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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 19, 2009 / 27 Sivan 5769

Irritations both Small and Large

By Greg Crosby


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | At what point did the entire world discover the word "disrespect"? I hear that word used, especially among young people, more frequently these days than even "cool." "He disrespected me, man." "She disrespected my car." "I hate my parents…they so totally disrespected my privacy." It's as if all of a sudden "disrespect" became the word of choice for an entire generation. So when did that happen exactly? Was it about the same time everybody started pronouncing "didn't" DID-DENT. "I did-dent want to leave, but he made me." "Hey, I did-dent disrespect you!"


Slang comes and goes, some of it is fun, some I hate, but slang expressions are not what bother me. What really grates on me are the misuse and mispronouncing of English. The most extreme case of late being the mispronouncing of the word "picture" as "pitcher." This has gotten so common now that I'm hearing it said that way by announcers on national broadcasts and commercials. There is a Kellogg's ad running now where the voice-over announcer uses the expression "picture perfect" and pronounces it "pitcher perfect." This isn't done for humor or anything, it is serious.


The quote from Sonia Sotomayor, the new Obama appointee for the Supreme Court "…."I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," is so racist at its core that it frightens me. She gets away with it because of her gender and race and because it's okay to slander white men in this country. You know if a white male judge had said it, the man would not only be disqualified immediately for the Supreme Court, his career would be ruined. I really can't stand the double standard. Our Supreme Court justices are supposed to be above this sort of thing.


The idea that any race can slander another as a way of getting ahead in politics, let alone being appointed to the Supreme Court, is a sad commentary. That a president would support this "identity politicking" is a disgrace to our constitution and rule of law. However it is understandable when one considers that Obama himself actually made similar racist comments during his campaign. When asked about a comment he made about his white grandmother he said, "The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person..."


And in his own book he has written the following: "That's just how white folks will do you." And at another point he said, "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of twelve or thirteen, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites." And then he wrote, "I found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race." Is it any wonder then that President Obama would want to see someone on the bench who shares his same anger against "the white man"?


Isn't it interesting with all the advances in communications today that it seems harder than ever to actually talk to somebody? You would think that with answering machines, voice-mail, cell phones, texting, e-mail, faxes, instant messaging, etc, etc, that it would be a snap to get a hold of just about anyone you need to talk to. Nope. About the only thing all these electronic devices do, is enable the person whom you are trying to speak to, to screen his calls and thereby be able to avoid you altogether if they so desire. If he or she doesn't want to talk to you, forget about it. "Oh, I never got your e-mail. Are you sure you sent it?" Or "No, we never received your fax. You probably had the wrong number." Or "My answering machine is broken so I haven't gotten any of your messages."


As we all know, the state of California has a money problem - as in they don't have any. The governor and state legislature have definite ideas on how they intend to solve this problem. They plan to raise taxes and fees to the taxpayers and shut down vital services to seniors and children. Well, you know what? I have my own idea. How about cutting off all government payouts and services to ILLEGAL ALIENS? Yeah, how about that? Since we have "a major budget crisis" lets stop giving handouts to people who shouldn't be here in the first place and take care of the CITIZENS of the state. Why punish the people who are US citizens and have played by the rules and worked all their lives putting money into the system? Do I sound cruel? Sorry, but in a crisis we shouldn't kick the honest people in the teeth while we reward the law breakers.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

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