I caught up with my friend Alan H. Fleischmann from Denver where he was attending the Democratic National Convention. He was Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s chief of staff from 1996 to 2002. 

He reported to me: “I am with Tony Lake and Tony Blinken. Lake is Obama’s chief foreign policy advisor. Tony Blinken is an old friend and Biden’s closest foreign policy advisor. I am stunned to learn that Tony Lake converted to Judaism two years ago. He took to Judaism on a very spiritual journey.”

As I save been saying all along, judge Obama’s Middle East policy, not from his middle name, but from the advisors he’s listening to.

In April 2006, I attended a Thomas Friedman keynote speech at Hillel’s annual D.C. conference. As usual, he didn’t disappoint. Friedman is the three-time Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for the New York Times and author of timeless books, including “From Beirut to Jerusalem” and “The World is Flat.”

His theme was that when countries can drill for oil, they never drill their people to do better – via education, invention and production.  And it corrupts. He repeated the mantra over and over of how much oil producing nations changed when the price of oil went from $40 to $70.

He cited a few examples such as Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.  He reminded the young audience that when oil was at $40 a barrel, President George W. Bush looked into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s eyes and, in Bush’s words, saw a good soul. When the price of oil doubled, Friedman said, “You have Gazprom,” referring to the country’s take over of the oil producing company. 

Well two years later, with the price of oil now exceeding $110 per barrel, you have an invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia with Russian troops refusing to stop advancing—after they promised to do so—and the continued reported burning of cities, just like during World War II.

The high price of oil also forces China to protect “the evil doers” in Sudan who are committing genocide.

Now you can’t read a bi-weekly column without Friedman (rightfully) screaming for our federal government to support alternative energy investments. So, on Wednesday he railed on John McCain for running pretty TV ads during the Olympics featuring spinning windmills promoting alternative energy. 

Yet, Friedman points out, McCain failed to vote on any (not one) of eight votes to extend the important tax credit for alternative energy. This is an essential bill to help level the playing field for wind and solar power against anti-democracy, environmental unfriendly, and possibly global heating fossil fuels. But McCain refused to vote to extend the credits for companies to install solar panels—even though he was in his office that day.

When we’re fighting a two front war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, one would think we wouldn’t have the ability to stop the advancing Russian army, stop the genocide in Darfur, and stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. But we do: You can vote for the candidate who will do honestly do a better job of lowering the price of oil.

In the good old days when the Former Soviet Union existed, it gave Americans someone to root against. (Who can forget that amazing 1980 hockey game?) Now that East Germany and Soviet sports machines are gone, the Olympics can seem slightly less fun.

But for Jewish Americans, the 2008 Beijing Olympics have given us a little extra to cheer about. 

In last week’s BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES  , we previewed several Jewish athletes competing for the U.S. And, unlike the being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, it didn’t jinx them. On the contrary, they did quite well. We featured:

• Dara Torres: She led the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay to a silver medal finish.

• Sada Jacobson: Lost out to a fellow American, giving her the silver in fencing as part of an American sweep.

• Ben Wildman-Tobriner : made Olympic history. He was one of two Jews on the preliminary heat of the 4x100 freestyle relay which eventually won gold using Baltimore phenom Michael Phelps Swimming.  Wildman-Tobriner swam the third leg. The other Jew was Jason Lezak.

• Jason Lezak: He will forever be linked to Michael Phelps, his mega-star swimming colleague, but he is a star in his own right. Mr. Lezak’s Herculean effort to make up a half a body length in only 200 meters in the 4x100 freestyle relay may be the key to Phelps breaking the record of Mark Spitz – the all-time great Jewish Olympian to date—record seven gold medals from the 1972 Munich Games.

As I write, here were other American Jewish stars we reported on who yet to enter competition:

• Rami Zur, Canoe/kayaking
• Kara Goucher, 10,000 meters

There were, of course, a number of Israelis doing well, too. Let’s hope they’re all part of Olympic history, too. And don’t forget to check http://www.jewishtimes.com for more Olympics and other stories.

I’m not normally a huge fan of New York Times columnist Bob Hebert. Yet his piece on Saturday caught my eye when its call out in large type had the words “anti-Semitic campaign.” 

When I saw the African-American OpEd writer tackling the nasty congressional primary in Memphis, Tenn., I assumed he would side with candidate Nikki Tinker, the challenger to freshman Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

Tinker, an African-American, ran TV ads that compared Cohen, who is Jewish, to the Klu Klux Klan. That’s because in 2005, as a member of a development board in Memphis, Cohen didn’t vote to remove a Confederate General’s name, statue and body from a local park. That long-dead general is one of the men who formed the Klan.

In Hebert’s great column, he takes Tinker to task for this ugly campaign for distorting a vote that a number of African-Americans sided with, citing their lack of desire to deal with “the protracted community turmoil” that could have come from the fight. Hebert points out that Tinker then launched another attack ad, one strongly hinting that Cohen wasn’t one of us – that’s to say Christian, and that led an out-of-state minister to distribute leaflets asking “Why Steven Cohen and the Jews hate Jesus.”

