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L'Chaim and Shanah Tovah

dis-illusion-ment

Groveling for Broke




Look, it's really quite simple. I am ideologically opposed to groveling!

Whether it is John McCain casting everything of value aside for his last shot to be president, or trying to make a deal with BSBI, I don't go there.

Don’t get me wrong. You can look back in the posts of the Forum to see that I support the need for unity and growth in the Charleston Jewish community. I firmly believe that eventually the fragmented "orthodox" groups in Charleston will be united. But unification without a new standard of conduct is a sell-out. Dreams or no dreams, this is crystal clear! BSBI is not ready, and the time to negotiate is not now.

As always, History is calling. But, Don't Panic. Hold true to your principles, be clear about reality ( i.e. the facts as they have been tested over time), and don't back down. It has been shown, time-and-again and time-and-again and time-and-again: change does not come from within BSBI.

Do you want proof? Here is a simple example. Since the formation of the New West Ashley Minyan, BSBI has substantially improved its efforts to provide more than it used to. You can see it in your mail boxes - regular and electronic. There is more going on under the umbrella of BSBI, with the New WAM as a competitor, than there ever was with just the Minyan House as the "orthodox" annex. And I bet they fight less with each other now that they have us to unite over. Frankly, in a measured way for everyone, that's all to the good.

Now, I am no fan of Dennis Prager, but it is a custom of ours to acknowledge a source we like to quote, or parrot-phrase, and I heard this from him once, long ago, when he spoke in Charleston. It goes something like this - "the measure of a person's Un-happiness is in proportion to (their) expectations minus reality". There is pitfall and pain in Great Expectations!

The Pirkei Avot - aka the Ethics of the Fathers, touches the same matter as follows:

"Who is rich? One who is happy with his lot.
Who is wise? One who learns from everyone."

So, if I may conclude with my very own 90 percent rule:

"90 percent is 100 percent"

This is true of medical tests and treatments, and of the essence of negotiation. If you are getting 90 percent of everything that you want from a given deal, don't go for broke. Because broke is what you'll get.

And listen to me, as I speak more south'rn - if it ain't broke . . .
don' fix it . . .

Now, Ain' that the truth? . . . go figure . . .

Building the bridge-to-nowhere -

McCain's transformation

is simply a-Palin!

So here we are, long past the off-ramp of Bill Clinton's Bridge-to-the-Future, and what do we have? Well, we have a choice, actually. We can go for John McShame and his co-candidate-from-No!-where. Better yet, we can get B'rack-to-the-Future!

But beyond all the political clamoring, there is a sad side to this story, really. It is pitiful that a man, who once stood for so many things this country needs, has abandoned all his honorable principles in hopes of winning this presidential election. There are blizzards of irony here. Let's look at just one. How much must one do to deserve to be president? If John McCain, in the course of his amazing life, has not done enough to deserve to be president, who has?

So why is it that someone who rose so high, why is he groveling so before the people of this country? Because that is what he is doing.

McCain, who said he would never put anything before his country, has put winning this election before his country by selecting Ms Palin. He said he was opposed to Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, now he says he'll keep them. He not only tolerates the "agents of intolerance", now he seeks them out to endorse and support him. How are the mighty fallen?

It's really quite simple. In 2000, John McCain deserved the presidency in every respect, and the Republican Party … turned …. him …. down!

Sometimes history demands that one recognize the truth, as painful as it might be. Some describe the experience as "becoming disillusioned". In essence, it means taking stock of your illusions. And when you do that, you set yourself free. Because when you recognize an illusion, you are no longer bound by it. History made that call to John McCain in 2000.

In 2000, John McCain deserved the presidency like no other person in the land. In 2000, he was still the great man that I prefer to remember, as compared to who and what he is now. What McCain needed to see then was not that he did not deserve to be president, but that the Republican Party did not deserve him.

But in 2000, John McCain missed history's calling.

Joe Lieberman is, in just one way, the example that shows where McCain has failed to live up to his own expectations (never mind yours or mine!). In 2006, Lieberman held to his principles on the Iraq war, against a rising tide of opposition to the war in the base of his party. In consequence, he lost the Democratic primary for his senate seat. He held to his principles, like a rock, even though his future was on . . . the . . . line. With no other choice, then, Lieberman ran as an Independent, and the citizenry returned him to his place. That is gutsy, folks. That is answering the call of history!

Sadly, having answered history time and again, John McCain came up short in 2000. He should have become what he was, an Independent.

It's too late for that now. If the country elects John McCain to the presidency in 08, it will be handing him something he deserved long ago, but that is now beyond his ability to fulfill successfully. That is the call history has placed to the US electorate - to us, now!

History demands that we recognize this, as painful as it may be. So, let's take a page from Ms Palin's playbook: We need the candidate-from-nowhere like we need the bridge-to-nowhere!

Let us choose both grace and optimism, because in Obama we finally have a chance to get B'rack-to-the-Future.

Disturbing trends . . .

. . . from a bearish market - this just in!

Just like their tree-hugging supporters, bears and other critters are getting used to government-sponsored hand-outs, just like the good fella pictured here.

But what it really boils down to (other than peanuts, that is) is that bears are twice as smart as half the US electorate. It's a pity these bears can't vote!

And it's not just a matter of what's in your wallet, but which half of the electorate are you in?