The Meta-Bug

Jews We Wish Were Gentile, Volume IIa

Posted: February 9, 2012 in Jews, Jews we don't want, Politics, Uncategorized
Tags: Conservative Politics, Jews we wish were Gentiles, Newt Gingrich, Republican Primaries, Sheldon Adelson

"And I gave him what I had in wallet, in return for..."

Besides the fact that being a Jewish Republican is already an obscenity, Mr. Adelson’s wasted $5,000,000 bribe (a bribe is a gratuity given in advance with the expectation that a favor will be done) to the Gingrich campaign is an embarrassment to Tribe members everywhere. Adelson admittedly gives lot of money to lots of worthy causes, which anybody with that kind of money is obliged to do. But the Adelsons, who tout themselves as the “World’s Wealthiest Jewish Couple” on their own website, should consider what else they can do with that money that would promote the interests of World Jewry. $5,000,000 would put 16 kids through a Jewish day school from K-8. $5,000,000 would help synagogues be able to hire 200 Hebrew school teachers. $5,000,000 would send at least 1000 kids to Jewish summer camps (the proven #1 way to keep kids affiliated). $5,000,000 would make a nice donation to American Jewish World Services or any number of organizations that feel that it is their Jewish responsibility to go out and improve the world.

Yes, Israel relies on the United States for its existence. But bribing the Great Adulterous Marshmallow because Obama is supposedly a threat to Israel’s existence? Even the Wise Men of Chelm couldn’t have come up with this one.

Occupy Boston, the Kid’s view

Posted: November 9, 2011 in Politics
Tags: 99%, Occupy Boston, Occupy Wall Street, protests

In general, I support Occupy Wall Street and the satellite movements it has inspired. I am concerned by the amount of vitriol the protests have inspired among a certain sector of the population. I would expect most Americans to be outraged at the fact that the Fed lends money to the banks for free, essentially, and then those same banks, the authors of our current woes, either won’t lend it to us at all, or lend it at usurious rates (Let us not forget that the current bankruptcy law was written by the credit card lobby, and was passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by George Bush, Jr. ) I think that most parents are upset that their children will live in a world of diminishing rather than rising expectations. I think that the country should be not just upset, but apoplectic that we are sending young people out into the world with crippling debt.

I have been down to Occupy Boston, and have even stayed there overnight with my kids. I wanted them to see what a protest was like. I wanted to teach them that we are guaranteed free assembly by the Constitution.

My son was bit apprehensive at first. “We’ll get hurt or killed, ” he said.

“No we won’t,” I said laughingly. “Why do you think so?”

“Because I saw on TV what happened in Egypt,” he replied

“This is the United States. Here we have a guaranteed right to assemble, if we are acting peaceably.”

My son had a fun night staying at Occupy. My daughter, I think, would have preferred that we go home and sleep in our beds. The weather was nice, there were fewer homeless than there are now, and there was a child-friendly drum circle. We explained to him why people were staying in tents. As for me, I had a lot of discussions, with sorts from Ron Paul libertarians, to capitalists who think that the current system is too unfair, to communists who think that capitalism will necessarily make an unfair system.

A few weeks later, the Occupy Oakland protest was attacked rather heavy-handedly by the police, and a Iraq war veteran received a serious blow to the head from a tear gas canister fired by the police. My son was watching the TV

“I told you it was going to happen,” he said, without a trace of smugness or pride.

Why I love Baseball

Posted: August 3, 2011 in Baseball, sports
Tags: Baseball, Charlie Manuel, Giants, Lincecum, Phillies

Baseball gives me great opportunities to teach my kids a myriad of valuable lessons. Sometimes, baseball even does all the teaching for me.

Check out the video in this article about the Phillies losing 2 out of 3 to the Giants. Charlie Manuel, the Phillies’ manager, not only taught my kids about bad sportsmanship, they also learned the meaning of “sour grapes.”

Jews we wish were Gentile, Volume IIa

Posted: July 30, 2011 in Jews, Jews we don't want
Tags: Eric Cantor, Jews, Jews we wish were Gentiles

Well, before my bris....

CAN’T WE FIND BETTER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT?

Posted: July 27, 2011 in Sort of Public Health-related, Zealous beyond rational
Tags: David Gumpert, monomania, obsession, prostate cancer, Raw milk

THE TRAGEDY (?) OF DAVID GUMPERT, PART THE SECOND

Mr. Gumpert had cancer of the prostate. All things considered, I don’t rate this as tragic. Unfortunate, yes, but certainly not down in the depths as was the case with Frank Zappa, whose prostrate cancer struck at the age of 53 and was fatal.

With Zappa’s death, the world was deprived of an unusually sharp wit coupled with a virtuosic musical talent and an incredible knack for humor and originality. (I am in no way saying that Zappa’s life was worth more or less than any other human being’s. But I feel free to compare their works.) Mr. Gumpert, on the other hand, is a sort of reverse Carrie Nation, wielding his hatchet so that we can drink something instead of having it prohibited. Like Ms. Nation, Mr. Gumpert will probably not achieve any long-term success. I believe that raw milk will continue to be a highly regulated substance, consumed only by a small part of the population. Most Americans, I imagine, are to be content to drink inexpensive, safe milk.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO OBSESS ABOUT ONE THING, YOU’D BETTER PICK A GOOD ONE.

oops

But while raw milk is a bagatelle, prostate cancer is a serious problem. It is also an extremely complicated problem. there are a lot of unanswered questions that come up after the doctor’s glove comes off:

Should all men get PSA tests?How often? Is it different for those with a family history of prostate cancer? How do we know when a biopsy is called for? What is the best way to biopsy? What are the consequences of false positive tests? How can a patient find the best surgeon? How can we be sure that the media is conveying this information accurately? How do we get the correct information to the men at risk? How do we deal with the fact that men tend to be such poor patients? Can we change the behaviors of men to make them act more in their interest as patients?

So here is a very real public health problem, suffered by someone who is actually a real journalist. He has an audience. He knows how to meet a deadline and get his material out. He has connections with trusted publications with large circulations. He is in a real position with the help a lot of men parse out the difficulties of a very difficult disease, one that even if it doesn’t kill, strikes at the very core of what it means to be a man. And yet, he chooses to be the bandleader for a small group of fanatics, many of whom have an economic interest in the outcome of this bizarre fight. The Complete Patient (which is neither complete nor about patients) doesn’t even say if Mr. Gumpert is so interested in raw milk because he believes that it cured his prostate cancer.

I don’t think most of his current readers are interested in real and pressing public health and health policy problems. If so, it seems to follow that he would’ve been writing about them more regularly. There are, however, plenty of worried people out there with plenty of questions about problems other than the single imaginary one dealt with in his blog. With all the monomaniacal energy expended on something that really isn’t a problem, one can’t help but wonder if he couldn’t use all this energy to perhaps give the next Zappa a few more years.

OK, I’m done writing about raw milk weirdness.

Prostate Cancer Victim, but most definitely not a monomaniac

My Comment on Texas, from the NYT

Posted: July 19, 2011 in Politics
Tags: Rick Perry, Texas

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/07/17/the-texas-jobs-juggernaut/nature-vs-nurture