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Lebanon’s border security regime, and Mr. Ban urges the country’s Government to implement the report in full. The recommendations include: the establishment of a dedicated border guard agency; the creation of a multi-agency mobile force focused on arms smuggling, with the power to make arms seizures; and the redesign and restructure of border crossing points to ensure there is greater control of the border. In the progress report on resolution 1701, Mr. Ban says he remains hopeful that a long-term solution can be found as the region nears the first-year anniversary of the 34-day conflict, which led to the deaths of an estimated 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis, the destruction of much of Lebanon’s infrastructure and severe damage to both nations’ economies. He stresses that, aside from the enforcement of the Lebanese arms embargo, progress is needed on several fronts, including on the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers and the Lebanese prisoners, the halting of Israeli air violations and the issue of sovereignty over Shab’a Farms.
He also urges the international community
to provide support to the Lebanese armed forces to make sure that they can
extend and exercise full authority over all of the country’s territory. |
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Syria threatening
guerrilla warfare against Israel A Ba'ath official told The New York Sun, "If Israel doesn't vacate the strategic Golan Heights before September, Syrian guerillas will immediately launch 'resistance operations' ... Damascus is preparing for Israeli retaliation following Syrian guerilla attacks and for a larger war... (The unnamed Ba'ath official) said that in the opening salvo of any conflict, Syria has the capability to fire 'hundreds' of missiles at Tel Aviv. 'Syria passed repeated messages to the U.S. that we demand the return of the Golan either through negotiations or through war. If the Golan is not in our hands by August or September, we will be poised to launch resistance, including raids and attacks.'" As for Lebanon, the UN appears finally to be taking reports of Syrian infiltration seriously, including consideration of changing the mandate of UNIFIL to guard the border. Arab and Iranian press reports say Syria has told its citizens to leave the country. Hezbollah has been unable to translate last summer's military stalemate against the IDF into political gains in Beirut, but the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), in a special dispatch, reports that Hezbollah has now, "threatened to establish a 'second government' through 'historical steps' in mid July." Steps supported by Syria, as Syria has supported the Fatah al-Islam terror groups in their fight against the Lebanese Army from inside Palestinian refugee camps. The IDF takes the Syrian threat extremely seriously, suspending changes in Israeli military personnel abroad and improving ground force operations. But the threat from Syria is likely to be primarily missiles, including chemical warheads. To that end, the Israeli government has moved defense funds to the Home Front Command, but acknowledged that the situation of gas masks for the population is unacceptable. Syria is known to have Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which were tested in coordination with Iran, and is believed to have Chinese C-802 missiles of the sort used against the IDF/Navy last summer - courtesy of Iran as well. Syrian propaganda is already blaming Israel for any future war. The New York Sun quotes the Ba'ath official saying Syria "has 'proof' Israel is also readying for a war. 'We hear about special Israeli trainings to take Damascus. We see that Israel is reestablishing bases of the Israeli army in the Golan that are unusual and not needed except for war. We believe the Israeli government has an interest in confronting Syria to rehabilitate its image of losing to Hezbollah,' he said." War in the Middle East has a way of building its own momentum. Junior Assad, a pawn of Iran, may believe he has no choice but to continue his bluster against two countries closely associated with American interests in the region - Israel and Lebanon. Israel will have to take seriously any Syrian move against Lebanon, and the U.S. will have to take seriously any Syrian move against Lebanon or Israel.
(Return
to top) NABLUS, West Bank, Palestinian Authority (Press Release)—In a joint IDF and ISA activity this morning a special IDF force arrested the head of several cells operating in the city which belong to Tanzim, an offshoot of Fatah. During the activity the forces arrested another wanted Tanzim operative and uncovered two handguns and five matching ammunition clips. Nidal Tahsin Darwish Fakia was funded by Hezbollah and by operatives in the Gaza Strip. The infrastructure which he commanded was involved in hundreds of bombing attacks, kidnappings, suicide bombings and shooting attacks in the Nablus region, to which dozens of IDF soldiers fell victim. One of its central operatives, Amin Lubadeh, was the leading manufacturer of bombs and explosive belts in the Samaria region and masterminded numerous terror attacks in Israel before he was killed during an attempt to arrest him in April 2007. Among the attacks carried out by Fakia's infrastructure were a bombing attack on July 17th 2006, in which Staff Sergeant Oshri Damri was killed, and another on June 28th 2007 in which an IDF officer was severely injured. The infrastructure operating under Fakia manufactured and delivered explosives, bombs and explosive belts to various terror organizations in Nablus.
