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June 17, 2013

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein: Black to the Future: American Apparel Gets Biblical

Patrik Jonsson: Minnesota Nazi: How did Nazi hunters miss Michael Karkoc?

Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux: All the ways you're being watched
Don Lee: G-8 meeting will test NSA leaks' effect on U.S. influence

Patrik Jonsson: Fort Hood shooting: Judge nixes Nidal Hasan defense strategy. What now?

Stacey Burling: Why the stigma for migraine sufferers?

The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Abraham: Does it work? 5 new kitchen gadgets put to the test

June 14, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget: Religious economics and being a ruler

John P. Martin: Hitler insider's missing diary found

Matt Pearce: NSA surveillance disclosure could affect court cases
Peter Tinti: US bounties changes strategy on (Wild, Wild) West African jihadis

Daniel Pendrick, M.D.: Memory loss? Old age may be the least of it

Lauren F. Friedman: But it's all natural! Should we have an instinctive preference for herbal remedies?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Streisand and Alicia Keys in Israel; "Girls" Stuff; Mel Brooks, Another TV special; Superman (who is Jewish) returns --- Israeli plays his mom

The Kosher Gourmet by Sharon K. Ghag : Bored with salad? Bling it up a bit (4 effortless recipes that will result in a 'WOW!')

June 12, 2013

Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: What's so special about Omega-3 supplements?
Morgan Housel: What newspapers were saying when you should have been buying

Pete Spotts: How cockroaches evolved so as to bypass 'roach motels'

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: Deep-dish cookie: Warm, gooey and a little over the top

June 10, 2013

Joseph A. Slobodzian: Faith healing and third degree murder: Thorny legal case
Lindsay Wise: Few options for online users to avoid spying, experts say

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: There are plenty of nutritional food bargains out there
Harvard Health Letters: Can bariatric surgery control diabetes?

Zach Murdock: Superglue helps doctors save infant's life

The Kosher Gourmet by Celebrated chef Mario Batali : As good as grilling gets: Rib eye with dry mushroom spice rub

June 7, 2013

Rabbi David Aaron: Beating jealousy

Caroline B. Glick: Wounded . . . and dangerous

Clifford D. May: Al Qaeda vs. Hezbollah
Harvard Health Letters: Fighting back against allergy season

Kimberly Lankford: Grandparents who use FSA to cover grandkid's braces and other must-know info

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom:J ewish Tony Nominees/Tony Awards; Jewish Teen Actor In Sci-Fi Flick; Jewish singer in "Voice" finals

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust

June 5, 2013

John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less

Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Mushrooms Have Medicinal As Well As Culinary Value
Morgan Housel: Why you never learn from your investment mistakes

Don Lee: In China, kindergarten rivalry takes deadly turn

The Kosher Gourmet by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan: 30-Minute Coq au Vin isn't a dream

June 3, 2013

Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself

Richard A. Serrano: Pvt. Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks trial also a test for government

Mark Trumbull: Have degree, driving cab: Nearly half of college grads are overqualified
Kim Lankford: What to do when long-term care insurance premiums rise

Deborah Netburn: Study: Adults' mouth bacteria may help babies

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Contestant on 'The Voice'; Will Smith's 'Jewish movie family'; Bravo Gives Long Island Jews the Jersey Shore Treatment; Magicians and More

The Kosher Gourmet by Bill Ward: How to be as refined as the wines at a wine tasting

May 29, 2013

Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die

Dennis Prager: The 'Muslims-Killed-by-the-West' Lie

David Clark Scott: Open war on teachers?
Morgan Housel: If you know only five things about investing, make it these

Sara Reardon: AGenome detectives change the donation game

Deborah Netburn: A one-way ticket to Mars? 78,000-plus and counting apply by video

The Kosher Gourmet by Bev Bennett: CHEDDAR AND CHERRY MUFFINS --- your mouth is already watering

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


Jewish World Review April 11, 2007 / 23 Nissan, 5767

Pelosi's proclivities

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Speaker Nancy Pelosi is clearly one of those women who want it all. In her case though, this is not simply a matter of a lady seeking to have both a family and a fulfilling and successful professional life. Rather, the first female leader of the House of Representatives evidently seeks also to be the commander-in-chief and the secretary of state.


