From DennisPrager.com:
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Radio Show
H1: Raising Good People
Prager H1: Most people recognize that the self-esteem movement has been at best silly and at worst injurious to society. No one is recommending that parents never praise a child or that parents seek to cultivate a low self-image in their child. But, if raising good adults is the primary task of a parent, trying to give one's child high self-esteem is not helpful, and it can easily be counterproductive.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Radio Show
H2: To D or Not To D
Prager H2: The results of a new vitamin study from the Institute of Medicine are reported in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal with opposite recommendations. Dennis also touches on the Christmas tree bomber’s entrapment defense; The fact that there has been so little coverage of the murder of one of Iran’s top nuclear scientists; and the controversy surrounding a 5 year old boy who dressed up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Radio Show
H3: Consciousness Beyond Life
Prager H3: Dennis talks to Dr. Pim van Lommel, cardiologist in Holland, who has studied near-death experiences in patients for more than twenty years. His new book is Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
A Jewish Response To Sex Abuse
Vicki Polin emails:
Part 1 - Rabbi Gedalia Schwartz Speaks about sexual abuse in Jewish communities
Part 2 - Rabbi Gedalia Schwartz Speaks about sexual abuse in Jewish communities
Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik speaking about child molestation
Very Powerful - Pinny Taub shares his story about being molested as a child
Looming Water Crisis In West
WASHINGTON (November 29, 2010) – The looming water crisis in the American Southwest – and the role of immigration-driven population growth – is the topic of a paper published this month by the Center for Immigration Studies and authored by New Mexico journalist Kathleene Parker.
The paper, 'Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest,' online at http://cis.org/southwest-water-population-growth, explores the link between the possibility of the potentially catastrophic economic and environmental water crisis and the fact that the Southwest is the fastest-growing region of the world's fourth-fastest-growing nation – a growth rate earlier cautioned against by various presidential commissions. It also looks at how that growth rate is driven by historically unprecedented immigration – legal and illegal – into the United States, the world's third-most-populous nation after China and India. Immigration is responsible for more than half of the population growth in the Southwest this past decade, and nearly all of the growth in the largest southwest state, California.
Such high immigration has happened absent discussion or acknowledgement of its impacts on population or limited resources, such as water. Parker presents evidence that indicates there is insufficient water for the region's current population, much less the larger future populations that will result if immigration continues at its present high rate.
The paper focuses on the drought- and growth-depleted Colorado River, including the high probability that the first-ever drought emergency could be declared on the river by early 2011 and the possibility that Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir and a depression-era wonder of engineering, could run dry in the not too distant future, with hydroelectric production threatened even sooner.
This would imperil all of the Southwest, Nevada and Las Vegas – which depends on Lake Mead for 90 percent of its water – in particular, but also cities like Albuquerque, which uses Colorado River water via the San Juan-Chama diversion project. Such relatively junior water rights could be at risk in the midst of a profound or long-term water shortage on the Colorado River.
The legal allocation of the Colorado in the 1920s was based on a combination of flawed river-flow data and a failure to understand that the Southwest, historically, is a far more arid region – based on recent scientific research – than first believed. That concern is based on normal weather patterns, with the possibility of even further depletion of the river, the Southwest's main source of water, should global warming happen.
Yet the water crisis unfolds in an atmosphere where, as pointed out by prestigious scientific groups like the National Academy of Sciences and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the extent of the crisis is not being sufficiently acknowledged or the advisability of the region's high growth rate considered by leaders. That high growth rate, in turn, is driven by U.S. immigration policies that do not consider the implications of a growth rate that, if trends hold, could mean one billion Americans by late this century.
Six states are dependent upon Colorado River to provide water to roughly 60 million people, and that number could double over the next four decades if immigration is not returned to far lower levels in the near future.
Parker, now of Rio Rancho, N.M., earlier worked as a correspondent for the Santa Fe New Mexican in the 1990s, covering Los Alamos, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Jemez Mountain region. She also freelanced for the Albuquerque Journal, covering the aftermath of the Cerro Grande fire and other topics, and she recently authored an article, for a major forestry magazine, on the Cerro Grande fire. She often teaches adult-education courses on population and environmental topics, has worked widely on water issues in Colorado and New Mexico, and frequently writes commentaries.
Immigration News
Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://www.cis.org/support.html
[FYI --
1. Immigration and Economic Stagnation: An Examination of Trends 2000 to 2010 (Backgrounder)
2. Foiling Terrorists by Keeping Them Out (Blog)
3. ICE Finds Huge New Tunnel at Border, But Are Congratulations Really in Order? (Blog)
4. USCIS Takes Small Steps Forward on Alien Worker Programs (Blog)
5. Tories May Have Overreached vis-a-vis Language Requirement for Spouses (Blog)
6. Fading DREAMs (Blog)
7. Immigration Lessons from the Chandra Levy Murder Case (Blog)
8. ICE to Sanctuaries: Just Say No to Holds (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Immigration and Economic Stagnation: An Examination of Trends 2000 to 2010
By Steven Camarota
CIS Backgrounder, November 2010
http://cis.org/highest-decade
Excerpt: New Census Bureau data collected in March of this year show that 13.1 million immigrants (legal and illegal) arrived in the previous 10 years, even though there was a net decline of a million jobs during the decade. In contrast, during the 1990s there was a net growth of 21 million jobs and 12.1 million new immigrants arrived. Despite fundamentally different economic conditions, the level of immigration was remarkably similar for both 10-year periods.
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2.
Foiling Terrorists by Keeping Them Out
By James R. Edwards Jr.
CIS Blog, November 28, 2010
http://cis.org/ImmigrationBlog
Excerpt: Anybody fixated on building and detonating a bomb big enough to kill a large crowd at a Christmas tree lighting right downtown in an American city is a criminal sociopath. Enough sociopaths spring forth organically. We certainly don't need to import more. Nor do we need to keep on feeding the petri dishes that stimulate radicalism. Yet that is what legal immigration on the scale we now sustain does. Whether it's continually fostering political and cultural ties to the old countries of Latin America or of Muslim nations, the assimilation ideal cannot be achieved with mass immigration. The perpetuation of one million-plus legal immigrants year in and year out foils the melting pot.
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3.
ICE Finds Huge New Tunnel at Border, But Are Congratulations Really in Order?
By David North
CIS Blog, November 28, 2010
http://cis.org/north/huge-new-border-tunnel
Excerpt: The tunnel, when found, was in full operation, and ICE seized 20 tons of marijuana. I have little first-hand knowledge of such things, but marijuana consists of dried leaves, and even if compressed, it must occupy about as much space as baled hay (something I do know something about). Now 400,000 pounds of hay or marijuana would fill a large building, and hauling it through a tunnel would take considerable time and effort.
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4.
USCIS Takes Small Steps Forward on Alien Worker Programs
By David North
CIS Blog, November 27, 2010
http://cis.org/north/small-steps-forward
Excerpt: These blogs are often critical of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), but in this case we want to note some useful (if almost invisible) steps forward.
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5.
Tories May Have Overreached vis-a-vis Language Requirement for Spouses
By David North
CIS Blog, November 24, 2010
http://cis.org/north/language-requirement-for-spouses
Excerpt: My sense, and I may be wrong, is that imposing such a test on spouses – as opposed to, say, prospective workers – is likely to kick up such a fuss that the Cameron government will drop the whole idea. We will see.
