Letters of Thought: Ben Stein, Neturei Karta and other things

There's seems to be a great tumult going on about two Jewish blunders, one real one perceived.

We have the Chelm branch of Mensa -our dear friends from the Neturei Karta- doing what the seem to do best these days: Kissing terrorists . . .

(Well almost . . . A Gonzo State of Mind has a Create your own Caption for this pic!)
And to think that their doing all of this on the day that the Satmar Rav z"l was saved the same Satmar Rav who fought against Zionism also condemned the foolish actions of the type the N.K is now doing!

We also have an alleged War on Xmas . . . it all seems to be a misunderstanding . . . Life-of-Rubin sums it up rather nicely.

[Chabad.org has since came out with a response Fight or Light?

It seems to me that Bogomilsky, meant well . . . However, he seemed a little too trigger happy when it came to a lawsuit (Not that I'm blaming him, it was a difficult situation and who could foresee the results?) -it's just a shame that the Media Headline Hounds put the blame on him]

Ben Stein, who seems to be commenting on the story (at least according to Tzemach) does point out some good things, despite his misunderstanding of the issue:

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad . . .
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat . . .

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.