Every Joo
Down in Joo-ville
Liked Chanukah as such…
But the Kvetch,
Who lived just north of Joo-ville,
… not so much.
The Kvetch hated Chanukah, the whole Chanukah season.
Now don’t ask me why. What? Should I know the reason?
It could be he wasn’t a mensch, that is all.
Or his petzel, perhaps, was two sizes too small.
Such meshug’as comes from one thing or another,
But like most Joo-ish boys, we should just blame his mother!
But,
The reason, whatever,
His mom or his putz,
The Kvetch hated Chanukah. Oy, what a yutz!
For he knew every Joo down in Joo-ville tonight
Was busy preparing menorahs to light.
“And they’re giving out gelt!” he sighed as he said
“I need waxy chocolate like holes in my head!”
Then he nervously whined as his fingers tapped horas,
“I MUST stop the Joos from igniting menorahs!”
For,
The Kvetch knew that soon…
… All the Joo girls and boys
Would say the baruch’ha, then unwrap their toys!
And then! Oh, the oys! Oh, the Oys! Oys! Oys! Oys!
If it’s not what they wanted, the OYS! OYS! OYS! OYS!
Then the Joos, young and old, would sit down for a nosh.
And they’d nosh! And they’d nosh!
And they’d NOSH! NOSH! NOSH! NOSH!
They would nosh on Joo-latkes, and Gefilte-Joo-Fish,
Which was surely the Kvetch’s least favorite dish!
And THEN
They’d do something
Which made the Kvetch plotz!
Every Joo down in Joo-ville, Bar Mitzvahed or not,
Would sit down together, their proud ponim’s grinning.
Then dreidels in hand, all the Joos would start spinning!
They’d spin! And they’d spin!
AND they’d SPIN! SPIN! SPIN! SPIN!
And the more the Kvetch thought of this Joo-Dreidel-Spin,
The more the Kvetch thought, “I can’t let this begin!
“Oy, for fifty-three years I’ve put up with it now!
“Chanukah, Schmanukah! Stop it!
… But HOW?”
Then he got an idea!
And the moment he had,
He said
“I’m no Einstein, but this… not half bad!”
“I know just what to do!” Then he donned an old sheet,
And dug up some sandals to wear on his feet.
“I’m the Prophet Elijiah! They’ve set me a plate!”
(For the Kvetch couldn’t keep Joo-ish holidays straight.)
“The Joos ‘ll oblige ol’ Elijiah, no doubt!
“I will simply walk in. Then I’ll clean the place out!”
“All I need is a camel…”
He looked far and near,
But this wasn’t the desert, and camels are dear.
Did that stop the old Kvetch…?
That pischer? No, never:
“If I can’t find a camel,” the Kvetch said, “…whatever.”
So he called his dog, Max. Then he took an old sack
And he tied a hump onto the front of his back.
THEN
He climbed on this
dog-dromedaryish mammal.
You never have seen
Such a schmuck on a camel.
Then the Kvetch cried “Oy vey!”
As old Max started down
Toward the homes, while the Joos
Where still schmoozing in town.
All their driveways were empty. Just SUV tracks.
All the Joos were out last-minute-shopping at Saks,
As he rode to a not-so-small house on old Max.
“It’s a good thing I brought” the old Prophet Kvetch thought,
“All these bags with to stuff all the stuff the Joos bought.”
Then he looked at the chimney. It seemed quite a stretch
That a fat goy like Santa could fit, thought the Kvetch,
“Still, the goyim believe stranger things, that’s for sure.”
Then the Kvetch shrugged his shoulders, and walked through the door
Where the little Joo dreidels were all strewn about.
“These dreidels,” he grinned, “are the first to go out!”
And he schvitzed, as he shlepped, with an odor unpleasant,
Around the whole house, as he took every present!
Barbie dolls! Mountain bikes! Brios! And blocks!
Pokemon! GameBoys! And all of that shlock!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then his arms spread akimbo,
He shlepped all the bags, one by one, out the wimbo!
Then he shlepped to the kitchen. He took every dish.
He took the Joo-latkes. The Gefilte-Joo-Fish.
He cleaned out the Sub-Zero so nimbly and neat,
Careful to separate dairy from meat.
Then he shlepped the Joo-nosh right out the front door-a.
“And NOW!” kvelled the Kvetch, “I will shlep the menorah!”
And he grabbed the menorah, and started to shlep on,
When he heard a whine, like a cat being stepped on.
He spun ‘round with shpilkes, and coming his way,
It was Ruth Levy-Joo, who was two, if a day.
The Kvetch had been caught by this small shaina maidel,
Who’d been watching TV on her big RCA’dle.
“The Prophet Elijiah?” she quizzed the old fool,
“You visit on Pesach, they taught us in shul.”
And although the old Kvetch was surprised and confused,
It’s not hard to lie to a girl in her twos.
“Bubbeleh… sweatheart…” he started his tale,
“Your dad paid full price, when this all was on sale!
“And like any good merchant, I just want to please ya.
“I’ll ring it up right, then I’ll refund your VISA.”
Then he patted her tush. Put a Barney tape in.
And she spaced-out as fast as the spindle could spin.
And as Ruth Levy-Joo watched her mauve dinosaura,
HE went to the door and shlepped out the menorah!
Then the match for the shamas
Was last to be filched!
Then he shlepped himself out to continue his pillage.
On the walls he left nothing at all. Bubkes. Zilch.
And the one speck of food
That he left in the house
Was a matzoh ball even too dense for a mouse.
Then
He did the same schtick
In the other Joo’s houses.
Leaving knaidlach
Too dense
For the other Joo’s mouses!
It was quarter to dusk…
All the Joos, still at Saks,
All the Joos, still a-shmooze
When he packed up old Max,
Packed him up with their presents! The gelt and the dreidels!
The chotchkes and latkes! The knish and the knaidels!
He hauled it all up to his condo in haste!
(A Grinch might have dumped it, but why go to waste?)
