Israeli Summer

Finally back home

2006-07-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Still quite jet-lagged, but home in South Carolina after a night sleeping in the London airport, a couple of days in New York, and an afternoon of jet skiing on the lake in NC. It's so nice to be back and able to relax. Have been watching CNN a bit, but the American print media is a bit surprising--it honestly seems to be more pro-Israeli than the Israel media! I was definitely impressed by the fact that every Israeli I knew (admittedly a leftist bunch) displayed compassion and sensitivity to the Lebanese and Palestinians, and were certainly able to engage in dialogue and listen to other points of view. I doubt much of the Arab media would adhere to such a standard, but I would be pleasantly surprised if they would.

As far as the conflict goes, I think it's appalling that the casualties on both sides have been largely civilian. Of course I want to protect civilians' lives as much as possible, but I've not been convinced that an immediate ceasefire is the best way to do that. At the time, I thought the Israeli pullout from Lebanon in 2000 and the subsequent prisoner-exchange were good ideas, but they have unfortunately been misinterpreted as Israeli weakness by Hezbollah. Any ceasefire that preserves the status quo (with Hezbollah's missiles and ability to control much of southern Lebanon) would be a victory for Hezbollah and lead to more aggression from both sides in the future. Is saving civilian lives today worth it if it means a greater number of civilians will be killed 6 months from now? Likewise, the prisoner exchange seemed like a good idea at the time, but if the price of gaining 3 dead soldiers' bodies and 1 Israeli businessman is a constant risk of more kidnapped Israelis and possible escalation, then Israel should not agree to a swap at this point.

Many of these prisoners need to be released--but unfortunately, it seems the only way would be through a comprehensive peace deal, so they will have to wait.

If the situation were reversed, and Israeli extremists (no shortage of them) crossed the Lebanese border to kidnap Lebanese and fire rockets at their cities, I would support Lebanon's right of self-defense. But it rings hollow to me to say "Israel is just as bad as Hezbollah because they are killing civilians" for several reasons. Hezbollah has established the nature of this war by its actions. Do you honestly think they didn't know what would happen if they established their headquarters in a heavily-populated area and stored their missiles in civilians' garages? It would probably not be an overstatement to say that they were counting on civilian deaths from Israeli rockets, to help with recruiting and to engender sympathy in the international arena. Israel has dropped leaflets warning civilians to leave areas that would be bombed (in contrast with Hezbollah's deliberate targeting of civilians), but they cannot simply concede defeat to Hezbollah because of the risk of civilian casualties, which can never be eliminated though it can be minimized.

Another argument I think is weak is: "Well, Israel's actions are only strengthening Hezbollah's support in a country where many didn't support it beforehand, so Israel's actions are counterproductive." I think it's true--war certainly strengthens support for extremists on both sides and undermines doves--but do you really think Hezbollah would play nice if Israel didn't respond? Sure, Hezbollah will hate Israel much more now, but they already hated Israel and were committed to wiping it off the map. If the only thing Hezbollah will understand or respect is strength, then Israel will show them who has the strength.

Nonviolent noncooperation is the only way the Palestinians will ever achieve their dreams. As far as Lebanon goes, the peace should be much easier to obtain because the Palestinian situation is SO complicated and they must share the same piece of land. Lebanon has to fulfill what is arguably the most important and only prerequisite of a nation-state: controlling its territory. I think a multinational force (which Israel has accepted) is probably the best chance for peace. As always, I look forward to hearing comments, but only by named individuals so I can know who I'm speaking with.

It's a bit funny that this travel blog has turned into such a political manifesto, but I guess the political became so wrapped up in my last week or so in Israel that it's inevitable. I will upload the last of my Israel pics with comments soon--ciao for now!

T minus 5 hours

2006-07-19T03:04:00.000-07:00

I'm finally leaving Israel in a couple of hours this afternoon. This last week or so has felt like it's dragged on for many weeks--can't believe the conflict started so recently. Most people have been very understanding of my decision to leave early--one woman in my office pointed out, "This isn't your country, so why would you take extra risks just to stay here another 10 days?"

