By Phyllis Chesler

Ms was always hard to keep going. Gloria Steinem had to devote almost all her time to fund-raising to keep it afloat. Editors had to threaten to sue for medical benefits and writers had to threaten lawsuits because they had not been paid. Despite appearances, it was always a shoe-string operation. But it had a good run. Over time, the magazine got smaller and less influential—something which is typical of many magazines. Until now, Ms continued to enjoy considerable “girlish” acclaim and a nearly spotless reputation—at least among its followers, certainly not among its opponents. And, every major liberal Jewish organization viewed their aims as similar to that of Ms magazine’s.

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By Phyllis Chesler

This story out of Dallas is an awful one. The mainstream media has certainly failed their task but so did the local police and social service agencies—at least according to the (still only local) report published yesterday in the Dallas Morning News and picked up today only by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs.

In 1998, when they were 8 and 9 years-old, these slaughtered girls accused their father of sexual abuse. Their mother swore it was true. The girls then said that they had lied. The authorities believed them.

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by David J. Rusin*

“Art is not what you see,” noted Edgar Degas, “but what you make others see.” Ninety years after his death, a new maxim applies to Europe: The art that you do not see reflects what everyone already sees. And what we see is the preemptive surrender of public freedoms in the name of appeasing the continent’s restive Muslim underclass.

Grayson Perry serves as the ideal poster boy — or perhaps poster girl — for this discomfiting trend. A Turner Prize recipient and England’s most famous cross-dressing potter, Perry has been heralded for his controversial explorations of religious imagery, which include a vase entitled “Transvestite Brides of Christ” and a portrayal of the Virgin Mary that is best left to the imagination. Yet apparently there are some boundaries that even groundbreaking artists dare not cross.

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Ted Belman, Israpundit

Two years ago I explained why “Palestine” will never come into existence. Events since then have confirmed my views.

The Bush trip to the Middle East was over before it began. Or putting it another way, Bush is just going through the motions.

In my opinion, it is Time to apply the Mandate.

The two-state solution essentially was formulated in Resolution 181 otherwise known as the Partition Plan.

Almost from the day after the signing of the Palestine Mandate, Great Britain violated the Mandate and restricted Jewish immigration giving rise to the Partition Plan.

It is time to return to the original mandate which favoured:

“the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.

Today, after reading the address by Pres. Bush, I advised, Stop worrying - The peace process is dead, and proceeded to analyze the speech paragraph by paragraph.

And for those who missed a recent poll, Israelis, by margin of 68:29, are against full withdrawal and division of Jerusalem.

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By Phyllis Chesler

First, they came for the Saudi blogger—alright, he lives in Saudi Arabia, a bastion of barbarism ruled by Shari’a law. Actually, before the Saudi blogger (and an Egyptian blogger too) were arrested, one Saudi billionaire had already come for American author Rachel Ehrenfeld and he sued her in London where free speech or truth speech is not protected by any First Amendment rights. This is why the UK is so well suited for such “libel tourism”— but even so, the UK is not ruled by Shari’a law.

Or is it?

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Will our beloved media follow this story or selectively ignore it? Should voters know about such tidbits — at least have a chance to decide for themselves? It seems that Barack Obama’s church adores Louis Farrakhan, a racist, homophobe, and anti-Semite, who has called Judaism a “gutter religion.” From the AC:

… When Obama announced his candidacy for president, his background entered the fray. Though it appears that he is not held to task on his religious affiliations by the mainstream media, it does re-surface. Let’s explore some recent events that may shed light on Obama’s veiled religious affiliation.

In December 2007, the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) bestowed its highest social achievement award upon Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam. This was facilitated through the church’s publication Trumpet Magazine and presented at their end of the year awards gala. The award dubbed the Lifetime Achievement “Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Trumpet” Award is named after the head pastor that married Barack and Michele Obama nee Robinson. …

Also note that:

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by Daniel Pipes*

Liberal fascism sounds like an oxymoron — or a term for conservatives to insult liberals. Actually, it was coined by a socialist writer, none other than the respected and influential left-winger H.G. Wells, who in 1931 called on fellow progressives to become “liberal fascists” and “enlightened Nazis.” Really.

His words, indeed, fit a much larger pattern of fusing socialism with fascism: Mussolini was a leading socialist figure who, during World War I, turned away from internationalism in favor of Italian nationalism and called the blend Fascism. Likewise, Hitler headed the National Socialist German Workers Party.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Full Circle: A Memoir, by Edith Kurzweil (Transaction Publishers, 312 pp., $34.95)

Edith Kurzweil has lived many lives and prevailed against tremendous odds. As an Austrian Jew, she was not meant to live at all; as a first-generation immigrant in America, she wasn’t expected to succeed; as a woman, who was also a 1950s-style wife and mother, she was not supposed to become a scholar in her own right. But Kurzweil refused to identify herself as a victim, choosing instead to view adversity as a useful challenge. She earned a Ph.D. in sociology, became a professor, and published a number of thoughtful books including The Freudians: A Comparative Perspective, The Age of Structuralism, and Nazi Laws and Jewish Lives: Letters from Vienna. She also married three times, the final time to William Phillips, the founder of Partisan Review. Kurzweil served as executive editor of this highly influential magazine from the late 1970s until its demise in 2003.

