† The Uniter: Part III: Nearly 8 out of 10 Jews (78 percent ) voted for Barack Obama in 2008 (he wasn’t using his middle name back then; only “racists” were), but a survey conducted in April finds that fewer than half (42 percent) would vote to re-elect him. And in 2008, the ratio of Democrat Jews to Republican Jews was more than three to one vs. less than two to one today. The New York Times reports that “[t]his is no doubt a reaction, at least in part, to the Obama administration having taken a hard rhetorical stance with Israel” while courting the Muslim world:

Some of the president’s most ardent critics and some of Israel’s staunchest American defenders - two groups that are by no means mutually exclusive - have seized on what they see as the administration’s unfair and unbalanced treatment of Israel and have taken their denunciations to the extremes. …

Fair or not, these criticisms are crystallizing into a shared belief among many: Obama is burning bridges with the Jewish community in order to build bridges to the Muslim world.

† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: Since April there have been 10 bias-related assaults on Mexicans in the Port Richmond section of Staten Island and all of these cases, blacks were the assailants, reports the Los Angeles Times:

"Why this is happening? If you ask 10 different people, you might get 10 different answers," said Ed Josey, president of the Staten Island branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, during a march Aug. 6 led by religious and civic leaders to condemn the violence.

[Ana Maria] Archila is a co-director of Make the Road New York, one of several groups involved in efforts to resolve the problem. "It's extremely insular and it's extremely isolated," she said of Staten Island, a mostly suburban island of 491,000. Best known for the orange ferry that carries commuters and tourists the five miles between Lower Manhattan and the borough, its population is overwhelmingly white - 75% - but it has a growing Latino population now estimated at about 15%.

Archila and Jacob Massaquoi, a leader in Staten Island's African immigrant community, said tensions had grown along with anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, something they blame on Arizona's crackdown on undocumented residents and conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck [emphasis, The Stiletto]. "Their rhetoric is very personal, very inflammatory," Massaquoi said. …

[A]fter the Aug. 6 rally, Josey questioned why the Mexican consul general felt it necessary to weigh in on the situation. "Historically speaking, black-on-black crime has been something that happens and doesn't raise much attention. Now it's blacks attacking others, and a government representative from another country shows up," he said.

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: Rising operating costs that cannot be passed on to cash-strapped country club members who are increasingly balking at higher dues or giving up their memberships altogether, has left many private and public golf courses unable to bail out, reports The Associated Press:

Whether it's a $45,000 initiation fee for a private club or a $5 increase in the cost of a round at a public course, the price of a golf habit is giving some duffers pause. …

In 2009, about 140 of the 16,000 golf facilities in the country closed and 50 opened, said Greg Nathan, a vice president at the National Golf Foundation, which represents 4,000 courses nationwide. Mottola said that the industry has lost 100 clubs a year for the past four years. (The figures count nine-hole courses as half a facility.) …

In areas of the country where golf is played year-round, many courses were built to raise the prices of new houses around them, said Roger Garrett, a Phoenix real estate agent who has sold more than 150 golf courses nationwide.

Now, with the housing market depressed, a dozen or more golf properties in Arizona are in foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings, he said. …

A dwindling in the ranks of golfers followed an oversupply of golf courses and then the great recession hit.

Since 2005, when it peaked at 30 million, Nathan said there's been "a slow leak" in the number of U.S. golfers, dropping to 27.1 million in 2009 (including anyone over age 6 who played a round).

† When Is A Church Not A Church? (second item): If there is any doubt about that Muslims have never respected the religious freedom of others, consider that they have treated Christian houses of worship as spoils of war. In Turkey, for instance many humble Armenian churches were either destroyed or repurposed as animal stables, mosques, prisons, sporting centers, granaries by the Ottomans. More spectacular or historically significant edifices, such as the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Church of the Holy Cross the island of Akhtamar in Lake Van, Turkey. Recently a group of American-Armenian students visited the Church Museum of the Holy Cross to commune with their martyred ancestors. The Armenian Weekly describes what happened:

A group of Armenian children from Armenia were told to leave Sourp Khatch church [Church of the Holy Cross] on the island of Akhtamar for lighting candles, singing, and praying. …

Karin Tonoyan, founder and director of Hay Aspet [Armenian Knight, an educational program for Armenians in the Diaspora], told News.am that … the Children started singing [“Der Voghormya” (“Lord Have Mercy”)] and praying; but suddenly a policeman came and told us to leave the church.” 
 

Tonoyan said that the kids left the church, but continued to sing outside it.  They were not allowed to burn incense by the Khatchkars (cross-stones) or gravestones in the church’s surrounding area.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Depends Whose Ox Is Gored): Federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research has been put on hold by Judge Royce Lamberth of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who ruled that it involves the destruction of human embryos in a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health, Reuters reports:

"(Embryonic stem cell) research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," Lamberth wrote in a 15-page ruling. The Obama administration could appeal his decision or try to rewrite the guidelines to comply with U.S. law.