Cells operating under Fakia were recently involved in planning mega-terror
attacks in the Israeli home front. UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (Press Release)—The continued closure or restrictions of border crossings is threatening the Gaza Strip’s economic sustainability, forcing most factories to close or operate at reduced capacity and depriving farmers of key export income, United Nations relief officials warned today. “We need to see all crossings at least as operational as they were before 9 June, or risk facing serious social, economic and humanitarian concerns,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said. Israel has closed or restricted the handful of border crossings with the Gaza Strip since deadly intra-Palestinian violence – which has since subsided – erupted early last month. Some 1.4 million people live within Gaza’s 360-square-kilometre area. Enough humanitarian imports were allowed into Gaza during the week ending last Thursday to meet about 70 per cent of minimum food and other supply needs, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release. This is a sharp rise on the previous week, when about 21 per cent of needs were being met. But OCHA said three quarters of Gaza’s factories are either closed or operating at 20 per cent capacity, placing the direct livelihoods of about 30,000 people in jeopardy and causing at least $500,000 of business losses each day. The border closures and restrictions are also stopping agricultural products from being exported, depriving farmers of income and leading to an overabundance within Gaza – and thus a drop in price – of such items as tomatoes, melons and apples. The cancellation of the Gaza customs code by Israeli authorities has also meant that more than 1,300 containers of commercial materials destined for Gaza remain stranded at Israeli ports, and essential items such as milk powder, baby formula and vegetable oil are now in short supply. Restrictions at some crossing points are being eased, OCHA reported. The Karni crossing is open for wheat grain imports and the Nahal Oz fuel pipeline has been opened to allow supplies of diesel, petrol and cooking gas to be delivered. The UN, the Palestinian Authority and Israel are also working to install two conveyor belts at Kerem Shalom, a crossing point between Gaza and Egypt, and to widen the area there for truck-transfer operations. Once the belts are installed and the area widened, the crossing should be able to handle 150 truckloads of goods each day, up from the current limit of 20. Kerem Shalom is the only viable crossing for Palestinians wanting to re-enter Gaza from Egypt since the Rafah crossing point was closed last month, OCHA said. But Kerem Shalom remains closed to the more than 6,000 Palestinians trying to return from the Egyptian cities of Al Arish and Sheik Zoueid, patients in Gaza are unable to enter Egypt for medical treatment and another 400 to 700 remain stranded in the open near the Rafah border.
Mr. Holmes said UN
officials in Egypt were working to provide assistance to those people who are
stranded at the border, “but the importance of lifting current border
restrictions cannot be over-emphasized.” HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)—Prof. Michal Yerushalmy of the Institute for Alternatives in Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa, says there’s yet another application for cell phones: learning mathematics. The applications that Prof. Yerushalmy developed, in cooperation with Arik Weizman and Zohar Shavit of the University of Haifa Computer Science Department with support from Eurocom Israel, can be installed on most cellular phones on the market today. When installed, they enable cellular phones to function like computers which, among other things, are able to perform mathematical functions at different levels – from elementary school geometry to high school level calculus. The applications were developed specifically for the educational system, and they can be used like any application installed on a cell phone. The availability of the medium means that students are no longer reliant on computer classrooms in the school and that educational opportunities are as mobile as students are. "I believe that mathematics needs to be learned in creative ways, and not by memorization and repetition. Just as physics and biology labs teach through experimentation, I believe that there should also be math labs, where learning is experiential," said Prof. Yerushalmy. According to Prof. Yerushalmy, computerized math labs like these have been developed in the past, but the cost of computers and the limited availability of computer classrooms limited their use. Cellular phone applications are accessible to both teachers and students on the school campus, on the way home or just about anywhere else. Using cellular telephones provides another advantage: enabling creation of a community of learners. The applications enable users to send graphs and formulas to one another as short text messages (SMS), allowing them to work together to solve problems and involve any number of people to share in the learning process. A pilot research project, recently completed in the University of Haifa Faculty of Education, evaluated students' use of the applications. As part of the research, participants recorded simple occurrences such as the speed of a dripping faucet, buses pulling away from a bus stop and a number of other events with the video cameras on their cell phones. They were then instructed by Dr. Galit Botzer, who conducted the research, to turn their video clip into a mathematical model using the applications available on their cell phone. "It was important for us to see whether or not the students actually do use their phone as a medium for communication to help solve the problem. We found that they did indeed use text messaging to send one another information, questions and comments at different times and from different places. Our next step is to engage in more intensive research, and to develop additional, unique applications for cellular phones," said Dr. Botzer.
