I understand that by many peoples\’ standards, Stern is indecent, but he has been so for a long, long time. The incident that prompted Clear Channel to dump him, and for which the FCC may levy fines, has been so commonplace on his program that it could have been mistaken for a promo spot.
Community activist Karen Bass\’ victory in the 47th Assembly District\’s Democratic primary provides a valuable opening for coalition efforts between the Jewish community and a new generation of African American and Latino activists.
OneVoice\’s sound-bite version of this conflict is misleading. Enticing, no doubt, but grossly inaccurate. Crucial facts have been omitted, and it\’s easy to see why. They punch holes in the attractive solution your minders have sold you — the solution you are peddling to us.
Today we are beset with a series of health-care plagues, each seeming worse than the one before. The number of Californians without health-care insurance coverage hovers between 6 million and 7 million people — that\’s about one in five of us. About 85 percent of those people are working in jobs where health care is not provided. Nationwide, health-care costs are the second largest cause of personal bankruptcy.
The current March/April issue of Adbusters magazine features a lead-in piece by editor Kalle Lasn titled, \”Why won\’t anyone say they are Jewish?\” In it, Lasn points out the fact that of the 50 or so neocons influencing United States diplomatic and defense policy either within government or in media and think tanks, about half are Jewish.
I set out to write about the presidential election, but I changed my mind when I ran into Eric Gordon, the director of Workmen\’s Circle.
We\’re told repeatedly that intermarriage is the death knell of the Jewish people, but let\’s face it: Jews have been intermarrying since the beginning of our tribe 4,000 years ago. Marrying "out" is precisely how we got Jews with looks covering the gamut from blonde hair and blue eyes to black skin and nappy hair. It\’s also one of the reasons that Hitler hated us: We were at it again, blending with the local race, destroying its ethnic purity.
All of us struggle with the problem of how to transmit our commitment to Judaism to the next generation. There are all sorts of suggestions — but no solutions. How do we reproduce ourselves Jewishly?
Indeed, to appropriate a popular bumper sticker, if you\’re not outraged by Vashti\’s bad rap, you\’re not paying attention.
