Hockey news

Bill Wirtz, longtime owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, died this morning in Evanston. He was 77.

Here are some thoughts on his passing and how he ran the Hawks into the ground.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2007/09/truth-is-truth-.html

I think Rosenbloom used to work for WMVP ESPN 1000. He's not one of my favorites, unlike Coppock, but has some good points nonetheless.

However, Wirtz is not as detrimental to the NHL as Gary Bettman has been.

Again, the owners should throw Bettman out and replace him with Ken Dryden a former player and executive. If not him, then Neil Smith, former Rangers GM.

Ahmadinejad protest as covered by Arutz Sheva

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123777#replies

There's a picture of a woman from World Bnei Akiva protesting at Columbia University.

Thank G-d I didn't attend that school. They wouldn't get a penny from me. I'd give it to YU, Touro or even this cool Conservative school in Michigan, Hillsdale College.
Their website is www.hillsdale.edu

A vote on cloture, SB 1257

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00339

This is about a bill that would add an additional seat to Utah and give DC a seat in the House of Representatives. It's unconstitutional. Fortunately, it was shot down.

new link

There's a guy I heard about who lives in the hood who has a cool blog.

http://haemtza.blogspot.com/

It's called Emes VeEmunah or HaEmtza (Hebrew for the Middle).

Add this to the list of blogs I check out in addition to http://kankanchadash.blogspot.com

However, the YBT crowd has their own set of issues that they're concerned about.

On current events: I am currently distancing myself from Michael Savage aka Weiner Nation because of a few things.

1) After Cal Thomas' comments on Islam, Weiner Nation refused to link to it on his website. He's the one screaming about the dangers of Radical Islam. Yet because Thomas is part of the Beltway conservatives, Weiner Nation has to exclude him.

2) He engages with Limbaugh and Hannity over an silly argument over who supports the troops more. Weiner gave $10,000 to the defense of Ilario Pantano who was accused of killing someone. Hannity raises money for the kids of the troops through five Freedom Concerts. Yet Weiner is such a Tzaddik that he has the Chutzpah to say he's more "authentic" than Hannity and Limbaugh.

3) As an independent, I don't feel that he's on the conservative team. Yet he wants the benefits, such as being interviewed on Fox News about his books. If you're not on the team, you don't get a ring when the team wins a championship. Ask anyone who's participated in sports.

Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana at my cousins was a nice experience. I enjoyed the Sephardic tefillah (prayer service) at Sephardic Congregation. Thursday afternoon I also did Bikur Holim and visited the sick while listening to the Ball Tokea (shofar blower) blow the shofar (Ram's horn) at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. From there I went to another Synagogue closer to where I live and then had a nice meal with a bunch of people including the guys from Kollel Torah Mitzion.

There's an affliction in the Orthodox single community called Femophobia (fear of speaking to single women) and Guyophobia (fear of speaking to single men). It seems to afflict the Modern Orthodox Machmir-Chassidic/Yeshivish singles. I hope that I don't get it, but the quality of single women is not what I thought it would be in the third largest Jewish community in the USA.

Also at Sephardic, I noticed that the single women who are new to the fold so to speak seem to come for Mincha and Arvit, whereas the ones who have been religious for longer, only show up in the morning. I know the reasons why, it's very interesting.

Seahawks

The Seahawks are winners on the field and off. For all of the keshas (Ladino for tzarot) that Strong and Hasslebeck got for supporting the President, it sure beats Dog-Fighting and making it rain.

Maybe the Seahawks will be at the White House in March after celebrating a Super Bowl win.

Criticism of Bill Bavasi, Mariners GM

http://hotdogandfriends.com/?cat=3

He thinks that the Mariners should have called up Mateo despite the domestic abuse charge. Mateo isn't as important as the failure to get Adam Dunn or Jermaine Dye.

Still valid points.

Shana Tovah

The Jewish New Year is on Wednesday night. For over three weeks, there are a lot of holidays and special occasions on the Jewish Calendar. In addition to Rosh Hashana, there are the two fast days, Tzom Gedalia and Yom Kippur. Also Sukkot, and at the end of Sukkot is Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

In any event, I won't be commenting as much on stuff for a while, maybe once a week.

My fearless NFL preview

Here are my picks in the NFL as to how it will unfold
AFC East North South West Wild Cards
Pats Ravens Titans Broncos Bills and Colts

NFC East North South West Wild Cards
Eagles Bears Panthers Seahawks 49ers Packers

Wild Card Round AFC Titans over Colts and Ravens over Bills
NFC 49ers over Panthers and Packers over Bears (really popular pick in Chicago, but guaranteed to arouse controversy).

Conference Semis AFC Pats over Titans and Ravens over Broncos
NFC Seahawks over Packers and Eagles over 49ers

Conference Championships Ravens over Pats and Seahawks over Eagles

Super Bowl 42: Seahawks over Ravens.

I want Every Bear fan to look at this prediction, especially losing to the Packers in the playoffs. It will be fun.

Big Tent Republicans

Here's a link from a story that Mark Levin, my favorite Talk Show host, talked about last night. It led him to a discussion on what conservatism really is all about.



http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6801896?nclick_check=1



It's more than cutting taxes and spending wisely. It's about a way of life.