The mood in Tel Aviv has completely shifted from what it was earlier this summer, and it really weighs heavily on me. No one calls into the office, everyone is depressed and worried about their relatives up north and possible escalation of the conflict. I keep refreshing the "Haaretz" webpage to see the latest casualty rates and bombed-out towns in the north of Israel, and it just contributes to a general sense of weight and lethargy by the end of the day. We would have maximum 1 minute warning of sirens in which to reach a bomb shelter when bombs begin to rain on Tel Aviv. I think that when I get to New York I will sleep for 14 hours just to try to sleep away the tension and pressure.

There was an interesting editorial in the NY Times yesterday pointing out that there is no moral equivalence in this war, and I think it's so true. Lopsided casualty rates are due more to the fact that northern Israelis are mostly staying in their bomb shelters than to any humanitarian intentions on the part of Hezbollah. Over 500 missiles have been fired at Israel in the past few days--500 missiles! Even my quite leftist boss pointed out, "There's no way any country would stand for that, missiles coming down on their country." As far as Israel's "disproportionate" response goes---um, what exactly is a proportionate response to a terrorist organization bent on the destruction of your state?!

I don't even know what is to be done about the rise of Hezbollah and Hamas, but I think Israel should be damned if they EVER accept a cease-fire or hudna based on the double-speak of these organizations. I'm reading "Atlas Shrugged" now, and though it was written against the threat of communism, so much of the analysis rings true against these terrorist organizations and the state of Iran. When Iran claims that there's "no way" Israel can reach it with Israeli missiles, everyone knows they're lying! Their people must know. How on earth can you deal with that kind of false bravado, how do you dignify it with diplomacy? I wonder how long their people must suffer under that kind of regime.

At any rate, Mainon and I had a nice last day in Jerusalem before we fly out today. We went to the Western Wall and it was so moving to see all of the people praying there. I didn't pray so much as just feel the depth of history and of the Jewish connection to this place--women beside me were moaning and sobbing. Wonder how many of those present were praying for peace.

I will post soon from New York to let everyone know I'm back safely--off to say my farewell to Israel.

In case of nuclear war, all rules will be temporarily suspended

2006-07-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Um yeah...so forget all the big talk and optimism of my last post. Mainon and I are officially leaving early--as in Wednesday afternoon, the first flight out we could get. This is all just getting to be a bit much. I didn't want to be run out of town, but at the same time even a small threat to my safety is just not worth spending an extra 2 weeks here. It also makes me nervous the way Israel keeps targeting the Beirut airport, that the airport here could become a huge target in retaliation.

Hezbollah is claiming they have missiles that reach all the way to Be'ersheva, far south of Tel Aviv, so that's not encouraging, and it just seems like things can escalate so much here in only a few days or hours (remember 4 days ago when I was supposed to go to Beirut?! yeah). But we're still fine and we're going to try to enjoy our last few days here before getting back to the good ol' US of A, where Canadian border guards NEVER try to kidnap our soldiers. ;-)

Geopolitics keeps intruding...

2006-07-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

...into my summer! Since when do Israel and Lebanon fight?! This is the worst it has been between them in 6 years or more. You can really feel it in the mood of the place--everyone was subdued at the office today, no one called, there wasn't even bad traffic (a first for Tel Aviv).

I'm being careful and will leave if necessary, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I will get to spend my last couple of weeks here. The conflict comes into your life at the weirdest times here. I was at a belly-dancing bar for my friend Naama's birthday, and we had a blast, but her friend Netan was there and he only has 1 eye, because the other one was shot out at a (peaceful) demonstration of anarchists against the wall. Just dreadful. Of course no one's been held accountable for it, but he is suing the state, so maybe he will get some compensation at least.

In happier news, Arthur got a rave review of his new book in Haaretz, which everyone should run to buy on Amazon immediately: "Occupied Minds." Check out the laudatory article here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=neslen&itemNo=735648

I also finally got my pictures from my first month in Israel online: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZNWbdm2YZI

Alright off to watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" to forget about the horrible things happening here for a bit. Later!

Desert life

2006-07-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

What an eventful weekend...in the last few days I have had my wallet stolen (by AMERICANS, no less), braved the border guards of Israel and Jordan (avoiding tell-tale border stamps so as not to sabotage my upcoming trip to Lebanon!), stayed in a Bedouin camp, 4-wheeled through the desert, hiked through Petra, changed my plane ticket home, and moved to a new apartment.