“Shtup you!” to the Joos, the Kvetch loudly cheered,
“They’re finding out Chanukah’s cancelled this year!
“They’re just coming home! I know just what they’ll say!
“They’ll ask their homeowners insurance to pay,
“Then the Joos down in Joo-ville will all cry OY VEY!”
“All those Oys,” kvelled the Kvetch,
“Now THIS I must hear!”
So he paused. And the Kvetch put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising up from the shtetl.
It started to grow. Then the Kvetch grew unsettled…
Why the sound wasn’t sad,
It was more like the noise
Of a UPS trucker
Delivering toys!
He stared down at Joo-ville!
And then the Kvetch shook,
As truck after truck
Replaced all that he took!
Every Joo down in Joo-ville, the Golds and the Steins,
Re-ordered their presents by going online!
Chanukah HADN’T been cancelled!
IT CAME!
…On UPS trucks… but it came just the same!
Then the Kvetch, staring down at the gifts where they sat,
Stood kvitching and kvetching: “For this, I did that?
“It came without traffic! It came without tax!
“It came without shopping at Bloomie’s or Saks!”
And he kvetched on and on, til he started to shvitz,
Then the Kvetch thought of something which might make him rich!
“Maybe stores,” thought the Kvetch, “don’t need mortar and bricks.
“Maybe toys can be bought with a few well-placed clicks!”
And what happened then…?
Well… in Joo-ville they say
That the Kvetch raised
Ten million in venture that day!
And the minute his web site was ready to go,
He raised ten billion more on his new IPO!
He sold back the toys to the homes they came from!
And he…
… he the Kvetch…!
Founded YA-JOO.COM!
©2000 by David Goldstein
All rights reserved
[An HA holiday tradition, with apologies to the late, great Dr. Seuss—but not to the greedy, litigious bastards at Dr. Seuss Enterprises, LLC. So there. Happy Christmukah.]
Reading this the last couple years has become a “tradition”.
Thank you for the smile to begin my Christmukah Day.
MLF
Goldy,
Chappy Chanukah, belated though the sentiment be.
The Piper
Merry Christmas to y’all!
We are blessed that God loved us so much, he sent his Son to teach us and then die for us.
It was the ultimate gift. The Savior of the World. I sadly listen to the empty dronings of the Atheist/Secular Humanists. There words are like a beautifully wrapped gift under the tree…but when you open it, there is nothing.
The Atheist/Secular Humanist gift box is empty.
For all of you:
Luke 2
The Birth of Jesus
The Shepherds and the Angels
Throughout the Bible, we have angels telling us to not be afraid.
It is fear & self-pride that keeps many of you from humbling yourselves and crying out that you desperately need the Savior Jesus as the Lord of your life.
It’s not too late…He’ll take you just as you are.
Merry Christmas!
Happy Winter Festivities to all my liberal, lefty-leaning friends!
Translation for Chimp-worshiping, Limbaugh-loving wingnuts: Merry Christmas.
Even to Mr. C.. While you have your Bible open, Mr. C., show us in any of Paul’s letters where he was even the slightest bit aware of what you quote in comment 3.
Mr C.
Your wishes are sad, they make me as a non Christian feel excluded and disrespected.
Let me instead wish you what a good God would want for all of us .. peace, freedom from hatred and suffering, and the love of others.
Be good.
SJ
I bring for the benefit of my lefty, liberal friends and especially all you Bill O’Loofah-loving defenders in the War on Christmas:
HumanLight!
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....d=98627236
Nice, Goldy. This is thanks for that.
“You never have seen
Such a schmuck on a camel.”———>@3
5. Proud to be SeattleJew Today spews:
SJ–
I’m sharing my faith and beliefs on CHRISTMAS.
If you feel sad, I’m sad.
If you feel disrespected and excluded….it’s by your choice SJ.
The Athiest/Secular Humanist gift bos is empty.
Perhaps that explains your sadness?
Hey All!
It’s Christmas…Prince of Peace and all that…
No fighting!
The Piper
Thanks, Goldy. I smiled the first time I read that, and it brought another smile today. The best gift you could have given.
And for all my friends here, be they Christian, Hebrew, Muslim, Atheist or whatever. I would ask that this Christmas, we consider the words of Micah.
(For my atheist friends. I consider two out of three to be a win, and will leave that last one up to God.)
Seems that we’ve been told, over and over, what is really important. It isn’t pious displays, but in living our lives to be a blessing to others.
Perhaps this year, we could try listening.
For all, whether this day is a celebration of the birth of the Christ, or just a good excuse to enjoy the company of friends and family, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year!
All religions are different paths to the same place. No one should take his/her religion (on absence of religion) seriously.
If there is a Supreme Being, that entity cannot be understood by us on this small little planet on the far side of the Universe. So, be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Wicca, Asatru, atheism, Buddhism, agnosticism, or whatever – all are valid.
New Details Emerge On Connell Murder
Michael Connell was no kvetch, but he was a thief — he was Karl Rove’s IT expert who played a key role in stealing the 2004 presidential election. He was the man who knew more about Rove’s “black box” operations than anyone else. He was under subpoena to testify about what he knew in a pending federal lawsuit. And, now, he’s dead.
Here are some facts about Connell’s untimely death last Friday that have emerged in the last few days:
— Connell’s lawyer had contacted the Attorney General Mukasey about threats against Connell and his wife by Rove;
— A close friend warned Connell before the fatal flight not to fly his airplane because it might be sabotaged;
— Connell cancelled at least 2 scheduled flights in the preceding 2 months because of “suspicious problems” with his plane;
— Just before Connell’s death, there were reports that he was ready to talk.
These urban legends develop a life of their own.
Where is Art Bell and Alex Jones when the roadkill rabbit needs them?
Anyone got a tin-foil hat for Roger to borrow until his episode passes?
A white Christmas! In Seattle! Now I’ve seen everything.
I am not Christian, but I take this day for what it is: a celebration of the birth of (at minimum) one of the most significant men who ever lived, and a chance to internalize his messages of peace, love, forgiveness, and generosity.
