Curb Your Enthusiasm

Read this great article about this past weeks "Curb Your Enthusiasm," (which was hilarious) in which Larry David accidentally pees on Jesus picture from the JIDF. Enjoy!

Hi everyone!
I've been MIA because I've been really sick the past few days. I did go to the doctor and I don't have swine flu, though, so that's good. Just a nasty virus with fever, body aches, cough, etc. Fun stuff. Actually I feel much better now than even this morning.

Anyways, I'm working on a lot of things for when I get back from Phish Festival 8, including a piece on Family Guy and Judaism (kind of working off of something that I wrote in college, I was inspired by David from the JIDF when discussing old papers. Its either that or my paper on ritual sacrifice during Yom Kippur). So when I get back after 2 5.5 hour plane flights, I'll hopefully have written some fun stuff for everyone to enjoy.
Lehit :)

interview... with me!

Hey friends! Shavuah tov :)

So last night I answered a few question for my friend Naomi Litvin for her blog. Go read it and learn some more about me, my blog's purpose, and my impending aliyah. Also, check out Naomi's book We Never Lost Hope, which I'm waiting to get from Amazon :)

Go read, I know your curious!

AHAVA "boycott"

This "Code Pink" who claim "Peace for Women" by fighting for rights for women in Afghanistan (which is actually a noble cause) among other things have decided to endorse and promote the boycott of Ahava products because they are made from the Dead Sea by the West Bank land are therefore made in what they called an "occupied land." I'm not going to even bother fighting about this insanely ridiculous claim.

Check out their website about it to see what I mean.

Sorry I'm really impassioned about this, I just think this is absolutely crazy. I'm not about shoving my views onto other people or anything, but if you care just a little bit about Israel (which you should), you should buy as much Ahava as you possibly can and shove this right back in their faces. I do this a little too much, actually- I use their shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, and hand lotion. I don't just use and highly recommend their products because they are Israeli, they are actually amazing products! The body wash makes your skin really smooth, especially when you use the lotion after. I leave my hand lotion out at my internship because people like to borrow it all the time. And all of the products have this amazing clean smell I get compliments on all the time. So not only are you supporting Israel, but your getting amazing beauty products as well- definitely bang for your buck.

Go and out buy Ahava!

Headline: "Iranian and Israeli Envoys Were Both at Nuclear Talks

...but then this New York Times article goes on to say that several other Middle Eastern countries were there, like Saudi Arabia.

So what do YOU think when you read a headline like that? It's so incredibly deceptive from everything the article has to do with! It just makes it sound like Israel and Iran were engaged in discussions about their nuclear programs, not that they both happened to send envoys to a forum along with several other Middle Eastern nations that were having a meeting.

Interestingly enough, Haaretz's article about the meeting also only included Iran and Israel as attendees of this conference in the headline, but the inclusion of Israel makes sense because its an Israel newspaper, and I just think the wording's a little better, no? The Haaretz version also has a little more to say about their specific meetings, including the fact that Iran was denying being there at all (just weird).

Anyways, it's little tidbits like these that make me furious about the media. Its funny too, I was just going to keep working on my large article about media bias, and then this headline popped up in one of my news feed. I had already read the Haaretz article and I was still thrown off by it. It's subtle, but subtlety is how the media gets away with being biased (not always, but some times). Why the media needed to single out any country in the Middle East for that is beyond me- how about just "Middle Eastern nations Send Envoys to Nuclear Talks in Cairo" or something like that? I can understand why Haaretz would want to stress that Israel was present as an Israeli newspaper, but the New York Times had no reason to single out Israel and associate them with Iran and their nuclear program unless the meeting was just the two of them specifically or involved solely the two of them, which it didn't.

I'm done. Lehit.

sorry!

I want to apologize to everyone, I spend Monday and Tuesday in bed with a nasty migraine spell (I think it's from my allergies, because I was still a little fuzzy today) and then I had work today so I have been totally neglectful of writing anything. I'm going to make a few more substantial posts tomorrow and then I'm going away and it's the weekend anyways. But then I'll be back for a little bit early next week, however I am going away that weekend as well- to Phish Festival 8 in Indio, Cali! I'm hoping to blog a little from there, but hey, guys, I tweet all the time, so follow me on twitter! @ericaandbaxter :) or just look to the right at my updates, y'all.

interview with JIDF

Check out a great interview with my friend Naomi and the founder of the JIDF.

Worth the read I promise!!

