By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
Baruch Dayan Ha’Emet–Blessed is the True Judge/the Judge of Truth.
That is the phrase we Jews say when we inform others in our community that a fellow Jew has died. We say it because even though we are very sad that the person died, we know that only G-d–the True Judge/Judge of Truth–knows what is in his plan and can decide our proper, ultimate destiny.
It is very tragic and sad to read and hear reports coming out of Mumbai, India that Islamic terrorists murdered all of the Jewish hostages taken at the Lubavitch Chabad House–a center of Orthodox Jewry. Five dead bodies were found as Indian authorities finally took control of the Chabad House.
That Was Then . . .

Islamic Terrorist Outside Israeli Olympic Dorm in Munich, 1972
This Is Now . . .

Mumbai Chabad During Islamic Terrorist Hostage Siege, 2008
Just like in Munich in 1972, the Indian government let things go on too long before they made even the first (unsuccessful) attempt to storm the Chabad House. Tragically, the Jewish hostages, targeted and taken only because they were Jews, met the same fate as their co-religionists in Munich. We will never learn. Whether it is the incompetent German police then, or the incompetent Indian ones in the last couple of days, they treat Islam and terrorists with kid gloves. Yes, India is far tougher on Muslims than we are. But still not enough.
While India was tougher than anyone against Somalian Islamic terrorists a/k/a “pirates”, the country was meek on its own soil. It’s disappointing that a country headed by a Sikh–who must surely have learned something from decades of Muslim attacks on Sikhs (and Hindus)–does not crack down sufficiently on his country’s Muslim population. At one time, Islam was a much smaller percentage of the Indian populus. Now, it is 10-15 percent and growing–so it matters not whether or not these terrorists were homegrown or snuck in from Pakistan. India has its fair share of Islamic terrorism supporters, such that tennis player Sania Mirza canceled her doubles partnership with Israeli Shahar Pe’er, lest she offend Muslims by playing alongside a Jew.
And now, it may be too late to crack down on Islam in India. But surely, there should have been swift stormtrooping on the Jewish center. Yes, some may have died. But now, all of them have been murdered.
Just like in Munich.
The Munich Olympians and the Mumbai Chabadniks had little in commmon. Most of the Israeli athletes were secular Jews. The Mumbai hostages were devout Jews. But that didn’t matter to the Muslim one-drop rule. They were all Jews. And therefore, they were deemed less than human and slaughtered at the hands of Islamic murderers.
And by the same token, it makes no difference whether or not the Mumbai terrorist were from Al-Qaeda. The Munich terrorists were from Black September, a P.L.O. group. But, whether in 1972 or 2008, they all have one thing in common: Islam. So, now Black September (though not named for the month in which they did, in fact, slaughter the Jewish athletes, but the month in which the Hachemite King Hussein slaughtered Palestinian Muslims led by Arafat) is Black November.
The Bible was so right when it said, in Genesis, that Ishmael (and his descendants) would be wild asses of men and live lives of “manlike wilding.” They continue to show us on a daily basis their wild savagery against innocents around the world.
And yet, the organized Jewish community continues to embrace these people and speak of them as a “religion of peace” and about how “hijackers hijacked the religion.” I suppose now, we are supposed to say that “hostage takers and murderers took hostage-took and murdered the religion.”
Whatever. We know that these never-ending acts of violence and bloodshed are not accidents of a few who “don’t represent Islam.” NO, they are the actions of those who represent the epitome of Islam and whose actions are already being cheered on the Islamic street around the world.
A word about Chabad Lubavitch, some of which repeats what I’ve already said on this site over the last few days. But it bears repeating.
Chabad House is a project of the Lubavitch sect of Chassidic Jews, known as Lubavitchers. They are known for their kindness and charitable works to Jews and non-Jews. They make it easier for Jews to practice our religion in the most remote of locales, such as Mumbai and other locations far more exotic and/or deadly and depressing. As I’ve noted before, I have a special place in my heart for the Lubavitcher Chassidim because they went out of their way to help make it easy for me to practice my religion when I was in college and grad school.
Lubavitch Chabad, over the years, has cared for AIDS-stricken homeless non-Jews and given them shelter and food. Yesterday, they provided a free (kosher) Thanksgiving dinner to almost 1,000 indigent, non-Jewish Los Angeles residents at a party for them at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since Judaism is not a proselytizing religion–in fact, we discourage conversion to our religion–there is no ulterior motive. There never is with Chabad. They really are saintly people. They epitomize the word, “mensch.”
Chabadniks a/k/a Lubavitchers are not “holy rollers”. Even though they are devout, they are not heavy-handed or judgmental and do not wear their religion on their sleeves. I have so many Lubavitch friends and have had several as teachers. They all have one thing in common–their eternal optimism, hearty spirit, and generosity and kindness without ever asking for anything in return. Most of them are people of little financial means. They do their work out of a sense of doing right and doing good and helping not just their fellow Jew, but their fellow American.
And one other thing: They are not “ULTRA-Orthodox Jews”, the derogatory term that has been used by the mainstream media (including ABC News’ Jon Berman) to describe them from the minute of the hostage-taking, and a term that is always used to describe all Orthodox Jews. There are never just “Orthodox Jews” in the media. Just “Ultra-Orthodox Jews.” Hmmm . . . Why don’t they ever describe the real “ultras”–Muslims–as “ultra-fundamentalist Muslims”?
In fact, Chabad Lubavitch is not only at the mainstream heart of Orthodox Jewry, because of birthrate and non-intermarriage, by the year 2076 (the TriCentennial), they will be the most dominant force in what is left of Judaism in America and many other places.
I mourn the deaths of these poor people, whose lives were untimely taken only because they were Jews. And I pray for their families.
It is ironic that, yesterday, as we were celebrating Thanksgiving, they were being murdered. Blessed be their memories, and may their souls have a special place in the next world.
Their late leader, the great Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi) Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of Blessed Memory, made this 1986 speech about Thanksgiving and his respect for the Founding Fathers. I posted it yesterday, and I repeat it here:

