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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

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Feb. 15, 2006 / 17 Shevat, 5766

Oh, shoot! Cheney's holding secrets again

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | White House reporters pounced on presidential press secretary Scott McClellan like jackals circling a wounded antelope, teeth bared.


"Scott, do you think that the shooting accident involving the Vice President on Saturday should have been disclosed to the public on Saturday?"


"…isn't there a public disclosure requirement that should have kicked in immediately?"


"… But let's just be clear here. The Vice President of the United States accidentally shoots a man and he feels that it's appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper, and not the White House press corps at large, or notify the public in a national way?"


"… I mean, we have Blackberries …"


"… Did you know they were turning it over to a private citizen to inform people?"


Ah, hell hath no fury like a press corps scorned. I am endlessly fascinated by how much abuse we in the mainstream news media will take from the people we cover before we finally get our backs up.


This is particularly true of Vice President Cheney, whose penchant for privacy borders on the pathological. After word came a day late that Cheney on a hunting trip had accidentally shot Austin, Texas, lawyer Harry Whittington instead of a quail, you could almost hear the frustration bubbling up from past Cheney rebuffs of the public's right to know what he's been up to.


This tendency began to show itself "big time," as Cheney might say, during the Persian Gulf War. As secretary of defense, he declared a press blackout that delayed many reporter's news accounts for days, rendering them worthless to editors back home.


Under Cheney, the Pentagon's pool system corralled more than 150 reporters away from the action so that none produced a single eyewitness account, according to a post-war report by Patrick J. Sloyan, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Desert Storm coverage while a senior correspondent for Newsday.


Less than 10 days after he became vice president, Cheney took charge of the Bush administration's energy policy task force. Under the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act, task forces like Cheney's must conduct public meetings and keep records that are available to the public. Cheney declared "executive privilege" to keep his meetings and records closed and fought various legal challenges from government accountability agencies and private groups all the way to the Supreme Court.


Against that backdrop, it was hardly surprising to learn about President Bush's secret authorization of the National Security Agency to pursue terrorists through domestic eavesdropping without a warrant, in defiance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Long before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cheney opposed FISA and similar accountability moves as encroachments on the power of the executive branch.


More recently, documents filed by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the obstruction of justice case against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, say Libby told a grand jury that his "superiors" authorized him to leak classified information in the summer of 2003 to The New York Times' Judith Miller and other reporters. The purpose: to defend intelligence used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq.


Could those "superiors" include Libby's direct boss, Cheney? Could the man who is so guarded about keeping his public, as well as his private matters, private be that eager to make his political critics' private matters public? We probably will have to wait until Libby's trial to learn more, considering how tightly Cheney walls the public off.


In the meantime, his penchant for secrecy will only encourage others to suspect the worst-and find something else to do, I'm sure, when he invites them to go quail hunting.


The danger posed by Cheney's posture is not to the rights of the press to snoop into the Vice President's personal life, but to our constitutional system of checks and balances. The Founding Fathers, quite properly skeptical of vesting too much power in one branch of government even during wartime, set up Congress and the courts to hold the executive accountable. Cheney is hardly the first strong leader in the executive branch to try to expand his turf of unchecked power. It's up to the rest of us, including Congress and the courts, to decide whether we're going to let him get away with it.

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