Stage Left

2004-01-10T20:32:00.000-05:00

I've moved, folks. All future blogging (which will, hopefully, be pretty regular) will be at Aspasia (http://aspasia.blog-city.com), with a couple of other friends from college. Check it out.

2003-10-18T01:12:00.000-04:00

Well, folks. I'm back. After a year of blogging inaction, including a semester in the Balkans and a summer in DC, it's time to gear up for a whole new season of politics and prose. So, without wasting any more time...

The Democratic Party has a troublesome tendency to act as if the Iraq War never happened. All too many Members of Congress refuse to make the neccesary commitment to Iraq to help it emerge from the mess its in. Whether you thought the war was right or wrong, to leave Iraq or not give reconstruction the funding it needs is to doom Iraqis to a society of anarchy. At this point, progressives should be working to ensure a progressive, democratic outcome. Instead, all too many are opposing foreign aid or making it only in loans - two things we constantly criticize the conservatives and neo-liberals for doing.

David Brooks' latest column,The Good, the Bad, the Ugly finds three types of Democrats in the Congress. Pelosi Democrats who don't want to deal with Iraq, Bayh Democrats who will deal with it, but not spend American money there and "the Cantwell Democrats. This group could be named after Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman or Dick Gephardt, but Maria Cantwell, the Washington senator, sits at Scoop Jackson's old desk on the Senate floor. The Cantwell Democrats are dismayed with how the Bush administration has handled the postwar period. They'd like to see the rich pay a bigger share of the reconstruction cost. But they knew yesterday's vote wasn't about George Bush. It was about doing what's right for the Iraqi people and what's right, over the long term, for the American people. These Democrats supported the aid package, and were willing to pay a price to give the Iraqis their best shot at a decent future. This week, Gephardt, who has to win over Iowa liberals to have any shot at the White House, is the bravest man in Washington.
Those are the three Democratic visions — the good, the bad and the ugly. Right now the Pelosi wing of the party is dominant, and the Cantwell wing is beleaguered. So this is a party teetering on the brink of full-bore liberal isolationism."

I'm proud to be a Cantwell Democrat.

2002-09-18T21:30:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, Bob Reich lost the Democratic primary for Governor yesterday. It was a great honor to be a part of a campaign that did politics cleanly, the way it should be done, that brought a compelling vision to the race, that inspiried many new people to take part on the democratic process, and that viewed idealism as a neccesary component of politics, rather than an insult. Thank you, Bob.
If Ronald Regan's election was the start of the conservative takeover of America, the seeds were planted sixteen years earlier in Barry Goldwater's "extremism in defense of liberty" speech. He staked out territory far to the right of where the American electorate was, but the Republicans stick to their guns and build a party up around that ideology. It took sixteen years, but they eventually got to radically alter American politics and society. Let us, as progressives, unite behind the message offered by Robert Reich of renewing the social compact and building the economy by investing in everyone and go forward in building the Democratic party up as a powerful force for progressive change in America.

2002-09-11T17:39:00.000-04:00

A new Boston Herald poll has Robert Reich and Shannon O'Brien in a dead heat in the Massachusetts gubernatorial Democratic primary. Shannon and Bob are both polling at 28%, Warren Tolman at 21%, and Tom Birmingham at 17%. When you vote, remember that a vote for Tolman or Birmingham is a vote for O'Brien and against real progressive reform.

2002-09-11T17:36:00.000-04:00

Computer is broken, the primary is next week, and I'm up to my neck in work. Blogging is going to stay light, unfortunately...

2002-09-11T17:35:00.000-04:00

May this September 11th be a day of comfort and peace for everyone in America and around the world.

2002-09-07T18:07:00.000-04:00

Warren Tolman is an everyday, hack politician who is willing to play dirty and lie when he wants power. He is more interested in tearing down than building up. If Shannon O'Brien is elected Governor of Massachusetts, it will be because little baby Warren couldn't share the "reformer" mantle and has to use the $3 million he got in public financing by selling state hospitals to lie about Bob Reich's character and record.

2002-09-01T02:43:00.000-04:00

Hopeful survery results from Search for Common Ground:

80% of Palestinians would support a large-scale non-violent protest movement and 56% would participate in its activities.

78% of Israeli Jews believe that the Palestinians have a legitimate right to seek a Palestinian state, provided that they use non-violent means.

A strong majority (62%) of Palestinians thinks that a new approach is needed in the Intifada and overwhelming majorities (73-92%) approve of Palestinians using various methods of nonviolent action.

2002-09-01T02:38:00.000-04:00

Daoud Kuttab in the Jordan Times writes about the "unholy alliance" between Palestinian extremists and the Israeli hard-liners to perpetuate the violence.

2002-09-01T02:21:00.000-04:00

Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, the new Palestinian Interior Minister, seems to be making some serious progress towards ending the violence in the Middle East. At the same time that he has been talking to Islamist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad about forging a united Palestinian front with Fatah and the other secular nationalists, he's been pushing for this to be a non-violent unity and to "return to the legitimate struggle against occupation, without violence...."

2002-08-31T01:51:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, its not availiable on the web, but Brian Doyle's "Leap" from the American Scholar (reprinted in the Utne Reader) is the first essay about 9/11 (and God, for that matter) that's moved me in a long time. It's well worth finding.

2002-08-27T02:51:00.000-04:00

School's starting again, the primary's in two weeks, life is crazy. Blogging will be light for a few days...

2002-08-23T03:06:00.000-04:00

Liberal Oasis suggests an alternative to watching Palestinian supporters and Israeli supporters shout at each other on television:
"[H]ere’s a crazy idea for TV producers.
Only book people who are willing to discuss what their own side could do differently.
How mind-blowing would it be to see an Israeli supporter suggest the abandonment of just one settlement, or a program to reduce Palestinian unemployment?
Or to see a Palestinian supporter acknowledge that the tactics of Gandhi would be far more effective than the tactics of Bin Laden?
If there is no one like that available, then don’t bother."
While he misses that his example of a Palestinian supporter, Adam Shapiro, really is a self-critical Jew, it seems like a great idea to me. I'd love to be one of the first guests on this new style of peacemaking television.

2002-08-21T22:40:00.000-04:00

Comments are on the fritz and they're screwing up my site on Netscape. Not making me very happy...

2002-08-21T13:21:00.000-04:00

Some members of the American Jewish community are playing into every anti-Jewish stereotype when it comes to political power. It worries me that there must be people having these very rights at this very moment: "Those Jews did it again. First knocking of Earl Hilliard, and now Cynthia McKinney. They care more about Israel than they do about people in America. They use their money to keep us African-Americans from choosing our own political leaders. If you want to get into Congress now, you need the Jews' approval - they control the whole damn thing."

