Am I Becoming One of Them?

I shall not recite too much beyond the bare basics the comedy of errors that was yesterday.  I had finally returned via a mid-afternoon train from a 3-day business/personal excursion in central New Jersey.  For compelling reasons not particularly relevant here, my car had been parked in a friend's driveway (and not in my own) during the excursion.

My friend, preoccupied with his own business and his own physical disability (and, to an extent, that of his mother-in-law) and his own vehicles, had not cleared the snow that had been deposited upon my car in my absence.

But I had to honor a late-afternoon appointment, and slack time was short, so I removed the snow from the car windows, but not the car's roof.  When I got to the main road, I accelerated in hopes of dislodging the snow from the roof, but that was not very effective because the snow was not dry powdery, and the road conditions did not warrant any further exceeding of the posted speed limits.

One of my pet peeves is drivers who do not clean the snow from the roofs of their cars, so the snow flies from their roofs and into my windshield on the open highway.

Am I becoming one of them?

Perhaps not.  After my late afternoon appointment (don't get me started with how dysfunctional it was), I went to a nearby synagogue (not my own) for a Megillah reading, for last night began the Holiday of Purim.  I had time before the Megillah to take out my snow brush and clear all the snow off from my car.

Wishing all a Happy Purim.

Purim 5774

Blog postings here have gotten sparse, but I now take this opportunity to squeeze in my wishes to all for a Happy Purim. Today's world has so many Hamans, to whom I say, G-d never lets you prevail in the end.

For me, this year's Purim is another low pressure cell in the perfect storm of grading my students' midterm exam papers, litigating some cases, getting my tax returns prepared and filed, dealing with some family matters, attending meetings, and providing some back room support to some friends who are countering a few modern day Hamans.

Have no idea when my next posting will be made, but please rest assured that all is well with me as I attend to my obligations.

Useful Idiots as Sacrificial Lambs

First and foremost, let me wish everyone a Happy Purim. This world has so many Hamans, but only one Purim!

I'm now between trips out of town, and will be on the go for much of this coming week. One place I will not be going is to Albany, New York. It seems as though the far-far-left faculty union of which I am (reluctantly) a member is trying to mobilize its members to go to Albany to protest against Governor Cuomo's budget cuts to education.

This, of course, places me into a bind. On one hand, it is clear that the taxpayers of New York need to have significant relief, and significant and painful budget cuts must be instituted. On the other hand, some of the proposed cuts may well affect a portion of my regular income (and, for that matter, a portion of the regular income of my wife).

But my union is not only protesting the budget cuts, they are also protesting the proposed tuition increases. And my local chapter president, who majored in economics as an undergrad, is fully aware that what is being proposed means higher taxes. Can you say "Redistributionist?"

In any event, the union is calling for a peaceful protest, yet is providing civil disobedience training and transportation reimbursement for those who are willing to get themselves arrested. I've seen enough in my years on this earth to know that "peaceful" protests that end up in mass arrests usually, in fact, do not play out quite as peaceable as the organizers would have the world believe.

This is one where I would say that individual union members need to follow their consciences as to whether, and what degree, they actively oppose the proposed budgetary cuts.

Point of information: My local chapter's Chair and Vice Chair, who are circulating the "Come to Albany and Protest" e-mail, have admitted that "for reasons essentially related to [their] teaching" they themselves will not be showing up in Albany.

Okay, I can buy off on that excuse (though I know of at least one far-left union-active colleague who has admitted that he cannot risk arrest for another few months, until his criminal case, now ACD (adjourned in contemplation of dismissal), actually gets dismissed).

But my local chapter's leadership would carry far, far greater credibility and respect if at least some local chapter officers were willing to go to Albany and stick out their own wrists for the handcuffs.