Royal Weddings and Human Idols
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Posted 05.01.2011
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World
Institutions that make humans into objects of veneration end up consuming the poor souls who have to live up to these impossibly lofty standards.
Institutions that make humans into objects of veneration end up consuming the poor souls who have to live up to these impossibly lofty standards.
Ecclesiastes expressed it best. There is not just a time to love but also a time to hate. I hate Osama bin Laden, but I will not rejoice in his death. It would have been better for the world had he never been born.
In imagining how we Americans would react to the news that Osama bin Laden had finally been killed, I expected mass expressions of relief. But what I never anticipated was the celebrations.
For years US government officials as well American Muslim leaders have been saying that Osama bin Laden is not a Muslim but a charlatan. Why then, if bin Laden did not live as a Muslim, did we rush to bury him as one?
The biggest mistake we make in determining why powerful men cheat is to believe they're looking for sex. If it's sex they're after they have wives who can cater to their needs. No, these men are looking for something else entirely: validation.
A new report argues the high incidence of sexual abuse by priests in the 1960s reflected the growing aberrance of American society during that period, including "an increase in premarital sexual behavior and divorce." Are they serious?
How sad that now, months after the Arab uprisings began, when President Obama has finally decided to give a major policy speech supporting the Arab right to be free, he squandered the opportunity by yet again dumping on Israel.
Why did President Obama destroy his Arab democracy speech, not to mention further erode his already tenuous Jewish support, with a reference to the '67 borders that he has now climbed down from?
Few are unaware of the fact that my next-door neighbor in Englewood, New Jersey, is the Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham, who also served as Gaddafi's Foreign Minister for eight years.
Halfway through Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress on Monday I was confronted by a moral dilemma. A heckler was being subdued; should I have helped?
This November, believe it or not, a measure will be on the ballot in San Francisco to ban circumcision for all males under the sage of 18, making it an offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail. Talk about putting skin in the game.
What I do have a problem with is the large number of commentators -- the vast majority Jewish -- who say that in defying Obama on the '67 borders Netanyahu has provoked the President's wrath and Israel will now suffer the consequences.