More information can be found on the
website:
www.math4mobile.com . The program can be downloaded and further
explanations and ideas for its use are available on the site. Once the program
has been downloaded, it can be shared with others by sending a text message with
a link to the site. Download the program and you, too, will carry a math lab in
your pocket.
ZICHRON YAKOV, Israel— By now all those who toured Israel with us on our Tifereth Israel congregational trip should be sound asleep in their own beds in San Diego or lying awake staring at the ceiling while trying to recover from jet lag. Our second week in Israel was amazing, exhilarating. and exhausting. At our closing banquet on Sunday night we shared happy memories. None of us could believe how much we had seen and learned in such a short time. On our
first day in Tel Aviv we left the city for visit to the secret underground
Ayalon Institute, where brave young men and women clandestinely manufactured
bullets for Israel’s War of Independence under the nose of the British.
After a quick lunch we planted trees in a new J.N.F. forest, sharing in the
mitzvah of replanting the Holy Land. We spent the rest of the day at
leisure, on the beach or exploring Tel Aviv. Jerusalem holds so many wonders it would be impossible to recount them all here, so I will only tease you with the highlights. We prayed at the Kotel (Western Wall), explored the many archeological discoveries in the Old City, and celebrated with Maddy Maio, her family, and friends as she became a Bat Mitzvah in Jerusalem at the Conservative Kotel. We toured the Fuchsberg Center, the center of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in Israel and the site of the Conservative Yeshiva, before a heart wrenching visit to the new Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial) museum. On Friday we "climbed" Masada by cable car and floated in the Dead Sea after lunch at one of the local resorts. We davened Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel, feasted together at a lavish Shabbat dinner at our hotel, and fell asleep for the night. We spent Shabbat going to services, sitting by the pool, walking through the quiet new city of Jerusalem, exploring the raucous Arab, Armenian, and Christian quarters of the old city, or sleeping! On our last day, Sunday, we visited the Israel Museum and saw its collection of Dead Sea Scrolls, whetting our appetites for the San Diego exhibition, and Yad Lakashish, Lifeline for the Elderly, which helps Jerusalem’s senior citizens live useful and meaningful lives by employing them to create beautiful handicrafts which are sold in their gift shop. No one could resist buying one last special gift there. The rest of the day was spent at leisure until our closing dinner. Early Monday morning Judy and I said "shalom" to our fellow travelers before heading north for our vacation in Zichron Yakov. At the closing dinner everyone spoke about how much their conceptions about Israel had changed during their visit. They found here a modern, as well as ancient, country, the riches of our Jewish past, and the promise of a bright Jewish future. Everyone remarked how safe they felt walking the streets and how comfortable they were to be, at least for a short time, a member of the majority culture. Last, but not least, they said that while this may have been their first visit to Israel, it would certainly would not be their last. Perhaps the next time you will join them! __________________
Israeli MDs help stave off blindness for Darfur refugees
The Israeli doctors, Dr. Drora Tzarfati of Emek Hospital in Afula and Dr. Nir Zeider of Rambam Hospital in Haifa have volunteered for the two-week assignment during which they will perform hundreds of operations aimed at preventing blindness among the refugees. The MFA also shipped medical supplies and equipment to enable them to carry out their humanitarian mission. MASHAV
activities in Africa are part of a program encompassing a wide range of
humanitarian activities in developing countries around the world. (Return to top) ______________ Darfur refugees to be housed at Ibim student village IBIM, Israel (Press Release)—The Jewish Agency for Israel will house 58 refugees from the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur in its student village near the town of Sderot. The refugees were turned away on Monday by the municipality of Beersheba, where they arrived upon entering Israel. Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert's office had requested the agency host the refugees. The absorption center, Ibim, is for new immigrant students from around the world. "This is a humanitarian gesture to human beings in distress," said JAFI chairman Zeev Bielski.
Sudan's interior minister Zubair Bashir
Taha accused Israel of purposely encouraging the Darfur refugees to seek asylum
in Israel in an effort to make his country look bad, "Israel Radio" reported on
Monday. The influx of Sudanese refugees has been a source of heated debate in
Israel, where there are concerns about the capacity to absorb the refugees from
the Muslim country.
