FINALLY! I managed to publish my web page---successfully, after about a million previous attempts---a few minutes ago. Boy, what a lotta work! Still, it was worth it. Now I get to rant in TWO places instead of just one. Actually, though, it's more fun to post here. More freedom for us "html-illiterates", for one thing. Also, Shira Salome gave me the url for the new counter at the bottom of this page. Please read her blog "On The Fringe" here on Blogspot; she is a gold mine of Jewish knowledge. And there are several other Jewish blogs here as well, which I wasn't aware of until she informed me of them. I've GOT to check them out soon.
This election is getting so nasty I'm about ready to shoot BOTH candidates. Edwards went WAY over the line when he chided Cheney about having a gay daughter the other night. Let the Republicans do the mud-slinging, I say. First of all, they're better at it, and it only hurts the Democrats when THEY try slinging it back. Wouldn't it be nice if candidates could talk about the ISSUES, for a change? Sadly, mud-slinging gets results. Worse, people tend to remember the DIRT better than the truth. I happened to catch Fox News earlier this evening, and the topic was WMD or, rather, the LACK thereof (which was finally admitted OFFICIALLY after all this time), which SHOULD have made me happy---except that one of the guests smugly reminded the audience that this belated admission probably wouldn't hurt Bush's re-election at all. Sigh. Yep, that's what he said. In essence, folks, what Fox (and the Republicans) evidently believe is that we're all a bunch of morons. Well, I shouldn't really be so partisan; I suppose Democrats believe that, too, but THEY aren't in power right now. I'm going to get ulcers over this election, I swear. Is it just me, or do YOU feel uneasy about the way our government's become so authoritarian of late? Sometimes I fear the Republicans are terrified enough of losing that they'd do almost ANYthing to win this one. I do fear the Supreme Court will meddle with THIS election as well, given half a chance. If this gets any worse, I may even be forced to join (gasp!) the ACLU! Of COURSE they're a bunch of loonies, but at least they FIGHT for our Constitutional rights. Okay, so I screamed when they wanted to allow the Nazies to march through Skokie. They were right, technically. And I'd scream AGAIN if they tried something like that nowadays. Nevertheless, without them we'd be hamstrung (you should pardon the expression). Maybe I should just go to bed, but this ain't no dream. Can you believe it? I'm actually homesick for those crazy Cold War days when at least the Rabid Republicans (not all of them, just the far right) had "god-less" COMMUNISM to blather about, instead of us harmless Democrats, Liberals, and aging ex-hippies. Geez, I was more conservative back in COLLEGE than today. America was never about "ideology" or "doctrinal purity". Under the Republicans, since Reagan, politics has become a kind of twisted RELIGION---"Politico-Christianity", if you will. How any Jew can be a Republican TODAY amazes me. Maybe the party will change over time, go back to its populist roots, but not for the near future, I'm afraid. Besides, far too many American Jews feel that America is somehow "exempt" from Jewish history. The German Jews felt that way, too, back in 1933. God help us if we're heading in THAT direction! Having grown up "on the other side", I KNOW how Christians (not all, surely) feel about Jews and Jewish "dominance". Isreal exists, in their minds, only for the sake of the Second Coming (he couldn't get it right the FIRST time? Some "messiah"). As far as I'm concerned, Republicans are "false friends". Sure, the Democrats and Left-Liberals aren't so friendly EITHER, but as that German rabbi quipped when he was elected to the Reichstag back in the 1800s (and miffed the rightist parties when he chose to sit with the leftists): "Jews HAVE no 'rights'." Here, Jews DO, but we'd better watch over them or they may suddenly be "re-interpreted" one of these days. Thank God for personal web pages and blogs! And VOTE this November, okay?
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Blundering Right Along...
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2 comments:
Oy, vey, politics, the bane of my existence. In my darker moods, I think we should just banish all politicians to Siberia. Nevertheless, I'll go to the polls, in the sincere hope that my vote will make a difference.
Man oh Manishevitz, as they used to say in the old commercial, there aren't just a *few* Jewish blogs, there are literally *hundreds* of them! Not yet having figured out how to set up a "blogroll" (consisting of links to other blogs) going down the side of my own blog, I listed a few of my favorites in my Wednesday, September 15, 2004 post, "Wanted: A guide for the perplexed :)." Apparently, Blogspot automatically converts URLs that typed in posts (but not those that are typed in comments) to hyerlinks, so the links are right there in my post--you can just click and go.
A good place to look for Jewish blogs is by checking out some of the 330 blogs currently listed in the Jewish Bloggers netring at http://www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=jewishblog;action=list. One of these days, I'll figure out how to join that netring.
Another good way to find blogs is to start with one blog to which you know the URL, then click on the hyperlinks that are often included with the comments--they'll take you to other blogs that you can check out.
Here are some more good blogs that I've discovered since that Sept. 15 post and have now included in my Favorites/Bookmarks:
http://bloghd.blogspot.com/ (check out Paul's Oct. 4 post, "Who Stole Simchat Torah?");
http://jewview.blogspot.com/ (everything from politics to being Jewish and poverty-stricken and living in hurricane-induced flood-ravaged area);
http://psychotoddler.blogspot.com/ (ignore the name--he's a Modern Orthodox father and musician dealing with living in a "black-hat" Orthodox community);
and a newcomer, dating only from Sept. 19,
http://renegaderebbetzin.blogspot.com/, (I hope she resumes posting once she's recovered from the holidays and from some of the folks who've posted comments.)
I enjoy taking part in the discussion on other people's blogs. I imagine that you will, too. There are discussions concerning the High Holidays, different minhagim/customs concerning how to shake a lulav, attitutes toward women in the Orthodox community (including some support from the Modern Orthodox gents for more leeway, within the rules, for women), true tales of the challenges of being a foster family to a Jewish child with disabilities (http://fosterboy.blogspot.com/), the decision of one "Frum Dad" (http://frumdad.blogspot.com/) to rein himself in when he realizes that he's taking too much advantage of the easy availability of office supplies and must re-make himself into a role model for his daughter, the struggles of a small western one-shul town to deal with intermarriage (http://westernjew.blogspot.com/)--you name it, it's out there. So go blog-hopping, and post a comment when the spirit moves you. You'll be glad you did.
Ah, would that I could post a comment with neither spelling nor grammatical errors nor omissions. :( Sigh--Nothing quite beats the embarrassment of knowing that you've just made a fool of yourself on the worldwide web. I really must remember to type my comments in Word first—that should take care of most of the *spelling* errors, at least.
Anyway, happy blog-hopping.
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