UNMIA

Editorial by Lynn Provencio

UNM’s current vision statement does not contain the left-wing buzzwords cited in the article below, but “social justice” teaching is a strong undertow in several UNM departments. Each year there are several courses across the campus that give credit for “community organizing” and “social justice” of various flavors.

Is any credit given for right wing organizing? Has anybody ever gotten course credits for campaigning for Republicans, spending the weekend volunteering with the Minute Men, attending an AIPAC conference or lobbying for offshore drilling? Why not? Chances are the very thought made you laugh. But seriously, objectively, analytically: In what way is it better to go to Central America and teach local people how to be political activists than it is to show local young women practical alternatives to abortion for unwanted pregancies, for example? Is campaigning for the Democratic candidate more academically desirable than campaigning for the Republican candidate? What if a UNM climatologist wrote a professional paper showing that global warming, as described by the UN and Al Gore, were not true? What would be the results for his career at UNM? Good, bad, no effect?

Social Justice at face value is a good thing, of course, …

Honest Reporting
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia anyone can edit, may strive for pure democracy, but that doesn’t mean it’s always fair. Our colleagues at CAMERA learned this the hard way last month when their effort to fight anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia ended in several members being banned from the site and bad press for the organization. CAMERA’s campaign involved recruiting volunteers and instructing them in the basics of Wikipedia participation. The Palestinian advocacy group, Electronic Intifada (EI), however, branded the effort “a plan to rewrite history” and filed a bitter complaint with Wikipedia administrators, resulting in unusually stiff penalties for the CAMERA volunteers involved.

EI’s chief evidence against CAMERA was a series of private e-mails exchanged by CAMERA staff and their volunteers. An EI staff member infiltrated the group and turned the e-mails over to Wikipedia, claiming they revealed a plot by CAMERA to manipulate Wikipedia and to pass off “crude propaganda as fact.” An investigation followed, resulting in two indefinite bans and several shorter-term bans for CAMERA members.
A closer look at Wikipedia’s inner workings, however, reveals there is more to the story. Research carried out by Social Media expert Dr. Andre Oboler, a Legacy Heritage Fellow at …

Why can’t we all just get along? Why not peace instead of war? For Israel these two songs give the main reason. Here is a popular Israeli song, with a common theme. Other songs are about life and love, like most other people’s songs. You won’t find Israeli songs about murder and suicide and the joy of killing Arabs. Listen to the Palestinian song. It’s very typical, you can find many samples like this among popular Arab songs, and many are more violent than this one.

Do you want peace? First, define peace. There are many kinds of peace…the peace of the grave, the peace of complete victory, the peace of having nothing left to lose, the peace of living together in unity. Unless both sides in a conflict want the same kind of peace, peace will only come with victory. For that to change, the Palestinians will have to change their goal. Listen and consider.

Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST
March 25, 2008

Moshav Tzipori, in the Lower Galilee, is a microcosm of the history of the Land of Israel. A regional capital under King Herod, Tzipori was the seat of Jewish learning and the preservation of the Torah through some of the most tumultuous periods of Jewish history.

After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, refugees from Jerusalem fled to the Galilean town. Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi, who presided over the writing of the Mishna, or oral law, moved to Tzipori from Beit Shearim, and it was there that he codified the six books of the Mishna and died.

The Jews of Tzipori revolted against the Roman Emperor Constantine, refusing to accept Christianity and the city was destroyed. The Jews later returned during the Islamic period. On and off, for the next millennia, Jews settled, were forcibly removed and resettled the city several times under various conquerors of Israel.

During the 1948 War of Independence, the ancient city was the site of a major battle between the new Israel Defense Force and the neighboring Arab villages assisted by invading forces from Syria and Lebanon. The Arabs were routed. In …