Catholic radio magnate
reportedly blasts Poland's Rydzyk has not denied that he had made the remarks but accused Wprost of a "provocation." No immediate comment was available from Kaczynski, but presidential aide Maciej Lopinski said: "If this recording is genuine, it's absolutely scandalous." Polish prosecutors said they were investigating if the recording was authentic and whether Rydzyk's comments fell under laws against insulting the president. Rydzyk also lashed out at Maria Kaczynska, the first lady, who earlier this year opposed an unsuccessful attempt by hardline Catholic lawmakers to amend the constitution to ban abortion, which is already highly restricted in Poland. "Witch! You'll see! If you want to kill people, why don't you start with yourself," Rydzyk reportedly said. "Radio Maryja" campaigned for Kaczynski's Catholic conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party during the 2005 presidential and parliamentary elections. On Sunday, the station had organized a mass to mark its 15th anniversary. The celebration was attended by some 150,000 pilgrims, including prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president's twin brother. Meanwhile, Poland may have to hold early parliamentary elections this fall following the dismissal by the Kaczynski brothers of Andrzej Lepper, the deputy prime minister and agriculture minister, and the prospect of the withdrawal of Lepper's Self Defense party from the governing coalition. President Lech Kaczynski had sacked Lepper on Monday night over allegations of criminal conduct.
The preceding story was provided by the World Jewish Congress
of Polish priest Tadeuscz Rydzyk for anti-Semitism
LOS ANGELES (Press Release)—The
Simon Wiesenthal Center is conducting a petition campaign calling for the
removal of media mogul Tadeuscz Rydzyk as a Polish priest. In a news release,
the center said:
Hezbollah to terrorist organization list
WASHINGTON, D.C
(Press Release)—Congressman Robert Wexler (Democrat, Florida), a senior member
of US House Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on
Europe, was joined by 90 of his colleagues in sending a letter to newly-elected
French President Nicholas Sarkozy urging him to advocate for the addition of
Hezbollah to the European Union’s (EU) terrorist list, as well as the official
French list of terrorist organizations.
The preceding story was provided by the office of
Rep. Robert Wexler
An index for those who think political pork is unkosher As the editorial explains: Earmarks are spending measures anonymously inserted by lawmakers in appropriations bills, with no accountability to prevent the funds from going to a senator or congressman’s campaign donors, favored special interests, family members, or present or former staff members. Particular earmarks may, still, be justifiable expenditures of the public purse. But, if so, they should be voted upon in the light of day and not inserted in the dark of night or Congressional stairwells. Particular senator’s votes may, still, be justifiable as considered or, even, as needed to accomplish larger legislative goals. But, if so, a pattern of opposition to earmark reform is more indicative of a leaning toward secretive undue spending. Earmark reform requires that all spending go through normal deliberative channels, be transparent, and explicitly voted upon. During my auditing days, my first target would be the petty cash account. Although relatively minor amounts, the willingness to engage in chicanery there was usually a pretty good indicator of willingness to be irresponsible in larger things. I reminded senior management – and was backed -- that serious punishment was called for as much for the failure to be trustworthy, indeed the stupidity of jeopardizing one’s own lucrative career for a relative pittance indicating a telling lack of managerial competence, as for the act itself. The Examiner points out: “Watch what senators do, not what they say.” Overall, Republican senators scored better than Democrats, but there are significant exceptions from both sides of the aisle. One of my favorites is that Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI ) scores best among Democrats, consistent with his campaign spending regulation philosophy that money itself corrupts politics. At least there’s consistency. But, after Feingold and Evan Bayh (D-IN), the rest of the Democrats in the Senate fall below mediocre and plummet to way below par in opposing earmarks or their reform. At least, 16 Republican senators manage better than 50% scores, and another 17 manage Gentleman’s “C” or “C-“, with some notable old-bulls – moderates like Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), along with more conservative Trent Lott (R-MI) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) falling into the basement of earmark murkiness. This may better indicate the hold that earmarks have for senators to benefit their small state or aid their electoral or legislative prospects. Regardless, for me, it’s as true now as it was then that the willingness to countenance secretive spending, even of amounts relatively small to the overall federal budget, is a good indicator of the willingness to irresponsibly spend larger amounts. In this case, the ultimate senior management is the voters. The Earmark Index will help guide voters to determine which senators can be trusted to be responsible with the public purse and purpose.
