A question on Rabbi Yehuda Hachassid

A reader asks:

When lots of bad things happen to the same person in the sameweek, and he blames it on the window he blocked during construction, what fallacy is that?

What was Moses's sin?

This week Moshe commits some unforgivable sin, and is banned from entering the promised land. But what did he do wrong? The nature of Moshe's sin is the source of much controversy among the big names.

- Rashi, recycling an aggada first found in Sifrei, says Moshe's mistake was hitting the rock instead of speaking to it.

- Ramban gives Rashi what comes across as a condescending pat on the head (There, there. What a nice aggada.) before asking: "If he wasn't supposed to hit the rock, why did God tell him to take the staff?" In the view of the Ramban Moshe sinned when he said "can we get water from this rock?" This made it seem like the miracle would be done through his own powers, and not by the hand of God. (Hasidic Rabbis who perform mofsim are hereby put on notice)

- Rambam in Shemonah Perakim says Moshe sinned by getting angry, and thereby suggesting to the people that God was angry when He was not. The Ramban thinks this suggestion is "vanities on top of vanities" i.e. a lousy answer in the extreme.

- Ibn Ezra goes a little Kabbalistic, and says some things about Moshe and his prayerful concentration before concluding the the sin was hitting the rock twice instead of once. Ramban's reaction to this answer brings to mind Nelson Muntz (Hah-Ha!)

- Abravanel is a bit more polite then the Ramban as he goes through the pros and cons of ten possible sins, all expertly weighed and considered by Josh Waxman here. (scroll down)

- Shadal, reacting to all of this, has the best line. He says: "Moshe Rabbenu only sinned one sin, but the commentators burdened upon him 13 sins and more, for each one invented of his own heart a new sin." (saw it on Josh's blog)

No disrespect to the medieval commentators (who, as you know, I adore) but they're late to the party. Often, the earliest commentators can tell us more about how the verses were first understood. One such early commentator, usually left unconsidered when the various interpretations of Moshe's sin are reviewed, is the opinion of King David. He, also, was a bible commentator, and his commentary can be found in the Book of Psalms when Biblical events are described. Tehillim 106 mentions Moshe's sin, and describes it his way (KJV): They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes; Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

How do you read this? Josh says it means the Psalmist thought Moshe sinned by become angry.

So score one for Rambam?

What is the meaning of the Mishna about a weeping kohen?

And here we go again with might become a continuing series...

The Mishna says [Yoma 1:5]:

The Court elders [during the days before Yom Kippur] would pass [the Kohel Godol, who was being taught how to perform the Yom Kippur service] over to the elders of the priesthood, and they in turn would take him up to the upper chamber of the house of Abtinas [where incense was prepared], and adjure him, and take their leave, and go their way saying:

"My lord High Priest, we are the messengers of the Court, and you are our messenger and the messenger of the Court. We adjure you by Him who rested his Name in this house to alter nothing [about the incense sevice] of all that we have said to you." He would turn aside and weep, and they would turn aside and weep.

What is with the weeping? Is the author of the Mishna telling us that every year the Priest and the Court Agents would break down in tears? Is that plausible? Or is it saying that the men were required to weep? And how plausible is that? Given that this Mishna was written long after the Temple was destroyed, what is its author attempting to convey?

Note: I know why the oath was required, and I know that the Gemarah says that priest wept because he was suspected of being a Sadducee, and the court agents wept for suspecting an innocent man. However, I think this explanation makes my question better. We're told by the Rabbis that from time to time Sadducees were appointed High Priest (there are at least three aggadot of which I am aware that discuss this) and we're also told that there were times when the Sadducee High Priest did manage to alter the manner in which the incense service was performed; if so, there were times when the crying described (or prescribed) in the mishna would not have occurred -- unless the Sadducee priest possessed the uncanny ability to weep convincingly on command.

Ouch, that's gotta sting

Doctor Stern takes apart Avi Shafran

Look what Chaim G. Found

Ancient Document Confirms Existence Of Biblical Figure

Long story short: Some dude was looking through the British Museum's collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets when he came across the following: [Regarding] 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Mean anything to you? Ha. And you call yourself Torah True.