The foundation of this nation was laid by the Founding Fathers, who after coming to this country proclaimed a holiday of Thanksgiving to G-d, Creator and Director of the world, for having saved them and bringing them to a secure land where they could live free of oppression and decrees–to live as they see fit, beginning from practicing their faith in G-d as Creator and Director of the world, in their own times, in their own lives, and their own rescues. They even established it as a law that every year on that day, it must be remembered again, to thank G-d from the depths of our hearts, for having shown them His kindness openly.
It has been established even for non-believers–who in their hearts believe as well, but for whatever reason, boast that they do not believe, or they believe that G-d is far away, somewhere in the Seventh Heaven. But even they know that when a matter affects them seriously, they pray to the Superbeing, to G-d, for help. And certainly, they participate in the Thanksgiving celebration for the founding of this nation by the first gentiles who arrived here.
. . . [A]lthough there were Jews among them, the majority, who established Thanksgiving, were non-Jews. This faith has been celebrated from generation to generation, including our own generation. . . .
[T]he Founders began their life in this country by thanking G-d. . . . This is the foundation of this country, to save the righteous from the hands of evil.

The Late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem M. Schneerson, of Blessed Memory
Well, we may soon be unable to save the righteous from the hands of evil, just like in India, because Islam is gaining strength here that is irreversible.
May G-d give us strength to finally recognize that our enemy is Islam. And that it will never give us peace. Only take it away, along with our lives, like it did to Jewish hostages in Mumbai in 2008 and in Munich in 1972 and at many other times and occasions before and in between those dates.
And it will continue to do so, until we stop it.
We’ve come full circle from the Munich Massacre to the Mumbai Massacre, with a lot more to come because we’ve done nothing in the West to push Islam out.

They’re all gone.

—ABC sportscaster Jim McKay, announcing Islamic terrorists’ murder of Israeli athletes held hostage in Munich in 1972.

Five bodies of hostages have been found inside the Chabad House. We still don’t know whose bodies

—Israeli diplomate Haim Choshen, announcing Islamic terrorists’ murder of Chabad Lubavitch Jews held hostage in Mumbai in 2008.
**** UPDATE: My friend Rabbi Shea Hecht, a prominent leader in the Chabad Lubavitch movement and head of the National Council for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, released this statement:

Tragedy in Mumbai
Statement by NCFJE Chair, Rabbi Shea Hecht
The leaders of the free world must strengthen their resolve to pursue and eradicate terrorist groups like the one that committed the horrible massacre in Mumbai. The world has learned from years bitter experience that a lack of resolve and organization in this fight is paid for in the lives of innocents.
As a 5th generation American, I call first upon my President, George W. Bush and to the President-Elect Barak Obama to aggressively pursue this objective.
Our communities throughout the world are experiencing a profound sense of grief. Over the past two days, we united in pouring out our prayers on behalf of Rabbi and Mrs. Holtzberg, their companions and their families. That the millions of prayers and acts of charity that were undertaken on their behalf should go unanswered is terribly painful. At the same time, we must pause to thank G-d for sparing Moshe Holtzberg.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone who was touched by this tragedy to continue to increase in acts of charity in the merit of those who were murdered.

AMEN.

By Debbie Schlussel
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and readers.
We have much to be thankful about here in America at the end of 2008. If you are reading this site, you know that I still have the freedom to write whatever I wish on its pages and that you have the freedom to read it and whatever else you like.
Although we are in a near-depression here in Michigan and an economic recession all over America, we are still residents of the greatest country on earth. Most of all, I am thankful to be an American.
I am thankful for my health, that I am alive, that I have the freedom of speech to exercise with this site. I am thankful for all of my freedoms here in America, since (for now), we still have them. I am mindful that even though as Americans we are the luckiest people on earth, we are also targets. I am thankful I am not one of the Americans murdered or taken hostage by Muslims in Mumbai, India, last night. While I give thanks today, I pray for them and their families, as well as Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, an Israeli Rabbi and his wife also taken hostage last night. May G-d keep them safe and rescue them.

I am thankful for you, my readers, and your continued support of this site–your comments, tips to me on stories and scoops, and your overall moral support for what I do here. Your continued growth in size and numbers makes what I do here all worth it. I’m not just yelling at the wind here because you made it so.
Enjoy your turkey and fixings (as I will), but remember what today is really all about. And how lucky we are.
G-d Bless America!
***
Chabad Lubavitch–the Orthodox Jewish Chassidic organization stormed by Muslim terrorists last night–does great charity works for the gentile poor around the world. Read about Chabad’s kosher Thanksgiving dinner meal for 700 indigent Los Angeles residents at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since Judaism is not a proselytizing religion, there is no motive other than doing good and helping people. Chabad makes me proud to be a Jew.

The foundation of this nation was laid by the Founding Fathers, who after coming to this country proclaimed a holiday of Thanksgiving to G-d, Creator and Director of the world, for having saved them and bringing them to a secure land where they could live free of oppression and decrees–to live as they see fit, beginning from practicing their faith in G-d as Creator and Director of the world, in their own times, in their own lives, and their own rescues. They even established it as a law that every year on that day, it must be remembered again, to thank G-d from the depths of our hearts, for having shown them His kindness openly.
It has been established even for non-believers–who in their hearts believe as well, but for whatever reason, boast that they do not believe, or they believe that G-d is far away, somewhere in the Seventh Heaven. But even they know that when a matter affects them seriously, they pray to the Superbeing, to G-d, for help. And certainly, they participate in the Thanksgiving celebration for the founding of this nation by the first gentiles who arrived here.
. . . [A]lthough there were Jews among them, the majority, who established Thanksgiving, were non-Jews. This faith has been celebrated from generation to generation, including our own generation. . . .
[T]he Founders began their life in this country by thanking G-d. . . . This is the foundation of this country, to save the righteous from the hands of evil.

–The late Lubavitcher Rabbi, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Blessed Be His Memory), on Thanksgiving and America’s Founding Fathers. (Thanks to reader Yonason for the tip.)

By Debbie Schlussel
In addition to taking Americans and Britons hostage and targeting them for death in today’s terrorist attacks in India, Islamic terrorists have also overtaken the Chabad Lubavitch center in India and taken an Israeli Jewish family hostage. I have a special place in my heart for Chabad Lubavitch because this group has always been kind to me and made it easier for me to practice Jewish observances. And they do great things–feeding and housing gentile homeless and AIDS patients, etc.

UPDATE (10:45PM): A live CNN reports that the Chabad House had been taken over by the terrorists,and that Indian forces were attempting to storm the facility.

That Was Then . . .

This Is Now . . .

The situation is grim late Wednesday in Mumbai (Bombay) India where reports of more than 80 dead and 250 wounded are seeping out of the beleaguered city. Of great concern is the silence from Chabad’s representatives to Mumbai, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. No one from the Chabad center has been heard from since the attacks.
The dead and wounded are victims of a sophisticated plot in which seven locations throughout the city were attacked by terrorists. Several of the city’s most exclusive hotels, a restaurant, train station, and hotel were bombed. The attacks come as the country is consumed by controversial elections.
The city, which is India’s financial capital, plays host to many foreigners and their embassies are assisting in the search and rescue efforts.
Lubavitch personnel in Bangkok, Israel and New York are working closely with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the U.S. government to help establish contact with the Holtzbergs and other missing persons in the Chabad House area.
Mumbai’s Chabad House, situated near the sites of destruction, is a popular stop for Israeli tourists. The Holtzbergs offer a host of programs, including providing kosher food, to locals and visitors alike.

I am praying for these people and also all of my innocent fellow Americans targeted by today’s attacks. And I ask that you do, too.

A plot to bomb Penn Station, this brutal set of attacks across India, and dozens of attacks a week around the world for the last decade or more. All perpetrated by the so-called “Religion of Peace”.
When will we learn that Islam is not the religion of peace and is not to be treated with kid gloves, but with iron fists?

By Debbie Schlussel
How do Muslims celebrate Thanksgiving?
By targeting Americans and Brits for death.
You knew that they’d do something like this. An Indian Muslim terrorist group, Deccan Mujahideen a/k/a “The Student Islamic Movement of India,” stormed hotels heavily armed and murdered 80 people thus far, injuring 250 others. They’ve also taken hostages. And they specifically targeted Americans and Britons, looking for anyone with an American or British passport and going after guests in hotels.
Reminds me of when Palestinian terrorists used to ask for Israeli passports and those bearing Jewish-sounding names:

That Was Then . . .

This Is Now . . .

Teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station in at least seven attacks in India’s financial capital, killing at least 78 people and wounding at least 200, officials said Thursday.
Onlookers stand near the site of a bomb blast in Mumbai, India, Wednesday. Gunmen launched a series of attacks around the country’s financial capital, killing nearly 100 people and wounded hundreds more.
The gunmen were specifically targeting Britons and Americans and a top police official said the gunmen are holding hostages at two luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels.
A media report said a little-known group, the Deccan Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Press Trust of India news agency said Thursday the group sent emails to several media outlets.
The gunmen also attacked police headquarters in south Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks, which began late Wednesday and continued into Thursday morning, took place.
“We are under fire, there is shooting at the gate,” said constable A. Shetti by phone from police headquarters.
Hours after the first attacks, A.N. Roy, a senior police officer, said police continued to battle the gunmen.
“The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed, the encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them,” Roy said.
Johnny Joseph, chief secretary for Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said 78 people had been killed and 200 had been injured.
The motive for the attacks was not immediately clear but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terror attacks, often blamed on Muslim militants, including a series of blasts in July 2007 that killed 187 people.
Gunmen opened fire on two of the city’s best known luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi. They also attacked the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai and Leopold’s restaurant, a Mumbai landmark.
A British restaurant-goer at the Oberoi told Sky News television that the attackers were singling out Britons and Americans.
Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered everyone to put up their hands.
“They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: ‘Where are you from?” and he said he’s from Italy and they said ‘fine’ and they left him alone. And I thought: ‘Fine, they’re going to shoot me if they ask me anything – and thank God they didn’t,” he said. . . .
He managed to slip away from the group as they were forced to walk up the stairs, but said most of the group was still being kept hostage.

The Jewish Lubavitch Chabad House in Mumbai was also stormed by the Islamic terrorists, and a Rabbi and his wife were taken hostage.
“Religion of Peace”? Religion of Pieces.

By Debbie Schlussel
To My Readers:
Many of you have tried to post comments in the last several days and have been unsuccessful. No, you haven’t been banned. There is a problem with TypeKey that is beyond our control, and I’m very bummed out about it. I appreciate and try to read all of your comments. And I hope you’ll keep trying. Some people have been successful without problems. Others have only succeeded on the third try. Others have had to resort to trying to change their password (even if they change it to the same one, if seems to work).
I’m very sorry about this, and I apologize. It’s as frustrating to me as to you. I think “*)%#@(&^!” This is supposed to be fixed completely very soon, so I hope you’ll continue to try to post comments. In the meantime, we’ll soon be changing this site and switching to a new system other than typekey, which we can’t do right now. But that will happen soon.
Happy Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for your readership and interesting and informative comments. Keep it up.

By Debbie Schlussel
I know, I know. Islam is a “religion of peace.” Muslims are not terrorists. “The hijackers hijacked their religion.” Yada, yada, yada.
And therefore, I’m sure it’s just a mere coincidence that several of the thousands of Somalians who’ve invaded Minnesota and other American locales–and insisted we adapt to their barbaric and old-world mores of refusing to be cabbies to people with guide dogs or closed bottles of alcohol in their luggage or ring up pepperoni pizza at Target–are missing and are now suicide bombers in Somalia, including this guy:

Federal law enforcement sources believe that a Twin Cities man blew himself up in a suicide bombing in Northern Somalia last month.

The FBI and Homeland Security are investigating whether Shirwa Ahmed had developed a terrorist recruiting network in the area.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS learned that Ahmed came to the Twin Cities in 1996 and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen.
More than a dozen young men of Somali descent, mostly in their 20s, from the Minneapolis area have recently disappeared, U.S. law enforcement officials tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. All are thought to be associates of Ahmed. U.S. officials suspect most of the young men have departed for Somalia to fight in ongoing violence there or to train in terrorist camps. Family members of the young men are said to be distraught, trying to figure to out what happened to them, sources say.
So far, the investigation has not uncovered credible evidence of a plot targeting the U.S. but American officials want to track down all these young men before they can say for certain what this is or is not, according to ABC News. Sources say the situation is being closely monitored by senior law enforcement and intelligence officials in Washington.
CIA Director Michael Hayden recently voiced his concern about increased fighting in Somalia and the Horn of Africa and the desire of Al Qaeda to strengthen it’s ties in Somalia.

Yeah, so “concerned” that we continue to let these Somalian Muslims into our country and grant them green cards and citizenship. So “concerned” that we raid a kosher meat plant in Iowa, deporting its Guatemalan illegal alien workers but allow their jobs to be filled by Somalian Muslim extremists to whom we’ve given legal authority to remain and work here.
No threat of terrorist attacks by Somalian Muslims inside the U.S.? HUH? Have they forgotten Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, found dead in his hotel room with open cyanide canisters, near the Democratic National Convention?
Whenever federal authorities say there’s no threat, that means you can bet there, indeed, is a threat.
G-d help this sinking nation. Tomorrow, give thanks that despite this horrid boneheadedness by our “leaders”, we are still here and alive . . . for now.

By Debbie Schlussel
It’s sort of fitting that a bunch of turkeys comprise new movies at theaters on what is often nicknamed Turkey Day. This includes the race-card laden “Australia” and the gay-propaganda flick, “Milk”. Who wants to pay ten bucks to be hit over the head with left-wing propaganda on the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend? I did not review “Transporter 3,” since I didn’t see the first two “Transporter” movies, and I just didn’t feel like it. Sorry, but I waste enough hours of my life watching drek.
* “Four Christmases“: Reese Witherspoon and the ever-ballooning Vince Vaughn are mismatched in this unfunny comedy about a boyfriend and girlfriend committed to being single and not having kids. It is very funny at the beginning of the movie when the couple practice their annual ritual of lying to their families, so they can celebrate Christmas away from them on the beach at some tropical locale.

The movie is at its funniest at the beginning, when they put on elaborate ruses, pretending they are off to help orphans in Burma and other excuses like that. But it’s all downhill from there as they are caught and forced to spend Christmas visiting with each of their four dysfunctional divorced parents. Most of the jokes are stupid and some are gross. When I wasn’t groaning, I fell asleep during this boring, miserable movie of less than an hour-and-a-half that seemed like five hours.
The most (unintentionally) funny part was watching Witherspoon struggle to walk in way-too-high heels up a driveway.
HALF MARX

* “Australia“: No wonder Oprah loved and heavily promoted this dud. It was as if Spike Lee redid his long, boring, race-laden “Miracle at St. Anna” and set it in Australia. This movie–clocking in at 2 hours and 45 minutes–was waaaaaaay toooooooo looooong. It was like five different movies were stuffed into one very bad one, and it’s a complete mess. I fell asleep like 7 times, and then I lost count. Some people call this movie “epic.” I call it “ennui.”
Most of the movie takes place during World War II, when a haggard, very aged-looking Nicole Kidman plays the snooty, uptight wife to a British nobleman. Strapped for cash and believing her husband is cheating on her, she travels to Australia to track him down and sell their money-losing ranch. She finds her husband dead and discovers that her ranch hand is impregnating Aboriginal women and stealing her cattle for a competitor who wants to buy the ranch at lowball prices.
Kidman and a “drover” (like a herder) she’s hired (Hugh Jackman) strive to foil this and come to love “Nullah”, the very cute illegitimate bi-racial Aboriginal kid the evil ranchhand has fathered. Throughout the movie, we are hit over the head by the racism in Australia against Aborigines and are shown how the Catholic Church and Australian authorities seize the half-White Aboriginal kids to “get the Aboriginal half out of them.” World War II is also taking place and we frequently see the telepathic/psychic communication between Nullah and his Aboriginal leader grandfather, “King George” and how they use their magical Aboriginal powers. This was the only charming part of the movie–and not worth sitting through nearly three hours of crap.
TWO-AND-A-HALF MARXES


* “Milk“: Timing is everything, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that Hollywood–without knowing the election outcome–chose a few weeks after the election on California’s Proposition 8, to release this very heavy-handed gay rights propaganda flick.
To say this movie is “flamboyant” would be the understatement of the year. Watching Sean Penn kiss anyone (or the ass of Iran’s Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Chavez) is bad enough. But watching him make out with and have sex with James Franco turned my stomach. Bleccccchhhhh to the nth.
It’s the story of how Harvey Milk–a gay activist from New York–became the first openly gay man elected as a San Francisco Supervisor (akin to a City Councilman). He’s shot to death by fellow Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin), whom the movie unfairly implies was a closeted gay–despite no evidence and the fact that Wilson is not alive to disavow that description.
Unrelated to gay issues, White assassinated Milk and was the first to successfully plead the insanity defense now known as the “Twinkie Defense.” Frankly, the trial and that defense would have made for a more interesting movie. White committed suicide not long after he was released from prison, and it is believed he had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from serving in Vietnam–an aspect completely skipped by the movie.
Conservatives and others who oppose the militant gay agenda (including Anita Bryant) were portrayed as bigots and extremists. But, in fact, most of America–while having no problem with gays doing what they want in their own homes and bedrooms–doesn’t like this agenda being shoved in their faces and–pardon the phrase–shoved down their throats. We know it’s not about equal rights. It’s about their right to impose upon us. That’s the part they don’t show you in this movie.
Other than being incredibly one-sided, this was way too long and boring and far too many scenes of Di-Fi (Dianne Feinstein). The movie was two hours and had like a gazillion endings. It could have been done in 1.5 hours, or–as far as I’m concerned–zero hours.
Appeals to the Elton Johns and Clay Aikens of the world far more than it did to me. The ghost of Liberace is applauding.
THREE-AND-A-HALF MARXES

