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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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February 8, 2012
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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)
February 7, 2012
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February 6, 2012
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Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
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
Oct. 31, 2008
2 Mar-Cheshvan 5769
Bile, Rage and Sarah Palin
By
Suzanne Fields
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Yogi Berra famously observed that "you can see a lot by looking." I know exactly what the great New York Yankee meant. You can hear a lot by listening, too.
Over the homestretch of the presidential campaign, I've been spending a lot of time at a rehabilitation hospital with someone very close to me as she recovers from back surgery. Much of the conversation in this microcosm of the urban health-care system is about Barack Obama and John McCain. Most of the doctors are white men, the physical and occupational therapists and nurses are mostly white women, and the aides and technicians are usually immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The patients come in all colors, and the bills will be paid by private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare. Something of a pollster's dream.
The conversations can get candid and surprising, and nothing strikes sparks like the mere mention of the governor of Alaska. I expected the black women to show a certain sympathy for the governor's pregnant daughter, but they're the most outraged that an unmarried pregnant teenager was presented to us, as one angry nurse put it, as "a role model deserving sympathy" when she should have been rebuked.
"I don't care if she is the daughter of a governor, white or black what she did was wrong, and it was the wrong time to nominate her mother for vice president. Teen-age pregnancy is a problem, and just because a governor's daughter is unmarried and pregnant doesn't make that an equal opportunity problem."
Another nurse's aide was offended by the pressure of public opinion to compel the two teenagers to marry. There's considerable speculation that if Granny goes back to Anchorage, there won't ever be a wedding.
These first-hand impressions of public sentiment are nothing to the fear and loathing in the mail from white liberal professional women, whose remarks are neither as reasoned nor as insightful as those of the women at the rehab center. An abundance of bile and rage makes up for style and substance. One woman, a distinguished professor of English literature at one of our elite universities, reaches over the top for a cliche to describe Sarah Palin as "someone beneath contempt, an ignorant vicious woman who would have been ideal for the Hitler rope lines in the Sudetenland."
The vitriol aimed at Palin is difficult to figure. The drag queens of West Hollywood, no doubt envious of being the real thing, hang her in effigy ("all in good fun"); the scorn and mockery in the media continues relentlessly. But the anger among the women who you might think would cheer her pluck and smarts descends into the hysterical and the mindless. Maybe the feminists think she stole their revolution; she has done what they couldn't do. She's a self-made woman, with a family of five, who took on the old boys in Alaska and beat them at their sordid game while holding onto her femininity. She didn't chip away at her convictions just to get where she is.
Pro-choice feminists pay lip service to the idea that it's all right for a woman to refuse an abortion to live up to her moral values, but there's usually a little snickering on the side, suggesting that she just doesn't know any better. Palin's choice, to spurn an abortion to give birth to a Down syndrome child, makes the moral clarity of her decision unassailable. She accepted the full consequences of choice. The most malicious remark I've heard is the suggestion that she wouldn't have had the child if she weren't a prominent politician, pandering to her base.
Joseph Epstein, writing in The Weekly Standard, tells how the faces of the liberal women he knows take on a purplish tinge at the mention of her name: "'Moron' is their most frequently used noun, though 'idiot' comes up a fair number of times." Cliches are much loved on the left.
Though questioning the governor's range of experience is fair comment, it's astonishing to me that those who think she's not ready to play second banana in Washington have no qualms about voting for Barack Obama, who has less executive and administrative experience than she. In fact, he has none.
Sarah Palin, if she is not the vice president, is likely to move quickly beyond defeat to other chances to demonstrate that she's the real thing, leaving her bitter critics to stew in the juice of their own frustrations. Yogi might say that when she came to a fork in the road, she took it.
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.
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Suzanne Fields Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Suzanne Fields
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