Amazing - 62 million votes for a president named Barack

Barak Zahavy

I've always like the name Barak (spelled without the "c"). I admired the story of the biblical Barak, the military leader who, according to the book of Judges, along with the prophetess Deborah defeated the Canaanite armies led by Sisera and who ended 20 years of oppression.

The song of Deborah in Judges 5 extols him, “Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.” His triumph was long-lasting, as we are told, “And the land was undisturbed for 40 years.”

Thirty-one years ago, my wife Bernice and I named our second son Barak. Barak means “lightning” in Hebrew. We chose the name for our son both because of its heroic connection to the biblical figure Barak and because my son’s birth came quickly, like lightning, after a very short labor.

It's simply amazing to me that yesterday 62 million Americans voted for a candidate named Barack - and that he won the election.

Memoir: I do remember pulling the lever as a kid to vote for JFK - my mom always took me along to vote at Julia Richman high school on 68th street and second.

I doubt my 2 year old granddaughter will remember going along to the polling place in Brooklyn with her father Barak to vote for Barack. I trust she will have another chance when she is six years old - and at that time my son will have to explain to her why that other Barack spells his name wrong.

AP: Minnesota Recount as Coleman Bests Franken by 601 Votes

What a pity it will be if Democrat Franken cannot prevail after the recount.

MINNEAPOLIS – Republican Norm Coleman outlasted Democrat Al Franken in one of Minnesota's tightest Senate elections ever, squeaking past the former comedian early Wednesday by a margin that appeared certain to trigger a recount.

With 4,129 of 4,130 precincts reporting, Coleman led Franken by 762 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast. Coleman had 1,210,790 votes, or 42.03 percent, to Franken's 1,210,028 votes, or 42 percent.

Dean Barkley of the Independence Party was third with 15 percent, and exit poll data showed him pulling about equally from Coleman and Franken.

The margin was well within a threshold set by state law for an automatic recount. If it holds up, Coleman would be among the fortunate Republicans who survived big gains by Democrats nationwide...more

The StarTribune has the later news that, "With 100 percent of the 4,130 precincts reporting, Coleman had an unofficial margin of 601 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast." The recount is expected to take several weeks, perhaps extending into December.

8 PM Update: The margin is less than 500 votes.

From Professor Barack Obama to President Barack Obama

I am especially proud, as a professor myself, of the achievements of Professor Barack Obama who now has ascended from Professor of Law to President of the United States.

Many people who voted for him do not even know that he was a professor. He mainly kept that tucked away somewhere deep in his resume.

I too have found that when seeking challenges out in the real world, my experience as a professor tends to carry little weight and I keep it on page two of my resume.

During the latest campaign, Barack was challenged on occasion (not really that often) to confirm that indeed he was a real professor.

Some asked, Was Barack Obama a professor of law?

The University of Chicago Law School issued this official statement clarifying Barack Obama's status in his twelve years of teaching there, especially his role as "Senior Lecturer."

From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year.

Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status.

Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.

So our congratulations to Professor Barack Obama on his new non-tenure-track position as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Genack: Get off your duff and keep Kosher Meat Packer Agriprocessors open

Because of the scandals at Iowa's kosher meatpackers, JTA reports:

Short-term disruptions in the supply of kosher meat, particularly kosher and glatt kosher beef, are now widely expected. Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of kosher supervision for the Orthodox Union, said he already has heard from communities that have no supply.

“There is going to be a sharp decline in availability immediately,” said Genack, adding that the company is trying to survive but that the situation is grim.

We say, "Genack. Get off your duff and keep Agriprocessors open. Do something real for kosher consumers other than collecting a fee for supervising product ingredient lists."

Anti-Semitism Thrives for one more day at the Conservative American Thinker Blog

They call it, "Symposium: Why do so many Jews still vote Democrat?"

It's in fact no symposium at all - just an excuse for right wing radical anti-Semites to spew their awful venom... here is my ... /rant/

it's astonishing.

the rhetoric in this discussion ["Symposium: Why do so many Jews still vote Democrat?"] crosses over into insults to Jews, Judaism and liberals and many of the discussants overtly stink of anti-Semitism.

why are Jews liberal? liberalism is such a morally superior political attitude - upholding the poor and weak - protecting society from brute forces of evil and corruption - it is hard for most educated and moral people to imagine opposing liberal ideals - and Jews as a group have lots of education.

i blocked comments on my blog this season because i just could not believe the depths of ignorance that conservative wing-nut commenters displayed in them with such impunity.

so you "American Thinker" guys - carry on with your corrupt lives and anti-Semitic agendas. we liberals are going back to work now to create a great, just and moral society using government, religion, education, indoctrination, and every means that we can.

you've stolen our money under the guise of conservative, radical capitalist free enterprise. you've brought our economy to ruin. you've lowered the wages of workers and taken away security and safety, especially from the sick and elderly.

yes "American Thinker" guys - please continue now on your sanctimonious fraudulent hypocritical missions somewhere else, on some other planet, or perhaps all of you can move on to alaska... ./end of rant/

And one more thing.