* “I’ve Loved You So Long“: Kristin Scott Thomas stars in this French-language (with English subtitles) movie about a woman who stays at her estranged sister’s home after a long, mysterious absence, which we learn from almost the beginning, was a prison sentence she was serving. While somewhat interesting, the movie is mostly politically correct: her sister makes a point of noting that she has chosen not to have children and instead adopted two cute young Vietnamese kids. “We are like a Bennetton ad,” she brags. The two sisters, who barely know each other, struggle to cobble together a relationship, while Thomas struggles to rebuild a life as an ex-con convicted of a heinous crime. This film moved very slowly and is somewhat depressing and pointless but was slightly interesting in other ways.
ZERO REAGANS OR MARXES – A WASH

By Debbie Schlussel
One of the benefits of keeping kosher is that we don’t have to spend any time brining our turkey. It’s already done when we buy it from the store.
All kosher meat and poultry is automatically salted to remove the blood. Thus, the term “Kosher Salt”. In fact, people I know who don’t keep kosher can note the difference in taste between kosher and non-kosher meat and poultry, in that our meat and poultry is slightly saltier–not enough to make it taste bad, but just enough for a light seasoning that makes it taste good.
I have a little extra background in this because my late grandfather, Isaac, a Holocaust survivor, came from post-war Europe to Detroit to be a shoichet, a kosher slaughterer. Eventually, he got out of the biz because of overreaching government regulation and built a kosher poultry distributor business.

A lot of people ask me whether Jews in America celebrate Thanksgiving or do so any differently from anyone else. Of course, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s an American holiday, and we are proud Americans and thankful for everything we have, including the fact that we can practice our religion (for now) more freely than anywhere else in the world (including Israel).
As I’ve noted here in the past, the only difference I’ve noted is that my gentile friends start their Thanksgiving feast in the middle of the day, whereas, at least in my family, we always ate our Thanksgiving Dinner at dinnertime. When we’re starting, most of my non-Jewish friends are already done and have preceded me in their tryptophan-induced turkey coma. I’ve also noted that we call our stuffing, “stuffing”, whereas a lot of my non-Jewish friends call it “dressing.” To me, the only dressing is the kind you put on a salad.
Other than that, Thanksgiving for us is the same as it is for any other proud and thankful American (except Muslims–go to Dearbornistan tomorrow, where it’s just like any other weekday and all of their shops are open and the people are working; they’ll celebrate “Thanksgiving” when we’re a Muslim nation; they’re not thankful for what America gave them, but for what they’re gonna do to America). Except, unlike everyone else, we (those of us who keep kosher) don’t have to do the brine. It’s something that’s already done, since in most cases, the kosher butcher does the salting for us. Also, people who keep kosher do not eat poultry and meat products with dairy products, so we do not use any kind of butter on the turkey or with any of our side dishes. (And we also do not eat the sciatic nerve, which is always removed from our meat.)
Kosher–the Original Brine.
Read a brief synopsis of what constitutes kosher and about our “brining”.

By Debbie Schlussel
Some things you just gotta throw out.
But not Janet Haddad. Even the non-edible part of the turkey is turned into creepy toys and jewelry. It reminds me of Dr. Kevorkian’s art and something Jeffrey Dahmer might like as a Christmas gift. Gag. File Under “Thanksgiving Macabre.”

Although the Thanksgiving turkey may arrive at the holiday table as a culinary king, it leaves as a gristly carcass that some cooks can’t wait to ditch.
Janet Haddad wouldn’t dream of it. Through the years, the high-school teacher has saved dozens of discarded birds from the dump.