Mainon and I went through the southern border crossing at Eilat to get to Jordan. We headed up to Wadi Rum, which has gorgeous desert scenery that attracted Lawrence of Arabia. We arrived at the Bedouin camp in the desert and it was immediately so peaceful....not silent, but just quiet and calm. Any thoughts I had of a quiet, contemplative ride through the desert were dashed by our 4-wheel drive tour, driven by a maniac. He took us down a 45-degree 200 meter high sand dune at 90 km an hour--I think even Chuck Norris's heart would have skipped a beat. It was awesome though, so fun and just absolutely spectacular scenery.

Wadi Rum set an insanely high bar, but Petra managed to equal it. We passed through a small corridor between 2 enormous sides of cliffs and arrived at an ancient city carved into the red rocks by the Nabataeans. The Treasury is definitely the highlight--an extremely well-preserved tomb that starts off pink and looks deep red by the late afternoon sun. We hiked up to the High Place of Sacrifice, which was beautiful. When you get up to the top, you can see the altar where the sacrifices took place, stands where the people would watch, and drains for the blood! We took an obligatory camel ride around (and yes, I know I just rode camels in Morocco in March, but these were Jordanian camels, it's totally different!).

The Jordanians were wonderful, too--so friendly and open. I feel a bit guilty that I don't identify more with the Palestinians here, so now I feel like my would-be affection for the Palestinians is being transferred onto the Jordanians. But I bet they are more able to be open, confident and friendly since they have their own country and identity--I'm sure it's much more difficult for the Palestinians.

Alright dinner time, but will post pics soon!

How low can you go?

2006-07-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Enjoying my sore quads and pleasantly sunburned arms after our trip to Masada and the Dead Sea this weekend. We left Jerusalem at 5 am to try to beat the heat...yeah, it didn't work. It was cool out for about a half hour, but when we started hiking at 6:30 it was already obscenely hot. Masada is located on a high plateau overlooking the Dead Sea and is supposedly a 45-minute hike, though it took us an hour and 10 minutes. I felt like I had finished a marathon when I got to the top, and the view of the mountains and the Dead Sea was a spectacular prize.

Masada was originally a fortress/palace of King Herod. The fortress was taken by Jewish zealots in 66 AD during the Jewish Revolt and was the last place in Israel to be re-conquered by the Romans 7 years later. The Romans used Jewish slaves to build a ramp up to the fortress and eventually broke through, but all they found were dead bodies. The Jewish zealots knew that the Romans would finally get in, so they chose to commit suicide rather than live as slaves. 10 men killed the other 900 people, but they left stores of food and water out to prove that they didn't die of starvation.

I was fortunate to arrive at the top at the same time as another group that included an Israeli giving a tour to his Austrian friend--the Israeli used to be a tour guide at Masada. They said we could join them so I got to hear all the stories about Herod's time and the revolt. Herod was so opulent he installed a swimming pool up at Masada--even today, the Israelis can barely get a water pipe up there to prevent dehydrated tourists and Herod filled a pool. Amazing.

The Jewish zealots added a synagogue (one of the oldest known in the world) and other small fixtures to the structures. They also had cannonballs they rolled down at the soldiers, and you could see the ramp the Romans created. The whole place just felt so lifelike-you could really play out the battle scene in your head.

Today Masada is a potent symbol for Zionism--every year, IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers come here and pledge "Never again shall Masada fall." But since it's Israel, there must be contradictions--Jews are forbidden to commit suicide, so what the Zealots did at Masada was not proper. I guess it's just such a romantic, heroic story that it intrigues and captivates foreigners and Israelis.

We took a much-deserved dip in the Dead Sea afterward--at 412 meters below sea level, the lowest place on earth. It's so salty that nothing can live in it and your legs pop back up if you try to push them underneath you in the water. (And by the way, my sunburn comes from the beach the day before in Tel Aviv, because Jared enlightened me with the tidbit that you can't get burned at the Dead Sea because it's too low and it has it's own protective ozone layer. How cool!) So fun to float around like a bobblehead, because your body weight keeps making you turn or flip one way or the other on the water.

On the way to Jerusalem we passed through Jericho and saw a Greek Orthodox monastery on the mountain where Jesus fasted for 40 days. Also saw the tree Zecchias reputedly climbed to see Jesus, prompting Mainon to bust into "Zecchias was a wee little man, a wee little man was he!" How can such a small piece of land have so many extraordinary sights? Doesn't seem fair to all the other countries...

Political musings...

2006-06-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

So if the point of this fellowship was to get me to come to Israel and become more pro-Israeli...it's working. I'm just so impressed by what the Israelis have accomplished here. Tel Aviv is such a great city, and to think they managed to build this despite all the wars and violence over the past 60 years. Of course you can't help but contrast it with the fact that Palestinians have been living in refugee camps for the last 60 years, despite all the money that was poured into the Palestinian Authority during Oslo.

Part of it is the fact that Israelis are rapidly becoming my favorite people and culture ever. I love that they seem so normal on the outside, and it takes you a little while to realize that they're batshit insane. Then you see an M16 in your living room and you figure it out, or you're searched on the way into the mall. The weight of history is always in the background, and the fact that Palestinians are straightforward victims of most of it just seems to make them more boring. Israelis are victims and victimizers, and far more interesting for it. I was struck the other day when my Israeli friend Naama said she is anti-Zionist because she thinks it's a racist ideology (and bad for women and the environment, as well). I understood her point but it just made me wonder where she would be if the state of Israel didn't exist.

At this point, I feel pity for the Palestinians but I feel respect for the Israelis, and in my book respect trumps pity anytime. I was actually starting to feel a bit bad that my views were becoming so one-sided so Mainon and I took a tour with Bt'selem of the wall in East Jerusalem yesterday. Shades of Berlin, in more ways than one. All of the interesting, historic parts of Jerusalem are in the East, just like Berlin--the Old City was entirely controlled by Jordan pre-1967.

The beginning of the tour was classic because we saw a small wall along the road and our guide said, "Yes, that wall was put in because the residents of Beit Jala on the neighboring hill would shoot at the Jews living in Gilo here." Then we proceed to walk past the wall to the unprotected clearing beyond--yeah, what's to prevent them from shooting at us here?! We saw the checkpoints and the wall, and Eliezer (our guide) correctly pointed out that the wall is underinclusive because there are Palestinians on the western side of the wall who have no barriers to get into Jerusalem or Israel proper. It's true, but I also feel like most of the bombers came from deep within the West Bank (Nablus or Ramallah) rather than the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Of course there's a visceral reaction to seeing an enormous wall, especially when it's literally dividing villages in 2. Some of the most pitiful Palestinians were in one particular village that is not considered to be in Jerusalem, though their brothers and sisters and cousins 50 meters away are Jerusalem residents. The village is on top of a steep hill with valleys surrounding it, so they're totally cut off from Jerusalem and the West Bank. They can only get into Jerusalem at the whim of the soldiers, which is bad if they have any emergencies or need medical attention.

The part of the tour that affected me most was seeing a Palestinian family who lived on the "Israeli" side of the wall but didn't own their land--a Greek Orthodox church allows them to live there because the father was a junkie and they were helping him to get clean. They invited us inside and gave us tea--nice Palestinian hospitality. The mother was there with her 8 children, the smallest of which was only 6 weeks old. Eliezer told us later he feels very bad for them because the Israelis are trying to kick them out of their home, and they will probably succeed since they don't own the land, the church does. They were so sweet and it was awful to see how precarious their situation was--Eliezer said he already took a lawyer to see them, but there's nothing the lawyer can do.

I can't understand why the Palestinians don't feel the urgency of the need to renounce violence and work non-violently toward getting a state as soon as possible. The current situation is not hurting the Israelis--even the Israeli economy is doing much better now. Tel Aviv is doing great--people just live their lives normally here. And they get to keep building settlements and avoiding sharing Jerusalem, whereas the Palestinians are losing out to the changing "realities on the ground" as each day goes by. Their land keeps being taken, their economy is in shambles and Palestinians are increasingly being cut off from each other by the wall. It's frustrating that they should have all the motivation in the world but they can't get their act together.

