7.15.10
FILM REVIEW: I Am Love
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
6.22.10
FILM REVIEW: Please Give
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
6.11.10
He's Your Handyman
Call Peter Vernon for just about anything you need done around the house or garden
6.3.10
Prime Minister Netanyahu's Statment Regarding the Gaza Blockade Action
4.21.10
FILM REVIEW: Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
4.17.10
CONCERT REVIEW: Jakob Dylan at the Egg, Albany, N.Y.
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
4.16.10
BOOK REVIEW: The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
4.16.10
MUSIC REVIEW: Shawn Colvin at the Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
4.16.10
FILM REIVEW: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Thriller introduces Sweden's answer to Natalie Portman
12.29.08
Palestinians Need Israel to Win
WALL ST JOURNAL: If Hamas gets away with terror once again, the peace process will be over.
2.18.10
Community Radio Station Gets Full-Power License
WBCR to become regional powerhouse in three years
2.15.10
[Eagle Watch] Whoops! They did it again.
Berkshire Eagle headline contradicts story
2.11.10
FILM REVIEW: Crazy Heart
by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
1.20.10
The Filibuster Fiasco
The majority party must wield the reins of power delivered unto it by the people
1.14.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights 1.15-1.18
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
1.14.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights 1.15-1.18
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
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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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