(Return to
top)
__________ The conference will commence on the evening of Sunday, July 29, with a presentation on “The Requisite Polemic to Why be Jewish: In Praise of Jewish-Christian Disputation” by Charlotte Fonrobert, Associate Professor in the Religious Studies department of Stanford University, and author of Menstrual Purity: Rabbinic and Christian Reconstructions of Biblical Gender. The lead plenary session of the conference, presented by The Samuel Bronfman Foundation in conjunction with Temple Har Shalom, is a public conversation on: ‘Why be Religious in an Age of Fundamentalism?” and will feature French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy, Israeli spiritual leader Tova Hartman and American literary critic Leon Wieseltier. The conversation begins at 8pm on Monday, July 30 at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah, and is open to the public. Eliyahu Stern said, "We have assembled some of the finest minds in the Jewish world today with the hope of changing Jewish identity discussions from an issue of the quantity of Jews to a more substantive conversation on the quality, content and core values that animate Jewish life."
Additional panels throughout the three-day conference will include a Monday
evening dinner panel on “Inter-Faith Marriage, new Anti-Semitism and the
Redefinition of Jewish Peoplehood,” presented by Avi Weiss, Founder and Dean of
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion. As well as a final presentation, on
Tuesday morning: “Truth and the Possibilities of Learning in Identity
Fashioning” by Leon Wieseltier. NEW YORK (Press Release)—The American Jewish Committee today praised the Israeli government for its decision to convert its diplomatic vehicles in the U.S. to hybrid-electric technology. “This forward-thinking initiative reflects Israel’s deep, ongoing contribution to the environment and global security,” said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. “We commend Sallai Merridor, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., for his leadership on this issue, which helps further diminish our dependence on oil from hostile sources. Let us hope that other nations, particularly those that have been outspoken on energy and environmental matters, will follow Israel’s laudable example.” AJC has long been a leading advocate for energy independence. The agency’s Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Bonus Program, which provides cash incentives to its employees to purchase new hybrid cars, was the first program of its kind offered by any non-profit organization in America. To learn more about this program, and AJC’s overall green efforts, visit www.ajc.org.
The preceding story was provided
by the American Jewish Committee
Will the world be returned to the Dark Ages?
.
*U.S. Rep. Steve Israel
(Democrat, New York) heard
proposals while touring the Middle East that the Karni crossing between
Israel and Gaza be rebuilt on the Palestinian side to better aid the flow of
vital goods for Gaza's 1.5 million people. But currently, with Hamas
in control of the area, he reports that Congress has zero interest in
funding such a program. The combined New York Times News Service and
Associated Press
story on the Gaza situation is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
California, Arizona & Nevada
sales positions
News Sleuths:
QUESTION:
Another subject? In the Palestinian territories, President Abbas called for
the deployment of an international force in the Gaza Strip. Do you think
it's a good idea and how he’d work and --
MR. MCCORMACK:
I'm not sure that we’ve taken a hard look at that. Anything that President
Abbas proposes with regard to maintaining law and order, I think people have
to take a look at though. I'm not sure that you're going to find too many
forces willing to go into what I expect is a non-permissive environment.
The focus should be on
building up functioning, capable, responsible Palestinian security forces
that are capable of functioning in both areas. Now, I know that right now
that's a difficult proposition with respect to the Gaza, but that's really
where the main weight of our focus is and the main weight of our effort.
QUESTION:
But it's not the first time this subject comes up --
MR. MCCORMACK:
It's an idea that has been circulating. I'm not sure it's gotten a lot of
traction at this point. But look, people, serious people, come up with ideas
and they float them. Of course, we'll take a look at them. I can tell you
where the main weight of our effort is right now, and I think where the
focus of our efforts will be. The Palestinians want to see Palestinians help
maintain law and order. They want to have their own state. They want to have
their own institutions that function. They want to be able to take pride in
the fact that those institutions are functioning on behalf of the
Palestinian people. So that's really where our focus is, and I think for
President Abbas as well as the Palestinians—Palestinian leadership.
QUESTION:
Thank you.
MR. MCCORMACK:
Yes.
