Dear Friends and Family,

How great would it be if we could control our body’s with our emotions.  I assume more cancers would be healed from sadness. More broken bones would be mended by frustration… But alas, even our terror, fear and pain can NOT prevent our uterus from hosting an unwanted fertilized egg.  Didn’t we learn all of that in High School biology class…? Some, obviously, weren’t paying attention. Too bad Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are off-the-air this week prepping for convention coverage.  They would have had a field day with Congressman Atkins.  Speaking of the Tampa GOP convention, it looks like Hurricane Isaac could be headed their way. If they can survive Hurricane Atkins, they should be fine with Isaac. Hey,Tzachi (aka. our friend Isaac in Seattle) they named a Hurricane after you.  We always knew you were a force to be reackoned with. Hope your namesake is kind to the people of Haiti.

May we all live to be 95, possess a wonderful sense of humor and pass in our sleep with a smile on our faces.  This was the fate of Phyllis Ada Driver (best known as, Phyllis Diller), who was the matriarch of female comedians.  Bet you didn’t know she lived in Ypsilanti with her husband during WWII while he worked at the Willow Run Bomber Plant.

Here is an update on recent court verdicts.  The Russian rock band, Pussy Riot, was convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to 2 years in jail for speaking (or singing) out against Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.  Now there is a vigilante group, called Holy Rus’ rooming the Russian street to weed out other hooligans.  Another interesting verdict, last week, was the $4.5 Million fine levied against the former Michigan Assistant Attorney General for obsessive (in my opinion) anti-gay bullying against the U of M student body president,Christopher Armstrong.  And all Mr. Armstrong really wanted was an apology.

Those who really need to apologies (and we need to watch carefully) are the Hungarians.  During a soccer game with Israel last week, the whole crowd (not a small group of hooligans) chanted anti-Israel and anti-semitic statements, booed during the Hatikva and waved Palestine and Iranian flags during the game. Please read this article to understand the full (scary) picture.  http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/watch-hungarian-soccer-fans-disrupt-israeli-anthem-with-anti-semitic-slurs.premium-1.459251?localLinksEnabled=false

Wishing you and your loved ones a Sweet and Peaceful Shabbat Shalom(check out the bonus photo at the end of this email),

Lisa