E-li-mi-nate the Negative

“The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” – Jon McCain, September 2008

“He doesn’t get what’s happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of Washington where he works…. Why else would he say, today, of all days — just a few hours ago — that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong? Senator — what economy are you talking about?” – Barack Obama, September 2008

If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity, which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four. We could lose a generation of potential and promise, as more young Americans are forced to forgo dreams of college or the chance to train for the jobs of the future. – Barack Obama, Janaury 2009

“The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs.” – Barack Obama, February 2009

“If we are keeping focused on all the fundamentally sound aspects of our economy, all the outstanding companies, workers, all the innovation and dynamism in this economy, then we’re going to get through this,” Obama said, March 2009.

Whatever.

Another amazing archaeological find in Israel

Hundreds of gold coins from the seventh century have been uncovered just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.

The hoard of 264 gold coins was discovered Sunday by a British tourist volunteering at the ongoing dig in a parking lot outside the Dung Gate in the ancient City of David.

Bush Rewrites History – Sort Of

Rachel Maddow gets it right when she calls Bush on “re-wrting history” by claiming he never said the Taliban were eliminated.

That being said, for discussion purposes, I note the following:

1) Did intelligence at the time of Bush’s original quotes 4-5 years ago believe that the Taliban were eliminated?  If so, Bush didn’t lie then. And what he said now about the Taliban is true, they have not been eliminated yet are out of power.

2) Is re-writing history confined to lying about historical events (i.e. the Holocaust never happened), or is not remembering what you said 4 to 5 years before just that – not remembering.

3) Can a President who on one hand is criticized as a verbal Neanderthal be criticized for lying based on a lack of nuance (if he meant to say in the past that the Taliban government was eliminated  and not the Taliban as a movement)?

Rare first century half-shekel coin found in Temple Mount dirt

How cool is this?

A rare half-shekel coin, first minted in 66 or 67 C.E., was discovered by 14-year-old Omri Ya’ari as he sifted through dirt removed from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, along with other volunteers.  This is the first such coin to be found at the Temple Mount.

The half-shekel coin was first minted during the Great Revolt against the Romans. The face of the coin has a branch with three pomegranates and ancient Hebrew letters reading “holy Jerusalem.” The back reads “half shekel.”

The coin that was found in the sifting project, though well-preserved, showed some fire damage. Experts believe it was damaged the same fire that destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E.

“The half-shekel coin was used to pay temple taxes,” said Dr. Gabriel Barkay. “The coins were apparently minted at the Temple Mount itself by the Temple authorities.”

The half-shekel tax is mentioned in the book of Exodus, commanding every Jew to contribute half a shekel to the Temple every year so it can purchase public sacrifices.

Hooray for the racist cops! Discuss….

In federal court in Tampa yesterday, former USF Student Ahmed Mohamed was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison for providing material support to terrorists.

Mohamed was one of the two “naive kids” who were stopped for speeding in South Carolina in August 2007 when supposed explosives were found in their trunk.  The cops that stopped them were seen to have joked about them as “Taliban” and “graduates of suicide bomber school”.  Defense lawyers showed videotapes trying to prove that white people stopped by the same officers were not subject to the same condescending treatment.

Discuss moral conundrum, now…..

As it turns out, the “explosives” weren’t really dangerous, however….

Deputies also found a laptop with a 12-minute video that had been uploaded to YouTube, on which Mr. Mohamed demonstrates how to convert a remote-controlled car from Wal-Mart into a bomb detonator. He speaks in Arabic, saying he wants to teach ”martyrdoms” and ‘’suiciders” how to save themselves so they can continue to fight invaders.

Local Group Continues To Show Hunters Have Big Heart

I thought this story might have been about donating meals from hunted animals or somehow hunting with more thought about how hunted animals might suffer, but no….it’s about keeping people’s hunting skills up while they’re serving in Iraq and teaching more people hunting skills.  All in the name of Christ.

For those who don’t hunt, it isn’t hard to pigeon hole those who do. Having a mistrust or prejudice about what you don’t know is common.

But for every comment about drunken slobs shooting up the country side, there are many stories, true stories, about what is right about hunters and hunting.

I am not anti-hunter the way my wife is, as I think I understand the family traditions involved and the morals that many hunters do exhibit when they make use of the animals they kill.  However, my “prejudice” is not that all hunters are drunken slobs.  it’s just that I imagine that they actually enjoy killing things which is something my brain is hard-wired not to understand.  I mean if they didn’t enjoy it, why spend all the money and time on it?

It’s one thing to look at it as a job perhaps, and a job well done on a clean kill.  But when I see a guy with a targeted deer on a t-shirt with the quote, “Now this is gonna hurt!” it makes me want to lock the guy up, not say “God needs more men like him to make the world a better place”.

Now, a hunter may never convince a vegan that killing animals is good idea for whatever reason, and I’ll never hunt because it’s against my religion, but I’m still willing to be convinced that it’s all a matter of perspective.  The article I linked to doesn’t make me feel any better about hunters or the religion that supports hunting as a pathway to God.

Thomas Friedman agrees with Phil Gramm

Phil Gramm, July 9, 2008 – “You’ve heard of a mental depression; this is a mental recession“.

Jon McCain – “A lot of this is psychological. Because I agree the fundamentals of our economy is still strong.”

Thomas Friedman, November 24, 2008 – “What ails us right now is as much a loss of confidence – in our financial system and our leadership – as anything else.”

Which statement is different from the others, and why? Discuss.

Imagine This

Imagine This – A musical that takes place in the Warsaw Ghetto.  Really.  It’s called Imagine This.  Pretty good reviews too.

“Imagine This” tells the story of a family of Jewish actors incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. To give themselves courage, they stage a play about the siege of Masada in AD72-73.

Indignation

I started reading multi-prize winning author Philip Roth’s “Indignation” yesterday afternoon.  I also finished it yesterday afternoon.  It’s been quite awhile since I literally couldn’t put down a book.  Granted it’s 200+ short pages in hardcover, so it wasn’t that much of a feat, but it did take several hours.  Roth’s characters are developed to a much deeper extent than what is usually found in other books with fewer principal characters and of much greater length.

Indignation deals with the trials and tribulations of a college-age Jewish boy from Newark, NJ.  While the Korean War rages on the other side of the world, he decides he needs to escape his much-loved, but much-annoying father and transfers to a small-town college in Ohio where he hopes to experience the other, non-ethnic America.  More importantly, he just wants to concentrate on his studies.  What he finds though is that he still can’t escape interaction with others around him.  Interactions which are exciting, annoying, instructing and even quite a bit dangerous.

In the link above there is also a 6 minute interview with the author which I’m about to listen to know.

I’m into endogamous marriage. Are you?

In an article about a murder that took place in a church, the Ny Times describes an interesting Christian church:

St. Thomas Knanaya, where some 60 families worship in a Christian tradition that traces its heritage to Abraham and its culture to Jews of the Aramaic-speaking regions of Israel and Syria, who migrated in 345 A.D. to the Malabar coast, in what is now the state of Kerala, in southwest India.

In recent decades, thousands of Knanaya people have migrated to North America. They preserve many customs modeled on Jewish traditions, including the menorah, unleavened bread at Passover and wedding canopies, and they practice endogamous marriage.

Well to be honest, I wasn’t sure what endogamous marriage was, but since I’m Jewish and married, I wanted to make sure I was getting in on the fun.  Turns out, it just means “the practice of marrying within a social group”.  Oh well.