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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 14, 2007 / 24 Adar, 5767

A good administrator fires incompetents and abusers

By Ed Koch


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Three members of the Bush administration should do the honorable thing and resign their offices immediately. I'm talking about F.B.I. director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, Jim Nicholson.


All three evoke the ineffective "Brownie," former FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who was praised until his aura of competence was washed away with the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.


I supported and still support the Patriot Act. I believed that when it was enacted and reenacted, it was a necessary tool in the war against Islamic terrorism. The most persuasive argument given in defense of the Patriot Act for me was the challenge of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to the ACLU to produce anyone whose rights had been violated by the U.S. government under the powers granted to it to collect information that would help our security agencies to protect us from terrorists.


The ACLU was unable to produce a single person who could prove that he or she had had their civil rights violated.


Now we have learned from a report by the Department of Justices' own Inspector General that the F.B.I. has misused the Patriot Act and violated the privacy of thousands of Americans who had no connection with terrorism.


A New York Times editorial this week demanded the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez for a variety of reasons, including the F.B.I. violations of the Patriot Act and misusing "powers it obtained under the Patriot Act to get financial, business and telephone records of Americans by issuing tens of thousands of 'national security letters,' a euphemism for warrants that are issued without any judicial review or avenue of appeal...The F.B.I. Director, Robert Mueller, admitted Friday that his agency had used the new powers improperly."


It is not enough under these circumstances where so many citizens of this country gave their support to the administration's request for the new power and authority for the U.S. government under the provisions of the Patriot Act to have those responsible for the program simply say they are sorry. If the government is invested with tremendous power to protect the country from international terrorism by eliminating some existing privacy protections afforded citizens from the prying eyes of the government, and those administrating and supporting the program fail in their responsibilities as both Mueller and Gonzalez have, they are obligated, under the standard of accountability the Army has displayed with regard to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to resign and spare the president the embarrassment of firing them. If they won't he should immediately fire them.


In Japan, a comparable situation would result in immediate resignations and in earlier times, probably hari-kari.


The third person who should, if he were honorable, walk the plank, is Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans' Affairs. His failures in supervising the medical treatment provided at the VA hospitals illustrate the most shameful action on the part of the federal government, even surpassing the monumental failure of FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The President inadequately tried to sum up his and the country's feelings with the comment, "My decisions have put our kids in harm's way and I'm concerned about he fact that when they come back, they don't get the full treatment they deserve." His lame response makes his decision to terminate Nicholson even more necessary.


Here, as in most situations, failure can justly be shared by the President, Congress and the Pentagon. They failed to provide the money and supervision needed to ensure that the returning members of our armed forces injured in Iraq received the best medical treatment and care for their wounds suffered in defense of the United States. Those soldiers were and are entitled not to minimum and adequate treatment, but to the best available anywhere. Instead, they received treatment that can only be described — as it was at Congressional hearings — as substandard and inadequate.


The person directly in charge of the VA hospitals, Jim Nicholson, has appeared on almost every national Sunday television program apologizing and promising changes. That is not enough. He should resign immediately. The President should find someone who has himself fought in Iraq, perhaps even been injured there, with the necessary management skills to take over Nicholson's job.


In the second-term of every administration, there are people who become burned out or whose incompetence is publicly revealed. It is the mark of a good administrator to timely fire incompetent people. If the President fails to fire these three, he will become directly responsible for their prior and continuing failures.

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 Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, can be heard on Bloomberg Radio (WBBR 1130 AM) every Sunday from 9-10 am . Comment by clicking here.

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