HAPPY 64TH BIRTHDAY ISRAEL

Enjoy this video .
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-80McB_HM&feature=player_embedded

FACT OR FICTION? Does it really matter?
  
 New way to think about how Moses fed everyone.
 Read and feel comforted.
 Amazing Data on Moses
 
 Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them?
 
 They had to be fed,  and feeding 2 or 3 million people  require a lot of food.
 
 According to the Quartermaster General:
 In the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.
 Do you know that to bring that much food each day,  two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would be required!
 Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food.

This would take 4000 tons of wood  and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day.
 And just think,  they were forty years in transit.
 And Oh yes! They would have to have water.
 If they only had enough to drink  and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day and a freight train with tank cars,
 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
 And then another thing!
 They had to get across the Red Sea at night.
 
 Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through.
 So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
 But then, there is another problem.
 Each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long.
 Think of it! This much space for camping.
 
 Do you think Moses figured all this out  before he left Egypt? I think not!
 You see, Moses believed in God.
 God took care of these things for him.
 
 Now do you think God  has any problem taking care of all your needs?
 Our God is an Awesome God!
 So when the road you're traveling on seems difficult at best,  just remember,  keep on praying,  and God will do the rest.
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NOW FOR SOME REAL HISTORICAL FACTS.

In 1954, when Ben Gurion was prime minister, he travelled to the USA to meet with President Eisenhower to request his assistance and support in the early and difficult days of the State of Israel. John Foster Dulles who was the then secretary of state confronted Ben Gurion and challenged him as follows:

“Tell me, Mr. Prime Minister – who do you and your state represent? Does it represent the Jews of Poland, perhaps Yemen , Romania , Morocco , Iraq , Russia or perhaps Brazil ? After 2000 years of exile can you honestly speak about a single nation, a single culture? Can you speak about a single heritage or perhaps a single Jewish tradition?”

Ben Gurion answered him as follows:

“Look, Mr Secretary of State – approximately 300 years ago the Mayflower set sail from England and on it were the first settlers who settled in what would become the largest democratic superpower known as the United States of America. Now, do me a favour - go out into the streets and find 10 American children and ask them the following:

·         What was the name of the Captain of the Mayflower?

·         How long did the voyage take?

·         What did the people who were on the ship eat?

·         What were the conditions of sailing during the voyage?

I’m sure you would agree with me that there is a good chance that you won’t get a good answer to these questions.

Now in contrast – not 300 but more than 3000 years ago, the Jews left the land of Egypt . I would kindly request from you Mr. Secretary that on one of your trips around the world, try and meet 10 Jewish children in different countries. And ask them:

·         What was the name of the leader who took the Jews out of Egypt ?

·         How long did it take them before they got to the land of Israel ?

·         What did they eat during the period when they were wondering in the desert?

·         And what happened to the sea when they encountered it

            Once you get the answers to these questions, please carefully consider the question that you have just asked me!”

THE IRON ORCHID: Aung San Suu Kyii film, "The Lady"

I have just seen this wonderful and touching film, the story of the leader of Burma's Pro-Democracy Movement for over some three and a half decades. The film was panned by the critics, but it is the critics who should be panned and banned from daring to so downgrade this wonderful human story and a film about such an important leader and her people.This film depicts not only the family's struggle that this heroine had and still has to endure, but also the people's struggle for freedom and human rights in that poor but beautiful Buddhist country in the middle of Asia.

I feel that the film was instigated by her British-born  children for their late father, Professor Michael Aris to give the world his and their side of the story and their father's devotion to this unbelievably brave lady whom they adore and who her husband seems to have dubbed "the iron orchid". As much as I was not happy with the film of that other leader, "The Iron Lady" and the way poor Margaret Thatcher's current Altzheimer situation was highlighted in that film, I and Ernie absolutley loved the way Suu, her struggle and her family were depicted in this film.

