It's the heat. I hate the heat.

That's true every summer. And so it's especially true this summer.

Interesting fact for you: Joseph Aaron, who absolutely despises hot weather, dreads the summer each and every summer, was born, you guessed it, during the summer. Aug. 13, right smack in the very middle of the dog days of summer. Go figure.

In any case, in the spirit of my fellow Chicago Jew, Rahm Emanuel, who famously said never let a crisis go to waste, I will not let this bad mood of mine go to waste. And so will use my foul mood brought on by our foul weather to share with you some of the things that are bugging me.

* The Palestinians bug me. Those of us left who still believe in the peace process, have a hard enough time having to deal with Prime Minister Bibi who says all the right things about wanting peace even while doing all the wrong things, things designed to torpedo any possibility of peace.

But the Palestinians sure aren't helping matters. Consider that when Abu Daoud recently died, Palestinian president Abbas had nothing but nice things to say about him. Abu Daoud, the former leader of the Palestinian Black September organization who planned the kidnapping at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which led to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes.

And yet, Abbas eulogized him, saying, "He is missed. He was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance and sincere work, as well as physical sacrifice for his people's just causes."

This bugs me. If there is ever to be peace, we are going to have to trust each other and have some faith in each other. But when the leader of the Palestinians praises a guy who did what Daoud did, it is extremely hard to have any trust, to believe that his people are people we can do business with, make peace with. It bugs me that Abbas still hasn't figured that out, doesn't realize the damage he does by saying what he said.

Speaking of which, Barack Obama is bugging me. I still believe he is a friend of the Jews and sincerely wants to help bring peace. But he keeps making one stupid move after another, moves he somehow figures will win him favor with the Palestinians, which he really doesn't need to do, but which in the process are scaring the Israelis, which he really shouldn't do.

His latest bonehead move is to allow the PLO office in Washington to fly the Palestinian flag and assume the title of "delegation."

As the spokesman for the State Department announced it, "At the request of the PLO representative, which we have granted given the improvement in the relations between the United States and Palestinians, they have requested permission to fly the Palestinian flag," he said. "And they have requested permission to call themselves the General Delegation of the PLO."

He said the steps have symbolic value, but they have no meaning under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

This is one of those little things that take on big import, one of those meaningless gestures that are given a lot of meaning. It's just a flag yes, but considering that when Israel and most Jews think PLO they think Yasser Arafat and think buses blowing up in Jerusalem and innocent Israelis being killed, that does not put them in a peaceful frame of mine.

There was simply no reason to do this now. The Palestinians have done nothing to deserve a reward, this reward will not get them to do what they need to do, and it just angers and frightens Israel and makes Jews more wary of where Obama is coming from.

* It bugs me that some Jews have made a big deal out of the fact that an Iranian delegation visiting Germany refused to tour a concentration camp memorial and museum. The delegation, from the city of Shiraz, the twin city of Weimar, Germany, refused to make a trip to the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial, located near Weimar.

"Holocaust survivors are aghast at this blatant act of disrespect and moral callousness," said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants. "Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is notorious for his denial of the Holocaust, and the actions of the mayor of Shiraz and his delegation are effectively another disgraceful expression of this Holocaust denial."

Can we cool it a bit and not always make something out of nothing, not always paint ourselves as the victims getting dumped on by the world. Yes, the memory of the Holocaust is sacred to Jews and yes, I would expect any Jewish group visiting Germany to make a point of visiting a concentration camp to mourn the victims. But we are not the center of everyone's world and can't expect everyone to take our feelings into account, to care about what we care about. Not everything is about us and this wasn't about Holocaust denial. It was about sightseeing. Mehran Etemadi, the mayor of Shiraz, said a visit was not on the group's official itinerary for the trip. No reason it should be. They are Iranians. It bugs me that we find reasons to feel threatened, even when there really is no reason to feel that way.

