Author Archive | David Bernstein

Has any political organization squandered its credibility as quickly as J Street, a new organization that promotes itself as a peacenik alternative to AIPAC? Supposedly, the machers at J Street thought that AIPAC was not properly representing the Jewish community’s views on Israel because AIAPC too “right-wing.” It’s become obvious, however, that the J Street […]

From all indications, the proposed “bailout” bill will result in delegation run amok–Congress will be ceding virtually unreviewable dictatorial power to the executive branch to spend $700 billion however it pleases. It would be amazing if, given the pile at money at stake, improper favoritism of one sort or another won’t dictate to some extent […]

It’s becoming hard to tell these days, but the rant below, published in the San Francisco Chronicle’s online SF GATE, appears to be sincere. If not, though, it’s a very funny satire of Palin Derangement Syndrome. [God-pandering? You’re killin’ me!] Every white woman I know is positively horrified. Wait, that’s not exactly true. It’s more […]

Washington Post: “Investors Confident Rescue Plan May Help”

Let me get this straight: if the only prominent American politician to attend a rally against Iran is Hillary Clinton, the rally is a neutral, nonpartisan event. If Hillary Clinton AND Sarah Palin attend, then the rally becomes a partisan political event, and Clinton couldn’t possibly agree to appear. Very, very strange. UPDATE: A reader […]

Underlying the financial crisis is bad mortgages. There are bad mortgages because housing prices have plunged, especially in South Florida, California, Arizona, and Nevada, and Rust Belt cities. My thinking is that instead of simply spending taxpayer resources to bail out the financial industry, let’s find a way to move a long-term liability off the […]

Apropos of the issue of where the Federal Reserve gets the power to “take over” AIG, here’s something I find disturbing. As regular readers know, I’ve been following the housing/credit bubbles since well before it was widely acknowledged that these bubbles existed (though, of course, I was far from the only one to notice). At […]

Which country has the highest percentage of the population that has a favorable attitude toward Jews? According to this study, it’s France! That’s especially remarkable, because (a) most French Jews are relative newcomers, having emigrated from Algeria and Morrocco in the mid-1950s; and (b) France has a large immigrant Muslim population, and, anecdotally, a large […]

The brouhaha over Palin’s alleged “bookbanning” assumes the right answer to an issue I deem controversial: do citizens acting through their elected representatives have any right to try to influence library policy regarding which books are on the library shelves, and whether such books are available to children. Let’s start with first principles. From a […]

Here is a brief, interesting “realist” look at U.S.-Israel relations. The key paragraph: The patron-client relationship forged during the 1960s grew largely out of Washington

Randy Kennedy writes: I anticipate that most black Americans will believe that an Obama defeat will have stemmed in substantial part from a prejudice that robbed 40 million Americans of the chance to become president on the day they were born black. They will of course understand that race wasn’t the only significant variable — […]

A one-sided article criticizing McCain is not unexpected. Given that he is at least temporarily the front-runner, it may not even be a sign of political bias, but of the extra scrutiny and criticism that front-runners often get. But this? On Friday on “The View,” generally friendly territory for politicians, one co-host, Joy Behar, criticized […]

Here are a couple to get you started. Right-wingers rejoice Maybe Obama Won’t Win! Palin on ticket Democrats panic What strikes terror in their hearts? Pit bull with lipstick

Jeff Rosen writes in the New Republic that if Obama wins, “Biden’s instincts will help guide the selection of judges and the challenging task of reconstructing civil liberties after the assault of the last eight years.” Even if one accepted Rosen’s underlying ideological (and pro-Biden) premises–which I don’t (isn’t Biden the one who attacked Bork […]

Many argue that Sarah Palin’s supposed belief in creationism is a major strike against her qualifications for the vice presidency. As co-blogger Jim Lindgren demonstrates here, Palin did not in fact advocate laws requiring the teaching of creationism in public schools; still less did she oppose teaching the theory of evolution (which she in fact […]