Letting It ALL Go and Gaining Everything - New Blog

http://frumfromrochamim.blogspot.com/

Chometz between the Straits and In The Pinch

So, my first Rosh Chodesh Av being frum began quietly as most typical Mondays...discord. The day ushers in the nine days of deep thought and outright mourning for the fall of the beit hamikdash not once but twice and all of the many dark nights that seem to have found their inception on that fateful day Tisha B'Av - "9th of Av".

...the spies returned from the new land on the 8th of Av and insist they'd rather go back to Egypt instead of facing the Canaanites, the next day, the 9th of Av, G-d made it clear that generation would not enter the land of Yisroel, only their children. The First Temple was destroyed in 423BCE on the same date. The Second Temple was destroyed five centuries later on the same date. Bar Kochba and his rebels were slaughtered by the boys from Rome on the same day in 133CE. The Jews were explelled from England on, yeah, the same day in 1290CE. March 31, 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand gave the Jews four months before they would be banished from their "kingdom", right again, the exact day fell on Tisha B'Av. WWI began the fire of the Holocaust in the Second World War and it began on.......yep, 9th of Av.

I awoke this morning around 4:45 to rain and wanted so badly to stay under the covers as my dogs chose to do. I rinsed my hands, gargled some water, relieved my organs, armed myself for holy battle with tefillin and began the morning Shacharit as Abraham did centuries ago. A few minutes into reciting the words to the pitch black raining and thundering sky outside the window where I was standing was this loud explosion and light sparkling. I thought, "damn way for Meshiach to enter the world during the nine days"! I soon realized it was a transformer in my neighbors backyard and continued praying but noticed something a tad eery in the small light I was using to scan the Siddur given to us by the hands of Shneur Zalman from the heart of the Arizal, Isaac Luria...the light was abnormally brighter than it usually was. Then I heard the oven making a weird noise, then the refrigerator and noticed most of my electricity was gone. But these weird lights were confusing me. Meshiach? You there? oh, utility issue.

I came to my senses and thought it might be wise to walked outside in the pouring rain and flip the main breaker. I then called our local utility company, MLGW, and explained that I was for the most part out of power but there was a weird voltage "thing" going on. "We'll have somebody come check it." An hour later my utilities returned to the odd behavior and I went back to my breaker box and the crap had been turned back on. I walked to the front yard and saw a service truck driving off. I called the utility company again and told them they had a problem more than breakers being tripped and they said they'd have somebody come back out in a tone that made me feel like I had awakened them. About half an hour later I heard someone hollering out front and thought it was again another sign of "strangeness" and stepped out on the porch and saw some guy in running shoes, no shirt, jogging in the rain with his cell phone but simply thought: "those runners are all the same...a bunch of vegan fanatics." As I walked back in the door I smelled it...

...I looked to the right and dark gray smoke was billowing out of my neighbors roof and realized why the "fanatic" was running in the rain with his cell phone. I ran to the house also and found my neighbor frantically trying to get a hose into his attic but by this time it was not possible to ward off the one hundred year old dried wood cracking in tandem with the rain and thunder.


I took the day off becasue I wished to stay close to the house until the power was back on and offer any assistance to my neighbor that might be needed. Teh power returned mid-afternoon and I soon realized my refrigerator had fallen victim to meshiachs sparkling entry earlier in the morning. I took a prepackaged container of vegetable pasta and set it in the microwave and...uh oh, another victim; it was gone. Then I sliced a tomatoe and sprinkled it with salt and pepper and turned on my IPod station and UH OH, another victim. OK, that's three, "no more hashem" I said. I had two slices of pizza in the "fridge" which was approaching 48 degrees and figured they were still alright to eat. I made my way to the den and picked up the remote and, you guessed it..."FRIED". Huh. Self pity is so consuming and then I remembered...

...the first thing my neighbor came running out his house with was his guitar and it broke my heart. He had already secured his dogs but of all other things the strings to joy were his next most important belonging.

I sat back and munched on my tomatoe and thought about the nine days leading up to Tisha B'Av and thanked hashem for my cozy chair, job that I can call-in without repercussions, three dogs, good food, and the emerging sunshine.

May we move in health and usher the coming days of the Temple's rebuilding with speed.

Abiotic Gulf Coast Evacuation?

Rumors are that there are "quiet" discussions about evacuating millions from the US Gulf Coast due to the existence of the famed abiogenic petroleum that might inevitably collapse the ocean floor in that area due to the continued spewing of petro from BP's hands...

...earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis in the near future for margaritaville? Some say look for the worst in 80 days.

The spill began a day after the the US pissed on Israel and the 80 days puts us around the time the Israeli government is supposed to lift the freeze on "settlements" that our president will surely try his best at redirecting Israeli PM Netanyahu tomorrow in Washington.

Maybe it is time for the old retired yids in Florida to be good Zionists and make aliyah (to Eretz Yisroel) soon.

FREE GILAD

The Three Eagles

I am going to use a phrase from my favorite female Muslim cousin (BO AKA Hussein Obama)... "mark my words" enjoy gas prices as they are for now! If you read the standard print or electronic media I am sure you aren't aware that the US has massed troops on the northern Iranian border in southern Azerbaijan, recently increased naval presence in in the Suez Canal and around the Strait of Hormuz, and the Israelis have "built" a small base in north eastern Sa'udi Arabia...not too far from the Strait.

