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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
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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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May 23, 2012
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May 22, 2012
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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
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Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
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The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
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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
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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
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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
Oct. 19, 2010
/ 11 Mar-Cheshvan, 5771
The poisonous elixir from the Europeans
By
Wesley Pruden
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The French like to think their country and culture is unique, though no one has ever called it, as Lincoln did of the United States, "the last best hope of mankind." Nobody does cuisine, couture and the can-can better than the Parisians, but the dreaded work ethic smacks of the hated Anglo-Saxons.
Goons have pretty much shut down Paris, with the cops and students trading volleys of tear gas and gasoline bombs. The only bright spot Monday was the dwindling supplies of gasoline; when the pumps run dry, there won't be any more Molotov cocktails to throw at the cops.
The foreign airlines have been told to top off their tanks before taking off to France because they won't find fuel for a return trip. Thousands of gasoline stations have already run dry. "Youths," as young goons (some of whom look to be decades beyond their barefoot years) are referred to in the kind and gentle way, are turning violent, as they are always eager to do when they can manufacture a provocation. In Lyon, they fought for social justice on Monday by smashing bus shelters, tossing a gasoline bomb at a school in the Paris suburb of Combes-la-Ville, blocking traffic at the Paris Town Hall and on the Champs-Elysees, looting restaurants and burning cars. Burning cars has become the national sport of France, uniting Muslim and infidel in pyrotechnic solidarity, if only for the moment. (The national soccer team is usually bounced out of the World Cup early, but nobody can torch a Citroen better than a French layabout.) Truck drivers and railway workers are joining the protests, and France will soon be isolated to marinate au jus. (But who marinates better than a French chef?) The riots are expected to go nationwide Tuesday, and already many trains have been canceled, and half the flights to Paris have been deleted from the arrival boards at Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports.
What could unite the fractious French nation in such a pious fury? A foreign army must be marching at the gates of Paris, a government is about to fall to a revolutionary mob and the guillotines have been filed to a razor's edge, or a foreign visitor has innocently mispronounced the name of a celebrated sauce for the Christmas goose. Alas, it's far worse than that: They're rioting in the streets for the right to retire early from jobs they don't have. The rioters, led by the Socialists, want to continue to retire at 60 and start drawing generous government welfare benefits, despite the fact that workers are living longer and the pension system is creaking and cracking under the financial strain. The government wants to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 and the full retirement age to 67.
"We have a prime minister who thinks he is a Churchill," complains the deputy leader of the Socialists, "but he is only Thatcher." (This was probably not intended as a compliment to the Iron Lady, who turned things around in Britain in that other century.) "He is trying to make us think he is carrying out great reforms to save our economy, but in fact he is smashing our social model."
It's the social model that's the problem, of course, and the Socialists want to fix it by raising taxes and punishing capital. President Nicolas Sarkozy vows that the reform of the retirement scheme will be enacted, strikes and riots or not. But the French, addicted to the narcotic of government largesse, react to reform with the mindless rage of a crackhead.
This is the social model beloved by Barack Obama, who speaks wistfully of turning America into a little Europe, only more so. The president is looking to Europe for a model, just when bills are coming due in Paris and Berlin, and the Europeans can't figure out how to pay them. Mr. Obama wants to improve things by spending more money he doesn't have just when Europe is realizing that it has been there, done that.
The fundamental belief that Mr. Obama neither shares nor understands is that Americans from the founding have understood that economic prosperity is fundamentally the responsibility of the individual. This goes sharply against the mishmash multicultural collectivist tax and tax, spend and spend European worldview from which the president sprang. Most Americans, as this congressional campaign eloquently demonstrates, are terrified at the prospect of losing this pact of head and heart that has bound us together as a nation. Once we lose that, and become just like Europe, we'll have to learn to mix a Molotov cocktail and start burning cars.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
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