The plaintiffs and other critics of the Obama administration’s stem cell research policies argue that funding work using embryonic stem cells reduces the amount of government grant money available to researchers who work with adult stem cells.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Chicago On The Potomac): The Washington Post calls upon U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to “back off his vow to retry former governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.)”:

Mr. Fitzgerald brought unlimited resources and the power of the federal government to the case against Mr. Blagojevich. …

Still, despite having extensively taped the expletive-loving governor as he discussed ways to secure campaign cash, the government failed to convince a jury that Mr. Blagojevich had crossed the fuzzy line between sleazy politics and outright corruption. Some jurors noted that Mr. Blagojevich's ability to secure the contributions he talked about didn't match his grandiose scheming. …

[T]he prosecutor took his shot and lost. He should stand down before crossing another fine line - the one that separates prosecution from persecution.

But, having successfully prosecuted persecuted Scooter Libby, it’s doubtful Fitzgerald – the closest thing we have to a real-life Inspecter Javert - will let go. In an interview with ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross Blago sized Fitzgerald up as “a person determined to get his trophy.”

The WaPo also argues that taking a second crack at convicting Blago will be very costly to taxpayers:

The former Illinois governor, facing a retrial on corruption charges, has exhausted the $2.7 million from his campaign treasury that funded his defense. That may force him to rely on federal taxpayers to pay his attorneys - unless he can land more reality television or media gigs, his advisers say. …

It is unclear how much Blagojevich's seven-week trial cost. Dobbins said taxpayers shelled out $67,463 for the jury alone - which included transportation and meals - and Blagojevich's attorneys have speculated that the entire investigation cost between $25 million and $30 million.

But a new trial may yield an unexpected dividend: Blago also told Ross that investigators asked him to squeal on "folks in higher places" and hinted that one of them was then president-elect Obama: 

Ross: "Is it your impression they were thinking about Obama?"

Blagojevich: "I have my own personal opinion but from where I'm sitting right now it's probably better for me not to talk about it."

Cost to taxpayers to re-try Blago: $30 million. Testimony from jailed Obama crony Antoin (Tony) Rezko or WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel that reveals an impeachable offense: Priceless.

† Updates To Previous Posts (sixth item, Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times): The Wall Street Journal reports that high-income taxpayers are scrambling to protect their income and assets in anticipation of looming income and capital gains tax increases:

More than four months before the expiration date, they are making plans to mitigate any impact. …

The maneuvering ahead of Dec. 31 has confounded traditional tax preparations and spawned feverish activity among higher earners, a trend reported by tax planners and financial advisers across the country. …

Greg Rosica, a tax partner with Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Services practice in Tampa, Fla., said the looming increases were turning tax planning around 180 degrees. The pattern is normally to defer income until the following year, ever in hopes of avoiding or lessening the tax on it. Now "with higher income and capital-gains taxes [in store], it's accelerating income," he said.

One thing upper income Americans are not doing: Spending money frivolously on high-priced frippery.

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, A To Z Approach On Illegal Immigration In AZ): The Obama administration’s lawsuit against AZ’s anti-illegal immigration law and a federal judge blocking enforcement of several of its key provisions  has not deterred 22 states - among them, AL, CO, FL, RI – from looking into adopting a similar measure, reports CNSNews.com:

Other states with proposals that mirror the Arizona law are Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

“We are very pleased to announce 22 states are now following Arizona’s lead to pass versions of a law that has the support of 60 percent to 81 percent of Americans according to polls,” said ALIPAC [Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee] President William Gheen in a statement. “State and federal candidates are rushing to display their support for Arizona’s law and immigration enforcement. We will not stop until all American states are protected from this invasion as mandated by the Constitution of the United States.”

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item) Media Irrelevancy – A Self-Inflicted Wound: Lee Boyd Malvo refuses to elaborate on the bombshell he dropped during an interview with A&E's new cable TV series "Aftermath With William Shatner," reports The Washington Post:

[He] doesn't want to discuss with detectives his recent claim that he and his partner shot more than 40 people during their cross-country rampage eight years ago, a Montgomery County police official said. …

Malvo's claims - discredited by many investigators - were aired several weeks ago on In a phone interview with the former "Star Trek" star, Malvo had said he and his partner, John Allen Muhammad, shot 42 people in 2002. The pair previously had been linked to 27 shootings across the country, including 13 attacks, 10 of them fatal, in the Washington area in October 2002. …

On the television show, a psychiatrist said Malvo had told him about 42 shootings as well. Detectives contacted the doctor, who said he needs Malvo's permission to discuss the case with them.

Malvo is serving a life sentence, with no parole in VA. The state executed Muhammad last year.