Clarity, Issue 2 - More Love!!

Every journal needs a good lead story and "Clarity" has it with the following announcement.

Monday, January 05, 2009 -
Dennis Announces His Marriage

"Dennis and Sue were married December 31 by Rabbi Michael Gotlieb at his synagogue, Kehillat Ma'arav, in Santa Monica, California.

The former Susan Reed, known to all as Sue, was raised in the Los Angeles area, graduated from Occidental College, obtained her law degree from Loyola Law School and was admitted to the California Bar in November 1994. After a half-year practicing business transaction law, Sue left her career to be a full time mother to her two boys, one of whom is autistic, and shortly thereafter also to raise her two nieces after the death of their mother, Sue’s 35 year-old sister, Cyndi, from cancer.

Sue met Dennis at a speech he gave for the Jewish organization Chabad in San Diego, where she lived until 2008 when she moved to Los Angeles." Posted by: Allen Estrin at 3:00 PM

Here is Dennis' statement:

"As many listeners and my friends and family know, my divorce after 19 years with Fran was a very painful period of my life. Happily, Fran and I remain friends and share the raising of our son, Aaron.

Many people advised me against marrying again. After all, they argued, I had no plans to have more children. And we live in a society that hardly demands marriage, let alone the remarriage of middle aged individuals. More than a few men additionally argued that I would come to value my “freedom.”

To be honest, I understood these arguments, but I believe that marriage is the greatest of all social institutions; I happen to agree with God who said in Genesis, “It is not good for man to be alone.”

Nevertheless, with all my belief in marriage, I would not likely be getting married at this time were it not for Sue, whose goodness, love , intelligence, and emotional stability have been a blessing to me and to all those who know her.

Through all that I have experienced, I believe I can fairly say that I have learned a great deal about men, women, and marriage. It is one reason I began the “Male-Female Hour” – to help others in relating to the other sex and in their marriages.

Over time, I hope many of you will get a chance to meet Sue.

I thank all of you who have shown me such warm and loving support over these past few years. You have no idea how much that has meant to me.

Dennis Prager"

(Lest you think Dianne is right on top of everything, it was Janet who emailed me the good news; I'm often a day or two behind listening to podcasts. Thanks, Janet!)

Here's the original picture (smaller, of course) that shows the rest of the room they were in (nice digs!):

Many of us probably emailed Dennis already with our congratulations. He's taken the time to respond to quite a few, thanking us for our best wishes.

Hmmm.... Wonder if Sue has read "Think a Second Time."

In spite of Dennis' pleas, I only just picked it up a couple of weeks ago. I see why it's his favorite. I particularly appreciated the 2nd chapter on Judging Other People's Motives. If we can disappoint ourselves, someone we think we know pretty well, how much more disappointing are the unknown motives of others? Won't I give myself a break before I give someone else one because, after all, aren't I basically a good - if not imperfect - person? Once again, Dennis' sounds the clarion call that shatters my glass bubble of narcissism.

If you have a favorite (or more than one) piece of advice from "Think a Second Time," send it along.

## We had a meeting last Sunday afternoon, at the Panera in Mayfield Heights. There were some new people (Bob and Matt, Susanne and Sharon) along with some of the "old" people (Angie & Dan, Ayad, Owen, Jan and me... I think that was all of us.) The weather had been so lousy it was a miracle folks came out at all.

But, as usual, the chatter ran the gamut from Dennis and his new wife to politics and the new President-elect, and more.

Speaking of Ayad, he planning to start a book club (light-weight material, not so much about politics) so if you're interested, you can email him at ayadrahim@hotmail.com.

Ayad was talking about having the preliminary interest-gathering meeting on the 25th of January, at the Starbucks in Garfield Heights, 9791 Vista Way, just offTransportation Boulevard -- there are signs for it, from the highway (I-480-- Transportation Boulevard exit, just east of I-77).

I think it would be best, though, to confirm the location with Ayad before you drive over there.