Lehit :)

another reason i'm just fine with disliking the yankees

despite the torture I receive from my fellow New Yorkers. Here's their G-d Bless America singer and his anti-Semitic comments.

Lehit.

not ok

In case you needed any more motivation to support the JIDF (or even if you didn't), take a look at this- an example of how JIDF founder David Appletree's life is constantly threatened.

This is not ok at all! It's threats like these that lead the JIDF to take precautions with David's privacy. This privacy is what Facebook took issue with when they booted him and his content from the site. This whole situation is beyond comprehension to me.

Take action and support the JIDF now, and be careful with Facebook, or just avoid it at all costs.

Lehit

israel boycott in france

This is a video of a boycott of Israel going on in France.

Anti-Semitism is EVERYWHERE. Anti-Israel sentiment is EVERYWHERE. These instances prove why advocacy groups like the JIDF are so important- we need to be louder than those that hate us if we want to end these feelings.

My friend Naomi brought my attention to another worthy organization,
Stand With Us. Check out their website.


Lehit homies.

donating money

So lately the JIDF founder has been under fire for asking for donations, and I'm not really sure why. Every day Planned Parenthood and Greenpeace stand on the block near the Starbucks close to me and beg me for money, but you don't see people going around calling them greedy, when they really are (I mean, they can afford to send people out begging for money and they're still resorting to begging on the street for money. and they're so annoying too). Organizations like these that fight for the causes we believe in can't possibly be expected do anything without the money we give. We all donate money, if we have any to spare, to the causes we support so that they can do the fighting for us while we go about our daily lives. The JIDF works tirelessly so that hatred of Jews and Israel doesn't get spread around the Internet. If you support what the JIDF does you should give them money just like you would give any other organization you support. Actually I believe if anything you should feel MORE confident in putting money into an organization like the JIDF- you know you're money is going to be put to good use, as opposed to say Greenpeace where your money is probably going to send people on the streets to raise more money.

Also, be cautioned that non-profits and advocacy groups carry a huge political undertow. Many have a hidden political agenda they operate according to, and while you may agree with however they seem to publicly relay their politically charged rhetoric, you don't know what goes on behind closed doors. Remember that a lot of non-profits spend much of their resources lobbying Washington, and lobbyists operate on a different moral and financial plane than a lot of people (I put most people at first, but then I realized that I was giving too many people too much credit). When you donate to an organization like the JIDF, you know your money is going toward all the actual hard work that they do advocating for Jews and Israel on the web. The JIDF is not running off to Washington to spend their money on lobbying doing Hashem knows what they will have to repent for on Yom Kippur- they're using it to navigate around the web and get rid of hatred against Jews and Israel. And stop hating for the fact that his organizations needs money to function, because EVERYTHING needs money to function in life.

Just my advice, we all work hard for our money and should spend it accordingly. But that's also a good reason why you should really take a look at what charities your money goes to. I think a lot of people just think that because it's a charity for a good cause that it's an organization worth donating too, but there's often a lot more to these organizations than meets the eye. Do your research, and if all else fails, just donate to a cause you already know is worthy, like the JIDF.

Done, I need to go cuddle Baxter. Lehit.

go read...

this at my friend Naomi's blog about the JIDF and what's going with them right now. I have some things to say about the situation to, but I gotta run to hebrew ulpan, so later dudes. Lehit.

the media makes me laugh

...But the thing is, it's the laugh that means more "wow, I can't believe how horrible/ignorant/stupid/crazy people are" as opposed to an actual "that's funny" laugh. The uneasy laugh of disbelief that there are people out there who say and think the most ridiculous things ever, and that there are groups of them that can dangerously unite and spread their crazy ridiculous ideas to more horible/ignorant/stupid/crazy/simply bored people, and perhaps inspire them enough to act.

If you want to see what I mean, just look here. A nice lively discussion about the JIDF, no?


After this, I also decided that I'm going to be dividing my media coverage discussion into two sections because we are dealing with two different but equally viable monsters here. First, I want to discuss what I'm going to call "old" media, only because it's been the way the pre-tech crazed got their information, not because its even that old. This would be film, television, and print. While all important and powerful mediums still to this day in changing the opinions of the people who take advantage of it, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people under 40 who still watches the news on a television every day, and watchers are less involved with content than more modern ways of communication.

