Nov, 21, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters? Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank Nov, 20, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto Nov, 19, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them? Nov, 18, 2008 Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster? Nov, 17, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit? Nov, 14, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead Nov, 13, 2008 Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla Nov, 12, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks Nov, 11, 2008 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad? Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate Nov, 10, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built? Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist Nov, 7, 2008 Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy Nov, 6, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes Nov, 5, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie Nov, 4, 2008 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East Nov, 3, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart? Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything? Oct. 31, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Our Immutable Noble Essence Caroline B. Glick: Running against Bush Oct. 30, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: The End of the Special Relationship? Steve Lipman: 'Kid Kosher' Gets A Title Shot Oct. 29, 2008 Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: GET US THE TAPE THE L.A. TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE, AND WE'LL GIVE YOU CASH! Dr. Ari Korenblit: Making The Write Choice for President Oct. 28, 2008 Mona Charen: Denial runs through American Jewry Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Sell-off to capitalism or sell-out to Islam? Oct. 27, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Are tax deductions for charitable donations moral? Jonathan Mark: The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote Oct. 24, 2008 'Why aren't all religious people vegetarians?': Response by Miriam Kosman Caroline B. Glick: Testing Obama's mettle Oct. 23, 2008 Daniel Pipes: Obama Would Fail Security Clearance The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A fast chicken dish with an Asian accent Oct. 20, 2008 Gary Rosenblatt: Still One Torah Jonathan Tobin: Government 'Gifts' Are Not Free Oct. 17, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Sukkos and the Great Meltdown Caroline B. Glick: The disappearance of law Oct. 16, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Copying DVDs: RIP OR RIPOFF? Cal Thomas: Blaming the Jews (again) 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 August 31, 2006 / 7 Elul 5766 Pluto's demotion as cautionary tale By James Lileks http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | We all took the demotion of Pluto poorly, it seems. Pluto was the scrappy little planet-that-could, the latecomer, the last stop on the way out. Why couldn't they have demoted Mars? Everyone hates Mars; we keep sending probes just to make sure it's not filled with vile intelligent beings intent on invasion. Jupiter is impressive and reasonable; it doesn't throw its weight around, and that persistent red spot — a storm that has raged for 400 years — is handy whenever your teen complains about a pimple that lasts two days. Saturn is beloved for its beauty. Uranus brings up feelings of muted resentment, because we still remember pronouncing it the old, naughty way. (When did that pronunciation change, incidentally? Probably around the time people started dropping the term "anal-retentive" into dinner conversation.) Neptune is just there, a loner. An underachiever, somehow. But Pluto? Everyone loved Pluto. It feels as if we must speak of it in the past tense, even though nothing's really changed. Pluto hasn't left; its demotion does not alter its mass or density. It's not as if it suddenly sped up its orbit out of pride when it was granted planet status in the '30s. But it might as well be gone, and without it the solar system feels like a sentence that has no period. Without that jot of rock, the universe just trails off into an indistinct mutter of planetoids and comets and hobo rocks caught in the grip of the sun. This may be scientifically accurate, but it's emotionally unsatisfying. The politics, however, are clear. As one wag noted, George W. Bush has now managed to lose one-ninth of the solar system. There's truth in that remark; the Pluto debacle does reveal the president's failings. The scientific community long ago decided that Bush's mulish clinging to Pluto's status was a disaster based on cherry-picked intelligence. His insistence on staying the orbit was derided as fantastical delusion, particularly since Pluto's orbit is under constant influence from nearby Neptune. (Which is predominantly Shiite.) Democratic leaders, still smarting from the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to overturn a Florida law banning the term "dark matter" as hate speech, were in the forefront of the movement to cut Pluto loose. One prominent congressman insisted he was not in favor of abandoning Pluto, just turning our telescopes away so we didn't have to look at it anymore. He also proposed redeploying astronomers "over the horizon," where they could quickly turn their telescopes on Pluto if the need arose. When it was pointed out they couldn't see Pluto if they were on the wrong side of the Earth, he noted that questioning the critic's plutotism was a standard tactic of the "stay-the-orbit" crowd. Hoping to mollify its critics, the administration pressured the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution that would not only assure Pluto's permanent status as a planet, but grant it a perfectly round orbit and an atmosphere. (The French promised to provide 50 percent of the necessary methane.) Skeptics had pointed out that these things were manifestly impossible, but U.N. defenders asserted that the moral weight of the resolutions would be sufficient to compel the changes. The Security Council also voted to condemn any future Israeli probes sent to Pluto, as the landing on the surface would constitute an occupation. In the end, however, the decision was made and forgotten. The planets continued their elegant gavotte, heedless of the names mere humans gave them. People were reminded once again that science is not a fixed thing, but a malleable, evolving set of ideas that adapts to new challenges. Intelligently designed as our science is, we must always keep a skeptical view. One day string theory explains everything; the next day string theory falls from vogue like narrow lapels or rockabilly, and another theory explains this wondrous cosmos. In the end, Pluto is a warning, a cautionary tale. Many things we believe may turn out not to be so, after all. Except for man-made global warming. Only an idiot doubts that one. 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 James Lileks is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Comment by clicking here. ARCHIVES © 2006, James Lileks

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