BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

It seems there may be no justice for my late therapist, Kathryn Faughey; as you can see in the below article. This February it will be 3 years 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. 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. I attempted to sit down and write a note to her husband about the 15 years of care she gave me many many times. I can't do it. (If you are reading this Mr. A. - I have tried a number of times in the last 3 years. 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 would guess this is my PTSD, which she diagnosed after years of my be...

I completely agree with UppityWoman, who expresses herself better here - this slime needs to exterminated, since he thinks its o.k. to exterminate defenseless women who aren't living his screwed-up, non-American standards. from one of my all time favorite, tell-it-like-it-is bloggers, UppityWoman: The trial of the Pithecanthopus Erectus throwback — who thought his daughter was “ Too Westernized, ” so he ran her and her boyfriend’s mother down with his Jeep — begins today in Arizona. The mother lived but Noor Almaleki, the poor 20 year-old, who had the misfortune of having him as a father, died after two weeks in a coma. Somebody finally has the guts to say it. They are calling this exactly what it is: An Honor Killing. It needs to be said, because it’s here, it’s real and this Caveman culture has NO place in the United States of America. To constantly pretend that this isn’t what it Is is to destroy America with ludicrous political correctness. Thank God somebody finally is ...

Dozens of letters found in an American archive reveal the desperate efforts of Anne Frank's father Otto to escape from the Nazis with his family. The letters - including some from his American relatives and friends - were written before the family went into hiding in Amsterdam in 1942. The 78 documents are to be released on 14 February by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. Anne Frank's diary, found after the war, has moved millions of readers. He survived the Auschwitz death camp, but Anne died just before her 16th birthday in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. The family went into hiding in a cramped attic in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation in July 1942 but a betrayal led to their arrest in 1944. The letters were found in New York a year ago by a YIVO researcher, Estelle Guzik. They reveal how in 1941 Otto Frank had tried to obtain visas for his family to travel to the US or Cuba. YIVO's executive director Carl Rheins said t...

Researchers have uncovered new evidence in mice that may explain how emotionally charged situations can leave such a powerful mark on our memories. Surges of the stress hormone norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline) that often accompany strong emotions spark a series of molecular events that ultimately strengthen the connections between neurons, the team reports in the October 5, 2007, issue of the journal Cell . “This phenomenon is something everyone can identify with,” said Roberto Malinow of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. “You can probably remember where you were when you heard about 9/11, but you probably don’t know where you were on 9/10. We've identified one mechanism that may underlie this effect.” The parts of the brain where memories are stored need to distinguish between significant experiences and those that carry less importance, giving priority to the transformation of the former into long-term memory, the researchers explained. One factor th...

from the always outstanding UPPITYWOMAN : A town hall meeting was held Saturday in Tucson for an ABC news special. Authorities said during that meeting, one of the shooting victims, J. Eric Fuller, took exception to comments made by two speakers. Deputies said at some point, Fuller took a photo of Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries and told him, “You’re dead.” Fuller was escorted out of the room and could be charged with disorderly conduct. Doctors were examining Fuller Saturday afternoon. Oh look! A left wing loon acting a lot like right wing loons. That never happens, does it? You can find J. Eric Fuller at Hypnothoughts.com . No kidding. You can’t make this shit up. From his profile: “Kindred spirits and an opportunity to advocate my personal agenda promoting social justice and common sense.” “I use extraordinary persuasive charisma to interest blase, apathetic, oblivious and at times hostile voters to listen to the voice of justice and consanguinity. My ex...

Six months before he was assassinated, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967. I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life's blueprint? Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint. Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint. I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life's blueprint. Number one in your life's blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance. Secondly, in your...

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy Once again, revising history, and having their baseless meme become the theme of the week. That would be the Left, beginning with “Heckuva Job” Sheriff Dupnik, who kicked off the “report” of the shootout in Tucson as being the result of rhetoric. Oh, yes, you may not know this, but President Obama called Sheriff Dupnik to thank him. I just bet he did, since Sheriff Dupnik got the ball rolling blaming Gov. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and other Conservatives, for this heinous crime. There continues to be no evidence whatsoever that rhetoric had anything to do with this – in fact, quite the opposite. Surprisingly, though, some of the bigger media outfits refuse to correct the original unsubstantiated claims against Palin, et. al. I am not kidding. People like George Stephanopoulos refuses to issue a correction . Sadly, pathetically, he is not alone. How about this one: [snip] CNN’s Piers Morgan, who takes over longtime television newsman Larry King’...

