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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
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The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
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May 22, 2012
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Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
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Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
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May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
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The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
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Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
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Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
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May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
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May 11, 2012
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Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
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The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
Jan. 28, 2011 / 23 Shevat, 5771
Kennedyitis
By
Mona Charen
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"This is our generation's Sputnik moment," declared President Obama in his State of the Union address. It was the first of several references -- some oblique, some direct -- to the Kennedy presidency. He issued a "challenge" to America's scientists and engineers, offering to fund an "Apollo" project for clean energy. Echoing Kennedy's iconic 1961 call to put a man on the moon "by the end of this decade," Obama set the year 2035 as the date by which America should obtain 80 percent of its power from clean energy sources. By 2015, he proclaimed, America should have a million electric cars on the road. Within 25 years, he declared, 80 percent of Americans should have access to high-speed rail.
"We do big things," said the president.
For some Americans, weaned on black-and-white images of Kennedy's romantic, soaring speeches, the presidency isn't an executive's job -- it's a knight-errant's. President Obama, who was born three months after Kennedy's moon shot address, seems to have a particularly bad case of Kennedyitis. Challenges, quests, "winning the future" -- all cast the president as the prophet who leads the nation toward a glorious destiny.
But Kennedy's leadership wasn't actually as visionary as the popular image suggests. He fumbled badly on the Bay of Pigs, at his Vienna meeting with Khrushchev (which brought on the Cuban Missile Crisis), and in the crisis over the building of the Berlin Wall. He himself described his first year in office as a series of "disasters." (Sputnik, launched in 1957, actually didn't inaugurate the moon race, but instead a competition with the Soviets to gain military advantage of Earth orbit.)
But beyond all of that, Kennedy -- and the nation -- could indulge in an adventure like the Apollo program because we could afford it. In 1961, federal spending as a share of GDP was 18.4 percent. The Great Society was just a gleam in Vice President Lyndon Johnson's eye. Medicare would not be passed for four years. The economy was at the start of a boom.
Obama has come too late -- way too late for the sort of government over which he longs to preside. Federal spending as a share of GDP in 2010 was 43.09 percent. And under Obama's budget, the national debt will double by 2020.
His address was oddly out of sync with our times -- and internally contradictory as well. He sketched his dreams for high-speed rail, electric cars, new highways and infrastructure, better schools, and solar shingles -- but then pivoted to propose a five-year freeze on annual domestic spending. (This, from the president who brought us the $862 billion stimulus.)
There are two problems with the president-as-prophet. In the first place, despite Obama's welcome nods to the entrepreneurial spirit and inventiveness of the American people, his goals and timetables are ultimately a top-down and government-centric approach. Obama's aides promised a Reaganesque speech full of optimism. But Reagan's philosophy was to govern as lightly as possible so as to unleash the creative powers of the American people. Obama's philosophy is to lead us by the hand to the happy opportunities he perceives for us. He would substitute the wisdom of Obama for the wisdom of the market.
More importantly, Obama's chirpy futurism failed utterly to grapple with the central issue facing the government -- avoiding bankruptcy. And the president's freeze proposal is frankly fallacious.
It isn't programs like NASA or even Synfuels (yes, some of us remember that sinkhole of federal dollars) that threaten our solvency as a nation. It is the open-ended entitlements, particularly Medicare and Medicaid. Fully aware that these programs are growing beyond our ability to pay for them, the president irresponsibly added yet another medical care entitlement -- and now has the gall to insist that Obamacare will reduce costs. This is not "optimism"; this is deep dishonesty and irresponsibility.
Obama has budgeted $635 billion for Obamacare over the next decade. Even those not given to panic, like the CBO, estimate that $1.2 trillion is closer to the mark. But even that is probably way too low. The bill doesn't really kick in until 2014. From 2014 to 2024, the more likely costs will be $2.5 to $3 trillion. That added burden, along with the stimulus and other spending during the two years in which he enjoyed a Democratic House, is the inescapable yoke of Barack Obama's presidency.
We are not facing a Sputnik moment. This is a spendthrift moment.
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Mona Charen Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
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