Shame on the Libs

Shame in the Camp

According to the Australian newspaper just a few hours ago, and their writer, Rick Wallace, Victorian political reporter

"ANOTHER senior Victorian Liberal has quit after being caught sending anti-Semitic emails as the crisis in the state opposition deepens.

Wallace reports, "Liberal campaign director Susan Chandler apologised for referring to a federal Liberal candidate as a “greedy f...ing jew” but has left her job at the party's Melbourne headquarters.

State president David Kemp said today she had the option of quitting or being sacked.

In an email to Liberal staffer John Osborn, Ms Chandler referred to candidate Adam Held as a “greedy f...ing Jew” after he asked for more campaign material during last year's federal election. Ms Chandler released a statement this afternoon saying she had many Jewish friends and was not anti-Semitic. “My comments were completely out of character and were made on the spur of the moment in an email during a difficult period of the election campaign,” she said.""

My thoughts? What I've learned is that people in the heat of moments say exactly what they think. We are like tea bags, and what comes out when people are put into hot water, demonstrates who they are and what is inside them. It's impossible to hide.

I'm sure Ms Chandler had some friendships with Jewish people and used such friendships in advancing her now-terminated political maneuvering.

Let the Liberals sort out their disarray, and I'm sure they will do so. But Ms Chandler needs to repent of hatred, needs to admit her true feelings and let God forgive her of this most obvious sin.

And isn't it good to know God wants to forgive us and give us new hearts? The Bible is rife with such statements. And really that's what comes out if we could put God 'into hot water.' What he is made of is love. What he is made of is hope for true internal change in us. And he will forgive the most wretched of sinners, and the 'best' of us.

Will they let her play?

Will they let her play?

Tomorrow is the finals of the Bible Quiz in Israel. The JTA from Jerusalem reports, "Should Bat El Levy be asked at Israel's international youth Bible quiz next week about the messiah's coming, she may find herself in a bind.

The 17-year-old Jerusalem girl is a world-class scriptural scholar who, as it happens, believes in Jesus."

So who cares what she believes? She was Jewish before she believed anything and she'll be Jewish long after this quiz is even a faint memory.

Today's Jerusalem Post says,
"Both chief rabbis of Israel called on Tuesday to cancel the International Bible Quiz slated for the capital on Independence Day in protest against the participation of a 16-year-old girl who believes Jesus is the messiah.

"Choosing her as a finalist in the International Bible Quiz for Jewish Youth is a transgression of Halacha and is a distortion of the goal and essence of the quiz," wrote Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger in a letter to Education Minister Yuli Tamir. "The Chief Rabbinate of Israel vigorously protests [the participation] of this representative... Bible quiz participants have always been Jews who believed in the Torah handed down by Moses.

"The Chief Rabbinate calls to disqualify this girl from taking part in the quiz. If she is not disqualified, we call to cancel the quiz immediately.

"It is unacceptable that a member of a cult that has removed itself from the Jewish faith will take part in a quiz dedicated to a book that has been holy to the Jews since their inception as a people," the rabbis wrote.

"Nevertheless, Tzurit Berenson, 15, from Nahariya, one of the four Israeli finalists, said that she and the other contestants intended to participate in Thursday's competition.
"We asked our own rabbis what to do and they told us that we should participate," said Berenson, who added that she had taught herself the Bible and has been preparing for the quiz for years.

"Berenson said religious activists have been trying to discourage her and the other participants from taking part in the quiz, "but we have all decided to go ahead with it."

Isn't it a joy to know that 15-year-olds know the ideas of Tenach better than their older counterparts? Good on those young co-participants who challenge the rabbis and who just want to win in tomorrow's finals.

Shame on the ones who are trying to prevent another Jew from experiencing something Jewish. Who cares if any participant is a Jewish Buddhist or a Jewish atheist for that matter? Let these Jewish kids and young adults have a go.

Road rage

Yesterday was a bad day for my new friend Ed. He hurried to his doctor appointment in the morning and as a result was late for work. He wanted to tell me that, but he lost his mobile phone. And he couldn't hear it ring, as it has a flat battery, so he can't even help himself to find it. Oy.

So he comes to work at the shop and parks behind me. No problem there. I get ready to leave a little early because I have to speak last night at a church meeting. So Ed comes down with me to move his car. Simple, right? Except he has left his lights on and now his car battery is dead. Double oy!

OK, so he puts his car into neutral, eases back down the slight hill of a driveway we have. I back out next to him and park, so I can use my jumper cables. This won't take long.

We put the cables onto each car, and the jump start is successful, but Ed's car doesn't want to hold the charge, nor keep running unless he keeps his foot on the accelerator. Oy, oy, oy.

We are making a quick determination about staying or leaving the office, when a woman approaches in her vehicle. Seems I'm parked a bit in her very oversized driveway into the megatower apartment block immediately behind our shop. She can (and does) negotiate her way into the driveway, uses her electric key to enter the property and drives away. Should be no trouble, right?

Except this woman rages against me for blocking her path. She obviously isn't happy. Maybe her Lexus is giving her trouble like Ed's car was giving him? Maybe she had a bad day at work or at the health spa? Maybe something else is going wrong with her. But she yelled at me! Could she not see the jumper cables? Could she not see we were trying to start Ed's car? Did she really think I wanted to park along the path/street and not in my spot a mere 15 feet in front of me?

Yes, I should have been quick to say "I'm sorry for blocking a bit of your drive." But I was a little busy with the jump.

Lesson to self: Be quick to fix other people's problems and never, never, never get in the way of a road-raging woman in a black Lexus in Bondi. And if you do, be very quick to apologize for the inconvenience. (That I could have really done, and should have said so to her. )

BTW, the photo is not of the woman. Don't try to iris scan and find her.