January 25, 2009

Broadcast Date: 
Jan 25 2009

Sarah Posner on Rev. Rick Warren's inaugural invocation; a hotline for migrant workers in Israel; plus a conversation with Jane Eisner, the new editor in chief of The Forward, the national Jewish newspaper.

Episode segments
  • Rev. Rick Warren
    National Politics, Christian Right, Domestic Policy
    Sarah Posner covers the Christian right for The American Prospect and is the author of God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and and the Republican Campaign for Values Voters.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    We talk with author Sarah Posner about what President Obama's selection of Rev. Rick Warren to offer the invocation at his inauguration portends and whether Warren's reputation for being relatively liberal is earned.

  • Hotline for Migrant Workers
    Israeli Politics, Israel/Palestine
    Shevy Korzen is the Executive Director of the Hotline for Migrant Workers in Israel.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    For decades, Israel's agricultural and construction sectors in particular depended on Palestinian workers, many from the Occupied Territories.  But after the first Gulf War, in 1991, it became increasingly difficult for Palestinians from the Occupied Territories to secure permits to enter and work in Israel.  A new labor market developed for migrant workers from throughout the world.  And as is the case for migrant labor elsewhere, these workers are often exploited and vulnerable to deportation. The Hotline for Migrant Workers was formed initially to help these workers, but in time its brief has expanded to embrace the increasing numbers of trafficked workers and asylum seekers.

  • The Forward's New'ish Editor-in-Chief
    Jewish Communities, Jewish Life
    Jane Eisner became editor of The Forward, the national Jewish weekly, in June 2008, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Eisner came to the forward from the Philadelphia Inquirer where she held numerous executive editorial and news positions for 25 years.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Jane Eisner is the third Editor-in-Chief of The Forward's english language edition since it was founded in 1990.  We talk with her about what distinguishes The Foward from the many other Jewish newspapers in the U.S. and how she positions herself vis-a-vis her two predecessors--the neoconservative founding editor, Seth Lipsky and her immediate predecessor, the liberal J.J. Goldberg.