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July 24, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: On the road again --- and again and again

Richard Z. Chesnoff: Mideast Refugees --- Failure vs. Success

JWisdom:: Word power is about more than vocabulary by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 23, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: The Mufti of Jerusalem's Nazi ideology lives on among contemporary Islamists

The Kosher Gourmet by Joe Gray: Smoked paprika turkey meatballs simmered in red wine and tomato sauce

JWisdom:: 'Routine' doesn't need to mean ‘rote’ By Rabbi David Aaron

July 22, 2008

Yossi Klein Halevi: Dear Barack Obama

Elliot B. Gertel: Eli Stone: Self-indulgent, arrogant corporate attorney as modern-day prophet

JWisdom:: Three Weeks - Nine Days - One Purpose by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

July 21, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Spending your kids' money

Mitch Albom: A grim exchange illustrates a key difference

JWisdom:: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: Hammered on the Anvil --- Severed by the Sickle by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

July 18, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The Sanctification and Importance of Time

Caroline B. Glick: US wants it absolutely clear it has no intention of attacking Iran's nuclear installations

Mona Charen: What can you say about a people who welcome a child murderer as a hero?

JWisdom:: Living a dog's life, dawg? by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 17, 2008

Steven Emerson: Deals with devils

Libby Lazewnik: One Step at a Time

JWisdom:: Leader the follower? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 16, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Poaching humans

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Meaty pasta salad with summer berries perfect for warm evenings

JWisdom:: Keeping A Secret by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

July 15, 2008

Dennis Prager: False Equation: Opposing Same-Sex Marriage and Opposing Interracial Marriage

Joel Greenberg: Researchers look to Israeli circumcision program to help combat AIDS 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part V: Why Judaism ISN'T Spiritual by Rabbi David Aaron

July 14, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A warning from Canada to those who value life

Jonathan Tobin: 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism, Part II

July 11, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: It's hard to be humble when you're great

Caroline B. Glick: A tale of two hostages

JWisdom:: Profane for Prophet by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Duty to save gullible from themselves?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Islamists have the West just where they want us

JWisdom:: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 3: The Fully Loaded Human Being by Rabbi Dovid Gross

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

JWisdom:: The Moses Method by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

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

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 Sept. 25, 2007 / 13 Tishrei 5768

Reading the LOST compass

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Come Thursday, the future of the United States Senate will begin to take shape. On that day, the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee will begin the first of two days of hearings on ratification of one of the most momentous international agreements in memory: the United Nation's Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).


If all goes according to the proponents' plan, few senators will have any idea what LOST entails before they are asked to vote for it. The working assumption is that many legislators will be inclined to do in this case what the Senate has done too often in the past with respect to arms control and many other, complex multinational accords: fail to read the text; forgo serious deliberation, let alone debate; and rubber-stamp its approval in a matter of days, if not hours.


As of now, Treaty supporters expect to secure far more than the needed two-thirds vote required by the Framers. Senators are encouraged not to spend precious time worrying about an accord that the United States Navy strenuously supports, the Bush administration wants promptly ratified, various mining and energy interests and environmental groups (however implausibly) agree is desirable and the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a couple of years ago.


There will be a special irony, however, if senators fall prey to this seduction and fail in the weeks ahead rigorously to perform their constitutional responsibility for quality control over treaties: Should they superficially consider, and then consent to, ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, they will accelerate dramatically the permanent erosion of their own authority — and that of the Congress more generally.


The reason? LOST was designed three decades ago by the Soviet Union and its so-called "nonaligned" allies to foster supranational entities at the expense of nation-states, particularly those with representative governments.


The Senate of the United States would be as irrelevant to that sort of world order as national parliaments in Europe have already become, thanks to the transfer of virtually all rulemaking authority to European Union bureaucrats in Brussels.


The piece of the world in question starts with its oceans, which the Treaty calls an "international commons" and part of "the common heritage of mankind." The immediate focus of the socialist, redistributionist agenda shared by many of LOST's principal architects is evident in the mandate given to the organization charged with exercising control over the seas and the resources beneath them. It entails, among other things, ensuring the just and equitable dispersal of the seabeds' wealth to the world's developing and land-locked nations.


To accomplish these lofty goals, the Treaty creates entities with all the trappings of a government — an executive, a legislature and a judiciary. Unlike our constitutional republic, however, such institutions are run by the unelected and the unaccountable. This is all the more worrying insofar as the Treaty reposes in one or more of these institutions the authority to make binding and unappealable decisions in case of disputes; levy what amount to international taxes; and "protect the marine environment," a license to engage in unprecedented, sweeping worldwide regulation.


Make no mistake: The seas are only the start. For one thing, the internal waters and even land masses are claimed as within the jurisdiction of LOST agencies since what emerges from them in the air and water inevitably affects the "marine environment."


In addition, the U.N. and its anti-American majorities are keen to establish similar arrangements with respect to other so-called "international commons," such as Outer Space and the Internet. They seek to institutionalize "self-financing" arrangements (read, international taxes) that will allow supranational organizations to become even less transparent and accountable. They are determined to impose rule-making authority over national governments, including U.S. senators.


Attributes of the Law of the Sea Treaty such as these prompted Ronald Reagan to oppose its ratification in the 1970s. After he became president, he officially repudiated all but its acceptable navigation provisions (which the U.S. has voluntarily observed ever since). While the Treaty's proponents profess that President Clinton's administration "fixed" what Mr. Reagan found objectionable, rigorous congressional scrutiny would confirm the views of such Reaganauts as Attorney General Ed Meese, National Security Adviser Bill Clark, the then recently departed Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and LOST negotiator James Malone: This treaty remains irremediably defective.


Starting with Thursday's Republican presidential candidates debate at American University, those who would occupy the White House next should be asked: Do they stand with President Reagan on the Law of the Sea Treaty, or with President Clinton?


Meanwhile, given the potential for LOST's arbitral panels and regulatory bodies to infringe massively upon the prerogatives of the Congress — to say nothing of the constitutional rights of millions of Americans — it would seem only natural for myriad Senate (and, for that matter, House) committees to want to hold their own hearings about this accord. Toward this end, the new, informal Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty has written the Congress' armed services, intelligence, energy, finance, homeland security, judiciary and environment committees laying out aspects of the Treaty with direct relevance to their respective areas of jurisdiction. (To see these letters, visit www.RejectLOST.org.)


If senators wish to avoid a fiasco that would make immigration "reform" look like a day at, well, the beach, they better do their job on LOST — or risk losing their jobs.


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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