Yes, AIPAC is a powerful lobby; but that is a relatively recent development. In the '40s and into the 50's, the State Department was rather anti-Semitic. Jews fleeing from Hitler's excesses were generally not allowed into the US. (We have a long, shameful history of turning away refugees.) As for the larger situation, you need to educate yourself a bit more. It is far more complicated than you have made it. There is enough blame and shame to go around three times, and some of it belongs to the British, the Turks, the Crusaders, and the Arab invaders who took over the area 1,200 years ago. Try to read some books with more than one perspective.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Also, there are many handicapped people who don't look handicapped. A friend of mine had a badly damaged heart, but he looked healthy as a horse until the day he fell down dead. He rarely used his "privileges".
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I think the comment that recent immigrants try to (I think you meant) bargain (not barter) has some truth to it. In many cultures, haggling is an accepted practice. In many situations here in the USA, it is accepted practice: cars, antiques, and so forth. Recently "savvy shopper" articles have been encouraged people to do this in department stores. As for the shady practices you mentioned, I can only guess that perhaps, in some cultures, putting one over on someone is considered a legitimate part of doing business. I believe there are a lot of folk tales here that are based upon such: think "Jack and the Beanstalk". Curiously, a lot of US folk tales involve cheating the Devil in some kind of transaction.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I always assumed that it was an attempt to reduce odors in a classier way than using a perfumed urinal cake.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, While I agree that we should have a president who is smart, I don't think that is enough. Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover were both engineers, but they don't have reputations for being among our best presidents. (Personally, I think Jimmy Carter is our best EX-president ever, and we should all be very proud of what he's accomplished since leaving office.) Theodore Roosevelt is generally ranked among our best presidents. I don't doubt that he was smart, but it was more important that he surrounded himself with intelligent, experienced people and that he had the personality to sell their advice to the people.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Well, a really good (or good-looking) server can bring in a lot of tip money. People tend to view tips as "extra" money, and don't figure it in when they are looking at the prices on the menu. Oh, and in a lot of restaurants (ranging from burger shops to the fanciest) the tips are NOT pooled. At the lower end, at least, the arguments are - Not pooling tips encourages each server to work harder for their tips. - Pooling tips encourages the servers to help each other. In fancy restaurants, the servers often split their tips with the busboys.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Actually, I think it is immigrants that tend to be more successful. The sorting out by races is due to the fact the immigration happens in waves. Most immigrants are highly motivated people, or they wouldn't leave where they were to come here. They are, in that sense, self-selecting for success.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I never spit, myself, and find it rather disgusting when others do it. My understanding is that in China it is considered perfectly acceptable. Women in general are more "socially conscious" than most men. Perhaps they won't go out without lipstick, or wear their glasses for a picture, that sort of thing. They also tend, in general, to have a more finely tuned sense of what is acceptable behavior. Obviously, there are many exceptions.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, If your partner has a manipulative personality, it is easy to get sucked into a state called co-dependence. I come from a very "normal" family background, yet I got sucked in twice. My partners were not abusive, but one was compulsively promiscuous and the other was an alcholic. In both cases, I wound up so intertwined with their problems that I lost myself.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I think the whole idea of reparations, except in certain circumstances, is just a bottomless pit. I'm Jewish -- when should I expect my check from Pharoah? One exception would be when the parties involved are well documented and the damages are recent enough so that the actual victims (not their distant relatives) can be identified.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Personally, I find that anything I wouldn't want to do in reality turns me off in porn, and it doesn't come up in my fantasies.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, It feels better to have sex with another person, even a stranger, than to masturbate. It has nothing to do with the emotions involved.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, You got some good responses already (and a clunker, IMHO), but here's my two cents' worth: Having two ceremonies is just plain silly. If your mother has any Catholic relatives, then she should have a Catholic burial for their sake as well as her own. Even if she doesn't, I still think she should have a Catholic funeral. Let's face it, a funeral is a big part of somebody's religious life. It is a final assertion of who we are and what we believe. You mentioned "ignoring commandments". Are you thinking that going to your mother's Catholic funeral would be idol worship? Nobody is telling you to worship Jesus, just go and be gracious. It isn't your house, so you follow their rules. Don't take communion. If it goes against your principles to stand and sit with the rest of the congregation, simply remain sitting; if you'd rather look less conspicuous, stand. You're not really doing anything but change position. Don't kneel. A friend of mine just went through this very thing. His mother had a Catholic wake and funeral; and they sat shiva at his house. When he was at a Catholic ceremony, he behaved as any visitor would; and when non-Jews came by to pay their condolences I presume they did the same. Nobody asked him to say the rosary, and nobody asked them to say Kaddish. By the way, there was a Rabbinical decision (in the Middle Ages, I'm pretty sure) that Catholics are not idolators. The context was a question about whether Catholics could participate in the making of kosher wine. As for "dishonoring your faith", making a selfish stink is not, in my opinion, honoring your faith. What would you do if you were invited to your niece's Christening?
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I don't think this has anything to do with being Jewish, per se. I think most ethnic groups can fall into this trap. Either these people have a shared racist attitude, or you are being sensitive, or both.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, In addition to running convenience stores, in our area a lot of Patels run small motels. In other places such as New York, there are a lot of Korean-run stores (many of whose owners have college degrees from back home). If you think about the typical immigrant family, they have only one major asset: a willingness to put the whole family to work. That's what it takes to run a convenience store, because you want people you can trust at the cash register. You can buy into such a store without too much capital, because the inventory is where the bulk of the money goes; and then you and the rest of your family work in shifts (and sometimes sleep in the back). You make a go of it, and perhaps bring other relatives or friends over and help them get set up. In the LA area, I believe, there is quite a concentration of Cambodians in the donut shop business. As I recall the story, one family made a go of it and cloned their success throughout the Cambodian community. In a similar way, my father became an accountant because he had relatives who were successful accountants at a time when jobs were scarce. In my town, the butchers and greengrocers have tended to be Polish (as were a lot of their customers, with everyone else shopping in supermarkets). There are plenty of bodegas around, and those would be run by Latinos because they specialize in ethnic foods and other items, so that's a slightly different situation.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 
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