Martin Indyk to Salon.com on the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian-US diplomacy:

But what's changed in the White House is that the president is in some ways becoming -- dare I say it -- like President Clinton, who believed that it was better to try and fail in the context of making peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, than not to try at all.

Judge kills death sentence because jurors read Bible: Several consulted scriptural references while deciding fate of rapist-murderer (this from WND)

Ironically, said the report, Adams County District Judge John J. Vigil admitted Harlan's crimes (a rape, along with the murder of the victim and the non-fatal shooting of a passer-by) ''were among the most grievous, heinous and reprehensible'' he had ever seen, writing in his ruling: "If any case merits the death penalty, there cannot be serious debate about this case being that case."

Nevertheless, wrote the judge, the death penalty "must be imposed in a constitutional manner."

He blamed court officials for failing to sequester the jury adequately – that is, to keep Bibles out of their hands.

Noting that ''the jury supervision performed in this case was extremely negligent and appallingly lax,'' Vigil stated in his ruling that ''jury resort to biblical code has no place in a constitutional death penalty proceeding.'' As of today, Vigil has not set a date for Harlan's re-sentencing.

prosecutors - arguing that reading the Bible couldn't have influenced the jury's verdict anyway - claimed the judge's order to sequester the jury meant preventing jurors from reading newspapers and watching TV news reports. But it did not, they said, mean jurors should somehow be prohibited from referring to their own personal moral standards - including the Holy Bible - while deliberating and reaching their verdict.

For those of you out there who want a taste of a genuinely frum newspaper online, you may have thought you were out of luck. After further research, you can go to yated.com, where you get the following message:

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we will not be publishing a Web Edition of our paper. Instead, we offer a free weekly e-mail subscription of selected articles. To subscribe, send E-Mail to the Yated Editor:

More blaming Jews for anti-Semitism -- I think. Ralph Seliger's stupidity is on full display in this Forward Op-Ed. He doesn't really have an argument, but if he can be said to have one, it is in this paragraph:

If Oslo had succeeded, the odious convulsions seizing Europe and the Islamic world would not be happening. Racist and especially theological antisemitism would endure, but increasingly on the margins. Since most of the anti-Jewish or anti-Israel occurrences we deplore are reactions to a changed political landscape, is it really best understood as antisemitism?

Well, I finally saw The Matrix Reloaded last night. Many more comments, discussion, and analysis soon to follow, I'm sure, but I just wanted to throw this out. In keeping with the Zion = Zion discussion previously seen in this space, we-who-were-at-the-movie think that a strong parallel can be drawn between the character of Morpheus and Menachem Begin. Both were military leaders who defended smaller nations against overwhelming odds, and often had difficulties with their own military establishment. Both were fueled by a very clear religious, messianic vision. And Morpheus' speech at the gathering/rave party at the beginning of the movie ("we're still here, so I have faith that nothing in the future can stop us") was positively Begin-esque (I'll try to find links later). Of course, we know that Begin's career ended during the Lebanon War, where his messianism was dealt a severe blow which was one factor in his withdrawal from the public sphere to live out his life in seclusion. We are left wondering what will happen to Morpheus now that he has to deal with the first real challenge to his messianism.

Aaron Weisburd discovers the International Solidarity Movement is recruiting older Jews. (via ATC) Maybe part of what's going on here is they're recognizing that Rachel Corrie was a problem precisely because she was too active. A geezer human shield would never have had the ability to run in front of a bulldozer; they're about the best human shields you can find -- they couldn't go anywhere, even if they wanted to.
This all seems very Peter Singer to me.

Caption contest over at Pejman's. I couldn't think of anything good right now, but maybe "Old Man Winter learns to warm up as he takes a break down in the equator region." No.

Balagan is in love, is "Having fun with that strange sensation (that I cannot describe). Something like an idiot happiness that makes you behave like a fool 24 hours a day."

