Not Guilty as Charged

ב"ה

American Law, much of which was taken from English law which was taken from Christian law (and some influence from Pagan law, I believe) states that people are innocent until proven guilty. But it is really difficult to prove that you are innocent. How can you prove you didn't do something? This is why court cases don't find people "innocent", simply "not-guilty" (meaning the prosecution has not proven that you are guilty).

Oftentimes people who we know in our hearts are guilty "get off" because of some technicality, such as tainted evidence which was inadmissible in court or the jury didn't believe the key witness. So people, despite being raised with believing that people are innocent until proven guilty, often pre-judge or post-judge and feel that anyone accused of a heinous crime must, de facto, be guilty.

As a single human being, it is sometimes possible to prove you were innocent. You can prove you were someplace else when something happened, for example. But for larger groups, such as armies or governments or police forces, it's more difficult to prove they didn't do something they were accused of.

Israel is accused, on a daily basis, of heinous crimes against humanity. But how can Israel fight these bogus accusations? How can they prove they didn't do these things?

This brings us back to the point I made earlier. Since people are bombarded with photoshopped images or wrongly attributed pictures taken out of context (I recall one such picture that the new services picked up as an Israeli soldier beating up a Palestinian when in reality, the beaten up man, who was an American Jew, called the news services and said that this Israeli soldier was protecting him from a murderous Palestinian mob) they believe these pictures and the lies that go along with them. Hitler called this "The Big Lie" and the OSS, when reporting on Hitler's methods of operation, said,

"[Hitler's] primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

People who have grown up in open Western societies can't really get their heads around supposedly "unbiased" reporters lying, on a regular basis, and to our own detriment (allowing hate-mongering leaders and jihadist to gain a foothold in their war against the West and Western values). They choose to believe that Israel is the villain, that all the world's ills will be resolved if only Israel would give the Palestinians their own state in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (colloquially called "The West Bank").

What they either don't understand or choose not to accept is that Israel would be the appetizer. Israel would only whet their appetite for Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and, oh yes, the Americas. They have already made inroads in all these areas. Europe is starting to wake up to the dangers of bending over backwards to please the unpleasable. Non-Muslim Africans and the people of India already understand (though the Western world focuses so strongly on Israel that they ignore atrocities like Darfur and the Mumbai bombings).

So how can Israel prove its "innocence"? How can Israel prove to the world that it is not the villain, that the Palestinians are living in squalor because their own leaders choose to keep them there, choose to fill their minds with hatred and feelings of entitlement rather than teach them and build an infrastructure for them? We certainly can't prove it to people who don't want to believe it. Open your minds, see beneath the lies to the truth. You can start the wave of truth.

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Clear and Present Danger

ב"ה

According to Wikipedia, "In Schenck v. United States, [Oliver Wendall Holmes] famously declared that the First Amendment would not protect a person 'falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.'"

This concept applies not only to freedom of speech, it applies to all our freedoms. The cherished choice that is freedom of religion is being assailed nowadays by a group who claims this freedom for themselves while denying it to others.

Just in case you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Muslims. I'm talking about the Muslims who follow the Quran religiously (pardon my pun), the ones who know that the mild, peaceful verses, the verses that talk about love,  have all been superseded by later verses, by Jihad and hatred, by Sharia law and desire for world domination.

For those of us who have studied history, this isn't surprising. Muhammed, who wrote the Quran (yes, the entire Quran, not just portions of it), had hoped, nay, had expected, that once he created his new little religion Jews would join him en masse. But he, like Martin Luther after him, didn't realize that Jews are not looking for another religion -- we have the one G-d started. We have the "real thing", not some person's idea of faith or lifestyle. We don't need an intermediary, we know we can speak directly to G-d.

When we didn't come running to Muhammed's new belief system, by the way, Muhammed  turned on us and became one of the most virulent anti-Semites (that's hater of Jews) in history.

This is the reason that it behooves us to fight the Islamization of our society. We need to keep our ears open not for what the Muslim leaders tell us in English. We need to check out places like Camera (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) and Honest Reporting and not The New York or LA Times. We need to be vigilant if we want to preserve what John Adams and George Washington, Ben Franklin and Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Adams and John Hancock fought long and hard to give to us. And if we forget that, we have only ourselves to blame.



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In Memorium (and a Prayer for the Injured)

ב"ה

Yael Levine, whom I know from the internet, wrote this beautiful prayer for those injured during the fire today in the area of Haifa.

