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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 July 5, 2007 / 19 Tamuz, 5767

Gorillas in the nursery

By Suzanne Fields


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Mary Zwo was six weeks old, neglected by her mother and abused by her father, when she was admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit at a university hospital. Mary was dehydrated, with low blood sugar and at risk of hypothermia. Doctors quickly put her in an incubator. Mary Zwo is a gorilla.


"Gorilla babies are similar to human babies," the German zoo director in the western German city of Munster explained to der Speigel magazine. Her human caretakers ("caregivers"?) thought the care in a veterinary clinic wouldn't be good enough.


Mary Zwo is still not getting the public attention that Knut, the white polar bear cub rejected by his mother in the Berlin Zoo, received a few months ago. Knut became a global celebrity. A gorilla isn't as cute as a bear and doesn't evoke the same warm cuddly human feelings.


Confusing people with animals is fashionable over here, too. If you want a friend in Washington, as Harry Truman famously observed, get a dog. If you're a presidential contender, you had better be as nice to the dog as you are to your kids. Mitt Romney lashed the dog's kennel to the roof of the family car, along with the suitcases, when it was off on a family vacation. A few miles down the road and the dog got a sudden attack of tourista, soiling himself and the car, and there was no sympathy for Romney when he had to stop for a considerable clean-up. The animal-rights lobby instructed him sternly that he should never put the kennel anywhere he wouldn't put one of the kids. (This could give a parent ideas.)


Mary Zwo hasn't so far inspired animal rights advocates to ask that Mary be put to sleep to avoid having to live "unnaturally" in a zoo. So far, no demands to include gorillas in the medical-care system for human Germans, but that may be coming. But if human mothers object to their infants lying in an incubator next to a baby gorilla, they should keep quiet about it, particularly since Mary Zwo has recovered and is back at the zoo.


Some people confuse kids and animals (sometimes easy to do). Kama, a dolphin trained by the U.S. Navy and domiciled in an aquarium in Boston, became a cause celebre when he was moved to the Naval Ocean Systems Center in Hawaii. Animal-rights fanatics sued on behalf of the dolphin, claiming the transfer violated his rights, that Kama's life would be in jeopardy in the new environment. The case was thrown out on a technicality, no doubt when the judge smelled something fishy.


Steven M. Wise, Kama's lawyer, has written the inevitable book about it, which Jane Goodall, the primatologist who documented the humanlike behavior of chimps describes as "the animals' Magna Carta." It's called "Rattling the Cage," and Harvard has appointed Wise to teach "animal rights law." This isn't the first time a university has appointed someone to teach something that doesn't exist. Peter Singer, the Australian philosopher who advocates killing certain disabled babies up to 29 days after birth, teaches at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Human Values.


Respect for human life has always been the gold standard for measuring the morality of a society, but for how much longer it is difficult to say. Frank Furedi, a sociologist, shows how the environmental movement perpetuates the notion that humans should be regarded with suspicion, even hostility, as predators of the planet. The vocabulary of our era is despoiled by an ideology of cultural pessimism and loathing of the human species. Such terms as "ecological footprint," "human impact on the environment" and "human consumption" evoke a sense of dread, what he calls "the new misanthropy." Anyone who suggests that man is superior to beast is a "speciest." Making a politically incorrect purchase is judged "unethical."


A "speciest" does not have to do something bad to warrant prosecution, or at least persecution, but only to do something perceived as bad by animal do-gooders. Driving a car big enough to protect the kids is bad; leather belts and shoes are bad. Fur is an atrocity on par with Auschwitz. Advances in the production of chicken and eggs (no matter which comes first) offer cheaper nutrition for families on a low budget, but are labeled as "man's inhumanity to animals."


It's testimony to human achievement that doctors were able to save the life of Mary Zwo, whose name translated from the German means Mary Two. The original Mary was killed at the age of five months by another gorilla. We should be wise enough not to confuse gorilla "rights" with our own. The gorillas don't. You could ask one.

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