Home
In this issue
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. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 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


Printer Friendly Version
Email this article

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.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


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.

Greg Crosby Archives

© 2008, Greg Crosby

Insight (Our Columnists)

 Arnold Ahlert
 Mitch Albom
 Michael Barone
  Dave Barry
 Tony Blankley
 Andy Borowitz
 David Broder
 Stratfor Briefing
 Mona Charen
 Linda Chavez
 Ann Coulter
 Greg Crosby
 Larry Elder
 Suzanne Fields
 John Fund
 Frank J. Gaffney
 Lloyd Garver
 Jonah Goldberg
 Julia Gorin
 Jonathan Gurwitz
 Paul Greenberg
 Lewis Grossberger
 Victor Davis Hanson
 Betsy Hart
 Nat Hentoff
 David Horowitz
 Laura Ingraham
 Cheri Jacobus
Jeff Jacoby
 Paul Johnson
 Jack Kelly
 Ed Koch
 Ch. Krauthammer
 Michael Ledeen
 John Leo
 David Limbaugh
 Kathryn Lopez
 Rich Lowry
 Michelle Malkin
 Jackie Mason
 Dick Morris
 Bill O'Reilly
 Jim Mullen
 Clarence Page
 Kathleen Parker
 Dennis Prager
 Wesley Pruden
 Tom Purcell
 Jonathan Rauch
 Celia Rivenbark
 Robert Robb
 Cokie & Steve Roberts
 Pat Sajak
 Debra J. Saunders
 Culture Shlock
 Roger Simon
 Michael Smerconish
 Thomas Sowell
 Mark Steyn
 John Stossel
 Cal Thomas
 Bob Tyrrell
 Diana West
 Dave Weinbaum
 George Will
 Walter Williams
 Byron York
 Mort Zuckerman

'Toons
 Robert Arial
 Chuck Asay
 Baloo
 Chip Bok
 Dry Bones
  Lisa Benson
 John Branch
 Gary Brookins
 John Cole
 J. D. Crowe
 John Deering
 Brian Duffy
 Everything's Relative
 Mallard Fillmore
 Jake Fuller
 Bob Gorrel
 Joe Heller
 David Hitch
 Jerry Holber
 Steve Kelley
 Jeff Koterba
 Dick Locher
 Chan Lowe
 Ranan R. Lurie
 Jimmy Margulies
 Rick McKee
 Michael Ramirez
 Kevin Siers
 Jeff Stahler
 Ed Stein
 Danna Summers
 John Trever
 Gary Varvel
 Kirk Walters

Lifestyles
 How 2
 Lori Borgman
 The Savvy Consumer
 Elder matters
 Fixit
 Dr. Peter Gott
 GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
 Richard Lederer
 Tech Maven
 Every Monday Matters
 Nutrition Myths
 Bookmark These
 Bruce Williams
 How Stuff Works