bslev's Blog

bslev Commented on President-Elect Obama Speaks on Gaza Crisis by bslev

2009-09-27T14:45:47Z

Hey AA:

Thanks so much for your good wishes and I really do hope all is well with you. Thankfully, I can say that my absence has had nothing to do with my health, except to the extent that the time I took preparing to finish my first triathlon two weeks ago has taken me away from the computer (my oldest dautghter's present to me for my 50th birthday, and my first and last). :) It's been a busy summer, and I've been on the road more than I've ever been in my career (including Phoenix in July!). Perhaps, not surprisingly, we're spending more time in bankruptcy court dealing with economically distressed manufacturers than we are spending on new representation petitions before the NLRB. Tough times.

In any event, I still enjoy visiting the Cafe, and rest assured I always read your posts. I confess to have grown weary of the gotcha stuff, and I have sought to avoid sanctioning what passes as debate through participation. The only reason I felt a need to post the other day was because I had written to Goldberg about MJ having slimed him as a bigot in the comment section, and unexpectedly Goldberg replied and posted about it.
So here and there I reserve the right to say stuff! :)

Hope your health is good and business is good. It's tough now, even for professionals, and my wife, also a labor lawyer, has been out of work since June. But in a sense it came at a good time because she's enjoyed spending some extra time with our toddler, who has a couple of challenges that are treatable but challenges nonetheless. The older varmints are doing well--my two older dtrs got an apartment with another friend from college down in the Village and they're loving it, and my son's in college and doing what college kids do. The older one is submitting an application for a Fulbright this week and wants to spend next year in Tunisia. I'm a bit nervous but I really do hope she gets it; she's very serious and has even begun to study Arabic at NYU continuing ed (she majored in French and can get by with that in Tunis and most parts of the country so she should be OK).

Other than that, I still follow the Badgers, and saw that they blew a home game to the Minnesota Gophers yesterday (those rat bastards!). Do you ever head back to Wisconsin? Such a fabulous state I think.

So that's that, and again, I really do wish you well and do hope we keep in touch. All the best and health and happiness in the coming year (am I the only one who knows you're female and a shiksa!? lol). Warmest regards.

Bruce

bslev Commented on Correcting Jeff Goldberg On Gaza & Jeff Responds by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-09-26T01:42:41Z

As I wrote to IPF when they e-mailed the announcement of your departure, I do wish you luck MJ. But learn from your errors. You wrote a compelling post, one about which I agreed and disagreed, but one which you ruined when you chose to accuse Goldberg of bigotry. To the contrary, I hardly think that you were hired to call Jeffrey Goldberg a bigot, and if you were then Media Action would be a joke that I have never believed it to be.

Shana Tova, and while you mock the believers as you so often do, I bet you join me on Monday in seeking forgiveness for all kinds of transgressions (with or without Krauthammer), including for the type of self-righteousness I so often exhibit. I hold no monopoly on virtue. But I calls 'em as I sees 'em. And here I see Rosenberg the senior fellow at Media Action on the one hand, and Rosenberg the mud-slinging shit-stirring race-baiter on the other. One generates Annas, and one could change hearts and minds. All I can ask is that you step back from your need to win arguments, look past my self-rigteousness and the many flaws in me that I am so painfully aware of particularly at this time of the year, and think about what I'm saying.

Good luck.

bslev Commented on Correcting Jeff Goldberg On Gaza & Jeff Responds by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-09-26T00:06:00Z

AA:

I hope you enjoyed your summer. I've lurked a bit but haven't posted in awhile, but since I have a bit part in this little incident, I'm dusting off the keyboard.

MJ just doesn't get Goldberg's point. It was not the fact that MJ disagrees with Goldberg on the merits that prompted Goldberg to write his blog. It's the fact that MJ in the raw, i.e. in the comments section, slimed Goldberg like the libelous bully he is. And now MJ's exposed, i.e. now it's a known fact that MJ slings filth like a two year-old sans ethics in his colloquies to the delight of his adoring six fans and to succor the Annas of the world who are addicted to loathing him.

