Amos, I'm Jewish and I' embarrassed that Jewish people would protest any kind of religious icons in a cemetery. Heck, as an agnostic, I'm embarrassed that athiests would protest as well. What is more ecumenical that in a cemetery that allows people of all faiths to express their faiths together? Stupid stupid stupid.
Now, as to sining Silent Night in public schools I am queasy about that. It is a religious song, not a secular song, and I remember back in school at our "nonvolunterary" class assemblies being forced to be on a stage signing holiday carols, and Silent Night was one of them. I hated singing anyway, so I mouthed the words, but I didn't fell comfortable having to sing something that imposed a religious viewpoint I didn't subscribe to (I wouldn't have wanted them to sing Chanukah songs, either).
Amos, I'm Jewish and I' embarrassed that Jewish people would protest any kind of religious icons in a cemetery. Heck, as an agnostic, I'm embarrassed that athiests would protest as well. What is more ecumenical that in a cemetery that allows people of all faiths to express their faiths together? Stupid stupid stupid.
Now, as to sining Silent Night in public schools I am queasy about that. It is a religious song, not a secular song, and I remember back in school at our "nonvolunterary" class assemblies being forced to be on a stage signing holiday carols, and Silent Night was one of them. I hated singing anyway, so I mouthed the words, but I didn't fell comfortable having to sing something that imposed a religious viewpoint I didn't subscribe to (I wouldn't have wanted them to sing Chanukah songs, either).
I'm certain that the "Jewish" group in question does not represent Jews in general. Very certain. Much the same way that, despite their literature, the KKK does not represent Christianity. We all have our nut-jobs. Our family is way pro-Jewish. My Dad used to send money to "Friends of Israel", (I think that was the group), I sent enough for a plane ticket to a group run by Rabbi Eckstein, and received a post card a few months later from a Russian emigrant thanking me. I say all of this because I really don't want anyone to think that my comments on that group were meant to be any kind of generalization. It amazed me that any group calling itself Jewish would behave so. My Dad used to point out that there was no more open-minded group on earth than Hebrews, tolerant of all religions in their capital city, despite the centuries of intolerance and abuse on the part of those religions. Chosen indeed!
I consider myself Christian, but, I have to admit, that there are not many denominations that will include me if my beliefs are entirely known. I've studied a lot of Gnosticism, and if you throw in what I learned from Tom Harpur's "The Pagan Christ", Geza Vermes "The Changing Face of Christ", and some works by Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels, you get close to what I really believe.
At one time I considered myself atheist, until some undeniable and overwhelming personal experiences taught me different. This "atheist" claim, too, is hogwash on the part of the petitioners in the suit to bring down the crucifix. If these people were truly atheist, it wouldn't bother them at all. They would consider it an archaic symbol of a bygone culture and treat it as a relic. No, they're not atheists, they are AntiChrist, or anti-God.
Back to the Silent Night issue. I spent Kindergarten through 4th grades in school in Brooklyn NY. Lots of Jewish kids. Actually, our church and the local synagogue used to have interfaith activities for us kids. Our pastor, Methodist in case anyone wonders, felt that it was important for us to understand the history, and before the events would stress to us that Jesus stated very clearly that He did not come to change one iota of the law, Jesus remained a Jew. At any rate, at that time, in our school, the Jewish kids got Holidays we didn't, and were excused from religiously oriented programs not directed toward Judaism, and there were no repercussions that I'm aware of. That's the way to handle it, I think.
Thanks for giving me a chance to express these things, I believe they need to be part of the discussion. At a National level, too.
It amazed me that any group calling itself Jewish would behave so. My Dad used to point out that there was no more open-minded group on earth than Hebrews, tolerant of all religions in their capital city, despite the centuries of intolerance and abuse on the part of those religions. Chosen indeed!
Oh, believe me, there are plenty of intolerant and bigoted Jews. The vitriolic views of some groups that essentially view Israeli Arabs (those who live in Israel proper) and especially Palestinians as second-class citizens or much, much worse are particularly reprehensible. The ones calling for crosses to be taken out of cemeteries are, quite probably, of the extreme leftist groups; the same ones who support the boycott and divestiture movement against Israel and are every bit as reprehensible as the extreme right wing Jews who very publicly demonize Arabs and Muslims and equate any criticism of Israel's West Bank policies as anti-semitism (a whole set of issues that I totally wish to avoid any discussion of).
