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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 Dec. 8, 2005 / 7 Kislev, 5766

Too many of the same people who demanded the 9-11 commission to protect against future attacks also ready to kick intelligence workers for their every mistake

By Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It's truly a shame that the panelists on the 9-11 commission were such self-important windbags — their 41 recommendations, they never fail to remind, were (all bow) "unanimous and bipartisan" — that they blew their chance to make this country safer.


Don't' get me wrong. Washington has been unconscionably slow in doing the practical things needed — such as providing a radio spectrum for emergency first-responders — to make America more secure. The panel also was right to criticize the Senate for larding a homeland security spending bill with pork.


That said, the panel's hodgepodge recommendations — the radio spectrum was the panel's 27th recommendation, yet it magically moved to the top of the list in the commission's devastating report card — allowed the good stuff to get lost. It didn't help that Congress and the Bush administration were better at acting on the panels' many meaningless or wrong-headed recommendations than practical reforms.


What do I mean by meaningless? Try: The panel refused to take a stand on the Patriot Act. Instead, it recommended that the executive branch make a case for "retaining a particular governmental power" and suggested there be a "full and informed debate."


And here's wrong-headed: As Judge Richard A. Posner, a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, noted in his new book, "Preventing Surprise Attacks, Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11," the panel was wrong to push for more centralized intelligence and Washington was wrong to heed that call. As Posner noted over the phone yesterday, "Whenever you take a bunch of agencies and pretend to turn them into one agency," there is a loss of momentum as employees worry about their jobs and work at re-establishing a chain of command. "These reorganizations generally do more harm than good."


Another problem with "blame commissions," as Posner called this panel: "One unfortunate consequence is that the people who get blamed for an undesired outcome are the people who were doing their best — and their best may have been very good — to prevent it from happening," Posner wrote. So, as America was clamoring for better intelligence, the panel issued recommendations designed to "weaken the CIA."


I prefer Posner's recommendations to those of the 9-11 commission: Detailed evacuation plans for major buildings, biometric screening by U.S. Customs officers at ports of entry, inspecting incoming freight, better airline passenger screening, training more Americans in Arabic, Farsi and other languages, more spies, diverting money from the "war on drugs" to counterterrorism and creating "a domestic security agency on the model of England's M15."


It would help if Americans — and the media — got real about how you fight terror. They demand better intelligence, but are hostile to the CIA. Critics want the government to discover domestic terrorist plots, but oppose the Patriot Act.


It's time for the American media to stop expecting perfection. There seems to be a crusade for a war without setbacks and for intelligence-gathering that doesn't invade anyone's privacy. That's simply and utterly unrealistic.


There is also an odd hubris in expecting any set of recommendations to prevent, "surprise" attacks. Acting on panel recommendations, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, boasted that "just as the National Security Act of 1947 (which established the CIA) was passed to prevent another Pearl Harbor, the Intelligence Reform Act" — which she authored — "will help us prevent another 9-11." As Posner noted, "She overlooked the fact that 9-11 was another Pearl Harbor."


And, let me add, Collins is the chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which produced a pork-heavy homeland security bill earlier this year.


Posner observed, "Our government has somehow gotten into a position where it's extremely difficult to accomplish anything."


I'd say that it's nearly impossible. What Americans don't need, they get — pronto. A top-heavy intelligence apparatus has already made it through Congress: Washington can overload a bureaucracy in record time. But the radio spectrum for first responders is simply too practical to be urgent.


Too many of the same people who demanded the 9-11 commission to protect against future attacks also have been ready to kick intelligence workers for their every mistake. That's simply not intelligent.

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© 2005, Creators Syndicate

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