After Borough Park newlywed Motty Borger killed himself in November, a newspaper report - citing an unnamed source - claimed the 24-year-old man had said he was molested by Lebovits.
"Totally not true," said the groom's dad, Shmuel Borger.
"When a Hasidic man gets indicted, he will lose the case. That's how the system is. They want to make an example out of [Lebovits] to the community. That's what they did," Borger said.
Lebovits has hordes of supporters. Court hearings are packed with men who support him. Lebovits, a cantor at Borough Park's Munkatch synagogue, sang at upstate Jewish concerts, where he gained a large fan base among religious men.
"Anybody who is going through pain and suffering should be supported," said Mordechai Mandelbaum, 57, founder of the kosher soup kitchen nonprofit Masbia and a familiar fixture in the courtroom during Lebovits' trial in March.
"The allegations didn't seem to hold water. And I don't trust the secular court is the place to find justice," Mandelbaum said.
"They are rallying behind Lebovits because their feeling is this problem should be dealt in religious court, not secular court," said defense attorney Israel Fried, who represents many Hasidim, including Dascalowitz.
Lebovits' family has put their faith in the secular courts in at least one area - they are hoping he wins an appeal of his conviction. The family "hopes the truth will come out in the justice system," said Lebovits' 42-year-old son, Chaim.
This is not true of Hungary, however. Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, for instance, a former policeman and now a billionaire, is rumoured to have been involved in all kind of crime, from tax evasion to very advantageous business of his security agency
A former Lindquist & Vennum partner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to embezzling about $2 million from the firm and clients, and using a big chunk of the money to renovate his St. Paul, Minn., home. Click here for an earlier post on the lawyer, Michael Margulies; here for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune article on his plea.
Margulies was fired from Lindquist & Vennum after an investigation found that he’d been stealing clients’ money through a fake business. The firm later found that he had also submitted false expense reports for dinners.
In his plea agreement, Margulies admitted that from 1994 to this year, he stole the money through fraudulent expense reports and invoices, as well as forged checks.
Margulies faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He had practiced as a real-estate lawyer for 32 years
According to the Star-Tribune story, home (and theft) is where Margulies’s home was. He primarily used the money for extensive renovations at a historic brick mansion in St. Paul that he shared with his wife until their divorce last year.
An attorney for Margulies, Joseph Friedberg, declined to comment.
A private investigation firm has been hired to review the death of a wealthy Brooklyn investor who plunged from the terrace of his posh Essex House condo.
The medical examiner has ruled the June 9 death of Solomon Obstfeld a suicide.
NYPD detectives have yet to close the case, although they have not found anything that contradicts that conclusion.
But some of Obstfeld's friends are not convinced.
They say the father of five was involved with a host of shady business partners - including one caught in a bribery scandal involving former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"The people who hired us do not believe it was a suicide, but what they really want are answers to why this happened," said Tom Ruskin of CMP Protective and Investigative Group.
Ruskin declined to comment on whether he was hired by Obstfeld's family or by one of the businessman's close friends.
"People who commit suicide, even those really depressed, leave a note, make a will, think of the family they leave behind and take care of them," Ruskin said.
Obstfeld was entangled in a series of murky business deals, including ties with billionaire Martin Schlaff. Israeli police recommended this week that Schlaff be indicted for bribing Sharon.
Schlaff was one of hundreds who turned out for Obstfeld's funeral, sources said.
A highly religious Bobover Hasidic Jew, Obstfeld left no note or will before he plummeted from his 19th-floor condo, sources said.
All that was left behind was the 55-year-old's glasses, Ruskin said.
A family friend who identified Obstfeld's remains told investigators his watch was smashed and frozen at about 6:35 p.m., or about 15 minutes after what employees said was Obstfeld's last known phone conversation, an unremarkable business chat, Ruskin said.
Obstefled's body was discovered when kitchen workers at Essex House's posh South Gate restaurant looked out and saw a body.
The city's medical examiner's office inspected the body, but an autopsy was not performed because of religious objections. Obstfeld's family told others he died of a heart attack.
He had recently put his three luxury Essex House apartments up for sale for a combined $6.5 million, and investigators were looking into friends' concerns that he was juggling money troubles.
Are they still going ahead with their 50th anniversary party hosted by Speaker Christie Quinn in the City Council chambers?
Christie Quinn, who is openly gay, has been pushing for toyeva "marriage" in NY City and NY State.
http://www.forward.com/articles/6159/
(Current Queens Vaad executive director) Rabbi Chaim Schwartz, (previously) executive director of Agudath Israel of New England and a member of the Coalition for Marriage, strongly condemned the JCRC’s endorsement and claimed that the Boston Orthodox community was largely opposed to the newly adopted resolution. The Aguda is not a member of the JCRC.
“The Torah response is not what they have supported,” Schwartz said, referring to what he described as the biblical ban on same-sex relationships. “It pains me greatly to have to speak about this in public, but once this group comes out in support of gay marriages, I don’t want people to get the impression that Judaism condones this behavior.”
Av Beis Din Rav Avraham Dov Levine announced on Tuesday morning that the arbitration agreement signed with Yoav Lalum is null and void, explaining that the rabbonim shlita unfortunately fell prey to Yoav Lalum, and they are now aware the beis din was manipulated by him to advance his agenda and to satisfy his needs regarding the media.
On Sunday, YWN-ISRAEL reported that Lalum signed an arbitration agreement with the Yerushalayim Beis Din, giving the beis din total authority to adjudicate matters. Lalum’s responsibilities included withdrawing all High Court petitions within three hours of signing the document. On Monday at 11:00am, the beis din came to the realization that Lalum has no intentions of doing any such thing, but he abused the beis din by taking cynical advantage of it, using the arbitration agreement to feed the media.
According to R’ Yossi Deutsch, Lalum is simply a “liar and he cannot be trusted”. Deutsch explains that Lalum is a family man and has to support his children, questioning why no one seems to ponder just where he receives the funding to continue living and filing High Court petitions, not to mention the funds required for the attorneys and courtroom proceedings.
The beis din today (Monday, June 21, 2010) released a sharply-worded letter condemning Lalum, canceling a planned session of the rabbinical court set for today. Deutsch told Kol Chareidi that “Lalum simply has no regard for halacha or for the rabbonim. The beis din now understands that Lalum is not a man of his word, and he manipulated the beis din to advance his agenda”.
One day every month, from sunrise to sunset, members of Ta’anit Tzedek—Jewish Fast for Gaza, a self described “ad-hoc” initiative of over 100 rabbis and other faith leaders from all over the U.S., go on a political diet. They fast, refraining from eating or drinking anything except water, to raise awareness about Israel’s blockade of Gaza, a blockade they consider unjust.
