Out of the Depths

Ancient Rabbi Becomes a Modern Israeli Matchmaker The above headline is a reference to Rabbi Yonasan Ben Uziel, at whose gravesite people pray in hope to find a shiduch, a match. What they didn't mention in the article is what I heard when I was Israel, some ten years ago. Sometimes some young women accidentally (wink, wink) leave their siddurs (prayerbooks) behind which just happen to have their name and phone number in them (nudge, nudge) where they are then found by some young man who is only happy to return it to its owner. Or, so the theory goes.

Mazel Tov, Graduate

A neighbor of my parents has a relative who recently graduated with honours from the University of Toronto with a degree in psychology. That, in itself, is not that remarkable, except for that the relative is her father and he's 93 years old. I've met him a few times and he is quite spry for a 93 year old. I shook his hand and he has a pretty firm grip. To cliche: He doesn't look a day over 80. K'naine horah.

At Eighteen, To The Polls

One of the candidates in my electoral district is an 18 year old who is running as an Independant. There was a profile of him in the local neighborhood newspaper on how he is juggling homework (he will graduate high school in time for the election) and campaigning. He freely admits that he probably will not win but likened it to the lottery where there is a slight chance of winning. Uh, no. In a lottery everyone has an equal chance of winning since the numbers are randomly chosen. In elections, people vote for who they think is the best candidate. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets more votes than the local NDP candidate, though.

Which Israeli PM Would You Pose With?

In the electoral district of Thornhill, two of the candidates are Josh Cooper for the Conservatives and Susan Kadis for the Liberals. Susan has posted a picture of herself with Benjamin Netanyahu. Josh has posted a picture of himself with Ariel Sharon.

Prime Minister Harper?

In my very first post, I wrote about how I was going to probably have to get used to saying "Prime Minister Martin" in a year or so. Well, with Chretien quitting last December, I ended up achieving that goal a lot sooner than anticipated. What I didn't realize at the time (and no one else did, for that matter) was the slight possiblility of having to get used to saying "Prime Minister Harper" in less than a year. As it stands, the Conservatives, led by Steven Harper, are surging ahead in the polls and are beating the Liberals for the first time. Its going to be an interesting election come June 28th.

Stupid Comedian, Be More Funny!

Recently, I read an article by Mark Breslin published in one of the local "community" newspapers. Mark Breslin is the founder of Yuk Yuk's, a well known series of comedy clubs here in Canada. The basic thrust of his article was that people in entertainment such as comedians were being subject to "McCarthy-ism" (his label) in the US and were only able to freely express their anti-Bush comedy by coming up here to Canada (in what he termed a "reverse brain drain"). What utter rubbish. In his article he states that the number one rule of comedy is that a comedian should have an audience that agrees with him (or her). Actually, this is not entirely true. There are a few times that I have watched a comedian on TV make Bush jokes (usually the standard "Bush as moron" joke) and have laughed. Now, am I anti Bush because I can laugh at a joke that pokes fun of him? No. This is because of what I consider to be the true number one rule of comedy. And that is: Be funny. The true problem is that when a comedian starts putting his politics first (especially the rabid, anti Bush kind) before the comedy then the emphasis becomes the politics, not the comedy. And, thus, they are not funny. And that is the real reason why some of them may find themselves not appreciated as they once were. The truth of the matter is, there is no "McCarthy-ism" taking place. Not a single entertainer or comedian has been censored by any government agency becuase they expressed anti Bush views. Au contraire. I see comedians on TV all the time trashing Bush. And, most of them are not funny.

Attack of the USS Liberty

During the Six Day war, the Israeli Air Force attacked the American ship, the USS Liberty, which it thought it was an enemy ship. Since then, many conspiracy theorists, including some survivors from the ship, have spun theories that Israel did it deliberately and that the US and Israel governments enacted a cover up. Now, for the first time, the radio transmissions of the Israel Air Force from that attack have been made public. A transcript from the Jerusalem Post is now online. The transcript makes it clear that it was an accident. Of course, such things do not matter to those who wish to believe crackpot theories instead.

Hate Crimes in Canada

Statistics Canada recently performed a study of hate crime in Canada. Yes, you guessed it, we top the list as the most targeted. Though the article I have linked to doesn't say it, another article I read this morning states that we aren't the most worried about it which I found interesting.