BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Double Standard Watch: Bishop Tutu, the UN and 'Alice in Wonderland' Justice On March 16, 2009, a group of 16 self-described experts on "international justice and reconciliation of conflict" - including Bishop Desmond Tutu, who has characterized Israeli self-defense actions as " unchristian " - called for the establishment of "a United Nations Commission" to conduct an "independent and impartial investigation" of war crime allegations stemming from the Gaza conflict. There is of course no need to conduct any investigation into whether Hamas has committed war crimes: they readily admit - indeed they boast - that they are trying to kill as many Jewish Israeli citizens as their anti-personnel rockets are capable of killing. They also acknowledge, as a Hamas legislator did on television, that they use women and children as "human shields." The only real target of this investigation is Israel, which, according to British military exp...

By William Polowniak, Ph.D. Fritz Perls a famous Jewish psychotherapist known for his founding of Gestalt therapy once said that refusal to communicate is the most toxic human behavior. I am convinced that he is right. Refusal to communicate really means refusal to listen and to enter into dialogue especially when we disagree. Usually people who refuse to communicate live their lives as “functional sociopaths.” That is, they are self-centered, they do as they please with total disregard for others and they indulge in subterfuge, self-delusion and see themselves as persecuted. Their delusions of self-persecution cause them to become angry manipulators. So why label people in “either or” categories as “toxic” or “nourishing” people? Labels themselves are dangerous and often unfair, but for the wise person they do help us see what to avoid. They help us to invest our energies in more productive ways. When we use labels, however, we must be aware that labeling others without caution is in ...

From the ALWAYS great & on-point Uppity Woman: Count Us Out has the concise explanation of the new mandatory meaning of the word “volunteer”. For all the little Comrades who shouted YES WE CAN!, well guess what? YES YOU WILL!. Here’s what Congress has been up to while they were diverting our attention to AIG: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, known as the GIVE Act, was passed yesterday by a 321-105 margin and now goes to the Senate. Under section 6104 of the bill, entitled “Duties,” in subsection B6, the legislation states that a commission will be set up to investigate, “Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.” Section 120 of the b...

Usually I fall on the opposite side of things from Michelle Malkin - but this piece of hers was so on target and truthfully funny I am reposting some excerpts here: The Kabuki Theater of AIG Outrage by Michelle Malkin All the world’s a stage, wrote Shakespeare, and in the world of Washington, the curtains have opened on the most elaborate farce of the year. Welcome, taxpayers, to the Kabuki Theater of AIG Outrage – where D.C.’s histrionic enablers of taxpayer-funded corporate bailouts compete for Best Performance of Hypocritical Indignation. Over the weekend, cloaked in their finest populist costumes, the Beltway’s hair-sprayed and powdered politicians and White House aides took to the airwaves to inveigh against $165 million in employee retention payments paid out by the government-backed insurance giant. Those bennies were reportedly part of a larger $450 million round of bonuses. After subpoenaing AIG, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo informed Congress that 73 employees in the...

EXCLUSIVE: Obama's $500,000 book bonanza Jim McElhatton and Christina Bellantoni EXCLUSIVE: As he empathized with recession-weary Americans, President Obama arranged in the days just before he took office to secure a $500,000 advance for a children's book project, a disclosure report shows. The terms of the book deal were disclosed in a Senate financial disclosure report filed Tuesday. Analysts say there don't appear to be any rules that would bar such transactions after a president takes office, but it's unclear whether an incoming or sitting president has ever signed a book deal upon entering the White House. "I don't recall any sitting president entering into a book deal," said campaign finance lawyer Jan Baran, former general counsel to the Republican National Committee. "They all have historically done that after they leave office. "I recall the only ones who did sign book deals while living there were first ladies, and my recollection is th...

by Yakov Horowitz On Sunday, Elhanan Buzaglo was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the vicious beating of a woman nine months ago in Jerusalem's Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood. Buzaglo, a member of a haredi mishmar hazniyut, a self-appointed modesty squad, pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain struck with the State Attorney's Office. Buzaglo, who broke into the 31-year-old divorcé's apartment along with four other men, was convicted of receiving $2,000 from the mishmar hazniyut for his role in the attack, which was intended to intimidate her into leaving the predominantly haredi neighborhood. Judge Noam Solberg wrote in his decision that "the punishment must reflect the abhorrence of his acts... and deter him and others like him." Even though the Jerusalem District Court described the assailants as an "armed militia," Buzaglo, 29, was the only defendant to be convicted in this barbaric attack. According to newspaper reports last October, a ser...

