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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 Jan. 12, 2007 / 22 Teves, 5767

My son the legislator

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Dear Diary,


My son became a state legislator Monday and is soon to be graduated from law school. I thought of his mother as I climbed the long, long flight of marble steps at the Capitol up to the House chamber, then the little staircase to the crowded gallery for a bird's-eye view of the swearing-in ceremonies.


After her first unhappy marriage to an attorney — it was nobody' s fault, these things happen — my wife harbored a suspicion of lawyers in general for the rest of her life. Nor might she have considered becoming a politician a great step up. As a general class, they rank down there with newspapermen. And here her boy was about to become both a lawyer and a legislator. At least, I thought, the woman was spared this.


How embarrassing it must be for a legislator to have a father who retells family stories in the public prints for all to read. Hey, that's no more embarrassing than having a son who is a member of the Arkansas Legislature. Nothing has changed, really, except that the political disputes at the dinner table that so distressed his mother have moved to the public arena. Well, some things have changed. The food was better back then.


Approaching the top of the elegant staircase, I thought of what John Dean had said about rising to the inner sanctum of the Nixon administration: The higher he rose, the lower he sank.


I can no longer peer around our state Capitol's echoing marble halls without thinking of July 15, 1996, and the chaotic opera bouffe that took place here that day. One governor was about to be sworn in but the other refused to leave. It was a stand-off worthy of one of the smaller Latin American principalities, or maybe the sovereign state of Georgia. Didn't it once have two or maybe three contending governors for a couple of months circa 1946-47?


At least our game of Arkansas Bluff in '96 lasted only four hours until Jim Guy Tucker collected himself and his things and made way for his successor, Mike Huckabee. The new governor was a rock throughout that first and maybe biggest crisis of his long tenure, and was even gracious about it afterward. What a roller-coaster ride that was.


That kind of thing explains why the vista down Little Rock's Capitol Avenue from Main Street hasn't been quite the same since they moved Henry Moore's striking "Standing Figure, Knife Edge" over to the side of the street. The defenseless feminine figure used to face straight down the avenue directly at the Capitol; she seemed to be silently shrieking in well-grounded fear at what the Legislature might do next. Which may be how the whole state feels the day the Legislature convenes. Hide the women and children!


But this morning at the Capitol, on opening day of the 2007 the regular session, all the familiar features are in their accustomed place: the great pillars and columns, the tiled floors and vaulted ceilings, the tall Corinthian columns and good ol' Tim Massanelli in the parliamentarian's chair. Everything is as it should be.


Down on the floor, my son and his wife can be seen chatting amiably with other members of the 86th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas. There are smiles all around. I imagine that, just before the games began at the Coliseum, the gladiators probably exchanged pleasantries, too.


All the rituals are duly observed, including the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem sung by a past Miss Arkansas. I hadn't realized how eloquent the words to the "Star-Spangled Banner" were till I saw them translated by the interpreter for the deaf. Ordinarily much may be lost in translation; on this occasion, much was gained.


-- All 100 state representatives-elect are sworn in, and can now drop "elect" from their title. I see that the state rep who ranks 100th in seniority — dead last — is one Dan Greenberg of House District 31. He's also been named, last again, to a ceremonial committee dispatched to inform the state Senate on the other end of the Capitol that the House is now duly organized and ready to conduct business, G-d help the state of Arkansas.


I hurry down to shake the new state rep's hand and give him a congratulatory hug as he leaves the House chamber, heading over to the Senate with the rest of the committee. I see he's all aglow with his new job; he always did love politics. He doesn't have much time to chat right now. "I'm afraid I've got to go to the Senate," he explains as he strides off, and this moment, too, has entered the past.


Watching him go, I can't decide whether I'm Jack Burden, another newspaperman trying to keep up with all the king's men, or proud unidentified parent in background. Why not both? Hey, it's America. Here you can be anything you want to be.


You know, I think his mother would be pleased after all.

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 Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.

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