Reforestation looks like the only real solution, to take carbon out of the air and back into the ground.

Small typo.

Most people don't know that cannabis was one component of the incense used in The Temple.

want to become a chef?

but Mr. Keillor wiffed this one.

Good batting average, but nobody hits 1.000.

the D's run the real possibility of creating yet another "stabbed in the back" mythology among the likes of Mr. Fi above.

It's not like you could count on the R's to conduct a principled debate on the issues, where reasonable people could disagree.

There's no hope for peace. There never was. The Palestinian Diaspora is hopeless. What Jew would let the Arabs back into Jerusalem after what they did from 1949 to 1967 (and continue to this day on the Temple Mount)?

It's a blood feud. I realize that Americans have trouble really understanding what that means.

It means it will not end.

It's basically Israeli Independence Day, 2000 years ago. It's the most unChristmas holiday you can find.

I do like egg nog. I hate the carols and the songs, but, hey, if people do it, it's the price I gotta pay for being American. There're worse things.

I like 2.5x overtime (my Dad was a NYC bus driver). I like being able to cross the Lincoln Tunnel in about 2 minutes, then getting a spot on the street.

It's a great time to be a curmugeon.

I love telling people that the reason for the season is to make money.

I like watching the Orthodox celebrate the birth of someone they believe to be Melekh haMoshiach on January 6th, with quiet dignity.

Israel came about like every other state in the world did, through the conquest of territory by means violent and non-violent. There are always going to be a portion of the Palestinian population who are not going to accept their defeat by Jews, of all people.

So tell me, what is holy about the 1949 cease fire lines? International acceptance plus $1.69 buys you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

While I'm touched, as a Jew, that Mr. Kamiya holds us to higher standards than the Arabs (who are much better at oppressing Arabs), his article is yet another example of American naivete.

Go and fight the real Pharisees.

Why do you want to fight me? I don't know if you know this, but we're still around. Me, Roseanne, Senators Lieberman, Boxer and Spector, Goldberg (that wrestler guy), Jerry Seinfeld, Rod Carew, we're all Pharisees.

I'm a nice guy, I don't hurt anybody.

Oh, and for the record, Chanukah is a Rabbinically instituted holiday, under the authority granted to them by the Torah. It's not in the Bible anywhere (tho' it is hinted at).

A suggestion to those who live in areas with substantial Jewish populations: the Kosher meat production process precludes fast production lines, due to ritual requirements. For those who still want to eat meat, it is a way to ameliorate one of the risks associated with industrial meat production.

As part of the ritual requirements, there is also a modest check of the animal to ensure that it was healthy at the time of slaughter.

There are some things a woman just can't teach a boy. If that conflicts with your feminist principles, ditch the principles.

Despite its location near Christmas on the calendar, Chanukah's really Israeli Independence Day, 2000 years or so ago.

I do like the biofuels angle, tho'!

Betcha didn't know that circumcision is one of the major reasons for the season! The Syrian-Greeks in charge of Judea at the time banned some Jewish religious practices; chief among them was the Covenant of Abraham, Bris Milah, circumcision. The Chashmonayim family got so fed up they led the revolt that kicked the Greeks out.

Didn't that have any bearing on why the British Establishment chucked him overboard?

Today, the Royals are show business, a tourist attraction. Kind of sad, in the end.

you need to be tolerant. It was a very nice article and kudos to Salon for publishing a point of view that most of its readership is not acquainted with.

Remember that the murderous theologies of the twentieth century were mostly atheistic. People do good, and people do evil from all sorts of inspirations. Listening to atheists proselytize their viewpoints is as obnoxious as those doorbell ringers.

Finally, reason is a process, not an absolute truth. There are always axioms from which reason proceeds.

I used to live in Syracuse, NY, which gets a heck of a lot more snow than NH. Real snow tires (4 on front wheel drive, the rear 2 on rear wheel drive) is all you need to get you through the snow.

"All season" tires are just summer tires with a new slogan.

Most people don't realize this, but the guerrilla war behind the holiday of Chanukah was prompted in large part because the Greeks prohibited Jews from circumcising their baby boys and Converts.

In my synagogues, there's a Bris (circumcision ceremony) about once a month, a fine celebration with lots of bagels and lox and other shmears. I've seen a lot of them by now, the boy usually cries more when they uncover him than the actual cutting. The actual cutting is complete in about a fifth of a second or so; I've seen what they do in hospitals, and that is barbaric. If you want to circumcise your son, find a Mohel, even if you're not Jewish.

If I should be blessed with a son, I would make a fine party as well; it would be one of the happiest days in my life.

And if you don't like it, or think it barbaric, well, tough.