“As Jews and people of conscience, we can no longer stand idly by Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” says a message on fastforgaza.net, the group’s website.
Local rabbinical supporters of Jewish Fast for Gaza include Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles and Rabbi Steven Jacobs, rabbi emeritus of Temple Kol Tikvah in the San Fernando Valley.
The group fasts on the third Thursday of each month, and so the group’s members fasted today on Thursday, June 17. The first fast took place almost one year ago, on July 16, 2009.
Following the Israeli navy’s recent deadly raid of the Mavi Marmara, Rabbi Brant Rosen, the Illinois-based project coordinator at Jewish Fast for Gaza, criticized Israel’s handling of the flotilla and the country’s maritime blockade of Gaza.
We “call upon the government of Israel to turn away from the policies of occupation, siege and indifference to international law,” Rosen wrote in a blog post on the group’s site.
Don't forget Bayside's neighboring Mokom Sholom cemetery. The cemetery removed headstones in the 60s and tried to rebury on used land in the 70s but kept hitting bones (ask the NYS cemetery commission for the Perry Fisher report.) In the 90s, with the blessing of Rabbi Elchonon Zohn, David Jacobsen continued removing headstones and wanted to add another six feet of dirt and rebury again but he was caught by Moshe Handler and two others. Zohn then traveled to Israel to try to convince R' Eliyashiv shlit"a that there was no remains buried there. When Rav Eliyashiv ruled that the stones must be replaced, they are assur bihana'ah, and no second layer of bodies could be buried, R' Zohn said he didn't have to listen to R' Eliyashiv because as an Israeli posek R' Eliyashiv has no authority in America.
More recently a communications company built an antenna on the site of the old office building and pays trustee, David Jacobsen more than $1600 a month rental for the space. The money should go towards restoring the cemetery (I think $1600 should be enough to get all the grass mowed.) The Vaad Harabonim of Queens makes over a million dollars a years for taharas. That's three and and half times more then they make on hashgochas. Rabbi Zohn makes 102K as "burial director".
Information is from VHQ 2007 IRS 990 form on guidestar.org.
The judge has released the sentencing memorandum a day before she sentences Rubashkin to 27 years.
The prosecution had asked for 25 years but he got an extra 2 years for perjuring himself on the stand when the govt had evidence he was lying and for destroying evidence and having witnesses intimidated.
The judge did not allow a downward variance for rachmonus reasons as has happened in other cases due to Rubashkin's lack of remorse ie complete denial and refusal to make compensation.
This is a very sad day because Rubashkin himself, the hashgochos and the Agudah could have avoided all this by heeding the many warnings over the years. Nathan Lewin also shares some blame imo with an arrogant strategy that blew up in his face. I also believe that all the assifos and complaining to the Justice Dept only made the judge angry. (There are also rumors that heimishe lunatics were making threatening phone calls to the court like they did to Florida's Gov. in the Grossman case)
The memorandum outlines how Rubashkin trucking records were forged in an elaborate way to defraud the banks & IRS.
The hashgochos should keep this in mind when they continue to certify Rubashkin's South American meat. How are they able to monitor shipments through paperwork only when this family has a history of forging records?
IMO, once you get involved in auditing you just create a new power group whose word as auditors is gospel. It's self defeating.
What I think we should do is refuse to give to any Yeshiva that does not have complete transparency. Yes, that means nobody will be able to give b'tzin'uh anymore. But that is a good thing. You get to know who has influence with the Yeshiva administration.
Otherwise nobody would ever think of going after someone like tropper. He's just so CUTE! You wanna SHQUEEZE him!
Office of Inspector General Administrative Sanctions
OIG excludes from participation in Federal health care programs individuals who fail to repay HHS‐secured educational loans and investigates specific allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse affecting public health and human services programs. These investigations are often complex and can include allegations of misuse or theft of grant funds, conflict of interest, and kickbacks. The following sections provide descriptions and data related to these efforts.
Each of the following individuals entered into a settlement agreement to repay the amount indicated:
The armada of 10 US warships plus an Israeli and German battle vessel each, which transited the Suez Canal Friday, June 18, has reached the Persian Gulf, debkafile's military sources report.
Switching over to a tough line, US defense secretary Robert Gates warned a Senate panel on June 18 that Iran could fire "scores or hundreds" of short- and medium-range missiles against Europe - in salvoes rather than one or two at a time.
Four days later, Gates told a Fox interviewer: "I don't think we're prepared to even talk about containing a nuclear Iran. I think… our view still is we do not accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons."
Madoff began attending sessions with a female prison psychiatrist last year after becoming depressed about a tell-all published in August by his former mistress, Sheryl Weinstein.
"He was having problems with his wife [Ruth]" over the book's revelations, the inmate said. "He felt she might leave him." The book, "Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me, " details Weinstein's sexcapades with Madoff and how he screwed her out of her life savings.
The shrink prescribed Madoff antidepressants, the inmate said. Ruth Madoff did not abandon him and still visits, the inmate said. But Ruth, who has not been charged, has moved out of New York state to get away from the harsh public attention.
Madoff is known for regularly hanging around with another notorious inmate -- Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy -- and former New York pharmacist John Mancini, who was locked up for illegally distributing millions of painkillers.
"Jonathan Pollard and him watch TV together. They watch CNN," the inmate said. "Bernie likes watching to see if there's anything about him on it."
But Madoff "gets upset" if he disagrees with how he is portrayed on television and was particularly disturbed by the reports that he had been assaulted, the inmate said.
Madoff also sometimes chats with Colombo crime-family boss Carmine Persico, who is serving a life sentence at Butner.
"They play boccie" and take walks together, the inmate said. As with Persico and Pollard, Madoff is one of -- if not the most -- high-profile inmate at Butner.
"Everybody knows Bernie Madoff," the inmate said. "Everyone says, 'Hey, Bernie, how are you doing?' To a lot of inmates, he's a god. "The higher the profile, the more they look up to you."
Zweibel the grandstanding lunatic is demanding a meeting with Ambassador Oren to discuss the Emmanuel Bais Yaaakov crisis. Agudath Israel of America can't control abuse and human rights violations in the American day school system. What is he thinking trying to stick his nose in Israeli schooling?
So until this issue, the Agudah was pro-Israel? Can you name me a single Agudah Institution that says the Tefila for the Medina or the Misheberach for the soldiers each Shabbos, or that celebrates Yom Haaatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim? Why this sudden love for the State of Israel?