(Transliteration: Misheberakh Avoteinu Avraham Yitzhak v'Yaakov v'Imahoteinu Sara Rivka Rahael v'Lea Hu y'varekh yishmor v'yintzor et kol ha'petzuim b'sreifa b'Haifa u'b's'vivata v'yishlah lahem refua shleima min hashamayim l'hol evreihem u'l'hol gideihem. Melekh Malkhei HaMelakhim Ya'aleh lahem Marpei Arukha Marpei Hayyim Marpei Shalom va'ya'amideim al Buryam v'al m'khonam. HaKadosh Barukh Hu y'malei aleihem rahamim l'hazkam u'l'amtzam, Heim u'mishpehotam vivaser lahem v'lanu b'sorot tovot yeshuot v'nahamot [Shabbat Hi M'Lizok u'refua k'rova lavo] Hashta b'agala u'vizman kariv nomar amein.)

I will try to translate this, but I feel I won't do justice to the beautiful Hebrew:

May He Who Blessed our fathers Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov and our mothers Sara Rivka Rahael and Lea He should bless and guard over and save all those attacked/injured in the fire in Haifa and its surroundings and [G-d] should send them a complete recovery from heaven to all their limbs and vessels (veins and arteries). May the king of kings raise up for them a complete cure, a cure of life, a cure of peace and they should be raised on a foundation of health. The Holy One Blessed be He should be full of mercy for them, should strengthen them, they and their families, and we should receive from them good news, news of salvation and comfort [for Shabbat: Shabbat calls out for a healing that comes soon] this year and in a close time and we should say "amein".


May G-d protect the people of the land of Israel, the land of Israel and the Nation of Israel. May Hashem bring justice for Israel and to the enemies of Israel and the free world.

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Looking in the Right Place

ב"ה

I was reminded recently of a joke I heard when I was younger. Abie is walking home one night. As he gets near his home, he sees Jakie circling frantically around a street light, appearing to be looking for something. "Are you ok?" Abie asks Jakie. "Yes," answers Jakie, "I'm ok, but I lost my keys." Abie starts helping him to look, but after a short time, he doesn't see anything. "Are you sure you lost them here," Abie asks Jakie. "Oh, no," answers Jakie, standing up and pointing further down the block, "I dropped them over there." Abie looks puzzled. "So why are you looking here?" he asks Jakie. "Oh, it's too dark over there to see anything!"

I, too, am concerned about the "Palestinian" people. I am concerned that their leaders are stealing money and supplies sent in by Israel and many other countries and well-meaning organizations. I, too, am concerned about the children growing up, being fed nothing but lies and hatred, not being taught, as children around the world are, to eventually be able to support themselves financially.

But for the most part, most of the people in the Western world (for some bizarre reason) think that to help these people they need Israel to do something (maybe give up more of their tiny country, a country about the size of New Jersey and more densely populated that her surrounding enemies). They think, despite evidence to the contrary (as in Israel handed over Gush Katif (Israel's enclave in the Gaza Strip) to the "Palestinian" Authoritarian, uh, I mean Authority. Instead of turning it into a nice place for their people to live, Hamas turned the area into a missile launching pad. Hamas's goal is not to make a good life for their people; Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel (and the Western world).

What I truly don't understand is how people who care about other people; people who support women's rights, gay rights, human rights (in general), animals rights; people who want to help the downtrodden; people who support Western freedom and democracy, can support such a hate-mongering, such a selfish, such a despotic leadership. How can they support the oppression of others, the suppression of rights, the expression of the most virulent animosity, the antithesis of peace, love and understanding (catch that, Mr. Costello????).

What puzzles me the most is how people can support these people to their own detriment. How can they allow terror-mongering Islamists to populate their countries without reservation? How can they permit them to impose Sharia law in their countries that used to be devoted to freedom and equality?

We need to stop being like Jakie, looking for his keys where he knows they aren't. We have to look for the answer in the right place.

We have the capability of defeating them now, but if we continue to kowtow to them, it is like handing our countries over to them, handing our daughters and sisters (and ourselves) over to be raped. We need to fight NOW or be defeated tomorrow.

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Double UN Good (it's Orwellian 1984 all over again)

ב"ה

The "Nations United against the US and Israel", with its headquarters on 1st Avenue in New York City has lost the few marbles it's had in recent years. It's not enough anymore for them to aim all their censure at Israel, ignoring all the countries who commit the most egregious human rights violations, including honor killings of women and gays, teaching and spreading hatred, murdering civilians and keeping their own people in squalor while lying to them about the source of their misery. It's not enough to delegitimize Israel, while their enemies run roughshod over the rights of free people all over the world. Now they feel the need to rewrite history and appoint the most flagrant Human Rights violator of the 21st Century (though I'm sure he thinks we're living in the dark ages), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his "forward thinking" misogynists to the UN Commission on Women's Rights. Is that a huge joke, or what?

