Rachel's Tomb

"And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." — Genesis 35:19-20

Up to 60,000 Israeli's are expected to visit Rachel's Tomb today, on the anniversary of her death. Many of those making the trip will be pregnant and childless women, praying for safe childbirth. The site is the third holiest in Judaism.

My Dysfunctional Family

Last Week, O'Hare had a picture of Harriet Nelson on Ramblings. This weekend the Beaver's TV mom, Barbara Billingsky, passed away. As an early baby boomer, who grew up watching these women, I murmured that they don't make mothers like that anymore; Actually, they never did. As we grew up in the cold, living in row houses and twins, Ricky and the Beaver only ever wore a light jacket as they left their picture book colonial house. Rick's father, Ozzie, never worked, dedicating his entire time to solving family dilemma's. Our father's, fathers of the audience, worked in America's busiest time. Many of the factories in Allentown went 24 hours a day, in three shifts. The boys always got a snack after school, although sometimes Beaver wouldn't come straight home. If Ricky and the Beaver spent a night at the Molovinsky house, they would have thought they were transported back in time to real life Munsters, and would need counseling to get over the experience.

An Israeli Pilot

Death to Israel

Seventeen thousand people packed a soccer stadium in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, to listen to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say that the Zionist enemy will be driven from Palestine. Death to Israel shouts could be heard two miles away in Israel. Continuation of the building moratorium in Jerusalem would not dim those shouts.

Gangsta High

Gangsta High, the alternative school for bad-asses, starts Nov.1, in the old Jackson Elementary School Building.

The final initiative the committee approved was setting up an alternative school for unruly students who are on the cusp of getting expelled. The school will open Nov. 1 at the former Jackson Elementary School near 14th and Allen streets. Students will be sent to the school for up to 45 days of academic help, as well as psychological and emotional help. They will be bused to the school from pre-arranged pick up sites in the city. They will start and leave at different times so they don't interact with Ramos Elementary students who attend school at the same site.
The school will cost about $1.1 million a year, most of which will come from recurring federal funds. The school will have both an academic and mental health component and be staffed by district teachers. It will be led by Principal Jose Rosado.
The district is also partnering with a national youth services company, VisionQuest, to handle some of the counseling and to set up in-school suspension programs at Allen and Dieruff. That contract costs $247,000 and is part of the total cost of the alternative school. The Morning Call

I wrote in the previous post, Fire Him Now, that if they're going to have an alternative school for gangsters, it better be a big building; It is. I'm concerned that attendance at Gangsta High might become a status symbol in the circle of underachievers. If it comes to past that eventually we have a separate academy for the overachievers, how will this effect Allen and Dieruff? We put the bad apples in one barrel, the good apples in another, and leave the remainder where they are? This post, as was the previous one, are only meant as vehicles for discussion.

Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

About twenty people stood in the rain yesterday afternoon to demonstrate against hydrofracking. I learned about the protest from the Neighbors of Easton Blog. I was glad to attend and show my solidarity, but I couldn't bring myself to hold a sign. Although I oppose the hydrofracking, I know the zombies who walk and drive by 7th and Hamilton couldn't care less. The only question in Harrisburg is if, and how much, to tax the extracted gas. I believe that our children will face unimaginable environmental consequences from this process. The media did not attend.