2002-08-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

Just as the Palestinians agree to use their security forces to prevent attacks on Israelis and small scale cooperation begins, Israel goes and kills the brother of Ahmed Sa'adat, leader of the PFLP. After the killingof Raed Karmi in December, Salah Shehadah a few weeks ago, and this, one might get the idea that the Sharon government is sabotaging its own peace moves.

UPDATE: Ha'aretz has the same worries.

2002-08-21T13:05:00.000-04:00

Jim Capozzola of the enjoyable and enlightening Rittenhouse Review thinks that Eric Alterman has been getting an "awful lot of truly vicious e-mail". Jim has, obviously, never had the experience of being an American Jew Who Disagrees With The Israeli Government. While people such as Eric and myself would be well within mainstream political discourse in Israel (I support Meretz, Israel's fourth-largest party with 10 seats in the 120 member Knesset), here in America we regularly are referred to as "anti-semites" and "Nazis". After sending a letter to the Boston Jewish Advocate about personal attacks on dissenters, I was even referred to as an "international jihad savage". All this, and I'm still a Zionist...

2002-08-17T21:22:00.000-04:00

Quick self-promotion: If you like this site and want to see more traffic here, help me get on Eric Alterman's blogroll. Email Alterlinks@aol.com (and CC it to me too at judah at brandeis.edu) and let them know you like this site.

2002-08-16T15:36:00.000-04:00

Possibly in advance of Palestinian elections, we're starting to see the national consensus break apart in Palestine. According to Nabil Sha'ath, a PA Minister, Hamas has rejected efforts by moderate, secular Palestinian groups to create a united Palestinian front of reistance to the Israeli occupation that included claims only to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem and that rejected attacks against civilians in Israel.
Growing out of efforts lead by on-the-grond West Bank Fatah leaders like Hussein a-Sheikh (and supported by the imprisoned Marwan Barghouti, and assisted by EU diplomat Allistain Crooke) that have since been taken over the PA, the attempts to create a unified political platform reflect a growing debate over the efficacy of certain violent methods. While the original unified cease-fire attempt was thwarted by Israel's bombing of Sheikh Salah Shehadah, efforts continued to get all Palestinian political groups to back a single unified concept of resistance to Israel. With Hamas unwilling to sign on and give up its suicide bombings or its rejectionist Greater Palestine fantasy, we may see a fight for public opinion between the moderate groups as the Islamists. Israel can make a big difference in who wins this debate - if they're willing to give up their "Yasser Arafat is the kingpin of terror" argument and get down to negotiating. If they keep arresting people like Barghouti, I can guarantee the public will side with those advocating the most violent methods possible against Israel.

2002-08-16T15:23:00.000-04:00

Busy, Busy, Busy has been doing a good job of following the Iraqi issue. Its good to finally see a debate.

2002-08-16T15:22:00.000-04:00

While he might be another example of Amnon Lipkin-Shahak/Ami Ayalon style "burn bright-burn out" political leaders, Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna is all the rage in the Labor Party. He seems to have real left-wing credenitals, talking about new negotiations with the Palestinians and having good relations with Palestinians citizens in Haifa, a mixed city. He even single-handedly guaranteed the presence of Palestinians at last year's Seeds of Peace camp, after the PA pulles out. If Mitzna should win the Labor chairmanship, me still might not be enough to save the party from collapse. However, with MK Yael Dayan moving to his camp and courting leading doves such as Yossi Beilin and Avraham Burg, he might be what Labor needs. There still isn't a left-wing leader with enough legitimacy to challenge Sharon or Netanyahu, but Mitzna might turn into the closest thing we have. File this one under: wait and see...

2002-08-16T15:09:00.000-04:00

This may be one of the very few times I agree with people like Brent Scrowcroft, Norman Schwartkopf, Lawrence Eagleberger, and (war criminal) Henry Kissinger. If the majority of anti-war voices continue to be Republicans, I might just find myself voting for some in the next election (just kidding, sort of...). Where are all the Democrats who oppose Bush's plans to send (mostly lower-class) young men and women to kill and be killed for no reason? If there's more to the Democrats' silence than pre-election politics, I'm going to be very dissapointed.

2002-08-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

Josh Marshall keeps asking questions about a meeting between Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Taliban Foreign Minister Ahmad Muttawakil in April 2001. Marshall apparently thinks that Rohrabacher did something very wrong by meeting with Muttawakil and presenting the Taliban with his "personal peace plan". I don't harbor any illusions that this would have been a viable peace plan, still I think the congressman should be congratulated for trying to bring stability and peace to troubled Afghanistan. At the time, the Taliban weren't considered enemies of the U.S. In fact, when they came to power in 1996 the State Department considered them potential allies. Yes, one can take issue with negotiating with such a repressive regime, but the government does it all the time - China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia. In the end, I think contacts between peoples and government are almost always going to be helpful, no matter how far apart the two sides start.

Josh Marshall reponds: I take your "apparently" is included there because I never say there was anything wrong with the meeting. But I think you miss a few important points. In April 2001 we had sanctions on the Taliban because they refused to turn over Osama bin Laden who we held responsible for the murders of a number of US citizens, and a couple hundred African in Tanzania and Kenya

My response: I still stand by my belief that negotiations are a positive thing, even in that case (as I would have supported them during the Cold War, or with Iraq, Cuba, Libya, Iran or anyone else we have sanctions against). I guess a lot of the questions could be resolved by knowing what Rohrabacher's plan was. Was it a plan for American to run an oil pipeline through Afganistan and allow the Taliban to collect tax revenue and use the money to enforce "stability"? Or was it a real plan for peace, power-sharing, democracy, and improved US-Afghan relations? I would love to know....

2002-08-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

New Year's Eve. Madison Square Garden. Phish. Be there...

2002-08-07T21:32:00.000-04:00

Betting tip: Keep your eye on West Bank Fatah leader Hussein a-Sheikh. If Israel wants a democratic Palestinian leadership that still has street credibility, this may be the guy.

2002-08-07T21:30:00.000-04:00

Why is the Israeli Defense Minister negotiating security cooperation with the PA if they really are an organization that sponsors terror? Maybe he realizes that Israel needs to deal with the non-rejectionist Palestinian leadership and that Sharon's "there is no partner" claim is merely propaganda.

