Pharyngula

Posted by: Stanton | August 12, 2009 4:20 PM

I thought they took care of swine flu in Israel by renaming it "Mexican Flu" for kosher concerns.

Posted by: Gary R | August 12, 2009 4:23 PM

That is one scary video. It's so disturbing to see people act that way.

Posted by: David Wiener | August 12, 2009 4:25 PM

I believe the real problem is that this flu is not kosher.

Posted by: Desert Son | August 12, 2009 4:26 PM

Just to head it off at the pass:

TrueBeliever(tm): "I bet you'd never say that about {insert religion} . . . !"

No kings,

Robert

Posted by: Glen Davidson | August 12, 2009 4:27 PM

That's what you get when the government pays people to sit around reading the Torah instead of learning anything meaningful, or doing something worthwhile.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

Posted by: Joe Cracker | August 12, 2009 4:29 PM

This flu is not kosher!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! V. FUNNY!

Posted by: GMacs | August 12, 2009 4:32 PM

No, they're just trying to knock down the Dome of the Rock. Don't you know this is what they did to tear down the walls of Jericho?

Posted by: Barry | August 12, 2009 4:33 PM

You gotta love the contrast of barbaric religious folks going absolutely nuts in technological marvels that owe their existence to science.

Posted by: Glen Davidson | August 12, 2009 4:34 PM

There is, indubitably, some irony in using the product of science and technology, a plane, to fly around performing ancient useless magic incantations used to cozen the public.

Hey guys, if you were flying around due to magic, I would be impressed and at least a little hopeful that your magic would counter H1N1.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

Posted by: KATHYxx | August 12, 2009 4:35 PM

Their solution to avoiding swine flu is... to board an airplane?

No no no that's all backwards. Avoid them airports.

Posted by: Jerry Coyne | August 12, 2009 4:41 PM

Oy gewalt, I'm of Jewish background, and remain, as a cultural Jew, proud of my people, but THIS embarrasses me!

Oh, and BronzeDog: the guy bobbing is "davening", a behavior that supposedly helps you communicate with God.

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 12, 2009 4:44 PM

I never said we Jews didn't have our own share of moon bats.
At least they are out getting exercise. You should see the hens teeth we are pulling to get our one Chabad Scout troop out and camping into the wilderness.
BTW, just like any other belief system, there is a method to the madness that is interesting entertainment none-the-less.
And hey, it can't hurt.

Posted by: Brock | August 12, 2009 4:44 PM

I know it's filed under "one-minute world news", but can't the BBC throw in a statement like the following?

[made up quote] Lead scientists from the CDC (or British equivalent) call the act "completely bonkers" [end fake quote]

Posted by: Anatoli | August 12, 2009 4:46 PM

Until I saw this on Swift, I hadn't the slightest idea people in Israel were calling it anything other than swine flu.
As someone living in Israel, that came to me as a real surprise. I'd really like to mention that the ultra-orthodox lot don't speak for the moderately-religious majority of Israel, not in the least bit.

Posted by: Beelzebub | August 12, 2009 4:48 PM

Wouldn't it be ironic if one of the Rabbis had flu, and infected all the others on the plane?
How would they explain that? :-)

Posted by: not a gator | August 12, 2009 4:50 PM

That's what you get when the government pays people to sit around reading the Torah instead of learning anything meaningful, or doing something worthwhile.

Thank you, Glen.

Israel started its life as one of the most secular of nations. It's a country where men and women serve in the military because because its founders were political radicals who rejected the patriarchal religion of their forefathers.

Israel is a clear case of the dangers of accommodationism, as, over time, the secular government has lost more and more ground to hard-line Orthodox rabbis. These rabbis not only want to control how women can wear their hair and when businesses can be open but who can become a citizen. (Hint: if you aren't super-Orthodox, you aren't Jewy enough.)

