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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 May 27, 2008 / 22 Iyar 5768

No joking matter

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The surprising thing is that Mike Huckabee didn't make one of his really tasteless jokes much earlier this presidential year. Some of us who've followed his career here in Arkansas fully expected him to — and were surprised and relieved when he didn't. If he had, his impressively long run for the White House might have ended much sooner. Instead, our native son may have come a-cropper only now, just as he was being talked about as John McCain's running mate on the Republican ticket.


It seems the Huck, who's an irrepressible DJ at heart and in mouth, was talking to a convention of the National Rifle Association when he was interrupted by a loud noise. Impromptu vaudevillian that he is, he immediately said something awful (forgive me repeating it) about Barack Obama's having dived off a chair offstage after somebody had aimed a gun at him.


This kind of worse-than-bad taste may be forgivable, but not easily. Especially not for those of a certain generation whose memory was scarred for life November 22, 1963, when the shocking news rang out from Dallas that black day. Then there was the bulletin out of Memphis one early April evening in 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down. That shock was followed by a flash from Los Angeles in June that same, terrible year about another Kennedy at the height of his campaign for the presidency....


However many years pass, there will never be anything funny about gags that involve somebody's taking aim at a national leader.


In short, we were not amused. Mike Huckabee is a good man who made a great if hard-headed governor of Arkansas (the two qualities tend to go together in some leaders), and he apologized for his "joke" soon after he'd been graceless enough to make it. Let it be noted, however, that this time his one-liner was of a different order from the kind of vulgarity he tends to fall into on other, all too regular occasions, when his gags are simply vulgar.


Context can be all in these matters. It's one thing to sound like a jerk on the Don Imus Show; that's what such shows are for. It's another to do so with no talk-show host pressing you into exchanging wisecracks that would make the average teenager seem judicious.


I know a naive Arkansas editor (namely, me) who once accepted a spot on the Imus Show to plug his book about the Clintons back during the 1996 presidential campaign. I was so blessedly unfamiliar with the basement level of talk radio that I didn't know who Mr. Imus was at the time, or anything about the guy's leering modus operandi.


So I was abashed when my radio host began pressing me for details about the president's sex life. Let it be noted that this was well before that topic had become the subject of false oaths, the impeachment process, and a whole mess of charges about perjury and obstruction of justice, and therefore a legitimate and indeed unavoidable topic of the day's news. Embarrassed, I explained that I wasn't interested, not interested at all, in discussing such a thing. It's hard to imagine a talk-show host taking any such No Thank You for an answer these unembarrassable days, but Mr. Imus did so then. For which this editor is still thankful. It was a different and better, if rapidly deteriorating, culture back then.


We now live in a time when Brother Huckabee — he's a Baptist preacher as well as a politician, a piquant combination — makes a joke about somebody pointing a rifle at a presidential candidate and, though he apologizes for it later, still treats it as just a gaffe.


What really troubles is the Huck's tendency to take a kind of perverse pride in his unfortunate tendency to tell tasteless jokes, as when he just has to add: "And, you know, it wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said and, let me go ahead and announce on this program, it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said." He sounded like an incorrigible kid who tends to brag about his screw-ups instead of publicly resolving never, never to indulge in them again.


And, no, Rev. Huckabee, despite what you said in explanation, this wasn't comparable to Ronald Reagan's joking about nuclear war when that president thought he was just testing a mike safely out of public earshot.


Once again, we're confronted with an all too common failing of contemporary American manners: Doesn't anybody know how to apologize any more? That is, by just saying I'm Sorry and stopping there — without having to add the inevitable "but ..." and going on to minimize the offense, which only aggravates it.

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