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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 July 3, 2009 / 11 Tamuz 5769

Bless This Honorable Court

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In what let's hope will prove a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided that all Americans have civil rights — not just those belonging to certain specified groups. Whereupon said honorable court proceeded to protect those rights. And justice was done. Take that, cynics.


In a case out of New Haven, Conn., a bare majority of the court ruled that a group of firefighters who passed the test for promotion should indeed be promoted. How remarkable. Especially in these strange times of groupthink and sociospeak.


Openings for captains and lieutenants in New Haven's fire department are limited, but the ones available are now to be filled in due course on the basis of, of all things these strange days, objective criteria. Like scoring high on a test for promotion.


When not enough black firefighters passed the test to suit the city's political movers-and-shakers, they had decided to ignore it. Shades of how the old Jim Crow laws used to work in these Southern latitudes. Only now the colors have been reversed. But the basic proposition has been retained — that one's place in society, as in old India, stems from caste, not merit. Back in the bad old days, the system was jimmied in favor of the white folks. Or to put it in today's proper racespeak, Caucasians were privileged. But some things don't change: In both instances, the fixers didn't count on the Supreme Court of the United States disrupting their game.


Forgive me if I don't jump up and down in celebration. Deciding that all men are created equal regardless of race by a vote of 5 to 4 wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the Declaration of Independence as the Fourth of July approached. But with this Supreme Court, court, you celebrate even the narrowest victory for clear law and simple justice.


The four dissenters on the court all had their reasons, or rather poor excuses. My favorite ploy was the one used by Her Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who began her opinion by expressing sympathy for the firefighters whose rights she was about to deny under color of law. She dutifully noted that "the white firefighters who scored high on New Haven's promotional exams understandably attract this court's sympathy."


That's ni-i-i-ce, to quote the phrase of a very large, very black man who was attending a meeting of the Pine Bluff, Ark., school board at a time when America's own caste system was falling apart. He was in town as a representative of the U.S. government — specifically the Department of Education, if memory serves. It was his job to consider whether the school board's attempt to evade the letter and spirit of the law would result in its losing federal aid. When one of the segs on the school board went on and on about how much he loved black folks and would do nothing to stand in the way of their equal (if decidedly separate) education, Mr. Federal Official just looked at him, expressionless, and let a long silence descend. No doubt to let the sheer hypocrisy of that claim resound in the room.


And then all Mr. Federal Official said, his strong white teeth shining as his smile widened and widened into one great big grin, was: That's ni-i-i-ce. His phrase came back to me after all these years on reading Mrs. Justice Ginsburg's words of sympathy for the firefighters whose rights she was about to gut. That was a long ago, but I haven't forgotten the scene. Or the phrase.


I have to admit that The Hon. Samuel Alito, in his opinion concurring with the majority in this case, came up with as good or perhaps even better response to Justice Ginsburg's sympathy card: " 'Sympathy' is not what petitioners have a right to demand," wrote Justice Alito. "What they have a right to demand is evenhanded enforcement of the law — of Title VII's prohibition against discrimination based on race. And that is what, until today's decision, has been denied them."


Justice — and he certainly earned the title with his concurring opinion — Alito had made his and justice's point. His words were almost as eloquent as those quotation marks he put around "sympathy." For what good is sympathy without acting on it, words without action, crocodile tears without doing what one can to stand up for those who have been treated unjustly? As these firefighters had been by one court after another till they got to the highest in the land, G-d bless this honorable court.

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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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