May 17, 2010 | 5:03 pm

Miss USA’s stripper past

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Here’s the scandal of the day:

Hours into her Miss USA tenure, Rima Fakih has her first (low-grade) scandal: a “Stripper 101” crown in college. Meanwhile, creative right-wing haters are implying, in more ways than one, that she won because of a pro-Muslim, pro-immigrant conspiracy.

That’s right, the new Miss USA, who also happens to be Muslim, was already a stripping princess. Well, actually, it was a stripper contest, but there was no stripping. It was more in the vein of Mormon moms pole dancing. At least she didn’t make a sex tape.

There is also some absurd discussion in the right-wing blogosphere of a Muslim conspiracy. This line from Debbie Schlussel is unreal:

Now, Hezbollah has the chief USA bimbo

Also of note, it’s amazing how much can be done to a Wikipedia page in a day.

May 17, 2010 | 4:52 pm

Obama signs Daniel Pearl press freedom bill

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

President Obama signed a press freedom bill today that honoring the legacy of Daniel Pearl:

Mr Obama said the measure would send a strong message that Washington was paying attention to the way governments elsewhere in the world treat the media.

The law is named after US journalist Daniel Pearl, who was beheaded by militants in Pakistan in 2002.

He was working on a Wall Street Journal story about radical Islamist groups.

Mr Obama was joined for the signing ceremony by Pearl’s widow, Mariane, the couple’s seven-year-old son, Adam, and the journalist’s parents.

He said the law—named the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act—would show countries that repressed freedom of speech that they could not operate against the media with impunity.

“The loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world’s imagination because it reminded us how valuable a free press is,” Mr Obama said.

“This legislation, in a very modest way, puts us clearly on the side of journalistic freedom.”

In the above report, Daniel’s parents and wife are standing behind Obama. You can’t see them in the video, but the photo accompanying the Jewish Journal story shows Ruth Pearl directly behind Obama, with Judea on her right and Marianne to his right.

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May 16, 2010 | 11:19 am

Kagan pushed boundaries of Orthodox Judaism

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The profiles of Elena Kagan keep coming. But this one from The New York Times, which sheds a lot of light on Judaism’s role in the Supreme Court nominee’s life, is particularly worth checking out:

Long before she became the first female dean of Harvard Law School and the first woman to serve as solicitor general, Ms. Kagan, now a nominee to the Supreme Court, was questioning and testing the boundaries of another institution: her religion.

Feminism had just begun to percolate in Orthodox congregations, though it was starting to transform Conservative Judaism, where in 1972 a group of women founded Ezrat Nashim, which can be translated as women’s section or women’s help, and petitioned Conservative leaders for equality. Girls in Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues, and in a few Conservative ones, were already reading from the Torah during bat mitzvah ceremonies.

“In terms of timing, this was the period when young women coming of age, who had those kinds of expectations for equality and taking leadership positions in the secular world, began to question: Why can’t I do this in the Jewish world?” said Shuly Rubin Schwartz, an associate professor of Jewish history and the dean of List College at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. “What is unusual is that she asked it in an Orthodox institution where that was an unheard-of question at that point.”

Read the rest here.

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May 13, 2010 | 4:47 pm

Glenn Beck can’t help himself; he has Nazi Tourette’s

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m clearly on deadline with a big writing assignment, because I am compulsively looking for blog content. Here’s one: It’s Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, except the way Glenn Beck plays it is with only one degree, and Kevin Bacon is Hitler. Example:

“Mother Teresa had a mustache. Hitler had a mustache. Ergo, Mother Teresa is Hitler!”

(Hat tip: godgrrl)

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May 13, 2010 | 2:15 pm

On waning support for Israel, blame Jon Stewart

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

American Jewish support for Israel is waning. Like all relationships, especially one that can be so tense, American Jews and Israel are often hot and cold. It is also prone to take on different appearances from time to time. So what is the latest explanation?

“The Answer is Jon Stewart,” dove MJ Rosenberg writes at MediaMatters:

They are the “Jon Stewart” generation.  Whether they watch Stewart’s “Daily Show” when it’s broadcast or just on YouTube, he typifies their world view. Not surprisingly, he is a late Baby Boomer, about the age of the parents of the youngest of the Millenials.

And what is the worldview Stewart conveys? It is skepticism about any and all ideology, a belief that racial and ethnic boundaries between people are just plain dumb, and, above all, that true believers in anything are downright funny. 

Not surprisingly, Jon Stewart is Jewish and assertively so.  Being a Jew is part of his shtick.  But he’s clearly neither religious nor an ethnic chauvinist.  As for his politics on Israel, I’d classify him as J Street. And that makes him typical of both the late boomers and their kids.

That is why all the free Birthright trips to Israel aren’t changing anything.  And it’s why those cheering young AIPAC-ers do not represent anything.

The generation coming up now tries to think for themselves.  And, although no smart kid would ever turn down a free trip to Washington, DC or to any foreign country with a beach, they take the propaganda with a grain of salt.  It does not matter that they are told that the Palestinians are responsible for their own problems, these kids don’t buy it.  And neither do their parents (although their grandparents might).

