Happy Lost-over!

The inspiration for this post came from Conan O'Brien. "If you have Passover on an overpass, you go back in time!"

Funny, but it got me thinking about this season of Lost, which follows a season in which multiple "plagues" and "sacrifices" led the Losties on an adventure through time and space. This season picked up where the previous left off, but presented us a mystifying paralell universe, which even the most crazy Lost theorists have yet to confidently attempt to figure out.

I think... No... Know I've figured it out.

Throughout this season, we've seen what Smokey/MIB/Fake Locke does when he wants someone to do something. Besides turning into smoke and killing them if they refuse. Like the banker in Deal or No Deal, he makes people an offer they'd be foolish to refuse. These offers have something in common: if accepted, that character's redemption, that character's path to making things right is cut short. They get what they want the cheap and easy way, a deal with the "devil," and they no longer have a need to reform the flaws and problems in themselves that caused their problems and presumably made Jacob bring them to the island in the first place.

The offers also have another thing in common. They go against the natural order of things. Cheating death. Cheating time.

Which leads me to this question. If Jack came face to face with Smokey, what would he wish?

We can assume Kate would wish to get off Scot free for her crimes, and go free. We can assume Hurley would wish... To be lucky after all the bad luck he had before (or maybe weight loss). Jack's wish doesn't immediately jump out, except for anyone paying attention last season.

Jack wants a do-over.

What if that's what we're seeing! A do-over! Jack and co weren't sent back to the plane in flight, but to the very beginning, "ab aterno.". They were sent back with a chance to live their whole lives over, and many made the same mistakes, some worse. Sawyer chose cop instead of criminal, but he still never sought counseling after his parents murder. Kate still tried to kill her father, but this time, accidentally killed someone else. Locke possibly never confronted his dad about the sham marriage con that led to him getting pushed out of a window and paralyzed. Everyone went back to the beginning, but, as the man in black theorized, they were all still prone to sin. They made different decisions here and then, but they didn't change themselves.

The sideways world has NOTHING to do with the bomb in the Swan shaft in 1977. That event happened exactly as it always did... Dharma called it "The Incident." And it led to all we saw the past five seasons.

I fear we're watching the results of Jack taking Smokey up on his offer. To give everyone a do-over. And if that's true, then in the "sideways world" the cork holding the evil back is most definitely broken (or, you know, sunk to the ocean floor). But not by the nuke. By Smokey upon his glorious exit.

The question left is: Without the island to spur these characters to their redemption, can any of them be saved? Can they change their lives without Jacob's help? Can they get to the promised land without ten plagues, the parting of the red sea, and other miracles leading the way?

I think we may find out.

Happy Pesach Everyone!

Jewish Fantasy Baseball: This Year, A Championship

There's an article in today's New York Times, about Hank Greenberg, superjew baseball hero, and his quest to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record. I'm not sure that I agree with Howard Megdal (author of The Baseball Talmud) that inflated walk rates towards the end of the season PROVE that anti-Semites kept Greenberg from breaking the record, but it does show that it was at least a possibility.

Antisemitism can rear its ugly head anywhere, even in America's pastime. And with that in mind, I'm putting together the Fourth Annual Jewish Fantasy Baseball Team.

My Longtime reader(s) may recall my previous Jewish Fantasy Baseball squads. Since my first Jew Crew, I've seen stars like Ryan Braun, Ian Kinsler, and Kevin Youkilis, all with Jewish heritage in their blood, take center stage in the Major Leagues (and rise up Fantasy draft boards everywhere). I've also seen non-Jewish players with Jewish names, like Ryan Zimmerman, develop into phenomenal players--Coincidence? Or something more?

I'm in the process of assembling the team now. It's a bit harder than usual. Now that most of the mensches are high-round draft picks, I won't luck into getting all of them through the draft. I'm in the process of negotiating several lopsided trades to help everyone I need make aliyah to the Promised Team.

Here's some new Gefilte fans I have my eye on:

Adam Lind, OF/DH, Toronto Blue Jays. I don't know that he's Jewish. But the name fits. This forum includes him with no debate. Then there's this. And his name totally appears on this Reform Judaism website (though not likely the same person.) I'm callin' it like I see it.

Willie Bloomquist, 2B/SS, Kansas City Royals. Willie probably isn't Jewish. But since David Eckstein, the only Jewish (in name only) is only eligible at 2B this year, I need someone to fill the shortstop position. Maxx Tissenbaum is several years away, I'd say, and so is Alex Silver. And I don't know what happened to Jake Wild. If only Ryan Braun, who once played shortstop, had stayed at the position!

Josh Whitesell, 1B, Washington Nationals. A Jew! For realsies! He debuted with Arizona last season after a terrific minors campaign, but now he's on the Nationals, and buried on the depth chart behind Adam Dunn. Will he get another chance to smash a matzo ball out of the park?

Four years ago, I vowed not to finish in last place. This year, I'm setting my sights higher. Nothing less than a championship.

