More funny photos from Israel

Who's pu?

That's a heck of a blend!

Not sure if this should be in the detergent aisle or the pharmacy!!

And for those who remember my blog which included Dudu HaGadol...
we now have - Son of Dudu!

Reminds me of home...what do Ehud Barak and Katherine Harris have in common?

So - around a month ago, Tzipi Livni was elected head of the Kadima Party (beating her opponent by the skin of her teeth). Since Kadima is the current ruling party in the Israeli Government, she would essentially become the Prime Minister, replacing Ehud Olmert who resigned amid debilitating scandals. Livni only had to form a coalition in order to maintain the government. Shas, the Orthodox-Mizrachi party, held out in joining her coalition reportedly over three key terms: 1) billions of shekels for their school (yeshiva) system, 2) control of the Education Ministry in the next cabinet, and 3) a commitment from Livni not to relinquish control over any part of Jerusalem in future peace talks. Mostly on 1 & 2, Livni did not budge. She refused to "give in to bribery".

Since she was unable to form a government, President Shimon Peres officially announced new national elections, which will be held in February. Livni is using the "anti-bribery" case as a prime example of why she should be the one to lead the country. Shas's spiritual leader, the fiery/offensive Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, yesterday proclaimed that Shas would double its seats in the Knesset from 9 to 18.

Likud, under former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, is expected to fare quite well in this election. It is still early, but many of the early polls have Likud and Kadima in a dead heat (however, some polls are skewed across the spectrum). Since all parties are going to be contending for seats in the Knesset (the party with the most seats then can work to form a coalition), parties are holding primaries.

Well, wouldn't you know it - Labor's (under former Prime Minister Ehud Barak) 50,000 voting members were scheduled to vote in party primaries a couple of days ago. And lo and behold - the electronic voting machines failed!! So, they are being held today. However, Labor is having a big prooblem - most of their election volunteers had taken days off work, etc. in order to work the election a couple of days ago. Many are unable to volunteer this time around. Plus, voter turnout is expected to be very adversely affected. How do you say 'debacle' in Hebrew? We may have had a crazy time with the 2000 butterfly (or as they say, 'parpar'), but it gives me a great feeling to know that Florida is not alone in bungling ballots. Onwards and upwards!

Good medicine

So, I have been sick for the last couple of weeks. It has been a lot of coughing, congestion, post-nasal drip, fever, and all kinds of other fun things I won't write about...

However - my spirits were raised when I went to seek medical care. This is the first time since coming to Israel that I have had the need to see a doctor. I had a little difficulty with the health provider, just in terms of locating a physician in my area. Once I got over that hurdle, everything was smooth sailing. I saw the doctor three times, had some tests done, and even a chest x-ray. Total cost (how do you say drum roll b'ivrit?): 6 shekels. About $1.50. In all fairness I do pay a certain amount each month for national health insurance (about $20), but - I am so impressed with the level of care in terms of cost. Heck - my prescriptions were relatively inexpensive, and they're not even from Canada!

A couple more funny photos from Jerusalem

As my friend Benji pointed out in his blog (www.whatwarzone.com), there's an Israeli florist company called 'zer 4 u' - zer being Hebrew for bouquet. Yet - everytime I pass it, I can't help but think of Bon Jovi circa 1988..."I'll be zer4u, zees five words I sver to you..."







So - for those who read Hebrew...what does this sign say? When I first saw it, I read 'haggis' - and was really excited that there might be Scottish Jews in Jerusalem! Til I figured out this was a sign on the front window of a Superfarm (aka Walgreens) and it really reads 'huggies'. This is why we need vowels, people!

Admitting a mistake

Hello all - well, I have been gone for a little while. Work was pretty intense - I was assisting the JDC in coordinating their meetings for the United Jewish Communities General Assembly, which was being held here in Jerusalem. I have been under the weather for a while now, but am hopefully back on the mend.

In any case, since my last blog, a new President of the United States was elected...as well as a new mayor of Jerusalem! Regarding the former, I have to say that it was amazing watching the coverage from here in Israel. There was a great deal of emotion displayed here around the concept of an African-American being elected. I was greatly dismayed, however, at the horrificly inadequate lack of understanding of the black narrative in the United States. It is difficult to explain the significance of overcoming racism (at least making a dent in it) to a culture that has not been witness to it.

They have the emotional empathy, but do not know the details: the post-election coverage included a great number of stories of the struggle for racial equality in the United States, and there were many things taken out of context, glossed over, or not referred to at all. There was one instance of blatant disregard for cultural norms and sensitivities, when an Israel Channel 2 reporter used the 'n' word during a feature story in describing "white teenagers getting into black culture." That story also included coverage of succesful modern black entertainers - a clip of Oprah Winfrey jumping up and down, and a few seconds of Bill Cosby. That was all they could come up with.

I remember as a teenager in my high school newspaper getting into an argument with a colleague in my class. It was a girl I had a crush on, which made it all the worse. I was proposing to write a story on the fact that our school - Santaluces High, named after a now-extinct local Indian tribe - had a 'Chief' as a mascot. Part of my 'modest proposal' was that we should change our names to represent other ethnicities and see if those mascots would be universally accepted...the Santaluces Blacks, the Fighting Jews, the Thundering Latinos...Caucasians, Asians...you name it. I was a minority in my school, and really felt it. I had an instinctive need to stand up for those who were being discriminated against, even if it was an extinct Indian tribe. The above mentioned girl was questioning my need to stand up for the victim...the story ran, and in the end my car was keyed. Twice. The school's mascot is still the Chief. However - I got hundreds of kids in the school to at least think about the matter.

So, I called Channel 2 to complain about their lack of cultural awareness and sensitivities in using the 'n' word, and was given the runaround for more than an hour. In the end, I was referred to Channel 2's lawyer and instructed to write a letter. I am doing so, but am also going to go ahead and start an online petition against Channel 2 for not only committing this error, but failing to properly acknowledge and correct it. I will post that link in this blog shortly. This is too great of a country to have such an inept news channel. And this is too important a time to get this remarkable story wrong.