Looking forward to some comments from people about how wrong I am...for now, I'm off to the Dead Sea! Later!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

2006-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

We made it to the holy city this weekend...it's a 45-minute sherut (shared taxi) ride from Tel Aviv, but mountainous and ancient and historic and everything Tel Aviv's not. We started off with a 2-hour guided tour through the Citadel, which was really spectacular because you get an overview of Jerusalem's entire history. Our tour guide was originally from Atlanta (!), moved to Israel in 1947 and fought in the war, and is a retired Hebrew University professor. Incredible...I feel like I could have listened to his life story for 2 hours.

Tidbit for the day...Jerusalem has been sieged 50 times and has fallen 38 of those 50 times. 36 of those successful sieges came from the north. The 2 that didn't were an ancient siege where King David's general Joab managed to climb through the water aqueduct into the city and open the gates from the inside, and the Israeli siege of 1967 from the west.

We found out from our guidebooks that the Franciscans walk the Stations of the Cross along Via Dolorosa every Friday afternoon, and that tourists/pilgrims are welcome to join them. It marks 14 events from when Jesus carried the cross to when he died. It was definitely an odd juxtaposition to see the Franciscan priest standing next to an Israeli soldier wearing a bulletproof vest, but I guess that's Israel for you. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher marks the spot where Jesus died, but internecine fighting among Christian factions prevents major restoration work from being done (because it would imply ownership by whichever group conducted the restorations). I actually liked that the church was not restored though--it didn't have the overly-lit perfection of some Western churches, and was more moving because of it.

Later we met some really nice men at a shop near our hostel (my mom loves it when I make comments like this) who said that one of their sons could take us on a tour of Bethlehem the next day. I blurted out without thinking, "But how can he get into the West Bank?" and they replied, "Because we are Arabs, not Jews." Jackass! That was particularly nice because I managed to both inflame sectarian tensions AND confirm their stereotype of dumb Americans at the same time.

The son Tamer was great and took us all over--to the village of Ein Kerem, which was an Arab village pre-1948 but now has only 1 Arab family living there amongst the Jewish residents. We went to a church there for the feast of John the Baptist on his birthday. The major Bethlehem church was also not restored (see above for reasons) but the tiny grotto where Jesus was born was peaceful and beautiful. We stopped by the Mount of Olives and saw a gorgeous view of Jerusalem on the way back, and saw the 8 olive trees at Gethsemane that are supposed to be 2000 years old, and thus present when Jesus was betrayed by Judas.

Definitely more to say about our trip into the West Bank with the (Palestinian Christian) Tamer, but it will have to wait until tomorrow...goodnight!

Fete de la Musique

2006-06-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Bonsoir!

Last night was the open air music festival put on by the French government in an apparent bid to improve the dismal relations between Israel and France. "Voila!" was taking place all over the city, with jazz, African, flamenco and French music at various locations. Mainon and I went with our cool British friend Arthur to see "electro" outside the Tel Aviv art museum.

At the performance was the highest concentration of hippies this side of Goa. They were eeeverywhere. Even my boss was there, who came to the festival after her yoga lesson (of course). I felt a bit like Cartman on that South Park episode where the hippies take over and he has to play heavy metal to get them disperse. It was really fun though--everyone was dancing all hippie-ish--and the band Orange Blossoms was quite good. The lead singer was a cute French-Arab girl who seemed a bit conflicted about playing in Tel Aviv--her few attempts at greeting in Hebrew were quickly followed by Arabic. Her singing was in Arabic though and it was beautiful--so haunting.

The Arabic singing reminded me of something that's been bothering me about Tel Aviv...which is, um, that there don't seem to be any Arabs anywhere. I realize it's the most Jewish city in Israel, but Arabs do make up 20% of Israel's population so I'm surprised to have not met (seen) any. It's really bizarre and a bit shocking. This weekend I'll be in Jerusalem (and maybe Bethlehem) so there shouldn't be the same problem there.

Travel pics!

2006-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got my pictures from our pre-Israel trip to Amsterdam, Malta, Athens and Istanbul up on Shutterfly. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZNWbdm2YYM Enjoy! Good procrastination for any downtime at the corporate law firm. ;-)

In other news, Daniel (the bratty son of the people we're renting an apartment from) was here this weekend because he had the weekend off from the Army. He actually wasn't too bratty to us so it wasn't too much trouble to have him around. The night before he went back to the army, he went out with his girlfriend and left his duffel bag sitting in the living room....with his M16 casually strewn on top of it. Excellent. I'm glad to see he's treating his machine gun with the same respect one might show for a set of car keys or driving directions. (NOTE: I told this story to my work colleagues and no one reacted, so now I'm wondering if my perceptions are off. I mean, it IS crazy, right?! A machine gun in the living room?!? Somebody back me up.)