Probably Not on Your Holiday Shopping List:
Turkey Sternum “Figurine”

Known locally as “The Bone Lady,” she spends the rest of the year taking them apart and cleaning the individual bones. Then, she turns them into toys, jewelry and decorations. With a little paint, vertebrae become place-card holders. Dyed neck bones adorned with tiny plastic eyes are transformed into quirky dragonlike creatures.
“Most people have the turkey to eat, and that’s it,” says Mrs. Haddad, a 51-year-old with spiky blonde hair. “When I sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, I see so much more.”
In the days after the feast, her freezer inevitably gets stuffed, albeit not with leftover white meat.
Knowing of Mrs. Haddad’s work, friends and family in this rural area north of Allentown, Pa., bring her the turkey carcasses from their own tables, along with the bones of assorted other dead animals found in the woods or by the roadside. When the weather is cold, they leave the goodies in garbage bags on the front porch. . . .
No one knows how many artisans like Mrs. Haddad search Thanksgiving remains for such treasure. Some turkey-bone aficionados are hesitant to advertise their endeavors, fearing others will think the whole idea gross.
Sharon Hauser, a retired medical technologist from San Jose, Calif., got a little taste of that last December when she posted a picture of a holiday ornament she’d made on Instructables.com, a how-to Web site. “No offense,” one viewer responded, “but who would hang turkey vertebrae from a Christmas tree?”

Eugene von Bruenchenhein, now relatively famous as turkey-bone artists go, didn’t get much respect or notice during his lifetime. The eccentric Milwaukeean used turkey and chicken bones to create intricate miniature towers and elaborate little thrones.
Museums and galleries didn’t begin buying Mr. von Bruenchenhein’s work until after his death in 1983. These days, the thrones are estimated to be worth up to $10,000 each, and the towers — if you can find one — as much as $70,000, according to Carl Hammer, a Chicago gallery owner that has sold some of the pieces. . . .
Always fascinated with skeletons, Mrs. Haddad, the Pennsylvanian, began dragging home roadkill and asking her parents to save turkey carcasses when she was a teenager. . . .
Mr. Haddad thinks a turning point was the passing . . . of one of their pigs, which dropped dead after apparently eating part of a poisoned rat. With his wife out of town, Mr. Haddad hauled the porcine stiff to a remote area in the woods behind the family’s home. When he went back many months later, nature had taken its course.
After he mentioned the skeleton’s impressive bone structure to his wife in passing, she promptly hiked to the site and began taking it apart, bone by bone.
So that Mr. Haddad doesn’t get surprised while searching for frozen soup or vegetables, he insists that his wife label her bagged carcasses before putting them in the freezer.
From pigs, Mrs. Haddad diversified into deer, groundhogs, rats and snapping turtles. But most of all, she fell in love with turkeys, which the family also began raising on their farm. . . .
“I think I would be most proud,” she says, “if people would make something from me after I’m gone.”

GUH-ROSS! I’m a crafty person and am all for creativity. But this is just ridiculous, as is her final wish.
There are just some things–actually, most things–about the green movement that are disgusting, and this is one of ’em. Garbage dumps and waste are under-rated.
View the Slideshow of this creepy “art”.

By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
If you’re Canadian, you might wanna think about going to school in the States . . . unless you want your conversation monitored and reported upon by the junior block captain.
Queen’s University (in Kingston, Ontario) prof Judith Irwin exposes and decries this latest Big Brother, Eh! development. Sounds like the Nazis or the Communists, or both:

As a Queen’s University faculty member, I was embarrassed to hear of Queen’s new “conversation cop” program, euphemistically called the “Intergroup Dialogue Program.” To hire students to co-ordinate and lead racial awareness seminars or make presentations on bias and prejudice may have some benefit. But to encourage them (that is, pay them) to intervene in private conversations between other individuals, is not only bumping up political correctness to new heights, but is liable to have an effect that is opposite to the goals of acceptance and respect that are desired. Queen’s students should not have to live within an atmosphere of surveillance. And they should not have to worry that their animated, perhaps slightly too loud or slightly too aggressive private conversations will be overheard by spies.

Yet another thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day: that we don’t have this here . . . yet.
**** UPDATE: Reader “c_f” differs with me on this:

I think this is going on here too — e.g. in the workplace there are diversity managers, etc., and there are, at least, informal diversity and PC monitors running around patrolling speech & actions in the workplace. Probably goes on to some extent on campuses, etc., also.

c_f, great point. You are right. It is, indeed, already here.