MY COUNTRY, MY CITY...MY GOODNESS
I once had a French teacher, Benedict D'Arlon, (well, his name was
really Benjamin Schwartz but he felt that wasn't an appropriate name
for a French teacher) who used to say "the world is going to hell in a
handbasket". I never quite understood that - I don't even know what a
handbasket is - but his meaning was loud and clear. And that's the way
I feel today.
As I do each morning - I picked up my newspapers from my mailbox, made
my first cup of tea of the day, lit my cigarette (yes, I smoke) - and
began to read. You must all know by now of the political problems we
are having here. To add to our woes - Hassan Nasrallah opined that our
Winograd Commission Report now says conclusively that we lost the 2nd
Lebanon War. We really needed to hear that from him. Avigdor Yitzchaki
resigned....only to be replaced by Tzachi Hanegbi who is under
indictment. Ehud Olmert refuses to resign. Tzippi Livni wants to be
Prime Minister. Shimon Peres wants to be....anything - just elect him.
Moshe Katzav wants the rape charges against him to be dropped and Azmi
Bishara - an Arab Member of Knesset - is being charged with treason
for helping the enemy during the 2nd Lebanon War.
Tzippi Livni wants Olmert to resign - she, however, will not resign.
Amir Peretz says he doesn't have to resign because the Winograd Report
didn't blame him as much as it blamed the others - Olmert and Dan
Halutz - he says - "true - I have no Defense experience but I'm
learning". Did you ever hear such "mishugass" (craziness)?
In the meantime, Sallai Meridor, Israeli Ambassador to the United
States says that the Syrian military is undergoing its largest buildup
since 1973 - remember the Yom Kippur War? Vos noch? (Yiddish - what
else?) And that was only on the front page!!
Closer to home - closer to my home, that is - the traffic in Jerusalem
has become more and more impossible to deal with. Some little smug,
self-satisfied functionary (Kobi Bartov if you want to curse him
personally) says that he can't forbid people from driving into
downtown Jerusalem but he can - and will - make life miserable for us
drivers. And he is doing that - with a vengeance. By the way - he also
says that he doesn't care what people say about him - "write what you
will" he said to the journalist who wrote the article telling us about
his plans for the traffic.
To add to our traffic woes - Jerusalem is erecting a Calatrava Bridge
at the entrance to the city. Work goes on day and night - both at the
entrance to the city and along the highway. When we drove home from a
party in the North at 11:00 last night we were stuck in the kind of
traffic jam you expect to see only during rush hour. The bridge will
help move the traffic along that Mr. Bartov doesn't want here.
And to add the cherry to the icing on the cupcake - the weatherman
said yesterday that the rain would finally stop. After two weeks of
not having my car washed - yesterday dawned bright and sunny. Shachar
- my car wash guy - said all was well - go ahead and wash the car -
finally. The car wash was jammed - full of people like me who want to
drive in clean, shiny cars. I waited - I had the car washed - I was
happy. And then this morning - when it wasn't supposed to rain, mind
you - it RAINED - for only two minutes - those big, fat raindrops with
a grain of sand in each drop - and my lovely white car is - once again
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