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6.
Fading DREAMs
By James R. Edwards Jr.
CIS Blog, November 23, 2010
http://cis.org/edwards/fading-dreams
Excerpt: Oh, the cruelty of leading people on and sowing false hopes. But the Democratic leadership in Congress and the Obama White House keep up the charade with the DREAM Act amnesty.
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7.
Immigration Lessons from the Chandra Levy Murder Case
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 23, 2010
http://cis.org/feere/lessons-of-levy-case
Excerpt: The public can be happy that one violent MS-13 member is no longer on the streets, but there are many other violent illegal aliens throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. It is well time for local authorities to get serious about public safety and stop appeasing open-border activist groups.
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8.
ICE to Sanctuaries: Just Say No to Holds
By Jessica Vaughan
CIS Blog, November 22, 2010
http://cis.org/vaughan/just-say-no-to-holds
Excerpt: In what appears to be yet another astounding display of mission apathy, a senior ICE official is now advising sanctuary jurisdictions on how they can opt out of his program. Earlier this month, the top manager of the Secure Communities program, David Venturella, suggested to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department that if the county did not wish to participate, it could simply ignore ICE's requests to take custody of the removable aliens that are discovered in county jails.
[FYI --
1. Immigration and Economic Stagnation: An Examination of Trends 2000 to 2010 (Backgrounder)
2. Foiling Terrorists by Keeping Them Out (Blog)
3. ICE Finds Huge New Tunnel at Border, But Are Congratulations Really in Order? (Blog)
4. USCIS Takes Small Steps Forward on Alien Worker Programs (Blog)
5. Tories May Have Overreached vis-a-vis Language Requirement for Spouses (Blog)
6. Fading DREAMs (Blog)
7. Immigration Lessons from the Chandra Levy Murder Case (Blog)
8. ICE to Sanctuaries: Just Say No to Holds (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Immigration and Economic Stagnation: An Examination of Trends 2000 to 2010
By Steven Camarota
CIS Backgrounder, November 2010
http://cis.org/highest-decade
Excerpt: New Census Bureau data collected in March of this year show that 13.1 million immigrants (legal and illegal) arrived in the previous 10 years, even though there was a net decline of a million jobs during the decade. In contrast, during the 1990s there was a net growth of 21 million jobs and 12.1 million new immigrants arrived. Despite fundamentally different economic conditions, the level of immigration was remarkably similar for both 10-year periods.
Return to Top
********
********
2.
Foiling Terrorists by Keeping Them Out
By James R. Edwards Jr.
CIS Blog, November 28, 2010
http://cis.org/ImmigrationBlog
Excerpt: Anybody fixated on building and detonating a bomb big enough to kill a large crowd at a Christmas tree lighting right downtown in an American city is a criminal sociopath. Enough sociopaths spring forth organically. We certainly don't need to import more. Nor do we need to keep on feeding the petri dishes that stimulate radicalism. Yet that is what legal immigration on the scale we now sustain does. Whether it's continually fostering political and cultural ties to the old countries of Latin America or of Muslim nations, the assimilation ideal cannot be achieved with mass immigration. The perpetuation of one million-plus legal immigrants year in and year out foils the melting pot.
Return to Top
********
********
3.
ICE Finds Huge New Tunnel at Border, But Are Congratulations Really in Order?
By David North
CIS Blog, November 28, 2010
http://cis.org/north/huge-new-border-tunnel
Excerpt: The tunnel, when found, was in full operation, and ICE seized 20 tons of marijuana. I have little first-hand knowledge of such things, but marijuana consists of dried leaves, and even if compressed, it must occupy about as much space as baled hay (something I do know something about). Now 400,000 pounds of hay or marijuana would fill a large building, and hauling it through a tunnel would take considerable time and effort.
Return to Top
********
********
4.
USCIS Takes Small Steps Forward on Alien Worker Programs
By David North
CIS Blog, November 27, 2010
http://cis.org/north/small-steps-forward
Excerpt: These blogs are often critical of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), but in this case we want to note some useful (if almost invisible) steps forward.
Return to Top
********
********
5.
Tories May Have Overreached vis-a-vis Language Requirement for Spouses
By David North
CIS Blog, November 24, 2010
http://cis.org/north/language-requirement-for-spouses
Excerpt: My sense, and I may be wrong, is that imposing such a test on spouses – as opposed to, say, prospective workers – is likely to kick up such a fuss that the Cameron government will drop the whole idea. We will see.
Return to Top
********
********
6.
Fading DREAMs
By James R. Edwards Jr.
CIS Blog, November 23, 2010
http://cis.org/edwards/fading-dreams
Excerpt: Oh, the cruelty of leading people on and sowing false hopes. But the Democratic leadership in Congress and the Obama White House keep up the charade with the DREAM Act amnesty.
Return to Top
********
********
7.
Immigration Lessons from the Chandra Levy Murder Case
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 23, 2010
http://cis.org/feere/lessons-of-levy-case
Excerpt: The public can be happy that one violent MS-13 member is no longer on the streets, but there are many other violent illegal aliens throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. It is well time for local authorities to get serious about public safety and stop appeasing open-border activist groups.
Return to Top
********
********
8.
ICE to Sanctuaries: Just Say No to Holds
By Jessica Vaughan
CIS Blog, November 22, 2010
http://cis.org/vaughan/just-say-no-to-holds
Excerpt: In what appears to be yet another astounding display of mission apathy, a senior ICE official is now advising sanctuary jurisdictions on how they can opt out of his program. Earlier this month, the top manager of the Secure Communities program, David Venturella, suggested to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department that if the county did not wish to participate, it could simply ignore ICE's requests to take custody of the removable aliens that are discovered in county jails.
Inside Hezbollah
From DennisPrager.com:
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H1: Christmas Tree Bomber
Prager H1: A Somali-American plotted to murder and maim thousands of his adopted countrymen in Portland, Oregon. The FBI thwarted the attack… The NY Times aids and abets the efforts by Wikileaks to embarrass the USA… Is America exceptional? The Republicans have no problem saying yes. But Democrats and President Obama aren’t so sure…
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H2: Terror at Home
Prager H2: Dennis brings another domestic terror story to light. This one is not about the Christmas Tree Bomber. This one is about a research scientist who receives regular death threats from environmental extremists… The damage Wikileaks has done could be extensive and fatal… Dennis talks to Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. His new book is Leadership and Crisis.
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H3: A Privilege to Die
Prager H3: Dennis talks to Thanassis Cambanis, veteran Middle East journalist. He has written for the NY Times and Boston Globe among many other publication. He also teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His new book is A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War against Israel.
Dennis talks to Thanassis Cambanis, veteran Middle East journalist. He has written for the NY Times and Boston Globe among many other publication. He also teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His new book is A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel
Dennis talks to Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. His new book is Leadership and Crisis.
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H1: Christmas Tree Bomber
Prager H1: A Somali-American plotted to murder and maim thousands of his adopted countrymen in Portland, Oregon. The FBI thwarted the attack… The NY Times aids and abets the efforts by Wikileaks to embarrass the USA… Is America exceptional? The Republicans have no problem saying yes. But Democrats and President Obama aren’t so sure…
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H2: Terror at Home
Prager H2: Dennis brings another domestic terror story to light. This one is not about the Christmas Tree Bomber. This one is about a research scientist who receives regular death threats from environmental extremists… The damage Wikileaks has done could be extensive and fatal… Dennis talks to Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. His new book is Leadership and Crisis.