Maybe this will prompt a discussion on why the neocons can't railroad the social conservatives on the social issues like sanctity of life, filth in the public square and other things.

KINS website & TMT (Torah Mitzion) Locations

www.congkins.org Ignore the other one.

Here are the locations of the Kollel Torah Mitzion in North America

Atlanta
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Dayton
Hamilton, Ontario
Kansas City
Memphis
Mexico City
Montreal
New York
Phoenix
St. Louis
Syracuse
Washington (Silver Spring, MD)

Modern Orthodox links and good shiur at KINS

Last night, I went to the Kollel Torah Mitzion pre-Rosh Hashana Shiurim, one by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Shlita and one by Rabbi Yitzchak Falk, a nice young rabbi who came from University of Illinois in Champaign (aka U of I). It was a very nice event and I am glad that I attended these shiurim. While Torah Mitzion isn't officially aligned with Bnei Akiva (being that Bnei Akiva is a youth movement) the fact is that people who went to Moshava or have Zionist leanings are more likely to attend such events, shiurim, etc.

Here are some links for those who want to know more.

www.torahmitzion.org

www.bneiakiva.org

www.congregationkins.org

www.ou.org

The Kollels are located primarily in Northeastern North America, however, I did notice that there's one in Phoenix, Arizona. My cousin's brother-in-law lives there and works for the Phoenix Community Kollel.


For the Chicago people, the Rosh Kollel is Rabbi Noam Balsam, a very nice man who is in his third year in Chicago. The Rosh Kollels tend to stay for 2-4 years and then return to Israel. Obviously the goal is that we (in Chutz La'aretz the Diaspora) should join them in Israel.

In any event, may we all have a Shana Tovah and as Sepharadim say, Tizku LeShanim Rabot.

good history book

I just started reading this book by Thomas E. Woods, Ph.D., 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask. It's the second good book that he has written. The first one was called The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. His website is www.ThomasEWoods.com and I think he's a valuable resource today in an academic world full of cowardice and obsequiousness to every ethnic group, creed, lifestyle, etc.

I hope that either Sean Hannity or Mark Levin has him on their shows. I wouldn't expect Weiner Nation (a.k.a. Michael Savage) to have him because Savage isn't on the conservative team and since Woods' books are on American Compass and the Conservative Book Club, that makes him pasul or illegitimate.

Dr. Woods lives in Alabama and he works for the Ludwig Von Mises Institute.

Bnei Akiva part ii

The other thing that Bnei Akiva does that other Orthodox organizations don't is promote Am Yisrael, BiTorat Yisrael. NCSY is a good organization, however, the point of joining it is to make non-religious people religious or marginally religious people more religious. Being a Zionist or recognizing that the ultimate goal which is the Jews in Israel with a government that is governed by Jewish Law (aka Halacha) is not as spreadable a message.

Bnei Akiva's mission, which is much harder, is to make religious kids want to live in Israel, or at least study in Israel after High School. They are targeting a much smaller audience. There are tons of kids who go to public school like New Trier (Chicago), Buffalo Grove, Mercer Island (Seattle suburb) and not as many who grew up Modern Orthodox.

The Modern Orthodox world isn't as big and going into Rabbanut isn't pushed as strongly as in the more Yeshivish world, with whatever delineations one wishes to make.

Anyway, my sense is that the majority of "single women" available in the Orthodox world, are more aligned with the Yeshivish elements rather than the Modern Orthodox/Bnei Akiva/Torah Mitzion. The reason is that most of them are Baalei Teshuva who became religious through institutions such as CTN (Chicago institution), Aish HaTorah, Ohr Sameach, a Kollel and other places. I won't get into those who became religious through Chabad, because that's a separate question and Chabad people tend to stick to themselves rather than associate with the other "Black Hatters" or frum people.

While a baal teshuva could make aliyah, he or she would do it for different reasons than someone from the Bnei Akiva background.


Perhaps I will have to align myself with those whom I want to rather than those who I live near out of convenience.

Larry Craig about hypocrisy, not morality

It's too bad that the RNC is too dense to grasp that the Larry Craig "scandal" was more about hypocrisy, not morality.

Rush Limbaugh had a great segment about this point on his show today. Here's the link

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_090407/content/01125106.guest.html

I will not be voting for Romney because of his stance on this situation. What ever happened to standing behind your guys? Are we a team or a bunch of individuals looking for our own glory?

NFL preview

Well, the NFL starts soon.

I read the SI preview today and here are some thoughts.

1) Belichick deserves credit for making a good secondary out of dimebacks instead of Pro Bowlers.

2) Baltimore has a great defense and average offense. At least they have a decent Quarterback in McNair, which is more than the Jacksonville Jaguars can say, having cut Leftwich and starting Garrard.

3) San Diego has a receiver to watch in Vincent Jackson.

4) Philadelphia and Dallas are in win-now seasons. If Dallas gets good coaching, they could go to Phoenix in February.

4)Chicago doesn't have many weaknesses. Grossman is nervous under pressure. Briggs and Urlacher complement each other.
5) Seattle has one of the two most talented rosters in the NFC, along with the Bears.

My top four NFC Teams
Chicago Seattle Dallas New Orleans