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Submitted Comments RSS Feed Comments by David Sternlight

Posted in: Glenn Beck: Let's all fast on Yom Kippur

09/22/09 09:57 PM

If Glenn Beck is a demogogue, then Barack Obama is a master demagogue, judging by his speeches. The difference is that when Beck makes a mistake he acknowledges it, while when Obama makes a mistake he spins it. It was clear to me who Obama was when he told AIPAC that Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israel, and the next morning, when the Arabs didn't like it, he reversed himself. Can you say "Manchurian Candidate"? I knew you could.

Posted in: No joke: Mother-in-law sues

08/26/09 03:18 PM

So don't call me to share your problems with your mother in law. It's ok. I'll sit here alone, in the dark, wearing the same cloth coat I've had for 30 years so you could become a comedian. Dad says you should call him, too, if you can find time from your busy schedule. That is, if he's still alive\ then. Mom

Posted in: Mermaid fever leads to lawsuit (UPDATED)

08/25/09 02:32 PM

I'm shocked, shocked that the civil rights of mermaids are once again being exploited by a brutal coterie of fish-eating humans.

Posted in: Freedom of speech, not freedom from criticism

08/25/09 02:05 PM

1. Freedom of speech is freedom from government censorship; no more and no less. It does not apply to the press or any other nongovernmental party with respect to any other non-governmental parties. As a Justice once put it, freedom of the press applies only to those who own presses. 2. Given that the Palestinians and their friends have a long history of proven lying (it's even enshrined in Islamic doctrine as "al Takkiyya"), and more significantly of accusing Israelis of Palestinian crimes (using human shields, attacking civilians, etc.), it would not surprise me to learn that there is actually involuntary harvesting of human organs going on in Palestinian areas.

Posted in: Israeli university prof calls for boycott

08/25/09 01:50 PM

I'm another Ph.D., former senior US government executive, and past Chief Economist of two Fortune 50 companies that thinks Gordon's advocacy is not only idiotic on logical grounds but also that he is an ingrate. He has the right to his opinions but not to incitement, and the rest of us who wish have the right to express our free speech by withdrawing any and all support from him and those who support him. Let him find like-minded individuals from whom to earn a living, just as Carter, Meersheim and Walt have with their Saudi money. My own alma mater, MIT, has its Noam Chomsky. It is far from clear to me whether Gordon, in contrast, has even the offsetting component of the academic and professional distinctions of a Chomsky in his chosen field of specialization. Academe has its fair share of cranks and no one should be surprised when one pops out of the woodwork from time to time. Those of us who disagree with them are obligated neither to support nor to encourage such behavior.

Posted in: Mary Robinson: "You Just Don't Understand!"

08/18/09 03:04 PM

From the sublime to the ridiculous: A past Medal of Freedom/Congressional Gold Medal recipient was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson zt"l, who played a major role in reviving Judaism from the ashes of the Holocaust, and in whose honor and on whose birthday Presidents of both parties have declared "Education Day." for many years. How ridiculous were some of the subsequent awards by comparison. There are those who think the choice of Robinson was a deliberate attempt to tweak pro-Israel Americans. President Obama should have used the famous advice, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union."

Posted in: Op-Ed: Israel advocacy is needed on non-Hillel campuses

08/18/09 01:53 PM

The article is somewhat misleading, in characterizing campuses as Hillel or non-Hillel. There are many Chabad Houses on college campuses throughout the country and traditional Jewish (and pro-Israel) values and outlook are pretty much there for all to see. Further, most Chabad campus Rabbis are young and dynamic, and thus easily create rapport and provide more credible role models than do many Hillels with older Rabbis. Further, such Chabad houses, locally funded and run out of the inherited spiritual resources of the individual Rabbis, are independent of any monolithic movement that has to satisfy both cool-to-Israel donors and others. Disclaimer: The above represents the writer's personal views; he does not speak for Chabad.

