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4 years 33 weeks

Blog Posts

Tom Friedman and the 21st Century Job Search Paradigm

by bslev 3/31/2013 - 10:53 am

Tom Friedman's column this morning is a compelling call for radical reforms in education and job training in order for Americans to succeed in the twenty-first century.  But Friedman, intentionally or not, fails to address what I submit is the elephant in the room, namely what we need to do to procure the massive societal resources that will be necessary to properly sell and implement the radical reforms Friedman addresses today.  Put another way, I think Friedman could use a little Krugman this morning.  [Read more]

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• 18 comments
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Pink Floyd's Roger Waters--Classic Anti-Semite

by bslev 3/27/2013 - 2:53 pm

Roger Waters, resting on his laurels from his career with Pink Floyd, has decided to take on the Palestinian issue as his personal crusade.  He's encouraging other performers to boycott Israel, and recently claimed credit for having Stevie Wonder cancel a gig with or on behalf of the Israel Defense Forces. 

If that was all Mr. Waters had done, I might disagree with his views, and I might question the propriety of focusing on Israel and only Israel for a global boycott.  But I wouldn't and couldn't call Mr. Waters an anti-semite on that basis alone.  Heck, I wouldn't even call Mr. Waters a has-been. [Read more]

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• 53 comments
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Advocacy and Privacy

by bslev 3/23/2013 - 12:54 pm

I posted a blog here a couple of months ago during the election campaign about how I had come to the point where I was totally engaged by these political debates I was having on Facebook with people from just about every phase and crevice of my lifetime.  And when I read that blog again just recently I concluded that it may have seemed probably sounded silly to readers, as if I was simply reminiscing with the campaign as background-- I guess like that guy who does that for two hours straight at the college reunion or whatever. [Read more]

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Choice of Pope Clearly Anti-Jewish

by bslev 3/13/2013 - 8:21 pm

Gotcha!

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• 21 comments
• 468 reads

TEL AVIV BUS BOMBING, GAZANS REJOICE, AND THE TOOTHPASTE IS NOW OUT OF THE TUBE

by bslev 11/21/2012 - 9:23 am

We can debate about alleged unilateral Israeli blockades of Gaza while the Gazan-Egyptian border remains shut under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, we can debate about an alleged and yet another false assertion of Israeli massacres and pile on another blood libel against the Jewish People, but one thing is clear this morning--the tit for tat game is over with the bombing of a civilian school bus in the heart of Tel Aviv.  There will be virtually zero Israelis who will urge restraint by their government.  Gazans rejoice in the streets, and Western enablers will understand and explain this and talk about what should happen in a perfect world.  It doesn't matter right now. [Read more]

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• 27 comments
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On Hamas--Peter Beinart Speaks For Me This Morning

by bslev 11/20/2012 - 9:51 am

I understand the limitations of my contributions on matters pertaining to Israel and the Middle East, and in particular, Israel.  I accept that, accept my own responsibility for that, and yet, given the excessive bias I perceive against the Jewish State in places where I tend to hang out, I probably won't change and almost always wind up looking at myself in the mirror and am satisfied with what I see.  Yes, the Middle East, like life, is not linear. [Read more]

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• 9 comments
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Hey! Progressives. . .Leave Us Jews Alone!!!!!!

by bslev 11/7/2012 - 10:08 am

 

This irrepressible liberal is focused in real life this morning on making nice with some of my oldest and dearest friends, many of whom are more right wing and radical than I ever knew or could have imagined.  At dag, I'm more interested in poking those of you who, once again, may have presumed that Jews would abandon the more progressive candidate in this year's election.   [Read more]

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• 15 comments
• 369 reads

Presidential Campaigns, Facebook and the Patchogue-Medford Class of 1977

by bslev 10/27/2012 - 9:18 am

Three years ago I was calling Facebook "My Face" because I didn't really pay much attention to it and was mixing Facebook with its competitor Myspace.  Now I joined and I have all kinds of best friends forever and I can even monitor what my older kids are doing without enduring the indignity of waiting for them to call their Old Man back. [Read more]

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• 1 comment
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Confessions of a Liberal Zionist

by bslev 7/9/2012 - 2:33 pm

 I decided a few months ago that I would cease posting about Israel at dag because it was too contentious and I get too emotionally wrapped up in the stuff.  But I know destor misses my blogs on all thinks Jewish () so I thought  I would give him and some entertainment and share my experience at Elder of Ziyon over the weekend.  It is an experience that leads me to conclude that there's no place like home, i.e. with my true friends at Dag, when it comes to being bashed about my views on Israel. [Read more]

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• 61 comments
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I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH . . . S**T!

by bslev 5/17/2012 - 8:18 am

One of the pleasant manifestations of my own encounter with the aging process is that I still look forward to delving into the paper paper that magically appears outside of our apartment door on weekdays.  My three older children, all far more literate than their aging Dad, rarely if ever even think of reading a paper made of paper.  I have reminded them now and then that there are real working people depending on that paper paper, to which the most cogent response I get has something to do with the color green and something about the environment.

But, as usual, this curmudgeon in wait digresses yet again--my wife claims I am the only one in the world who is 52 and going on 80.  This blog is about what I've read this morning, and there is no need for caffeine to get me going today. [Read more]

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• 14 comments
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