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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
May 28, 2009
5 Sivan 5769
An appeal to survival ethics
By
Suzanne Fields
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Washington is a company town, and what the company makes best is
politics and policy. Sometimes the politics is "unprecedented," as certain
historians called the duel between President Obama and former Vice President
Dick Cheney.
Obama and Cheney argued in dueling speeches over how best to
keep the country safe from terrorists and about Obama's continuing campaign
against his predecessor. But at root was a philosophical discussion about
who we are as a nation, and how the nation can be true to both the rule of
law and to the survival of the country. What should the people know about
the way the country is kept safe, and when should the people know it?
Predictably, the dueling arguments were quickly melted down by
McMedia into glib nuggets of distorted facts, misinformation, moral preening
and pious pretense that merely reinforced everyone's established opinions
and positions. The ex-veep was derided as the Darth Vader of the Bush
administration, but the president still won't release the evidence that
Cheney says validates his defense of the interrogation techniques at
Guantanamo as "legal, essential, justified, successful."
An Obama aide tells The Washington Post that the president "gets
frustrated when arguments get dumbed down," because he wants to lay out a
comprehensive vision about what he wants to do with the Guantanamo
prisoners. But the president contributes to the dumbing-down and offers no
assurance that he understands the manipulative nature of the Guantanamo
scoundrels, or the reasons why nobody, Democrat or Republican, wants them
released in his neighborhood.
The Pentagon did offer this week a summary of a study that
reveals that 74 onetime residents who have been released from the military
prison at Guantanamo -- one in seven of those freed -- returned to violent
careers in terrorism. The list includes men accused or convicted of
terrorist offenses in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey and Russia. These are men who never formed the habits of decency
fundamental to civilized society, violent combatants still at war against
the United States.
Who can blame the friendly countries that refuse to relieve us
of the grim task of dealing with them? But deal with them we must, and the
public is entitled to know exactly what Cheney meant when he said the
comprehensive strategy "has worked" and has been crucial to keeping 300
million Americans safe since 9-11.
We can have that philosophical discussion of ethics and who we
are if we keep in mind that survival comes first. On the very day that the
president and the ex-veep dueled, Leon Kass, a professor of the humanities
and the former chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, cut to the
ethical core in the 38th annual Thomas Jefferson Lecture, sponsored by the
National Endowment for the Humanities, at a former movie theater within
sight of the White House.
Kass spoke to the issues of human distinctiveness and dignity
that underlie those identifying values, offering arguments that the Founding
Fathers would certainly have recognized as seminal to the complexity of the
American experiment. He speaks to the political process that is the be all
and end all in Washington, but accompanied by the philosophical reflections
crucial to engaging the Washington wonkery that often passes for considered
judgment.
"For most Americans, ethical matters are usually discussed
either in utilitarian terms of weighing competing goods or balancing
benefits and harms," he said, "looking to the greatest good for the greatest
number, or in the moralist terms of rules, rights and duties, 'thou shalts'
and 'thou shalt nots.'" The focus must be on the larger picture before
anyone can condemn or correct policy.
The language is lofty and above the fray in the war against the
terrorists who would kill us, but the words appeal to that ethical core
derived from knowledge of the best that has been said and thought by those
who have gone before, "not because they are old and not because they are
ours, but because they might help us discover vital truths that we would
otherwise not see on our own."
He offers no judgments on the competing moral claims of either
Obama or Cheney, but identifies the human dilemmas he first examined as a
bioethicist. The good citizen, being human, must reflect deeply on how to
find cures for disease, at the same time paying homage and respect to life
itself, where the evils to avoid are thoroughly intertwined with the good
the prudent citizen ardently pursues. Nothing glib about that.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR contributor Suzanne Fields' column by clicking here.
Suzanne Fields Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Suzanne Fields
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