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Apr

11

Justice Ginsburg: “There I am all alone…and it doesn’t look right”

Filed Under Courts, Gender, Law, leadership, Sexism, Women | 3 Comments

I agree.

From a New York Times article that covers SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s appearance yesterday at OSU’s law school in honor of her 15 years on the bench, to be published in print tomorrow:

Justice Ginsburg also discussed her career as an advocate, one that included six Supreme Court arguments and a role in shaping the language of the law. She helped introduce the term “gender discrimination” as a synonym for “sex discrimination,” she said, explaining that her secretary had proposed the idea while typing a brief to be submitted to male judges.

“ ‘The first association of those men with the word “sex” is not what you’re talking about,’ ” the secretary said, Justice Ginsburg recalled. “ ‘Why don’t you use a grammar-book term? Use gender. It has a neutral sound, and it will ward off distracting associations.’ ”

Justice Ginsburg expressed dismay at being the only woman on the Supreme Court. “There I am all alone,” she said, “and it doesn’t look right.”

I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing her for myself in person, but I can just imagine the truth behind this quote from Chief Justice Roberts, also in the NYT piece:

Justice Ginsburg turned 76 last month and underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in February. Here on Friday, she was energetic, enthusiastic and characteristically precise in her answers to questions from two law professors in a 90-minute conversation. She spoke mostly about her career as a litigator specializing in women’s rights and her years on the court.

In a videotaped tribute, Chief Justice Roberts described Justice Ginsburg’s work habits — including her “total disregard for the normal day-night work schedule adhered to by everyone else since the beginning of recorded history” — and congratulated her for reaching what he said was the midpoint of her career on the court.

I hope that is all true. Many thanks to her for her service, dedication and tenacity.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:22 pm April 11th, 2009 in Courts, Gender, Law, leadership, Sexism, Women | 3 Comments 

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Apr

10

[photo] Obama seder uses Maxwell House Haggadah-very kosher indeed

Filed Under Barack Obama, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | 12 Comments

The White House blog posted this photo* of last night’s seder:

seder_blog

The president and his guests are using the Maxwell House Coffee Haggadah (which is the one we used at our cantor’s home on the first night). I recognized the outside decorations immediately, double-checked them here and then zoomed in on the official photo.

Here’s a close-up of the haggadah in President Obama’s hands and the one being held by the guest to Obama’s right:

maxwellhse

You can see “Maxwell House” in white print on top of a blue box background.  This haggadah is extremely traditional and continues to be used my millions of Jews in the United States.  The Jewish Press says,

Maxwell House coffee has been recognized as a friend of the Jewish community since 1923, the year the well-known brand became certified as Kosher for Passover – the first coffee to seek this important designation. Then, about a decade later, working with Joseph Jacobs Advertising and an Orthodox rabbi to ensure accuracy, Maxwell House printed their first haggadah.

More than 70 years later, Maxwell House is still partnering with Joseph Jacobs to deliver the longest running sales promotion in advertising history. To this day, over 50 million haggadahs have been printed, making it the most widely used haggadah in the world.

I’m guessing the publisher is going to have a nice boost in production next year, nu? You can read another interesting historical review of the Maxwell House Haggadah here. Mark Oppenheimer, at Slate.com (and with whom I’m familiar because of his run at my hometown’s alt weekly, The New Haven Advocate) does a nice review of the myriad styles of haggadot now available here, and concludes that the Maxwell House one is his favorite: Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:03 pm April 10th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | 12 Comments 

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Apr

10

[updated] Nu? So!? Who was at the White House seder!?

Filed Under Barack Obama, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | Leave a Comment

The Los Angeles Times has the scoop:

The White House, which kept the dinner on the schedule because it had been announced, would not say who had sought invitations.

…

Most of those invited had also attended a Seder dinner last year on the campaign trail in Harrisburg, Pa. When campaign workers couldn’t get home to celebrate the holiday with their families, they organized a celebration in the Sheraton Hotel’s basement.

