Right vs Left
By Ted Belman
The comments in the last few days attempted to distinguish “real leftism” from “fascist or faux leftism”.
This brings up the question of how do you define the former. Secondly, any definition must yield to history. What has been done in the name of the left to date? It should be judged by results.
The left has accomplished many good things such as workers rights. But at the same time it denies rights. In ways, it fights for group rights over individual rights.
This points out the clash between the two. Never easy to negotiate. A balance must be found.
This clash has been with us forever. It is not going away . We must manage it.
Capitalism, too, produces good and bad. We must also manage it.
Rather than look at the pros and cons or the good and the bad, we should also look at the bottom line. i.e. on balance is it good or bad.
The same goes for any ideology, like, for religion, for instance. The left is anti religion and for good historical reason. But not all religions can be tarred with the same brush. While Christianity and Islam can each on balance be found wanting, Judaism at least for over 2500 years has not been. The criteria for judging that I use is how they treat their neighbour. But that doesn’t stop the Left from attacking Judaism or Jews.
I am not unfamiliar with both Christianity and Islam. They both have sorry records. But I prefer to judge them on today’s reality. I ignore their theology. It doesn’t matter to me who they consider God to be. What matters is, what these religions motivate their adherents to do. Today, Christianity is a force for good in my opinion, moreso the Christian Right than the Left. The Christian Left no doubt does good but it also is at the forefront of the fight to demonize Israel. Islam, to the greatest extent, attacks both Jews and Christians and individual freedom and rights and must be resisted at all costs.
Rome used Christianity or the Church for its purposes. So too did Hitler. But Stalin ostracized all religion. All three sought the same thing, to maintain and grow their power.
The Right attacks the Left for a denial of individual freedom. I suggest that that is a fair charge. The left thinks the world is better off for such denial.
Then there is the economic bottom line. The Right focuses on the creation of wealth and believes that all boats benefit from the rising tide. The Left inhibits the creation of wealth by demanding the redistribution of wealth. Thus the Right respects and protects private property while the Left think its theirs for the taking.
Have I got that right?
Another value that movements and people differ on is universalism and particularism. The Left favours universalism which is another form of equality. Multiculturalism is a variant of it though on the surface it seems otherwise. Universalism was a rallying cry of Communism. Christianity and Islam considers themselves universal religions, ie that apply to all men. Both self righteously seek converts. Judaism puts more emphasis on the particular i.e. the Chosen people and Zionism, although it never denied the universal. A few years ago I wrote about this in Particularism before Universalism.
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Everyone is familiar with Hillel’s quote, loosely translated,
“If I am not for myself, who am I? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
I have always understood this to mean that an individual must make the case for his particular before making the case for the other. Particularism before universalism. Neither should be to the exclusion of the other, but the former, according to Hillel, comes first. One might add that it is only natural to fight for yourself before fighting for others.
The twentieth century witnessed within the Jewish community a flight from the Jewish particular in favour of the universal. As the Jews came out of the ghetto, they shed religion for secularism. They became Communists in Russia, socialists in Europe and liberal Democrats in America.
The Jewish Right wishes to follow Hillel’s dictum by emphasizing the Jewish particular first and then addressing the “other”. Thus, it chooses a Jewish Israel even if it offends the Western notion of democracy. On the other hand, the Jewish Left wishes to do the opposite. It stresses the rights of the other, particularly the “Palestinians”, at the expense of Jewish rights. [..] The Jewish Right wants Israel to be a Jewish state whereas the Left argues that Israel should be a state like other states or of all its citizens. Binyamin Netanyahu got it right when he said, “Israel is the state of the Jews and not of its citizens.”
Finally the Left and Right can be distinguished by their attitudes to war and peace. The Left prides itself on being for peace (Peace Now) and being anti war. The Right has no such pretensions. This is paradoxical because the Anti War movement is anything but peaceful. The Left charges the Right with being war mongers. The Right seeks peace through strength. It believes the enemies of peace must be confronted whereas the Left believes they should be appeased. The Right believes that confrontation leads to peace and appeasement leads to war.
In a way, the Left views the world as it would like it to be, the Right as it is.
What is shaping up for the US is a very clear battle between the Left, now in power, and lead by Obama, and the Right, girding for battle, lead by Sarah Palin. We are in for a classic ideological battle. The individual vs the state, capitalism vs socialism, private property vs public property and confrontation vs appeasement.
May the best metroman or woman prevail.
.
