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Sunday kittyblogging

Posted on December 9th, 2007 at 5:03 pm by Meryl Yourish.

Filed under: Cats

When you run out of things to say, put up cat pictures, is my motto. Okay, well, it isn’t really, but it works for me.

First, Gracie in the new kitty condo.

Gracie in the new kitty condo

She is, of course, her usual dignified (slightly pissy in this photo) self.

Next, Tig the goofball in the new kitty condo:

Tig in the new kitty condo

It’s one of his most common—and least dignified—poses, and I can’t resist getting as many pictures as possible of it.

Now we have a shot of Gracie in the kitty condo when Tig wants to be in it. There was a brief battle over possession. Gracie lost. She always loses.

Tig and Gracie in the new kitty condo

And last, we have one of the cool kitty tube in the guest room at Janet and Chris’, where I stay when I have overnight meetings at work, or just want to hang out with Janet and Chris and friends and do things like learn how to shoot or something.

Having fun in the cat tube

I would love to tell you that the top of the photo is not my finger, but I keep forgetting where the lens is on this camera and wind up with bits of my forefinger in various shots. Oh, well. Someday I’ll learn.

Eight Video Nights of Hanukkah: Sixth night

Posted on December 9th, 2007 at 4:00 pm by Meryl Yourish.

Filed under: Holidays, Music, Religion

Reader chsw gave me this one, which started the trend of Chanukah/Hanukkah videos. It’s a Tom Lehrer cover with a little topping of South Park at the end.

Sixth light

More Chanukah videos

Posted on December 9th, 2007 at 11:30 am by Meryl Yourish.

Filed under: Holidays, Music

Another one from Sabba Hillel, with some pretty great video.

2007: Now, with fewer Menorah vandalizations, but more anti-Semitism

Posted on December 9th, 2007 at 6:00 am by Meryl Yourish.

Filed under: Anti-Semitism

Apparently, Jews are off the hit list this year. I couldn’t find many menorah-vandalizing stories at all this year.

The Stony Point town hall menorah was vandalized, but that’s about all. Of course, there was the run-of-the-mill anti-Semitic vandalization of a Chabad house at Indiana University, but hey, that’s just your typical anti-Semitic prankster having a little fun, throwing a beer bottle through a window, and removing the word “Jewish” from the “Jewish Student Center” letters on the front of the house.

Anti-Semitism is the one hatred that never, ever goes out of style, and it’s also the one that people almost never have to pay for. Just ask Congressman Jim Moran. Or the Palestinian Authority. Or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Or the Economist, that insists that there is no anti-Semitism at all in the current uproar over the David Abrahams scandal, even though shadowy Zionist conspiracy theories have been raised from the get-go. The problem, you see, isn’t the anti-Semitic articles, pictures, and comments being thrown. Listen to what the Economist says the real problem is:

The real cause of the syndrome is subtler than that. It is a vague but powerful sense, which many immigrant antennae pick up, that there is somewhere an inner sanctum of Britishness, an elusive top table, to which, by reason of birth and class, the newcomer is not invited, ostensibly welcomed though he may be. Finding a way to it, through lavish acts of patriotism or patronage, becomes for some a mission more compelling than money. Three or four generations in, most Jews have outgrown those neuroses; but some haven’t, and other, newer ethnic groups, such as some Anglo-Indians, have acquired them.

You see? It isn’t anti-Semitism. The problem here is that silly Jew, David Abrahams, trying to prove to the Brits that he’s mastered his inferiority complext. And gee, nice way of looking at the reason Jews give charity. It couldn’t possibly be because that has been part and parcel of our religion for millennia. No. It has to be because we were poor a few generations ago, so we understand what it’s like to be poor, and give accordingly. Tzedakah? Never heard of it. Maimonides Eight Levels of Charity? Shyeah, why would that have anything to do with Jews giving money?

For every post on anti-Semitism you read here, there are dozens of stories that I refuse to write about. I won’t even link that one directly (thank you, tinyurl!). It’s typically despicable drek by an asswipe who can’t write, but thinks he can; can’t reason, but thinks he can; and can’t cope with his own horrid little life, but thinks he can blame the Jews for all the wrongs in it. Shyeah. Rogue elements in the U.S. government, in association with the Mossad or other Israeli intelligence services, are responsible for 9/11. Someone get “George” back on his meds; he’s suffering from delusions again.