The three eagles...Russia, United States, Iran. Hussein Obama is a passive little girl who's father is the King of Sa'udi Arabia (remember his bow to the King of Sa'udi Arabi last year at the G20 summit - picture included if you don't), the Russian people are an offspring of the lineage of Esav and Ismail, and the Iranians are a bunch of illegitimate indo-european-Ali-loving freaks.

All three use the eagle as a national symbol in one way or another. The double-headed eagle (very dear to the Ruskies) historically represents the East AND the West. The American dollar is practically worthless becasue our gold (what is left of it - do any of us really know how much gold we have in reserve?) is owned by the Chinese (and Russians quietly), and the Soviets have tons of Gold reserves.

We will soon bomb Iran using Israel as the "point-man" and the world of petroleum reserves and refining will be in chaos a while. Russian oil will flow freely and like any good wife the US will ask if we can "purchase" from them or one of their Wahabi children and they will demand payment in GOLD. "Uh oh" are the inventory books from Levinworth correct? Israel will be blamed for the mayhem due to their "insolence" toward the "poor little Arabs in Yesha (Yehuda-Shomron-Azza, also known as Yehuda/Judah, Shomron/Samaria/includes the fantasy home West Bank, and Azza/Gaza) and the three eagles will join together in a flight of commaraderie...but that Israel/Jewish issue will become their new world order anthem of libations for "peace".

Question: Would a faithful Baptist or Methodist (well, I guess we have to excuse some Methodists) bow tho the Pope? Would a non-Muslim BOW to the King of Sa'udi Arabia much less the President of the United States? That is treason!...and I know, old news.

BHO, Barakh, Hussein...whatever he is, continues asking for if not answering to the Russian's approval and his husband in Moscow loves it because the bluebirds over the whitecliffs of the Caspian are coming home plated in gold with greetings from MESHIACH.

Jerusalem, if I forget thee let my right hand forget it's cunning.

Make (Teshuvah) תשובה T'shuvah...Meshiach is around the corner.

Hey Helen Thomas - KAHANE WAS RIGHT!

You know what Helen Thomas?

Go back to hell! Or Lebanon...wherever you came from.

I've refrained from using this word for a while...


...but FUCK YOU you nasty old stinky Nazi-Arab bitch...and all of your "Palestinian" cunts.

Eretz Yisroel doesn't need you or Hussein Obama...


N E V E R A G A I N !

Regretful Democrat Seeking T'Shuvah

BHO - Designed (by Microsoft) with the best of intentions, (BHO's or 'Browser Helper Objects') are intended to be a feature of the Internet Explorer web browser which can be used to add functionality. Unfortunately, malware authors have also exploited the power of BHO's for other purposes such as spreading spyware.

BHO's, in and of themselves, are not bad. But, like a lot of other features and functionality, if the BHO can be used to install additional features or functions that are useful, it can also be exploited to install features or functions that are malicious. But, there are also many examples of BHO's which are used to hijack your Web browser home page, spy on your Internet activities and other malicious actions.

“Ooops”, wrong BHO.

BHO – Barakh Hussein Obama.

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch will be speaking at a rally today, Sunday 25 April, in a taped message outside the Israel Consulate in New York City, where thousands of Americans are preparing to protest against the Obama administration's increasing hostility towards Israel. Ed Koch has been a long time Democrat but has “crossed the aisle” at times before but this time he says he is “getting off the train”…the Obama train.

The rift with Obama and Israel lies solely in a complete perversion, not misrepresentation, of binding historical laws and decisions called The Balfour Declaration, League of Nations Palestine Mandate, Geneva Convention (Article 49) and especially the often cited UN Resolution 242. The perversion is an attempt by Hussein Obama to not only “strong-arm” and manipulate the world into further legitimizing Arab attempts to “judenrein” all of Israel but to also “break-down” Israelis and Jews in the galut (exile) into delegitimizing their own connection and right to Palestine.

What is a Palestinian?
Until the mid-fifties Jews who lived in Israel were known as Palestinians. The Romans changed the name of Judea to “Palestina” after the second Jewish Revolt, 132-135 CE, and dispersed many of the survivors as an attempt at psychological warfare.

What is Palestinian culture?
There is no distinct food, music, ethnic make-up, religion, language etc. It is all borrowed. Zahir Muhsein, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee said in a Dutch paper in 1977 “The Palestinian people do not exist…The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.”

The Fatah wing of the PLO (the “moderate” wing founded by Yasser Arafat and controlled today by Abu Mazen, aka Mahmoud Abbas) has as its official emblem the entire state of Israel covered by two rifles and a hand grenade. Faisal al-Husseini, the deceased former leading “Palestinian” spokesman, declared in 2001 that the West Bank and Gaza represented only 22 percent of “Palestine” and called the 93’ Oslo process a “Trojan Horse.” He said “we are asking all Palestinian forces and factions to look at the Oslo Agreement…as temporary procedures, or phased goals, this means we are ambushing the Israelis and cheating them.” He stated that the goal was “the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, obviously ALL of Israel.

The Facts
Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda & Shomron) for a few thousand years…”Palestinians” have not.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 called for “the establishment in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people” and was endorsed by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. The mandate recognized “the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” The mandate further guaranteed the right of “close settlement” throughout Palestine and geographically defined this area as comprising land both east and west of the Jordan River – which became Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel.

The Geneva Convention was adopted in the shadow of the atrocities of WWII in 1949 as an attempt to protect people from ever falling victim to such horror again. Article 49 of the convention states that “an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territory it occupies” to forever prevent repetition of the insidious Nazi forced transfers of civilian populations to slave labor and extermination camps.

