"Bunch of savages in this town."

The above is from a "work of minor genius," as Rich Lowry once referred to another favorite movie of mine. In any event, I've been reminded of it twice in the last two days. But enough on that.

Happy Shushan Purim Katan, all! I've celebrated a bit already (including a shorter davening this morning), but here's a cute line in the spirit of the day, from TKS:

We remember Sen. Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington stating, "We've got to
ask, why is this man [Bin Laden] so popular around the world... He's been out in
these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building
infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health care facilities,
and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that."

Notice how Sen. Murray has so absorbed left-wing block-talk that she includes "day-care facilities." Oh, sure. Um, aren't day-care facilities meant for the kids of women who are working? Last I checked, Bin Laden wasn't a big fan of that.

A question: What's the point of a diet lemon soda without calories, carbs, sugar, or caffeine, especially if it tastes awful? (I'm looking at you, Sierra Mist.) Might as well squeeze a lemon into water. Or vodka.

An interesting take on Daf Yomi.

Marvin Schick is upset over a study saying that 75% of New York Orthodoxy is Modern (with a solid majority even in Brooklyn). How does he respond to this blatantly factual assertion? By using a trick he has in the past: Redefine "Modern Orthodox" to include only the left-wing of that movement (Edah, etc.), and creating a new category called "Centrist" (generally, the two terms are used interchangeably) into which he puts YU (separating RIETS, interestingly) and most others. Ergo, if YU isn't "Modern Orthodox" (ha!), neither is anybody else. (Nor, it seems, is anyone ultra-Orthodox either.) A very cute, and very disingenuous, way of arguing. Obviously, under most definitions, even Mr. Schick would have to admit that the numbers are correct.

Perhaps Mr. Schick figures if he obscures the truth enough, people (say, actual charedim who don't want to face the truth) will have reason to doubt it. Or perhaps he's trying to define himself out of the Modern Orthodoxy to which he clearly belongs? That's too deep for me.

Unfortunately, Mr. Schick begins by labeling the left-wing as not being Orthodox at all. Being charitable, I'd say that he still hasn't quite grasped the difference between "religious" and "frumkeit." (Many haven't.) Just because someone is vigorously in favor of modernity doesn't mean they're any less religious than the Moetzes. Or that you can call them "modern" and more "frum modern" types "centrist."

Mr. Gil Student has the right idea about rereading posts to make them more civil, although I can't promise I've succeeded.