Call me a sentimentalist (it would be novel--though I do cry at movies), but this is a truly lovely story (h/t to Amy Chapman). Oak Park synagogue's Christmas tree there to make homeless visitors feel welcome www.freep.com

The perfect gift for the paranoid survivalist racist conspiracy freak you love, when chocolate gelt just isn’t enough.

Hag sameach, Vince. http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/12/23/_the_ron_paul_survival_kit_comes_in_an_official_world_w www.slate.com

·         I'm reminded of the theme from MASH. The House GOP proves their "Suicide is Painless" (for America). The Suicidal House Republicans nymag.com

"The Dream is to raise the image of Sephardic Jews."

They really are dreaming.

Sephardim trying to raise their image by sending a check to "American Friends of Shas" (or the Shas Party in Israel) would be like LGBT Jews trying to raise their image by sending a check to "Friends of Carl Kruger."  Shas Sets Up Shop in U.S. www.forward.com

Yaacov Schapiro's purported candidacy for State Senate is about as real as the Cody McCone for Congress boomlet--and he pretty much admits he's ready to back Lew Fidler from the get go. Twitter twitter.com

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As someone named for a blues guitarist, it shames me to admit that a recent column with an item summing up recent deaths of significance forgot to list Howlin Wolf's great guitarist  Hubert Sumlin (who I last encountered not so long ago backing up David Johansen doing a very convincing Wolf imitation).