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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review Jan. 10, 2006 / 10 Teves, 5766

Alito not extreme enough for left

By David Limbaugh


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | But for the seriousness of the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, it would be comical to observe the cries of extremism against Alito from those who argue that he would support President Bush in establishing a near monarchy.


Liberal editorialists and politicians have seized on Alito's alleged expansive view of executive power to oppose his nomination. According to them, Alito would enable the president in his nefarious schemes to torture enemy combatants (and probably domestic liberals) and to incarcerate them indefinitely, and to permit the government unchecked power to spy on American citizens.


How wonderfully serendipitous, given the current flap over the president's warrantless electronic intercepts of Al Qaeda phone calls, that the president's pick happens to have a paper trail revealing his "dangerous" notions about presidential authority. Why, in the words of columnist Robert Kuttner, "[Alito] would give Bush effective control of all three branches of government and the hard-right long-term dominance of the high court."


Setting aside the left's disturbing tendency to sympathize with everything Al Qaeda these days, don't be fooled by all this noise about runaway presidential powers. They only object to executive largesse when they don't control the presidency, which, with any luck, will remain the case for years to come. Their real concern — and please excuse me for stating the obvious — is over abortion rights. If Alito is confirmed, it is actually conceivable the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue of the legality of abortion back to the states. Liberals — you know, the people now complaining about imperialistic presidential authority — are horrified at the idea that the Court might poke a hole in their glorious precedent establishing a federal constitutional right to abortion.


You see, it is not unchecked governmental power they're worried about or encroachments on democratic rights — otherwise they, too, would be outraged at the Supreme Court's disenfranchisement of the states and people on issues like abortion. No, it's not a matter of how much power any particular branch of government has, but whether it will use that power to impose a liberal worldview.


Unless a president is willing to govern like a liberal on most issues, he is a conservative extremist. Unless the Court will continue to usurp the states' and peoples' rights and mandate such things as the nationwide legality of abortion and a strict separation of the Christian religion from government, it is a tool of the reactionary right wing.


Indeed, I have decided to renounce my association with mainstream conservatism. After hearing no less an authority than Sen. Dianne Feinstein expounding on conservative extremism on "Fox News Sunday," I realized the error of my ways. What was I thinking?


Feinstein told Brit Hume, "I think there still is a mainstream conservative movement rather than an activist conservative movement." And anyone who thinks Roe v. Wade was improperly decided by the Supreme Court is outside the mainstream and worthy of being filibustered.


Feinstein then went on to pretend her support for abortion — probably on demand, no less — is based on popular support for the abominable practice. Feinstein said, "The American people, according to the latest ABC poll [are] 60 percent supportive of Roe. This is a pivotal question. And he's in a pivotal spot because of Sandra Day O'Connor's particular position on the court, where she was dispositive in so many 5-4 votes."


Does anyone really think Feinstein or other left-wingers would do a sudden about-face on abortion if public opinion changed? More to the point, how can anyone take seriously such arguments from people who are supportive of a wholly fabricated constitutional "right," established by judicial fiat, that has taken the issue out of the democratic process?


The left's idea of an ideologically extreme, democracy-smothering activist is one who might vote to overturn a case born of ideologically extreme, democracy-smothering activism. A justice who would interpret the Constitution according to its plain meaning and the Framers' original intent is to be damned as an extremist because he would dare to disestablish a "right" that has been crammed down the throats of the states and people by an imperial judiciary.


The left is shameless. It will oppose Alito precisely because he is not willing to support extra-constitutional power grabs by any branch of government against the constitutional rights of the people. It is not extremism, encroachments on the separation of powers doctrine, or infringements on civil or democratic rights they oppose, but those who are unwilling to engage in those very excesses in furtherance of an "enlightened," "progressive" liberal utopia.

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.

David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Mo., is the author of, most recently, "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.

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