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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 August 28, 2009 / 8 Elul 5769

Kennedy's Legacy

By Linda Chavez



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Liberalism lost its most reliable champion with the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy this week. The senator virtually defined American liberalism for his 47 years in public office and it is not easy to see who will step into his role. But before his body has even been laid to rest, some of his colleagues are hoping to use the senator's death to push through ObamaCare. Several senators have urged that legislation be named in Kennedy's honor in hopes that his Senate colleagues, including Republicans, be persuaded to pass a bill quickly.


Universal health care was always Kennedy's passion — unfinished business from the expansion of the welfare state that began with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and carried through to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. For years he championed government-guaranteed health care for all Americans, sponsoring his first major bill to enact a government health care system in 1971. But only twice during his long tenure was universal health care within reach. Both times he was denied the opportunity to play the leading role in achieving that end; first by the Clinton administration, which tried to push through its own legislation under the stewardship of then-first lady Hillary Clinton, and finally by the cancer that ultimately took his life.


For all his reputation as liberal icon or conservative bete noir, Kennedy was never the uncompromising ideologue that friends or enemies fashioned him. He was, instead, the consummate legislator — willing to compromise in order to achieve what was possible, even if it meant a half loaf when he would have preferred a whole. For that reason alone, the absence of his hand in fashioning health care reform now has left the Democrats in a more perilous position, which is why they will try to exploit his name to push through a bill.


But attaching Kennedy's name to a health care bill won't make up for his absence in forging bipartisan support for legislation. As liberal as Kennedy was, he also understood that bipartisanship was crucial to achieve major social change, which is why he was willing to work across the aisle on major legislation. Among his many legislative accomplishments are bills that bear not only his name but that of Republican co-sponsors, from former Kansas Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (the State Children's Health Insurance Program) to Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (the Family Opportunity Act) to New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (the No Child Left Behind Act). But ObamaCare — even if it is renamed in Ted Kennedy's honor — still lacks the Kennedy touch for compromise.


Had Kennedy been healthy enough to be an active participant in the recent health care debate, he might well have persuaded his fellow Democrats that their idea of going it alone on ObamaCare was shortsighted, even if they had the votes to pass their own bill without Republican support. Far better, he might have argued, to make changes to include Republicans even if it meant a less expansive bill — and he might well have succeeded. As Hatch observed recently in an interview on the subject, Kennedy was "the only Democrat who could really move all the Democrats' special interests into coming along with a bipartisan approach," but in his absence, Hatch said, Kennedy's staff had written "a one-sided, partisan bill."


With Kennedy's death, ObamaCare, too, may be short-lived. Popular opposition to government-mandated health care is rising by the day, and Democrats have now lost not only their party's leader on health care issues but a crucial vote to bring legislation to the floor. With Kennedy's passing, Democrats' majority has been reduced to 59, one vote short of the necessary 60 votes to overcome a threatened Republican filibuster. Since Massachusetts law requires that a special election to replace Kennedy be held no sooner than 145 days, Democrat efforts to ram through a bill before the end of the year will be more difficult.


Nonetheless, Senate Democrats may yet get their wish since their party also controls the Massachusetts legislature. The legislature could overturn the state law requiring a special election and hand power to appoint a successor to the Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. Like other Democrats, Kennedy originally supported the legislation requiring a special election but, according to a letter sent from his deathbed to legislators last week, reversed this stand. But such maneuvering will not honor Kennedy's legacy, nor will passing a deeply flawed, unpopular, and wholly partisan health care bill even if it bears the Kennedy name.

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.


JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

Linda Chavez Archives


© 2006, Creators Syndicate

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