Tikkun Olam

Leaving the high of participating in the Nefesh b’Nefesh JBlogger Convention, albeit cyberspace-illy, still behooves us to continue to try to make an impact on world events, beginning perhaps with local events (who was it who said, “think globally, act locally”?) In perusing some of the many blogs whose authors I was familiar with or had just met in the conference chat room, I came across this piece about Senator Obama (about whom I’ve written before, here , here and here ) by Daled Amos . As I’ve said previously, there is more than meets the eye behind the charismatic facade (for some--not for all) of Mr. Barak Hussein Obama, beyond the flip-flop he committed at the AIPAC conference this past June. This video hints just a little more about the hidden Obama; or do most Americans only care about the rhetoric? Hey, why be so serious after all? Isn't it a little like, say, the State Fair? Or Disneyland? Or Hollywood? Let's just play the game and have a grand old time (just...

Found this interesting little piece on Fox News on the 'net: it seems that, according to the Egyptian actor Omar Sharif , who starred in blockbuster Hollywood productions such as Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago--Arabs and democracy are not great bedfellows. The story, based on information on the MEMRI website, states that Mr. Sharif told President Bush that democracy will never take hold in the Arab countries, because they are made up of sects, and prefer to go to their sheik to handle disputes: "I said to Bush, even before he entered Iraq: Forget about all that. We, the Arabs... We are not like [regular countries]," said Sharif. "You will drown there." By gosh, if we only had known this before our president got us into the war in Iraq - I mean, who knew - about Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds ("-oh my!")? And who knew that people with no concept of and not prepared culturally for democracy - when Mr. Prez praised the "democratic" electio...

For all you science buffs out there , (thanks to my daughter and to Tom Lehrer) here is an edifying--if totally random--post. Interested in learning more about the periodic table? Click on the title link (next post will be a pop-quiz.) Want some more science? Ok, you've heard the expression, "if you're dealt lemons, make lemonade?" How about a battery instead? Really . *For those of you who noticed, I previously had some difficulty in embedding videos on my blog (see post before this, whose video has since been fixed); I just switched to the YouTube beta version, and it seems to be working fine, so far. . .

So apparently the DSL Forum , in their study of broadband growth in the Middle East, is redrawing the global map to one without the State of Israel. That's not nice (and it would get an F in geography). Instead they only list "Palestine," which by the way when last seen was actually not a recognized country--as the intrepid investigative reporter-cum-blogger says in his piece on Telecomweb . But for some reason, some people will go to great lengths to appease the bully, as I've said many times in previous posts (see labels arabs, media, politics ) which of course is why the bully gets cockier and cockier, strutting about posturing and threatening and often acting out on his threats--committing murder and mayhem, kidnappings and beheadings--and not one nation (let alone the so-called 'moderates' of their own people, if such a thing even exists-except for a precious few like Wafa Sultan and Brigitte Gabriel- again, see my previous posts) has the guts to stand u...

Folks, this is not directly about Israel (and the war to eradicate the scum enemy threat to its existence), but in a way, it is. Mel Gibson, the actor, and director of the film The Passion , was recently arrested on a drunk driving charge - DUI, to be exact. We knew of his father being shall we say, not the greatest lover of the Jewish people. Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree. However, I have to give Mr. Gibson (the son) some credit, in that he did admit that he made inappropriate disparaging remarks about the Jewish people, and he apparently has asked for forgiveness. Hmm-mm, do you think he is on the road to Tshuvah ? I am almost ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. It sounds as if he is going through a very personal inner conflict now. Let's see where this leads. Meanwhile, why don't you click on the title link and enjoy the article by Michael Ventre - gezuntahait !