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The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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  • About Jack
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Archives for November 2004

Religious Leaders Clash on ‘Meet the Press’

November 29, 2004 by Jack Steiner 2 Comments

This is a New York Times article. If you want to read the whole thing you need to register, otherwise here are a couple of sections and my thoughts.

Focusing on the intersection of faith and politics, four religious leaders illustrated in a television appearance today just how passionate and difficult dialogues on such topics can be.

The sometimes heated discussion, which focused on abortion and gay marriage, played out on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority; the Rev. Al Sharpton, the minister-politician who ran in the Democratic primaries; Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine; and Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission.

The question of a moral divide has come more sharply into focus since the presidential election earlier this month. In an Election Day poll 22 percent of voters named “moral values” as the issues most important to them, and 80 percent of those people voted for President Bush. Critics, however, have argued that the phrase “moral values” is too ambiguous, covering everything from abortion to sexually explicit material on television.”

I don’t see any of these men as being representative of me and my religious beliefs. Since I am a firm advocated of a separation of church and state it doesn’t totally bother me. But since moral values seem to be such a key component of the current public arena I do like knowing where they stand.

“God is not a Republican or a Democrat,” Mr. Wallis said. “That should be obvious.”

I love it and agree completely. Unfortunately I have a feeling that for a while we are going to face a period of time in which religion is going to be used as a political tool to a much larger extent than it has been in the past.

Some of this may be cyclical, but it is just as important now as it has ever been for us to be vigilant in watching out for the rights of all people, not just those who claim to have G-d on their side.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

My life and My Posts

November 29, 2004 by Jack Steiner 2 Comments

I write about anything and everything. That includes absolutely everything about my life and the people in it. On some topics I am cautious about how much I say, if it is warranted.

Items that warrant my care are posts that are about people who are easily identified and who might be hurt by what I share. Please note that this is subjective. I recognize that I have a fairly thick skin and that what I find to be hurtful and offensive may not be the same as someone else.

But it is my blog and my rules, so live with it. I’ll do my best not to intentionally offend or hurt most people. That is right, most people. Those that fall outside of my ambiguous definition may find themselves to be targets and who knows what can happen. If you are worried about this I suggest that you stop reading this blog and then there will only be 17 readers a month who might know your secrets.

On a side note I was thinking about how many people I know that are divorced and it occurred to me that I could post about it as well. And I am sure that to far too many of you it might appear that my post is about your experience. Unless there are specific details you can assume that it is likely not about you and even if there are it may be an amalgamation of stories.

If you know me personally you know that I enjoy embellishing my tales.

What I find so sad about the comments about divorce is how prevalent it has become. It just makes me wonder about relationships. Have we lost something that other generations had, or have we found a freedom and truths that other generations did not have.

Out of the many people that I know that are divorced I cannot think of any that I thought of or think of now as having been thoughtless about marriage. Each and every one of them appeared to enter their initial marriage with a lot of thought and good intentions. But good intentions are often not enough.

One friend of mine said that he thinks it takes the first marriage to teach you how to be married. I don’t totally buy that argument, but I can see some of what he is saying. There are some experiences that require actual exposure for understanding.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

US Soldiers and Psychological Trauma

November 29, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

As an avid newshound I read multiple accounts of the war and wonder, how are our soldiers handling the mental and emotional damage that we know they are absorbing.

Just as their fathers/grandfathers/uncles/cousins had to deal with trauma they suffered in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam these troops are faced with some real challenges. Consider what they face in the field and then consider how they are supposed to reacclimate to life, normal life.

I wonder and worry about how effective our mental support teams are at identifying those who need help, as well as trying to ensure that those who need it receive it. And this is under the assumption that those who require aid will not refuse it.

The war does not always end when you leave the battlefield.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Visitors to the Blog

November 29, 2004 by Jack Steiner 4 Comments

Now that John Ashcroft has resigned his position as Attorney Gen. I am pleased to announce that he has been hired to track the traffic to this blog. Twice a week he’ll provide a detailed report to me about who is visiting the shack, what they did, who they did it with and how they did it.

Details, I need details and I expect that Johnny boy can provide them. So, if you are blogging with a partnet make sure that they are of the opposite sex and that you are both dressed appropriately.

I expect in no time at all I am going to learn who found my blog by using the following search terms:

Cheese eating surrender monkeys, cleveland school of etiquetter, marshmallow breast fondue, cheese doodle blender shake, Jewish American Jack of notoriety and macadamian anger management.

And those are just a few of the highlights.

Filed Under: Blogging

Time to Rant, Rave, Resemble, Remark and Reminisce

November 28, 2004 by Jack Steiner 1 Comment

Ok, it is another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody, nobody awake in the house that is. It makes me kind of happy, even if it is a little lonely. Not that I mind it, sometimes we all need a little solitude to use to gain some perspective about life.

At the moment things are not too bad, at least at the shack they are pretty good. I have a few complaints. I am really too tired to think clearly. I am not sure when it hit me, but at some point in the last hour I realized that I am too tired to express myself in the clear and concise fashion I am used to. Ok, it is not often that I am concise, I do have a proclivity to rant and rave at length, but I can be short.

Perhaps it is the contradiction of states that confuses friends and relatives who do not know me well. When I don’t want to talk, I do not. If there is nothing to say, then I am silent, period.

Are you still moaning about the election?

Yes, I am talking to you, especially if you are part of the pathetic attempt to pacify the world with silly shots of your penned apology on some schmendrick’s website. Call me a jerk, snob, asshole or Jack, I don’t care, but I don’t follow your need to mollycoddle a world that is populated by people who are incapable of controlling themselves.Ok, that is a little harsh, so let me modify it. Too many people allow others to define them. That is they allow the perceptions of others to impact and influence them without regard for whether it is fair, balanced, accurate or truthful.

It is not fair or balanced to equate Bush with Hitler, Saddam or other dictators. The easiest example of this is to remind you that dictators do not allow for dissent. They do not allow the opposition to speak out. You have a website devoted to grovelling, as well as a multitude of other sources in which you can speak out and complain about his every action.

The reality is that the world is not fair, it never was and it never will be. So if you are really upset and you truly mean to do something you can get up and engage in activities that make a positive impact on your community.

I said this in an earlier post and it bears repeating. Get up and do something to help people. Tutor children, clean beaches, recycle, visit the sick and elderly, help feed the homeless and remember that words that are not supported with action are meaningless.

A night With My Son

Last night my son and I spent Shabbos at my parent’s house. It was the first time that I had slept over there in years. He and I slept in my old room. It hardly resembles the room I grew up in. The paint is different, the posters are gone, the carpet is gone, the neighbors have moved and the furniture is almost completely different.My dresser still lives there as does the sticker I placed there in 1974 that marked me as a member of The Six Million Dollar Man fan club.

As the two of us lay there I sat and listened to breathing, that of my son and my father. My parent’s room is just a little off of my room and in the still of the night I could hear my father as he slept and magically my room suddenly contained too four-year-old boys on an overnight. Of course only one of us is almost six feet tall and over 200 pounds, not to mention that only one of us smiled as he remembered some of the companions who had shared a bed in that room. But keep that last remark to yourself, some secrets are better left unsaid.

Filed Under: Children

Testing the template

November 28, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

As previously mentioned I am busy learning more about how to more effectively and efficiently engage in coding tricks for this blog. As I run through these I am Trying not to screw up.

I am not sure what will happen, but I am definitely of the school of learning through action. Be patient as I am sure that there will be some strange looking occurrences, but I do promise to try and minimize them.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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