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May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

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 Jan. 7, 2009 / 11 Teves 5769

My wishes for 2009

By Nat Hentoff


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | My first hope for 2009 is that President Barack Obama, with all the enormous responsibilities he has, will find an hour, just an hour, to look at developing pre-birth human beings during a sonogram, and then think again about his pledge to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, ardently supported by many Democrats in Congress. That law would abolish in many states such restrictions on abortion as state-funding, parent-involvement and informed-consent laws.


If this is his first experience with what a sonogram reveals, he may — as happened to a very pro-choice law professor I know — take a little more time to see more of those unmistakable lives. The law professor was startled to realize that one of the two human beings during an abortion has no choice.


Another wish concerns a decision by National Public Radio, whose news and investigative reports I find invaluable. For one of many examples, Nina Totenberg's deeply informed and lucid accounts of Supreme Court decisions excel those anywhere else in the media.


Yet NPR has chosen to end in March a program, "News Notes," that is the very definition of public radio in that its range of information on black culture, history, politics, news from Africa, and education and health issues are unavailable on commercial radio. And it is the only black-themed program on NPR.


I listen regularly five nights a week, nearly always learning something new about a subject I thought I knew a lot about. For example, I've written for years about black gospel music as a basic root of jazz, but one night on "News and Notes," I was riveted by a guest's strikingly illuminating account of the history and continuing influence of this spirit-lifting music that created Mahalia Jackson and Charles Mingus, among many other phenomena. At the very least, NPR should tell "News and Notes" listeners why it is interring so valuable a resource (which has been on since 2005). It can't cost that much to air these conversations that include dissents and updates.


My next hope for this year recalls Clarence Earl Gideon in his cell at Florida State Prison years ago, writing to the Supreme Court of the United States in pencil on prison stationery that he was too poor to hire a lawyer to defend him in a criminal case — and had been denied one by the courts.


Gideon cited the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a fair trial that included "the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."


His note was delivered and the Supreme Court listened. On March 18, 1963, the High Court unanimously agreed with the penniless prisoner that the right to assistance of counsel is fundamental to a fair trial.


Writing the decision, Justice Hugo Black — whose Bill of Rights writings should be mandatory in our schools if they ever have civic classes again — said:


"Reason and reflection require us to recognize that in our system of criminal justice, any person hailed into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided." After all, he added, the government hires lawyers to prosecute cases, so "lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries."


Then, with a lawyer in a retrial, Gideon was found not guilty. But now in 2009, a prisoner unable to afford a lawyer may be out of luck — and possible freedom — in many states. As the January American Bar Association Journal reports: "Across the nation, state and local justice systems are feeling the effects of the economic crisis (and are) sent reeling."


In Georgia, for instance, "public defender services announced plans to lay off 16 attorneys, leaving 1,850 defendants without lawyers." Kentucky: "Ten percent of the state's public-advocate jobs were ordered cut." Michigan: "Though state law requires counties to protect the indigent, no state funds to do so are provided."


If a contemporary Clarence Earl Gideon were locked up in Missouri, the American Bar Association quotes The New York Times report that the state's public defender system "has not added staff members in eight years, while the annual number of cases has grown by 12,000, said J. Marty Robinson, the director of the state's public defenders. 'We're on the verge of collapse,' he said."


Surely President Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and, as community organizer, is likely to have heard stores of ineffective or evanescent state-approved attorneys for the poor, should be expected now to call the nation's attention to reeling local and state justice systems.


If we can bail out investment firms, banks and auto manufacturers, this badly broken part, among others, of American justice requires some help.


And since many young people tune into YouTube, which Obama intends to use to address the nation — I hope he takes advantage of this chance to attract the attention of students by bringing the Constitution into their lives and telling them how and why we have the First and Fourth Amendments, the separation of powers, et al. They need to know what unites them, especially after the constitutional wreckage left behind by Bush and Cheney.


And as Congress reconsiders the No Child Left Behind Act, the president could show how school reform should also bring the Constitution back into the classroom. Its history is full of exciting, tumultuous and inspiring stories. Like that of Clarence Earl Gideon.

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.


Nat Hentoff is a nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights and author of several books, including his current work, "The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance". Comment by clicking here.

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