Friday, August 25, 2006

Jews, Jesus, and Jackie Mason

The following is a part of an article from CNN today.
I have made my comments with in the body.

Founded in the 1970s, Jews for Jesus practices Judaism but regards Jesus as the Messiah.  Was this written by the Jews for Jesus?  Let's be honest here, if you believe Jesus was the Messiah, you are a Christian.  You stop 'practicing' Judaism at that point.   It is sort of hard to say I am a Jew, but I believe that Jesus was the son of G-D and the Messiah.  They aren't compatible, unless of course I have missed something.

The pamphlets feature an image of Mason next to the words "Jackie Mason ... A Jew for Jesus!?" with information inside that outlines the similarities between Jews and Christians.   Okay, Jews and Christians are similar.  Is there any need to mention Jackie Mason, or have an image of him.   There is a logical reason that they are similar, not having seen the pamphlet I can't say if they discuss that, but the reason is there.

"The pamphlet uses my name, my likeness, my 'shtick' (if you will), and my very act, which is derived from my personality, to attract attention and converts," Mason said in an affidavit.   I don't always agree with Jackie, but I have to say, I would be quite offended myself if somebody was using me to 'attract attention and converts.'   The Messianic 'Jewish' movements have been using bait and switch tactics on people with out a strong Jewish identity or education for years.  This just seems to follow in that path.

Susan Perlman, a spokeswoman for Jews for Jesus, said the pamphlet was "good-natured."  Ms. Perlman is likely to be a convert.  But that isn't a reason to dislike her reference to the pamphlet as 'good-natured,' the reason is that it is a lie.   Like many other things that the Messianic 'Jewish' movements do to attract converts, the pamphlet is intentionally deceptive.  Make no mistake on this, they knew exactly what they were doing when the pamphlet was put together and how it would/could be perceived.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/08/25/jackiemason.ap/index.html

 

One final note, these types of 'campaigns' and marketing ideas get more insidious every year, because the groups need to find new ways to 'get inside' peoples heads and attract attention.   As my wife always says about Jews for Jesus, neither side claims them many Christian groups don't see them as Christians, and no legitimate Jewish group sees them as Jewish.   Basically these are people who are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

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Tuesday, August 22, 2006

I Hate Camping

Okay, why this subject?  I recently spent an 'extended' weekend camping with my wife, her sister and her sister's family (husband and 2 kids).
 
I love the people we were with, which may make it the only thing about camping I like.  It has become an annual 'adventure' to go camping with the family.
 
Over the last several camping trips the following has happened.
1.  I ended up in the hospital with a Crohn's episode.
2.  We had an invasion of adorable skunks.
3.  We had the police called to an nearby campsite to breakup an altercation between drunk people, one of whom broke out the window of one of the vehicles during the altercation.
And finally this year:
4.  A spider-to-human ratio that was something well over 20-to-1.  ( I hate spiders, anything with more than four legs is, by definition, evil as far as I am concerned.)
5  We purchased a new tent (Okay it was at Wal-Mart, but that was the only place available) because of 'packing issues.'  The last night of camping had a rainstorm, and naturally the tent developed puddles. 
 
The new tent was bigger than our old tent and was bigger than my sister-in-law's tent so this is where the family gathered to 'ride out the storm.'  Let's just say we all ended up sleeping in a much smaller tent.
 
Now I have jokingly told my wife for years that Jew's don't camp, we spent 40 years camping centuries ago and we only camp now in Jerusalem during Sukkot.  For some reason she does't seem to buy this and continues to force me to camp year after year.  As such I have decided to become a camping maven.  I am going to 'boldly go' where I have dreaded going for years. 
 
Oh well, that is what marriage is for, to force men to do things we don't want to do or enjoy just to keep our wives happy.  Well off to study for the Audit portion of the CPA exam.  (I hate auditing, but that is an entirely different subject on which to rant some time.)

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Anti-Semetism in France.

The following is from an email version of the Schmoose that arrived in my inbox today.  While I make no representation of it's contents beyond that I found it very interesting, I felt it was important to getting it to what I hope will be a wider audience.
 
Once again, the real news is conveniently not being reported as it should. At present, in my Hebrew class, there is a woman who recently made aliya (immigration to Israel) from Paris with her family. I have spoken with her about anti-Semitism in France and she confirmed that it is very, very serious and getting worse every week. She and her family fled Paris and came to Israel, fearing for their lives - literally. This is first hand, my friends.

To give you an idea of what's going on in France where there are now between 5 and 6 million Muslims and about 600,000 Jews, here is an email that came from another Jew still in France. Please read! Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time?

He writes, "I AM A JEW -- therefore I am forwarding this to everyone on all my e-mail lists. I will not sit back and do nothing." Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France:

In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire.

In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed;

so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles;

so was a Jewish school in Creteil - all recently

A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Moloto v cocktails,

and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words "Dirty Jew" were painted.

In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars.