…

Two of the highest-profile Jewish members of the administration did not plan on attending this year’s Seder: Axelrod and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s closest advisors, and family friend Eric Whitaker were among those invited. Gibbs said about 17 to 20 were expected to attend.

The menu:

The Seder served a kosher-style spread including matzo, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the White House’s old family dining room.

I just hope they used the white stuff.  You all who’ve been to a seder – you know what I’m talking about.  It isn’t a real seder unless there’s the cough-inducing, sinus-clearing white stuff.

Update: From Lynn Sweet, more on the guest list, along with a photo.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:25 pm April 10th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | Please comment 

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Apr

9

Eric Cantor’s bully tactics: Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should

Filed Under Congress, conservatives, Culture, democracy, Ethics, Government, Politics, Republicans | 15 Comments

Making that choice – between doing something you can do or are allowed to do when all indications are that you really should not do it – is often the difference between having and not having a conscience. In fact, restraint, when you could do some things that are allowed but not generally helpful and intended primarily to be harmful, shows a far greater sense of leadership.

No doubt there are examples of this way of thinking on all points along the political ideological spectrum and I welcome comments highlighting others, but currently, we have the case of House Minority Whip, Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia.  For him, it’s the difference in defining what is best for your constituents: deploying tactics intended to make others fail or fumble and hiding behind them as permissible under the rules. Big deal – the rules allow it – so that means you misuse and abuse those rules? This article in Politico has the details and you can watch Keith Olbermann (h/t Blue Ohio Blog) deconstruct how Cantor actually gives the attackers scripts to follow. Oy.

Lovely. I think that’s how Wall Street and many other political and white collar criminals got their just desserts too, Rep. Cantor.

Sigh.

I hope he gives his strategies a long thinking tonight at his second seder, wherever he is.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:42 am April 9th, 2009 in Congress, conservatives, Culture, democracy, Ethics, Government, Politics, Republicans | 15 Comments 

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Apr

9

NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice releases final report on Ohio elections, 2008

Filed Under Announcements, Elections, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Research, Voting | Leave a Comment

I attended and spoke at the first of two summits organized by the Brennan Center for Justice, so I’m very pleased to provide links to the final reports produced by the Center.  

First, you can read the Center’s release.  Also, there is this endorsement of the report from the Ohio Associaion of Election Officials:

According to OAEO President, Marilyn Jacobcik, “The Ohio Association of Election Officials supports Norden’s conclusions in the executive summary to his final report on the summits.”

The association concurs with the report’s identification of several broad categories of elections administration, which are ripe for review and reform prior to the 2010 election year, and that the framework detailed in the executive summary should serve as the basis for the future of election reforms in Ohio.

…

The Ohio Association of Election Officials is a bipartisan organization representing the members of Ohio’s 88 county boards of election, their directors and deputy directors. OAEO is a professional organization dedicated to the training and education of its members, thus ensuring fair and accurate elections for all Ohioans. Marilyn Jacobcik is Deputy Director of the Lorain County Board of Elections. Jeanette Mullane is Director of the Stark County Board of Elections.

Read more at Progress Ohio.

Or read all the documents directly from the Brennan Center for yourself:

Click here to download report as a PDF.
Click here to download executive summary.
Next Steps to Reform.
Framework for Reform: Priority Issues.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:06 am April 9th, 2009 in Announcements, Elections, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Research, Voting | Please comment 

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Apr

9

Carnival of Ohio Politics #161 now posted

Filed Under Blogging, Carnivals, Ohio, Politics, Writing | Leave a Comment

Please spring over to the most recent edition of the Carnival of Ohio Politics #161, expertly crafted by The Boring Made Dull.  I honestly don’t think he knows much about being dull, given the image and intro he produced for the carnival this week.

