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In this issue
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (1 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 14, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Add pesto to bean soup and get ready for yum --- in minutes!
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: How To Recognize A Control Freak, Part II (A VERY fast 14 minutes)
Oct. 13, 2009
Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Palestinian Incitement Matters So Much
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: How To Recognize A Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 12, 2009
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Shimmering paradoxes
JWisdom.com: One Small Spark … One Great Fire By Gavriel Aryeh Sanders (7 minutes)
Oct. 9, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Illusion of Influence
JWisdom.com: Take the Sage of St. Louis' Challenge by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The newest round of war
Oct. 8, 2009
Joseph Aaron: What the Chicago Olympics failure must teach Jewry
JWisdom.com: Rehabbing The Thief Within by Sara Yoheved Rigler (9 minutes)
Oct. 7, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Sumptuous supper in the sukkah
JWisdom.com: Know an 'invincible' teen? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe (6 minutes)
Oct. 6, 2009
Alan H. Luxenberg: The Twilight Zone's Jewish soul
JWisdom.com: A Sage for Our Age --- and Only 238 Years old! by Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz(10 minutes)
Oct. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com: Harvesting Happiness By Rabbi Eytan Feiner (7 minutes)
Oct. 2, 2009
Rabbi Yitzhak Adlerstein: Happiness is a Warm Sukkah
JWisdom.com:Getting out of the rut and into the hut by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Oct. 1, 2009
Barry Horn: A spiritual force: Cowboys' Igor Olshansky takes a fierce pride in his Jewish faith
JWisdom.com:Defeating Your Inner Saboteur By Sara Yoheved Rigler (6 minutes)
Sept. 30, 2009
Yaffa Ganz: The Other 'Evil Eye'
JWisdom.com: Strong Willed Children make the best leaders: How to get them to that point by Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Richard Z. Chesnoff: Killing Kasztner, the Jew who bargained with Eichmann
Sept. 29, 2009
Mona Charen: Who Needs Religion?
JWisdom.com: Sukkos: Journey to Joy by Rabbi Harvey Belovski (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 10, 2008 / 3 Adar II 5768

I've kicked my pundit habit, now I feel more informed than ever

By Pat Sajak


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | After years of feeding my habit, this political TV junkie finally suffered from total, absolute burnout. I became tired of the same talking heads babbling about the same sets of talking points; the pundits who were almost always wrong, and, when they were proven wrong, would go on to explain why things didn't go as they should have; and the "strategists" who shared their Machiavellian concepts with the rest of us. I couldn't take one more split-screen set of so-called experts yelling at each other, pontificating and prognosticating. I had it up to here with CNN and Fox News and MSNBC. I couldn't bear the superficial interviews on the network morning shows or the self-important musings of the nightly newscasts. I became sick of the polls and the stories about the polls and the analyses of the polls.


So I quit. Cold turkey. No more news on television. None. No Hardball, no Meet the Press, no Good Morning, America. Free at last, free at last! Thank G-d Almighty, I was free at last!


So, during this election cycle, I have gained virtually all of my political news from written sources. As a result, I've found myself caring more about what has been said rather than how it was said. I no longer see — nor do I miss — the instant analysis that follows debates. I don't have to subject myself to on-air advisors telling candidates what they must do to perform better in the next primary.


In the print and online worlds, there are so many more sources and options. The only shouting involves exclamation points and capital letters. The junk is easier to recognize and ignore. I've even found myself reading the transcripts of debates rather than watching and listening to them, which has allowed me to concentrate on substance and disregard the theatrics. There have been some absolutely moronic questions asked by debate "moderators", but, if you think they sounded stupid on television, you should read them.


I feel more informed than ever, and I find all the talk about the irrelevant aspects of the race to be, well, irrelevant. I'm no longer a part of the electronic echo chamber, and I'm very happy. I may never go back.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Comment on Pat Sajak's column by clicking here.

JWR contributor Pat Sajak is the recipient of three Emmys, a Peoples’ Choice Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's currently the host of Wheel of Fortune.



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