Last week, the New York Times had a fascinating front page story (Justice Dept. Reshapes Its Civil Rights Mission, login required) about the increased focus of the Bush Justice Department on religious discrimination.  Although we have, in general, welcomed this new attention, the article suggests that it has come at the expense of the Department's historic commitment to combating racial discrimination.

There were a number of interesting pieces in the New York Times Magazine’s recent “Money Issue,” including a great profile of Ruby Payne and her work to expose the reality of income inequality in America.  Matt Bai’s report on John Edward’s anti-poverty work is also well worth reading.  (According to this post on Talking Points Memo, Edwards will expand on his “two Americas” theme tonight in a major speech at the Cooper Union in New York.)

Here is an interesting post on the often-interesting blog Orthodox Anarchist in which Modius summarizes his remarks to this week’s B’rit Tzedek v’Shalom conference here in Washington.  The gist?  “Rather than focusing on the conflict as a Palestinian rights or even human rights issue, when speaking with other Jews, we should focus on the occupation as a Jewish issue. How is the occupation bad for the Jews? How is it bad for Israel? What are the sacrifices we’re making, in terms of lives and resources, in order to hold onto the Territories?”

Finally, for now:  my friend Daniel Levy, a long-time Israeli peace/political activist, and advisor to, among other, Yossi Belin and Ehud Barrack, is now writing a blog entitled “Prospects for Peace.”  Daniel both presents analysis from a variety of viewpoints, and, perhaps most importantly, offers his own commentary on events.