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June 19, 2013

Peter Grier and Harry Bruinius: In the end, NSA might not need to snoop so secretly after all

Howard LaFranchi: Taliban peace talks hold glimmer of hope, but also unanswerable questions

Warren Richey: Supreme Court: For right to remain silent, a suspect must speak
Meredith Cohn: Leeches are making a comeback as medical helpers

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to pick the healthiest breakfast cereal

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: Spicy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

June 17, 2013

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein: Black to the Future: American Apparel Gets Biblical

Patrik Jonsson: Minnesota Nazi: How did Nazi hunters miss Michael Karkoc?

Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux: All the ways you're being watched
Don Lee: G-8 meeting will test NSA leaks' effect on U.S. influence

Patrik Jonsson: Fort Hood shooting: Judge nixes Nidal Hasan defense strategy. What now?

Stacey Burling: Why the stigma for migraine sufferers?

The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Abraham: Does it work? 5 new kitchen gadgets put to the test

June 14, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget: Religious economics and being a ruler

John P. Martin: Hitler insider's missing diary found

Matt Pearce: NSA surveillance disclosure could affect court cases
Peter Tinti: US bounties changes strategy on (Wild, Wild) West African jihadis

Daniel Pendrick, M.D.: Memory loss? Old age may be the least of it

Lauren F. Friedman: But it's all natural! Should we have an instinctive preference for herbal remedies?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Streisand and Alicia Keys in Israel; "Girls" Stuff; Mel Brooks, Another TV special; Superman (who is Jewish) returns --- Israeli plays his mom

The Kosher Gourmet by Sharon K. Ghag : Bored with salad? Bling it up a bit (4 effortless recipes that will result in a 'WOW!')

June 12, 2013

Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: What's so special about Omega-3 supplements?
Morgan Housel: What newspapers were saying when you should have been buying

Pete Spotts: How cockroaches evolved so as to bypass 'roach motels'

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: Deep-dish cookie: Warm, gooey and a little over the top

June 10, 2013

Joseph A. Slobodzian: Faith healing and third degree murder: Thorny legal case
Lindsay Wise: Few options for online users to avoid spying, experts say

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: There are plenty of nutritional food bargains out there
Harvard Health Letters: Can bariatric surgery control diabetes?

Zach Murdock: Superglue helps doctors save infant's life

The Kosher Gourmet by Celebrated chef Mario Batali : As good as grilling gets: Rib eye with dry mushroom spice rub

June 7, 2013

Rabbi David Aaron: Beating jealousy

Caroline B. Glick: Wounded . . . and dangerous

Clifford D. May: Al Qaeda vs. Hezbollah
Harvard Health Letters: Fighting back against allergy season

Kimberly Lankford: Grandparents who use FSA to cover grandkid's braces and other must-know info

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom:J ewish Tony Nominees/Tony Awards; Jewish Teen Actor In Sci-Fi Flick; Jewish singer in "Voice" finals

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust

June 5, 2013

John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less

Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Mushrooms Have Medicinal As Well As Culinary Value
Morgan Housel: Why you never learn from your investment mistakes

Don Lee: In China, kindergarten rivalry takes deadly turn

The Kosher Gourmet by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan: 30-Minute Coq au Vin isn't a dream

June 3, 2013

Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself

Richard A. Serrano: Pvt. Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks trial also a test for government

Mark Trumbull: Have degree, driving cab: Nearly half of college grads are overqualified
Kim Lankford: What to do when long-term care insurance premiums rise

Deborah Netburn: Study: Adults' mouth bacteria may help babies

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Contestant on 'The Voice'; Will Smith's 'Jewish movie family'; Bravo Gives Long Island Jews the Jersey Shore Treatment; Magicians and More

The Kosher Gourmet by Bill Ward: How to be as refined as the wines at a wine tasting

May 29, 2013

Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die

Dennis Prager: The 'Muslims-Killed-by-the-West' Lie

David Clark Scott: Open war on teachers?
Morgan Housel: If you know only five things about investing, make it these

Sara Reardon: AGenome detectives change the donation game

Deborah Netburn: A one-way ticket to Mars? 78,000-plus and counting apply by video

The Kosher Gourmet by Bev Bennett: CHEDDAR AND CHERRY MUFFINS --- your mouth is already watering

May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting


Jewish World Review Feb. 28, 2013/ 18 Adar 5773

A sequestration only a Sasquatch could love

By Reg Henry




http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Most of us go through life with certain expectations, and it is a fair bet that being threatened by sequestration is not one of them. Annihilation in romance, possibly; demoralization at work, perhaps; infiltration of baldness, maybe; but victimization by sequestration? Unlikely.

