You know, I've devoted a lot of time to the the tragic crime of child sex-abuse in the Jewish community, and focused on the criminal and corrupt leadership who chose, and still choose, to bury these crimes under some God-forsaken religious doctrine called "daas Torah" -- nonsense that they invented to keep the truth from emerging on very serious topics, and to protect their criminal activities!
Well, another cause has presented itself to me, one affecting not only the Jewish community, but the entire country and perhaps the well-being of civilization itself.
I know and love the above author Alvan Shane as a brother, I trust his judgment and intellect, and I am proud to present to the world his new book. He never wrote a book before, but he is outraged as to what's happening to our country.
His book just arrived, self-published, and you can buy it now. The book's focal point is the event that almost took our country down on September 11, 2001. But his embellishments and descriptions of what's been happening to America during the past dozen years or so, is an eye-opener. I don't know how he was able to squeeze so much information into a relatively small book. He uses an economy of words, says exactly what he thinks -- UOJ style!
I read a lot of books, too many that are a waste of my time. Some bestsellers keep me scratching my head, asking myself -- who can read this stupidity?
Al and I go back a long way. We discuss and debate many things. At times, we agree to disagree, and save it for another day. Even when he's "absolutely wrong", his opinions and intellect gives me reason to doubt, for a fleeting moment, whether I'm really the smartest guy I know. (UOJ sense of humor)
Enough already, he'll be angry at all the praise, especially from a man like me, who thinks almost everyone I meet is an idiot! (UOJ sense of humor)
You need to all read this book, hear his arguments, grasp his tremendously insightful concepts! You owe it to yourselves to read controversial, educated opinions. The book is written beautifully, you'll be glad you made this small purchase.
Go to:libertywept.org
The book retails at amazon.com for $19.95 plus shipping, handling and packaging, but going to libertywept.org and putting in the promo code {XYK09UOJ}, you're able to purchase it for only $15.95 for a very limited time - free shipping and handling in the U.S.A. (plus tax in California only).
Most important, Al and his dear wife Barbara, created a non-profit organization called F.A.C.T., all proceeds from this book will go to this entity, to be used in an ongoing effort to investigate all suspect acts that are disguised as truths, by the U.S. government. Your purchase is tax-deductible. Now go order his book on-line at:libertywept.org
UOJ
Moron Horav Belsky wants to know if there is a bigger discount with promo code "Hazmana EG".
ReplyDeleteMay 13 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose to a record for the second consecutive month in April as banks increased efforts to seize homes from delinquent borrowers.
ReplyDeleteA total of 342,038 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, California, said today in a statement. One in 374 households got a filing, the highest monthly rate since the property data service began issuing such reports in 2005.
“What you’re seeing is the inevitable result of severe job losses,” Nicolas Retsinas, director of housing studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “Until we stem the job losses, we can expect to see continuing foreclosures.”
Unemployment is hampering the housing market as property prices fall. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century, the Labor Department said May 9. Home prices fell the most on record in the first quarter to a median $169,000 amid sales of foreclosure properties, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.
Foreclosure filings jumped 32 percent from the year-earlier period, RealtyTrac said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/nyregion/13marriage.html
ReplyDeleteALBANY — The State Assembly approved legislation on Tuesday night that would make New York the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage — a pivotal vote that shifts the debate to the State Senate, where gay rights advocates and conservative groups alike are redoubling their efforts.
In a sign of how opinion in Albany has shifted on the issue, several members of the Assembly who voted against the measure in 2007 voted in favor of it on Tuesday.
The final vote was 89 to 52, including the backing of five Republicans.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/12/bn12yaffe113438/?metro&zIndex=98063
ReplyDeleteSAN DIEGO — A man accused of paying a baby sitter to let him molest children under the baby sitter's care is being deported from Brazil to San Diego to face local and federal charges, officials said Tuesday.
Jared Yaffe, 30, was charged with multiple felony counts, including state charges of child sexual assault and kidnapping and federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Yaffe had been under investigation by San Diego police, who served a search warrant for his home on India Street in October, according to a complaint filed in the San Diego federal court.
On Oct. 27, he boarded a flight from North Carolina to Frankfurt, Germany, according to the complaint.
Yaffe quit his job and completed an exit interview on Oct. 24, according to court documents. Co-workers told authorities that Yaffe left because he had gotten into some trouble and would be in the state of Georgia, staying with his parents, according to the complaint.
Checks on Yaffe showed that he flew to Frankfurt. He later made his way to Romania. Federal authorities said they don't know why or how long he was there.
Yaffe departed for Brazil in late March.
Federal authorities said they believe Yaffe fled to the South American country because “he knew there was no formal extradition treaty” between the two countries, said Edgar Moreno, assistant director for domestic operations for the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service. That would make it difficult for federal authorities to seek his return to the United States.
Moreno said officials also feared that Yaffe chose Brazil to potentially commit more crimes on other children.
Yaffe entered Brazil on a tourist visa from Romania on March 21.
U.S. State Department agents in Rio de Janeiro received a tip in April that Yaffe was living in the area. The agents worked with Brazilian federal police and obtained Yaffe's home address and phone number.
Brazilian police, acting on behalf of U.S. agents, staked out his home for about two weeks.
Moreno said Yaffe applied for the equivalent of a U.S. Social Security card in Brazil. In doing so, Yaffe tried to change his visa status and broke immigration laws, Moreno said.
On Friday, a Brazilian judge issued an order of arrest and deportation for Yaffe after determining that he was in the country illegally. He was taken into custody Monday and is expected to arrive in California on Tuesday.
In February, San Diego prosecutors charged Yaffe with 17 counts and said he could be sent to prison for more than 100 years to life if convicted.
Police began investigating Yaffe after receiving a tip about the baby sitter's activities. Officials said they believe the crimes occurred last year in Santee and El Cajon.
A search of Yaffe's home computer and cell phone turned up numerous photographs of children involved in sex acts, a prosecutor has said.
The baby sitter, 24-year-old Aaron Zendejas, has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, including kidnapping for oral copulation and lewd acts upon a child involving a 3-year-old boy.
If convicted, Zendejas could be sent to prison for 42 years to life.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=6802369
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK (WABC) -- Mom and pop small business owners who say they were ripped off in a nationwide credit card processing scam have won a major legal victory.
A decision here in New York could affect hundreds of thousands of small business owners all over the country. They are people who signed up for credit card processing machines through a Manhattan corporation. Now a judge has authorized a class action lawsuit over alleged overcharging.
Ever since we first reported on complaints against Northern Leasing Systems, also known as MBF leasing, we've received constant phone calls and emails from other small business owners from all around the country, asking why is nothing being done to stop these people?
Hard to believe a simple credit card processing machine could lead to allegations of a complicated financial web of deceit.
Story continues belowAdvertisement
"They ripped me off is basically what they did," Michael Arnold said.
Arnold and his partners run a banner aerial advertising business, and he'd love to fly a message about Northern Leasing systems.
"Absolute fraud" is how he described it.
Arnold says he signed a one-page agreement with Northern Leasing Systems for a credit card processing machine he returned and later got several more pages of a non-cancellable lease he'd supposedly initialed.
"Someone forged my signature," Arnold said.
He says Northern Leasing, claiming he was responsible for leasing the machine, debited his bank account monthly. He put a stop to that, and then came the relentless phone calls to the office.
