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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
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
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
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)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
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
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
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
April 20, 2009
/ 26 Nissan 5769
Hail Britannia
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Barack Obama is in the Oval Office these days, and Winston Churchill's bust is not. It's been sent back to the British embassy. Was it Sir Winston's uncompromising views on fighting another era's axis of evil that got him ousted? "Never give in," he said when England stood alone against the Nazis "never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Can't have that sort of talk these days. Our enemies and we have them aplenty might not like it. Soft power is the ticket, more soft than power. Better to make nice with Tehran's mullahs and Russia's new tsar. Keep paying the Danegeld to Kim Jong-Il in North Korea as he misfires another ballistic missile and holds a couple of American reporters hostage. Mustn't upset the world's tyrants. They might get mad.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, hopped across the pond the other day to pay the usual respects to a new American president. Also to the Anglo-American Alliance, special relationship, common heritage and all that sort of thing. But he didn't get the usual welcome accorded a British leader. There was no state dinner, no chummy weekend at Camp David, no joint press conference with flags of both nations in the background the kind of reception many another foreign visitor seems to merit. The prime minister was treated less like a representative of the mother country than a poor relation whom his host didn't want to make too welcome, lest he stay too long. Mr. Brown had brought along the perfect gift for his host: a first edition of Martin Gilbert's biography of who else? Winston Churchill. Was it a thoughtful gesture or a gentle rebuke for Winnie's having been ousted from his place in the Oval Office? His bust had stood guard there since it arrived shortly after September 11th. Now, along with any reference to the War on Terror, it, too, has been banished.
A State Department official explained the lack of any special welcome for our British ally in a comment to London's Sunday Telegraph: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." Nope, nothing special about England, which only gave us our language. And the basis of our political and legal and many of our religious institutions. Ours is only a diplomatic, historical, cultural and military relationship with the Brits, that's all. Even now their troops fight side by side with ours against the latest threat to Western civilization, if we're still allowed to use that term.
Nothing special about Britain? Its Puritans and Pilgrims, not to mention Cavaliers, brought not just themselves to these shores but a whole cast of mind that remains fundamental to the American ethos from the work ethos to an aversion to the kind of violent, transient change that in the end changes nothing. Compare the patience and permanence of the American Revolution to the Terror of the French one. An American president named Woodrow Wilson, an academic type, once said English history might be summed up as a continuing thesis against revolution. Think of the gradual development of the English common law that shapes our own to this day. Happily, this State Department type did remember to speak in English, rather than, say, Fijian or Quechua or in the native tongue of one of those other 190 or so countries that are the same to us as England. Instead, he stuck to the language of Shakespeare and the King James Bible, of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural, and … well, you get the point. The twit who said there was nothing special about our connection to the mother country didn't. He spoke as if unaware that the very language he was using contradicted what he was saying in it. For no one who shares the treasure of the English tongue, who speaks and thinks and feels in it, is not to some intimate degree, English himself. That's how language works. It is the distillation, bearer and shaper of a culture. As long as a people retains its language, it lives.
Do you think, when they laid hands on that image of the Rt. Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill, son of an American mother, the prime minister who mobilized the English language and sent it into battle when Britain stood like a rock against the forces of darkness, who took office when all that the West represents faced its gravest peril, and proceeded to transform Britain's imminent defeat into its Finest Hour, who wrote a monumental "History of the English Speaking Peoples" … do you think those who moved his bust out of the White House apprehended the sad symbolism of it? Might there have been a small tear forming in the corner of its eye?
Consider this old Talmudic story that I just made up, may the ancient sages forgive me: One morning soon after his coronation, a young prince of humble origin who had risen to command a mighty nation looked out over the palace courtyard and saw a great crowd of 190 women gathered there, most with a petition in hand, clamoring for his attention. Only one stood apart, keeping her distance and dignity. He recognized her; she was his mother. So did his chamberlain, who asked if he should escort her into the palace at once. "No," said the prince in the pride of his youth and new power. "We have no special relationship. She's the same to me as any of the others out there." And he turned back to work on the many great changes he had in mind for the kingdom. But the young prince found that he was unable to concentrate, that he couldn't focus his attention on what was truly important and lasting. It was as if he'd lost his sense of direction. Having forgotten from where he had come, he had no idea where he was going.
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