JStreet vs. Palin

I haven't posted in a while, and this will be short, but it's what I'm thinking about...right...now.

I'm getting a headache reading this stuff. Read at your own risk (if you haven't already). http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=740

There's no question in my mind that Palin is ignorant, and dangerously so for a person with such a public platform to influence others (and, G-d forbid, possibly become president). But there is also no question in my mind that JStreet is the least pro-Israel group out there that purports to be pro-Israel. Their positions consistently undermine not only Israel's security, but the legitimacy of Israel's government (and public) to make its own decisions. Reading this whole back-and-forth is really starting to make me dizzy. Kudos to ADL Director Abe Foxman for calling it like it is. The ADL has a long history of condemning attacks on Jews and Israel from the outside, and as long a history of biting its tongue when Jewish groups attack one another. If you purport to be a Jewish and/or pro-Israel group, and the ADL is coming after you, you have some serious problems with your approach. At the very least, your message is not being delivered in a way that reflects well on you. I've been trying to give JStree the benefit of the doubt that they've simply got their priorities totally out of whack, but there's definitely a part of me that feels it's all a front and that they actually hate Israel.

I'm just curious what you think.

Have a wonderful Shabbath.

For reference:
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/11/18/1009285/palin-on-settlements-jews-flocking-to-israel-need-a-place-to-live
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/11/19/1009314/foxman-blasts-j-street-on-palin-questions-its-pro-israel-slogan
http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=740

Jumping to Conclusions, The Patriotic Retirement Plan, and Fuzzy Math

The following email has been going around a lot lately. The text (of at least one version) of the email is immediately below, followed by my comments on it.

-----------------------------------------
Subject: PLAN TO FIX THE ECONOMY

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on “How Would You Fix the Economy?”

I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President:
Please find below my suggestion for fixing America ’s economy.Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the Following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes…
------------------------------------------------

Now, first of all, whenever you get one of these emails, you have to ask yourself where it originated. My gut instinct is to always check www.snopes.com. They're very good at confirming or debunking urban myths sent around by email. In this case, I didn't look it up on Snopes, but instead I just looked up the line preceding the proposal, "You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan," on Google. It turns out that, with a little embelishment, the proposal presented in the email did, in fact, come from a reader of the St. Petersburg Times, who was, in fact, responding to a request by the paper for readers to submit their ideas for how to fix the economy. It was first published in print (and online) on Sunday, February 8, 2009.
Here's the link: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article973953.ece

Fine, it's settled that this is not some hokey chain email that someone made up in his basement for his own amusement that went viral.

But wait, let's think about the proposal itself. It sounds good, right? $1M retirement package? 40M new jobs? 40M cars purchased? No more "underwater" mortgages?

Oh, wait, I'm sorry, how are we going to pay for those payouts? Here's an imaginary conversation I had with the generic reader of this guy's suggestion whose gut reaction was to say that this would be an amazing idea and who passes it on by email to all his or her friends and family.

Said Reader: Well, it's only a million dollars. Surely the government can afford that. Why, we give billions to the banks!

Me: Yes, but it's a million dollars to a lot of people.

SR: Right, but let's figure this out: 1 million dollars times 40 is only 40 million dollars.

Me: Yes, yes, but remember, it's not 40 people. It's 40 MILLION people.

SR: Oh, right, so what's that then, like 400 billion dollars? We can afford that, right?

Me: Nope, it's higher.

SR: What, then, like 4 trillion? So what? That's high, but not as high as our national debt, which is only going to get higher because of all the money we're handing out in stimulus that may or may not work.

Me: That would be true, except that it's not. Keep going. It's not $4 trillion. It's $40 trillion.

I can see how someone can gloss over the 40 million x $1 million equation. I really can. I almost did, myself. It's easy to look at the bullet points and say, "Hey, that looks really good," without actually thinking about the total cost of the idea. I wish it were so simple. Unfortunately, we simply don't have that kind of money, and we won't anytime soon, especially if we enact something like that.

On the other hand, I have seen and heard some other proposals, which are not quite as costly, which have a bit more merit. One that sticks out in my mind has even been proposed by conservative economists to Republican leaders (I heard it, I think live, on C-SPAN Radio), and one that is very similar was mentioned by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show and got a nod from another conservative economist, who was his guest, as a plausible solution to the housing crisis. Basically, the two similar proposals buy out all the "underwater" mortgages, or at least the portion that is "underwater", or perhaps take the average value of homes that are "underwater" and give that portion to those with mortgages that are "underwater" or nearly so, perhaps with a means test, so that people facing extreme financial pressure can have more money freed up from their debt, and so that the banks can have their liquidity back and can begin lending again (instead of just hoarding their bailout checks).

