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Friday February 16, 2007

Shorts: U.S.

ADL: Ku Klux Klan making comeback  

The Ku Klux Klan has experienced a “surprising and troubling resurgence” in the past year, the Anti-Defamation League warned. In a new report, the ADL says fears that immigrants are overrunning the country have led to a spike in KKK activity.

While much of the new activity is in the South, the league also pointed to increased Klan activity in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The ADL reports that the Klan increasingly is cooperating with groups like the Minnesota-based National Socialist Movement and embracing neo-Nazi subculture. The group also is becoming more active on the Internet, with the launch of an online radio station. — jta

Eco-friendly confabs

scheduled in D.C.

Two Jewish organizations plan to offset the carbon produced by their upcoming conferences. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life announced they’ll calculate the amount of carbon produced by their three-day conferences in Washington in late February, and will offset it through reforestation projects.

The conferences, which will include nearly 1,000 participants, will limit the amount of carbon they produce through energy efficiency and the use of renewables. “The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is dedicated to doing its part to combat climate change,” said Steve Gutow, the group’s executive director. “Offsetting the carbon emissions from our conference is an easy and effective way to help make a positive difference in our environment.”

The effort, billed as the first of its kind for Jewish groups, will be facilitated by Carbonfund.org, the country’s leading carbon-offset organization. — jta

Researchers probe sexual behavior

A new survey is under way to gauge Jewish adherence to family purity laws that require couples to abstain from sex for roughly two weeks a month.

The survey, separate versions of which are available for those who are married and single, asks about religious practice as well as sexual behavior, and can be completed anonymously at www.jewishsurveys.org.

Mark Guterman, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey who is working on the study, conducted prior research revealing that modern Orthodox Jews were not observing family purity laws as extensively as was assumed. The new study could lead to “reinforcement or readdressing” of existing sexual standards in the Jewish community, Guterman said. — jta

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