2002-08-07T21:22:00.000-04:00

There was an suggestion by Akiva Eldar in his weekly "People and Politics" column in Ha'aretz (that has since disappeared from the website) that jailed Tanim leader Marwan Barghouti now believes in a cease-fire and was ready to sign the declaration that was to be published last week before Israel's bombing raid in Gaza. The interesting thing was Eldar's claim that Barghouti, if released, plans to lead a non-violent movement against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. If I understand directly, the evidence for this claim comes from European diplomats working with Palestinians. While there had been suggestions in the past the Barghouti is the Palestinian Nelson Mandela (a much more likely option that a Palestinian Mahatma Gandhi), this seems to be the most blatant.
P.S. Getting to be involved in things like this is one of the reasons I'd much rather be on the inside than the outside.

2002-08-07T21:15:00.000-04:00

While we know that technology was the driving factor in both the domestic (tech stocks, productivity gains via internet) and international (better shipping, better communications) aspects of the '90s boom economy, I wonder if anyone can find a viable connection between the economic problems here in America and the ones being faced internationally, specifically in Latin America? Are our woes and their merely coincidence or there is there something underlying them both?

2002-08-05T22:12:00.000-04:00

Is this Robert Reich profile from the Boston Globe positive or negative?

2002-08-05T22:06:00.000-04:00

Ha'aretz explains some of my problems with Gush Shalom's "war crimes" campaign, though they miss that Ariel Sharon request that the Attorney General investigate them is much more problematic in a democracy.

2002-08-05T22:03:00.000-04:00

The American consulate in Jerusalem (which deals with the Palestinians, as opposed to the embassy in Tel Aviv which deals with Israelis) is thinking of moving some of its operations from East to West Jerusalem. This probably only interests me since I'm thinking of joining the Foriegn Service diplomatic corps after college and there's no place I'd rather be than Jerusalem.

2002-08-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

A Palestinian investigator for B'Tselem, who monitors human rights in the occupied territories, was arrested for spying for Israel since 1996. While, as B'Tselem says, "[his] guilt can only be proved in a court, in a fair trial, to which every accused is entitled," this can't have been a smart move. If the Palestinians lose faith in B'Tselem and their wonderful work defending human rights, they will have lost one of their most respected Israeli allies and one of the only mainstream groups to put pressure on Israel to respect Palestinian human rights.

2002-08-05T00:53:00.000-04:00

This one also scares me, not only because I used to hang out around the Damascus Gate, but because I had assumed that in Palestinian areas one could be safe from the randomness of anti-Israel violence, especially if one was with Palestinians.

2002-08-05T00:48:00.000-04:00

While I don't think Gush Shalom's tactics of gathering evidence of Israeli war crimes are the most effective (or even the most appropriate) tactics, I don't think that its criminal as PM Sharon apparently does.

2002-08-01T13:12:00.000-04:00

Ann Coulter finally begins to understand where the terrorists are coming from:
Coulter was asked why she condemns the terrorists so strongly, but not those who kill abortion doctors. She said that the latter have been extremely frustrated by the fact that they can’t vote on this issue, thanks to Roe vs. Wade, and that they worked within the system for twenty years without success before turning to murder. She said that those individuals believe they had been left with no other routes for dissent in the face of an ongoing atrocity. Coulter further suggested that although she would not take it upon herself to take extreme actions on the abortion issue, she will not condemn those who do.

2002-08-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

Palestinians in Nablus emulate the Czech people during the 1968 Russian invasion - completely ignoring their occupiers. I wonder if this large-scale act of nonviolent disobedience could become something major. BTW, for those who have argued that the Palestinians should use non-violent tactics, well, here they are. Are you out there supporting them now?

2002-08-01T12:40:00.000-04:00

Just as during the Cold War there were those who saw the Middle East conflict internationally, through the lens of America vs. Russia and those who view it as a regional issue, through the lens of Israel vs. Arabs/Palestinians, there are those who view it internationally today, as the West vs. Islam, and those who continue to see it regionally. Just as all progress to peace during the Cold War happened becuase of the regionalist perspective, the same holds true today. The sooner we realize the uniqueness of this conflict, the sooner we can help it come to an end.

2002-08-01T00:43:00.000-04:00

I'm looking for some new progressive/left/liberal blogs for my links as well as any good ones that deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a pro-peace, non-one-sided way, as I try to. Leave suggestions.

2002-08-01T00:27:00.000-04:00

I want to propose a hypothesis and have everyone (including all the real economists out there) share their thoughts:
One of the big factors driving down the stock market these days is lack of consume confidence in companies being honest in their dealings and accounting. Might, because of this, socially responsible funds -with their cleaner image- start, as a sector, start to out-perform the rest of the market? Might their reputations for being "good" companies help them now?

2002-07-31T23:56:00.000-04:00

This one hits a little closer to home. After all, I used to live on Mount Scopus and hang out in the Hebrew U. Forum. This should only strengthen our resolve to make more peace, not more war.

2002-07-31T23:51:00.000-04:00

Warren Tolman accepted Bob Reich's challenge to debate one-on-one. (Full disclosure - if Bob wasn't in the race, I'd probably be a Tolman supporter. I voted for him on the second ballot at the convention.) Now, if only Shannon O'Brien, Bob's real challenger, would do it as well. But, as even Mitt Romney has noted, Shannon's chicken.

2002-07-31T23:42:00.000-04:00

Shame on Massachusetts officials for changing the Medicaid program so that it would reimburse pharmacies 2% less than the cost of prescription drugs and shame on CVS, Walgreens, and Brooks Pharmacies for planning to stop filling Medicaid prescriptions. Once again, government balancing the budget on the backs of the neediest and corporations not giving a damn about social responsibility.

2002-07-31T23:38:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly, we haven't heard much about this recent attack on Palestinians in Hebron by Jewish settlers, in which they shot a 14 year-old dead. Even a top Israeli official called it, "'a pogrom against the Arabs of Hebron, with no provocations on the Palestinian side.''

2002-07-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Robert Reich's campaign ads premier tonight in Boston.

2002-07-29T16:59:00.000-04:00

These two reports from Ha'aretz show how serious the Palestinian cease fire initiative was until Ariel Sharon ordered the a one-ton bomb dropped on the residential neighborhood where Salah Shehada was hiding. The cynical view says that Sharon specifically wanted to keep the violence going so he can stay in power. The less cynical view is that he'll continue to fight against the Palestinians until they give up and accept his demands for, he believes, Israel's security.
-"Liquidating an initiative" by Hannah Kim
-"Deadly reality and cease-fire fantasy" by Amir Oren

2002-07-17T12:58:00.000-04:00

John Wallach, founder of Seeds of Peace, died last week. Let me suggest making a small contribution to them in his memory.

