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5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home



5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller



5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever



5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy



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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21



5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm



5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF



5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend



6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....



5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak



5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site



5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy





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On reasonable search and seizure in the subways

7.25.05
We are now all Israelis


A well-meaning friend looked up from reading the paper the other day and said, "Did you hear they're now subjecting passengers on the New York City subway to random searches?"

I wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not, so I sort of just nodded.

He persisted. "Well, there's the first step in the erosion of our civil liberties."

I resisted taking the bait, but my friend insisted. "Don't you think so?"

Actually, no, I replied. I said that if you weren't doing anything wrong, if you had nothing to hide, then having your backpack searched before alighting on the subway was a small price to pay for insuring the safety of New York City's mass transit system.

"You sound like a Republican!" was my friend's shocked reply.



Actually, what I sound like is someone whose world view is forged in the grim reality of our time. There is a worldwide war being waged, and bombs, particularly suicide bombs, are going off everywhere. We can no longer consider ourselves immune from the sort of rampant terror that used to only happen on the other side of globe, mostly on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

And it was living in those cities 20 years ago that I suppose inured me to the reality of having one's bags checked at the entrance to every public building. For decades, Israelis have accepted as part of everyday life that your packages are always subject to search. No one thinks this is a violation of his civil liberties or privacy. This is an attempt to forestall murder, and in large part, it works.

Nowhere is it written in the U.S. Constitution that you can ride a subway, or enter a public building, and bring a bomb or a gun in with you. And one of the primary reasons governments and police forces are set up are to protect and forestall attacks on their citizens.

Having one's backpack searched before getting on a subway is in no way a violation of one's civil liberties. Getting blown up on the D train is a violation of one's life, however.

I don't think this makes me a Republican. It makes me someone who cherishes life. And the terrorists, at this point, have made us all Israelis.





Israel is purported to have the tightest security in the world and they have not been able to prevent suicide bombing. I’m all for safer subways and tighter security, but we are naive to think that a few random totebag checks will prevent violence.

As Israel goes, so goes the world.

The problem is that we have failed to recognize that we have ALWAYS been Israelis.

7/24/2005



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