The Law of Unintended Consequences says, according to Wikipedia:

The Law of Unintended Consequences is an adage or idiom that can be stated as follows: 'Any intervention in a complex system may or may not have the intended result, but will inevitably create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes'.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} In common usage, it is a wry or humorous expression warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them. It is used in variety of different contexts in different fields of study, including Philosophy, Economics, History, and Social Sciences.

This very accurately describes how the "ultra-haredi" (new phrase coined by me just now, I think, as I do not think it is fair to put in the most extreme elements lumped together with the more moderate elements just because they both wear a hat and jacket) fight for legalized mehadrin bus lines is turning out.

The ultr-Haredi support for the ability to have a public service provided according to "our beliefs" and in a way that does not harm "our lifestyle" might boomerang.

Ynet has an editorial suggesting that if they succeed in getting the mehadrin bus approved, and they already have the support of the Minister of Transportation, that will open up the possibility of other interest groups requesting, or demanding, that the Transportation Ministry operate bus lines according to their needs, beliefs and lifestyles - and that might include the demand to operate bus lines on shabbos, as groups from the lower socio-economic sector will say we need bus lines on Shabbos because we don't have cars, teenagers will say we don't have licenses and require transportation, etc.

This demand for mehadrin bus lines might open up a whole new can of worms. The perfect example of The Law of Unintended Consequences.

The funniest article I have read recently was one in Ynetnews about a Saudi who wrote an article suggesting that just as men in Saudi Arabia are allowed to have multiple wives - up to four, specifically, so too Saudi women should be allowed to have multiple husbands.

Her call for polyandry was in the name of equality.

A Saudi female journalist stirred a row in Egypt after publishing an article in favor of polyandry for women.

The piece, published in the al-Masri al-Yaum newspaper, promotes the notion that women should be allowed to marry several partners, similarly to the right enjoyed by Muslim men. According to Islamic law, a man is allowed to be married to four different women at any given time, as long as he treats them equally.

However, journalist Nadin al-Badir suggested that polyandry be permitted to both women and men. The female writer also proposed that Muslim men be banned from marrying more women merely because they are bored with their current partners.

According to a BBC report Friday, a parliament member already filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for publishing the provocative item. s could be expected, the article also elicited angry responses among Muslim clerics, who argued that the ideas presented in it are anti-Islamic and that the journalist had no right to attack tradition.

And of course it concludes with the explanation that:

However, one cleric defended the article, claiming that it did not constitute an attempt to promote polyandry among women, but rather, it aimed to expose readers to the suffering of women as result of their husbands' conduct.

tha Talkbacks were also pretty funny, specifically #3 who said

Muslim Feminism: We also want to be backward and stupid like our husbands!" Why are they such morons?

I don't know who Eliezer Hayon is or what his background is, but he writes an article in Ynet about why Haredim do not commemorate Yom HaZikaron - Memorial Day, and Yom Ha'Atzmaut - Independence Day. He posits that it is not because they are anti this or that or have special reasons why these days are wrong to celebrate. It is as simple as not being interested. The day is meaningless to them.

It is meaningless because they do not fight in the army, so the issue of Memorial Day, for the most part, does not affect them. They do not take part in governance - at best as they say they are part of government just to get for the community the resources they need, but not to actually participate in governance. It just is not relevant to them.

I think there is a lot of truth in what he says, even if it is not 100% correct.

Personally, I am not a big fan of the siren. I don't see its point or purpose. Of course when I am found anywhere outside of my own home I will stand in silence, and think about the soldiers. But when I am sitting in my living room or at my dining room table, I see no purpose in standing up. Even if it is just to show solidarity, I see no purpose in doing this at home where nobody sees my solidarity. So I stand up everywhere, except in the privacy of my own home.

My kids get excited by anything out of the ordinary. Naturally, the siren also excites them. On the one hand they get to look like troublemakers by standing (as they are in regular haredi schools, so standing is not something they are supposed to do in school) which is always exciting, on the other hand if they make a ruckus in public, they also get to look like troublemakers. For some reason, they like looking like troublemakers.