The British government offered to split Israel down the middle in 1948, the 48’ Partition, half for the Jews half for the Arabs…the Arab Ameleks refused.

The Geneva Convention does not restrict Jewish settlement in the West Bank because the government of Israel has neither “deported” Palestinians nor transferred Israelis there. But the Jordanians have. Jordan controlled the West Bank between 1949 – 1967 after they along with Syria, Iraq, and Egypt attacked the Jews in the Israeli 48’ War of Independence and expelled all Jews, moved Arabs from Jordan into the area, and destroyed many ancient Jewish sites.

Resolution 242 was adopted in 1967 after Israel was again attacked by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria with assistance also from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, and Algeria. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Eugene Rostow, a contributing scholar to the decree states that “Resolution 242 calls on parties to make peace and allows Israel to administer the territories it occupied in 1967 until a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is achieved.” And even then Israel is only required to withdraw some of its troops because the Resolution says to withdraw its troops “from territories”…not from “the territories” nor “from all the territories.”

The state of Israel has given up more than 40% of its land in the last fifty years seeking peace.

The West Bank, Judea-Samaria, includes some of the holiest and most important sites in Jewish history…the Arabs claim the abominating al-Aqsa Mosque which isn’t even a mosque.

Arabs have full citizenship and the right to vote in Israel…Jews can’t step foot in Saudi Arabia and many other Arab countries, of which many were the long time home to a lot of Jews.

Over 400,000 Arabs have entered the West Bank and Gaza via Jordan since the 93’ Oslo Accords and built almost 300 settlements since 1967…Less than 200,00 Jews have entered the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem area and built a little over 100 settlements.

Ehud Barak offered almost all of the territories to Arafat at Camp David in 2000.

The media refers to all Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria as “settler” as an attempt to justify the murderous behavior of the Arabs in the area and to legitimize their “fight” against the “occupying” Israelis by such statements like:

“The Israeli army has imposed severe restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank town of Hebron after a Jewish settler baby was shot dead.”

The TEN MONTH old child, Shalhevet Pass, was shot in the head and killed by a Palestinian sniper while seated in her stroller on the streets of Hebron, where she and her family lived. Shalhevet's father, Yitzchak Pass, who was pushing the stroller, was also wounded by the same bullet. It is believed the snipers were intentionally targeting the baby.

And when Erez and Elanit Shmuelin along with their six month old baby were ambushed and shot by Palestinians near the entrance of their Har Bracha neighborhood in Samaria, the BBC explained that: “most Palestinian militants continue to consider Jewish settlers to be legitimate targets.”

Hussein Obama and his stinky coos Secretary of State remain pissed at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for building in Jerusalem…the only building going on in Jerusalem right now is by Arabs and most of that is illegal because they have not requested permits.

American Jews are being far too quiet!

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu offered a withdrawal from 60% of the West Bank so the Palestinians could establish a state with temporary borders (while the parties established further foundations) to the Chairman of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas a couple days ago…Abbas refused it Saturday.

Jerusalem and Israel shall remain UNDIVIDED! There is no option to the current one state solution that already exists. The Arabs need to continue paying their taxes, voting, sending members to the Knesset, or move to Detroit.

Healthcare reform, banking reform, don’t ask don’t tell, environmental policy, I don’t care…I regret that I voted for this klutz Obama!

Help me with my bag-gage Mr. Mayor, I’m right behind you!


“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget it’s cunning.”

Ham, Lamb, & Hashem

Ham? The Korban Pesach mam' if you please.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, visited the US this week and among "shmuzing" with Hussein Obama spoke at an AIPAC fundraiser where he made it clear that he was confused why the world was so aghast at Jews building their homes in the capital of their country, Jerusalem. I so thought he was going to say, "OK Mexicans, you can't build any more homes in Mexico City, those areas should go to the Chabad Lubavitcher Jews that moved in a few years ago" or "OK America, you cannot build any more homes in DC (not Jerusalem DC, David's Capital), those areas should go to the Sudanese and Yemenis without passports who have moved there"...on and on.

One third of the 50,000 dwellings (so called settlement houses) slated to be built in East Jerusalem...or as the media says - Arab East Jerusalem - are for Israeli Arabs, which is proportionate to the population. So the Jews are building settlements for the Arabs?

Netanyahu simply raised the 'Kos of Eliyahu' and told us that "we are going to build and protect Jerusalem"...again; even after Hillary seemed to be more incensed over an already year old plan to build than her husbands extra marital proclivities. She must be a lesbian and Axelrod and Emanuel are simple "capos".

Jewish birth and growth was an issue prior to the Inquisition. Jewish birth and growth were an issue prior to the thousands of pograms in Eastern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Jewish birth and growth was a problem prior to, during, and after the initial advent of the Third Reich, G-d rest their Shoah souls.

Jewish birth and growth was a problem to the Pharoah!! So what did he do? Kill the Jewish lads.

Netanyahu reminded the "kus of Amalek' in Washington that Yerushalayim belonged to the Heebs and not the kikes and goy! If houses needed to be built for newborns then so be it. The Israeli capital has to be protected if not from the Arab 'koos zibs' then from the Husseini family meshiach wanna-bes.

I love the similarities: 'kos' in Hebrew is CUP. So kos elijahu is 'cup of Elijah' - 'Koos' in Arabic is a word the west transliterates as a word we use for a cat that sounds really bad! Zib is DICK!

Deserving of a completely separate paragraph and sentence: Elijahu means "YaHWeH is G-d".

Pesach is upon us and the Chometz is gone...it better be. The Heebs left Egypt too fast to let the bread rise so make sure your Chometz is locked away in a cabinet or sold to a righteous goy until Wednesday of the first week of April, Nissan 21 & 22, and then you can reconnoiter it.

You know, the Sykes-Pichot agreement ultimately removed the Husseini family from modern day Sau'di Arabia as the caretakers of Mecca and Medina and "established" then in Jordan (think, King Hussein), Iraq (hmmmm), and what is today called Syria...

Netanyahu has a ring in his office loaned by an Israeli antiquities group "moving dirt around the Temple site" with the name Netanyahu Shimon something inscribed in it...it dates back to the time of Melech David's temple if I remember correctly.

Hussein Obama needs to let go and understand that Eretz Yisroel is ALL of todays Israel, most of that sharmoota King Hussein's land, ALL of Lebannon, and Syria included, and even northern Egypt...let's include that shithead Ahmadinejads "hole" also, or...

...make a bunch of battery operated reed boats that can be floated down the river to Amalek.

Build, build, build, build....this year in Yerushalayem!

Pesach Sameach!

If I Forget You...

So, Israel Apartheid Week ends today. It should be more like 'goyem against Jews apartheid week'. Did you know an observant Jew cannot go to the Temple Mount and pray - the Temple, you know, Melech David, Solomon, Adams "rib"....not that shithole adorned by Arab gold known as Al-Asqa mosque. Jews are allowed to go there only at specific times on certain days and if your eyes are closed too long or the body sways the gestapo bitches whisk you away to appease the Arabs.

Netanyahu apologized to VP Biden for the announcement of further settlements in Yehuda and Shomron aka West Bank and Secretary of State Clinton and Biden then chided Israel for the plan. How many Arabs have died at the hands of the Israelis in the last year? How many Arabs have died at the hands of Fatah, Hamas, and even Hezbullah in the last year? A "few" more than at the hands of the Jews! How many people have died at the US-Mexican border in the last year due to the fallout of failed goy christian policies in meso-America? Many many more! Why is Biden, or Obama, not chiding President Fellipe Calderon??

March 16, Rosh Chodesh Nisan is the first Annual Temple Mount Awareness Day. We don't want to kick the chara Arabs out, we'll offer them citizenship as long as they behave - no more... stones, bus bombings, pizza parlor bombings, cafe shootings, katyusha launches, tunnels, defilement.

I know, I know, Biden drank too much Golani wine:

"Substance dulls the mind, Traife wine clouds the heart, You can't sew a stitch with one hand while you are taking it apart."

Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand forget what it is supposed to do!

If Jerusalem isn't Jewish then what the hell is it??

Human rights extends beyond a Hamas or Fatah press release!

http://www.templeinstitute.org/

Brachas And Birth With Bertha - Part II

Part Two – Cliff Hanging

I soon hit the road again and stayed at the community in Tennessee a few weeks and then headed west toward the magnetic pull of the four corners. The days passed with Bertha and I camping in National Forests, “crashing” a night here and there at friend’s places so I could work a day or two at various day labor organizations where you were paid at the end of the work day by check or receive cash minus a percentage cut. Some nights we would sleep in the car in the middle of nowhere - one morning we awoke with ice all over the inside of the cars windows from our own condensation – or pitch a tent in the woods. One morning outside of Santa Fe we awoke to several inches of snow all around us with a deer brushing up against the tent…Bertha and I both just sat there staring out the flap breathing heavily in tandem with the “foggy mist” of breath slowly blowing from the animals nostrils, looking at the frozen mist on the deer’s innocent gray snout and listened to the snow gently hitting the ground. Everything on the outside of your realm gets quiet in a thick snow yet all of the intricacies within your sensory circle become amplified. The deer walked slowly away and I lay back on the sleeping bag wandering what day it was while Bertha crawled up on my chest and peered into my eyes.

Next stop was another communal farm in the Zuni Mountains outside of Ramah, New Mexico that was fairly new and barren. When I stopped the car Bertha jumped out and immediately took off running with a dog that lived at the community and I stood in horror and watched her little black body quickly become a dot on the horizon and then nothing. One of the residents greeted me and said not to worry because “Artemis will bring her back safely.” A little while later both dogs came walking up to the main tent area and Bertha looked tired and had a dirty gray coat around her mouth mixed with dust and ice. It was her baptism of native life - she ran wild through the pottery-sherd grounds of Navajo land. When walking in this area it was impossible to go 100 yards without seeing pieces of pottery partially embedded in the dirt or maybe even lying on top of it. You could usually discern whether or not it was Hopi or Navajo by the design but sometimes it was not possible to do so. The area now was Navajo but remains in dispute because the Hopi have lost a lot of land to the Navajo since 1868 due to cultural differences, US interference, Navajo reservation extension, and Peabody Coal.

I had been in this area a few months before and at one time was travelling with a couple guys I met and a considerable amount of time had passed since I had last communicated with my mother or sister. One evening we were camped on the side of the “highway” in a rough road side rest area and were greeted the next morning by a Navajo tribal policeman who asked for our ID’s, what we were doing there, and if any of us had warrants for our arrests. The officer took our ID’s back to his vehicle and I heard him say “yeah he’s one of them.” Officer Guy returned our ID’s and asked me to come to his vehicle with him, as he leaned against his patrol car he said “you need to call your mom and sister, they are worried about you.” My sister’s persistence miraculously tracked me down 1200 miles away in the middle of nowhere in Navajo land. Officer Guy got in his car and as he was beginning to drive away he said “hey lost one, call them, or I’ll arrest your ass…glad you are safe.”