They've expanded their base by following a program of drilling Soviet refugees into the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle, complete with segregation of the sexes and hatred of gays, fornicators, "loose" women (ie, women who go out in the world by themselves and who wear garments that reveal their knees), and--dare I say it--Muslims. They've also provided aid and comfort to nutty cults like Chabad-Lubodivitch. I've heard a number of scary stories from parents whose child was invited by the Lubodivitchers on a free vacation to Israel and, once there, cut off all access to their family. Apparently, they are more brazen in Israel than in the US, which is a country not exactly famous for riding herd on cults. (Even better--they are based in the US! Yet the complaints are in Israel!)

Whatever happened to the country of kibbutzim and Golda Meir? Israel still has a lot of high-tech companies and high-tech ag research, but the left and center seem increasing drowned out by the militant, kooky right.

Posted by: Steve_C | August 12, 2009 4:52 PM

Holy christ on a cracker that was funny.

Posted by: Dirty Hairy | August 12, 2009 4:53 PM

...

Have they tried farting in Swine Flu's general direction?

Posted by: AF Comm Guy | August 12, 2009 4:54 PM

Primitive! That is the word I was trying to think of.

Perhaps that is the term we should start using to describe religionists, theists, etc. Primitives; it seems so apt.

Posted by: Jason | August 12, 2009 4:58 PM

I feel funny commenting on what Jerry said, (because he's Jerry! and I'm a lowly grad student) but to be a bit more precise, Jerry, I don't think I've ever heard davening used to describe more thank praying. However, while davening, that shaking (that really creeps me out) is called shukkeling. It's a weird behavior.

I'm a chozer b'shaila (Ex religious -> Atheist)

And to completely reiterate the rest of Jerry's remark.

Oy!!

Posted by: tsg | August 12, 2009 4:59 PM

Rabbi: I'll be with you in a minute, I have to blow the shofar.

Priest: You people sure treat your help well.

Am I going to hell now?

As long as we're going that way....

True Story^TM:I and a co-worker were working in a temple one day when we heard a noise coming from the rabbi's office. The maintenance guy told us it was "just the rabbi blowing the shofar". Without missing a beat, my co-worker said, "it doesn't sound like he likes it."

Posted by: Somnolent Aphid | August 12, 2009 5:02 PM

D'oh! I always thought they blew the chauffeur!

Posted by: daveau | August 12, 2009 5:02 PM

tsg@41

As long as we're going that way....

Well, we sure as hell are now...

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 12, 2009 5:06 PM

@ Brock Post #36
Lighten up. The humour of it is no different than had a bunch of priest went on a prayer vigil, a fast or dervishes whirling. In that, it is harmless and their right to choose to spend their time doing so as opposed to perhaps spending a little Tzedakah towards pathological medical research to find a cure. Since I cannot view the entire piece atm my comment was off the cuff but certainly it could not have been presented as anything more than an example of the extreme and not suggesting the only right thing to do?
@Posted by: Anonymous | August 12, 2009 4:55 PM Post #38

'And hey, it can't hurt.'

"Accomodationist mantra."
And you are accomodated by having a forum to express your opinion anonymously.

Posted by: Brock | August 12, 2009 5:07 PM

@AF Comm Guy (#37): No, I don't think the label "primitive" will stick. For ages that word was used to justify slaughtering and edging out indigenous people from their own land.

If you use it on a religious person, they'll just say "but look, we embrace airplanes and medicine and computers just like you; in fact our supreme moral holy book makes us LESS barbaric than you". All while attributing serendipitous events and technological marvels to their loving god and sweeping bad news under the rug as "god's mysterious ways". Seriously, they're really good at that two-faced game; twisted religious "logic" makes people think they're above negative labeling.

Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | August 12, 2009 5:08 PM

On first glance, I thought it said "50 rabbits are circling Israel.."
Oh well, not any more absurd, and just as effective.

Posted by: Dan | August 12, 2009 5:16 PM

As an Israeli (in America, but still an Israeli), I'd like to just point out the following:

Contrary to what the BBC says at the bottom, the Swine Flu is not referred to as H1N1. It's referred to as 'Swine Flu', both on television and in the major newspapers. It's true that a deputy minister, an orthodox, suggested it be named 'Mexican Flu', and that's how some religious newspapers who don't have a large following refer to it. Most people laughed at the suggestion, and it was reported as a quirky item.