"Every 5 to 10 minutes, non stop, even on the weekends," Nick Mendoza said.
The worse part for small business owner Arnold is what happened to his credit.
"They wrecked my credit," he said.
For two years, We've heard Arnold's complaints echoed by small business people throughout the country.
"This is definitely criminal. If anything was ever criminal this is criminal," Linda Cohen said.
To a small tour bus operator in Washington D.C.
We discovered that Northern Leasing and its partner company MBF leasing had filed thousands of lawsuits against small business owners for defaulting on ironclad leases.
Now the legal tables are turned. A New York State Supreme Court judge has ruled a lawsuit can go forward as a breach of contract class action against Northern Leasing, headquartered in Midtown. The judge said Northern Leasing must notify everyone who has signed a lease since 1999 that they may have been overcharged. We're talking at least 300,000 people.
Class Action lawyer Krishnan Chittur says there could be a lot of money at stake for alleged victims.
"You're talking $18 million dollars a year and it's been going for 10 years so you're talking about $180 million a year," Chittur said.
For now, the class action lawsuit names Northern Leasing, but Chittur plans a separate suit on behalf of MBF clients like Kostas Gagasoules, who owns a small fur and storage salon on Long Island.
The pattern, he says, was identical.
"I think they're crooks," Gagsoules said.
Northern Leasing and its related companies have 3 floors of a Midtown office building, including a large equipment processing room. We were told there was no one in management to speak with us.
"I didn't know they were in this racquet for so many years, and I don't understand why they haven't been shut down yet," Arnold wondered.
Northern Leasing declined an interview, but said it prides itself on fairness and plans to appeal the judge's decision on the class action. The firm believes in this case, the complaints about its business practices are unjustified and the judge's decision was in error.
From the L. A. Times
ReplyDelete1. 40 % of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people)are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card .
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally .
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
JWB says:
ReplyDeleteJust another Ohel whitewash.
The answer is still simple:
A. Make clergy and social workers mandated reporters.
B. Report all abuse to the police immediately.
Ohel won't take either of these critical positions to save our children. Ohel protects the abusers and their protectors.
1) http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c53_a15727/Editorial__Opinion/Letter.html
Letter To The Editor
by David Mandel CEO
Dear Gary,
While OHEL welcomes many of the important issues raised in Hella Winston's article, we do take issue with certain omissions, for example, OHEL addressing the Passaic community at the invitation of Rabbis and community leaders during the timeframe reported, as well as other matters of context. Nevertheless, we believe this article can help in the most important mission we all share - protecting children from the scourge of sexual abuse.
All the best, David
2)http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a15781/News/New_York.html
Ohel Calls For ‘Collective Action’ On Pedophile Problem
by Staff Report
In the first public comment by the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services after the publication of an article that raised questions about the responsibility of social service agencies to report sex offenders to the authorities, the organization is calling for “collective action” from the Orthodox community.
But exactly what that action would entail is not described.
The statement, published as a full-page advertisement on page 11, comes a week after The Jewish Week reported on the case of Stefan Colmer, 32, a former yeshiva student awaiting charges of sodomizing two teenage boys after dropping out of an Ohel program for sex offenders (“A Suspected Pedophile Falls Through The System,” May 8).
The Jewish Week story noted that Ohel did nothing illegal in not notifying the community about Colmer after he left the program. It focused on the complex religious and social issues involved in efforts to police sex offenders inside the Orthodox community.
While some urge victims and/or their families to call the authorities in the case of abuse, Ohel takes a more circumspect position.
The full-page statement asserted that “we need to strive towards a new dawn, where a parent believes that identifying and pursuing charges is not only the right thing to do, but finds a community that is unanimously supportive of such a resolve...”
Asked to elaborate, David Mandel, the CEO of the group, stopped short of saying that families should go to the police. He said that on hearing of an alleged abuse, “we explain to people what all their options are, therapeutically and legally.”
He noted the sensitivities involved, citing data that in more than 80 percent of child abuse cases, the victim knows the offender. “We’ve always spoken of the need to respond to the child, getting evaluation and, if necessary, treatment,” Mandel said.
Psychologist Michael Salamon said he “soundly applauded the statement,” adding: “But in order to achieve this, reporting [notifying the police] is required.”
The statement also said that “Ohel would welcome expanded mandatory reporting laws” that would require certain individuals to alert the authorities about sex offenders.
Asked who such expanded mandatory reporting laws should be applied to — rabbis? Ohel social workers? —Mandel said he had nothing to add.
JWB says:
ReplyDeleteClayton dermatologist charged with sexual abuse
By Patrick M. O'Connell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/12/2009
CLAYTON -- A Clayton dermatologist was charged today with felony sodomy for alleged acts with two girls between the ages of 13 and 15, Clayton police said.
Jerome M. Aronberg, 65, of Clayton, who has an office on North Meramec Avenue, is accused of committing the sexual abuse over the last several years, Clayton police Capt. Kevin Murphy said.
Jerome Aronberg Photo:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/0/60f2fd2d36ad01ad862575b40072f2a1/$FILE/STG26613/STG26613.gif?OpenElement
None of the alleged acts occurred at Aronberg's Clayton office, Murphy said, and the two girls are not patients.
Police have no evidence to suggest Aronberg committed crimes at his office during his duties as a dermatologist, but investigators are urging families and patients of Aronberg to contact them if they have had any "questionable" contact with him.
Aronberg was arrested Monday and charged today with one count of first-degree statutory sodomy and three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. He is being held at the St. Louis County jail on $1 million bond.
Anyone with information about Aronberg should call Clayton police detective Jeff Brinkley at 314-290-8417.
Police did not say if the two girls are family members of Aronberg or comment on where the alleged acts took place, other than to say they did not take place at his office.
Investigators first were informed about the sexual abuse allegations against the dermatologist last week.
According to his Web site, ZitDoctor.com, Aronberg has been in private practice at his office at 141 N. Meramec Avenue in Clayton since 1976.
He is a graduate of Washington University, and completed his dermatology residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where he served as chief resident in his final year.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/13/us/politics/AP-US-Pentagon-Abuse-Photos.html
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) -- In a surprise reversal, the White House says President Barack Obama is now fighting the release of photos showing alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan because he believes their release poses a national security threat.
Several sources told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the circumstances, that President Obama had received a warning call from UOJ at 9 pm last night and then spent the next 6 hours ill in the bathroom.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/inspector-general-assails-director-of-ethics-panel/?hp
ReplyDeleteMay 13, 2009, 11:29 am
Inspector General Assails Director of Ethics Panel
By Danny Hakim
The director of the state’s top ethics oversight panel violated state law by leaking details about an investigation into former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration to one of Mr. Spitzer’s aides, according to a blistering report released on Wednesday by State Inspector General Joseph Fisch.
The report accuses Herbert Teitelbaum, the executive director of the State Commission on Public Integrity, of repeated leaks over several months during the commission’s investigation into the Spitzer administration’s handling of the travel records of the longtime State Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, a scandal known in Albany as Troopergate.
The report also criticized the commission itself for failing to investigate the leaks, even after being presented with evidence by the Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares.
Mr. Fisch, whose investigation has been going on several months, calls for the firing of Mr. Teitelbaum in the report. Among other things, Mr. Teitelbaum is said to have told Robert Hermann, a close friend in the Spitzer administration, about the testimony of one of Mr. Spitzer’s former aides, Darren Dopp, and about the commission’s concerns that Mr. Dopp had been coerced by other Spitzer administration officials into issuing a false statement.