* It bugs me that we continue to fail to see all the incredibly nice ways we are being treated. Here are just a few of just the most recent, from the JTA newswire:

"Israel and Ukraine signed an agreement canceling visas between the two countries. The agreement, which means that Israelis and Ukrainians do not need visas to visit the other country, is 'an expression of the good and stable relationship' between the two countries."

Anyone who knows anything about the virulently anti-Semitic history of Ukraine knows how amazing this is, shows how much has changed for the better for the Jews.

And then there's this: "More than 80 countries signed an agreement to cooperate in the fight against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights signed the agreement at Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry."

More than 80 countries, including all the important ones in the world, came to Israel to pledge to fight anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. It bugs me that most Jews still believe in their kishkes that the world is out to get us, doesn't care about us, that anti-Semitism is as bad now as it was in 1939 and that Holocaust denial is sweeping the world, all because of nutjob Ahmedinejad.

And this. Yemen is said to be the new front for Al Qaeda. And yet just recently "Yemen's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of a Yemeni man who killed a Jew after demanding that he convert. The court affirmed the sentence of death by firing squad levied by an appeals court on Abdel Aziz Yahia al-Abdi, 39, for the slaying of Masha Yaish Nahari, a father of nine from Raydah. Abdi killed Nahari after saying that Yemeni Jews should convert or be killed."

It bugs me that things for us are so good that even in Yemen they are giving justice to Jews, and yet all we do is kvetch.

* It bugs me that a Jewish woman was arrested and ordered not to go to the Western Wall for 30 days, all because she held a Torah scroll at the site.

Yes in 2010, a Jewish woman was arrested by Israeli police for holding a Torah in the Jewish state. Police tried to remove the Torah scroll from her arms and arrested her for not praying according to the traditional customs of the Western Wall.

This bugs me. When are we going to recognize that not all Jews see or practice Judaism the same. When are we going to understand that the Western Wall belongs to all Jews, that we will never have all Jews agree on anything and so must allow all Jews to be Jews as they choose, as they think right, recognize that no Jew should have the right to tell other Jews what is right. Especially in the Jewish state. A woman who wished to pray at the Wall held a Torah scroll. And for this, she was not only arrested, but a Jew has now been ordered by Jewish authorities to stay away from the holiest spot in Judaism for 30 days. Boy, this bugs me.

And it bugs me that when the aforementioned Rahm Emanuel took his family to Israel to celebrate his son's bar mitzvah, he was booed by some Jews as he prayed at the Wall, some calling him "anti-Semite" and "Israel hater." Look, politics is one thing, but a father taking his son to the Wall for his bar mitzvah is not the time or place to make a political point, to call names and boo. That we don't see that bugs me. And worries me.

* The Tribune bugs me. The latest reason is a blog on their Website which is called "The Seeker" and alleges to cover religion in Chicago. The site features 27 "guest voices," people who contribute their thoughts. Of the 27, three are Jews.

The number isn't what bugs me. That's more than 10 percent, which is fair enough. Problem is that while for Catholics they have a mainstream nun and two priests and for Christians all kinds of mainstream ministers, for Jews they have one rabbi and two Jewish communal professionals.

All three are fine people and good Jews. But one is a guy who focuses on anti-Semitism; one a woman who focuses on interfaith relations; and the third, while a rabbi, is a Humanistic rabbi, meaning he doesn't believe in G-d.

Now, as you all know, I believe in respecting all Jewish points of view. That's not my point. All three are legitimate parts of the Jewish community. What bugs me is that they are far from giving a representative taste of Chicago Jewish life.

But they are in keeping with the Trib's distorted view of Judaism. So on their religion blog, the Jewish experience adds up to dealing with anti-Semitism, connecting with other religions and being Jewish without having to bother with G-d.

Why no Orthodox or Conservative or Reform rabbi, why not someone to portray the beautiful and uniquely Jewish aspects of being Jewish. Why not a full and positive picture of what it means to be a Chicago Jew. We are about much more than anti-Semitism and dismissing G-d.

Can't wait till the first snow.