This is on top of UNESCO's decision to rewrite history. They have resolved to designate קבר רחל (Kever Rahael -- Rachel's Tomb) as a Mosque. That's right, one of the holiest Jewish sites in Israel. Written history includes many references to Kever Rahael and it is always referred to as Kever Rahael (or Rachel's Tomb) in Jewish, Christian, and even Muslim sources. And yet, the UN, in true Orwellian style, has determined that this isn't now nor has it ever been a Jewish holy site and that it is a Palestinian site, under Israeli occupation and we, of course, are keeping them from their "rightful" place there.

How long are we going to suffer the UN? How many more anti-Israel statements does the United Nations need to make before the United States and New York expel them from the East Side of Manhattan?

I finally understand why congress in the time of Woodrow Wilson didn't want the US to be part of the League of Nations. The problem with organizations like the UN is that, with one vote per country, the totalitarian regimes, the countries who violate human rights as a matter of course, are able to hijack the organization and use it as a rubber stamp to help legitimize their nefarious plans.

I vote to oust the United Nations from New York and the United States. Let the United (Terrorist) Nations set up shop in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's backyard. And let them all condemn Israel to their hearts' content. And we can ignore them on a diplomatic level and spend our time preparing to take them on militarily.

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Dejection Day

ב"ה

When I was younger, I used to call the day after the first Monday in November "Dejection Day" because, quite often the candidate I wanted was defeated. But lately I have another reason.

I know I've said this before. But lately elections have seemed to me like a World Series between the Yankees and the Braves (my two least favorite teams). I have a choice between one group, who hates Israel, supports the Palestinians, and follows Barak Obama's agenda on the Middle East, which is delegitimizing Israel and legitimizing the Palestinian claim to the land that Jews have called "home" ever since the children of Israel were exiled by the Romans in 70 of the common era and another group who support Israel, but oftentimes they have an agenda, one that I have an issue with. Oftentimes, these people want to make abortion a crime, give tax breaks to the rich, destroy social security, medicare, welfare and other social programs.

Where I live, I don't have to worry too much -- my local representatives and senators are in a third group: one that supports Israel and doesn't have the conservative agenda. But I worry about the other representatives and senators from the rest of the country.

I continue to hope that there will be more people in the federal government who will support Israel and make sure those citizens who can't take care of themselves will be taken care of without putting undue financial pressure on the middle class.

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Why are we so concerned about the opinions of others?????

B"H

When I was very young, I really respected the United Nations. The original intention of the UN was noble -- to prevent world war. After two bloody world wars, this was an honorable aspiration.

But somewhere along the way the intention got hijacked by the totalitarian terrorist bloc and its sycophants. It is this group that has decided that there is nothing that either the United States or Israel can do that the members of this group will not only not agree with, there is nothing either country can do that they will even fail to condemn.

Toward this end, they ignore the evil done to Israel in the form of terrorism, murder, bombing of civilians, etc. They will criticize Israel's attempts to protect herself and her citizens (and, by extension, every Jew on the planet). They will chastise Israel for attempting to keep bombs out of Gaza, expecting Israel's government and military to just sit there like ducks in a Coney Island shooting game.

So when Turkey's new Islamist (yeah, yeah, so he says he's a moderate, but, to paraphrase a cliche, actions do speak louder than rhetoric. When a so-called "moderate" starts buddying up to the most notorious Holocaust-denying anti-Israel anti-Jewish leader on in the world, it's hard to imagine him as a "moderate". But, for all intents and purposes, what separates a "moderate" in the Arab/Islamist world from a "radical" is how out-in-the-open he is about his desire to destroy Israel and kill every Jew. By the way, what separates a "moderate" from a "reactionary" in Israel is whether or not he is willing to protect his land. The "reactionaries" are the ones who don't want to lie down and die. The "moderates" don't want to fight for their own survival.) leader decided that he had to "help the poor Palestinians" by sending "humanitarian aid", the Israelis, who are understandably skeptical, having been burned more than once by "humanitarian aid" hiding bombs or bombers or other methods designed to massacre as many  Israelis and guests of Israel as possible, ask the boats delivering this "humanitarian aid" to follow them to Ashdod, where Israeli officials could check the shipment and make sure there wasn't anything untoward in the shipment. That's when all hell breaks loose. The boats refuse, Israeli commandos board the boats (which is within their right by international law), "humanitarians" on the boats attack the Israeli commandos with metal rods, baseball bats and, oh, yes, knives. Of course, despite this, the commandos were criticized by the world press for attacking the attackers in an effort to defend themselves.

