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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
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The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
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The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
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Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
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The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
Sept. 14, 2011
/ 15 Elul, 5771
Under Obama's unblinking eyes
By
Nat Hentoff
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
More of us, including the new generation, are becoming aware of what the report "Surveillance in the Homeland" (truth-out.org, Aug. 22) describes as the state of our personal privacy: "Our phone calls, our emails and web site visits, our financial records, our travel itineraries, and our digital images captured on powerful surveillance cameras are swelling the mountain of data that is being mined (by the Obama administration) for suspicious patterns and associations."
This ceaseless surveillance was unimaginable to America's founders, of course, because such technology was nonexistent in their time. But can we call ourselves a self-governing constitutional republic when we are subject to this increasingly familiar government invasion by local as well as federal government officials? I heard this recently from Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, where I live: "When you see something, say something!"
Like what? It's up to us to make what connection? No hint for us?
This call to report to police or the FBI suspicious behavior by anybody has led the American Civil Liberties Union to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (aclu.org, Aug. 25) "challenging the government's failure to release documents about the FBI's nationwide system of collecting and sharing (with other intelligence agencies) so-called 'Suspicious Activity Reports' from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies."
I make a point of following debates and releases among Republican 2012 presidential aspirants, and never once have I heard any concern about this omnivorous tracking of, as the Constitution begins, We The People. What does Gov. Rick Perry think of it? President Barack Obama, of course, thoroughly approves of this obliteration of our privacy to protect national security -- without any of us being told we've been targeted.
This eGuardian program, begun in 2009, explains the ACLU, "allows the FBI to collect information about vague and expansively defined 'suspicious activity' from law enforcement and intelligence officials across the country, as well as from the public."
Yes, from the public. If one of us utterly detests a neighbor or someone where we work, why not report him or her to the authorities for "suspicious activity"?
As for any of the rest of us actually attracting the investigative notice of an intelligence agent, the eGuardian dragnet, the ACLU continues, "appears to give broad discretion to law enforcement officials to monitor and collect information about innocent people engaged in commonplace activities, and to store that data in criminal intelligence files without any evidence of wrongdoing. There are also serious concerns that the system opens the door to racial profiling."
In my city, New York, tens of thousands more blacks and Hispanics are regularly "stopped and frisked" by police than in white sections of the city. Only a very tiny percentage of them are actually arrested for "suspicious activity," but so many of the others very often are placed in databases for possible future criminal investigations.
Under the reign of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly -- with not the slightest objection from Mayor Bloomberg -- the presumption of innocence under our rule of law has been suspended in largely black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Nor is this happening only in New York City.
Many of the residents of, let's say, Zimbabwe, are utterly unaware of the presumption of innocence from Robert Mugabe's police, but aren't we citizens fundamentally entitled to learn from our government a lot more about how "suspicious activity" is defined?
ACLU National Security Project staff attorney Nusrat Choudhury (would that name stir suspicions in an FBI agent?) is, like other ACLU guardians of the Fourth Amendment, trying to find out just how this eGuardian mass operation determines what "suspicious activity" is, and -- most importantly, I'd also ask President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder -- "what the Bureau does with the reports in the system, or what safeguards are in place to protect against unlawful privacy invasions or discriminatory surveillance"?
Now dig this. The ACLU filed this Freedom of Information request in March 2010. And what is the response from this administration that a majority of We The People elected?
According to the ACLU, "although hundreds of government agencies (not only the FBI) have reportedly submitted so-called 'suspicious activity' reports, the FBI (so far) released only a handful of documents to the ACLU this April, and what was turned over was heavily redacted without explanation by the government, as is required by law."
"Redacted" means blacked out. "Required by law" is ignored within the ever-expanding broad definitions of national security by the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies as we are commanded by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations to surrender all rights to defend our privacy.
The ACLU will stay on this case, but what will be required for us to become full-fledged citizens is sustained, insistent protest and pressure by the citizenry directed against our representatives in Congress and local and state legislatures.
Or we continue, among more vanishing liberties, to let government keep tracking our cell phones, thereby giving the FBI and others "an unprecedented ability to zero in on a person's movements every day," (projo.com, Sept. 9).
Can this still be the land of the free and the home of the brave? Ringing louder in my head is Thomas Jefferson's warning to all American generations that the only guarantee of our individual liberties is the people themselves -- as long as they know how to be Americans. Most public schools aren't teaching that basic subject, so individual privacy may survive only as a quaint, abandoned echo of our history.
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.
Nat Hentoff Archives
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