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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

April 14, 2010

Israel bans iPad

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

Israel’s Communications Ministry banned the import of Apple’s iPad yesterday following a tiff between its minister and engineering staff, and custom officials are now directed to confiscate the tablet computer. Ten iPads have been seized already at Ben-Gurion International, according to the airport’s head of customs, and those unlucky owners are being charged a daily storage rate.

Ministry officials say the reason for the ban is tied to the iPad’s WiFi modem, which they worry will interfere with the Israeli network, according to Haaretz:

The decision follows the refusal of the ministry’s engineering staff to compromise on testing the device’s suitability and compliance with Israeli wireless networks.

It seems however that the engineers made their decision without notifying Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon in advance—and caused an uproar within the ministry.

For now, the ministry has not given the device categorical approval required for wireless devices; and ministry officials say its wireless technology is not compatible with Israeli standards.

“The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its WiFi modem] compatible with American standards,” explained the officials. “As the Israeli regulations in the area of WiFi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel,” said the officials.

The ministry has requested all the relevant information on the iPad from Apple’s Israeli distributor, iDigital, so as to approve importing iPads.

Some background on the iPad:

The iPad runs on the iPhone OS, which doesn’t support Adobe Flash without a workaround, so portions of the Web (from movie sites to online gaming) won’t be available to iPad users. And according to Jobs, the device will run “almost all” of the iPhone apps—iPod Touch users will be happy to lend a sympathetic shoulder. Also like the Touch, iPad doesn’t feature a camera, much less a Webcam, video output, USB or firewire ports. And forget multitasking—running two or more apps at the same time—which we take for granted now on desktops and laptops.

As far as what’s under the hood, iPad is powered by a custom silicon chip called the A4 (1Ghz) and includes WiFi, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone, dock connector and 10-hour battery. Although the iPad isn’t designed to be a phone, Skype via WiFi will likely be an option. One thing Apple got right with the iPad was offering a peripheral keyboard dock in addition to its virtual keyboard. “If you’ve got to write ‘War and Peace,’ just plug your iPad in,” Jobs said.

Israel bans iPad Read More »

Kornbluth’s ‘Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?’

Leave a Comment / Theater /

From SFGate.com:

Has Josh Kornbluth found religion? More to the point, has the theater world’s best-known “Red Diaper Baby” been led there by pop-icon artist Andy Warhol? Or is that not what his newest comic autobiographical monologue – “Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?” – is about?

At 50, Kornbluth has chronicled much of his life in hilarious and provocative solo shows, from a New York childhood among remarkable communist adults through college (“The Mathematics of Change”) and temp work (“Haiku Tunnel”) to life in Berkeley with his wife, Sara, and son Guthrie, now 12, and discoveries of various aspects of what it means to be an adult (“Love & Taxes,” “Ben Franklin: Unplugged,” “Citizen Josh”).

Read the full article at SFGate.com.

Kornbluth’s ‘Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?’ Read More »

A Bankrupt City?

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Uncategorized /

The numbers are staggering, in fact, overwhelming: the City of Los Angeles’ annual pension and retirement health benefit bills (just for police and fire) will escalate over the next five years from $423 million to $1 billion.  That makes the paltry few million dollars shortfall that the city is being tied in knots over today small change.

A few months ago we ” title=”LA Times”>LA Times

features a commentary about Community Advocates’ chairman, former Mayor Richard J. Riordan, one of the only leaders willing to talk honestly about what LA’s future looks like if things continue as they are and the pension crisis remains unresolved.

As he told the

Times

, “We need some adults to come alive in the city and talk through how to meet that liability…if that doesn’t happen we shouldn’t rule out bankruptcy.” Riordan warned the

” title=”comparative study”>comparative study of the pension obligations of the 50 states set against the funds the states have set aside to pay those bills, their findings don’t inspire confidence—-a trillion dollar gap:

“While the economic crisis and drop in investments helped create it, the trillion dollar gap is primarily the result of states’ inability to save for the future and manage the costs of their public sector retirement benefits,” said Susan Urahn, managing director, Pew Center on the States.  “The growing bill coming due to states could have significant consequences for taxpayers—higher taxes, less money for public services and lower state bond ratings.  States need to start exploring reforms.”

