Best of the Month

yated:
In the following pages, we will quote from the words of YCT’s faculty members and we will determine whether these words represent Orthodoxy; whether these ideas are in consonance with halachic Judaism as dictated by the Shulchan Aruch and the great poskim throughout the generations; including those that follow the halachic and hashkafic opinion of the preeminent Modern Orthodox Torah authority, Rav Yosef Dov (Joseph B.) Soloveitchik, Rosh Yeshiva of RIETS. Is this Orthodoxy or a pseudo-Conservative approach? Do YCT’s claims of fidelity to halacha have any truth? How does YCT define the term halacha?

yated: "Another of Rabbi Linzer’s written statements warrant mention here. In the Jerusalem Report Magazine November 2004 edition, Rabbi Linzer in a signed article wrote, “As an Orthodox Jew, I have to struggle not just with G-d ’s presence in the world, but with His commandments as well. Some of these do not seem to square with a good, just G-d. The command to destroy Amalek and the Canaanite nations, the death penalty for one who… [engages in toeiva]"
eliyahu:brackets in original !

yated: "This writer is completely heartbroken that he is forced to cite these horrible quotes, quotes that should fill any Jew–who even remotely cares about kvod shomayim and chillul Hashem, and most of all who is outraged at the blatant Ziuf Hatorah–with horror and a deep sense of sadness."

eliyahu: ditto, ditto.

yated: "Yes, you have seen right. YCT’s teacher of the History of Halacha is a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship school of the Conservative movement. His specialty is “lower and higher criticism” of the Babylonian Talmud. We will not venture what “criticism” of the Babylonian Talmud means for fear that finding out might require rending our garments."

eliyahu: I think by now it is clear that the yated has been infiltrated by an open orthodox saboteur who has cleverly written this article as an attempt to gain sympathy for the open orthodox cause.

Bottom News Day 2007

Today's Top Stories seem to be a classic Bottom Stories of the Day entry:

Price: Dear diary - A day I'd like to forget The Australian - all 1814 related »
Italy's Prodi to Resign, Minister Says FOX News - all 103 related »
Iran vows not to 'retreat one iota' in nuclear pursuit CNN International - all 1146 related »
Clinton, Obama Trade Barbs Over Donor Washington Post - all 76 related »
Jury deliberations begin in CIA leak trial Boston Herald - all 844 related »
Pak Minister praises Safdarjung Hospital

To adapt an adage of the antiwar movement, it is time for the administration to recognize that there can be no freedom if you are freezing. For too long, the government has done nothing to address the conditions which lead to freezing cold. While we respect
the American Spectator's support for a carbon emissions surge, we feel that it is too little and too late. And although many have written about the harm of global warming alarmism (Thomas Sowell is particularly wise) few have come out in support of the phenomenon.
Now, to adapt an adage of an antiwar movement enemy:
Faster, please.

Glories of Global Warming II

"N.Y. village may set all-time state snowfall record
Redfield in upstate New York is used to snow, but last week's total - more than 11 feet, unofficially - might be an all-time record. Before it began to wind down Sunday, persistent squalls dumped lake-effect snow in this western New York region.
By William Kates, Associated Press
REDFIELD, N.Y. -- This village in upstate New York's snowbelt gets a lot of snowfall during the winter, but last week's total - more than 11 feet, unofficially - might be an all-time record. "

Now, can you just imagine global cooling?

You Heard it Here First

In a Washington Times piece, American Spectator Editor R. Emmet Tyrell Jr. predicts that Giuliani as a candidate will prevail over the various factions of the conservative movement:

"Rudy Giuliani's announcement he will seek the Republican presidential nomination brings to my mind a book I wrote in the early 1990s, "The Conservative Crack-Up." When I wrote the book, Ronald Reagan's successor, President George H. W. Bush, was ignoring many of the constituent ingredients of the Reagan Revolution, for instance, tax cuts. The various factions of the conservative coalition were disgruntled and threatening to take a walk. Once again liberal pundits were diagnosing the conservative movement as moribund. Ever since the conservative movement's ascendancy within the Republican Party in 1964, these grim diagnoses have been handed down episodically. Every time there is dissatisfaction among conservatives or they suffer some electoral setback, the liberal pundits step forward and pronounce the modern conservative movement at death's door. In my book, I ventured the witticism that "conservatism is America's longest dying political movement."

immanent eschaton's scrupulously non-partisan position notwithstanding, we nonetheless prognosticate that a Giuliani candidacy will probably prompt a third party run by a candidate of the "religious right".

