Massive Earthquake, Tsunami In Japan

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Luke Ford

On his radio show March 11, 2011, Dennis said about the 1994 Northridge earthquake: “That was unbelievably jolting. I’ve been through a lot of earthquakes living in Southern California but that one was scary and I don’t get scared easy. That shook my house to its foundations. I thought the house was going to fall down.

“For those of you who have never experienced an earthquake, one of the worst aspects is the sound.”

“Peter King of New York had this one-day hearing on domestic terrorism. He had people from every angle speak.”

“It’s a very responsible question that many Muslims acknowledge — how do you explain the radicalization of some American Muslims who attend a mosque and hear hateful things about the United States and their parents don’t understand what’s happened to them. The Muslim parents of one terrorist wanted to know where did my child pick this up.”

From DennisPrager.com:

Friday, March 11, 2011 Radio Show
20110311 – 01 Eight Point Nine
Prager H1: A monster 8.9 earthquake hit northern Japan last night. Hundreds, maybe thousands have been killed as a massive tsunami swept into coastal cities… Dennis talks to John Vidale, Director of Pacific Northwest Seismic Network about what 8.9 quake means and what the risks are to the US… Governor Scott Walker won the battle in Wisconsin, but can Republicans win the war to curb public service unions?… Congressional hearings on domestic terror threat posed by radicalized Muslims lasted all of one day, but one day was enough to throws Democrats into a “McCarthy” accusing hysteria. Why?

Friday, March 11, 2011 Radio Show
20110311 – 02 Happiness Hour: Friends
Prager H2: Dennis revisits the issue of the importance of friends to happiness. Ideally, your best friend is your spouse, but we need same sex friends outside of marriage, too. Are you afraid to open up to friends? If so, why?

Friday, March 11, 2011 Radio Show
20110311 – 03 Open Lines
Prager H3: Per usual, callers set the agenda. Issues raised include: why do we assume actors are liberal; why doesn’t anyone say “you’re welcome” anymore; is bullying a really a consequence of secularism; are most white collar criminals religious; should drugs be legalized.

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Orthodox Jews Have Their Own Language

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

Heshy Fried — the most consistently amusing Jewish blogger — writes: Orthodox Jews have their own language, some call it yinglish, but we really add English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Aramaic and random terms from the Torah into out lingo. Where else can you find a people that adds an improper word like “dick” to change the meaning of a word. Below are the most famous possibilities, but I’m sure there are more – there has got to be more and I hope you will tell me/us what they are.

shabbosdik – not nice for shabbos, wearing that shirt is not shabbosdik

gayvadik – someone who is really haughty

yuntiffdik – not proper for yuntiff, riding a bike may be allowed, but it’s not yuntiffdik

gevaldik – the chasunah was amazing – gevaldik!

Leibadik – the dancing at the chasunah was really leibadik, the rosh yeshiva even got into it.

Pesachdik – do you have pesachdik dishes?

chutzpahdik – that child is so chutzpahdik, she doesn’t know how to talk to teachers.

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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE CHASSIDISH TO BUY A SWIM DRESS

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

Modesty is a great blessing. Heshy Fried.

Does not HaShem belong in the swimming pool?

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Women who post lots of photos of themselves on Facebook value appearance, need attention, study find

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

Here’s the key graph: “The people who tended to base their self worth on things like academic competence, family love and support, and being a virtuous or moral person spent less time online and showed less interest in attention-seeking through social media.”

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Should We Yawn Over Islamic Assassination Of US Troops?

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

Brent Bozell writes: On March 2, two U.S airmen, Nicholas Alden and Zachary Cuddeback, were gunned down at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Two other Americans were wounded. The assailant was a radical Muslim. This was a huge story to most Americans – but, naturally, but not to our news media. If the amount of air time is any measure, the assassination of our troops drew a yawn.

