On November 22nd, 1963 at 12:30 PM CST in Dallas, Texas, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, was shot and killed. There are moments and events that define generations. December 7th, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked was one. September 11th, 2001 was another. If you were alive on those days, days which may have begun as ordinary days, you will remember the moment when you heard the news. Life would go on for most of us, but in retrosp...

I am going to ask an open question: What is victory in Iraq? (Or the opposite, what is defeat?) Answer as you will. I am not going to try to sway anyone except to offer this observation. In 2003, if you had said to the American people that Saddam would be removed from power, a democratic government elected, a constitution ratified and Saddam tried in an Iraqi court, convicted and then executed, that would generally have met most people's definition of victory. On the other hand, if ...

I had a "Homer Simpson" moment yesterday. I actually thought my beloved Michigan (pronounced "Meeeeeechigan" during college football season) was leading the nation in an important category only to find, upon further investigation, that we were actually only number 6. The category in question is obesity. Click the link below to see an animated map. Link But all my hopes and dreams were dashed when I read the following from the Trust For America's Health site: "Michigan ranked 6t...

I was debating with a neighbor of mine about prayer in American schools and I suggested that we would probably live to see it become an issue again....just not the way that we thought. The prayer book may well be the Quran. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America. Muslims are now the largest minority religion (counting all forms of Christianity as the majority) and have a high birth-rate. In some European countries, the birth-rate of the Muslim minority is often cited as bein...

A general strike, orchestrated by Hezbollah and supported by Syria and Iraq, has flared into violence. The intent of the strike was to topple the pro-Western government of Sinoria in favor of a Hezbollah led government. Opposing the Shiite Hezbollah forces is the Sunni Future party, which is headed by Saad Hariri, the leader of the parliamentary majority and son of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister many Lebanese believe was murdered on Syria’s orders. Hundreds of followers of e...

There is an old joke to the effect that every Jewish holiday can be described as "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat." Hanukkah (or Hannukkah or Channukah or..well, you get the idea) is no exception. Tonight begins the Hanukkah festival. After Alexander the Great died, his empire split into three parts. Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemaic kings, while Syria was ruled by the descendants of Seleucus. The kingdoms fought amongst themselves and in 198 BC Antiochus III defeated the Egyp...

The Simon Wiesenthal Institute is convening a video conference of testimony by 70 Holocaust survivors to refute the Holocaust denial meeting being conducted in Tehran. Holocaust survivors from around the world are being invited to contribute their testimonies. In Los Angeles, artifacts from the concentration camps will also be on display. For anyone unfamiliar with the Simon Wiesenthal Institute and the Museum of Tolerance, this is their Mission Statement: The Simon Wiesenthal Cente...

More than Al Queda, I fear the growing power of the Shiites and the possibility of a pan-Shiite state. Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, if it is not already one. 90% of the Iranian population is Shi'a. The country is a theocracy, ruled by the Supreme Leader (Rahbare Enghelab) currently the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears most often in the media. A substantial amount of evidence points to Iran as the leading supplier of arm...

Regular readers of mine (if there are any such) know that I teach Sunday School at the Ann Arbor Jewish Cultural Society, a secular Jewish institution. Today we went on a field trip to the JCC West Bloomfield for “Zap! Pow! Bam!” an exhibit on the Jewish influence in comic books. The trip was fun and also educational. Among other things that we learned were: Superman the character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland. Superman embodies the Jewish...

I very rarely copy and paste from other articles, but this postmortem was just too good to not share: Feb. 12, 2002 "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns - that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know." Jan. 9, 2002 "I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." In an interview with the Washington Post. Feb. 7, 2003 ...

Tonight being Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. L'Shanah Tovah! For a sweet year. Dip your apples in honey. I included a link for anyone interested in the history and rituals.

Six people were shot at the Seattle Jewish Center yesterday, one fatally, by a man who identified himself as a Muslim "angry at Israel." It was believed that the gunman acted alone. But two Mosques in the Seattle area have been investigated for ties to Al-Queda. The man entered the building on the Jewish Sabbath when few people are in the office. People wonder why Jews "play the anti-Semitism card." Could it be because people are always trying to kill us?

Hell, Michigan is planning a 666 celebration, be sure to make your reservations. I mean, you wouldn't want the party in Hell to start without you... If you think that no one has a worse sense of humor than me, well check this out: ******************************************************************** "Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop. "I've got `666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're...

I am feeling old. As I read about the war, I seem to be asking myself more and more, "Which war is this again? Vietnam or Iraq?" We are fighting a war against an "Invisible enemy," one who blends into the civilian population that we are trying to protect. This enemy goes to lengths of brutality that seem impossible to combat. Remember the children lining up for candy only to be killed by a car bomb? See the reports of the dead found "executed" inside the nation's capitol? How do you convin...

I just posted an article on the Hamas' supported attack on civilians eating lunch in Tel Aviv and, while it made me feel better, it occured to me that nothing will come of it. I added the link, read it if you want, but in the end it hardly matters. There will be no marchs, no protests outside the Palestinian embassy, Cindy Sheehan won't camp on the President's door step demanding action. Oh, the usual people will make the usual remarks about condemning "violence against civilians" making s...