Print This Post Print This Post

Sep

2

PD endorses Sikora over incumbent Stratton for Ohio Supreme Court

Filed Under Campaigning, Cleveland+, Courts, Elections, Law, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off

Hattip to Ohio Daily Blog.

From the Plain Dealer:

The life stories of both candidates are compelling. [Evelyn] Stratton was born to missionary parents in Thailand and attended boarding school in South Vietnam at the height of the war. At 18, she came alone to the United States to work her way through school. [Peter] Sikora has had to use a wheelchair since a trampoline accident when he was 17.

Stratton is conscientious, and has done admirable work to expedite adoptions and create special dockets for the mentally ill. But in recent years, we have probably disagreed with a disturbing number of her decisions — including several that run counter to open government.

Our history with Sikora is long and complicated. In the early 1990s, we praised his innovative, “able and creative” service. A decade later, we fiercely criticized his temperament and his penchant for meddling during a disastrous stint as the Juvenile Court’s presiding judge. In 2001, he sued us — and lost.

Age seems to have tempered Sikora’s attitude, without dulling his intellect. His knows the Supreme Court’s recent history, and we strongly agree with his support for increased discovery in criminal cases and a mandated study of possible racial disparities in sentencing. In a very close call, he wins our endorsement.

Disclosure: I worked for Judge Sikora while I was getting my law and social work degree.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:35 pm September 2nd, 2008 in Campaigning, Cleveland+, Courts, Elections, Law, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off 

Print This Post Print This Post

Sep

2

Put a little Jew in your heart: Michelle Obama’s relative is a rabbi

Filed Under Barack Obama, Jewish, Judaism, Michelle Obama | 1 Comment

From The Forward:

Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister.

Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago. He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.

How authentic? Quite:

Alhough Funnye’s congregation describes itself as Ethiopian Hebrew, it is not connected to the Ethiopian Jews, commonly called Beta Israel, who have immigrated to Israel en masse in recent decades. It is also separate from the Black Hebrews in Dimona, Israel, and the Hebrew Israelite black supremacist group whose incendiary street harangues have become familiar spectacles in a number of American cities.

Funnye converted to Judaism and was ordained as a rabbi under the supervision of black Israelite rabbis, then went through another conversion supervised by Orthodox and Conservative rabbis. He serves on the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

My favorite part:

The rabbi’s familial connection with the Democratic presidential nominee is also a matter of common knowledge in Funnye’s synagogue.

“He really jumped on everyone’s radar after the 2004 convention,” Funnye said. “That’s when some people said, ‘Isn’t he related to you or something?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he’s married to my cousin, and she’s making him everything that he is.’”

Nice catch and h/t to Holly in Cincinnati.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:05 pm September 2nd, 2008 in Barack Obama, Jewish, Judaism, Michelle Obama | 1 Comment 

Print This Post Print This Post

Sep

2

John Boehner’s challenges: he’s still tan sunny

Filed Under Campaigning, Congress, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off

NPR interviews the Ohio congressman who is House Minority Leader of the U.S. Congress (there are 33 open seats in the House) about them this morning.  Listen here.  Doesn’t he just sound tan? 

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:46 am September 2nd, 2008 in Campaigning, Congress, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off 

"));