Dennis' column from Tuesday, January 06, 2009, at Townhall.com

Guess Who Cares about Dead Palestinians? Jews! - "For those individuals -- such as nearly all members of the world news media -- who, in light of Israel’s invasion of Gaza -- see moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians, here are some clarifying thoughts.

First, it would be difficult nearly to the point of impossibility, to find Israeli or other Jews who celebrate the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Jews both within and outside of Israel cringe when they see pictures of dead Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza. For thousands of years at their Passover seders, Jews have removed wine from their cups to ceremonially weep for the Egyptians -- their erstwhile slave owners for 400 years -- who died during the Jews’ exodus. Jews have never stopped weeping for enemies. ..." (Read the rest...)

[DM: I got a kick out of one of the commenters who said that the Egyptians never had slaves.]

Dennis' column from Tuesday, January 06, 2009, at Townhall.com -
A Question for My Friend Alan Dershowitz -

"Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is that rare individual who is both a highly respected academic and well known to the general population.

But in another regard he is even rarer. He regards himself as a man of the left, yet on one of the defining moral issues of our time, attitudes toward Israel, he has nothing in common with the left. He is not only one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, he spends much of his time defending Israel. He has written innumerable articles and four books defending Israel: “The Case against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace, ..."(Read the rest...)


Dave Golladay offered us his January 12 post: Hable inglés, por favor. - 12Jan09

America used to be a melting pot. People came here because they wanted to be Americans.

That melting pot is looking more like a salad these days: Everything’s in one bowl, but nothing’s blending together. People still come here, but they’re no longer encouraged to embrace American ideals because, well… that would be insensitive.

In fact, our current cultural climate actively discourages immigrants from assimilating into the American mainstream.

For example, look how easy we’re making it for people NOT to learn English.

Bilingual signs in stores are ubiquitous. So is bilingual product packaging. Go to your ATM and you’ll be asked if you prefer English or Spanish. Call a customer service line and the automated voice on the other end will ask you the same question.

Hey, Spanish is a great language. (I took two years of it in high school.) And if I moved to Mexico or Spain, I’d learn it. I wouldn’t expect those countries to bend over backwards to accommodate my ignorance of their national language.

But that’s exactly what we’re doing here. Armed with the very best intentions, we’re limiting newcomers’ ability to communicate with the majority of people here. By doing so we’re keeping them outside the mainstream, relegating them to permanent outsider status, and essentially making them second class citizens.

That’s not just bad for them, it’s bad for all of us. After all, how can we be a single united people if we can’t even communicate with each other in a common language?

The answer is: We can’t. And if this keeps up, America will eventually be reduced to little balkanized enclaves of special interests for politicians to pander to.

The e pluribus unum (”from many, one”) printed on our currency will give way toe pluribus pluribus (”from many, many”).

Okay, so maybe you’ve heard the above arguments before.

But the cultural impact is only one downside.

There’s something else that needs to be considered: The cost, especially to businesses.

After all, translating signs, packages and instructions into other languages costs money, and not just a little. There’s the cost of the initial translation. There’s the cost of proofreading those translations. And there’s the cost of re-translating and re-proofreading when the inevitable last-minute revisions occur. Not to mention the additional management time that these extra steps and third-party involvement require.

Then there are the design issues.

Package development is challenging under the best circumstances. Designers have to pack a lot of information into very little space, all while making it readable and appealing to the eye of the consumer. When—by requiring a package to be bilingual—you more than double the amount of words it needs to include, you’ve made the designer’s job exponentially more difficult and the project much more expensive. (And because there’s no way to put 10 gallons of stuff in a 5-gallon bucket and make it look good, you can pretty much kiss a pleasing design and readability goodbye.)

Ultimately, since costs get passed on, the consumer pays the price for this politically correct retail approach—both monetarily and in going blind trying to find the English bits on a package of light bulbs.