From my perspective, it would be best for Israel, her leaders and the entire Jewish population of the world (not to mention all the Gentiles who live in Israel, work in Israel, worship in the way they feel comfortable in Israel) to simply ignore public opinion, to ignore what the members of the United Nations say and concern themselves more with defending the homes and lives of their citizens. I've been waiting for Israel to realize that survival depends on defending our land. I hope that day comes before it's too late.

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Minim Meaning

  ב"ה

Way back in the days of the beginning of Christianity, Christians and Jews kept the same laws, ate at the same table and prayed in the same synagogues. But after a while, it became clear to the Rabbis that the Christians would stop other synagogue goers and try to convince them that the משיח (Moshiakh or the Messiah) had already come.


Needless to say, the Rabbis were not too terribly thrilled about this, in particular they were not thrilled about having apostates (מינים -- Minim) represent the congregation during the repetition of the עמידה -- Amida -- the main prayer in each prayer service. So the Rabbis added a 19th ברכה (Brakha -- blessing) to the עמידה which is also known as the שמונה עשרה Shemona Esrei -- which means 18. What this ברכה Brakha basically did was to call down G-d's wrath on the מינים -- Minim. So anyone who was in this category would be afraid to say the Brakha because they wouldn't want to call down G-d's wrath on themselves and their friends.


It's the same thing with the loyalty oath that may pass in the Israeli Knesset. This loyalty oath requires Israelis who are not covered by Israel's Law of Return. All we are trying to do is sift out the enemies of Israel, the enemies of freedom, the enemies of the Jews. Because the enemies of Israel make it a point to insist that Israel is NOT a Jewish state, it is incumbent upon us, as protectors of Israel and the Jewish people, to certify the best we can that we are not harboring our own enemies, not harboring the future murderers of our people.


We need to insure the safety of the population of Israel, not just the Jewish population, but the Christian population, the Muslim population, the Baha'i population, the Buddhist population, the Hindu population, the Zoroastrian population, the plethora of different people that make our land strong. We also need to be strong for all the suppressed people in this world, people who need to see that there is someone to stand up to terrorism, tyranny and oppression. And we all need to stand with Israel in this fight.


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To Serve Man

ב"ה

Rod Serling was a genius. He was able to use allegory to make points about human nature without offending people. He was prescient enough to see the future from his production world in the 1950s to the 1970s. For those of you who don't know who Rod Serling was, he was the creator of "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery", among other things.

One of the more popular episodes was called 'To Serve Man' (if you haven't seen it, watch it by clicking on the link -- I will be referencing this episode).

In "To Serve Man" Aliens come to Earth with a book written in their language. The linguists were able to translate the title, which was "To Serve Man" but they were unable to translate the contents of the book. The Aliens had invited everyone on earth to travel to their planet. The main character of this drama, played by Lloyd Bochner, after being skeptical and not trusting these aliens, finally gives in and decides to check the planet out.

The episode climaxes with Bochner's character going up the gangplank to the spaceship. A colleague of Bochner's character calls to him, telling him to get off the ship -- the book, they have discovered, is a cookbook!

I was reminded of this episode when I heard what the "Ground Zero Imam" was saying, trying to explain to us (we prejudiced, uninformed lot -- whenever I hear this Imam he strikes me as being very patronizing) exactly how benign this building is; just how his "community center" (I have to tell you all, the 92nd Street "Y" this ain't!) is there to open dialogue and build tolerance.

Open dialogue and build tolerance? "To Serve Man", huh???? He tells us the "title of the book" in English, but the real "cookbook" is in Arabic. Just listen to what the man says in Arabic:

Throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians, it is clear an Islamic state can be established in more than just a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy. The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Sharia that are required to govern. It is known that there are sets of standards that are accepted by [Muslim] scholars to organize the relationships between government and the governed. [emphasis added]

So why are we ignoring the "cookbook"? Why are we ignoring what this mans is saying to his own people in his own language? Why do we want so much to believe that these people are just like us, that they only want peace with us despite what they say in Arabic, despite the thousands murdered by them in Israel, in the US, in Darfur, in Spain, in Mumbai, I could go on all day with this (Act for America has more on this). Despite evidence to the contrary, people like self-hating Mayor Michael Bloomberg want to believe these are peace loving, reasonable people. Despite the resistance of upwards of 60% of the US population, despite the danger giving in to these enemies of peace and freedom poses, despite the threat these haters pose to our own lives and way of life, people still want to believe that all they want is "To Serve Man".

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