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June 19, 2013

Peter Grier and Harry Bruinius: In the end, NSA might not need to snoop so secretly after all

Howard LaFranchi: Taliban peace talks hold glimmer of hope, but also unanswerable questions

Warren Richey: Supreme Court: For right to remain silent, a suspect must speak
Meredith Cohn: Leeches are making a comeback as medical helpers

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to pick the healthiest breakfast cereal

The Kosher Gourmet by : Spicy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

June 17, 2013

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein: Black to the Future: American Apparel Gets Biblical

Patrik Jonsson: Minnesota Nazi: How did Nazi hunters miss Michael Karkoc?

Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux: All the ways you're being watched
Don Lee: G-8 meeting will test NSA leaks' effect on U.S. influence

Patrik Jonsson: Fort Hood shooting: Judge nixes Nidal Hasan defense strategy. What now?

Stacey Burling: Why the stigma for migraine sufferers?

The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Abraham: Does it work? 5 new kitchen gadgets put to the test

June 14, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget: Religious economics and being a ruler

John P. Martin: Hitler insider's missing diary found

Matt Pearce: NSA surveillance disclosure could affect court cases
Peter Tinti: US bounties changes strategy on (Wild, Wild) West African jihadis

Daniel Pendrick, M.D.: Memory loss? Old age may be the least of it

Lauren F. Friedman: But it's all natural! Should we have an instinctive preference for herbal remedies?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Streisand and Alicia Keys in Israel; "Girls" Stuff; Mel Brooks, Another TV special; Superman (who is Jewish) returns --- Israeli plays his mom

The Kosher Gourmet by Sharon K. Ghag : Bored with salad? Bling it up a bit (4 effortless recipes that will result in a 'WOW!')

June 12, 2013

Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: What's so special about Omega-3 supplements?
Morgan Housel: What newspapers were saying when you should have been buying

Pete Spotts: How cockroaches evolved so as to bypass 'roach motels'

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: Deep-dish cookie: Warm, gooey and a little over the top

June 10, 2013

Joseph A. Slobodzian: Faith healing and third degree murder: Thorny legal case
Lindsay Wise: Few options for online users to avoid spying, experts say

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: There are plenty of nutritional food bargains out there
Harvard Health Letters: Can bariatric surgery control diabetes?

Zach Murdock: Superglue helps doctors save infant's life

The Kosher Gourmet by Celebrated chef Mario Batali : As good as grilling gets: Rib eye with dry mushroom spice rub

June 7, 2013

Rabbi David Aaron: Beating jealousy

Caroline B. Glick: Wounded . . . and dangerous

Clifford D. May: Al Qaeda vs. Hezbollah
Harvard Health Letters: Fighting back against allergy season

Kimberly Lankford: Grandparents who use FSA to cover grandkid's braces and other must-know info

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom:J ewish Tony Nominees/Tony Awards; Jewish Teen Actor In Sci-Fi Flick; Jewish singer in "Voice" finals

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust

June 5, 2013

John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less

Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Mushrooms Have Medicinal As Well As Culinary Value
Morgan Housel: Why you never learn from your investment mistakes

Don Lee: In China, kindergarten rivalry takes deadly turn

The Kosher Gourmet by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan: 30-Minute Coq au Vin isn't a dream

June 3, 2013

Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself

Richard A. Serrano: Pvt. Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks trial also a test for government

Mark Trumbull: Have degree, driving cab: Nearly half of college grads are overqualified
Kim Lankford: What to do when long-term care insurance premiums rise

Deborah Netburn: Study: Adults' mouth bacteria may help babies

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Contestant on 'The Voice'; Will Smith's 'Jewish movie family'; Bravo Gives Long Island Jews the Jersey Shore Treatment; Magicians and More

The Kosher Gourmet by Bill Ward: How to be as refined as the wines at a wine tasting

May 29, 2013

Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die

Dennis Prager: The 'Muslims-Killed-by-the-West' Lie

David Clark Scott: Open war on teachers?
Morgan Housel: If you know only five things about investing, make it these

Sara Reardon: AGenome detectives change the donation game

Deborah Netburn: A one-way ticket to Mars? 78,000-plus and counting apply by video

The Kosher Gourmet by Bev Bennett: CHEDDAR AND CHERRY MUFFINS --- your mouth is already watering

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


Jewish World Review Oct. 14, 2005 / 11 Tishrei, 5765

Conservatives can teach even Jews about ingratitude

By Sam Schulman


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | A stiff-necked people — that's what the L-rd told poor Moses we were, and since we left the Sinai we've earned the honor again and again. But after listening to the complaints of conservative writers, bloggers and politicians about President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, I think we may be losing our exclusive claim to the title of World's Biggest Ingrates.


Despite "all the goodness which the L-rd had done to Israel" — for having been led out of Egyptian bondage, been fed and clothed, and been given the Torah, our ancestors' ingratitude drove a tough customer like Moses almost to despair — not just once, but over and over again. We're experts. Every Jewish son and daughter, it seems, at some point repeats the drama of ingratitude with mother and father.