Companies may believe they’re being “inclusive” by going bilingual, that they’re “reaching out” to “a diverse array of consumers.” But the unintended consequence is the further division of Americans into isolated groups and a higher cost for making it happen. twokidstwocats.wordpress.com

Our Huron County branch of the Dennis Prager NEO group sent us photos from the Kette Christmas. Thanks, Mila!

"Attached are some pictures we took this Christmas. As you will see, Santa actually participated--he removed beard, jacket and cap, parked his sledge and ate dinner with us! (Actually, the trousers Terry is wearing, when I bought them on line, they didn't look that color! He insisted in keeping them to wear at Christmas. I call the tone "Harlem Red," ha, ha, ha!). Milla"

Unfortunately, Huron County is a "fur" piece from the Cleveland area but we may see Mila one day.

Joe the Journalist , by Michelle Malkin

My syndicated column today looks at the MSM sneering over Joe Wurzelbacher’s trip to Israel sponsored by PJTV, recounts how The Fraternal Order of the Professional Journalist has squandered its own credibility, and exposes how liberal media elites have attempted to shut out conservatives from membership in the journalism club by redefining their craft based on ideological content. (Read more here...)

:) Did you get to hear Dennis' interview with Thomas Sowell?
Wisdom from Tom Sowell With Dennis Prager

:( Did you hear Dennis say that soon there would be no more of his podcasts available unless you ordered "Pragertopia"?

:) Loved this Christmas message from Melissa:

Mary O'Malley sent "Clarity" this Townhall.com link to
"The Necessity of Israel" by Charles Krauthammer

"Friday, January 02, Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

-- Associated Press, Dec. 27 WASHINGTON -- Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis -- 6,464 launched from Gaza in the last three years -- deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people. (Read the rest here.)

Something for you young people to look forward to:

A RETIREE'S THOUGHT...
My Wife asked, "Whatcha doin' today?"
I said, "Nothing."
She said, "You did that yesterday."
I said, "I wasn't finished."

From our friends at the Cleveland Chapter of the RJC, this notice that Jonathan Schanzer will be discussing his new book, HAMAS VS. FATAH (see link at the end) at RJC-Cleveland Chapter on April 19th. We will forward the details of the meeting location as soon as they are available. Prager and Schanzer Dissect the Hamas-Israel War

:) Have you seen the movie "GRAN TORINO," with Clint Eastwood? It's a movie well-worth seeing, even if you don't care for the really raw language of the suburban ghetto. I heartily recommend this movie for anyone over the age of 16 or 17 (and that's only because of the language).

Opened December 12, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 56 min. R language throughout, and some violence.

Walt Kowalski is an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.


:) Finally, from the "Awwwwwwwww Corner" - When hurricane Hannah separated two ultra-prosh white tigers from their mother, Anjana came to the Rescue.

Anjana, a chimp at TIGERS in South Carolina, became surrogate mom and playmate to the cubs, even helping with bottle feeding, according to The Sun. But here's the truly amazing part: Anjana does this all the time, having raised leopard and lion cubs.

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All through the month of December, the APL (Animal Protective League) of Cleveland was running spots on TV, letting us know that they had over 400 cats, the most they've ever had in their facility, and were asking people to come and adopt them. So, I dragged my poor husband down there on December 11, 2008. The APL then had 399 cats.

Midnight (formerly known as Mischief - which is really a better name for him now that he's been living with us for over a month and makes mischief everywhere) came with all the skiddishness that a kitten who's lived outside for most of his life would have.

But in the last couple of weeks he's warmed up to everyone, including Elvis, the old cat who doesn't like any other cats. We made a good choice except for the fact that he's black and our living room and stairway carpet is so dark that we can't see him unless he's moving. Here's Midnight Mueller:

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Please let Dianne know if you have items you would like included in "Clarity." Some folks sent me things (where I was included in the email distribution) but didn't specify that it was for use in "Clarity."

We love pictures (as you can see) so send them along and we'll toss them in future issues.

Thanks for your help! Looking forward to your future submissions!

And see you February 8, at the Panera in Brooklyn.