Quote Time + Correction

"Which is better -- runs the endless question -- a republic or a monarchy? The dispute always resolves itself into an agreement that it is a very difficult business to govern men. The Jews had G-d Himself for their master, and see what has happened to them as a result: nearly always have they been oppressed and enslaved and even today they do not appear to cut a very pretty figure."

-Francois-Maries Arouet de Voltaire

So even with G-d Himself "governing" the Jews, we still ended up being screwed? And that's because it's so hard to govern men? Is that what Voltaire is saying? Guess he didn't believe in G-d as much as he claimed he did, considering he didn't think "G-d Himself" could take care of things...

It was the, "even today they do not appear to cut a very pretty figure," part that cracked me up.


Corrections from my, "W - The President" post:

1) The Jewish Journal apparently is not affiliated with the Jewish Federation, as someone with the name, "JewishJournal.com" mentioned in the comment section.

2) The, "Olmert's popularity ratings go up - to 3%" headline was on the Jewish Journal's Purim cover, so it might not be a correct statistic.

W - The President

I'm in the library right now doing some work and I'm wearing one of my, "W - The President" baseball caps. The one I'm wearing now is the less "obnoxious" one; it's black and says, "W" on the front and, "The President" on the back. I bought it during the 2004 election, when I was helping with the Bush campaign.

My other "W" hat says, "W - STILL the President," on it. I bought that one after Bush won. It was a, "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah, we won!" hat. I wore it for Purim that first year and got maybe one look in shul.

Right now, I'm getting tons of them. Every person who walks by is eying me like I'm a child of the devil.

I know I'm one of the last remaining few who still likes Dubya. Especially here in Democrat-blue-country California. I haven't looked at his popularity ratings in a while, but I know they're in the dregs.

They are better than Olmert's, though that's not saying much. I picked up a copy of, "The Jewish Journal," today, a truly awful excuse for a newspaper here in LA put out by the Jewish Federation, and on the cover it announced, "OLMERT'S APPROVAL RATING GOES UP -- TO 3%"

But Olmert truly deserves his ratings. He's a terrible Prime Minister. Bush, however... If I were to say this aloud I'd likely be stoned with rotten vegetables, but he really hasn't done such a bad job as President. That's just a fact.

But people don't care about facts when it comes to Bush. They just plain hate him. "He's dumb and evil!" they declare. "Bush is today's Hitler!" liberals scream.

How is it that everyone has forgotten Saddam Hussein? How he gassed and tortured his own people? Does that sound familiar to anyone else?

And then everyone whines and cries about Bush going into Iraq. Forget the fact that he went in with Congressional approval so every member of Congress who voted to go to war is just as liable as him; how can any Jewish person in the world not rejoice in the downfall of Saddam Hussein, the mini-Hitler of our time?

Or, since Purim just passed, the true Haman of our time. Didn't anyone else see the picture of Jewish U.S. troops celebrating Purim in the palace of Saddam Hussein, of cursed memory?

Jewish philosophy teaches that it's our job to take the sparks of negative energy into the world and turn them into sparks of positive, G-dly energy. If celebrating Purim in Saddam Hussein's palace isn't flipping the evil sparks of Saddam's reign onto their collective backs, throwing them into G-dliness, I don't know what is.

How can a Jew still hate Bush, seeing this? Seriously; I know I have readers who dislike Bush -- explain it to me!

Seven Kids...

Mommy Duty

It's been a little while. I've been incredibly busy lately; it's got something to do with babysitting a toddler and an infant. A lot.

I assure you, my awe of full-time mothers has grown from this experience. So has my determination that I don't know if I could ever be one.

Maybe it's different when it's your own child and when I have children, G-d willing, I will want to stay home taking care of them all day. As of now, though, I really don't know if I have the right temperament. I was exhausted just from watching these kids for a few hours a day and it threw my schedule off because I wasn't used to:

a) Having to wake up so early
b) Having a hard time taking care of all my other responsibilities because I was so exhausted

I adore these kids, (and I'm not just saying that in case their parents read this blog - I really do,) and appreciated the time that I had with them, but it was not easy. I only had to do it for a few hours a day for a week and a half; I can't imagine doing it all day permanently.

That's not to say that I couldn't do it. I worked in a preschool for two years and, though it was excruciatingly hard work, really loved the kids and, (without sounding too egotistical,) know that did a pretty good job taking care of them. I also know that I took excellent care of the children in my charge over the past week and a half.

But it was so hard! How anyone could do that all day, I really don't know. At the same time, I do believe that if you're going to have kids, you'd better be ready and willing to do everything that you have to to take care of their best interests.

I just wonder whether it would really be in the best interest of my children for me to be a full-time mother. Isn't it possible that I would be a better mother if I wasn't completely exhausted all the time from taking care of a home and children?

I know that this isn't an opinion valued in the frum community, but could there be any validity in it?

Quote Time

"Fish have large heads, but these are void of sense, like the heads of many men."

-Julien Offray de la Mettrie

In the midst of my rather boring textbook reading, there was this little gem. Ain't it quaint?

The 'Clinton-Worship-Fest' Book Signing

I went to the Dee Dee Myers book signing that I mentioned in an earlier post. You know, the, "Why Women Should Rule the World," book.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I should have expected it to be a liberal-fest but for some reason I didn't expect people to be so incredibly partisan that they couldn't see past the noses on their faces.

It was Clinton (mostly Hillary, but not exclusively,) worship all around. I felt like a squirrel in a room full of resting dogs; as long as I stayed quiet, I would be fine, but the second I made a peep, they'd pounce.

I arrived early because I wanted to get a seat. There were only two other people there when I got there and they were talking up a storm about hating Republicans and loving the Clintons while I sat quietly and read one of my textbooks. I was interrupted by a woman asking me:

"Would you like a Hillary bumper sticker?"

I almost laughed but managed to make it just a smile when I replied, "No thanks." I was the only one in the growing crowd who refused.

Let's forget the crowd, among which I'm pretty sure were a few lesbian women, (I've never quite been looked at by a woman the way a few of those ladies looked at me,) and at least one gay man, (his, "Wow, those are great boots, though they wouldn't look good on me," comment when he sat down next to me clued me in.)

It was not a scene I, as a frum woman was in any way accustomed to, but I stayed because I wanted to see what Dee Dee had to say.

Her opening was a joke. A Rush Limbaugh joke. A little girl saying her mom is gonna kill her because she saved Rush Limbaugh's life joke.

It got a hearty laugh from the crowd and Dee Dee admitted, "This has nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about today but any chance I get to bash Rush Limbaugh, I do."

A disparaging George W. Bush came a few seconds later.

Again, I shouldn't have been surprised by the partisanship of it all, considering Dee Dee worked for the Clinton administration; I guess I was naive to think that a book signing would be about the book there to be signed.

Needless to say, I left early. Dee Dee made some good points, (which I'll talk about another time,) but the Q&A session was all about Hillary v. Obama, why people hate the Clintons, (they all seemed so shocked by it, somehow,) and life working for Bill Clinton, and I'd really had enough.

It took hours for me to get over the sickened feeling I had when I left. You need a strong stomach to handle one, let alone a room full of, people who love the Clintons.

Photo Credit: Me.