Read the rest here.

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May 13, 2010 | 11:49 am

LAT gives Journal plaudits but little perspective

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Jewish Journal got some favorable treatment in the Los Angeles Times yesterday:

If the experience holds lessons for other ethnic and religious-oriented publishers, it’s that you can do good by being good. But it’s just as important to have a business plan, friends in the right places and a target audience with a lot of disposable income.

The Journal, its related website and a nascent monthly magazine recently nailed down a critical $800,000 donation that should rejuvenate the organization and guarantee its viability for the foreseeable future.

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Generally thorough and professional in tone, the Journal covers stories unlikely to pop up in other L.A. media—such as alleged financial fraud committed by a group of Iranian Jewish investment managers and the struggles of a couple who lost two grown children to violent deaths. (The latter story inspired donations from Journal readers, including one who ponied up two years of mortgage payments for the couple.)

But the Journal also, on occasion, does little to rock its audience from its comfort zone.

In a story last month on tensions between Muslim and Jewish students at UC Irvine, for example, the Muslim point of view was so muted as to be nearly inaudible. The first quote from anyone associated with Islam came about midway through the story.

Although the story explained that representatives of the Muslim Student Union had declined to comment, the tone suggested there wasn’t much determination for finding and representing that point of view.

Leaving aside the incidental Jews-with-money comment and one likely reason that Muslim student leaders don’t talk to the paper anymore (sorry), I couldn’t help but feel that media critic James Rainey lacked perspective on The Journal and its readership. I should disclaim that it was always a complaint of mine that many people around town, even many within the Jewish community, were oblivious to the great work regularly done by the Jewish journalists in Koreatown. And, to be sure, the LA Press Club’s best blog from 2007 got overlooked in Rainey’s piece. (No hard feelings.)

But The Journal is more than “generally thorough and professional in tone. On any given day, it publishes the most interesting story in town. (Jordan Farmar was my favorite.) It also does a lot, though not always, to “rock its audience from its comfort zone.” (Kevin MacDonald and Luke Ford are the two I remember best; as you might expect, I am partial.) There was also all that coverage in the aftermath of the Bernie Madoff scandal, for which there are still certain machers in the community who won’t talk to me. And did I mention that for two years the paper employed a Christian named Greenberg as its senior writer?

This may come off as a lot of self-aggrandizing. I don’t intend it as such but I’m most familiar with my own perspective. And I think my experience helps explain why the paper is a guilty pleasure in some corners of the community, a labor of love in others and an essential source of information in many. It’s why some derisively refer to it as the un-Jewish Journal or the “Jewish” Journal, while others appreciate that it doesn’t just cater to one constituency. None of this, though, is reflected in Rainey’s article. His offers a good foundation and is accurate as accurate can be, but it felt to this insider like a small-town story being reported by a big-city journalist who parachuted in for the weekend.

I know, I know: Leave it to the Christian to be the one kvetching ...

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May 11, 2010 | 4:32 pm

Mojave cross is stolen after Supreme Court victory

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Not even two weeks ago the Supreme Court said the Mojave cross could stay. Now it’s gone—stolen, in fact:

Versions of the memorial have been vandalized repeatedly in the last 75 years and the motive this time was not immediately known, but the theft was condemned Tuesday by veterans groups that support the cross and by civil libertarians that saw it as a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

“The American Legion expects whoever is responsible for this vile act to be brought to justice,” said Clarence Hill, the group’s national commander.

Attorney Peter Eliasberg of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which sued on behalf of an opponent of the cross, said the organization rejects any resort to theft or vandalism.

“We believe in the rule of law and we think the proper way to resolve to any controversy about the cross is through the courts,” he said.

The 7-foot-high metal cross vanished from its perch in the Mojave National Preserve late Sunday or early Monday, said National Park Service spokeswoman Linda Slater. Bolts holding it to the rock were cut.

Slater said possible scenarios ranged from people “with an interest in the case” to metal scavengers. The U.S. Justice Department was looking into the case.

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May 11, 2010 | 2:11 pm

Swedish cartoonist attacked during speech

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

And the beat goes on ...

A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted Tuesday while giving a university lecture about the limits of artistic freedom.

Lars Vilks told The Associated Press a man in the front row ran up to him and head-butted him during a lecture, breaking his glasses but leaving him uninjured. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attacker.

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Vilks made his rough sketch more than a year after 12 Danish newspaper cartoons of the prophet sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006.

A Swedish newspaper printed the drawing, leading to further protests, and revived a heated debate in the West and the Muslim world about religious sensitivities and the limits of free speech.

It also led to numerous death threats against Vilks, who was temporarily moved to a secret location after al-Qaida in Iraq put a $100,000 bounty on his head in September 2007.

Read the rest here. And for a little background, here’s that “South Park” story from last month.