The job of the former would be circumscribed, if not rendered impossible, by the legislation Mrs. Pelosi is currently pushing through Congress. Her supplemental spending bill meant to provide resources needed to fund ongoing military operations would compel the removal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by a date certain, irrespective of conditions on the ground.


Fortunately, the incumbent Commander-in-Chief is not prepared to relinquish the job just yet. President Bush has the votes to sustain his promised veto of such restrictions. And Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, seemed on a Sunday talk show to signal that even Mrs. Pelosi's kindred spirits in defeatism are not prepared to follow her lead at the expense of the troops, whose funding is now being jeopardized.


Still, the message being sent by a Speaker who signals division in the face of the enemy is insidious in the extreme. It encourages our foes, undermines the confidence of our friends and demoralizes those we have sent into harm's way.


Not content with such dubious achievements, Mrs. Pelosi has set her sights on Condoleezza Rice's portfolio, too. Using the Easter recess for a bit of globetrotting, the Speaker took her show on the road to Damascus. Speaking of which, once there, she fatuously announced that "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace."


Even the Washington Post was so outraged by this performance that it unloaded on her in an editorial last Thursday. The paper called the Speaker's statement "ludicrous," noting that her host and purported partner for peace, Syrian dictator Bashir Assad "is a corrupt thug whose overriding priority at the moment is not peace with Israel but heading off U.N. charges that he orchestrated the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri."


The Post justifiably savaged the Speaker for trying "to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president." It said that her "attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish."


What Madame Speaker's Iraq and Syria initiatives have in common is a preoccupation with handing the Bush Administration strategic defeats for domestic political gain, without regard for the predictable and probably high costs of such behavior to the nation. Now, that same dedication to such a short-sighted, tactical objective is evidently precluding effective action to redress America's energy insecurity.


Specifically, reports from Capitol Hill indicate that Mrs. Pelosi has refused to allow action on the 2007 DRIVE Act. This legislation is modeled on the Set America Free Coalition's Blueprint for Energy Security. It would encourage important steps towards reducing what Mr. Bush has rightly described as the country's "addiction to oil" by decreasing the U.S. transportation sector's reliance on immense quantities of gas and diesel fuels much of which are imported from countries that are unstable at best, and dangerous at worst.


The centerpiece of the Drive Act is "fuel choice" — which would permit gas consumption to be cut through a number of practical, near-term steps. These include greatly increasing the number of vehicles in America's automotive fleet that can use alternatives to petroleum-based fuels (namely, ethanol — derived from various sources, not just corn — and methanol) and creating incentives for the production and distribution of such liquids. The DRIVE Act would also help make electricity a widely used transportation fuel by encouraging the accelerated introduction of plug-in hybrids.


Legislation along these lines was first introduced in the House during the last session of Congress with strong bipartisan support under the leadership of Republicans Jack Kingston and Jim Saxton of Georgia and New Jersey, respectively, and New York Democrat Eliot Engel. Rather than allow the then-Republican majority a victory on energy issues in the run-up to a critical election, however, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi opposed its enactment.


Now that the voters have entrusted both houses of Congress to Mrs. Pelosi's party, however, one might ask why the reintroduced, and vitally needed, DRIVE Act would still be hanging fire in the House of Representatives? The conclusion seems unavoidable: The Speaker is unable to put the national interest before her partisan ambitions to deny this president any successes during his remaining time in office. Unless she shifts course, it could be at least two more years before already overdue energy security measures are enacted.


If Nancy Pelosi's party is to have any hope of actually running the country (not to be confused with operating a "shadow presidency" that threatens to run it into the ground), the Democrats had better not only forego further negative measures like the recent meddling in Iraq and Syria. They must also do something constructive. A good place to start on the latter would be to take the lead in swiftly adopting the energy security program contained in the bipartisan, bicameral DRIVE Act.


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 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. heads the Center for Security Policy. Comments by clicking here.

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