Hey, they once said Israel couldn't defeat the combined armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. How did that work out?

Stay tuned for more Jewish Fantasy Baseball team updates. Because as Hank Greenberg said, "Every time a Jew hits a home run, he hits a home run against Hitler."

Israel Is Not A Threat To Peace, Hamas Is



I shouldn't have to write the statement above. It should be obvious. Israel is a democratic nation with a long history of attempts to make peace with its neighbors. Hamas is a terrorist organization with a long history of blowing people up in nightclubs and buses.

But recent events have even got Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama blaming the Israelis for derailing the peace process. And I wonder just what Barack and Hillary are basing that on. That Israelis are building some new houses in a part of Jersusalem that would most likely be part of Israel anyway if a peace plan came to pass?

Let's get the facts straight. The Jerusalem suburb of Ramat Shlomo is NOT an Arab suburb. It's not a Palestinian suburb. Ramat Shlomo didn't exist before 1995. It was built and settled by Haredi Jews. It is NOT in the disputed East Jerusalem territory, which Palestinians want for their capital. It might be close by, but it is not in any territory that was once settled heavily by Arabs.

Furthermore, Hamas, as justification for their "Day of Rage" (which involved rock throwing at soldiers and general rioting), claimed that the Jews built a synagogue next to the Al-Asqa Mosque, as part of a fiendish plan to eventually annex the mosque territory and destroy it. Nevermind the fact that the Al-Asqa mosque is more than four football fields away, on top of the Temple Mount (which Israel has placed in the hands of the Muslims ever since its independence), that the synagogue was built in the JEWISH quarter of Jerusalem, and that the synagogue replaces the one built in the 1800s that was desecrated and destroyed by Jordan in 1948. When Israel rebuilt the synagogue, they maintained, rather than destroyed, the Muslim minaret that the Arabs had built on the site.

So what has Israel done wrong? They've built more houses for Jews in a place where Palestinians NEVER lived, in a place where more than 18,000 Jews already live. They've built a synagogue in the JEWISH quarter of Jerusalem, where a synagogue already stood. My God! What ANIMALS!!!!!

Hillary and Obama have to get their facts straight. They reacted to a pro-Hamas press release, and by declaring Israel to be out-of-line, gave Palestinian extremists ammunition to rally their cause. It would be a non-issue if Obama had said, "We're looking at the new building activity and examining whether it runs afoul of the peace process." Instead, he regurgitated the first thing he was told by some anti-Semite.

I just returned from Israel. In Jerusalem, I saw a city where anyone who wants to worship can worship in the way they please, without the threat of violence. I walked through the Muslim quarter, where a mob of little arab children, fresh from school, ran through the streets chanting "Allah Akbar," "God Is Great," with not one Israeli soldier batting an eye (even when a few of the kids spat on and pushed members of our tour group). I witnessed an Israeli government that strives to create a place where all religions can operate freely and pray in peace. Even when some of those people throw rocks at them.

Can we say the Palestinians would do the same? If, when, they receive East Jerusalem, will it be a place where any tourist from a non-Muslim nation can ever go? Will it be a place where any Christian or Jewish ruins or holy sites will be safe from desecration and destruction?

We've seen how they respond to a slight that wasn't even a slight. How will they respond once the Israeli soldiers pull out, and there's no one stopping these riots from exploding?

Personally, I fear for the day. And any reasonable person should too.

You tell me: Is Ramat Shlomo (A) in EAST Jerusalem?

Just In Case You Still Thought Politics Was About "Issues":

Republicans reveal plan to scare, bribe people to support them.

"What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate...?"

The answer: "Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”

-Republican Party PowerPoint presentation

Just to be clear, Democrats do this too (instead of socialism, its "fascism"). But they're usually not stupid enough to leave their PowerPoint presentations lying around.

Anyway, let the drill begin. First, disavow. Second, hint that its a fabrication. Third, accuse the other party of playing dirty politics. Fourth, carry out the plan anyway, but insist that you're not.

Followed by: an election win, corruption, stalemates, a disappointed base, and an election loss. Rinse and repeat.

One thing I like about Obama is that he seems to get that people are sick of all the BS, the scare tactics, the lies, the broken promises, the political maneuvering. He knows Americans want to get things done, make things happen. But unfortunately, all the people around him are acting like schoolyard bullies. And Obama, as hard as he tries, can't get them to act like adults. Which begs the question...

Is anyone on Capitol Hill qualified for their job?

Maybe instead of voting for people who vow to uphold our their beliefs NO MATTER WHAT, we should elect leaders who vow to weigh solid evidence and study issues closely to find workable solutions that benefit most Americans while not imposing hardship on the minority.

But we'd call that guy a flip-flopper, I guess.

Oh Snap! Boyfriend/Girlfriend Fight On Yahoo Answers!


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I have to agree with the girlfriend. You put a guitar pick in a CD drive, I have very little sympathy for you.