March 21, 2010 | 7:57 pm

Abortion deal reached; House passes health care bill

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Health care reform passed the House today after Democrats got the pro-life wing of the party on board by prohibiting federal funding for abortion:

By a vote of 219 to 212, the House passed the bill after a day of tumultuous debate that echoed the epic struggle of the last year. The action sent the bill to President Obama, whose crusade for such legislation has been a hallmark of his presidency.

Democrats hailed the votes as historic, comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security and a long overdue step forward in social justice. “This is the civil rights act of the 21st century,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

After a year of partisan combat and weeks of legislative brinksmanship, House Democrats and the White House clinched their victory only hours before the voting started on Sunday. They agreed to a deal with opponents of abortion rights within their party to reiterate in an executive order that federal money provided by the bill could not be used for abortions, giving the Democrats the final votes. Democrats said that in expanding access to health coverage for uninsured Americans, they were creating a new program every bit as important as Social Security and Medicare, while also putting downward pressure on rising health care costs and reining in federal budget deficits.

Republicans said the plan would saddle the nation with unaffordable levels of debt, leave states with expensive new obligations, weaken Medicare and give the government a huge new role in the health care system.

The debate on the legislation has highlighted the deep partisan and ideological divides in the nation and set up a bitter midterm Congressional election campaign, with Republicans promising an effort to repeal it or block its provisions in the states.

I’ve seen a lot of distraught tweets this evening, on both sides of the political spectrum.

From the left, Jewschooler Daniel Sieradski:

omfg are they really hinging their opposition on abortion? what planet are we on?

And from the right, Tabitha Hale:

I’m done. Goodbye freedom.

Frankly, I think everyone is being a bit dramatic over the health care overhaul. I may be naively optimistic on the power of big government to fix a failure of the market—my self-employed, healthy and relatively young parents pay something like $950 a month—but this is not the end of America as we know it.

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March 21, 2010 | 3:31 pm

Greenberg: being awesome and a little Jewish

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Friends keep asking if Ben Stiller’s new movie, “Greenberg,” is based on my life. All I can say is I keep checking the mailbox for checks, but, alas, have thus far seen none.

What is the film about (besides, of course, being awesome and a little Jewish)? Watch the above preview and, I think you’ll agree that it looks excellent. Or, if you prefer, read Naomi Pfefferman’s Hollywood Jew review:

Having failed to make something of himself while his friends have developed successful careers and families, Roger Greenberg has left New York to house sit for his well-to-do brother in Los Angeles, where he is attempting to recuperate from a nervous breakdown.  There he chances to meet his brother’s twentysomething assistant, Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), who turns out to be relationship material, in part because she is so passive she is able to absorb all of Greenberg’s abusive behavior and deflected self-loathing.

The depth of his self-hatred apparently extends to his Jewish background, as evidenced when Greenberg is persuaded to attend a Bel Air bar-be-queue where he meets up with some old Jewish friends.  These men are comfortably chatting about whether anyone has been to so-and-so’s seder;  various Jewish connections, and what constitutes a “Jewish” gesture (“You’re doing this,” one of them says to Greenberg, miming his effusive hand gesticulations).  “I’m half [Jewish],” Greenberg says.  “You look full,” a friend replies.  The appalled Greenberg has as much disdain for this Tribal schmoozing as he professes for his wealthy friends whom, in his opinion, have abandoned creativity in order to become successful. “Most people think I look Italian,” he says, sulkily.  “My mother is actually Protestant, so I’m not Jewish at all.”

Stiller’s own mother, the actress Anne Meara, converted to Judaism upon marrying fellow actor Jerry Stiller; Ben Stiller unabashedly identifies with the Tribe and also has mined his background to comic effect (during his stint as a presenter at the 2010 Academy Awards,  he peppered his “Avatar” spoof with Hebrew).  In “Meet the Parents” and its sequel, “Meet the Fockers,” Stiller plays a nebbishy Jewish nurse who is continually humiliated by his WASP father-in-law (Robert De Niro), a former CIA agent.  The third installment in the franchise, “Little Fockers,” will hit theaters Dec. 22, with a screenplay by Stiller’s longtime in-house writer, John Hamburg.

“The non-Jewish characters in the films are not anti-Semitic,” Hamburg told me last year.  “But there is the sense that Ben feels out of place among WASPS and also because he is a man who is not a doctor, but a nurse, which creates a kind of stigma.”

Much as I loved “Zoolander,” I’m hoping “Greenberg” is a return to the dramatic style that Stiller demonstrated in “Zero Effect.”

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March 21, 2010 | 11:48 am

No such thing as March sadness

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This year marks the first time since 2006 that I haven’t traveled to Vegas for a weekend of March Madness. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t spent the entire weekend watching basketball. I thought my bracket was donesky after Thursday’s game, which put my point total in the bottom 3 percent of ESPN Tournament Challenge participants. But then Kansas lost and now I’m the darkhorse favorite to win it all—long as Kentucky goes the distance.

All this to say ... we’re in desperate need of a basketball and religion story for The God Blog. And would you believe it, there are a few.

First there is Iranian-American Ali Farokhmanesh, whose clutch shot against Kansas (above) gave new life to my March. Honestly, who wouldn’t have taken that shot?

And while the NBA may only have Jordan Farmar and Omri Casspi as Jewish reps, the NCAA has plenty of MOTs. In a lamentation of Jon Scheyer snubbing the Fighting Illini, just like he snubbed the Maccabiah USA team last summer, The Great Rabbino offers this list of Jewish All-Americans:

1) Jon Scheyer – G – Duke Blue Devils – 18.6ppg, 5apg, 3.6rpg
2) Sylven Landesberg – G – Virginia Cavaliers – 16.6ppg, 2.8apg, 6rpg
3) Jake Cohen – F – Davidson Wildcats – 13.3ppg, 5.1rpg
4) Dane Diliegro – C – New Hampshire Wildcats – 8.9ppg, 8.1rpg
5) Derek Glasser – G – Arizona State – 10.1ppg, 4.8apg, 2.5rpg

Only Scheyer made the tourney. Read more of The Great Rabbino’s mourning Scheyer here. And go Wildcats.

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March 19, 2010 | 2:09 pm

Jewish students speak out at UC Irvine

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Two years ago I wrote a story about the treatment of Israel at UC Irvine, UCLA and a few other campuses. A number of academics criticized the piece as an unproductive re-hash of old hash. Since then things have only gotten worse at UCLA and UCI, particularly UCI, where Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was prevented from speaking last month.

The UCI student government recently passed a resolution supporting the members of the Muslim Student Union who prevented Oren from speaking and criticizing the university for punishing the protesting students. At the student government public hearing, a few Jewish student leaders spoke out.

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March 18, 2010 | 11:52 am

You know who’s responsible for dogs—the Jews

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ancient hunting dog

OK, so that headline is a bit misleading. Though fascinating new research traces the domestication of dogs to the Middle East, that history dates back to about 10,000 years ago, which is about double the age of Jewish history. The article appears in today’s issue of the journal Nature. The NYT reports:

A research team led by Bridgett M. vonHoldt and Robert K. Wayne of the University of California, Los Angeles, has analyzed a large collection of wolf and dog genomes from around the world. Scanning for similar runs of DNA, the researchers found that the Middle East was where wolf and dog genomes were most similar, although there was another area of overlap between East Asian wolves and dogs. Wolves were probably first domesticated in the Middle East, but after dogs had spread to East Asia there was a crossbreeding that injected more wolf genes into the dog genome, the researchers conclude in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

The archaeological evidence supports this idea, since some of the earliest dog remains have been found in the Middle East, dating from 12,000 years ago. The only earlier doglike remains occur in Belgium, at a site 31,000 years old, and in western Russia from 15,000 years ago.

Humans lived as roaming hunters and gatherers for most of their existence. Dr. Wayne believes that wolves began following hunter-gatherer bands to feed on the wounded prey, carcasses or other refuse. At some stage a group of wolves, who happened to be smaller and less threatening than most, developed a dependency on human groups, and may in return have provided a warning system.

Several thousand years later, in the first settled communities that began to appear in the Middle East 15,000 years ago, people began intervening in the breeding patterns of their camp followers, turning them into the first proto-dogs. One of the features they selected was small size, continuing the downsizing of the wolf body plan. “I think a long history such as that would explain how a large carnivore, which can eat you, eventually became stably incorporated in human society,” Dr. Wayne said.

The full journal article can be read here.

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March 18, 2010 | 8:12 am

‘Jihad Jane’ pleads not guilty

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Breaking news from the AP:

Colleen LaRose, 46, of Pennsburg, appeared in court wearing a green jumpsuit and corn rows in her blond hair. A May 3 trial date was set.

The rest of the story deals with the background details surround LaRose’s October arrest:

She was accused of conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war. Authorities say she wanted to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims.

Authorities say she grew acquainted online with violent co-conspirators from around the world. They say she posted a YouTube video in 2008 saying she was “desperate to do something” to ease the suffering of Muslims.

(skip)

From June 2008 through her Aug. 23, 2009, departure, the woman who also called herself “Fatima Rose” went online to recruit male fighters for the cause, recruit women with Western passports to marry them, and raise money for the holy war, the indictment charged.

She had also agreed to marry one of her overseas contacts, a man from South Asia who said he could deal bombs and explosives, according to e-mails recovered by authorities.

He also told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, Lars Vilks.

“I will make this my goal till i achieve it or die trying,” she wrote back, adding that her blonde American looks would help her blend in.

