The Post That Captured The Blogosphere! The UOJ Archives August 18, 2006
You buy a house in a good neighborhood and your toilet keeps backing up. Not every day, but just enough for you to realize that your sewer system is a problem. But you're busy, raising a family, making a parnassah, and all the other activities that occupy your time 110%.
So your sewer problem is there, any fool would realize that if your toilet keeps dumping zevel in your living room every few months, you have a sewer problem. In order for you to deal with the problem you must take a real hard look at the root cause of the damaged system. Then you come to realize that the whole neighborhood has shit backing up into their bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms as well.
You call a meeting with your neighbors and decide to buy thicker carpets and have the zevel piped in under the carpet so you don't have to have the crap hit you in the face. You make many melave malkes, conventions and dinners and take the stench with you...because ultimately the stench is you! But now you're in a room where every one smells like shit and you think it's perfume or so they tell you. You now go out and buy knee boots...hoping the charra will not dirty your suit or legs. At the dais of these dinners, you begin to believe that they caused the stench by stuffing your sewers with their bull"shit", so if you called a plumber, they will profit from your sewer problem, because they own the plumbing company.
They continue to stuff up your sewer system with newsletters and proclamations, and their propaganda slowly convinces you that really you don't have a sewer problem at all. It's imagined.....and let's blame the sewer company for selling you inferior pipes.
"It's the Goyim stupid"......or people that act like Goyim. And you know what? The plumbers that brought you the news that you have a problem at all, are shgatzim. They use nivel peh, are m'challel Shabbos, they fix sewers on Shabbos...what qualifies them to tell you that your sewer is broken?
Never listen to a plumber who uses nivel peh; call your posek, he'll tell you what looks like shit, smells like shit, and has destroyed your lives with these toxic fumes that have penetrated your being, is really nothing more than a tradition that all of us inherited from our ancestors.
What to do? All your life you are living in this community, but now this big bad plumber has uncovered for all the world to see, that there really is a huge sewer problem.
SHIT EVERYWHERE!
The Roto Rooter guy insists that the sewer is irreparable; only a total removal of the sewer "system" will remove the problem that has destroyed your home.
It must be replaced with brand new pipes and must be installed by reputable plumbers. He apologizes for his frustration and his use of "over the top" language, but has learned from experience that good people don't pay much attention to soft-spoken plumbers."
"Imagine" he says, " If I came to your home in a suit and tie, and spoke the King's English, would you really believe that I'm a plumber?" "Would you really believe that its me, and me alone, that can tear out your broken sewer and replace it with a brand new working system that is able to flush out the drek before it becomes a problem? I will install a warning system...we'll call it a black hat alert, the shit detector will sound a siren way in advance, way before your sewer begins to crumble."
"And you know what? It's FREE! I'll do it at no charge. You see I love the people that live in this neighborhood, I JUST HATE THE SMELL! This used to be a beautiful neighborhood, until the drek peddlers moved in.
Your choice my friends, go Roto Rooter, or suffer with the farshtoonkena drek that represents the toxic smell that is destroying your neighborhood.
Go Roto Rooter at no charge, or choose the likes of the mushchasim that are called Fraud Yisroel Belsky, Lipa Margulies, Pinchos Scheinberg, Simcha Kaufman and last but certainly not least, Yudi Kolko....
156 comments:
Thanks UOJ. Nothing like a good scatological essay to start off my morning. I should have waited to read this after breakfast.
go roto rooter wow that was a great peice keep it up for as long is necessary the (BELCH-ky)stench is just as unbearable to me as leizerowitz,s LEIZEROWITZ VICTIM FOREVER
You hit it right on the nail.great post.Sums everything up perfectly.
Great job UOJ!! Keep up the pressure on these guys. Don't let them breathe. They deserve it after the despicable way they've conducted themselves, even after the lawsuit. Instead of laying low and admtting their mistakes over the past forty years, this is how they responded:
1)Letting Kolko keep his job at Camp Silver Lake and allowing him to be around thousands of kids(from other camps included) at Lake Compounce.
2)Pathetically denying and trying to cover this up through their clown of a lawyer.
3) Threatening the families of anonymous posters who dared to suggest this coverup (see comments on Mr. RY blog)
4)The whole Tuvya/Neuhoff/RY/Belsky
outing UOJ fiasco.
I'm sure that we are not the only ones in the Jewish community who are ashamed, disgusted and outraged by these actions. When you originally suggested that YTT should close down as a modern day Ir Hanidachas, I scoffed at the idea, thinking that things will be better once Kolko left. Now I see that you were correct. They ought to sell the building to another Yeshiva that will bring respectability and honor back to Klal Yisrael instead of the massive chillul hashem that is being perpetuated there currently.
Mamash sheker vechuzuv. UOJ is lying to you. The toilets are backing up because you are using Puffs instead of Kleenex brand. Puffs don't dissolve as easily. Vit dee amount of time that me & Kolko spend in the bathroom, tziz zicher dat vee are bigger experts on crap den UOJ.
RONNIE, I'M AFRAID YOU HAVE SOME STIFF COMPETITION:
Swan Lake, NY - The Ballooner Rebbe Rides In
Swan Lake, NY - Around the summer camps of Sullivan County, around the hospitals in Brooklyn and a few cancer wards, children know him as the Ballooner Rebbe.
Pulls up in his black SUV sparkling with slogans like "May Your Bubble Never Burst."
He's the man in the long black coat.
He wears a Shtrimal of black balloons.
A couple years ago, the following strange but true events occurred -
A new cornerstone was installed at World Lubavitch headquarters located at 770 Eastern Parkway, to honor the memory of the Rebbe, ZTL. The mashiachistism immediately vandalized the cornerstone, attempting to scratch out "ZTL". The Rebbe is alive, they declared, not dead.
Meanwhile, at the OU Rubashkin plant, a spy from People for Ethical Treatment for Animals videotaped a supposedly kosher-slaughtered cow that was staggering about, for nearly two full minutes, still alive. The Orthodox Union, when confronted, said, no, the cow looks alive, but its really dead.
The Rebbe appears dead, but he's really alive. The cow appears alive, but its really dead.
The OU needs a new mashgiach.
Lubavich needs a new mashiach.
While walking to shul this morning something occurred to me. I was thinking about those in the community upset with UOJ. They often say that the charges are unfounded, that they are the result of students with a grudge against a teacher.
So I started thinking. What teenage boy is going to accuse a male teacher of sexual misconduct if it isn't true? The stigma of homosexuality, being called a queer or a fag, would stop just about any adolescent boy from making that charge. I ran this past some friends and acquaintences and they all agreed. Most teenage boys are incredibly sensitive about being associated with anything gay - particularly in a religious community that has no place for open gay men. It's just not likely to happen.
I remembered one case of a teacher falsely accused of sexual misconduct - a junior high teacher was falsely accused by some girls who were upset about being disciplined - but I couldn't do any research until after Shabbat.
I just spent some time searching for cases of teachers falsely accused. I indeed found a number of cases of teachers falsely accused of sexual misconduct, in this country and in the UK. They had their lives turned upside down and a number have left teaching as a result.
The one common thread in all the case?
All the false accusations were by girls. I'm not saying it doesn't happen with boys, but each of the verified false accusations of sexual misconduct against teachers that I could find were made by females.
In today's popular culture with is overtly anti-male messages (like Dennis Prager says, what men and boys do naturally is considered "unfortunate" at best) coupled with the elevation of "victims" to heroic status, there is absolutely no stigma attached to a female who claims to have been abused or assaulted. She is automatically believed and the accused is typically suspended, fired, or jailed before being exonerated.
That, of course, is not true with boys. When a male is sexually assaulted by another male, the assumption is that he is weak, that he should have fought back, that he must have been complicit, that the acts must have been consensual. If the alleged victim is young, well then, the "grudge" defense is trotted out. The accuser must have an agenda, a grudge, perhaps for being disciplined (like the girls were in the case above).
But what boy is going to risk being called a faggot?
Those of you who think Kolko et al are innocent, can any of you think of a single male adolescent who would risk this stigma?
NP: Psychedelic Guitar Circus - Henry Kaiser, Harvey Mandel, Freddie Roulette, Steve Kimock and supporting players.
Balooner Rebbe,
Kol HaKovod.
That is really an uplifting story. Do you have his name? Maybe I can send him some balloons to use.
BTW, folks, if you want to help sick kids, Camp Simcha and similar camps can always use baseball caps and other hats. Children on chemo often lose their hair and the treatments can make them very sensitive to sunlight. I've sent them caps embroidered with the camp logo as well as soliciting samples from my vendors.
If anyone wants to participate in something like this, if you supply the hats, I will embroider them with the camp's logo at no charge.
Genius Tooooovy- great job-you got this maniac all riled up. very smart dufus. great idea...oh yes wonerful.
Once again the editor shows us how he deservedly earned "Psychologist of The Year". Ronnie, your deep and thorough understanding of the young male's innermost thoughts has me wondering one question...Are you old enough to drive?
To all you people who still think Kolko is innocent I will relate the following incident that happened to me on the way home from shul. I was walking with one of the respected members of the NY community and he told me you know how I know it is true about Kolko, because I am related to one of his victims and he was in therapy for years over this. He only came forward now because that fat bastard Margolis threatened he will blacklist his children if he comes forward to press charges. This mamzer son of a momzer who orginally was the bus driver in Torah Vadas that's right Margo is a truck driver has got to be stopped. He never cared about chinuch he treats all his rabbeim like dirt Shustal, Landau, Parnes, Jurkanski all hate him. If not for their pay check they would have left years ago. His own son-in-law-Schlesinger hates him. If he cared about kids he wouldn't put his son Mendel a total idiot in the yeshiva. Just who are we talking about, a low class thug. The whole office hates him Berman, Applegrad, etc. He thinks it is still 30 years ago where he can bull doze his way over people. Well Margo wake up it is a new world out there your day has come get out of Torah Temimmah or it will be shut down. UOJ don't you dare stop now or the achrayis of all the ruined kids will be own your head.
Anonymous,
At least Ronnie presented a reasonable opinion and had the balls to use his name. You on the other hand don't have the guts to even choose a pseudonym.
Not to worry Moshe Shimon,
Margulies and his menuvel protector sheigetz Belsky will go to their graves broken and disgraced sub-humans.
Margulies is takeh a truck driver, and Belsky will be driving one.
The scum of klal Yisroel!
Once again the editor shows us how he deservedly earned "Psychologist of The Year". Ronnie, your deep and thorough understanding of the young male's innermost thoughts has me wondering one question...Are you old enough to drive?
Another ad hominum attack that, once again, avoids answering the questions raised. Do you froomies ever address the question or are your brains permanently set on reflexive fingerpointing?
FWIW, I've always referred to myself as a perpetual adolescent. Like Enoch's Einickle in Jerusalem once said, you are only young once, but you can be immature your entire life. The issue isn't my demonstrated lack of maturity. The issue is whether a teenage male will falsely implicate himself in homosexual behavior, something that most adult males that I've spoken with on the subject say is not likely.
So, Mr. Anonymous, are you telling us that you don't know what it's like to be a teenager? If that's the case, that can only meam that you haven't yet gone through puberty.
For the record, I've been driving since Nixon was president. Like many froomies, whether you are old enough or not, licensed or not, you probably don't know how to properly drive an automobile. Without looking it up on Google, care to tell us what trailing throttle oversteer is, what causes it, and what drivetrain layout is most prone that problem? Or better yet, tell us what the differences are in typical handling characteristics between a front wheel drive car and a rear wheel drive car and how that affects winter driving. Perhaps you can explain what torquesteer is. Tell us, Mario, what's the safest thing to do if you are going to have an unavoidable accident - even though you were told never to do it in driver's ed?
Why bother with caring how to do something so gashmius well, like driving or many other adult activities?
NP: Jahrhundert Halle - by the band formerly known as The Warlocks
At least Ronnie presented a reasonable opinion and had the balls to use his name. You on the other hand don't have the guts to even choose a pseudonym.
Well, he did say imply that he didn't know what it's like to be a teenage boy. Either anon is a woman, or what balls he has haven't descended yet.
I vill keep on trucking and chucking any bucherim who complain that Kolko felt dem up. And don't forget that Basch also hates my guts.
Hey Basch, get in the beis medrash. And if the bucherim complain to defend your kuved, I vill trow dem out too.
Is UOJ getting the NY Times on the case? Lake Compounce is small potaters compared to what I can do online.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/business/20kurtbox.html
August 20, 2006
Editors’ Note
A New York Times investigation last year disclosed a new frontier in child pornography, in which minors used computer video Webcams to perform on the Internet in exchange for gifts and money. That article, published in December, resulted in a government crackdown, including arrests and the shutdown of major Webcam pornography sites.
The Times’s investigation opened a window into an online subculture of pedophiles. This two-part series is a further look into that world and the businesses that have developed to serve it.
Covering this story raised legal issues. United States law makes it a crime to purchase, download or view child pornography, unless the images are promptly reported to authorities and no images are copied or retained. The Times complied with the law, disclosing what it found to appropriate authorities.
Roto Rooter Opens Branch In Israel
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After the war: scandals rock Israel By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The president is locked in a sex scandal, the justice minister is quitting over a purported stolen kiss, the prime minister is haunted by a property deal and the country's top general is under fire for stock trading.
Welcome to Israel, after the war.
With a ceasefire in Israel's bitter battles with Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas in effect for nearly a week, Israeli media have turned the spotlight on a series of scandals.
No criminal charges have been filed in any of the cases. But suspicions of sleaze at the top have darkened the public mood in Israel, where many have begun to question their leaders' conduct of a costly month-long conflict in Lebanon.
Some of the allegations:
-- A former employee at the official residence of President Moshe Katsav says he coerced her into having sex with him. Katsav has denied the woman's allegations, which police are investigating. The scandal is unlikely to have any significant political impact as Katsav's post is largely ceremonial.
-- Justice Minister Haim Ramon announced on Friday he would resign after the attorney general said he was considering indicting the veteran politician over allegations by a former government employee that he forcibly kissed her.
A Justice Ministry statement said the woman accused Ramon of "kissing her on the lips while inserting his tongue without her consent." Ramon denied the charges and said he would prove his innocence in court.
-- Israel's top government watchdog has confirmed it is examining the terms of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's purchase of a Jerusalem apartment for $1.2 million in 2004.
The state comptroller's office said it has not finished looking into the case. The prime minister's office has reserved comment, pending an official approach on the matter by the comptroller.
Olmert's popularity has already taken a beating in the polls, part of a public backlash over his handling of a war in Lebanon that failed to deal a fatal blow to Hizbollah or stop nearly 4,000 rockets from hitting northern Israel.
"The significance is clear: politically, Olmert is a dead man walking," political commentator Ari Shavi wrote of the property row in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper last week.
But other political analysts noted Israel's next scheduled election is four years away and it was unlikely any of Olmert's coalition partners were interested in bringing down the government after only three months in power.
-- Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, acknowledged selling off his stock portfolio just hours after Hizbollah gunmen kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12 that triggered the Lebanon war.
While regulatory authorities have said he did nothing illegal, many Israelis are questioning why cutting his own losses was on Halutz's mind at a time when consultations were under way on readying Israel's military response.
"I am also a citizen. I also have finances ... the facts are correct but (the media interpretation) is false, tendentious," Halutz said in response.
Several legislators and columnists have called for Halutz's resignation, accusing him of arrogance and adding their voices to a chorus of public criticism over the former fighter pilot's reliance on air power, rather than a ground thrust, in the early stages of the war in Lebanon.
GUEST POST: THESE ARE NOT THE BUILDERS BUT THE DESTROYERS (Talmud Yerushalmi Hagiga 76c) - An open response to the misuse of miracles in support of a Young Earth
By Shmuel Bergenfeld
Recently, there has been an argument presented by quite a few respected rabbis and their assistants in defense of the alleged Torah viewpoint of a <6000 year old universe. This argument, in a nutshell, states that all miracles, especially the Creation and the Flood, were irrational and beyond any human and scientific comprehension, and so they invalidate any scientific method of dating the age of the earth. Whether it be geological, radiocarbon, or starlight, each method is an illogical byproduct of the great miracles described in the Torah. Any attempt to use them as indicators of the world's age, according to this claim, is arrogant "extrapolation" by rabid atheistic scientists, and is even "unscientific."
Those well meaning Orthodox Jews, in making this claim, essentially have three goals:
A) To make a claim which is beyond any rational discussion, and is thereby irrefutable and even invincible, because what good is it to abide by my hashkafa if there are other valid hashkafas?
B) To show that one can fully disqualify valid scientific methods as illegitimate extrapolation and still be considered loyal to "real science" (whatever that means)
C) To affirm the existence of an Omnipresent Creator who can disrupt all of nature at His will, and so the more scientific evidence I snub, the more yiras shomayim I have.
I will now demonstrate that the aforementioned argument accomplishes NONE of those goals. Even worse, the argument completely undermines those goals. Instead of defending yiddishkeit from kefira, its claimants INADVERTENTLY SUPPORT KEFIRA AND PLAY RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF ATHEISTS!
Claim A: Miracles are beyond rational discussion. Technically speaking, I cannot use science to argue against this claim. But I can use the same Torah that they derive this proof from as evidence that this "proof" is completely bogus and taken out of context.
Ostensibly, the source that the Flood disrupted nature is in Rosh Hashanah 11b-12a, which states that Hashem changed Maaseh Bereishis in response to a far away astronomical event. This proves, they claim, that such basic phenomenon as the Earth's axis tilt was a result of the Flood, as is a whole slew of other phenomenon which this argument arbitrarily claims.
But what exactly was this disruption of nature? That very sugya, according to Rashi, states that all of the constellations appeared as they do today in their proper seasons, except that the Big Dipper appeared a bit too early, and so Hashem took away two stars from it and caused the Mabul. Well, how did the constellations appear as they did if the Earth's axis didn't tilt?
In fact, Tosafos even corrects an errant text that Rashi used BY CLAIMING THAT CURRENT ASTRONOMY CONTRADICTS THAT TEXT!!! So if anything, the Talmud verifies the fact that much of nature was the same before the flood as after. There is no license to start wildly stuffing all sort of scientific phenomenon into the realm of after-Flood effects.
And about miracles. Allegedly, miracles and their effects completely disrupt nature. Unfortunately for that claim, the texts indicate the exact opposite - that as soon as the miracle is over, everything goes back to normal!
For example, after the Flood subsided, Noach had to wait some time for the Earth to dry up. Certainly something which you would expect from perfectly ordinary water! In what way was this "irrational"?
Another example: After the Jews collected the Manna, did the leftover manna vanish in a fiery chariot? No - it simply melted like any other similar substance would and was drunk by the deer in the pasture. Once the miracle, no matter how great, is over, any effects revert completely back to normal.
And speaking about the mesora, the miracles and "science" (for lack of a better word) of the Torah are completely above contemporary science, not in place of it. Why has no one has raised any objection to the Periodic Table of Elements from the four elements (earth air fire water) of maaseh bereishis as described by the Rambam Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah (although with today's klowns, you can never be sureL) See the Be'er HaGolah, Sixth Gate for an elaboration of this concept.
Come on, you guys! Do you really think that every Orthodox Jew who believes in miracles must subscribe to this pseudo-science babble? You are insulting your own intelligence, not that of the hundreds of Orthodox Jewish scientists who belief in both miracles AND an Old Earth.
I just read the book One People Two Worlds, which is a debate between an Orthodox (Yosef Reinman) and Reform rabbi (Ammiel Hirsch). As you would expect, every Talmudic source which Hirsch brings as "proof" of his position is shown by Reinman to be completely taken out of context.
Unfortunately, those on the opposite extreme do the exact same crime to the Talmud by distorting the very same mesora which they claim to be defending. If understanding statements in context is what differentiates the Orthodox from the Reform, according to Reinman, then I can't help but wonder if the Young Earth creationists are somewhat closer to Reform Judaism than they are to Orthodox.
Claim B. Evolution is "extrapolation". My dear friends, ALL of science is extrapolation. We see, with a telescope, stars trillions of miles away, and atoms, with a microscope, trillions of times smaller than ourselves. In fact, we are quite sure of many things such as black holes and certain subatomic particles which no one has actually seen but rather detected. And as relativity has shown, time is just another coordinate. From a scientific point of view, a billion years ago is almost as visible as a billion miles away.
To take the human senses as a benchmark for extrapolation shows not only an anti-scientific attitude but sheer insanity. Haven't you ever seen a mirage or an illusion which you know does not exist? Tell me then, what is more reliable, human "testimony" or science?
Claim C. Invalidating scientific dating affirms belief in a Creator. This is the most dangerous and false claim, and even does the opposite, chas vesholom.
Why? Because each time a new method indicates an old age for the earth, one simply claims that the Creator interfered with that method. Is there a tree with more than 6000 rings? Hashem made it that way. Radiocarbon decay indicating billions of years old? No problem - Hashem changed the decay rate. Starlight billions of light years away? The heck with it - Hashem made those light rays on there own.
Gee wiz! These pathetic scientists are so important that G-D HIMSELF HAS TO INTERFERE WITH THEIR CALCULATIONS! Growing up in yeshiva, I always thought that explaining Hashem's ways was the job of kabbalists and great rabbis. But no! Apparently, these heretical scientists see more of G-d's handiwork than all of the gedolim combined!!!
Do we have a mesora for our pseudo-scientific explanations of the Flood and Creation? Of course not, but who cares?! Only Slifkin is a koifer for not following the "mesora" (whatever that means), but us ??!! Naaaa.
So in a sense, you are not helping Hashem, but reducing Him, keveyachol, to your PlayDough, to be retroactively interpreted at each whim of the scientists. This god who you are interpreting is not the real G-d, but a figment of your imagination. You demonstrate loud and clear, though inadvertently, that it is not G-d who controls you, but you who controls G-d, chas vesholom.
Indeed, the Talmud's timeless statements ring true today as they did then - these are not the builders, but the destroyers.
Sincerely yours,
Shmuel Bergenfeld
Update got from a reliable source Telephone # of where he is staying in Jerusalem. When calling from the states 011-972-2-627-3330.
Margo's leveled; marina planned
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 08/20/06
BY KATIE WAGNER
STAFF WRITER
STAFFORD — Margo's Inn Marina, which once served as a landmark for many people traveling to Long Beach Island, was knocked down last weekend.
The marina, which also sold snacks and provided lodging at one time, was sold to Chris Vernon, the owner of Bonnet Island Estate.
Vernon said he will rebuild a marina in the blueprint of Margo's.
Although Vernon's marina will be the same size as Margo's, it will not look anything like the old marina, he said. Vernon said his marina will be a Victorian-style clubhouse.
"It will be a much nicer structure," he said. "I saw the opportunity that was there. We thought we could really turn something that was spectacular in its day into something special."
Vernon did not give the full details of his plans for the new marina, but said it will have boatslips and offer boat rentals. It probably will have a gas station for boats, he said.
Martha Kremer, Stafford Township's director of community development, said Margo's had been for sale for at least two years, but interested buyers had wanted to turn the property into residential units. She said she was happy a buyer who wanted to use the space as a marina was found.
"We want waterfront properties to remain waterfront uses," Kremer said.
Stafford Township Councilman John Spodofora said the township is happy about Vernon's plans for the property.
"It's become an eyesore over the years," Spodofora said. "After time, it started to have a problem. There was no real way to restore the building."
On the other hand, he added, "There is quite a bit of history associated with that building."
Hey tuvya,chaim,
Did you ask daas toirah before you studied to be a doctor ??
Did you ask R' Belsky if his talmidim can go to college and being able to make parnossa b'kovid like you (instead of impovershing their in-laws).
Did you ask him if he is still friends with yudi kolko ??
Well, nothing like a funeral to clear one's mind and put things in perspective.
I got a call this morning from a friend of mine who asked if I wanted to do an easy 25 mile ride. Heshy is 10 or 15 years older than me so he likes to joke about being an "old man", so we do take a moderate pace, but when he has to hammer, he can still go pretty fast. Joining us was a 20 something son of another acquaintance of mine who has a degree in architecture along with the obligatory BA and MA in "talmudical studies". I got about two hours of mussar from both of them about wasting my time on the internet, and Heshy kept kidding me about "chareidim who aren't pedophiles". It was all done with affection and I can give as good as I get, so there was no ill will. Just Jews arguing in good spirits and good faith.
When he called me, I had to run over to the Young Israel to let the folks running a blood drive there today that I was going to miss my appointment but that I'd come back in the afternoon, which Hesh and I did. A little deyhdrated, but they were able to tap a pint. While drinking our apple juice and eating cookies, one of the women mentioned that the father of two friends of mine was niftar, after an extended illness. I didn't know the man myself, but his two sons are fine Jews. I used to ride with the older one until he had two many accidents and his wife told him to stop riding. I miss his mussar. I thought about going home to get cleaned up but it was already 15 minutes after the services started, so I figured the niftar wouldn't mind how I dressed (or smelled). After the services, a friend asked if I wanted a ride to the cemetery, which is way over on the east side, so I took off the wheels and put the Litespeed in his trunk.
Is there a sound more real than that first shovel of dirt hitting the box?
The kever was in an older cemetery. I noticed, while walking to the graveside, that many of the matzeivahs were cut off trees, people who died as young adults. Immediately adjacent to the grave site were about a dozen tiny graves, children. Almost all of them were from the 1920s and 30s.
We are so lucky to be alive at time when there is real medicine, when our children don't die from ear infections, when many formerly fatal diseases can be treated and young adults live to see their own children grow.
We innoculate them against diseases (well, unless we are froomie homeopaths), and then send them to school, trusting the teachers will put them on the path to Torah and provide them with the skills they need to survive and thrive. We might think that God forbid something terrible might happen to them, that they could die, but we rarely consider that they might be victimized by the very people to whom we entrust them.
Rabbi Zachariash, a soft spoken and moderately toned man, gave one of the hespeds. He spoke of the deceased, how the morphine he needed for the pain made him sleep most of the time in recent weeks, but that when he visited him this week, he was awake, alert, and planning his own funeral. The other visitors told him not to talk of such things, but Rabbi Z told them that it was entirely appropriate. He then said something very important.
We will all die. Every one of us.
When you stand before the kisei haKavod do you think that He who knows all will approve of your actions? I know that I certainly can't say that. Will you say, "but I outed UOJ! I defended the honor of the gedolim!"? You think HKBH will pat you on the head and say "Good for you"? Or do you think he will ask you about the children?
NP: Echoes - Pink Floyd (yeah, Roger Waters is a jerk, no wonder David Gilmour can't stand him anymore, and most of their songs are depressing, but it's pretty good music).
looks like you can't really don't care what Tuvya is up to and his expose whatchamcallit. In truth, I admire that in you, and wish you success in your noble efforts. If not for anyone at least for the many victims who the likes of Tuvya and company obviously whom could care less but more interested in stifling your voice.
The Jewish community with all their charity has no problem stepping on sexual abuse victims and the clergy that protect and enable them. I've been following this blog since the Kolker article, my fellow Christians are truly horrified by this behaviour.
How does one explain this? What book exactly are you the people of?
I truly enjoyed this piece UOJ. It sort of sums it up, doesn't it?
You root out an embedded pedophile, expose the rabbis for their despicable behavior, and you are the bad guy? I'm missing something, this can't be real.
open your eyes mr. anonymous its scary how real this is LEIZEROWITZ VICTIM FOREVER
My Dear Chaver UOJ,
Despite what the rotton to the core, so called "das torah" say, your website has achived and helped more people in a short period of time, than these fakeroo "rabbi's" will ever achieve in their lifetime. If in fact Rabbi Belsky is indeed guilty, as it appears that he is, of neglecting the safety of our children, so many times, may he then get the "Gehonim" he deserves, sitting right along the likes of Margulis and Kolko. The chutzpah that Kolko is still strutting his ugly face around children. He ought to be in Rikers Island, where the inmates can show him the ropes of getting sexually and physically abused. Not only that, but Kolko, also had the chutzpah to proctor a girl's regents this past June. This disgusting man, has no busha, has no consideration, and has no sechel, and of course has no heart. He is cold, cunning, and continues to pollute our environment with his outright disrespect to the victims, and for Klal Yisroel. Why is Yudi Kolko still allowed to be near children? Can any das torah out there answer this for me? Why is he not being monitored? Why does he still get to roam the bungalow colonies and camps freely, while seeking out his next victims? It's not as if we do not know he's a child molester, there has been clear proof for the past 40 years. Do the "rabonim" care that he's roaming the swimming pools, knowing full well what Yudi Kolko is all about? Why have the gedolim not put a stop to this? What kind of message are our gedolim sending us, when they allow a known child molester, to continue being around children?
This is one of the reasons, why I have had a big problem with our gedolim today. They must take a firmer stance against child abuse. They have to stop being wusses, and have to stop being mentally overtaken, and overshadowed, by excuses they find in the Torah as far as doing nothing in stopping the molesters and abusers. That being said, I could understand the frustration that UOJ has with some of the Rabonim of our times. I too am very frustrated at the many missed opportunities of protecting our most prized assets, that being the safety of our children, that the Rabonim and other minds of Das Torah, just let slip away.
People still don't get it, and those same people will probably never get it, because they are too caught up with being "frum" rather than being a decent human being. It is very simple. Child abuse kills the victims, and ruins families. Let's not get distarcted with what our agenda is, saving jewish lives. The scum of the earth, that seeks to take away the innoccence of our children, by engaging in discpicble acts, unbecoming a human being, let alone a Jew, deserve to be punished severely. Someone, who is unrepantant, and continues to prounce around the neighborhood where our children play, is just an outright injustice to society.
I do not agree with putting down our gedolim and rabonim, and those of das torah. However, I do believe in pointing out what could be corrected, albeight, it may insult a Jew. If it is for toeles, then it is Mutar lechatchila. I'm sure any rabbi, that is yirei shomayim, and has pure intentions, will not be offended if someone points out, something they could have done differently. In fact, they will probably appreciate the input or critique.
However, when our Rabonim become corrupt, and they refuse to address community problems such as child abuse, and they continue to defend child molesters, why should the public then listen to, or have any respect for those "Rabbi's" who were neglectful in their duties?
Keep up the fantastic work UOJ!
Ronnie,
Jewschool has a post up that might interest you.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Very Important Update on YOB/Nussbaum
Dear fellow friends,
I have been SILENT the past couple of months, i will remain quiet no longer. All of you that have been following my BLOG, and those that care for the safety and welfare of our children, will now get to see some form of justice for a 5th grade "RUBBY" who preyed on children, and those who aided and harbored the predator all these years. The reason i have been so QUIET all this time, is because, i have been in the midst of negotiations with the many victims of Yehuda Nussbaum, and YOB, who used intimidation and denial in their quest to bully and coverup these accusations of both sexual and physical abuse of boys all these years. I did NOT have to remain quiet, but i figured that I'll be nice and give YOB a chance to do the RIGHT thing, rather than what they have been doing, which has been acting scared and stupid, during this whole process. I have been EXTREMELY patient during these ongoing negotiations, perhaps even too patient, and too fair, and too nice. I set an August 1 deadline, for Yeshivah Of Brooklyn to respond by getting rid of Nussbaum, or face the consequences. So far they have still not done so, much to my disbelief and dismay. Although we have been communicating through a third party (a Rov), and I'm trying my hardest to help YOB save face (and a lot of money), by reaching a VERY fair deal for them, i am now starting to lose my patience. The grace period following that of August 1, that I was so kind to give to YOB,has now run out. I am recommending in the HIGHEST form possible, that YOB accept this very generous deal now, or face the alternatives. I am not going to continue negotiations, until ALL our terms are met. As part of negotiations, i bended over forwards and backwards, and did everything humanly possible to achieve our goals, both for the victims and the victimizers, in a most quiet and mentlichidika way, assuming YOB met our very fair conditions as part of the agreement. However, YOB has flinched at a very important aspect of our demands. We want an apology from Yehuda Nussbaum, and YOB, with Yakov (Jack) Mandel, and Shlomo Mandel's signatures on it.
At First, we asked for a public apology to be made in two Jewish newspapers of their choice. What do you think their reaction was, can you guess it? This was their reaction. We can't do that, it will be a great Chilul Hashem, and it will be a very big embarrassment for YOB and Nussbaum. How will Nussbaum's children ever get a shidduch? Also, we cannot apologize, YOB said, because our lawyers won't let us make an admission of guilt, because it opens us up the door for a lawsuit in the future for
other victims of abuse. So what did i do? I improvised, and allowed YOB and Nussbaum to make a PRIVATE written apology. I even offered to sign a release form that will state that we will not pursue further action, even though there is an admission of guilt.
That too, they balked on, worrying that victims can use that as ammunition in the future, against YOB/Nussbaum. Therefore, I am at wits end, and I will not continue negotiating with a side that is scared, and that is trying to get off easy with a slap on the wrist. That is NOT going to happen. Without an apology, there will be nothing to talk about, and I have now given the green light for my lawyers to begin the process of a lawsuit against YOB/Nussbaum, something that I have put on hold until now.
DO NOT underestimate us YOB, we are willing and ready for a war. I promise that the process will be much more embarrassing, dirtier and hurtful to you, than you ever could have imagined. The chillul Hasehm will unfortunate be much greater than it is now. If you are scared of bad publicity, just think how much greater it will be than it is currently. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I promise that after we win very BIG in court, you will be financially drained, and your Yeshiva and the crimes that were committed there will be out in the open for the whole public to witness. All your assets will be frozen and turned over to the victims. At least then, there will be some form of justice. Obviously, these young men are scarred for life, and can never have their innocence returned back to them, so in that respect, they will never have justice.
The generous deal I had in place, was to have Yehuda Nussbaum, fired immediately by YOB, and for him to never be in chinuch or work with children or be in close proximity to them ever again. At First YOB wanted to go to R' Dovid Choen to hear the accusations and make a decision on YOB/Nussbaum's guilt. However. we flat out refused to accommodate that idea, due to many factors, most notably, that the "Rabbi" rout has already been tried and exhausted before, and produced NOTHING. We, also did not want this process to drag out any longer than it already has. Baruch Hashem, YOB got wise, and after much pressure agreed to dismissing Yehuda Nussbaum, which of course is a big accomplishment, and in itself an admission, and we are gratified in that respect. However, as part of the healing process for the victims of the sexual and physical abuse encountered during their school days at YOB, there MUST be an apology period. Like i said, we had wanted a public apology for the victims, but we improvised for a private one, in order to avoid even more of a Chilul Hashem and embarrassment for YOB and Nussbaum. If that does not happen, then I say, see you in court YOB.