2002-07-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

Check out page A21 of the New York Times for a wonderful statement from American Jews on the conflict in the Middle East.

2002-07-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

The IRA does what's long been considered impossible in conflict situations: apologizes. Someone should send this to Ariel Sharon and Yassir Arafat.

2002-07-16T00:11:00.000-04:00

Yossi Beilin in Ha'aretz:
When the eclipse finally ends, when reason returns to our lives, and we stop
beating each other up and making fools of ourselves in actions like closing Sari
Nusseibeh's offices, we'll also go back to the negotiating table, bruised and
hurting, nerves wracked and convinced that finally the other side understands
how powerful we are.

I am convinced it is possible to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement without
granting the Palestinian refugees the right of return. We were very close to such
a solution at Taba in January 2001, where it was proved that it is possible to
reach a fair agreement without Israel agreeing to what it could never accept -
unlimited entry for refugees to its borders. It's no accident that only after the
Taba talks did leaders from the Palestinian Authority begin making clear that
they would not press for implementation of the right of return.

2002-07-15T23:55:00.000-04:00

This new bill that requires that Israeli citizens sign an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state, including its symbols, flag, and anthem, taken along side with the "Jews-only" land bill, are the latest manifestations of a right-wing offensive in the age-old debate of how to define the nature of the State of Israel. Founded as a "Jewish and democratic" state, Israel has always granted the right to vote to all citizens, regardless of nationality. Its calendar, symbols, anthem, and governments have always been exclusively Jewish, however, and Arabs have always been discriminated against in housing, employment, education, immigration, and social services. religious freedom is generally maintained for all religions (though less so for liberal Jews), except when it bumps up against land issues. Note that this is all within Israel proper, and has nothing to do with the occupied Palestinian territories. The question remains, can Israel be both Jewish and democratic, and if not, which one trumps the other?
It must be noted that the idea of a Jewish state is a state of the Jewish nation or people, not the Jewish religion. In this sense, Jews are much more like Germans, and Israel like Germany, than it is like the Vatican, a religious state. One can be a member of the Jewish people without being a practicing religious Jew. Given that, there are two ways in which democratic rights can be granted - to communities or to individuals. In America, for instance, rights are granted to individuals, regardless of their communal identification. In Lebanon, rights are allocated to the group, such as the Maronites right to choose the President and the Muslims right to choose the Prime Minister. Perhaps, instead of nation-states, a loose confederation of tribal communities would be the best way of politically organizing the Middle East. Currently, that's only a fantasy.
Skipping a complete analysis, one of the most interesting conceptions of Israel is from Dr. Ron Pundak - that Israel is a "state of the Jews and all its citizens". That means that Israel should be a democratic state with equal rights for all, but a special responsibility to the Jews of the world, as they showed by absorbing Jews from the former Soviet Union.
I think the main challenge to Israel being both a democratic and Jewish state is the need of many Jews to have the government guarantee its status as a Jewish state. For instance, no one doubts whether France is a French state or Germany and German state because there is no doubt that even if non-Germans or non-French were to participate fully in the political and cultural life of the country, the French or German culture is so strong that it won't become state of the immigrant culture (even if the immigrant culture adds to our understanding of French or German culture).
Israelis, however, are not as convinced about the permanence of the Yisraeliut, or Israeli-ness, of Israel. They constantly fear being swallowed up by the Arab culture that is the majority in the Middle East. When Jews express worry about a Palestinian right of return leading to the destruction of Israel, it is not a military fear but a cultural one. The secret to solving the conflict about Israel's nature as a Jewish state is a renewed focus on creating an authentic Israeli/Jewish culture, as envisioned by the Zionist thinker Ahad Ha'am. Currently, Israeli culture is a mishmash of European style, American commercialism, Arabic food (as well as anti-Arabic identity issues), and Jewish (both European and Oriental) neuroses, traditions, and religion. With the creation of an authentic Jewish culture, indiginous to the Israel and within its fixed borders, will allow Israelis to feel as secure in being Israeli and Germans are in being German. A strong Jewish/Israeli culture will negate the need for governmental favortism that is often percieved as (and sometimes is) racist against Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The last remaining question is the symbols of the state - can the flag contain a Star of David, the anthem talk about the "Jewish soul", and the state symbol be a menorah, without alienating the 20% of the country that is not Jewish? Or is this symbolic alienation acceptable, as long as there is no systematic or legal discrimination? Can these symbols become Israeli by losing their Jewish meaning? Should they? Or is none of this possible as long as "Jew" can refer to someone in the diaspora as easily as it can to an Israeli?

2002-07-11T21:17:00.000-04:00

Wonderful op-ed by Khalil Shikaki on how a parlimentary system can reform Palestinian politics. A very worthwhile read, even for those who care only about how to get rid of Yasser Arafat.

2002-07-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

The Bush Administration, is its new "coportate responsiblity" policy, is adhering to a "bad-apple" theory of corporate scandal. That is, no matter what, there will be people who just don't play by the rules and those people need to be punished. As the widespread nature of corporate fraud (including, apparetly, the President and Vice President's own corporations) shows, this isn't the problem of a few bad apples. Rather, something is rotten in the system and there needs to be systematic change. Not that beefing up the SEC isn't needed, it just isn't enough.
Some (not members of the administration or Congress, of course) have proposed making sure that corporate boards are truly independent of the executives, rather than just rubber stamps. That means that the board should be looking out for the interests of the shareholders and making sure the executives only behave in ways that are in the company's (rather than the executives') best interests. This all means that boards should be elected by the shareholders, rather than appointed by the CEO.As well, CEOs should not be board chairmen. In addition, changes must be made to the accounting structure so that accountants don't have conflicts of interest, being responsible both for auditing and advising.
The problem goes deeper, however. With companies having a fiduciary responsibility only to make money for shareholders (and legally liable if their business actions aren't for that sole purpose), and with much of executive pay being tied to stock performances, there are been a greatly increased focus on short-term stock prices. Much of the current money business has been an attempts to salvage quarterly stock prices.
Companies continually fire workers and move operations overseas in order to cut costs, leading to greater profit for shareholders. An entire industry of people like "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap and Mitt Romney has sprung up of corporate managers who take over a company, gut it in order to raise its stock prices, make millions of dollars, and then sell the company. The company is left with high stock prices, but no long term future. These strategies are designed to do just that: raise the quarterly stock-prices quicker, not make the company healthy in the long run. One option is to change the ficuciary responsiblity making corporations legally responsible not only to their shareholders, but to their workers, communities, and environments. This responsiblity used to assumed and understood as part of the the corporate social contract. The other suggestion was made by Senator Jeff Bingaman a number of years ago. He suggesting giving tax breaks and special benefits to companies that behaved in a responsible fashion by reinvesting profits in training workers, by protecting the environment, by doing everything neccesary to create more wealth that will be spread out to both workers and investors over time, rather than raising the wealth of a few investors quickly. Maybe its time to revisit that suggestion.