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March 17, 2010 | 5:32 pm

Abortions that are Twitter-friendly

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

If you thought social connectivity had gone too far when churches starting having Twitter-friendly worship services, you’ll almost certainly find this story really reprehensible:

There’s a viral video out there that doesn’t involve Charlie biting his brother’s finger, Ok Go’s Rube Goldberg project, or a man on a horse. No, this one is much more serious. Angie Jackson’s video of having an abortion (right) has received more than 140,000 hits since she posted it a few weeks ago.

At four weeks pregnant, Jackson said in the video that Planned Parenthood helped her obtain her RU-486 abortion. “I want people to know that it’s out there, that if you need this, there’s non-surgical options available especially in the earliest stage of pregnancy,” she said. “Cramps are getting a bit more persistent,” Jackson tweeted. “Definitely bleeding now.”

Sarah Pulliam Bailey has more on the media coverage of this story at GetReligion. If you need me, I’ll be bent over the toilet.

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March 17, 2010 | 3:57 pm

Rioting continues in Jerusalem; a crisis in US-Israel relations?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

While rioting continues in Jerusalem and Hamas calls for another intifada—oh brother—US President Obama is on his heels, saying there is “no crisis” in the US-Israel relationship:

United States President Barack Obama said Thursday that there was ‘no crisis’ in ties with Israel, despite a high-profile diplomatic feud between the allies over the Netanyahu administration’s plans to build Jewish homes in east Jerusalem.

“Israel’s one of our closest allies, and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that’s not going to go away,” Obama said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier.

“But friends are going to disagree sometimes,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has his own problems.

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March 16, 2010 | 2:17 pm

If Cadbury made bacon-and-caramel eggs

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Yes, I would like these dark chocolate eggs filled with caramel and bacon in my Easter basket. I’m pretty sure, though, that they’re not OU approved. The World’s Best Ever, via Heeb.

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March 16, 2010 | 10:44 am

Former Scientology insiders breaking free

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Whoops. This major story from The New York Times fell out of my blog immediately folder:

Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org.

They signed a contract for a billion years—in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most.

But after 13 years and growing disillusionment, the Collbrans decided to leave the Sea Org, setting off on a Kafkaesque journey that they said required them to sign false confessions about their personal lives and their work, pay the church thousands of dollars it said they owed for courses and counseling, and accept the consequences as their parents, siblings and friends who are church members cut off all communication with them.

“Why did we work so hard for this organization,” Ms. Collbran said, “and why did it feel so wrong in the end? We just didn’t understand.”

They soon discovered others who felt the same. Searching for Web sites about Scientology that are not sponsored by the church (an activity prohibited when they were in the Sea Org), they discovered that hundreds of other Scientologists were also defecting—including high-ranking executives who had served for decades.

Fifty-six years after its founding by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986, the church is fighting off calls by former members for a Reformation. The defectors say Sea Org members were repeatedly beaten by the church’s chairman, David Miscavige, often during planning meetings; pressured to have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave. The church says the defectors are lying.

The defectors say that the average Scientology member, known in the church as a public, is largely unaware of the abusive environment experienced by staff members. The church works hard to cultivate public members—especially celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of the cartoon scoundrel Bart Simpson)—whose money keeps it running.

But recently even some celebrities have begun to abandon the church, the most prominent of whom is the director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, who won Oscars for “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash.” Mr. Haggis had been a member for 35 years. His resignation letter, leaked to a defectors’ Web site, recounted his indignation as he came to believe that the defectors’ accusations must be true.

It’s really worth reading the rest of this story, unusual for well-done critical feature on Scientology because it wasn’t written by a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times.

Is it a movement or just a few frustrated former members? Time will tell. The real question, obviously, is what does it mean for Beck?

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March 16, 2010 | 8:35 am

College group has Bibles-for-porn program

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A student group at the University of Texas, San Antonio did the opposite of handing out free Bibles at a porn convention. Well, they didn’t actually hand out porn at a Bible convention but ...

In the lobby of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s humanities building, a hand-drawn poster announces, “Free porn: Just trade in your holy books (Bible, Koran, Vedas) for porn.”

A student group at the university called The Atheist Agenda is reviving its Bibles-for-porn program, called “Smut for Smut,” for three days beginning March 1, according to a report from San Antonio’s KENS-TV.

“The idea is that religious texts are so appalling,” said Atheist Agenda group member Brian Talker in a 2006 interview with UTSA student publication The Independent. “They are so full of genocide, misogyny and ludicrous ideas that far overshadow any banal common-sense platitudes like loving thy neighbor, that you are better off having porn, which isn’t nearly as smutty.”

A current member of the group told KENS the program is also meant as a slap against religious leaders and the “hypocrisy” of their condemnations of pornography.

“They’ve been going and rallying against pornography for the longest time,” the unidentified student said, “and the disgusting, depraved acts that are within the Bible, Koran and Vedas completely outnumber any [faults] of any pornographic image.”

There is a lot more here from the WorldNetDaily. Maybe this was the logical leap missing from that “Mideast peace through porn” editorial in the Los Angeles Times a few years ago.

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