"I don't care who went here...their spirit is DEAD!"

"Hoo-ah!"

Well, I figured I'd drop the topics promised in the previous post (including, regretfully, Szyk, but check him out here) in favor of a discussion of Isaiah and the Messiah. But then, yesterday morning, I heard a bit on the news I felt compelled to comment on. And then another and another. So the Messiah, figuratively speaking at least, will have to wait. I'm sure my huge audience (wherever it is) is sorely disappointed on all points.

The news kicked off with a bit about Tax Day, pushed off two days to Monday this year. Here in New York, however, because we send our hard-earned money to the ever-rapacious government via their processing center located (somewhat appropriately) in Andover, Massachusetts, we got one more day, since it was Patriot Day there Monday. (It really should be the 19th, I guess, but the three-day weekend, God bless it, usually- but not always!- wins out over history.) The Mets even had free tax help last night.

Anyway, I heard that bit, and fell in love with the USA all over again. Ain't this a great country, with a great federal system, with local days and the like? It sure is.

And then came the next bit. Some pissant state legislator babbling incoherently (as the Left is wont to do) about the need to let cops break into people's homes to see if their kids are drinking. The scariest part was that somewhere in his ravings, he mentioned the need to find "balance" or some such. If this is "balance," I shudder to think what he thinks is a reasonable extreme. Taking kids from parents at birth and having the State raise them, I guess. Oh, wait, we do that already. And they always said it was the Right who'd bring us Fascism.

Anyway, this guy was from Connecticut. In New England. Had he been around on the Eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five, he'd have been lucky to get away with some tar and feathers.

That got me thinking of Paul Revere, as I like to do, and that always makes me feel better. "The Regulars are out! To arms!"

In war news, I think it's hi-larious that Moussaoui is now pleading a tough childhood. When you get down to it, these jihadis are just big infants. With bombs, of course.

Meanwhile, Hanoi Jane, in an interview that shows just how much like us (not) the privileged Left is ("Oh, I love to fish on Ted's property in Argentina!"), tells about how she'd have loved to protest the Iraq War, but had too much "baggage." Fortunately, Cindy Sheehan was there to fill in. Cindy has no baggage, apart from being a raving anti-American, anti-Semitic loon.

Speaking of the war, this piece by Ben Wattenberg is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. Ben loves immigints. More than bears. He thinks they provide lots of bodies for the armed forces to stop bullets with. He likes assimilation, but not enough to mention it more than once. He produces this zinger:

Most Jews want their children to marry other Jews, but half of them don't.
Israel Zangwill was right; we are a melting pot - although Pat Moynihan used to
point out with glee that Zangwill later emigrated to Palestine!

Well, "most" is not "half." And Zangwill died in England. But I digress: This paragraph is pointless, and makes no sense, to boot.

Then he ends with this:

Native Americans, slaves in chains, George Washington, Albert Einstein, and the
guys who started Google came from somewhere else. With earlier restrictions we
could have become Australia or Canada. (Canadians let in a lot of immigrants in
a wiser manner than we do, and then many of them promptly come here, including a
few terrorists.)

Ahem. George Washington, one of the "guys who started Google," and lots of other people were born here. And terrorism should not be an afterthought.

In any event, it's a dumb show. A nation that can't keep out illegal drugs,
can't keep out illegal immigrants. If we try to do it harshly, we are begging
for trouble with Mexico, and with observers around the world.

Sure, let's worry about what the world says! Let's give up and surrender! Let's sign California over to Mexico! (I'd give up Puerto Rico first.)

Oh, Lord. On to Israel.
I wonder. Bush and all like to talk about how the vote for Hamas wasn't for terrorism, but against corruption, for better services, yada yada. I wonder if they'd make the same argument about Kadima- it wasn't a vote to withdrawal, but against...hmm. Kadima is the party of corruption. Nevermind. Let's take voters at their word, or, better, accept that once they vote, it doesn't matter what they had in mind.

Meanwhile, Katsav had this winner of a line:

"I oppose negating the citizenship of Israelis because of their religious [sic], nationality, or race, no matter what the reasons are. The rights of Israel's Arabs are not conditioned upon their fulfilling obligations [to the state], just as their obligations are not conditioned on the receipt of rights."

OK, that makes no sense. Rights may be immutable, true, but there are certain obligations that we have nonetheless. As he implies...wow, he makes less sense than Ben Wattenberg. Or maybe more...I dunno. I'd say you should only be allowed to hold office if you have a good grounding in political theory and rights, but that's arguing for a government of lawyers, God forbid. We've got that in the US, and they still don't know anything about that. Anyway, Katzav owes his position to an imitation (God knows why) of the British monarch, and as an English friend of a friend once put it, "We don't count on our Royals for brains."