Similarly, this 'Flight of the Rabbis' is treated humorously by the major news shows, papers and internet news in Israel. It's silly, it's quirky, and it's stupid (though the last part is not usually pointed out).

Having said all that, I personally worry that people who do support these kind of strange views of reality will become the majority over the next decades.

Posted by: FishyFred | August 12, 2009 5:16 PM

That reminds me of what my friend Oliver said to someone who was asking for prayers to ward off swine flu or something like that.

"So, just to be clear, if I pray to God to keep me healthy, I don't have to go to the doctor if I get sick?"
"Well, no, you should go to the doctor if you get sick."
"Then why am I praying?"
"To keep you from getting sick."
"So what you're saying is that, even if you pray and still get sick, God wants you to get sick?"
"I... yeah. Yeah, if God wants me to get swine flu, then I'll get swine flu."

Oliver reported that he didn't sound like he believed what he was saying and that he could "see the wheels turning in his head." Good stuff.

Posted by: Brock | August 12, 2009 5:18 PM

@Heleva Pryce (#47): I don't really care what a bunch of senile rabbis do with their time. My complaint is with the BBC for not at least mentioning that real scientists are actually trying to make a vaccine for H1N1 and linking one of their numerous other articles on the topic.

Posted by: Richard Harris | August 12, 2009 5:23 PM

Jim #2 What good would noise do anyway?

It's obvious, Jim. The noise would get Yahweh, (who sees & hears everything), pissed off. Then, Yahweh would call off the potential death & illness caused by his H1N1 virus that he'd intelligently designed.

Why would he take that course of action? It's because he loves his rabbis. And how do we know this to be true? Simple! Because he hasn't caused the plane to crash, or otherwise miraculously killing all the rabbis.

You see, when you've got enough faith, it all makes sense.

Posted by: SethBdx | August 12, 2009 5:25 PM

However morbid, how ironic would it be if that plane were to crash?

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 12, 2009 5:25 PM

Posted by: Dan | August 12, 2009 5:16 PM Post #53
"Having said all that, I personally worry that people who do support these kind of strange views of reality will become the majority over the next decades."
Well I am not sure about "us", collectively, the Jews, as we are what, less than 1% of the world's population?
If you mean within our own culture, the Hareidi/Hassidim/Chabadnics, that might take some time.
As for the world and the rest of the 99%, isn't it already the case as in %of educated and non-religious vs. uneducated and non-religious vs. %educated religious vs. uneducated religious?

Posted by: Berner | August 12, 2009 5:27 PM

At least they aren't performing circumcisions on the planes. That'd probably end up with guys having even more gential mutilation than is "normal".

Posted by: cag | August 12, 2009 5:28 PM

Swine flu over the cuckoo's nest.

Posted by: Felix | August 12, 2009 5:31 PM

FishyFred #55,
so, if God wants you to get sick, how is it ok to ask a doctor to heal you, let alone actually take medicine?
I mean, this is the guy who sends people to eternal torture for having an erotic fantasy with someone not maritally related, for picking up a twig on the wrong day of the week.

They just don't get it.

Oh right, God needs you to have been sick so that you will grow in suffering. He needs people grown in suffering to understamd free will, good and evil, without which they couldn't go to heaven. After all, it's not like he would allow people to die by the thousands in an instant who never get the chance to learn anything.

Oh, never mind.

At least, do they have an explanation for why we would need that experience at all if Heaven is eternal bliss anyway? I guess not. Let's cut them some slack, they've only had a few thousand years to think it through and find the evidence.

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 12, 2009 5:35 PM

Posted by: Brock | August 12, 2009 5:18 PM Post #57
On that I cannot disagree.

Posted by: Berner | August 12, 2009 5:27 PM #65
I hear the tips are great in that line of work!

Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | August 12, 2009 5:38 PM

@T. Bruce McNeely:Oh well, not any more absurd

Maybe just a smidgen more absurd. Rabbits have a tough time blowing horns.

Posted by: jpf | August 12, 2009 5:39 PM

Counterpoint: H1N1 Flu Hoax is a NWO Snare! Obama wants worshipers! Obama is acting like the Anti-Christ! He's in league with the Pope, who's a freak! FEMA camps for patriots! The health care bill is the Chip (aka Mark of the Beast)! We are being set up for the kill! These are the Last Days just like Jesus said! Ask Jesus to open your eyes, people!

Posted by: Marcus Ranum | August 12, 2009 5:44 PM

Isn't there some big problem with the fact that it's called SWINE flu. How un kosher!

Posted by: Rey Fox | August 12, 2009 5:46 PM

Hoona Igna Chowa Neha!

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 12, 2009 5:51 PM

Posted by: jpf | August 12, 2009 5:39 PM Post #75

Counterpoint: H1N1 Flu Hoax is a NWO Snare! Obama wants worshipers! Obama is acting like the Anti-Christ! He's in league with the Pope, who's a freak! FEMA camps for patriots! The health care bill is the Chip (aka Mark of the Beast)! We are being set up for the kill! These are the Last Days just like Jesus said! Ask Jesus to open your eyes, people!

Janine Melnitz: Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?

Posted by: SC, OM | August 12, 2009 6:04 PM

Isn't there some big problem with the fact that it's called SWINE flu. How un kosher!

You know about this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8021301.stm

right? I think they got flak from Mexicans, unsurprisingly, and decided not to go ahead with the change. (If the story was true to begin with - never trust the corporate media.)

The reference to "primitive" beliefs made me think of a painting I saw last week at the Peabody Essex Museum, which fortune would have it is the one featured on the web page!:

http://www.pem.org/exhibitions/5-all_of_my_life_contemporary_works_by_native_american_artists

It's "Shopping," by Judith Lowry. They're Aztec goddesses in a boutique shopping for European cultural objects. You can see halos displayed in the background. Love it.

Posted by: Woodwose | August 12, 2009 6:08 PM

That was disappointing ... I thought it was a video of 50 rabbits.

Posted by: cargo cult | August 12, 2009 6:16 PM

Of course, the real story here is how media and pharmaceutical interests have managed, yet again, to whip up paranoia and fear in the public over influenza - but where did the avian bird flu panic go?

$7 billion in Tamiflu contracts later - and that's the real perversion of science that is going on today, the actual form of the Lysenkoism in place, the one that scientists reliant on federal funding don't like to talk about - the wholesale abdication of scientific integrity in favor of corporate profits, seen most notably in biological and medical fields.

The only worthwhile biology these days is conservation biology - but that also runs headlong into the corporate desire to rip the profitable raw materials from every single site on the planet's surface, regardless of what lives there already.

That's a much greater threat to science than are a few crackpot religious fanatics - but crackpot religious fanaticism is a far safer topic for the politically conscious scientist than is corporate corruption.

What, you jackasses don't like hearing the truth? Look in the mirror, American academia - you suck. Cowardly and craven and beholden to corporate interests - that's you.

Posted by: Ichthyic | August 12, 2009 6:20 PM

What, you jackasses don't like hearing the truth? Look in the mirror, American academia - you suck. Cowardly and craven and beholden to corporate interests - that's you.

could you scream a little louder? Maybe get a bigger soapbox to stand on? I don't think the back row could properly hear your inanities.

"I think he said: 'Blessed are the cheesemakers'"

Posted by: Michael Kingsford Gray | August 12, 2009 6:23 PM

#27 Anatoli:
Were it not for the religious moderates giving them cover and legitimacy, the few ultra-orthodox would be recognised for exactly what they are: certifiably insane.
They would then be dealt with appropriately.

Posted by: Elwood Herring | August 12, 2009 6:27 PM

Looks like Dara's going to need a bigger sack.