It's not a sudden love for Israel from Agudah. Agudath Israel of America is trembling out of fear that once Israel starts sorting out the Charedi internal mess-- that is rivaling Pakistan's Mulah controlled courts and schools--the American judicial systems might start to intervene in private schools, especially yeshivos that are committing human rights violations by not teaching core subjects needed to survive in the global economy. The Charedi world wants to keep its populations dumber and dependent on community for survival. If the Charedim were given solid basic skills and allowed to think independently, then their system of control and lunacy would collapse like the tower of Babel. Education leads to independence which=freedom. Charedim and Muslim radicals have one thing in common and it is to resent state laws and government authority and regulate what their followers can learn, think, say, and do.
The following moving episode related by Cantor Moshe Kraus from Ottawa, who observed it first-hand.
As a youngster, Moshe Kraus worked in the home of one of the great religious and spiritual Jewish personalities in pre-war Europe, the Rabbi of Munkatsh (a town in southwestern Ukraine), Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira (1871-1937), known as the "Minchas Elazar." In his duty of cleaning up and organizing the numerous scattered books in the Rabbi's study, Moshe Kraus regularly encountered the many people who came to have the Rabbi mediate their disputes and quarrels.
One day, as moshe Kraus was organizing the books, the leader of a particular Jewish community, came to the Munkatcher Rebbe to settle an ongoing quarrel he had with the community Rabbi.
The community leader, who loathed the Rabbi deeply, has been hunting him down (what else is new in the world?). He went so far as to instruct his wife not to ask the Rabbi any questions concerning Jewish law. "Should you have any questions," he told her, "you ask me."
One Friday afternoon, a question arose regarding a chicken she was preparing for Sabbath, and her husband was not home. In desperation, she went to the Rabbi to receive a ruling concerning the chicken's kosher status. The Rabbi ruled it was Kosher. So the woman went ahead and cooked it.
When her husband came home and found out what happened, he was furious. After inspecting the chicken himself, he announced that it was not-kosher. "Aha! He exclaimed. You see, I told you he's not a competent Rabbi, as the chicken is not Kosher!" and with that he put away the chicken on the side and would not eat it.
After Sabbath, the husband, with chicken in tow, called on the Rabbi to come with him to the Munkatsher Rebbe to settle the matter. Once and for all, he would prove to the world that this Rabbi was indeed an ignoramus and unworthy of his position. Arriving at the Rebbe, the community leader proceeds to tell the whole story, showing the Rebbe the chicken. Finishing his narrative, he says: "Rebbe you see, the Rabbi is feeding us non-kosher food! He must be dismissed from his post."
The Munkatsher Rebbe did not say a word. He simply took the chicken and examined it well. Then he took a piece of the chicken, closed his eyes, recited the blessing of shehakol (the blessing we recite before eating chicken or meat), and ate it.
The verdict has been stated: the community leader was in the wrong; the Rabbi was in the right. The community leader left the home angry and upset. His scheme to dethrone the Rabbi did not materialize.
Present at this occurrence was the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Yitzchok Sterhell (author of Kochav Yitzchok on the Jerusalem Talmud.) After the two plaintiffs had left, he turned to the Munkatcher Rebbe and asked: "Although according to basic Jewish law the chicken was indeed kosher, it was certainly not "Glatt?" It was certainly not on the highest level of Kashrut. Why did you have to eat from it; you could have merely said that it was kosher?"
The Munkatsher Rebbe slammed his fist on the table, causing all of the books to shake, and replied sternly: "And human 'meat' is Glatt Kosher?!"
The message the Munkatcher Rebbe was conveying was that if the laws of kosher food are being enforced while human flesh is being consumed, at the expense of human dignity and basic kindness, you ought to be weary of this type of "kashrut." The Munkatcher was ready to lower his religious standards of kosher, in order to put an end to the ugly witch hunt of an innocent human being.
It is troubling to say, but such a form of "kashrut" has recently developed. A few years ago, a new kosher symbol by the name of "hekhsher tzedek" originated by rabbis within the Conservative movement and has been endorsed by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. Its mission statement was to introduce higher ethics into the preparation of kosher food.
The new certification resulted from the initiative of Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, following investigative reporting by Nathaniel Popper in The Forward (a weekly Jewish newspaper) regarding working conditions at the Rubashkin Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa.
In an interview with Pamela Miller from the Star Tribune, Rabbi Allen states, "While it [the team led by Rabbi Allen] was not able to verify all of the Forward's claims, 'we witnessed some things that went against the dignity of workers.'" Allen argues that "We should not be eating food that has been produced in a way that has denied the dignity of the laborer. We should not be more concerned about the smoothness of a cow's lung than we are about the safety of a worker's hand."
Noble instincts indeed. Alas, as it turns out, this new kosher certification speaking in the name of ethics has been established on the foundations of tragic and unjust human abuse. For years, leading activists of Hekhsher Tzedek slandered the Agri kosher meat plant and its manager Sholom Rubashkin for the supposedly horrendous mistreatment of workers. Yet, on June 7th, a jury in Waterloo, Iowa proclaimed kosher slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin not guilty of all 67 child labor violations he has been charged with. It turns out that the accusations were unfounded.
[In separate charges for obtaining bank loans for the company through fraudulent reports, Rubashkin was sentenced today to 27 years in prison. The bank loans were being used to sustain the Agri plant and were paid up till the Federal government shut down the meat plant. The lawyers vowed to appeal this uniquely harsh sentence.]
We have not heard an apology from the Rabbinical Assembly for the creation of a new kosher symbol dedicated to ethics fueled, inspired and validated by the unjust character assassination of Mr. Rubashkin and his company. Does the Jewish world really want a kosher mark born of Jewish suffering?
Hath not Sholom Rubashkin eyes? Hath not Rubashkin hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? If you prick him, does he not bleed?"
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - A state judge ordered the Boy Scouts of America to release its secret files documenting 20 years of sexual abuse from scoutmasters - with the names redacted - but the order was put on hold when the Boy Scouts immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court. Some of the files were entered as evidence in a sexual assault case here that resulted in an $18.5 million damages award against the Boy Scouts.
Two more Boy Scouts claim they were sexually molested by a Scoutmaster, and that sexual abuse by Scoutmasters "in the 1970s reached an average of one every three days," in Seattle Federal Court.
United Potato Growers of Idaho, Dole Food and others conspired to fix prices by controlling the supply of potatoes in the United States, according to an antitrust class action in Pocatello Federal Court.
June 17, 2010 -- Danny Ace, a Top Clearance Software Engineer who is being Investigated by US Air Force, releases his report about the Military Investigation based on Radiation Hoax. To justify the investigation and to involve other Law Enforcement agencies, the Air Force distributes a false claim that Danny Ace is running around with traces of Radiation. Danny Ace provides facts about this Investigation as well as conclusive evidence such as Geiger Counter readings and Blood Test results to prove that the Radiation claim is a Fraud.
