July 3, 2008 Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!) Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron July 2, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else! JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life July 1, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end? Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient? JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism June 30, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew? JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child June 26, 2008 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy June 25, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky June 25, 2008 Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch? JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III June 24, 2008 Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!? Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence June 23, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma Jeff Jacoby: A world without children JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction June 20, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky June 19, 2008 Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub June 18, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher June 17, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron June 16, 2008 Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home? Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace' JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire June 13, 2008 Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky June 12, 2008 Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron June 11, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say? Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult' JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination June 6, 2008 Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky June 5, 2008 David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend' Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen 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 JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher June 4, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster' Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler June 3, 2008 Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher June 2, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator? He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives March 22, 2007 J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 17, 2006 / 17 Adar, 5766 MediTrans: A Transportation Entitlement for Seniors? By Drs. Michael A. Glueck & Robert J. Cihak http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What's next? How about automobile coverage for seniors so they can get to their doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and other places necessary to their physical and mental well-being? As far as we know, such a bill hasn't actually been proposed in Congress. So let's do a thought experiment with a "MediTrans" program and model it after Medicare. For starters, MediTrans would cover privately-owned automobiles. There are already government-subsidized taxi and bus services, but many say that it is degrading to force seniors to depend on such services. Seniors would have a 20% co-payment (copay) for automobile purchases or leases. The government would pay the other 80%, just as Medicare pays 80% of the Medicare fee schedule to doctors. What would happen? Based on the Medicare experience, many seniors would suddenly be able to buy new cars, especially the more expensive, and presumably safer, luxury models. Do the numbers. A senior who had saved $16,000 towards a new car could now buy an $80,000 Dodge Viper SRT-10; the government would pay the other $64,000. A $130,000 Hummer H1 Alpha would now be affordable for many. At the low end, the senior could spend $10,000 and get a $50,000 Cadillac or Lincoln. Seniors would promptly buy out auto dealers' new car lots. Automakers would ramp up production ASAP. They would justifiably conclude, "Our customers really like our cars, especially our high-quality models. Let's invest in more research into more advanced features such as built-in cardiac monitors and defibrillators, plus GPS guided automatic driving to the nearest hospital, in case the driver's (or passenger's) heart goes into ventricular fibrillation. The defibrillator might get the heart going again but some hearts don't respond adequately and need prompt hospital treatment. Every minute counts!" Meanwhile, dealers would build new and fancier showrooms. Substitute hospitals and doctors for car dealer and medical school training programs for manufacturers and you've got a pretty good idea of the market signals given to those institutions when Medicare started pouring money into the medical system in 1966. Doctors saw more patients because of the 80 percent discount. Medical schools and specialized training programs expanded to meet the new demand. At the same time, Congress poured more and more billions into medical research. Some of this research resulted in new or improved medical treatments, creating a new supply of available services naturally resulting in new demand for these wonderful, modern services. However, as with Medicare, the official government cost projections would underestimate the costs of the system, perhaps by 900 percent, as happened with Medicare. Government would have to start controlling the MediTrans system to keep costs down and to control fraud and abuse. To try to control the demand, the government would probably limit how many cars a senior could buy, say no more than one every two years. Even so, the government would soon find that some senior customers were scamming the system by buying a new car as often as possible and reselling their surplus vehicles at really good prices. So the government would have to start tracking vehicle ownership and transfers and perhaps even limit showroom visits. Citizens not eligible for MediTrans would soon notice that their maintenance as well as vehicle purchase costs were shooting up. Auto magazines would investigate and find that the severe demand-crunch from seniors translated into gussied-up service facilities and higher prices for everyone. If MediTrans had started when Medicare did, the cheapest car available today would likely now cost $50,000 with the average horseless buggy running $150,000. Quality galore, especially since the government would naturally start regulating the safety and other additional features required for seniors' safety, even in cars not purchased by seniors. Who's to blame? Ultimately, the politicians who created the system and we citizens who failed to call them on their folly. Once in place, everyone responded rationally to the distorted market signals created. Then the crackdown. It would not take long for the government to discover it could no longer afford to keep seniors in all the cars they wanted. They would also find that some seniors now spent their own money to keep up their habit. But after prosecutors threw several dealers in jail for selling vehicles to these customers, dealers quickly learned that government rules prohibited sales to seniors without official MediTrans approval. We've seen many doctors and hospitals go out of business or be prosecuted because of these and other government-induced problems. In other cases, seniors would claim to do their own oil changes and would get a MediTrans certification/prescription slip from their overworked service shop for free oil from their auto parts store. But, instead of leaving well enough alone with their allotted five quarts of oil and filter, some would tell the shop their car burned a lot of oil and would get multiple oily prescriptions sell their surplus gunk on the street. Of course, the MediTrans cops would eventually find out about this scam and have Congress pass an Oil Dealer Enforcement Act (ODEA). As part of their plea bargain, some MediTrans recipients would make up and tell lies about their deals resulting in a 20 years to life prison sentence for the auto supply owner. Unjust and far-fetched, you wonder? Pain doctor William Hurwitz MD suffered this injustice after he treated lying pain patients, despite heavy government supervision of the doctor and his patients. Dr. Hurwitz was sentenced last year to 20 years to life in prison. Oops. Maybe we shouldn't have written this. Some politician is likely to get ideas ... Sorry. Unwinding these backfiring programs and policies will take many decades. We pray that our political leaders learn to learn to respect the constitutional and common-sense limits inherent in recreating and maintaining liberty under law. And then, work towards restoring liberty and appropriate law. Editor's Note:: Robert J. Cihak wrote this week's column 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. Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., is a multiple award winning writer who comments on medical-legal issues. Robert J. Cihak, M.D., is a Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Both JWR contributors are Harvard trained diagnostic radiologists. Comment by clicking here. Archives © 2006,

Mitch Albom  Michael Barone   Dave Barry  Tony Blankley  Andy Borowitz  David Broder  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Rod Dreher  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  John Fund  Frank J. Gaffney  Lloyd Garver  Jonah Goldberg  Michael Goodwin  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Nat Hentoff  David Horowitz  Laura Ingraham  Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  James Klurfeld  Ed Koch  Ch. Krauthammer  Jonathan Last  Michael Ledeen  John Leo  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  The Medicine Men  Dick Morris  Bill O'Reilly  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Jonathan Rauch  Celia Rivenbark  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Pat Sajak  Debra J. Saunders  Culture Shlock  Roger Simon  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Jonathan Tobin  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Chip Bok  Dry Bones   Lisa Benson  John Branch  Gary Brookins  John Cole  Paul Combs  J. D. Crowe  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holber  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Ranan R. Lurie  Jimmy Margulies  Rick McKee  Michael Ramirez  Jeff Stahler  Danna Summers  John Trever  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  How 2  Know-It-All  Lori Borgman  The Savvy Consumer  Elder matters  Fixit  Dr. Peter Gott  Marybeth Hicks  GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko  Richard Lederer  Tech Maven  Nutrition Myths  Supermarket Shopper  Bruce Williams  How Stuff Works