As anyone who's studied Sefer Yirmiyahu (Show of hands please. Ed?) would know, Nabu-sharrussu-ukin was reported present at the destruction of the First Temple. From the list of names recorded in Jer 39:3

וַיָּבֹאוּ, כֹּל שָׂרֵי מֶלֶךְ-בָּבֶל, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ, בְּשַׁעַר הַתָּוֶךְ--נֵרְגַל שַׂרְאֶצֶר סַמְגַּר-נְבוּ שַׂר-סְכִים רַב-סָרִיס, נֵרְגַל שַׂרְאֶצֶר רַב-מָג, וְכָל-שְׁאֵרִית, שָׂרֵי מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל.

This is a big find, the article insists, because it confirms the truth of one of the bible's "throwaway details." Nevusarsichin actually existed. Yeah, well, I suppose that's cool.

But if you're already one of those kofer-types who say the Bible was made up, why couldn't you also say that the author used real names and places in order to make the tales seem more authentic. The existance of a place called Sinai doesn't "prove" that the Exodus occured, so why should the existence of this Nebu-guy be any more valuable?

Oh yeah. Hat tip Chaim G.

Gentler, Kinder, Leaner, even MORE cowardly Cross-Currents

It's often remarked that only one side ever cuts off debate and inhibits free discussion: The losing side.

Unintended hilarity (pointed out by a commenter)
CC says: We believe in a way of life that can survive scrutiny and critique.
But adds: Opinions that take aim at what are regarded as among the essential principles of Torah faith will not be published.
Opinions that take aim at people generally acknowledged to be Gedolei Torah will not be published.

(This is all such self-righteous garbage anyway. CC has, maybe, 700 regular readers.)

I've quoted Milton before, but lets quote him again.

He said: "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter."

He also said: “Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.”

Take refuge in that, truth seekers.

A great day in history

Today, is Yom Haatzmaut, the day DovBear celebrates the anniversary of the marvelous and miraculous day in 2005 when Hirhurim finally linked to one of my posts.

Psss Gil. You're WAY overdue for another one.

(Read the post. It's good, by which I mean excellent)

10 Ways You Can Tell Your Frum Teen Is Headed For Trouble

by JOSEPHINE

The original goes like this:

10 Ways You Can Tell Your Amish Teen Is Headed For Trouble

10. Sometimes stays in bed until after 5 am.
9. In his sock drawer, you find pictures of women without bonnets.
8. Shows up at barn raisings in full "Kiss" makeup.
7. When you criticize him, he yells, "Thou sucketh!"
6. His name is Jebediah, but he goes by "Jeb Daddy."
5. Defiantly says, "If I had a radio, I'd listen to rap."
4. You come upon his secret stash of colored socks.
3. Uses slang expression: "Talk to the hand, 'cause the beard ain't listening."
2. Was recently pulled over for "driving under the influence of cottage cheese."
1. He's wearing his big black hat backwards.

The frum spoof is as follows:

1. He stops putting B"SD at the top of his emails
2. He surfs the net for shiurim and then erases the history on his parents' computer.
3. He uses deodorant. You know he'll be completely off the derech when he starts using cologne.
4. His shuckling during davening does not cause the floor to reverberate
5. His eyes aren't downcast and he doesn't blush when talking to girls
6. You come across a secret stash of Gedolim cards in his drawer and there is also a picture of R'JB Soloveichik.
7. His tsitsit no longer flap widly in the wind. He now takes the time to tuck them neatly inside his pants.
8. He hums Lipa Schmeltzer songs to himself when he thinks he's alone
9. You catch him eating M & M's (pareve, but with marked as OU Pareve Made on Dairy Equipment) when you know he's had chicken for lunch only 5.75 hours before
10. He starts coming home from mishmar at 10:00 pm rather than 11:00 pm.

Some of the best purim posts you will ever see on any blog anywhere

Originally posted 3/19/08

Check it out

Things about Purim that bother me

The song as it should be sung?

Costumes

Purim questions

More Purim lore

The magnificent megillah meme

A purim protest

Why the Godol Hador hates Purim

I <;7 Purim


Yawn

Costumes redux

Purimfest 1946

The second begining

[This is a post from last year recycled to answer a question Shira askes here]

"The woman conceived and bore a son. She saw that he was good and she kept him hidden for three months. " (Exodus 2:2 )

On this verse Rashi tells us (citing Sotah 12A) that when Moshe was born the whole house filled with light. Why? (Not "why light and not, marshmallows?;" but "why doesn't Rashi take the verse at face value?")

