CAMPAIGN 2008



Abortion, ending Mid-East oil dependence major topics in final presidential debate

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—In their third and last scheduled televised presidential debate last night, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain showcased their differences on a variety of issues, including how to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil and how their administrations would approach the issue of abortion.

Moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS Television, the debate at Hofstra University in New York produced agreement between the two candidates that the United States can wean itself within 10 years from energy produced in Middle Eastern countries and Venezuela.

To do this, said McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, the United States should “build 45 nuclear power plants right away,” a step which he said has been blocked by “extreme environmentalists” who contend that such energy hasn’t been safe. “We have been sailing Navy ships around the world for 60 years with nuclear power plants on them; we can store and reprocess our respective fuel… no problem.”

Besides nuclear power, McCain said he would seek to develop power from “wind, tide, solar, natural gas, with development of flex fuel, hybrid, clean coal technology.”

Obama, the Democratic nomiee, said reducing dependence on foreign oil will eliminate the need for “borrowing $700 billion or more from China and sending it to Saudi Arabia.”  He urged the expansion of oil production, which involves “telling the oil companies that the 68 million acres that they currently have leased… use them or lose them.   And I think we should look at offshore drilling and implement it in a way that allows us to get some additional oil,” he said. 

However, he said, with the U.S. having only 3-4 percent of the world’s oil reserves, while it consumes 25 percent of the oil production, “means we can’t drill our way out of the problem.  That is why I have focused on putting resources into solar, wind, biodiesel, geothermal…. And it is absolutely critical that we develop a higher fuel efficient car that is built not in Japan, not in South Korea, but here in the United States of America.”

Obama said automobile manufactures “are obviously getting hammered right now. They were already having a tough time because of high gas prices, and now with the financial crisis car dealerships are closing and people can’t get car loans. That is why I think it is important to get loan guarantees to the automakers, but we do have to hold them responsible as well to start producing the highly fuel efficient cars of the future.  Detroit has dragged its feet too long in terms of getting that done.  It is going to be one of my highest priorities because transportation accounts for about 30 percent of our total energy consumption.

“If we can do that right then we can move in a direction not only of energy independence, but we can create five million new jobs all across America, including in the heartland where we can retool some of these plants to make these highly efficient cars, and also make wind turbines and solar panels – the kinds of clean energy approaches that should be the driver of our economy for the next century.”

McCain seized on Obama saying that the U.S. should “look” at off-shore oil drilling, commenting that  “you really have to pay attention to words.”  McCain said it is not enough to “look at” off shore oil drilling, “we have got to do it now.  We have to reduce the cost of a barrel of oil because we show the world we have a supply of our own. It is doable; the technology is here, and we have to drill now…”

McCain only partially quoted Obama, who actually said “look at offshore oil drilling and implement it in a way that allows us to get some additional oil.”

On another topic, Schieffer noted that whereas Obama supports the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court which said abortions are legal prior to the time a fetus’ life could be sustained outside the womb, McCain opposes the decision.  Could either man, as president, appoint a Supreme Court justice who opposed his point of view?

McCain said that he does not believe that there should be a litmus test, even though he believes Roe v. Wade is wrong.  He said that as a U.S. Senator, he voted to confirm Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer (who incidentally are the two Jewish justices on the Supreme Court), “not because I agreed with their ideology but because I thought they were qualified to be a judge and elections have consequences…”

On the other hand, McCain said, Obama voted against both Justice Beyer and Chief Justice John Roberts “on the grounds that they didn’t meet his ideological standards.  That is not the way we should judge these nominees.”

This was a misstatement by McCain in that Justice Beyer was confirmed in 1994—eleven years before Obama entered the Senate.  McCain evidently meant to say Associate Justice Samuel Alito, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Asked by Schieffer whether that meant he would nominate someone who had a history of favoring abortion rights, McCain appeared to backtrack:  “I do not believe anyone who has supported Roe v. Wade would be part of those qualifications, but I certainly would not impose any litmus test.”

While agreeing there shouldn’t be strict litmus tests for the appointment of judges, Obama noted that “it is very likely that one of us will be making at least one and probably more than one appointments and Roe vs. Wade probably hangs in the balance…. I am someone who believes that Roe V. Wade was rightly decided.”

McCain said he was a “federalist” and believed that each state should have the right to decide abortion laws.  Obama disagreed, saying: “I think the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn’t be subject to state referendum any more than our first amendment rights are subject to state referendum, any more than any other rights that we have should be subject to popular vote.”

On abortion itself, McCain said, “We have to change the culture of America – those of us who are proudly pro-life understand that, and it has to be courage and compassion that we show to a young woman who faces this terribly difficult decision.”