As that link shows, some, alas, do. But as long as I'm linking to the Telegraph, I found something fascinating there: Shiite Islam believes in 36 hidden righteous people. (Of course, their loony president probably thinks he's one of them, which alone would be a sure sign he isn't.) Is it a coincidence that there's a similar Jewish belief? Well, maybe.

Well, we muddle along, confident that the body of the people, anywhere, is so much better than the politicians who purport to lead them. And that is what makes countries great. On to the last day(s) of chag, Isaiah, and the Messiah! Enjoy, all!

Randomness

A few random links, courtesy of The Corner:

The Queen is worth 23 millihelens. Brava, and Happy Birthday! (You, too, Hef.)

What's interesting here is what no one has yet mentioned- all these modern, successful, politically correct women- all staying home with the kids, bragging about how many they're raising. (Follow the link to the original piece, then click on the next piece, for yet another Chillul Hashem. Me, I saw the biggest seagull this morning. All that trash.)

Kurtz comes close, but doesn't quite admit what's going on here: McCain's in a position to win. Had he won the primaries in '00 (with CFR passed anyway, why didn't I support him?), you can bet the media would've dumped him then too.

Steyn's latest hits a bit close to home. The Corner (apart from the resident kike) has been making some good points as well.

The free paper today provided a laugh. Turns out that Charlize Theron and the beau (some other actor) are declining to marry until gays have the "right." I love it! Another way for guys to avoid committment, with added bonus of being Mr. Sensitive! "Oh, I'd love to settle down, baby, but the poor gays..."

Of course, silliness isn't limited to celebrities, as the same paper will reveal. Although here it's more sickening: A young person is dead, and the talkers and PTB argue over whether it was a hate crime? Does it matter? (And I ask that as a victim of a similar attack, fortunately ended a bit better.) Charge them with the crime! Jeez! This is identity politics run amok, along with these idiotic hate crimes laws. (You remember Pataki's idiotic line, about how they might have prevented Hitler.)

Anything else? Oh, yes, the Szyk exhibit and associated ironies. And multinationalism. Tomorrow, perhaps.

Chillul

Call me sensitive, but this rioting in Borough Park is really getting to me personally. I generally don't approve of starting up with anybody, and especially people who are serving you. And now I have to worry that every cop who sees my headgear will think I'm just like one of these animals? (As evidenced by this chat board that's been posted.) It's bad enough that someone named Weissman down South has to go fighting the Pledge of Allegiance. Change your name, buddy. Better yet, shut up.

Anyway, apart from the worst aspect of it- the rioting itself- one thing that really gets to me is this accusation (as if it somehow absolves the rioters) that the Chief of Police used the word "Jew" somehow. Jews, especially those who are visibly Jews, have really got to wake up to certain realities. Namely, if you appear unusual somehow, people will notice and it will stick in their minds. This is especially true of Chassidim, the whole point of whose life is to be different. So if the Chief is faced with the already unusual situation of a Chassidic riot, and sees a mob of men in coats and hats and peyot, what do you expect to pop into his head? (I guess it's somewhat related to that little tiff of putting "Jew couple" on a bill.)

Don't get me wrong: This is a great and tolerant country, where the vast majority of people, of all classes, races, and so on, have no problem with Jews and may even think they're terrific. I've been to the most WASPy events and seen evidence of this. (And no, it wasn't an Eddie Murphy-style "Especially not when I'm around" type of thing.) In addition, America is a very polite place, where even the most racist individuals are circumspect in their language, and not just because they're PC-whipped. This in opposition to wonderfully tolerant Europe, for example.

However, people notice details of skin color, head coverings, and more. It's natural, it happens to all of us, and Dov Hikind should cut it out.

Another troubling absolution-of-rioters is the harping on the original arrest. Right or wrong, I think it reflects a deeper Orthodox (and Jewish, and middle-to-upper-class) neurosis- that somehow, certain people don't "belong" in jail or shouldn't have trouble with the police. I noticed this recently in a blog entry criticizing attempts to get rabbis and the like to write letters for clemency for Abramoff. I'm sure the practice is common in many communities, and may not be completely wrong. But it certainly reflects this mindset- that there are no Jewish criminals, or, if there are, they shouldn't do hard time. And this leads to the excitable starting riots when cops do to a Jew what they do to others every hour of the day.

Anyway, put me foursquare on the side of law and order on this one, and against the enemies of society.

Wow. Back to ranting! Well, I better give it a rest for the Chag. Later, all!