Seven years ago Danny Ace worked on a US Air Force Base as a Lockheed Martin Software Engineer with a Top Secret Security Clearance. Currently, Danny Ace is being investigated by the Air Force for no apparent reason. Danny Ace reports that in order to justify this investigation and to involve other Law Enforcement agencies, the Military distributes a Hoax that he is running around with traces of Radiation. As a result, Danny Ace is being under constant surveillance. This includes his phone, mail, e-mail, the people Danny Ace meets with, etc. Moreover, Danny Ace states that all of his communications (phone and electronic) are being filtered and often blocked. In addition, on several occasions drugs (cocaine) have been found in his system, even though Danny Ace is not a drug user and drugs are explicitly forbidden by his religion (Jewish Orthodox).
To dispel the Radiation Fraud that is being disseminated among the Law Enforcement agencies, Danny Ace obtained a digital Geiger Counter (extremely sensitive), which shows absolutely normal levels of radiation on his person and in his house: 8-10 microRem/h. These measurements are consistent with normal background radiation. In addition, Danny Ace has done several blood tests (TSH 3RD Gen, CBC and Standard) specifically made to detect any traces of radiation. All blood tests turned out completely normal.
"I am an innocent citizen and certainly not a spy. This investigation is conducted on baseless grounds. My contacts, mail, phone calls and emails should stop being monitored, filtered and blocked. It's impossible to live and work in this manner."
Danny Ace demands that this investigation be immediately stopped.
What kind of message is Young Israel sending? (Pinny Lipschutz will no doubt be even more dramatic)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/us/22iowa.html
“Our community will react just as I have, with shock and disgust,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, who has organized support for Mr. Rubashkin among Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Lerner said he would try to raise an outcry to bring attention to the appeal.
But both the judge and prosecutors scoffed at the assertion that Rubashkin never profited from his crime. Prosecutors presented evidence that Rubashkin diverted from Agriprocessors $300,000 to pay his credit card bills, $200,000 to remodel his house, $76,000 to pay his state and federal income taxes, $41,000 to pay his mortgage, $25,000 for jewelry, $20,000 for sterling silver, $1,245-a-month for life insurance, and $365 for car payments.
Reade wrote also that Rubashkin “lied at trial under oath” and that his “lies were willful … [and] material because they related directly to the nature of his involvement in the offenses of conviction.”
For instance, she said he lied when he claimed never to have asked an employee to create bills of lading to match false invoices – directly contradicting the testimony of the employee and the fake invoices and bills of lading introduced into evidence.
“The defendant’s testimony on this matter is incredible,” the judge wrote. “By perjuring himself at trial, defendant willfully obstructed or impeded … the administration of justice.” “The defendant’s obstructive conduct in the instant action was more excessive than that involved in a typical financial crime case …,” Reade said.
“Like most human beings, defendant’s character includes good traits and bad traits,” she wrote. “In light of defendant’s character as a whole, the court finds that his charitable and civic nature does not warrant [leniency]. Additionally, it is entirely possible that a number of defendant’s charitable deeds were funded with proceeds from his crimes. It is far easier to be generous with someone else’s money instead of one’s own.”
The judge also rejected the defense claims that Rubashkin suffered from depression that “impaired his judgment,” saying the assertion was “unsupported by any credible and independent physician.”
To watch just about every major hedge fund manager get away with billions of dollars of fraud in one guise or another and not see the inside of a prison, including government officials who were tacitly involved in the actual crimes and/or cover-ups -- enough to bring the global economy to its knees --- to see a stupid, wiseguy meat packing executive get a 27 year sentence at age 50 (tantamount to LIFE), is a gross miscarriage of justice. I hope his attorneys will have success on appeal in getting his sentence reduced! Let's see Alan Dershowitz do his thing!
The former head of a Port Authority union pled guilty to living high on the hog — with a pen of hookers, no less — with $300,000 of his members’ money on June 16.
Daniel Hughes, 49, the disgraced president of the Port Authority Field Supervisors Association — the group that represents Port Authority facilities, tunnels, bridges and airports — admitted to swiping thousands from the union bank account between January, 2005 to December, 2007 during a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
He freely admitted to using the cash to pay for expensive dinners, lavish casino vacations and steamy trysts with high priced hookers.
Hughes faces five years in jail at sentencing, said Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
(AP) — A Connecticut television reporter has been accused of shoplifting more than $100 worth of merchandise from a department store.
Police say 33-year-old Desiree Fontaine was arrested Saturday after they received a complaint that she took $104.98 worth of items from a Sears store in Milford without paying for them. Police did not provide further details.
Fontaine is the morning news traffic reporter for WTNH in New Haven
Rabbi David Avigdor who was arrested in last week's FBI sting was also the lawyer who defended this Muslim wife beater. Thanks to Avigdor's legal skills, his client was released and proceeded to go home and shoot his wife to death.
Maybe brother Morton from the Agudah gave David some tips on how to defend abusers.
NY law would be 1st to take DNA from all criminals
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN (AP) – 1 hour ago
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson has proposed roughly doubling New York's DNA database to include samples from even low-level offenders, making it the first in the nation to so broadly collect and use that evidence to solve crimes and exonerate people wrongly convicted.
He was a celebrated priest, praised by Pope John Paul II.
But Father Marcial Maciel had secrets, which included illegitimate children and sexual abuse, according to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut on Monday.
Raul Gonzalez claims the Vatican protected the man he knew as his father for decades, chiefly because of his efforts with the highly profitable Legion of Christ.
Here are some videos of Tennessee Democratic congressman Steve Cohen this weekend, sporting some strange sweat patterns in the 100 degree heat while dancing to rap music in some ill-fated attempt to ingratiate himself to his Memphis district's many African-American voters.
The Charedi world wants to keep its populations dumber and dependent on community for survival. If the Charedim were given solid basic skills and allowed to think independently, then their system of control and lunacy would collapse like the tower of Babel. Education leads to independence which=freedom. Charedim and Muslim radicals have one thing in common and it is to resent state laws and government authority and regulate what their followers can learn, think, say, and do.
BLOGS==The GREAT EQUALIZER!!
Tzadik - you have reincarnated the wisdom of the ages that when they threw off the yoke of the superstitions and the priests that created them, formed a revolutionary revelation, that of one universal deity. You've have seen the writ of man-made deification in the form of organizational idealogues who will weep over their loss of influence. Hashiveynu and we will truly be free.
The Queens Vaad cemeteries scandal is sadder than anyone could know.
Many of the yesomim who were dug up came from the Deborah Nursery, an orphanage that opened in Washington Hts in 1878.
Before these young children died from various diseases, they were abused by at least 2 superintendents who were eventually arrested. Conditions were so bad that the City shut the place down in 1897.
Even after their neshomos departed, they were ripped out of the kever a century later & discarded like trash by Ohel's David Jacobson & his partner in crime, the Queens Vaad.
NY TIMES - June 6, 1895
ACCUSED OF CRUELTY TO BOYS - Beating Youths.
Bernard Abrahams, ex-Superintendent of LADIES DEBORAH NURSERY, held in $300 bail on assaulting Joseph Bernstein, 13, Louis Prager, 10 & Charles Polowetsky, 12.
Rabbi Morris Epstein, appointed to succeed Abrahams, presented a letter to Justice Martin stating Abrahams no longer had authority & directed him to prevent Abrahams taking boys from the Institution for any purpose.
Abrahams said he'd received no notice of his removal & was still in charge.
Bernstein testified he was picking flowers near the institution with Prager & Polowetsky & failed to hear the breakfast bell. Abrahams beat them with a stick & locked them in a coal bin in the cellar, after tying them by the hands to a gas pipe. An hour later, John Mendoza, a teacher & watchman Samuel Brachfeld let them out. Later, Bernstein & Prager ran away. Mendoza corroborated Bernstein & said he found marks of the beating on each boys' back & red marks made by rope on Bernstein's wrists.
Brachfeld & Annie Kovitch, a servant, corroborated the testimony. When the servant was put on the stand Epstein was asked to interpret.
"I won't have that man!" shouted Abrahams, "he's a conspirator. The whole thing is a conspiracy."
Bernstein said the beating bruised him badly. He said Abrahams had beaten him twice before for trivial offenses, leaving marks on him each time.
Abrahams protested & asked to question the boy. Justice Martin objected, but the defendant persisted:
Do you know what I am?"
"The Superintendent," was the reply.
"What are my duties?"
"To whip me when I'm bad."
Justice Martin interrupted Abrahams & accused him of cruelty & brutality.
"I've never cruelly punished a boy in my life," Abrahams shouted.
"You have no right to treat any boy cruel," Justice Martin said severely.
"I wasn't cruel," Abrahams shouted. "I had to discipline."
"You're paid to teach these children yet you put them in public schools," the Justice continued.
"I teach them too.
"What do you teach them?" asked the Justice.
"Morality," Abrahams shouted.
"You do? I admire your methods," observed the Justice.
Abrahams began a long harangue, but was interrupted by the Justice:
"You aren't here to make speeches."
"I want to vindicate my character," cried Abrahams.
Prager & Polowetsky gave testimony similar to Bernstein & were corroborated in every detail by Mendoza, Brachfeld & Kovitch.
Israel Schwartz, a 13-year-old Jewish boy, accused superintendent Herman Engel of assaulting him with a cane, in May 1893. Engel was held & fined $300. Schwartz complaint was one of many which were reported around this time.
In Nov. 1896 the facility was ordered to make reforms by the New York City Board of Health. At this instance the nursery was afflicted by ophthalmia. In March 1896 eighty cases of the disease were reported at Ladies' Deborah Nursery. Infected children were quarantined but 22 were released back to the main building, despite continuing to suffer from various eye diseases.
Just received the following letter from Google today - along with a pdf of the subpoena which mentions my blog. Anybody know the significance of this? [not the lawsuit but the significance for me] As far as I can tell there was in fact only one comment on my blog regarding these individuals and that was basically citations of items that appeared in the newspaper. They obviously are not sending this to find out my identity since it is mentioned on the front page of my blog. Thus it seems to be a fishing expedition for the identity of anyone who has ever commented on my blog. ========================================== Hello,
Google has received a civil subpoena for information related to your Google account in a case entitled MiriamHersh and Michael Hersh v. Elizabeth Rebecca Cohen, Raphael Cohen,Aryeh Larry Wolbe, Eli Wolbe, et al., Supreme Court of the State of New York,County of Kings, Case number 006170-2009.
To comply with thelaw, unless you provide us with a copy of a filed motion to quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court) via email at legal-support@google.com no later than 5pm Pacific Time on July 11, 2010, Google may provide responsive documents on this date.
It looks like Michael Hersh is trying to learn the identity of Daattorah reader RaP, a major critic of Leib Tropper, who uses the same style as "Tropper is Troubled" and another moniker here that is highly critical of Chaim Berlin.
Schechter, Fruchty & Mehlman might possibly be behind this, using Hersh as a cover for any eyebrow raising legal actions in secular court.
I personally know of Rebbeyim who were caught abusing children who were "quietly" asked to leave the school, but and were given "recommendation letters" so they could find work in the next school.
Some of these Rebbeyim are on their 3rd or 4th school. Where are the courageous administrators who should have warned the public against these predators?
How many more Mondrowitzs and Lebovits must be revealed and how many more kids must suffer before we wake up and really tackle the problem?
A construction manager at Touro College was busted today in a bid-rigging scheme after allegedly getting caught on tape telling a crooked contractor that the FBI wasn't "interested" in the multi-million dollar fraud.
"But you know, the more I'm thinking about it, like, the situation that we did with this, well first of all it's a private institution. It's non-public....They're not interested in this (unintelligible) s--t. They're interested in you know, federal offenses and s--t like that," Lawrence Pesce allegedly said.
Moments later, after allegedly pocketing an envelope stuffed with $10,000 in cash inside a New Jersey diner, Pesce cracked himself up, saying: "Oh boy, we couldn't be any more obvious than that," according to court papers.
Pesce was charged with wire fraud for allegedly cheating his employer out of $2 million-plus by helping the unidentified contractor win a $10.9 million deal for a construction project at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine building on West 125th Street in Manhattan.
According to a Manhattan federal court complaint, Pesce instructed the contractor to jack up his planned $9.1 million bid because he knew the college was expecting to pay about $12 million for the work. The two then conspired to have other companies submit higher "dummy bids" so the contractor -- who is cooperating with the feds -- would win the deal, the complaint says.
Pesce also allegedly helped the contractor submit artificially inflated "change orders" that pushed the total price of the project past $12.4 million. In exchange, he got more than $750,000 in cash and checks, along with $350,000 toward the purchase of property in Wantagh, Long Island, the complaint says.
Pesce was also allegedly slated to receive title to four housing units at a Wappinger Falls development as part of a phony sale worth more than $1 million, but that deal didn't close before his arrest.
Lieberman, meanwhile, spoke about his personal relationship with Chabad over the years – a relationship that has allowed him to eat kosher food on the campaign trail when emissaries have delivered meals to his hotels and events – and the movement’s worldwide reach.
“There are more Chabad Houses popping up in Connecticut than Subway franchises,” he quipped. “The Rebbe was one of the greatest leaders of all of Jewish history, and that’s a lot of history.”
