By Colin Campbell 2/29/12 7:48am

lambasting lew

scandalous claims hamodia

Large Orthodox Newspaper Knocks Fidler

Brooklyn’s Jewish media has not been overly nice to Democratic Councilman Lew Fidler in the last two days. Yesterday, COMMUNITY Magazine converted itself to an almost cover-to-cover advertisement for his opponent in his campaign for the State Senate, and today, one of the most influential newspapers in the district, Hamodia, wrote a fairly scathing piece as well.

Underneath the front-page headline “Scandalous Claims,” one of the newspaper’s editors went after Mr. Fidler for insufficiently supporting tuition relief for the district’s yeshivas while boosting his Republican opponent, David Storobin. ”In truth, Storobin’s conservative qualifications appear solid,” he wrote. “But for Fidler to claim the conservative mantle, in support of funding for yeshivos, is just scandalous, say people involved in yeshivah aid.”

Mr. Fidler is campaigning heavily on yeshiva funding and both candidates told Hamodia the issue was the most important one in the district.

The newspaper’s harshest words were over gay marriage, however. Read More

By Hunter Walker 2/23/12 3:06pm

Show Me Your Tweets

My new profile photo. (via Photoshop master Richard Blakeley and Tom Selleck)

Is This Twitter Avatar Too Sexy for Politics?

Earlier today, D.C. gossip rag FishbowlDC published a post declaring “an unusual trend” developing among female “campaign and White House reporters” using “provocative, sometimes sexy photographs of themselves for their Twitter accounts.” As examples of this “trend,” writer Betsy Rothstein cited The New York Times’ Ashley Parker, Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, all three of whom have, in this reporter’s opinion, absolutely normal, appropriate avatars.

Since Ms. Rothstein’s post only accused women of spurring this “sexy” avatar trend, I found her post to be a clear example of the objectification and double standards that have existed far too long surrounding women in the workforce. Read More