gdp's Comments

Jewish Daily Forward : Matzoh Beer? Drink Up! – Jew and the Carrot – Forward.com

Thu, 8 Nov 2012 13:58:38 +0000

st paddy's day is okay by me, and if they want to drink food colouring in their beer, hey, that's their business. but i do have one big reservation about "matzoh beer", namely that many people will, through ignorance, assume that it's somehow kosher for passover, when it's nothing of the kind.

Jewish Daily Forward : Matzoh Beer? Drink Up! – Jew and the Carrot – Forward.com

Thu, 8 Nov 2012 13:55:12 +0000

fair enough, but would it taste like beer? like most "faux" products made for passover, i would guess that it isn't worth the effort - i'll just wait 8 days and eat/drink the real thing.

Jewish Daily Forward : Matzoh Beer? Drink Up! – Jew and the Carrot – Forward.com

Wed, 7 Nov 2012 21:11:59 +0000

or, rather, it's a lose-lose proposition: the beer makes it not kosher for pesach, and the matzah doesn't make it a better beer, either. what ever happened to just making a good beer, without all the gimmickry?

Jewish Daily Forward : Matzoh Beer? Drink Up! – Jew and the Carrot – Forward.com

Wed, 7 Nov 2012 21:09:11 +0000

beer, by definition, is hametz and not kosher for pesach!

Jewish Daily Forward : The Courage of a Girl – Forward.com

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:22:59 +0000

you're really stretching it, aren't you? the only thing that's "obvious" is your unswerving support for the savages. malala yousafzai was shot at point blank range by a man who asked for her by name.

Jewish Daily Forward : The Courage of a Girl – Forward.com

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:41:48 +0000

this is just a desperate attempt to find moral equivalency, where none exists. the operator of the drone was not deliberately aiming to kill abdul rahman al-awlaki. the rules of engagement, and the mandate of the cia do not permit it. shooting american citizens is not what they are supposed to do. and there was quite a lot of political fallout from the mistake. the savage who shot malala yousefzai asked for her by name and shot her at point blank range. the savages even applauded the shooting. no mistakes, no accidents, no unintended collateral damage, and no apologies. and no "moral equivalence".

Jewish Daily Forward : Jewish Romney Voters Are Fig Leaf for Christian Right – Forward.com

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:20:43 +0000

"It is severe to throw millions of young black and latino men into prisons for non-violent offenses (such as smoking pot) while we cut funding for schools and jobs training programs." good line, but... those people in prison for smoking pot are there already, and a good portion of them were put there during obama's presidency. i haven't seen any move by president obama to release them, or to decriminalize marijuana. and i don't think the democratic party included decriminalization in its platform, but i could be pleasantly surprised... i also didn't hear much about legal reform, from anybody, to help poor people get better representation, and to reduce the "one law for the rich, and one law for the poor" reality that is the current court system.

Jewish Daily Forward : Jewish Romney Voters Are Fig Leaf for Christian Right – Forward.com

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:05:30 +0000

"It is severe to push Israel into perpetual conflict and war with its neighbors without offering a plan for peace with the Palestinians." just to keep the record straight, obama's plan for "peace" is word-for-word the same as george bush's - dubya officially announced american support for a "two-state solution" (sic), EXCEPT that barack obama has added one key phrase: "on the 1967 lines". never before has any american president, nor has the united nations, advocated israel's retreat to the same indefensible borders that started the 1967 war. it is unprecedented under international law, against israel's security interests, and certainly did NOT lead to peace in the past. (as a wise man once said: it is insane to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.)

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:29:28 +0000

sorry to burst your bubble, but the "certain girl" thing really isn't in the pshat. and no amount of stomping your feet and holding your breath will change that. nor will straw man arguments about burning holy books and throwing jewish identity into the trash. any more than calling everyone who disagrees with you a "racist".

