Tikkun Olam

I first saw the link on Little Green Fo otballs and then on Jameel’s blog, which led me to the AP article , intimating “racism” on Governor Palin’s mention of Senator Obama’s affiliation with unrepentant-terrorist Bill Ayers, of Weathermen fame. The Associated Press article, (or is it really an editorial masquerading as a “news” story?), suggests that Obama’s connection with Ayers couldn’t have been deep but rather that they knew each other on an ‘acquaintance’ level only. This reminded me of something I had just finished reading last night in Commentary Magazine (to which I subscribe) by Joshua Muravchik , resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former socialist, now self-described neoconservative ) . Mr. Muravchik seems to disagree with the author of the AP story as to the extent of the Obama/Ayers relationship. Mr. Daniel, author of the AP story also implies that Palin's statement is 'racist' (emphasis mine): By claiming that Democrat ...

The Biden/Palin debate aired last Thursday. Last night (motzei Shabbat), SNL took the opportunity-and this campaign sure is giving them ample opportunity-to parody it. I just caught the tail end of it, but was reminded of it when I watched Meet the Press this morning. I think it's a *scream and therefore worthy of posting (and isn't Tina Fey almost a dead ringer for Sarah Palin?) Here it is in it's entirety:

(warning: I like long, run-on sentences.) I had already decided that my Thursday night, Oct. 2nd 2008 entertainment would be to sit down on my 26 year old sofa in the family room and watch the debate while chapping dinner (Rosh Hashana left-over chicken) on paper plates on the coffee table. And what a great night it was. In my opinion, Governor Palin did better than before (she must have practiced and rehearsed forever ), but her inexperience and fear of venturing out from behind her prepared talking points showed, while Senator Biden's many years of political experience showed too, as well as his ease of speaking extemporaneously, culling facts--albeit some wrong ones, notably about Hezbollah being kicked out of Lebanon (they weren't) and Palestinian elections in the West Bank (it was Gaza), as Daled Amos correctly points out--from memory, in sharp contrast to Palin's constantly looking down at her notes while he was speaking, and towing the party line while she was...

I wasn't going to post anymore before Rosh Hashana, but I received this in an email (from my research staff) and, after picking myself up off the floor, couldn't resist sharing it with you. You'll notice a certain vice-presidential candidate is missing (-hadn't been chosen yet); you know, the one who can see Russia from her house . Shabbat shalom, and Happy New Year . *Copyright alert: No infringement of any text or graphic copyright is ever intended on this blog. If you own the copyright to any original image or document used for the creation of the graphics or information on this site, please contact the blog administrator with all pertinent info so that proper credit can be given. If you wish to have it removed from the site, just say the word; it shall be, ASAP.

This post has nothing to do with anything. I see that other, normal bloggers are posting about the Kadima elections in Israel (ok so I'm a little late with that), or the hilarious Palin vs Hillary (notice no one says 'Sarah vs Hillary;' or 'Palin vs Clinton'?) on SNL, or Obama's conference call with 900 Rabbis - you know, important stuff. Well, not me. I got hooked on Wordles , thank you very much. Actually, thank you very much to Ye'hi Sh'mey Raba Mevorach in her Wordle post. So of course, I had to try it. At 10:30 p.m. It is now 12:50 a.m. I can't stop! They are really cool, though; here are some I made from words from my blog, Tikkun Olam. You gotta try it (in the morning, though-right after breakfast). Oh, fine. I'll put the SNL video on my blog. Just 'cause I know you wanna watch a movie.

Article. [XIX] [Proposed 1919; Ratified 1920] The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Out of the blue and quite suddenly and unexpectedly, we now have Sarah Palin - a woman - running for vice president on the Republican ticket. Now, as a Jew, I have had the double personal pride in knowing that Israel (way ahead of the United States) elected a Jewish woman as Prime Minister, Golda Meir , in 1969. Though I disagree with her political and social ideology and her decisions and erroneous assessments which plunged Israel into the Yom Kippur war in 1973, I still take pride in the fact that she was an educated, intelligent woman who held the highest political office in her country and was absolutely committed to her beloved Land of Israel and her People . As an American, I think it's about time we arrived , but e...

Have you thought about how ridiculous this whole candidate-election-hoopla-thing is, when you think about how it fits in the 'Great Scheme of Things?' Let's see, one candidate has a murky past: parents might not have even been married when he was conceived (He has stated to the effect that he is 'not clear' on that issue), his father disappears; yon son goes to a third world country and attends an Islamic religious school for a while, raised by a single (read=divorced or unwed) mother, she sends him off to live with his grandparents, name somehow changes to 'Barak' from 'Barry' somewhere along the line; somehow he becomes a state senator but nobody's heard of him for four years; suddenly he comes out of nowhere and is famous . Then they find a long-lost half-sister (in a burka). And he grew up, out of all the states available in the entire country, in HAWAII. Other-side candidate runs three miles every other day for fun; owns a rifle (waddya ...

Although I don't agree 100% with Bulletproof Diction 's analysis of Mr. Obama's speech, it's worth reading. I left a comment on his post on Senator Obama's speech, and that, along with McCain's surprising but brilliant choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate for vice president prompted me to write yet again, about this suddenly really interesting race for President of the United States. I disagree with Bulletproof Diction's view that Bush's actions as President were 90% right (more like, 90% wrong). I don't think that Mr. Bush cares about nor can even relate to the average-income earning worker earning $55,000 a year or less. I don't think the current President really cares about the predatory lending by Big Banks and mortgage lending institutions which contributed to the recession the economy is in now. Plain and simple, I have my problems with Republicans, who are not noted for their social and economic reforms. But I will not be voting...