My personal interest in Aung San Suu Kyii's plight goes back a long way. In the mid 1990s when I was ICJW Vice President for Australia and Suu was first placed under house arrest, I contacted her husband in England with the idea of getting an international women's movement to take up her cause via the UN and the Commission on the Status of Women. I got his address from the British Consul (a funny story in itself, see later) and when he replied he asked me not to proceed as he felt that too much attention would jeopardise her position even further. So obviously I did not go on with this project, but in the film it shows how much he apparently worked internationally to try to influence the Burmese junta to release her.

The Burmese Generals' cruelty and inhumanity towards her and particularly towards her supporters would be unbelievable, but for the fact that I am far too familiar with plenty of other similar despotic regimes and their inhuman and inhumane behaviour towards their fellow countrymen,- still going on today there and in plenty of other places as well! The actors, particularly 'Suu' bear an unbelievable resemblance to the real people. Many of the scenes were authentic from the era and even some more contemporary as from today,- the credits at the end testify to the courage of some of the journalists responsible for these.

RE MY CONTACTS WITH THE BRITISH CONSUL AND HIS WIFE IN MELBOURNE AT THE TIME OF THE ABOVE.
The NCJW Victorian premises happened to be adjacent to a UNICEF office manned by volunteers. One of the volunteers was the wife of the British Consul who walked in one day curious to see what NCJW was all about. She came from Leeds and mentioned she had many Jewish acquaintaces there. Then one day we got a phone call  to ask how she can get in touch with our leadership as she had a request from a British wife of a Parliamentarian visitng Melbourne with her husband, to meet "the Jewish fraternity" in Melbourne. They happened to belong to a Parliamentary group, "Friends of Israel" and she wanted to make some contacts with like minded people here.

It happened to be at the time not only Good Friday, but like this year, also the eve of Passover when I got the call from our office asking me what to do about it. When I rang back to the Consul's wife to try and explain that while we are part of the "Jewish sorority, rather than fraternity', nevertheless most of the Jewish community cannot officially partake of foods that were not specifically Kosher during the week of the Passover 8-day religious holiday! Oh, she said,- no problem. Just tell me what to make,- I want you to come for lunch and my caterer will make whatever you want him to prepare.

Since that was still not OK, I suggested to her our Kosher caterer who then would bring his own crockery and cutlery and then everything would be fine for those in our community who are strictly observant. So it came to pass that about 8 NCJW senior members, together with the Consul's wife and her VIP English guest ( a member of a distinguished business family) sat down to a full Kosher catered Passover lunch in the beautiful dining room of the British Consul's home in Toorak.

After that we became firm friends while they were stationed in Melbourne. They attended many of the formal functions at NCJWV. Then one day we received an invitation to sponsor them while they were embarking on a farewell driving holiday around Victoria, by guessing the number of miles/kms. they would cover, with the first prize a whole case of Irish whisky! Guess what,- she turned up on my doorstep one morning with half a case, i.e 6 bottles of the best whisky,- I tied for first prize! She continued writing to some of us for a while from their next posting in China, saying how much they missed us all in Melbourne!

Watching the film about this warm human story,-a tragic yet uplifting saga of a family destined for sacrifice and greatness, I could not help but be very moved. I pray for Aung San Suu Kyii and her people who seem to be a very nice and gentle, warm people made up of various tribal cultures, that they may eventually succeed to achieve that which we all wish for ourselves,- to live in peace and freedom.

GOD & RELIGION or Godless Religion!

MEDIA RELEASE
13 April 2012

Atheist Alliance International congratulates the 2012 Global Atheist Convention, A Celebration of Reason

The 2012 Global Atheist Convention, A Celebration of Reason will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre this weekend, 13 - 15 April.

Arranged and hosted by the Atheist Foundation of Australia, A Celebration of Reason will feature some of the world's leading atheist speakers including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Elton and Eugenie Scott.

Atheist Alliance International will be represented at the Convention by Tanya Smith, President, and Victor Franco, Director. Tanya Smith said "With thousands attending, this will be the largest atheist convention ever, anywhere. Followed by atheist conventions in the Philippines, Canada and Germany over the next month or so, A Celebration of Reason is a leading example of atheists being visible, organised and saying 'the damage done to our society by religion has got to stop'. It will be a fantastic weekend of rational thought and a unique opportunity to hear from this group of world-class speakers."
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TWO MILLENIA OF GUILT RESULTED IN CARDINAL PELLS' FAUX PAS on Q&A!