Noble sentiment ron but we Jews must rebuild our own Temple. It’s a Jewish thing relating to ritual purity. Jews are big on purity at least those who cling to their commandments and G-d. Key word here being clinging not love. There is no romatic concept of Love as we define it in the Bible. Love here meaning to attach or cling to G-d. Love as we relate to is a medieval concept. Not Biblical.
What your friends in the Vatican can do to help is to pay their debts i.e; Back taxes municipal(Jerusalem and State, and all other unpaid obligations to the State of Israel amounting in the neighborhood of hundreds of millions of dollars all together and that’s without indexing and interest accrued.
What dispute they don’t want to pay.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237114844737&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel to Vatican: We won’t return room of Last Supper
Israeli delegation leaves for Rome in bid to resolve decade-long conflict over holy sites Catholic Church is asking be transferred to its propriety. Jewish state is prepared to compromise on taxes, expropriations, but says ‘Last Supper room’ on Mount Zion not up for discussion
http://www.cathnewsusa.com/article.aspx?aeid=18228
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3817417,00.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j4A_gsdXYZgepbnL157JLfBIgFQQ
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181032068&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134907
d.
I have no problem with this. They should pay up.
Listen as far as I am concerned the Catholic Church doesn’t need to have control of room of the Last Supper.
It is located in Jerusalem the capital of the Holy Land Israel and therefore they should have complete control.
Catholics as well as other Christians are not being denied access, what’s the problem?
By the way Uncle Nahum I am not sure I have any friends in the Vatican, I am too far down in the pay grade to make a difference.
Listen the Catholic church is no different from any other religious group governed by mortals and are not exempt from screwing up a one car funeral.
We, you and me the faithful have a better chance of working together then the so called leaders in charge.
I can’t lift much anymore, I do miss working out. However, I can still mix mortar in the event you start building the Third Temple, just dial Ron for help.
The Catholic and the Protestants and the Jews and the Buddhists and the Sikhs cannot afford to feud.
Each is under full scale attack by the Muslims.
Whatever ancient grievances may remain should be deferred until jihad is defeated.
Then, we can go back to kicking the shit out of each other.
In the name of G-d, of course.
Holy shit kicking.
I know you are way down on the pecking order of the Church. I only posted this item in order to give you the information and some context as to what some of the underlying conflicts that still exist between the Church and the Jewish people as represented by Israel. As you can see all of our disputes are not theologically based. MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!
Leave your personal details at the door and when the time comes we will call you for mixing mortar or supervising others. Yeah on a one to one basis we could have a harmonious and warm relationship, stay cool and stay aloof from our intra-Jewish fights and heated debates over religion. Some of our comments I am sure are painful to you but I assure you again none are personal. We have no Love your enemy concept or turn the other cheek when attacked or assaulted. We tend not only to remember events related to Jews in the recent past but also in the distant past. We have a national and a historic memory that has no time boundaries. We are a composite of our past and present. For a Gentile this must be an alien concept and seem strange.
Were there many more like you the messiah might already have been. Check out the Greek Christians standing with the Jews#35 This is what I look to see not I love yous’ which translate most of the time into just words and mostly empty ones at that. In Hebrew we have a term Tachlis:(essence, substance; worth; basics, “brass tacks”) Translation not really adequate.
Sounds good to me Ayn.
We could do with less fighting.
You think by now we would have learned from the errors of the past.
I don’t know the answer but I have a feeling it begins with respect for each others beliefs.
I am not so sure.
Have you noticed that ron’s phrasing and use of prepositions bear an uncanny resemblance to the writing style of Pope Benedict?
No implications intended, but it does seem just a little strange that the Pope’s public appearances and ron’s presence on the site never coincide.
Like Bruce Wayne and Batman never appeared in public simultaneously.
The same with Clark Kent and Superman.
Or Nancy Pelosi and the Wolfman.
Draw your own conclusions, but I suspect we may have a ringer here.
I remember a conversation I had when I was on a Kibbutz and a Jew by the name of Kadouri ( Iraqi) gave me some advice re: the Arabs, He said”the Arabs are like a donkey, you should alway hold a a threatening stick over his head and if he gets out of line to use it”
The Arab respects power and those who do not have it or use it will be seen by them as a weakness and exploited by them.
They understand power and their own limitations and will behave if the pressure of a threatening stick over heir head is credible.
I learned in the following years how true his advice was.
Ayn, if I were he, I assure you there would be some major changes taking place in the Catholic Church.
First order of business, I would invite Yamit (Uncle) to come to the Vatican and go through the basement, attic and wherever he wants to gather up article belonging to the Jews. We have no right having them in our possession.