That night, ABC’s “World News” offered a full report, but CBS and NBC each gave it less than 30 seconds. “Troops under attack in Germany, targeted by a gunman shouting in Arabic about jihad,” reported ABC anchor Diane Sawyer. Neither CBS or NBC found room for “jihad” talk, and never found time to ask about the young American lives extinguished.

CBS saved room that night for Mickey Rooney’s testimony about “elder abuse.” NBC needed to save four minutes and 15 seconds for semi-retired Tom Brokaw’s report on the decline in Reading, Pennsylvania, and then devoted another two and half minutes to promoting the Smithsonian’s attempt to find a “Candid Camera in the Wilderness” with animal spycams.

Even after the radical-Muslim motivations were confirmed, the anchors were still downplaying it. On March 3, Katie Couric relayed: “It appears 20-year-old Arid Uka had a grudge against the U.S. military. Sources tell CBS News that when he was arrested, Uka said ‘They are at war with us.’” I’m sure Mark David Chapman had a “grudge” with John Lennon, too. CBS did go to a reporter in Germany on Thursday morning…but the whole story was over in 90 seconds. NBC offered two minutes.

The same yawning thing happened at the newspapers. No one put this story on the front page. USA Today just reprinted the Associated Press on A-5. The New York Times put it on A-4. The Washington Post offered a story on A-6 that day, and then when it discovered over the weekend that one of the assassinated airmen was a Virginia native – Zack Cuddeback, gunned down at the wheel of the bus – they promptly reported it on….B-6.

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Hysteria On Left About Peter King Hearings On Radical Islam In America

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

On his radio show today, Dennis Prager said: “There’s nothing anti-Muslim about it. A lot of Muslims have said it is a good opportunity to clear the air. That’s what America is about — clearing the air.

“The Left is apoplectic about this. The Left is always hysterical. Everything is just another example of fascism, McCarthyism. They think they think in nuanced terms but they’re hysterical. Everything is the end of the world, not to mention that Global Warming is the end of the world.

“No wonder that people on the left are less happy. Either they are aware they are not telling the truth and that these things are not as terrible as they say or they believe these things are as terrible as they say and then they think the world is coming to an end.”

Here’s a link to a hysterical piece on the Peter King hearings by an Orthodox rabbi in Los Angeles. You’d think that all the rituals in Orthodox Judaism would keep the traditional Jew from having time for such foolishness.

On the MSNBC show “Morning Joe” Thursday, New York Times liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof said: “I am sure that at mosques around this country, especially in the more radical mosques, that this is going to be seen as one more evidence that people are picking on us.”

Dennis Prager: “We might upset radical mosques? The whole point is to identify radical mosques because they are producing radical Muslims who might kill us. We might get radical Muslims angry by holding hearings on radical Muslims?”

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Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Bacca Supports CAIR

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

From the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca shot back at a congressman who warned him during a congressional hearing Thursday that a Muslim group the sheriff supports is affiliated with terrorists and is “using” him.

The reference to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose Southern California branch Baca has allied with, came during a controversial House hearing on the question of whether American Muslims are becoming radicalized.

“You are aware” that CAIR is affiliated with Hamas, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) said.

“No I’m not aware,” Baca interrupted.

“Let me bring this to your attention … I’m trying to get you to understand that they might be using you,” Cravaack said.

Baca, noticeably irritated, told the congressman that he is aware of no criminal allegations have been made against CAIR. If there were any such allegations, he said, “bring them to court.”

“We don’t play around with criminals in my world,” Baca said before the packed hearing.

The tense exchange wasn’t Baca’s first on the issue.

During a hearing last year, Baca cut off a congressman who asked the sheriff why he attended CAIR fund-raisers, despite the group’s “radical” speech. Baca called the line of questioning from then-Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) “un-American.”

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Rewarding Great Teachers

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker writes in the Wall Street Journal:

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.