He also is said to have told Mr. Hermann about the commission’s referral of a potential perjury case against Mr. Dopp to the Albany County district attorney. Commission investigations are supposed to be confidential, and various state laws protect that confidentiality and bar state officials from disseminating confidential information.
Mr. Fisch was equally harsh in his assessment of Robert Hermann, who once served as an aide to Governor Spitzer and now works for Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, noting in his 174-page report that “Hermann violated the public trust” and would have been recommended for firing “were he still so employed.”
“Herbert Teitelbaum and Robert Hermann betrayed the public trust,” Mr. Fisch said in a statement. “It is disturbing that while investigating leaks by the governor’s office of confidential information, the commission’s executive director committed a similar offense by leaking confidential information. In addition, despite receiving evidence of the executive director’s misdeeds, the commission inexcusably failed on several occasions to investigate these serious allegations against Mr. Teitelbaum.”
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_12351304
ReplyDelete3M gets frugal ... and fewer show up
Minus all the freebies, shareholders meeting is the smallest ever
By John Welbes
jwelbes@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 05/12/2009 11:10:29 PM CDT
Take away the free lunch, gift bag and on-site company store from the 3M annual shareholders' meeting, and what do you get?
About a 70 percent drop in attendance at the Maplewood manufacturer's signature event.
Obsession with Naked Women Dates Back 35,000 Years
ReplyDeleteAssociated Fressers –
livescience.com – Wed May 13, 1:21 pm ET
If human culture seems obsessed with sex lately, it's nothing new. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known artistic representation of a woman - a carved ivory statue of a naked female, dating from 35,000 years ago.
The figurine, unearthed in September 2008 in Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany, may be the oldest known example of figurative art, meaning art that is supposed to represent and resemble a real person, animal or object. The discovery could help scientists understand the origins of art and the advent of symbolic thinking, including complicated language.
"If there's one conclusion you want to draw from this, it's that an obsession with sex goes back at least 35,000 years," University of Cambridge anthropologist Paul Mellars told LiveScience. He was not involved in the new finding. "But if humans hadn't been largely obsessed with sex they wouldn't have survived for the first 2 million years. None of this is at all surprising."
You actually subscribe to this "conspiracy" drivel?? You also believe that it was the U.S. Government and the Mossad that was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Give me a break! What is it that your smoking? I want some!!
ReplyDeleteOf course I DO NOT believe in THE conspiracy theories as you outline; I DO believe the entire story has yet to be told!
ReplyDeleteUOJ, I bought the book b/c it is the first book to my recolection that you actually told us to buy, it better be good.
ReplyDeleteFrom Matzav !!
ReplyDeleteHappy days are are here again !!!
The Agudah and their Vantzen are "going down" !!
Sources: The Jewish Observer Set to Close
Wednesday May 13, 2009 5:31 PM - One Comment
jewish-observerSources report that The Jewish Observer will be shutting down its operation after over four decades of publishing. Published by Agudas Yisroel of America, the magazine has struggled in recent years, with dwindling readership and increasing costs. Published since 1963, it was printed nine months a year; the January and February issues were combined, and there were no issues in July or August. The magazine’s website contains PDF copies of portions of some previous issues dating back to 2002.
The Jewish Observer was founded by Dr. Ernst L. Bodenheimer and Rabbi Moshe Sherer. For the last many year, it was been led by its esteemed editor, Rabbi Nisson Wolpin.
Its editorial board members were Rabbi Joseph Elias, Rabbi Abba Brudny, Reb Yoseph Friedenson, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kirzner, Rabbi Nosson Shcerman and Professor Aaron Twerski.
Sources say that a consensus was reached by the Agudah, led by the Rosh Agudas Yisroel, Rav Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, that the time has come to close the magazine.
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscente
good riddance to that porn magazine!!!
ReplyDeleteLets hope and pray that more of their projects fail and then ultimatly the entire organization of cowards and scum are buried forever, AMEN.
There is only one thing that should be done at a Demo at the Agudah dinner. And that's to sing:
ReplyDeleteNah,Nah,Nah,Nah Nah,Nah,Nah,Nah - Hey Hey HEY Good BYE !!!!!
"Nah,Nah,Nah,Nah Nah,Nah,Nah,Nah"
ReplyDeleteSounds like a Breslover niggun.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/paterson-calls-on-ethics-panel-to-resign/?hp
ReplyDeleteGov. David A. Paterson called on every member of the state’s public integrity commission to resign on Wednesday in the wake of a damaging report about the commission’s handling of an investigation into his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/streaker-at-mets-game-could-face-a-year-in-jail/
ReplyDeleteA man who jumped naked onto the field of the Mets-Braves on Tuesday night, and now says he did so on a bet with his boss, faces up to a year in jail and civil penalties of up to $5,000, the Queens district attorney announced Wednesday.
The man, Craig Coakley, 38, of Whitestone, Queens, was arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in Queens Criminal Court on charges of third-degree criminal trespass and interference with a professional sporting event. A court date was set for June 11. An order of protection was issued, barring him from Citi Field.
Mr. Coakley was in a field-level seat around 8 p.m. Thursday when he suddenly removed his clothes, placing a stuffed monkey around his waist and jumped onto the field during the fifth inning. He was promptly escorted off the field.
After his arrest, he reportedly told the police that he “didn’t think I was gonna get in so much trouble.” Mr. Coakley, who works at Tri-County Plumbing in Floral Park, Queens, told the police: “It was a bet. My boss said he would pay me a week’s worth of salary if I did it and my lawyer told me it’s only a misdemeanor.”
The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said his office and the Mets had “zero tolerance” for streakers. “As the defendant sadly learned yesterday, one ‘streak’ equals three strikes and you’re out — out of the ballpark and on your way to the courthouse to face arraignment on criminal charges,” Mr. Brown said.
In 2003, the City Council specifically made interfering with a professional sporting event a crime, after the fashion designer Calvin Klein stepped out onto the basketball court at Madison Square Garden earlier that year to speak with the player Latrell Sprewell during a Knicks game was in progress.
In 2004, John McCarthy, 38, of Clifton, N.J., was the first person charged under the law, after he he ran onto the field during a Mets game at Shea Stadium carrying a sign that read “Howard Stern: Here’s Johnny.” Mr. McCarthy pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight weekends in jail, fined $2,000 and ordered to serve three years’ probation.
why sing just place a sheet of paper on each table saying aguda ohel and torah umesora
ReplyDeletewhats your liablility limit hope you paid your premium
if you didnt im sure youll need to fire shafran to give a child who was harmed ( according to shafran jews dont do those things ) the money
I'm seeking the person who contacted me a while back who went to Hi-Rock Yeshiva.
ReplyDeletea_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com
"How much jail time if Belsky relieves himself? said..."
ReplyDeleteI am against public urination of any kind (unless Moron Horav Belsky deems it necessary as a means of providing a creative heter for the OU)
I'm seeking the person who contacted me a while back who went to Hi-Rock Yeshiva.
ReplyDeletea_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com
UOJ:
You mean ASHAR in Monsey. No one on staff is from the Hi-Rock days.
The person I'm trying to reconnect with is a former classmate of Shalom Auslander - the author, and lives/lived in Monsey, New York...and wrote a headline post on UOJ a while back.
