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May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Oct. 24, 2007 / 12 Mar-Cheshvan 5768

Cheney, Obama: Closer than they appear

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Lynne Cheney recently sparked a big laugh at a National Press Club luncheon with her remarks about the criticism that her husband, Vice President Cheney, has taken from Sen. Barack Obama.


"Now, I have told Barack," she quipped, "he really does need to keep these disputes in the family."


Those who keep up with the news know that Mrs. Cheney was referring to her discovery, while researching her new memoir, that the Illinois Democrat is a distant cousin to her Republican husband.


As the electric-haired, rags-to-riches boxing promoter Don King likes to say, only in America! Mrs. Cheney apparently agrees.


"I just thought it was such an amazing American story," she said, "that one ancestor could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."


And, as if that were not enough evidence that this is a small country after all, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in September that Obama is distantly related to President Bush, too. Bush and Obama are descended from Samuel and Sarah Soole Hinckley of 17th-century Massachusetts, Chicago's second largest daily said. Cheney and Obama's ancestors were Mareen and Susannah Duvall, 17th-century immigrants from France.


Obama took the revelation in stride. He told Jay Leno only that he doesn't plan to accompany the vice president on any hunting trips. Smart move.


Politically I don't see a downside for the Cheneys, Obamas or Bushes, except maybe in deciding whether and whom to invite over for Thanksgiving dinner. Lengthy American bloodlines are seldom a negative for American politicians, as long as they don't turn up too many horse thieves.


In fact, for all of our talk about blue bloods and family pedigrees, there's hardly anything more American than having a mulligan stew of races and ethnicity in your family tree.


We learned how rich that stew could be earlier this year when the New York Daily News revealed to the Rev. Al Sharpton that one of his ancestors was not only a slave, but one who was owned by relatives of the late segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond. The South Carolina Republican died in 2003, long before Sharpton learned about their family connections. If Sharpton had known, who knows? The New York-based minister-agitator might have tried to hit Thurmond up for some reparations.


And Thurmond turns out to have been, shall we say, less of a segregationist in his love life than he was in public. After his death, a retired schoolteacher, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, 78, revealed that she was the offspring of a fling he had with his family's black housekeeper. Like many other segregationist politicians, ol' Strom was more than willing to let his conscience be everyone's guide but his own.


Modern DNA science is adding new dimensions to what we Americans know about ourselves. DNA is even telling us new information about who and how many people our nation's Founding Fathers actually fathered, as Thomas Jefferson's offspring have learned.


On the flip side, it also has produced cases like Wayne Joseph, a Chino, Calif., high school principal of Creole descent who took an ethnic DNA test a few years ago out of curiosity about his genetic history. Much to his surprise, the test found Indo-European, East Asian and Native American DNA, but none from Africa!


Back in the bad old days of segregated Louisiana, it turns out, his ancestors apparently passed as light-skinned blacks in the Creole community instead of trying to pass as Indian or Asian in the white community. Yet after more than 50 years of living as an African American, Joseph told reporters, he could not abruptly stop now. His chromosomes might not show African roots, but his identity was produced by the African American experience.


Stories like these raise thought-provoking questions about how we Americans see ourselves. Culture, which is the values shared by various communities, has a lot more to do with who we are than our skin color does.


The word "multiculturalism" frightens a lot of people. They fear it means a loss of the good things about the culture with which they feel comfortable. But when I asked Mrs. Cheney, a former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, she said she was all for "multicultural" education, as long as it is "balanced and coupled with a very deep and strong education in the history of the United States."


I agree. The Founding Fathers were hardly perfect people, but let's give them proper credit. The foundation that they laid for this increasingly diverse country was so imperfect that it allowed slavery. But it also brilliantly included the mechanism for its own improvement. A woman or a black man, for example, could hardly have dreamed of being president in this country's early days. Today they can. In fact, it's looking more possible with each passing day.

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