The latter option, with whatever variations and stipulations would go along with it, would be very expensive: somewhere in the tens to hundreds of billions, possibly even the low, single-digit trillions, of dollars. Whether it would work as intended, there's no way to know for sure. Whether it would trickle out (not exactly "down") to the rest of the economy, again, we can't know for sure. But it sounds like it could. It doesn't matter, though, since there's no talk of that happening. And with Health Care dominating the discussions these days, the bank bailouts already ongoing for several months now, and other stimulus projects slowly beginning to take shape, there's no money for that sort of initiative.

But it's a nice idea: Trickle-down hasn't worked, and trickle-up is too dependent on the moods of the people, so give money to the people with stipulations on how to spend it, or give it to the banks on behalf of the people, and everyone will get the money they need so that the economy can loosen-up and rebound.

Finally, I have to give a hat-tip to the Alaskan Librarian for the thoughtful analysis of the Patriotic Retirement Plan email. http://alaskanlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/road-to-ruin-patriotic-retirement-plan/

A Day of National Mourning

{I'm writing this to my friends from the Taglit-Birthright trip that I staffed in December 2008. If you are not one of them but are interested in reading it anyway, that is fine, and I hope you find it interesting and even enlightening, but please know that this is not directed to you.}

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to drop you all a line letting you know I’m thinking about you. I thought I would also share some thoughts on today and tomorrow.

In case you weren’t aware, tomorrow is a very significant day in Jewish history. It is known simply as Tisha B’Av, which just means the 9th of Av (“Av” being the name of the current month on the Jewish calendar). It is also regarded as the saddest day in Jewish history.

A few of the sad historical events that occurred on this day:
1. 10 of the 12 scouts sent by Moses to inspect the habitability of the Land of Canaan came back with a negative report, leading to widespread panic, a refusal among the people to enter the land, and ultimately causing our ancestors to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, with none of that generation surviving to enter the Land. (Two of the scouts saw the same things as the other ten, but had a more positive outlook, yet the people accepted the negative account.) (BaMidbar / Numbers 13-14)

2. Solomon’s Temple (the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem) is destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Jews are expelled from the Land of Israel and spend 70 years in exile.

3. Herod’s Temple (the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem, whose retaining wall we visited – aka the Western Wall; we also saw the Southern Wall excavations at the Davidson Center) is destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The Jews are expelled from the Land of Israel once again, an exile which is still in place in many senses today, despite the establishment of the State of Israel. Remember Masada? The refugees from this war fled there and died about three years later in 73 CE. Josephus Flavius, a Jewish-Roman historian at the time, claimed that 1,100,000 were killed, the majority Jewish. 97,000 were captured and enslaved.

4. Bar Kokhba, a military leader who inspired a huge following to rebel against their Roman conquerors, is killed in battle in 135 CE. The same day, the city of Betar is destroyed. Casualties are unknown, but estimates range anywhere from 80,000-580,000.

5. The year after the Temple is destroyed, Jerusalem is razed.

6. In 1290, the Jews of England are expelled.

7. In 1492, the Alhambra Decree, expelling Jews from Spain, is issued on the 7th of Av, and is strongly associated with Tisha B’Av (it is possible that the actual expulsion began on the 9th).

8. In 1942, on the eve of Tisha B’Av, mass deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto to the death camp Treblinka begins.

9. (This one is a bit controversial, depending on your political views.) The Gaza Disengagement Plan, resulting in the eviction of the Settlers of Gush Katif, is scheduled to take place on August 14, 2005 – Tisha B’Av. When this is announced, massive protests result in a delay in the evacuation until August 15.

Observances and practices:

Tisha B’Av is observed as a “major” fast day. This means that, like Yom Kippur, and unlike “minor” fasts, not only are eating and drinking prohibited, but also bathing and washing, applying fragrances, wearing leather shoes, and sexual relations. In addition, as an added observance as a day of mourning, we sit on low chairs, we do not fulfill certain positive commandments like donning Tzitzit or Tefilin, and we refrain from studying Torah or Jewish law, with the exception of the laws of the day, the laws of mourning, and the stories of the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. The added observances of mourning are practiced from sunset tonight until noon tomorrow, whereas the observances of the day as a “major” fast are practiced from just prior to the start of sunset tonight until just after the completion of sunset tomorrow (8:22pm tonight until 9:07pm tomorrow night in the Metro DC area).