In my negotiations, I made it clear to the 3rd party and YOB, that considering the alternatives, they should be quite happy with our very fair list of demands. I specified that YOB should look at this as if it were a plea bargain in a criminal proceeding. To have this opportunity of demonstrating, that it is FINALLY ready to correct mistakes of the past, should be something YOB should be very grateful for. On the contrary of being scared of what public opinion may say or do, like they have been, YOB has a golden opportunity, to demonstrate to other Yeshiva's, that they too must follow course, and address the issue of child abuse, weather it be in the form of sexual, or physical. It will also help bring healing, and closure, to many of the victims who have been suffering, and those who continue to suffer, as a result of being abused as a child. Therefore, although it will be very embarrassing for YOB/Nussbaum, to make a public apology, and to ACTUALLY admit to their crimes, while also asking Mechilla from their victims, they have chosen the scare(dy) cat approach, where-as, what if some other victims will want to sue us because of our admissions, they theorize. In taking that approach, it actually shows, that YOB is more interested in covering their asses (pardon the french), than apologizing to the victims, and taking the lead in demonstrating that it really has done Tshuva, and that it really does care about the welfare of children that have been traumatized for life, and that it really does regret not taking these allegations seriously, when brought to their attention, almost 2 decades ago. Yet, they shy and get scared of doing the correct thing, the proper thing, which is to set an example, that Child Molesters will not be tolerated in schools, and that if there are allegations of sexual/physical abuse, then they must be taken and dealt with seriously. Think about how much more respect YOB can get from people, had they went about it, in that fashion, instead of being in denial and constantly fearing the unknown. Admit to what is known. Admit to the truth. Will YOB have the courage to do that? So far they have not, and time has practically run out on them. This bad press and publicity, is about to get much more damaging, and much more painful, for YOB and Yehuda Nussbaum. Keep checking back here for latest developments.
Think about how much greater the chilul hashem will be, if YOB was put on trial in a secular court, and all the victims will be testifying, and all the cards will be laid out on the table for the whole public to witness. How many times greater, will the bad publicity get for YOB, Yehuda Nussbaum, Yakov "Jack" Mandel, Shlomo Mandel, and others who were recklessly negligent with our children?
I even offered YOB, to shut down this site for good, assuming they kept their end of the bargain, that was to be reached between YOB/Nussbaum, and their victims. I also went out of my way, and volunteered as part of the agreement reached, that i would be willing to talk to any other potential victims that may arise in the future, to try and discourage them from seeking criminal and/or civil action against YOB/Nussbaum, and that I would do everything in my power to try and dissuade these victims by reassuring them that thank G-D, Nussbaum will no longer be around children. No longer will he be working in chinuch, no longer will he be able to physically and sexually abuse children. I could point out those positives and could probably talk them into accepting that some form of justice was obtained. Of course though, the victims are at the end of the day free to do as they wish. Should they choose to sue YOB/Nussbaum, then that is their prerogative and their choice to make. They are afterall the ones who continue to suffer and have suffered al these years.
However, all that, is not going to happen, because so far, we have no deal or agreement in place, and therefore, we will continue this Blog, and we will continue to proceed with preparations for a lawsuit/trial. YOB, also did not want me to PUBLICIZE the agreement, of course, the reason again being that of fearing bad publicity and embarressment. I'm sorry, but that is tough luck YOB. The nature of the circumstances, will not allow this to simply dissappear, and the public have a right to know about an agreement that will ultimatley, benefit the community at large, and the victims in particular. Take as it is, there will 100% be bad publicity. How bad it will be, depends on if this goes to court or not. Right now, but not for too much longer, YOB has a chance to right what was wronged. The have an opportunity to rise to the occasion, and set a good example, and to help tremendously in the process of saving jewish lives, no matter how much it will hurt them to do so.
In closing, I want to thank the many good folks out there, who have been a tremendous source of support and inspiration, throughout this painful process. It has not been easy, but it definitely has been very worthwhile. Thank You!
Shlomo Mandel,
Give the victims what they're asking for; don't get me upset. You were doing just fine.
Unless of course you want to hear from my friend Jeff Herman.
To expose,--throw the book at Mandel he's crazy to let Kolko in the school.
Friend of the *Devil said:
Jewschool has a post up that might interest you.
Right now any interest would be strictly academic. I've lost almost 40 lbs since the winter and I'm trying to apply the lessons learned in controlling my appetite for food to other areas in my life. One of these days I might even learn how to control my mouth.
NP: J.S. Bach - Toccato & Fugue in D minor, Prelude & Fugue in E flat, Prelude, Largo & Fugue in C - Daniel Chorzempa
*Set out running but I take my time, a friend of the devil is a friend of mine, if I get home before daylight, I just might get some sleep tonight - Robert Hunter
Can you also help victims etc in other parts of the world?
Above Anon,
E-mail the details please, I am setting up a network of attorneys and already have many contacts in the international media.
The NY Times points out that 2 occupations that Kolko, I mean pedophiles, prefer are teacher & water theme park worker.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/technology/21pedo.html?ei=5094&en=79822c4e3a3e6773&hp=&ex=1156219200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
August 21, 2006
Dark Corners
From Their Own Online World, Pedophiles Extend Their Reach
By KURT EICHENWALD
At first blush, the two conversations — taking place almost simultaneously in different corners of the Internet — might have seemed unremarkable, even humdrum.
In April, with summer fast approaching, both groups of online friends chatted about jobs at children’s camps. Did anyone, one man asked, know of girls’ camps willing to hire adult males as counselors? Meanwhile, elsewhere in cyberspace, the second group celebrated the news that one of their own had been offered a job leading a boys’ cabin at a sleep-away camp.
But participants in the conversation did not focus on the work. “Hope you see some naked boys in your cabin,” a man calling himself PPC responded. “And good luck while restraining yourself from doing anything.”
The two groups were made up of self-proclaimed pedophiles — one attracted to under-age girls, the other to boys. Their dialogue runs at all hours in an array of chat rooms, bulletin boards and Web sites set up for adults attracted to children.
But it is no longer just chatter in the ether. What started online almost two decades ago as a means of swapping child pornography has transformed in recent years into a more complex and diversified community that uses the virtual world to advance its interests in the real one.
Today, pedophiles go online to seek tips for getting near children — at camps, through foster care, at community gatherings and at countless other events. They swap stories about day-to-day encounters with minors. And they make use of technology to help take their arguments to others, like sharing online a printable booklet to be distributed to children that extols the benefits of sex with adults.
The community’s online infrastructure is surprisingly elaborate. There are Internet radio stations run by and for pedophiles; a putative charity that raised money to send Eastern European children to a camp where they were apparently visited by pedophiles; and an online jewelry company that markets pendants proclaiming the wearer as being sexually attracted to children, allowing anyone in the know to recognize them.
These were the findings of a four-month effort by The New York Times to learn about the pedophiles’ online world by delving into their Internet communications. In recent months, new concerns have emerged about whether the ubiquitous nature of broadband technology, instant message communications and digital imagery is presenting new and poorly understood risks to children. Already, there have been many Congressional hearings on the topic, as well as efforts to write comprehensive legislation to address the issue.
But most of those efforts have focused on examining particular instances of harm to children. There have been few, if any, recent attempts to examine the pedophiles themselves, based on their own words to one another, to gain a better recognition of the nature of potential problems.
Last week, that world attracted new attention after reports that John M. Karr, who was arrested last Wednesday as a suspect in the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, apparently used Internet discussion sites intensively in efforts to communicate with children, sometimes about sex. In e-mail messages to a journalism professor that investigators believe were written by Mr. Karr, statements about children seemed to echo the online dialogue among pedophiles.
“Sometimes little girls are closer to me than with their parents or any other person in their lives,’’ the e-mail messages say. “I can only say that I can relate very well to children and the way they think and feel.’’
The recent conversations among pedophiles that were examined by The Times took place in virtual rooms in Internet Relay Chat, a text-based system allowing for real-time communications; on message boards on Usenet, which has postings by topic; and on Web sites catering to pedophiles.
In this online community, pedophiles view themselves as the vanguard of a nascent movement seeking legalization of child pornography and the loosening of age-of-consent laws. They portray themselves as battling for children’s rights to engage in sex with adults, a fight they liken to the civil rights movement. And while their effort has brought little success, they celebrated online in May when a small group of men in the Netherlands formed a pedophile political party, and they rejoiced again last month when a Dutch court upheld the party’s right to exist.
The conversations themselves are not illegal. And, given the fantasy world that the Internet can be, it is difficult to prove the truth of personal statements, or to demonstrate direct connections between online commentary and real-world actions. Nor can the number of participants in these conversations, taking place around the Internet, be reliably ascertained.
But the existence of this community is significant and troubling, experts said, because it reinforces beliefs that, when acted upon, are criminal. Repeatedly in these conversations, pedophiles said the discussions had helped them accept their attractions and had even allowed them to have sex with a child without guilt.
Indeed, law enforcement officials say that the refrain of justification from online conversations is frequently voiced by adults arrested for molestation, raising concern that such conversations may lower pedophiles’ willingness to resist their temptation.
“It is rationalization that allows them to avoid admitting that their desires are harmful and illegal,” said Bill Walsh, a former commander of the Crimes Against Children Unit for the Dallas Police Department, who founded the most prominent annual national conference on the issue. “That can allow them to take that final step and cross over from fantasy into real-world offenses.”
Still, in their conversations, some pedophiles often maintain that the discussion sites are little more than support groups. They condemn violent child rapists and lament that they are often equated with such criminals. Many see themselves as spiritually connected to children and say that sexual contact is irrelevant. Yet the pedophiles consistently return to discussions justifying sex with minors and child pornography.
Many of these adults described concepts of children that veered into the fantastical — for example, at times depicting themselves as victims of predatory minors. A little girl in a skirt reveals her underwear by doing a cartwheel; a boy in a bathing suit sits on a bench with his legs spread apart; a child playfully jumps on a man’s back — all of these ordinary events were portrayed as sexual come-ons.
“It really is like going through the rabbit hole, with this entire alternative reality,” said Philip Jenkins, a professor of religious studies at Pennsylvania State University who wrote “Beyond Tolerance,” a groundbreaking 2001 book about Internet child pornography.
The conversations also demonstrated technological acumen, with frequent discussions about ways to ensure online anonymity and to encrypt images. That underscores a challenge faced by the authorities who hope to combat online child exploitation with technology. For example, in June, Internet service providers announced plans for an alliance that will use new technologies to locate child pornography traders.
Pedophiles were undaunted. Within hours of the announcement, their discussion rooms were filled with advice on how to continue swapping illegal images while avoiding detection — months before the new technologies were to be in full operation.
Portraits of Pedophilia
In a sense, the creation of the pedophiles’ online community was a ripple effect from the success of government efforts to crack down on them.
Washington’s efforts in the late 1970’s to stamp out child pornography by declaring it illegal were enormously effective, closing off traditional outlets for illicit images.
But the Internet soon presented an alternative. In the early 1980’s, through postings on bulletin board systems, pedophiles went online to swap illegal images. From there, they could easily converse with others like themselves, and they found theirs to be a community of diverse backgrounds.
In the conversations observed by The Times, the pedophiles often discussed their personal lives. Their individual jobs were described as being a disc jockey at parties (“a high concentration of gorgeous” children, a man claiming to hold the job said); a pediatric nurse (“lots of looking but no touching”); a piano teacher (“I could tell you stories that would make you ...well... I’ll be good”); an employee at a water theme park (“bathing suits upon bathing suits!!!!!”); and a pediatrician specializing in gynecology (“No need to add anything more, I feel”).
The most frequent job mentioned, however, was schoolteacher. A number of self-described teachers shared detailed observations about children in their classes, including events they considered sexual, like a second-grade boy holding his crotch during class.
The man relating that story held up that action as an expression of sexuality; he was not dissuaded when another participant in the conversation suggested that the boy might have just needed to go to the bathroom.
Some pedophiles revealed that they gained access to children through their own families. Some discussed how they married to be close to the children from their wives’ previous marriages. Pedophiles who said they were fathers described moments involving their own children, such as a man who told of watching his sons change for swimming in a locker room, complete with details about the older boy’s genitals and emerging pubic hair. Others insisted they would never feel any interest in their own children, but commented on the benefits presented by parenthood.
“I have a daughter and have never been attracted to her,” a man with the screen name of jonboy wrote. But, he added, “I did find her friends very attractive.”
Pedophiles chafe at suggestions that such comments reflect risks to minors. They point out, correctly, that family members and friends — not strangers — are the most frequent perpetrators of child sexual abuse. They never note, however, that the minors mentioned in their online discussions are most frequently those they know well, like relatives and children of friends.
Justifications Online
In the pedophiles’ world view, not all sexual abuse is abuse. There is widespread condemnation and hatred of adults who engage in forcible rape of children. But otherwise, acts of molestation are often celebrated as demonstrations of love.
“My daughter and I have a healthy close relationship,” a person with the screen name Sonali posted. “We have been in a ‘consensual sexual relationship’ almost two months now.”
The daughter, Sonali wrote, is 10. Whatever guilt Sonali felt for the relationship was eased by the postings of other pedophiles. “I am so happy to find this site,” Sonali wrote. “I thought having a sexual attraction to my daughter was bad. I now do not feel guilty or conflicted.”
In that, Sonali was demonstrating what experts said is the most dangerous element of the pedophile Internet community: its justification of illegal acts. Experts described the pedophiles’ online worldview as reflective of “neutralization,” a psychological rationalization used by groups that deviate from societal norms.
In essence, the groups deem potentially injurious acts and beliefs harmless. That is accomplished in part by denying that a victim is injured, condemning critics and appealing to higher loyalties — in this case, an ostensible struggle for the sexual freedom of children.
Pedophiles see themselves as part of a social movement to gain acceptance of their attractions. The effort has a number of tenets: that pedophiles are beneficial to minors, that children are psychologically capable of consenting and that therapists manipulate the young into believing they are harmed by such encounters.
“Every human being, no matter the age, should be allowed to have consenting mutual sexual relations with anyone they wish,” a man calling himself Venn wrote. “All age of consent laws must, and forever, be abolished.”
Those same types of comments online are now turning up in court. For example, a man known by the screen name Brother Peteticus is among those who have argued online for legalizing sex with children. In real life, he is Phillip J. Distasio of Rocky River, Ohio, who was arrested last year on charges of raping two autistic boys who were his students. In court this month, Mr. Distasio, 34, portrayed himself as following the dictates of his own religion, and made arguments frequently expressed by the online community.
“I’ve been a pedophile for 20 years,” Mr. Distasio said at the pretrial hearing. “The only reason I’m charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms.”
In the days that followed, some pedophiles supported that position online, agreeing with Mr. Distasio that mentally handicapped, prepubescent boys could consent to sex with their teacher.
That same logic is applied by the pedophiles to child pornography, which many of them said should be legalized. “Where is the problem?” from child pornography, a pedophile who used the screen name Writer said in an online posting. “Once again, the underlying issue is the repressive belief that sex is intrinsically sinful.”
In making these arguments, pedophiles often demonize parents and other adults as cruel, unloving people who exert authoritarian control over children and stand in the way of minors’ sexual freedom. “Anti-pedophiles are NOT about protecting children,” a man who called himself Christopher wrote. “They are usually the ones who are beating (they call it spanking) or emotionally neglecting their children.”
But their arguments often seem contradictory. While maintaining that they can be trusted with children, some pedophiles said they would not allow minors in their lives to be with other adults attracted to children. “I guess coming from the inside, I know a bunch of the bad stuff that can happen,” one man wrote.
Many pedophile sites conduct surveys to learn about the attitudes of their contributors. While none of these surveys are scientifically valid, they do reflect the thinking of some people who traffic in these sites. And not surprisingly, a large number of the surveys are about sex.
For example, on one site, pedophiles were asked if they would “have full intercourse with a little girl.” Seventy-four members responded. Only 17 replied no. The same number said that they might. The largest group — over 54 percent — said that they would.
Some attached comments to their survey response. One man provided descriptions of the acts he would repeatedly perform on an 8-year-old to prepare her. The words — too graphic to be printed here — raised no criticism on the site.
But in other discussions, pedophiles cautioned that some comments were too dangerous. When one man described in lurid terms his fantasies about molesting an infant girl, the response was quick. “This is best not discussed,” a man calling himself garvy wrote, adding that someday, pedophiles would need evidence proving that they cared only about children’s best interests.
“Such posts,” garvy concluded, “will be very damaging to the Cause.”
A Web of Deception
The booklet — recently circulated through a Web site for pedophiles — had been written, it said, “for any boy who is old enough to be able to read it.”
Called “Straight Talk for Boys,” it is an 18-page discussion of sex, particularly between children and adults, from the pedophiles’ viewpoint. Such encounters are depicted as harmless, even beneficial. The document criticizes parents and therapists. And it encourages boys to wear Speedo bathing suits and shower naked in public places.
But it repeatedly returns to one message: boys should never tell about sex with adults. “Older boys and men may be frightened about getting caught having sex play with you, because they can be put in jail,” it says. “So you have to think of ways to ‘signal’ your interest in another person without openly saying what you want,” adding that “nobody else can know about what you agree to do.”
