My very first Hamodia ever!

I have my very first Hamodia here right in front of me. I signed up for a trial home delivery basically because it's only $10 or $20 for the 3 month new subscriber trial. I've been picking up the Yated because that's what my kosher grocery store carries. Hamodia has been trying to get it to me since last Wednesday. They had my address wrong. Anyone in Queens knows how we have say 1st Street, 1st Road, 1st Drive and 1st Avenue. Well, they had me down with the wrong designation, but finally today my paper came. I've never been much of a paper person, but, I ordered the daily news for three months. I figure it will give me material for this blog....

So, here we go....

Cover story: There was a record breaking plane incident on an Air France. There were 288 people aboard crew and passengers. This plane seemed to have flown right into a tropical storm over the ocean. They doubt there are any survivors. Because of the storm, they can't even get boats in to see if there are any survivors in the ocean.

Obama gets to take over GM, thanks to the crappy economy. However, Obama says he doesn't want to take over businesses. They don't know how long this will last. Well, the government has lent GM too much money and they are shareholders.

Netanyahu is caving in to international demands and having outposts in ehudah and Shomron dismantled.

North Korea (that's bad Korea, not good Korea) has missiles. We're not talking qassams like the Palestinians fired at Israel. We're talking long range missiles that could potentially reach Alaska and Guam, where there are US bases. Officially, the Korean war ended in 1953. However, as ex-Army, I happen to know things were never exactly peaceful there.

Passports required at borders. Well they've been talking about this forever. They are going to require passports at the borders. Well, it went into effect on Monday. I remember when I was a kid crossing the Peace Bridge. They would ask us, "Citizenship?" mom: "US," sister: "US," me: "US," "Where were you born?" "Buffalo," "Buffalo," "Buffalo," "Where are you going?" (together) "Niagara Falls" "ok..." and that was it. Well, those days are long gone. When I was in college, I went on a missions trip to Mexico but, we actually stayed in Texas and traveled over... Mexico was stricter than the US goverment. We only had one incident where our Japanese girl got detained once. Anyhow, most border crossings had very good passport carrying percentages and traffic went smoothly. They hope they hit 100% with a passport soon.

The test scores for math are up but they figure kids have substantial room for improvement. They mention the gains in NYC and Buffalo. (A lot of Buffalo in the Hamodia, that's two articles in a row, says the girl from Orchard Park/Hamburg which are in Buffalo's southtown suburbs) In NYC, the passing percentage from 2006 to 2009 went from 57 to 82 and Buffalo school system (NOT the district I came from) went from 28 percent to 63 percent. OUCH! Just the fact that it was at 28% is pretty scary.

Although, in Buffalo, I think there are more minority parents who manage to get their kids into affordable private schools. My stepmother (may she rest in peace) taught at an inner city Catholic school. She said it was substantially cheaper than the one to which she sent her oldest son. Her youngest son attended their northtowns suburban public school. Apparently, the Buffalo diocese used to subsidize the inner city Catholic schools. Although, I'm not sure if they still do, as they were financially pinched when I moved out of Buffalo.

The government is actually going to maneuver higher gas and electric prices. They want to make us use less as they see the supply running out. The government always seems to be damaging the economy, not helping it. The article figures we'll be back up to those $4+ a gallon prices in no time.

Oy, vey! Gevalt Geshriggin! The paper is MAMISH depressing. The goverment makes me sick. This was so much fun. We'll have to do this again.