President Bush signaled the start of a new battle over faith-based health and social service programs in a State of the Union address that included a firm defense of his war in Iraq, a call to make his controversial tax cuts permanent and not a single mention of the Arab-Israeli conflict or the stalled \”road map\” for bringing it to an end.
Will Jewish Democrats line up behind Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), now that the veteran lawmaker\’s campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination has been resurrected by Monday\’s blowout victory in the Iowa caucuses?
Perhaps, but Kerry would be wise not to start sending out the thank-you letters. By all accounts, Jews are doing what they usually do in primary battles: covering most of the mainstream political bases and in the process making sure the community is well represented in every campaign.
New York state legislators are trying to prevent insurance companies from blacklisting travelers to Israel so that they cannot obtain life insurance coverage.
Sheldon Silver, speaker of the New York Assembly, and Assemblyman Peter Grannis unveiled a bill Jan. 15 that would bar state insurance firms from denying life insurance to anyone who has traveled to Israel.
Twice in the past couple of days, I\’ve been in conversation and found myself grasping for a word. On both occasions, my 4-year-old supplied the word before I could come up with it. And, of course, there are the times that I walk into a room only to realize that I have no idea what I wanted to do once I got there. Are these natural lapses or early signs of something more sinister?
\”We are all one day closer to Alzheimer\’s disease,\” Dr. Gary Small says forebodingly in his book \”The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young\” (Hyperion, 2003). \”Alzheimer\’s and dementia begin forming in our brains much earlier than anyone previously imagined, even in our 20s.\”
I\’m an exercise addict who does it all — hiking, running, spinning, dancing, aerobics and Tae Bo. I run the Santa Monica stairs and jog the UCLA perimeter. I\’m hooked on Pilates DVDs, \”Buns of Steel\” tapes and hit the gym three or four times a week. But this September I hit a wall. I no longer found my workouts challenging or effective. I wanted to do more than lose five pounds. I wanted to sculpt my abs, firm my figure and mold my Jew.Lo tush. So I settled down and started seeing a personal trainer.
There was a time when a half-moon K on a carton of cottage cheese didn\’t mean much to someone who kept strictly kosher. Conventional wisdom held that the heksher (the kosher symbol) was not all that reliable.
Today, things are changing at Kosher Overseers (KO), which supervises about 1,000 companies worldwide and has its bulging K on more than 1 million products.
\”Don\’t Get \’Mad,\’ Get Kosher. Kosher Meat Is Safe,\” reads an enormous red-and-yellow banner hanging in front of Santa Monica Glatt Market on Santa Monica Boulevard near Sawtelle Boulevard.
Well, maybe not completely safe, but certainly safer from mad cow disease.
Just this week, at the Anti-Defamation League\’s (ADL) luncheon for combating hate, held at the Skirball Cultural Center, a reporter was told the luncheon was kosher and later found out it might not have been.
To go kosher or not to go kosher — it doesn\’t seem to be a major question for Jewish organizations here in Los Angeles.
Fruity, oaky and sugary; I taste blackberries, vanilla and sugar, lots of sugar; full-bodied, strong finish, and very sweet; horrible and, yet again, very sweet. That was the kosher wine tasting of yesteryear.
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