2002-07-11T20:36:00.000-04:00

If anyone doubted the connections between the American civil rights movement and the issues facing the Palestinian citizens of Israel, read this profile of A'adal Ka'adan, the man whose attempted move to Katzir set of the current issues of land rights in Israel by Israeli author Tom Segev. His reason for moving isn't some sort of rabid anti-Jewish ideology; he just wanted better education for his children.

2002-07-11T20:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm back... I think I'm just going to skip most of the news of the past two weeks and start again where we are. So, if someone wants to offer comments about Israel's Jews-only legislation, their debates over daylight savings and a two day weekend, the poposed European Common Agricultural Policy, or the complete breakdown of "turbo-share-holder" capitalism, do it here. A prize to the best Marxian (or post-Marxian, with extra points for Herbert Marcuse references) analysis of the current corporate crime wave.

2002-07-03T13:04:00.000-04:00

New posts coming soon, I promise. While you're waiting, smile at this: a new WHDH poll has Bob Reich and Shannon O'Brien tied at 24%. So much for her post convention bump...

2002-06-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks to XQUZYPHYR & Overboard for the link.

2002-06-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

I'm working on a research project for a human rights organization, looking to create relationships with American groups working for peace in the Middle East. I know that I'm not familiar with all the groups out there, so if you know an organization that's promoting peace and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians, send me an email or add a comment. Thanks.

2002-06-26T01:27:00.000-04:00

A quick round-up of some good responses to the Bush speech on the Middle East:
-William Saletan in Slate
-Gideon Samet in Ha'aretz
-Adam Keller from Gush Shalom
-Suzanne Goldenberg in the Guardian
-Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian
-New York Times editorial
-Reports on the Israeli left in Ha'aretz
-Ali Abunimah in Common Dreams

2002-06-26T01:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, I need to comment on Nicholas Kristof's tribute to sweatshops. Basically, he says that the choice is between sweatshops or no jobs, so rich nations should promose sweatshops. What Kristoff misses is that the choice isn't between these two options, but are both evils that need to be rectified. Sweatshops, under no circumstances, are unacceptable. Watch some videos of life in sweatshops and then ask yourself if you're willing to work in one. If not, than no one else should have to. Here's one suggestion from Bob Reich on how to deal with sweatshops and wages. I'm really looking for some good discussion on this one by others who share these values.

2002-06-26T00:28:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'll post more about this later... Every day I'm just more amazed by how wrong a person to have in charge George W. Bush is.

2002-06-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

In contrast, for the first time in 54 years, all of the Arab nations came together by saying they were ready to recognize Israel. In response, nothing. Isn't this what Israel has always wanted?

2002-06-25T23:51:00.000-04:00

George Bush, in what was supposed to be a historic speech, somehow turned into a dummy to Ariel Sharon's ventriloquist. For those of you who missed the speech, it essentially went like this. "Israel is only acting in self-defense, which is ok and which will continue. Should the Palestinians create a democracy, adopt free-market economics, hold elections, elect someone who is not Arafat, not in the current government, not associated with any militant group, then, and only then, will we talk about creating a provisional Palestinian state. If they do not give in to these Israeli and American demands, they have no chance of getting basic human rights."
This speech shown a complete lack of understanding of the dynamics in the conflict, a complete lack of understanding of Palestinian needs, a complete lack of understanding of how to make the situation better. He's missed that one of the worst problems Palestinians have is that they've constantly been treated like less than the Israelis and have always been told what to do. This speech only continues that pattern. He's missed that America can't tell other countires who their democratically elected leaders should be. He's missed that Israel is taking his speech to be a green light to continue furthering its occupation of the Palestinian territories (ok, maybe Bush didn't miss this part).
Basically, Bush took where the two parties were - an understanding that there would eventually be two states based on the 1967 borders, etc. - and pushed the process back by adding new conditions and not recognizing the internationally accepted parameters to the final status. There will be no progress from this speech. If anything, it pushed peace farther away. It is a speech made in a fantasy world with no basis in the actual conflict.

2002-06-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

Yediot Achronot reports on Shimon Peres' reaction to Bush's speech:

"Shimon Peres' face became more and more weary and angry, the longer Bush went
on with his speech. "He is making a fatal mistake" remarked Peres. "Making the
creation of a Palestinian state dependant upon a change in the Palestinian
leadership is a fatal mistake" he repeated again and again. "Arafat has led the
Palestinians for 35 years, kept their head above the water in the international
arena. No, no, you can't just brush him aside with one speech."
Peres did not watch the speech to the very end. He got up, turned off the TV
and left the room, saying before he left: "The abyss into which the region will
plunge will be as deep as the expectations from this speech were high. There
will be a bloodbath."

2002-06-23T20:10:00.000-04:00

If Israel is to be destroyed, it won't be because of terrorism. Terror, at its worst, can disrupt the Israeli way of life, but it cannot destroy the state. The most dangerous threat facing Israel is the loss of international legitimacy. Israel, who has always had support from most countries of the world because of its moral legitimacy as a state created to protect a people from oppression, is quickly becoming an international pariah. Perhaps its post-colonial guilt, perhaps its latent anti-Semitism, but whatever the reason Israel needs to protect itself from becoming a state mentioned in the same breath as Iraq and North Korea as violators of U.N. resolutions and international norms. In the current world scene, Israel's economic needs depend on hi-tech trade with other Western nations and its political legitimacy depends on good relations with European countries and support from America. The loss of those would be destructive to the Jewish state.
Given this, Israel's current military strategy against the Palestinians and its entire system of occupation without human rights is a greater threat to itself than the Palestinians can ever be. Israel needs to accept the international consensus and announce its willingness to accept a fair and just solution to the conflict. Even if terror continues, even if Palestinians are as murderous as right-wingers claim, Israel's ability to defend itself against terror won't be clounded by the moral ambiguity of combining defensive actions with ones designed only to deny Palestinian national aspirations and prolong Israel's rule over the Palestinian territories and people. After a withdrawl from the territories, Israel have the international support it needs to continue its path to be a modern, normal country at peace.

