Jerome Slater, author of an important paper on the American press’s failures to tell us just how bad life is in Palestine (in stark comparison to the Israeli press’s achievement in the same area), has offered me another critique of…
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Monthly Archives: December 2007
‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ Cites Power of Israel Lobby. Who Gave Them Permission?
I saw “Charlie Wilson’s War” last night. B+. It was too one-note for me. But any Hollywood film that tries to deal with foreign policy gets kudos here. Also, I was pleased to see that the film touches on my…
Ruth Wisse and Joe Lieberman, Liberals.
Here is something else about Ruth Wisse. You can see that she is going to be hosted at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center this spring as part of a program from the Jewish Forward, a generally progressive newspaper. Does…
Fresh From Torching Iraq, Bill Kristol Eyes Europe
Neoconservative Bill Kristol is still at it. In the latest First Things, a journal about religion, he praises the writings of Yiddish scholar Ruth Wisse–who has elsewhere called for young American Jews to serve as a kind of intellectual “army”…
AJC’s Survey About Jewish Consciousness Is Backward
The latest American Jewish Committee survey on Jewish opinion said that Jews are good liberals: overwhelmingly against the Iraq war, and mostly for a Palestinian state. Yes but by nearly 2-to-1 against the division of Jerusalem! I’ve already noted James…
Is Bhutto Assassination a Wake-Up Call for Left?
Jimmy Carter lost his presidency in 1979 (I think that was the year), when he was shocked that the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. He had trusted them. Shocked. Americans didn’t want a naive president. They turned to Ronald Reagan. I…
I’m Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas
I’m pretty new to Christmas, but it seems to me that multiculturalism is transforming the religious holiday into a generic American holiday not that different from Thanksgiving. My gentile in-laws tell me that this is an old trend. Still I…
Making Settlements Newsworthy: Pressure Mounts on Sarandon
Celebrity has its uses. Two Palestinian villages have now called on Susan Sarandon to repudiate diamond-magnate Lev Leviev. So the settlements issue is creeping into the American debate. And today already the Israeli/Palestinian talks have broken down over the expansion…
Anti-WASP, Anti-Jew. Assimilationist.
My wife and I were driving out to get Indian takeout for the Christmas party we were hosting when we passed the hunble house of one of our favorite friends, this very lowkey guy who does web design for a…
Sarandon on the Defensive Over Bejeweling Settlement Sponsor’s Gala
Who would have ever guessed that New York protests of the Israeli settlements would command media attention? Well it’s happening. Susan Sarandon’s “representative” has told the New York Post that the star has no “ties” to Leviev, the Russian-Israeli jeweler…
Commentary Says Being ‘Jewish’ Means Thrilling to Religious Colonialism
At the risk of sacrilege, I left the latest Commentary, with Hillel Halkin’s piece on the “achievement” of the settlements, in the bathroom, anticipating that during the holiday festivities I might have a few quiet moments to share with it….
Another Establishment Figure Misrepresents Walt and Mearsheimer’s Findings
Having moved to a house within earshot of the New York city NPR station WNYC, I just heard William Dobson, the managing editor of Foreign Policy, describing the magazine’s story on the top 10 stories you missed in 2007 (to…
Seamus Heaney on Ethnic Identity and the Refusal to be Healed
A few days back I mentioned the Irish poet Seamus Heaney in the context of historical wrongs that refuse to be healed. I’m moving my desk in, and the yellowed clipping fell from a drawer. I’m afraid I don’t know…
Meritocratic Jewish Dems Echo Rockefeller Republicans of 70s
Chris Matthews loves replaying the scene from his show 2 weeks back in which Hillary’s strategist, Mark Penn, brought up Obama’s cocaine use. Matthews wants to keep the story alive–he’s a junkie, remember?–so he keeps holding debates on the subject…
Who Will Be the Shakespeare of the Internet?
Maybe you saw the Times’ fabulous piece the other day on the MIT Professor who gives physics lessons on Youtube, even turning himself into a pendulum with a rope and a harness. Kids in India are learning from him. Wonderful….
‘Blowback’ and Non-Blowback
In today’s Times, movie reviewer A.O. Scott says that the Muslim terrorist attacks on the west of the last few years are “blowback” to the U.S.’s involvement in the Afghan-Soviet war of the ’80s that is the setting for the…
The ‘Weimarization’ of America
I had a day filled with love of my own people, the Jews, yesterday. First, a fairly powerful media guy called me to apologize for having chewed me out 2 weeks back over a story I wrote for New York…
Is PB&J Better on Toast or on Untoasted Bread?
My lunch today is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a grapefruit. Can’t wait. As I made my sandwich, I faced that quandary, toasted or untoasted bread. I generally like my sandwiches on toast. It keeps them from getting…
‘No End In Sight’ Director Continues to Rationalize Iraq Invasion
Two days ago, Charles Ferguson, director of the Iraq-doc “No End In Sight,” was on public radio in New York discussing his work on a book that will extend his film’s findings. His conclusion, he told host Brian Lehrer, was…
Kevin MacDonald and the Politics of WASP Resentment
My work has been embraced by Kevin MacDonald, a UC-Long Beach prof of psychology who has become controversial for his views of Jews. On his blog, MacDonald writes of my recent post on the Jewish presence in the establishment: Jews…
How Anti-Iraq-War Jews Licensed Neoconservatism
Ever since the rise of the neocons, my liberal Democratic mother and I have had the same argument. I say, “They’re Jews, and they’re representing Jewish political aims.” She says, “No they’re not. They’re a bunch of rightwing nuts. You…
In Media Reports, Christians Are Quizzed About Their Beliefs. Why Not Jews?
In today’s Times, there was a profile of rightwing radio host Michael Savage that made something of his Jewishness. Turns out his real name is Weiner and he has a picture of his bar mitzvah in a glass case. “Tell…
The Times’ Unbalanced Coverage of Israeli/Palestinian Hostility
Jerry Slater is the author of a groundbreaking study in the journal International Security arguing that the U.S. media’s silence on the Israeli treatment of Palestinians has blinded American policy-making. Slater pointed out that Haaretz in Israel offers a far…
2 Comments on ’60’
I’m a devoted “60 Minutes” watcher and had two strong impressions from the last two weeks. 1, Last week LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers’ incredible running back, said that he spends the day before a game in fear of injury. Playing…
A Gentile Joins the Board of a Leading Jewish Organization
I’ve failed to blog about something significant I saw nearly 2 weeks ago, at the Israel Policy Forum annual in New York City. Somewhat sore-thumbish in the large crowd was a tall dark-haired square-jawed guy accompanied by his tall blond…