Well, if you read closely, like Rashi did, you'll see that the verse seems to say that Moshe was saved because he was good. Strange, no? Doesn't every Jewish mother think her children are good? And yet, not every Jewish child was saved. This suggests (to Rashi, at least, who had a gift for catching subtle suggestions) that there was something odd about this particular child. A house full of unexplained light, you will agree, is seriously odd.

A second midrash says that Moshe was born circumcised and though we can easilly imagine Moshe's mother recognizing that as a sign that her son was worth saving, Rashi rejects it in favor of the house of light. According to someone who's name I forget, Rashi prefers the first midrash because the words themselves support it: On the day of his birth Yocheved looks at her son, and she saw he was good (vatera oto ki tov hu) ; on the first day of creation, God looks at the light, and he sees that it was good. (vayare elokim et ha'or ki tov.)

It's as if we're meant to understand that the birth of Moshe represents the begining of a second creation.

Lost in Translation

Originally posted 12/19/07

By THE BRAY OF FUNDIE

Today, Tevet 10, Jews the world over fast to mourn sundry tragedies that befell our people. Among these is the Septuagint. In the fast days Selikhos we mention this event: "The King of Greece forced me to write the religion/law (דת) in Greek ." (Historians out there, I'd be delighted to know if it was commissioned or completed on Tevet 10).

Why do you suppose this would be something to mourn? Hint: It has more to do with this than with this.

At the risk of leading the witness I blogged about this on Chanukah and this may be enlightening as well. Hope everyone has an easy fast and that our days of fasting become days of feasting speedily and in our days

[DB: The fact of the matter is that the Septuaginit. was in many ways like the Targum Unkelos, in that it was a translation of the Torah into a vernacular. The Targum Unkelos served Aramaic speaking Jews; the  Septuaginit , or as I prefer to call it, the Targum Shivim, served Greek speakers. A better question for the historians, then, is this: How did the Targum Shivim come to be regarded in the popular OJ imagination as something bad, and how did the Targum Unkelos escape this designation?]

This is where the original post finished. As they day went by, Bray and I added to it.
Update [By DB]: There were always those Rabbis who objected to the LXX on the grounds that Torah could not be translated, however the fact remains that the book was the Artscroll of its time. It was the standard text in Alexandria and elsewhere, and scholarship believes that the famous Philo could not read Hebrew, meaning his only Bible was the LXX. Lots and lots of Jews lived in the Greek-speaking world, and the LXX was their book. It can also be argued that the famous legend of the 72 Rabbis who wrote the translation was a way of legitimizing the book. After all, 72 Rabbis had a hand in creating it! So what happened? Well, there was little thing called the Roman War Against the Jews (that culminated at Betar) which made it hard for Jews to continue living happily and comfortably in the Greek-speaking Roman world. Many of them fled into the Aramaic-speaking Persian Empire and the LXX gradually fell into disuse among Jews.

My hunch, is that the prayer Bray mentions above reflects a Jewish distaste for the LXX that developed after it became primarily a Christian book. I suspect it was written by Jews like Yus (see comments) who forgot, or perhaps never knew, that the LXX was first a Jewish book.

Additional Update [By DB]: I see from Megillat Taanit that LXX was completed (per the legend) on 8 Tevet.

Ipso Facto Update by the BRAY OF FUNDIE
Look what they've done to my song, Ma,

Look what they've done to my song,

Well it's the only thing I could do half right And it's turning out all wrong, Ma

Look what they've done to my song

What have they done to my song, Ma?

Look what they've done to my song,

Well they tied it up in a plastic bag And turned it upside down,

Look what they've done to my song!

