Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

I Spent Yesterday Afternoon in Ramallah – and Lived to Tell!

May 21, 2008

Seriously, I’m no Brooke Goldstein (no interviews of terrorists!) But yesterday I did travel to Ramallah with Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Peaceworks, a business that brings together individuals from opposing sides of world conflicts,...

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It’s a Beautiful Life, or at Least it Can Be

May 17, 2008

In this age of peace talks and big ideas, there is something to be said for making a virtue of necessity. I’m writing a piece now about Danny Lubetzky, founder of Peaceworks, an international business specializing in bringing people...

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Why Secret?

May 15, 2008

Last week, the Times of London reported that Robert Malley, one of Barack Obama’s mideast policy advisors, was holding secret meetings with Hamas. This week, al Jazeera released shocking footage of Palestinians in Gaza doing phone banking...

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Barack Obama: In Search of a Savior?

May 7, 2008

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In all the discussion of Barack Obama as the potential savior of our nation, there’s been relatively little attention to the idea that, rather than behaving like a person of strong leadership, Barack Obama seems to have been acting like a real...

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Friendship Between Jewish and Muslim Pharmacists Fuels Giving

May 2, 2008

From The New York Daily News

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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In the early 1980s, Mohammed Saleh got a break that changed his life. He was working as a pharmacist, raising a family in New York City and struggling to get ahead.

A Muslim originally from Bangladesh, Saleh heard about a Jewish pharmacist in...

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Looks Like Penny from Pennsylvania Didn’t Show – and Can You Really Blame Her?

April 24, 2008

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Today the networks are echoing what I heard from Pennsylvania Democrats last week: a discernible number who voted Hillary were swayed by Obama’s “cling to guns and religion” comments, and why shouldn’t they have...

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Letter from Penny in Pennsylvania: Forget You, Barack

April 24, 2008

From The Huffington Post

by HEATHER ROBINSON

Note: Writing this post helped this Pennsylvania girl — me — to lighten up in the midst of a contentious campaign season. I hope it provides a few laughs.

Dear Barack,

Since you have got BIGGER and BETTER things to do than...

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Pennsylvania’s A Bitter Pill for Senator Obama

April 23, 2008

Looks like a big win—55 percent to 45 percent–for Senator Clinton tonight in Pennsylvania, despite having been outspent nearly three to one there by Senator Obama. But having conducted my own informal poll of Pennsylvania...

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Take it From This Pennsylvania Girl: Barack’s Remarks Could Hurt Him in the Keystone State

April 16, 2008

In my home town of Pittsburgh over the weekend and early this week, I conducted an informal poll of western Pennsylvanians concerning Barack Obama’s remarks about people in “these small towns in Pennsylvania.” I would speculate that his...

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You Have Faith in Yourself and You Decide You’ll Make It

April 9, 2008

From The New York Daily News

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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On a blustery afternoon in late March, Jimmy Bissan guides a visitor around his neighborhood.

In the distance, the Cyclone roller coaster, a Coney Island landmark, stands dinosaur-like above a terrain filled with souvenir shops and pizza...

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