Monday, November 29, 2010 Radio Show
H3: A Privilege to Die
Prager H3: Dennis talks to Thanassis Cambanis, veteran Middle East journalist. He has written for the NY Times and Boston Globe among many other publication. He also teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His new book is A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War against Israel.
A Privilege to Die
Monday, November 29, 2010 | Posted by: Allen Estrin at 2:00 PM
Dennis talks to Thanassis Cambanis, veteran Middle East journalist. He has written for the NY Times and Boston Globe among many other publication. He also teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His new book is A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against IsraelBobby Jindal: Leadership and Crisis
Monday, November 29, 2010 | Posted by: Allen Estrin at 1:40 PM
Dennis talks to Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. His new book is Leadership and Crisis.This Is What Medical Researchers Face
Monday, November 29, 2010 | Posted by: Allen Estrin at 1:19 PM
Byron York: Portland Rejected Help from Agency That Saved Its Butt
Monday, November 29, 2010 | Posted by: Allen Estrin at 12:23 PM
They're reconsidering now.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story XII
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Rabbi Rabbs says we can learn about modesty from the Arabs. He says the Arab countries have been modest for thousands of years.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story XII
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Not all Orthodox Jews observe all of the Torah all of the Time. How does Judaism relate to sinners?
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story XI
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
R. Rabbs explains the story.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story X
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Rabbi Rabbs explains what is wrong (according to the Torah) with masturbation, pre-marital sex and coitus interrupts.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story IX
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Rabbi Rabbs explains how the Torah works. How Levirate marriage works. Yibum. Marrying your deceased brother's wife.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story VIII
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Rabbi Rabbs explains how both Judah and Tamar were intent on doing the right thing.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story VII
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here's my problem with Judah and Tamar: She dresses up as a hooker. He buys her services. He doesn't even know her name. He apparently doesn't even look her in the face so that he could know who she was. He just uses her. Oy, it just makes me ill.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story VI
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
* Why no condemnation in the text of the sexual behavior of Judah and Tamar?
* Can you believe that our holy ancestor Judah had sex with Tamar without even asking her for her name? (Gen. 38:20) How shocking is that? How meaningful can sex be when you don’t even know the name of the person you’re porking? How could Jacob do this cosmically significant act and not know who it was with? How could such meaningless sex be truly fulfilling and pleasurable? He must’ve slept with her and never looked at her face. So where was he looking?
* Do you think more men would come to shul if there were cult prostitutes you could use before kiddish? Did Judaism miss the boat on cultic prostitution?
* Why did Judah want Tamar burned to death? (Gen. 38:25) Is this primitive Old Testament morality? He had just slept with a hooker and now he wanted to burn to death a prostitute.
* Why do religious Jews name their daughters after Tamar when she was a whore? Why does the Messiah come from a ho?
* Gen. 38:23 Judah, a little too late, afraid of becoming a laughing stock. Why have virtually all societies frowned on prostitutes? It’s like Judah was afraid of being put on Facebook for being a john. Do you prefer the term “john” or “hobbyist“?
* There’s so much deception in Genesis. It reminds me of all the white collar crime today. Smart people deceive. Dumb people are more likely to use force.
* Potiphar’s wife is a slave to her lust for her hubby’s slave. How much more happy the person who can control his desires!
* Was Potiphar’s wife hot? Because if she wasn’t, then it was no big deal for Joseph to turn her down. Maybe Joseph wasn’t into MILFs? Maybe a barely legal girl would’ve been more trouble for him? Which type is more trouble for you, holy rabbi? Youth is a fatal attraction for me.
* Did Potiphar’s wife get special access to Joseph while he was held as a prisoner in Potiphar’s prison?
* Sexual promiscuity is a basic feature of all slave societies. The slave can’t say no.
* Potiphar’s wife does not respond to his cogent arguments but tries to wear him down. The erect ***** has no conscience.
* When Potiphar’s wife asks him to lie beside her, was that an innocent request? I’ve had women ask me that and sometimes it was very innocent. This Japanese woman I met on a music video shoot. Did they really just want to lie beside me or did they truly want to feel full? Sometimes women don’t say what they mean. They may say, “Let’s lie down together like brother and sister” but they really mean, “Turn me inside out.”
* Perhaps the wife would’ve been more successful with Joseph if she had warmed him up a little bit with questions about God and righteousness and the patriarchs before she flat out asked him for sex. She could’ve said she wanted to follow his God, could he take some time out of his busy schedule to instruct her privately in Torah including the laws of family purity and all that jazz. A lot of rabbis have fallen for similar patter. Even I have proven weak on one or two occasions, luckily God and the police intervened before I could commit a sin.
* Women such as Potiphar’s wife seem to have a particular skill at making false accusations of rape. Please discuss.
* How does the Pharoah talk about God when Pharoah is supposedly divine?
* How much of your life have you spent in spiritual bliss? Are you not satisfied with your reward in the World to Come? Do you expect also to live at ease in this world?
* I wish I could live like the patriarchs and have maid servants and concubines.
* Rabbi Rabbs writes: “I’m just happy to hear Congressman West be so supportive, and if he cites Christianity to protect my fellow Jews who insist on living in that Atheistic country established by Bolsheviks — in many ways the eye sore of the Middle East with its wanton desecration of G-d’s Laws right on top of the Holy Land…”
Perhaps the rabbi could name a land where there is more goodness per square mile than Israel? How would he measure this?
* The pope permits condom use in some instances. Is this good for the Jews? I really like this pope. He’s a fighter.
* On Dec. 3, the Los Angeles Temptation host the Dallas Desire in the Lingerie Football League. Dallas is 0-2. They just can’t get their passing game going. Their quarterback is just 7-30 for 84 yards on the year. LA is 1-0. Who can forget their thrilling 36-32 victory over the Seattle Mist?
As our viewers know, nobody is a bigger supporter of women’s sports than me.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story VI
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story V
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Please remember to bathe, to put on clean clothes, and to abstain from marital relations for at least 48 hours before coming into our chat room because the rabbi and I have some pretty heavy commandments to lay upon you.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
* Did Potiphar’s wife get special access to Joseph while he was held as a prisoner in Potiphar’s prison?
* Sexual promiscuity is a basic feature of all slave societies. The slave can’t say no.
* Potiphar’s wife does not respond to his cogent arguments but tries to wear him down. The erect ***** has no conscience.
* When Potiphar’s wife asks him to lie beside her, was that an innocent request? I’ve had women ask me that and sometimes it was very innocent. This Japanese woman I met on a music video shoot. Did they really just want to lie beside me or did they truly want to feel full? Sometimes women don’t say what they mean. They may say, “Let’s lie down together like brother and sister” but they really mean, “Turn me inside out.”
* Perhaps the wife would’ve been more successful with Joseph if she had warmed him up a little bit with questions about God and righteousness and the patriarchs before she flat out asked him for sex. She could’ve said she wanted to follow his God, could he take some time out of his busy schedule to instruct her privately in Torah including the laws of family purity and all that jazz. A lot of rabbis have fallen for similar patter. Even I have proven weak on one or two occasions, luckily God and the police intervened before I could commit a sin.
* Women such as Potiphar’s wife seem to have a particular skill at making false accusations of rape. Please discuss.
