Author Archives: jik

Ignorance and antisemitism at Portland State University

An opinion piece about Jerusalem in the October 18, 2005 edition of the Portland State University Vanguard was so riddled with factual errors and antisemitic statements that the editors of the newspaper removed the article from their Web site on October 27 and replaced it with this text: Editor’s note, Oct. 27, 2005: This article… Read More »

When “Kosher, Vegan” is neither

Given the web of Federal and state laws and regulations surrounding food labeling and deceptive trade practices, you would think that a food manufacturer with a nationwide market wouldn’t survive for long if it outright lied about the ingredients in its products, intentionally deceiving vegans, vegetarians, and people who keep kosher. Alas, that’s apparently not… Read More »

Plagiarism? Help me decide.

Please take a look at these two recently published articles I stumbled across, in particular the highlighted sections, and comment on whether you think they warrant a complaint to the editors of The Jewish Week and a heads-up to the editors of the New York Times.

Don’t block the box!

Hi, boys and girls! It’s time for another exciting episode of Driving etiquette that everybody should know, but most people don’t seem to!Today’s episode is Don’t block the box!This episode is based on driving rule that’s so simple that it can be explained in a single sentence: Don’t enter an intersection if there isn’t room… Read More »

LiveJournal and comments

OK, so one of my friends syndicated my blog to LiveJournal.com as “jik_blog” shortly after I started the blog. Thanks, Elka Tovah! Alas, shortly after she did this, I discovered that LiveJournal has a rather annoying deficiency in its syndication mechanism…. Comments on syndicated feeds go into LiveJournal, not into the original feed. This is… Read More »

Pull up a few feet!

Here’s your etiquette quiz for the day…. You get home from work. You park your car on your street. You get out of the car and notice that you could have pulled forward a few more feet. What do you do? “I never check whether I parked properly.” Go in the house and have dinner.… Read More »

Why Bill Bennett is a Racist

“…you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” Thus spake former Secretary of Education William Bennett on his radio talk show, Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, on September 28, 2005. Much outrage has been expressed about his comment, but the mainstream media has done an abominable job… Read More »

Something better to do

“Did you see my letter in the paper?” I asked my sister and her husband as we sat down in the restaurant. “Yes,” they said, laughing. “Our friends did, too. They all got a big kick out of it. Sure, they’ve all encountered the problem you wrote about, but why waste your time complaining to… Read More »