Jewish Leadership: A Comedy of Errors

Posted on October 17, 2013

All data is gathered from the American Jewish Committee’s Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 2000-2008.

2000

If the election were held today, whom would you vote for as president of the United States?

Al Gore	75
George W. Bush	11
Ralph Nader	3
Pat Buchanan	0
Not sure	11

2001

Do you approve or disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the U.S. campaign against terrorism?

Approve	85
Disapprove	10
Not sure	5

2002

Do you approve or disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the U.S. campaign against terrorism?

Approve	59
Disapprove	37
Not sure	5

Do you approve or disapprove of the United States taking military action against Iraq to try and remove Saddam Hussein from power?

Approve	59
Disapprove	36
Not sure	5

2003

Do you approve or disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the U.S. campaign against terrorism?

Approve	41
Disapprove	54
Not sure	5

Do you approve or disapprove of the war with Iraq?

Approve	43
Disapprove	54
Not sure	3

Suppose the next general election for president were being held today and you had to choose between George W. Bush, the Republican, and [ ], the Democrat – for whom would you vote?

George W. Bush	29
Wesley Clark	59
Not sure	12

George W. Bush	31
Howard Dean	60
Not sure	9

George W. Bush	31
John Kerry	59
Not sure	10

George W. Bush	31
Richard Gephardt	60
Not sure	9

George W. Bush	24
Joseph Lieberman	71
Not sure	6

2004

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the United States government is handling the campaign against terrorism?

Approve	42
Disapprove	52
Not sure	6

Do you approve or disapprove of the war with Iraq?

Approve	30
Disapprove	66
Not sure	4

Suppose the next general election for president were being held today and you had to choose between George W. Bush, the Republican, John Kerry, the Democrat or Ralph Nader, the independent – for whom would you vote?

George W. Bush	24
John Kerry	69
Ralph Nader	3
Not sure	5

2005

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the United States government is handling the campaign against terrorism?

Approve	36
Disapprove	60
Not Sure	4

Do you approve or disapprove of the war with Iraq?

Approve	28
Disapprove	70
Not Sure	2

2006

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the United States government is handling the war against terrorism?

Approve	31
Disapprove	62
Not Sure	8

Looking back, do you think the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, or should the U.S. have stayed out?

Right thing	29
Stayed out	65
Not Sure	6

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the United States government is handling the situation with Iran’s nuclear weapons program?

Approve	33
Disapprove	54
Not Sure	13

2007

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the United States government is handling the campaign against terrorism?

Approve	31
Disapprove	59
Not sure	10

Looking back, do you think the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, or should the U.S. have stayed out?

Right thing	27
Stayed out	67
Not sure	6

How would you say things are going for the United States in its efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq? Would you say things are going very well, somewhat well, somewhat badly, or very badly?

Very well	3
Somewhat well	20
Somewhat badly	33
Very badly	43
Not sure	2

2008

If the election for president were being held today, for whom would you vote—John McCain, Republican, or Barack Obama, Democrat?

John McCain	30
Barack Obama	57
Not Sure	13

October 16, 2013

[Former U.S. President George W.] Bush delighted guests at [a] gala event at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel when he was revealed to be the evening’s surprise guest speaker, attendees told The Algemeiner. Photography and recording during Bush’s speech was prohibited, and he reiterated his longstanding policy not to comment on public policy matters out of respect for the sitting president.

The crowd of 1200 who gathered in support of The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Fund rose to its feet and applauded enthusiastically as Bush ascended the podium. He offered praise for former Senator Joseph Lieberman, who was in attendance, and welcomed newly appointed Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer. He also congratulated COP leader Malcolm Hoenlein and past leaders of the organization who were honored at the event.

—The Algemeiner

South African Holiday Snaps

Posted on September 1, 2013

I had the absolute pleasure and fortune of traveling to Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, this August to present at Limmud South Africa. It was, beyond a doubt, one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. I even went on safari! Enjoy the snapshots!

The Dershowitz Rule

Posted on June 25, 2013

Alan Dershowitz on Piers Morgan last night, discussing Glenn Greenwald’s publication of classified leaks provided by Edward Snowden:

“Well, it doesn’t border on criminality – it’s right in the heartland of criminality. The statute itself, does punish the publication of classified material, if you know that it’s classified,” explained the guest. “Greenwald – in my view – clearly has committed a felony.”