QUESTION:
Speaking of the Palestinians, we have a report out of Jerusalem saying that
Tony Blair is pushing for a broader mandate and role in his, you know, newly
announced position as the Quartet envoy, that he doesn't want to be limited
just to the sort of technical matter of capacity building among the
Palestinians and that he wants a more explicitly political role to try to
help negotiate on issues of peace.
Are you open to former Prime
Minister Blair having a bigger role in this?
MR. MCCORMACK:
I'm not sure we've heard that from Prime Minister Blair. People sort of
dismiss this idea of merely working with the Palestinians to build up their
institutions. Well, let me tell you, that is as important as -- what goes in
the container is as important as defining what the container is of the
Palestinian state, if you want to look at it that way.
So from our perspective, the
idea of helping to -- helping the Palestinians to build up respected,
functioning, democratic institutions is one of the necessary conditions for
a Palestinian state. Of course, we've talked about the political track and
that is very important as well, and I expect that Secretary Rice and
President Bush are going to remain focused on that.
Of course, Secretary Rice is
going to talk to Prime Minister Blair about his thoughts, his insights. I
think that's only natural. But I think all in the region and around the
world are really going to look to the United States and Secretary Rice for
leadership on pushing forward the political tracks, whether that's between
the Israelis and the Palestinians or between the Israelis and the Arabs.
QUESTION:
You said you're not sure you heard that from Prime Minister or former Prime
Minister Blair that he wants a wider role. Can you check whether you've
heard that from him?
MR. MCCORMACK:
Sure, I'd be happy to. To my knowledge, we haven't. But I'd be happy to.
QUESTION:
And then just so it's clear, I mean, the way I read your comments is that
even if he was pushing, as we understand him to be, for a wider role, you're
not that, sort of, hot on that, you feel like the main emphasis is the
institution-building or did I misunderstand you?
MR. MCCORMACK:
I think if you go back and look at the transcript to what I said, it's
pretty clear.
QUESTION:
Wait a minute, no, I'm sorry. It's not clear to me. So you like the idea of
him having a wider role or you don't like the idea of him having a wider
role?
MR. MCCORMACK:
I think I've given you the answer I'm going to give you.
AROUND THE TOWN—Karl Jacobs, MD, has successfully completed his
cross-Catalina Channel swim becoming only the 134th swimmer recorded to have
made the 21-mile crossing. Before he left, he was interviewed by KNSD
Television, the San Diego NBC affiliate. Here is
a link
to that interview. REFUAH SHELEMAH—Fred Lewis, journalist, broadcast announcer, and long-time chronicler of San Diego on the cable television show The Heart of San Diego, has been ailing with prostate cancer. Now at home, Lewis, 78, whose deep, golden voice is perhaps among the best known in San Diego, would welcome messages from friends and acquaintances whose lives he has touched over the years. His wife Jenny says Fred may be reached by writing to his residence at 7676 Caminito Caromandel, La Jolla, California 92037, or by emailing him at fredlewis@san.rr.com
The internationally acclaimed Florence Melton Adult Mini-School is an innovative concept for Jewish learners from all backgrounds, aimed at enabling adults to learn seriously about their heritage and culture in a challenging and inspiring 30-week course of study. Subjects covered include Jewish history, ethics, philosophy and ritual. All classes are text-based, but do not require outside reading. There are no tests, grades or homework. All students completing four Melton classes receive a certificate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Registration is now underway for the Melton class that will begin in early October at various sites around San Diego. More information on the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School may be found on the web at www.fmams.org.il. The preceding story was provided by the Agency for Jewish Education Tifereth Israel sets 'Pray in the Park' Shabbats Aug 3 & 31
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—Tifereth
Israel Synagogue will “Pray at the Park” on Friday evenings, August 3 and
August 31, with the public invited to join the celebration of
Kabbalat Shabbat at Lake Murray Community Park.