At the onset of the fast (tonight), Eikhah, (the Biblical book of Lamentations), is read in the synagogue, while the congregants typically sit on the floor or low stools. Contact your local congregation to find out their schedule.

In the morning (tomorrow), Kinnot, or mournful poems, are recited in the synagogue. They are also recited following the reading of Eikhah in the evening (tonight).

For more on the historical significance of Tisha B’Av, check out the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B

http://judaism.about.com/od/daysofmourning/a/tav_events.htm

http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishhistory/a/greatrevolt.htm

http://judaism.about.com/od/daysofmourning/f/temple1.htm

http://judaism.about.com/od/daysofmourning/f/temple2.htm

For more on the religious significance of Tisha B’Av, check out the following:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144558/jewish/The-Three-Weeks.htm

http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/

http://www.aish.com/h/9av/

Obama Deficit Hole

Very Funny. From Matt Wuerker at Politico.

Gmail Goes Offline (in a good way)!!!

OK, so I haven't posted in a while. Why am I posting for the first time in months about Gmail? Because this is something really great if you, like me, have wrestled with the benefits of Gmail (SO MANY), yet have been dogged by that one lingering (HUGE) problem - the fact that it is only available online. What happens if you lose your internet connection? What happens if your connection is slow? If you have ever, like me, at one time or another lost your own wireless router to a hacker and had to enlist the help of a friend to hijack it back and kick off the hacker, these are not theoretical questions. If you, like me, enjoy working or playing on your laptop from places on the road, such as a cafe that either doesn't have, or charges for, wifi, or your car, or your parents' house before they got high-speed internet access and a wireless router, these questions are all too real. You're very limited if you want to access your previously downloaded emails and want to compose new mail that doesn't necessarily need to be sent this instant but needs to be written right now.

But Seth, you say, you can always download your email to Outlook or Outlook Express (or some other email client of your choice if you happen to be savvy - but if you're so savvy, why do I need to explain the benefits of Offline Gmail to you? Hmm?)!

Yes, you could do that, but then you would lose all your tags and settings!

If you, like me, have a dozen or so filters for easy email sorting, this is a big deal. To all my Orthodox peeps out there - I get about 50 Divrei Torah a week. To everyone out there - I also get email from various lists: local community information; a friends with a really interesting, but very time consuming hobby of researching obscure figures in Jewish history and sending out lengthy articles to all his friends every other day; most importantly these days, a dozen or so job lists.

In other words, if I gave up (or lost) my filters by downloading my email to my desktop, I would have to sort through all of these emails that I genuinely want to read, though not necessarily right now, in order to get other important emails from my family, friends and business contacts.

So, thanks to Offline Gmail, now I can access my previous emails offline and compose new messages to be sent as soon as Gmail detects an internet connection.

There's a lot more to write about this, like how it works, how you access it in the first place, how you send mail, whether or not you can get your new mail if a connection is available fleetingly, and more. But that's all be published in this handy-dandy blog post on the Official Gmail Blog right here:

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Offline Gmail

Palin's pastor problems vs. Obama's

My previous post has been getting some people a little bit heated. First of all, the question arose as to what part of the sermon that I posted I was referencing. The speaker of the sermon, David Brickner, is the executive director of Jews for Jesus. He was an invited guest of Sarah Palin's church, where he spoke about his mission in Israel. What he said was that terrorism in Israel is a judgment against the Jews for not accepting Jesus.

(I've also been asked "where are the videos??" by my friends on Facebook - guys, I'm importing my notes from my personal blog http://www.sethj.blogspot.com, and the videos aren't coming through - click on the bottom of the note where it says "View original post" to be redirected).

The second question that was asked was whether I should be concerned by comments made by a guest speaker to Sarah Palin's church. The answer is yes, as one of the videos shows an interview in which the pastor said he would absolutely re-invite David Brickner to speak at his church, even after hearing what he said the first time. His beliefs are in sync with that of the church and its membership.

The third question that was asked was whether I really want to get into a debate about pastor problems, when Obama has his own problem, especially since Obama was a member of the church where Jeremiah Wright spoke repeatedly against the United States and Obama had a very close relationship with Wright.

Here's the difference, as I see it, between Palin's problem and Obama's.