Mad Max

2006-06-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

Went out a couple of days ago with the guy I met on the beach, Max. Turns out he has some crazy stories. He works in marketing but he's also had a career in security....meaning, he used to escort people to settlements. Wow. At first I was scared that I was out with some zealot, until he clarified that he did NOT escort settlers to their settlements, but medical convoys and government officials. So that made me feel better. However, he said they were shot at once and he returned fire. Some Palestinians had set up a roadblock so they had to turn the van around. People were shooting at the van so he returned fire and saw a guy go down, so he knew he hit him. He didn't stay around long enough to find out what happened to the guy, though. And just when Tel Aviv is starting to seem so normal....

Mainon and I also went to a dance club last night and met some really cool kids. I was talking with a Brit named Arthur who works for the Economist (coolest real job ever) and wrote a book about Israel called "Occupied Minds." He told me about some joint Israeli-Palestinian demonstrations at the wall at Bil'in that I'm thinking about going to. He said they were peaceful but later said they sometimes throw rocks. Hmm.

working woman

2006-06-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

My internship started a couple of days ago and I'm definitely unduly exhausted from it...9 to 5 seems like such long hours! School has spoiled me, because I'm so used to the Daily Show breaks between classes. Other than being trapped in the office though, it's going really well! Everyone I work with is really nice and (best part) speaks great English, so I don't have to nod and smile and pretend to understand their Hebrew. I think the research will be interesting too, about labor rights and outsourcing in various countries.

Finally (4 days into Israel, but still) decided to take advantage of the fact that our hostel is 2 minutes from the beach, and went for a lovely walk to see the sunset on the beach yesterday. Tried to climb up some rocks but decided I would slip in my infamous flip-flops (that had resulted in my fall causing a bruised tailbone last October). As I was removing them, one slipped below the rocks and a cute guy stopped to help me get it back. It was all very damsel in distress. His name is Max and we're supposed to go out for coffee tomorrow. Though the fact that he had already called me less than an hour after we met definitely sends up warning signals...I guess it's just the aggressive Israeli chutzpah! (Incidentally, a report from the NGO I'm working at about the status of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel blames part of their bad employment situation on a lack of chutzpah, which I found amusing).

Okay, fine, I caved....

2006-06-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

...And started a blog even though I said I wouldn't. I got to Israel 2 days ago and already feel like I have a hundred crazy stories to tell, so I figured it was time.

Just finished my first year of law school at Columbia and am working at an NGO in Tel Aviv for the summer. I'm a shiksa and the people at my work seem SHOCKED that I would come to Israel though not Jewish and lacking any friends or family members in the city. So far, Tel Aviv has been wonderful though.

My friend and I got in contact with a very nice couple whose apartment we're renting for the first month. Turns out they are Messianic Jews, which is the craziest amalgamation of Christianity and Judaism I've ever seen. We went to the (church? synagogue?) service Saturday evening and it was just completely schizophrenic. We sang about Jesus--but called him by his Hebrew name "Yeshua." We took communion--which consisted of a matzoh wafer! We sang more New Testament-based songs--in Hebrew. There was a menorah up front, and though the congregation speaks in tongues, I didn't hear any while I was there. Overall it was fascinating and the people are really sweet and earnest (and we know how I love earnestness).

Unfortunately the guest preacher at the service was more hardline Southern Baptist than rabbi. In the space of 10 minutes, he managed to blame the legalization of abortion, high crime rates, gay marriage, sex outside of marriage, the breakdown of the family, and abortions among Israeli military servicewomen on (what else?) the 1963 US Supreme Court decision outlawing organized prayer in public schools. Riiiigghht. Then he actually mentioned that he learned great analytical skills in college, which I couldn't help but snicker at. Ever since I started law school I really can't stand the kind of horrible logic displayed in his sermon--absurd inferences and a complete lack of distinguishing different situations from one another. I think it's why I can't watch MSNBC anymore.

Alright I have to run, but will post soon about my new internship!