And Pastor Hagee observed in a video message that Ayalon has been a leader who understands and appreciates the special affinity that Christian Zionists have for the state of Israel. The ambassador affirmed this, saying he does feel a special bond with pro-Israel evangelicals like Bauer and Hagee.
"We just love them and adore them," Ayalon remarked. "I think that the Jewish-Christian alliance and friendship is so important, not just to commemorate our Judeo-Christian heritage but also to ensure our future and strengthen our faith. We so much appreciate it."
Uh huh. Take a look at your favorite pastor sometime, Ambassador.
Youth Group Paints over Graffiti in Public School. Problem is they included Bible verses. Not so kosher. Superintendent ordered them removed, now Conservatives are screaming discrimination. Hey, it's not like the rules have changed recently- religion doesn't get to hang out in public schools, guys. Sorry. If anything, it sounds like this youth group misled the superintendent.
The Scriptures were painted during the recent winter break by middle school volunteers. Over three days they replaced vulgar images and profanity with upbeat art and inspirational messages.
One of the renderings quoted Psalms 45:11, which reads, "So the King will greatly desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, worship Him."
The school's principal, Larry Cavanah, granted permission to the teachers and students to undertake the project because he understood it simply to be an attempt at school beautification.
Forget psalms, guys, check out the 9th Commandment.
Michael Savage is trying to help a Gold Star Mom bash CNN because she thinks their coverage is slanted. That's fine, she's entitled to her opinions, but check out the talking-points lifted right from Rush and O'Reilly:
Upon his preparing to leave, although we knew the answer, my husband ask the reporter, Bob Franken, why more negative than positive was shouted by the media (which is causing lack of understanding to the public of why we must win this war)...Franken, standing near our son's folded flag and Silver Star said " Where no house is on fire, there is no news, Where it bleeds it leads."And when I replied to the reporter, "you mean you're willing to report negativity that feeds the insurgency which emboldens them and causes death to our troops and can cause death to us"
That's right, negative reporting makes terrorist feel better, leads to more terror attacks. Positive reporting, on the other hand, demoralizes terrorists and causes... what? Camp-outs and s'mores? Brilliant. Clearly a much better system would be blatant propaganda like Baghdad Bob, right? Sheesh. The mother continues by hoping that when all these biased reporters die they get their asses kicked in Heaven by the dead troops.
I hope if Franken and all media persons who "feed death" are ever allowed into heaven, Patrick and all our other fallen give them all a good "... kicking" since it is the soldier that gives the media rights they take carelessly to the danger zone. And all the negative that is reported is adding enormous weight to the grief our military families carry.
Sorry, lady, but none of this should affect reporting. No shit, democracy is possible because of the military. So what? It's got nothing to do with what's happening on the ground. It's one thing if things are being misreported or slanted beyond all recognition, but it sounds like you're asking for special favors because soldiers are important. Ditto for the enormous weight stuff. Your loss is terrible, but it's downright stupid to suggest that the media should only report things like how many Iraqi kids are getting to school as opposed to, say, the spiraling Civil War. I'm sorry, people's hurt feelings shouldn't determine news content. My great-great-uncle got PTSD from WWI. Should his family have demanded only happy news following Gallipoli , Verdun or the Spring Offensive? Get real. We can talk about biased reporting, but asking for censorship is positively nuts. And if Cindy Sheehan has been "brainwashed by the left", clearly this Mom's her right-wing counterpart.
Lastly, Judge Roy Moore has a few thoughts following Saddam's execution, and he's only too happy to share them. First, anyone who got freaked out at how S.H. died is lumped together with anti-death penalty protesters (like George Bush? Interesting). Next he defends capital punishment by arguing that it's an old institution- it's been in America since before we were a country. Because we all know that anything old is automatically good. Oh yeah, he brings up the Torah.
Some death penalty opponents will cite the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," as an argument against capital punishment. But such an argument is not properly based on the original Hebrew text. The Hebrew word translated as "kill" in the King James Bible is "ratsach," which means to unlawfully kill or murder. Modern translations therefore read "Thou shall not murder," which does not include killings in self-defense or for capital punishment, and more accurately reflects the true commandment of God.
