April 2014
Laina with Late April Movies
Laina At the Movies
By Laina Farhat-Holzman
Late April 2014
Draft Day
I have to admit that in all my years of schooling, I never went to a single football game. This amazed my husband, a one-time Stanford coach who watches football with an expert’s eye. He loves me anyway.
I do get a football (and other sports) fix in movie-going. I love the drama much better than the games themselves. The latest is Draft Day, which covers the events more...
By Laina Farhat-Holzman
Late April 2014
Draft Day
I have to admit that in all my years of schooling, I never went to a single football game. This amazed my husband, a one-time Stanford coach who watches football with an expert’s eye. He loves me anyway.
I do get a football (and other sports) fix in movie-going. I love the drama much better than the games themselves. The latest is Draft Day, which covers the events more...
Why Are We the World’s Policemen?
Cutting the defense budget in the foolish notion that we should not be the world’s policemen is biting us already. We saved the world from great horrors three times. We ended World War I, which was otherwise bogged down in the worst military slaughters since the American Civil War. Instead of building on this achievement, the American public just wanted to forget all about war and we went isolationist, thus permitting World War I to morph into a much worse World War II, which we could not avoi more...
“The Religion of Peace” gets Brandeis Support
On just one day, and appearing on just one page of the San Francisco Chronicle (April 10), three articles appeared about bomb blasts perpetrated by Muslim extremists murdering other Muslims.
• Pakistan. The first was in Pakistan (22 killed, 83 grievously wounded by nuts and bolts packed in a carton of fruit). These fanatics particularly like exploding in open marketplaces where they can maximize killing the most women and children. This attack took place in Islamabad, P more...
Disinvited
Would Brandeis University have disinvited a Holocaust survivor from receiving an honorary degree because his words would be insulting to the Nazis?
Yet they have disinvited a distinguished, brilliant survivor of Islam's persecution of women because her words might offend Muslims. They seem to be under the illusion that Islam and Muslims are underdogs who need protection from criticism. Shame on them. What kind of values are these?
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Aptos, more...
Yet they have disinvited a distinguished, brilliant survivor of Islam's persecution of women because her words might offend Muslims. They seem to be under the illusion that Islam and Muslims are underdogs who need protection from criticism. Shame on them. What kind of values are these?
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Aptos, more...
Why We Can’t Make the World Safe for Democracy
When we believe that human beings are motivated most by economic self-interest, we are unfailingly wrong. The late 19th century was a time of incredible optimism. The economies of the world were increasingly linked, inventions were providing benefits only dreamed of in the past, and we enjoyed a half-century of peace that looked permanent. It seemed impossible for the sophisticated nation-states of Europe to ever go to war again.
How wrong they were. By 1914, almost all major Eur more...
How wrong they were. By 1914, almost all major Eur more...
Laina with Early April Movies
Laina At the Movies
By Laina Farhat-Holzman
April 2014
The Muppets
I couldn’t resist seeing this, the latest Muppet movie particularly since the villain is an identical Kermit look-alike, except that he has a mole on his lip and a Russian accent. Shades of my children’s childhood with cartoons featuring a Bullwinkle J. Moose and his pal, a Rocky the Squirrel, with Russian spy villains: Boris Badenough and Natasha. These delicious cartoons amused more...
By Laina Farhat-Holzman
April 2014
The Muppets
I couldn’t resist seeing this, the latest Muppet movie particularly since the villain is an identical Kermit look-alike, except that he has a mole on his lip and a Russian accent. Shades of my children’s childhood with cartoons featuring a Bullwinkle J. Moose and his pal, a Rocky the Squirrel, with Russian spy villains: Boris Badenough and Natasha. These delicious cartoons amused more...
“When They Love Their Children….”
Many years ago, Golda Meir, then Prime Minister of Israel, was asked when there would be peace with the Arab world. She said: “We will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” We need to look at that astute observation again today because she was right.
A UN observer has released a devastating report on Syria, in which both the government forces and the Islamist insurgents are imprisoning, torturing, raping, and killing children to make a point to more...
A UN observer has released a devastating report on Syria, in which both the government forces and the Islamist insurgents are imprisoning, torturing, raping, and killing children to make a point to more...