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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 April 27, 2007 / 9 Iyar, 5767

558 days to go on a track of mush

By Wesley Pruden


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | George W. Bush isn't running for anything, but you wouldn't know it by the way the 2008 presidential candidates are looking for the homestretch.


With only 558 days to go, a lot of the noise is already beginning to sound like mush, or at least mashed peas. The big Democratic "debate" last night in South Carolina was mostly more mashed peas (not even black-eyed, crowder or purple hull peas, just more of those little tasteless green ones).


Barack Obama, only three years out of the Illinois legislature, is getting more mileage from warmed-over warm and fuzzy Ladies Day rhetoric than any presidential candidate since Harold Stassen got lost on his way home from the hustings. He faults George W. for "squandering" the eagerness of "the millions around the world" dying to help America in the wake of September 11 and thinks he has the formula for finally getting it right. "We must lead by building a 21st-century military," he told a Chicago audience the other day, "to ensure the security of our people and advance the security of all people." He doesn't explain what that means, if anything, but it sounds like the "nation building" George W. once mocked.


But there's more meaningless mush: "America must lead by reaching out to all those living disconnected lives of despair in the world's forgotten corners. ... There are millions more ... who want our beacon of hope to shine its light their way."


He was reaching for Ronald Reagan's easy eloquence about "morning in America," but it sounded more like an invitation to "tea in late afternoon." We've heard that verse before, that the world is full of small-d democrats and small-r republicans panting for Athenian democracy. Some people might even call the senator's bloviation a bit of blarney, but he's Barack Obama, after all, not Barney O'Bama. You have to have a talent for peddling moonshine, and even the best white lightnin' can go flat over the year, six months and nine days between now and the mercy of Nov. 4 next. When one of Mr. Obama's handlers suggested to Chris Matthews the other night that Mr. Obama even has a plan to get both Sunni and Shi'ite to "the table of peace," Mr. Matthews, who recognizes the scent of moonshine, replied, grinning: "Getting Sunni and Shi'ite to the table of peace after 13 centuries sounds like something only the Lord could do."


Over on the other side of the great partisan divide, John McCain pulled into New Hampshire with a tired team, a heavy load and a long way to go. He sounded tired, too. He wants everybody to know that yes, he said nice things only a few days ago about George W.'s stewardship of the war in Iraq and the risks of cut-and-run, but that was last week and this is this week, and he can be a weenie just like a Democrat if that's what it takes. He sounded right sorry that he said harsh things last week about Teddy Kennedy and Russ Feingold for "celebrating" their nostrums of "defeat" and "surrender." Even in the heat of the campaign, he told a New Hampshire gathering under the trees, "we shouldn't lose sight that much more defines us than our partisanship, much more unites us than divides us."


Then he was off on the Straight Talk Express, the famous campaign bus that made him the favorite of reporters and independents seven years ago. This time, he said, a new president needs a landslide, not just a victory by "a few votes in a few counties in a few states." Not like George W.'s two victories, you might say. (But the betting here is that he would settle for another one like those two.)


Rudy Giuliani drew the only Democratic blood of the week, weak as it was, with his blunt assertion that if Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John Edwards wins next year the United States and what's left of the West will go back on defense, anxiously waiting for the next 9/11: "We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation, and we will be back to our pre-September 11 attitude of defense. The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us."


The leading Democratic candidates naturally cried foul ("he took the politics of fear to a new low"), abuse ("divisive and plain wrong"), and Hillary even accused him of "political rhetoric," stopping just short of reproaching him for speaking prose. The unified Democratic message was clear: Everybody's mayor wasn't playing fair. He was supposed to dish out mashed peas.

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 Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

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