Bertha and I spent days walking in the Zuni mountains, watching snow in the higher elevations at times, holding pieces of pottery that could have been 500 to a 1000 years old, and lying under the bright reddish gold leaves of the Aspen’s rustling with gravity’s pull. These trees remain the most beautiful I have ever seen to this day. After staying at the community a couple weeks I decided it was time to move on because I was heading north and the winter’s snow would soon be much heavier.

I stopped off at a little grocery store in Ramah to get a couple things when I left and asked the clerk if he knew Officer Jim Guy. Ramah was one of the few settlements out of many commissioned by Brigham Young more than 150 years ago that survived its harsh environment and hostilities as a mission to the Native people. The clerk said he had been there about half an hour ago. I told him the next time he saw him to tell him the “lost one” said hello.

A few hours later Bertha and I stopped off at Chaco Canyon and made a walk through a couple of the Kivas. The feeling is indescribable when you climb down into one of the complexes “pit-houses” - it is almost as if gravity has finally pulled you into the warm womb of the earth and it was a time to appreciate a beautiful history. This area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is very sacred to the Hopi and Pueblo Indians; much of it was closed to the public shortly after my last visit there due to its fragility and erosion caused by tourists. I sat down to absorb the surrounding while Bertha walked around and sniffed, sniffed, sniffed then finally laid down against my leg and went to sleep.

The next couple days we travelled through Los Alamos and Taos ultimately heading to Wheeler Peak in the Carson National Forest, it is the highest point in New Mexico at 13,000 feet and is a splendid sight. Sometimes I got lonely, sometimes I got scared, sometimes I just didn’t exist and one day during one of my “moments” Bertha came up to me and looked at me with her deep dark eyes and gave me a gentle snout-touch and looked toward the setting sun that painted the Sangre de Cristo Mountains an amazing rainbow of colors bouncing off of the snow covered trees. I knew then that Bertha knew.

The next day we headed toward Mesa Verde and hit Pagosa Springs and stayed a night in Durango on the way. Mesa Verde was covered in several inches of snow and parts of the ruins were closed but some were still accessible. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Mesa Verde region in the 1760’s while seeking a Santa Fe to California route but never got close enough to see the ancient stone villages, they remained a secret for another century. Bertha and I spent a couple days there and for the first time I realized she was like a little child in the snow. She never tired of catching snow balls and wrestling in it with me. The nights were colder at Mesa Verde than they had been at Wheeler Peak even though it was almost half the height. As I drove down the road out of Mesa Verde I could see shadows bouncing off the cliff walls covered in bright snow as if spirits of the past were once again making their way back & forth and up & down the canyon paths and wandered what day they had disappeared. Or was it I that disappeared. That evening we slept at a rustic campground at the foot of Mesa Verde and as I laid down to sleep I wandered what day it was.

The next day we made the short drive to Moab, UT and had an early afternoon meal in town before “doubling back” to Canyonlands National Park. Moab is a great place - beautiful, serene, immense, and picturesque but not the most dog friendly due to the fragility of the ecosystem’s fauna and vegetation so we had to be careful and were even questioned once by a Park Ranger. Dogs generally are not allowed on the back country trails and roads.

Moab sits kind of in the middle of Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park and is one of the many cities in this area settled by early Mormon pioneers during the 1800s. The area around what is now Moab served as the Colorado River crossing along the Old Spanish Trail and is indescribable. Due to much of the areas lower elevation the weather was more hospitable than the previous few days so Bertha and I decided to hang out for a while.

Brachas And Birth With Bertha - Part I

Part One - Ninth of Av

On Aug 2 1990 Iraqi ground and air forces began a concerted attack on the Kuwaiti capital Kuwait City after the beleaguered nation was denied financial reprieve of sorts from Saudi Arabia and others - two months later I received my Dept of Defense movement orders to deploy to Southwest Asia.

I returned home early summer of 91’ with a feeling of exuberance as if the moshiach had arrived not knowing that some of the days to unfold would derail my soul’s pains to that of apostasy and wonderings through darker nights than the smell of rotting flesh in the Arabian Desert. I finished college in 92’ while serving in the Marine Reserves and left the DOD a year later while working at a psychiatric hospital. Things were unsettled so I moved to Nashville winter of 93’ and “partied” for a while as if my soul was dancing on Tisha B’Av and wondered “How then are these dates to be reconciled? On the seventh the heathens entered the Temple and ate therein and desecrated it throughout the seventh and eighth and towards dusk of the ninth they set fire to it and it continued to burn the whole of that day. ... How will the Rabbis then explain the choice of the 9th as the date? The beginning of any misfortune when the fire was set is of greater moment. – (Talmud Ta'anit 29a)

That summer in June I found myself dancing “coked-up” on the floor of a gay bar thinking about the passing of the Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and wondered who would save me. Days passed, weary and constantly hung-over from medicating my soul with anything and anyone that appeared to offer blanket from the temple’s fire and then Jerry Garcia died in August 95’ and I was back on the same dance floor on the Ninth of Av looking for my next “score.” The Rebbe and Garcia’s death somehow led me to a young Israeli named Yuron - he preferred to be called Delilah - fresh out of the IDF who instead of travelling to India or somewhere more chic journeyed to a communal farm in rural Tennessee held in trust by a group of fairies. I spent weekends at the farm but remained floating through the days at times like an asteroid under gravity’s watch at other times like a piece of cotton fighting gravity’s strength. Maybe it was the gray beards that adorned The Rebbe and Garcia’s face. Before I realized it I was “crashing here and there” on different friends couches with no foundation remaining and answered the beckoning to stay with a friend’s mother in Florida who needed a “care-taker”. That was me…you got your man. It was more of a saving grace for me than anything else.

