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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 August 29, 2007 / 15 Elul, 5767

America first?

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Democratic leaders in California have pledged to spend millions of dollars to defeat an initiative proposed by a Republican lawyer to divide California's electoral votes by congressional district.


If Thomas Hiltachk can gather enough signatures, the measure will be on the ballot next June.


Democrats may have their work cut out for them. A Field poll indicated 47 percent of voters in the Golden State favored it, with 35 percent opposed.


Democratic angst is understandable. With 55 electoral votes, California is by far the biggest electoral prize. And it's a prize which has been safely in Democratic hands. In the last four presidential elections, Democrats have won by landslides.


But within California there are 20 congressional districts that reliably vote Republican — an electoral bloc the size of Ohio. If it were taken away from the Democrats and given to the GOP, its difficult to see how the Democrats can win the presidency in 2008.


Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Cal., described the initiative as "a partisan power grab by Republican operatives in the Karl Rove tradition."


Democrats felt differently in 2004 when voters in Colorado — a purplish state that leans Republican — were voting on a similar initiative. (It failed, 35 percent to 65 percent.)


Obviously, partisan attitudes about altering the way electoral college votes are cast are shaped by whose ox will be gored. But from the standpoint of civics, is it a good idea to have electoral votes cast by congressional district?


The Constitution sets the number of electors for each state at the number of its Representatives and Senators, and authorizes state legislatures to appoint the electors. Nothing in the Constitution requires that the electors vote for the candidate who got the most popular votes in their state, though this has been the tradition, and is required by state law in some states.


Two small states — Maine in 1972 and Nebraska in 1996 — have departed from this tradition, and voted to cast their electoral votes by congressional district, with the statewide winner receiving the two votes for the senators. But ever since the change has been adopted, the presidential candidate who carried the state also carried every congressional district within the state, so no state has yet divided its electoral vote. The primary argument for continuing to cast electoral votes by state is that without this practice, presidential candidates would pay even less attention to small states such as Wyoming or Delaware than they do at present.


Big states that are closely divided, such as Florida or Ohio, also would lose clout because their electoral votes likely would be closely divided. The winner may gain only three or four electoral votes more than the loser.


The primary argument for casting electoral votes by congressional district is that it would make it less likely the winner of the popular vote could lose in the electoral college. But this has happened only twice since the Civil War, and if this system had been in place in 2000, President Bush still would have been elected, because he carried more congressional districts than did Al Gore, even though he came up half a million votes short in the popular vote.


A more persuasive argument to me is that if electoral votes were cast by congressional district, it would be easier to conduct recounts and to investigate allegations of fraud. President Bush beat Al Gore in Florida by just 537 votes out of nearly six million cast. But in only a handful of the state's then 23 congressional districts was the margin close enough to warrant a recount.


If electoral votes were cast by congressional district, presidential candidates would spend more time in big states they now avoid. Candidates raise money in New York and California and Texas, but as election day nears, you're more likely to find them in Florida or Ohio.


California Republican strategist Peter Hannaford opposes Mr. Hiltachk's initiative, partly because he thinks the GOP is giving up on the Golden State, mostly because he thinks any change would spur efforts to dump the Electoral College altogether, which both he and I think would be disastrous. (If you want to get an idea of how stupid it would be, imagine a national recount in 2000.)


But I think there are, on balance, substantial advantages to casting electoral votes by congressional district. But it's not a step that should be taken sequentially, because of the short term partisan harm it can do. If California changes, so must Texas.


Do you think it's possible Republicans and Democrats will stop angling for partisan advantage long enough to make a change that's in the national interest? I don't, either.

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 Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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