Lake Murray Community Park is located at Murray Park Drive and Elmcrest Drive in the San Carlos / Del Cerro area of San Diego. For any additional information or questions, please contact Beth Klareich at Tifereth Israel at (619) 697-6001ext 108 or by email at program@tiferethisrael.com The preceding story
was provided by Tifereth Israel Synagogue
Kaufman inaugurates Tel
Aviv's Sports Tek Theatre
SiCKO is a movie that fits tikkun olam tradition
By David Strom Forty-six million Americans are without medical insurance. Millions of others are inadequately insured. Healthcare reform is on the lips of many, including our politicians. President Bush proposes to use tax deductions to help people buy individual plans. (What good is a tax deduction if you don’t pay taxes?) Our Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, wants to make it mandatory for everyone in his state to obtain insurance and would force employers who don’t provide coverage to pay into a fund. Presidential candidates talk about reforming the health delivery system. These public officials, or at least the most media visible, are, in effect seeking to expand the customer base for a highly profitable industry. It is a part of Tikkun Olam to provide coverage to the uninsured, to provide medical care for all Americans. But why do the politicians assume that coverage has to come from for-profit providers? Despite the overwhelming evidence from other industrialized countries-as clearly shown in SiCKO-and even domestic programs such as Medicare that show government run health plans are much more efficient, the U.S. political class seems to be on a mission to save private insurance. Why? When voters in Californians had a chance to vote for a State funded “single payer health plan” in the 1990’s, they voted it down. What would or could make people with no health plans or inadequate ones, and there are millions of them in California, vote to turn away a plan that would give them complete coverage? Some who read this might think the answer is, more or less, complex. It isn’t, as the movie SiCKO demonstrates. The insurance companies defeated the ballot measure. They spent millions in advertising. The media blitz frightened and confused many who could have benefited from a “single payer plan.” Millions of dollars went to the coffers of politicians. Citizens were told a “huge State bureaucracy” would be created, and it would take “freedom of choice” from the patient, as if we have “freedom of choice” under your HMO or uninsured: All of us know that HMO’s and other health plans have bureaucracies and tons of paper work for patients. People were told that the new medical bureaucracy would be costly and wasteful of their medical dollars. (Currently over twenty-five cents of every dollar spent in privatized insurance plans goes for administrative costs. In Canada and Medicare in the U.S. the cost is about three cents.)The insurance companies were portrayed as the good guys who have our interests at heart. Michael Moore’s movie SiCKO documents, informs, and debunks the above false claims of the insurance companies. The movie is about the value of a government funded “single-payer health plan” for all Americans. This is, of course, not the first time Americans have been struggling with reforming the nation’s medical plan/s.
In 1945, after the end of World War II, there was great momentum toward expanding some form of health insurance. President Truman proposed a national program establishing a right to medical care and protection from the “economic fears” of illness. But opposition to government involvement in healthcare emerged, this time reinforced by the “socialized medicine” hysteria trotted out by the American Medical Association, the American Legion, the insurance industry and other reactionary groups. President Clinton, when “all was said and done” gave us a renewed interest in HMO’s. That was the best his administration, with a great deal of input from Hillary, and Congress could come up with. HMO’s grew very rapidly in the 90’s, but have slowed down in the current century. SiCKO, the movie, handles the “socialized medicine” scare nicely. Libraries, post offices, public schools, highways and bridges are not privatized, but socialized. They have high consumer appeal and we are still a “democracy.” The real question Moore poses then is this: Why can’t the United States, the richest democracy in the world, provide its citizens with universal health care? The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. (privatized medical coverage) at #37. This is well below all the leading industrialized Western nations that have universal health coverage (“socialized medicine”). Cuba, a nation crippled by our decades old blockade (including medical supplies and drugs) has a lower infant mortality rate and longer life span. Americans are shorter than Europeans and, partially, the lack of good health coverage for all Americans is to blame. Michael Moore’s SiCKO is informative and entertaining. It is a first class documentary challenging our broken privatized American healthcare system. Moore’s movie, while not touching on “who pays,” points out the U.S. spent more per capita on medical care than any other nation. Yet, it gets fewer bangs for its medical buck. It is understandable why the film distresses the health insurance industry; it is equally understandable why they are pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of politicians of both major parties. Hillary Clinton has gotten over $800,000 dollars from them, Rick Santorem even more.
If Moore’s movie
helps to make us more active in fighting for universal health coverage then it
is a happy addition to the struggle for Tikkun olam.
Dark Ages... Dark Ages do not end abruptly or peacefully. Thought police periodically expand and contract but once entrenched may take decades, indeed, centuries to eradicate. Military victory often precedes their demise. The powers that be in Italy or Spain (which had wide ranging colonies) did not decide that the Inquisition has outlived its usefulness. It was Napoleon’s soldiers who finally opened its Spanish prisons. A look at Goya’s drawings or a glance at the testimony of Colonel Lehmanowsky should convince doubters that the dreaded institution had not become a kinder, gentler one by 1809:
If any of this
sounds familiar. It should. The scene is recreated in
Milos Forman’s movie, Goya’s Ghost . Apparently, Forman was thinking about
the Prague spring which like the Spanish one was followed by another “winter.”