The world would be a better place if more people – of any and all faiths, or lack thereof – lived out that message. With or without the mystical component. Take your pick.
And, in that spirit: A merry Christmas to you all, and best wishes for the entire HA community – trolls included – in 2009.
@15…Geov…
What about me??? I’m no troll!
Don’t forget…he loves you too.
The Piper
Rickie Dickhead @14 “tin-foil hat”
Don’t you wish! Unfortunately for you and your ilk, in less than a month you won’t control the government or be able to fire federal prosecutors anymore more, and squirming out of this won’t be as easy as ordering cover-ups or wishing away the evidence of your crimes.
Merry Christmas to all, including Piper. Wishing all of you a safe holiday season and a happy new year.
You must have missed it when Clinton fired those AG’s back when he was in control. Silly misinformed rabbit
btw,
we custom fit that tin foil hat to your furry head….enjoy it.
Little Ricky Dumbass @ 14
I’d wish you a joyous day of HumanLight but that was over on Dec 23.
So I’ll wish a merry Christmas to one of O’Loofah’s many sheeple defenders engaged in the War on Christmas.
Little Ricky Dumbass.
@8 Mr C,
The sadness is not your belief is a loving deity, but your need to celebrate him with nasty comments for others.
For my part, as long as others beliefs do not hurt me, I can take pleasure in all good people’s beliefs … our new President expresses this well with trinkets he carries .. a saint Christopher medal, an image of Hanuman, a well worn poker chip, an image of your Mary …. seems good to me! Esp. the poker chip.
Be good.
@19 JB
Some 1000 years after the time of your god, a great writer, Judah Halevy, wrote of the two natures of God. One version is called the Lord(s) or adonai and provides the wonder behind the universe, the motif for all things that work. The other, the unamed Deity, represents the wonder we express in our words, the ability of Man to see things that are beyond the immediate world of senses.
He wrote these words in a great book the Khazari, as an effort to explain Judaism in the context of Islam, Christianity, and philosophy.
I like the Khazari, it expresses a shared sense of wonder that transends all specific beliefs in the Lord or Lords, and opens a kind of respect for the ideas that make us all human.
Be good!
@18…Steve…
Thanks, Steve…and ditto.
The Piper
@15 The sadness of being Yashka
The sadness of this season is the contradiction inherent in a Christianity that celebrates the words of the Pharisees… the sermon on the mount, the belief that one can be true to one4self while not raising the sword to futiley overthrow Rome, while also celebrating the uniqueness of a message that excludes all who do not worship Jesus.
Was there a Jesus? Does it matter? What there was were people who put a synthesis of ethics, monotheism, morality and their own peoplehood, up as a shiled against Roman imperialism.
That is a memory all people should share, a memory that has long tendrils back to the Buddha and forward to Spinoza, Jefferson, Gandhi, and King.
That memory is a real miracle!
haha…..please! this coming from a fellow traveler of regular HA hate site posters like Roger Roadkill, Steve, YLB, et al?? All this site has is nasty comments because you’re most likely miserable souls on such holidays. Thanks for the hearty laugh there SJ, you’re only off by about 180 degrees in your assessment though.
An oldie but a goodie…
…thanks for everything Goldy.
Rickie Dickless @25 I can’t think of a solitary reason why we liberals should be nice, or even polite, to you goatfucking traitors. The Golden Rule seems apropos here — we treat you like you treat us. Don’t like it? Tough! You’ve got it coming.
@19 Clinton replaced Republican prosecutors with Democratic prosecutors. That’s SOP when a new administration comes in. Clinton did not fire any U.S. Attorneys for refusing to file bullshit criminal charges against innocent people or as part of a broader scheme to rig elections. Only Republicans, Nazis, Stalinists, and Third World despots pull that kind of totalitarian crap.
25 “Fellow traveler”? Yoiks, so now you’re channelling Joe McCarthy?
Correction at 25- Should read:
All this site has is nasty comments because you’re most likely miserable souls
on such holidays.everyday of your lives.As if I needed an exclamation point for my post @ 25, Roger provided it @ 27
@30
Rick,
It may surprise you but I am not a fan of the hate speech here. That said, most of the invective comes from Trolls.
If you are having trouble understanding the emaning of this day to folks like me, ask yourself WWJD .. what would Jefferson do?
Wow, the black helicopters crowd is really out today. It would be easier to believe if you had something to back up your conspiracy theories, but since you have none, just keep wearing that foil hat Roger, it looks great on you.
The AG’s serve at the pleasure of the President, so quit the caterwauling, foot stomping, temper tantrums and deal with it.
Piper
Hannukah has two more days to go!
Merry Xmas.
Merry Christmas to Piper, Rick D. and all humanity. My wish is for more peace and understanding to break out.
Oh, and Ricky D. – Clinton fired and hired new prosecutors at the beginning of his term – as most other presidents have done.
Bush fired SOME prosecutors that he appointed for political reasons – a politicization of the justice system that has NEVER been done before and is now under active investigation. Gonzalez and others lied about what they did and deserve to be thrown in jail.
Additionally, all of the officials involved in trying to legalize torture should be jailed. Period. They broke the law and waterboarding is torture, period – the US has prosecuted people who waterboarded.
@32: If you could read, you might actually learn something:
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....03292.html
There is plenty of “evidence” but the Bush Justice (sic) dept. did not pursue it – so now a special prosecutor is going after the perpetrators and the cover-up.
@33: Newly discovered: It has snowed the entire time that Hannukah has occured? Is this a mere coincidence? Notice that the snow will disappear..in two days….when Hannukah is over. I suspect something very sinister afoot here….
@33…SJ…
True…but I was late wishing all who celebrate it a happy one.
What with my children scattered to the four winds, my Christmas is getting stretched out like Hannukah. #2 son and wife are in SoCal with some of her kin, #3 son flies in from Okinawa 12/29, and #2 daughter (twin to #3 son) is spending the day with her mother and that side of the family.