Why aren't our law school friends this funny? Glenn writes:

JUST FAXED IN MY GRADES. My conlaw exam was pretty fun this year. I had a question involving a nude dance club called "The House of Protest," where the dancers had political slogans painted on their bodies a la the Dixie Chicks, and one where a "Senator Dick Saluspopuli" tried to ban gay sex under the Interstate Commerce Clause (best student line: "Although Chief Justice Marshall, in Gibbons v. Ogden, wrote that 'commerce is intercourse,' he did not write that intercourse is, therefore, commerce.")

The tefillin keyboard.
Think they make them in a phylactery factory?

Finally back home after a day spent with family at and after the Yeshiva University graduation, where Sister of an Elder Sharon was the recipient of a baccalaureate degree in Jewish History and Sociology. We're very proud.
Posts will be coming on Daniel Pipes' speech at the event, as well as other matters.

Is The Matrix Reloaded comparing Hitler to Bush? WND seems to thinks so.

UPDATE: Here's the FreeRepublic thread that goes with the WND article. As usual, good stuff.

Ralph Seliger of Meretz USA writes in the Forward about the sudden rise in antisemitism in the West. His take:

If Oslo had succeeded, the odious convulsions seizing Europe and the Islamic world would not be happening. Racist and especially theological antisemitism would endure, but increasingly on the margins. Since most of the anti-Jewish or anti-Israel occurrences we deplore are reactions to a changed political landscape, is it really best understood as antisemitism?

The Forward is a bit late with their X-2 review, but they do come up with an original set of two people to build the metaphor around: Yitz Greenbeg and Meir Kahane.

Volokh points out a portion of the Jayson Blair interview that I hadn't noticed:

In particular, Mr. Blair comments frankly in the proposal on Jonathan Landman, the editor who oversaw the metropolitan desk where Mr. Blair was assigned. Of the now-famous e-mail that Mr. Landman sent to colleagues saying that Mr. Blair had to be stopped from reporting for The Times, Mr. Blair writes in his proposal that "it was actually in the context of whether I should be writing during a two-week break I took for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Months later he would send me an e-mail offering his unqualified support for my improvements."
Mr. Blair goes on to write that while Mr. Landman "is no hero in this story," he calls him "an honorable and honest man." However, he asserts that Mr. Landman’s "neo-conservative views have been some of the most difficult things for any minority reporter at the Times to handle."

Eugene Volokh had questions about how Jews could have been 4% of voters in the 2000 election; he is closing in on what might be an answer -- Jews seem to be older than the rest of the population.
Can we get some reader analysis on these numbers? What kind of turnout would it take for the JComm to reach those levels? How much of that does the JPopSurvey provide for?

Allison Kaplan Sommer is happy that Arak is back.

Just received some e-mails...will be posting more later on the Oak Leaf Op-Ed.

Amish Tech Support thinks Israel might end up selling Arrow missiles to some countries worried about nuclear threats.

Pejman proposes canonizing Eugene Volokh for his Bushisms-busting. Elder Avraham is particularly partial to the Bushisms. Perhaps he has a response?

David Adesnik's mom just became a rabbi. Not only that, but she was also the first woman to receive a PhD in Talmud. If we'd known all along that David's mother was so important, maybe we would've given him a bit more respect. Too late, I guess. Mazel Tov.

Idiotarian shows an insane Al Jazeera cartoon.

Despite all of the war -- and some peace -- taking place in the world, beyond all of the tax cuts and political rhetoric, is a more pressing question: Who will be the next American Idol?
Surely, the theological importance of this question on the global stage is inestimable. Will the choice of America be Ba'al? Perhaps a votive for the Sun God, Amon/Ra?
The repercussions of this decision are overwhelming. Will human sacrifice be required by the new lord? If so, who? What is the fallout that this might have for the United States' human rights reputation? Further relevance: if the human sacrifices are to be virgins, will this lead to a new sexual revolution for a younger generation? And with adults comprising the bulk of the legal voting bloc, will this create an ironic endnote for those Baby Boomers who lived through the wild times of the '60s, and now must keep their young children repressed in order to sate their god?
Send in your thoughts.
And what if, as above, Amon/Ra is chosen? Will Americans overcome with religious fervor forget the lessons of Icarus and fly too close to the sun?
So many questions, so few answers. Tune in tonight, tomorrow night, next week, and every other poor-ratings night, to find the answers.
READER SWMNBN WRITES:

What about Mo Laych? He has the small but loyal support of the pyromaniac demographic.

You'll notice we're adding a "jews who blog" section to the blogroll on the right. It's currently in development, and we know we're missing tons and likely will continue to miss tons for some time. If you or a Jewish blogger you like is not mentioned, drop me a line and I'll make sure it's inserted.
Two explanatory notes:
1) In theory, it's supposed to preface a blog updated within the past two hours with a "-". This should help save our readers' time.
2) I put locations in parentheses after their names. In general, the Jewish bloggers are in the USA or Israel. Those in the USA have their state -- if known -- placed afterwards. Those in Israel have an "I". We'll figure out what to do with other countries when we find that problem. If your location isn't listed, it's because we didn't know it when we added you -- send an e-mail and we'll fix it.

Looking through the hit counter, it appears that someone employed at the National Institutes of Health came here searching for "Making of a Godol."

Today's Papers links to a unique story in which, "After Israeli troops raided their neighborhood, about 500 Palestinian residents came out to protest against local militants who routinely attack a near-by settlement."

NYT: Jewish Donors to Democrats Urge Support of Road Map.

The letter was signed by more than 100 people, most of them Jewish and longtime contributors to Democratic candidates and causes. They included: Richard Dreyfuss, the actor; Alan Solomont, a former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Ruth W. Messinger, an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York; Henry Rosovsky, a former dean and acting president of Harvard University; Eli Broad and Lynne Wasserman, major fundraisers in Los Angeles; Alan Patricof, an investment banker close to the Clintons; and Michael Adler, a Miami developer.

Beliefnet hosts an excerpt from "The Rabbi and the Hitman", a book that appears to be about Rabbi Fred Neulander. Wacky. The article links to an interview with the author, as well as an Eric Yoffie piece on sharing Neulander's shame.

From Globes[online]:

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is lobbying the US Congress to pass a resolution demanding the administration make an Israeli-Palestinian agreement contingent on compensating Jews from Arab countries for looted property.

The Baghdad Bob/Ari Fleischer Examination. I actually got a few of these wrong, though that doesn't mean the two guys are at all comparable; some of the samples are so general that it's essentially a crapshoot (or, rather, a coin toss, since that, similarly has a 50/50 chance).
(via Hit&Run)

Abu Mazen polling at 4 percen...yowzers. Plus,

The terror wave is a clear indication of just how weak and fragile the Abu Mazen government is and some Palestinian journalists expressed the fear that they would topple his government completely. The attacks show up the difference between Arafat and Abu Mazen. The organizers of the attacks, even though they come from the opposition, generally show respect for Arafat. He is considered the symbol of the Palestinian revolution, the "father of the nation," even when they are bitterly opposed to his policies. He has prestige even if his position has been undermined by Israel, the U.S. and other countries.

Palestinian sources also recalled that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had warned that the war in Iraq could unleash hundreds of bin Ladens. They say Islamic extremists want to show the world that the American victory in Iraq has not vanquished the Arabs or Islam.

Others say all the military actions by Israel cannot stop the suicide bombers. The real terror infrastructure, they said, is not the explosives labs and the headquarters that the IDF is destroying, but the growing list of Palestinians to commit suicide.

JTA: "King Offers Aid to Moroccan Jews". Replace "Moroccan" with almost any other kingdom in human history, and that'd seem a weird sentence. Maybe this is a good one.
PLUS: JTA follows up on Geraldo's comments, asking people if Jews need him.

Due to finals, I haven't really had a chance to keep up with much of anything outside of assorted pieces of various Talmudic tractates, hence the slow blogging. Hence, this post is dated, but it'll have to do...
I was somewhat intrigued by HasidicRebel's recent post involving hiding his blockbuster rentals from the neighbors that would throw his kids out of school, ruin his marriage, etc. if they knew that he watched Ben-Hur last Saturday night. My initial reaction was somewhat similar to ChaniMirel's, who commented:

If you really think you’re community’s *that* myopic, why are you letting them within ten feet of your kids?

But the larger issue is: in this country I should be able to live whereever I want, and lead whatever kind of life I want without people interfering in what I do behind closed doors. And those who think otherwise, should join forces with the Ayatollahs in Iran.

Clearly, though, HR does see something in the Chassidic lifestyle, or he would have moved long ago. I would only wonder if HR wants his kids to grow up to be just like he's presenting himself on his blog, openminded, but frustrated at his community's mores (not to mention living in fear of exposure), because he feels that the overall lifestyle is better than what he could find anywhere else? Or, maybe, he wouldn't mind watching his kids grow up to reject his more liberal values and settle into the Chareidi lifestyle. I really am very interested.

Yada's had the same link at the top for a while now, pointing to Oy Vey Auctions, which (oy vey?) doesn't have a single auction listed. Which is understandable. This venture strikes me as a lot like those pharmacies that write "Shomer Shabbos" in Hebrew on their overhang -- the only point is to let people know Jews own the business. Anyway, there's an ad at Oy Vey Auctions to Rivi's Cookies, which have the appearance of possibly looking quite tasty -- anyone had them?

Christopher Hitchens on Biblical language.

David Frum asks, "What About the Chechens?":

It is a very strange fact that the bloodiest terror attack of the past two weeks is the one that has received the least attention. While 28 innocents were killed in the Casablanca bombing and 34 in Riyadh, and a total of 12 Israelis in the five most recent attacks in Israel, 60 were killed by a single truck bomb in Chechnya on May 12. The casualty toll may yet rise higher as the injured succumb to their wounds and post-Soviet medical care.

Press conference this morning:

Lawyers hold news conference on petition asking Governor Pataki to issue a posthumous pardon to Lenny Bruce for his 1964 obscenity conviction; New York County Lawyers' Association.

Senior Prom at Gurwin Jewish Geriatic Center has senior citizens and students from the Community Service Action Club at Deer Park High School socializing.

Holocaust remembrance ceremonies desecrated in the Netherlands. (via Instapundit)

Mobius' first post in a while, and it's a doozy:

Gruesome-ass pictures of Sunday's bombing... Show 'em to your radically-Left friends and tell 'em, 60% of Palestinians think this is okay. (c/o lgf)
Prayers to the victims & their families.

not only do they think its ok...so do the anchors on cnn...yesterday a pretty blonde one said "this will continue, the palestenians are trying to make a point." and this is a legitimate way to make a point

We got our first link from Instapundit. It's nice to welcome the Instapundit audience, even if it has taken six months for it to get here. Enjoy our content and drop us a line with your thoughts.

Ron Rosenbaum reviews the CBS Hitler Docudrama for the NY Observer and finds several critical moments subtly altered to drive home a Bush-Hitler analogy. Interesting story overall.

Romenesko links to Ari Fleischer stories:
Mike McCurry admits Fleischer was better.
USAT feature.
Salon quotes reporter: Fleischer's style, deceptions were annoying.
Also see Tim Noah on Fleischer's resignation, saying Fleischer quit because he'd started telling the truth (Fleischer had been the subject of 3 "Whopper of the Week"s)

JTA: Confusion about poorly-planned 55th birthday concert for Israel. They should've asked for my help. "The concert was to have featured comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stein and singers Tony Bennett, Norah Jones and Tovah Feldshuh." Some of those are understandable, some...seem to be odd choices.
Yada had a post on Seinfeld's joining the concert a bit back, but their site seems to be down.

Adi Neuman addresses, "An open letter to the followers of Leo Strauss," begging, "Oh please, recruit me into your elite conspiracy."

It may just be really early in the morning (for me), but WorldNetDaily's Paul Sperry actually seems to have written an insightful article on the politicazation of national security. Frankly, I'm stunned. If he's right, the Bush Administration has a lot to answer for. Unfortunately, not too many Democrats read WND, and there aren't enough extremist-conservatives to matter.

Zionist meeting brands 'road map' as heresy

"The land of Israel was originally owned by God," said Gary Bauer, president of American Values and a Republican presidential contender in 2000. "Since He was the owner, only He could give it away. And He gave it to the Jewish people."

A three-page statement was adopted, to be delivered to President Bush this week, demanding Palestinian concessions before Israel is asked to return to its pre-1967 borders, which would turn over the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

Pat Buchanan discusses the continued American military presence in countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. His analysis:

If what is at issue in the War on Terror, declared by Osama bin Laden on the United States, is whether Americans will be expelled from Saudi Arabia, who is actually winning the War on Terror?

As a chilling follow-up to Elder I's post about Germans laughing at the torture in the Pianist, LGF reports that the number of neo-nazi websites in Germany has more than tripled in the last four years. There is NOT a good vibe coming from there right about now.
[The obvious question is -- isn't that illegal in Germany? And, indeed it is. As the JPost article LGF points to makes clear, "Spreading Nazi propaganda or symbols is against the law in Germany." Therefore, the article engages in a lot of sleight of hand that appears to want to deceive the reader into thinking that these are authentically neo-Nazi sites. More research seems necessary. -- SIW]

Police brutality in...Hevron. (Thanks, Ephraim)

Idiotic idea of what it means to be a neo-con: cartoon by Ward Sutton.

Pilcher says that Reform leaders are organizing against Bush's latest attempts to "go nucular." I guess there aren't any pressing communal issues to worry about...

More views on the bombings, and the aftermath. Instant Replay says, "So on one side we have the U.S., E.U., UN, PLO and moderate Arab states supporting negotiations. On the other side are Sharon's government, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and extremist Arab states against negotiations. Is it just me, or is Sharon on the wrong side of this debate? Clearly, his party is an obstacle to the U.S. master plan for the region, and should be removed immediately."

Israeli bloggers on the bombings:
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Israeli Guy, Not a Fish. For all of them, go to those posts and scroll up/down.
(via Head Heeb, who has an earlier post explaining why Jews are stereotyped as in control instead of as dirt poor, like most negative stereotypes we're familiar with.)

Patrick Belton's first dispatch from Dearborn, Michigan. He begins:

LETTER FROM DEARBORN: For the last several days, I've been in the burgeoning Arab and Muslim capital of the United States, the southwestern Detroit suburb of Dearborn. I came here to do interviews for a series of articles I've been commissioned to write, which may turn into a book, about Dearborn and what it tells us about the future of the Arab and Islamic communities in the U.S. I've been reading this morning some of the media coverage of Dearborn, but all of it is simplistic, too broadly put, and frankly misses the real community, with its subtleties, its invigorating features, its complexities. It's generally the result of reporters jetting from New York for an evening to collect an interview or two, then returning to write their pieces once they could drop some of the geographic referents, like Warren Street, to pretend they understood the place. But the real Dearborn doesn't appear in any of their pieces.

Jew tie in on Dearborn: Former home of Henry Ford, whose propoganda rag "Dearborn Independent" was the first outfit to publish The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in America.

The roadmap is dead. Where to from here? Nathan Newman says, "Sharon Awards Terrorist Bombers", saying "Sharon is demonstrating that the more Israelis killed, the more the terrorists win. Kill Israelis, terrorists win." He then goes even further by adding, "Sharon is helping to murder his own Jewish population, just as the suicide bombers help guarantee more Israeli murder of civilians in the West Bank and Gaza. If they were both turning their guns on their own communities, they couldn't be doing more to kill their fellow nationals."
Orin Judd points to this paragraph in the NYT story:

Despite the violence, Mr. Sharon told his cabinet ministers tonight that he intended to continue meeting with the first Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli officials said.

Mr. Sharon continues to seen hellbent on peace, as witness his determination to continue working with Mr. Abbas despite the pro-forma language repudiating the peace plan. Of course to interrupt the process now would merely hand the terrorists another victory, allowing them to forestall indefinitely the Palestinian statehood they fear.

This story is actually a macro on the NYT 's computer system. Alt+Shift+F8, I think. Then all they do is go back and change the details and make up a couple of quotes.

Is this the beginning of the end for the Jewish-Zionist cabal that runs the Bush administraton? Ari Fleischer announces his retirement this summer. Helen Thomas must be thrilled.

This isn't Jewish-related at all, but the BBC wonders if the Jessica Lynch rescue wasn't a bit of wag the dog (via Instapundit).

GreatSatan Quarterly provides the following message from the Jewish Task Force's homepage: (the JTF, by the way, is a Kahanist-type TV show that airs on public access cable - click here for some background)

"On April 28, 2003, the incompetent "affirmative action" morons who work at Queens Public Television (QPTV) did not air the new program that JTF submitted for that evening. Instead, the QPTV "quota system" imbeciles repeated JTF's program from a week earlier.

Our regular viewers know by now that JTF always submits new programs twice a week, 52 weeks a year. If there is a repeat, it is because the African and other Third World primates who work at QPTV are too illiterate to properly read the broadcast dates on JTF's programs — and so the primates do not air the newest tape.

Similarly, whenever there are technical problems, such as poor visual or audio quality, it is the QPTV primates who are responsible. JTF always submits the most professional network-quality digital tapes filmed with network-quality cameras, lighting and other equipment. How these perfect tapes are ruined by the jungle "staff" of QPTV is one of life's great mysteries.

In any event, we are being given a special make-up time for the program that did not air."

HasidicNews.com front-pages the following cute historical tidbit.

The first major rift within the Hasidic community after WWII was between Satmar and Kloyzenberg. Satmars would routinely toss oranges on the Kloyzenberg Rebbe and tease him whenever they could. The Rebbe would routinely lash out against his uncle the Satmar Rebbe and denounce him in private meetings with his supporters. It lasted until the 1960s.

Michael Walzer, editor in chief of Dissent magazine and a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, lectures on "The Jewish State and the Democratic Tradition" (via the Forward). His primary issue:

Complicating the issue is the possibility of the Arab minority one day becoming the majority as a result of rapid population growth. Is there a solution that salvages both liberal-democratic principles and the Jewish nature of the state? Bi-nationalism may have been a solution in Belgium, but closer to home — in Lebanon and Cyprus — it hasn't worked. Either way, a bi-national model would probably undermine the Jewish character of the state.

Walzer foresees two options. The first would be the fulfillment of the right-wing's dream of a Greater Israel. But to maintain a Jewish majority, Walzer said, would require the expulsion of the area's Arab population. Though unlikely, Walzer warned that this would be a "black mark on the Jewish people." Jews aware of their own Diaspora history would identify with the Palestinians, who would then be comparable to the exiled Jews of Spain.

Alternatively, Walzer said, a "little Israel" might be able to coexist with a "little Palestine." Israel would then be engaged in a Kulturkampf between secularists and the ultra-Orthodox. But "a cultural war isn't so bad," Walzer said. "It's better than the other kind."

James Fallows: "Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?" (via A&LDaily)

Britain might be extraditing citizens for Holocaust denial broadcast to countries where it's illegal. (via Alisa via Den Beste)

William Grim watches "The Pianist" in Germany, and the audience laughs at the torture. (via Instapundit)I don't vouch for his account, don't think it should be taken as representative, but still find it scary.

Jews in Vegas (short registration required). Cute lede:

More than 3,000 years after the Exodus, the Jews have returned to the desert, this time settling into sprawling new subdivisions with greenbelts and swimming pools and taking jobs in gleaming office buildings.
This is not some Zionist dream to convert the Judean desert into the new land of milk and honey. This is the 21st century version of Sodom and Gomorrah.
This is Lost Wages, Sin City, the U.S. capital of the gambling and sex trades. It is also home to the fastest-growing Jewish population in the United States.

The statistics are staggering. Hundreds of Jews pour into Las Vegas each month, primarily to feed a shortage of doctors, teachers, accountants and other professionals created by the transformation of the once-small tourist town into the nation's fastest-growing metropolis.

Adi Neuman got props from LGF for his annotation of Arafat's picture. It's kinda cute.