My Nana, of blessed memory, was fluent in Polish. Her mother (whom everyone says I look and act like!) was fluent in Polish, German, English and Yiddish. I didn't realize until I was in my 30s that my Nana's Polish was sprinkled liberally with Yiddish terms, picked up from her grandmother - that I heard so often I assumed they were Polish. Rozumiesz? The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). These are some of their wonderful words you have to learn to use: 1. baleboste - A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it. 2. bissel - Or bisl - a little bit. 3. bubbe - Or bobe. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries. 4. bupkes - Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really me...

It seems there may be no justice for my late therapist, Kathryn Faughey; as you can see in the below article. It has been over a year since Dr. Faughey was brutally and needlessly murdered by David Tarloff... and I am not over it. I don't think I ever will be. But as Dr. Faughey said to me many times, "some things you don't get over. you adapt and move forward." So I can say, yes I have. And I hope your family & friends have too. I have attempted to sit down and write a note to her husband about the 15 years of care she gave me. I can't do it. (If you are reading this Mr. A - I have tried a number of times in the last 13 months. I think it's just a form of continuing denial on my part and I apologize.) It took me months to remove her phone number from my cell and her email from my contacts. And still many many times I have stopped and said to myself, "I need to call Dr. Faughey"... then I remember. I still have what I can guess is more ...

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Cheney creates his own reality: U.S. 'succeeded' in Iraq Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in his first television interview since leaving office that the Iraq invasion was "worth doing" and the U.S. succeeded with its goals - a view that is shared by few others. Comment: No doubt he refers to the minority of pathological individuals who consider success the over one million dead Iraqis, almost five thousand dead US troops and the complete destruction of an entire country. "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do and I think when history reviews this period 10 or 20 years hence, what will be significant was that we did, in fact, accomplish what we set out to do," he said. "The other things are interesting and important but, you know, they're secondary to the basic result." Cheney said on CNN's "State of the Union with John King": "We have succeeded in creating, in the heart of the Middle East, a democratic...

Without a Pastor of His Own, Obama Turns to Five by Laurie Goodstein President Obama has been without a pastor or a home church ever since he cut his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. in the heat of the presidential campaign. But he has quietly cultivated a handful of evangelical pastors for private prayer sessions on the telephone and for discussions on the role of religion in politics. All are men, two of them white and three black — including the Rev. Otis Moss Jr., a graying lion of the civil rights movement. Two, the entrepreneurial dynamos Bishop T. D. Jakes and the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, also served as occasional spiritual advisers to President George W. Bush. Another, the Rev. Jim Wallis, leans left on some issues, like military intervention and poverty programs, but opposes abortion. None of these pastors are affiliated with the religious right, though several are quite conservative theologically. One of them, the Rev. Joel C. Hunter, the pastor of a conservative meg...

by Robin Stern I was a young girl in the 1950s, when most women stayed home to raise their children. I remember thinking my mother's vision was ahead of her time - I thought her brave, independent, and fearless. She talked often about how women should be more in the forefront and take risks in the community at large, like working in business, going into politics. She told me with great pride stories about her work as a draftsperson during the Second World War, and I basked in her glow when she talked about creating murals for department stores. she especially liked talking about how she designed Christmas murals using Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Around Christmas time - I remember going to the stores to see Rudolf for myself - I thought it was great - I was so proud! So, it was confusing to me when she told me that she had given up many work opportunities after getting married, at the insistence of my dad, who was very clear about his version of husband/wife roles....men worked, ...

by Joseph Farah I don't like to spend my time chronicling the lies of the Barack Obama media machine. But sometimes it is imperative in this ugly age of derivative, copycat, gotcha-style, blame-the-messenger pseudo-journalism – where anyone sitting in the comfort of their easy chair thinks he has license to smear the few who actually take boots-on-the-ground reporting seriously. This is one of those moments. It's no secret to anyone that much of the establishment press in the U.S., and even worldwide, is little more than an amen chorus for the man in the White House. And there is a concerted effort under way, among some armchair pundits, to defame one of the most courageous young journalists in the world who happens to work for me. His name is Aaron Klein and he serves as Jerusalem bureau chief for WND. In that role, he has set a new standard of daring and bravery, interviewing in person some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. He even wrote a book about his experien...

Some Catholics and Religious Right persons really make me sick. Love the fetus, hate the child. Force a 9-year old RAPE victim to have twins she doesn't want, should not have been forced to bear? What was the Church going to do to help SUPPORT these babies after they were born? What if they were physically or brain impaired? What about the depression, trauma and PTSD of the 9-year old? Would they be willing to pay for this child's now LIFETIME-NEEDED care and therapy? What about her life and her mother's life? No. They probably wouldn't. But, as this article says - they WILL rehab or relocate abusive priests, won't they? Can you say HYPOCRITE? I know I sure can. These priests, bishops and Church officials should be doing penance. A lot of it. On their knees on the cold stone floor of the nearest Church. And sending money and sincere apologies to this girl and her mother. JOB 17:8 Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly...