July 31, 2010 | 1:10 pm

Chelsea getting married—today

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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After a lot of hoopla, Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky will finally marry today. I know, I’m bored too.

From Politics Daily:

Like everything else relating to this wedding—cost estimates now range from the high six figures to somewhere near $3 million—all statements about the event, including who is designing the gowns for Chelsea, Hillary and bridesmaids, should probably end with a question mark, not a period. (Where is Julian Assange and WikiLeaks when we really need them?)

In my long journalism career, I can’t recall hearing as many reporters publicly uttering the phrase “we really don’t know (fill in the blank)” before launching into speculative riffs about subjects as disparate as menus (we’re told Chelsea is a vegetarian, or is it vegan? and suffers from gluten allergies); where the bridal couple is registered for gifts (they are said to be using aliases) and where the guests will answer nature’s call (high end bathroom trailers parked near the tent).

That no-news zone is fine by me because every bride deserves to call the shots at her wedding, and because Chelsea Clinton, strenuously aided by her very public parents, has spent much of her life ducking the press. Many guests—who will gladly surrender all cameras, cell phones and other high-tech communication devices—won’t even acknowledge they’ve been invited for fear of letting something slip.

This story doesn’t mention it, but there is obviously a big Jewish question surrounding the Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding. (Danielle knows.) We’ll see—or more likely, hear about it.

Mazel tov.

July 30, 2010 | 2:34 pm

The AP on Stoudemire’s Hebrew awakening

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The AP followed up on the story about Amar’e Stoudemire learning his mom is Jewish:

Amare Stoudemire, who recently signed a nine-figure free-agent contract with the New York Knicks, says he has come to Israel to explore whether he has Jewish heritage.

Stoudemire told The Associated Press on Friday that he believes he has “Hebrew roots” through his mother, Carrie.

The five-time All-Star is on a weeklong visit to learn about Israel, its language and religions.

Two things stood out to me from this story:

1. The mention of money—Jews are a bit sensitive about this, though it has its place in this story.
2. That Stoudemire only “believes” his mom has “Hebrew roots.”

The AP sounds a bit more skeptical than the Jewish and Israeli press was.

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July 29, 2010 | 9:06 pm

Beware the candidate supported by ‘Jewish money’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

And you thought Tommy Thompson made a mistake on the campaign trail when he talked about Jews and money. That was an honest, albeit ignorant, mistake. This is straight shocking:

Mike Grimm, a G.O.P challenger for Mike McMahon’s Congressional seat, took in over $200,000 in his last filing.

But in an effort to show that Grimm lacks support among voters in the district, which covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, the McMahon campaign compiled a list of Jewish donors to Grimm and provided it to The Politicker.

The file, labeled “Grimm Jewish Money Q2,” for the second quarter fundraising period, shows a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home.

“Where is Grimm’s money coming from,” said Jennifer Nelson, McMahon’s campaign spokeman. “There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees.”

That’s right: Beware of Grimm and his ZOG sympathies. And this guy McMahon is a congressman? Some some bumpkin councilman? Sheesh.

I get the concern that the money is coming from outside of the congressional district. But what does it matter that it’s come from Jews who live in Manhattan or have retired away in Florida?

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July 29, 2010 | 11:21 am

Cizik returns to ‘Fresh Air’; views still ‘shifting’ on gay marriage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Richard Cizik, who resigned in 2008 as VP for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals after voicing support for civil unions and telling Terry Gross that his views on same-sex marriage were “shifting,” made a return to “Fresh Air” yesterday. (Gross said her interview with Cizik was the only in her career that has resulted in her guest losing his job.) Cizik talked about what’s good and his new organization, the Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good.

Gross got right to it:

GROSS: Let me ask you, you say you really identify with the concerns and priorities of younger evangelical voters, and one of those priorities is - it’s more of an acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage.

A couple of years ago when you were on our show, I asked you if you were changing your mind on that. And two years ago, you said you were still opposed to gay marriage. But now, as you identify more and more with the younger voters and their priorities, have you changed on gay marriage?

Rev. CIZIK: I’m shifting, I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say I believe in civil unions. I don’t officially support redefining marriage from its traditional definition, I don’t think.

GROSS: Okay, Richard Cizik, that’s what you said in 2008, and…

Rev. CIZIK: And I still agree with that.

GROSS: So did you expect to say that? Did you expect to say publicly that you supported civil unions, or did that just kind of come out?

Rev. CIZIK: It came out. It came out of the depths of the heart the mouth speaks - that’s what the Bible says, and so it just came out. I hadn’t planned on saying it, but I had been thinking about it a long time.

And that was because I was looking at constitutional arguments that are even now being weighed by the California Supreme Court and others. In other words, can we deny rights to others whose rights we don’t especially share or, in fact, may disagree with strongly? And yet, yes I agree with what I said then. I happen to agree with it now.

I can definitely identify with speaking when not expecting to.

You can listen to the 38-minute segment here or read the transcript here.

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July 28, 2010 | 2:55 pm

Presbyterians go ‘Lion King’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Christian Olympics? No, this is just the opening procession of the 219th general assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA. Odd ...

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July 28, 2010 | 12:36 pm

Amar’e Stoudemire is Jewish?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

And here I thought Amar’e Stoudemire left Phoenix for big money in the Big Apple. Maybe he just wanted to get closer to his roots:

U.S. basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire is apparently on his way to Israel for a voyage of discovery after learning he has Jewish roots.

“On the flight to Israel. This is going to be a great trip,” announced the power forward, who plays in the NBA for the New York Knicks, via the micro-blogging site Twitter.

According to an Army Radio report, Stoudemire plans to spend time in Israel learning Hebrew, having recently learned he has a Jewish mother.

“The holy land. Learn about it,” he wrote, adding “ze ha’halom sheli” – Hebrew for “this is my dream.”

A Jewish mother—how many mothers does he have? Anyway, if that’s blood, Stoudemire is a Jew. Mazel Tov.

I just checked Twitter, and it looks like Stoudemire is enjoying his time in Jerusalem. Who wouldn’t? And it appears he’s starting to blend in with the locals:

Jerusalem is a beautiful city, I’m at a cafe eating a late lunch. I’m learning Hebrew by the min. Keep up !! Shalom.

Jordan Farmar and Omri Casspi, it looks like the tribe in growing in the NBA.

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July 28, 2010 | 10:43 am

Groups condemn MSU suspension at UCI

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

When it comes to UC Irvine’s one-year suspension of its incessantly unruly and antagonistic Muslim Student Union, spurred by the coordinated disturbance of a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, a coalition of civil rights groups and professional bar associations (the legal kind, not the drinking kind) say the punishment doesn’t fit the crime:

Fifteen groups throughout the country – including the Asian Law Caucus, Afghan-American Bar Association, Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, South Asian Bar Association – Northern California and National Lawyers Guild – are urging UCI officials to abandon all efforts to suspend the Muslim student organization.

“Taking the unprecedented step to ban this group will memorialize UCI as a campus that violates its students’ constitutional rights, and will have negative repercussions that will reverberate around the country,” according to a letter signed by the groups and sent to the chancellor’s office late last week.

“Such a decision would amount to selective punishment of a group whose ideas are disfavored by the U.C. administration, and sets an extremely dangerous precedent that threatens all Americans who exercise their Constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association.”

Oh how oversimplified that is. The MSU has a long, long, long history of incendiary behavior, and for years the university and community have wrestled with how to make students of all beliefs and worldviews feel comfortable on campus.

UCI has cut the group a lot of slack. But this time—as opposed to when MSU members exploited Anne Frank during Palestinian Awareness Week, or all the times they brought Amir Abdel Malik Ali to campus, or when they orchestrated a Daniel Pipes walkout and one of the protesters proclaimed “Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth”—they crossed the line. They violated a code of conduct that all students agree to, and they aren’t being banned. Their organization has just been suspended for a year. It happens to fraternities all the time.

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July 27, 2010 | 7:59 pm

Prison can’t hold Warren Jeffs

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

At least not right now. Not according to the Utah Supreme Court, which today overturned Warren Jeffs’ rape conviction. From the Christian Science Monitor:

Mr. Jeffs, known as the “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), was convicted in September 2007 of two counts of rape and has been in prison since.

The Utah justices held that instructions given to the jurors were erroneous and ordered a new trial. Jeffs was originally found guilty of being an accomplice to rape for using his religious influence to coerce a minor into marrying her 19-year-old cousin.

The justices said that the jury’s deliberation should have been focused on whether Jeffs’ intent in performing the “spiritual marriage” was for rape to occur, not on whether the action itself led to nonconsensual sex.

“In particular, the court held that Mr. Jeffs had to have the intent to aid the rape that was committed,” says Paul Cassell, professor of criminal law at S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. “That will be the issue on which the new trial will focus.”

Ah, memories of criminal law. I wonder if Utah applies common law or the Model Penal Code.

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July 27, 2010 | 4:00 pm

Meet that guy who lied to get laid

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember the Palestinian who was convicted of rape because he lied about being Jewish to get a Jewish girl to sleep with him? You know, Sabar Kashour.

Rob Eshman has a revealing post about Kashour over at Bloggish. And YNet has a good feature. According to Kashour, the only thing he lied about was being single:

Sabar, who was 28 at the time, worked as a messenger for a law firm and stopped for a moment to buy something to eat at a convenience store. When he walked out, he saw a woman standing next to his motorcycle. “She started talking to me and told me her name. I said my name was Dudu,” he says.

“I’ve been hanging around Jews my entire life, and ever since I was young they told me: ‘Sabar is a difficult name, what other name would you like?’ So I chose Dudu, and it became like my real name. Even my wife calls me that…I was at Jewish homes, I even did Kiddush there. My brother almost married a Jewish woman. I don’t know anyone else like me who is Arab yet so Jewish.”

Kashour and the woman engaged in a brief conversation before proceeding to have sex. He asked how old she was, and she asked about his job and marital status. “You could see the girl was all over me. I don’t remember who said first ‘let’s have sex,’ but it was clear she wanted to,” he says.

Wow. What a gentleman. Still, his conviction is baffling. As Rob wrote about Kashour:

He’s a guy who lies to get laid.  Which is another way of saying, he’s a guy.

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July 26, 2010 | 3:23 pm

One of ESPN’s first female producers dead at 43

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Leah Siegel, one of ESPN’s first female producers, has died after a battle with cancer. She was 43:

She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in August 2008, shortly after the birth of her third child, Oliver. That fall, she was featured in a front-page story in The Dallas Morning News. The story of her battle inspired thousands of strangers to write her. Over the past two years, nearly 50,000 visits were logged to her web page.

Siegel also inspired dozens of her Lakewood neighborhood families to show their support in the annual Komen Dallas Race for the Cure. The group was among the top fundraising teams.

“Leah loved Eric and her kids and her work,” said ESPN reporter Ed Werder. “In the end, I agree with a colleague who told me today that she would rather we remember the good times rather than wallowing in sadness and dwell on our inability to fathom the damned unfairness of this sad ordeal.”

This story was sent to me by a Jewish friend. I can’t determine whether Siegel was, in fact, Jewish. But if so, she would have been, as a woman and a Jew in field of covering professional sports, truly a stranger in a strange land.

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July 26, 2010 | 12:00 pm

JournoList: Palin belongs to ‘crackpot church’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

JournoList strikes again. This time their subject was Sarah Palin’s emergence into national politics and what it might mean if McCain beat Obama. From the Daily Caller:

While other members of the group debated whether to coordinate a pro-Obama message – or, more precisely, whether to concede that such a message was being coordinated — Todd Gitlin of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism had already made up his mind. Gitlin, whose job is to train the next generation of America’s most elite journalists, wrote this impassioned plea on behalf of the Obama campaign:

“On the question of liberals coordinating, what the hell’s wrong with some critical mass of liberal bloggers & journalists saying the following among themselves:

“McCain lies about his maverick status. Routinely, cavalierly, cynically. Palin lies about her maverick status. Ditto, ditto, ditto. McCain has a wretched temperament. McCain is a warmonger. Palin belongs to a crackpot church and feels warmly about a crackpot party that trashes America. ...”

Silly Gitlin. Doesn’t he realize that all churches are crackpots? (You should be picking up on my sarcasm because I’m laying it on pretty thick.)

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July 25, 2010 | 6:01 pm

Dodgers were the chosen team today

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I just got home from Dodger Stadium after catching Clayton Kershaw second consecutive home start. Today’s turned out much better than the managerial and bullpen meltdown Tuesday.

Coincidentally, today was Jewish community day. For the second straight year, Brad Ausmus, the Dodger’s back up who is may be the greatest Jewish catcher to ever play, didn’t get into the game (after a crucial RBI yesterday).

Nothing special happens on Jewish community day. No longer is the occasion used to bring in kosher hot dogs, and the Dodgers don’t parade the great Jewish ballplayers to ever put on Dodger Blue.

They did at least have some “Jeopardy!” Jewish-themed trivia, which should have been pretty easy for most Dodger fans, Jews and gentiles alike.

1. This former Dodger and Met slugger ranks second all-time among Jewish home run hitters.

2. Mets owner Fred Wilpon attended high school with this former Dodger Jewish legend.

Answer in the comments. Don’t forget to use proper “Jeopardy!” form.

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