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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
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
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
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
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
Dec. 2, 2011
/ 6 Kislev, 5772
Stricken by an excess of excess
By
Wesley Pruden
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The Christmas season is hard upon us and it's time to be happy and gay. (Uh, better make that cheerful.) But it won't be easy. The culture has been poisoned by an excess of excess.
We suffer from too much of everything. The search for the new thing, for passion, thrills and excitement finally becomes what the French, who have a suggestive name for everything, call "ennui." In plain English, the excess of excess is ultimately boring.
The excess of entertainment swallows up all. You could watch trashy movies, mindless sit-coms and other television perversions 24/7, and a lot of people do. Sports is the national drug. There were sighs of relief at the prospect there might not be a professional basketball season this year, when the owners and players couldn't get together on how to co-ordinate their greed, and sighs of disappointment when a half-season was salvaged. Soon the college football bowl season will be here, with so many "classics" that only the worst teams can escape bowls celebrating pizza, home mortgages, auto mufflers, fried chicken and even hunger. (We ran out of fruits, flowers and vegetables to commemorate.)
Not so long ago, the election of a president invited long, thoughtful reflection, but that was before presidential campaigns became an excess of entertainment, too, with stand-up comics in search of sound bites posing as candidates for cable-TV "debates" that are anything but. This year the Republican "debates" enter the stretch toward the Iowa caucuses as a contest to see who's hiding the naughtiest past. Is it better to have a collection of long-suffering wives or a collection of money-grubbing mistresses? If only Busby Berkeley were still around to direct the Republican campaign as "Gold Diggers of 2011."
This was the campaign that was supposed to be a Republican slam dunk, and maybe it will be, but only because Anybody But Obama is still the favorite at 3-to-2. The sweet-talking golden prince of Chicago continues to wallow in the excess of excess, too. Herman Cain was derided as ignorant because he hadn't heard of the war in Libya, but President Obama, who earlier thought he had campaigned in "57 states," only this week denounced the sacking of "the English embassy" inTehran. Learning even the rudiments of geography and history are gone with the wind that long since blew through our schools, but you might think that someone at the White House could have told the president that British embassies replaced "English embassies" three hundred years ago (more or less).
Newt Gingrich, the history perfesser who knows how to count states and how to identify embassies, is at the moment soaring at the altitudes once enjoyed by Rick Perry and Herman Cain. He'd best enjoy it now. He got a reminder this week that old times are not necessarily forgotten. Richard Land, the ethics and religious liberty guru at the Southern Baptist Convention, said Christian conservatives, particularly in the crucial South, still haven't heard a convincing Gingrich mea culpa. "If you want to get large numbers of evangelicals, particularly women, to vote for you," he told the former speaker, "you must address the issue of your marital past in a way that allays the fears of evangelical women."
Newt thought he had put his checkered past aside, forswearing his old habits as a Baptist and adopting a new Roman Catholic faith, and even tried to explain what happened in his earlier marriages. "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country," he told the Christian Broadcasting Network, "that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate." This was a cute argument, that patriotism is not only a refuge for a scoundrel but for the bounder as well. But it hasn't satisfied everyone.
Some voices, weary of the excess of excess, argue that the cure for what ails us is a return to the smoke-filled rooms that produced Abraham Lincoln, the two Presidents Roosevelt and Harry Truman, among others. "The vetting process," writes Robert Merry in National Interest magazine, "has been truncated to a point where it relies on happenstance to save the system from people nobody really knows and who may be hiding serious flaws." Dan Henninger of the Wall Street Journal agrees. Instead of rigorously vetted candidates, he says, "we get mysterious candidates who have wandered in from Nowhere Land or obscure state-senate offices." He wants to dismantle the campaign-finance laws, with all their bureaucratic bungling, that "are smothering good candidates in the crib."
So here's a wish for this season of excess: That one day soon we can say goodbye and good riddance to fluff, trivia and candidates whose only qualification for office is their good opinion of themselves.
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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