28 April 2013

Fun Canadian Stuff

7 Things You Can't Say in Canada

13 Things You Didn't Know About Being Canadian

Top 10 Greatest Canadian Road Trips

26 April 2013

The Shot Heard Round the World

238 years ago, on the night of April 18, 1775, British troops made an attempt at gun control by trying to take away the arms of the Colonial American - provoking the American militiaman and resulting in the battles of Lexington and Concord. The beginning of the fight for American independence had begun. This is memorialized in Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem:  Concord Hymn written in 1837.

Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Concord Hymn
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
     Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
     And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
     Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
     Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
     We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
     When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
     To die, and leave their children free, —
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
     The shaft we raised to them and Thee.

25 April 2013

Lady Thatcher, "Amateur" Terrorists and Chemical Weapons

RIP Lady Thatcher
Timeline: Margaret Thatcher's Remarkable Life in Pictures
Anger over President Obama's Margaret Thatcher funeral 'snub'
The Texan who stole the show at Margaret Thatcher's funeral

"Amateur" Terrorists
The media keeps portraying the Boston Marathon terrorists as amateurs and recently Vice President Biden even called them "knock-off jihadis". This is stupid. While they were 'only' able to murder three, they injured at least 260 people and at least 14 people had limbs amputated. In the city of Boston a million citizens were locked down during the course of finding these terrorists.

Imagine a dozen "amateurs" on a Saturday night in busy shopping malls spread out across the country... who needs a "professional" terrorist when amateurs would bring bring our way of life to a standstill? Why are we underestimating the 'inspired' Muslim?

Chemical Weapons Used in Syria
They are reporting that it looks like chemical weapons have been used in Syria. President Obama has previously said that such a thing would be a "game changer" - I suppose that means that it would be unacceptable. What's he going to do about it? My answer: Nothing. Just like he'll do nothing about Iran getting a nuclear bomb.

15 April 2013

The Boston Marathon Attack

I'll go out on a limb here.

Yes, it was a terrorist attack.

Yes, it was a Muslim group.

It's time to pray for those who were murdered, those who were injured and for the emergency responders.

Israel Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron


Today is Israel Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron - the day we remember our fallen brothers and sisters in Israel's military and the civilians murdered in terrorist attacks.

It should be a sad day for all of us, whether living in Israel or in the diaspora. They are defending the State of Israel, our ultimate Homeland. We forget that only 65 years ago, the Jews of Europe had nowhere to go - nowhere to run to - nowhere to hide. No country took them in. The State of Israel did not exist - and the British who administered the area did not allow Jews to enter.

The Land of Israel is our home of 3000+ years. The modern State of Israel is only a recent incarnation of what is already ours. We're here, and we're here to stay.

Please support One Family Fund, a great organization helping those individuals and families hurt by Arab terrorist attacks in Israel.

News Wrap-Up

George W.  and Laura Bush become grandparents
Congratulations!

Justin Bieber says he hopes Anne Frank 'would have been a Belieber'
Dumb

Rebuilt Rat Kidneys May Offer Human Transplant Path
Don't you love science?

The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment
How's that stimulus working out for you?

Full Text of 'The Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act'
Let's find out what our Congressmen have come up with this time.

07 April 2013

Holocaust Remembrance Day - Have We Missed the Point?

Every year we commemorate the 6 million plus Jews, 1.5 that were children, that were murdered by the Nazis and their sympathizers/bystanders during World War II. This year, Yom HaShoah begins Sunday evening, April 7th and ends Monday evening, April 8th.

While obviously I do not object to the remembrance of our six million brothers and sisters (and the destruction of their children and grandchildren along with them) I wonder if we have missed the point.

Six million Jews were murdered.

These individuals were murdered because they were Jewish - practicing, non-practicing, attended synagogue or not. There was no difference between them. I'm even sure that there were Jews at the time who considered themselves more German than the Germans and were quite surprised to find themselves in line with those Jews with long beards.

The Holocaust was the complete destruction of a third of the Jewish People at the time - our lives, our centers of Torah study, our contributions to secular society, our roots in places that had long been established.

It's easy to "universalize" the Holocaust today - who hasn't heard about various massacres around the globe and seen similarities between them. But if we do - we've missed the point.

We were murdered because we were Jews. That is the point. I think that to commemorate the dead is admirable and easy - but we must take it a step further and take action. It's time to honor those six million Jews by re-dedicating the day to learning about our heritage and history. What does it mean to be a Jew? What does being Jewish have to do with my life?

The Jewish People have been around 3000+ years, certainly not a fly-by-night religion. We've seen empires come and go, rise up and crumble - certainly it's time to give it more than a glance since our bar/bat mitzvah days.

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day should be more than a moment of silence in our lives - it should be a reminder that we are part of something bigger, something our grandparents were massacred for - let's take some action.

Simple to Remember