Posted by: jpf | August 12, 2009 6:28 PM

Counter-counter-counterpoint: The fucking so-called "Swine" flu could be a fucking bio-weapon, but sadly it could also be a huge fucking distraction. This fucking conspiracy goes back to the late 1800s and is being orchestrated by shadowy elitist eugenicists at the fucking Rockefeller Institute to thin out the fucking population. Or it could be even more fucking sinister. That's how bad things are: you can't fucking tell which!

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | August 12, 2009 6:30 PM

I see Cargo Cult is still a stupid, moronic fool. But anybody as paranoid as he is has to be. The real world is far different than his delusions lead him to think. I'll give him a C for comedy, and an F for rationality.

Posted by: LordJiro | August 12, 2009 6:31 PM

The scene is one of pure madness.

Madness? This! IS! ISRAEL!

Posted by: cargo cult | August 12, 2009 6:32 PM

Also, the obvious connection between this incident and the behavior of religous groups during medieval plague season is startling - not that any of the commentators noticed it:

http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/medieval%20plague.jpg

Notice that if there really was an epidemic, flying around in a plane is the best way to spread such an epidemic to others and increase its range, bar none.

Atheists. This is interesting - you guys are just as set in your beliefs as are the Catholics - you can see it in the level of arrogance.

Don't you know arrogance clouds your perceptions and turns you into a second-rate scientist, the kind who ends up believing in their own PR?

Experiment and observation - that's what science is all about. Corporations don't like it any more than religions do, unless they have sole control of the products.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 12, 2009 6:36 PM

E.V., #8

At the opening for Fiddler on the Roof a prominent critic was asked for his impression during the first act intermission. Said he, "Shofar, show good."

Posted by: Ichthyic | August 12, 2009 6:41 PM

cargocult->killfile.

I predict at current level of discussion and rate of posting, he will end up a dungeon resident in less than two weeks.

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | August 12, 2009 6:49 PM

I predict at current level of discussion and rate of posting, he will end up a dungeon resident in less than two weeks.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 12, 2009 7:09 PM

Ichthyic, #89

Could I I would indeed bless cheesemakers. For without cheese we wouldn't have pizza.

Posted by: Scott M | August 12, 2009 7:13 PM

In an odd way it's kind of comforting to know that Christians amd Muslims do not have a monopoly on backwards idiots.

These clowns are not, as far as I can tell, endorsed by any significant group in Israel and are regarded as a clowish fringe group.

This does not make it any less stupid or pathetic, but it does help to put it in perspective. These guys are just as representative of Judaism as the Taliban are of Islam or the Army Of God is of Christianity.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 12, 2009 7:21 PM

Brother Smoggy

"[convinced he is] made fat..." would say what you are trying to say I'm saying much better. That aside, thank you.

Posted by: bobxxxx | August 12, 2009 7:23 PM

I don't hear much criticism of religious Jews but it's important to remember they are just as hopelessly stupid and just as much a part of the problem as Christian fundamentalists and Muslim terrorists.

Posted by: Canuck | August 12, 2009 7:33 PM

That video was just too fucking nuts for words. And people wonder why I'm depressed about the state of humanity and our future on this planet. Sheesh. As has been said here before, that's some weapons grade stupid.

Posted by: Hank Fox | August 12, 2009 7:51 PM

Sheesh. Crazy-ass shit.

I'm guessing this was a chartered flight, but ... if not, I can't imagine being on such a flight as a passenger, and attempting to protest that you didn't want all this loud, disturbing nonsense going on.

I wonder if you'd get arrested for disturbing the peace, or physically attacked for being an anti-Semite or some such.

Posted by: Brandon | August 12, 2009 8:08 PM

holy god, what a bunch of freaking muppets...

Posted by: not a gator | August 12, 2009 8:19 PM

@Heleva Price

As opposed to them driving their cars around to do the same task? People in India and China finally achieving the amerikan dream of owning their own car? or perhaps cows farting and belching?