NEWS FLASH

there has been a new posting at nebach.blogspot.com

immanent celebs

Larry King: “O.K. I get it Britney, you’re not interested. So welcome to Larry King Live. I hear you have a nice Jewish boy in your life now.”
Britney Spears: “Yes Larry he’s a Jewish model named Isaac Cohen. Madonna turned me on to the Kabbalah two years ago and now Isaac Cohen and I are going for Torah lessons with Rabbi Fishbloom at the Temple Moshe Synagogue in Las Vegas when I’m not working on my new album. Did you know that I’ve sold 69 million albums so far? Unfortunately my ex Kevin is taking me to the cleaners and now I have to work for a living to support my two two sons. But you know Larry fame and fortune aren’t all they’re cracked up to be as I’m sure you know you Satanic mishegenah. I now find true fulfillment in the Lord God. Judaism is my insurance policy. Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi and he’s coming back soon and I figure what if he’s Jewish again this time I’m covered. The Prophet Isaiah did say that the name of the Messiah would be Emanuel so I’m hedging my bets.”
Larry King: “I was born Jewish Britney but in 1997 I married Shawn in a Jewish Mormon ceremony. Johnny Miller and Corey Pavin officiated. So tell me about your Torah studies Britney.”
Britney Spears: “Well Rabbi Fishbloom was born Ultra Orthodox in Bnai Brack Israel. His father made a fortune in the Kosher Tefillin business. He made them for $10 then prayed over them for 5 minutes then exported them to New York where they sold for $800. It’s kind of like crystals. Then Rabbi Fishbloom switched to Conservative Judaism and his family disowned him. Now he has a Job complex. He says that God is testing him.”

I can't put my finger on it but there's definitely something wrong here.

Romney Watch

Rich Lowry at The Corner on the Romney Speech to the National Review Conservative Summit:

"Here’s my take: Put aside how rambling and unfocused it was. Maybe that can be chalked up to a bad night or fatigue. But to speak for 50 minutes or so and not to talk about the Iraq war before a conservative audience at a crucial moment in that war is bizarre and just wrong and almost offensive in my view. This doesn't seem like an oversight. He went out of his way to check off every conservative box—except the one that is politically risky at the moment. The rest of his foreign policy stuff—when he talked about Iran and the broader war—felt very shaky and about an inch deep. His account of how he came to change his view on abortion—through the issue of stem-cell research—isn't very compelling and he would probably be better off not talking about it at all. Fairly or not, people aren't going to believe it. It was his misfortune to boast about signing Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge, after Jeb Bush gave a very mature and persuasive explanation earlier in the day for why he hadn't ever signed the pledge, but still cut taxes each year he was in office. I'm a fan of the pledge myself and I'm glad Romney signed it, but his boast on this night after following Jeb played into what will be the chief vulnerability to his candidacy—the sense that he is simply pandering to the right. Believe me, I prefer politicians pandering to the right than to something or someone else. But it won't be enough to sustain a serious presidential campaign, which has to have a deeper rationale than occupying a niche in the marketplace. It was just one night, and Romney is impressive in many ways, but Saturday night was a missed opportunity."

Giuliani has just started sounding better

Fighting with our Hands Tied

Syria Admits: At War with U.S.
Does it really help us win this war pretending it isn't also against Syria and Iran; pretending they are not actively attacking/aiding attacks against American troups?

(next topic: metzitza bepeh!)

For those nostalgic for "the Media and Politics angle":

"Does President Bush have it in for the press corps? Touring a Caterpillar factory in Peoria, Ill., the Commander in Chief got behind the wheel of a giant tractor and played chicken with a few wayward reporters. . . .
"I would suggest moving back," Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor. "I'm about to crank this sucker up." As the engine roared to life, White House staffers tried to steer the press corps to safety, but when the tractor lurched forward, they too were forced to scramble for safety.
"Get out of the way!" a news photographer yelled. "I think he might run us over!" said another. White House aides tried to herd the reporters the right way without getting run over themselves. Even the Secret Service got involved, as one agent began yelling at reporters to get clear of the tractor. Watching the chaos below, Bush looked out the tractor's window and laughed, steering the massive machine into the spot where most of the press corps had been positioned.
The episode lasted about a minute, and Bush was still laughing when he pulled to a stop. He gave reporters a thumbs-up. "If you've never driven a D-10, it's the coolest experience," Bush said afterward. Yeah, almost as much fun as seeing your life flash before your eyes."

(Since we occasionally have had readers who have had difficulty discerning the "media and politics" angle even in the most obvious instances, we will explain: this is an article from a mainstream media organization (the comments in the original post are also illuminating) about a political figure trying to kill many members of the mainstream media.)
This may be the most direct assault by this administration on media freedom since the time Bush tried to appoint a Republican to the Public Broadcasting Board!