ABC'S TV progam Q&A featured leading UK atheist, Richard Dawkins and the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Pell debating "GOD"!

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The Jewish community was rightly up in arms at the way Cardinal Pell referred to the Jews as 'culturally inferior' at the time of The Exodus as featured in the Bible and more tellingly he avoided answering re where was God during the Holocaust,- answering instead that 'no people suffered more than the Germans'!!!

In defence of Cardinal Pell though on Q&A, it must be understood that the issue being debated was “God”,- not the Jews or the Holocaust.

Asking for an explanation is one thing, attacking the Archbishop as the community did in the pages of the Australian Jewish News for his off-the cuff comments in that testing environment is another.

Given the guilt carried by the Christian Churches and doubtlessly well understood by the Archbishop re the teachings of the Catholic Churches in particular for over 2 thousand years about supposed  ‘Jewish guilt’ over ‘deicide’, how could he turn around and ‘blame God’ for not protecting the Jews in the Holocaust?

It was obvious that Cardinal Pell tried to infer that the evil perpetrators,- i.e. the ‘suffering Germans’ not Christianity ,- were punished severely (by God!)

He asserted that Hitler and the Nazis were atheists like Stalin and the Communists,  not Christians, - which Dawkins strongly refuted!

 Let’s face it,- our continued Jewish survival and now our thriving national identity in Israel must be a source of deep embarrassment not only to Christianity but to all those who want to claim that only their religious belief systems are the pure road to salvation for humankind.

Trying to counter Dawkins’ taunts re ‘proof’ for the religious’ claims of a heaven for their followers and hell for non-believers like the atheists (and Jews!), was obviously making Cardinal Pell quite uncomfortable,- as it should have. But I think he did quite well in defending the indefensible on behalf of his religion.

 However, he came across very uncomfortable and not at all convinced about his own, let alone God’s and religion’s role in society today!

I don’t think he should have accepted to come onto the Q&A program on that topic. He is in enough trouble over the Church’s role in the sex scandals permeating over decades in their schools

Should we not reserve our Jewish media attacks for real enemies and anti-Semites.-  so we may not be accused of crying wolf too often in our multicultural democracy? In my opinion, we should have dialogue with those from other faiths whom we would not wish to alienate.

Re the existence or not of a God,- i.e the belief systems enshrined in all the religions supporting such a mythical being looking over us mortals,- I do not see that there need to be a conflict. If it is comforting for people who are suffering to believe in this almighty supremo or God is there to help them,- then why not give them that support. Atheism is OK for the realists,- and as one myself and a scientist I do not submit to this belief in  a real God existing somewhere up there in heaven.

However, I do like to say 'please God' when I wish for something good to happen or something bad not to happen! Why not? On the other hand, there is also millenia of Jewish tradition that has little to do with having to believe,- it is part of our culture and it is what our communities are all about.

What I certainly do not subscribe to and in that I probably have this in common with the atheists,- is to be told by humans,- partyicularly as usual it is always the MEN,- who try to scare their flock with fire and brimstone if they do not subscribe to their particular belief system. Moreover, they then impose severe punishments, sometimes to death, if whatever they order to do and how to behave is not followed to the letter! That is what the organized religions try to do sometimes to extreme!

If religion is a sop to the masses, particularly the uneducated masses, as the Communists believe, then so be it. Misuse of religion however, leading to ethnic persecution of its non-adherents and ethnic cleansing for the non-believers will hopefully disappear from the face of the earth,- together with those who try to impose it on the weak and unscrupulous followers.

EASTER is approaching. Peace on earth? We wish!

Let us start with people,- especially the politicians. The u-tube video below is hilarious, but it is factual: real politicians acting in the most unpolitical way!

SL-Project "????????" - YouTube

The ABC 'Q&A' program on Monday 26/3/2012 in Australia had quite a slinging match between the opposing politicians on the panel. They were told off by the audience.