The booklet comes with instructions, advising pedophiles on how to distribute it. “The best and safest way is to leave quantities of the booklet in places where boys in the 8 to 14 range can find them, and where adults will not discover them too quickly,” the instructions read. “Obviously, you don’t want to be observed placing the booklets in your chosen locations.”
The booklet reflects how pedophiles can use the Internet to advance their interests in the real world. Like many of those efforts, this one involved deception: the booklet does not reveal, for example, that it has been written and distributed by men who are sexually attracted to children, but instead portrays itself as objective fact.
Using deception to gain access to children is a recurring theme. For example, on a site for adults attracted to boys, someone calling himself Vespucci asked in June whether a single man could become a foster father. The respondents cautioned Vespucci to disguise his pedophilia.
“You better have a darned good excuse why you never married, such as your fiancée died in a car wreck,” replied a man calling himself simply “d.” “I highly recommend you date women for several years and keep at least a couple of those relationships going for at least a couple of months. Around the women, make a point of being nice to children.”
The deception would be worthwhile, d wrote. “It will help out in the reference-check dept. when you apply.”
Pointers on ways to get close to children were frequent topics. One man posted an Internet “help wanted” advertisement from a single mother seeking an overnight baby sitter for her 4-year-old daughter; another recommended shopping at weekend estate sales, since plenty of bored minors showed up accompanying inattentive parents.
Some participants in these conversations claimed to have established charitable efforts that put them in contact with children. For example, an organization called BL Charity said it was seeking money to send Eastern European children to camp.
The charity’s site, which recently closed, showed scores of images of children at camp and in their homes, supposedly taken by the men running the site. The effort was organized by pedophiles; BL is the online term for “boy-lover.” It eventually shut down, largely from a lack of money, according to a posting from the site’s operators. After the site closed, further details of BL Charity could not be learned. Not every organization and effort of the pedophiles is directly tied to trying to reach children. For example, pedophiles have created Internet radio stations for the purpose of providing support for one another and encouraging their perceived social movement.
It is not known how many such stations exist, nor the size of the audience. The most prominent station appears to be Sure Quality Radio, which on its home page proclaims, “From all levels of society you will find us, not as predators but as human beings, loving and caring for boys or girls or both.” The site has a program schedule and an online store selling mainstream music and movies featuring children.
People who work with Sure Quality Radio did not respond to questions e-mailed to them from The Times, although one person with the online name of boystory replied by saying he was immediately severing all ties with the station.
There are also online podcasts, recorded talk shows of 60 to 90 minutes featuring discussions among pedophiles. The discussions, as described online, deal with topics like “benefits of age difference in sexual relationships”; “failure of sex offender registries”; “children’s sexual autonomy, practices and consequences” and “the misrepresentation of pedophilia in the news media.”
With the chat rooms, radio stations and other organizations, pedophiles’ views are continually reinforced. But some realize that this online echo chamber can warp reality. For example, a man calling himself AtosW reported to fellow pedophiles that he had been chatting on a game site frequented by boys. A conversation began about the Dutch pedophile party, AtosW said, and the minors reacted with threats of violence.
AtosW was perplexed. “Why are posters THAT young so angry about it?” he asked. “It is after all THEIR rights that they are pushing for.”
A man calling himself Ritter responded. “Your post is a typical example of what happens when you spend too much time in the online BL community,” he wrote. “Believe it or not, most young children are NOT anxious to have sex with adult men.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/technology/21pedo.html
Philip Jenkins, of Penn State, who wrote a book about Internet child pornography, says that pedophiles often create alternative realities to justify their behavior.
Oh Crap !! This is exactly what I was afraid of. UOJ teaming up with real professionals like Phil Jenkins from Penn State. It looks like the show is over for flunkies like me & Twerski who cover for the rear ends of Kolko, Margo & the establishment. What's next? A guest post on the blog from Phil Jenkins?
To Expose,
Shlomo Mandell is concerend about shidduchim for nussbaum's kids !! What about all the "singles" who couldn't get married because their lives were messed up.
Police may charge Katsav with rape in light of woman's claims
By Jonathan Lis and Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondents
Haaretz (Israel)
August 18, 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/752162.html
Officials investigating an alleged extortion attempt aimed at President
Moshe Katsav are expected to question him following claims by a female
former employee that she was coerced into engaging in sexual relations
with the president.
Police said Thursday that Katsav will be questioned in the coming days.
Investigators have yet to determine which specific charges will be
brought against the president on the basis of the woman's accusations.
Law enforcement officials said Thursday that if the former employee's
claims that she was powerless in turning away Katsav's advances are
deemed credible, the investigation would then focus on possible rape
charges against the president.
By law, intimate relations with a woman who is precluded from providing
full consent by her own volition is considered rape. If, however,
investigators find the relations were consensual, police could recommend
charging Katsav with "forbidden consensual intercourse," a statute which
forbids exploiting a position of authority in the workplace for the
purposes of having sex.
The former employee at the President's Residence told the police that
since the affair surrounding Katsav's alleged sexual harassment and
attempted extortion became known, the president's men had been pressuring
her in an attempt to silence her.........................
Breaking news
TT sent out letters setting up an independent panel that has the authority to hear sexual abuse allegations about a rebbi and fire him. Margo is ceding control. Hey Tuvya did you do this? Belsky do this? Any of Das Torah's rabbonim do this for the past 30 years when they had more then one opportunity do this? No UOJ did this! Don't stop UOJ make them do it in every yeshiva. Make them teach the kids what's appropriate and what's not. Keep up the pressure! Chazak Vamatz! This will bring moshiach, not spweeping everything under the table which just encourages these sick people. Please post TT letter for all to see.
Will the independent panel set up by torah temimah have the jurisdiction to hear complaints against yudi kolko? If yudi is no longer employed by the yeshiva then does the panel have the right to hear complaints against him and make appropriate sanctions? I hope he doesn't get off the hook. And he should have his day in secular court too!
oh yeah, and if tuvya is on that panel then I'm going to puke.
The TT letter is stupid. So let's say that the independant panel finds Kolko and Margo innocent. Then what?
Let these lowlifes know that this is not an acceptable option!
"TT sent out letters setting up an independent panel that has the authority to hear sexual abuse allegations about a rebbi and fire him."
Margo is ceding nothing. Moskowitz is advising them on what kind of posturing to do before the upcoming trials. And why do you call the panel "independent" ? Because Margo & Twerski told you it is? Don't forget that Tuvya was on board too until his cover was blown.
MARGULIES/BELSKY SCAM ALERT!!!!!!!-----------------------------------
NO SUCH LETTER WAS SENT OUT! NO SUCH PANEL WAS ESTABLISHED!
THE MOMZEIRIM-RISHAIM CONCEDE NOTHING!!!!!
THE FIRST MONTH OF SCHOOL WILL BE UPON US AND THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF SOME CONCERNED PARENTS OF BOYS AND GIRLS WE WILL BE HANDING OUT FLYERS TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN IN THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITIES:
BORO PARK
FLATBUSH
CROWN HEIGHTS
MONSEY
TEANECK ENGLEWOOD
THESE POSTERS WILL BE THE ONE ABOUT KOLKO AND MONDROWITZ.
OVER 50,000 FLYERS HAVE BEEN PRINTED !
THEY WILL BE GIVEN TO CHILDREN OVER THE AGE OF 8 AND THEIR PARENTS.
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DO SO AND HAND OUT SOME FLYERS PLEASE LET US KNOW AN ADDRESS AND WE WILL SEND YOU 200 FLYERS
WITH THANKS
SHMIRA L'BANIM!
R' Noah Shlita,
You don't judge Jews by what the Jews do, but what their "Gedolim", rabbonim, and mosdos do and tell you to do or what not to do.
Imagine the Ribbono Shel Olam using the likes of Belsky, Scheinberg and Margulies to lead his am hanivchar. There would be no Jews!
I urge everyone to call Senators Schumer and Clinton's offices and express your outrage regarding the refusal of the Brooklyn DA to have Avrohom Mondrowitz extradited from Israel to stand trial:
Senator Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430
Senator Hilary Clinton: 212-486-4430.
Uoj, What happend with exposing Mr. RY?
There are very special plans for Belsky, Neuhoff and RY...
This whole Kolko case has me sick, and not just because of the small children who were abused.
I'm sick because of the larger story, sick about what's happened to Judaism. Sick about how superficial stupidities have become the community's dominant concern. Sick about how the great ethics of our outstanding faith have been hijacked and subverted by fraudulently pious jackasses for their own selfish purposes. Sick about milquetoast Jews who are more devoted to order than to justice. Sick about the well-intentioned but useful idiots who teach small children or run small synagouges and happily prop up the whole rotted system because they are too timid, too lazy, and too stupid to do any different.
Elsewhere, for example, some bloggers and commenters are cluck-clucking about the way the case against Kolko was made and about the agenda of his enemies. They don't care about the substance of the accusations. Rather than investigate the claims of someone like UOJ, (the blogger who nailed Kolko to the wall) those bloggers and commenters prefer to speculate about UOJ's motivations, to disaprove of his tone, or worse, to investigate him.
This, not incidently, was the attitude displayed by the Jewish Press, a dreadful, laughingstock of a newspaper. In an editorial published on February 22, 2006 the paper went to war with the accuser. Did they bother to investigate the claims? Did they take any steps to guarantee the safety of the children who study at Yeshiva Torah Temimah? No, and no again. Order was more important than justice. UOJ and his allegations were rocking the boat, and causing people to lift up their heads, so let the children be damned.
Forty years ago the great Martin Luthor King wrote a letter from Birmingham jail in which he argued that non-violent tension is necessary for growth. In my lifetime, Orthodox Jews have always resisted tension, and by resisiting tension we also resist growth. Like the robotic suburbanites so many of us are, we go blissfully from our jobs to our homes to our shuls without ever examining or questioning the world around us and the myths that prop it up. We learn at an early age to smooth over difficulties, to ignore maculations, to couch our challenges in langauge that is acceptable to the establishment, to never say, "That's stupid;" but instead to say "That seems stupid to me." Lesson: the world around us is perfect; if it appears otherwise that's because there's something wrong with you, not with the world. Order. Not justice.
Elsewhere, our so-called leaders are inveighing against the Jewish blogosphere. At Internet asifa after Internet asifa, the leadership rises to complain, not about Internet predators, but about bloggers. It's not the child who may be assualted that animates Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman. Oh no. Instead he yells and screams about the foolish Flatbush shul Rabbi who was mortified to discover his own asinine remark published on Godol Hador's blog. Rabbi Wachsman screams and sputters about this because he knows the next stupid remarks reproduced on a blog for the amusment of the masses might be one of his own. That's what worries him. Not child molesters. Again, order, not justice.
I suppose it doesn't need to be said, that if Wachsman and his cronies had their way we'd have no Jewish blogosphere, no blogs like UOJ, and Kolko would still be riding high.
That, finally, is why the Jewish blogosphere matters, why we who count ourselves among this community must redouble our efforts. Not just for the sake of the children Kolko destroyed, but for the sake of all the Jewish men and women who die small deaths everyday because of acts of cruelty, stupidity, selfishness and injustice perpetrated by Jews. Let me close with a quote from Martin Luthor King which explains the value of blogging. He was speaking about non-violent protest, but I've brought his thought up-to-date, and I think this must be the answer to every well-meaning fool like LakewoodYid, and also to the less well-intentioned creeps who complain about bloggers and tear their shirts over loshan hara and issues of disrespect:
Actually, we who [blog] are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
DOWNLOADING AND COPYING MUSIC
QUESTION 76: DOWNLOADING AND COPYING MUSIC
I argue with people about the ethics of downloaded music files from the Internet. I say that downloading songs or copying your own songs to give to someone else, without a copyright owner's permission, or not compensating the owner, is stealing. What do you say about this?
RABBI BELSKY
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ztl said that it's not permitted to copy any item that is being sold by the creator of that item. Every time you copy it, you're taking away sales from him. Anybody who downloads it, copies it, or does something else is really just turning someone else's money into ashes. And that's really the bottom line. It's taking something from someone else.
But even if everyone does it, it's wrong. You're taking away something from someone and you're harming him.
WHAT ABOUT IF YOUR FRIEND TAKES SOMEONE'S LIFE??? YOU PERVERTED SHEIGETZ!
UOJ,
Today I received another phone call from a concerned orthodox Jew - the second one in a week, that was not unsympathetic to the cause, but was concerned about the language that I use here, and the methods used by UOJ. In this case, the caller runs a camp and and a school for kids at risk and says the he has personally turned at least ten parents in to the police for molesting their kids. He said though he has contact with important rabbis, he doesn't bother asking a shailah when he's positive there has been abuse, he just goes to the cops.
It was a respectful conversation on both sides.
However, the notion of protecting the image of the orthodox community is so ingrained that even folks like the caller, who has demonstrated that he's not a sheep by ignoring those who whine mesirah, still are unnerved by UOJ's methods.
Still, I wonder if the issue would even be discussed at this time if UOJ and other bloggers hadn't acted outrageously.
When there is an outrage, maybe outrageous behavior is the only way to deal with it.
Ronnie,
I am not unsympathetic to your caller's concern about the methods and the language used here.
When I started blogging I had commented about the fact that I was getting nowhere as Johnny Goodguy!
That indeed contributed to my cognizant decision to become a "lunatic". People have chosen to rewrite history, forget history, and distort history. Rabbonim and people in positions of responsibilty were getting away with murder and destroying the foundation of Judaism.
So I took off the gloves and will leave them off. When the mainstream Jews start tackling these very issues that are destroying us, I'll consider becoming "normal" again.
Until then fogettttaaaabouttit!
Dov Bear,
Now, if you only wouldn't be such a knee-jerk lefty. Seriously, DB's attitude towards anyone right of center reminds me of how froomies reflexively attack anyone who doesn't toe the party line.
The genius of MLK (plagerist and fancier of feminine pulchitrude though he was) was that he framed the civil rights movement as an American movement, calling on America to honor its own values. Sheriff Bull Conner helped by loosing the dogs and firehoses on demonstrators and Americans said we don't do that here, we fought a war against people who sick dogs on unarmed people. But by challenging Americans to have a society that truly reflected the ideas in the constitution, MLK guaranteed his movement's success.
UOJ, I think you should reconsider publishing the name of your Da'as Torah guy. When people of calibre challenge the frum velt to clean up its act, to live in accordance with Torah values, maybe they will get a better hearing than muckrakers and whistleblowers.
NP: New Morning - Shabtai Zissel ben Avraham Zimmerman, aka Bob
Not a good idea Ronnie, they'll torture the guy. He's out and about voicing his opinions.
We are getting results; it's only a start. We started a revolution that no matter how hard the asifa behaimas try, they can not stifle us.
Truthfully, I believe the only thing they're really concerned about, is our ability to demonstrate to them that we think their fools. I know that people from all walks of Jewish life read this blog daily; many of them had the courage to voice their support.
It's appreciated.
Organizations May Be Liable for Child Sexual Abuse, Court Says
Michael Booth
New Jersey Law Journal - August 21, 2006
http://www.law.http://www.law.http://wwhttp://www.law.http
A school or other organization that acts in place of a child's parents can be liable in tort when an employee commits child sexual abuse, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Aug. 8.
The justices held that Princeton's American Boychoir School may be held vicariously liable for the alleged acts of a former choirmaster, whom a former student claims repeatedly abused him while he was boarding at the school.
The court found the school is a "person," its environs are a "household" and its staff stand "in loco parentis" to pupils as those terms are used in the Child Sexual Abuse Act of 1992, a statute that creates liability for knowingly permitting or acquiescing in child sexual abuse by another person.
Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, writing for the 5-1 majority in Hardwicke v. American Boychoir School, et al., A-17-04, said the broad reading of the statute comported with the state's expressed public policy. "In respect of child abuse in particular, the Legislature has enacted a number of civil and criminal statutes designed to protect children, apprehend abusers, and deter future abuse," Poritz wrote. "Those statutes tell us that a paramount goal of the Legislature is to keep children safe and to identify those who abuse them as well as those who facilitate the abuse."
Although the school is a charitable organization, the court found that the Charitable Immunity Act applies only to simple negligence claims and thus does not shield an entity from suits under the Child Sexual Abuse Act.
The court also found no bar to plaintiff John Hardwicke pursuing common law causes of action against the school for willful, wanton or grossly negligent conduct, such as negligent hiring and supervision, breach of duty to disclose abuse of students and active concealment of that abuse.
The long-awaited ruling overturns an earlier decision, in Schultz v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, 95 N.J. 530 (1984), which held the Charitable Immunity Act shielded charities from suits for negligent hiring.
The court adopted dissenting Justice Alan Handler's position in Schultz that the Charitable Immunity Act was intended to cover only simple negligence and did not immunize "other forms of aggravated wrongful conduct, such as malice or fraud, or intentional, reckless and wanton, or even grossly negligent behavior."
"[We] have found no other jurisdiction that provides charitable immunity for intentional torts or willful and wanton conduct," Poritz wrote. "We are confident that if charitable immunity for intentional torts exists at all, it is rare, and that it does not exist under the [Charitable Immunity Act]."
