We Gave "Peace a Chance," and It Failed

We also gave Olmert a Chance to "conduct a war,"

and that failed, too!

Peace comes from strength, when our enemies know that if they touch us they will be destroyed.

Making a mistake once is normal; twice isn't,

and multiple times a sign of serious mental illness.

The continuation of the "Peace Process" is proof of the foolishness of the masses, the media the politicians.

For decades Israel has been lusting for "peace." It has brought is war, terror and lost us of the respect and fear of our enemies.

Peace comes from strength, when our enemies know that if they touch us they will be destroyed. The "do anything for peace" philosophy just encourages our enemies to attack, terrorize us, because then they know that we will do anything to stop them but fight.

I am disappointed and frustrated that I don't see a sign of any politicians or political party here in Israel telling people the truth, clearly. And even more upsetting, those who may have policies which are realistic have no chance of getting elected. They don't know how to campaign. They don't understand politics and human nature. Being right isn't enough to get elected.

Politics is a science; there are known, tried and true techniques. G-d willing...

The Real World

It was never easy to raise kids. Now it's probably even harder. I'm glad I raised mine here in Israel, first in Jerusalem then Shiloh. Honestly, I can't say they turned out exactly to "plan," but I'm certainly not what my parents planned, either.
The Jewish kids coming to Israel for their "year before college" weren't raised with a fraction of that freedom. That's why many can't deal with the challenges and sudden independence their year in Israel offers.

Here in Shiloh my kids enjoyed lots of independence, even from the youngest age. Looking back, it's amazing that we took it for granted that once a child was old enough to go to "gan," nursery school, he/she was expected to walk home all by himself. My youngest is a November baby, so he was less than three and walked a kilometer and a half, a mile, home. There was no traffic, and the kids all walked together in a group. In those days there was a van that took them in the morning, or they never would have made it on time. Of course, the kids who lived closer walked without their parents. The kids ran their own social life. I didn't have to deal with "play dates."

The Jewish kids coming to Israel for their "year before college" weren't raised with a fraction of that freedom. That's why many can't deal with the challenges and sudden independence their year in Israel offers.

Emes Ve-Emunah: Facing the Truth of Religious Dropouts

Most kids have little experience with public transportation and freedom from parental supervision. Even though they've been educated from the age of three or four in Jewish schools, they aren't fluent in Hebrew. Their first taste of freedom came with their car keys. Only with a drivers license, have they traveled alone.

Yes, many of the kids do fine. They adapt to their new environments and take it all very seriously. But for others being in Israel, away from family, is their chance to do something "new."

United States Supports Corrupt Foreign Leader

This brings me back to the days of Papa Doc and all sorts of small "pro US" countries in Asia, Africa, South and Central America.  Lots has been written about the tangled web of drug lords and the CIA.
Sorry Condi, democracy won't overcome terrorism. If you really believed it you wouldn't support your government's invasion of Iraq

But really.  What great adventure stories will be written about how Bush II helped keep his buddy Olmert in power?  Maybe Tzvi Fishman can write the screenplay, juxtapositioning Talansky's interrogation with the distracting pomp of the Bush visit.

The United States's Bush II and Condi Rice have a dream, an agenda, and they won't let anything like Olmert's legal problems get in the way.  The pipeline for sending financial data necessary for the case has been slowed down.

And strangely ironic, while Bush II thinks nothing of sending American soldiers thousands of miles from home to attack an enemy who is no threat to the survival of the United States, Israel is taking the opposite track.  Even though our enemies, who attack our civilian populations without an restrictions, unabashedly proclaim their aim is to destroy us, we Israelis have generals who think that if we just wait patiently enough, the Arabs will stop.  Yes, I'm sure you need a good laugh. 

This sort of method sometimes works when I'm teaching.  When some of the kids want to pay attention and others are making noise, I speak more softly, so the good kids will tell the bad ones to keep quiet, because they want to hear me.  Sorry, but it doesn't work with terrorists, especially a a nation of terrorists.  They see it as weakness and they just fight harder.  In the classroom it only works if a certain percentage of the students really want to study.  If nobody does, I may as well take out my crocheting.  Actually that may work.  No, I don't stab the students with my crochet hook.  I just tell them that I have better things to do with my energy that yell at them.  They don't want to study, so I'm not going to waste my time doing nothing.

And: Sorry Condi, democracy won't overcome terrorism.  If you really believed it you wouldn't support your government's invasion of Iraq.  I dare you to take over Gaza!  Try policing it, clean it up!  Why should we have to wipe up your bloody mess?  If you love the pseudostinians so much, move in; be its first Prime Ministress.

In the meantime, why don't we hear protests from America about its support of Olmert?  Let's squeeze him out.  I'm pushing from my end, and you guys have to push from yours, deal?