The only difference was that the inquisitors returned to Prague with the help of
Soviet tanks and to Madrid with the help of British guns. They also returned to
Italy where as late as 1858, Italian police
kidnapped a Jewish six year old on the order of the grand inquisitor. Oh,
yes, his parents like other Jews lived in a Ghetto. The defeat of Napoleon and
the French revolution also meant that Jews who were let out of the Ghettoes by
Napoleon were returned to them by the “Holy Alliance.” They were freed by the
new unified Italian army in 1870 though returned to it and "liquidated" by the
Fascists and Nazis. One can only speculate of the effect these centuries of
living under thought police had on Catholic populations around the world. The
Museum of the Inquisition Lima is the most popular in Peru.
In America we have
no philosophy but the philosophy of politics; but in that, we are superior to
all the world; and it is that which keeps the American mind alive. But we are
going back in time. This rebellion is a consequence of the reaction against
freedom. If it were confined to the mere masters of Negroes, and to an attempt
to secure them where they are, it would not be unnatural, nor would it
necessarily react upon free thought in the North. But this is not the fact. It
is an attempt to make Slavery (whether of white of black) the foundation of
political institutions. It is, therefore, a direct and positive reaction against
the principles of the American Revolution. Nor is it confined to Slave States. Every man in the Free States, of any intelligence, who engages in the peace party and sympathizes with Southern institutions, is a reactionist against American institutions. It is a reaction against real Democracy. The Roman Emperors were formally elected as Roman Consuls, keeping the name of the old Roman magistracy, when the thing itself had ceased to exist and only Emperors ruled. Such is the exact fact with those who, under the name of Democracy, are seeking the overthrow of Democracy by the overthrow of Freedom. This is the undisguised fact. Do you wonder, then, that men ask: Are we to have a return of the dark Ages? No. I am not surprised. The Dark Age did not return because Abraham Lincoln did not flinch. He won the ideological battle in the only way it can often be won, militarily. Since then astute observers have asked the question when they contemplated Communist and Fascist victories and they may as well be asking the question now. For liberty, hence, civilization is currently under a three prong attack. One prong consists of Islamist barbarians, Al Qaeda types, who, like barbarians from time immemorial, excel in exploiting the military and institutional weakness of civilized democracies.
The second prong
consists of Fascist/Communist/Islamist tyrannies such as China, North Korea or
Iran who feel threatened by the success of democracies. They enjoy sitting back,
watching the barbarians soften up the democracies despite knowing that they are
bound to be the barbarians' next victims. The third prong consists of transnational elites who assume that the Islamist barbarians do not pose a real threat. Their goal is to bring about a world run by international institutions not directly accountable to the “uninformed masses.” Indeed, as they consider powerful civilized democracies, most especially the US, to be their most formidable opponent, these transnational elites do not shy from cooperating with Islamists and tyrannies by legitimizing their demands that free speech, i.e., thought be circumscribed. It should not be forgotten that previous dark ages were limited geographically, a future one may not be. In the past, enlightenment in one part of the world helped end a dark ages in another. But in the age of globalization this may prove much more difficult. Hence, the stakes today are higher than they have ever been. So, following Mansfield one may ask, shall we go backwards? Shall free institutions fall? Shall the world and its hopes fall with us? In other words, will the Dark ages return? In 2004, I would have answered the question similarly to the way Dean Acheson answered it in 1951: It seems to me ... that we are better off than we were a year ago . . . But there are no grounds for complacency . . . The outcome in the contest between a better future and a return to the Dark Ages is still undetermined. Unfortunately, in 2007 we are worse off than we were three years ago. I still hold on to the belief that the American people love liberty too much to give it up and, as they have done before, they will snatch victory from the jaws of current defeats. So, why can't I be happy? Because with each and every passing day the price for defeating the forces of darkness is getting higher and higher and ultimate victory less and less certain. Dr. Judith A. Klinghoffer is a senior research associate in the department of Political Science at Rutgers University, Camden. She was a senior Fulbright fellow in Denmark and is the co-author of International Citizens' Tribunals: Mobilizing Public Opinion to Advance Human Rights and the author of Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East: Unintended Consequences. She runs the History News Network blog, Deja vu.
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