Bear has mangled my post and is funneling the three days of darkness that descended to the world with the advent of the LXX. The slippery slope of sameness that allows academics and wannabe-academics (you know who you are) to put Torah under an anthropological lens, to deride divrei Khaza"l as "legend" עפרא לפומיה began with the Targum shel Shivim. It was then that the Qedusha wall separating Torah

AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS TO BE STUDIED from other disciplines began it's slow erosion culminating in idiot savants like the Ba'al HaBlog. By giving Goyisher Kep (Greeks) and Goyified kep (hebrew illiterate Misyavnim)equal access to the Torah we surrendered to sameness and sacrificed havdalah.

In the dark everything "looks" the same.

Hey Brad R. still think that I've gone squishy?


Hey... I tried to be succinct but Bear compelled me to intervene and reclaim what was mine.

DB HITS BACK: All Bray has done with his most recent update is ignore the facts and muddy the waters. He needs to do two things. First, he needs to explain why the Greek Targum is inferior to the Aramaic Targum. So far, all he's managed to show is that at some later date the author of the slichot judged the LXX inferior, but as I argue above this judgement was made after the LXX was adapted by Christians, and the slichot author might not have known that the LXX was first a Jewish book. Second, like his coeval Yus, Bray seems unwilling to accept and recognize that a Hellenistic Jew is not the same as a Hellenized Jew. Perhaps because his only knowledge of the period comes from the Chanuka story, both Bray and Yus are laboring under the mistake that there were only two groups (a) Jews who were Charedim with swords (to borrow Misnagid's imperishable phrase); and (b) Greeks of Jewish origin. They seem intellectually unable to accept that there was a third group, the Hellenistic Jews, who went to shul, kept commandments and needed a bible in the vernacular. The LXX was written for them, just as the Targum Unkelos was written for Aramaic speakers, and the Living Torah was written for us.


Counterpunching Update

I leave the concrete or Jello-like quality of my reasoning (as well as that of the Ba'al HaBlog's) for the readers to decide. As for historical evidence; is there some rule etched in concrete err stone that says that Philo and Josephus are credible sources wheras Talmud and Midrash are not?

First, paradoxically Greek may actually be a superior medium for Torah than Aramaic, certainly more than other languages (see below). Why? Becuase wheras both LXX and Onkelos are referred to as Targumim = translations, as per Khazal Greek Torah may potentailly be more than a translation but rather a co-equal version /edition of the Torah.

To paraphrase Khaza"l the LXX was comissioned by Talmai HaMelekh and produced by the 70-72 zekainim. Those who participated did so as a fullfillment of the ye-ood of יַפְתְּ אֱלֹהִים לְיֶפֶת, וְיִשְׁכֹּן בְּאָהֳלֵי-שֵׁם as follows יפיפותו של יפת באהלי שם = "The beauty of Yefes in the tents of Shem" It is an expression of the Greek aesthetic IN the very tents/Temples of Shem. i.e. the heter to "translate" Torah into Greek is expressed שאין התורה נכתב אלא יונית . = "That the Torah cannot be written in other languages save Greek". "Written " as opposed to merely translated. (IMO it was this potential for Torah enlightement abused by Talmai that was transformed into the 3 days of darkness commencing on 8 Teveth and culminating on Asara B'Teveth. )

Second, again as per Khaza"l, the Targum Onkelos was transmitted along with the Torah at Sinai (see Orakh Kahyim 285:2 Mishna Berurah and Biur halakha ibid s'if katan 6), lost in the mists of time and rediscovered/ through Divine inspiration by Onkelos HaGer. Obviously, as a translation that was part and parcel of the gracious gift of TMS it is qualitatively superior to all subsequent translations.

Finally (WARNING, if they haven;'t already the eyes of the Qedusha/Havdalah challenged will now begin to bleed) as per a great 20th century Jewish Thinker, Aramiac is the linguistic equivalent of Ever Hayarden and/or being מוסיף משבת לחול. IOW, while one cannot infuse Mongolia with Qedushas Ha'Aretz nor Wednesday with Qedushas HaShabbos, Ever HaYarden was an expansion of the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael and one can elongate Shabbos by bringing it in earlier on Friday and procrastinating it's end on Saturday night. So too, unique among the worlds languages Aramaic has the potential to be infused with Qedusha. Shakespeare's Sonnets do not. [Applied to Qedushas Ha'Adam this is the basic concept of Gerus.It's no coincidence that the conduit for the rediscovery of this holiness infused Targum was a Ger Tzedek. ]

As great as admirer as I am of The Living Torah and the Hirsch Khumash DovBear is being ahistorical and, I suspect, disingenuous to equate these, or their contemporary Russian, French or Farsi counterparts with the LXX. All of these were written to reclaim a forgotten Torah and allow Lashon Qodesh illiterate Jews an opportunity to reclaim their heritage. OTOH the LXX, through the prism of Khazal, was the vehicle for allowing that heritage to be lost by blurring the ( הבדלה בין חכמת ישראל (תורה) לחכמת העמים (חיצוניות thus further eroding the הבדלה בין ישראל לעמים.

