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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

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 June 26, 2009 / 4 Tamuz 5769

Lawspeak, or: She'll Do Well in America

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | For some of the more demented among us, like me, there's nothing quite so engrossing as watching C-SPAN's complete, unexpurgated, dull moment after dull moment, replay of the day's hearing on the nomination of a Supreme Court justice. We all have our strange tastes.


I anticipate it the way others do the opening day of the baseball season. Each to his own sport. (When baseball and jurisprudence are combined, it can be a delight. See the essay "The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule.")


For those of us watching this game from the bleachers, the nomination of Her Honor Sonia Sotomayor to the court does not promise an historic confirmation hearing. Her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee is not likely to compare with Clarence Thomas' almost two decades ago. His confirmation, too, was going to be routine, but it turned out to be a revelation.


Invited to cringe and crawl before the committee to win confirmation, Clarence Thomas declined. Instead, he responded to the sneers and titillations about his private life with steely disdain, and, finally, with both verbal barrels:


"This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It is a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, as far as I am concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that, unless you kow-tow to an old order this is what will happen to you, you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate, rather than hung from a tree."


I wanted to stand up and cheer.


If you want to see a contrast between preening, condescending familiarity and simple human dignity, just call up the YouTube video of Joe Biden questioning Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearing. How startlingly young Justice Thomas looks. Yet he transmitted a self-respect that left his would-be tormentors backing away, making excuses, speaking of fairness even as they tried to hide how unfair they'd been.


But the coming hearings on Judge Sotomayor's nomination to the high court may not produce a moment of truth like Clarence Thomas's. His definitive destruction of his small-minded critics ranks alongside Joseph Welch's dispatching Joe McCarthy, the poor slob, with a single phrase during the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. ("Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?") How quickly bullies become almost pitiable figures once they're exposed.


We may live in less edifying times now, yet all the spin and counter-spin preparatory to Judge Sotomayor's appearance in the committee room have their own fascinations. And consolations, for even if she turns out to be the mediocre judge many anticipate, she'll represent a giant leap above the justice she is to succeed on the high bench. The one whose name you're most likely to forget when trying to remember all nine. What was it Churchill said of Clement Atlee? It could apply just as well to the Hon. David Souter: a modest man with much to be modest about.


The sport in this confirmation hearing will lie in how far the nominee is willing to go to ingratiate herself with the committee, for the senators pretty well hold it in their power to grant or deny the lady her life's ambition. How much simple human dignity might she be willing to sacrifice to win a seat on the court? That's always the most fascinating aspect of such hearings.


The grandfather who raised Clarence Thomas, and taught him self-respect by working him in the fields till he was a mass of sweat and sores, would surely have been proud of how his grandson rose above his less than grand inquisitors. Will there be a Clarence Thomas moment for Sonia Sotomayor, too, or will she smoothly navigate the shallows of the law to the committee's satisfaction?


Her honor has already proven adept at leaving different impressions on at least one legal issue sure to keep coming before the court: gun control, aka gun rights if you prefer.


According to the AP, she's told one senator — Colorado's Mark Udall — that she'd stick with the Supreme Court's decision that struck down a ban on handguns in the District of Columbia, thus upholding the Second Amendment and Americans' right to bear arms.


But she's told another senator — South Carolina's Jim DeMint — that she'd stick with an appellate decision she's voted to uphold that asserts the Second Amendment prevents only the federal government, not states or localities, from infringing on the right to bear arms.


Interesting. Her Honor is nothing if not flexible.


As my immigrant mother might say on hearing someone deliver a particularly smooth sales pitch, she'll do well in America. Any judge can look at a case and give you an opinion. One destined to be confirmed as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States can look at a case and give you the opinion you want.


Just what kind of associate justice Her Honor would prove on the Supreme Court is hard to know, but she's already proving one heckuva politician.

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.

JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here. Paul Greenberg Archives

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