Clearly, we are not alone.

Whether the answer is bankruptcy, changing the retirement structure going forward, or even discussions with unions to alter the plans presently in place—-the failure to be forthright about the dire circumstances we face is not an option.

Yet the LA City Council dithers. In January it defeated an effort to place a measure on the June ballot to roll back benefits for newly hired city workers and future hires. Mayor Villaraigosa’s spokesman said, “this is not the time to panic.” He and a representative of city council president, Eric Garcetti, said they thought they could achieve more by negotiating directly with the unions that represent civilian city employees. Lots of luck, the city’s unions were even opposed to the January measure that was aimed at future hires.

The time for kicking the can down the road and hoping for some other level of government to take their chestnuts out of the fire is past. Virtually every level of government faces the same stark choices. As the Pew Center wrote, it’s time to “start exploring reforms”—-however painful that may be.

Mayor Riordan may be the only local leader telling it like it is and acting like an “adult.”

 

A Bankrupt City? Read More »

Lauder to Obama: End feud with Israel

Leave a Comment / Israel /

In an open letter to President Obama, the president of the World Jewish Congress expressed concern over the deterioration in relations between Israel and the United States.

Ronald Lauder called on Obama to “end our public feud with Israel and to confront the real challenges that we face together,” most importantly the Iranian nuclear threat.

Pointing out that Israel has recognized the need for a two-state solution and put a settlement construction moratorium into place, Lauder asks in his letter, “Why does the thrust of this Administration’s Middle East rhetoric seem to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks? After all, it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate.”

Lauder also questioned the administration’s Mideast policy.

“The Administration’s desire to improve relations with the Muslim world is well known. But is friction with Israel part of this new strategy?” he asked. “Is it assumed worsening relations with Israel can improve relations with Muslims? History is clear on the matter: appeasement does not work. It can achieve the opposite of what is intended.

“Israel is not only America’s closest ally in the Middle East,” Lauder concluded, “it is the one most committed to this Administration’s declared aim of ensuring Iran does not get nuclear weapons.”

Lauder to Obama: End feud with Israel Read More »

Obama: U.S. can’t impose peace

Leave a Comment / United States /

President Obama said the United States could not impose peace on the Middle East. 

“I think that the need for peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the Arab states remains as critical as ever,” Obama said Tuesday. “It is a very hard thing to do. And I know that even if we are applying all of our political capital to that issue, the Israeli people through their government, and the Palestinian people through the Palestinian Authority, as well as other Arab states, may say to themselves we are not prepared to resolve this—these issues—no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear. 

“And the truth is,” he continued, “in some of these conflicts the United States can’t impose solutions unless the participants in these conflicts are willing to break out of old patterns of antagonism.”

Obama’s comments, coming at the end of a 47-nation summit aimed at containing the threat of nuclear terrorism, appeared aimed at tamping down recent reports that his administration would introduce its own take-it-or-leave-it plan by the fall.

The president said he would nonetheless doggedly pursue peacemaking.

“What we can make sure of is that we are constantly present, constantly engaged, and setting out very clearly to both sides our belief that not only is it in the interests of each party to resolve these conflicts but it’s also in the interest of the United States,” he said.

Obama: U.S. can’t impose peace Read More »

Ex-Jerusalem mayor arrested in Holyland scandal

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski was arrested for allegedly accepting bribes in a real estate project.

Lupolianski was arrested Wednesday in connection with the Holyland scandal. Five other officials, including a former aide to Mayor Ehud Olmert, were arrested last week in connection with the corruption scandal. Lupolianski is the most senior official to be arrested in the scandal thus far.

Lupolianski is suspected of accepting about $750,000 in bribes during the construction of the Holyland apartment project in Jerusalem, built on the site of the former Holyland Hotel.

