BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Apocalyptic President Even some Republicans are now horrified by the influence Bush has given to the evangelical right Sidney Blumenthal (From The Guardian) In his latest PR offensive President Bush came to Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday to answer the paramount question on Iraq that he said was on people's minds: "They wonder what I see that they don't." After mentioning "terror" 54 times and "victory" five, dismissing "civil war" twice and asserting that he is "optimistic", he called on a citizen in the audience, who homed in on the invisible meaning of recent events in the light of two books, American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips, and the book of Revelation. Phillips, the questioner explained, "makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse. Do you believe this? And if not, why not?" Bush's immed...

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Are Democrats Anti-Christian? The radical right is doing everything in its power to threaten judicial independence -- at the risk of turning legitimate debate over judicial appointees into a religious war. How does Senate GOP Leader Bill Frist respond? This Sunday, despite an outcry from Jewish and other religious leaders, he'll be raising the stakes and egging-on the far-right. But you can add your voice today -- and tell him that enough is enough (see below). As you may have heard, the ultra-conservative Family Research Council [aired]a "Justice Sunday" telecast on April 24, 2005 linking churches across the nation, and Frist will be speaking. The topic? In the words of FRC's president: how to "stop this unprecedented filibuster of people of faith." In trumpeting the telecast, FRC proclaims that the courts have been acting "like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms." These "anti-Christian" ...

''No One Left To Speak for Me'' Commentary on the News Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor "First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." - Rev. Martin Niemöller, Germany, 1945 Martin Niemöller was a German pastor who famously penned those words after his release from the Dachau concentration camp at the close of World War Two. A former U-Boat commander in World War One, Martin Neimoller became a pastor in Dahlem, a fashionable suburb of Berlin after the war. Initially, Niemöller was a supporter of Adolf Hitler -- he even served as a poster boy for the Nazis in the early years by virtue of his military service. Years later, as a protest against interference in church affairs by...

WHENEVER I FEEL .................. I DANCE!!

I AM SO ORDINARY Paula Cole I nearly died I suicided softly I saw her shadow through the cafe window I watched you lean across the table I watched you whisper in her ear And she is your holy Mary And I am so ordinary And you can use me if you want to I know you need me just like an old soft shoe She looks like me but a bit prettier She's a skater and a ballet dancer I saw her on your motorcycle In the seat I thought was meant for me And when your mother came to Boston you disappeared And then I saw you three together I guess she makes the best impression With her charming femininity... Oh but I am the one you will call when alone And I am the one who will give when she's gone And so I give So I give I tell myself that love is truly giving Somehow I justify this Hoping you will understand me Hoping you will love me back And she is your holy Mary And I am so ordinary And she is your Queen Cleopatra And I'm just your morning after And she is your Star Spangled Banner And I am ...

Jewish Astrology? Moshe Wisnefsky Sefer Yetzirah, one of the first Jewish books ever written, reveals the secrets of Jewish astrology. Throughout the Bible, Talmud and Code of Jewish Law there are fascinating descriptions of how G-d channels His life force into our world through heavenly bodies. At the same time, when one is connected to the Torah and observes its commandments, he or she is directly plugged into the Supernatural, surpassing the influences of astrological forces. Jacob’s sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel, are actually 12 different soul roots from which the Jewish people descend. These roots correspond with the 12 signs of the zodiac, the 12 Jewish months, 12 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and 12 attributes of the soul, such as sight, anger, speech and thought. We have the ability to better ourselves at any time, but the Kabbalah delineates certain times that are more auspicious to work on certain attributes. For example, Jewish holidays do not only commemorate hi...

WHITE FLAG Dido I know you think that I shouldn't still love you, I'll tell you that. But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it where's the sense in that? I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder Or return to where we were I know I left too much mess and destruction to come back again And I caused but nothing but trouble I understand if you can't talk to me again And if you live by the rules of "it's over" then I'm sure that that makes sense And when we meet Which I'm sure we will All that was then Will be there still I'll let it pass And hold my tongue And you will think That I've moved on.... Well I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be

Only Breath Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all. I do not exist, am not an entity in this world or the next, did not descend from Adam or Eve or any origin story. My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless. Neither body or soul. I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being. Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

Goy Vay By Eric Konigsberg Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is proud that some of his best friends are not Jewish. It was one of the first things he said when we met. "Lots of non-Jews are great," he said. "They're going to save Judaism." In 1988, the Chabad Lubavitch organization of Crown Heights dispatched the 22-year-old Shmuley to Oxford University with instructions to set up a Jewish-outreach center on campus. Within two years, he made the L'Chaim Society, as he named it, second in popularity among campus clubs only to the Oxford Union, the debate club. Lectures he hosted drew as many as 2,000 students. Often, most of them were not Jewish, and often, the speakers came from the secular world, including Mikhail Gorbachev, the Latin American soccer star Diego Maradona, Jerry Springer, and Boy George, who spoke about his addiction to drugs and the value of shuva, repentance. "I realized I could do more than hold Shabbat services," Shmuley says. "I reali...

DEFINE LOVE Today is Valentine’s Day – already a warning shot over my bow. I thought about being in school when I was younger. Writing those essays. What does Valentine’s Day mean to you? Define Love. Today as I was driving my kids back from school, I watched. Couples hand in hand. Flowers, balloons, teddy bears. That’s fine it all has it’s place, but it dawned on me. Love. I have never known what that is. I am older and divorcing and realizing... And Love is something very different to me now. But it hit me. No one ever looked at me like that. No one ever treated me like that. I realized those Walt Disney movies are a lie. No one is going to wake this Sleeping Beauty. No one is going to find a glass slipper for my big feet. No one is going to take me away on a white horse. I know that. I would've liked to be Loved. Really. Genuinely. Before I crossed over - knew something true. Have an honest partner. I don’t feel the NEED to be married. I felt the need for connection. I have neve...

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NEW YORK CITY : LOVE IT OR GET THE H*LL OUT!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE NEW YORK!!! did you get that? ;)

Gore Calls for an Investigation of Warrantless Spy Program In his latest speech criticizing Bush, he says a special counsel should examine the issue. By Ronald Brownstein -- Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore, charging that President Bush's record on civil liberties posed a "grave danger" to America's constitutional freedoms, on Monday urged the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency. In a detailed and impassioned speech sponsored by liberal and conservative groups, Gore said that although much remained unknown about the spying program, "what we do know … virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law, repeatedly and insistently." Gore, the Democratic nominee who lost to Bush in the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential race, also said Congress "should hold comprehensive … hea...

Google, Bush, and Privacy Yesterday it was revealed that AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! complied with Justice Department subpoenas to turn over search data. Google has made a very high profile statement that it will not. Yahoo! spokespeople said none of the information revealed individual identities and thus did not violate individual privacy rights. The government claims—although given the history of this administration any claims must be viewed with skepticism at a minimum—that the search-engine data will enable it to defend the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (which the U.S. Supreme Court perviously blocked from implementation). It may well be that the information being requested by the Bush Administration can be provided without revealing any sensitive, personal information; I don’t have any insight into the technical issues nor have I yet read the subpoena(s). But I would defer to Danny Sullivan on this point who said: In particular, the Bush administration wanted one million rando...