PETA Celebrates Rubashkin Sentence (Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010) The following is from PETA’s blog (on the PETA website); take note of the last line in their post.
“Last fall, a jury found Sholom Rubashkin, former Agriprocessors CEO, guilty on 86 federal financial fraud charges. Now, a judge in the case has announced that Rubashkin will be sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $31 million in restitution!
This is the culmination of a long, sordid history of financial crimes at the plant as well as violations against humans and animals dating back to PETA’s original undercover investigation in 2004.
Advertise On YWN » This undercover investigation exposed that Agriprocessors was hacking out the tracheas and esophagi of cattle immediately after the kosher slaughter cut, when the animals were still conscious and able to feel pain. Many animals remained conscious for prolonged periods, some even struggling to their feet in agony three minutes after their throats were cut, their organs dangling from their necks.
Dr. Temple Grandin, the world’s leading slaughterhouse expert, called this “the most disgusting thing [she'd] ever seen.” The USDA agreed with PETA and cited Agriprocessors for “engaging in acts of inhumane slaughter.” Sholom Rubashkin tried to defend these egregious methods, but PETA undercover investigations in both 2007 and 2008 caught his facilities again performing dressing procedures on conscious animals. Dr. Grandin said, “The undercover video clearly showed that when they think nobody is looking, they do bad things in this plant.”
At least Sholom Rubashkin will not have the opportunity to harm any more animals for the next 27 years.
"This undercover investigation exposed that Agriprocessors was hacking out the tracheas and esophagi of cattle immediately after the kosher slaughter cut, when the animals were still conscious and able to feel pain".
*
R' Arthur,
If the above is in fact true, and there is raglayim l'davar that this was going on - on a fairly regular basis, besides being over on Tzar Baal Chaim, the particular cows would be a treife.
How many Jews ate non-kosher meat from the Rubashkin plant?... Sholom will one day have to answer to The Real Judge!
(CBS/KPIX) A judge showed no mercy Tuesday in sentencing 32-year old Aaron Vargas to nine years in prison, for murdering the man he claimed sexually molested him as a child.
According to CBS affiliate KPIX, Vargas testified that 63-year-old Darrell McNeill sexually abused him when he was 11 and continued to pursue him into adulthood. Vargas shot McNeill in February 2009 with a Civil War-style pistol and watched him take his last breath while the victim's wife, Elizabeth McNeill, stood nearby.[...]
There are some camps that take part of the youth corp money. The excuses may be that they have to pay someone to the paper work or some other bootleg excuse.
If one takes a look at the SYEP FAQ's at , it is clearly written that this practice is PROHIBITED.
It is understandable why camps don't pay someone who gets youth corp; that's the reason the government is paying, to give employers an incentive to hire. However, the money should not be TAKEN.
Does anyone have a valid reason why this "genaivisha shtick" goes on??
The OU certifies chicken shechita at Green Oaks Creek Farm in California under none other the OU head of shechita himself, Dokter Rabbiner Seth Mandel.
Here's where the problems start:
One of their shochtim is a Naftali Hanau who learned shechita from a Chabadnik in Crown Hts. (Yehuda Benshemchoun)
Hanau calls himself a "post-modern orthodox" Jew and publicly admits he has no problem eating vegetarian food from a treif cafeteria, in kelim contaminated with treif meat.
This article states that another shochet at this OU operation is Andy Kastner from Avi Weiss's YCT.
Kastner is known to shecht together with Kantor at a private shechita in New England. YCT holds that Reform & Conservative apikorsim rabbis are completely legitimate.
Kastner once told the Jewish Week that he is also shechting at a major shechita on the East Coast but declined to name it in case the hashgocho gets flak for his association.
I asked rabbonim at the time if it was possible he was shechting for the OU. They just assumed that the OU would not be crazy enough to employ him and were wondering if Conagra (Ralbag) might have an area shechita.
www.lokomeat.com
Hanau has also started giving his own hashgocho to this shechita
Royal Bank of Canada sued to force a sale of the Midtown Manhattan office building where Bernard L. Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history because the landlord defaulted on a US$210-million loan. The owners, which include real estate investor Haim Revah's Metropolitan Real Estate Investors LLC, allowed a fund set up to pay interest on the loan to fall below the agreed minimum of US$2.3-million, according to a complaint RBC filed yesterday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Violating terms of the contract allowed the lender to demand full payment immediately, RBC said. The bank is seeking a court-appointed receiver to oversee the property and asked the court to arrange a sale to pay off the debt.
That PETA are lowlives does not exonerate your criminal friend."
Whether you like it or not, "my criminal friend", as you put it so "succinctly", is your brother as well as mine and therefore I care and so should you.
Hirshel Tzig tells Rav Eidensohn that Google has been subpoenaed over his website as well and that he believes Harry Maryles has been targeted too.
There is a possibility that someone other than Chaim Berlin is putting Michael Hersh up to this as the commenter they are after has pissed a lot of people off.
There is Leib Tropper, although that is indirectly a Chaim Berlin issue itself.
There are the folks from NJOP & AJOP and Rabbi Rafi Butler who he ridiculed on top of everything else for having a fancy wardrobe.
Rubashkin's son eggs on a huge crowd in Los Angeles that his father's sentence is "racism".
OU Executive Director Steven Weil joins the chorus since his employer has plenty to cover up for. When addressing Lubav crowds he suddenly calls himself by his Jewish name.
“That’s racism at its best…or at its worst,” Meir Rubashkin said.
Rabbi Sholom Weil of Los Angeles, standing next to Meir Rubashkin, agreed that Rubashkin’s sentence makes a statement about negative attitudes toward Jews. “It’s not about Sholom Rubashkin. It’s an attack on Jewish identity, Jewish ideals,” Weil said.
A LEARNING support assistant today revealed how she transferred more than £10,000 to a man she met on a dating website before realising she had become the victim of a scam.
The fraudster told Elana Brown, 46, of Ruislip, he was an American officer in Afghanistan who needed a loan to help a wounded fellow soldier.
Mrs Brown, who met the man on the Jewish dating site JDate, said: "I was hypnotised by him. I trusted him because he kept sending me messages and phoning me to tell me he was in love with me. He persuaded me he was a good man and that he would never hurt me. I was naive."
Her bank manager warned that she could be the victim of a fraud but she continued to send payments for two months. The man spoke with an American accent and an accomplice pretended to be a US army financial officer. Mrs Brown realised he was a conman when he stopped responding to her emails and calls. The divorced mother of two, who used up much of her savings and took out extra loans, said: "I now have serious financial problems."
Mrs Brown has passed telephone numbers and details of email accounts and Western Union money transfers to the Met police, although she has now complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about how long the investigation is taking.