Also Wednesday, a spokesman for former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Olmert would cut short a planned visit abroad to return to Israel, since he is wanted for questioning in the corruption investigation, Haaretz reported.

The Holyland project started while Olmert served as mayor of Jerusalem and ended with his successor, Lupolianski.

The scandal, which became public last week, is being described as one of the worst corruption scandals in Israeli history.

Ex-Jerusalem mayor arrested in Holyland scandal Read More »

N.Y. youths charged with hate crimes

Leave a Comment / United States /

A large ultra-Orthodox community in New York State suffered a number of apparent anti-Semitic attacks on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Three youths were charged with hate crimes after allegedly throwing stones on Monday night at Jews in Monsey, an ultra-Orthodox enclave in Rockland County, just north of New York City. A fourth youth was charged as a juvenile.

Witnesses said the youths also verbally threatened the Jews and waved a baseball bat.

It was not clear if the youths knew the significance of the date, a police spokesman said.

Elsewhere in the country, public parks were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. In one case, local media reported, vandals spray-painted “Jews” with a line through the word on a number of park benches.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called the incidents “reprehensible.”

“We cannot tolerate harassment and violence motivated by bigotry and hatred in our society,” she said in a statement.

N.Y. youths charged with hate crimes Read More »

Just a fat kid in a t-shirt

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

I guess I’m just a fat kid in a t-shirt in my parents’ basement. Except I don’t really like Cheetos. And bloggers do real journalism. And, most importantly, public figures, like a drunk Jerry Jones talking trash about the Cowboys former GM and besmirching the good name of Tim Tebow, have always been fair game.

P.S. Journalism has certainly declined, but, Dale Hansen, you’re a local TV sports anchor. So, please don’t get so self-righteous on us.

Just a fat kid in a t-shirt Read More »

Obama: Israel, others should join nukes treaty

Leave a Comment / Israel /

President Obama expects Israel and other nations to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“As far as Israel goes, I’m not going to comment on their program,” Obama said at a news conference Tuesday concluding his summit on nuclear security.  “What I’m going to point to is the fact that consistently we have urged all countries to become members of the NPT.”

Obama outlined his nuclear goals: Countries with nuclear weapons should reduce stockpiles, those without nuclear weapons should not obtain them, and all countries should have access to nuclear energy.

“And so whether we’re talking about Israel or any other country, we think that becoming part of the NPT is important,” he said. “And that, by the way, is not a new position.  That’s been a consistent position of the United States government even prior to my administration.”

Israel’s reported nuclear weapons program was in place before 1970, when the NPT came into force, which would theoretically exempt Israel from the conditions that new signatories must not have weapons.

However, it also would require transparency; Israel’s policy is currently one of not confirming or denying reports that it maintains up to 200 nuclear warheads.

Obama: Israel, others should join nukes treaty Read More »

Jewish Dem easily takes Wexler’s seat

Leave a Comment / Elections, Politics /

A Jewish Democrat won U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s Florida district by a wide margin.

State Sen. Ted Deutch defeated Ed Lynch, a contractor, with 62 percent of the vote in a district that covers parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Deutch’s showing Tuesday matched traditional majorities won by Wexler, who quit Congress in January to run the Center for Middle East Peace and who was the chief Jewish surrogate for the Obama campaign. Deutch will serve out the remaining eight months of Wexler’s term before facing another election in November.

The Lynch campaign sought to link Deutch to negative assessments of the health care plan passed last month by Congress and to tensions between the Obama administration and Israel.

Jewish Democrats said the victory by Deutch was an indication of the party’s continued health in the Jewish community.

“Florida 19 is the most heavily Jewish district in the country,” said Carly Lindauer, the spokeswoman for the National Jewish Democratic Council. “Deutch’s win demonstrates that the Jewish community continues to support and vote for Democrats.”

As a state senator, Deutch initiated a Florida law that requires state pensions to divest from Iran.

In her congratulatory note, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said Deutch “will continue to be a leader in bringing peace to the people of Israel and developing a stronger foreign policy to ensure the safety of every family.”

Jewish Dem easily takes Wexler’s seat Read More »