Only the Jews can't have an anthem

Good day. I hope everyone had a great weekend and all the dads had a wonderful Father's Day.

The immigration and vigilante stories seem to be about where they were on Friday. I'm sure Rabbi Daniel Greer and his armed neighborhood watchdogs took the day off Friday night and Saturday for the Sabbath and no court was held on the immigration arrests.

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I sent the following letter off to The New York Times:

To the Editor:

For thousands of years, Jews wandered the Earth with no homeland of their own, beholden to whomever would give them protection. That shelter almost always was withdrawn, sometimes after months and sometimes after centuries, but the Jews always were forced to find another place to live.

Now, by a miracle, the Jews have a country to call their own, the tiny state of Israel. That seems to be, however, too much for Adam LeBor.

In "New Lyrics for Israel," his op-ed piece on June 18, 2007, Mr. LeBor argues that the nation's anthem "Hatikvah" sends the wrong message and is unfair to the Arabs, Muslims, Druze, Bahia's, Christians, atheists and sun worshipers who live in Israel. He would take the only reference to Jews and Judaism out of the anthem for the world's only Jewish state.

Mr. LeBor doesn't urge the removal of God from God Save the Queen, God Bless America or In God We Trust. He doesn't suggest that the myriad of nations that celebrate Christmas as a national holiday, including the United States, are being unfair to Jews, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, atheists and sun worshipers.

Ramadan, a Muslim month long holiday, is celebrated as a national holiday in Muslim nations without Mr. LeBor saying it's not fair to Christians and Zoroastrians. It also would be unfair to Jews if any were allowed to live in Muslim nations as Muslims are allowed to live in Israel.

This duplicity follows on the heels of the British journalists' union and the British academics' union urging their members to boycott Israel and only Israel and is just as shameful.

I'll keep you all posted on whether I get a response.

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As much as your beloved blogger complains about things, especially about things that go on in New Haven, I must willingly and gratefully complement the folks in the Parks Department.

On Memorial Day weekend, we took the grand kids to Lighthouse Point Park and we had a ball.

First of all, the yearly stickers were ready and each car that was registered in New Haven got one. It was handled well and the fellow putting them on was even a Red Sox fan, an added bonus.

The water park there is wonderful. It was a pretty grey and cool day, the water park was operational and the workers there were watchful and supportive. This attitude can't help to be passed along to the kids.

The bigger kids were watching out for the little kids, aiming water cannon away from the little ones and generally looking out for them. The beach was clean and the playground was together and working well. The wonderful old merry-go-round was ready for the season. The police patrol came by at no more than 15 minute intervals, perhaps more often. It wasn't needed, but one is glad it was there.

The kids had a ball. Thank you and kudos to all who had a part in keeping up this marvelous park.