In fact, Poritz noted, an amendment to the Charitable Immunity Act was signed into law last January. A new section, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-7.4, specifically strips charitable organizations of immunity if their employees engage in child sexual abuse.
The amendment specifically targeted the Schultz ruling, by which New Jersey was one of only three states that immunized charitable organizations in such circumstances.
Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto dissented in part, saying the Charitable Immunity Act covers more than simple negligence. Justice Barry Albin did not participate.
IMPLICATIONS BEYOND CHARITIES
Lawyers on both sides of the case agree the opinion gives a bright-line rule on the limits of charitable immunity.
"The Court put the Charitable Immunity Act back to where it was supposed to be -- covering slip-and-falls,"The Court put the Charitable Immunity Act back to where it was supposed to be -- covering slip-
"I may not agree with the conclusions, but I accept it as being a clear statement of what the law is in New Jersey," says the school's lawyer, Jay Greenblatt, of Vineland's Greenblatt & Laube. "The Court is saying that the CIA does not apply to anything other than simple negligence."
Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, who argued Hardwicke's case, says the Court "went further than we asked it to. ... Not only did the Court overturn Schultz, but it made it clear that charitable employers can be held vicariously liable for the activities of their employees who sexually abuse children and are acting outside the scope of their employment," he says.
But the lawyers in the case also agree that the broad interpretation the court gave to the Child Sexual Abuse Act has implications for organizations besides charities.
Any organization that deals with children for any length of time, whether it is a charitable organization or not, can be held vicariously liable for the activities of its workers if those workers sexually abuse the children under their care.
The take-away message: "Put it in writing that sexual abuse is not going to be tolerated, and if it happens, put a stop to it," says Piper Rudnick's Smith.
The court dispensed with the argument that agency law prevents holding an organization vicariously liable for the intentional acts of its employees outside the scope of their employment. Poritz noted that the court had -- in its seminal rulings in Lehmann v. Toys 'R' Us Inc., 132 N.J. 587 (1993), and Abbamont v. Piscataway Twp. Bd. of Educ., 138 N.J. 405 (1994) -- applied a modern view of vicarious liability to cases arising under the Law Against Discrimination and the Conscientious Employee Protection Act.
In Lehmann and Abbamont, the court adopted §219 of the Restatement (Second) of Agency, which states, in part, that liability arises where "the servant purported to act or to speak on behalf of the principal and there was reliance upon apparent authority, or he was aided in accomplishing the tort by the existence of the agency relation."
"The considerations that informed our analyses in Lehmann and Abbamont apply equally to claims predicated on facts indicating child abuse," Poritz said. "The [Child Sexual Abuse Act] imposes responsibility on those in the best position to know of the abuse and stop it; application of section 219 of the Restatement to plaintiff's common-law claims advances those goals."
The court smoothed another hurdle to the suit by liberally interpreting the Child Sexual Abuse Act's discovery rule, which says that "any civil action ... based on sexual abuse" accrues "at the time of reasonable discovery of the injury and its causal relationship to the act of sexual abuse."
The justices agreed with the Appellate Division that the phrase "any civil action" includes "any common-law claims based on conduct that falls within the definition of sexual abuse," not just claims brought under the statute itself. Thus, the statute of limitations for Hardwicke was tolled as to not only his statutory cause of action but also his common-law claims.
Hardwicke attended the prestigious Princeton school from 1969 to 1971 and was 14 when he left. His suit was not filed until 2001, when he was 43.
The Child Sexual Abuse Act requires actions to be brought within two years of reasonable discovery but allows for tolling based on "the plaintiff's mental state, duress by the defendant, or any other equitable grounds." A court can make such a finding after a plenary hearing and "may order an independent psychiatric evaluation of the plaintiff in order to assist in the determination.
where does rabbi yaakov horowitz stand on all this, does anybody know?
QUESTION 76: DOWNLOADING AND COPYING MUSIC
I argue with people about the ethics of downloaded music files from the Internet. I say that downloading songs or copying your own songs to give to someone else, without a copyright owner's permission, or not compensating the owner, is stealing. What do you say about this?
As frequent readers of the blog know, I have a small {micro actually} embroidery business.
I have applied for and received a US patent so intellectual property (IP) has been an interest of mine for a while. I also hold copyrights on my original embroidery designs. Some of those designs have been challenged by DaimlerChrysler and General Motors as infringing on their IP, specifically the graphic designs of their cars. After presenting my position to them they backed down and I'm still using those designs. Like all property rights, IP rights are restricted. Just like my property ends at the sidewalk, owners of IP cannot claim more than the law allows. Right now, for example, I am working on a series of *logos that mimic the graphic design of major league sports teams but are executed in Hebrew, and I'm fairly confident that MLB would have a hard time claiming infringement, since they are in a different language, in a completely different alphabet. From a business standpoint it makes sense to get licensed so I could sell the stuff at MLB team stores etc., but it's very hard for a small business to get licensed by MLB, and I'd only agree to a license if the licensing contract made it clear that the license was for business reasons, and that the designs are my property and don't infringe.
So I'm hardly an absolutist when it comes to IP rights. I've been an active trader in tapes of live musical shows, and have maybe 400 hours of Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Peter Himmelman, David Bromberg and others. I got out of it just when folks were moving to digital storage media, but I've never had a problem trading (never selling) tapes, whether the artist approves (in the case of the GD) or not (in the case of Dylan). However, I would never give someone a copy of an official release. Like I explained to my daughter when she asked me to burn a copy of a live Peter Himmelman release and couldn't see the difference because I have a bunch of unreleased live material of his that I'd gladly burn and give away. The unreleased materials don't affect his parnasah (and circulating them certainly doesn't hurt his career - it spreads the word).
Considering that halacha gave authors and artists the rights to their works long before the west developed the concept of IP, I find frum Jews to be appallingly ignorant about IP issues - or worse, they recognize that trademarks and recordings are property but they don't see anything wrong with using that property.
Like the guy who, after I had already said that the word BOZO was a trademark and cited the trademark's owner (Larry Harmon Picture Corp), insisted that it was "just a word" and couldn't be trademarked.
Or the oi yoi oi yoi frum recording artists who steal melodies from secular musicians without attribution or paying royalties.
Or the campus kiruv organization that distributed caps donated and imprinted with a university's logo. "But it's only a letter" they said, and just couldn't understand that that letter, in that font, in that color, was the property of the school.
Putting aside the dina d'malchuta dina issue (which I personally have violated thousands of times (ha maivin yavin), I believe the halachas of hasagat g'vul apply here.
But try explaining that to a froomie.
*You can see software simulations of the stitched out designs here. There is Hebrew sports apparel available, but it's all just the team names transliterated into Hebrew with no graphic sechel. I think they are lame. Yes, I realize that I'm missing a logo for fans in the major league city with the largest Jewish population. The hat logo doesn't work out graphically because of how small the Yud is. I have an idea using one of their other logos, but I'm still working out the concept. The other Chicago team will also be represented, I know what I'm going to do, I just haven't finished it. The team logos, as I said, most likely don't infringe, but the two "bar and shield" logos (the Arabic is "American Infidels ride Hxxxxx's") almost certainly do, so I probably won't be selling them, H-D has the "bar and shield device" itself registered and though trademark parodies are legal, the courts won't let you parody a trademark to compete with the owner, in this case selling apparel, which H-D sells $ millions per year.
BTW, any feedback on the logos is appreciated. I mean, they work graphically and conceptually to me, but I know what I'm trying to accomplish.
Truthfully, I believe the only thing they're really concerned about, is our ability to demonstrate to them that we think their fools.
I respectfully disagree in part. What concerns them most is not that we think they are fools, but rather that they have been demonstrated to be fools mamash.
You do have a point. Nothing stings an ideologue more than mockery, not taking them seriously. Perhaps that's why they so passionately defend the honor of their gedoyoyoylim. Of course, it's a stretch to call them ideologues - that presumes they have genuine ideas.
Note to RG: I will attempt to avoid unnecessary foul language because you approached me in such a menschlich manner. However, some words just don't have synonyms. Can you think of a synonym for the common term for bovine excrement?
Sick about milquetoast Jews
milque·toast (mĭlk'tōst')
n.
One who has a meek, timid, unassertive nature.
[After Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952).]
milquetoasty milque'toast'y adj.
WORD HISTORY An indication of the effect on the English language of popular culture is the adoption of names from the comic strips as English words. Casper Milquetoast, created by Harold Webster in 1924, was a timid and retiring man named for a timid food. The first instance of milquetoast as a common noun is found in the mid-1930s. Milquetoast thus joins the ranks of other such words, including sad sack, from a blundering army private invented by George Baker in 1942, and Wimpy, from J. Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye comic strip, which became a trade name for a hamburger. If we look to a related form of popular culture, the animated cartoon, we must of course acknowledge Mickey Mouse, which has become a slang term for something that is easy, insignificant, small-time, worthless, or petty.
Thesaurus > milquetoast milquetoast
noun
A person who behaves in a childish, weak, or spoiled way: baby, milksop, mollycoddle, weakling. Idioms: mama's boy/girl.
The noun Milquetoast has one meaning:
Meaning #1: a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
Synonyms: sissy, pantywaist, pansy, milksop
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University.
What rabbi & remark is Dov Bear referring to?
"It's not the child who may be assualted that animates Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman. Oh no. Instead he yells and screams about the foolish Flatbush shul Rabbi who was mortified to discover his own asinine remark published on Godol Hador's blog."
as·i·nine (ăs'ə-nīn')
adj.
Utterly stupid or silly: asinine behavior.
Of, relating to, or resembling an ass.
[Latin asinīnus, of an ass, from asinus, ass.]
"When I started blogging I had commented about the fact that I was getting nowhere as Johnny Goodguy!"
Johnny Goodguy noun
1. Anyone viewed by Margo as an expendable idiot who must be silenced if he threatens his grip on power.
2. Anyone who receives a hazmana from Rabbi Belsky if they dare raise concern that children are being abused.
Thesaurus
Johnny Goodguy is often depicted by corrupt yeshiva administrators as a clown who is ripe to get a knife in the back.
TO: UOJ
can you please post your future air travel itinery..I am not stalking you.......I just want to make sure I am not on any flights with you.
Thank you
urge everyone to call Senators Schumer and Clinton's offices and express your outrage regarding the refusal of the Brooklyn DA to have Avrohom Mondrowitz extradited from Israel to stand trial:
Senator Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430
Senator Hilary Clinton: 212-688-6262
UOJ your credibility has been greatly enhanced.
You are multifaced and talented, many call you brilliant, myself included. Like the mad man of Iran the Frum Jewish world is shocked by your diatribes and scared silly. Finally there's a person out there who says for the world to hear; HAREDI JUDAISM AND IT'S DOGMA IS A FRAUD, THE CLERGY IS OUT OF THEIR FRIGGIN MINDS AND SHOULD BE REPLACED!
You would earn more respect however, if you came out, announce yourself, and watch the majority of Jews agree with most of what you say and privately will admit that they enjoy how you say it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/technology/21ecom.html?ei=5087%0A&en=619d14efa02e7c66&ex=1156392000&pagewanted=print
August 21, 2006
E-Commerce Report
Now the Music Industry Wants Guitarists to Stop Sharing
By BOB TEDESCHI
The Internet put the music industry and many of its listeners at odds thanks to the popularity of services like Napster and Grokster. Now the industry is squaring off against a surprising new opponent: musicians.
In the last few months, trade groups representing music publishers have used the threat of copyright lawsuits to shut down guitar tablature sites, where users exchange tips on how to play songs like “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” “Highway to Hell” and thousands of others.
The battle shares many similarities with the war between Napster and the music recording industry, but this time it involves free sites like Olga.net, GuitarTabs.com and MyGuitarTabs.com and even discussion boards on the Google Groups service like alt.guitar.tab and rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature, where amateur musicians trade “tabs” — music notation especially for guitar — for songs they have figured out or have copied from music books.
Proud of you said...
...You would earn more respect however, if you came out, announce yourself, and watch the majority of Jews agree with most of what you say and privately will admit that they enjoy how you say it.
Sorry, Proud, I beg to differ. Very briefly, people tend to fall into the following the following categories vis-a-vis OUJ
1) Those who have never heard of him (still more people than most on this blog think)
2) Those who would discredit anything he says because of his methods
3) Those who buy some or all of his message but disapprove of his methods.
4) Those who buy his whole package hook line and sinker.
Personally, I'm somewhere in group 3, because I still don't believe that profanity, vulagrity, and complete irreverance were/are necessary ingredients. (Come on, UOJ, did you really have to append the title "shitty" to the names of numerous Rabonnim in order to get your lawsauit filed?)
My informal sense of the public opinion places the majority of the frum community (who have heard of UOJ) somewhere in group 3. I still think you have to have a healthy dose gratuituos bitterness and "loser" quality to your personality to actually "enjoy" how UOJ has been saying it.
Noting the music industry’s complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, Dylan said, “Well, why not? It ain’t worth nothing anyway.”
“You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them,” he added. “There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static.”
And how did the topic shift from molestation to napster anyway?
As an example of how the froomies treat intellectual property, and the level of disrespect they have for HaShem's creations, a nemesis of UOJ is publishing a private, not-for-publication comment I made to him, complete with my copyright notice indicating that it cannot be reproduced without my written permission. I'd call his brazen behavior dog-faced, but most of the dogs I know have better middot than kalbahs like him and his posse. Though he's too much of a coward to call me himself, as per my challenge to him, he's encouraging his sheep to harrass me by publishing my phone number. Though the only two calls I've gotten have been from well-intentioned, polite and respectful folks who disagree with some of UOJ's methods.
I've been accused of "worshipping" UOJ, that he's my "idol", which is silly, because anyone who has read my posts here can see that I've openly disagreed with him about stuff.
However, he's acting in a more intellectually honest manner than T and his friend. UOJ has posted, on the front page of the blog, extensive comments from Eli Greenwald and "Da'as Torah", that take him to task for some of his comments and methods. UOJ has also publicly apologized to Paul Plotzker for alleging that he was part of the cabal intent on outing him.
And T? He disabled comments on his blog.
The other guy censors any post that factually rebuts his or his posse's statements.
TW: bully
NP: The Ultimate Hendrix Experience - James Marshall Hendrix - aka Jimi. Has Tuvya or Mr RY ever produced anything as inspiring as Little Wing?
Two guys talking at the Perverts Clearinghouse club. One says to the other,
"UOJ's screwing the life out of that crooked rabbi and his in-house molester right now really hard on the floor of the yeshiva on Ocean Parkway .
" The other guy says, "So? What's the big deal?" The
first guy responds. " UOJ is on Thirteenth Av. in Boro Park.
Ladies and Gentlemen And Children Of All Ages:
I'm really busy at my day job, the one that pays the bills. Here's my offer:
Everyone is cordially invited to write a rip-roaring post, something that I would be proud of. Ingredients must include:
1-cynicism
2-sarcasm
3-humor
4- factual
5-over the top
6-a post that would make me proud.
If published,$100 will be sent to the Tomchei Shabbos of your choice in your name, or to a private family in need.
You may submit as many different posts as you like...unlimited and no expiration date.
Let's see the posts!
a_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com
Sorry, Proud, I beg to differ. Very briefly, people tend to fall into the following the following categories vis-a-vis OUJ
1) Those who have never heard of him (still more people than most on this blog think)
----------------------------------
Yes, and most people in the United States have no idea who Dick Cheney is either.
ronnie-editor-publisher said...
As an example of how the froomies treat intellectual property, and the level of disrespect they have for HaShem's creations, a "nemesis" of UOJ is publishing a private, not-for-publication comment I made to him
-----------------------------------
I believe the term you were looking for is "pest".
TO UOJ THE GREAT ONE. THE ARTICLE IS BEUTIFUL IT'S A MASTERPEICE i read it so many times already i know it by heart the work you are doing is not an easy task and might be a little dirty but its definetly worthwhile and neccesary for someone has to hang up the dirty diapers full of charah that are destroying our system and the lives of our young innocent kids (sheloi tuami tam chait) go roto rooter clean out the system and their enablers cause the more i walk the neighberhood the more it stinks dont ever stop keep up your "holy' LEIZEROWITS VICTIM FOREVER
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident she will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House, even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party.
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Ms. Pelosi was asked about opinion polls showing opposition to the Democrats’ health care bills.
“The point is that we have a responsibility here,” Ms. Pelosi said.
Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said, “It would be a political kamikaze mission for the Democratic Party if they jam this through after the American people have been saying, look, we’re trying to tell you in every way we know how, in elections, in surveys, in town hall meetings, we don’t want this bill.”
Democratic leaders hope to orchestrate passage of health legislation in a three-step process intended to avoid the threat of a filibuster by Senate Republicans. Under this plan, the House would pass the health bill approved in December by the Senate, and both chambers would approve a separate package of changes using a parliamentary device known as budget reconciliation.
But on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, the House Republican whip, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, said: “I’ll tell you one thing: If Speaker Pelosi rams this bill through the House using a reconciliation process, they will lose their majority in Congress in November.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-jewish-school-alert-20100226,0,1585579.story
Administrators of Chicago Jewish Day School, Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago and Congregation Sinai immediately notified families this week that a teacher had been arrested on charges of child pornography.
Richard Mann, 53, of Evanston, was charged Wednesday with transporting child pornography over his computer. Mann was arrested after federal agents searched his home and said they found images stored on his computer of children engaged in sex.
