The story has all the elements of a timed piece inserted in the Christian Science Monitor to effect policy.
I became suspicious when I read the following:
In April, representatives of Jewish Community Action (JCA), of St. Paul, Minn., and the Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs visited Postville to offer help. Both groups have worked here for several years. "Jewish organizations ... have a special obligation to take action to improve conditions in this plant for all workers, and to strive for comprehensive immigration reform because we were once immigrants in this country," says JCA head Vic Rosenthal, noting also how important the plant has been in supplying kosher food.(emphasis supplied)
Others are suggesting ways to protect the workers and community if the plant fully resumes operations. Russ Adams, of the Minneapolis-based Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, touts the virtues of "community benefit agreements." These forge pacts between citizens and corporations on issues such as fair labor and environmental practices.
I be-thought myself, who were these groups and why are they coming here from out of town? A quick Google of the "Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs" reveals that coincidentally with this group's excursion from Chicago to Postville "to offer help" the group made an excursion to Washington DC. The very first thing that pops up on Google is this press release:
JCUA Meets with White House Staff to Advocate for Immigration
Friday, April 17, 2009
By: Sari Rubin
Progress by Pesach Campaign Makes an Impact
JCUA meets with White House Staff to Advocate for Immigration Reform
Thursday, April 2nd, JCUA leaders, staff and other campaign sponsors met in Washington, D.C. to deliver thousands of Progress by Pesach petition signatures to the White House that expose the harm immigration raids have caused to our communities and to stress the urgency of passing comprehensive immigration reform. The group was joined at a press conference prior to our White House meeting by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and Ms. Kari Moe, Chief of Staff for Congressman Keith Ellison. (Emphasis supplied) http://www.jcua.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5759
How accommodating of the Christian Science Monitor to write an article about one of the most infamous white slavery operations in America since Sinclair Lewis shocked America with his muckraking exposé of Chicago (of all places) slaughterhouses in, The Jungle.
Marching through Google, a search of "Alliance for Metropolitan Stability" reveals it to be an Acorn type community agitation organization and its director, Russ Adams, a reincarnation of a community agitator named Barack Obama. Other hits reveal that those who support the organization include at least one avowed socialist who features the communist manifesto on his blog site. It is frightening and sinister to see the interlocking groups, many of which are touting the grants they receive from the federal government, with interlocking boards of directors etc.
So Russ Adams of Minnesota leaves his home state to join the Chicago Jewish group, also leaving their home state, to visit Iowa where they just happen to be interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor at a time when there is a move in the White House to grant immigration amnesty. The Christian Science Monitor dutifully prints an article which could have been drafted by the socialist groups which not surprisingly concludes that the problem is not that greedy employers gained an unfair competitive advantage over their competitors by hiring illegal immigrants, but that the problem is the government with its militaristic raids and black helicopters has destroyed the multicultural paradise of Mayberry, Iowa. Workers are deported, others are jailed, mothers are manacled, stores are emptied, multiculturalism is devastated, and all because the government will not pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Why, the devastation is so horrible that one cannot even get a decent knish on the main street of Pottsville, Iowa anymore.
I have read with interest the exchange especially among the Jewish posters about the role of Jews in this affair and in their voting patterns in general. I'm inclined to think that we have criminals who exploited American sensitivity over multiculturalism-in this case Kosher foodstuffs-to break the law to gain an illegal competitive advantage. In a sense it is not a Jewish issue. Incidentally, the "Minneapolis-based Alliance for Metropolitan Stability" describes itself as a "faith based organization" but I have seen no other reference whatsoever to anything special spiritual although perhaps exists. If attendance to spiritual concerns does exist within the "Minneapolis-based alliance for Metropolitan Stability" I expect that it will be a "Zen" approach. No doubt, the main thrust is to qualify for federal funding.
But when an avowedly Jewish organization intrudes itself into an out-of-state operation, cloaks itself in righteousness and claims a bogus interest in kosher food supply, one has a right to ask where is the Jewish community coming forward to debunk this exploitation of Judaism for left-wing causes? If they do not come forward, are we not entitled to believe that the Jews in Chicago condone this? How much of this is not a Jewish question but a secular reaction of ethnic Jews who are no longer religious? If there is a substantial number of Jews claiming political leverage by pretending to be something they are not, should honest Jews not condemn them?
If the Jewish community permits secular groups to gain political power by cynically and falsely exploiting Jewish religiosity, are they not courting a legitimate reaction, a blowback?
To the Jews on this thread who responded, I ask you how much of this model can be extrapolated to the behavior of American Jews in every election? I ask you what is the responsibility of the Jewish community to repudiate exploitation of multiculturalism done in their own name?
As a Protestant, I am acutely aware that we have been blackguarded by an especially pernicious reverse application of this kind of multiculturalism. The most recent case is in the assassination of Dr. Tiller. I ask posters on this thread, what responsibilities do Jews have to speak up against this kind of bigotry? I ask them, whether there is an identifiable statistical segment of Judaism which is secular and bigoted against Christians? If there is, what is the responsibility of Jews to speak out against this? Did we not see this reflected in the reaction to George W. Bush and his transparent faith? Have Jews fulfilled this civic responsibility from a society in which they demand to be protected against the same kind of bigotry?