ReplyDeleteI hope the public doesn't call these Ohel supporters to fire me and stop child abuse cover ups. But not that it will accomplish much anyway since many of them are my fresser friends from the 5 Towns.
ReplyDeletehttps://secure.ohelfamily.org/index.php?option=com_facileforms&Itemid=719
Marc Herskowitz, President
Infinity Land Services LLC
Ben Englander
Izzy Kaufman
Jonathan Marks
Jeffrey Schwartz
Michelle Sulzberger
Michael Alon
Ira Balsam
Michael Berger
Rabbi Hershel Billet
Steven Brody
Ben Chesir
Danny Englander
Sol Englander
Donny Frenkel
Jeremy Garber
Norman B. Gildin
Elliot Gluck
Aaron Goldberg
Ricky Goldschmidt
Cliff Goldstein
Rabbi Kenneth Hain
Danny Hiller
Lance Hirt
Jason Kanefsky
Gary Kaufman
Avi Lauer
Reuben Levine
Steven Myers
David Ottensoser
Moishe Rosenberg
Zalmie Rosenberg
Eyal Rosenthal
Shawn Rosenthal
Eric Rothman
Daniel Samson
Marvin Schnee
Michael Schreiber
Larry Schusterman
David Segal
Brian Sigman
Paula Simmonds
Shmuel Soffer
Scott Sulzberger
Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum
Rabbi Kalman Topp
Darryn Weinstein
Herman Weiss
http://www.ohelfamily.org/docs/ohel_the_respect_program.pdf
ReplyDeleteHere is David Mandel pretending to tackle child sex abuse together with Aron Twerski, R' Shmuel Kaminetzky, R' Dovid Cohen, R' Tzvi Hersh Weinreb and Shea Fishman of all people.
I can't believe the audacity of the quotes here!
Why didn't he get Margo on board while he was at it?
http://www.ohelfamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=441&Itemid=340
ReplyDeletePlease help!
http://www.ohelfamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=438&Itemid=651
ReplyDeleteExecutive Board Members
Elisheva Diamond
Elly Kramer
Elie and Awi Salomon
Liz & Alan Mitrani
Lisa & Marc Mandelbaum
Chumie & Kevin Rosenberg
Awi Salomon
Genna Singer
Board Members
Yaffa & Jonathan Field
Pamela Gelman
Marc & Chani Goldmann
Yoni Greenstein
Stephen Gruber
Adira Hulkower
Elisa Iteld
Lisa Kahn
Avi Levison
Efraim Levy
Joey Nussbaum
Yitzchok & Tamar Rosenthal
Lisa Safdieh
Yaakov Shafran
Benci & Leah Sobel
Elana & Daniel Torczyner
Yonina & Steve Wind
Elana & Yaakov Zachter
http://www.ohelfamily.org/pdf/ohel_outlook_summer09.pdf
ReplyDeleteComplain to all the politicians pictured here supporting Ohel about Ohel's child sex abuse cover ups.
His Jewish Star newspaper can't print Avi Shafran's columns anymore because the paper exposes child sex abuse. Only Larry Gordon's 5 Towns Jewish Times can syndicate Avi Shafran's ridiculous columns because they don't discuss sex abuse cover ups in their pages.
ReplyDeletehttp://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/publishers-note-the-price-you-pay/
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The price you pay
By Mayer Fertig, Publisher and Editor in Chief The Jewish Star
As you might well imagine, one of the more, let’s say challenging, aspects of publishing a frum newspaper that actually covers the news involves navigating the treacherous shoals of discontent from people who would be ever so much happier if discussions of uncomfortable matters never appeared in print.
It’s a balancing act we’re used to dealing with, admittedly with varying degrees of success. The Orthodox world we cover is a diverse, fractious place. Most of us would describe the spectrum of frumkeit as running from right to left (or left to right, depending on where you stand) with the extreme left describing the far reaches of Modern Orthodoxy and the extreme right describing the far reaches of the Yeshiva (some say Charedi) world.
To digress for a moment, it’s worth pointing out that outside of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, a Jewish newspaper that covers only Orthodoxy is economically impossible. It was tried and failed in Baltimore, where the sizable Yeshiva community detests the Baltimore Jewish Times, particularly for its uncovering of sexual abuse (more on that journalistic landmine in a moment). Across the country Jewish papers tend to be, if not outright secular, then ecumenical in nature, covering the goings on of all the local Jews.
So Orthodox communities around here are fortunate to enjoy a number of publications that cater to them; a couple of them even cover the news. One thing is fairly consistent, though: most are aimed at the yeshivish/charedi world exclusively and tailor their coverage to suit. That means a number of subjects are deemed not suitable for (much) public discussion.
The Jewish Star approaches the world from a different standpoint: the center. Moderation, we believe, extreme neither to the left nor to the right, offers the most opportunity for all members of the frum community to enjoy what the paper has to offer. In practice, the location of the center is sometimes open to discussion; certainly those on the far right or left, at different times or even simultaneously, have deemed the paper completely off the reservation. This is unavoidable and nothing we lose sleep over, though admittedly it has almost certainly cost us some advertisers — which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Principle does not come without cost.
This week, I am proud to tell you, principle cost us a columnist.
When I began the job nearly three years ago of refocusing The Jewish Star as a newspaper offering real news to the Orthodox community, one of the founding elements I inherited from my predecessors was “The Right Angle,” a syndicated weekly column authored by Rabbi Avi Shafran.
To his critics, and there are a couple of them out there, Rabbi Shafran is controversial but, who isn’t? I consider him a friend and someone I believe writes from a well of deep sincerity. His day job is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and presumably he is on the clock when he writes. However, the column is syndicated separately and Agudah has tended to not claim ownership, so as to make him deniable. Think “Mission: Impossible” where agents were warned that if they were to be killed or captured, “the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”
A number of readers, who mistakenly perceive The Jewish Star as purely a “Modern Orthodox” newspaper, rather than one writing about the entire Orthodox community from a place in the center of it, have criticized the column’s continuation. In my judgment, however, it has been a useful, often very eloquent part of what The Jewish Star has to offer — and dealing with criticism is part of my job.
Last week Agudah claimed ownership of the column and, unfortunately, indicated that perhaps it doesn’t handle criticism too well, either from within, or from elsewhere. I was informed that at the insistence of unnamed local constituents of Agudath Israel, Agudah would henceforth grant exclusive rights to Rabbi Shafran’s column to the other local Orthodox paper, which I gather they deem to be more pliable and eager to please.
I’ve been on the receiving end of a fair amount of comment about stories we covered recently in The Jewish Star that were either not covered elsewhere at all, or were not covered in other Orthodox papers and it’s not hard to connect the dots: this is primarily about our coverage of the incremental steps toward public acknowledgment that sexual abuse is an actual, honest to goodness problem in our world.
We’ll miss “The Right Angle,” as I suspect Rabbi Shafran will miss being published side by side with columnists who don’t pay for their slot. But, as I said, principle comes at a cost, and the cost runs both ways. While his exit will not leave a physical hole on this page, Rabbi Shafran certainly has left his mark on the newspaper for the better, and for that he has our thanks.
Due to the machlokes caused by some of the articles and opinions, many Agudah members impressed on the Novominsker shlit”a that JO is Yatza Secharo Behefsaido.
ReplyDeleteThe Moetzes realizes that the Zweibel/Shafran/Horowitz clown show will only further damage the position of the frum oilam. They understand that the "Big 3" put all the onus of Agudah policy on their backs, BUT REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THEM. They are honorary Jewish leaders while the "Big 3" call the shots.
A number of the Moetzes rabbonim are furious with the flurry of public statements made by Agudah. The Gay marriage flip-flop-flip Shafran and Horowitz did. They say they were NOT SHOWN ANY statement regarding Markey. The JO flip-flop Shafran saying one thing and Zweibel saying the other.
Agudah is a huge Chillul Hashem. Some Moetzes members are planning on resigning from this circus.
Come on Mayer Fertig,
ReplyDeleteDo you really think Shafran has been "sincere"? Now that the bum is off your pages, you don't have to go through the sickening ritual of singing praises he doesn't deserve.
May 14 (Reuters) - A meltdown of West Antarctica's ice sheet would raise sea levels by half as much as previously expected, but the impact would still be catastrophic, especially for US coastal cities, ...
ReplyDeleteTo: Yanky Horowitz, Avi Shafran, and Chaim Dovid Zweibel
ReplyDeleteWe haven't seen a press release in about 24 hours. The Assemblymembers and Senators need something to laugh about at the water cooler.
Their primary concern right now is this: Is Agudath Israel Pro or Anti Gay? You guys are so mixed up yourselves, how do you think the politicians think about this.
They are looking forward to the free publicity and accolades you give them, as they enjoy the dinner of the "organization synonomous with integrity and responsibility". They will be listening carefully.
HINT: DROP YOUR OPPOSITION TO MARKEY.
Don't say you weren't warned. Continued opposition will lead to far more drastic measures affecting the "Vital community institutions". You still have approximately 72 hours to decide.
The future of the Orthodox Jewish institutions, and communal life as we know it now IS IN YOUR HANDS.
Please, check your pride at the door, and do the right thing.
(P.S.) Mr. Shafran if you would bother enough to read your e-mails, and return phone calls you could have saved your organization much heartache.
"Please, check your pride at the door"
ReplyDeleteDu meinst as in gay pride?
After BILLIONS of taxpayers dollars to bail out auto companies "TOO BIG TO FAIL" we have now come full circle and the two automakers that took bailout money "HAVE FAILED". With this, many jobs will be lost due to consolidation of plants and dealerships along with the elimination of brands. And now Chrysler will close yet another plant (that makes motors) and move even more jobs to Mexico and I'm betting GM will do the same. How long do you think it will take Fiat and General Motors to import more of it's cars along with making Chryslers over seas and shipping them into the United State thus closing more American plants and costing more American jobs?
ReplyDeleteAnd now for the complicated part nobody has yet addressed. The remaining UAW workers that have survived the deep job cuts for now are faced with their union that owns 55 % of Chrysler and will probably end up with a large percentage of GM. How can a UAW auto worker feel good about negotiating a contract through their union when the union owns part of the company. Do you think the UAW will give up monies for wages and benefits when it will have a direct outcome on the bottom line of the companies they now have ownership in?
And if you're a Ford employee (and since Ford didn't take bailout money) how do you get treated equally? You are asking your union to get you a better wage at contract time, yet the same union has a financial interest in two of the three companies they represent. I see a conflict of interest here and a lot of problems down the road.
Don't be ridiculous. No one besides Margo thinks that they are G-d.
ReplyDeleteUOJ, REGARDING YOUR POST OF RABBI UNION, THE RCC NOW STANDS FOR Rabbinic Corruption in California; however after seeing your post you can argue that they are called Rabbinic Coverup in California!
ReplyDeletehttp://news.aol.com/article/prison-escapee-caught/481217
ReplyDelete27 Years After Escape, Fugitive Is Caught
http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/rubashkin-pdf.pdf
ReplyDeleteScroll down for the full article on Rubashkin.
I'm going to stick with Avi Shafran and keep screaming anti-Semitism and Rorschach everyone time Rubashkin is made to pay for his crimes. We'll tow the Agudah line of covering up chilul Hashem with more chilul Hashem.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/6-insurers-to-get-billions-in-government-money/?hp
ReplyDeleteSix major insurance companies have received preliminary approval to get billions of dollars in fresh capital as part of the government’s financial rescue program, a Treasury Department spokesman confirmed Thursday night, The New York Times’s Eric Dash and Diana B. Henriques report.
The department said the Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential Financial, Lincoln National, Allstate, Ameriprise and the Principal Financial Group have all received approval for capital infusions, subject to terms still to be negotiated.
General Motors will send letters to nearly 1,000 dealers today notifying that their franchise agreements will not be renewed when they expire in October 2010, say unnamed sources. The "underperformers" are to receive the letters Friday, which will outline the dealerships’ deficiencies. Chrysler also will tell up to 1,000 of its 3,189 U.S. dealers that it is terminating their franchise agreements.
ReplyDeleteSecurities and Exchange Commission staff have recommended that former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo face civil securities fraud charges.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC has sent Mr. Mozilo a Wells Notice -- a document alerting its recipient that he will likely face SEC charges. The Journal says, "The potential charges include alleged violations of insider-trading laws as well as failing to disclose material information to shareholders, according to one person familiar with the matter."
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/05/rich-jew-threatens-poor-blogger-with-big-lawsuit.html
ReplyDeleteYou have to read the comments section to fully grasp what's going on.
Never a dull moment with scam artist Tropper and his associates!
I just spoke to a gadol. He was unavare of what it meant to molest boys forty years ago. He also knew that homosexuals can sense who would be receptive and therefore it was less reprehensible that molesting a non receptive child.
ReplyDelete"The Worst Is Yet to Come": If You're Not Petrified, You're Not Paying Attention
ReplyDeletePosted May 15, 2009 09:31am EDT
The green shoots story took a bit of hit this week between data on April retail sales, weekly jobless claims and foreclosures. But the whole concept of the economy finding its footing was "preposterous" to begin with, says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates.
"We're in a complete mess and the consumer is smart enough to know it," says Davidowitz, whose firm does consulting for the retail industry. "If the consumer isn't petrified, he or she is a damn fool."
Davidowitz, who is nothing if not opinionated (and colorful), paints a very grim picture: "The worst is yet to come with consumers and banks," he says. "This country is going into a 10-year decline. Living standards will never be the same."
This outlook is based on the following main points:
•With the unemployment rate rising into double digits - and that's not counting the millions of "underemployed" Americans - consumers are hitting the breaks, which is having a huge impact, given consumer spending accounts for about 70% of economic activity.
•Rising unemployment and the $8 trillion negative wealth effect of housing mean more Americans will default on not just mortgages but student loans and auto loans and credit card debt.
•More consumer loan defaults will hit banks, which are also threatened by what Davidowitz calls a "depression" in commercial real estate, noting the recent bankruptcy of General Growth Properties and distressed sales by Developers Diversified and other REITs.
As for all the hullabaloo about the stress tests, he says they were a sham and part of a "con game to get private money to finance these institutions because [Treasury] can't get more money from Congress. It's the ‘greater fool' theory."
"We're now in Barack Obama's world where money goes into the most inefficient parts of the economy and we're bailing everyone out," says Daviowitz, who opposes bailouts for financials and automakers alike. "The bailout money is in the sewer and gone."
Time for the ROTO ROOTER GUY to act!