Yair Nehorai gets a bum rap from Failed Messiah

"We will know we have become a normal country when Jewish thieves and Jewish prostitutes conduct their business in Hebrew." -- David Ben Gurion

Haredi types love to indict Zionism by pointing to the Hebrew speaking prostitutes of Tel Aviv, but what about the Hebrew speaking gangsters in their own neighborhoods? I speak specifically of the class of criminal defended by Yair Nahorai, of Meah Shearim, the subject of a feature article in today's Haaretz

Of late Nehorai has had his hands full of work in wake of the Jerusalem Police efforts to restrain the Sikarikim, who use threats and violent tactics to "cleanse" Jerusalem. The police have carried out several arrests and are carrying out intensive investigations into violence, tax evasion and extortion or protection money. Many in Mea She'arim have anointed Nehorai with the title "redeemer of prisoners," a status that fills him with pride. In recent years, he says, he has represented at least 300 ultra-Orthodox clients who were arrested in demonstrations against desecration of Shabbat at the Carta parking lot and the Intel plant in Jerusalem, at demonstrations of support of the mother accused of starving her child and in other cases.

My good friend Shamrya, in his post today, strongly criticizes Nahari's general approach to wining many of those acquittals

But to argue that and entire class of criminal should be treated leniently because they are religious zealots, not 'real' criminals, is not only offensive but it is contrary to the legal systems these criminals supposedly live under...civil society should have jailed [the alleged gangster/button man Avraham] Hirschman years ago, but it didn't do so, in part because of Nehorai...People hate lawyers for many good reasons. The disgraceful Yair Nehorai is one of them.

I understand why Shmarya is upset, but he's attacking the wrong person. A lawyer works for his client, not for society. The job of  a criminal attorney like Nahorai is to get his client an acquittal. 

In pursuit of that goal, he has an absolute right to advance any argument he chooses. He can't lie, but he's not allowed to do a half-ass job because he knows his client is guilty. Scumbags are also entitled to vigorous defenses.

Short-sighted people may object that this puts criminals back on the street, but without strong defense lawyers, what protects innocent people from over-zealous prosecutors?  In an adversarial system, the prosecutor, and to a lesser extent the judge, are supposed to be the safeguards against fallacious arguments advanced by the defense. Its not Nehorai's fault his bogus arguments are swaying hearts and minds. He's merely doing his job, and putting his client's interests first, and (dare I say it?)  he's also improving society by forcing prosecutors to do their own jobs honestly and fairly.

The problem isn't Nahorai. The problem is the Israeli prosecutors and judges who are accepting his malarkey, instead of pushing back with crisp, vigorous, counterarguments of their own.

---

Search for more information about Yari Nahorai  at 4torah.com

WSJ lies about Israel and Obama

The we hate Obama crowd is enjoying a new editorial published by the WSJ which begs a question, and then tries to answer it. Under the heading "Why Obama Is Losing the Jewish Vote?" (Oh, really?) we find a list of bullets, each containing errors, omissions, exaggerations, misstatements of fact, or outright lies. Perhaps in time, I'll point all of them out, but for now, here's a debunking of one, especially egregious error.

• July 2009: Mr. Obama hosted American Jewish leaders at the White House, reportedly telling them that he sought to put "daylight" between America and Israel. "For eight years"—during the Bush administration—"there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished," he declared

This is not a fair description of what occurred. First of all, common sense ought to tell you something smells fishy here. Would an American president really be foolish enough to announce his plans to screw Israel in front of an audience of American Jewish leaders? And indeed, the facts tell a different story.