By DAVID CRARY Joseph Rocha reported being cruelly hazed by Navy colleagues. Katherine Miller resigned from West Point halfway through, weary of concealing her sexual orientation. David Hall was outed by a fellow Air Force cadet and booted from the career he loved. The exits from military service were wrenching consequences of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy prohibiting gay and lesbian personnel from being open about their sexuality. Yet Hall, Rocha and Miller savored military duty and now — with "don't ask, don't tell" heading toward oblivion — they want to return. Rocha, 24, was in Washington on Wednesday, watching euphorically as President Barack Obama signed the bill clearing the way for repeal of the 17-year-old policy. Obama encouraged those who were discharged to re-enlist, and Rocha said he hopes to do just that by enrolling in the Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va. "I had a rough childhood, and th...

I had the good fortune to stumble on Ms. Lefave's blog a while back. Her writing on psychology & psychiatry is insightful and laser-like in cutting through the b.s. My kinda girl. She absolutely nails the "get over it" crowd -- those pathology sympathizers who think victims of emotional, psychological trauma and emotional rape are just being 'overly dramatic.' She also nails the perpetrators of the trauma who want you to A CT LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED and smear you for being angry and demanding accountability. Especially the CLUELESS therapists, life coaches and snake oil salespeople who try to treat sufferers and end up revictimizing them all over again. You Go, Ms. Lefave! By Patricia Lefave, Labeled, D.D.(P) What is L.O.A.D.? Well, it is described by many of the family members as a frightening altered state much like the hypnotic trance or brainwashed state of cult members. It tends to strike the upper classes just as much, if not more than a...

by Tzvi Freeman Question: I've been getting into Torah lately. But the more I learn, the more I see how everyone around me is doing it all wrong. I don't mean the people that are not observant. I mean the people that have committed to an observant life. There's so much hypocrisy!   Answer: Don't get so excited. It's just a personality thing. You're probably one of those School of Shammai souls. Remember the story with the Talmudic sage Shammai? A man came and asked, "Convert me to Judaism on condition that you tell me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot!" Shammai chased the mocker out with a yardstick. So he went to Hillel. Hillel converted him on the spot and then told him: "That which is hateful to you, don't do to others. This is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and learn it!" Some people tie their shoelaces a little looser. Some tie them real tight. Some let the world come in as one big blur. Others foc...

It has been a true pleasure & learning experience meeting other Jewish bloggers (and friends) these last 6 years. I have learned a great deal from you on my Journey. May you, your family and those you care about be well & prosper. Now let's go kick some blog butt. - Barbara

GOYIM FRIENDS by The LeeVees (from Hanukah Rocks) All my goyim friends are making up their lists And all my goyim friends get some pretty sweet gifts Like snowboards, cell phones, paintball guns and iPods Memberships to the last restricted golf clubs But we, we will march on Six-pack of socks from each of our Moms It's oh so wrong But we will march on And all my goyim friends are eating up their ham Honey-glazed, baked to perfection With dinner rolls, gravy boats and turkey Crème brulée, cherry pie, and fruitcake (yuck) But we, we will march on With General Tsao and egg foo yong Takeout's not wrong And we will march on We have heard all of our goyim friends say How lucky we are to get off each holiday Like Tu BiSh'vat, Purim and Rosh Hashanah Passover, Sukkot and Simchat Torah And we, we have more stuff From holiday fun All the day long While they have none And we have marched on We've got the day off And another day off See ya Mond...

by Teresa McEntire There are many mothers in the world, both good and bad. I have seen mothers that I wish that I could be more like and those that I think should never have had children in the first place. But what exactly makes a woman a good mother? Anthropologist Margaret Mead has spent years studying children, parents, and the methods used by mothers raising children all over the world. When asked what she considered the most "valuable capacities for a mother to have." She replied by giving five qualities that she feels every good mother must possess. 1. Treats each child as an individual. A good mother realizes that every child is not the same. She understands that children are not just an extension of or born to be a helper for their parent, but that each child is an "individual in their own right." 2. A good mother helps their child set out on their own path . Allowing the child to follow that path, regardless of the mother's desires. Yet at...

By David Weinberg The Obama-Netanyahu confrontation is that the White House wants to move Israel rapidly towards a division of Jerusalem. However, the widely held presumption that splitting Jerusalem will lead to prosperity for the city and to peace for Jews and Arabs is an egregious error. Partitioning Jerusalem will destroy the city. It will die, in every way - culturally, religiously, economically and more. And politically, the shearing of Jerusalem into Arab and Jewish sovereignties will turn it into the bull's eye of Mideast battle - a city that will make Belfast at its worst look like paradise. The main reason for this is that any section of the city handed over to Arab rule will immediately become ground zero for the fierce war being waged within the Arab world over Islamic lifestyle, ideology and legitimacy. Just who is going to rule in Arab eastern Jerusalem? Will it be the declining secular Palestinian national movement (whose sway in the West Bank is tentative a...