Meanwhile, the Internet is a whole new means of communication, so I liked to think of it as "new" media. It opens up a whole new world of everything. Not only can you access all the news you want, on any channel you want, in any part of the world, when you want it, there's a whole portion of media coverage taking place on social networks. It's a topic way too dense to cover in one article. I could write you 20 pages on what I think about Facebook alone. But it opens up a whole new way that the media changes the way we think and talk about issues- and whole new way to destroy people's views every day.

Everything has its pros and cons. I will talk about this when I finally get into the media bit I was going to write- it will be done by next Monday, I promise.

Lehit.

I apologize for my neglect, my bloggies. It has been another fun weekend, but that means I'm worn out- and I have 2 chapters of hebrew homework to bang out.

I'm gonna go do that, but I'm going to write something of significance as soon as I'm done.
Lehit :)

I apologize for my neglect, my bloggies. It has been another fun weekend, but that means I'm worn out- and I have 2 chapters of hebrew homework to bang out.

I'm gonna go do that, but I'm going to write something of significance as soon as I'm done.
Lehit :)

save the JIDF!

Sign this petition and let your money go to a good cause. It's the least any of us can do.

Way too early. Lehit.

JIDF

I just have one more thing to say about the JIDF shutting down.

I've already written about what the JIDF does, and spoken about how much they have accomplished. In today's world, the Internet is full of false and slanderous material that is meant to turn people against Jews and Israel. Many of this reaches us through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. The JIDF has been integral in getting this material off the Internet. Without their work and the inspiration they provide Jews everywhere, there is no other organization out there that is nearly as powerful and influential enough to advocate for Jews on the Internet. I became more interested in advocating for Israel and Jews after visiting my Israel myself, but seeing David and the JIDF's work has given me confidence write my blog in hopes that my work will one day have the same impact as they do.

However, seeing what they go through every day- the threats they receive, the ignorant and spiteful comments left on facebook, twitter, and their blog, among other things- is discouraging. It is also empowering, because it is essentially the people who leave these comments whose minds we all seek to change. But what is the most horribly saddening thing is a lot of the negativity aimed at the JIDF is not from the Arab extremists, Jihadists, and anti-Semites he fights, but from Jews. Hello! Jewish people! Wake up! I think we can all agree on one thing- the Internet, and especially perhaps social networking sites like Facebook, CANNOT AND SHOULD BE USED TO SPREAD ANTI-JEWISH AND ANTI-ISRAELI SENTIMENT. If you think that hatred of any kind belongs on the Internet, that makes you a terrible person, but I'm not going to get started on that. If you are Jew and you disagree with that statement, then you obviously have a lot of self-hatred to deal with, there's something seriously wrong with you, you should seek help, and that's all I have to say about that. But if you are a Jew, and you agree with that statement, than you support David Appletree and his work. Is there any reason not to?

Jews- this is not the time to all hate each other. We have enough people who hate Jews- we cannot have Jews hating Jews! We all have different political views, many of which we don't agree on. But this is not what this is about. This about the hatred out there, the hatred the JIDF has worked so hard to stop. Do not let their work stop by hating on them.

I'm not asking you to do much- if you support the JIDF, let them know! If you can donate money, go ahead and do it. Just don't petty politics get in the way of a much bigger issue.

I'm so done now- and I gotta say, I feel much better. Writing is great medicine sometimes. Lehit.

JIDF shutting down?

This can't happen. I've explained why already. DO SOMETHING.

http://www.thejidf.org/

in case you needed any more motivation to get a dog besides the fact that they are cute and awesome...

they are good for you too! (to own, people, come on.)

Check out that article, go to a shelter, and get yourself a furry life companion!

blog award!!!!

Thanks to Nicole for my first blog award! Yay! I feel so special! Visit Nicole's blog by checking

The Best Blog Award rules are:
1) To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

So I don't know 15 bloggers to even begin to give out awards! So I'm going to give out 3 for the ones I know!

1. Lone Democracy- very informative media coverage of Israel, helps me find a lot of the material I use for my blog.
2. Simple Travels in My Homeland- giving an award right back to Nicole because her and her blog are both awesome and funny! And Lealu is adorrrabbbleee!
3. The JIDF- I've mentioned the JIDF a few times on my blog. They also seek to end false coverage of Jews and Jewish issues, along with Israel. How could I not love them? They have the same goals as me! They are more geared toward the internet, and ending hatred among social networks like Facebook (if founder David Appletree is hopefully put back on...) and twitter, making their work increasingly important as the internet takes over the media. If you need a good organization to support, support them! They also post a lot of great articles and media coverage of Jews and Israel- their blog is highly worth checking out and following.