Mann served as a part-time music teacher at Chicago Jewish Day School in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood and Congregation Sinai in Chicago's Gold Coast. He worked as a substitute teacher on Solomon Schechter campuses in Northbrook and Skokie.
The schools' leaders said a letter went out to families as soon as they found out about the arrest. All three institutions assured families that there was no evidence of misconduct with students.
"We felt it was important, rather than people hearing in dribs and drabs, to clarify as quickly as possible what was happening," said Rabbi Michael Zedek of Congregation Emanuel, where the Chicago Jewish Day School shares space.
Since a sex abuse crisis rocked the Roman Catholic Church over the past 10 years, victims advocates have accused parochial schools of concealing misconduct, heightening scrutiny of how they publicize allegations and protect children.
In addition to doing background and reference checks on all employees, Chicago Jewish Day School administrators take additional precautions, regularly distributing pictures of sex offenders in the surrounding neighborhood to the building's security guards.
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
Children whose sexual abuse has been circulated in photos online could get some relief from new software that makes it easier to remove child pornography from the Internet.
Microsoft, which developed the PhotoDNA software, is donating it today to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a non-profit group that will use it to protect the abused children.
The center reviews 250,000 images of child pornography every week and sends what it considers the most egregious to online service providers to be removed.
The new technology will allow the center's computers to find more images that match an initial picture, even if it has been altered.
"It will make a huge difference," says Ernie Allen, president of the center, which receives funding from the Justice Department to work with police agencies. The center has helped identify 2,692 child pornography victims, most of whom were prepubescent kids abused by someone they knew.
Allen says even though it's impossible to prosecute every sex offender, at least the distribution of their photos can be reduced.
"It's very much like DNA," says Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College who worked with Microsoft on PhotoDNA. He says it identifies a photo's unique characteristics and, unlike previous software, remains accurate even if the size changes by as much as 50%.
"We can't allow people to keep trading these horrifying images online when we have the technology to do something about it," says Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "These children have been through enough."
What about Shmarya shnorring money for Rubashkin trial travel expenses even though he never went?
http://www.startribune.com/local/85054067.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU
Agents from multiple government agencies – including the FBI, the Secret Service, the IRS and the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force – recently raided a downtown Minneapolis company suspected of operating an Internet-based Ponzi scheme, the Star Tribune reported. Government officials swarmed the headquarters of Inter-Mark on Tuesday, the newspaper said, and left with three carts of evidence by the end of the day. Based on information provided by sources familiar with Inter-Mark, the newspaper said, government authorities appear to be focusing on the company’s iNetGlobal division. A possible Ponzi scheme, the newspaper explained, iNetGlobal has generated up to $1.2 billion by charging members $2,000 apiece for a suspected work-from-home scam.
The word originates from the German word "schite" and the Old English word "scite" both meaning "dung".
Scite showed up in written works both as a noun and a verb as far back as the 14th century.
It is difficult to understand what is so offensive about schite. It is a valuable resource in producing the world's food (I shovel composted chicken schite on my trees and vegetable garden).
I do not think that it is appropriate to malign schite by using this word to describe the offal of the Jewish world.
After all, schite does not smell once it has been exposed to air and sunshine for a few days. The same cannot be said for too many of our Rabbis
February 28, 2010
(JTA) -- Glass falling from the atrium roof of the Sony Building in New York interrupted a Purim party.
Ice reportedly broke through the glass roof of the midtown Manhattan building after 11 p.m. Saturday, injuring at least 10 of the 300 guests, according to reports.
The party, reportedly given by Aish Hatorah, was attended by "Sex and the City" actor Chris Noth, as well as reality show "Jersey Shore" cast members Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Vinny Guadagnino.
"Omg roof just collapsed!" Polizzi Tweeted from the party.
"I think me and @sn00ki felt the wrath for not being Jewish," Guadagnino Tweeted.
The actors were not injured.
UOJ, answer this or forever hold your peace!
Why the fuck is Kol Yaakov still accredited by the holy aarts accreditation commision when Tropper was allowed free reign for god know how long?
Why the fuck is the Gerrer Mesivta still accredited by the holy aarts accreditation shysters when Leizerowitz jiggled his balls and got off on countless young teen boys?
Why the fuck is Fakewood still accredited by the holy aarts accreditation shysters when they allowed so many molesters to drop anchor and peddle wares in the town (i.e. Kolko)?
Why the fuck is Bobov still accredited by the holy aarts accreditation shysters when Shlomo Hafner was covered for and his disabled victim was the one run out of town?
Why the fuck is Satmar still accredited by the holy aarts accreditation fraudsters when they con victims of rape and molestation into waiting till after the statute of limitations?
Why has no one gone after the accreditation commitee members to expose the dirt on them?
Don't give me your too busy!
When you called me to action I went. I'm calling you here to do more than what you have done till now. As the saying goes when you need something done ask someone who is always busy. Only they get things done. Cowards and lazy/crrupt asses always have reasons and excuses why they cant do it. You have shown what you're made off and that you get things done a la the roter rooter. Do it!
http://haemtza.blogspot.com/2010/02/tropper-gone.html
Rabbi Ribiat quietly was in the forefront of this problem and at great peril. He was harassed by Tropper’s supporters with implied threats of bodily harm. But he was not deterred. He is an honorable man and has done the right thing. He has also been modest about it shunning any publicity. I cannot oblige him. People like this need to be publicly thanked for their efforts.
There is some Yeshivish or Lubavitcher jerk caught on camera and posted to YouTube.
He has black pants, white shirt & white beard (and a baseball cap) and it looks like he went to the street party after the Carribbean parade in Crown Hts judging from the buildings in the background.
He is in the middle of the prusta dancing where the Blacks are simulating sex acts and does it himself with some Black women.
Gov. David A. Paterson said on Monday that he would not bow to pressure to resign and insisted that his authority had not been compromised by a domestic violence scandal involving a top aide that forced him to abandon the governor’s race.
In his first public remarks since he announced on Friday that he was ending his campaign, Mr. Paterson condemned speculation about his political future as hysteria.
“It’s off the table,” Mr. Paterson said, referring to his possible resignation, at a breakfast discussion with editors from The New York Observer in Midtown Manhattan. “I don’t even know why it’s on the table.”
Can someone tell me why Ramat Bet Shemesh and "Trust Me" (and not the police) Malinowitz are out of the Roto Rooter man's area of service? or is just that his "honey sucker" hose is just too clogged with other waste to deal with piece of human drek?
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20102240355
A former Monsey man was sentenced Tuesday to three months in federal prison for his role in a bank fraud scam orchestrated by another Monsey resident.
Ron Kreisel, 31, was sentenced on his March 26 guilty plea to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He also must pay a $2,500 fine, do 300 hours of community service and undergo two years of supervised release.
Kreisel, working for Chiam Citronenbaum of Monsey, took part in a scheme to open accounts at numerous mutual savings banks, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Connecticut said.
Kreisel, who moved to Los Angeles, made $229,396 from the scheme, prosecutors said. He has forfeited the money.
Citronenbaum, a former doctor, was sentenced to 36 months in prison on Jan. 13 and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 and to forfeit $1,683,903.
The two men anticipated the banks eventually converting to publicly traded entities in order to purchase shares of stock when the banks converted to stock form.
Kreisel first worked as an office employee but got promoted to an expanded role, including opening accounts, buying stock, and transferring stock to an account operating as "The Citronenbaum Foundation," which facilitated the avoidance of taxes.
A New York prosecutor's office says it has found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of three ACORN employees caught on video advising a couple posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office said Monday that its five-month inquiry is over and that no criminal activity was found.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gilly_pork_butts_jRBIelIw9oylbCvvN3iMcI
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pushed for more than $3 million in pork-barrel grants to the Harlem-based development corporation chaired by the Rev. Calvin Butts, one of the city's most politically influential black ministers, records show.
Gillibrand pushed to aid the upstate village of Kiryas Joel, in the form of $1.2 million for a "pedestrian safety improvement project" -- in other words, sidewalks.
The Orthodox Jewish community generally votes in a bloc.
Gillibrand also:
* Sought $525,000 for the Ohel Children's Home and Family Services, a Borough Park, Brooklyn-based program.
* Asked for $200,000 for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's district.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-03/zayat-stables-thoroughbred-owner-files-bankruptcy-update1-.html
Zayat Stables LLC, the fourth-biggest winner among U.S. thoroughbred owners, filed for bankruptcy court protection today, blaming a dispute with its lender, Fifth Third Bank.
In 2006, he paid $4.6 million for a 1-year-old at a Keeneland sale. The horse, which he named Maimonides, ran just two races in New York in 2007 before suffering a career-ending injury.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiane-northrup/we-need-to-stop-circumcis_b_470689.html
We Need To Stop Circumcision
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3850261,00.html
Bnei Brak Mayor Rabbi Yaacov Asher on Tuesday slammed National Council for the Child chairman Dr. Yitzhak Kadman after the latter said that the ultra-Orthodox city is known as Israel's pedophile capital.
http://www.examiner.com/x-39473-NY-Domestic-Violence--Abuse-Examiner~y2010m2d27-Child-molester-super-ousted-from-Manhattan-apartment-buildings
William Barnason a convicted child rapist and superintendent for three Upper West Side apartment buildings is being ousted from his job and his apartment.
As reported by the NY Post, the buildings are located at 140 and 142 W. 75th Streets as well as 144 W. 73rd Street, where Barnason now resides. These buildings which are owned by Stanley Katz will be a lot safer without this fiend who had access to about 50 apartments.
These buildings are in close proximity to elementary schools.
The level 3 registered sex offender is accused by tenants of trying to shake down female residents for sex.
Barnason served more than 14 years in prison for rape, sodomy and sex-abuse charges involving three Long Island girls between ages 5 and 7 and was released in 2001.
Thanks to New York Senator Charles Schumer and New York State Assemblyman Micah Kellner, proposed legislation would bar high-risk sex offenders from working as building supers.
Kellner introduced a bill hoping to amend the multiple dwelling law that he hopes will prohibit the owner of a multiple dwelling from hiring a building superintendent, managing agent, or resident manager who is registered as a level two or level three sex offender.
"They shouldn't have the keys to your apartment, the place where you should feel safest," said Assemblyman Kellner.
If you have a concern that there is a registered sex offender in your neighborhood click here for the National Sex Offender Public Registry
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/24/eveningnews/main6239943.shtml
Pedophile Pediatricians Remain in Shadows
Parents Fight Abuse in Delaware, but Many Other Cases Never Make it Past State Medical Boards
http://www.examiner.com/x-29163-NY-Parenting-Issues-Examiner~y2010m2d17-Is-there-a-sex-offender-teaching-your-kids
Yesterday, Fox 5 news discovered a convicted child molester is running a karate school in Queens NY.
And he’s teaching kids karate every day. When Fox 5 and Parent’s for Megan’s Law approached parents outside the karate school asking if they knew that a convicted child molester is teaching their kids, many ignored them and walked into the karate school with their children.
Why any parent would ignore what they told and let their kids be taught by a registered sex offender is mind boggling!
On April 17, 2009, the Orange County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay $3.75 million, plus an additional $900,000 in medical expenses to an illegal alien who was severely beaten by other inmates in the Orange County Central Jail. The Mexican national filed a lawsuit shortly after the incident.
Fernando Ramirez, 24, was in jail after being charged with molesting a 6-year-old girl at a local park. He eventually pled guilty to the lesser charge of battery against a child.
According to his attorney, Ramirez suffered brain damage and now needs help walking. Attorney Mark Eisenberg also claims that his client has been left with an intellect of a 4-year-old child.
Despite the dire financial crisis facing Orange County, Ramirez received the largest settlement ever awarded by the county for an in-custody incident. The Board of Supervisors made their decision in a closed-door session and have since refused any comment on the matter.
Except for one story carried by the Orange County Register, there has been no press coverage of this matter. One would think that an illegal alien child molester becoming a millionaire through taxpayer funding would be big news.
Bnei Brak Mayor Rabbi Yaacov Asher on Tuesday slammed National
Council for the Child chairman Dr. Yitzhak Kadman after the latter said that the ultra-Orthodox city is known as Israel's pedophile capital.
In all due respect Dr. Kadman, Bet Shemesh has that distinction. It's just that in Bet Shemesh the pedophiles have the protection of Rabbis Kornfeld and Malinowitz.
Even the great UOJ is afraid to mess with them!
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes said in a statement on Monday that “no criminality has been found” in his investigation of the three employees, who had appeared to advise the woman, who was scantily dressed and identified herself as an “outcall” specialist, not to tell prospective lenders that she was a prostitute and to funnel her earnings to her “pimp” through a third party so that he would not be tied to her.
Mr. Hynes declined to elaborate on his decision.
I'm not a molester but the YTT Hungarians send their kids to my karate school.
Over my new TV show?
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/84136252.html
The former manager of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville has been moved to an individual cell at the Linn County Jail after getting into a scuffle with another inmate.
Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said Rubashkin and a fellow inmate were arguing over the volume level on a television Tuesday night, and their verbal disagreement turned physical.The incident occurred in a common area in the cell block both men shared, Gardner said.
http://www.feedstuffs.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=F4D1A9DFCD974EAD8CD5205E15C1CB42&nm=Breaking+News&type=news&mod=News&mid=A3D60400B4204079A76C4B1B129CB433&tier=3&nid=61055FA0F8AE49FFBAB8D2C0824B1EEB
A forensic psychiatrist will examine former Agriprocessors Inc. vice president Sholom Rubashkin to determine if there are psychological matters that should be considered at his sentencing, a date for which had not yet been set.
http://www.examiner.com/x-38158-Cultural-Oddities-Examiner~y2010m2d16-Martin-Grossman-execution-sparks-religious-uproar-in-Florida
"Mr. Grossman's execution has hit our community very hard," Rabbie David Zwiebel said. "He was a fellow Jew and so we saw him as a brother."
Zwiebel and other supporters said Grossman's crime was not premeditated and that he showed remorse for the killing. It was also argued Grossman had diminished mental capacity. Final appeals for the arguments were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday.
Agudath Israel of America was not the only religious group at the fore of Grossman's clemency pleas. Representatives of the Vatican also sent requests to Florida in hopes that the state would commute Grossman's sentence to life.
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/201002242698/Convicted-murderer-executed-in-Florida.html
Even the Pope wrote asking for a stay, after Jewish organizations turned to him for support.
https://www.5tjt.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=287:last-words&catid=1:local&Itemid=10
The mood was somber in the downtown Manhattan offices of Agudath Israel of America as 6:00 p.m. loomed large this past Tuesday, February 16. That was the time designated for Martin Grossman’s execution.
As the appointed hour grew closer, some Agudath Israel staff members quietly recited Tehillim. Others just waited, hopefully, for news that the execution had been canceled or postponed. Agudath Israel’s executive vice-president, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, was on the phone with the Rosh Agudas Yisrael, the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, who had called to offer his encouragement and appreciation for all that the Agudah had done to try to prevent the execution.
Indeed, in the week or two prior to the execution, at the urging of gedolei Yisrael, much energy was invested in the campaign to spare Martin Grossman’s life. Constituents were mobilized to telephone, fax, and e-mail Florida Governor Crist to ask him to commute Grossman’s sentence to life in prison. Religious leaders, government officials, and prominent businessmen from outside the Jewish community were enlisted in the effort as well.
Unfortunately, to no avail. Mr. Grossman was executed as scheduled.
Some people, even within the Jewish, even the Orthodox, community, are upset that Agudath Israel and others had made efforts to save Mr. Grossman’s life. Some of the objectors simply feel that someone who killed another person, no matter the circumstances, should himself be killed. Others worry about how it would look to the larger world that Orthodox Jews were “defending” a death-row inmate.
In a Gannett newspaper in Florida, the Ft. Myers News-Press, columnist Paul Fleming indeed waxed cynical about the Orthodox groups’ efforts. “These folks,” he wrote, “are welcome to fight against Grossman’s execution for whatever reasons they choose. However, when the next death warrant is signed and the next of Florida’s 394 death-row inmates is scheduled for execution, I expect . . . those who oppose Grossman’s sentence to once again . . . ask the governor for a stay. We’ll see.”
New York Jewish Week columnist Adam Dickter blogged: “It didn’t much matter to Peggy Park that she was killed by someone who had a bar mitzvah. Why does it matter to Agudah?”
What Mr. Fleming and Mr. Dickter don’t fully appreciate, though, is that there is nothing for a Jew to be ashamed of in seeking to aid another Jew (bar-mitzvahed or not). To a believing Jew, every other Jew, no matter how ignorant or personally unobservant, is a relative—a member of K’lal Yisrael, the Jewish family. And when a family member is in danger, even the critics surely realize, one goes to special lengths.
Ahavas Yisrael, the love each member of the Jewish people is to have for all other Jews, is not only a halachic mandate, it is a tangible reality among observant Jews. Among the tragedies inherent in the relinquishing of the Jewish religious tradition within so much of the Jewish community is the decay of the very concept of Jewish peoplehood. Lip service is readily paid to the phrase. But for any Jew whose heart is imbued with what it means, there can be only one reaction to the impending death of a fellow Jew: anguish. And a determination to attempt, no matter how futile it might seem, to stave it off. If love isn’t compelling in such circumstances, it has little hope to be manifest in daily life.