#1 son, the sergeant first class, is in Italy with an uncle, aunt and cousins, while #1 daughter with my grandsons is in North Carolina.
Those who will be here, together with my brother and his wife, will gather 1/2 or 1/3, which causes us to stretch gift giving and receiving out over eight or more days. It’s all good.
Trust all enjoyed the day – mine was spent peacefully preparing documents and sorting papers in anticipation of the big move. The next month will be very busy for me.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah to all – Wishes of personal and social peace for all.
The Piper
Merry Christmas! now on to your quote above.
False. There has been zero evidence put forth whatsoever to prove the black helicopter crowd theory that the firing of the AG’s (whom serve at the pleasure of the President) was wrong. Simply put, as you admitted as much, the presidential perogotive is to dismiss the AG’s as they see fit when entering office. Any imbecile could also see this as being “politically motivated” as well and they’d be right, correct? So where’s the problem?
Bush simply left them on board and dismissed them when they failed to meet the administrations standards. Doesn’t matter when he dismisses them as again, they serve at his pleasure.
Also, the purpose of the special prosecutor is not simply “going after the perpetrators and the cover-up” as you said. He/She is assigned to investigate and uncover any evidence that is found to substantiate the claim of unfair firings. Pissing and moaning about this non-issue is counter productive and infantile.Move on.
Cut the traitors slack, they’ll stab you in the back. Give an inch, they’ll tighten the cinch. Fuck the trolls 24/7/365.
@37 PS.. Passover is coming!
@31 “That said, most of the invective comes from Trolls.”
That’s unfortunate. I think it should be even. Why should trolls have special hate-spewing privileges? We need to change that! There’s no reason why they should get more hate-spewing than we do. They must think they’re special because they fuck goats.
Rickless Dickie @32 “The AG’s serve at the pleasure of the President”
Yes, but that’s not the whole story — and as always, simpleton chuckleheads like you can’t comprehend complex concepts like criminal conspiracies and unethical behavior.
@34 “My wish is for more peace and understanding to break out.”
A fine sentiment, yes, fine indeed; but, to be perfectly candid, I’d rather throw our wingnut friends under a bus because there’s little chance of peace or understanding while they’re around.
@38 Rickie Clueless, it’s hard to believe anyone could be this big an idiot, but you’ve just proved it’s possible.
@39 Precisely.
i feel sad when i see a movie advertised called “doubt” where again they are going to besmerch all priests for the action of the few. sadly, it is a purposeful campaign, you can tell by the number of times it is either written about or movies made about it. those of you who are jewish suprise me when you wonder where antisemetism comes from. well, if all you ever see is media attention on pedophile priests, but never about ,say, a rabbi, you can only come to one of two conclusions. either genetically jews are so good they would never molest, or jews control the media and they will never show anything negative about rabbis. for those of you who think this is bigoted, tell me what i am supposed to think when they take mistakes made sometimes fifty years ago and pound away with books, movies and newspapers, and never once about a rabbi. tell me, i’m listening.
Wow, manofbigotry. How about:
1. There are a whole lot more Priests than Rabbis, so naturally there are more problem Priests than problem Rabbis.
2. Enforced celebacy (among the Priests) on rare occasions causes sexual deviency. Since the Rabbis don’t have that requirement, that particular problem doesn’t arise.
3. There isn’t a large organization of Rabbis that, like all large organizations, will tend to cover up problems until they get completely out of control and hurt lots of people, causing big news stories.
No, it must be just a big Jewish conspiracy, involving the media, books, movies, etc…
What a putz.
46 mot
1. there are many stories about rabbis who have committed crimes. The most recent mess is the furor over the kosher agribusiness. About 2/3 of all kosher meat was affected by that scandal.
Here in Seattle, a chassidic rabbi was convicted of fraud a cuple of years ago.
2. As John said, the celibacy rule does have a special effect.
3. Rabbis are NOT priests. They have no special powers, do not take confession or administer sacraments. Rabbis (and Imans) are merely learned people who explain the law. There is no special moral imperitive associated with being a rabbi.
4. In Israel, where we are the majority, you will read plent y of stories about Rabbis. As John said there ain’t that many of us.
You really need to look in a mirror, that fellow seems to have some real bigotry real near the surface. To quote the Prophetess from Alaska, “I’ll betcha your God is a nicer person than you are!” But heck, he is a Jew!
@46 Face it, the Catholic Church’s reputation in the larger community has been damaged because the Church tolerated the pedophile priests and covered up their misbehavior, and innocent people were hurt as a result. This was a massive institutional failure on a massive scale. It probably won’t keep any Catholics from continuing to be Catholics, and it didn’t keep me from becoming a Catholic because I wouldn’t have become a Catholic anyway, knowing what I know about history and the Catholic Church’s role in the Inquisition, Crusades, other persecutions and aggressions, and various oppressions and cultural suppressions that have brought much misery to humanity through the ages. I try to respect other people’s religions, but I utterly reject Catholic assertions that their Church and Popes are infallible, given how hard the Church and assorted Popes have worked through the ages to prove they can be real bastards when they feel like it.
rOGER
True enough, but one should also give the RCC credit for St. Francis, Cesar Chavez, John XXIII, the Maryknolls, … etc.
Bottom line, it seems to me that for the most part it is less the religion that matters than it what individuals get out of their choice of religion. Evem Buddhism has its Myanamar masters and the great Ashoka was a despot.
To me the best religion is any religion tempered by humanism and rationality. That is why fundies scare me, their beliefs supercede rationality. Hard to trust folks who live in an alternative reality.
Christmas is my girlfriend’s birthday and now I find it’s Mithra day too.
http://www.near-death.com/expe.....en048.html
I disagree. Your sorry furry ass can’t disprove anything I’ve posted so you go with the “you’re an idiot” approach as a way to obfuscate. I would expect nothing less from a troll in Goldy’s barnyard.