Immanent eschaton has been unable to post much of late as a result of our involvement in an unnamed pursuit which hopefully will result in the creation of capital for our understocked coffers. We appreciate our readers' kind words of encouragement, and we ask that as a precautionary measure they do continue clicking.
Meanwhile, an interesting point from the Weekly Standard:

THE SCRAPBOOK couldn't help but notice that, in the course of his State of the Union address last week, President Bush congratulated the new "Democrat majority" in Congress, which sat politely if not clamorously in front of him. THE SCRAPBOOK wasn't seated in the great chamber of the House of Representatives, to be sure; but when we heard that phrase, we wondered if a ripple of discontent could be felt on the, um, Democratic side.For this particular mode of description--"Democrat" for "Democratic" party--has the effect of sending certain Democrats into a frenzy. Which, of course, is precisely the point: When Barry Goldwater chose Rep. William E. Miller of New York as his vice-presidential running mate in 1964, he explained his decision to reporters by saying that Miller "drives Lyndon Johnson nuts." Sending Democrats into orbit is an old and honored tradition in Republican politics. Frankly, THE SCRAPBOOK doubts that President Bush meant to do that; but whatever his intention, that is what he succeeded in doing. The next morning, on NPR's "Diane Rehm Show," both the venerable hostess and her two guests--onetime Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta and former Republican congressman Vin Weber--struggled to explain both the meaning and origin of the rhetorical practice of referring to the Democratic party as the "Democrat" party."It's like fingernails on a chalkboard," complained Podesta. Neither he nor Weber nor Diane Rehm herself knew how it started. The Washington Post devoted a whole story to the subject--albeit in the Style section--which shed no light on the question. And on CNN, Democratic vulgarian Paul Begala was close to tears of frustration: "It tells you what's in [Bush's] heart," he exclaimed. "It tells you that he has no damn desire to compromise."

The State that Keeps Getting Smarter

Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - New Jersey is to consider cutting the word 'idiot' from its constitution so that people with some mental disabilities won't be barred from voting...Codey wants to eliminate a section that says "no idiot or insane person should enjoy the right of suffrage" and substitute with a reference to "a person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting."

"NEW JERSEY: Don't Eat the Squirrels, State Warns"--headline, Courier News (Bridgewater, N.J.), Jan. 25

Don't worry if you ate one, though. You can still vote.

Immanent Book

Mrs. John Edwards (a link that works!)

Noonan's Got Brains

Just kidding. I think she's now completely lost it. (as an interesting contrast, read Lowry here .)

A Modest Proposal

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED. In a 1956 review of “The Republicans: A History of Their Party” by Malcolm Moos (Random House. 564 pp. $5.95) published in Commentary Magazine, the recently deceased sociologist Martin Seymour Lipset observed that Moos was “a representative of that new tendency in American life: the conservative intellectual.” Since that bygone era, (and along with the rise in the price of books) has come the rise of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” of conservative intellectuals. No longer does anyone doubt the existence of the conservative intellectual. Instead the question has become: Where is the liberal American Enterprise Institute? The Democratic Party, which in 1956 was in the beginning of its decades-long unchallenged control of Congress, one half century later discovered that its newly gained majority is as fragile as one man’s (Sen. Tim Johnson’s) brain condition. What has happened?
Some see the beginning of the rise of the modern conservative movement in another event that took place just over a half century ago: the founding of National Review, in 1955. Founding Editor William F. Buckley’s declaration of the magazine’s purpose, “standing athwart history, yelling ‘Stop!’” in the magazine’s first issue, became a rallying cry for conservatives perpetually pessimistic about the onslaught of statism and socialism and their more sinister sister, totalitarianism. But whatever impact Buckley’s magazine may have had on the organization of formerly disparate conservatives, the cultural revolution just over the horizon gave the movement a cause to fight for or, more accurately, to fight against. The 1960’s is not a decade usually associated with conservatism, but it is the decade that probably had the most influence on the formation of modern conservatism’s strongest, and now infamous force: “neo-conservatism”.
Another thing that has changed since fifty years ago, again, to quote 1956 Lipset:
“Conservative political parties have always been unattractive subjects for modern scholars and intellectuals. There are many more books dealing with leftist parties and labor movements than with parties of the center or the right or with business organizations.” Now, not only has there been an increase of conservatives writing about their movement, but a new genre of liberals asking, as in the title of one recent book, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” meaning: why would any state be so silly as to vote Republican? As a postscript, Lipset himself, once a Trotskyite, increasingly found himself out of step with the New Left, and although according to his colleague Nathan Glazer, he continued to identify as a liberal, he invariably associated more with the neoconservative publications. He also probably never voted Republican.

