ROLLING IN THE AISLE

I guess it really is true that in order to live here, a reasonable level of insanity is a requirement. Ok, so Mubarek didn't bring Putin here for Ezer Weitzman's funeral, but then, our ever so thorough news coverage didn't bother mentioning anyone coming from Away. And Putin *is* arriving here today AND the reporters have already told us what will be said between him and Sharon. I guess I won't have to watch the news to see what actually happened. I already know! And that preknowlege has me rolling around in hysterical laughter. Putin is going to invite us and the so called Palestinians to hold peace talks under his (Putin's) auspices in Russia! Pardon me while I split a gut. Now there's a country with experience in peaceful endeavors! Yup! Right! On the other hand, it does make a lunatic kind of sense, like everything else here. It still infuriates me that Sharon is going to get away with his withdrawal from Gaza under fire yet. He is blind to the fact that Barak's heroic scarper out of Lebanon under fire is exactly what brought the terror into the very heart of the country, and that capitulation is just going to give the terrorists renewed hope that if they keep blowing us up, eventually we will unconditionally withdraw from the whole country. All of a sudden I'm not laughing any more. The worst part is that we deserve it. Israel is nominally a democracy, sort of, one that is rotten from the top and which has an electorate that just never learns. We keep on accepting the same old crap and do absolutely nothing to change it. We whine and moan and groan, but that's it. We accept it as our lot and will pay dearly for it unless a miracle happens. The spoiled, selfcentered people of this country wouldn't know a democracy if it walked up to them and introduced itself. The evility trickles down to all of us from the top. We want what we want when we want it-NOW and the hell with anything that looks like it might get in our way. I'm too tired and angry to be coherent now, so, I'll leave it and get back to it another day.
Last night while watching the news I realized something about armies and how their soldiers march. The less democratic the country, the closer to goosestepping their soldiers march. Syria's army was leaving Lebanon with an almost goosestep stiff legged march. I've noticed that about a few other totalitarian countries armies as well. Saddams thugs marched that way too, as do the so called Palestinian *police* Maybe more attention should be paid to military marching? Hum, something to think about?

EZER WEITZMAN

We've only had 7 presidents since the country was established, and the presidency doesn't exactly come with powers like in the US, but, for the most part, we love and respect our Presidents, and want to see them get the honor they deserve. Ezer Weitzman, was perhaps our most controversial President, while at the same time the best loved. He died last evening at the age of 81 after a full and meaningful life. He was the man who was most responsible for making our Air Force one of the best in the world and the architect of it's success in 1976. After leaving the Air Force as it's commanding officer and joining Menachem Begin in Herut, (today's Likud) he left Begin's government for ideological reasons, and moved to the left. He started in the Irgun or Etzel (my memory fails and I'm too lazy to go looking right now) and moved leftward over the years. He met with Arafart when it was still very much against the law to meet with anyone from the PLO. While he was president he made it a point to visit all the families whose soldiers were killed while in service, and made it a point after leaving the presidency to visit every single family of the soldiers killed in the helicopter crash, over 70 different families. He often said somewhat odd and seemlingly inappropriate things in public, yet was admired by most. I met him once quite by accident when he was at one of the local shopping malls. I had no idea he was even in the area, and blithely rolled into the mall, only to be stopped in my tracks by Naomi Porat who was with Mr. Weitzman and his wife. Naomi introduced me to them and we chatted for a minute or two. Their warmth and caring were impossible to miss and Reuma was interested in how I ended up in a wheelchair and asked how I was getting along here. Naomi said she'd tell more about me later and that I'm one of the area's better known activists and a fervent Zionist. I left the encounter in awe of those two people who had done so much for the country, and feeling very fortunate to have met them.
One thing which greatly displeases me is that the Egyptian President, who also supposedly admired him didn't tell Vladimir Putin who will be visiting him in Egypt on the day of funeral that, he, Mubarek, is going to the funeral and that Vlad is welcome to share his plane/helo/whatever. As things stand now, neither are coming and that puts the two of them down at gutter level in my eyes. The one thing I do not to see is any statement of condolence from either of them.
As a country we will miss Ezer Weitzman. Very few, if any, have done more for the country than he did.