In general, in response to a question from the floor re why the standard of debate in Parliament is so low when it should be a role model for the public instead of  being so confrontational,-the politicians tried to explain that it is not personal,- they are mates outside the Chamber and go to have a beer together! But they do love to argue and are passionate in what they believe.

There is a difference between having a good argument about an issue and becoming personally abusive.This is how unfortunately, many domestic violence cases start: the domestic argument degenerates into personal verbal abuse,- and sometimes physical!

Just like those politicians in the video.

I have experienced recently a case of road-rage. Having narrowly avoided a minor car collision, the other driver stopped his car in front of me in the middle of a busy road. The car was slightly old, but the male driver, a big burly man, was dressed in a white shirt and dark pants,- quite presentable about 45-50years old. When he got out of the car, I could see the saliva dripping from his mouth like a mad dog and he started to shout at me while still a distance from my car!

I sat quietly and stared at him through my dark sun-glasses. He continued calling me all sorts of names while still salivating,- never mind that he was the one trying to overtake me on the wrong side!I was totally unmoved by him and his anger,- all I could think of was that he is in line for a heart attack or stroke,- plus I would hate to be his mother or wife or any female in his family. I am convinced that that personality would be a domestic violence perpetrator!

Perhaps the politicians should explain before each argument:"it is not personal, but............." to teach our younger folk how to argue and debate rather than 'fight'!

HAPPY EASTER AND HAPPY PASSOVER!

MAY WE ALL PRAY FOR PEACE ON EARTH, BUT LET US START RIGHT HERE AT HOME, IN OUR STREETS AND WHEREVER WE ARE.

AGEING: ARE WE PREPARED?

"AND IF WE ALL LIVED TOGETHER" is a 2011 French film which was shown as part of the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, March 2012.

Plot (Wikipedia)

Jean (Bedos) is a romantic revolutionary, yet enjoys the spoils of a bourgeois lifestyle with his wife, Annie (Chaplin). Annie, a retired psychiatrist, who complains about not being able to see enough of her children and assorted grandchildren. Albert (Richard), is a friendly yet senile man, this is in contrast with his energetic American wife Jeanne (Fonda). Jeanne's a former university lecturer, who is suffering from cancer.
Claude (Rich), a widow, is an aging womanizer with an appetite for pursuits with prostitutes. Claude suffers a heart attack from walking up too many flights of stairs up, on the way to visiting one of his lady friends. Rather than seeing him in a retirement home, his friends decide they should all live together in Annie and Jean's large home. They are joined by Dirk, a young German ethnology student, researching France's aging population.^[3][4]

 Cast Jane Fonda as Jeanne and Geraldine Chaplin as Annie

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This delightful French quasi-comedy was more insightful and realistic than just comedic. Most of the seniors in the audience laughed in recognition of the reality of self than because of the  jokes!

One of the many clever observations that (French speaking) Jane Fonda makes to the young student is;" we insure against everything, including our lives when we die, but we don't insure ourselves against getting old while alive!" She challenges and embarrasses the young man constantly with her observations re, e.g., the sexuality of the aged (You can be my grandmother, for heavens sake!); whether he really loves his fiancee, (though he confesses that he prefers bosomy sexy girls, which she is not. In the end Jane provides him with just such a girl);with the young man eventually being persuaded to move in to become the old people's very caring carer in the house, instead of just a daily dog-walker as he was originally employed!

The ageing characters portray the various types of ageing,- with the gradual physical, mental and emotional deterioration that old age can bring about eventually to everyone!
 At the same time, the bonding of the old friends is very comforting and reassuring in spite of their difficulties!
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This couple did not need insurance for their old age. See video
If this video doesn't deserve to go viral, I don't know what does. Enjoy .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2LyNAxcRlo


You gotta watch this.

(Video by Paul Duhon Videography Orlando, FL)
64 years after eloping this couple finally got the wedding they deserve and if that alone didn't make it an event for the ages the bride also celebrating her 100th birthday.

Proposed Government Anti-Racism Strategy

Have your say on the National Anti-Racism Strategy

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is supporting the Australian Human Rights Commission and its partners in holding public consultations over the next few months as part of the development of the National Anti-Racism Strategy.