..and now , joke time for rabbit’s:
Yeah, well, if this cockamamie “white Christmas” doesn’t end soon around here, I’m gonna smash every Big Crosby record I can get my hands on. And next year my dreidle’s gonna say,
No
Goddamned
Hella-f’in
Snow!
“The information below was last updated Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:59:48 GMT. Subtract eight hours for Pacific Time Zone time.”
The above was from Metro’s Adverse weather page.
Figuring out when the page was last updated shouldn’t be like a puzzle you get to solve. How about just saying “The information below was last updated Fri, 26 Dec 2008 6:59 AM?”
No wonder they fell apart during the snow. They even mess up writing the time in a simple manner.
Trol @ 54: The national weather service issues forcasts (suprisingly!) nationally. Since we have four time zones in the Continental U.S., and more if you include Hawaii, Guam, etc., it makes sense for them to use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time or Zulu time, to those of you in the military).
Local sites such as Metro who import the date directly into their web sites can either edit it each and every time (which is an inefficient use of manpower), or they can simply inform the reader to do a little simple subtraction, of the type which most of us had mastered by the second grade.
@55
A few questions for you. How many times per day do you think Metro updates their Adverse Weather web page? 10? 20 times per day? Now, how many seconds do you think it would take them each time to convert GMT to PST? 5 seconds? 10 seconds? Now, let’s say they update the page 20 times per day, and it take 10 seconds each time to convert the time. How much manpower is spent? I came up with 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Now, another question for you. What percentage of the transit riding public do you think: Knows what time 14:59 is; Knows how to subtract 8 from 14:59; And knows what Greenwich Mean Time means? I would bet over 90% of bus riders don’t know the answer to at least one of those questions. rhp, you aren’t thinking about this correctly. In a public service-type of business, you have to communicate in terms of the lowest common denominator. You have a lot of people out there who not only didn’t go to college, they may not have finished high school. The people at Metro are writing at a college level for college level readers. They are writing to the masses, so they have to keep is simple.
So I ask you, don’t you think 3 minutes of manpower a day worth having EVERYONE understand when the page was last updated, and not just a small percentage of people?
Why am I carping on such a seemingly small issue? Because I think this is indicative of a bigger communication problem at Metro.
Rick D @ 19, 32, & 38. Your insistence that the Bush firings of the federal prosecutors in mid-term was no different than the normal replacement of prosecutors when a new president comes into office reminds me a bit of Seargent Shultz: “I see NOTHING! I hear NOTHING!” Or, on a more visual level, of a small child who wants to tune out things he doesn’t want to hear by curling up in a corner, covering his ears, and drowning out the bad news by singing “LA LA LA LA LA LA” as loundly as possible.
It is frustrating that even though your “talking point” has been soundly repudiated almost two years ago, you trot it out again over and over again.
Note that there is one essential difference between Bush’s mid-term replacement of prosecutors and the routine appointments at the beginning of a term. The original appointments require Senate confirmation. But under a largly unnoticed amendment passed by the Republican Congress in 2006, replacements did not need Senate approval.
And the firings were clearly motivated by improper purposes. Please read the Law Review article by John McKay, one of the fired federal prosecutors, which details the events leading to his own firing and the extraordinary nature of the firings of the other prosecutors. (No, I don’t have time to look up the link right now).
46 I haven’t seen Doubt yet, and since I’m not much of a movie nut and my wife prefers to go to pictures that entertain more than anything else, I probably won’t until it’s available for rent on DVD. However, the core issue of abusive clergy is anything but “something that happened 50 years ago”. To the credit of the present Catholic leadership they’re taking the issue on and trying, finally, to remedy the institutional flaws that kept this “dirty little secret” swept under the rug for so long.
It would behoove the leaders of other faiths to address the same issue, because clerical abuse of children isn’t restricted to Catholics by any means. The combination of doctrinal repression and unchallenged authority make a perfect recipe for this kind of thing.
To paraphrase Andrew Greeley, airing your dirty laundry in public is the only way to get it clean.
Poor little Ricky Dumbass. Whipped senseless and left screaming in the wilderness by the McSame meltdown, he comes here to rewrite history about the US Attorneys debacle running old discredited talking points up the flagpole.
What a moronic, losing, whining fringie he is.
Little Ricky Dumbass.
Okay, here’s the citation for the John McKay article:
Seattle University Law Review, Vol. 31, p. 265, 2008
I had a link to the .PDF version, but I can’t find it right now.
This I know, Because of the birth of Christ,We have hope,That all the prophecies are true,Because we have hope, our eyes are opened to His death on the cross. I know that the very first drop of blood was shed for all mankind.His resurection is where faith comes in, Believing that on the same cloud he assended to heaven he will return and we will be with The Lord forevermore. Just because you don’t believe dosen’t mean it won’t happen just the way the bible says. God will not be mocked.And it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.God has always been God, He is God now and will be God when your vapor of life is over. Have no doubt He will judge ,rule and reign over His whole creation.What has a person got to lose,If you give God this life, And live eternally with God,Surely you are intelligent enough to know it just makes life better and sweeter and prospers your soul,(which is the heart of mankind). Choose this day whom you will serve.MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
rhp6033,
I have a task for you. Today, I want you to go down to Rainier Avenue and ask a group of people waiting for the bus what 14:59 GMT minus 8 hours is. You have until 7 PM to complete this assignment I’ve given you. Put your findings here on this comment thread. I will be back later to see what you have found out.
@50 My impression is the Church tolerated Saint Francis with barely concealed contempt during his lifetime.
Oh, by the way, the amendment which allowed the mid-term appointments without Senate confirmation was inserted into a conference report by a rove protoge working in the (Republican) Senate Majority Leader’s office. The Senate Majority Leader didn’t even know about it, it was never debated by the Congress, and it was approved by the Republican Congress believing it was essentially the bill they had agreed to in negotiations between the House and the Senate.
One of the more revealing aspects of this scandal is that it showed that in the Bush White House, even some Republicans who had previously been vetted and approved by the Bush administration weren’t considered neo-con enough to be allowed to remain in office.