In a heated debate on Crankydocs, one Daniel Goodman wondered out loud if ""anonymous" works for Senator Inhofe or the Bush administration's environment dept., scouring blogs for mentions of 'belief' (or acceptence of the scientific consensus) of global warming..."
It seems that "anonymous" has taken Goodman's advice. OpinionJournal reports:
"As the former Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Republican Jim Inhofe was a coruscating critic of climate change alarmism. Now in the minority, he plans to make sure his voice is heard over the din of the media-savvy environmental groups through a new blog."
The blog can be accessed here

Immanent Books

Two book reviews worth reading:
This one , a journalistic expose of a book (Jimmy Carter's masterpiece), and this one , a book of journalistic expose, about Ivy league admissions.

Ford Impressive in First 100 Days as Dead President
By Scott Ott, Editor-in-Chief, ScrappleFace.comNews Fairly Unbalanced. We Report. You Decipher.
(2007-01-13) — President Gerald R. Ford, who since his death last month has released a barrage of personal opinions about U.S. presidents and their policies, today announced a new program to overcome the devastating inflation that plagued his brief time in the White House.
Early on in his first 100 days as a dead president, Mr. Ford has already racked up a series of “impressive” accomplishments, including questioning the rationale for invading Iraq, calling former President Jimmy Carter a “disaster” and saying President Ronald Reagan was ignorant of government and a bad manager.
The late former president, best known for pardoning President Richard Nixon, said his new economic proposal would build on his previous ‘Whip Inflation Now’ campaign, that attempted to beat back consumer prices with distribution of attractive red buttons bearing the acronym WIN.
“I’ve always felt that a president can accomplish more from the casket than from the Oval Office,” Mr. Ford said. “That’s why I’ve waited until now to unleash my courageous opinions about Reagan, Carter and Bush.”
The 38th president said he enjoys leading the nation from the grave, “because there are no elections to lose, and no term limits.”


We at immanent eschaton would like to add that Ford has also done much since his demise to contribute toward national healing and hope that he takes the courageous step of pardoning President Bush.

Oddly Enough!

Bob Dylan bores me to tears -- Simon Cowell
Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:25am ET

LOS ANGELES, Jan 11 (Reuters Life!) - Don't expect to see Bob Dylan joining the celebrities on "American Idol" anytime soon.
One of the show's judges, Simon Cowell, says he has never bought a Dylan record because he "bores me to tears."
The British pop impresario says in the February issue of Playboy that he would "plug my ears and run in the other direction" if he were to see a 21-year-old Dylan singing "Blowin' in the Wind."

Reform Judaism and Jimmy Carter

Left-wing Jews start to realize they're in bed with the enemy.

The Israeli Defense Minister on the Threat to Israel

"If there is a danger to the state of Israel, it is the danger [presented by] a racist party like Israel Beiteinu."

The True Orthodoxy Test

The immanent eschaton staff has been divided over the following story from the Jerusalem Post. We therefore wish to submit the issue to our readers to decide: which side is right?

(Briefly, the two sides of the debate are: 1. if the guy now going to jail would have been a member of a religion where one can't wear wristbands on Tuesdays, he wouldn't be going to jail; he should not automatically be assumed to be worse than the Tuesday Wrist Worshipper.
2. The second argument, termed by its major proponent "The Reflexively-Anti-Ultra-Orthodox-Argument", goes as follows: he's ultra-orthodox, therefore the other side must be right.)

Please submit your thoughtful comments.

In fulfilling our creed, (see side for details) we have always attempted to exhaustively pursue second-order distractions--John Kerry always providing useful material--while leaving underexamined more fundamental issues, say, Iraq. Well, since Kerry has not yet announced his candidacy for the 2008 election, we would like to take this oppurtunity to aquaint our readership with another great thinker of the Democratic party, who in the past may have been overshadowed by the Sage of 2004. From Best of the Web: "John Edwards may be running for president again in 2008, but his latest effort is hardly a repeat performance of the 2004 campaign that catapulted him to the Democratic vice presidential nomination," reports the Buffalo News:
The former North Carolina senator says circumstances have changed, America has changed, and he has changed.
"In 2004 I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could be the best candidate possible," he said in Buffalo Saturday. "Now I think about being the best president I could be." . . .
He has taken his campaign to the next level, he said, by moving beyond identifying problems to identifying solutions.
"My thinking as a leader has evolved," he said. "Identifying a problem is not good enough, but taking action to solve it is key. . . ."
Wow, this "solutions" thing is going to revolutionize politics! And you thought Edwards was just another pretty face.

Top Courses This Semester

Read more here.