Go on now, enjoy your awards!!

change of plans

I'm still going to have the weekly feature, but I'm changing this weeks topic to strictly the media. This is going to be more of an editorial than anything else, but I spent 2 out of my 5 years in undergraduate studying media so I'm not a total idiot. But it's more that the point of this blog is to get people to think about the media and the way it portrays things. I want everyone to be able to to kind of see what I'm getting at here, basically. There will be some videos and articles about the media in there as well.

Look forward to my rantings on Monday, too, as I have this tendency to spend Sunday obsessing over football/ recuperating from the weekend.

Lehitraot!

it's pretty sad why.

This article from Haaretz poses a really good question- "Why Are American Jews Abandoning Israel?"

ma zeh sababa?

I was thinking "I should post something on my blog," but the fact it is I have way too much to say about several issues, many of which I think I need to do more research on before I can write about them with any conviction. I was also thinking- where is this going? What am I doing?

That being said, I'm going to split these issues up and do a weekly feature about what's going on with these issues. Look for tidbits of information from various news sources around the world, what other people's opinions are about the topic in the Jewish/Israeli world of thought and beyond, and an analysis of what this all means. Future topics will include issues like Barack Obama and Israel, Iran, Gilad Shalit, Palestine, the UN, etc. Feel free to suggest topics you want to know more about but don't really feel like researching (and therefore leaving me with all the hard work). I also really want guest panelists. I'm going to post the topic I'm working on for the week- please send me any articles you think I should read, or anything YOU have to say about that issues.

As news happens and articles of interest show up about various topics that are more relevant to the day, they will still be posted here.

This blog is also going to have more of a personal twist about me moving to Tel Aviv, but this is still 10 months away and I haven't really started doing anything about it. I'll probably submit my full aliyah application, paperwork and all, in January. Right now, I'm just taking hebrew ulpan and daydreaming about moving, and doing plenty of research on the impending move. The information out there is both encouraging and discouraging, but nothing seems to be at all shaking my desire to move. Actually, the knowledge is slightly empowering. Uh oh.

So this week I'm thinking of starting with our President, Barack Obama. I gotta say I'm a big fan of Bo Obama (he's reallllly cute), the first dog, so to lighten up any hard feelings, maybe I'll throw in some cute pictures.

Lehit. :)

sukkot po :)

חג שמח to all my chosen people, trying to figure out how to build a sukkah in the courtyard of my building, but...

I gotta run to the mets game, just wanted to wish everyone a good sukkot for now, and look forward to a new weekly feature on my blog.

Lehit!

good news for a change?

Before I go out...

Maybe some good news about Gilad Shalit?

lehit!

why am I NOT surprised?

You must read this article about Ahmadinejad, right now. Todah!

Lehit!

Gilad Shalit video and Article

Straight from JPost (for some reason the only site that wanted to load the video for me!), here is the video of Gilad Shalit and an article along with it if you don't understand much of what he's saying (like me :( ) I don't really know what to make of it. But here. Lehit.

CNN Breaking News Alert I just received on twitter.

According to CNN, Netanyahu has watched the video of Gilad Shalit. This is the first info I'm hearing for now about his actual watching of it, as opposed to the prisoner swap and all that. I care about that- but I really want to know if Gilad Shalit is ok, to whatever extent he can be ok in the circumstances he's in.

Hoping a Toy Story 1 and 2 double header will take my mind off of all that's gone down.

שׁבת שלום! Shabbat shalom and lehit.

I wouldn't want Ahmadinejad for Channukah.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/is-ahmadinejad-a-gift-for-israel/?scp=3&sq=israel&st=cse

A NY Times blogger's article about Iran, Israel, the US, and the Palestinians. He says, "As a reader of The Lede pointed out, last year, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the former intelligence chief, Ephraim Halevy, called Mr. Ahmadinejad a 'gift,' since his inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric 'unites the entire world against Iran.'"

I wish I could say I agree that it was his "anti-Israel rhetoric" as opposed to his potential nuclear power and the fact he's a huge douche bag, but...

JIDF

Please go here and send out this letter. I will be doing this as soon as I get back from work, or maybe even at work depending on how crazy it gets. Maybe if the media makes Facebook look like the cotton-headed ninnymuggins they are (though you never know what the media might do), maybe Facebook will get the picture.

Be sababa. Lehit!