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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

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review Nov. 4, 2007 / 4 Kislev

Invest terror free

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | At this writing, American and foreign leaders search, with increasing desperation, for ways short of a military attack to prevent Iran's mullahs from getting the bomb. They are overlooking — even eschewing — what could become a powerful new force-multiplier for this campaign: Terror-free investing.


Ironically, there has arguably never been a greater need for this sort of free-market approach to intensify pressure on the Tehran regime. After all, official efforts keep coming up short.


Successive rounds of multilateral sanctions have been slowed and/or undermined by friends of Iran like Vladimir Putin's Russia and Communist China. Unaccountable bureaucrats from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union keep cutting deals that offer the false hope of negotiated solutions.


Thanks in part to such political cover for Iran, even U.S. actions that are robust by comparison — involving unilateral sanctions, pressure on international banks and companies doing business in Iran and, most recently, the blacklisting of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — have not had the desired effect on Tehran's mullahocracy. To be sure, these initiatives have compounded economic difficulties engendered by the regime's gross mismanagement, corruption and diversion of funds to its military, intelligence services, support for terror and covert nuclear program. Nonetheless, the last of these continues apace.


Clearly, it is time to bring to bear another instrument capable of dramatically curbing the cash flow to Iran and, for that matter, other terror-sponsoring regimes.


For decades, it has been possible for investors to ensure that their portfolios — public or personal — are not used for purposes inconsistent with their values or priorities. Starting with the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa two decades ago, a cottage industry known as "socially responsible investing" has sprung up. Today, public pension funds, other institutions and individuals can avoid investments that involve, among other things, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, guns, gambling, Myanmar and environmental predation.


It has been difficult, however, to engage in the most socially responsible investment approach of all — ensuring the survival of our society by keeping portfolio dollars from flowing to publicly traded companies that do business with states that sponsor terrorism. Until now.


Monday the FTSE Group, a leading global index, announced it was partnering with the Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG) to provide the world's first series of terror-free screened indexes. CSAG's filter that underpins these stock indexes will be the gold-standard in the burgeoning field of what the Securities and Exchange Commission calls "global security risk."


CSAG's impartial Global Security Risk Monitor was the research tool used in 2004 by the Center for Security Policy to evaluate the portfolios of public pension funds across America. The stunning finding of the study that resulted, "The Terrorism Investments of the 50 States" was that on average 15 percent to 23 percent of the funds' holdings involved companies doing business with countries on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror. Then the value of these holdings was estimated to be roughly $188 billion, with more than $70 billion actually associated with activities in Iran, Syria, North Korea and other safe-havens for terror.


Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the Center's Divest Terror Project Director Christopher Holton, Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, a leader of the September 11 families, Debra Burlingame, and scores of other public policy groups and state legislators, this absurd situation is beginning to be corrected. More and more Americans are becoming aware of the need to invest terror-free and the possibility that, by so doing, our country can be spared further devastation in the future, whether from Iranian nuclear weapons or other forms of terrorism.


A turning point occurred last month when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill initiated by freshman Republican Assemblyman Joel Anderson. With a pen stroke, the Governator ordered the divesting of tens of billions of dollars previously invested by two of the country's largest public pension funds, CALPERS and CALSTERS, in companies doing business in Iran.


Suddenly, it became clear to Wall Street there is a rapidly growing market for terror-free investing. Now, thanks to the FTSE-CSAG indexes, it will be possible for every investor in America to ensure that their portfolios, be they in the public or private sector, become a part of the effort to defeat our enemies on the financial front of this War for the Free World — rather than serve, however unintentionally, as resources for those who help them.


We all owe a special debt of gratitude to Roger Robinson, founder and president of Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG). An international banker by training, Mr. Robinson applied his visionary understanding of the markets to help create investment products that for the first time enabled the American people — with no discernable difference in investment returns — to make a choice: invest terror-free or do business with those determined to take us down.


It is time the Bush administration ended its stated opposition to terror-free investing. After all, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson observed last month in sanctioning the IRGC: "In dealing with Iran, it is nearly impossible to know one's customer and be sure that one is not unwillingly facilitating the regime's reckless conduct."


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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