The aim of the strategy is to promote a clear understanding in the Australian community of what racism is and how it can be prevented and reduced.
The Australian Government committed to developing a National Anti-Racism Strategy in Australia’s multicultural policy, The People of Australia. It is anticipated the strategy will be launched in July 2012 and implemented between 2012 and 2015.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke is leading the development of the strategy. She is very keen to hear how racism affects communities around Australia, and what we should be doing about it.

Consultations will be held on:

• Melbourne: Friday 30 March, 10am–12pm in the Temlee Room, The Meadows, 80 Northcorp Blvd, Broadmeadows
• Mildura: Tuesday 10 April, 1.30pm–3.30pm at Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities’ Council, 38-40 Madden Avenue, Mildura
• Shepparton: Wednesday 11 April, 4pm–6pm at Rumbalara Football and Netball Club, Mercury Drive, Shepparton

“Racism is like a disease- It is brainwashed into children from their peers and parents- grandparents- fear of the unknown—so it is bad and must be attacked!

Education and understanding is the only way to approach the issue.” (From an Australian leader who experienced it first hand.)

If anyone watched the INSIGHT program on SBS, re “we are not racist but…”,- they mentioned this Government initiative.

 http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/

It’s worth looking it up on the SBS website. There were some good points made,- but no other conclusion than that we are all influenced by what happens around us.

What I found interesting though was the feeling that we are all more worried about us not to be identified with the negative stereotypes of our own ethnic groups.

But does assessing this negativity make us racists against our own?
So what does the word "racism" actually mean?

Obviously we are all guilty of disliking the ‘ugly…….nationals’,- but we don’t hate them and we are hardly going to kill them! That is not racism. That is a personal feeling of dislike of an individual or a group of individuals.

I call racism the total negativity about a whole ethnic group leading to discrimination.

What to do about ‘racism’ was not exactly clear to anyone,- except to learn more about each other! Most people (80%)tested negatively against minority groups, which shocked them.

The reality is that most people, if they have not experienced it themselves are very naïve about what racism is all about and its dangers! Derogatory remarks in themselves may not be racist,- but continuously repeated do become racist!

Personally, from experience with anti-Semitism, I believe that dangerous racism is a mixture of ‘nurturing hatreds’, -fed through generations via family and ‘tribal’ jealousies, religious institutions and political exploitations of the masses and ignorant individuals. As quoted above, some inbibe it "with their mothers' milk"- a common saying!

An individual has just murdered kids in a Jewish Day School in supposedly tolerant, multicultural France. This is the type of racism which hopefully we will never see here in Oz.

But security has been tightened in the Jewish community,- at great cost!

 All schools as well as NGOs should play their part in the prevention of dangerous racism through educating for tolerance and involving  more ethnic groups and individuals in their ranks  so that all learn about each other.

SOME CYNICS' VIEWS OF OUR SOCIETY

When the government doesn't like the newspapers and the people don't like the taxes which the government imposes, then the clever cynics have a field day!

This set of quotes has been around for a long time but just a reminder..... 1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. -- John Adams 2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain 3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain 4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill 5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw 6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy 7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994) 8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University 9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian 10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat, French economist(1801-1850) 11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986) 12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers 13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! -- P.J. O'Rourke 14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire (1764) 15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! Pericles (430 B.C.) 16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain (1866) 17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. -- Anonymous 18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan 19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill 20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain 21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903) 22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress. -- Mark Twain 23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995) 24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Thomas Jefferson 25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -- Aesop FIVE BEST SENTENCES: 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity. But sharing it around is wise:  wealth accumulation encourages revolt. 2. What one person receives without working for...another person must work for without receiving. Earning is better for the soul than loafing. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. Share fairly and share alike. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it,- unless each of its parts is reinvested wisely! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  And I say that a safe democracy depends on the middle keeping the Right and Left extremes well apart. If they don't, they end up getting squashed in the middle and over run.  I worry when any government of the day tries to shut down its media critics,- whether of the R or L.