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:23:42 +0000

the 1.5 million refugees from the former soviet union, 30% of the then population of israel, is patently false? or do only "certain colors" qualify as refugees? and the jewish refugees from arab countries, estimates range from half a million to over a million, in 1948, which equalled or exceeded the population? that is also patently false? or, for some reason, maybe jewish refugees don't count, for you?

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:12:45 +0000

thank you for sharing your "new revelations" with us. some might still prefer the torah, to which we are commanded to not add or subtract a letter. but i still don't quite understand how other people's views (mostly other jews) become transformed into "hatred" and "racism". unless that's also one of your "new revelations".

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:56:09 +0000

and some israelis claim refugee status in canada http://www.thestar.com/news/article/175544--israe... and http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4204534... . the political situation in egypt doesn't make sudanese refugees into an israeli problem. this too is "obvious".

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:47:17 +0000

regardless of the conditions in eritrea, why israel? why do they cross several other. less wealthy, states to come to israel? it was never the intent of the refugee convention to facilitate such economic migrations. they are supposed to seek asylum in the first country they arrive in. (which is almost never israel.) previous waves of refugees, such as the hungarians of 1956, were put up in refugee camps (in austria). they certainly weren't automatically granted residency there, but were resettled in other countries, in controlled numbers. and yet you expect israel, a relatively tiny country (the size of the king ranch in texas), to willingly absorb unlimited numbers? why don't you advocate for them to go to america?

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:31:13 +0000

what utter crap. there is no mention of a "certain girl" in the torah. a nice midrash, perhaps, with nothing in the pshat to support it, other than a misreading of the hebrew grammar, which refers to the outcry of the city, which is correctly in the feminine singular; the word "girl" just ain't there. you' re making it up as you go along.

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:22:20 +0000

the white paper was a clear violation of the british mandate to create a homeland for the jews in palestine. so what "right" do african migrants have to the land of israel? how does that compare to israeli (or any other country's) legitimate immigration policies? or would you be in favour of unlimited immigration into the united states (or any other country), and the complete disbanding of the ins?

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:16:26 +0000

how many mexicans should the united states accept as "asylum seekers"? the united states has roughly 50 times the population of israel, so how 2 or 3 million, just for starters, to see how it goes?

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:45:37 +0000

but yet the torah also says that you must look after the poor in your own house before the poor in your city, and the poor in your city before the poor in a faraway city. tzedakah should not be at the expense of the needs of your own family. israel hasn't quite finished looking after the poor in israel, that it should be importing hundreds of thousands of poor african migrants.

Jewish Daily Forward : Israel’s Asylum Problem and Us – Forward.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:38:00 +0000

your translation of the torah's term "ger" as "stranger" is somewhat mistaken. it can also be read as "convert", which is both more logical, and puts aside the peculiar idea of unquestioningly welcoming all foreigners. also, your citing of the sodomites omits their other, more famous, custom of homosexuality. if you accept the torah's condemnation of sodom for its inhospitable treatment of outsiders, do you also condemn homosexuals to die by fire and brimstone?

Jewish Daily Forward : The Courage of a Girl – Forward.com

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:01:33 +0000

no, this is not a story about the rights of girls - it is a story about brutal savages and a brutal, savage mindset that will do anything, even murder children, "in the name of god". and behind this story is the background that not only are these fundamentalist savages in pakistan a trusted ally of the united states, but they also possess nuclear weapons. so much for spreading democracy and western values in the moslem world. perhaps american foreign policy could turn towards mutual nuclear disarmament between india and pakistan, and way from beating up on israel, just for a little while?

Jewish Daily Forward : Handel, Egypt and the Jews – The Arty Semite – Forward.com

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:20:58 +0000

the most understandable telling of the story is that handel was a man of his time, infected with the same anti-semitism that was common among most gentiles of the period. "judas macabeus" was meant as an allegory for the political events of his own time, but when it became popular with the jewish merchant class, handel saw an opportunity for financial success, and cranked out a whole series of biblical-based work. (his stirring melodies do make very nice hanukah songs.) but this is all very irrelevant to a review of a new handel recording, which, apparently, is quite well done, and recommended.