Ms. Sampson got a layoff notice because the union leadership would not accept reasonable changes to their contract. Instead, they hid behind a collective-bargaining agreement that costs the taxpayers $101,091 per year for each teacher, protects a 0% contribution for health-insurance premiums, and forces schools to hire and fire based on seniority and union rules.

My state’s budget-repair bill, which passed the Assembly on Feb. 25 and awaits a vote in the Senate, reforms this union-controlled hiring and firing process by allowing school districts to assign staff based on merit and performance. That keeps great teachers like Ms. Sampson in the classroom.

Most states in the country are facing a major budget deficit. Many are cutting billions of dollars of aid to schools and local governments. These cuts lead to massive layoffs or increases in property taxes—or both.

In Wisconsin, we have a better approach to tackling our $3.6 billion deficit. We are reforming the way government works, as well as balancing our budget. Our reform plan gives state and local governments the tools to balance the budget through reasonable benefit contributions. In total, our budget-repair bill saves local governments almost $1.5 billion, outweighing the reductions in state aid in our budget.

While it might be a bold political move, the changes are modest. We ask government workers to make a 5.8% contribution to their pensions and a 12.6% contribution to their health-insurance premium, both of which are well below what other workers pay for benefits. Our plan calls for Wisconsin state workers to contribute half of what federal employees pay for their health-insurance premiums. (It’s also worth noting that most federal workers don’t have collective bargaining for wages and benefits.)

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We Need To Expand Government In One Area

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

On his radio show today, Dennis Prager said: “There was a long and despicable death treat — articulately written — sent to Wisconsin Republican representatives that not only would they be killed, but also their families.

“We don’t need new IRS people. If the government were to expand anything, it would be death threat management. Anyone who sends a death threat should be sent to prison. They are the scum of the earth. I don’t care what side they’re on.”

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Drunk On Love

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Luke Ford

A few years ago, I met a girl at a convention. She had a boyfriend but was complaining about him a lot and very quickly we hooked up and she became my girl.

But was she my girl? I had my doubts.

After we had broken up a couple of months later, she told me her therapist said she was a “love addict.”

I had never heard of that term and I immediately Googled it and read a few books on the topic. This girl had thrown me for a loop and I devoted a large section of one of my books to my relationship with her.

According to Wikipedia: “Romantic love addicts are “romance junkies” and relationship “hoppers.” They compulsively hop from one infatuated relationship to another in an attempt to keep their supply (dependency or addiction) going. Initially they often believe they’re in love with a person they start a relationship with, but they don’t truly fall in love. Romantic love addicts are addicted to the fantasy created in their minds and have false hopes (unrealistic expectation) that one day they will find the right one who somehow will keep the “rush,” passion, and intensity going all the time—an impossible task for anyone.”

As I thought about it, I became convinced that I had many of the symptoms of the love junkie.

Then I interviewed Rachel Resnick, who wrote a memoir about love addiction.

Then I interviewed Jewish Journal columnist Tamara Shayne Kagel and again I kept hearing what sounded to me like symptoms of love addiction:

Tamara: “I think there should be more talk about what it really means to be in love. How do you know when you are in love?”

Luke: “How do you know when you are in love?”

Tamara: “For me it is the best feeling in the world. It’s a drug. I really miss being in love. It’s part of what makes life worth living. We don’t talk about it enough.”

“I want to marry for love. It’s the most important thing.”

As soon as someone talks to me about their addiction to the rush of being in love, I start thinking about love addiction.

I am not diagnosing Tamara with anything. I am not qualified to do so. I have no psychological training. I hate it when people use psychology as a weapon. I’m just saying I heard echoes in my head when she spoke about love that reminded me of my own experiences with love addiction.

In her latest blog post, Tamara writes: “I’ve been feeling a little low this week. I thought it might have to do with my writing or the lack of certainty in my future plans beginning in a few months or the fact that I accidentally ended up at the website of an ex, but I actually think it has to do with the fact that I might like someone and that would mean that would mean I’m waiting to hear from him. Me – waiting for him?”

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