Really, I think the only stereotype that accurately applies to most Jews can be found in comedian Jackie Mason's classic joke: "Here's the main difference between Jews and Gentiles. A gentile goes to Vienna, and when he comes back he tells his friends, "I was so exciting to visit the homes of Mozart and Beethoven, see all of its beautiful architecture and culture." When a Jew goes to Vienna, he says, "When I was in Vienna, I had such a piece of cake!"
The sad part to all these postings is the singular fact that throughout all the regulations the government has passed, as well as tried to pass, not at one time has it considered the acid rain it has continually allowed to fall on our heads not to mention our soil. I think harshly of all the past presidents who have not had enough intelligence to place a large canopy over this country, catch the rain, filter it and then introduce it to our environment. Just my two cents.
Just saw an article that says the Colorado River is drying up. Also, most of the resevoirs west of the Mississippi are at about 18% of the capacity they held in the 1970's. And we're fracking, pumping our most precious resource, the source of all life itself, into the ground to produce oil/gasoline energy, instead of developing the viable alternatives.
Just saw an article that says the Colorado River is drying up.
Did you know that over the last 50+ years, intensive water consumption and population expansion has caused the lower 100 miles of the river to dry up so much that the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea except in years of heavy runoff.
Just saw an article that says the Colorado River is drying up.
Did you know that over the last 50+ years, intensive water consumption and population expansion has caused the lower 100 miles of the river to dry up so much that the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea except in years of heavy runoff.
With the risk of bringing up the old "less/more government" warhorse, in spite of all the fear-mongering claiming that the Obama administration was anti-business and would put a stranglehold on energy production, in fact, environmentalists have more to be disappointed about. Not only has energy production increased dramatically over the course of the Obama administrator, but the U.S. has been a net oil EXPORTER of oil since 2010, mainly due to the fact that the greedy oil companies are able to U.S. produced oil more expensively in foreign markets. Traditional oil product and water-consuming and CO-producing shale oil production have risen dramatically. And with the newest State Department saying that the Keystone pipeline would neither increase nor decrease the environmental destroying effects of shale oil effects (mainly because it's either going to happen in Canada or in the U.S.), it seems quite likely that Obama will approve the project, since he doesn't need to worry about being re-elected.
So, what we're essentially seeing is a total lack of regulatory control over shale oil production, allowing it to generate excess CO2, suck up precious groundwater, and pollute the water tables in the regions where it's occurring. And what's ironically is most of the shale area fields are situated in regions whose local populations are opposed to government interference in private industry. It will be interesting to see what happens when these people discover that they have no water for their farms and that their drinking water is polluted with cancer causing chemicals. Who will they turn for help? The oil companies?
Just saw an article that says the Colorado River is drying up.
Did you know that over the last 50+ years, intensive water consumption and population expansion has caused the lower 100 miles of the river to dry up so much that the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea except in years of heavy runoff.
With the risk of bringing up the old "less/more government" warhorse, in spite of all the fear-mongering claiming that the Obama administration was anti-business and would put a stranglehold on energy production, in fact, environmentalists have more to be disappointed about. Not only has energy production increased dramatically over the course of the Obama administrator, but the U.S. has been a net oil EXPORTER of oil since 2010, mainly due to the fact that the greedy oil companies are able to U.S. produced oil more expensively in foreign markets. Traditional oil product and water-consuming and CO-producing shale oil production have risen dramatically. And with the newest State Department saying that the Keystone pipeline would neither increase nor decrease the environmental destroying effects of shale oil effects (mainly because it's either going to happen in Canada or in the U.S.), it seems quite likely that Obama will approve the project, since he doesn't need to worry about being re-elected.
So, what we're essentially seeing is a total lack of regulatory control over shale oil production, allowing it to generate excess CO2, suck up precious groundwater, and pollute the water tables in the regions where it's occurring. And what's ironically is most of the shale area fields are situated in regions whose local populations are opposed to government interference in private industry. It will be interesting to see what happens when these people discover that they have no water for their farms and that their drinking water is polluted with cancer causing chemicals. Who will they turn for help? The oil companies?