THIS CAN NOT BE GOOD

I am speechless at the audacity of the so called Palestinians, and I don't understand why; after all it'd their SOP, and I know they won't be satisfied until we are gone. There was a demonstration there today demanding that we release ALL the so called Palestinians from our jails. They're probably going to give the homes and business we are leaving in Gaza to them, so the leadership that will be moving there from Damascus will have an experienced, ready made cadre. Is it possible that the rest of the world just doesn't get it, or, is it that they want us gone forever because their lives just aren't as comfortable with us as they think they'd be without us? Of course we, ourselves, are doing a great job of digging our own graves. Removing our settlers from Gaza is utter insanity, and in direct opposition to any meaning of peace I've ever encountered. At the very least, the so called Palestinians should trade the *Triangle* including Wadi Ara for Gaza. The major problem with that is that the people who live there would much rather be part of the Zionist entity and can claim to their so called Palestinian 'brothers' that they can work to get rid of us from the inside. The problem with that is that, while they might want us gone, they do not want the PA running things.
Abu Mazzen is not exactly going out of his way to disguise the fact that he is no more than Arafart's left over right hand. While simultaneously claiming that we are in violation of everything they think of, they themselves do absolutely nothing they previously agreed to, and demand that we do and give more while they just sit and wait to get as much as they can so they can go right back to full scale terror attacks, and so get rid of us. Polls show that the every day so called Palestinian is sick and tired of the violence and is beginning to realize how much it has cost them not just in terms of life and property, but in terms of health, welfare, and prosperity. Some of them have even noticed how well their 'brothers' have it here and are starting to figure it out. Corruption may be rampant here, but they have taken it to new levels in the PA, and their people are figuring it out. I'm still hoping against hope that the withdrawal won't happen, and as usual, Caroline Glick said it better than I ever could.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CarolineGlick/cg20050416.shtml

GLICK SAYS IT BEST

She did it to me again! Caroline Glick, the J.Putz(Jerusalem Post) editor had a piece in Garthwaite's daily dispatch that says it all, and better that I ever could. You can read it here: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CarolineGlick/cg20050409.shtml She has, as usual, hit the nail on it's head. Too bad so few are reading it here.
I woke up to news reports that one of the most wanted terrorists is broadcasting from Temple Mount that we are going to destroy the Temple Mount and their rotten mosque up there. His broadcast is no less that a call to arms to defend their ever so holy place. Some of our lot were planning to go up there and do 'who knows what' but the Powers That Be(but shouldn't) have deployed Police units to keep Jews off the place. Right, we are going to damage/destroy it. It was our renovation of Solomon's Stables into a huge mosque that caused cracks in the foundations. Tragically it *was* our religious establishment that forbade Jews to go there after we liberated the Old City in 1967, and our very own government that went along with it, rather than declaring that whether to go up there is something that each one us should decide for ourselves, and not caving in to a bunch of rabbis. The justification for Jews not being allowed up there is that it is the holiest of Jewish places and our presence there would be a profanity. Like having a mosque there isn't? Again, it goes right back to my contention that Judaism is about personal choice, not rabbincal rule.
My thing against the rabbis might well be interpreted as making me anti religious, and therefore, open the way to the argument that if I'm so against rabbincal interference, how can I justify our right to be here. Not so. It actually strengthens my argument. The Bible itself gives us the right to be here, and it also makes it crystal clear to me that each and every one of us is responsible to ourselves and G-d(no middle men or arbitrators) for how we live our lives, those of us who come to things independent of rabbis, as well as those who won't do a thing without their rebbe's blessing. G-d gave us this land thousands of years ago, and by our own actions we managed to get ourselves kicked out twice and are heading straight for a third dispersion. We will have earned it, if we don't take a time out and do some soul searching, and stop playing into the hands of our enemies, which leads me right back to Glick's article.
I'm still holding on to the ridiculous hope that Sharon's evacuation of Gaza won't happen. It's just too insane in light of Abu Mazzen's invitation to the Syrian based terror groups to move their operations to Gaza once we are gone. The misconception that he wants reform and peace is going to cost not only us, but the whole world dearly. It might be easier to just hand over the keys and leave, but, of course, there's no place to go. We are unwanted everywhere, so, I guess all I can do is hold and pray and write about it. (not that any one takes any mind of my blatherings)