After the Jewish groups issued their call to try to save Mr. Grossman’s life, messages from caring individuals streamed into our offices. Jews from across the community were asking for contact information for the Florida governor and wanted to know what else they could possibly do to help save Mr. Grossman. They knew nothing about him beyond the fact that he had committed a terrible crime and was facing execution. And that he was Jewish, a brother.
What a pack of am haartzus!
Shafran's tayna is that we are mechuyev altz Ahavas Yisroel because kal vachomer that if we don't even care about Grossman being killed, we will not be mechunech in day to day Ahavas Yisroel.
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/02/r-yair-hoffman-audio-grossman-execution.html
How does this guy who purports to represent Daas Torah repeatedly get away with these public pronouncements that fly in the face of Gemaras and sifrei poskim?
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/49596/Moetzes+Gedolei+Hatorah+Condemn+Rabbi+Avi+Weiss+&+His+Rabbah.html
STATEMENT OF THE MOETZES GEDOLEI HATORAH OF AMERICA
(10 Adar 5770)
Rabbi Avi Weiss has conferred “semikha” upon a woman, has made her an Assistant Rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale where she carries out certain traditional rabbinical functions, and has now given her the title of “Rabbah” (formerly “Maharat”). He has stated that the change in title is designed to “make it clear that Sara Hurwitz is a full member of our rabbinic staff, a rabbi with the additional quality of a distinct woman’s voice.”
These developments represent a radical and dangerous departure from Jewish tradition and the mesoras haTorah, and must be condemned in the strongest terms. Any congregation with a woman in a rabbinical position of any sort cannot be considered Orthodox.
MOETZES GEDOLEI HATORAH OF AMERICA
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld
Rabbi Yitzchok Feigelstock
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein
Rabbi Aharon Feldman
Rabbi Yosef Harari-Raful
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler
Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levin
Rabbi Yaakov Perlow
Rabbi Aaron Schechter
They should execute Sully Sullenberger and not Grossman
Any congregation with a woman in a rabbinical position of any sort cannot be considered Orthodox.
MOETZES GEDOLEI HATORAH OF AMERICA
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld
Rabbi Yitzchok Feigelstock
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein
Rabbi Aharon Feldman
Rabbi Yosef Harari-Raful
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler
Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levin
Rabbi Yaakov Perlow
Rabbi Aaron Schechter
Idiots!, No rabbi who got esnan zona from Tropper cannot be a kosher eid and that include you.
Speak up against Tropper before you speak up against rabbi Weiss.
Yisroel Weingarten and Yeshiva Torah Temimah
Does anyone have any information about the length of time Weingarten (who is now serving a 30 year term for molesting his daughter) worked as a teacher at YTT. According to the court records he started working there in 2002 as a teacher. I am trying to find out just when in the year he started, who he taught, how long he worked there and why he left. If you have any information, pleace contact me at my site or through facebook.
Yerachmiel Lopin has left a new comment on your post "UOJ IS THE ROTO ROOTER GUY!":
Yisroel Weingarten and Yeshiva Torah Temimah
Does anyone have any information about the length of time Weingarten (who is now serving a 30 year term for molesting his daughter) worked as a teacher at YTT. According to the court records he started working there in 2002 as a teacher. I am trying to find out just when in the year he started, who he taught, how long he worked there and why he left. If you have any information, pleace contact me at my site or through facebook.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/nyregion/02paterson.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state employees to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor’s actions.
Mr. Paterson instructed his press secretary, Marissa Shorenstein, to ask the woman to publicly describe the episode as nonviolent, according to a third person, who was briefed on the matter. That description would contradict the woman’s accounts to the police and in court.
http://www.jta.org/images/avatars/uploads/avatar_67509.jpg
Before
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker
And after
http://www.recordernewspapers.com/articles/2010/02/26/the_progress/news/doc4b8668c354157739602496.txt
Councilman Gordon Lawshe of Elizabeth Street answered a complaint in the West Orange Municipal Court Thursday, Feb. 18 and pleaded guilty to allowing his dog to defecate on Congregation Agudath Israel property on Nov. 16.
Caldwell Borough Ordinance 951-93 call for dog owners to immediately remove and dispose of feces in an accepted manner.
Lawshe received a fine of $50 from the West Orange Municipal Court which is to be paid to the Caldwell Court.
"Milton (Balkany) is the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet. He is a guy who can charm your socks off."
http://blog.yachdus.com/2010/01/fighting-between-lakewood-scoop-and.html
Fighting Between The Lakewood Scoop And Matzav
Lakewood Scoop, in a post today writes:
By Shmuel Musket: Some of you may have heard of the —— Network Site, who claim to be ‘The Jewish World @ Your Fingers”. What you may not realize is that aside for them directly taking articles from TLS, VIN, YWN, APP and other reputable sites and claiming it to be theirs, (including taking photos and videos from the above sites and watermarking them with their logo) they have begun brainwashing our youth and Frum community with “Dating Tips”, Shomer Negiah, ” Scandals” (recent Monsey scandal) and other issues I do not want to write on your site. However, they are done in a very “Kosher” and deceiving way, claiming it comes from Rabbonim and ”Da’as Torah”, so as not to think it originates from their “Torahdik” site.
Oh, I forgot, the site mentioned a few months back claiming the site got a Haskamah from One of the BMG Rosh Hayeshivos, Rav Shlomo Miller Shlita and others. It was verified to be false and it was never addressing the website.
This past week, the site claimed to have shown Rabbi Sterbuch Shlita a letter regarding the Dibbuk, it has turned out to be a letter from VIN News, which VIN had shown the Rav, but they nevertheless claimed it to be theirs and again falsely claimed to have contacted Da’as Torah.
I contacted the site, asking them which Da’as Torah was consulted on a specific Dating article, their answer was Rabbi so and so. I then contacted the Rav asking if anyone consulted him about the article, which feeds our children and adults with such private marital and dating issues. The Ravs answer was ” Absolutely not. And if someone would have showed me that article posted on a site, I would have called a Kol Korah to shut them down”. However, being that it supposedly came from Da’as Torah, it’s ok for them to publish any issue they’d like. This is downright unacceptable.
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not trying to limit healthy discussion and give-and-take, but those who allow the talking about the above mentioned inappropriate topics in a frum forum, should be held accountable for it.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank TLS, YWN and VIN for providing truly Kosher news and not degrading, or falsely quoting, Da’as Torah.
Shmuel Musket
The site they're referring to is Matzav.com.
Interestingly, they claim that Matzav plagiarizes content from The Yeshiva World, VIN and others. A funny argument, if you ask me, since these respective websites copy most of their content themselves from other sources. Read the comments there for more.
See here for the the Matzav version:
Editor’s Note: Despite threats by a particular blog to do damage to Matzav.com as a result of publishing the wonderful article below earlier today, we have, at the advice of those who guide us, kept this posted because of the vital issue it addresses. Attempts at pure defamation and the spreading of total falsities about Matzav.com will not detract from our determination to stand up for what is right. It should be noted that what is written below is neither groundbreaking nor revolutionary, but, rather, common sense and normative hashkafa.
By Shmuel Miskin
Funny how they have similar names, Shmuel Musket and Shmuel Miskin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/nyregion/02race.html
Some top black New York Democrats questioned on Monday whether calls for Gov. David A. Paterson either to resign or to transfer some of his authority to the lieutenant governor were prompted by a racial double standard.
The comments agitated long-simmering racial tensions among state legislators and threatened to inject the volatile issue of race into a political atmosphere in Albany that is already deeply unsettled.
“You do have to raise the question: Why hasn’t there been an outcry of this magnitude previously?” said Senator Eric Adams, a black Democrat from Brooklyn (and friend of Moishe Rubashkin) who has been highly critical of those calling for the governor’s resignation. “This is not the first time a governor has been under scrutiny. This is not the first time a governor has been investigated. To prematurely call for him to have his powers circumvented or have him removed, I think it’s unfair.”
Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Democrat from the Bronx, said many lawmakers in racial minorities tended to believe that Mr. Paterson was being singled out. “Those who aren’t black or minority need to be sympathetic to where this comes from,” he said. “As an African-American who knows this nation’s history, I can understand it.”
Beware of TD Bank. ABC News reported on other cases where ganovim get in to the system because of the shvache security but the bank refuses to take achrayus. They don't the victims a cent who are often small businesses that are forced into bankruptcy because they lose all their cash flow.
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/headlines/article.php/3867101/ZeuS-Bankrupts-Marketing-Firm.htm
A New York-based marketing firm is facing bankruptcy after the ZeuS trojan was used to rob the company of more than $164,000.
"Karen McCarthy, owner of Merrick, N.Y. based Little & King LLC, a small promotions company, discovered on Monday, Feb. 15 that her firm’s bank account had been emptied the previous Friday," writes Krebs on Security's Brian Krebs. "McCarthy said she immediately called her bank -- Cherry Hill, N.J. based TD Bank -- and learned that between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, unknown thieves had made five wire transfers out of the account to two individuals and two companies with whom the McCarthys had never had any prior business."
"Karen McCarthy said TD Bank has dug in its heels and is now saying it has no responsibility for the loss," Krebs writes.
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/18/1010706/op-ed-lets-work-to-end-uncouth-behavior-all-around
Let’s work to end uncouth behavior all around
By Avi Shafran · February 18, 2010
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Last August, dozens of women launched a protest against the practice of separate men’s and women’s seating on some Israeli public bus routes servicing haredi communities. They boarded the buses and sat down among the men, expecting to provoke some strong reaction.
(No mention that behaymos earlier attacked frum women minding their own business which is issur negiah and 2 issurim for hitting)
In a handful of cases over the years, individuals have been accused of harassing women who wished to sit among the men on such buses.
(In Shafran's Wonderland, there are only "accusations". It is impossible to verify anything as true)
Unmentioned, moreover, by the activists -- and unknown to most American Jews -- is that when the first separate-seating buses appeared about a decade ago, they were privately run services by haredim for haredim. Israel’s public bus companies, fearing the loss of a substantial number of riders -- Israeli haredim are less likely than other Israelis to own cars -- made a business decision to co-opt the service. So portraying the mehadrin buses as Trojan horses in a haredi plot to conquer Israeli society is, to put it mildly, fanciful.
(The guy uses way too many metaphors)
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/03/01/brooklyn_graphic/news/courier-yn_brooklyn_graphic-politics3.4.txt
Backing the broken horse
While many state lawmakers made no bones about how they wanted to see Governor David Paterson step down, Assembly member Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park) was behind the governor to the bitter end.
“I believe in loyalty. It’s my trademark and I don’t abandon friends. I will not turn my back and will stay with Paterson,” said Hikind, just days before the governor’s scandal-scarred time in office forced him step away from his expected re-election bid.
Hikind said while Paterson has made some mistakes, he continues to make tough decisions in what to do with a $6, $7 or $8 billion deficit. You have to either increase taxes or cut services, he said.
“I like his determination, I don’t know where it’s coming from,” said Hikind. “The governor actually called me on my cell phone a couple of days ago and he asked me point blank, ‘are you with me?’ and I said David as long as you’re running I’m with you.”
Hey Dov! Any idea who you’re backing now?
I bet this will be an excellent speech. Can anyone donate a round trip ticket to Heathrow so Shmarya can live blog?
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23809775-islamic-preacher-who-called-jews-filth-to-speak-at-kings-colleges.do
Islamic preacher who called Jews ‘filth’ to speak at London university
David Greenfield is Chicken Poop. He is suing an 18 year old kid because he dares to run against his machine for the Felder Council seat.
Greenfield is a Vito Lopez flunky and an empty suit. His ideas are meaningless, he is hated on the City Council who will cut him ZERO slack, and is not even endorsed by the mosdos he allegedly helped.
All sensible readers should see David Greenfield is another fascist with a beard. Vote for Joe Lazar who has worked within the system for 40 years helping the frum community, OR vote Jonathan Judge the Republican candidate.
Anyone is better than Fascist David Greenfield.
http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/02/jobs-bill-or-spending-bill
The Senate voted 70 to 28 yesterday in favor of what the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal news sections are both calling a "jobs bill" but which might perhaps more accurately be called a spending bill. Congress's antiquated Web site makes it hard to link to this data, but the Senate and House reports that go along with the bill both disclose staggering amounts of earmarks, spending directed by individual senators and members of Congress.
Chabad of Southern Nevada, which is a Lubavitcher hasidic group, will get $250,000 for a drug outreach program at the request of Senator Reid. Chabad houses in Los Gatos, Calif. ($200,000) and Tarzana, Calif. ($100,000) also will get federal anti-drug money, at the direction of Rep. Michael Honda and Rep. Bradley Sherman. Why not? All the religions are getting a piece of the action; $500,000 requested by Senator Mikulski of Maryland for Episcopal Community Services of Maryland to help ex-convicts into the workforce and $400,000 for Catholic Charities of New Orleans to expand its family services. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles will get $1 million for its "Tools for Tolerance" program at the request of Senator Shelby.
The police department in Larchmont, N.Y. will get $100,000 for a new communications system, requested by Rep. Nita Lowey, while the Bronx Zoo will get $1 million to spend on the Bronx River, requested by Rep. Jose Serrano. Philadelphia will get $250,000 for a Father's Day Rally at the request of Rep. Chaka Fattah.
Surely many of these programs are worthwhile, but how it creates jobs to borrow from the Chinese or from future generations of Americans, or to tax current American workers, and spend it on these programs that used to be locally or privately funded initiatives is beyond me. How the press can portray it as a job-creation bill or a jobs bill, as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal did in their headlines, is also beyond me. What I think I do understand is that the politicians approve these grants because then they get campaign contributions from the board members or lobbyists for these groups, or they get thanked in the group's newsletters, or they report the program or spending in their own newsletters to constituents, mailed at taxpayer expense using the franking privilege available to incumbents but not to challengers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/science/02cyber.html?hp
The Obama administration on Tuesday plans to declassify portions of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, created during the Bush administration as a secret effort to harness the nation’s defensive and offensive strategies for protecting commercial and government networks.
Could Maran Rav Belsky kindly explain why it is justified to fine Councilman Lawshe for the dog dreck?
Despite the yeshivish sounding name of Agudath Israel, West Orange is full of modern orthodox losers who moved out of Flatbush.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/movies/02suss.html
This original of this movie is highly recommended.
Allison Hoffman says that Tropper wanted to send men to fly to Houston to meet the shiksa according to what Shannon told another reporter at Tablet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/audio/2010/feb/12/religion-judaism
Jason is joined by the Jewish Chronicle's foreign editor, Miriam Shaviv and by documentary film-maker Tim Samuels.
We start with the scandal of the American ultra-Orthodox rabbi accused of offering conversions to Judaism in return for sexual favours. What are the repercussions for the rest of the Jewish world? And what impact might it have on Jews in Britain, still reeling from our own conversion crisis following the supreme court's ruling on the JFS case? Jason speaks to American journalist Allison Hoffman from Tablet Magazine.
First I played dirty with Satmar, the Vatican & Agudah to protect pedophiles, now I'm scared of a political challenger so I take him to court without a heter beis din like the big suck that I am.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/03/02/2010-03-02_teens_council_dream_faces_rivals_suit.html
A Brooklyn teen is hoping to become the City Council's youngest member ever - but the adults are fighting tooth and nail to keep him off the ballot.
Abraham Tischler, 18, is running for the Borough Park Council seat left vacant when Simcha Felder took a job with city Controller John Liu.
His platform is teen friendly - he wants to save free student MetroCards; but he also is vowing to fight to keep city firehouses open and crack down on bogus parking tickets.
The Touro College sophomore says his inexperience is actually a plus. So far, he has spent just $560 - for posters and flyers.
"I owe no one favors," he said.
Still, at least one of the adults running against him in the 44th Council District worried enough to take him to court.
David Greenfield, 31, the executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation, is suing Tischler and says the teen's petitions have forged and duplicated signatures.
Tischler insists there is nothing wrong with his petitions.
After all, his mom and dad helped him gather the 1,415 signatures he eventually submitted - nearly double the required 765. Anything that looked fishy, Tischler said, was tossed.
"They wouldn't knock me off if they didn't think I was a real challenge," Tischler said. "Let the people decide who they want to be their councilman."
Greenfield, a former chief of staff for Assemblyman Dov Hikind, has Mayor Bloomberg's backing and is one of the frontrunners. So is longtime community board lead Joe Lazar, who has Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's backing. But it's Greenfield, who has raised $131,000 for the race, who is pressing a lawsuit.
"We don't know anything about the guy," said his spokesman, Eric Kuo. The campaign is also concerned, he said, because Tischler isn't participating in the city campaign financing system.
"He could drop half a million dollars of family money in the campaign tomorrow," Kuo said.
Ridiculous, said the teen's dad, who has capped spending for his son's campaign at $1,000.
"David Greenfield, with all his money, with all his power, is trying to get an 18-year-old kid off the ballot because he's scared," said Harold Tischler, 46, a construction contractor.
"Give him a shot."
http://www.housingwatch.com/2010/02/17/the-coming-foreclosure-flood/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.housingwatch.com%2F2010%2F02%2F17%2Fthe-coming-foreclosure-flood%2F
The Coming Foreclosure Flood
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/02/firefighter-arrested-farmer-killed-cows
A firefighter has been arrested after a farmer was crushed to death by stampeding cows that may have been spooked by a fire engine's siren and flashing lights, it emerged today.
