This Made Me Smile

I saw that Allan posted this link to a YouTube video of a fan singing with Dennis during the Happiness Hour Theme. It brought a smile to my face as I think it will yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HyakmThd4w

Christian

Dennis Prager’s Lecture at the Sabes Jewish Community Center

Wow! What a great evening! I am so glad that Joel and I decided to go to this event. The other Joel (Quinnell) arrived early and saved a few seats for group members. Thanks, Joel Q! We only saw a few others from our group. It’s too bad more of you couldn’t make it.

And I wish I would have followed my instincts and brought some writing paper. Dennis is an entertaining and eloquent speaker and sometimes I just like to live in the moment and BE THERE rather than being distracted by notetaking. But now, ah, I regret not having done it. Nevertheless, here are a few things I remember (not necessarily quotes and not an outline of his remarks):

• Christian support of Israel is considered suspect by most Jews
• Universities teach students to be anti-semites and to hate Israel
• The US supports Israel for moral reasons, not monetary (compare to US support of Taiwan)
• American Christians are better than European Christians in regard to their treatment of Jews
• God will bless those who bless the Jews. The US is the most blessed nation on earth largely in part to our support of Israel
• Wisdom begins with the fear of God

These are just a few of the things Dennis mentioned. He was brilliant, as always, and witty, and the time went by too fast. Incidentally, the auditorium filled up and there were some people who had to stand or sit on the floor.

The best part of the night was after the lecture. As he always does, Dennis greeted and spoke with people who stayed after the lecture to meet him. My Joel was holding one of the signs that Joel Q had made (see pics below) and when Dennis noticed it, he lit up and said, “Oh, good, I wanted to meet you guys!” There were a few other people before us in the queue, and when it was finally our turn, I think Dennis was a little disappointed to find that so few of us were able to make it. But, undaunted, he kept a stiff upper lip and was able to smile for the picture.

Here are some close-ups of one of the signs Joel Q made, and two of the autographs we got from Dennis.

Dennis said he would mention our blog on his radio show tomorrow…I may have to listen to it live…aarrggh (I love the commercial free podcasts).

Speech at UCSB

Recently Dennis had mentioned that his recent speech at UCSB would be available for people to buy. Has anyone heard anymore about this? I remember he played a couple clips on the show and I totally think this would make for a great discussion idea. Plus I’d like to have a copy that I could share with some of my liberal friends here at the U.

Senator Coleman’s October Newsletter

Senator Coleman has a monthly newsletter on his website. I’ve attached a link for those who are interested….

http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Newsletters.Home

Also, you can sign up to receive the newsletter in a monthly email.

Susanne

Dennis Prager is Coming to Town!

November 13, 2007 – 7:30 PM at the Sabes Jewish Community Center
4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, MN 55416
Phone: 952-381-3400
[directions]

From the Sabes JCC website:
Academic Attack on Israel: Fair or Foul?

Hot on the tail of recent controversial book “The Israel Lobby” by two American university professors, radio personality Dennis Prager challenges the perception that undue Jewish influence is forcing U.S. foreign policy in the wrong direction. Sharp criticism of Israel and its American supporters, once held at the fringes, is now part of the mainstream political conversation and will play a role in the 2008 presidential contest.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear his views on this critical issue.

Suggested donation: $10 ($5 – Students/Seniors)
Preferred Seating Available: $25

Joining in…

I received an e-invite a couple of days ago and am delighted to know this group is up and running. Living in Minnesota…especially Minneapolis!… can cause one to wonder, “Are there any of my people out there!?” I didn’t notice a date for a December gathering but hope I will be able to attend. I’m looking forward to becoming acquainted with others who value intelligent conversation!

I noticed that discussion of the new documentary “Indoctrinate-U” was a potential future topic. My husband and I saw it during its run at the Oak Street Theater. It is fantastic..disturbing and funny! If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you do so.

KathyC

Democrats Failure to Lead – WSJ Editorial

There was a good opinion piece from Karl Rove in today’s WSJ…see link
Susanne

http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/printThis.html?id=110010843

Minutes of the First Meeting in Eden Prairie

It was a pleasure meeting all of you at the very first Minnesota Chapter Dennis Prager Meet Up. Joel and I had a wonderful time meeting all of you.

As we had promised, here is the blog. As a community blog, you are encouraged to sign up and post a comment or start a new blog post/discussion.

If you weren’t there, then you missed it…

Minnesota Prager Discussion Group
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Minutes

1. Introductions – Organizers/Members
The meeting began at 7:05 p.m. The organizers, Peg Myszka, Joel Quinnell, Sam Albert, and Tara DeBartolo introduced themselves. The members in attendance (18) introduced themselves as well.

2. Develop Mission Statement
Due to time constraints this was tabled. We ask our members to think of ideas and to send them to Peg. Some ideas tossed out were: clarity vs agreement, better to have diagnosis than cure

3. Data Privacy
Members can rest assured their names and contact information will not be given out to anyone by the Organizers. If a member wants to communicate with another, he/she is more than welcome to exchange info at the meetings.

4. Website development/hosting
One of our members suggested a blog site. They have set one up. Access to the site is included in the body of the meeting minutes email.

The blog site will contain minutes to all meetings, meeting notices, Prager visits and any other important dates. You are welcome to voice opinions and ideas via the discussion threads.

5. Meeting format, number, length, dates
To begin with, we are going to meet once a month due to the holidays. We will revisit meeting more than that after January.

Tara will look into meeting spaces. We are looking at holding the meetings either in a centrally located area (around Minneapolis) or rotated venues. We also will hold them on days other than Thursdays. We realize we can’t accommodate everyone’s schedule, but will do the best we can to solicit the best turn out.

We agreed the meetings should be at least two hours in length to facilitate a good discussion. We have been assured by others who have been in similar discussion groups that two hours may not even be long enough!!!

6. Topic suggestions
At the moment we have about 42 members so there is room for a variety of topics and how we handle them. Depending upon the topics, we may break into subgroups. Some ideas are:

Bring in a local speaker, i.e., politician, Northern Alliance hosts
Add topics to blog site and have members vote (see below)
Book reviews

Topics
– Economics and Healthcare
– Child Rearing in the Nanny State
– Disintegration of Marriage in the West
– Happiness during Adversity
– Data Privacy
– Indoctrinate U – Movie
– Republican National Convention
– Fair Tax
– Immigration
– Book review
– Education – what’s being taught in schools today
– How to talk to those who disagree

7. Discuss selected topic
Due to time limitations, we were unable to begin discussing a topic.