There is more to come.
ron said he is Italian, but now that you mention it I have noticed in his posts a slight Germanic inflection in his writing style and use of English.
Could it be true? RON, Benedict? what do you have to say? Are You pope Benedict or Clark Kent? Nancy Pelosi? I can go with with the Pope but Pelosi is just too extreme, she is a Liberal.
That is part, another part is a mixture of Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh.
We do have some connection, my granddaughters are part Jewish since their grandmother on their mother side is Jewish. Although I believe I spent more time in a synagogue then their grandmother.
Jews are like Bees, we are the worlds most prolific pollinators, Jewish Genes all over the place. I can believe you about synagogue attendance. What can I say ?
Yamit (Uncle Nahum) that stick is the IDF and by G-d would someone in the Israeli government use it.
Quit pussyfooting around with these clowns and listening to other governments who are not under the gun.
There exist threats to Israel in Southern Lebanon and in Gaza that need to be addressed sooner than later.
That might be a mistake.
When you mention yamit and the nether regions of an edifice, I visualize Norman Bates’ mother in “Psycho”.
Don’t get me wrong…I am not saying that yamit is Norman Bates.
Some things don’t need to be said.
Norman Bates the character or Tony Perkins? Whom do you visualize? He did after all get the Blond. sort of! LOL
nether region of an edifice? How long did it take you to come up with this diamond? The Devil incarnate Huh? Actually I am
The Phantom of the nether edifice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXDonUxBxig&feature=PlayList&p=B8541E0F5C0F2592&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
He got Janet Leigh, all right.
And Jamie Lee Curtis has never been the same.
It flowed naturally (though not into Santa Monica Bay), as though I had just eaten chicken soup with celery.
Making mine tomorrow for shabbat. I’ll let you know the results if I’m not washed away or dehydrated like a prune first.
Ayn
I just made some the other day. I also include chopped onions and carrots along with the celery and chicken. I usually make enough for several days. Each time use it I then add pastina (small pasta). You don’t want to add it when you first cook the soup as the pasta would soak up the broth and in a few days you would end up with some large pasta and very little broth.
I had each morning for breakfast, sure beats cereal.
That sounds delicious.
And I have made that mistake of putting rice into the original batch of soup and winding up with grains the size of yamit’s…ego.
Enormous.
Humongous.
Dill seasoning works well with chicken soup, as does fennel and cumin.
Turmeric has been found to possess many health benefits, including prevention of arthritis and Alzheimer’s.
I use it whenever broiling fish or poultry.
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html
Here’s why!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexqCd0swww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdKZPX8thE8&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkp2_KlwPCc&feature=channel
Happy New Year Ron!!!
Happy New Year Yamit (Uncle) Ayn, it’s now 12:00.
Just got home a 10 minutes ago from visiting my nephew and family 60 miles away. We left early as we had freezing rain and sleet to deal with.
Son drove, daughter-in-law, granddaughters and the wife and I. We usually stay over but with the young ones we decided against it. The house is full of family and friends, their children and their college friends will sleep over. Plenty of food and plenty to drink but nobody will drink too much.
Let’s pray 2010 will be better than last and the U.S. will survive the Obama administration. Israel will take control of Holy Land and put the fear of G-d in her enemies.
G-d bless America, G-d bless Israel
Rosanna Arquette.
Saw her in a film last night.
She qualifies as being weirdly beautiful.
Many glaring flaws, but the total package is really nice.
Tom Berenger.
Hillary Swank.
Charles Bronson.
Pre-surgery Cher.
Humphrey Bogart.
Weirdly beautiful.
I like weirdly beautiful much more than flawlessly beautiful.
More interesting.
Two more:
Anjelica Huston.
Christina Ricci.
They made for a weirdly beautiful Addams Family.
Steve McQueen
Jimmy Stewart
Yul Brynner
Bogart
Uma Thurman
Jenny Agutter
Isabelle Adjani
Audrey Hepburn
Theresa Russell
Ashley Judd
Marisa Tomei
Ornella Muti
Catherine Bell
Barbra Hershey
Emma Thompson
Clint Eastwood
Joseph Fiennes
Edward James Olmos
Daniel Day-Lewis
Orson Welles
Steve McQueen – Never got it. Reminds me of Gilligan.
Brynner – good one.
Uma – Another good one, although she makes my skin crawl. She is a horrible person. Russell Crowe with tits.
Audrey Hepburn/Catherine Bell/Barbra Hershey/Clint Eastwood – Too perfect. I have worked with Eastwood. He is gorgeous and a great guy. There is something a little strange about Bell – the nose? – but in person she is just amazingly attractive. Men fall apart around her. I met Hershey pre-plastic surgery when she was the second most beautiful woman in Hollywood, right behind Jacqueline Bisset.
