Adam Dickter's blog

As mentioned earlier, this is the first summer in five that my family hasn't spent under the starry skies of the Catskills, and for me that means about six to eight hours a week back in my life that were often spent on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the New York Thruway, Rt. 17, and various other roadways with which I experimented. At 250 miles round trip, I estimate that I logged in the neigborhood of 10,000 miles in four summers making the trip to the blessed land of bungalows.

The conviction of an Israeli Arab in the bizarre and highly controversial case stemming from a tryst with a Jewish woman evokes painful images of our own country's racially paranoid past and the persecution of black men for having relationships with white women. At first glance it seems that Israel's judicial system abetted a woman's anti-Arab hatred by convicting the man, Saber Kushour, of rape after a consensual sexual encounter because he pretended to be a Jew. That's exactly how some in the media here and in Israel have presented it.

It's sad to have to watch your 10-year old kid squirm uncomfortably as you discuss with him what he should do if someone at sleepaway camp touches him "in a place ordinarily covered by a bathing suit." Or tell him that no one is allowed to tell him to keep a secret from his parents or the camp administration. But that's become a part of modern parents' pre-camp checklists, along with packing up necessities like flashlights and bug spray and tucking away some money for the canteen.

One of the hottest topics around these days is the mosque at Ground Zero. But as Linda Richman, a Michael Myers character on Saturday Night Live, might say on “Coffee Talk,” the Ground Zero mosque is neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero. Discuss.

Do you know what your friends who fasted on Tisha B'Av had to eat when it was over? Chances are, if you and they belong to Facebook, you do.

Maybe I was a tad defensive when a friend asked me this weekend if I was enjoying the mountain air. "The air's not so bad where I am," I answered.

Just because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government's restriction of what it deems profanity on public airwaves is unconstitutional, doesn't mean standards are going out the window, says a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. 

"I think the notion that broadcasters are going to be dropping the f-bomb in prime time is ludicrous," Dennis Wharton told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday. "fI we wanted to do that we could do that from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m."

The strange and amusing tale of six IDF soldiers featured on YouTube dancing to a cheesy pop song while on patrol in Hebron seems to have played itself out, now that an spokesman for the army has said they will not investigate the matter further. But it says a lot about the uniqueness of Israel's army.

 Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is scoring points for grace with her witty comeback during confirmation hearings to South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's oddly non-sequitur question "Where were you last Christmas?"

To her credit, the solicitor general defused the situation by saying she was likely eating at a Chinese restaurant, to which Graham answered "Great answer."

She has also had to contend with questions that stress her Upper West Side origins and her admiration of an Israeli jurist.

Expect more fireworks.

On Thursday, a small "flotilla" of boats will make their way down the Hudson River and up the East River to the U.N. to call attention to the plight of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier imprisoned by Hamas for what will soon be four years. What's the point, some people will ask. Is this the best way to help?