AA you hit the nail on the head. I'm the one who, in an e-mail to Goldberg this morning, drew Goldberg's attention to MJ's hideous but ordinary course insult in the comment section that Goldberg responded to. MJ, following up on Bluepearl's observatons, chose to lob a personal insult at Goldberg, and he did so under the covers in the comments section at the Cafe.

In short, it wasn't enough for MJ to do what he initially did, i.e. challenge Goldberg on the merits (which is what Media Action presumably hired Rosenberg to do). Rather, MJ couldn't help himself; he needed to insult Goldberg by mocking Goldberg for writing that he was picked on as a kid for being a Jew and then--in classic Rosenberg libelous fashion--suggesting that Goldberg was responding in kind against Palestinians as a result. In short, once again MJ chose to get down in the muck and the mire and call Goldberg a bigot.

AA, as we know, for MJ the merits aren't enough; he really can't seem to help himself. And in this instance, to top things off, MJ, after lobbing a heinous insult at Goldberg, cries foul and complains that Goldberg doesn't address him on the merits. Utter and blatant and unambiguous hypocrisy. It is indeed just like that kid who murders his parents and cries for mercy before the court because he's an orphan.

I'm glad I turned Goldberg and all his readers on to MJ's comment section at the Cafe. Maybe it will temper him; maybe Media Action, as AA you properly suggest, will see the MJ we know and will take him out to the woodshed and learn him a little. Maybe then MJ will succeed at Media Action and be a force for positive change. Or....if history is a judge, maybe he'll keep on slinging mud and calling people racists--of course in the comments section at the Cafe as opposed to at Media Action where his behavior would never be tolerated. Maybe MJ will take joy in always getting some kind of an Anna to give himself and his little BDS cadre justification for getting down and dirty, and maybe, and really unfortunately, he won't be long at Media Action. After all, they are grown-ups there.

I have a soft spot for MJ; I really do hope he grows up. Tis the season after all, and perhaps G-d will forgive me for moving beyond my soft spot in taking him on.

All the best AA.

Bruce S. Levine
New York, New York

P.S. AG, I don't know where you get the patience to stick with this, but good luck and Shana Tova.

bslev recommended Yahrzeit by Josh Marshall

2009-08-22T19:41:44Z

bslev Commented on The Ground Shifts: Olbermann Goes After Lobby, High Fives J Street, And Discusses The Shift Among Jews by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-06-05T19:43:57Z

So true Brad. And I admire your willingness to state your case, even though you and I don't always agree on things, with dignity and grace, and despite some simply awful things that are written in reply to some of what you have written. Keep it up buddy.

bslev Commented on The Ground Shifts: Olbermann Goes After Lobby, High Fives J Street, And Discusses The Shift Among Jews by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-06-05T19:34:51Z

Thank you AA. The IPF is staffed by a fine bunch of committed people. I have been privileged to meet with them, to have been invited to hear speakers up close and personal, and to see a progressive Jewish community do more than taunt the so-called status quo. My rejection of MJ as a serious person, and my inability to personally work for his organization as a result of that rejection, should in no way dissuade anyone else from supporting the Israel Policy Forum. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the organization, and I wish it continued success.

And, now, I've said enough. Ciao AA.

Bruce.

bslev Commented on The Ground Shifts: Olbermann Goes After Lobby, High Fives J Street, And Discusses The Shift Among Jews by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-06-05T18:22:58Z

Should be, when Obama was nominated. . ..

bslev Commented on The Ground Shifts: Olbermann Goes After Lobby, High Fives J Street, And Discusses The Shift Among Jews by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-06-05T18:22:13Z

You are so full of it MJ. I am a union lawyer and I supported Hillary Clinton because that was consistent with my what I do in life and where I thought she would take the labor movement. I have devoted my adult life to. You, like a garden variety bigot, presume that because I'm Jewish I didn't support Obama because of Israel. Nonsense. When Obama was elected, I contributed to his campaign, I worked for his election, and I know the people he has hired in top labor positions personally and I am elated.

And just what is my side of the argument? That I think W&M are full of shit? On Israel-Palestine, tell me how my position is any different than yours? Are you honestly so stupid, so pig-headed, that you cannot understand that someone who supports Obama's approach to the Middle East peace process can still think that W&M are full of baloney. I don't think so. I just think you like to talk trash.