Everyone, again, have a good holiday weekend and thank you for participating in the carnival.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:19 am April 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Carnivals, Ohio, Politics, Writing | Please comment 

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Apr

9

[updatedx3] Mandel: Is he or isn’t he, and Ohio House Bill 123

Filed Under Blogging, Campaigning, conservatives, Education, Elections, Government, Media, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Republicans, Statehouse, treasurer | 3 Comments

Update: FYI, both the print version of this week’s Chagrin Herald Sun and the online link to its article use the headline, “Mandel: I’m not seeking treasurer”:

mandelsun

Updatex2: As you can read in a comment below, Greg Helms kindly pointed out that the Google Web result to which I link above when you click on the image of it no longer has that headline.  It now reads, “Mandel not focused on treasurer speculation” as you’ll see if you click on it.

However, both the Google News result and the cached version of the original result are still able to be seen as displaying the “not running” headline.  Also, I’ve scanned the print version for anyone doubting that someone, somewhere within the Sun News operation got the idea to headline the story, “Mandel: I’m not seeking treasurer” and then, someone, somewhere changed that headline for the Google results – though, of course, not in the print version:

mandelnotrunningsun

I’m a stickler for using specific words and phrases that accurately reflect what I said and what I want to say and what I want people to infer.  So I can understand why a headline might change.  However, the political side of me says that this is about wiggle room.  Some readers of this blog have expressed unhappiness with my blogging about my statehouse rep’s activities around and outside Ohio, as well as issue positions.  Several even know that over the summer, I was threatened by another blogger (who appears to be on hiatus), specifically, to stop writing about Josh and his then-race for re-election.

But the fact is, residents of the 17th Ohio House District only see what papers like the Sun News or the PD (which has had only a blog entry here or there about Josh) choose to publish online or in print, and that’s just not that much, given the state of news right now.  Blogs, for one, can fill in a lot of that space. And everyone has the ability, through a variety of devices, to keep track of their elected officials.

FWIW, and that really isn’t much but this is my blog, I believe Josh is trying to have it both ways but his words and his acts simply do not match up: he is going all around the state and outside of Ohio on trips that members of his own party consider to be on behalf of feeling out a run for Ohio treasurer.

Ignoring speculation and focusing on working for the people that elected you and who you represent is one thing – and it is totally acceptable and probably very, very beneficial. But ignoring what the chronicling of one’s activities portrays is a completely different thing and trying to say that these two things are the same leads to this kind of review that pushes back on that assertion and says, respectfully – no.

Ignoring speculation to focus is not the same as saying I’m not running for treasurer.  If they were the same thing, then there would have been no change in the headline.

In Josh’s defense, the last thought I’ll add is that what I believe he is trying to do is no different than what our system demands of elected officials who seek another office, who are career politicians: they must maintain their one job while seeking another. And this also is no different than other job seekers, except for the demand the jobs place on the individual. Goodness knows I’m trying to juggle my inside and outside the home responsibilities, which include three school-aged children, w/my run for Pepper Pike City Council and it is challenging, to say the least. I can’t imagine what it is like to be seeking an office such as Ohio treasurer while also needing to respond to and act on the needs and desires of the constituents who elected you.

Honestly, I would just think that the best policy is to outright acknowledge all this and continue to demonstrate that what makes you (Josh) unique, if that is the case and what he needs us to see, is that he can do both and that to do both is okay.  But to try to imply otherwise, thinking we’ll just say, “Oh – ok – he said he’s just focused on us – he must not be running for treasurer” and be done with it is extremely superficial in today’s world: voters can get and voters expect more transparency than that.

Updatex3, 4/18/09: A Cleveland.com blog entry, dated 4/14/09 (last Tuesday), has the following headline:

mandel414109

That article was to be published in the 4/16/09 edition of the Sun Messenger, though the article I’ve covered in the original post and Update and Updatex2 involved the Chagrin Herald Sun – which did not contain this “breaking news” article this week (Pepper Pike is the latter and that’s what I subscribe to).