2002-06-23T19:44:00.000-04:00

This is from Ha'aretz' Doron Rosenblum:
With what surprising indifference we received the chilling conclusion of the FBI
and CIA - published in The New York Times - that America's war against Qaida
in Afghanistan has actually failed. Not only did the indiscriminate revenge and
carpet bombings not eliminate terror, but in fact they may have doubled the
threat. The terror organizations have apparently branched out and turned into a
global jihad movement, with 10 times more motivation to seek vengeance and
wreak destruction.

Can anyone find the original NYT piece?

2002-06-23T11:08:00.000-04:00

Some people with Netscape may be having problems with the comments section. You can either use Internet Explorer, or wait for me to try and fix the problem...

2002-06-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

Demosthenes writes about the difference between Palestinian extremist groups and the general Palestinian population, a point I want to go a little deeper into. While there has always been a small minority of Palestinians who support Hamas (as low as 14% during the best days of Oslo), the vast majority of Palestinians have been ready to live at peace, side by side with Israel. Even during the current intifada, it's a number that's reached as high as 75% (during the 3 week cease fire before Israel's assassination of Raed Karmi).
Nowadays, people who've never believed in any form of Palestinian rights are showing a poll that says that half ("More than half! 51%!" they say.) of the Palestinians want to "liberate all of historic Palestine". However, since we know that Palestinian willingness to accept Israel isn't dogmatic for more than that hard-core rejectionist 14%, the poll is less indicative of how many Palestinians are willing to live at peace with Israel, than how many believe that Israel will ever let them live in peace. While I realize that this is a misreading of the intentions of most Israelis, its a very similar misreading to the one Israelis have of the Palestinians. The mistake is that one side doesn't understand why the other feel it needs to do things it doesn't want to do. If more Palestinians were convinced that Israel was interested in peace, there wold be stronger support for a accepting Israel. Similarly, if more Israelis thought that Palestinians wanted peace, there would be more support for a Palestinian state, as there was a few years ago.
The key for Israel to reducing terror is not killing either the potential terrorists or the dogmatic rejectionist leaders, but to make the 85% of Palestinians who are willing to accept Israel under the right conditions stop the 15% who aren't. If one looks at the opinion polls throughout the Oslo process, there was a strong correlation between Palestinians believing that they would get their minimum demands met (control over all of the territories, two states, shared Jerusalem, compensation for refugees), and the levels of support for terror and rejectionism. Israel should use those divisions within Palestinian society to its advantage (and to the advantage of most Palestinians) by not giving the dogmatic terrorists recruitment material, but by showing Palestinians that there is hope that their needs will be met. To do otherwise is to let 14% of the Palestinians have a veto over peace for all 10 million people.

2002-06-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

Scott Ritter commenting on how Bush is sabotaging the attempts to return weapons inspectors to Iraq, just so he can go to war.

2002-06-20T19:56:00.000-04:00

Update on the Palestinian "anti-terror" open letter:

Some 150 Palestinians added their names yesterday to an anti-terror
advertisement run by 55 prominent Palestinian intellectuals in the Arabic daily
al-Quds. The ad, first published Wednesday, urges Palestinian militants to halt
attacks on civilians inside Israel, saying such actions hinder the Palestinians'
aspirations for independence. The ad also says that the murder of civilians
deepens the hatred between the two peoples and undermines any chance of
living side-by-side in peace.

2002-06-20T19:54:00.000-04:00

In an interview with Ha'aretz, Arafat says he accepts the Clintion proposals, agrees with the public campaign against suicide bombings (as reported below), wishes he would make condolence calls to Israelis, blames "foreigners" for exploiting young Palestinians by paying suicide bombers, and says he's ready for peace. Of course, we don't know how much he's ready to back that up with action, but, if I was Israel, I'd call him on it - tell him that if he actually does everything he says he's going to, as determined by a third-party monitor, Israel would leave the territories entirely and put into place a Taba/Saudi style deal.

2002-06-20T00:11:00.000-04:00

The Guardian of London on the "Hamas veto". Hamas times its attacks in order to destroy any international peace initiatives that might bring the Israelis and Palestinians closer to the two-state solution they both need. If only Ariel Sharon wouldn't give Hamas that veto power and go ahead and make the "concessions" neccesary.

2002-06-20T00:07:00.000-04:00

Two small pearls of wisdom from Desmond Tutu:

To criticise the occupation is not to overlook Israel's unique strengths, just as protesting the Vietnam war did not imply ignoring the distinct freedoms and humanitarian accomplishments of the United States. In a region where repressive governments and unjust policies are the norm, Israel is certainly more democratic than most of its neighbours. This does not make dismantling the settlements any less of a priority.

Almost instinctively, the Jewish people have always been on the side of the voiceless. In their history, there is painful memory of massive round-ups, house demolitions and collective punishment. In their scripture, there is acute empathy for the disenfranchised. The occupation represents a dangerous and selective amnesia of the persecution from which these traditions were born.

2002-06-20T00:05:00.000-04:00

Shibley Telhami writes about why the "mini-Palestine" won't help bring peace to the region. He closes with an idea that I've long proposed: negotiation what the permanent settlement will look like and then, slowly, implement it. This way the Palestinians will see the end result that is coming and the Israelis can have it come step-by-step. It was the disagreement over what a final settlement would look like that brought down Camp David and the Palestinians need to know that Israel will leave all of the territories. At the same time, Israel needs to know it can leave and not be attacked in leaving.

2002-06-19T23:57:00.000-04:00

Molly Ivins comments on the Texas Democratic Convention. If the TexDems take both Phil Gramm's Senate seat and Dubya's old governorship, it will be a day for celebration around the country.

2002-06-19T13:07:00.000-04:00

Testing out the new comments system.

2002-06-19T12:59:00.000-04:00

More updates soon... Hold yer horses.

2002-06-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

Prominent Palestinians call for halting terror attacks inside Israel
(Ha'aretz) Former Palestinian minister Hanan Ashrawi and Palestinian commissioner for Jerusalem
Sari Nusseibeh were among 55 Palestinians listed in a full page advertisement in the Al
Quds newspaper calling for an end to terror attacks inside Israel.

The call came a day after a suicide bomber killed 19 people aboard a bus in Jerusalem,
which prompted Israel to pledge it would seize Palestinian land in retaliation.

"We urge those behind military attacks against civilians inside Israel to reconsider their
positions and to stop pushing our youth to carry out these attacks, which only result in
deepening hatred between the two peoples," said the group in the East Jerusalem daily.

