"NBC made the right decision to cancel given Ann Coulter’s history of highly offensive comments," said Ira N. Forman, Executive Director of NJDC. Coulter has a rich history of offering inflammatory and inappropriate remarks including last year when Coulter said that Jews should be 'perfected' and that America would be better off if everyone were Christian."

In an update to her website today, Coulter announced she will be appearing on tomorrow’s CBS' "The Early Show".

"While we are please that NBC cancelled Coulter's appearance, we are disappointed that CBS will be giving legitimacy to an unreasonable and highly offensive 'commentator’ and author," said Forman. "There is a constitutional right to 'free speech,' but a prestigious network such as CBS is not obligated to amplify Coulter's outrageous message."

NJDC launched an online petition demanding that NBC stop inviting Coulter to appear on their network including tomorrow’s "Today Show." In the last 24 hours, more than 1,000 individuals had signed this petition. NJDC has now just launched a new petition encouraging CBS to follow NBC’s lead and cancel Coulter’s scheduled appearance tomorrow.

>View Petition

Ira begins with the following.

On "Hannity & Colmes" Ann Coulter revealed that she will appear on NBC's "Today" show on January 6, 2009 to promote her newest book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America." Once again, a respectable, mainstream outlet is giving legitimacy to an unreasonable and highly offensive "commentator" and author, Ann Coulter.

Please click here to read the rest and here to sign our petition.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "strongly support[s] Israel's right to defend its citizens against rocket and mortar attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza." To read more from these leaders, as well as others, please click here.

As Amos Oz, the noted Israeli novelist and peace activist recently stated, the systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.

Already we are hearing from the international community about “disproportionate” responses. What would be a “proportionate” response? Randomly firing rockets into Gaza schools every day? Hamas deliberately attempts to kill civilians. Israel attacks legitimate military targets and tries to avoid the loss of innocent life. Hamas uses its own people as human shields, both to protect Hamas leaders and to create international sympathy for its cause. No one wants to see innocent blood shed, but as Amos Oz explains, “Hamas' calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If innocent Israelis are killed - good. If innocent Palestinians are killed - even better.”

We are also hearing cries for a cease-fire. The time for the international community to apply pressure for a cease-fire was when Hamas was firing any one of the more than 7,000 rockets it has fired into Israel. For the international community to press for a cease-fire only when Israel responds to Hamas aggression and terror is nothing but hypocrisy. As Americans, we must stand up for our only democratic ally in the Middle East and allow Israel, not a biased international community, to determine when and under what circumstances a cease-fire is appropriate.

As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert explained, Israel’s quarrel is not with the Palestinian people, but with the Hamas terrorists. Indeed, Israel has endorsed a two-state solution and consistently proposed peaceful solutions, even willingness to trade land won in defensive wars for a promise of peace, only to be rebuffed by intransigent Palestinian leadership.

But even as Israel strives for peace with its Arab neighbors, it cannot be expected to forsake the primary duty of any state: to protect the safety and security of its citizens. We would expect no less from our government if our children were subjected to daily rocket attacks at home and at school. Can you imagine? Israelis have only seconds of warning to race to the nearest bomb shelter, and if kids are in different rooms, that means a split-second decision regarding which kid to grab and which kid to hope makes it to the shelter on her own. No government can permit its citizens to live that way.

Israel is a vibrant democracy, and no matter what the government or what the policy, there will be internal opposition. Israel has proven that a state can vigorously respond to terror and still maintain its democratic character. We must remember that while there are some within Israel who love Israel but oppose military strikes against Hamas in Gaza, the broad mainstream of Israel’s political leadership—from Labor to Kadima to Likud—supports Israel’s actions in Gaza. It would be the epitome of chutzpah for us, living in the safety and security of Highland Park and Deerfield, to tell the democratically elected government of Israel how to make peace and how to safeguard the security of those who live within rocket range and whose children may die defending the innocent from the terrorists.

Olmert is right: For the last seven years, the Hamas and other terrorist organizations were attacking innocent Israelis in the south part of the country and threatened the lives of many thousands of Israelis that wanted to live peacefully in their homes and to carry on their lives in a comfortable and normal way.  Israel did everything in its power to try to cooperate with the principles of a ceasefire in order to bring relaxation to this part.  Unfortunately, the efforts that we made were met by continuous attacks and violations of the basic understandings that were reached by the assistance of Egypt.  No country in the world can accept or acquiesce with this approach.

Obama chose superb individuals to lead the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor, and SEC.

Obama’s selection of Representative Ray LaHood (R-IL) as Secretary of Transportation reaffirms the President-elect’s desire to pick the best individual available, regardless of partisan affiliation. As head of Transportation, LaHood will address the needs America’s transportation infrastructure, and implement policies that encouraged fuel-efficient cars.

With Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA) as Secretary of Labor, the new administration will emphasize the importance of “green” jobs in America and will hold workers rights as central to America’s labor policies.

The selection of Mary Schapiro to head the SEC will provide leadership and an experienced hand in these troubled economic times. This appointment indicates that the new administration will strengthen oversight of questionable investment practices to make America’s markets more secure.

These selections reflect the President-elect’s comprehensive approach to improving our environment and economy.

Hillary Clinton has tapped two Jewish deputies for the State Department.

The secretary of state nominee reportedly wants Jacob Lew and James Steinberg as her chief lieutenants, according to a report in Tuesday's New York Times. Lew, the director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton, would focus on increasing the share of financing that goes to the diplomatic corps. Such a position was not filled in the current Bush administration. Steinberg was a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration and confirmed his appointment in an e-mail to faculty and students at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs.

During the Clinton administration, Lew, an observant Jew known as Jack, always left the office on Fridays in time to celebrate Shabbat.

Both positions require Senate confirmation.

Click here to read the official announcement.

Included in the latest list is Charles Winters, who is considered a hero in Israel.

Winters, who died in the 1980s in Florida, was in the airplane business after World War II. He bought up former military cargo planes and used them to transport fruit and other products. He later started helping his Jewish friends who were shipping arms to Jews trying to found their own state in the Middle East.

Winters, a Protestant from Boston, could fly his planes in and out of the region without interference from authorities. In 1948, three of his planes left Miami, picked up weapons in Azores and Czechoslovakia and then left the planes and arms in Palestine.

Winters was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act, fined $5,000 and sentenced to serve 18 months in prison. The act is designed to ensure that financial assistance and arms are not provided to parties in foreign conflicts where the U.S. has not taken sides.

Click here to read the rest of the piece.

The Minnesota State Canvassing Board has been sorting through 1500 challenged ballots this week, recounting contested votes. This morning, Republican Senator Norm Coleman led the count with 358 votes over Franken, but toward the end of today’s canvassing board session, Coleman’s lead sunk to the single digits.

> Check out live streaming video of the recount

Democratic challenger Al Franken finds himself on the cusp of winning a seat in the United States Senate after Minnesota's canvassing board awarded him a host of challenged votes during deliberations on Thursday.

As of 8PM ET, the Minneapolis Star Tribune projected that Franken would finish the recount process with a lead of 89 votes, positioning him to become the 59th senator caucusing with Democrats in the upcoming Congress.

According to local paper tallies, Franken currently trails Sen. Norm Coleman by a mere five votes, down from the 358-vote margin that the Republican held just last night. The Associated Press has the count even closer, with Coleman ahead by two votes. An aide to Franken told the Huffington Post that, according to the campaign's internal count, Franken has already taken a small lead.

The gains came as the canvassing board sifted through hundreds of ballots that Coleman had contested during the recount process. On Friday, the canvassing board will consider another 400 or so Coleman challenges. If the pattern remains consistent, Franken should vault past his opponent to a projected lead of approximately 89 votes, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Click here to read on...