Victims of similar tricks have posted their experiences on dating advice websites. They describe how fraudsters sometimes use the identities of real officers from MySpace or Facebook. One woman posted: "Please don't be taken in with this man - he is too good to be true and is just a fantasy of all that we women would want in a man!"
The Serious and Organised Crime Squad said one woman from West Yorkshire remortgaged her house to send £45,000 to a bogus US officer who claimed he needed the money to pay off a kidnapper in Iraq. The money was traced to the account of a man in Ghana who was subsequently arrested.
There is this prominent rabbi who tells (in confidentiality) this story:
he was invited to one of the EJF conferences. As it turns out the low level rabbis got rooms in one area of the hotel and the choshov ravs got suites in another area of the hotel.
The rabbi’s room was next to the elevator and he could not fall asleep so in the middle of the night he went to the reception area and asked to be transferred. The hotel moved him to a suite in a better floor.
While he was transferring his stuff he passed by an partially open door where very attractive girl was leaving and he saw her talking to a very choshuv rav (who is very close to Tropper), The choshuv rov was still inside the room (with the door half open) in his underwear ...
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN says it's hiring former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to co-host a round-table talk show for its struggling prime-time lineup.
Spitzer was a renowned prosecutor before being elected State Attorney General. Two years ago he left the governor's mansion in disgrace, following a prostitution scandal.
"Rubashkin's son eggs on a huge crowd in Los Angeles that his father's sentence is "racism".
OU Executive Director Steven Weil joins the chorus since his employer has plenty to cover up for. When addressing Lubav crowds he suddenly calls himself by his Jewish name."
Perhaps I was a bit hasty in speaking about "achdus" in the face of tragedy.The lack of achdus in itself is perhaps the greatest tragedy of all.The above quoted post is surely indicative of this lack. It seems that someone from the OU siding with Rubashkin is some sort of conspiracy to cover up some alleged "crimes".The very term that Rubaskins son "eggs on the crowd" reflects on the writers negative mind view and of course is another crime added to the litany of "crimes" committed by the Rubashkins and by extension the "Lubavs".To top it all off the worst "crime" is that the OU speaker actually used his Hebrew name.Another "mind boggling and audacious travesty of justice". In Yiddish there's an expression to describe the above post."Er kricht of glatter vent".(Impossible to translate into English).
There were crimes committed and the OU does share some of the blame. If you cannot or will not see that, then there is "no one home" and it a waste of time speaking to you.
Achdus does not mean we have to proclaim a guilty man as a 100% innocent scapegoat. Farkert. What they said at last night's rally in LA and much of the hype until the sentencing is creating chilul Hashem & aivah.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A jury says the city of Philadelphia cannot evict a local Boy Scouts chapter from a city-owned building for refusing to admit gays.
The FBI is warning people about a new scam in which computer hackers tie up the phone lines as a diversion while hitting the victim's bank account.
The agency describes a scenario in which a person gets hundreds or thousands of calls on the phone lines. The person answering hears dead air, recorded messages, advertisements or possibly phone sex menus.
Meanwhile the "telephone denial-of-service" is just the beginning.
"Turns out the calls are simply a diversionary tactic: while the lines are tied up the criminals – masquerading as the victims themselves – are raiding the victims' bank accounts and online trading or other money management accounts," the FBI press release states .
Walletpop.com stated that these attacks are similar to ones used by hackers for years to crash websites. Now hackers are using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts as they target consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses.
Keeping sex offenders locked up in treatment after their prison sentences became a popular get-tough tactic in the 1990s, when states were flush with cash. The Associated Press reports that the costs have soared far beyond what anyone envisioned. The 20 states with ”civil commitment” programs will spend nearly $500 million this year alone to confine and treat 5,200 offenders considered too dangerous to put back on the streets.
The annual costs per offender was as much as $175,000 in New York and $173,000 in California, and averaged $96,000 a year, about double what it would cost to send them to an Ivy League university. In some states, like Minnesota, sex offender treatment costs more than five times more than keeping offenders in prison. Those estimates do not include the considerable legal expenses necessary to commit someone. The AP says the programs have created a quandary for legislators who need to cut spending in the midst of a recession but don’t want to be seen as soft on rapists and child molesters. “I’ve heard people in a lot of the states quietly say, ‘Oh, my God, I wish we’d never gotten this law,’” said University of Maryland law Prof. W. Lawrence Fitch. “No one would ever dare offer repeal because it’s just untenable.”
"Achdus does not mean we have to proclaim a guilty man as a 100% innocent scapegoat. Farkert. What they said at last night's rally in LA and much of the hype until the sentencing is creating chilul Hashem & aivah." Tens of thousands of Jews from all sectors of the frum world,Litvish,Chasidish,Yeshivish,Rebbish,rosh yeshivish and even non Jewish think otherwise, and nobody including the "Lubavs" claim he's a "hundred percent innocent scapegoat" but to add to the "avlis" with some asinine "crimes" that the above poster does, is achzoriisdic.You don't want to support him in any way, by all means don't but at least keep your mouths shut.That means you and all the sanctimonious naronim like you. I think it's a greater chilul Hashem to do what you and all the other "velts chachomim" do in the name of "Torah values".Go check your Tfillen and say some Tihillim for the man.
Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation's economy and environment.
Mortgage crisis could damp consumer consumption for years to come
Los Angeles Times Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:47 PM PDT
Borrowers who defaulted could have low credit scores for years, crimping their spending. And changes in scoring and how it's applied could dramatically affect all Americans' ability to borrow. For countless Americans struggling to make their mortgage payments, the problems have just begun.
Dr. Daniel Berger, who has been the subject of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation following alleged improprieties at his Northstar Medical Center, has reached an agreement with the FDA
LOS ANGELES — A California judge said Monday threats had been made against her and witnesses in connection with lawsuits claiming Nicaraguan workers on Dole Foods banana plantations were harmed by pesticides.
Obama using our tax money to resettle Hamas terrorists from Gaza inside the United States.
Presidential Determination
Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby determine that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.
Toyota’s chief test driver, Hiromu Naruse, died in a head-on collision on Wednesday in Germany while test driving a vehicle, the newspaper Rhein-Zeitung reports.
A Toyota spokesman, Wade Hoyt, confirmed that Mr. Naruse, 67, had been killed in the crash.
----
Chief Agudah spokesman Avi Shafran suffered a nervous breakdown while defending the latest Agudah pro-molester position according to a report leaked to the Jewish Star.
Former Agudah of New England spokesman Chaim Schwartz who is the currently Executive Dreck-tor of the Vaad Harabbonim of Queens confirmed that Rabbi Shafran was in a mental hospital for observation.