Good points, all.
Funny, if you think about it, one of Obamas first acts as President was to issue a second bailout to the capitalists and industries that bankrupted the country with their un-regulated pyramid schemes. This belies the old saw that the investors should make untold sums of money from the labors of others, because they're the ones risking their capital. Small risk, knowing that Washington will wipe their poor worried brows with your tax dollars.
Thus, the very richest have continued to become ever richer during his presidency. Wall St. has done fine.
Also, Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any other president, ever.
Guantanamo is still open for business
We're still in Afghanistan, still begging Karzai to beg us to stay, and while the soldiers may take a few hits, the military industrial complex is doing quite well indeed.
Unions continue to lose ground consistently throughout the country. Corporations continue to pollute and abuse at will, with little or no regulatory backlash.
I guess what it all boils down to is, if this guy is the Socialist that the media would have us believe, he's got to be the worst socialist ever!
Funny, if you think about it, one of Obamas first acts as President was to issue a second bailout to the capitalists and industries that bankrupted the country with their un-regulated pyramid schemes. This belies the old saw that the investors should make untold sums of money from the labors of others, because they're the ones risking their capital. Small risk, knowing that Washington will wipe their poor worried brows with your tax dollars.
Thus, the very richest have continued to become ever richer during his presidency. Wall St. has done fine.
Also, Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any other president, ever.
Guantanamo is still open for business
We're still in Afghanistan, still begging Karzai to beg us to stay, and while the soldiers may take a few hits, the military industrial complex is doing quite well indeed.
Unions continue to lose ground consistently throughout the country. Corporations continue to pollute and abuse at will, with little or no regulatory backlash.
I guess what it all boils down to is, if this guy is the Socialist that the media would have us believe, he's got to be the worst socialist ever!
*Sigh*. All of this is true, although, by pushing Dodd-Frank through (which is still largely unfunded, all these years) he made an attempt to put some control on Wall Street. And he did float the idea of closing Guantanamo, but Congress shut him down. And at least he got us out of the quagmire that is Iraq and at least most U.S. soldiers will be out of Afghanistan, which, as soon as they're gone, will go back to being the stone age warlord-ruled mess it's been for eons. And there was nothing he could do about protecting unions--that's really state business. And he did try to at least throw out the idea of taxing companies responsible for global warming, and that got nowhere in Congress. He really had only two years to get done what he wanted to get done--which, whether you like it or not, was an incredible amount. After the Tea Party swept through Congress in 2010, he was effectively powerless and has been ever since.
I could forgive him for not making headway on global warming and pollution, but I can't forgive him for letting wiretapping and privacy invasion go on as long as it has.
With regards to Amos last topic though, the Colorado River drying up....
On a similar note....did you see this article from the NY Times over the weekend?
Historic drought has U.S. West Fearing the Worst: With no sign of rain, 17 rural California communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days
“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years” CLICK HERE for the Article
Also, check out the most recent Drought Monitor conditions, released last week. More info here.
Comments
Now, as to sining Silent Night in public schools I am queasy about that. It is a religious song, not a secular song, and I remember back in school at our "nonvolunterary" class assemblies being forced to be on a stage signing holiday carols, and Silent Night was one of them. I hated singing anyway, so I mouthed the words, but I didn't fell comfortable having to sing something that imposed a religious viewpoint I didn't subscribe to (I wouldn't have wanted them to sing Chanukah songs, either).
I consider myself Christian, but, I have to admit, that there are not many denominations that will include me if my beliefs are entirely known. I've studied a lot of Gnosticism, and if you throw in what I learned from Tom Harpur's "The Pagan Christ", Geza Vermes "The Changing Face of Christ", and some works by Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels, you get close to what I really believe.
At one time I considered myself atheist, until some undeniable and overwhelming personal experiences taught me different. This "atheist" claim, too, is hogwash on the part of the petitioners in the suit to bring down the crucifix. If these people were truly atheist, it wouldn't bother them at all. They would consider it an archaic symbol of a bygone culture and treat it as a relic. No, they're not atheists, they are AntiChrist, or anti-God.