* How does the Pharoah talk about God when Pharoah is supposedly divine?
* How much of your life have you spent in spiritual bliss? Are you not satisfied with your reward in the World to Come? Do you expect also to live at ease in this world?
* I wish I could live like the patriarchs and have maid servants and concubines.
* Rabbi Rabbs writes: “I’m just happy to hear Congressman West be so supportive, and if he cites Christianity to protect my fellow Jews who insist on living in that Atheistic country established by Bolsheviks — in many ways the eye sore of the Middle East with its wanton desecration of G-d’s Laws right on top of the Holy Land…”
Perhaps the rabbi could name a land where there is more goodness per square mile than Israel? How would he measure this?
* The pope permits condom use in some instances. Is this good for the Jews? I really like this pope. He’s a fighter.
* On Dec. 3, the Los Angeles Temptation host the Dallas Desire in the Lingerie Football League. Dallas is 0-2. They just can’t get their passing game going. Their quarterback is just 7-30 for 84 yards on the year. LA is 1-0. Who can forget their thrilling 36-32 victory over the Seattle Mist?
As our viewers know, nobody is a bigger supporter of women’s sports than me.
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story IV
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Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story III
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here are my challenges for R. Rabbs:
* How on earth did the Talmudic rabbis say that the sin of Onan was masturbation and thereby prohibit masturbation because of this story? To read this story and to say it is the sin of masturbation is to read the text wrong in a desire to prohibit something you don’t like.
* The Talmudic rabbis have a completely different attitude towards sex and masturbation than the Torah. The Talmudic rabbis prohibit any non-marital sex, including masturbation. The Torah does not prohibit pre-marital sex. All prostitutes in the Torah are portrayed positively. The Torah is not hung up with sex. The Talmudic rabbis and the New Testament appear hung up about sex by contrast to the Torah.
* Why no condemnation in the text of the sexual behavior of Judah and Tamar?
* Can you believe that our holy ancestor Judah had sex with Tamar without even asking her for her name? (Gen. 38:20) How shocking is that? How meaningful can sex be when you don’t even know the name of the person you’re porking? How could Jacob do this cosmically significant act and not know who it was with? How could such meaningless sex be truly fulfilling and pleasurable? He must’ve slept with her and never looked at her face. So where was he looking?
* Do you think more men would come to shul if there were cult prostitutes you could use before kiddish? Did Judaism miss the boat on cultic prostitution?
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story II
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
* Gen. 37:13 Why are the brothers pasturing at Shechem? Didn’t they wipe out the Shechemites? Would it not be dangerous for them there?
* Gen. 37:35. Jacob says he wants to go down to Sheol. What and where is Sheol?
* Why does the Torah include the unsavory Judah – Tamar story? Why must our holy Torah contain so much sex? It doesn’t seem very spiritual.
* The Torah does not condemn Tamar for being a hooker and it does not condemn Judah for hiring her.
AS: “Of his own free will, Judah would never have united with her, so an angel forced him into the path of a “harlot” to begin the creation of the Davidic dynasty.”
* When Onan spills his seed (Gen. 38:9), does this mean coitus interruptus or unnatural intercourse?
Judah & Tamar - R-rated Genesis Story
I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Please remember to bathe, to put on clean clothes, and to abstain from marital relations for at least 48 hours before coming into our chat room because the rabbi and I have some pretty heavy commandments to lay upon you.
I put together these challenges for Rabbi Rabbs:
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
* Jacob loves Joseph and Benjamin, not because they are children of his old age, but because they are Rachel’s kids.
* Jewish claim to be God’s chosen people is similar to Joseph’s dream of all the sheaves bowing down to his sheave. Why does it cause hate? If I told you my family was chosen by God, how would you react?
* Joseph was bringing bad tales of his brothers to his father. Not wise. (Gen. 37:2)
* How would you react if your sibling told you about such dreams of superiority? I’ve found that you never want to give others the feeling that you look down at them. They don’t like it. And it is usually best to confess your faults so others don’t have to remind you of them.
Holy rabbi, would you care to share any of your dreams?
Monday, November 22, 2010
American Jewish University News
From AJULA.edu:
Learn & Explore at AJU
- Bruce Geller Screenwriting Competition
Accepting scripts through December 10 - MBA Program - Energizing Faith-Based Organizations
December 1, 5PM - 6:30PM - Religion & Philosophy in the Middle Ages
December 7, 7PM - 8:30PM - National Slam Poetry Champions
December 8, 8PM - MBA Program - Donor and Foundation Relations
December 8, 5PM - 6:30PM - An Afternoon of Stand-Up Comedy
December 12, 4PM - Litvaks: A History of the Jews of Lithuania
December 12, 5PM - 9PM - The Jews of Afghanistan and Central Asia
December 13, 10AM - 1PM - Ashkenazim: The Early History of German Jewry
December 13, 6PM - 10PM
Catholics Bear Witness at American Jewish University
Catholic School educators, priests and seminarians from throughout Southern California attended the ADL's Bearing Witness program on November 7-9 at American Jewish University's Familian campus.
This unique three-day workshop, sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League and the Archdioceses of Los Angeles' Department of Catholic Schools, focused on the history of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and addressed issues of diversity, prejudice and bigotry in contemporary society and how to teach these topics in a Catholic School setting. Read More
Slam Poetry at AJU
There's going to be a great collaboration of spoken word artists at American Jewish University's very own slam poetry fundraiser for the AJU College Theater Workshop.
The event will feature National Slam Poetry Champions Steve Connell, In-Q, and Sekou tha Misfit, all of whom have been featured in television shows and movies along with other interesting enterprises. Steve Connell, who won several national and regional slam competitions, traveled across the US during the 2004 presidential campaign with the group Declare Yourself encouraging young people to vote. He also performed for President Barack Obama. In-Q, the 2004 National Poetry Slam Champion, is also a stage actor, and Sekou tha Misfit, a former elementary school teacher, has won the National Poetry Slam championship twice and has a CD out titled Poetic License.
Read More
Immigration News
Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://www.cis.org/support.html
[FYI --
1. Jessica Vaughan on Fox & Friends (Video)
2. Jessica Vaughan on fine of Fenway Park vendor (Video)
3. A Case Study: Violating and Enforcing the Immigration Law (Blog)
4. Where is President Obama's 'Yes, We Can' on the Border? (Blog)
5. Some Examples of Clumsy Censorship Within USCIS (Blog)
6. Do Foreign Students Contribute Billions to U.S. Economy, or Take from It? (Blog)
7. Attrition Works, Yet Again (Blog)
8. Illegal Immigration Is a Crime That Breeds More Crime: A Typology (Blog)
9. California Supreme Court Backs Illegal-Alien Tuition Break (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Jessica Vaughan Explains How Sanctuary Cities are Subsidized
Fox & Friends, November 13, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/user/CISORG#p/u/0/T_hnbxjm5HI (Video)
http://www.cis.org/Vaughan/SubsidisingSanctuaries-FOXandFriends (Blog)
2.
Fenway Park food vendor hit with immigration fine
FOX Boston, November 8, 2010
http://www.cis.org/Videos/FOX-JessicaVaughan-FenwayFood
3.
A Case Study: Violating and Enforcing the Immigration Law
By David North
CIS Blog, November 22, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/violating-and-enforcing-immigration-law
Excerpt: Sometimes it is useful to take a look at case histories of the violations of, and the enforcement of, the immigration law.
It is well known that it often takes the government a long time to wrap up a criminal case involving a violation of the immigration law.
Sometimes the process of breaking the law takes a long time, too. Here is an example of both processes . . .
4.
Where is President Obama's 'Yes, We Can' on the Border?
By Janice Kephart
CIS Blog, November 19, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kephart/border-yes-we-can
Excerpt: This morning two stories came across my desk simultaneously, both about the southwest border . . .
5.
Some Examples of Clumsy Censorship Within USCIS
By David North
CIS Blog, November 18, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/clumsy-censorship
Excerpt: When it comes to transparency in government activities there are two extremes:
On the one hand, there is the total freedom of information sought by many advocates of democracy, the 'open covenants, openly arrived at' concept of Woodrow Wilson.
On the other there is the highly efficient censorship of a dictatorship, such as that of North Korea.
6.
Do Foreign Students Contribute Billions to U.S. Economy, or Take from It?
By David North
CIS Blog, November 17, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/iie-2010
Excerpt: If you read the New York Times article 'China Surges Past India as Top Home of Foreign Students' on Monday you might have seen this line: 'And, according to the Commerce Department such [i.e., foreign] students contribute nearly $20 billion [a year] to the U.S. economy.'
7.
Attrition Works, Yet Again
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, November 17, 2010
http://www.cis.org/krikorian/prince-william-county-report
Excerpt:
From the Washington Post:
'Prince William County's controversial immigration policy appears to have had some effect, as the growth of the county’s Hispanic population now lags behind that of other jurisdictions, a report from the University of Virginia states.
The three-year, $385,000 study – released Tuesday by the university's Center for Survey Research – also found that the county's noncitizen Hispanic population, legal and illegal, dropped by 7,700 from 2006 to 2008, and that illegal immigrants accounted for 2,000 to 6,000 of that decline.'
8.
Illegal Immigration Is a Crime That Breeds More Crime: A Typology
By David North
CIS Blog, November 16, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/crime-that-breeds-more-crime
Excerpt: Illegal immigration is, among other things, a crime that breeds further crime.
This is a grim fact that the open-borders advocates rarely discuss.
Crimes of passion and bank robberies, on the other hand are usually, to use the English phrase, 'one-off' actions. Deplorable as they are, they are self-contained events and do not usually lead to other, on-going criminal activities.
9.
California Supreme Court Backs Illegal-Alien Tuition Break
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 15, 2010
http://www.cis.org/feere/california-instate-tuition-ruling
Excerpt: The California Supreme Court has reversed a lower court holding and sided with California Regents and illegal aliens on the issue of in-state tuition breaks. Under the latest ruling, California colleges (California State University, the University of California, and California Community Colleges) have been given the green light to offer tuition breaks to illegal aliens and deny the same benefit to U.S. citizens from other states. The case is available at the California courts website.
[FYI --
1. Jessica Vaughan on Fox & Friends (Video)
2. Jessica Vaughan on fine of Fenway Park vendor (Video)
3. A Case Study: Violating and Enforcing the Immigration Law (Blog)
4. Where is President Obama's 'Yes, We Can' on the Border? (Blog)
5. Some Examples of Clumsy Censorship Within USCIS (Blog)
6. Do Foreign Students Contribute Billions to U.S. Economy, or Take from It? (Blog)
7. Attrition Works, Yet Again (Blog)
8. Illegal Immigration Is a Crime That Breeds More Crime: A Typology (Blog)
9. California Supreme Court Backs Illegal-Alien Tuition Break (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Jessica Vaughan Explains How Sanctuary Cities are Subsidized
Fox & Friends, November 13, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/user/
http://www.cis.org/Vaughan/
2.
Fenway Park food vendor hit with immigration fine
FOX Boston, November 8, 2010
http://www.cis.org/Videos/FOX-
3.
A Case Study: Violating and Enforcing the Immigration Law
By David North
CIS Blog, November 22, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/
Excerpt: Sometimes it is useful to take a look at case histories of the violations of, and the enforcement of, the immigration law.
It is well known that it often takes the government a long time to wrap up a criminal case involving a violation of the immigration law.
Sometimes the process of breaking the law takes a long time, too. Here is an example of both processes . . .
4.
Where is President Obama's 'Yes, We Can' on the Border?
By Janice Kephart
CIS Blog, November 19, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kephart/
Excerpt: This morning two stories came across my desk simultaneously, both about the southwest border . . .
5.
Some Examples of Clumsy Censorship Within USCIS
By David North
CIS Blog, November 18, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/
Excerpt: When it comes to transparency in government activities there are two extremes:
On the one hand, there is the total freedom of information sought by many advocates of democracy, the 'open covenants, openly arrived at' concept of Woodrow Wilson.
On the other there is the highly efficient censorship of a dictatorship, such as that of North Korea.
6.
Do Foreign Students Contribute Billions to U.S. Economy, or Take from It?
By David North
CIS Blog, November 17, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/iie-
Excerpt: If you read the New York Times article 'China Surges Past India as Top Home of Foreign Students' on Monday you might have seen this line: 'And, according to the Commerce Department such [i.e., foreign] students contribute nearly $20 billion [a year] to the U.S. economy.'
7.
Attrition Works, Yet Again
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, November 17, 2010
http://www.cis.org/krikorian/
Excerpt:
From the Washington Post:
'Prince William County's controversial immigration policy appears to have had some effect, as the growth of the county’s Hispanic population now lags behind that of other jurisdictions, a report from the University of Virginia states.
The three-year, $385,000 study – released Tuesday by the university's Center for Survey Research – also found that the county's noncitizen Hispanic population, legal and illegal, dropped by 7,700 from 2006 to 2008, and that illegal immigrants accounted for 2,000 to 6,000 of that decline.'
8.
Illegal Immigration Is a Crime That Breeds More Crime: A Typology
By David North
CIS Blog, November 16, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/
Excerpt: Illegal immigration is, among other things, a crime that breeds further crime.
This is a grim fact that the open-borders advocates rarely discuss.
Crimes of passion and bank robberies, on the other hand are usually, to use the English phrase, 'one-off' actions. Deplorable as they are, they are self-contained events and do not usually lead to other, on-going criminal activities.
9.
California Supreme Court Backs Illegal-Alien Tuition Break
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 15, 2010
http://www.cis.org/feere/
Excerpt: The California Supreme Court has reversed a lower court holding and sided with California Regents and illegal aliens on the issue of in-state tuition breaks. Under the latest ruling, California colleges (California State University, the University of California, and California Community Colleges) have been given the green light to offer tuition breaks to illegal aliens and deny the same benefit to U.S. citizens from other states. The case is available at the California courts website.
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Ravishing Of Dina XIII
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina XII
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
* Artscroll (AS): Jacob did not rely on his own righteousness, but strove to ensure his safety through practical measures.
* Doing the right thing (Jacob following his mother’s instructions etc) usually makes your life simpler, but not always. I’ve learned through blogging that you can write the right thing, but if you hurt someone, even if done fairly, you will still pay a commensurate price.
* The measures Jacob take show that he thinks that Esau cares primarily about material things.
* The Torah thinks it is OK to flatter people and to buy them off?
* I’ve often wrestling with people, not knowing who they were, and was as desperate as Jacob, “Please tell me your name!” (Gen. 32:30)
* Who is Satan? What kind of power does he have?
The Ravishing Of Dina XI
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina X
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina IX
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina VIII
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina VII
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina VI
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
The Ravishing Of Dina V
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
* 34:23 Hamor is double-dealing. (JPS) Shechem and Hamor don’t mention the real reason they want to do this deal (so Shechem can marry Dina).
* Is the Jewish custom that you ask first and then sleep with daughter, or may you sleep first, then ask?
* 35:2 Jacob tells his household to rid itself of alien gods. What was going on?
Clean clothes important to Israelite religion. There are constant injunctions to launder and to change your clothes.
* What do you think of Reuben laying his dad’s concubine Bilhah? Was this more sexual or political? (JPS)
* Why is there so much sex in our holy Torah? Surely children should not read these things.
* Would you agree that the greatest thing you can is to die for HaShem?
* Does not God’s promise to Noah mean that there will not be catastrophic climate change?
* What about the Lingerie Football League? I’m trying to work out my feelings about this. Two of my favorite things going at it. Fred emails: “Physical exercise and sport are good for the soul.”
The Ravishing Of Dina IV
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
JPS: Even more terrible than the offense against the person and dignity of the girl and the assault upon the honor of the family is the pollution of the moral environment. The entire community becomes infected by such wanton deeds.
Hebrew navalah is a powerful term describing offenses of such profound abhorrence that they threaten to tear apart the fabric of Israelite society. For society’s own self-protection, such atrocities can never be tolerated or left unpunished.
Some sexual sins are far more serious than other sins.
How much money would you want to forget the rape of your daughter?
* What bothered Jacob? Was he thinking, poor Dinah? Or, was he thinking, they took one of our girls without permission?
* Shechem rapes her and then says to his dad, “Love is not blind. Love enables one to see. And now that I see what I have done…”
The Ravishing Of Dina III
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
34:3 Then the rapist falls in love with her. How bizarre is that? He rapes her and then he comforts her. If he comforts her, does he realize he did something wrong?
Amnon, after his rape, hates his victim. (2 Samuel 13:15). How do you feel after a rape? More loving or hating?
This happened to a girl I know. This guy she was dating, well, they got naked in bed together, and then he raped her through one entrance and when she complained, he said, “I’ll make you feel better” and proceeded to rape her through another entrance. This particular friend of mine got raped a lot, but not by me. She was into hugging guys goodbye and lying naked with them in bed and she was always appalled when they proceeded to rape her.
Is rape natural or is it produced by pornography?
A friend of mine who went to college in the early 1970s and was recently accused of date rape told me, “All the things we did for fun in college are now felonies.” Is this good or bad?
* Who is Satan? What kind of power does he have?
The Ravishing Of Dina II
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
* Who does Jacob wrestle with all night?
* 33:11 Esau does not reciprocate with a lavish gift. This is the settling of an old score.
* 35:5 A Godly terror fell upon the cities so they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. I’d rather have people (not my friends) fear me than love me. Then they will treat me better.
* Israel means struggle with God. What does that mean? If you don’t have sexual tension, that’s not good for a marriage.
* Gen. 34: Dina did not deserve to be raped but she precipitated the events by wandering around on her own. Do you criticize her for going out? Do you criticize Jacob for allowing this? The plain meaning of the Torah text is that she wanted to hang out with women. She wasn’t looking for men.
34:2 Shechem saw her, took her, lay with her by force, and made her suffer. That’s how rapes go, I guess.
The Ravishing Of Dina
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43). I discuss it with Rabbi Rabbs.
* Artscroll (AS): Jacob did not rely on his own righteousness, but strove to ensure his safety through practical measures.
* Doing the right thing (Jacob following his mother’s instructions etc) usually makes your life simpler, but not always. I’ve learned through blogging that you can write the right thing, but if you hurt someone, even if done fairly, you will still pay a commensurate price.
* The measures Jacob take show that he thinks that Esau cares primarily about material things.
* The Torah thinks it is OK to flatter people and to buy them off?
* I’ve often wrestling with people, not knowing who they were, and was as desperate as Jacob, “Please tell me your name!” (Gen. 32:30)
* Who is Satan? What kind of power does he have?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Immigration News
From CIS.org: 1. Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest (Backgrounder)
2. Child Tax Credits for Illegal Immigrants (Memorandum)
3. Opaque DHS Border Study Implies Diminishing Returns for BP Staff Increases (Blog)
4. Between Calderon's Rhetoric and Border Reality (Blog)
5. Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go Home (Blog)
6. Dean Baker on Immigration's 'Mixed Bag' (Blog)
7. About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part II: Illegal Tide Rising Again? (Blog)
8. Good News: The Department of Justice Hires 24 More Immigration Judges (Blog)
9. About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part I: Illusionary Hiatus? (Blog)
10. Running, Not Running from, Hispanics in 2012 (Blog)
11. 'Let My People Stay!' – Iraqi Prime Minister Discourages Emigration (Blog)
12. The White House Should Welcome Arizona's Assistance (Blog)
13. Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part II: Tokenism (Blog)
14. Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self- Interest (Blog)
15. Washington State Takes Baby Step on Illegal Aliens and Driver's Licenses (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest
By Kathleene Parker
CIS Backgrounder, November 2010
http://www.cis.org/southwest-water-population-growth
Excerpt: This Backgrounder offers an historical overview of the critical issue of water in the American Southwest, where the water situation is becoming increasingly dire during a prolonged — but not uncharacteristic — drought in the arid region. We also examine the demographic trends that drive high rates of U.S. and, as a result, Southwest population growth. We present evidence that indicates there is insufficient water for the region’s current population, much less the larger future populations that will result if immigration continues at its present high rate.
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2.
Child Tax Credits for Illegal Immigrants
By Peter A. Schulkin
CIS Memorandum, November 2010
http://www.cis.org/child-tax-credits
Excerpt: Many illegal immigrants are regularly accessing welfare benefits in the United States in different ways. They may do so through those state and local governments that do not verify citizenship or that accept false proof of citizenship. In many cases, they access welfare benefits through their citizen children born in the United States. Additionally, and this is the focus of this report, there are ways illegal immigrants can obtain a form of federal welfare that is available to income tax filers. Since a significant percentage of illegal immigrants have low incomes, work “off the books,” or work with false names and Social Security numbers, it is likely that many report little or no income when applying for federal, state, or local benefits.
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3.
Opaque DHS Border Study Implies Diminishing Returns for BP Staff Increases
By David North
CIS Blog, November 12, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/bp-diminishing-returns
Excerpt: I may be completely wrong, but I read into a new and rather opaque DHS research document an implication that increasing spending on Border Patrol staff may be reaching the point of diminishing returns.
The study, just issued by the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), is entitled 'An Analysis of Migrant Smuggling Costs along the Southwest Border' and was written by three OIS staffers – Bryan Roberts, Derekh Cornwell, and Scott Borger, plus Gordon Hanson, who is with the University of California at San Diego.
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4.
Between Calderon's Rhetoric and Border Reality
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, November 12, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kammer/calderons-rhetoric-border-reality
Excerpt: A column in today's Reforma newspaper highlights the troubling gap between Mexico's rhetorical commitment to the human rights of migrants and the abuses suffered by Central American migrants within Mexico. The column in the Mexico City daily is authored by Navi Pillay, United Nations high commissioner for human rights.
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5.
Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go Home
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/krikorian/cpaw
Excerpt: Gallup reports that 18 percent of Hispanic immigrants in the United States want to emigrate to another country, a third of them to Mexico and the rest to other Latin American countries or Canada or Europe. They are more likely than other Hispanic immigrants to be poor and not speak English well — i.e., almost certainly disproportionately illegal aliens, though the survey didn't ask about legal status. (The survey was conducted last year, so the number might actually be higher now, in the wake of last week’s debacle for the amnesty crowd.)
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6.
Dean Baker on Immigration's 'Mixed Bag'
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kammer/baker-mixed-bag
Excerpt: Some straightforward comments on C-SPAN's 'Washington Journal' program this morning from Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Said Baker
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7.
About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part II: Illegal Tide Rising Again?
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/recent-decline-2
Excerpt: So, do the new Pew numbers mean that even with only a small uptick in the American economy, the number of illegal immigrants is beginning to rise again? If this were the case, it would undercut administration claims that it was its tough enforcement policies that were responsible for decline in illegal immigration that Pew had found in an earlier study.
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8.
Good News: The Department of Justice Hires 24 More Immigration Judges
By David North
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/24-more-immigration-judges
Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it has hired 24 additional Immigration Judges. That's an increase in that judicial work force of about 10 percent.
That's good news; it means that there will be many more deportations, some more judgments that aliens can stay in the country, and, one hopes, fewer aliens, on average, in detention centers, thus saving the taxpayers about $100 a day per detainee.
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9.
About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part I: Illusionary Hiatus?
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/recent-decline-1
Excerpt: The Pew report delivers its most noteworthy finding in the first paragraph; 'The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center. This sharp decline has contributed to an overall reduction of 8% in the number of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S.-to 11.1 million in March 2009 from a peak of 12 million in March 2007, according to the estimates. The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades.'
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10.
Running, Not Running from, Hispanics in 2012
By Stephen Steinlight
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/steinlight/politico-hispanic-vote
Excerpt: My blood up, I was anticipating the prospect of tearing to shreds the astoundingly specious social analysis and 'political lessons' allegedly to be derived from the mid-term elections about 'the Hispanic vote' in 2012, as well as the ugly appeal to herd instinct to be found in Politico's piece 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card'. But my CIS colleague Stanley Renshon beat me to the punch in 'Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self-Interest.'
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11.
'Let My People Stay!' – Iraqi Prime Minister Discourages Emigration
By David North
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/iraq-let-my-people-stay
Excerpt: Usually it is the receiving countries that play the dominant roles in immigration policy discussions.
But that is not the case right now in Iraq.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has issued an unusual appeal, saying to France, in effect, 'Let my people stay.' He is asking the West not to accept Christian Iraqi refugees, despite the recent Muslim violence against them.
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12.
The White House Should Welcome Arizona's Assistance
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/feere/welcome-arizonas-assistance
Excerpt: States regularly assist the federal government in making sure federal laws and regulations in a whole host of areas are followed. The feds generally welcome the support. But when it comes to immigration, the Obama administration has signaled opposition to states that wish to provide assistance. The administration argues that states are preempted from getting involved in immigration policy, but this argument is overbroad and ultimately incorrect.
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13.
Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part II: Tokenism
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 9, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/politico-wooing-hispanics-2
Excerpt: The recent Politico story entitled 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card' does not present a very attractive picture of 'Hispanics.' It presents them as having a narrow, self-interested focus on the almost total advancement of their group in the immigration process with little regard to the possible needs of other groups or the United States more generally.
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14.
Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self- Interest
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 9, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/politico-wooing-hispanics-1
Excerpt: Every once in a while an immigration news story comes along that is just so bad, that there is no other word to describe it but awful. Regretfully that is a case with a story on the role of 'Hispanics' in the just concluded 2010 elections. The Politico story is entitled 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card' and is written in part by the ordinarily sensible journalist Ben Smith.
The premise of the story is contained in its title and more specific the view that 'Hispanics' are now a 'wild card.' A wild card is defined as 'an unknown or unpredictable factor' and the story's premise is that 'Hispanics' have emerged from the 2010 election as such an electoral factor for the 2012 presidential race.
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15.
Washington State Takes Baby Step on Illegal Aliens and Driver's Licenses
By David North
CIS Blog, November 8, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/drivers-licenses-washington-state
Excerpt: The State of Washington, one of a handful of states that issues driver's licenses to illegal aliens, took a baby step today to limit – but not eliminate – such issuances.
According to an Associated Press report, Washington, along with New Mexico and Utah, issues licenses to illegal aliens, but starting today Washington State will insist on a proof of in-state residency if the applicant does not provide a 'verified' Social Security number (SSN).
2. Child Tax Credits for Illegal Immigrants (Memorandum)
3. Opaque DHS Border Study Implies Diminishing Returns for BP Staff Increases (Blog)
4. Between Calderon's Rhetoric and Border Reality (Blog)
5. Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go Home (Blog)
6. Dean Baker on Immigration's 'Mixed Bag' (Blog)
7. About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part II: Illegal Tide Rising Again? (Blog)
8. Good News: The Department of Justice Hires 24 More Immigration Judges (Blog)
9. About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part I: Illusionary Hiatus? (Blog)
10. Running, Not Running from, Hispanics in 2012 (Blog)
11. 'Let My People Stay!' – Iraqi Prime Minister Discourages Emigration (Blog)
12. The White House Should Welcome Arizona's Assistance (Blog)
13. Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part II: Tokenism (Blog)
14. Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self- Interest (Blog)
15. Washington State Takes Baby Step on Illegal Aliens and Driver's Licenses (Blog)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest
By Kathleene Parker
CIS Backgrounder, November 2010
http://www.cis.org/southwest-water-population-growth
Excerpt: This Backgrounder offers an historical overview of the critical issue of water in the American Southwest, where the water situation is becoming increasingly dire during a prolonged — but not uncharacteristic — drought in the arid region. We also examine the demographic trends that drive high rates of U.S. and, as a result, Southwest population growth. We present evidence that indicates there is insufficient water for the region’s current population, much less the larger future populations that will result if immigration continues at its present high rate.
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2.
Child Tax Credits for Illegal Immigrants
By Peter A. Schulkin
CIS Memorandum, November 2010
http://www.cis.org/child-tax-credits
Excerpt: Many illegal immigrants are regularly accessing welfare benefits in the United States in different ways. They may do so through those state and local governments that do not verify citizenship or that accept false proof of citizenship. In many cases, they access welfare benefits through their citizen children born in the United States. Additionally, and this is the focus of this report, there are ways illegal immigrants can obtain a form of federal welfare that is available to income tax filers. Since a significant percentage of illegal immigrants have low incomes, work “off the books,” or work with false names and Social Security numbers, it is likely that many report little or no income when applying for federal, state, or local benefits.
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3.
Opaque DHS Border Study Implies Diminishing Returns for BP Staff Increases
By David North
CIS Blog, November 12, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/bp-diminishing-returns
Excerpt: I may be completely wrong, but I read into a new and rather opaque DHS research document an implication that increasing spending on Border Patrol staff may be reaching the point of diminishing returns.
The study, just issued by the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), is entitled 'An Analysis of Migrant Smuggling Costs along the Southwest Border' and was written by three OIS staffers – Bryan Roberts, Derekh Cornwell, and Scott Borger, plus Gordon Hanson, who is with the University of California at San Diego.