I stayed in Florida until late spring of 96’ and eventually hit the road travelling…Rainbow gathering, faerie gathering and eventually took a twenty hour bus ride home from New Mexico Hopi land later that summer with all of my possessions in a Kelty backpack on my shoulders. I stayed at my friend Karen’s house visiting my mom and sixteen year old lab Sheba that had been so damn loyal since I first brought her home when she was a tiny puppy.

I spent many of my young teen years “lost” in the woods surrounding our house walking and talking to Sheba, she always looked at me and listened with her deep dark eyes and gentle snout-touch as if saying “I understand”. Sheba gave birth when she was ten months old, was taken to the pound when she was a year old because she wouldn’t stop barking…but was quickly brought back. She simply wanted to be with me in those dark nights. The days seemed like they would never end.

When I returned “home” in the summer of 96’ Sheba’s eyes had turned gray, she had a beard of the same color and had begun having difficulty with some organ functions - bowel and urine mainly - and had become arthritic-ridden. Even though I had no place to live I refused to let her die without her soul carrying me further so I looked for a replacement…

…newspaper ad for “free gentle and kind lab to loving home” took me to Wendy in rural Alabama. I walked into the house after driving an hour and went through a two-part interview by the mother and a daughter questioning why I wanted “Wendy” and what type of person I was. Then I was introduced to a beautiful 14 year old child who was lying in a hospital bed named “Brad”. The mother explained to me that Brad had suffered some serious birth issues and was unable to communicate “normally” other than by blinking his eyes and Wendy had been a real “G-d sent” for him but they just couldn’t keep her. Brad looked at me with these deep dark eyes that seemed to hold centuries of pain and understanding and blinked quickly and as I felt a dark shadow blanket my soul the mother cheerfully said “now Wendy” and this little black piece of fir came sliding across the floor like a star zooming to earth. I knelt down and before I knew it I was lying on the ground with this six to eight pound ball of joy licking me and peering into my eyes with terribly deep dark eyes that seemed to hold centuries of pain and understanding and the boy’s mom said “please put her in Brad’s arms one more time.” I picked Wendy up and set her in the bed and she gently crawled to Brad’s chest and immediately laid down looking directly into his face with her snout practically wetting his motionless innocent lips – his eyes stared at her tiny face while blinking rapidly and after a couple minutes she looked up at me and Brad’s mom said “it is good.”

The drive home was painful thinking about Brad’s mom telling me that he probably wouldn’t live another year and I felt like centuries of understanding were knocking at the door begging me to let them in and I cried for the first time in a long time asking “WHY?”…while the Dead tune ‘Bertha’ played on the radio Wendy crawled into my lap and pierced my soul with her dark eyes that seemed to hold centuries of pain and understanding looking up to my face as my tears fell on her innocent lips.

I spent a few weeks going back and forth from my friend Karen and mother’s house “introducing” Wendy to the world of Sheba. Sheba actually seemed to brighten up and without any hesitation opened up true maternal knowledge of centuries of understanding to the young pup. The three of us spent hours romping through the woods, Wendy would gnaw on Sheba’s legs and crawl on top of her as she acted like she was going to eat her and Sheba would “growl” – it was more like a pleasant moan -Sheba would drop her treat for Wendy to take…

One day in August I saw Sheba asleep beside her dog-house that she had not been unable to get in for quite a while due to her back and hip problems and Wendy was inside of it asleep and I knew the time had come. I took Sheba the next day to a veterinarian that advertised “cremate and save”.

I had to carry Sheba into the office because she literally could not walk and sat her in a chair while I went back to the car to get Wendy. When the vet called us I carried Sheba to the room practically dragging Wendy with her leash and laid the old one on the table. The veterinarian’s technician came in and asked me routine questions for his paperwork and then began cleaning Sheba’s lower arm and I began sobbing…so too did he. The doctor, who was old and appeared wise beyond his years, came in and nonchalantly held Sheba’s arm in his and rubbed Wendy’s face who was curled up against my chest in my left arm, looked at me with deep dark eyes and asked “is this what you wish to do?” I mumbled something that was inaudible but shook my head yes and as the doctor inserted the syringe he began to cry also. I looked down at Wendy and her deep dark eyes momentarily peered into my eyes and then looked at Sheba and put her paw on her nose while I rubbed Sheba’s gray beard…shortly thereafter Sheba’s head drooped and the doctor left the room. Wendy’s little paw dropped with Sheba’s head and I realized that Bertha had been born.

“The Ninth (day) of Av. It usually occurs during August.”

The New Internationale/Arms Race

So much for at least a breif delay in a new arms race after the new arms sales to Arab nations and Taiwan I recently (very recently) blogged about...CNN and Pravda reported yesterday that Russia has signed a $2 billion arms deal with Libya.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin confirmed the contract later yesterday, Saturday Jan. 30, and stated that the deal is "not only for small arms and light weapons."

Thanks new order neo-con Democrats!