So right before the siren, while we are eating inner, the kids go outside on the porch. I thought it was ok at first, as perhaps they wanted to see cars stopping for the siren, and if outside they should be respectful. They started (before the siren) to make a ruckus, calling out to people about the siren. I immediately brought them in. I told them that I don't feel a need to stand in the privacy of my own home. If they want to stand that is fine, if they don't want to stand that is fine (inside). However, even if they do not stand in silence (inside), they have to be respectful. No making fun of anybody, no laughing about it, nothing disrespectful. Whether you stand or not, people lost relatives - sons, parents, siblings - people died defending the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael and they deserve our utmost respect. Stand or not, but be respectful.

Israel is suffering, as always but much worse this year, from a severe water shortage. Not only do we not have oil in this little strip of land we call home, but we also do not have water. Great place to live in the hottest region on the planet.

The water situation has gotten so bad that authorities are warning that there soon might not be water coming out of our faucets, as the water level is dangerously close to the level of the pumps. If it gets below pump level, they cannot pump any more water out.

Everyone is looking for ways to conserve water. Ynet has discovered that there is a tremendous waste of water in the mikva world. There is no supervision, and they generally change the water 2 to 3 times a week, just throwing the water out. They want them to be recycling the water, have some authority supervising the disposal, etc.

While they are quick to criticize the frum world for wasting water in the mikvas, I noticed last week when the Great Tel Aviv Water Fight took place in Rabin Square, that all the articles were very straightforward mentioning the item, yet none of the articles that I saw criticized them for wasting all that water. (I linked to Haaretz because I could not find a ynet article right now, but they also wrote about it at the time). For a cool video of the water fight, click here - warning: there might be inappropriately dressed women participating in the water fight.

I am not saying Mikva authorities should continue wasting water. They should recycle the water instead of draining it into the sewage sytem. Every drop counts.
As a side note, if the mikvas look the way they do and they are being changed 2-3 times a week, I would seriously be afraid to consider what mikvas would look like if they changed the water less frequently!

But to not criticize the great water fight, to even allow it to have happened at all, questions the real motivations behind the criticism of the mikvas. Are they really concerned about the water waste or is this just a way of getting at the frum? And yes, I understand the amount of water wasted in a one time fight is much less than the amount wasted on a regular basis by the mikvas, but the wastage of the water fight had absolutely no purpose, while the mikva is at least religiously needed..

This has got to be the funniest article (not including humor columns) I can remember reading in a semi-serious paper in a long time....

Ynet had an article about Hava Mond. Hava Mond is a fashion model originally from Tzfat (Safed) who is religious and has remained religious despite the profession she has chosen as one of Israel's top models.

The discussion around the internet and various forums, Areivim included, has centered on the question of whether such a woman can really be classified as religious or not. She chooses a profession in which it is nearly impossible to not do aveiros.
While true she might be performing admirably in many issues, as she says she only eats kosher which sometimes means she does not eat all day as the only food available is often not kosher (she shoots a lot in the international scene), she davens twice a day, she keeps shabbos, etc.. other problems arise. The greatest issue is modesty. While she has her limits, she does model in non-tznius attire.

So, is such a woman religious/frum is the question people are debating.

My thoughts on the discussion are, and I wrote this to the Areivim forum and another forum,:

I do not understand the discussion. Are we all perfect? Do none of us commit any aveiros, often willingly? Are the aveiros these people are committing any "worse" than the aveiros we might be committing in the privacy of our own homes without the newspapers letting everyone know?Would any of us consider ourselves not frum because of the aveiros we do?

We each have our pekalach and we each have the mitzvos we enjoy doing and do better than other people and we each have the aveiros that we are more prone to doing than other people. This is the aveira that this woman does. Does that make her less frum than me or you?

It is not for me to decide. My relationship with Hashem is between me and Hashem, yours is between you and Hashem and hers is between her and Hashem. Just like I do not know the details of your life, your mitzvos and your aveiros and it would be wrong and even impudent of me to assume I know how Hashem cherishes or not your relationship with Him, it is wrong of us to judge her and assume we know the details of her life and relationship with Hashem from one sketchy article and it is impudent to allow ourselves the liberty of judging the relationship she has with Hashem.