You're a phoney MJ, and you've been called on it time and again by people on here, and not just by people who think like me. One of the most delicious things I ever read on here was when Dan K, respected by all, dressed you down like you were nothing more than a showroom dummy, or a plucked Christmas goose. It was fabulous and you earned it.

And the sad thing is, Mr. Bunzl and Josh Smilowitz and the other folks at IPF wanted my help and I tried to help them. But I would be a fool to offer my services to your organization at this point. And that is unfortunate, because some of the folks over there really are committed to doing more than insulting people on the internet, and at least they thought I could have been an asset. Sometimes, pride takes over and it does so here.

You know, I kind of feel sorry for you, even now, because you are so exposed as nothing more than an entertainer. . .and at other people's expense.

Bruce S. Levine
New York, New York

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T17:59:17Z

So your point is that because Israel has, to whatever extent, at times supported American military or other intervention against countries like Iran and Iraq, it is hypocritical for Israel's government to disagree with the United States on any matter concerning the State of Israel?

OK, obviously the fans loved your post; you were right up there on the top of the charts! :) Mazal tov.

Bruce

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T17:56:57Z

should have been "if not somewhat misleading in 1st sentence..."

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T17:55:25Z

I agree that the polls are incomplete, and not misleading to the extent that there is no distinction drawn between the Ma'ale Adumims and different and more intrusive settlements. Still, you know and I know, and everyone who wants a settlement knows, that MAs of the world aren't going to disappear, and the issue then becomes the quality of land that will be given to the Palestinians as compensation. At this point, President Obama has, for good sound negotiating reasons, drawn no distinctions between occupied territory, even for example Hebrew University right, but it'll all have to be ironed out.

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T16:18:41Z

Respectfully, baloney. That's what you call levying the charge, even implicitly? I rest.

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T16:14:04Z

But what is the official position of the Israeli government right now? There are whackos in the coalition, and their are more rational ones. They say different things. I don't think it's surprising or even fair to charge the whackos with the official government position. As to Netanyahu, who I am no fan of, he's being close to the vest and in negotiating mode. So, again, I don't understand your thesis I guess.

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T15:11:53Z

But where are the accuasations around these parts Curt, except by the isolated ninnyheads from the radical and irrational Israel right or wrong rightwing? At least in the Cafe, we write in a milieu where the stifling accuasations just ain't so.

I do agree an accuasation of anti-semitism to a gentile is poison. I am aware of it; I've been guilty on occasion in my half-century of unfairly levying it, I see people do it now, people close to me, but I think the notion that the fear of the accuasation has stifled criticism of Israel is unfair, and has the opposite poisonous effect about which I write.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I do appreciate the empathy inherent in your words, and I recognize that and relish it because we often disagree on substance.

Bruce

bslev Commented on The Ground Shifts: Olbermann Goes After Lobby, High Fives J Street, And Discusses The Shift Among Jews by M.J. Rosenberg

2009-06-05T14:39:39Z

But Overreach, that's precisely the point. Sure, Krauthammer et al can say all kinds of things, and by the way, even MJ's IPF does not expect Israel to permanently cease all construction in all settlements forever--that's a prudent and bold posture for President Obama to have taken at this point because man does it shake things up and get the ball rolling. But Krauthammer et al don't control American foreign policy, and my point is they never did.

bslev Commented on Israel's hypocrisy by Jesse Lava

2009-06-05T14:36:24Z

Jo-Ann Mort's seems to be a potent rebuttal to the central thesis of this post, which as I read this, presumes that the Israeli people are resisting in the aggregage the statements of President Obama about both the expansion of settlements and the creation of new ones. I would read Ms. Mort's posts. Not so "heroic" as thsi one perhaps, but I think more accurate. Israelis are pretty receptive to what it takes to bring peace, and they have factions that will resist the dismantling of settlements indeed (Netanyahu has some tough internal political decisions to make). But the mistake of this post is that it presumes that to be the sentiment of most Israelis. It doesn't appear to be so.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/05/friday_poll_in_israel_shows_majoritysolid_support/