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by William Wunderle and Andre Briere*

Every president since Lyndon Johnson has reiterated the U.S. commitment to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME). The principle behind this commitment is simple: Israel is a bastion of liberal, representative government in the Middle East and, as such, its survival is a vital U.S. national interest.[1] To ensure the continued existence of this longtime U.S. ally in a sea of countries that reflexively call for its destruction, Israel must be able to defend itself militarily and deter aggression. While a coalition of Arab states can always outnumber Israeli forces in terms of troops, artillery, tanks, and combat aircraft,[2] the United States can assure its survival if Israel is able to maintain qualitative military superiority, relying on more advanced weaponry, training, leadership, and tactics to deter or defeat its adversaries in the Middle East. But while maintenance of Israel’s QME continues to be in the U.S. strategic interest, the shifting political and military dynamics in the Middle East demand a clearer definition of QME and mutual agreement between Washington and Jerusalem about how that QME can and should be maintained.

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By Barry Rubin

What should President George W. Bush, currently visiting the Middle East, expect to achieve during his last year in office, even as the American people begin to choose his successor?

The answer could not possibly objectively clearer and subjectively more obscure. The gap between the real Middle East and how it is perceived by all too many people in Washington and in the academic-journalistic elite is far too wide.

Three quick examples are useful to underline this point. First, the Annapolis summit was widely hailed throughout America and the West as a big success, even by Bush’s biggest enemies. (That means, of course, it achieved the main goal, which was not primarily about the Middle East itself.) In the region, however, less than one-fifth of Israelis and Palestinians thought it had done any good. People in the region knew better.

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by R. John Matthies*

Is a Muslim within his rights to insist a female physician examine his wife, or refuse male assistance in the birth of his child? And, are hospitals obliged to accommodate the Muslim’s wish when this unfairly burdens staff, entails a delay that jeopardizes patient care, or if accommodations like these contravene the Hippocratic oath? Europe grapples with questions like these with increasing frequency; and Great Britain and the Netherlands appear well on their way to translating the discriminating tastes of their hospital guests into hospital policy.

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by Michael Rubin*

On a strictly emotional level, U.S. support for Iraqi Kurdistan makes sense.¹ In the wake of World War I, the Kurds missed their opportunity for statehood when other peoples gained their independence. Today, they remain the largest ethnic group without a country. They have suffered greatly at the hands of others. But while Iraqi Kurdistan has come far, the unreliability of its leadership makes any long-term U.S.-Kurdish alliance unwise. Rather than become a beacon for democracy, the current Iraqi Kurdish leadership appears intent on replicating more autocratic models. Rather than become a regional Nelson Mandela, Iraqi Kurdish president Masud Barzani now charts a course to become a new Yasser Arafat. Despite lofty rhetoric about its suitability as an ally, Iraqi Kurdistan’s actions suggest that it is far from trustworthy.

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By Canadian Coalition for Democracies

Ottawa, Canada - The Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) and members of the Kenyan-Canadian community applaud Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda for their initiative during the post-election crisis in Kenya, and commend the Government for its initial offer of financial assistance to the people.

“We are thankful for Canada’s contribution of $1 million to the Kenyan Red Cross,” said Tegi Obanda, International Coordinator of the Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya (CCR-K). “It is a good start, but more must be done.”

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By Phyllis Chesler

The “story” is now also about the mainstream national media’s utter failure to cover the Dallas-based honor murders of two teenager sisters, Sarah and Amina Said—and it is also about their father Abdul, an Egyptian-born taxi driver, who has somewhat miraculously managed to avoid capture for five full days. As of this writing, he has still not been found.

Is there connection between these two stories? I fear there might be, at least in this sense: If Abdul Said’s photo had been plastered all across our television screens and on the pages of our morning newspapers maybe—just maybe—someone might have recognized him or maybe—just maybe—someone at a mosque might have been shamed by this dishonorable act and encouraged to mount a Muslim religious campaign to find and turn him over to the police.

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by Steven Shamrak

At the opening of the Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy emphasized the urgency of creating a Palestinian state by the end of 2008. International donors eagerly pledged $7.4 billion, pretending that it will boost the Palestinian economy.

The list of fake friends of the fictitious Palestinian nation is long: the United States pledged $555 million for 2008, though about $400 million has not been approved by Congress; Britain, $500 million; Norway, $420 million; Spain, $360 million; France and Sweden, $300 million each; Germany, $290; Belgium, €86 million; the new Australian government pledged $39 million, almost doubling the intended pledge; and the European Union, €440 million ($650 million) in grants to the Palestinians in 2008.

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