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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 Oct. 6, 2008 / 7 Tishrei 5769

QUICK, DO NOTHING!

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | At this point, it's hard to decide whether the continuing spectacle that is the Congress of the United States is more of a tragedy or comedy. I vote for a tragicomedy. First the House of Representatives defeated the administration's original plan to have the government step in and stop the economic meltdown by acquiring troubled assets that were bringing down one key financial institution after another.


The vote was 228 to 205 to let the economy drift further into paralysis or let it go down the tubes, whichever comes first. Banks, investment houses, insurers, all had started to topple like dominoes in a growing row and the House's response was to let 'em.


Refusing to lead, follow or get out of the way, the House preferred to do nothing, and do it not particularly well. But not before indulging in the requisite quotient of what Huey Long used to call high popalorum and low popahirum. Any populist frenzy demands a lot of rousing speeches about the evils of Wall Street and high finance in general. I'd have been content if the speaker of the House and its minority leader had just known how to count, mainly votes. Instead, they brought a vital proposal to the floor without being sure they had enough support to pass it. Ostensibly they were for it. Imagine the damage they could have done if they'd been against it.


In one of its periodic rages the American people, to judge by the tidal wave of angry letters, e-mails, wires and phone calls that flooded Congress, were mad as hell and determined to take it out on themselves. So the well-named People's House, in a profile in cowardice that should go down in history — way down — stood back and let them. The House's performance that day, or rather non-performance, would have made Herbert Hoover look like a wild-eyed activist.


To quote the immortal Mencken, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." Which was what happened as soon as the vote in the House was tallied. By the end of the day, the stock market had fallen almost 800 points, and the credit that the economy runs on went from being only frozen to evaporating into thin air. A kind of disastrous multiplier effect began to take effect as the Panic of '08 gained even more steam: first confidence was lost in the financial system, then in the political one.


At that perilous point, it began to occur to all those mad-as-hell e-mailers that they might have been a tad hasty as they watched the value of their 401(k)s shrink, and began to think about where their next house/car/college/business loan was going to come from.


The largely fictive distinction between Wall Street (Boo!) and Main Street (Hurrah!) dissolved as it dawned on folks that this is one economy. Dividing the two may make good campaign rhetoric, but not much sense.


After bingeing on anger, juiced up with the requisite amount of ideology, The People began to sober up. The consequences of the House's irresponsibility began to dawn. You could tell the tide had shifted when what was once routinely labeled a bailout began to be called, just as routinely, a rescue. There's a lot in a name, at least when it comes to garnering votes.


As I write, a second attempt was under way to pass basically the same bill, maybe improved a little (for example, by expanding federal insurance for bank deposits in order to raise capital and calm nerves) and disimproved a lot (by adding oodles of pork and tax cuts.) Doubtless on the theory that the House would cease holding the American economy hostage if the ransom were high enough.


With both presidential candidates on board, the Senate rode to the rescue 74 to 25. Then it was on to the House. Again. There was hope that this time the speaker would refrain from delivering a partisan provocation before the vote in her chamber, and a decisive number of Republican congressmen would refrain from being provoked by it. The second time would surely prove the charm. If not, then the third. For as Winston Churchill once said, Americans can be relied on to do the right thing — after exhausting all other options.

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