Continuing his assessment of the reporter, Dershowitz held little back:

“Greenwald’s a total phony. He is anti-American, he loves tyrannical regimes, and he did this because he hates America. This had nothing to do with publicizing information.”

The same Alan Dershowitz discussing Larry Franklin’s conviction for leaking classified information to AIPAC, seven years prior:

In Franklin’s case, as in the cases of Weissman and Rosen, Justice Department prosecutors decided to indict the men under clauses of the Espionage Act — a law that has, never previously been invoked. As Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz notes, it is not even clear if the statute, so long ignored, actually remains law. In his words, “It is a well-established norm in the US. that when a law is not enforced for many years, it ceases to be considered law.” The decision to prosecute Franklin, Rosen and Weissman under the articles of the Espionage Act, Dershowitz attests, “is the worst case of selective prosecution I have seen in 42 years of legal practice.” He argues: “If every administration official who did what Franklin did i.e. leak classified information to an ally for the purpose of influencing domestic American policy — were prosecuted as he has been, there would be more government officials in prison than at the State Department, the Defense Department or the White House.”

The irony here, of course, is that Snowden made his disclosures public, while Franklin made his disclosures to agents of the U.S.’s “No. 1 counterintelligence threat.” Yet somehow the former is espionage while the latter is not?

It’s a rare occasion when I find myself in agreement with political conservatives, but Dershowitz’s hypocrisy is a perfect example of the double standard explicated by Kevin Williamson in an excellent column in the National Review:

What is worrisome to me is the double standard we all seem to have accepted here. If we are to put people in prison for violating our classified-information laws, then we have to deal with the fact that official Washington abuses those laws while at the same time being the main violator of them. For example, the Obama administration is pretty clearly leaking classified information to the media when it suits it to do so.

[...]

My objection here is not to simple hypocrisy but to the creation of a standard of selective prosecution under which official Washington can use leaks of classified information as a political weapon while at the same time using the prosecution of rival leaks as a political weapon. We are in effect adopting the Nixon rule: When the president does it, it isn’t illegal.

It seems Dershowitz has a rule of his own: “When Israel does it, it isn’t illegal.”

Nothing To Hide

Posted on June 8, 2013

Never mind that the vast majority of terrorist plots “stopped” by the FBI since 9/11 were plots conceived, orchestrated, and armed by the FBI, carried out by individuals who were coaxed by the FBI into participation — bullied even in some cases — and whom were driven to their targets by the FBI.

Never mind that the FBI was surveilling Occupy Wall Street protesters, despite being engaged in Constitutionally-protected speech, or that the FBI has a long history of targeting people for their political speech.

Never mind that the DOJ has been surveilling journalists in an effort to prevent them from obtaining leaks, which violates the role of the press as an essential check on government power and infringes upon the Constitutionally-protected freedom of the press.

Never mind that the vast majority of Patriot Act data requests are used to investigate drug crimes, not terrorism — 107 times as many, from 2006-2009 alone.

Never mind that the War on Drugs is a $1.5 trillion dollar failure that has led to the incarceration of 1 out of every 15 black men in this country.

Never mind that when given access to private data, law enforcement has proven itself time and again as incapable of preventing abuses or protecting innocents from harm.

Never mind that our elected representatives regularly trade on classified intelligence for their own profit and go out of their way to shield their own personal information from public scrutiny.

Never mind that our government routinely fails to prevent attacks, even when it has actionable intelligence.

These people trust our government to amass a gigantic database of personal information on civilians suspected of no wrongdoing because only criminals and terrorists have an expectation of privacy.

And I think they’re idiots. So I made this to mock them.

Artwork: Surveillance by Will Varner

The Story of Creation

Posted on June 6, 2013

This is the first pass at digitizing one of the filmstrips my wife recently found with Lomography’s Smart Phone Film Scanner. “The Story of Creation” is the first in the Picture Stories from the Old Testament series by E.C. Comics founder Max Gaines, based upon his comic book series, Picture Stories from the Bible. The Lomography scanner has its limitations, but it’s enough to inexpensively start sharing some of this material and evaluating how to best make use of it.