Hebert refers to Tinker’s tactics as “cesspool.” He goes to finally point out some good news: “The primary vote was Tuesday. And in that Ninth Congressional District of Memphis, a district that is predominately black in a city that has had it share of racial trouble – the city in which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed – Mr. Cohen won an astonishing 80 percent of the vote… and destroying the disgusting campaign of … Nikki Taylor.”

It’s great to read Hebert, a voice of conscience in the African-American community, rallying against black anti-Semitism. Better yet, it’s refreshing to see a large black community standing up to anti-Semitism at the ballot box.

Shortly after Barack Obama returned from Paris, France, the ads started running about Paris, Britney.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, acted like he was already elected on his recent tour of Europe and the Middle East. That didn’t sit well with John McCain and his newly recruited band of ex-Karl Rove employees. Out with the nice guy campaign team, replaced with the veteran Swift Boat Veterans for Truth team and a powerful wave of negative ads.

They ran over 4,000 TV commercials comparing Obama’s celebrity treatment in Europe and Israel to the empty, sinful ways of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

The Straight Talk Express ran out of gas.

This should be no surprise to Americans. It’s difficult for the person behind the media attention category to remain positive. What surprises me has been the ugliness I’ve heard in the Jewish community.

One local rabbi told me a congregant said, “I can’t vote for that schvartza,” using the Jewish equivalent of the “N” word. An educated 34-year-old Jewish female friend said she heard Michelle Obama talking about “whitey” on YouTube. The problem is the video doesn’t exist. A Jewish woman in her 80s called me and said she couldn’t vote for Obama because people at her synagogue told her Obama gets money from Muslim terrorists and will be beholden to them. I got an email from a Jewish man with the subject line “Never Again” which went on to make innuendos about Obama.

These are sad, yet typical statements from the Chosen People. It was in 2000 that we cheered on Joe Lieberman for the second most powerful position in the world. At the same time we held our breath waiting for someone to say, “I wouldn’t vote for that kike.” But it never happened; his team garnered more votes than his opponents. Eight years later, Jews are essentially saying that about a black candidate with a traditionally Muslim middle name.

Obama doesn’t exactly have the most extensive resume in presidential history. (Ironically, long resumes make it difficult to get elected because it leads to distorted votes and Swift Boating.) Obama isn’t perfect, and he should be scrutinized. He doesn’t deserve the treatment from Team McCain/Karl Rove either. Worse, he doesn’t deserve this treatment from the American Jewish community.

Jewish issues are not the same as they were a generation ago, or even four years ago. Being pro-Israel no longer means will you stand by the Jewish State in her time of need? Every American president has and will continue to do that. Now, being pro-Israel means having a plan to bring peace to the Middle East like Clinton did with Jordan. It means outlining a real vision that allows America to quickly wean itself off of oil which, in turn, would limit terrorist funding from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Being pro-Jewish may also entail talking to Iran. Maybe that’s why McCain is so angry. Just when he was making an issue about Obama’s lack of international experience, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, agreed with Obama’s troop pullout plan. Then, Secretary of State Condi Rice unconditionally met with Iranian leaders, an act once tabbed by Republicans and McCain as appeasement. Perhaps Obama’s policies — or in reality those of his advisors ??— aren’t so naive about what’s needed in this new world.

Neither candidate has any substantive anti-terror energy policy which would force Iran into nuclear compliance and dissuade it funding of Hezbollah and Hamas. The debate then becomes which candidate can bring us closer to peace in the Middle East and lessen Iran’s nuclear threat.

Let’s talk about those issues and not about skin color, just as we expected the nation to focus on what Lieberman could do and not his religion. Jews should be the light unto our nation and not be highlighting racist stereotypes like other Americans.

You can learn a lot from reading books. I find you can learn even more by doing and seeing.

I’ve been fortunate that my travels have taken me to some very special places like the Galapagos Island, where Charles Darwin initiated his theory on evolution. And, I just returned from Tanzania in Africa where I enjoyed a three day safari.

In the case of the Galapagos and Tanzania, I experienced something that was contrary to what one reads in books, and one book in particular, the Bible.

When you see examples of evolution with your own eyes in the Galapagos, it’s hard to ignore the reality that evolution happens, challenging the creation story in Genesis. And, when I saw hundreds of different species of animals in one small area – I realized how impossible it was for Noah to gather two of every kind of animal to put on his ark.

So, this past weekend when I went to Beth El for naming of my niece, Millie, it was helpful to hear Rabbi Steve Schwartz’s take on the Bible.  Rabbi Schwartz told his congregation that the Conservative movement teaches every word was not given to us by God, but we are still to follow every concept brought forth by Jewish texts.

Between seeing for myself items that contradict stories in the Bible and hearing Rabbi Schwartz, I still held true to my religious beliefs that strengthened my resolve to not let American laws be based on religious texts.

This is the best Italian food in town. We have tried many others and nothing can top Fazzini’s. Everything is fresh, homemade and delicious.

The pizza here was undercooked and really doughy.
entrees on other tables looked good though.

we like fazzini italian kitchen because of good wait staff and consistently good italian food. everything there is homemade; pasta, sauce,bread,pizza dough,etc.  large portions and reasonable prices and no ambiance!