Families in India and China buying motorscooters and microcars only do so to improve their lives. They don't hold themselves up as super-holy and tell others how to live.

Oh, and a lot of those Indians and Chinese don't eat cow meat. Ever.

Posted by: Lynna | August 12, 2009 8:34 PM

Whoops. I made a mistake in my comment @114. I have Jacob blowing the horn at the battle of Jericho, when it was Joshua, of course.

Sigh. Now Patricia is gonna flunk me out of "Memorize Religious Nonsense" class.

Posted by: Patricia, OM | August 12, 2009 9:04 PM

Lynna - Nope you still get an A. You must have missed my own flunking of the animals going two x two, and Noah sacrificing half of them, vs. animals going on the ark by 7's.... terrible fail for me. I had to go have a lie down, and resort to strong drink. :p

Posted by: Emily Latella | August 12, 2009 9:21 PM

Rabbits blowing horns? How will that stop the flu?

What's that? Rabbi's?

Well, that's completely different.

Never mind.

Posted by: Patricia, OM | August 12, 2009 9:41 PM

Alan Kellogg - Blessed are the cheesmakers...Life of Brian. You don't Monty Python enough, and your father smells of elderberries. :p

Posted by: RC | August 12, 2009 10:55 PM

Also, molly for Smoggy! And not just for this post....the hymn a few days ago was genious!

Posted by: Desert Son, OM | August 12, 2009 11:16 PM

Packing 50+ people on a small plane goes against my understanding of what you are supposed to do to ward off epidemics.

We'd like to welcome you aboard Vector Airlines flight 244 with service to respiratory difficulty, sweating, nausea, fever, and listlessness.

No kings,

Robert

Posted by: Rtp10 | August 12, 2009 11:45 PM

This is pretty pathetic. Here is my take.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 13, 2009 12:19 AM

Patricia, #131

It was my mother who smelt of elderberrys. My father was a hamster. :p

Posted by: Dan W | August 13, 2009 12:45 AM

Well, they can waste their time praying to their imaginary sky daddy all they want, but it won't do jack. I'd rather trust something that makes sense, and is actually likely to help when dealing with swine flu- medicine.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:45 AM

This act is obviously masturbatory. A shofar is quite phallic, don't you think?

On the aftermath of the swine flu plague, they'll say something like "Hundreds died, but we've stopped thousands from dying" or somesuch.

Posted by: RC | August 13, 2009 2:12 AM

Also, molly for Smoggy! And not just for this post....the hymn a few days ago was genius!

Posted by: MS | August 13, 2009 2:49 AM

Not quite the picture of Orthodox Judaism you get from Chaim Potok novels, is it?

Posted by: Niels | August 13, 2009 4:59 AM

We live in the year 2009, it's just astounding that these people actually think/believe this will work! Waste of fuel, time and money.. These people should be locked in an asylum..

Posted by: Jafafa Hots | August 13, 2009 5:38 AM

You have to admit, religion makes some people do very entertaining things.

I still remember the time I got on a bus and ALMOST said to an attractive young woman "excuse me, but you seem to have some schmutz on your forehead," not having any idea at the time about the whole Ash Wednesday thing.

Woulda made for good laughs I think... especially since I looked around and saw others on the bus with similarly messed up foreheads.

Posted by: Knockgoats | August 13, 2009 6:43 AM

Of course, the real story here is how media and pharmaceutical interests have managed, yet again, to whip up paranoia and fear in the public over influenza - but where did the avian bird flu panic go?

$7 billion in Tamiflu contracts later - and that's the real perversion of science that is going on today, the actual form of the Lysenkoism in place, the one that scientists reliant on federal funding don't like to talk about - the wholesale abdication of scientific integrity in favor of corporate profits, seen most notably in biological and medical fields. - Cargo cult

Does it occur to you that it is quite possible for swine flu to be a serious matter even though Big Pharma (a) is evil and (b) will profit from it? Time to grow up and face the fact that this is a complicated world, cargo cult.

