Monday, September 30, 2013

Impending Shutdown

I have taken a break from politics, but I have to throw my two cents on the circus of the government shutdown. First, the item up for contention, Obamacare, is a complete and utter disaster. It is 2,000 pages long, and has around the figure of 20,000 new regulations. Combine this monstrous amount of new regulations with a congress that half fasted the passing of it, and then you get architects of the bill saying that it was a huge mistake. No one really knows what this law will do. It is too late to try and go back to fix this, so we the people will either sink or swim when this law goes into effect. To go on to my next point, and that is the incredibly irresponsible behavior of the Republican Party, the party I voted for in the past couple of elections. They are using budget talks as a plank to try and sink Obamacare, which is impossible. This political meandering puts the jobs of countless numbers of people who work for the government on the line, and this is just as bad as when unions and private sector companies put jobs on the line. These government workers are just seen as a form of collateral damage, which is a viewpoint of the utmost evil. These people are hardworking 9-5'ers just like most of America, and they have bills to pay, so to cut and burn them like chaff is not right. Shame on these disgusting spineless creatures like John Boehner! Last, my prediction is that there will be a last minute resolution to fix this problem, however if there is not, then ALL INCUMBENTS need to be thrown out of office.
-Kole Elyon Olam

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Loving v. Virginia,Israel, and Love

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

The case of Loving v. Virginia is a case of the Supreme Court which allowed people of different races to be married. Two people, Mildred and Richard Loving, who were a married couple of a black woman and white man in Virginia at the time Jim Crow laws were still in standing went through a living hell to be together. After they got married, they had to hideout in various places to avoid being seen together, at times separating the family from each other. They both even spent time in jail, but all this was undone by a ruling by the Supreme Court which said this was illegal, so they were able to be married legally in the eyes of the law. Now, where does this go, and what importance does it have? Well, first I am with a black woman, and if we want to get married one day, this is possible because these two people braved it all. For this I must thank them. Secondly, I want to lambaste my people, the Jews, about the issue of intermarriage which is seen as a mortal sin amongst the Jewish people, it is even illegal in the state of Israel for a Jew to marry a non Jew! I just have to say as a Jew who is in love with a non-Jew, that the relationship between us and other Jew/non-Jews are completely kosher. In the Torah, Moshe Rabeinu, Moses, was married to a Midianite, a non Jew, and if it was ok for him then it is ok for other Jews to follow the utmost Holy example of the greatest of prophets. It is an atrocity to think that Jews are virtually excommunicated by the Synagogue for marrying someone who is not Jewish. This is something which is not something to fear but to embrace as long as the Jew can contribute some sort of Jewish legacy to their family. In all, love cannot be bottled nor contained, and it should be left to be free, left to flourish and grow.
-Kole Elyon Olam

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Inkless Rebel

Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD.-Leviticus 19

Now, this commandment was originally a prohibition against getting a tattoo as a means of honoring the dead, which was a common pagan custom then and now. It also has been an interpreted as a prohibition against any marks on the body including piercings and tattoos. I believe that it can remain an open question which can be left up to the individual reader giving it a special meaning for each person. For me, I see it an act against an increasingly pagan culture of the west which has an obsession with tattoos. I have been pondering about getting a tattoo for years, and now I am leaning in not getting one, because it leaves me the last of a dying breed, a person who has not marked up their body, it makes me unique. I dare to be different in this day and age by not having tattoos, wearing a beard, and dressing modestly. This type of behavior is seen as weird in a time where everything that was once considered weird is now normal. The world has been turned upside down where we are in wonderland. As a Jew living in a very goyish, non-Jewish, place, I will try to uphold my heritage and be a rebel against the grain. Now, I think Hashem will forgive you if you have a tattoo, plus this commandment only applies to Jews, so non-Jews need not worry. In all, I believe that it is an act of bravery to be different, an act I am willing to undertake, but are you?
-Kole Elyon Olam

Monday, September 23, 2013

Mountain Jews

http://forward.com/articles/162028/dagestans-mountain-jews-flee-chaos/?p=all

"Dibyayev is ready to take on attackers. 'I always carry a pistol and have seven more weapons at home,' he said. “When someone upsets a Jewish person, he goes with two guns.' "

I am getting to know the different Jewish communities of the world, and the mountain Jews who live in the remote regions of Russia are very interesting. There is a silent war between Islamic extremists and everyone else, including the Jews who live in this region. They have lived in the region for centuries literally having to fight for their very existence. Throughout the years there have been different enemies of the Jews of Dagestan including but not limited to native pagan tribes, Russian conquerors, and Islamic radicals. These Jews existence have literally been a constant state of warfare. These are not the pencil toting Jewish lawyers and bankers that people think of when you talk about Jews, they are warriors, and probably closer to what the original form of Judaism was in the days of the bible, just read the Book of Joshua to see what I am talking about. I find it easier to relate to these Jews than the average Jew I meet in the shul because my existence at times has been like their existence. I have lived in some areas where gun shots were a nightly sound, and death was always a constant threat waiting around the corner. I have talked to other Jews and have been hard identifying with them because they have lived the country club life, and I have no idea what that is like. Plus, these country club Jews have no idea what it is like to go without food, to fight for your life, and to evade murderous gangs. These Jews in the mountains of Dagestan do know what that is like, and more. May Hashem deliver them from their enemies and bring them home with all Jews to the Holy Land.
-Kole Elyon Olam

