By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: For the first time in its long history, the British parliament elected a Jewish speaker of the House of Commons. He is John Bercow, 46, the son of a taxi driver. The leader of Bercow’s Conservative Party, David Cameron, hailed the historic occasion: “I would also like to put on record an historical first that you have achieved which is to be the first person of the Jewish faith to occupy the office of speaker of the House of Commons and it is a milestone that we should mark.”
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By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for a week, explaining he would be hiking in the mountains on vacation. Actually, he engaged in a secret tryst in Argentina with his inamorata.
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By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: A wealthy inmate was allowed to host a lavish bar mitzvah for his son at the Manhattan lockup known as the Tombs.Read More
By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: For inexplicable reasons, the White House is being assailed by swarms of flies, creating a massively embarrassing and annoying situation.Read More
By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: Israel’s deputy health minister, at a press conference dealing with the influenza problem, scrupulously avoided using the phrase “swine flu.” Ultra-Orthodox, he apparently regarded that expression as non-kosher and thus unfit for utterance; instead, he stuck to “Mexican flu.”Read More
By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: The Israeli military has issued new regulations that impose greater restrictions on the ability of soldiers to grow beards. Religious soldiers are still allowed to have facial hair, but now they must get authorization from their units’ rabbis and commanders — a policy that has come in for some criticism. Recently, an Orthodox army rabbi refused to allow Conservative Jewish soldiers to claim a religious exemption from the beard ban.
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By Stanley Siegelman
A Republican defector:
Party-switch by Arlen Specter.
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By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: Michelle Obama, our first lady, may have unwittingly committed a breach of British etiquette when she embraced Queen Elizabeth. Though a spokesperson for the Queen says that “no offense” was taken and that there was “no breach of protocol” (and some argue the Queen hugged first), the incident had people chattering on both sides of the Atlantic.
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By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: Opponents of circumcision have just marked Genital Integrity Awareness Week by staging a march from the White House to the Capitol. Among those who adhere to this point of view is a group called Jews Against Circumcision. They can point to the fact that Jonas Salk was among the Nobel laureates who petitioned the World Court to end circumcision.
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By Stanley Siegelman
NEWS ITEM: The porn industry, hit by the economic downturn, needs a $5 billion bailout from the federal government — so says Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.Read More
Cleveland Kidnapping, Elizabeth Smart and Us
Ethical Kosher Seal Stalls Amid Orthodox Opposition
Rama Burshtein Offers Rare Glimpse of Orthodox World
'War' With Ultra-Orthodox at Kotel? Bring It On
What We Can Learn From Mel Brooks About Racism
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