Tag Archives: New Years

12/31/14

We Must Hope

Arlene from Israel

I comment every year at this time about the difference between the way the secular new year and the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) are celebrated.  In the Jewish tradition it is a time for prayer and introspection.

This year in particular, I think, the difference is marked.  For the year 2014, in retrospect, does not leave much room for celebrating (except, of course, on a personal level).

 

Nor can we face the advent of 2015 filled with facile optimism.  I, myself, don’t see this as a time for fireworks and champagne – although I am sure there will be much in the way of fireworks and champagne in various venues.

This said, we are forbidden to despair. There is always room for hope. We SHOULD hope for better times, and resolve to do all possible to bring them to fruition.  And there is something about turning that calendar page, with a new year marked on it, that increases the sense of hope – makes hope feel more possible.

 

And so, I extend to my dear readers my heartfelt wishes that at a personal level you should find the year 2015 a very good one.

And for the larger world, I pray for the serious weakening of radical forces, (they should self-destruct) with strong and wise leadership in the democracies holding sway (I can dream).  A diminution of disease and poverty and hatred.  An increase in loving-kindness and acts of simple humanity, one to the other.

May we all be able to sleep easily and have much reason for laughter in the 12 months ahead.

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If not for the incoming year, I would not have written again today.  For today is the Likud primary – a time when all those who are members of the party have the opportunity to select the candidates who will appear on the list for the elections.  We will not have results for a day or two.

What we know, with almost a certainty, is that Binyamin Netanyahu will head the list, and is likely to emerge, once again, as prime minister. What also seems to be the case – we shall see – is that a number of right wing/nationalist candidates will be high up on the list, thus guaranteed seats in the Knesset.

Perhaps in the end, when the Israeli election is held, there will be cause for great hope. For Habayit Hayehudi seems to be growing stronger as well, while certain other parties, such as Livni’s, seem to be on the cusp of disappearing.

But right now, the political circus – when monitored carefully – tends to promote a headache.  Or a stomach ache.  I will examine some of the diverse parameters in an upcoming posting – at the same time that I report on the Likud primary results.  I confess, the situation has been so fluid and frequently unpleasant that I’ve been reluctant to report on it in any detail.

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What I will report on here are the results of the vote on a Palestinian state held last night in the Security Council: It did not pass – there were eight votes for, and not the required nine, so that the US did not have to veto.

But here too we see a situation that was very fluid.  At one point late yesterday, PA spokespersons said that they had the necessary majority of nine, as France – a big disappointment – and Luxembourg had decided they would vote in favor.  But at the very last moment, Nigeria had second thoughts and decided to abstain instead because a negotiated settlement is required.

Along with France and Luxembourg, China, Jordan, Russia, Argentina, Chad and Chile voted for the resolution, while the UK, South Korea, Rwanda, and Lithuania abstained.  The US and Australia voted against.

What will happen next is anyone’s guess, as PA representatives are prone to making a variety of threats.

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For the last post of 2014, a site that describes some of Israel’s innovations of the past year:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/10-israeli-tech-ideas-that-changed-the-world-in-2014/

My favorite is the ReWalk, which is an “Israeli-developed exoskeleton system that enables the paralyzed to walk…Using computers and motion sensors for the heavy lifting, ReWalk allows independent, controlled walking similar to that of an able-bodied person. The system controls movement using subtle changes in the center of gravity, mimics a natural gait and provides functional walking speed, enabling even paraplegics to move independently.”

The ReWalk in action (Courtesy)

Courtesy
Amazing.  If things such as this are being done, there is definitely hope.

12/31/14

Try not to kill anyone…

By: T F Stern
T F Stern’s Rantings

DWIThe year is ending and a new one’s just around the corner.  Tennyson touched on the topic, Ring Out, Loud Bells, the passing of moments, change and hope all rolled into a cautiously cadenced hymn.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

You’ve likely seen infomercials warning folks not to drink and drive, images of police painted to blend in with their surroundings as inebriated individuals stagger down the sidewalk on the way to the parking lot without care.

A few moments later the irresponsible individual is driving down the road, crossing the double yellow stripe into on coming traffic and weaving back at the last moment, the lights and siren bring the warning home as the driver is placed in the back of a police cruiser in handcuffs.  Don’t let this be you.

While working night shift as a police officer I had my share of DWI arrests.  The tell tale signs would present themselves; trouble holding the vehicle in one lane, poor reactions or inappropriate reactions alerted me to follow and observe a little longer.

One fellow was driving well below the speed limit down the main lanes of Interstate 10 from downtown.  He caught my attention when he began braking for traffic lights that were on the service road.  He’d stop and wait for the light to turn green prior to continuing down the freeway as other drivers figured out how to get past without tangling fenders.   Thank goodness it was four in the morning and traffic was very thin.

Then there was a rare ‘foot chase’ DWI; not making this up, stopped a DWI on foot.  The suspect was bouncing from one curb line to the other all the way down Kempwood in an industrial area; but headed for a residential area.   My rookie was on his 2nd week of night shift so he’d earned the opportunity to actually drive the police unit.  He wasn’t sure what to do as we followed the DWI suspect at speeds reaching between 3 to 5 miles an hour; but wouldn’t stop.

The red lights and siren hadn’t gotten his attention so I stepped out of the police car and ran along side the suspect, tapping on his window to get his attention.  The look on his face was priceless as he came to a stop; believing his vehicle had been traveling at posted speed he must have thought he’d been arrested by Superman.  He was actually relieved as his nightmare ended without anyone being killed.

Of course there are other threats on New Year’s Eve, idiots shooting guns into the air as they ring in midnight.  The laws of gravity make this type of behavior doubly dangerous as pieces of lead can be heard falling through the leaves on trees all about.

I did my best to be tied up on some unimportant incident requiring a police report, a very long police report that would last until well after midnight and most of the insanity; you don’t make it to retirement by being stupid.

We had a ‘gung-ho’ new night shift sergeant one year who wanted to impress everyone with his bravado.  Several units, myself included, were told to meet about a block or so from a major low income apartment project where several fireworks complaints had been reported.  Off in the distance we could hear shotguns going off, an occasional rifle being discharged; all this mixed in with bottle rockets and other sundry fireworks that lighted up the night sky.

We were about to get under way when some fool let go with a fully automatic 9mm machine pistol in the middle of the project followed by a few more shotgun blasts into the air.  It was about that time when our fearless leader realized how futile our presence would be; but beyond that, furnishing some tanked up idiot to use our police cars for target practice.

DWIIt was decided that we’d hold off until such time as an actual complaint from one of the citizens was lodged.  Until that time we were instructed to remain in service and to ‘be careful’.

It’s become even more serious in our present day world, a world where a certain element of our society has declared war on police officers.

What’s to keep these degenerates from using the chaos of New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to take out an unsuspecting cop responding to a fireworks complaint?   The suspect can claim it wasn’t him, must have been a stray bullet from some other fool’s gun.  The world has gotten much more dangerous for the ‘thin blue line’.

I’ll pass the same instructions on at this time, y’all be careful out there.  Happy New Year; and oh, try not to kill anyone and make sure you get home at the end of shift.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.