Here is the 454th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 18, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actress Dawn Wells (“Gilligan’s Island”). Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (dawn & zevon), Dylan – Sooner & Later (dawn), Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on the passing of Ariel Sharon.
host: Dave Lefkowitz
guests: actress Dawn Wells, Dave’s wife, Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (Gilligan’s Island, Dave’s birthday) 00:13:30 News Items w/ Joyce (google glasses, laser beams, 420 signs, Haribo gummies, technology curve, cheese pervert, MLK) 01:22:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Dawn 01:54:00 Sponsors 01:58:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:24:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Dawn Wells 03:17:00 Weather & Friends 03:25:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (dawn) 03:54:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #88 – Ariel Sharon 04:01:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Warren Zevon 04:27:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Jan. 18, 2014 Playlist: “The Cheese Alarm” (01:05:30) & “Visions of Johanna” (03:33:30; Robyn Hitchcock). “Trayvon” (01:22:00; Dave Lefkowitz). “Minstrel of the Dawn” (01:27:00) & “Long Thin Dawn” (01:48:00; Gordon Lightfoot). “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (01:30:00; Van Morrison). “Violets of Dawn” (01:34:00; Eric Andersen). “Dawn is a Feeling” (01:38:00; Moody Blues). “Golden Dawn” (01:40:00; Nikki Sudden). “New Dawn Coming” (01:44:00; Cowboy Junkies). “Beautiful” (02:20:300; Carole King). “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” (02:23:30; The Eligibles). “Dawn Wells Potato Peeling” ({youtube video}; 02:43:00; Dawn Wells). “You Need Us” (03:11:30; The Honeybees from “Gilligan’s Island”). “Meet Me in the Morning” (03:26:00), “You Wanna Ramble” (03:30:00), “Where are You Tonight” (03:41:00). “The Envoy” (04:02:30), “Play it All Night Long” ({live}; 04:05:30), “For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer” (04:09:00), “The Sin” ({live}; 04:12:00), “Tenderness on the Block” (04:15:30) & “My Ride’s Here” (04:19:30; Warren Zevon). “Happy Birthday to Me” (04:32:30; Cracker).
Here is the 439th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Sept. 28, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with songwriter Brian Gari (Late Nite Comic). Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (October), Rabbi Sol on Syria, Dylan – Sooner & Later (mood swings).
Guests: songwriter Brian Gari, Joyce
00:00:01 Pre-Show 00:03:30 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:34:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – October 00:59:00 Sponsors 01:01:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:29:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Brian Gari 02:51:30 Friends 02:55:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (mood swings) 03:08:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #077 – Syria 03:14:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Sept. 28, 2013 Playlist: “October Winds” (00:35:00; The Clancy Brothers). “August October” (00:37:30; Robin Gibb). “Song of Brown October Ale” (00:40:00; Michael Van Engen, Earl Rivers & Cincinnati’s University Singers). “When October Goes” (00:42:30; Nancy Wilson). “October” (00:46:30; U2). “October Song” (00:49:00; The Incredible String Band). “October Song” (00:53:00; Amy Winehouse). “Gooch’s Song” (01:24:00; Mame 1966 Bway cast w/ Jane Connell). “He’s an Old Cat” (01:27:30), “My Dad” (01:34:30), “The California Dream” (01:45:00) & “While They’re Still Here” (02:42:00; Brian Gari). “Stand Up” (02:11:30) & “Late Nite Comic” (02:45:30; Late Nite Comic 2007 20th Anniversary recording w/ Chip Zien & Rupert Holmes). “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You” (02:56:30), “When I Got Troubles” (02:59:30) & “Cold Irons Bound” (03:01:00; Bob Dylan). “Can We Go Home Now?” (03:15:00; The Roches).
Here is the 436th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Aug. 31, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Dave’s chat with silent-film accompanist Ben Model. Also: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Loudon Wainwright III & Van Morrison), Rabbi Sol Solomon on Egypt, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (another self portrait) & more!
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: silent-film enthusiast & accompanist Ben Model, Dave’s wife Joyce.
00:00:01 Pre-Show w/ Joyce 00:02:30 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:26:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Loudon Wainwright III 00:48:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:08:30 GUEST: Ben Model 02:02:00 Sponsors & Weather 02:05:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (another self portrait) 02:25:30 Friends 02:31:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #75 – Egypt Again 02:37:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Van Morrison 02:45:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Aug. 31, 2013 Playlist: “The Swimming Song” (00:27:00), “B-Side” (00:29:30), “Whatever Happened to Us” (00:32:00), “Westchester County” (00:34:00), “Carmine Street” (00:37:00), “No Knees” (00:40:00) & “You Can’t Fail Me Now” (00:42:00; Loudon Wainwright III). “Alone with Me” (01:04:00; Hands on a Hardbody 2013 Bway cast w/ Mary Gordon Murray & Keith Carradine). “Untitled” (00:01:07 & 01:33:00; Ben Model). “Allegro Agitato” (01:50:00) & “Gaiety” (01:58:30; Arthur Kleiner). “Went to See the Gypsy (Demo)” (02:08:30), “Annie’s Going to Sing her Song” (02:11:30), “This Evening So Soon” (02:14:00), “Pretty Saro” (02:18:30) & “Time Passes Slowly #1” (02:21:00; Bob Dylan). “Youth of 1000 Summers” (02:37:00) & “Redwood Tree” (02:41:00).
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #47 (11/25/2012): Gaza Gaza Hey
Aired November 24, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSL0TEmRah4&feature=youtu.be
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 25th, 2012.
And so we find ourselves once again on the brink of war with our Arab brothers. We warn them: stop firing rockets in Gaza; they fire rockets in Gaza, and Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. We tell them, recognize the state of Israel so we can have a starting point for peace talks; they want to obliterate Israel, instead. We say, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have to be on the same page so we know whom to negotiate with; Mahmoud Abbas is a figurehead and Hamas fires weapons. It’s the same drek that’s been going on for sixty five years, and the tragedy is that it will go on long after our great-great-grandchildren are sipping prune juice in what’s left of Miami.
And, of course, Israel gets blamed. We’re the aggressors, we’re the ones occupying the territories, we’re the ones who own the pro-Jewish media, we’re the ones who keep making sitcom knock-offs of “Two and a Half Men.” A million and twelve times I’ve given my speech about how Israel belongs to Israel, how the Palestinians should go live anywhere else in the Arab world, and how no matter what Israel does – even if Israel were, God forbid, wiped off the map – that would not stop the Arabs from killing and terror and dragging the world back to the fifth century. If anything, it would only embolden them: “Ooh, we destroyed a democracy filled with people who have different social values. Gee, what other country can we do that to?”
Left-wing pundits are saying that Israel should not refuse to negotiate with terrorists. You have to negotiate with Arab terrorists or else there’s no one to talk to. Fine, let Israel negotiate with Hamas, just like we did with Yasser Arafat – because that was so productive, right? If Hamas, or Al-Qaida, or the Taliban, or the PLO, or the AFLCIO want to lay down their weapons and negotiate a true ceasefire – great, get a room at the U.N., we’ll bring the chips and dip. But sixty-five years of overtures to the Arab world have given us only one peace deal, with Egypt, and God knows where that’s headed after the revolution over there.
I’ll say it one more time: if Arabs want to live in Israel, fine. Let them live IN Israel, peacefully, as Israelis, in a Jewish state carved out of a tiny nugget of the middle east as recompense for the Holocaust. If the Arabs don’t want to live IN Israel, they can move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, or Iran, or Iraq, or Mexico, or Sudan – actually, I just threw Mexico in there to see if you were paying attention. And if the Arabs want to live near Israel, they have to stop sending us exploding Christmas gifts with “Made in Iran” on them.
Yes, Israel gets gazillions of dollars of weapons from the United States – so Israel can keep the Middle East stable instead of having to send American teenagers to do it. And yes, living conditions are grueling in the occupied territories – so don’t live there! Israel won those territories in two wars, they own it – get over it, get off it.
Israel is not going away. It’s our teentsy-weentsy little homeland, and the Arab world – which really couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the Palestinians or else the Palestinians would all be living there – the Arab world hates the West, hates the Jews, and has no interest in any kind of peace that does not involve total and complete annihilation of its enemies. Well, maybe not complete annihilation. They’d probably want to leave a few hundred behind just to torture.
At this time of Thanksgiving, let us pray for a cease fire, for cool heads and hopeful headlines, for lasting peace, and for a 48-inch HD TV with surround sound. Hey, at least I have a shot at that last one.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Here is the 401st episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Nov. 24, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor Rick Lenz (“Cactus Flower,” “Green Acres”), News Gone By, Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (turkey, Down Came the Sun), Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection (Gaza Gaza Hey!), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Israel).
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: actor Rick Lenz, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:09:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Turkey 00:27:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Movies 00:35:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Rick Lenz 01:30:00 Sponsors 01:35:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:44:00 SATURDAY SEGUE: Down Came the Sun 02:04:00 NEWS GONE BY 02:17:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #47: Gaza Gaza Hey! 02:24:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Israel) 02:50:00 Weather & Friends – w/ Joyce 03:10:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Nov. 24, 2012 Playlist: “Cold Turkey” (00:09:30; Robyn Hitchcock & the Soft Boys). “Lonesome Electric Turkey” (00:13:30; Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention). “Turkey Lurkey Time” (00:16:00; Promises, Promises; 1968 Broadway cast). “The Thanksgiving Song” (00:19:00; Adam Sandler). “Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas?)” (00:22:30; Elton John). “Act Naturally” (00:27:30; Buck Owens). “Cracked Actor” ({live}; 00:29:30; David Bowie). “Western Movies” (00:33:00; The Olympics). “Hollywood Boulevard” (01:25:30), “Waterloo Sunset” (01:59:00) & “Death of a Clown” (02:10:30; The Kinks). “Sundown” 01:44:30; Gordon Lightfoot). “Hurry Sundown” (01:48:00; Peter, Paul & Mary). “Kahuna Sunset” (01:51:00; Buffalo Springfield). “Canadian Sunset” (01:53:30; Andy Williams). “California Sunset” (01:56:00; Neil Young). “Unbelievable” (02:25:00), “Angelina” (02:33:30) & “Blind Willie McTell” (02:40:30; Bob Dylan). “Neighborhood Bully” (02:29:00; Dan Israel & Blood on the Tracks). “Super Duperman” (03:02:30; Dickie Goodman). “Santa Quits” (03:05:30; Dave Lefkowitz).
Rick LenzBob Dylan in IsraelGoldie HawnRabbi Sol SolomonDown Came the Sun
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Samuel Intrator, former Rabbi of NYC’s Carlebach Synagogue and member of Real Peace Middle East.
Topics include: Israel, Shlomo Carlebach, politics, Real Peace Middle East.
Segment originally aired Oct. 13, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #45 (9/30/2012): Subway Savagery
Aired September 29, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube: http://youtu.be/5EnyHNhpAwA
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of September 30th, 2012.
When was the last time you gave a rat’s tuchas about a subway advertisement? You’re walking on the platform at 42nd Street or 14th Street, and what do you pass? There’s an ad for a new horror movie that looks horrible. There’s an ad for a new Kevin James film that looks even more horrible than the horror movie. Then you get those ads from the MTA warning you to watch the gap or if you see something, say something. Which is ridiculous, because if you spoke out every time you saw something weird or scary on the subway, you’d never shut up!
But this past week has put the New York subways in the news in a way they haven’t been since those flash mobs had people climbing aboard wearing no pants. How I missed that, I do not know. I keep hoping I’ll see women with no pants on the M-4 bus, but no luck. I’ve seen one or two pantsless men, but that was not a political statement, those were homeless guys getting too friendly with my leg.
Anyhoo, this week, an organization called the American Freedom Defense Initiative won the legal right to put up posters in the New York subway system. In big white letters on a black background, they have this quote: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” unquote. Underneath, in blue letters, it says, “Support Israel.” Under that, in red letters, “Defeat Jihad.”
As you might expect, a firestorm of controversy has greeted this ad campaign, with Arabs freaking out, and Jews who are afraid of Arabs freaking out even more. Now, it’s hard to argue with the basic message: When you have one country that is a friend to the United States and is the only democracy in the middle east, you have to support it. When you have an ideology that is bent on destroying Western civilization through fear, violence and torture, it’s probably a good idea to oppose it.
First, let’s put the quote in context. It originally comes from novelist Ayn Rand, a Jewish Russian who wrote two great and very, very, very, very, very, very long books called “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.” In 1973, Rand was upset about the Yom Kippur War – you know, the one where the Arabs attacked Israel on the holiest day of the year? And she made some seriously anti-Arab remarks that went a lot farther than the 18 words paraphrased in the subway ad. Still, considering the circumstances, her anger and racism were, if not excusable, certainly understandable in context.
And it’s hard to argue with the text of the ad. “Jihad” means religious war. It is the struggle of Muslims against anything remotely threatening to their way of life. Unfortunately, that could be anything from defending the ancient Byzantine Empire to putting a price on Salman Rushdie’s head. Or worse, cutting off Theo Van Gogh’s head.
And let’s not forget that happy little day in September 2001 when Al Qaida decided to teach America a lesson in religious tolerance and brotherhood.
But okay, I am not immune to the subtleties of language. If you call one group savages, and then you say “support Israel,” there is a coded message that over-generalizes. Even though the advertisement doesn’t say all Muslims are savages, there’s still a nasty undertone. It’s like when people say Midwesterners won’t get a joke because it’s too New York – we know what they really mean.
And so, the call has gone out to take the posters down, Arab-American protesters have been arrested for spray-painting over them, twats are tweeting on their twitters that the ad is just throwing gasoline on the fires of racial intolerance from both sides.
How do I feel about the whole thing? Thank you for asking. First of all, I agree with the message of the poster 100 percent, but only IF we take Jihad to mean the darkest, worst part of the Muslim credo. Others have pointed out that “holy war” does not have to be violent, and that an Arab rejecting a ham sandwich is obeying Jihad, just the way a Jew rejecting bacon is obeying Kashrut. Except the Jew has it harder because bacon is soooo good.
The wording of the sign is inflammatory, or at least uncomfortable, especially in the subway. It’s an underground, closed-in space, and if I were standing next to a Muslim next to that sign, I’d feel ooky – just as ooky as I do when I’m on the train and some asshole bellows a verse of “Amazing Grace” hoping people will give him money so he won’t sing the second verse.
There are better places and better ways to make the case for defending Israel, and for keeping our guard up against the Ahmadinejads and the Mullahs – and the Bin Ladens and the Arafats and the small number of Arab Muslims who force us to hate and fear the millions of Muslims who are not savages. Well, except when they’re watching soccer.
If only they would change the sign to read, “Support Israel. Stop Terrorism.” Or, “Support Peace, Ban the Taliban.” Something we can all get behind. In any war between the subtext and the urtext, be careful with both.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #35 (1 22/2012): Gay Tel Aviv
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 22nd, 2012.
It is rare for the traditionally downtrodden and fearful Jewish people to have a gay old time. But if they want an old gay time, guess where they should go? Not Christopher Street, not Miami, not Madrid – believe it or not the answer is Tel Aviv.
In a worldwide survey by GayCities.com, Tel Aviv, Israel, was voted the best gay travel destination of 2011. Unfortunately, 2011 is over, so…they kind of missed the boat on promoting it, but still – what a feather in the beret for Israel as a place of tolerance, empathy and, one imagines, musical theater.
Now, I’m sure not all Jews are thrilled about this. The Orthodox Rabbinate is probably wringing their beards over the moral destruction of the holy land whenever two men wanna hold hands and cross pukels. But the rest of us know: live and let live. Just like New York, Tel Aviv has a giant annual Pride Parade, where, just like New York, all the Jews on the sidewalk are too short and can’t see anything. 61 percent – higher than anywhere else in the world – 61 percent of the Israeli population supports gay marriage. As the joke goes, why should straight people be the only ones allowed to be miserable? Gay people even serve openly in the Israeli armed forces. This is not surprising, since a soldier never leaves his buddies’ behind.
But seriously, Israel takes a lot of lumps from Palestinian apologists, self-hating Jewish liberals, anti-Semites and people who look for any excuse to question why America supports Yisroel with money and military hardware. Here is your partial answer: Do you think Syria would make the gay cities list? How about Lebanon? Saudi Arabia? Iran? The so-called new Egypt?
Try being a homosexual in any one of these places and see where it gets you. I’ll tell you where it gets you: pummeled with stones and hanging from a tent with your shmeckel cut off. Granted, some homosexuals may enjoy this, but most would not. Most would prefer the freedom to be what they wanna be in Tel Aviv.
Now, I myself am not gay, but some of my best friends take it up the Hitler hole. And just as Israel itself is a sanctuary for Jews just in case, someday, nowhere else in the world will accept and protect them. Perhaps Tel Aviv can stand as that place for people of the GLBTQAFRZN13Y persuasion. And maybe Haifa will one day be a refuge for the retarded, and quadriplegics will romp in Ramat Gan, and stutterers will hold conventions in Petach Tikvah. Let Israel be the foreign legion: the place where good people with the odds against them can thrive and be winners.
May Tel Aviv stand as a lesson, a goal, a model of how life could be for all of us. Open, free, supportive, and decorated fabulously.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.
Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 373rd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 21, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Dave chats with Oscar-winning actor George Chakiris. Also: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (Dave’s faves), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Dave’s faves) and Dave celebrates his upcoming birthday by chatting with his aunt, Esther Brower, and his oldest friend, Ozer Teitelbaum. Plus: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on gay Tel Aviv.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: actor George Chakiris, Ozer Teitelbaum, Esther Brower
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:14:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Dave’s Faves 00:31:00 GUEST: Ozer Teitelbaum 00:58:30 GUEST: George Chakiris 01:43:30 Sponsors 01:48:00 Inside Broadway: news 01:58:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later: Dave’s Faves 02:20:30 Weather 02:22:00 GUEST: Esther Brower 00:53:30 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #35: Gay Tel Aviv 03:01:30 Friends 03:05:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Jan. 21, 2012 Playlist: “Sway” (00:14:30; The Rolling Stones). “Scattered” (00:18:30; Neil Young). “Coming Up Close” (00:22:30; `Til Tuesday). “Old Friends” (00:54:30; Simon & Garfunkel). “What I Did for Love” (00:57:30; George Chakiris). “America” (01:36:30; “West Side Story,” film soundtrack). “In Search of Peter Pan” (01:52:00; Kate Bush). “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (01:59:30), “Seven Days” (02:04:00), “She’s Your Lover Now” (02:08:00) & “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) (02:14:00; Bob Dylan). “Families” (02:50:00; Lou Reed). “Willie and the Hand Jive” (02:58:00; Johnny Otis). “Don’t Cry” (03:08:30; Etta James).
George ChakirisOzer TeitelbaumEsther Browergay Tel Aviv
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 18th, 2011.
What do you do when a man who represents so many wrong things gets one thing incredibly, magnificently right?
That is the question facing voters following Newt Gingrich’s performance in the G.O.P. debates last week. Asked about his unwavering support for Israel, the presidential candidate made clear that Israel is a friend, and that the Arabs are no friend to Israel.
He reminded the world that, quote, “every day, rockets are fired into Israel” – something people forget when they bitch about Israel’s aggressiveness or targeting of Hezbollah.
Gingrich also said the magic words, “It’s fundamentally time for somebody to stand up and say, `enough lying about the middle east,’” unquote. Considering that every other liberal is a Palestinian apologist, and every news program bends over backwards to make it look like Israel and Hamas are two sides of the same coin, it’s a pleasure to hear somebody say, “No, Israel is a legitimate homeland, the Arabs invented Palestinia just to have a grudge.”
Naturally, the media jumped on Gingrich saying, “well, of course there’s a Palestine, and of course some Arabs lived there.” And the Arabs jumped on him for saying they’re terrorists. Talk about the pot calling the camel black.
And just to seal the deal of Newt being a mensch on this, he also reminded the world that Hamas and the Palestinians still refuse to recognize Israel as a place on the map. Which means if you’re in Jordan, and you wanna take a dip in the Mediterranean, you’d better take a pretty goddamn long jump.
Now, Mitt Romney admonished Gingrich for stirring the pot, for inciting the Arabs with his words. But Mitt, if the Arabs are so peaceful and non-violent, why are you terrified of what they might do?
Just to be clear, Romney and the other candidates also affirmed their support for Israel. They ganged up on Gingrich, but it’s not like he’s the only one saying rah-rah Jewish homeland. Does this mean the Republicans are pandering to the Jewish vote? Sure! And more power to them! Pander pander pander! Makes a nice change from us having to go to Obama and grovel sometimes. Not all the time – he’s a friend – but sometimes.
Politicians on both sides pander to every special interest group, from oil frackers to casino builders, so if Republicans wanna make nice-nice to the only democracy in the middle east, I’m down with that. And if Newt Gingrich is the only one with the stones to really tell it like it is, that should be taken into consideration.
Alas for him, we also have to take into consideration that Newt is anti-gay, anti-art funding, and not exactly a fan of separating church from state. Last week he called my house. Well, not him, some kind of automatic tape recorder. It called my house to lambaste Obama and decry the way America has gone downhill under his stewardship. So I heard the usual Republican shpiel about taxes, and too much government and taking America back. But Newt also tossed in the word “secular.” In a negative way. We must rescue America from the godless blue staters and their secular ways.
Well, “sec” on this, Newt. America may be one nation under God, but it ain’t for you to say which God that is. For me, it’s HaShem. For you it’s the bearded guy. For the Chinese, it’s a bunch of dead ancestors. Which must be pretty confusing for a Chinese kid wondering which god to ask for a bike for Christmas. “Is it great-great-grandma Chong? No, she only gives musical instruments. What about Uncle Gao from the Tang Dynasty? No he’s the one who pays you when your teeth fall out. Crap, I know I’ll get another sweater, I know it!”
But I digress. Let’s give a qualified cheer to Newt Gingrich. I can’t say he has my vote, but he has my gratitude for pushing past the platitudes with the fortitude and certitude of his attitude. Keep at it, dude.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.