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Yom Kippur and Forgetting the Past

The Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, has just passed this weekend, and though unable to participate in the fullness of festivities with the rest of b'nai yisrael, the Jewish people, I did commemorate the day in my own unique way. To explain, I need to give some background information. In the old days when there still was a temple in Jerusalem there was a ritual that high priest, Cohen Gadol, would perform. In the ritual the priest would take two goats and offer them up to God. One goat would be tied with the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed on a parchment to represent the evil that all of Israel had committed for the year, and then the goat was set loose into the desert forever with the sins of Israel to be forgotten. The other goat was then taken to the Holy of Holies, ritually slaughtered, and offered with incense to Hashem, God, to atone for the sins of Israel, thus giving them a clean slate. To put this into a modern perspective, I am taking my "two goats" and offering them to God as a sacrifice. On one goat, I am attaching all the wrong I have done prior until this Holy Day, and then I am forgetting it knowing God is merciful. Next, I am offering my life as the other goat as atonement for the wrongs that God will forgive me for. I am offering my existence as a sacrifice, only trying to do what is right. From everything in work, to my relationships, to family life I will try to do what is called for me in Torah, the bible. If I do this and do not live in the past wrongs committed by me and others, then I will truly find an abundant life. For the next year I vow in front of the Holy One to try my hardest to abide by Torah, and live a healthy life in all aspects. I pray this comes true for my family, loved ones, and all who can be empowered by these words.
-Kol Elyon Olam

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

A Real Leader

"Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government..."

 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?hp&_r=0

Vladimir Putin is a true leader, a leader to be proud of. In an excellent address given to the United States, he cites history and reason in addressing the potential armed conflict in Syria. He says that by backing the rebels we would be backing terrorists, we would be acting as Al Qeada's military. We would be furthering the cause of the people who attacked us on this day 12 years ago. Putin further elaborates on how there is no real proof of the chemical attacks being done by the Syrian government. He also brings up the fact that by launching a strike, the United States would be going against international law, thus acting as a brute force, and not as a model for democracy. Giving examples of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, Putin states that we cannot afford another war. In all, this might be the best argument against going to war with Syria given yet. Hopefully the government harkens these words.
-Kol Elyon Olam

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

It Sucks to Be A Genius

I have to rave and rant about how frustrating it is to be smarter than the average person who is walking around this planet like a mindless zombie, a zombie who has no awareness of anything greater than Miley Cyrus twerking videos. From elementary school up through the "real world", which I believe is a myth but that is another rant, the smart among humanity is bullied, pestered, and ridiculed. The quiet kid who lets people copy his answers in the corner in the class is the future Bill Gates or Plato, but the nominally active brains that are walking around do not know this, nor can they even comprehend it. Instead of propping up the next Einstein, we prop up these false machismo types who pump themselves up on steroids, whether in the form of direct injection or through "nutrition supplements", then walk around with their chest puffed out screaming OOOOGA BOGGA BOOG like they haven't evolved past the days when we were walking around butt naked in caves, and I believe this describes a majority of people. It is just completely sad we have been given the gift of brains by God, but yet we choose to stay backwards in the days of apes. It just gets frustrating when you can see things that people can't see as if they are blind. Maybe this is the way Hashem has made it for a reason, I don't know, but it does not make it any less frustrating to be a giant among lilliputians.
-Kol Elyon Olam

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Next Step in Evolution

I am going to make a prediction which is probably wrong, but it is an interesting point to make. Given a few factors such an increase in positive social attitudes towards older women, advanced fertility treatments, the reluctance of younger women to have kids, and the attitude younger women posses; I think the demographic of women who get married and have kids will get much older. I know that biologically younger women are more fertile, and thus more suitable for having kids, however; there seems to be a shift in the evolutionary paradigm in regards to who is more suitable to have children with. First, there is a change in how older women are viewed in society, and this is most evident with the "milf culture" and the acceptance of younger men dating older women. Secondly, medical science has given us treatments which increase the age a woman can have kids exponentially, truly a remarkable feat. Next, comes something which is somewhat more of a controversial statement, but I will make it. Young girls are so full of nonsense. It seems that the millennial generation is plagued by a narcism which makes the most egotistical person blush. Young girls often say things like they hate kids because they will be an "inconvenience" to their lifestyles in some way shape or form so they will either prolong their childbearing, giving credence to my theory, or will forgo it all together.  This type of thinking plus the rampant narcism which goes along with it is a huge turn off to guys, and will drive men to seek other partners. Now, I might be stating an obvious fact, or maybe I am just venting about my own frustrations, but I believe it is important to talk about this observation. Only time will tell if my prediction comes true.
-Kol Elyon Olam

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

American Hessians

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

It is now apparent we are in line for another Iraq. The war party is getting its way, and that is going to intervene in another foreign conflict. It is good that Obama went to congress, because that is the constitutional way, however; he probably knew that he had the cards stacked in his favor all along. There is no opposition against this waste of time and money except for a few brave with convictions like Dennis Kucinich, a man I would never thought I would align myself with. It is sad that we are going to be yet in another entanglement that we have no business in, and the government, or the shadow of it, is going on with this against the will of the American citizenry. We have no representation in Washington, they only represent the interests of CPAIC. I have heard an interesting theory that it is Israel are the ones pushing us to go to war, and that is because they were the first ones to "break the story". We will have to sit back and see what happens in this saga, but the outcome is not likely good.
-Kol Elyon