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June 21, 2010
MARTY KAPLAN: The Real Shakedown to Apologize For
If Barack Obama’s extraction of $20 billion from BP was—as Texas Republican Joe Barton called it – a “shakedown,” then what would Barton call the ” target=”_hplink”>$42 million from PACs and individuals. Their haul totaled ” target=”_hplink”>115 House members of the Republican Study Committee gave Barton his talking points; in a ” target=”_hplink”>$800 million has poured into congressional PACs and campaign committees during this off-year election cycle. How many of those checks would be solicited, offered, written and bundled if the Capitol didn’t harbor a legal protection racket?
Though some members of Congress may blow some of those Benjamins on the high life, or stuff them in the freezer, the irony is that they and their contributors are in turn the marks of yet another shakedown. The principal reason our lawmakers and candidates have to dial for dollars, suck up to contributors and teeter on the brink of quid pro quo is that they need the dough to buy campaign ads on television and radio.
The broadcast industry will take in over ” target=”_hplink”>udicial activists that George W. Bush put on the Supreme Court, the 2010 campaign season will be more awash than ever with money. Overturning a century of precedent, the court seized on the Citizens United case as an opportunity to declare that corporations can spend without limit on campaign ads. So not only can corporations threaten to withhold their contributions unless congressmen do their bidding, they can also intimidate our lawmakers by threatening to pay for their own ads attacking them.
I’m not ignoring the Democratic candidates and office holders complicit in and entrapped by this system, nor the donors who support their side of the aisle. The best that can be said about the bipartisanship of this dysfunction is that progressive organizations and individuals – and not just corporate and right-leaning funders and pressure groups – have a piece of the action. I’ll also gladly stipulate that there are decent members of Congress – like ” target=”_hplink”>The Distinguished Gentleman.
Elected to Congress, the Eddie Murphy character makes a bee line for the honey pot and scams his way onto the Energy and Commerce Committee. (Disney lawyers made me rename it Power and Industry, for fear of alienating the committee with jurisdiction over Hollywood.) By the end of the story, he inconveniently discovers a conscience and exposes how special interest money corrodes democracy. I know, I know – fat chance. But it’s a studio comedy. It had to end happily. I only wish that were true of the real farce in Washington.
Marty Kaplan directs the ” target=”_hplink”>USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Reach him at martyk@jewishjournal.com.
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Israel’s Security Cabinet approves easing of Gaza blockade
Israel’s Security Cabinet voted to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The Security Cabinet reportedly decided Sunday not to remove the naval blockade, but Israel will ease land-based imports to the Gaza Strip. Until now, only items from a preapproved Israeli list were allowed in; going forward, only items specificall excluded will be forbidden, such as items that can be used to produce weapons, according to reports.
“The United States welcomes the new policy towards Gaza announced by the government of Israel, which responds to the calls of many in the international community,” the White House said in a statement issued Sunday. “Once implemented, we believe these arrangements should significantly improve conditions for Palestinians in Gaza, while preventing the entry of weapons.”
The statement also said, “We strongly re-affirm Israel’s right to self-defense, and our commitment to work with Israel and our international partners to prevent the illicit trafficking of arms and ammunition into Gaza. As we approach the fourth anniversary of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, we call again for his immediate release, and condemn the inhumane conditions of his detention.”
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Rabbinic court drops Emanuel case
A rabbinic court attempting to mediate in the dispute over a girls’ school in a West Bank settlement has dropped the case.
The court, which had ordered the school in Emanuel to end its segregation between the mostly Ashkenazi followers of the Slonim Chasidim and Sephardi students, dropped the case Monday after Yoav Laloum failed to withdraw his case from Israel’s Supreme Court, as he had been ordered by the rabbinic court. Laloum sued the school in the Israeli court system on behalf of the Noar Kehalacha Foundation.
The rabbinic court also had ordered the Chasidim to stop threatening to attack Laloum physically and verbally.
Laloum had told The Jerusalem Post Sunday night that he would withdraw his lawsuit in the secular courts if parents agreed to desegregate the school.
The Slonim Chasidim reportedly had taken Laloum to the rabbinic court after he claimed that they had accepted funding from The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
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Bomb explodes near synagogue in Russia
A homemade bomb that exploded outside a Russian synagogue caused damage to the synagogue and a neighboring house.
No one was injured in the explosion early Monday morning in the town of Tver, about 140 miles northwest of Moscow.