Russell/Judd/Tomei/Thompson – Exactly. Four bullseyes.
Daniel Day-Lewis – I can’t be objective. Remember his role in There Will Be Blood (“I drink your milkshake”)? Well, sadly enough he really is that character.
Orson Welles – The Notorious Mister Casting Couch. I’ve always suspected that Joseph Cotten got all those roles by…never mind.
Don’t see Gilligan or Tina but there is a resemblance to James Spader. I liked him in Stalag 17, and bought a Hrley because of the Great Escape. He had screen presence more than acting ability.
Russell Crowe with tits.
That said, I think Crowe has bigger tits.
That’s all I look at when I watch her on screen The Nose!
I always confused Wells and Raymond Burr. I wonder why? Always hated Cotten and avoided his films like Betty Davis. Turned me off. Oh I liked Erro Flynn and J Bisset was my first choice but blocked her name, so I skipped it
Just testing.
.
Not bad exteriorly but once she opens her mouth: She dosen’t shut it.
If you liked Bronson you should also like Jack Palance and Richard Boone.
I had Lunch once with Boone at Hamburger Heaven on Hollywood Blvd (Cheap) he left me the bill.. Actually seemed quite normal and not dumb.
I never met old Paladin. I find both he and Palance to be more weird than beautiful. Same with Lee Marvin.
Raymond Burr was the most effeminate man I have ever met, even more fem than Richard Simmons.
In person, Burr was the flamingest of all flaming gays, which proves that he was a damn good actor because it is hard to visualize Perry Mason going down on Hamilton Burger.
My experience is that the weirdly beautiful women in Hollywood tend to be much saner than the stunningly beautiful ones.
I have been fired just once in three decades, by the litigious She Who Shall Not Be Named – the very same psycho bitch who had begged me to script doctor her series.
She is one fucked up broad, tormented by the fact that Christine Baransky received rave reviews for that show.
Rather than being grateful for acting with someone so talented, SWSNBN went apeshit and bounced off the walls.
For years, I prayed that she would marry OJ. Or Jan-Michael Vincent. Or Charlie Sheen. Or Idi Amin.
My best friend was lee Marvin’s Clone I saw head shots of both side by side and could hardly tell. My best fiend is weird. but a 50 yr. friendship means maybe I am too?
Richard Simmons or Chamberlain, Hudson Lots of them in your business. Do you think it’s an acquired dysfunction or part of the scene. Broadway is worse. I used to go to a lot of producers showcases, and saw talent to blow you away few got work though. My ex brother-in-law goes to auditions regularly and most he ever got was some walk ons. Now he making or helping making a movie with some fiends in NY and writing the script all gratis of course. His wife is an executive on wall st. and pulls in half a mil a year so he can afford to be a 40 year old bum working with Israeli movers in the city. He has dreams and I can’t fault him for them but it’s time to face reality. His Father was The opera Tenor I spoke of and he is trying to emulate dad as an actor or now director. Another time, boring you.
Is there still work in Hollywood? I am really out of touch with the beautiful people?
More than you know.
Some of the highest profile leading men are gay, and I am not referring to Tom Cruise.
Of the 4: Idi Amin seems the most normal well adjusted, no hang ups kind of guy. He would loved your porky friend, used him for a punching bag and then eaten him live for dinner.
He trained here as a parachutist two courses ahead of mine. I heard stories.
No one ever leaves Vegas disappointed after hearing Cole Porter songs performed by Steve and Idi.
Eydie Gorme still in vegas?
Not with Stevie
Not cole porter
but:
I Love Ladino: This is close
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsowBLNIJMU&feature=related
DEAR FRIENDS,
THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO VISIT THE STEVE AND EYDIE WEBSITE.
WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE UPCOMING PERSONAL APPEARANCES SCHEDULE FOR “AN EVENING WITH STEVE LAWRENCE”.
MANY OF YOU HAVE ASKED WHY EYDIE GORME IS NOT APPEARING.
MS. GORME IS NO LONGER TOURING.
THANKS AND STAY TUNED,
THE STEVE AND EYDIE WEBSITE TEAM
You can’t mean________________? Really?
Jamie Glazov’s book and video
You probably have seen these videos already, but just in case, here are Glazov’s comments about his book “United in Hate – The Left’s Romance with Tyranny and Terror”
Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP8jNwvvLJo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dg51EiQry0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uKmDNyKFjw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7q13F_enEo&feature=related