The communities served by the Chagrin Herald Sun, which is the one with the headline that Mandel was not running (see above) are: Bentleyville, Chagrin Falls, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Orange & Pepper Pike.

The communities served by the Sun Messenger, which is the one with the headline that Mandel is “very seriously considering” running for treasurer are: Lyndhurst – Mayfield Village – Highland Heights – South Euclid.

The communities in the Ohio House 17th district: Bentleyville, Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Chagrin Falls, Chagrin Falls Township, Glenwillow, Hunting Valley, Independence, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights (part), Moreland Hills, Oakwood, Pepper Pike, Seven Hills, Solon, Valley View, and Walton Hills (I’ve highlighted the ones in one of the two Sun News papers involved).

I imagine some of this “he isn’t running/he isn’t listening to the speculation that he might run/he is very seriously considering running” could be chalked up to the fact that the Sun papers cover many communities, and the Ohio House 17th covers many communities as well and editorially, they must decide where to run what.  However, it’s a real conundrum – shouldn’t all residents of the district get the same news about their house rep?

Original post:

Quote from a video of Ohio State Rep. Josh Mandel’s address to the Butler County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, 4/3/09:

“And I want you to know, should I pull the trigger and run for state treasurer, I will stand on principle, I will stand up for conservative values, I will do my best to protect your tax dollars and I will never be outworked.”

From this morning’s Sun newspaper (4/9/09):

Mandel told Sun News he is focusing on the 17th District and not the speculation.

“I’ve been approached by many different community officials about running for many different offices,” Mandel told Sun News Tuesday.

“But right now my only focus is being the best state representative I can be.”

Sounds to me like Josh is speculating right along with everyone else – that’s not a crime or a sin and I’m not sure why he would deny it, especially given the myriad items – in the mainstream media, not only blogs – about his campaigning for and making statements about the treasurer’s race like the one he made at the Butler County GOP. Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:28 am April 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Campaigning, conservatives, Education, Elections, Government, Media, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Republicans, Statehouse, treasurer | 3 Comments 

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Apr

8

Passover: Have I got a story to tell you!

Filed Under Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments

For the gazillioneth time but never you mind – it’s an oldie but a goodie. Love, drama, death, birth – everything.

Thank you to Cleveland About.com and Sandy Mitchell for again publishing my version of what Jews do when they celebrate or observe a holiday. Hope you enjoy it too:

Northeast Ohio Celebrates Passover 2009

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:05 pm April 8th, 2009 in Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments 

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Apr

8

Crain’s Cleveland Business: Twenty Under 20

Filed Under Announcements, Cleveland+, leadership, Ohio, Youth | 2 Comments

I’m officially old. No. Really. I don’t know a single one of this year’s Crain’s Cleveland Business Twenty under 20 (hattip to Hannah Fritzman Belsito) but it is my heart’s desire to know at least…ten of them by the end of this year, and how about going for all 20 by the end of twelve months from now?

Congratulations to all.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:01 pm April 8th, 2009 in Announcements, Cleveland+, leadership, Ohio, Youth | 2 Comments 

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Apr

8

The First Supper: Obama to host Passover seder

Filed Under Barack Obama, Culture, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | 3 Comments

Last night, I read about President Obama’s letter wishing those individuals who celebrate Passover a good holiday. Now comes word that there will be a seder in the White House:

US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president.

The event was slipped onto the president’s public schedule Tuesday night with little fanfare, following a letter signed by Obama earlier in the day wishing Americans who mark the day a “peaceful and relaxing holiday.”

…

Though Passover starts on Wednesday evening, Obama will be hosting the second Seder, on Thursday night, apparently so that those in attendance can celebrate with their families on the first night.

The guest list was not immediately available, though it is likely to include top Obama advisors David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, both of whom are Jewish, as well as some of the key Jewish donors to Obama’s presidential campaign.

Rabinowitz said that though he hadn’t been invited, “I’m only sorry that I won’t be there to see the president and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel say at the same time, ‘Once we were all slaves. Now we are all free.’”

I wonder if they’re going to do the 60 minute version, the two-minute version or would they like to purchase the rights to use my friend’s script, created by her three children, all under 10 years old?

There’s also my ten plagues version which they could just show on a big screen in the theater and literally do the one minute version:

YouTube Preview Image

Chag sameach (and President, do NOT drink the Manischewitz – get the good stuff, and don’t eat too much matzah – really).

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:03 am April 8th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Culture, Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Whitehouse09 | 3 Comments 

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Apr

7

They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat

Filed Under Culture, Holidays, Humor, Jewish, Judaism, Music, Religion | Leave a Comment

Does it for me.

YouTube Preview Image

Hattip Jewlicious.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:03 pm April 7th, 2009 in Culture, Holidays, Humor, Jewish, Judaism, Music, Religion | Please comment 

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Apr

6

The case for the Presidential Commission on Women

Filed Under Civil Rights, Congress, Gender, Government, Law, leadership, Media, Politics, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 1 Comment

Last week, I participated in a conference call with United States Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif) and WomenCount Executive Director Stacy Mason regarding the effort to resurrect the Presidential Commission on Women, started by JFK nearly a half century ago.  On Thursday, April 2, Speier introduced legislation (HR 1887) to create the commission -  the same day on which Jeannette Rankin was sworn in as the first woman congressman in 1917 (only three years before women got the vote – and people keep telling us that men can represent our issues, and us, just fine? but they didn’t elect a woman until 1917? okay – that’s another post).

Politico and Roll Call were among the many outlets covering Speier’s action.

A great recap of the bill came to me after the call and it answers just about any question interested parties might have (and who would not and should not be interested in this issue?). My main focus will be to ensure that the netroots remain involved and have a voice relative to the size and viral impact we can have.

The key facts:

Diifferences between the Presidential Commission on Women and the White House Council on Women and Girls:

To help support this effort, please consider signing the Presidential Commission on Women petition, tweeting about it at Twitter by following WomenCount (http://www.twitter.com/WomenCount) and then tweeting the following or something similar:

I signed petition to support legislation for presidential commission on women. Have you? http://www.womencount.org/its_our_time #womencount

And to the extent you tweet about the effort, add the #womencount hashtag to your relevant tweets.

Many thanks to Rep. Speier, WomenCount.org and the many others who’ve helped bring attention to this action.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:48 am April 6th, 2009 in Civil Rights, Congress, Gender, Government, Law, leadership, Media, Politics, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 1 Comment 

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Apr

5

PD’s Connors wins Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism for series on own rape, sexual assault

Filed Under Cleveland+, Crime, Culture, Gender, Law, Media, Ohio, Social Issues, Women, Writing | Leave a Comment

Congratulations to the Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors:

Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper reporter Joanna Connors was named the 2008 winner of the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism on Friday for the first-person account of her own attack in the series “Beyond Rape: A Survivors Journey.”

In the series, Connors recounted the story of her rape in 1984. The series, she said, helped her take control of a traumatic event that “was still powerful inside me.”

Connors’ articles — which ran across 16 pages of the Plain Dealer over a weekend in May — told not just of the attack on her, but also about the perpetrator and issues of race and privilege, Medill said. 

More from the PD about it here where they also include judges comments:

Donna Leff, professor of journalism at Medill and one of the judges for the award, called Connors’ account “absolutely compelling . . . very brave and extremely well-written and structured” and pointed to the reporter’s “directness in expressing her discomfort with race and class and her sensitivity on those issues.”

In addition to receiving the Medill Medal, Connors was named the recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Jesse Laventhol Prize for Non-Deadline News Reporting for “Beyond Rape.”

Her series can be seen at: cleveland.com/beyondrape.

Thank you for sharing doesn’t really do Connors’ work justice, but maybe these awards come a little closer.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:18 am April 5th, 2009 in Cleveland+, Crime, Culture, Gender, Law, Media, Ohio, Social Issues, Women, Writing | Please comment 

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Apr

5

Network map of FBI’s Operation Air Ball, Cuyahoga County corruption work

Filed Under Cleveland+, Courts, Crime, Ethics, Government, Law, Media, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, Research, Scandal, social media, Tech | Leave a Comment

Fascinating, scary, as yet undefined. What do you see – what don’t you see?

cccbizties5

Please read the following to better understand the map:

*Very important caveat from Valdis Krebs, the creator of the network map:

The data to create the map was gathered from reporting on the scandal by The Cleveland Plain Dealer and WKYC News. No guilt is implied, or assumed, via appearance on the map. [emphasis is mine]

*Today’s entry on Map the Mess, Citizens Cleaning Up Cuyahoga County: An Open Source Project

*The original post on The Network Thinker with more explanation and links

*And a hattip to Brewed Fresh Daily’s post by Ed Morrison which draws attention to the latest map, incorporating information from this past week regarding the corruption investigation.

More on the why the FBI calls it Operation Air Ball at the Plain Dealer’s blog and all the PD blog posts about the FBI corruption investigations from the beginning here.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:03 am April 5th, 2009 in Cleveland+, Courts, Crime, Ethics, Government, Law, Media, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, Research, Scandal, social media, Tech | Please comment 

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Apr

4

Great profile of Obama’s Rabbi-in-law, Capers Funnye

Filed Under Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Culture, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Politics, Religion, Social Issues, Writing | 2 Comments

I haven’t read the full article from tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine yet (printing it out as I type), but I love it already.  Although Zev Chafets can be trusted to get things mostly correct, I’m not sure it’s accurate to say things like this:

For the first time in a rabbinical career stretching back to 1985, [Rabbi Capers] Funnye had been invited to speak at a white, mainstream synagogue in New York. Plenty of black Christian ministers, in a spirit of ecumenism and racial harmony, have addressed Jewish congregations in the city. But a black rabbi? Many American Jews regard the very concept as an oxymoron, or even, given the heterodoxies of much Black Jewish theology, some sort of heresy. Funnye has been trying for years to demonstrate that he and his fellow Black Jews belong in the Jewish mainstream. Mostly he has been ignored.

I do not doubt that Rabbi Funnye has been ignored by the Jewish mainstream, and maybe “many American Jews regard the very concept [of a black rabbi] as an oxymoron, or even…some sort of heresy.”

But frankly, if that is true at all – and it angers me to believe it, but it could be right – then it is Jewish education and cultural extensions that have a lot of work to do because all Jews, American and otherwise, should know, understand, be familiar with and accepting of the place of black Jews in our history. I’m thankful that my conservative synagogue and rabbi acknowledge, accept and integrate that history regularly – it was a big part of the congregational trip my family made to Israel last August.

But in addition, the start of the project to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the mid-1980s came while I was living in Israel and the moshav on which I lived for three months became and is still an absorption center for new immigrants.

Anyway – go read the NYT article about Rabbi Funnye.  I hope I have a chance to meet and hear him sometime soon.

Hattip to Holly for the advance notice.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:32 am April 4th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Culture, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Politics, Religion, Social Issues, Writing | 2 Comments 

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Apr

3

[video] What do Jews do: Passover, 2009

Filed Under Housing, Humor, Jewish, Judaism, Recipes | 2 Comments

Did they look on my storage shelves or what?