Posted in: Demolitions at center of battle over Jerusalem

08/18/09 01:38 PM

It is simply false that this part of Jerusalem was "traditionally Arab". Jerusalem always had a Jewish majority. When the Arabs refused partition, the Jordanian army took the land from the UN by force, destroyed synagogues and used Jewish tombstones in the cemetery as paving stones, in an attempt to erase the traditionally Jewish character of this part of Jerusalem. I have personally visited Silwan after Israel recaptured it from the Jordanian invaders, and it was a wasteland of empty lots, ramshackle structures, and one very nice hotel (the Intercontinental) at the top of a hill, run by local Arabs, at which I stayed. Instead of squatters building on land that was not theirs, or submitting false claims, all parties need to obey municipal zoning laws, as is the case in any civilized society. Israel has not been even-handed in demolishing illegal structures; until recently they demolished lots of Jewish outposts, but let most of the illegal Arab housing alone to avoid incidents. This particular case, however, went through the courts as between private parties, and the Israeli courts, notorious for bending over backwards to rule in favor of Arab citizens, ruled that the Arab claims were forged and the Jewish documents genuine. Of course the Arabs, as is their wont, promptly turned the truth on its head by accusing the Jews of their own crime--forging documents. A Jewish friend living in Jerusalem, for example, had some Arabs approach him claiming that the house he lived in was theirs. "That's interesting", he replied, "I've been paying rent to the owner, who lives in ̆Beirut, for many years." The Arabs promptly disappeared. Finally, the arrogance of the Obama administration, in trying to dictate to Israel in violation of all norms of legality and international law, is appalling. Unlike the Arabs, Israel has a Western legal and court system, inherited in part from the British, and any fair-minded examination of the judicial process shows that it is scrupulously unbiased, if not (based on actual decisions) pro Arab. The courts have, at great cost to the government, ordered the anti-terrorist wall moved, for example, so as not to separate a few small Arab farmers from their traditional plots. I am sorry the JTA's reporter has fallen for the "traditionally Arab" scam.

Posted in: Israel supporters rip White House honor for Robinson

08/05/09 01:28 AM

It is clear that the administration is following a deliberate policy of disenfranchising Jewish Americans who won't toe the party line on their strategy to throw Israel under the bus to placate the Saudis. From lies about past agreements about settlements, to an attempt to deJudaize Jerusalem, a city that has always had a Jewish majority, as the united and indivisible capital of Israel, to the refusal to invite those Jewish groups who strongly support Israel to the White House while giving a small minority, J Street, legitimacy, the message is clear. Mary Robinson is no accident; just the latest in a series of deliberately trying to emasculate pro-Israel Americans in order to have a free hand in selling Israel out for an oily mess of pottage. For me it is the last straw. We saw the same denial of reality by Jews when the fascists came to power in Germany, with consequences we remember all too well. It is time to recall the words of Pastor Niemoller. It is time to stop looking the other way, and call the Administration's actions for what they are; simple anti-semitism in the guise of following Carter, Walt, and others in removing pro-Israel Americans' right to petition their government and be counted. It's another case of the old calumny that "the Jews are too powerful" when they gained what they have on merit. It makes no sense to sacrifice Israel which has given the world Nobel Laureates, major medical and scientific breakthroughs, global agricultural technology, one of the world's largest Pharmaceutical companies supplying life saving drugs to Americans, world-leading musicians, and an example of democracy and economic development, in favor of a bunch of ignorant, murdering, irredentist, uncompromising Arabs who have contributed little to the world except the murder of civilians and having the good fortune of sitting on some oil, whose price is driven in any case by demand and not politics. The only language this administration and its chief of staff will understand is that of power. It is time for those who disagree with its policies on Israel and Jews to make it clear that they won't support its favorite hobby horses, most recently health care federalization,.If offered a choice between getting no more programs through Congress, and backing off the attacks on Israel's sovereignty, perhaps a few minds will be cleared. We may not be able to organize to persuade the administration, but we can certainly assist Congress to impede its programs. How many votes at the US ballot box do the Saudis have? For identification purposes only, the writer is the former Chief Economist of a major international oil company and has studied the Middle East and inter-Arab politics extensively over the years.

Posted in: Rabbis arrested in N.J. sting

07/23/09 02:20 PM

The New York Times ran a long piece on a tightly-knit foreign origin American Jewish community (don't recall if it was Iraqi or Syrian) pointing out the insular nature of that community and its intolerance of outsiders, Jewish or not. In such communities home country values fester, and there is little opportunity for American or American Jewish values to penetrate. Jews in American have been successful through the "melting pot" aspect of American and American-Jewish culture. Here in Los Angeles, we have seen, for example, a socialization of Iranian Jews who brought with them different values than those of the US about standing on line, pushing ahead, and false association of economic privilege with rights and behavior in public interaction with others. Fortunately the assimilation of that group has gone relatively well, to the point where the mayor of Beverly Hills is a very highly regarded Iranian Jewish American businessman of whom all Americans can be proud. There needs to be social action among other insular immigrant communities to re-awaken the melting pot idea; we have seen too many destructive consequences of the politics and sociology of separatism.

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