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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

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review June 16, 2005 / 9 Sivan, 5765

Making sense about Jacko's shattered life

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | NEW YORK — Every media circus needs its sideshow. Michael Jackson's acquittal Monday appeared to leave Rev. Al Sharpton, a Jackson adviser and major megaphone for racial anger, in the awkward position of having precious little to be angry about.

"I think the criminal justice system has worked this time," Sharpton shouted over the midtown Manhattan traffic into a bouquet of microphones. "I think this is a vindication for people that believe people are innocent until proven guilty. . . . We can say that this jury decided the evidence was not there and they acquitted him. . . . It is good for America. Michael deserved the same rights as any other citizen."

Sharpton spoke to a scrum of reporters, including me, outside the headquarters of Jackson's record label, Sony Music Group. When I asked Sharpton whether he would be advising Jackson to change his lifestyle, which famously includes his proclivity for sleeping with young boys, the Harlem minister only hinted that he might. "I plan to advise Michael to take a long period of reflection and to be deliberate and sober from here on," he said. Right. Tell him to choose older roommates too.

One was left only to imagine what Sharpton would have said had Jackson been found guilty.

Jackson and Sharpton protested here together in 2002 after Jackson's last album failed to sell as well as his earlier ones. Jackson accused his label and former Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola of racism. That was a revelatory statement, since a couple of decades of plastic surgeries and skin lightening had turned Jackson's race into a matter of deep mystery. The bogus-sounding racism charge also revealed how seriously Jackson was in denial of how his career was sliding from its stratospheric heights.

That's show biz.

Race stalked the Michael Jackson trial like a ghost. Sharpton didn't bring it up on this occasion, but several black bystanders who came up to me out of the crowd did. Their concerns, expressed before the verdict was read, reminded me of how, as much as white Americans seemed perfectly happy to stop talking about Jackson's race long ago, black folks just can't seem to stop talking about it.

I also find it interesting that so many black folks I know still view the pop star as black, compared with the many white folks I know who are quite comfortable to see him as someone who is trying very hard not to be black.

I know I am going to offend some people simply by bringing up the race issue. But, it's always there in many minds, whether the rest of us like it or not. Remember how shocked Americans were in 1995 when the O.J. Simpson verdict came in? We were shocked because we hadn't had an honest dialogue about race in the country beforehand. When TV footage showed whites crying and blacks cheering after the verdict was read, blacks were not cheering because they necessarily loved O.J. They were cheering because his high-profile trial reminded so many of them that he beat a criminal-justice system that tended to be a lot worse for blacks than for whites.

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A Harris Poll was the first to report before the Simpson trial began that large majorities of whites thought he was guilty while most African-Americans believed he was innocent. A Harris Poll last year found that black and white perceptions of the guilt or innocence of Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant and even domestic goddess Martha Stewart were similarly polarized. Again, I would submit, the reason has less to do with the race of the defendants than with the way blacks tend to have had more negative personal or family experiences with police and prosecutors.

That's also why we have not seen many blacks dancing in the streets over Jackson's acquittal on all counts at his child-molestation trial. Just because you're not guilty, as the old saying goes, doesn't mean you're innocent, Michael.

To paraphrase an old Jackson tune, it doesn't matter if you're black or white (or whatever) when it comes to feeling revulsion about Jackson's weird sleeping habits.

A lot of Jackson's old fans—like me—are hoping he takes Sharpton's advice, looks at the man in the mirror and asks him to change his ways.

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