Here's the version reported at the time by JTA:
[Malcom] Henlein said that peace progress was likelier when there was "no daylight" between Israel and the United States. Obama agreed that it must always be clear that Israel has unalloyed U.S. support but added that for the past eight years, referring to the Bush administration, there was "no daylight and no progress."

Here's how the New York Times reported it at first 
Participants said some of the toughest questioning of Mr. Obama came from Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Two said that Mr. Hoenlein told the president that diplomatic progress in the Middle East has traditionally occurred when there is “no light” between the positions of the United States and Israel. But Mr. Obama pushed back, citing the administration of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

“He said, ‘I disagree,’ ‘’ said Marla Gilson, director of the Washington action office of Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization. “He said, ‘For eight years, there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished.’

Here's how the New York Times reported it later
During the July meeting, held in the Roosevelt Room, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told Obama that “public disharmony between Israel and the U.S. is beneficial to neither” and that differences “should be dealt with directly by the parties.” The president, according to Hoenlein, leaned back in his chair and said: “I disagree. We had eight years of no daylight” — between George W. Bush and successive Israeli governments — “and no progress.”

From the context it seems absolutely clear that Obama was not threatening Israel, nor was he announcing a policy shift. Rather, he is telling us that he has Israel's best interests at heart, and that he does not believe that Bush's approach was successful.  He wants progress. He wants peace. And he's not afraid to point out that Bush failed to deliver it. This is not scandalous - unless you're unscrupulously searching for any quote or misquote that can be used to hurt the president.

---

Search for more information about # at 4torah.com

The Lubovitcher Rebbe's New Year's wish to David Dinkens

---

Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.

An invitation to a place that does not exist

Think there's "no such place as Palestine?" Well, guess again.

H.T Shmarya, who says the host is a high ranking Nateuri Kartanik.

---

Search for more information about things the NK does for attention at 4torah.com

Is this what happens when you learn Torah all day?

An insane cadre of Yeshiva students have invested a perfectly ordinary event with supernatural meaning, and rearranged their daily lives to accommodate it. A result, no doubt of the excellent critical thinking skills acquired through their daily regimen of Torah study.

Is this additional evidence Israel has lost its mind?

My good friend "the beadle" reports that the learned and exalted Members of Israel's august Parliament are considering a bill that would offer new protections for political speech. Only one problem. The bill limits these protections to Rabbis teaching Torah. Presumably everyone else is still at risk. Here's what the proposed law says:

A letter to the (gutless editor of the) 5 Towns Jewish Times

From @azigra

To DovBear:

I submitted this letter to the editor of the 5 Towns Jewish Times, in response to the article they published last week by Aryeh Ginzberg [in which he called bloggers digital murderers,or rotzchim.]. It was noticed on this blog so most of you are already familiar with what he had written.

DB: @azigra's letter to the editor of the 5 Towns Jewish Times has not been published. He's asked me to run it here.

Baltimore frum community shoots itself in the foot

A guest post by Doc Hantarish

The Baltimore frum community lives in a pleasant part of the city known as Upper Park Heights. When I moved to Baltimore in the late 1970s, it looked like that neighborhood, which had been Jewish for over 30 years, was going to succumb to white flight and be another crime-ridden inner-city ghetto. But the local Orthodox rabbis intervened, and, under the leadership of the local gadol, the "Ayatolla" Heinemann of the Agudath Israel, formed a citizen's on patrol group, the Northwest Citizen's Patrol, that worked with the police and was instrumental in keeping our neighborhood relatively crime-free for the past 30 years. This, despite the fact that we are right next door to Pimilico, a neighborhood known for hardcore drug violence. (Personal disclosure: I have been a member of the Northwest Citizen's Patrol for over 20 years.)

Are the Egyptians ready for democracy?

Is Egyptian Democracy possible? Still no answer, but what seems increasingly clear is that those frightened Nellies at Fox News and Hasbrah blogs were dead wrong to predict the Muslim Brotherhood would win any Egyptian election in a landslide. They're currently polling at 15 percent. Whoo-hoo.

Also, those of you who continue to insist that the brown little Muslims lack the innate genetic ability to create a democracy should remain ashamed of yourselves. Here's Colbert: [Part that matters starts @2:50 and continues into the second video]