So I was chatting over IM today with my friend Jason about the whole Mel Gibson thing.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “I really liked his Mad Max movies.”

The implication being, with Gibson’s anti-Semitism front and center, what Jew will want to watch his movies anymore, much less buy them on DVD or go to see any new works of his? That sounds about right to me.

I’ve enjoyed a number of Mel Gibson’s movies over the years. Mad Max isn’t my thing, but I have seen the entire Lethal Weapon franchise (#1 and #3 are the best), plus at least 8 or 9 other films he’s starred in. His Hamlet was excellent; so was Maverick. It’s not every actor who can do a good job in such wildly different roles. And until this past weekend, I was prepared to overlook any possible private beliefs Gibson had in favor of his obvious talent. Even during all the hubbub about The Passion… I was prepared to take him at face value and believe that he didn’t have any real deep-seated issues with Jews.

Now? Not so much. Alcohol can certainly encourage a person to say things that they wouldn’t have said when sober, but to launch into a full-out tirade against Jews; well, it had to have come from somewhere. The booze didn’t make him an anti-Semite, it just brought it out into the open. At least, that’s how it seems to me.

I’m not going to be able to enjoy looking at his face any time in the near future. It’s like when Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor; reality crowds in so much that it’s hard to suspend disbelief and enjoy the show. And why should I spend my time and my hard-earned money on someone who has so little good to say about people like me?

On the other hand, I like Wagner’s music too, and not only did he hate Jews, but he was also one of Hitler’s favorite composers. The difference being, Wagner is not around to get rich off the money I pay for his CDs, and Gibson is still very much alive and kicking.

Does that mean I’m in a self-imposed lifelong Gibson boycott? I don’t know. Maybe a few years from now, I’ll feel differently; we’ll see what happens. But for now, as much as I’ve been a fan, I’ll find other entertainers to spend my time and money on.

This makes me very sad.

One person was killed and five others were wounded, three critically, in a shooting at the Jewish Federation in downtown Seattle, Washington, police said.

Police have detained a suspect who is a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent.

And yet, I’ve been debating internally if I should even post it, because some troll might come along and tell me thay they “deserved it” because of what’s going on in Israel.

To which I say, screw that.

Oh, and one thing more: I support Israel.

That does not mean I like or approve of everything that the Israeli government does, any more than being an American means that I like or approve of everything that this government does.

The way I see it, though, I can’t sit here in the relative safety of California and tell people who are sleeping every night in bomb shelters because of the rockets being dropped on their heads how they should be thinking, feeling, or reacting to being attacked. It’s not my ass that is on the line.

So because of that, when push comes to shove, Israel gets the benefit of the doubt from me. You can call that “dual loyalty” if you want to. Maybe it’s even true.

Frankly, I don’t care.

Sundown tonight marks the ending of another Passover. And every year since I’ve been living on my own, the ending of Passover has meant that one or two semi-eaten boxes of kosher l’pesach matzah start to gather dust on a kitchen counter. I usually think to myself, “well, I’ll eat them as a snack,” but every year, sometime during the summer I admit to myself that there’s no way in hell I am going to eat these now-stale objects that are taking up valuable counter space, and toss them out.

And then, of course, I’d feel guilty.

Last year, I had a small revelation. I could toss those leftover matzos into my Cuisinart and turn them into matzoh meal — a breadcrumb substitute that Scott cooks with on a regular basis. No guilt, no waste. I have no idea why it took me so many years to figure this out, but better late than never.

So now I have a new end of Passover ritual: the pulverizing of the matzoh.

Yay me!

Liteblogging on Wednesdays this semester, but I did want to point out that Steve Clemons has a good wrapup of yesterday’s Israeli elections. Check it out while I slog through work & class on Yet Another Rainy Day.

The Palestinian elections didn’t leave me feeling very good, but I’m more hopeful today.

Orcinus has a post up today about the frightening levels that Holocaust deniers go to try to harass and intimidate people who stand up to them.

Fire bombings, death threats, and more. And all this in America.

On a related note, a Hong Kong based banker I know recently reported that he:

Was in the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Airport earlier today, and was in the bookstore looking for something to read on the plane when a I stumble across The International Jew by Henry Ford packaged with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Lovely. Those books, or books very much like them, are sold in not a few Muslim-focused bookstores, but I’m a little taken aback that they’re so mainstream as to make it into the airport bookshop.

As a Jew, this kind of thing starts to make me wonder if I’m really welcome in certain parts of America after all. I thought we’d resolved this issue in the US Constitution, but apparently not. Silly me:

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state’s official “majority” religion.

House Concurrent Resolution 13 is pending in the state legislature.

[snip]

The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”

What’s next, legalized discrimination on the basis of what religion you are?

So famous Holocaust denier David Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail in Austria for violating this law:

whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or other media.

Given the recent debate over free speech issues regarding the Danish cartoons, a lot of people are probably going to say that Irving should not be jailed for what he did. I’m not so sure.

I don’t see this so much as a free speech issue as an issue about lying. I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that in countries such as Austria, if you’re going to talk about the historical record of WW2, you have an obligation to do so accurately. Irving is entitled to whatever opinions he wants, but he’s not entitled to his own set of facts, and I think it’s acceptable to call him on that difference.

We send people to jail for perjury, after all. Why is this so different?

I’d be lying if I said I were not deeply concerned by the results of the Palestinian elections. Hamas’ charter, after all, does not even recognize Israel’s right to exist.

However, I remind myself that Sharon was viewed as a similarly unlikely partner for peace when he became Prime Minister, and those dim expectations of him turned out to be not so dim after all. So perhaps there’s still hope.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was fighting for his life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.

As I write this, whether Sharon even survives or not is still up in the air. If he does survive, the odds that he will again be active in politics are slim indeed.

A friend of mine pointed out this afternoon that whether Sharon’s illness is bad news or not depends on whether you think that continuity of government in Israel is a good thing. I’m not so sure about that.

Regardless of what you think of Sharon or his government, political instability is not what Israel needs. A sudden transition of power with elections upcoming and with both Likud and Labor in transition thanks to Sharon’s recent forming of Kadima, make for a very, very confusing time Israel this spring.

The menorah is polished, the candles are out, and the table is prepped for wax drips. All we need now is sundown!