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Nov, 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov, 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

Oct. 31, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Our Immutable Noble Essence

Caroline B. Glick: Running against Bush

Oct. 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: The End of the Special Relationship?

Steve Lipman: 'Kid Kosher' Gets A Title Shot

Oct. 29, 2008

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: GET US THE TAPE THE L.A. TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE, AND WE'LL GIVE YOU CASH!

Dr. Ari Korenblit: Making The Write Choice for President

Oct. 28, 2008

Mona Charen: Denial runs through American Jewry

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Sell-off to capitalism or sell-out to Islam?

Oct. 27, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Are tax deductions for charitable donations moral?

Jonathan Mark: The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote

Oct. 24, 2008

'Why aren't all religious people vegetarians?': Response by Miriam Kosman

Caroline B. Glick: Testing Obama's mettle

Oct. 23, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama Would Fail Security Clearance

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A fast chicken dish with an Asian accent

Oct. 20, 2008

Gary Rosenblatt: Still One Torah

Jonathan Tobin: Government 'Gifts' Are Not Free

Oct. 17, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sukkos and the Great Meltdown

Caroline B. Glick: The disappearance of law

Oct. 16, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Copying DVDs: RIP OR RIPOFF?

Cal Thomas: Blaming the Jews (again)

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 25, 2005 / 14 Adar II, 5765

Who's Responsible?

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Priming the pump for his meeting with President Bush at the "Western White House," Mexican President Vicente Fox stirred things up again when he told reporters in Mexico City last week that walls along the U.S.-Mexican border were "discriminatory" and "against freedom."

Asked about a fence that U.S. officials are building along the border south of San Diego — a barrier referred to, by people on both sides, as the "Tortilla Curtain" — Fox said the structure "must be demolished."

"No country that is proud of itself should build walls ... it doesn't make any sense," Fox said.

As a Mexican-American born on this side of the Rio Grande, it makes sense to me. A country has the right to protect its borders.

I'll tell you what doesn't make any sense — that the Mexican president would jeopardize the possibility of achieving even a sliver of immigration reform by spouting off rhetoric that is so irresponsible and so unrealistic.

It's not like chances for reform are all that great. The president's reform plan appears stalled in Congress over objections by fellow Republicans that the plan "rewards lawbreakers" with amnesty.

Congressional Republicans are right about one thing: amnesty is not the way to go. Forget the business about rewarding lawbreakers. The only reward that illegal immigrants care about is a job, and they have plenty of those. The real problem with amnesty is that is absolves the individual of his responsibility to take the necessary steps to live in the United States legally.

My beef with right-wing elements in Congress is that they tend to be hard on illegal immigrants but soft on those who hire them. They're never honest about the fact that those pushing for a more lenient hand toward illegal immigration include the usual assortment of corporate interests without whom they could hardly scrape together two nickels for their campaign coffers at election time.

Be that as it may, Fox's comments are not helpful. Nor are they consistent with what has been for hundreds of years a proud tradition of Mexico not interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations. Ironically, it's Mexicans who usually see Americans as metiches (meddlers). After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Mexican elite said that the United States provoked the attack because it is always sticking its nose into the business of other countries. Now look at which country is sticking its nose into the business of the United States.

Fox's comments don't add much to the debate. In fact, they're no more helpful than the reactionary, all-or-nothing anti-immigration proposals coming from the other side — including some congressional Republicans and other elements of the cultural right — that tend to portray Americans as innocent bystanders who, through no fault of their own, are being overrun by an invasion.

The problem with this argument is that it paints Americans as passive victims, when in reality they helped lure illegal immigrants here with millions of "Help Wanted" signs.

Yet the invasion rhetoric sells. A thousand or more Arizona "minutemen" — some of them with rifles, all of them with too much time on their hands — plan, on April 1, to make fools of themselves by hunting illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexican border.

I assume the reason they're called minutemen is because it takes about 60 seconds to see that this idea is dumb and dangerous.

For Fox, these half-cocked vigilantes are the equivalent of terrorists in the same way that thugs in white hoods once terrorized African-Americans in the South.

Personally, I think they're lost souls — literally, lost. I mean, if they're looking for illegal immigrants, why prowl around the desert? They could just drive to the nearest suburban shopping mall.

Retail giant Wal-Mart recently agreed to fork over $11 million to settle accusations by federal authorities that it used hundreds of illegal immigrants as janitors to clean its stores. Authorities say they didn't bring charges against the company because it cooperated with the investigation and promised to try to prevent the future hiring of illegal immigrants by any of its stores. As part of the settlement, Wal-Mart didn't admit any wrongdoing.

That's perfect. And it's consistent with the views of many Americans. They don't see themselves as responsible for this problem, and so they can't see how they are responsible for the solution.

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