When I first brought up Palin's religious beliefs as a potential problem for the general citizenry of the United States should she be elected vice president, a friend made a point of telling me that at her synagogue, rabbis have spoken and said appalling things, and she asked me if that reflects on her. That's a fair point to make in reference to the Jeremiah Wright controversy. Just because the rabbi or pastor speaks in negative terms about the morals and ethics of the society around you, and says inflamatory things that can make one's skin crawl, that does not necessarily reflect on you for being there - or even for having a close relationship with that person. Many people hold vastly different beliefs, and still turn to one another for friendship, guidance and counsel.

The difference here is that David Brickner's sermon goes to a deeper issue, which is that what he said at Palin's church is what MAINSTREAM Evangelical and Pentacostal Christians believe. Jeremiah Wright was demagoguing. Even if he actually believes all the things he himself says in his church (which I doubt), it's a cultural thing, and it's the type of thing that is believed by those who have been put down and trodden upon by society; not well-educated, open-minded individuals who are multi-racial and who worked themselves from food-stamps to editor of the Harvard Law Review.

On the other hand, Jews for Jesus is on a mission. It's a mission to convert Jews - at any and all costs. They believe that Jews not only are going to Hell at the "End of Days", but that we are doomed to suffer in this world as well. And it's a mission and philosophy in which millions (over 100,000,000) Evangelical and Pentacostal Christians believe in America, as well as many other Christian groups around the world.

There is a very prominent rabbi in Israel, whom I will not name because I have not spoken to him in reference to this post, who is well known to raise money from Evangelical and Pentacostal groups on behalf of the State of Israel, and is also well known to say to those groups, "in the end we'll see who's right." I speak from a position of authority because, though I have not spoken to him about this post - as I stated above - I have heard him speak about this exact tactic of his personally.

But this sermon by Brickner demonstrates to me why that philosophy - tolerating their "eccentric" beliefs for the time being in this world - is very dangerous. These Christian groups believe that Jews must accept Jesus, or else they will not only go to Hell, but deserve to suffer in this world as well. They're only on our side while it's good for them, and they'll only tolerate us while it's politically incorrect not to.

Would a Vice President - or President - Palin set up a mission to convert Jews? Not likely. But would she support missionary efforts under the umbrella of "Faith-Based Initiatives"? Absolutely. Would she send money to Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas? Definitely not! But would she turn a blind eye to a situation like that in Sderot - as Bush had done for over six years until very recently - saying to herself, "it's their own fault; if they'd only accept Jesus this would all stop; I'll intervene if the political pressure gets strong enough"? I am 100% convinced that she would. Yes. Would Obama? I doubt it - am I certain he wouldn't? No. But what I know about Christian society as a whole in America is that, while they support Israel, the Israel they are supporting is one in which Jews are slowly moved to accept Jesus so that he can return from the dead and bring the Rapture. They do not - LISTEN TO ME HERE - they do NOT support Jews living a Jewish life in the Land of Israel, Artzeinu HaKedoshah (OUR Holy Land). Nor do they particularly care if a synagogue in Los Angeles or Atlanta or Brooklyn gets vandalized. They don't like vandalism in general - it's bad for societal order - but they fundamentally believe, deep down, that we have it coming.

Look, ultimately it comes down to what you or I think is the more serious problem. Do I believe that Jeremiah Wright or his radical anti-America message is in any way going to influence an Obama-Biden administration, either in domestic policy or foreign policy? Not on your life. Would I ever have worried that the Jerry Falwells and David Brickners of the world would have influenced a McCain-Lieberman or a Giuliani-McCain (or vice versa) administration? No! But am I concerned that President Palin would conduct her policies with ignorance, and base her decisions on a fundamental belief that her work is the work of some twisted god that in no way resembles the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Ohh, you betcha! I'm not only concerned that she might; I'm convinced that she absolutely would. And I'm also convinced that if McCain is elected president on November 4, 2008, Sarah Palin would be sworn in as president no later than January 20, 2013. The Republican party bosses would make sure of it.

Palin's pastor problems

If I had more time I'd edit these to all the relevant parts, but for the time being, here are some good videos to learn about Sarah Palin's religious beliefs. (Hint: they are not friendly towards Jews, Israel, or any non American-brand Protestant Christian denomination.)






Now audio from that sermon in her church with the director of Jews for Jesus (taken from the church's own website by me - not some anti-Palin blogger):
http://wasillabible.org/sermon_files/2008_Sermons/wbc080914.mp3

And here is the transcript (this is the pdf version; I have the original Word document version on my other computer, so if this, the pdf, doesn't match the audio, Beli Neder, I'll update it):
http://www.wasillabible.org/sermon_files/2008_Transcripts/The%20Jerusalem%20Dilemma.pdf