NAUGHTY AT FUNERAL

I would have expected such behavior from third graders, but not even from them at a funeral, never mind the Pope's. Our purely ceremonial (and useless) President Katzav was almost, but not quite the better behaved of those involved. Ok, so he shook hands with Assad the son and with Khatami of Iran, where Katzav was born. So far so good and only to be expected. The problems arose from Katzav's childish hurry to put out an official press announcement on the hand shakes. This rush to tell all resulted in a denial by Assad's handlers and a very angry Sharon. What Sharon had to be angry about, I do not know. Katzav was in a position where to not shake hands would have been rude, not to mention surly. We are talking about three grown men at the Pope's funeral, one of whom had to run and tell the world. He really should have known that the smart thing to do was tell Sharon, then, decide whether or not to tell. It's too bad no pictures of the moment have been released. Assad has turned it into an infantile case of "It never happened" Now go prove it did. Ah, both Assad and Khatami are now denying it happened. How stupid, and disrespectful of the Pope. After all, this Pope was more open to Jews and Muslims than any other. So what if they shook hands with Katzav? This Pope was the first ever to go to a mosque and a Synagogue. Come on, children. Act your ages, and if you can't, stay home. Some people just can't be taken out in public.
On a local note: the idiot editor and intrepid reporter of local gossip rag infamy, did it again. In trying to prove how smart and with it they are (not) they put a caption under a picture of an overturned Hummer that said Under the Hammer........Hebrew is written without vowels, so Hummer and hammer are actually spelled the same. The problem is that Hebrew word for hammer is patish, and they used patish. I am going to have so much fun with that next week in town. In trying to show how smart they are, they proved the exact opposite! It's sad to watch that paper get more unreadable every week. It used to be THE PAPER, but, the other one is adding a page or two every week, which says it all.

WE ARE LOSING IT

It infuriates and saddens me that we are so anxious to be a part of the Western culture at all cost that we are happily appropriating Western Cultural icons as our own. Way back in the Dark Ages, when I was growing up, a Jew would never ever send flowers to a Jewish funeral. We have our own traditions for mourning, traditions that focus more on life than death. We also did not cross our fingers, hearts, or anything else as those are direct references to the cross. The same cross that is referred to in the expression "knock on wood" which we also never used. Israelis have no such qualms, as evidenced by the widespread use of funeral wreaths even by government officials. The latest thing I've noticed is that many cars sport stickers on rear windscreens that say "no fear" I've been wondering if that is yet another adaption of the Catholic Pope's Fear Not. When I first saw them I thought is was just the Israeli driver's way of thumbing his nose at the statistics that say he is 300 times more likely to die in a car crash than any other way. Now, I think it might be yet another Christian thing we have adopted, and I bet that not one of the idiots who have on their cars know why or where it came from. I get absolutely furious when I hear "We'll keep our fingers crossed that Maccabi wins" from sportscasters on TV. By our thoughtless use of what have become secular expressions the world over, we are losing the uniqueness that gives the right to be here. I am NOT saying that we should all become Ultra Orthodox, but I DO wish we would give things more thought before mindlessly taking on things that are so not ours. And yes, I do often mention it to repeat offenders, complete with explanation. Just like I correct anyone who mispronounces my town's name in my presence....including Ariel Sharon, who has been corrected twice that I can remember. Minor irritations in the great scheme of things, but that's how the big things happen, or in the Hebrew-All because of a small nail.הכל בגלל מסמר קטן

JUST WHO DOES RICHARD GERE THINK HE IS?

The audacity of the man is nothing short of breathtaking. He actually has the nerve to come here and try to make peace between us and the so called palestinians? By what authority? I really don't like the man. I have no time for that kind of arrogance. Is he angling for the Nobel (ignoble) Peace (piece) prize or to be the second actor to be elected President of the US. If it's the latter, using this as an opening move in his campaign is stupid to say the least. What understanding of the issues can he posibly have to let him think that he has any part of the answer to things over here? Or is he actulally arrogant enough to think that an outside Hollyweird perspective is what's needed? Ach, who knows what goes on in the mind of a guy like him? I don't, nor do I want to. The only thing with Gear in the title that I'm interested in is Top Gear Extra with Jeremy Clarkson, and his crew! IN fact, I'd rather like to hear what Jezza himself thinks on the subject. He'd most likely have us holding our sides in laughter all the way through the signing of the agreement.