"We see that these attacks do not achieve progress towards achieving our...freedom and
independence," said the signatories.

Most Palestinians consider attacks on Jewish settlers in the territories, as well as on
Israeli soldiers, legitimate. Of at least 530 Israelis killed in the violence which erupted in
September 2000 after peace talks stalled, almost half were civilians targeted inside Israel.

"They give this aggressive government headed by (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon
justification to pursue its harsh and aggressive war against our people and against our
cities and villages," they said in the advertisement.

2002-06-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

Two quickies from Yoel Marcus in Ha'aretz:
Israel has become a two-thirds state. Public opinion polls show that
two-thirds of the public is for something - and also against it. Two-thirds say
they are very satisfied with Sharon, but the same number of people say he's no
good in economy and defense. Two-thirds are in favor of a regional conference
based on the Saudi proposal, but the same number of people vote thumbs
down for the proposal itself. Two-thirds support the Likud's vote against a
Palestinian state, but the same number of people support Sharon's decision
not to vote against it. Two-thirds are in favor of Operation Defensive Shield, but
the same number say it solved nothing. Two-thirds say Arafat should be
liquidated, but the same number say we should talk to him. Mina Zemach of the
Dahaf polling organization calls it the shotgun approach. If you spray enough
bullets, maybe you'll hit something.

In order to avoid having to decide and make the necessary compromises,
Sharon sets conditions. The stupidest of them is his demand that the
Palestinian Authority institute reforms and replace the Palestinian leadership
with an organized, responsible, democratic, corruption-free government. If
Jordan and Egypt weren't dictatorships, is there any way we could have made
peace with them? If Arafat demanded that Israel carry out reforms before sitting
down to the negotiating table, I wonder what he would ask for. To replace
Sharon with a relevant leader? To stop the incitement against the Palestinians?
To trim the government by getting rid of 15 ministers? To hand over Yatom for
the attempted assassination of Khaled Meshal? To haul Eli Yatzpan in front of a
judge? To end religious coercion? To improve the conditions in Israeli jails? To
give up our nuclear weapons and elect Ahmed Tibi president? When are we
going to stop manufacturing excuses?

2002-06-13T22:18:00.000-04:00

Follow Up: If the territories don't provide security and denying the residents' rights (citizenship, voting, free speech, free movement) isn't a moral thing to do, then what's the reason to be in the territories? If Israel stays in - there's no security and they're doing something none of us would justify. If Israel gets out - security is no worse, the country behaves in way we can all be proud of, and, just maybe, it's a step forward to peace.
The way refusnik Guy Grossman explains it: If Israel denies Palestinians their rights, its not a democratic state. If it absorbs them with full rights, its not a Jewish state. The only other option is to get out of the territories. There is no choice and no excuses, the occupation must end.

2002-06-13T22:14:00.000-04:00

The idea that Israel can't leave the West Bank and Gaza for security reasons is the result of an old way of thinking. The only way that holding on to extra territory could protect Israel is if there was a land invasion from the East, meaning Jordan. Holding on to the territory will not prevent missile strikes from Iraq, a very real threat, or terror from Palestinians. Missiles can travel over the land, be it Jordan, Israel, or Palestine, and it appears to be obvious that Israel's control is doing nothing to prevent terrorism.
The continued fear, then, is only of a massive invasion not seen since 1973 of a united Arab front against Israel. While one can easily understand the roots of such a fear, especially for the older generations and those who have learned directly from them, there hasn't been an Arab invasion in 29 years. Since then, there have been (very successful) peace treaties signed with Egypt and Jordan, the Palestinian people have come more to terms with a two state solution, and Jordan has renounced its claim to the West Bank. In fact, the only leader whom the territories would provide security against, the King of Jordan, is Israel's closest ally in the Middle East. Those of us who came of age since the Camp David Accords of 1979, know that there is a possibility for peace and we refuse to let the old thinking of Sharon and the other dinosaurs keep that from us.

2002-06-13T09:02:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Tapped, MaxSpeak, and Le Blogeur for the mentions over the past few days. Don't worry, updates are coming soon. In the meanwhile, for great commentary on the Middle East check out Americans for a Third Way, from my list of links.

2002-06-11T13:43:00.000-04:00

Tapped wants to know more about the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Israel, who issued the report on civillian casualties in the current Intifada. The ICT is an idealogically right-wing/millitaristic group, their writings opposing Israeli peace initiatives since Yitzhak Rabin. As a sociologist, I wonder how the ICT defined "combatant". I'm pretty sure the numbers could be spun any number of ways.

2002-06-11T13:25:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post editorializes on how scary it is when Americans in the judicial system are subject to the whims of the President alone in a breach of separation of powers.

2002-06-11T13:23:00.000-04:00

Ramesh Ponnuru on why partisanship can be a good thing during wartime.

2002-06-11T00:28:00.000-04:00

Israelis don't worry about the imminent destruction of the Jewish people as much as American Jews do, due largely to manipulation by the Israeli political right. Via MaxSpeak.

2002-06-11T00:06:00.000-04:00

My housemates, who run the Student Global AIDS Campaign at Brandeis, would be dissapointed to hear that the White House convinced GOP Senators to cut 60% from proposed new funding to fight AIDS.

2002-06-11T00:04:00.000-04:00

Texas Republicans include a call for an all-Christian judiciary at their convention. Aren't you glad you moved to Boston, Dena?

2002-06-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Brandon Keim on the furor over Harvard commencement's "jihad speech". After all the calls for moderate Muslims to reclaim Islam from the fanatics, isn't a Muslim student leader who defines jihad as personal struggle for meaning and justice exactly what we should be supporting?

2002-06-10T23:35:00.000-04:00

I have fallen into a trap. At times, what I publish appears to be overwhelmingly anti-Israel. I have been posting to convince people who is wrong, and not what is right. In my community at Brandeis, at home in the Cleveland Jewish community, and in American culture at-large, I get the sense that there's a lack of understanding of the two-sided nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Especially since September 11th, people have placed it into a context they understand: a fight against terror. Similarly during the Cold War, many Americans viewed the conflict as American ally vs. Soviet allies. In the black power movement, and now amongst socialists, it's seen as a conflict of an oppressed group struggling for its freedom. Through my posts, I have often tried to add some nuance to what I see as an inapproriate dominant paradigm.
While these paradigms may make it easier for us to understand the conflict, history has shown that peace is advanced not when the issues are viewed as part of a wider struggle, but on their own terms. That being the case, its worth seeing the conflict in a different light. The conflicts about the Middle East conflict are less about solutions than about paradigms of analysis: who is at fault, whose narrative is correct, etc. From now own, rather than trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong, let's try to figure out how to make our way forward from this mess in the direction of peace.
It has been said that Oslo failed becuse there was agreement on the tunnel, but not on the light at the end of it. Now we know what the light is - the Clinton plan, the Saudi plan, the Taba agreements (they're all varying levels of detail of the same idea) - but are missing the way to get there. So instead of trying to convince people of who is wrong in Jenin or in Netanya, whether "targeted killings" or "martydor actions" are justified, of whose fault the whole thing is, lets convince people of the solution and start bringing people together who believe in it. Together, we can rebuild the most neccesary thing for peace: trust that the other side, irregardless of their actions, wants nothing more than a just and lasting peace for their children.