Posted by: Ring Tiled Lemurian | August 13, 2009 7:22 AM

@Heleva Price #123

Actually, India has more cattle than any other country.

and @ Miles Tougeaux #88

Unfortunately, Hindus can be just as crazy as any other religious group. Even worse, it's growing, and fundamentalist Hindus ("Hindutvas") have already been elected to hold national power once.

Amongst other things, many believe that all civilizations were started by "Hindus" and that that mankind and civilization have been around for billions of years and that "Ancient Hindus" had nuclear weapons and space craft. Their woo just takes place over a much longer time span than Xtian crazies.

Just read any Indian paper online and you can find daily examples of Hindu fundamentalism (eg low caste people being beaten to death by (unpunished) priests for "polluting" temples by simply sitting in their shade etc etc).

Posted by: Dancaban | August 13, 2009 7:32 AM

Stop knocking them! It's better than the in-flight entertainment I had on my holiday to Crete in June and I had to pay for that...

Posted by: Ring Tiled Lemurian | August 13, 2009 7:56 AM

Dancaban #157

Was it as bad as a flight I once took which had 50 or 60 Hare Krishna types who insisted on chanting for the ENTIRE 12 hours? AND they all had 12 foot long iron tridents which they carried as hand luggage, making it virtually impossible to get to the toilets to hide.

(At least I got my "name" right this time, unlike #155)

Posted by: Knockgoats | August 13, 2009 8:12 AM

Actually, India has more cattle than any other country. Ring Tailed Lemurian

True - and far more than it should have. Cattle are vital to poor Indian farmers for milk, manure, labour and loan collateral, but the Hindu prohibition on cattle slaughter has led to there being a vast number (about 400 million IIRC), most in very poor condition. This is bad environmentally, economically, and for animal welfare.

Posted by: Q | August 13, 2009 9:14 AM

It's a fake!
Look at all the serious head banging. The video is taken during flight 666 with Iron Maiden.

The man with the phone is calling his friend and saying how freaking awesome the flight trip is.

Posted by: Christophe Thill | August 13, 2009 10:09 AM

More frightening than "Snakes on a plane".

Posted by: Alcari | August 13, 2009 11:28 AM

Bring out your dead!
Bring out your dead!

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 13, 2009 12:03 PM

Just one correction to my post #168
the fuel capacity is 36000 pounds of Jet A fuel not 360000 pounds. I have zealous typoses fingers.

Posted by: E.V. | August 13, 2009 12:38 PM

I doubt what I originally posted was that firggin vague...

Let's preemptively address any claim of sexism here and now; sex/gender means little here, anyone at anytime will get there ass handed to them when there is a logic fail or asinine rhetoric. Fierce, monstrously intelligent women - we got 'em (I've learned to get the fuck out of the way, the hard way).
I think you're a hoot (a very sharp, intelligent hoot who is proud of her Jewish heritage), but I encourage you to get the lay of the land first before you go full tilt gonzo; getting everyone on the same page is hard enough without having to resort to trying to out guess unfamiliar people and what they know or how rigorous their reasoning skills are. Because of our rampant troll situation, everyone is assumed to be just above the average American college freshman until proven better reasoned and better read.

Posted by: Psychodigger | August 13, 2009 2:23 PM

Monty Python!

Posted by: Anatoli | August 13, 2009 3:55 PM

#46 Felix:
That's true to some extent, they've torpedoed quite a few things. The ones I took note of are civil marriage (Guess who here can't get married here unless he gets circumcised? Getting married in Cyprus isn't cheap, nor will it be much of an experience without any of my friends and family around), extending the draft to Yeshiva students (I feel ashamed for even using that word to describe them) and just about anything that has to do with the homosexual community.

There are of course the orthodox (non-ultra-orthodox) jews, about as observant, but they don't choose to rabble-rouse by not integrating into modern society. Unlike the ultra-orthodox they uphold the rule of law in Israel. They do, however, object to it, outside the borders of Israel. A damn shame too, I wish there were as much public outcry about how they're giving the government the finger regarding the settlements as there is about the ultra-orthodox trying to rule the streets of Jerusalem. Much to my dismay, they hold the praise, respect and cheers of much of the public. We're just lucky they've not taken to bullying as well.