He accused Obama of voting against a bill while a member of the Illinois state legislature that would have required doctors to provide medical attention to a child born following a failed abortion.   Obama said that Illinois already had that law on the books, when the bill in question came before the Legislature; that the real change the bill was intended to make was to “undermine Roe vs. Wade.”

“If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold life saving treatment from an infant, that is because it is not true,” Obama said.

Harrison may be contacted at editor@sandiegojewishworld.com







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The Great Debate of 2008: Wednesday, October 29th, 7:00 p.m.

San Diego (Press Release) —Attend the political debate with a decidedly Jewish twist!
Everyone is invited to the Great Debate sponsored by Tifereth Israel Synagogue's Men’s Club, Sisterhood, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County, featuring two very knowledgeable opponents debating the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets. Mitchell Freedman and Larry Greenfield will discuss the candidates and their positions, and provide an analysis of the race.

Four years ago, this event attracted over 150 people in the pouring rain and everyone enjoyed our debaters. The evening is free and open to everyone, so please invite your friends! Refreshments will be served. Our Speakers:

Mitchell Freedman is a long-time political activist, mostly supporting Democrats, labor and public interest groups. In his “day job,” Mr. Freedman is an attorney with extensive litigation and transactional law experience in business, real estate, employment relations and insurance disputes. Mr. Freedman has also served as corporate counsel for two publicly-traded companies specializing in emerging technologies. He is the author of an alternative history novel, A Disturbance of Fate (Seven Locks, 2003). The novel was highly praised by Publisher’s Weekly (receiving an often coveted starred review), as well as historians and writers. A long-time member of Conservative movement synagogues, Mr. Freedman is currently president of Ner Tamid synagogue in Poway.

Larry Greenfield is the California Regional Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, overseeing ten growing chapters in the Golden State, and a broadening of the Jewish political conversation. Larry lectures widely on American foreign policy and national security issues. Larry has focused on the political responses in the West to the rise of Radical Islam. Larry worked on an arrest warrant for PLO chief Yasir Arafat, which helped to deter his appearance before the United Nations. Larry served as a statewide co-chairman of the successful re-election of Governor Schwarzenegger, and as a legal advisor to the Governor. He is currently a member of the Resolutions Committee of the California Republican Party. Long involved in Jewish life, Larry is a Wexner Foundation Fellow and has served many philanthropic and pro-Israel organizations.

New Arab-Israeli battleground: textbooks

The Trouble with Textbooks by Gary A. Tobin and Dennis R. Ybarra; Lexington Books; 209 pages; no price listed.

By Norman Manson

SAN DIEGO—This is an exhaustive, well researched study of a problem that is given too little attention in critiques of the American educational system - named, the prevalence of biases in the textbooks that students in all grades rely on for their views on key issues. The authors have pored through 28 history, geography and religion textbooks in minute detail, and have found more than 500 "specific and notable problematic entries."

Their case study dealt with Jews, Judaism and Israel, but - as they themselves point out - the problem involves far more than these specific subjects, and can in fact be applied to most academic topics, and especially in history and the other social sciences. As such, it must be taken very seriously, for it can result in deeply flawed viewpoints, which will persist as students grow into adulthood. However, as one reads through this book - and it is quite readable - two disturbing issues arise, one stemming directly from the book's material, the other dealing more generally with the role of textbooks.

The book's primary thrust deals with the way Muslim and pro-Muslim institutions and organizations have managed to have their views infiltrate supposedly impartial, unbiased texts. Much of this is done subtly, through the use of words and phrases that at first glance may seem neutral, but actually convey at least a degree of anti-Jewish or anti-Israel bias. An example: use of the name Palestine when referring to the land of Israel in biblical times. The name Palestine originated in the days of the Roman Empire, after its conquest of the area in 70 C.E.  This would appear to give "Palestinians" (who did not exist then) rule over the land before arrival of the Israelites.
       
The reader gets the impression that the pro-Muslim groups - some with rather innocuous sounding names - are conducting a well-orchestrated campaign to inject the Muslim version of events into textbooks for all ages. So, the obvious question is, where were the major Jewish organizations amid all this?
        
Only in the last three pages of the book do the authors state that "the Jewish community is slowly becoming aware of the importance of these efforts" and describe some rather belated interest on the part of Jewish institutions in counteracting the Muslims' infiltration push. Why this is so is baffling, for American Jewry has been quite forthright in fighting other aspects of anti-Semitism, such as efforts to deny the Holocaust, as well as attempts to denigrate the positions of Israel and the world's Jews. The reasons for this inaction are probably beyond the scope of this book, but the book's content raises the question in stark terms.
          
