Say It Ain't So, Manny!

I certainly hope he's appealing. The Dodgers (21-9 today) are behind him, and they should be; he was 15-1 on his drug tests before he got injured. I've been proud of my lifelong home team for having managed to stay off the Mitchell report - especially in a town harboring some of the most notorious juicers in the game.

As facts begin to emerge, it seems that he got the anabolics from a doctor not on the team's list of approved MDs. Jocks are not known for their high intellect and good sense and, while Sr Ramirez gets high marks for performance, teamwork, and being generally one of everyone's favorite guys on the team, he's generally acknowledged as no genius. That part of his reputation gets a big verification with this move.

I'm hoping it doesn't wreck his career, and that the worst that happens is he'll have a bit of time off to get healthy, and be ready for after the All-Star break, when the numbers start getting really meaningful.

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A recent attempt by our seriocomic relief team, the Somali Pirates, to set up a base in Yemen (currently having its own civic and economic issues) seems to have backfired. As messed up and chaotic as Yemen might be, they apparently still have a functioning Coast Guard who scooped 'em up and shut 'em down - for now.

Of course, the whole situation gets a lot less funny when these guys explain why they're up to this. Not only is their country in the bag, but major commercial trawlers are fishing their local waters empty and dumping the wastes on Somalia's beaches because Somalia does not currently seem to have a functioning Coast Guard.

These are little guys in a tough situation, making a pretty desperate move. Hillary Clinton's perfectly appropriate assessment notwithstanding, it's hard to not see a little Robin Hood in 'em. After all, they did bring home an estimated $40 million last year.

Yo Ho Ho.

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A rather overdue word on some long-time friends, the first to sign up as one of this blog's Rockin' MoshiachHeads, the excellent Kosher Rock Band, Merkava. Since their first CD, When Will The Master Come, they've been growing, changing, and moving in some new directions (still Kosher, of course), having recently added the talents of Ephraim Schwab, remembered, one would hope, from his work with Moshe Antelis and Teva. Epraim's been writing some arrangements for Merkava, and picking up right where he left off. He's writing some very advanced, complex instrumental and vocal arrangements for his new band which promise to take Merkava's next CD to some musical places well worth visiting.

Take a moment to follow their links. You'll be glad you did.

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Today is, of course, Pesach Sheini, the Second Passover, and, R' Wircberg last night brought a bit of commentary on the reason for the observance. Of course, it says in the Torah that some of Bnei Yisrael had become ritually impure through contact with the dead and were unable to be part of Passover the one time it was fully observed in the Desert. What the commentaries tell us is that they were, in fact, those who carried Joseph's coffin, taking him - by his request - to his homeland for final burial. They were looking after the needs of their people, and G-d gave them a bit of space and a chance finish what they were unable to do on the theory that "it's never too late."

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One more R' Wircberg story from last night: One time there was a guest teacher at Hadar HaTorah who was, by his account, a MoshiachHead like I've never seen. Everything by him was Moshiach and, at a Farbrengen, he offered the challenge to each guy in the room to name a Jewish song and he would find the Moshiach connection. Finally, one of the guys (who was dealing with some other issues and not in a very good mood anyway) threw the challenge back, sending our hero to find the Moshiach connection in, of all songs, "The Dredel Song."

Without missing a beat, our guy says the four words abbreviated on the dredel, nes gadol haya sham, "A Great Miracle Happened There," the numerical equivalent of the four letters (do a search for gematria) being 348. Gematria of "Moshiach?" 348.

Proving, of course, that Moshiach is everywhere, except actively among us.

Golus Sucks! Moshiach Now!

and Never Too Fast!