But among the conservative intellectuals and the blogosphere, there are no dayenus for poor President Bush. Since he nominated Harriet Miers, nothing he has done — no matter how unlikely or even miraculous — has been enough. Not his improbable election victory in 2000. Not that he even more improbably increased the Republican majority in the off-year election of 2002. Not that he increased his majority in 2004 in 48 out of 50 states — in Manhattan and New Jersey as well as in the "red states" — despite a hostile and mendacious press. Did he act decisively against the terrorists after two administrations before his — including his father's — preferred to dither? Not enough. Did he press ahead with the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq, and give openings to democracy in Egypt and Lebanon. Not enough.


It wasn't enough that he listened to Terry Eastland and others and refrained from nominating his trusted friend Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court— instead, giving us the most promising chief justice in a hundred years. It wasn't enough that something about his bearing and demeanor drives Democrats wild and prevents them from doing anything other than snarling and sneering — all of which the President bears by himself with unenviable dignity. Yet according to Ann Coulter, it is not Bush, but others — people like her, not him — who have been "taking slings and arrows all these years," and whom, by his lèse-majesté in nominating Miers, he has 'casually spurned.'


It's not just Coulter. Among conservatism's pooh-bahs, the editors of National Review and the Weekly Standard have expressed their dismay that the President has wasted an opportunity to appoint a forthrightly conservative judge. More, they regret that the American public, which, they assure us, has been yearning for the spectacle, has been denied the edifying experience of a vicious confirmation fight. Speaking for American conservatism's Cliveden set, Pat Buchanan called Harriet Miers' qualifications for the Supreme Court "non-existent" (Buchanan, a TV commentator, opinion writer and occasional press secretary, has repeatedly offered himself for President). The estimable David Frum reminds himself of the even more estimable Duke La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt these days, passing the news of the street to a benighted White House. George Will, who thinks that the egregiously incompetent Bud Selig is the greatest baseball commissioner in the history of the game, has been lobbing one column after another at Harriet Miers for her lack of qualifications. Any one of his columns on the subject is about as interesting as the 2002 Baseball All-Star game, which — thanks to Commissioner Selig — ended in a tie.


None of these pundits has the slightest concern for reality — or, more important, a proper sense of loyalty. Could Bush have proposed a more notoriously brilliant judicial conservative? Of course he could have named such a person. And then what?


Could Bill Kristol and Rich Lowry, together with Ann Coulter, go out to TGI Friday's with Senator Snowe and convince her to vote for such a candidate? If Senator Voinovich started to weep, could Pat Buchanan offer his hankie and assure him that Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson or Michael Luttig wouldn't send women to bleed to death in back alleys? Could David Frum go sailing with Senator Chaffee and convince him, while coming about, to support a brilliant and scholarly judge like Michael McConnell? Could half a hundred right-wing bloggers stiffen the spine of Arlen Spector? Could half a million?


And if the candidate were rejected? It would be March or May of 2006. Mid-term elections would beckon. The press would be telling nervous campaign managers across the country that the President was being too extreme, that America wanted to move back to the center. The result: no conservative on the court. No overt conservative. No stealth conservative. No "nuclear option" to block a minority from dictating policy — because there would be no practical majority. No nothing. Just somewhere, floating in the blogosphere, a snazzy golden calf.


I respect and like many of the people so loudly complaining about Harriet Miers, and I sympathize with their feelings. I too can think of a much better candidate.


Myself.


Ann Coulter suggests that it would have been wiser for President Bush to have appointed someone who went to a better law school than Southern Methodist's, from which Miers graduated (although it is fair to observe that Ann herself graduated from the very least selective of the Ivy League colleges). And although I, like Miers, have not been a judge, and, come to think of it, am not a lawyer, I did take the LSATs, and I can assure you that, had I troubled to apply, I would have been admitted to a better law school than SMU or even the University of Michigan (Ann Coulter's law school) — based on my breathtaking score on the test.


I know I have a judicial temperament — my wife can attest that I am in a happy mood no matter how early it is in the morning. And a paper trail? Mine is superb, including unimpeachable opinions about most everything and brilliant arguments to support them, but also a trail of unrealized business ideas and embarrassing relationships — all of them easily discoverable (along with my credit score) by Senator Schumer's operatives. Above all, I can assure Nancy Pelosi that I am human. I have done those things which I ought not to have done and I have left undone those things which I ought to have done. What a superbly durable and reliable Associate Justice I would make — the Schulmans tend to live well into their 90s and get sharper, meaner and more judicial-looking with age.


And yet let's face facts. In this benighted age I, like Judge Bork, could never be confirmed. So, like other more theoretically attractive candidates than Harriet Miers, I was passed over by the President for raisons d'etat. Perhaps it is my considerable personal disappointment that helps me realize — as the conservative pundits cannot bring themselves to do — that perfection is not attainable in this world. The President we have is the best we will get in a long time — and the Supreme Court he will leave us — if we can keep it — will be better than we could ever have dreamed of on the morning of November 7, 2000.

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 Sam Schulman, a New York writer, is formerly publisher of Wigwag and a professor of English at Boston University. To comment, please click here.


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