The governor would slash $3 billion from schools, lay off 5,000 workers and sell state property, even if voters approve ballot measures next week.
ReplyDeleteBy Michael Rothfeld
May 15, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a pair of financial disaster plans Thursday, proposing to address the state's budget crisis by slicing up to seven days off the public school year, releasing thousands of inmates from prison and packing others into county jails, cutting off healthcare to more than 200,000 children and drilling for oil off the Santa Barbara coast.
The governor presented lawmakers with two alternative budgets. The first was grim, addressing a $15.4-billion deficit that finance officials say the state will face even if voters approve a set of ballot measures in Tuesday's special election.
Taliban "shaving beards" to flee Swat: army
ReplyDeleteKOTA, Pakistan (Reuters) –
Taliban fighters are shaving off their beards and trying to flee from a Pakistani army offensive in their Swat bastion, the military said on Friday, as it relaxed a curfew to allow civilians to get out.
Obama names Dr. Thomas Frieden as director of CDC
ReplyDeleteMay 15, 2009
President Barack Obama today named Dr. Thomas Frieden, currently commissioner of the New York City Health Department, to serve as director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Rich Besser, who has served as an unusually high-profile acting CDC director throughout weeks of government response to the emergence of a new strain of flu, will stay to run the Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, which he has overseen for four years, the White House said today.
"America relies on a strong public health system, and the work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is critical to our mission to preserve and protect the health and safety of our citizens,'' Obama said in a statement issued this morning.
Calling Frieden "an expert in preparedness and response to health emergencies,'' the president said that the New York health commissioner "has been at the forefront of the fight against heart disease, cancer and obesity, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS, and in the establishment of electronic health records'' as well as a "leader'' care in health reform.
"His experiences confronting public health challenges in our country and abroad will be essential in this new role,'' Obama said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the president also praised Besser for his handling of the H1N1 flu, which in several weeks has spread from 20 known cases inside the United States to today's CDC-reported count of 4,298 confirmed or probable cases in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Three deaths in the U.S. also have been attributed to the disease.
Frieden will start in June, the White House said.
Frieden has run one of the nation's largest public health agencies, in New York, since January 2002. The White House credits him with leading efforts to reduce smoking, increase cancer screening and combat AIDS.
Frieden had served at the CDC from 1990 to 2002. In the early 1990s, as an Epidemiologic Intelligence Service Officer, he investigated issues such as a spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis, according to the White House.
He holds medical and public health from Columbia University and completed infectious disease training at Yale University and has written more than 200 scientific articles.
mdsilva@tribune.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/15ingredients.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteMay 15, 2009
Increasingly, Food Companies Cannot Guarantee Safety
By MICHAEL MOSS
The frozen pot pies that sickened an estimated 15,000 people with salmonella in 2007 left federal inspectors mystified. At first they suspected the turkey. Then they considered the peas, carrots and potatoes.
Threatened with a federal shutdown, the pie maker, ConAgra Foods, began spot-checking the vegetables for pathogens, but could not find the culprit. It also tried cooking the vegetables at high temperatures, a strategy the industry calls a “kill step,” to wipe out any lingering microbes. But the vegetables turned to mush in the process.
So ConAgra — which sold more than 100 million pot pies last year under its popular Banquet label — decided to make the consumer responsible for the kill step. The “food safety” instructions and four-step diagram on the 69-cent pies offer this guidance: “Internal temperature needs to reach 165° F as measured by a food thermometer in several spots.”
Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients. In this case, ConAgra could not pinpoint which of the more than 25 ingredients in its pies was carrying salmonella. Other companies do not even know who is supplying their ingredients, let alone if those suppliers are screening the items for microbes and other potential dangers, interviews and documents show.
Yet the supply chain for ingredients in processed foods — from flavorings to flour to fruits and vegetables — is becoming more complex and global as the drive to keep food costs down intensifies. As a result, almost every element, not just red meat and poultry, is now a potential carrier of pathogens, government and industry officials concede.
In addition to ConAgra, other food giants like Nestlé and the Blackstone Group, a New York firm that acquired the Swanson and Hungry-Man brands two years ago, concede that they cannot ensure the safety of items — from frozen vegetables to pizzas — and that they are shifting the burden to the consumer. General Mills, which recalled about five million frozen pizzas in 2007 after an E. coli outbreak, now advises consumers to avoid microwaves and cook only with conventional ovens. ConAgra has also added food safety instructions to its other frozen meals, including the Healthy Choice brand.
Peanuts were considered unlikely culprits for pathogens until earlier this year when a processing plant in Georgia was blamed for salmonella poisoning that is estimated to have killed nine people and sickened 27,000. Now, white pepper is being blamed for dozens of salmonella illnesses on the West Coast, where a widening recall includes other spices and six tons of frozen egg rolls.
The problem is particularly acute with frozen foods, in which unwitting consumers who buy these products for their convenience mistakenly think that their cooking is a matter of taste and not safety.
Federal regulators have pushed companies to beef up their cooking instructions with the detailed “food safety” guides. But the response has been varied, as a review of packaging showed. Some manufacturers fail to list explicit instructions; others include abbreviated guidelines on the side of their boxes in tiny print. A Hungry-Man pot pie asks consumers to ensure that the pie reaches a temperature that is 11 degrees short of the government-established threshold for killing pathogens. Questioned about the discrepancy, Blackstone acknowledged it was using an older industry standard that it would rectify when it printed new cartons. Government food safety officials also point to efforts by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, a nonprofit group founded by the Clinton administration. But the partnership consists of a two-person staff and an annual budget of $300,000. Its director, Shelley Feist, said she has wanted to start a campaign to advise consumers about frozen foods, but lacks the money.
Estimating the risk to consumers is difficult. The industry says that it is acting with an abundance of caution, and that big outbreaks of food-borne illness are rare. At the same time, a vast majority of the estimated 76 million cases of food-borne illness every year go unreported or are not traced to the source.
Some food safety experts say they do not think the solution should rest with the consumer. Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said companies like ConAgra were asking too much. “I do not believe that it is fair to put this responsibility on the back of the consumer, when there is substantial confusion about what it means to prepare that product,” Dr. Osterholm said.
And the ingredient chain for frozen and other processed foods is poised to get more convoluted, industry insiders say. While the global market for ingredients is projected to reach $34 billion next year, the pressure to keep food prices down in a recession is forcing food companies to look for ways to cut costs.
Ensuring the safety of ingredients has been further complicated as food companies subcontract processing work to save money: smaller companies prepare flavor mixes and dough that a big manufacturer then assembles. “There is talk of having passports for ingredients,” said Jamie Rice, the marketing director of RTS Resource, a research firm based in England. “At each stage they are signed off on for quality and safety. That would help companies, if there is a scare, in tracing back.”
But government efforts to impose tougher trace-back requirements for ingredients have met with resistance from food industry groups including the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which complained to the Food and Drug Administration: “This information is not reasonably needed and it is often not practical or possible to provide it.”
Now, in the wake of polls that show food poisoning incidents are shaking shopper confidence, the group is re-evaluating its position. A new industry guide produced by the group urges companies to test for salmonella and cites recent outbreaks from cereal, children’s snacks and other dry foods that companies have mistakenly considered immune to pathogens.
Research on raw ingredients, the guide notes, has found salmonella in 0.14 percent to 1.3 percent of the wheat flour sampled, and up to 8 percent of the raw spices tested.