I decided Friday that I was clinically confused and after looking at the news tonight I discovered that I am the only sane person in the world!

Twenty days ago I blogged about the then “on the down low” development of a huge arms deal with several Middle Eastern countries that the US has been working on - MSNBC online posted US Speeds Up Arms Buildup With Gulf Allies today via The Washing Post - and Friday there was confirmation of a six billion dollar deal with Taiwan. That is the number 6 with nine zero’s, looks something like this $ 6,000,000,000.

The deal with Taiwan was reported as a fulfillment of a $11 billion deal pledged by former President GW Bush to that nation in 2001; after removing much of the all too familiar double-speak that was once owned by the neo-cons it simply is supposed to be a “threat” to China. This whole situation really reeks of the 40 years of backroom Pentagon mapping of the world. Hmmm, ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’ or ‘Mein Kampf’.

Then today former President HW Bush went and had tea time at the White House with President Obama. I bet HW had GW hidden in his coat pocket and the three of them went and played army with little stick men painted yellow while son Jebulon snuck away with the First Lady and Chief Of Staff Emanuel davened over David Axelrod.

So, the next rightful thing to do is arm Lhasa. I am sure the monks could use a couple of the ballistic missiles, a few Black Hawk helicopters and one of the mine hunting ships from the Mid-East package to frighten China some more. While we are at it, might as well re-arm Shin Fein and play fair and distribute the same to the Orange Order. I’m sure we also could benefit from trucking a few missiles across the northern border to the Quebecois separatists in Canada and some across the Baja to the drug lords in Mexico. Let’s be fair about this now…in light of the new populist spirit of kind hearted “love spreading” from Washington in the way of guns, germs, and steel we might as well return some munitions back to the Serbian goats and some of the VX gas - we claim to be disposing of - to the Chechnyan rebels. Nor should we forget the poor Hamas and Hezbollah souls in southern Lebanon, they are in dire need of some kefer cheese and Katyusha rockets. Oh, can’t forget Cypress, we need to reignite shit there also…send them a few SAM’s and by all means please carry forward the Christian spirit and send some munitions to the stinky Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza.

…might as well bring back the Third Reich since we need jobs and revenue so bad.

Who won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Why Are You Gay - Why Are YOU Pregnant?

I really am not much different than most people in having a "closet" full of enigmatic contradictions and mysteries but I honestly do not get this one:

(From MSN)

"Another pregnant man is making headlines. He and his mate are expecting a baby very soon. The man is Scott Moore, who grew up as Jessica...Scott got to know his mate, Thomas, at a support group. Like Scott, Thomas was born female. Thomas has two children from a prior relationship, and Scott has helped raise them...Scott is the second pregnant man to come forward. The first was Thoams Beatie..."

This is like going to Sears and ordering a custom made refridgerator with an oven in it...but wait, there actually is such a thing, the Whirlpool Polara...google it, I swear! Unfortunately it was DISCONTINUED.

Some things are better left like they were when they were sitting on the showcase floor at Montgomery Ward. They opened their doors in 1895 and became a "cross town rival" to Sears in more ways than one. Sears now owns the Montgomery Ward properties/name. So, is the child bearing transgendered male-thing a rival? Nah, just an aberration. Please DISCONTINUE the spin cycle or maybe adopt a child from Haiti!!!!

Prophylacteries In The Sky

Trying to be shomer Shabbat really opens the mind to many thoughts and observations crawling around quietly in the dark crevices of the soul pleading to be released into the days light, but the suns blanket keeps them begging at the threshold of reason.

Shomer Shabbat - when the sun goes down, when the first star is visible to the naked eye, when you decide to welcome the bride, or when my Chabad brethren define the proper zmanim – is the time set when one decides not to carry money, not turn on or off a light switch, not to bathe, not to pick up the channel changer, not to prepare food, not to drive, not to take medicine, not to pick up the phone, not to touch the computer, is supposed to create an oasis of sacred peace from the daily “hum-drum” of secular profanity. “Please sir, may I wipe my ass?”

Shomer Shabbat is a personal decision to separate oneself from all of the indirect 21st century “realistic” directives that we feel so overburdened to honor. I sat last night soaking up the nice aromatic smells of the beef stew I started in the slow cooker earlier in the day while watching the Hope For Haiti Now marathon and listened to some really awesome uncut/unplugged music: Taylor Swift, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crowe, Keith Urban, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, and the almost finale…Dave Matthews with Neil Young! There were many others so if you were out partying you’ll have to settle for the I-Tunes download.

I remember hearing Leonard Cohen sing ‘Hallelujah’ when I was a young lad and fell in love with the tune, then I heard Jeff Buckley sing it (nothing has really compared since but…), then I heard the young guy at a local coffee bar sing it a couple weeks ago in front of three people (and I could not figure out which head my tears were coming from), then Friday night on the telethon I heard Justin Timberlake sing it. I must say that he redeemed himself to me; I never cared for him but thought he did a really good job because it obviously must be a terribly difficult tune to sing.

I didn’t want the show to end but as it was coming to a close those above mentioned “thoughts and observations crawling around in the dark crevices of the soul” began moaning to come out, like hands extending from old rusted jail cell bars in some dark musty smelling Gulag. I picked up the channel changer and thought, “this is not allowed if I am to be truly shomer Shabbat”. I can keep the television on as long as it remains on one channel and nothing is adjusted in any way. Yet, I am sure that the mere viewing of the TV can be ruled a violation somehow.