How did I find this awful blog? Do I troll around conservative blogs? No no no.

The JTA Daily Briefing email that I get from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency recommended it to me. Innocently they suggested that I go to one of their EDITORS' PICKS...

Why are Jews Democrats?
Why do so many Jews still vote Democrat? The conservative American Thinker posits some answers.

Huh? Posits answers? JTA - please be more careful. One person actually does read your spam emails.

Attention K-Mart Shoppers - the financial crisis resumes in earnest on Wednesday

Just read the headlines. Not the stories. Not between the lines. Just the headlines.

The preponderance of headlines, beyond a reasonable doubt, tells us that the financial crisis is broad and deep and ongoing, with no end in sight.

Exampli gratia:

Effectiveness of AIG's $143 Billion Rescue Questioned
By Carol D. Leonnig,Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, November 3, 2008

A number of financial experts now fear that the federal government's $143 billion attempt to rescue troubled insurance giant American International Group may not work, and some argue that company shareholders and taxpayers would have been better served by a bankruptcy filing....[more to read and weep about]

Tzvee's nominees for the Jewish Standard Presidential Dream Team

Contributors were not allowed to endorse a real candidate so I just coincidentally dreamed up these two nominees...

Tzvee Zahavy, author, rabbi, teacher, and consultant: My nominee for my dream team president is the ancient Israelite general Barak.

I have always admired the biblical Barak, the military leader who along with the prophetess Deborah defeated the Canaanite armies led by Sisera and who ended 20 years of oppression.

The song of Deborah in Judges 5 extols him, “Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.” His triumph was long-lasting, as we are told, “And the land was undisturbed for 40 years.”

Thirty-one years ago, my wife Bernice and I named our second son Barak. Barak means “lightning” in Hebrew. We chose the name for our son both because of its heroic connection to the biblical figure Barak and because my son’s birth came quickly, like lightning, after a very short labor.

My nominee for vice president is the ancient Israelite forefather Joseph. He combines many of the virtues that current candidates have touted as desirable.

According to the biblical narrative in Genesis, Joseph showed his precocity by dreaming great and colorful dreams. He then spent a good deal of time as a prisoner, thus proving his bravery. He was drafted to position of authority where he demonstrated his far-sighted economic insight and honed his political acumen in tough negotiations. And he showed appropriate compassion even for those who had wronged him in the past.

A sad poem to read because it is 13 Years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995

It is now 13 years since the assassination of

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995

A Poem

Three shots and it's all over -

Now one talks about him in the past tense.

Suddenly the present becomes the past.

And the past is only a memory.

We are standing, crying.

We want to believe it never happened,

That it is all a nightmare.

And when we wake up the next morning - it will not be so.

Instead, we wake up to a warped reality,

Where pain is laced with hate.

We cannot digest the enormity of this loss,

And we cannot comprehend its severity...

-- Bat-Chen Shahak

The author was 13 years old when she wrote the poem, shortly after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Tragically, the author herself was killed in a terrorist bombing at Dizengoff Center in Tel-Aviv on March 4, 1996.

Huff Post: Why 75% of American Jews Will Vote for Obama

Mark Green writes on Huffington Post why American Jews will vote in near-record numbers for Barack Obama according to most polls.

...GREEN: After all the kvetching about Jews and Obama, what do you think of polls now predicting that while Kerry won 77% of the Jewish vote in 2004, Obama is on track to get 75%?

DEAN: That is not the least bit surprising. You know, I'll tell you, as someone who has "married into the tribe," as they say...the reason that American Jews vote for Democrats has nothing to do with Israel. It has everything to do with what makes a Jew in America. These are folks who emigrated from lands where most of the time they were persecuted - I'm not talking just about the people who came over because of Hitler, I'm talking about the people who came over before that because of pogroms in the Ukraine, or Russia. They have such a community-based view of what we owe each other as people; this is a very community-minded group, and that's why they vote Democratic. And the Republicans, always, every year, [say] "Oh my God, the Democrats aren't going to get the Jewish vote because of Israel!" First of all, the Democrats are just as pro-Israel as the Republicans are. But secondly, the Democratic values are core values in the Jewish community, and that is why we always end up with between 70% and 80% of the Jewish vote....

Brilliant Video: Ben Affleck Parodies Keith Olbermann on SNL

Ben Affleck delivers a masterpiece of parody. I love Keith Olbermann but this is an absolutely on the nose take-down.