Back to the Silent Night issue. I spent Kindergarten through 4th grades in school in Brooklyn NY. Lots of Jewish kids. Actually, our church and the local synagogue used to have interfaith activities for us kids. Our pastor, Methodist in case anyone wonders, felt that it was important for us to understand the history, and before the events would stress to us that Jesus stated very clearly that He did not come to change one iota of the law, Jesus remained a Jew. At any rate, at that time, in our school, the Jewish kids got Holidays we didn't, and were excused from religiously oriented programs not directed toward Judaism, and there were no repercussions that I'm aware of. That's the way to handle it, I think.
Thanks for giving me a chance to express these things, I believe they need to be part of the discussion. At a National level, too.
this is good for us:
this is bad for us:
this baffles us:
What can those mad ragheads possibly have against us?
Oh, believe me, there are plenty of intolerant and bigoted Jews. The vitriolic views of some groups that essentially view Israeli Arabs (those who live in Israel proper) and especially Palestinians as second-class citizens or much, much worse are particularly reprehensible. The ones calling for crosses to be taken out of cemeteries are, quite probably, of the extreme leftist groups; the same ones who support the boycott and divestiture movement against Israel and are every bit as reprehensible as the extreme right wing Jews who very publicly demonize Arabs and Muslims and equate any criticism of Israel's West Bank policies as anti-semitism (a whole set of issues that I totally wish to avoid any discussion of).
Really, I think the only stereotype that accurately applies to most Jews can be found in comedian Jackie Mason's classic joke: "Here's the main difference between Jews and Gentiles. A gentile goes to Vienna, and when he comes back he tells his friends, "I was so exciting to visit the homes of Mozart and Beethoven, see all of its beautiful architecture and culture." When a Jew goes to Vienna, he says, "When I was in Vienna, I had such a piece of cake!"
Just my two cents.
How stupid are we?
God knows.
With the risk of bringing up the old "less/more government" warhorse, in spite of all the fear-mongering claiming that the Obama administration was anti-business and would put a stranglehold on energy production, in fact, environmentalists have more to be disappointed about. Not only has energy production increased dramatically over the course of the Obama administrator, but the U.S. has been a net oil EXPORTER of oil since 2010, mainly due to the fact that the greedy oil companies are able to U.S. produced oil more expensively in foreign markets. Traditional oil product and water-consuming and CO-producing shale oil production have risen dramatically. And with the newest State Department saying that the Keystone pipeline would neither increase nor decrease the environmental destroying effects of shale oil effects (mainly because it's either going to happen in Canada or in the U.S.), it seems quite likely that Obama will approve the project, since he doesn't need to worry about being re-elected.
So, what we're essentially seeing is a total lack of regulatory control over shale oil production, allowing it to generate excess CO2, suck up precious groundwater, and pollute the water tables in the regions where it's occurring. And what's ironically is most of the shale area fields are situated in regions whose local populations are opposed to government interference in private industry. It will be interesting to see what happens when these people discover that they have no water for their farms and that their drinking water is polluted with cancer causing chemicals. Who will they turn for help? The oil companies?
Funny, if you think about it, one of Obamas first acts as President was to issue a second bailout to the capitalists and industries that bankrupted the country with their un-regulated pyramid schemes. This belies the old saw that the investors should make untold sums of money from the labors of others, because they're the ones risking their capital. Small risk, knowing that Washington will wipe their poor worried brows with your tax dollars.
Thus, the very richest have continued to become ever richer during his presidency. Wall St. has done fine.
Also, Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any other president, ever.
Guantanamo is still open for business
We're still in Afghanistan, still begging Karzai to beg us to stay, and while the soldiers may take a few hits, the military industrial complex is doing quite well indeed.
Unions continue to lose ground consistently throughout the country.
Corporations continue to pollute and abuse at will, with little or no regulatory backlash.
I guess what it all boils down to is, if this guy is the Socialist that the media would have us believe, he's got to be the worst socialist ever!
I could forgive him for not making headway on global warming and pollution, but I can't forgive him for letting wiretapping and privacy invasion go on as long as it has.
With regards to Amos last topic though, the Colorado River drying up....
On a similar note....did you see this article from the NY Times over the weekend?
Historic drought has U.S. West Fearing the Worst: With no sign of rain, 17 rural California communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days
“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years”
CLICK HERE for the Article
Also, check out the most recent Drought Monitor conditions, released last week. More info here.