ConAgra’s pot pie outbreak began on Feb. 20, 2007, and by the time it trailed off nine months later 401 cases of salmonella infection had been identified in 41 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates that for every reported case, an additional 38 are not detected or reported.
It took until June 2007 for health officials to discover the illnesses were connected, and in October they traced the salmonella to Banquet pot pies made at ConAgra’s plant in Marshall, Mo.
While investigators who went to the plant were never able to pinpoint the salmonella source, inspectors for the United States Department of Agriculture focused on the vegetables, a federal inspection document shows.
ConAgra had not been requiring its suppliers to test the vegetables for pathogens, even though some were being shipped from Latin America. Nor was ConAgra conducting its own pathogen tests.
The company says the outbreak and management changes prompted it to undertake a broad range of safety initiatives, including testing for microbes in all of the pie ingredients. ConAgra said it was also trying to apply the kill step to as many ingredients as possible, but had not yet found a way to accomplish it without making the pies “unpalatable.”
Its Banquet pies now have some of the most graphic food safety instructions, complete with a depiction of a thermometer piercing the crust.
Pressed to say whether the meals are safe to eat if consumers disregard the instructions or make an error, Stephanie Childs, a company spokeswoman, said, “Our goal is to provide the consumer with as safe a product as possible, and we are doing everything within our ability to provide a safe product to them.”
“We are always improving food safety,” Ms. Childs said. “This is a long ongoing process.”
The U.S.D.A. said it required companies to show that their cooking instructions, when properly followed, would kill any pathogens. ConAgra says it has done such testing to validate its instructions.
But attempts by The New York Times to follow the directions on several brands of frozen meals, including ConAgra’s Banquet pot pies, failed to achieve the required 165-degree temperature. Some spots in the pies heated to only 140 degrees even as parts of the crust were burnt.
A ConAgra consumer hotline operator said the claims by microwave-oven manufacturers about their wattage power could not be trusted, and that any pies not heated enough should not be eaten. “We definitely want it to reach that 165-degree temperature,” she said. “It’s a safety issue.” In 2007, the U.S.D.A.’s inspection of the ConAgra plant in Missouri found company records that showed some of ConAgra’s own testing of its directions failed to achieve “an adequate lethality” in several products, including its Chicken Fried Beef Steak dinner. Even 18 minutes in a large conventional oven brought the pudding in a Kid Cuisine Chicken Breast Nuggets meal to only 142 degrees, the federal agency found.
Besides improving its own cooking directions, ConAgra says it has alerted other frozen food manufacturers to the food safety issues.
But in the absence of meaningful federal rules, other frozen-dinner makers that face the same problem with their ingredients are taking varied steps, some less rigorous. Jim Seiple, a food safety official with the Blackstone unit that makes Swanson and Hungry-Man pot pies, said the company tested for pathogens, but only after preliminary tests for bacteria that were considered indicators of pathogens — a method that ConAgra abandoned after its salmonella outbreak.
The pot pie instructions have built-in margins of error, Mr. Seiple said, and the risk to consumers depended on “how badly they followed our directions.”
Some frozen food companies are taking different approaches to pathogens. Amy’s Kitchen, a California company that specializes in natural frozen foods, says it precooks its ingredients to kill any potential pathogens before its pot pies and other products leave the factory.
Using a bacteriological testing laboratory, The Times checked several pot pies made by Amy’s and the three leading brands, and while none contained salmonella or E. coli, one pie each of two brands — Banquet, and the Stouffer’s brand made by Nestlé — had significant levels of T. coliform.
These bacteria are common in many foods and are not considered harmful. But their presence in these products include raw ingredients and leave open “a potential for contamination,” said Harvey Klein, the director of Garden State Laboratories in New Jersey.
A Nestlé spokeswoman said the company enhanced its food safety instructions in the wake of ConAgra’s salmonella outbreak.
ConAgra’s episode has raised its visibility among poisoning victims like Ryan Warren, a 25-year-old law school student in Washington. He has settled a claim against ConAgra brought by a Seattle lawyer, Bill Marler, on behalf of his daughter Zoë, who had just turned 1 year old when she was fed a pot pie that he says put her in the hospital for a terrifying weekend of high fever and racing pulse.
“You don’t assume these dangers to be right in your freezer,” said Mr. Warren, who does not own a food thermometer and was not certain his microwave oven met the minimum 1100-wattage requirement in the new pot pie instructions. “I do think that consumers bear responsibility to reasonably look out for their well-being, but the entire reason for this product to exist is for its convenience.”
Public health officials who interviewed the Warrens and other victims of the pot-pie contamination found that fewer than one in three knew the wattage of their microwave ovens, according to the CDC report on the outbreak. The report notes, however, that nearly one in four of the victims reported cooking their pies in conventional ovens.
For more than a decade, the U.S.D.A. has also sought to encourage consumers to use food thermometers. But the agency’s statistics on how many Americans do so are discouraging. According to its Web site, not quite half the population has one, and only 3 percent use it when cooking high-risk foods like hamburgers. No data was available on how many people use thermometers on pot pies.
here is an idea for the aguda dinner
ReplyDeletereplace all the chairs with shiva stools to mourn the death of what they were created to do which was work for the betterment of jewish children and stregthen torah
the novaminsker can then get up from shiva totestify in court about how wonderful drug dealers are
uoj we need to talk yk
North Shore-Long Island Jewish was also sued this week by the Federal trustee in the Bernie Madoff case because they received millions of dollars from someone involved in the fraud.
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK -- A suburban New York City hospital is reinstating a brain surgeon who was suspended for failing to show up for surgery on a patient under anesthesia on the operating table.
Dr. Paolo Bolognese (PAH'-lo boh-loh-NAY'-zee) will be back next week at North Shore University Hospital after a four-week suspension.
His former boss Dr. Thomas Milhorat (MIL'-ur-at) retired as chairman of neurosurgery last week after he was suspended for refusing to fill in for Bolognese. Milhorat had refused to do the surgery because the woman was not his patient.
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System spokesman Terry Lynam tells the Daily News that Bolognese has the full support of the hospital administration.
The state Health Department is investigating the incident.
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/rabbi_max_not_to_appeal/12348
ReplyDeleteMax update
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_133071948.html
ReplyDelete$185K theft trial begins
By Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item
SUNBURY — A sketchy paper trail led the treasurer of Congregation Beth-El to question invoices submitted by a Freeburg man on trial for bilking the synagogue out of an estimated $185,000.
David Jacobson, of Lewisburg, testified Tuesday in Northumberland County Court that after Shelly Kolbert was entrusted to serve as project manager for the $2.1 million construction of the new synagogue, Jacobson discovered that no one had made any effort to verify how Kolbert was spending the congregation’s money.
Jacobson was the first witness in Kolbert’s trial on three counts each of theft by deception and failure to make proper disposition of funds.
Questions about how much is missing from the congregation’s accounts have lingered. Original estimates in police documents suggested $126,000 disappeared after Kolbert became project manager in 2005. In a civil suit, the congregation alleged $484,000 was misappropriated.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Ann Targonski told the jury that Kolbert billed the synagogue project for work done on his Freeburg home.
In addition, he billed for work he said was performed by contractors, but then failed to pay them, Targonski said.