Harold Lee, of Robins Farm, in Burtle, near Bridgwater, Somerset, was fatally injured when he was trampled by his own herd last August.
His family have alleged the animals were distressed by the emergency lights and sounds of the fire engine that was heading to a nearby emergency.
Lee, who was 75, died in hospital five days after he was left with severe head and chest injuries.
Police launched an inquiry and after six months officers confirmed a 49-year old-man from Somerset has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by negligence. The unnamed man has been bailed until the end of this week.
Lee's son Andrew has alleged the accident could have been avoided had the fire crew waited for just a few minutes as the cows were safely herded off the road.
Matzav's belated Purim shpiel:
http://matzav.com/ignoring-the-gedolei-hador-and-being-praised
Somehow we have veered off from the incredibly distressing problem of child molestation in our community. How are we allowing "orthodox" people like Shimon Grama to repeatedly, year after year, get away with sexually abusing our children and emotionally scarring them for life. Because that is what child sexual abuse does....it scars a person so deeply and negatively effects almost all areas of their lives.
I am using the term child sexual abuse instead of molestation, because I feel like molestation softens what really happens to our children. And that's what society likes to do....soften the atrocities so it won't be so painful to hear. But, the truth is people like Shimon Grama touch our children in their most private areas and make our children touch them and G-d knows what else.
Society has a history of wanting to ignore child sexual abuse because it is too hard to accept that an adult would do such a thing to little, innocent children or to impressionable teenagers. This is usually done by looking the other way. We can't afford to continue looking the other way....our future as a community depends on not looking away. It's time to break the cycle of child sexual abuse!
Re the attack on Touro College by Rabbi Shubert at Matzav.com
R' Shmuel Bernebaum zl told me that a married yungerman who needs parnossa could go to college but not to a public college, only a Jewish college (ie Touro) or an X-tian one because the sevivah in a public college is prust. So Touro may not be perfect but it is not exactly the avi avos hatumah.
There is this book by Melissa Febos, it is a memoir by a former professional dominatrix in midtown Manhattan. In her book she writes that in her line of business some of the most frequent clients are Ultra Orthodox Jews and Hassidim.
http://www.amazon.com/Whip-Smart-Memoir-Melissa-Febos/dp/0312561024/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/world/asia/03hainan.html?hp
Banned Pesticide Sets Off New Chinese Food Scandal
Kal posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"3/2 UPDATE: TEAR DOWN THE WALL OF SILENCE. The trial of Rabbi Baruch Lebovitz starts tomorrow, Wed, March 3, 2010, at 10am in the Supreme Court Building, Criminal Division, 18th floor room 36, 320 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY, before Honorable Judge Patricia DiMango. We urge everyone to attend and show support to the victims and their families."
Mordechai represents the deep dark secret of Haman.
Mordechai who represents the ‘victim’ is the only person on the face of the Earth who knows about Haman’s murky past. He is the only one who stands in the way of his further climb on the ladder of power and fame. As long as Mordechai is alive and well, Haman the abuser is never safe. He cannot claim he is great, wonderful and honorable without being contested. As long as that one person is still alive and well, Haman’s plans for grandeur could be stifled at any minute. Mordechai must be silenced and must be silenced today!
Although Haman had hoped by discrediting and destroying the entire Jewish people, Mordechai would also be destroyed; he could not wait the eleven months, his evil mind would not let him rest.
This is the typical of the pedophile and of the abuser. When attempts at distracting attention from the crime by discrediting the family are not sufficient, the abuser becomes a caged animal who will stop at nothing to destroy his prey.
However, these efforts at destroying Mordechai were ultimately what led to the downfall of Haman; as on the exact tree which he prepared for Mordechai he was hung.
So too as well, last ditch attempts by abusers to destroy the credibility of the victims will be their undoing.
I recall the historic event we had at the Shul on Erev Yom Kippur when brave victims of abuse stood up and declared unabashedly: "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?"
6 Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman."(7:5, 6)-
After the event there were those who attempted to protect the abusers.
They called me and ‘reported’ to me how this victim is ‘unstable’ and that victim is ‘not normal’. However, as time has gone on, it has become clearer and clearer that everyone was indeed telling the truth and it was those who deny that such things are going on who were wrong.
These last ditch attempt by the abuser or by his cohorts to destroy the victim will ultimately be their own demise as it was with Haman.
At the end of the day, truth and tzedek, justice will reign.
Just as the Megillah ends on a happy note with Haman’s demise and Mordechai’s elevation, so too we daven that all abusers will be eliminated from our midst and the true victims will one day receive the recognition they truly deserve.
Congregation Ahavas Israel
181 Van Houten Ave.
Passaic, NJ 07055
973-777-5929
http://www.ahavasisrael.org
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/nyregion/03paterson.html?hp
Gov. David A. Paterson appeared at the Capitol late on Tuesday afternoon after a day of private meetings at the Executive Mansion in Albany and offered a terse “no” when asked if he felt any pressure to resign in the face of a widening scandal over his involvement in an abuse case involving an aide.
He ignored another question from a reporter as he and his staff ducked into a back stairway and walked upstairs.
The governor’s cameo came near the end of a day of high-pressure closed-door meetings between the governor and New York Democratic leaders at the Executive Mansion amid feverish speculation about whether, and for how long, Mr. Paterson should remain in his job.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Paterson, saying he was not feeling well, according to a Senate aide, canceled a budget meeting with legislative leaders from both parties amid new calls for his resignation. He called for a special meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday, though the purpose was not immediately clear.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senator John L. Sampson, the leader of the Senate’s Democratic majority, entered the mansion at 11:45 a.m. and emerged at about 1:20 p.m. As he drove slowly past a group of reporters, Mr. Silver said “the topic of resignation did not come up” and declared, “I do not feel that he should resign.”
Shea Fishman conferring with Obama's Uncle:
KAMPALA, Uganda — Torrential rain in eastern Uganda touched off a series of mudslides late Monday night, killing at least 83 people and causing devastation in villages, state emergency officials said.
Three landslides sent mounds of earth hurtling towards villages in the district of Bududa along the slopes of Mount Elgon near the Kenyan border, destroying houses and other buildings.
The local community council said that 320 people were missing, government relief officials said, and so the death toll was expected to rise.
BOSTON (AP) -- Once and possibly future Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says in a new book that President Barack Obama's international outreach efforts during his first year in office have been ''kindling'' to the ''anti-American fires burning all across the globe.''
In a wide-ranging policy book none-too-subtly titled ''No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,'' Romney says the Democrat's efforts to reconcile with foreign powers, Muslims and others angered by President George W. Bush's administration have weakened the country's stature instead of enhancing it.
''And of all people, we should expect our president to understand these things, to expect that his bonds of affection for our country would be obvious and unbreakable,'' writes Romney. ''In a world composed of nations that are filled with rage and hate for the United States, our president should proudly defend her rather than continually apologize for her.''
He writes: ''There are anti-American fires burning all across the globe; President Obama's words are like kindling to them.''
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/u-s-children-generation-snack/?hp
Parents are raising a generation of snackers — kids who eat almost constantly throughout the day as they graze on cookies, salty snacks and fruit drinks.
A sweeping study of 31,337 children and adolescents released on Tuesday tracked snacking and meal trends from 1977 through 2006 using data from four national surveys. On average, children reach for cookies, chips and other treats about three times a day, consuming nearly 600 daily calories from snacks. That’s an increase of 168 snack calories compared with what children ate in the late 1970s.
While these are averages, the findings showed that half of American children snack about four times a day. And some children appear to be eating almost constantly, consuming either snacks or meals as often as 10 times a day, said Barry M. Popkin, co-author of the study and director of nutrition epidemiology at the University of North Carolina.
“My underlying fear is that we’re moving away from being hungry and eating for satiation to just eating,” said Dr. Popkin. “Food is there, and we eat.”
Young children have shown the biggest increases in snacking, with 2- to 6-year-olds consuming on average an extra 182 calories a day in snacks compared with children in the late 1970s, according to the report, published in this month’s issue of Health Affairs.
Although daily snack calories have increased by 168, overall daily eating during the study period increased by only 113 calories. This suggests that snacking has eroded meal time and that children are taking in slightly fewer calories during breakfast, lunch and dinner, when more healthful foods are typically served, because of their intense snacking habits. Overall, snacking now accounts for about 27 percent of an average child’s total daily calories.
Desserts like cookies and cakes remain the main source of snacking.
Filed at 7:17 p.m. ET
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt is abruptly retiring effective Wednesday amid a domestic violence scandal threatening Gov. David Paterson.
Corbitt announced his retirement late Tuesday on Capital News 9 and didn't give a reason. He is the second law enforcment official claimed by the scandal.
There just something really attractive about strong Black women
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/nyregion/03naomi.html?hp
The supermodel Naomi Campbell, who has already pleaded guilty in the last three years to two assault charges, was reported to have hit her driver on Tuesday as he drove through Mid-town Manhattan. She then ran away after the driver pulled over, the police said.
The driver had a small bruise under his eye from hitting the steering wheel after Ms. Campbell hit him, the police said.
As of Tuesday evening, investigators had not yet located Ms. Campbell to question her about the midday incident, which occurred at the intersection of 58th Street and 2nd Avenue, the police said.
The police account of what occurred was similar to other notorious outbursts that Ms. Campbell has pleaded guilty to in New York and elsewhere.
In 2008, Ms. Campbell pleaded guilty in England to assaulting two police officers at Heathrow Airport. She was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and made to pay a $4,500 fine.
A year earlier, Ms. Campbell pleaded guilty in New York to reckless assault for hitting her maid in the head with a cellphone in 2006. She was sentenced to five days of community service and anger management classes.
On Tuesday, the police said the driver was taking Ms. Campbell to Astoria Studios when the incident occurred.
The driver approached a male traffic agent who then called police. The driver was taken to a local precinct for questioning and was treated there for the bruise under his eye.
You won't find this story anywhere on Matzav or YWN, but a terrible tragedy happened on Sunday night, Motzaei Purim. A 15 year old bochur from Bensonhurst, Michael Shemano passed away, apparently as a result of mixing alcohol with perscription medications.
The crime of allowing and encouraging teenagers to consume hard liquor is another form of child abuse. I read stories of parents who have been arrested in the State of NJ for serving hard liquor to minors at their homes. Yet, every Purim we see more and more of this chillul hashem taking place. The drinkers get younger and younger and the liquour gets stronger and stronger. Only Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky (through Rabbi Horowitz' radio program) and Rabbi Ovadya Yosef publicly spoke out this year against getting drunk on Purim. The other rabbis with their "nod nod, wink wink" attitude are encouragers and enablers. The teens try to emulate their rosh yeshivos and rebbes who themselves act like drunken fools.
The minhag of drinking on Purim has been perverted, just like the laws of pidyon shvuyim, mesira and loshon hora. THERE IS NO MITZVAH WHATSOEVER TO DRINK WHISKEY OR BEER ON PURIM, NOT ON THE NIGHT OF, DURING THE SEUDAH AND NOT AFTER! THERE IS NO MITZVAH TO DRINK AT ALL DURING THE NIGHT OF PURIM OR AFTER THE SEUDAH! The Minhag is for adults to drink some wine during the seudah. Ad D'lo Yada means that one should take a nap. Rav Ovadya stated that getting drunk is a "toeva"! Just like the deaths of Motty Borger and Shua Finkelstein were swept under the carpet, the rabbonim would prefer that Michael's death be similarly hushed up. After all, it is bad publicity for the charedi community.
What amazes me is that there is such an emphasis on separating ourselves from the goyishe society. Television, movies and internet are totally taboo for charedi teens. Any parent allowing his children to anywhere near such media risks being excommunicated. However, the real vices such as drinking and smoking are totally ignored. As a result, you will typically see black hatted bochurim, 14-16 years old smoking cigarettes and drinking hard liquor. Underage smoking and drinking is more CHUKOS HAGOYIM than tv, movies and internet. The children are putting this poison directly into their bodies! More and more are becoming addicted. How much longer can we remain silent? Unfortunately, our "leadership" is more concerned with protecting violent criminals and protesting lady rabbis, than protecting our youth. They have proven that time and again with their handling of the child sexual abuse plague. Unless there is more of a public outcry about this underage drinking phenomena, there will be more tragedies like Michael Shemano.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/02/1508998/obama-wants-to-give-homeowners.html
Republicans have criticized the administration's large stimulus spending last year. Part of that plan was a $5-billion project to weatherize and improve the efficiency of low-income homes. The Department of Energy's inspector general found that the work hadn't been done yet on almost 95 percent of the targeted homes, citing red tape and confusion over wage rates.
a. THERE IS NO MITZVAH WHATSOEVER TO DRINK WHISKEY OR BEER ON PURIM, NOT ON THE NIGHT OF, DURING THE SEUDAH AND NOT
=====================================
There are few places in the gemara (do not have mare'e makom right now) that Jewish Law was changed because everybody was drunk....
Dov Bear had the those sources on his blog
Sadly, David Greenfield is a lackey of Vito Lopez and the campaign to defend the church's child-molesting priests.
Zweibel and the Moetzes indicated that they would support the Markey bill and its unrestricted retroactive window had it been limited to certain individual molesters. Greenfield, just like sleazy Lopez, were against it no matter what. G-d forbid that a guilty low-life priest be prosecuted.
Greenfield, for this reason and others, like his legal treachery against the 18 year old kid Tischler, would be a disaster and embarrassment for Boro Park.
My sons, from two differnt yeshivos, came home with letters saying that it is a chiyuv to vote for Dovid Greenfield and that he has actually brought money directly to the yeshivos. There was a sign hanging in my shule, signed by my Ruv saying the same thing.
The “raid” is that the Agudah is only “appearing” to support the Hikind/Lazar team, because Hikind has threatened them with no more funding.
There are also signs up all over Boro Park, with a “mechaah” against Hikind as a mevaze rabonim and yeshivos on his show regarding the “molestation ” issue. He also many times criticized the AGUDAH and MOETZES regarding its stance on the Markey Bill.
Only some chasidishe groups have signed with Hikind/Lazar. (dehainu Belz and Ger); and thats because they’ve been promised big money for their POWER BROKERS (machers blaaz)
Bkitzur, Agudah and many chasidishe groups want an end to the "bizayon" talmidei chachomim and yeshivos on Hikind’s radio show. They want him OUT.
Ask around and you will see for yourself.
Eckstein has had had it in for the kid Avromi Tischler from the beginning and claims without evidence that Joe Lazar was also doing everything to do him in.
Eckstein claims tonight that Tischler has been officially kicked off the ballot. Let's hope his "sources" are full of crap.
If Greenfield's slimy efforts against the kid panned out, make sure to vote for the Republican Jonathan Judge.
http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1163-the-lion-in-winter.html
Many political enemies of Vito Lopez are named in this article.
Maybe JBAC and UOJ can get in touch with them.
Speaking of the Markey Bill, it's been entertaining to watch Shmarya and his former supporter named "Mr. Apikoros" going at each other's throats lately with back & forth insults. It all started over debating the fine points of the bill before escalating into something really ugly when they couldn't agree. Mr. Apikoros now refers to Shmarya as Shmuckya.
And speaking of Naomi Campbell, her spokesman should be fired for this gem that he told reporters:
“There shouldn’t be a rush to judgment,” said Jeff Raymond, a spokesman for Ms. Campbell. “Naomi will cooperate voluntarily, and there is more to the story than meets the eye.”
Jeff, you mean like how the victim has a black & blue shiner under his eye from being savagely struck?
Bill goes after sexual harassment by spiritual leaders
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3853982,00.html
MK Orlev, who initiated bill, says: From now on, rabbis will not be able to shirk their responsibility and maintain limitations on preventing sexual harassment.
WASHINGTON — Caught in a swirl of ethics inquiries, Representative Charles B. Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation, appeared to be losing his grip on his powerful post as chairman of the tax-policy-writing Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday night as Republicans planned to force a vote insisting that he step aside.
While the floor vote would not be binding on Mr. Rangel, a growing number of rank-and-file Democrats said they could not envision standing behind the embattled chairman given the likelihood that he would soon face further reprimands by the ethics committee, and Republican challengers would criticize such a vote in the fall elections.
Representative Debbie Halvorson, Democrat of Illinois, said in a statement Tuesday: “I believe it would be most appropriate for Mr. Rangel to step aside as chair of the Ways and Means Committee. The American people are facing enormous challenges, and Congress must be completely focused, without distraction, on the important work that remains to be done to continue creating jobs, fixing health care and turning our economy around.”
A senior Democrat on the committee said that he could not vote to support Mr. Rangel and had informed House leaders of his position. “I think it’s done,” this lawmaker said, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said he was worried about opening the floodgates to further criticism of Mr. Rangel.
Representative Artur Davis, Democrat of Alabama, on Tuesday became the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to call for Mr. Rangel to step down. Mr. Rangel is one of the most senior members of the caucus; Mr. Davis is running for governor of Alabama this year.
I don't know that there is any point in linking to Amazon and the book from the dominatrix. We all know that lowlife chassidishe go to zonos but linking it will cause a lot of people to read that filth.
Calling Charlie Rangel a "dean" of Congress is like calling Margo the Rosh Hayeshiva.
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