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May 10, 2010 | 2:45 pm

The anti-marriage revolution

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ross Douthat’s NYT column today is an interesting reflection on the failing institution of marriage in America. Douthat begins with the history of American families, from low divorce rates 50 years ago to 41 percent of children being born out of wedlock according to a March report from the Pew Research Center. This leads into a discussion of a new book by Naomi Cahn and June Carbone, “Red Families v. Blue Families.”

The authors depict a culturally conservative “red America” that’s stuck trying to sustain an outdated social model. By insisting (unrealistically) on chastity before marriage, Cahn and Carbone argue, social conservatives guarantee that their children will get pregnant early and often (see Palin, Bristol), leading to teen childbirth, shotgun marriages and high divorce rates.

This self-defeating cycle could explain why socially conservative states have more family instability than, say, the culturally liberal Northeast. If you’re looking for solid marriages, head to Massachusetts, not Alabama.

To Cahn and Carbone’s credit, their book is nuanced enough to complicate this liberal-friendly thesis. They acknowledge, for instance, that there are actually multiple “red family” models, from the Mormon West to the Sunbelt suburbs to the rural South.

More important, Cahn and Carbone also acknowledge one of the more polarizing aspects of the “blue family” model. Conservative states may have more teen births and more divorces, but liberal states have many more abortions.

Read the rest here. And check out Cahn and Carbone’s book here.

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May 10, 2010 | 12:40 am

Getting to know Elena Kagan

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Elena Kagan’s nomination for the Supreme Court has become a foregone conclusion. Here’s a healthy profile of Kagan from the NYT:

She was a creature of Manhattan’s liberal, intellectual Upper West Side — a smart, witty girl who was bold enough at 13 to challenge her family’s rabbi over her bat mitzvah, cocky (or perhaps prescient) enough at 17 to pose for her high school yearbook in a judge’s robe with a gavel and a quotation from Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court justice, underneath.

She was the razor-sharp newspaper editor and history major at Princeton who examined American socialism, and the Supreme Court clerk for a legal giant, Thurgood Marshall, who nicknamed her “Shorty.” She was the reformed teenage smoker who confessed to the occasional cigar as she fought Big Tobacco for the Clinton administration, and the literature lover who reread Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” every year.

She was the opera-loving, poker-playing, glass-ceiling-shattering first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School, where she reached out to conservatives (she once held a dinner to honor Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) and healed bitter rifts on the faculty with gestures as simple as offering professors free lunch, just to get them talking.

Elena Kagan has been all of these things, charting a careful and, some might say, calculated path — never revealing too much of herself, never going too far out on a political limb — that has led her to the spot she occupies today: the first female solicitor general of the United States, who won confirmation with the support of some important Republicans, and now, at 50, President Obama’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court.

Read the rest here.

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May 9, 2010 | 10:38 pm

Announcer Harwell was ready to meet Jesus

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ernie Harwell spent decades at the Detroit Tigers’ voice of God. That’s a statute of Harwell in front of Comerica Field. Last week, the radio legend died last week after a long battle with cancer. He was 92.

ESPN.com has been in tune with the profound role of Christianity in Harwell’s life. He was a man ready to move on. And possibly the last story ESPN.com would write about Harwell’s life did not disappoint:

A Hall of Fame announcer who was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers for a catcher in 1948, Harwell revealed in September that he’d been diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the bile duct. He took the news with characteristic poise, saying he planned to continue working on a book and other projects.

“Whatever happens, I’m ready to face it,” Harwell told The Associated Press on Sept. 4. “I have a great faith in God and Jesus.”

Harwell’s body will lie in repose at Comerica Park on Thursday beginning at 7 a.m. and “until the last person who wishes to pay their respects” has done so, Spicer said.

“It might be an all-night vigil,” he said.

Read the rest here.

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May 9, 2010 | 11:33 am

From peacemaker to holy war wager

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The story that led me to the IOUCLA ad was this massive profile of Anwar al-Awlaki. You’ve heard the name repeatedly since the Fort Hood massacre. This past week he was identified by the failed Times Square bomber as his online inspiration.

What you probably haven’t heard is much about his turn from peacemaker to holy war wager:

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the eloquent 30-year-old imam of a mosque outside Washington became a go-to Muslim cleric for reporters scrambling to explain Islam. He condemned the mass murder, invited television crews to follow him around and patiently explained the rituals of his religion.

“We came here to build, not to destroy,” the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, said in a sermon. “We are the bridge between Americans and one billion Muslims worldwide.”

At first glance, it seemed plausible that this lanky, ambitious man, with the scholarly wire-rims and equal command of English and Arabic, could indeed be such a bridge. CD sets of his engaging lectures on the Prophet Muhammad were in thousands of Muslim homes. American-born, he had a sense of humor, loved deep-sea fishing, had dabbled in get-rich-quick investment schemes and dropped references to “Joe Sixpack” into his sermons. A few weeks before the attacks he had preached in the United States Capitol.

Nine years later, from his hide-out in Yemen, Mr. Awlaki has declared war on the United States.

“America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil,” he said in a statement posted on extremist Web sites in March. Though he had spent 21 of his 39 years in the United States, he added, “I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself, just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.”

Read the rest here.

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