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Dec. 3, 2008
Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning
Don Terry: Lifetime, no see
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Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack
Dec. 1, 2008
Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings
Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?
Nov. 28, 2008
Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be
Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?
Nov. 26, 2008
Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership
Andrea Simantov:
Shades of life
Nov. 25, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence
The Kosher Gourmet
by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!
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Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'
Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends
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?
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!)
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Jewish World Review
April 1, 2005
/ 21 Adar II, 5765
Going Postal
By
Gene Weingarten
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
This just in to the Below the Beltway mailbag:
Dear Mr. Weingarten:
Since you are a man of great intelligence, I wanted to ask you a question that's been eating away at me. Why is it that adults never seem to come to terms with the fact that the time period in which they had their glory days is over? Why must they always make us teenagers feel guilty for things beyond our control? For example:
Teenager: "Dad, can I have 20 bucks to catch a movie?"
Dad: "Twenty bucks! Why in my day, we could see a gajillion movies for 20 bucks!"
Teenager: "Um, I don't even think a gajillion is a number . . ."
Dad: "Well, in my day it was."
What is this strange phenomenon that adults experience, and why does it occur?
Sincerely, Erick Whitaker, Washington
(A devoted teenage fan)
Dear Erick:
You ask an excellent question, and it deserves an honest, straightforward, respectful answer. Unfortunately, for some reason you asked me. What kind of a stupid name is "Erick," anyway? I realize this is not your fault, per se, but the apple never falls very far from the tree, if you see what I am saying. Unnecessary consonants are the enemy of brevity. And because brevity is the soul of wit, your name is an affront to the art of humor. And since humor is mankind's main defense against the existential horror of existence, you are a living embodiment of loneliness, despair, chaos, decay and death.
Thanks for writing!
No, seriously, Erick, you ask a fair question, and I will try to answer it without being condescending. ("Condescending," as I have explained before, is a great big word that we grown-ups sometimes use. It means "talking down to.") So. Why do we middle-aged, parent-generation types talk wistfully about our "day," as though life in the '60s was some sort of idyll, as opposed to an era characterized by assassinations, TV dinners that tasted like steamed cat food, and clothing in colors now only found on those plastic mustard and ketchup squeeze bottles at restaurants with place-mat menus? The answer, Erick, is that we had much better music. And by "better music," I mean "better drugs."
Ha-ha. Just kidding. Now let me give you another answer, one that will permit me to retain my health benefits.
The reason we celebrate our youth is that it is gone, and we miss it. And therefore, we carry positive associations with anything from that time of our lives.
For example, you may watch an old episode of "Bewitched" and think, "What kind of feeble garbage is this?" whereas guys my age will watch the same episode and get all misty because we remember that the first time we saw this episode, even though we were only 9, we knew there was something about Elizabeth Montgomery (particularly when she did that cute thing with her nose) that made us feel tense and nervous not tense and nervous like having to take a big test, but tense and nervous like when you really have to sneeze but can't, but know you eventually will, and when it happens it will be good. And at that very moment when we remember this, we also realize that Elizabeth Montgomery is dead, and so are both Darrins, one of prostate cancer, which reminds us we've been having to urinate an awful lot lately. It is invariably at a time like this that some snot-nosed kid with an extra consonant in his name comes up to us and asks for a double sawbuck to go to the movies, and so excuse us, Erick, if, at just such a moment when we are contemplating the cosmic unfairness of a world that wastes youth and vibrancy on those too callow to appreciate it we might seem just a teensy bit testy. In short, Erick, here's your 20 bucks! Go watch "Garfield: The Movie," or whatever nonsense you young people are flocking to these days. And don't worry about us. We have a gajillion memories to keep us going, memories of things you'll never experience. Like, you know, all that great music.
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.
Gene Weingarten writes the Below the Beltway humor column for The Washington Post. To comment, please click here.
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