***sigh***

So the dingleberry on the behind of the NYState Senate, Democrat Pedro Espada, apparently encouraged by the positive result of holding the Senate hostage last year (for which he was named Senate majority leader) has once again decided to defect to the Republican party. This is simply so he can clog up the wheels of government, because his district isn't getting what he wants.

Come on, dude. You're willing to hold the entire state hostage until you get what you want? Really? And why exactly is this guy still in office? He's blackmailing the entire New York State Senate. After the budget is passed, getting rid of Espada should be on the Senate's agenda.

Of course, we live in a world gone mad. The folks who control lighting on the Empire State Building refuse to light it up in blue and white in honor of what would have been Mother Theresa's 100th birthday, but they can light it up for Homer Simpson, or a new record release... They talk about not wanting to open the doors for honoring religious people. But they'll honor religious holidays.

This country is as insane over our clinging to religious beliefs as we are over our clinging to discomfort around race. We want so much to be pc and strive so much for pc behavior, that it appears we've lost our basic capacites for analysis and/or critical thought. The whole white liberal fear of appearing racist, and the non-Jewish fear of appearing anti-Semitic appear to deprive otherwise logical human beings of their basic faculties of common sense. Rather than going off on that tangent, let's take a look at Staten Island, where a Muslim American group has bought an old, unused church and plans to convert it into a mosque. People had a community meeting about it, but the police had to be called in, and the plans for meeting were finally abandoned. People were in an absolute uproar. But wait a minute: the church wasn't being used... If people cared so much about the church, why weren't they attending it? And if they don't care to attend it, why get all up in arms when another religious organization wants to make use of it? Oh, that's right... they're Muslim, and therefore they must be terrorists. Islam's been around for about 13 centuries. Anybody remember what European "Christians" were doing in the 13th century?

And while we're talking about "Christians," or even Gentiles, I guess -- what's up with the hate mail directed at Rabbi Nesnoff? He's not the cause of Helen Thomas speaking her mind, and he's not the reason people are reacting irrationally to her (see the paragraph immediately above). I think that what he did was the equivalent of a journalistic sucker punch, but Ms. Thomas has been in front of microphones enough to know how adept reports are at distorting the truth. Rabbi Nesenoff was just doing what any reporter would do. Just as much as I support the spirit of Ms. Thomas' statements, and as much as I happen not to agree with what the good Rabbi did, I just as vigorously condemn those people who would respond to him with death threats or with any sort of derogatory comments. He's acting as a reporter for his website, for Christ's sake!! This is the epitome of trash reporting gone viral. How could anyone even remotely personalize Rabbi Nesnoff's actions?!?!?

****sigh****
The whole world's gone mad.