Now, this is a fine and totally fair point- except that Moore follows it up with a non-sequiteur on abortion which most certainly is NOT the traditional Jewish P.O.V.
What should turn our stomachs is the merciless slaughter of millions of unborn babies – lives taken by dismemberment, poisoning and "partial-birth" abortion where the skull is punctured and the brain extracted with a suction device before the baby is removed completely from the birth canal. Isn't it ironic that those who feel sympathy for a cruel dictator because he is taunted before his execution shed no tear for an innocent baby who suffers the painful death of a partial-birth abortion?
This upcoming week we commemorate the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, when the United States Supreme Court legalized the murder of unborn Americans without a trial or any pretense of due process. Saddam Hussein had his chance at life and in the end got what he deserved. But those killed by abortion never get a chance at life outside the womb, and certainly don't deserve to die. Abortion violates both our law and God's law – it's a death penalty we should all oppose!
Hey Moore, go read your Rashi: a fetus doesn't become a person (gets a soul) until its alive outside the womb. Most M.O. halakha on the subject says the fetus isn't a person until it can survive on its own outside the womb. Furthermore, AFAIK, the rule of thumb with the Orthodox movement is that if there's any threat to the mother's life, an abortion isn't just permitted, it's required. At best, frummies would agree that late-term abortions aren't kosher, and that "abortion for convenience" (another great buzzword) isn't cool. That still doesn't add up to "God forbids abortion". Not that you really care about what the Torah says as long as you can conveniently co-opt it, of course.
Note to Ayalon- this is what real Judeo-Christian civilization means- soundbiting our texts to validate THEIR civilization. At least Reform Jews are honest about doing this; the JC-civs pretend that God passed this crap on to Moses (and Jesus) at Sinai.
2 comments:
hey friar
i as an orthodox jew have much more in common with pastor hagee and bauer then with any so called reform rabbi,or any of the our so called government leaders
pastor hagee has more love for the jewish people and for israel than the the whole israeli cabinet combined,
who do you think is more of a zionist olmert and peretz ,those two criminally insane traitorous swines or hagee and bauer
Chaim,
Thanks for the comment.
If you feel that Hagee more closely reflects your values, more power to you. Ditto for Bauer- by all means, vote your values. I'm just saying you should be aware that the Judeo-Christian civilization is a one-way street- and that when that's challenged (Chabad rabbi comes to mind), there tends to be a significant backlash. That's one reason why I feel that it's better for American Jews to support America being a secular country than a Christian one- IMO, a country which favors no religion is more likely to treat all religious practitioners fairly.
Conversely, my fear is that the more religion is inherently bound up with government (if not politics), the more likely religion will become used as a tool to beat people over the head and/or become a force for divisiveness, if not persecution or hatred. I would be far less wary of folks like Hagee or Robertson if it weren't for the fact that we have extremely varying ideas about what an ideal America looks like.
Please understand me- I'm not a proponent of ethnic politics. I don't think Jews should only vote for Jews, or actively vote against Christians. My issue with JC-stuff is that I feel it's dishonest and largely self-serving for its Christian proponents.
pastor hagee has more love for the jewish people and for israel than the the whole israeli cabinet combined,
That's largely a matter of interpretation. The concept of unconditional love based on ethnic lines, frankly, creeps me out, and reinforces the perception that evangelical support for Jews and Israel has less to do with any actual reality (or accomplishments, or character) by those groups or entities, and more to do with the fact that they see them as characters in their own religious drama- and this is the case whether they believe in end-time prophecy or replacement covenants. The issue is, "Do they actually see us as people?" Being told over and over that they love us because God told them to doesn't fill me with much confidence- and I find the suggestion that Jews and Israelis should embrace this questionable philosophy on the grounds of pure pragmatism more than a little disturbing.
Speaking of pragmatism- I don't consider Olmert or Peretz Zionists, per se. It's my understanding that many Israelis, politicians and otherwise, don't really identify as Zionists at this point. That isn't necessarily bad as much as it is a reality of where the country is at this point.
That said, I think you need to actually define your terms- is a Zionist someone who supports anything Israel does because God gave them the land and that gives them purview over whatever the hell they feel like? That seems to disqualify quite a few people (including many of Israel's founders) from even having the potential of being Zionists. What are the borders here?
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