The blast left a gaping hole in the synagogue door, damaged the iron fence of the building and knocked out several windows in the house. Property damage was estimated at $5,000.
Police officials have characterized the incident as “malicious hooliganism”; no suspects have been identified.
Anti-terrorism experts from the Moscow office of the Federal Security Service have been called to Tver to take part in the investigation.
The head of the Tver city administration, Vladimir Babichev, suggested that the explosion could be connected to a series of vandalism incidents at the town’s Jewish cemetery. A group of extremists from the Russian National Unity movement was arrested in 2006 after vandalizing about 200 Jewish gravestones with swastikas. Several more incidents have occurred since then at the cemetery, but no one has been charged.
The Tver synagogue’s two-story brick building was built at the turn of the 20th century and was renovated in 2004. Anti-Semitic epithets have been painted on its walls, according to the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Russia.
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Israel bars German lawmaker from Gaza
Israel has barred a German politician from entering Gaza, allegedly after first granting him permission to enter the Hamas-controlled territory.
Dirk Niebel, federal minister of economic cooperation and development, told the German news agency DPA that the Israeli Foreign Ministry blocked his visit to Gaza scheduled for Sunday after he had received the go-ahead from Israel’s Ministry of Defense on June 17.
The Foreign Ministry reportedly was concerned about Hamas using such high-level political visits for propaganda purposes.
Niebel was in the middle of a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The secretary-general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer, told the NRZ newspaper on Monday that he found Israel’s decision unfortunate, since Niebel is a friend of Israel. But Kramer also criticized the politician for “allowing the issue to become exacerbated.”
Niebel, a vice president of the German-Israel Society, was scheduled to meet Monday with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Niebel told reporters that he welcomed news that Israel would be relaxing its blockade to allow all but military goods to pass through to Gaza.
He said he had wanted to visit a sewage treatment plant in Gaza that Germany helped construct.
“It’s getting harder for a friend of Israel to explain to their own people why Israel responds as it does,” Niebel told reporters in Jerusalem.
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Lebanon allows Gaza-bound ship to sail
Lebanon will allow a Gaza-bound ship to set sail for Cyprus.
The French-registered ship, named Julia, requested permission to sail to Cyprus since Lebanese law does not allow ships to sail to ports under Israeli control, including Gaza. The ship likely will change its route at sea.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said late Sunday night on Lebanese television that he had granted the ship’s request to sail, Haaretz reported. The Julia still must be cleared by port authorities.
Aridi reportedly also denied the existence of a second ship, the Miriam, which was supposed to carry only women.
Israel has appealed to other countries and the United Nations to halt the Lebanese flotilla. On Sunday morning, Israel told the United Nations and Lebanon through a third party that it will use all necessary means to stop ships from breaking its blockade of Gaza.
“Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, wrote in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
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Lady Gaga
” target=”_blank”>Gaylord Perry and it wasn’t a political statement. So why is it I’ve never been invited to the locker room—and Lady Gaga Read More »
Israel brings Jews from Kyrgyzstan
Israel brought 12 Jews from conflict-riven southern Kyrgyzstan to Israel.
The 12 Kyrgyz Jews were brought to Israel on Sunday and were scheduled to attend a welcome ceremony at the Jewish Agency for Israel’s board of governors assembly on Monday along with 650 other new immigrants. They were immediately made Israeli citizens.
Fewer than 70 Jews are thought to live in southern Kyrgyzstan. Most of the country’s estimated 1,500 Jews reside in the capital city of Bishkek. To date, no Jews have been harmed in the ethnic violence, according to the Jewish Federations of North America.
More than 2,000 people have been killed and 40,000 displaced in fighting between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz that began earlier this month in the country’s south.
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Indian actor pulls out of Hitler film
A veteran Indian actor has withdrawn from a Bollywood movie about the final days of Adolf Hitler’s life.
Anupam Kher, who was set to play Hitler in the movie “Dear Friend Hitler,” reportedly dropped out of the production after criticism from his fans. Filming is scheduled to begin in August.
“I had taken up the role as I considered it a challenge, and after carefully monitoring the portrayal of the character. However, considering the ill-will that the project is generating among my fans, I wish to withdraw from it as I respect their sentiments,” Anupam told Indo-Asian News Service in an e-mail, the Times of London reported.
First-time Indian director Rakesh Ranjan Kumar said the movie will focus on “Hitler’s love for India and how he indirectly contributed to Indian independence,” the newspaper reported.
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