy people will soon be attacked by the poor and stripped of all their belongings.

It's happening in Mexico even now. At least 5 people a day, probably more, are being kidnapped and demands sent to their "wealthy" relatives in the US.

Then there's the case of 9 absolute wastes of space who have visited an Emergency Romm in Texas practically every day for the last five years... well, I'm paraphrasing..... but an emergency room visit averages a cost of $1,000 per visit, so these 9 people, drug addicts, have gotten millions of dollars of free health care. Gee...I wonder if the AIG execs get free health care, or if they use some of their money to actually buy their health insurance?

But, of course, if you suggest that those 9 people be euthanized, there's be such an uproar. But, why not? They contribute nothing, they will never contribute anything....they are just a waste of space and always will be.