I set the changer down and began thinking about the latest news release I saw of Hillary Clinton. It was after she returned from Haiti and for some reason it all made sense to me. I had just finished watching the telethon for Haiti and as I decided to forego profaning shomer Shabbat my thoughts grabbed on to memories of a rather haggard looking Secretary of State Clinton and thought I could really see that distant and hollow looking gaze that one sometimes acquires when they have crossed a threshold of reality. I do not appreciate some of the recent Obama administration “policy stumbling blocks” but I cannot deny that Hillary is really revealing herself as a true statesman/statesperson. She is worn out! Have you seen her recently?

I personally did not give her enough credit during the 08’ campaign but am pleased with her even if I do not agree with all measures. By the way…where the hell are Biden and Emanuel? It is best that at least Emanuel stays out of the public’s eye I think.

Then my thoughts seized on the article in the paper lying on the table in front of me about Chautauqua Airlines flight 3079 from New York to Louisville being redirected Friday morning due to a “misunderstanding.” Give me a break! This was absurd.

Most people recognize Tefilin as an item of religious practice used by Jews, even though they might not know what they are actually called. I can understand “someone who does not get out much” might be alarmed by a clean cut, handsome young man strapping a box to his forehead and left bicep while wrapping his arm in a leather strap but this is an airline originally from Jamestown, NY (Chautauqua county) – 70 miles from Buffalo, 200 from Toronto and 400 from NYC – and I am sure this is not first time someone has donned phylacteries after boarding a Chautauqua flight in this region. I really hate that word and think people love to use it because it reminds them of prophylactic. It is a stupid Greek interpretation for tefilin; maybe we use it because we are so in love with the ancient nostalgia of Helene culture.

I decided to sweep the “thoughts and observations crawling around in the dark crevices of the soul” away for the evening and as I eased back in the lounger I reminded myself of the part of Republic Airways “vision” statement about their employees and customers “…regardless of personal beliefs or world-view, everyone has been created in the image and likeness of G-d: We seek to become stronger from our diversity.”

Warning: Please check your “prophylacteries” at baggage!

Wow! All of the ranting I do doesn't even pale in comparison to the travesty that has unfolded before our eyes in Haiti. If the pain and suffering occurring there does not bring you to your knees then I feel for your soul.

This is awful! I can barely bring myself to rehearse my daily morning ritual of watching the news after I have dressed and tended to my proper rights without crying... 200,000 dead, numerous amputees, and unknown orphans, widows, widowers, etc. You know when your heart actually hearts and I almost think that for the first time I know what a true broken heart feels like. It hurts! I almost feel guilty...no, I do feel guilty.

I curl up in my warm bed and eat my food and en passant think of a devastated soul in Haiti. My heart cries for them and can only ask that whatever supernal being is listening will provide any comfort available immediately to the victims. The images should remind us of our very nice and neat comfort we have been granted.

If you find yourself drying an eye or holding back a flood of tears please use the American Redcross text option for aid to Haiti - text "HAITI" to 90999 and you wil be prompted for a donation. This option is by far one of the easiest and is secure. The bad thing with someone like me is that it is too easy so the number appears more than a few times in my call history. There is the normal bottleneck of time that will hold up the funds, some say 60-90 days, but it obviously will still be needed. Verizon, once again making me glad I have not "traded them in" in the last TEN years has advanced ALL donations through them as of Friday night!!! It was around $3 million of the total $27 million.

If you don't have the money and you are still reading then you are alright becasue you must care and one of the best things you can do is ask for the Haitians to be comforted in some way.

Nobel Peace "Sur-Prize"

It's truly a blessing to have really nice friends because they can help ground you sometimes when your thoughts become fragmented and disenchanted, so I invited a few over Thursday evening to watch the BCS National Championship football game between Alabama and Texas. "Hey, who has to go to work tomorrow?" At 12:00 there were five to six people in my den "chit-chatting" and another three or four in the kitchen doing the same.

A few weeks ago I read a story about a new military armament deal for the US that was going to net a few billion dollars and some new jobs but purposely let it slide to the back of my brain because it seemed so preposterous and the president had just been given the Nobel Peace Prize. Why is the Nobel Peace Prize granted? That should be an easy answer but it seems that as the ideas and attempts at illegitimate nation-state building continue proliferating the answer is really muddied. I always thought that a destabilized Middle East and nation-state building was a neo-con agenda. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen...what has changed since GW? More troops and more weapons - more troops and more weapons - more troops and more weapons. What follows are the primary facets to this new deal for "peace" that is supposed to thwart Iran:

1. To Egypt - TWENTY Harpoon II anti-ship cruise missiles
How many military ships does Iran have??

2. To Egypt - FOUR missile boats

3. To Egypt - FOUR-HUNDRED FIFTY Hellfire anti-tank missiles

4. To Egypt - ONE-HUNDRED FIFTY F-16 jet engines to Egypt

5. To Saudi Arabia - TWO THOUSAND+ anti-tank missiles

6. To Jordan - ONE THOUSAND+ anti-tank missiles

7. To Jordan - ONE-HUNDRED SIXTY missile launchers with night vision

8. To United Arab Emirates - ONE THOUSAND laser guided smart bombs

9. To United Arab Emirates - EIGHT HUNDRED one ton bombs

10. To United Arab Emirates - FOUR HUNDRED "bunker buster" bombs

11. To Morocco - TWENTY FOUR F-16's


12. To Israel - N O T H I N G but a threat from Rahm "Sabbatai Zevi" Emanuel

Maybe he really is a Muslim.