Kolbert’s defense attorney, Michael Groulx, of Williamsport, told the jury Kolbert had been “volunteered” to manage the projects by his employer, Weis Markets.
Former Weis CEO Norman Rich and Jonathan Weis, vice chairman and secretary, are members of Congregation Beth-El. Kolbert was trusted by Rich and Weis and worked on the renovations of the rabbi’s residence and supervised the demolition of the old synagogue.
Groulx said Kolbert purchased tools and materials for both projects and also paid contractors for work they performed, in order to keep costs down.
Jacobson testified when he became treasurer, he found that his predecessor had never questioned invoices sent by Kolbert. Kolbert would e-mail invoices for work on the residence and the synagogue on Thursday and checks would be drawn on Friday.
“As far as I knew, we were all volunteers,” Jacobson said. “A volunteer shouldn’t have been getting money.”
When Jacobson began to examine the synagogue’s books, he found there was originally about $800,000 in the capital account but only about $150,000 was left.
He was told Kolbert had “pre-bought” construction materials, but he could find no documentation of the purchases. Jacobson said he began to ask questions and no one in authority in the congregation could provide answers. He also began to receive calls from vendors and contractors who had not been paid.
At one point, Jacobson was told Kolbert was paying contractors cash to save the congregation money. The unanswered questions “made me feel uneasy,” he said.
When he examined the check register, he found that Kolbert had received checks totaling approximately $185,000.
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/05/15/the-stimulus-not-only-seeing-dead-people-but-sending-them-check/
ReplyDeleteMamash insane
I'm not letting comments through on the personal travails of Sholom Rubashkin.
ReplyDeleteThe community and personal tragedies in the Agriprocessors story is something I want to stay away from, at least for now.
My heart goes out to all the innocent people destroyed by this Shakesperian-like tragedy.
"Right Hook" Concert Schor and "Shaitel' Schecter are next.
ReplyDeleteIsrael - Kashrut Supervisor Fired after Demanding Dummy Modesty
Published on: Yesterday at 07:43 AM
News Source: IsraelNN
"Tiberias, Israel - The Mayor of Tiberias (Tverya) has ordered the suspension of Rabbi Refael Cohen, Head of Kashrut Department in the Religious Council, after Cohen issued a directive to clothing shops to cover “naked” mannequins in their shopfront windows.
Cohen distributed a letter to numerous clothing shops in Tiberias, instructing them to remove photographs of scantily clad models and dress the unclothed mannequins on display in their front windows as well, (as was reported here on VIN News).
Cohen said that by promoting immodesty, these stores hurt religious residents’ feelings and also “cause great sorrow to the tzaddikim [righteous holy people – ed.] who are buried in the city.”
Cohen threatened to publish a list of stores that insist on immodest displays, and said that shopping in such stores would cause “irreversible damage” to residents of Tiberias. "Modest" mannequins are all right, he explained, “But there are mannequins that are really revolting, mannequins in bathing suits that damage our souls."
He added that "obscene photographs" showing models in swimsuits or underwear "elicit sorrow among the passers-by on the road."
But when Tiberias Mayor Zohar Oved got wind of the matter, he spoke with the Head of the Religious Council, Yaakov Sheetrit, and called for Cohen to be suspended.
“I deplore Rabbi Cohen’s strange actions, which upset the delicate balance between the city’s different sectors,” Oved said. “Tiberias is an international tourist city,” he added, “and as such it contains tourist zones which operate peacefully alongside neighborhoods with a religious character.”
“The bond between religious and secular in the city is a close one and I will not allow a rabbi acting as he pleases and with no support, to upset it,” he declared.
The mayor got his wish, and Cohen was suspended.
The Tiberias Municipality termed Cohen’s recent statements and actions, which include a demand for greater adherence to kashrut in the city’s businesses, as “unilateral actions that do not have the backing of the Religious Council.”
Cohen aroused controversy a few months ago, and even received alleged death threats, when he called for a boycott of the Big Shopping Center because it is open on Saturdays."
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/news/ny-nyflu1712775674may16,0,1698027.story
ReplyDeleteSwine flu at Rikers prompts call for closure
BY KEITH HERBERT | keith.herbert@newsday.com
10:13 PM EDT, May 16, 2009
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
ReplyDeleteWashington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A Securities and Exchange Commission official attempted "to intimidate and influence" a family member's broker on multiple occasions by invoking her position, potentially violating agency rules, according to the agency's inspector general.
The allegation, detailed in a report reviewed by The Washington Post, is one of several that have raised questions about the internal conduct of some SEC employees at a time when the regulator is trying to counter accusations that it failed to effectively police Wall Street.
Another investigation found that some of the agency's enforcement lawyers may have traded the stocks of Citigroup, United Health Group and other firms around the time the agency opened investigations into the companies.
The inquiries come as the SEC is trying to lift its image out of a morass created by its failure to stop Bernard L. Madoff's massive fraud or prevent the collapse of major Wall Street banks the agency regulated.
In the case of the SEC official who acted on her mother's behalf, investigators said the official, deputy secretary Florence Harmon, allegedly yelled at a Morgan Stanley broker over a disagreement and told him of her position at the agency. She later told a bank executive that he "should have Googled her name before he spoke with her," according to the report.
The broker told investigators she was trying to "bully him" and informed higher-ups at his firm. The inspector general, who didn't name Harmon but listed her position, referred the administrator for disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. Her name was confirmed by an official. She continues to hold her post.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the case and said Harmon was unavailable. Attempts to reach her at home and at the office were not successful.
For months, a top federal lawmaker and the SEC's internal watchdog have been questioning whether the agency can adequately address possible violations of rules by employees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us/17blunders.html?em=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteWhen the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.
Initially, things looked good with the flushing and the swishing. That is, until the ceiling collapsed in the room below the new (leaky) toilet. Rushing to get supplies for a repair, Ms. Taddei clipped a pole in her garage. It ripped the bumper off her car, and later, several shelves holding flower pots and garden tools collapsed over her head.
“It just kept getting worse,” Ms. Taddei said, ruefully describing what came out to be a $3,000, three-day renovation at her suburban Minneapolis home
I think Shafran is losing his grip on reality.
ReplyDeleteBecause "Watchmen" the movie sounded so interesting after he seemed to be capitalizing on it's public recognition, I decided to see it.
The Rorschach character in the movie sports a torn, shmattah yeshivishe trench coat and an old dusty hat.
Didn't Shafran realize this will open himself up to even more ridicule?
The Agudath Israel 87th Dinner.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful way of implementing the Final Solution for Jews in America.
Only Jews can come up with such a good solution.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/25/opinion/25whipple.190.jpg
ReplyDeleteThe Agudah hired me to give out toilet paper at the dinner tonight since everyone is so scared of what UOJ has up his sleeve for them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/nyregion/18luggage.html
ReplyDeleteI told you Capt. Sullenberger was a rasha. He couldn't even crash land the plane without getting people's luggage wet. At least Bernie Madoff left people with their wardrobes.
http://www.cleanseats.com/toilet_seats/view/about.html
ReplyDeleteHe wants to be machshir any toilet product that might prevent yeshivos from getting a service call from the Roto Rooter guy, UOJ.
http://buildsitepro.com/product.asp?id=44411&gclid=CP6W3JvixJoCFQNfFQodLlCDqA
ReplyDeleteThis is Maran Harav Belsky's favorite toilet accessory. It's meant to ward off UOJ completely!