The appointment does have one humorous side and that is Pines' name.

Ophir Pines is actually pronounced "Offer Penis". Really! (I usually respond to hearing his name mentioned by saying Sure but not mine.)

In one of God's funnier moments of humor, "Penis" was a common name for German Jews, and in Germany it did not carry the phallic connotations you are all chuckling over. In fact there were a number of famous Rabbis with the name, and if I am not mistaken they were even "Cohanim". In Germany and in Hebrew you can write the name in a way that does not cause us all to snicker like junior high kids. Most of the Jews with the name spell it "Pines" when using Latin letters or addressing English speaking audiences for obvious reasons, although a few courageous ones use the alternative and pnenon-correct spelling. Some Jews also changed the pronunication to sound like the Ponderosas. The kind with the cones on them, not the kind Bill showed Monica.

So the Ariel Sharon's national unity caper is about to impose a Minister Pines upon us. And we will no doubt get endless laughs from all this (can someone pass on the info to Leno and Letterman?), every time he steps up to propose a new persecution of non-leftists exercising their freedom of speech. And every such act of McCarthyism should trigger demands that Sharon circumcize his cabinet of this minister!

And cut down the Ponderosa!

Dont forget to visit Steven Plaut's site daily.