YouTube Preview Image

Hattip to Constance on Facebook – great find.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:16 pm April 3rd, 2009 in Housing, Humor, Jewish, Judaism, Recipes | 2 Comments 

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Apr

3

Ultra-Orthodox audience gets all-male Israeli gov’t…after photoshop

Filed Under Civil Rights, Culture, democracy, Ethics, Gender, Government, intolerance, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Politics, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 2 Comments

Most readers of WLST know that I often write about when I see men, men and more men in prominent places – whether it’s on the President’s stimulus bill conference committee or in a big time photo op when he’s signing his first bill.

Well – the ultra-Orthodox Israeli newspaper, Yated Ne’eman, outdoes both those moments. From the blog at Foreign Policy:

The Israeli ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Neeman reached new levels of Stalin-esque photoshop audacity by doctoring photos of Israel’s new government to remove female ministers Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver and replacing them with male ministers. (Click the photo for a larger version.) If Tzipi Livni had been elected, I would imagine the paper would have been pretty text-heavy on most days. [emphasis mine]

To say the least.  Voz is Neias reports, however:

During the election, campaign posters featuring female candidate Tzipi Livni were defaced near ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

Lots of interesting comments there.

Here’s the photo:

isrgovt

[Photo from Suomen Kuvalehti]

Here’s a description of the paper:

Yated Ne’eman-Bnei Brak is the only English edition of the only paper in the world that is completely controlled by rabbonim.

It’s nearly Shabbat and Passover. I’m going to restrain myself from commenting on the boasting about it being “…the only English edition of the only paper in the world that is completely controlled by rabbonim.”

The NYT and others have reported on this as well.  No comment so far from Bibi, but I’d say that he needs to grow some and tell the paper to straighten up and publish right.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:26 pm April 3rd, 2009 in Civil Rights, Culture, democracy, Ethics, Gender, Government, intolerance, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Politics, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 2 Comments 

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Apr

3

Details on Strickland’s 13 ODOT budget vetoes; truckers trade money for speed

Filed Under Business, Ethics, Government, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Transportation | 3 Comments

The thing finally passed and got signed, but Ohio Governor Ted Strickland used his line-item veto 13 times.  Truckers are thrilled that they can drive 65 like everyone else on the Ohio portions of the interstate highways, but the Ohio Highway Patrol doesn’t share the glee:

Opponents, including the Ohio Highway Patrol, wanted no part of that. They said that faster trucks lead to more problems.

However, research collected by OOIDA concludes that the difference in vehicle speeds, not excessive speed, contributes to accidents. Collisions occur when trucks and cars must change lanes and pass more frequently.

If what’s in the Cleveland Leader is right, however, I’m really glad I’m getting into electoral politics:

Under the new bill, truckers face fee increases for vehicle titles and tags, so the speed increase was seen as compensation.

We’ll pay more money if you let us go faster?

What exactly do tag and title fees have to do with the speed of a vehicle and safety?

If the facts demonstrate that this split speed thing was no good and not safe to begin with, then why do you have to pretend that the quid pro quo was more fees for faster trucks?

Just. Make them. Separate.

Fees need to go up? They go up.

Speeds should be allowed to go up? Then they can go up.

Why this “the speed increase was seen as compensation”?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:37 pm April 3rd, 2009 in Business, Ethics, Government, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Transportation | 3 Comments 

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Apr

2

Can I really go to sleep without saying a thing?

Filed Under activism, Campaigning, Elections, Jill Miller Zimon, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, social media, Voting, Women | 3 Comments

Hmmmm, let me think.

Yup.

I can do it.

Well, okay – just this one thing:

I can’t believe I have my own Friends of Jill Miller Zimon for Pepper Pike City Council group.

That has got to make me cool in the eyes of my kids, right?

This doesn’t hurt either: Citizen Blogging Boosts Zimon into Local Politics.

I am, indeed, an incredibly fortunate, privileged and lucky person.

Thank you to everyone – you know who you are.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:43 pm April 2nd, 2009 in activism, Campaigning, Elections, Jill Miller Zimon, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, social media, Voting, Women | 3 Comments 

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