#91 Michael Kingsford Gray:
They don't hold that much public support, as far as I can tell. A lot of people are all around sick of them, especially in light of the recent upheaval they've caused regarding a particular parking lot and accusations of child abuse against one specific woman (Their persecution complex is as bad as your Christians'! Despite much evidence to the contrary, they continue to light trash cans in outrage at how this 'innocent' woman is being persecuted by the state).

There were a couple of attempts to form parties with secular interests, but they've all failed. The main things in their campaigns were, as I've already said, civil unions (Single sex civil unions weren't out of the question either), extending the draft to the ultra-orthodox (Seriously, these fuckers make up nearly half of those who avoid going to the army) and lowering their welfare income (I might be wrong with this statistic, but I think I've read about 40% of all able Haredi men are not part of the work-force. That's a staggering number when compared with unemployment rates in the less religious demographics, it should be noted that "Quiverfull" tactics apply to most of the ultra-orthodox.)

There was one promising party, Israel Beitenu (Israel, our home), which campaigned that it would accomplish all of these things. But once pressure came down on them to join the coalition, and the ultra-orthodox parties were the only way to get a stable government going, way too many concessions had to be made. I'm afraid I -WILL- have to get married in Cyprus, just because ultra-orthodox law governs over marriage. That means that unless I want to get married by an ordained Priest or Kadi (Which would mean me and my girl, who's Jewish, would both have to convert to Christianity or Islam), I'll have to convert to Judaism. FULL ON ULTRA-ORTHODOX JUDAISM. That means I'll have to be circumcised, and live the ultra-orthodox life for about a year or two. Yeah, freedom from religion my ass.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 13, 2009 5:47 PM

Anatoli, #175

You really want to piss the ultra-orthodox off, convert to Kairism. I think circumcision is required, but check on it. The main point is that Kairites reject rabbinical authority, and accept only the authority of the Jewish Bibile. They abide by what those books say, not accepting anybody's interpretation as authoritative. Think of them as strict constructionalists.

The important thing is, the Kairites are accepted as Jews under Israeli law. Well, the last I heard they were, the situation may have changed since then. In any case, the end result would be you are a Jew, but the wrong kind of Jew where the ultra-orthodox are concerned.

And about that circumcision ... There are Jewish groups who argue that circumcision is not strictly required, but was originally meant for Abraham and his family. In so far as that story was concocted to explain why Jews circumcise their boys the applied to Abraham and his kin alone doesn't really wash. But then you have the words of one Jesus of Nazareth, who stated that being circumcised in the heart sufficed, and seeing as he was a typical Jew of his time he may well have been expressing the opinion of other Jewish thinkers of his time.

Posted by: E.V. | August 13, 2009 7:39 PM

...why Jews circumcise their boys the applied to Abraham and his kin alone doesn't really wash.

Posted by: JDP | August 14, 2009 12:07 PM

RE: Die Anyway (#172)

This is God's chance. Just think, if every nation in the world had an horrific outbreak of swine flu EXCEPT Israeli Jews (Sabra). Damn. Might even make a believer of me.

That's basically what happened at the time of the Black Death. If I remember correctly, that was used as the basis for the modern blood libel.

Posted by: DingoDave | August 14, 2009 5:56 PM

LOL. - JAMES Dobson.

Posted by: Heleva Pryce | August 14, 2009 6:25 PM

Posted by: SC, OM | August 13, 2009 12:13 PM Post #170
"No, pinhead."

Hmmmmm You actually expect me to read anything you recommend or may have written??

Posted by: SC, OM | August 17, 2009 10:08 AM

Hmmmmm You actually expect me to read anything you recommend or may have written??

Because

WOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Do you miss much?

was ever so polite.

Really, I don't think it matters. You don't seem particularly bright.