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 March 10, 2008 / 3 Adar II 5768 How government makes things worse By Jeff Jacoby http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What do ethanol and the subprime mortgage meltdown have in common? On the surface, nothing at all. But dig down a little, and each is a good reminder of that most powerful of unwritten decrees, the Law of Unintended Consequences — and of the all-too-frequent tendency of solutions imposed by the state to exacerbate the harms they were meant to solve. Take ethanol, the much-hyped biofuel made (primarily) from corn. Ethanol has been touted as a weapon in the fashionable crusade against climate change, because when mixed with gasoline, it modestly reduces emissions of carbon dioxide. Reasoning that if a little ethanol is good, a lot must be better, Congress and the Bush administration recently mandated a sextupling of ethanol production, from the 6 billion gallons produced last year to 36 billion by 2022. But now comes word that expanding ethanol use is likely to mean not less CO2 in the atmosphere, but more. A lot more: Instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline by 20 percent — the estimate Congress relied on in requiring the huge increase in production — ethanol use will cause such emissions to nearly double over the next 30 years. The problem, laid out in two new studies in the journal Science, is that it takes a lot of land to grow biofuel feedstocks such as corn, and as forests or grasslands are cleared for crops, large amounts of CO2 are released. Diverting land in this fashion also eliminates "carbon sinks," which absorb atmospheric CO2. Bottom line: The government's ethanol mandate will generate a "carbon debt" that will take decades, maybe centuries, to pay off. Actually, that's not quite the bottom line. Jacking up ethanol production causes other problems, too. Deforestation. Loss of biodiversity. Depletion of aquifers. Deadlier fires (ethanol fires are harder to extinguish than those fueled by gasoline). More ethanol even means more hunger: As more of the US corn crop goes for ethanol, the price of corn has been soaring, a calamity for Third World countries in which corn is a major dietary staple. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa bloviates that everything about ethanol is "good, good, good," but it plainly isn't, isn't, isn't. Which is why the fate of ethanol, including how much of it is produced, should be determined by the decentralized process of free exchange — the voluntary interactions of countless consumers and producers, buyers and sellers, each acting according to his best judgment and in his own best interest. Instead, Congress and the president, convinced as always that they know best, imposed a single, inflexible, ham-fisted directive from above. The result is that the carbon dioxide they aimed to reduce will be increased, and many people will suffer unnecessary misfortune. The subprime mortgage collapse is another tale of unintended consequences. The crisis has its roots in the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, a Carter-era law that purported to prevent "redlining" — denying mortgages to black borrowers — by pressuring banks to make home loans in "low- and moderate-income neighborhoods." Under the act, banks were to be graded on their attentiveness to the "credit needs" of "predominantly minority neighborhoods." The higher a bank's rating, the more likely that government regulators would say yes when the bank sought to open a new branch or undertake a merger or acquisition. But to earn high ratings, banks were forced to make increasingly risky loans to borrowers who wouldn't qualify for a mortgage under normal standards of creditworthiness. The CRA, made even more stringent during the Clinton administration, trapped lenders in a Catch-22. "If they comply," wrote Loyola College economist Thomas DiLorenzo, "they know they will have to suffer from more loan defaults. If they don't comply, they face financial penalties . . . which can cost a large corporation like Bank of America billions of dollars." Banks nationwide thus ended up making more and more "subprime" loans and agreeing to dangerously lax underwriting standards — no down payment, no verification of income, interest-only payment plans, weak credit history. If they tried to compensate for the higher risks they were taking by charging higher interest rates, they were accused of unfairly steering borrowers into "predatory" loans they couldn't afford. Trapped in a no-win situation entirely of the government's making, lenders could only hope that home prices would continue to rise, staving off the inevitable collapse. But once the housing bubble burst, there was no escape. Mortgage lenders have been bankrupted, thousands of subprime homeowners have been foreclosed on, and countless would-be borrowers can no longer get credit. The financial fallout has hurt investors around the world. And all of it thanks to the government, which was sure it understood the credit industry better than the free market did, and confidently created the conditions that made disaster unavoidable. "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe," warned Mark Twain, "while Congress is in session." Mark Twain was a humorist, but that was no joke. 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. Jeff Jacoby is a Boston Globe columnist. Comment by clicking here. Jeff Jacoby Archives © 2006, Boston Globe

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Jay Ambrose  Michael Barone  Barrywood  Lori Borgman  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Richard Z. Chesnoff  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  Christine Flowers  Peter Funt  Frank J. Gaffney  Bernie Goldberg  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Argus Hamilton  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Ron Hart  Nat Hentoff  A. Barton Hinkle  Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  John Kass  Jack Kelly  Ch. Krauthammer  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Ann McFeatters  Dale McFeatters  Dana Milbank  Jeanne Moos  Dick Morris  Jim Mullen  Deroy Murdock  Judge A. Napolitano  Bill O'Reilly  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Star Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Sharon Randall  Michael Reagan  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Heather Robinson  Debra J. Saunders  Martin Schram  Greg Schwem  Culture Shlock  David Shribman  Roger Simon  Lenore Skenazy  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Dan Thomasson  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  Cathy Young  Mort Zuckerman  Eric Allie  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo  Nate Beeler  Lisa Benson  Chip Bok  Dry Bones  John Branch  Daryl Cagle  Patrick Chappatte  John Cole  Paul Combs  J. D. Crowe  John Darkow  Bill Day  John Deering  Sean Delonas  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Randall Enos  Mallard Fillmore  David Fitzsimmons  Glenn Foden  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Walt Handelsman  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holbert  David Horsey  Lee Judge  Steve Kelley  Mike Keefe  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Jimmy Margulies  Gary McCoy  Rick McKee  Jack Ohman  Jeff Parker  Milt Priggee  Michael Ramirez  Rob Rogers  Steve Sack  Bill Schorr  Drew Sheneman  Kevin Siers  David Ray Skinner  Jeff Stahler  Scott Stantis  Danna Summers  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  Christopher Weyant  Larry Wright  Dan Wasserman  Adam Zyglis  Tech Q&A  Mr. Know-It-All  Ask Doctor K  Richard Lederer  Frugal Living  On Nutrition  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams