So many reasons to love Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was, by some accounts, the most well-read Englishman ever to live. If you are reading this, regardless of who you are, or how many Nobel prizes you have won, you can rest assured that Paine’s education was more complete than your own. When you read his commentaries on money and the [...]

Martin Luther King, Jr. was real; Obama is a fraud

“Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man.” – Martin Luther [...]

Going hiking (05.16.08)

Yesterday we went to Zevat, a beautiful old city with a history of violence.  I bought a photograph (artistic double exposure) of a man praying at the Western Wall.  The drive north to Zevat was highlighted by the border fence between Jewish Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  There is a quiet but undeniable animosity between [...]

Shabbat at the spring/pool (05.17.08)

Yesterday we drove to the Golan heights.  We hiked (seriously) to a pool at the foot of a waterfall, where most of us swam.  At the end of the trail, a refreshing reminder of the advantages of capitalism greeted us in the form of a well-placed ice cream truck.  Then we rode to Mount Bental, [...]

Judaism Discussion and events (05.17.08-05.18.08)

Is Judaism a religion or a nationality?  This is a controversial question in this controversial nation. 
For me, it is only a religion.  The establishment of any “religious state” contradicts principles necessary to a free society, yet claims of freedom abound in this country, as if the word’s meaning has been altered entirely.  The claim that [...]

Dead Sea and Masada (05.20.08)

Today we went to Masada and the Dead Sea–both were beautiful and unique.
Masada’s history, which glorifies religious terrorism, is more than a little ironic.  Historically, we regard Jewish terrorists with reverence, but presently, Islamic terrorists are considered lower than the salt floors of the Dead Sea.
Standing atop Masada, one can look down on creation, and [...]

A Nation of Fences (05.23.08)

I have heard several Israeli residents complain of the unwanted attention their nation receives from the U.S. media.  The most hated countries in the world, they realize, are the ones to which America pays the most attention: Iran and their own.  They want sovereignty and independence–they want to be left alone–but they seem fairly disinterested [...]

Government submits to God, who wants to leave us alone

This story is, of course, fictional.  If you see this headline in the newspaper tomorrow morning, you will need to pinch yourself–and if that does not wake you–realize that you have in fact died and gone to heaven.  As I imagine it, there are no tax collectors in heaven.  Upon entry into heaven, I could pick up the [...]

Review: The Miracle (The Miracle Theatre, Pigeon Forge, TN)

The Miracle is the well-known story of Jesus Christ put into the form of a musical with awesome performance effects. I am not a Christian and think organized religion is, to quote the great actor Jesse “the Body” Ventura (of Wrestlemania fame), “a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers, [...]

Republican Nationalism + Democrat Socialism = U.S. Nazism

National Socialism, better known as Nazism, is Clintobamonomics  combined with Bush-McCain Diplomacy and Secrecy.  When the Democrats and the Republicans do agree to terms, they usually both get what they want.  Democrats get more social planning boards and funds, and Republicans get more spy-on-the-citizens powers and nifty 007 gadgets (which will be sold to overseas dictators as well).  [...]