Troll;
Do it yourself. I’ve got other things to do today rather than take orders from you.
@59 Yeah, I know what you mean … I’ve eaten squash that had higher IQs than poor little Dickless Rickie Dumbass.
RHP- corrected your quote like I corrected Regurgitated roadkills earlier since neither of you want to admit that firing them when entering office is “politically motivated” as well.
This non-issue is being propagated by the fringe nutjob black helicopter crowd (made easier by the BDS affliction) of which you evidently belong to, but largely ignored by sane Americans of all political stripes. You have zero evidence and the special prosecutor is unlikely to find enough to substantiate the allegations so pointing me to a McKay citation (since he is one of those fired) is hardly useful in this case.
The AG’s serve at the pleasure of the President period. That is the law and nothing points to any malfeasance by the administration in carrying out this directive.It’s time you tin foil hat wearers wake up and understand there is only a small percentage of the public that even give this any credence. The bubble of ignorance here at HA of course is, of course, the ideal incubation area for this view mainly guided by their Bush derangement syndrome.
My advice? Get a life kiddies.
That appointed US Attorneys, like the appointed Cabinet members and numerous others, serve at “the pleasure of the President”, assumes that said President’s “pleasure” is based on carrying out his own oath of office. This has not been the case for the last eight miserable, disgraceful years.
Rick D @ 67 said:
The majority of Americans voted out of office the party which supported and implemented these policies. Of course, this was but one of many offenses of which the Bush administration was responsible. In short, it is you and the other supporters of the outgoing Bush adminstration who are in the minority. The current administration, which attempted to hijack the justice system for personal & partison purposes, is so unpopular that it is the subject of frequent polls and discussions as to whether George W. Bush is the “Worst President Ever” – quite a nomination, considering some of his fellow nominees are Herbert Hoover and Buchanan.
Some eight years ago I was admittedly rather naive. I believed that most Republicans, like most Democrats, genuinly put the interest of their country first, and only disagreed about the means by which to accomplish that goal. I dismissed conspiracy theorists as whackos. I belived that only third-world countries had stolen elections, and that no one in a responsible office in our government would knowingly put our soldiers, sailors, and airmen at risk without what they believed to be a good reason to do so, in the national best interest, even if that belief might be mistaken.
The past eight years of the Bush administration has shaken every one of those beliefs. I’ve learned that the biggest mistake I, and most Americans in the year 2000 made, was to ignore the lengths at which the Bush Neo-Cons would go to push their agenda to support their greed for our nation’s wealth and power. Given their record to date, I would hardly doubt that it would be beyond their conscious to participate in any steps necessary to preserve their position, power, wealth, and prestige.
I only wish that tin-foil hats were all that were necessary to protect us from the damage that has been done to this country by the Bush administration and his neo-con supporters. Unfortunately, cleaning up after this mess will be a much more arduous task.
The AG’s serve at the pleasure of the President period.
Exactly little Ricky Dumbass! And that chimp you voted for twice brooked no pleasure for law and order Republicans like the USAs he fired chasing after Republican scumbags like Cunningham who’d you have no hesitation voting for as long they spewed the right wing bullshit you hear on the Limbaugh and Faux News shows!
Loser.
Hey YLB!
Stop calling Rickie a “fringie,” goddammit! I doubt either of you are old enough to have Fringie cred, but I’ve still got the Fringie button I bought when we sold them on the Ave in 1966!
So, NAH!
grumble grumble…goddamn hippies…grumble grumble…
EC
Well, since RickD sees nothing wrong with the Bush firings of the federal prosecutors, then he can’t complain if Obama fires prosecutors and replaces them with ones who are not subject to Senate confirmation, and pressures prosecutors to bring charges against Republicans for political purposes, regardless of the evidence, as long as indictments are publicized a month or two before the next Congressional elections.
After all, Rick D. sees nothing wrong with that.
to keepitsimple
To my many dear Christian friends who do not understand why some of us find your great day offensive, please read on:
Including hell and the fires of Armageddon. Now that is scary!
Aha, so now we are at polytheism. How is this different from Gilgamesh? Why should I care that YOUR God might be real rather thna that Sahaddia, Ashera, Odin, or Hanuman is real?
Do I get t choose or will He get mad if I prefer Raven to as God so bllody minded as to commit suicide to save me?
nuff said. I choose Ashera!
To lose? Ask yourself! If Judaism is correct, your post is blasphemous and Hashem (the unnamed God) is gonn be very angry with you.
Gad, you make me want to hide!
Roger Rabbut @50
True enough and the successors of John XXIII have not exactly honored his memory! Still, don’t throw away the good because of the bad.
Offenses? what offenses? Saying it so doesn’t mean jack unless you have the evidence to back it up. As for attempting to Hijack the justice system, Democrat Rod “bleeping” Blagojevich is doing a pretty good job of that in Illinois with his refusal to step down even though he’s dead to rights caught in a “pay to play” scheme for Obama’s Senate seat. Corruption is rampant on the left side of the aisle, the only difference being the Republican’s get rid of their corrupt leaders while the Party of Donkey’s promote theirs.
What stolen election? I would assume you mean 2000 where Gore lost in Florida even after several media outlets did a follow up and found the same result. More black helicopter conspiracies RHP?
As for getting us into conflicts, I guess Clinton getting us into Bosnia ethnic war was in our national interest? interesting how your inconsistencies are so consistent.
Repeat after me, RHP:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D-IL).
I was referring to Ohio in 2004, actually.
And are you seriously trying to compare sending peace-keeping troops to Bosnia with the invasion of Iraq???? That’s like trying to compare a peanut with a watermellon.
Seattle Jew–
Why do people sharing their faith THREATEN you so much. One angry response after another.
You are walking in the Shadow of Death…and are afraid, but won’t admit it.
Oh well, you have heard the Truth and chosen to reject and spit on those of Faith.
It makes me sad….not only are you an angry, godless soul, but go out of your way to lecturer those of Faith by chastising them rather than asserting your Atheistic Secular Humanist dogma.
Why not merely discuss the benefits of your belief system SJ??
Probably because it is like that Empty Box under the Christmas Tree, huh?
Nothing there SJ.
What’s your beef, Cynical? He said he chose Ashera.
ah, yes. 2004 where there is no evidence to back up your assertion of course, but the conspiracy crowd can’t accept the American people could re-elect GW Bush.
…even before 2004 you were likely saying it was stolen in 2000 in Florida,right RHP?
Recognize a pattern here?
I’m comparing apples to apples. You’ll remember you said the following at 70:
Notice your words in bold type, RHP. Your words, not mine.
Once again you undermine your own argument. Was it in this nations best interest to end the genocide in Bosnia but not end the genocide happening in Iraq even as Iraq was a far more direct threat to this Nation than the players in the Bosnian conflict ever could be.
More inconsistency on the left.
Cynical @ 78: “no evidence????” Sorry, but there is plenty of evidence so far, and more to come. We’ve been over this before. We know that Rove helped coordinate an illegal caging campaign in that state, his staff mistakenly sent an excel file by e-mail to a journalist entitled “caging.xls”. That campaign illegally targeted predominatly African-American precincts, erasing thousands from the voting roles without notice to the voters and incidently disenfranchising thousands of veterans in Iraq and Afganistan when the Republican Party’s postcards couldn’t be forwarded to their APO (“Do Not Forward – Return to Sender” stamped on them). We know that the Ohio Republican Secty of State ignored federal court orders to restore those voters, arguing that such orders weren’t valid until after appeal (wrong). We also know that a massive re-allocation of voting resources took place shortly before the election, sending voting machines from predominately Democratic precincts to Republican precincts, so that Republicans rarely had to wait at all to vote, but Democrats in some precincts had to wait in excess of four hours to vote. We know that when a federal court order was issued requiring voting hours to be extended in those precincts with long lines, the precinct officers recieved hurried phone calls purportedly from the Secty of State office telling them to close the doors promptly at the original closing time, even if it cut off the people waiting in line outside (in violation of state law), and police were called in to threaten voters with arrest if they didn’t disperse once the doors were closed. They also were ordered not to open the doors for anyone (especially to lawyers with court orders ordering the polls to be re-opened).
If the precincts voted in the normal patterns, and those who were illegally disenfranchised and those who were illegally not allowed to vote despite being already in line had in fact voted in the usual manner, George Bush would have lost Ohio, and thus been denied a 2nd term in office.
And that’s even BEFORE we get into the shenanigans about the vote totals being cleared through Republican clearing houses before being posted, as Roger Rabbit indicated. That’s the investigation which is ongoing, in which one of the principle actors seems to have an “convenient” (for Rove) fatal accident. It’s interesting that in Ohio, the exit polls in counties controlled by Republicans had a significant disparity with the actual vote count, but not so in counties where the vote counting was controlled by Democrats. Even long-term conservative Republican pollsters have, after studying the 2004 election, come to the conclusion that the exit polling was correct, it was the vote counts which were off.
I could accept a loss in a fair vote. But this was a blatant attempt to steal an election. And there are bank thieves, and horse thieves, but there is NOTHING in this world lower than a vote-thief.
As for Bosnia, I guess you don’t think the U.S. should ever be involved in a UN sponsored peace-keeping operation?
And actually, it wasn’t Bosnia which saw any significant use of U.S. troops. During the Bosnia/Herzegovenia conflict, the U.S. primarily used air power against Serbia to force them into a peace-keeping agreement. Other countries provided peace-keeping troops at that time, the U.S. commitment was minimal. Of course, until U.S. airpower against Serbiawas committed, the UN peace-keeping effort was ineffective.
You must be thinking of Kosovo, which came later. It was there that U.S. troops played a significant (and successful) peace-keeping role.
Yes indeed, it was Kosovo I was thinking of. Thanks for the correction. Your complaint at 70 was that airmen, sailors and marines were being put “at risk without what they believed to be a good reason to do so, in the National best interest”. If you use that analogy, the Kosovo peace-keeping missions were not in this countries “best interest” either. As for the troops believing in the “cause”, you may want to look at the approval ratings that the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan have for their roles helping Iraqis recover their lives after 35 years of Saddam opression and genocide- a very positive one.
You can’t differentiate the two military actions. Either you’re for both for humanitarian reasons and to stop genocide or you’re against both of them because neither are in the “National best interest”, though as stated above, Saddam was a direct threat to the U.S. whereas Slobadan Milosevich was not, at least not in the forseeable future.
@78
Frighten me? Well lets see ….
millions of people enslaved and murdered in the name of beliefs like yours.
ntire cultures wipoed out
Is that enough?
As for “sharing”, I try to understnad and learn about many religions. I find Diwali, el Feitr, Chrsitmas, Easter, Bon, and more all wonderful to watch and, when possible participate in.
Since many of my friends are Christians and value Christmass, I always wish them a merry Christmas .. while bheing grateful that they know I do not need that wish back.
But, yes, I am offended, when some smart ass, arrogant, bully sticks his God in my face and tells me love this or go to hell.
Rick & 83:
Yes, you can. They were fundamentally different military operations, with a completely different objective and a host of other differences between them – among them, the scope of the commitment. Note that in Kosovo we protected an ethnic group (ethnic Albanians) from ethnic cleansing (by the Serbs), but in Iraq our occupation and policies actually enabled ethnic cleansing, which has been substantially completed by the various groups in their respective neighborhoods.
False. Saddam was not a direct threat to the U.S. He had effectively been contained, despite attempts to “cherry pick” intelligence to suggest otherwise. Although he certainly desired WMDs, he had none, and hadn’t since the destruction of his facilities in the aftermath of the First Gulf War.
Likewise, as brutal as Saddam’s leadership of Iraq was, the hardships imposed on most Iraqis by the war and subsequent U.S. occupation (and resulting civil war) have exceeded the hardships most Iraqis suffered under Saddam. An overwhelming majority of Iraqis want us out, including the current Shiite-controlled government, whose people bore much of the brunt of Saddam’s displeasure.
Actually, at the time of the invasion I was skeptical of the government’s claim of WMDs, but I wasn’t actively opposed to the invasion. What I feared was not the war itself but the dangers imposed by a U.S. occupation. You knew something was terribly amis when the Saudi’s wouldnt aid the war. Iraqis have traditionally reacted very harshly to foreign occupation (ask the British).
I felt we could succeed in Iraq ONLY if we quickly won, handed power over to a strong-man in the Iraqi military, and then got out (60 days, tops). That’s what the Bush White House was telling the Pentagon would happen, but instead they had a hidden agenda to use neo-con principles to turn Iraq into an utopian cradle of capitalism and democracy in the Middle East, supported by a more or less permanant U.S. military presence by the U.S. (with which to intimidate other middle-eastern states). Of course, we know how that all turned out.
Can you name a major religion that hasn’t done something in their past comparable? Going back to the crusades is quite a leap when it relates to the state of present day Christian church and its doctorines. While present day Islamo fascists are murdering, dismembering and blowing up people by the hundreds of thousands each year in the name of allah, some dumbass is going back 400 years to point out the Christian church’s faults.
That comment, SJ, was complete idiocy and bigotry to boot to any sane individual.
Reply to 74, Because Jesus died on the cross for you and rose to conquer death, hell and the grave , It gives you free will to choose to serve whom ever you will, It sounds as though you serve yourself, I am not an arrogant bully by any means,And the God I serve is the same God the Jews serve.I am grafted in by the Royal Blood of God himself who came to earth to live among us to restore us to Himself,To shed Royal Blood one time for all,Even though you deny it, it’s still there for you.Just think about the commandments How many do you break a day? How many have you broken in your life? (I know you are familiar with them)Jesus who is God said, If you broken one you have broken them all.But some can not believe they can recieve something for just asking because thats not the way the world has programmed us.Would it be easier to believe God paid the price and live with peace in your heart or to always wonder, what if I am wrong and Christians are right.Oh yeah where do you do your sacrificing now adays? My God has a name and he is the God of all.HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF.HIS BLOOD ONCE AND FOR ALL ETERNITY. MERRY CHRISTMAS JESUS LOVES YOU!
THIS IS THE WAY IT IS IF YOU ARE OFFENDED THEN GLORY TO GOD. You shall know the truth and the thruth shall make you free.
RHP @ 85:
I’m fully aware of the distincition in the roles of the US military RHP, but the underlying principles remain the same. Kosovo was justified because of the level of ethnic cleansing happening- the same can be said of Iraq during saddams reign only it was done by the minority Sunnis upon the majority Shiites. Mass graves discovered in Kosovo, Mass graves discovered in Iraq.
Personally, I used to be an isolationist saying we shouldn’t go to any conflict that isn’t in this nations best interest, which is a naive position to hold in today’s geopolitical makeup. The Iraq war should have been fought back in 1991 but the US believed it could then contain Saddam, they were wrong. Saddam did not go the way of Qudafi and scurry like a beaten dog and cowering in the corner. Instead he plotted revenge on the US and its allies for his embarrassment in the Gulf War. It is not containment when a dictator like Saddam has the means and ends by which to acquire and employ WMD’s further endangering the stability of the region.
60 days? You are one hell of an optimist, but clearly not a Warfare scholar.
So your idea was to oust Saddam costing countless hundreds if not thousands of lives on both sides and then installing a tin pot dictator of your choosing and hoping everything works out? Tell me you aren’t that naive RHP. Didn’t work in Iran now did it? Swapping one sadistic fuck with another equally sadistic fuck isn’t generally the best policy to have when attempting to create stability in an ever increasing unstable
localethird world shithole.Sounds a hell of alot better than the existing future of the middle east doesn’t it? You speak as if Democracy isn’t achievable or at least isn’t a noble goal to seek for this region. Simply stunning.
Actually we don’t. The history on Iraq isn’t written yet, RHP. Kind of odd thing to say but then, you’ve already declared Bush as the worst president in U.S. History. Neither of the two histories can be written present day as you and many others have naively done. The last chapter in this saga is many years away and perhaps you’ll revisit it without the blinders on in 25 years when/if an achievable goal of establishing a Democratic (or something close to it)Iraq can further stable a powder keg that is the Middle east.
RHP: Remember Harry Truman? Is he the worst president ever? Many at the time thought so and voiced as much…56 years later, what has been Truman’s historical mark on history and overall perception amongst the US populace?
http://www.associatedcontent.c.....roval.html
Moral to the story: Don’t judge present day political figures in the prism of Historical context, as it hasn’t been fully digested.
Reply to 87. keepitsimple
I have cross posted your message t6o my own blog, SeattleJew, as an example of Christian bigotry.
I will comment there as well as I suspect this ia tiresome to most here.
Because Jesus died on the cross for you and rose to conquer death, hell and the grave , It gives you free will to choose to serve whom ever you will, It sounds as though you serve yourself, I am not an arrogant bully by any means,And the God I serve is the same God the Jews serve.I am grafted in by the Royal Blood of God himself who came to earth to live among us to restore us to Himself,To shed Royal Blood one time for all,Even though you deny it, it’s still there for you.Just think about the commandments How many do you break a day? How many have you broken in your life? (I know you are familiar with them)Jesus who is God said, If you broken one you have broken them all.But some can not believe they can recieve something for just asking because thats not the way the world has programmed us.Would it be easier to believe God paid the price and live with peace in your heart or to always wonder, what if I am wrong and Christians are right.Oh yeah where do you do your sacrificing now adays? My God has a name and he is the God of all.HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF.HIS BLOOD ONCE AND FOR ALL ETERNITY. MERRY CHRISTMAS JESUS LOVES YOU!
THIS IS THE WAY IT IS IF YOU ARE OFFENDED THEN GLORY TO GOD. You shall know the truth and the thruth shall make you free.