THE POPE AND FOX NEWS

Fox News really did a good ruining one of the most important events of our time. Their coverage of the Pope's death was a nightmare of over kill. They had people talking nonstop about things they knew very little about, with a few experts scattered in. It's too bad they couldn't have covered it more like Sky News did. Sky pretty much went on with news as usual with a runner about the Pope at the bottom of the screen. During the time I watched Sky they didn't have a commentator on the scene saying things that in the end turned out to be inaccurate to say the least. The Fox guy kept saying that when the Pope died the lights in his apartments would be turned out. They weren't. Nit picky as that may be, it was much worse when they declared him dead because they heard a Sky producer mistranslating a Vatican statement on air. The nonstop coverage with a runner about other news. It would have been much better had they done it like Sky. It was frustrating, to say the least to hear someone trying to translate The Lord's Prayer from Latin to English. Heck, even *I* know it by heart(in English and Hebrew) and to hear such a bad partial translation was painful. They also frequently misused terms like Papacy and Pontificate. Fox *is* known for it's lax linguistic standards, but they should have made the effort to at the very least not let their reporters sound like total ignoramuses. Now we'll have to suffer through their half assed reporting of the funeral and the conclave. In the best tradition of modern news services they are already into the prediction business, trying to guess who the next Pope will be. I guess that's pretty inevitable, but I would much rather see them do short biographical pieces on the Cardinals and let us speculate based on that. At least the Catholic commentators they are bringing in, refuse to speculate on that.
For those of you out there who don't believe in G-d or the Deity (either the traditional Biblical Deity or the 'Alien one), I'd like to point out that the late Pope was too much the right man at the right time for his election to have been other than the Hand of The Deity at work. Pope John Paul II could not have been other than divinely inspired. That is not to say that I think the Christians got it right, but that he was such a good man that even if what he believed was based on a man made mistake, it matters not a whit. He was a truly good man and made a difference while he was here.
Bush's statement was the best I've heard so far and I doubt if anyone else will come close to his eloquence on the passing of the Pope. Laura looked like she was on the verge on tears while her husband spoke. I must admit that I went a bit beyond the verge while Bush spoke.
It *has* been interesting listening to personal stories of people who met the Pope especially in light of what my children said after they saw him here. Both were among the Police who secured his trip to Galilee in 2000 and they both felt his power. They were both within touching distance of him different times and I'm sure they will never forget it.

THE POPE IS DYING

The pope is dying, and in spite of my feelings for Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, it saddens me. This Pope was a wonderful man, one of the few, if not only, truly good men in our time. Ok, so I think his belief is based on a huge deception, but, not a bad one in and of itself. He tried to correct so many things his predecessors did, and succeeded in most areas. He was a brave man who lived his beliefs, and in my opinion possibly was as close as anyone can get to a living example of how Jesus meant for people to live. Even this close to death. There are so few truly good people on earth. He will be missed.
Thinking about him and my 'take' on the Church, brought me to the idea that most post monotheistic religions are pretty much some form of continuation of the premonotheistic *pagan* ones, with maybe one exception, but that exception pretty much depends on the whole Sumerian 'alien' issue. There have been findings by Stitchin that indicate that things might have been given push in a direction that lead to Judaism and a religion based on ethical behavior, a set of 'rules' that tell us how to live as 'good' people. I still think things got twisted through the early years of Christianity by men who were looking for a road to power and a way to control people. The independent aspects of Judaism had to be changed and a middleman inserted. People just can't be trusted to figure out for themselves what the right thing to do is. Then, there's the whole female/goddess issue. It seems there might have been a slight mistranslation and that Eve was not created from Adam's rib, but was his other side, which would make the Feminine an equal partner in everything. Premonotheistic religions had as many goddesses as they did gods. In fact it seems that goddesses dominated in areas of the world where agriculture was prevalent, and gods, where hunting was the way of life. As to the issue of human sacrifice, it is possible that there was very little of that back then, and that with a few possible exceptions, it was inserted by recorders of religion to make a point. I'm still reading and thinking, and know I will never be a theological expert, but I *do* want to learn more and come to my own conclusions. It's going to be bumpy, but interesting ride.