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4.
Between Calderon's Rhetoric and Border Reality
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, November 12, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kammer/calderons-rhetoric-border-reality
Excerpt: A column in today's Reforma newspaper highlights the troubling gap between Mexico's rhetorical commitment to the human rights of migrants and the abuses suffered by Central American migrants within Mexico. The column in the Mexico City daily is authored by Navi Pillay, United Nations high commissioner for human rights.
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5.
Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go Home
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/krikorian/cpaw
Excerpt: Gallup reports that 18 percent of Hispanic immigrants in the United States want to emigrate to another country, a third of them to Mexico and the rest to other Latin American countries or Canada or Europe. They are more likely than other Hispanic immigrants to be poor and not speak English well — i.e., almost certainly disproportionately illegal aliens, though the survey didn't ask about legal status. (The survey was conducted last year, so the number might actually be higher now, in the wake of last week’s debacle for the amnesty crowd.)
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6.
Dean Baker on Immigration's 'Mixed Bag'
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/kammer/baker-mixed-bag
Excerpt: Some straightforward comments on C-SPAN's 'Washington Journal' program this morning from Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Said Baker
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7.
About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part II: Illegal Tide Rising Again?
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/recent-decline-2
Excerpt: So, do the new Pew numbers mean that even with only a small uptick in the American economy, the number of illegal immigrants is beginning to rise again? If this were the case, it would undercut administration claims that it was its tough enforcement policies that were responsible for decline in illegal immigration that Pew had found in an earlier study.
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8.
Good News: The Department of Justice Hires 24 More Immigration Judges
By David North
CIS Blog, November 11, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/24-more-immigration-judges
Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it has hired 24 additional Immigration Judges. That's an increase in that judicial work force of about 10 percent.
That's good news; it means that there will be many more deportations, some more judgments that aliens can stay in the country, and, one hopes, fewer aliens, on average, in detention centers, thus saving the taxpayers about $100 a day per detainee.
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9.
About That Recent Decline of Illegal Immigrants... Part I: Illusionary Hiatus?
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/recent-decline-1
Excerpt: The Pew report delivers its most noteworthy finding in the first paragraph; 'The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center. This sharp decline has contributed to an overall reduction of 8% in the number of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S.-to 11.1 million in March 2009 from a peak of 12 million in March 2007, according to the estimates. The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades.'
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10.
Running, Not Running from, Hispanics in 2012
By Stephen Steinlight
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/steinlight/politico-hispanic-vote
Excerpt: My blood up, I was anticipating the prospect of tearing to shreds the astoundingly specious social analysis and 'political lessons' allegedly to be derived from the mid-term elections about 'the Hispanic vote' in 2012, as well as the ugly appeal to herd instinct to be found in Politico's piece 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card'. But my CIS colleague Stanley Renshon beat me to the punch in 'Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self-Interest.'
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11.
'Let My People Stay!' – Iraqi Prime Minister Discourages Emigration
By David North
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/iraq-let-my-people-stay
Excerpt: Usually it is the receiving countries that play the dominant roles in immigration policy discussions.
But that is not the case right now in Iraq.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has issued an unusual appeal, saying to France, in effect, 'Let my people stay.' He is asking the West not to accept Christian Iraqi refugees, despite the recent Muslim violence against them.
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12.
The White House Should Welcome Arizona's Assistance
By Jon Feere
CIS Blog, November 10, 2010
http://www.cis.org/feere/welcome-arizonas-assistance
Excerpt: States regularly assist the federal government in making sure federal laws and regulations in a whole host of areas are followed. The feds generally welcome the support. But when it comes to immigration, the Obama administration has signaled opposition to states that wish to provide assistance. The administration argues that states are preempted from getting involved in immigration policy, but this argument is overbroad and ultimately incorrect.
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13.
Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part II: Tokenism
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 9, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/politico-wooing-hispanics-2
Excerpt: The recent Politico story entitled 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card' does not present a very attractive picture of 'Hispanics.' It presents them as having a narrow, self-interested focus on the almost total advancement of their group in the immigration process with little regard to the possible needs of other groups or the United States more generally.
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14.
Politico's Advice Regarding Wooing Hispanics, Part I: Pander to Their Narrow Self- Interest
By Stanley Renshon
CIS Blog, November 9, 2010
http://www.cis.org/renshon/politico-wooing-hispanics-1
Excerpt: Every once in a while an immigration news story comes along that is just so bad, that there is no other word to describe it but awful. Regretfully that is a case with a story on the role of 'Hispanics' in the just concluded 2010 elections. The Politico story is entitled 'Hispanic vote a 2012 wild card' and is written in part by the ordinarily sensible journalist Ben Smith.
The premise of the story is contained in its title and more specific the view that 'Hispanics' are now a 'wild card.' A wild card is defined as 'an unknown or unpredictable factor' and the story's premise is that 'Hispanics' have emerged from the 2010 election as such an electoral factor for the 2012 presidential race.
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15.
Washington State Takes Baby Step on Illegal Aliens and Driver's Licenses
By David North
CIS Blog, November 8, 2010
http://www.cis.org/north/drivers-licenses-washington-state
Excerpt: The State of Washington, one of a handful of states that issues driver's licenses to illegal aliens, took a baby step today to limit – but not eliminate – such issuances.
According to an Associated Press report, Washington, along with New Mexico and Utah, issues licenses to illegal aliens, but starting today Washington State will insist on a proof of in-state residency if the applicant does not provide a 'verified' Social Security number (SSN).
Saturday, November 13, 2010
R. Rabbs, Luke Ford On Vayetzei VII
This week’s Torah portion: “The parshah tells of Jacob’s travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parshah recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob’s meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob’s time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob’s children, and the departure of Jacob’s family from Laban.”
Here are my notes for my Monday 7pm PST discussion with Rabbi Rabbs:
* According to the Artscroll Stone chumash on Gen. 28:10-16: “Before going to Haran, Jacob spent fourteen years at the academy of Shem and Eber… R. Yaakov Kamenetsky explained that the first sixty-three years of his life he studied Torah with his father, in an atmosphere insulated from the corruption of Canaan. Now he would be living in Haran, among people who were Laban’s comrades in dishonesty. To survive spiritually in such an environment, he needed the Torah of Shem and Eber, for they too had been forced to cope with corrosive surroundings.”
* Gen. 28:16: Jacob says, “Surely God is in this place and I didn’t know it.” How often has that happened to you?
R. Rabbs, Luke Ford On Vayetzei IX
This week’s Torah portion: “The parshah tells of Jacob’s travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parshah recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob’s meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob’s time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob’s children, and the departure of Jacob’s family from Laban.”
R. Rabbs, Luke Ford On Vayetzei VII
This week’s Torah portion: “The parshah tells of Jacob’s travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parshah recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob’s meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob’s time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob’s children, and the departure of Jacob’s family from Laban.”
R. Rabbs, Luke Ford Behind the Music
This week’s Torah portion: “The parshah tells of Jacob’s travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parshah recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob’s meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob’s time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob’s children, and the departure of Jacob’s family from Laban.”
R. Rabbs, Luke Ford On Vayetzei X
This week’s Torah portion: “The parshah tells of Jacob’s travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parshah recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob’s meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob’s time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob’s children, and the departure of Jacob’s family from Laban.”
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