I am seriously worried that the liberal Western civilization of Voltaire, Locke, Hume, John Stewart Mill, Huxley, Russel and Popper is about to disappear. It is not because the Muslim “street” has been staging violent demonstrations, burning embassies, demanding that laws are changed, editors sacked and goods boycotted–and all this over cartoons of the prophet Mohammad. With all the honor…
New Life, Old Tradition
Now that I have just become a grandpa again (the sixth time) my total delight is tempered by the thought of another circumcision, a brit (nothing to do with awards). I am a terrible, terrible softy when it comes to blood and the very sight of it tends to make me weak at the knees. I don’t watch any of…
Hamas
In Biblical Hebrew “hamas” means “violence”. But I think we should be glad that Hamas has won the Palestinian elections. It is a victory for democracy. It is a victory against corruption, because under the old Fatah regime billions of foreign aid from mainly non-Arab and non-Muslim donors simply went into private bank accounts. It never ever went anywhere near…
World Zionist Organization
The 35th World Zionist Congress is going to take place in Jerusalem, June 19th–June 22nd, 2006. Does it really matter a jot? Not one bit. The Zionist Organization was set up by the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 to represent the ideals and goals of Zionism and to try to establish a Jewish homeland. Its governing body set…
Glueckel and Abramoff
Unbelievably, there are still males who think they are the superior sex. The only superiority I can see is in their propensity for greater monkey business. One of my series of lectures is about outstanding Jewish women who succeeded in doing as good a job if not better than their male contemporaries. Amongst them was Donna Gracia Mendez Nasi, A.K.A.…
The Hour and The Man
Over the years I have noticed so often that the most mediocre or the most flawed of individuals, or sometimes the most inappropriate or even downright bad, get into positions of authority and power, when far more able, appropriate or effective people are overlooked for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it’s just the way self-perpetuating oligarchies ensure they have “their”…