2002-06-10T23:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, at Boston's (belated) Israel Independence Day celebration, the scene was perfectly emblematic of the conflict. One one side of a fence were Jews of all stripes - young, old, Israelis, Americans, Russians, Holocause survivors, religious, secular - shouting across the divide, "Terrorists! Animals! The People of Israel Lives!". On the other side stood another group - Palestinians, socialists, anti-Zionist Hasidic Jews - shouting, "Jews yes, Zionists no! Palestine for the Arabs!" separated only by a line of police, shoulder to shoulder. I walked between the two groups, carrying a sign that said "Dialogue Area", inviting people to come sit and talk to each other instead of shouting. None of the Jews would come, saying that they had no one to talk to, nothing to talk about with "those animals". We got a few Palestinian supporters to come sit, along with my friend Matt, visiting for the weekend. Eventually a Russian Jewish couple joined us and slowly more and more people.
The discussion went well for a while, some people dominating it more than I wished. There were plenty of problems with how the dialogue went, but on the whole I think people began to listen to each other. People were so conditioned to distrust the other side that they wouldn't even believe personal tales of suffering, though. The breakthrough in dialogue takes longer - to buy into an individual as an indivudal, to care about them, to care about their story, and then to care about the story of their people. First you have to break down conceptions of the other group as a whole and then you have to rebuild them. Hopefully, one of the quieter people, one of those who wanted more to listen than to argue, heard something new or understood someone's pain as their own for the first time. That's how we build this movement - empathy, one person at a time.

2002-06-07T23:20:00.000-04:00

Arundhati Roy, eloquent as always.

2002-06-07T23:17:00.000-04:00

Homosexuality, sports, and normative masculinity from the LA Weekly.

2002-06-07T23:14:00.000-04:00

Ah yes, a behind the scenes look at how the West exports war.

2002-06-07T23:13:00.000-04:00

An interesting article from the Economist on military intervention that works. This poses a challenge for both leftist groups that I've previously described, the "anti-imperialists" and the "pacifists/moral-strategists". I think its more difficult for those who oppose any foreign internvention. If anyone is more knowledgeable in nonviolence theory, I would love to hear the nonviolent alternative. If this is how we normally used militaries, I'd be less likely to call myself a pacifist.

2002-06-07T23:09:00.000-04:00

Tina Empol shows us the connection between corporate globalization and feminism.

2002-06-07T17:31:00.000-04:00

If anyone knows a good discussion board server to use, let me know.

2002-06-07T17:30:00.000-04:00

Some people have asking me for a little background, so I thought I'd share a little of who I am. My name is Judah Ariel and I'm a student at Brandeis University in Boston. I'm studying Sociology and Peace and Conflict Studies. My main academic and personal interests are the Arab-Israeli Conflict, trade and development, religion (in particular, Judaism), feminism and other liberal politics, and jam music. I spend my time reading (three newspapers a day), playing guitar, having great discussions with friends, and, of course, blogging. After school, I want to get my doctorate in International Relations and go into foreign policy work on the Middle East. I grew up in a Conservative Jewish house in Shaker Heights, Ohio and went to Jewish day school for 12 years. My mom is a therapist and my dad is a professor of Judaic Studies. I also have a younger brother and sister. I lived in Israel for a year before college, spending part of my time working for Seeds of Peace. I have a girlfriend, Dena, of three years. At school I run Students for Peace in Israel and Palestine and am on the core committee of Students for a Just Society, a group dedicated to understanding globalization and combatting global poverty. I also help coordinate the college campaign of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom: The Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace. I'm spending this summer as an intern for the Robert Reich for Governor campaign.

2002-06-07T17:21:00.000-04:00

Thanks for Junius, Polygon, and MaxSpeak for the links. You can check their pages out from my list of blogs over on the left.

2002-06-07T01:35:00.000-04:00

Nathan Lewin, a prominent Orthodox legal advisor, reccomends in Shma that Israel start executing terrorists' relatives. Just to make that clear - this guy is arguing that Israel should start to kill civillians because they are related to terrorists, unless the relatives denounce the terror and refuse to accept any money for their loss.
Thankfully, many Jewish leaders have loudly rejected this idea. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, leader of Reform Judaism, said, "The opinion is utterly reprehensible and totally contrary to the most fundamental principles of the Jewish religious tradition and everything the State of Israel has been about since its founding." I love the quote from Arthur Green, one of my professors as Brandeis and former president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, who wrote that his first desire upon reading Lewin's essay was to "tear my garments, as a sign of mourning on hearing the desecration of God's name." Best of all is Jeremy Burton, a member of Sh'ma's advisory board and executive director of AMOS: The National Jewish Partnership for Social Justice. "Burton argued, in his own name, that the attorney should now be blackballed from organized Jewish life, just as the late Rabbi Meir Kahane was ostracized for calling for the mass deportation of Arabs from Israel."
Add to that black list torture-supporting "lawyer" Alan Dershowitz and Anti-Defamation League (motto: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Promoting Anti-Arabism) head Abraham Foxman who "argued that his proposal represented a legitimate attempt to forge a policy for stopping terrorism." When Dershowitz's and Foxman's times come, they shouldn't be surprised to find themselves in the same rung of hell as the Palestinian terrorists whom they so despise. If Lewin, Dershowitz, or Foxman even come to your town, greet them with a sign letting them know they're not welcome in the same Jewish tradition as Isaiah, Hillel, and Heschel.

2002-06-06T01:18:00.000-04:00

I'm starting a countdown until we hear about the Jean Chretien-Paul Martin fracas from Matt Sheren, over at The Sardonic Subversive. Matt is my favorite expert on Canadian politics, and most of what I know comes from him, even if he isn't always radical enough for my tastes. He's a McGill student and he always finds a unique take on his experiences of being an Anglo in Montreal.