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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
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Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
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Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
January 16, 2008
/ 9 Shevat 5768
Big fuss over small differences
By
Clarence Page
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In primary election campaigns, the fighting is often vicious because the differences are so small.
That helps to explain why, despite so many more urgent foreign and domestic issues on the table in the Democratic presidential primaries, so much attention has been riveted lately on exciting distractions.
Did Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois oppose the war in Iraq from the very beginning? He proudly did.
Did Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York insult the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? She proudly did not.
Yet former President Bill Clinton suddenly found his honorary "first black president" status, famously conferred on him with tongue in cheek by author Toni Morrison, in jeopardy after he ridiculed Obama's version of his early Iraq war opposition as a "fairy tale."
And his wife has come under fire from some black leaders for saying in a televised interview: "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. … It took a president to get it done."
Actually, if anyone should feel offended by that remark, it is Republicans. Sen. Clinton could have showed a little love for Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who rounded up enough Republican votes to offset strong opposition from Johnson's fellow southern Democrats.
But facts often are not as important as feelings in neck-and-neck political races. The offense matters more than actual fault in the racial "gotcha" game. Political correctness? Sure. The important thing to remember about political correctness is that politicians invented it. As an icon of black aspirations poses a serious challenge to an icon of women's aspirations, liberal PC has come back to bite liberals.
That became apparent when South Carolina's most powerful and influential black politician, U. S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, said he was so "bothered" by the Clintons' remarks that he was reconsidering his earlier decision to avoid endorsing any candidate before the state's Democratic primary on Saturday, Jan. 26.
That's serious. Clyburn's coveted endorsement carries a lot of weight in South Carolina, where blacks make up about half of the votes in the South's first Democratic primary. Polls showed Clinton falling behind Obama in South Carolina and among black voters nationally. For example, he beats her by almost two-to-one in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll of black voters nationwide. Most threatening to the Clintons is the notion that Clyburn, amid a rising tide of black support for Obama, could be reaching for an excuse to endorse Obama, or at least to distance himself from the Clintons.
How quickly times change. Only a month earlier Clinton was so far ahead of Obama among African Americans that some people still were asking whether Obama was "black enough" for black voters. Even before Obama won the caucuses in overwhelmingly white Iowa, black loyalty to the honorary "first black president" was turning toward the increasingly tangible possibility of a real one.
But as more voters saw Obama as a candidate worth fighting for, others saw him as increasingly worth fighting against.
To their credit, Obama, Clinton and their fellow front-runner former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, mostly have complimented each other and called for an end to the recent racially tinged fuss. But some of their supporters carry on the sniping, firing out in ways that sometimes ricochet back to embarrass the very candidates whom they support.
For example, Gloria Steinem, another Clinton supporter, ironically played the guilt card in a New York Times essay on the day of the New Hampshire primary. She declared that a black woman who had Obama's stellar qualifications and African-sounding name would not have a prayer of gaining frontrunner status. You know things are getting vicious on the left when a pioneer of modern feminism stigmatizes Obama as someone who benefited unfairly from gender preferences. Can't we all get along?
The fighting is vicious because Obama and Clinton are so politically alike. Democratic voters who are still undecided after the bazillions of speeches and debates that have been held so far face an embarrassment of riches. In Clinton, Obama and Edwards, they have three attractive choices who speak the right Democrat-speak on the issues and show roughly same amount of pluses and minuses in terms of electability.
Republicans, by contrast, struggle to regain unity among their various factions. So far, GOP voters have had to choose between an array of candidates who have not energized more than a narrow segment of their party's base. Eventually, both parties will have to unify around a nominee. The best news for Republican unity then may well be found in the disunity brewing among Democrats now.
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