The second issue raised involves the part textbooks play in educating our children and youth. The authors seem to regard textbooks as the font of all wisdom, the be-all and end-all of the learning process. Actually, learning history - and, to a somewhat lesser extent, other social sciences - by reading and studying textbooks gives the student at best a superficial understanding of what happened in the past. Information in textbooks is heavily filtered as it passes through the hands of writers (usually more than one person) and production people.
           
History is best learned by studying primary source materials: writings, documents, statistics, photos and even items like art dating from the period being studied. This is certainly true at the high school level, and even to some extent in middle school. Teachers should be encouraged to make use of such materials, which are more available now than ever before as historians, archaeologists and  other scholars delve more deeply into humanity's past. It is unfortunate that all too many teachers "teach to the text" for a variety of reasons - they may be overworked, or they may be teaching a subject with which they are only barely familiar. This is one of the many deficiencies in the American educational system.
            
Teachers do use materials other than texts, as Tobin and Ybarra point out. But these supplemental materials often are provided by a variety of groups with a vested interest in having their viewpoints become part of the learning process. And these materials, unlike texts, pass under the radar, as they are not screened for content by governmental education institutions. Teachers without an in-depth knowledge of the subject they are teaching tend to latch on to them, so they exacerbate the ongoing problem.
             
Actually then, "the trouble with textbooks," or certainly one of their major problems, is that they are overused. Balancing reliance on textbooks with use of primariy source  materials would benefit both students and teachers.

Manson a freelance writer and book reviewer based in San Diego is a retired journalist, and holds a master's degree in history from San Diego State.





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FABULOUSLY OBSERVANT

Making aliyah is like coming out

By David Benkof


NEW YORK—As my aliyah next year approaches, I have begun to notice the similarities between deciding to move to Israel permanently and the other momentous life decision I've made: coming out as a gay man.

Now, it's true that I've been celibate for eight years, starting a few years before becoming baal teshuvah - a "returnee" to Orthodox Judaism. I no longer plan on ever having same-sex relations or a male partner again. But the fact is: coming out is the other major life choice I've made (along with moving to Israel) that has such large ramifications in my self-image and lifestyle. Even becoming Orthodox wasn't so momentous, because I had spent most of my life as a fairly observant Conservative Jew.

For example, I made both key decisions in a sudden way after months and even years of little hints that it was the right thing for me to do. In coming out, there were lots of small attractions, fantasies, and curiosities that added up to a decision one morning to visit my college's peer counseling center and tell a gay counselor I thought I was gay.

The decision to make aliyah was even more subtle, and sudden.

I literally woke up one morning about a year ago with a strong desire to move to Jerusalem. The immediate impetus was a conversation with my rosh yeshiva about what jobs (all in America) l should and should not consider once I finished my advanced degree. I realized the next morning that I didn't want any of those jobs - I wanted to spend the rest of my life in Israel. But that was only the immediate cause. For months and even years little things had pointed me toward aliyah, without my even noticing (consciously).

A news report about a terrorist attack in Israel would have the opposite effect on me than on most people I knew - it made me wish I was in Eretz Yisrael. Hearing that a friend from yeshiva had made aliyah would arouse in me a sort of jealousy. Hearing an Israeli song would make me feel what I now recognize as, well, homesickness.

But I didn't put those hints together until that morning last fall when I woke up and realized, with little hesitation, that Israel was supposed to be my home from now on.

The reactions of people I'm close with to both decisions has also been similar. With each life change, I've heard "Just wait - you're going to change your mind back" and "Why would you want to do this?" and "Terrific! Good for you."

Finally, I've even found that the same folk song - Cat Stevens'  "Father and Son" - has spoken to me at both transition points in my life. Surely the artist currently known as Yusuf Islam didn't intend to write a song about both coming out as gay and moving to Israel (!) but I find the lyrics have an eerie echo of the issues faced by someone going through each kind of change. Here are some of the words as they relate to coming out of the closet:

"It's not time to make a change, just relax take it easy
You're still young....
Find a girl, settle down, if you want you can marry....
How can I try to explain? When I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen....
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it."

Now consider the lyrics from the same song, with regard to making aliyah:

"It's not time to make a change, just relax take it easy
You're still young....
Take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not....
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them they know not me.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go."

David Benkof writes the Fabulously Observant column, which runs Thursdays in the Jerusalem Post. He plans to make aliyah in 2009. He can be reached at DavidBenkof@aol.com.

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Henry Winkler to present critically acclaimed book at S.D. Jewish Book Fair 

LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)— Award-winning actor, producer, and director Henry Winkler, best known for his portrayal of “The Fonz” on the long-running series Happy Days, presents the newest in his critically-acclaimed children’s book series, The Life of Me, Enter at Your Own Risk, at the 14th Annual San Diego Jewish Book Fair, sponsored by U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management and presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS.  Winkler’s presentation is scheduled for November 9 at 7:30 p.m., with a book signing to follow.  

Inspired by Winkler’s true life experiences, this series about the world’s greatest underachiever is funny, touching, and deals with learning differences in a gentle and humorous manner.  As a child, Winkler was a classic underachiever with undiagnosed dyslexia.  Now he is co-author of a series of 14 hilarious books about Hank Zipzer, a high-spirited and adventurous 4th grade boy with learning differences.  Beginning in Niagara Falls, or Does It #1 and I Got a D in Salami #2, Hank is a student trying to do the right thing – but somehow he always messes up. 

“When I was growing up,” recalls Winkler, “no one knew what learning challenges were.  So I was called ‘stupid,’ ‘lazy,’ and ‘not living up to my potential’ – because I was very verbal, and I guess I had a sense of humor.” 

“When I sign autographs for children,” says Winkler, “I write: ‘You have greatness within you.’ When I speak to them I say: ‘It’s your job to figure out what your gift is – to dig down deep inside yourself, get it, and give it to the world.”

Winkler spent nearly three decades enjoying success in Hollywood.  His portrayal of the definitively cool Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on “Happy Days” for 10 seasons (1974-84) made him one of the most recognized actors in the world.  He won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series (1976 and 1977), and three Emmy nominations in the same category.  He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  




Thursdays with the Songs of Hal Wingard

Editor's Note: We continue our presentation of the songs of Hal Wingard, moving this week to lost love. Here is a link to an index of Wingard's songs published by San Diego Jewish World. To hear Hal performing the song, click on its title.

#87, A Tiny Pice of Paper

     A tiny piece of paper,
     All crumpled and torn,
     Recalls a love--
     A love long outworn.

The moment of our meeting
     We felt a magic tie
That drew us ever closer
     As each new day went by.

Together then in closeness
     We shared a tiny room,
Pretending in togetherness
     That we were bride and groom.

     A tiny piece of paper,
     All crumpled and torn,
     Recalls a love--
     A love long outworn.

But soon the bond that held us
     Began to squeeze and bind.
We sought to be unfettered,
     Free, and unconfined.

Your growing coldness told me
     That you would never stay,
But still I felt my heart stop
     The day you went away.
    
     A tiny piece of paper,
     All crumpled and torn,
     Recalls a love--
     A love long outworn.

So quickly you departed,
     You only left a note--
A tiny piece of paper--
     On which you boldly wrote:

"So strong our love had started,
     No way we could have known
That love, like children's clothing,
     Can quickly be outgrown."

     A tiny piece of paper,
     All crumpled and torn,
     Recalls a love--
     A love long outworn.

(c) 2008, Hal Wingard. March 5, 1980


#55, The Whirlpool of Love

Caught in the whirlpool of love, I'm sinking.
Swirling and whirling with no tie linking
My life to happier days that I spent with you

Caught in the whirlpool, a lover grieving;
Save me by saying that you're not leaving.
Show that you love me the way that you used to do.

     I. . .need your love to save me.
     Try. . .to give what you gave me.
Save me from the whirlpool and tell me that you are mine.

Love is a whirlpool that pulls you under,
Swallows you up if you blindly blunder
Into the waters that wise men so wisely ignore.

Still, I'll survive all the swirl and reeling,
If you will tell me you share the feeling,
Tell me you love me, that I am the one you adore.

     I. . .need your love to save me.
     Try. . .to give what you gave me.
Save me from the whirlpool and tell me that you are mine.

(c) 2008 Hal Wingard; January 6, 1979


#70, Shadows of Midnight

Shadows of midnight chill me to the bone.
My thoughts burn in fever;  my heart turns icy stone.
My bed is a coffin; my room is my grave,
And I lie a captive, a gloomy midnight slave.

Love, oh my love, I live in midnight pain
     Until you bring your light and love me once again.

Shadows of midnight darken the dawn,
Stifle the sun since you, my love, have gone.
Where is the brightness that one time I knew?
Where is the warmth, when, love, I'd lie with you?

Love, oh my love, I live in midnight pain
     Until you bring your light and love me once again.

Shadows of midnight make my stone heart cry.
Icy midnight loneliness gives me cause to die.
But you can dispel my midnight misery:
Bring me your love and lie down next to me.

Love, oh my love, I live in midnight pain
     Until you bring your light and love me once again.

(c) 2008 Hal Wingard; October 17, 1979



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