The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.

According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days. Wake up, world! Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming "Jews to the gas chambers" and "Death to the Jews."

A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France;

a Jewish couple in their 20s were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France. The woman was pregnant

a Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France. This was in the past week

So I call on you, whether you are a fellow Jew, a friend, or merely a person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, to do, at least, these three simple things:

First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: First they came for the Communists, and I didn,t speak up, because I wasn't a Communist . Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

Second, boycott France and French products. Only the Arab countries are more toxically anti-Semitic and, unlike them, France exports more than just oil and hatred. So boycott their wines and their perfumes. Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycott their movies. Definitely boycott their shores. If we are resolved we can exert amazing pressure and, whatever else we may know about the French, we most certainly know that they are like a cobweb in a hurricane in the face of well directed pressure.

Third, send this along to your family, your friends, and your co-workers. Think of all of the people of good conscience that you know and let them know that you and the people that you care about need their help. The number one best selling book in France is "September 11: The Frightening Fraud," which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon.

see also

http://www.ejpress.org/article/10360">Jews live in fear in Sarcelles


Friday, August 18, 2006

Thought of the Day?

I received this in an email today.  It was sent as Shabbat Humor.  I am not sure I agree that it is appropriate for that, but then again it may just be that it reflects a real view of a possible out come to the current situation.
 
 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls President Bush and tells him:
"President Bush, I called you because I had a dream."
 
Bush: What was the dream about, Ahmadinejad?"
Ahmadinejad: "I dreamed that USA was rebuilt and on the top of each
house there was a flag."
 
Bush: "And what was written on the flag?"
Ahmadinejad: "Allah Akbar!" (God is Great)
 
Bush: "You know what Mahmoud, it's good that you called because I had a
dream too. In my dream Iran was rebuilt and on the top of each building
there was a flag too."
 
Ahmadinejad: "what was written on the flags?"
 
Bush: "I don't know, I can't read Hebrew!"

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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Lieberman, Lebanon and Lesbians

To start from the end, I really don't have anything to say about lesbians, I just thought it rounded out the title rather well.
 
Lebanon:  It was announced the other day that Lebanon wanted to deploy 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon after the withdrawal of Israeli troops.  While this is nice it really is a better late than never sort of thing.  If they had done this even a year ago, perhaps their country wouldn't be a smoking ruin in the southern third.
 
Lieberman:  I really wanted to make these comments before the election the other day.  I am getting  a little tired of Democrats who disagree with an individual who is a Democrat saying they are not Democratic enough.  I don't necessarily agree with every thing Joe does, but I am closer in line to what he has to say then some of the people on the far left of the party.  Unfortunately a large number of people so hate the Unitary Executive that they reject anyone who may agree with him on even one thing.  (All right, I know it is the Iraq stance.  But is it really necessary to say he is no different than the Republicans.)

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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Just a couple of thoughts

1.  I was listening to the radio while in the car the other day and heard the following statement. (Statement is from memory and may not be exact but you'll get the idea.)
 
"There was a negotiating break through in the Middle East conflict today as the United States and France came to agreement on a UN resolution."
 
That statement seemed to be a bit on the obsurd side, after all none of the combatants were even mentioned, how was this a break through in the Middle East conflict.
 
2.  Does it seem strange to anyone else that the world is going to 'Hell in a handbasket' and the Unitary Executive is more concerned with going and cutting brush in Texas than stopping people from killing each other in the Middle East?
 

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Friday, August 04, 2006

Fwd: FW: [Freemanlist] GREAT CARTOON - SAYS IT ALL

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I received the cartoon below in an email this week.  I thought it kind of sums up the situation with both Hezbu-Allah and Hamas very very well.

Here's a political cartoon you're not likely to see in a newspaper anytime soon.  Yet, it sure hits the nail on the head.     
 




 



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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Several Quick Things

1. My wife is feeling much better, that is the most amazing thing I have to report. She is better with this new med that they put her on than she has been in at least 4 years. She may need an increase in dosage, but the improvement is almost miraculous.

2. Does anyone else feel that the 'excitement' and media frenzy surrounding the fact that the Pitching Dictator Fidel Castro has temporarily stepped down from power while he recovers from bowel surgery to be a little strange.

3. I was looking at the local paper early today and noticed that it said the 48 hour cease fire was coming to an end. Did I miss the last 48 hours?

4. I have recently saw both Superman Returns and Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. Both movies were very good. Wife and I both thought Dead Man's Chest was better than the first one. (Looks like Disney World will have to close and change the ride again.)

5. There was a letter to the editor the other day in the local paper that nearly had me laughing when I read it. The letter was arguing how Superman Returns is really just an attack on Christianity disguised as a movie. I try to put myself in other people's shoes when I read these kind of things, but I still found the concept to be ridiculous. The letter writer's basic argument was that because Lois wrote an article about how the world didn't need Superman as a savior and that Superman uses his powers to 'spy' on Lois at one point in the movie all Christians should be offended. My thought was two fold on this as I tried to understand the argument. Is this person really so weak in their own religious belief that a movie about a non-existent super powered being from another world would feel like an attack. I really never go any of what this person was talking about out of the movie. The second was, if I was as 'weak' in my own belief would I be responding that his letter is really an attack on Judaism, since the origins and name of Superman have a Jewish background.

Well I have said enough for one day. I hope I have more in me tomorrow, but gosh I feel better.

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Mel Said What?

feel sort of compelled to 'weigh-in' on the 'Mel Gibson issue.' I personally don't think this is that big a story, but since it is being blown out of proportion, I feel a desire to join in.

I have, in the past enjoyed, many of the movies that Mr. Gibson has made. I also feel that he is a much more talented director than he is as an actor. My wife and I were discussing the issue in passing the other night as we were getting ready to go to sleep and I said that I felt that many of Mr. Gibson's roles were nothing more than Mad Max in different situations. I will say that there are some that aren't. ( Man in the Mirror, and What Women Want come to mind immediately.)

I find the thoughts/statements of Mr. Gibson to be rather disgusting, but after hearing on several occasions the ideas of Mr. Gibson's father I am hardly surprised that he made the statements that he made. I also don't accept Mr. Gibson's 'apology' as being all that genuine. I think that I would actually respect him more if he admitted that that was how he felt rather than putting out prepared statements to apologize.

Okay that is out of my system. Now back to other topics

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Israel V. Terrorists

Israeli civilians are killed by the intent of Hezbu-Allah.  And the world barely notices.
 
Lebanese civilian are killed by the intent of Hezbu-Allah.  And the world is in an up-roar.  I regret the loss of life of the women, children, and elderly (as that is all the media keeps reporting on) that were killed in the Qana attack, but how much of the fault is the IDF's and how is Hezbu-Allah?  For this I don't have an answer, but I do have an opinion.  My opinion is that it is probably an equal blame, if Hezbu-Allah was not hiding the rocket-launch platforms in civilian areas, I doubt that the people of Qana would be dead.
 
Along the same lines, Hamas hides in civilian areas and the world decries the deaths of the civilian Palestinians.
 
I know that these groups are hiding in civilian areas for two reasons.  1. They do not have the man power or weapons strength to take on the Israeli military 'head-on.'  2.  They are playing a propaganda/numbers game, they hope that when the Israeli military responds that a large number of civilian casualties will occur.  They do this because it plays better in the media and with other governments to have a large number of civilian casualties.  They also know that because they are using a much less accurate attack system that their own casualty counts will be much lower.  They compensate for this by stuffing large amounts of intentional 'shrapnel' around the explosive heads.  With all of that being true, it appears that most governments and a large portion of the media will tell us that it is all Israel's fault.
 
I don't really know how to dispell this stupid situation, but I do know that it won't change until either Israel is gone, or those Arabs/Muslims who lust after the blood of others are gone.

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An update for the last week

There was suppossed to be something else here but I am having problems
with it. I will attempt to post it later.

Other things going on:
1. Wife came home over the weekend. She is feeling much better, and
they made an adjustment in her meds that seem to be helping. She is
still a little out-of-it, but part of that is probably due to the new
med, and part of is probably due to the fact that she went nearly 48
hours with out sleep. More updates as they are warranted.

2. The link below is one from CNN about an internet pedophile
predator. The thing it brought to my mind was how creative this guy
was in finding his prey. He was visiting Goth oriented websites and
finding the vulnerable girls that were on the site.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/07/21/internet.predator.ap/index.html

3. I had been wondering when we would get an update about Ariel
Sharon's condition. It came yesterday. His condition, all things
considered, isn't all that surprising. I am torn between feeling
distressed by his condition and relief at his condition. I am
distressed because I have to wonder if the current problem might not
have been different with Ariel still alive. I am also distressed
because what I know of the man, I can't help but believe this is not
the way he would have wanted to go. I am relieved because at some
point in the not too distant future I have to believe that his body
will expire and the 'Shadow of Ariel' will slowly disappear.

4. On the same note, I have begun to believe that the situation in
Israel is what it is because of Ehud Olmert. His lack of experience
on the national and international front may have lead both Hamas and
Hezbu-Allah to believe that he would be weak on the attacks. The flip
side of that is that the PM could not appear weak to his public even
if he had to take actions that he didn't necessarily want to. The PM
was in somewhat of a know win situation, if he didn't take an
aggressive position he, and Israel, would appear weak. If he took a
hard-line position he would put Israel in a difficult position.

5. Does anyone wonder what the hell the Unitary Executive's problem
is? Why does he seem to view the Chancellor of Germany as a 'squeeze
toy?' For that matter why was he so obsessed with the 'pig' during
his press conference in Germany?

Well that is all that is in my mind today. Have a good one, and
barring another disaster, we will talk again tomorrow.

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