Robertson: Sharon Stroke Due to God's Wrath

These fundamentalist guys are consistent. First God allowed 9/11 to punish the ACLU and gays. Then the cause of Katrina was traced to gambling and depravity. And now, how could they resist:

ABC News: Robertson Links Sharon Stroke, God's Wrath:

"NORFOLK, Va. Jan 5, 2006 -- Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for 'dividing God's land.'
'God considers this land to be his,' Robertson said on his TV program 'The 700 Club.' 'You read the Bible and he says `This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine.'' "

Oy vey.

George, Remember Jack? The Guy With the Black Hat and the Sack of Hanukkah Gelt?

So it is just a big game. Like dreidl. You spin. You win.

You cheat. You get caught. You give it back.

Bush Campaign to Give Away Abramoff Donations

WASHINGTON Jan 4, 2006 � President Bush's re-election campaign will give the American Heart Association thousands of dollars in campaign contributions connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the White House said Wednesday, as the government pressed forward with a broad-ranging corruption investigation.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Abramoff, his wife and the tribal associates that he helped win influence on Capitol Hill donated thousands to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign. Donations to charities has been the policy in similar situations in the past, McClellan said.

Abramoff raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's 2004 re-election effort, earning the honorary title "pioneer" from the campaign. It was unclear how much exactly the campaign would be giving to charity since McClellan referred questions about the matter to the Republican National Committee, which did not immediately return phone calls about it.

McClellan said Bush does not know Abramoff personally, although it's possible that the two met at holiday receptions. Abramoff attended three Hanukkah receptions at the White House, the spokesman said.

I'm starting a campaign right here to have the White House painted black.

And Jack, Jack, tell me it ain't so. But no, it's not bad enough that you did all those lousy things. You gotta daven in the court room too:

Mr Abramoff reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors - and added his own courtroom repentance, in which he asked for "forgiveness and redemption from the Almighty".

Board Rescinds 'Intelligent Design' Policy

Attention Dover PA residents! Prepare for fire and brimstone. Evacuate your town now.... Board Rescinds 'Intelligent Design' Policy.

"Newly-elected members of the Dover (Pa.) Area School Board... voted unanimously in favor of rescinding the inclusion of 'intelligent design' from the biology curriculum of Dover High School, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006,during a meeting in Dover, Pa."

See my previous posts on this topic, one and two.

SENATOR BARBARA BOXER TAKES A VALIANT SHOT AT GEORGE W

In a letter from U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER to presidential scholars she asks about the ramifications of recent admissions:

On December 16, along with the rest of America, I learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without getting a warrant from a judge. President Bush underscored his support for this action in his press conference today.

On Sunday, December 18, former White House Counsel John Dean and I participated in a public discussion that covered many issues, including this surveillance. Mr. Dean, who was President Nixon's counsel at the time of Watergate, said that President Bush is "the first President to admit to an impeachable offense." Today, Mr. Dean confirmed his statement.

I'm glad to see a person of principle stand up for what is right and good. But reality check! Republicans control both houses of congress and the Supreme Court.

I hope the scholars who Talmudically parse the constitutional law point out that there is no way that W will be impeached, no matter what he does, has done, or will do.

Kosher Hanukkah Bush

A friend reports from the White House:

The season has officially started early here, since the White House had its celebration last night, Tuesday, December 6. It really was quite an event, with the kitchen being kashered for the first time for an ALL kosher affair. (Last year there was kosher and non kosher food available). Laura Bush wanted it all kosher, she even supervised the Chabad supervisors! She had a tasting with three kosher caterers and selected one from Philladephia, (hard to believe one caterer told her to come to NJ to taste). There was lots of food... fishes, meat, stuffed cabbage, latkes, salad and suffganiot in the large dessert displays, with large dreydels, etc.

The official picture:

Mrs. Laura Bush is joined by Rabbi Binyomin Taub, Rabbi Hillel Baron and Rabbi Mendy Minkowitz as they stand with staff Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005, during the kosherizing of the White House kitchen. The kitchen was koshered for the annual White House Hanukkah Reception, which took place this evening. White House photo by Shealah Craighead

Goliath's name found at Israeli dig

Goliath's name found at Israeli dig in Gath.

A shard of pottery unearthed in a decade-old dig in southern Israel carried an inscription in early Semitic style spelling "Alwat and "Wlt", likely Philistine renderings of the name Goliath...

[Aren] Maeir, head of the archaeology department at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, told Reuters his excavators found the shard, possibly part of a bowl, about two metres underground at Tell es-Shafi.

The mound where the dig took place is widely believed to be the site of the ancient city of Gath, which the Bible calls Goliath's hometown.

The dig is described here.

The Jersalem Post has a photo of the shard.

Looks authentic to me.

CNN.com - Robertson warns Pennsylvania voters of God's wrath - Nov 10, 2005

Pat Robertson warns Pennsylvania voters of God's wrath: "In voting on Tuesday, eight Dover, Pennsylvania, school board members up for re-election lost their seats after trying to introduce a statement on 'intelligent design' to high school biology students."

Here we go again. These eight fine public servants were voted out.

Now Pat says that the Lord may punish the town. OOH how terrible. What a simplistic fundamentalist theology.

But wait. Isn't this just about the Deuteronomic view of history? Isn't it a prime theme of rabbinic theology. Sin leads to punishment, destruction, suffering, death. Doesn't that make the randomness of world events vanish? Specific sin to specific punishment.

Yes. Yes. And yes. So what is the fuss? I'm just surprised Pat did not specify the exact punishment.

Haaretz - Court won't let Temple Mount group lay cornerstone of Third Temple

Haaretz - reports...

The High Court of Justice on Sunday rejected a request by the Temple Mount Faithful to place what the organization said was the cornerstone of the Third Temple next to the Western Wall, Israel Radio reported.

The chief rabbinate declared the Temple Mount off limits to Jews from day one after the reunification of Jerusalem. This was a courageous and incisive political and religious decision. They reiterated their ruling this year.

When Ariel Sharon went up on the Temple Mount in 2000 he had a goal -- to provoke a reaction and to exploit that situation to become PM of the State -- and he achieved his goal.

These TMF lunatics want to poke the Arab tiger in the eye and they cannot help but know that this could bring about a Jihad against the State of Israel. And their goal? I don't think these guys have any earthly reason to engage in this activity.

They are dangerous meshugganahs of the first rank.

Qatar bankrolls $6 million stadium for Arab Israelis

The Daily Star (Lebanon) reports: Qatar is giving $6 million to build a stadium in Israel for a popular Arab soccer team in a further sign of warming relations between the Gulf Arab political maverick and the Jewish state. 'Qatar has donated $6 million to build a modern soccer stadium in Sakhnin,' an Arab town in northern Israel, Ahmad al-Tibi told AFP...

Tibi said he would be "knocking at the doors of Arab capitals to urge them to show concern for the needs of the 1948-Arabs, like Qatar has done." He said the Arab community in Israel needs help to carry out health, infrastructure and cultural projects.

"Why do the world's Jews fall over each other to help the Jews in Israel while we don't ask for support from our Arab brethren?" he asked.

MK against Yom Kippur Ad Campaign

Shas Disgruntled...

Poraz

Shas Party Chairman Eliyahu Yishai criticized MK Avraham Poraz's demand to put an end to the public funding of the campaign encouraging people to pray on Yom Kippur.

"Poraz wishes to eradicate everything that pertains to Judaism and tradition," he said.

"His war against all things that are traditional in character reveals his apparent ambition to become and anti-Jewish censor," Yishai said... more

Yishai