Yet here we are in the unlikely situation soon of finding ourselves up the creek without a paddle, thanks to sequestration coming from a Congress and an administration near you.

When we have been savaged by a full sequester, we will have time to ponder how it came to this. For example, we might ponder this while waiting in a longer-than-usual security line at the airport for a flight canceled for a lack of air traffic controllers.

Sequestration. It sounds like something that Sasquatch dreamed up.

After all, Sasquatch is not much for the greater community or the common good. He wants no restrictions on his freedom that might come with caring about the well being of his neighbors. His species just wants to walk the ridges bellowing nonsense and giving off foul odors, stopping only to insert big feet in mouth. In recent years, the beast has been sighted in the halls of Congress, lured there by the chance of doing nothing positive.

While small in number, Sasquatch -- genus Gorilla Americanus Teapartyus -- looms large, and his big footprints are all over the latest crisis.

Consider what is about to happen. Military readiness will be impaired. Vaccine and nutritional programs for women and children will have to be cut. Thousands of people will be laid off. Education funding will be reduced -- and so on and so on, all the way to the poor house.

As there is nothing remotely conservative (or liberal) in taking an ax to cut the federal budget when a scalpel is required, and doing it just in time to kill the budding economic revival, it's obvious these looming cuts are not the work of Homo sapiens of highly developed intelligence. This has to be Sasquatch's doing.

That is true, too, of the process in which the fiasco unfolded. In 2011, a "supercommittee" was formed in Congress to trim at least $1.2 trillion from federal spending over 10 years in light of the long-term threat posed by the deficit. If agreement could not be reached, indiscriminate cuts would come into force, cuts so painful that no thinking person could contemplate them.

But then as now, thinking people were in short supply. Compromise turned out to be kryptonite to the 11 supermen and one superwoman on the supercommittee. Because they failed in their task, a situation that only a Sasquatch could love becomes reality Friday.

It's not that cutting the deficit isn't still important -- it most certainly is -- but this isn't the way to do it. Kill jobs and you kill the economy. Kill the economy and the government is forced to spend more -- or else spend less and invite widespread domestic distress, if not unrest.

Members of Congress who feel strongly that federal spending should be cut have a point, but it's lost when their only remedy is to hold the government hostage unless they get their way. Like Sasquatch strolling through the forest, we lurch from one contrived emergency to the next -- fiscal cliff one day, sequestration the next, debt ceiling after that. Enough already with the lurching.

Here's an idea to break the cycle of extortion for members of political factions who want to change the nation: How about winning a presidential election? It's a novel idea, to be sure, because the people provoking regular crises have forgotten who won last November.

This is what happens when people don't read the newspaper enough. Just a reminder: Not only did President Barack Obama win re-election, but he won the popular vote of the American people. That fact demands to be respected.

The provocateurs think that because they kept control of the House, thanks to Mr. Gerrymander, they can do what they want. Actually not. Plenty of people like me want Congress to do its job and the president to work with it to come up with some sensible plan. Sequestration is an abomination.

We don't care if congressional lawmakers made a sacred oath not to raise taxes at Grover Norquist's urging. We think their oath of office to support and defend the Constitution and to faithfully discharge the duties of the office is more sacred. Please start faithfully discharging.

Unfortunately, things may get more hairy before they get better, as you would expect with the Sasquatch mentality involved.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Comment by clicking here.

Reg Henry is a columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.



Previously:


A quote! My kingdom for a good quote!

Super Bowl leaves dark stain on U.S. image

A confession to sin of shopping omission

Undecided voters are clearly in the wrong

These words can be irritating? Really?

A father's message is something to laugh at

Dear Friends: Facebook is, like, so lame

High Tide: the detergent drug dealers dig

It's funny how scary side effects can be

Must we meet so much? It's transparent

Why America needs a proper curmudgeon

A new grandfather's coming-of-age story

America still shows the power of the individual



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