A massage therapist accused former Vice President Al Gore of “unwanted sexual contact” at a hotel in October 2006, but no charges were filed because of lack of evidence, law officials said Wednesday.
A lawyer for the woman contacted the police in late 2006, said the Multnomah County district attorney, Michael D. Schrunk. Mr. Schrunk said the woman, who has not been identified, had refused to be interviewed and did not want the investigation to proceed.
But in January 2009, she contacted the police and gave a statement in which she said Mr. Gore had tried to have sex with her during an appointment at the Hotel Lucia. The National Enquirer first reported the accusations on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Gore, Kalee Kreider, said he had no comment. Mr. Gore and his wife announced on June 1 that they were separating.
A police report prepared in 2007 said the alleged incident occurred at 2 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2006. Mr. Gore was in Portland to deliver a speech on climate change.
The woman, according to the report, canceled appointments with detectives on Dec. 21 and 26. Her lawyer canceled a Jan. 4 meeting and said the matter would be handled civilly.
The woman “refuses to cooperate with the investigation or even report a crime,” the report states.
In January 2009, the case was reopened. Detectives interviewed the woman but determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
In a transcript of the interview, the massage therapist said she had been doing requested abdominal work on Mr. Gore when he demanded she go lower.
“I was shocked and I did not massage beyond what is considered a safe, nonsexual area of the abdomen,” she said. “He further insisted and acted angry, becoming verbally sharp and loud.
“I went into much deeper shock as I realized it appeared he was demanding sexual favors or sexual behaviors.”
She alleged he later tried to have sex with her.
“I did not immediately call the police as I feared being made into a public spectacle and my reputation being destroyed,” she said. “I was not sure what to tell them and was concerned my story would not be believed since there was no DNA evidence from a completed act of rape.”
Detective Mary Wheat, a Portland police spokeswoman, said the woman contacted detectives this month and asked for a copy of her statement. The woman, according to Detective Wheat, said she planned to take her case to the news media.
Excerpt taken from a post on another blog site and apropos for some of the posters on this one.
"All the discussion about Rubashkin does is bring out the best in people, where you have idiots commenting how it's all this one's fault and that one's to blame for not cooperating or for wearing a kittel to court. How much can one person take? If you don't like the way they raised money or blasted the prosecution go and do it yourself. Organize the people and glavanize the masses the way you see fit. I guarantee you don't make one tenth of what these guys collected. I'm not quite sure which crime they committed by raising money and proclaiming his innocence! Now we need to just sit there and take it from an overzealous team of witches that were obviously out to get him? Would any other ethnic or religious group take it like this? I doubt it. They have no problem defending and praising cop killers like Mumia abu-Jamal and making him a cause de celebre', but we can't defend a man who was hunted down for no good reason?! And to you baboons out there who seem to lump him together with the run of the mill white collar crooks we see today, I say: Read the history if you can, or have your wives or mothers do it for you. You may learn that you were very mistaken about what his "crimes" were. There, I've said it. I can't do it anymore. Zol der eybershter rachmonis hubben af unz allle."
This reform "Rabbi",the author of the above named article, printed in the newspaper well known for it's "love" of Orthodox Jewry,must be the "new Martin Buber" of our generation.As such, my question is, does this man who praises the origins of Chassidus, believe in G-d? Martin Buber the "great" philosopher of Neo Chassidisim was a kofer beikkur, so what makes this man different?. In addition the title could just as well been "How Yeshivas Went Astray" The same malaise that he attributes to Chassidim applies to Yeshivas too, where the mantle of Rosh Hayishiva passes on from one generation to the next in the same family, as exemplified in Lakewood,Telz,Mir,Ponoviez and others.It seems that the dictum of "nepotism uber alles" is also prevalent in the Yeshiveshe world. .
Marc Stern, an attorney and co-executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said he does not believe the way Reade applied the sentencing guidelines is sufficient to set aside the sentence.
“There is nothing wrong with making them the presumptive sentence,” Stern said. “Before the Supreme Court changed the rule, it was thought they were mandatory. Now the courts are free to depart from them as long as they give a reason. In that regard, there is nothing to criticize the district court [Reade] for. The fact that she applied the guidelines is not in and of itself grounds for reversal. If she thought she was bound by them, that would be reversible error. But she recites the correct standard about them being advisory.”
On the other hand, Stern said, he found the sentence “very much on the harsh side and troubling. >>>> And I am equally or more troubled by the efforts to turn Rubashkin into some sort of saint who is an innocent being persecuted.” <<<<
“They created the first Ivy League yeshiva. They made it difficult to get in, unless a student was very bright or of course there was money in the family. In a relatively short period of time, their campus was built with state of the art facilities, and they had no mortgage.”
UOJ: That’s a blatant lie! Until the famous fire, around 30 or more years after the Yeshiva was built, they DID NOT have ANY sate of the art facilities. It was more “yeshivash” then you can imagine.
I know because I was there!
Stick to the truth and stop lying or exaggerating!
"Don't forget about your pal Moishe Rubashkin" Lets get this straight.I have never met,spoken or otherwise have had any connection in any form or shape with Rubashkin,and he doesn't know of my existence so lets C the C.I'm no different then any of the tens of thousands of Yidden who have stood up for him vis ah vi the harsh penalty's placed upon him by the Federal judge For the umteenth time I have never said that he is innocent of all the crimes attributed to him.So again C the C.
"Sorry to burst the bubble of Arthur's Out-to-Lunch Club" "Marc Stern, an attorney and co-executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said he does not believe the way Reade applied the sentencing guidelines is sufficient to set aside the sentence." Mark Stern.Oich mir ah dayeh zogger. Five former US attorney generals (attorneys General???) and quite a number of US federal attorneys have vehemently protested,in writing,the harsh penalty placed on Rubashkin.One kaker attorney who is co-chairman of the American Jewish Congress (oich mir ah Yichus) who in his "infinite wisdom" disagrees."Sorry to burst your bubble of your out to lunch club". As I said to another "oihaiv Yisroel","Check your Tfillen and say a kappitel Tehillem for Rubasshkin" and may I add,say one or even more kappitlach for yourself.
"Chassid-ism is not Judaism" Reb UOJ Please clarify the above.By your definition,is there a difference between Chassdisim and Chassid-isim? If not,bemchilas kvodcho,do you really have the "breite plaitzes" to make such a blanket condemnation of such a large sector of Jewry?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Asher Lipner Special To The Jewish Week
Even as I write, the Queens Vaad Harabbanim continues to cover up for one of its own, who was forced off the Rabbinical Council of America years ago for allegedly molesting children, the Baltimore Vaad Harrabanim covers up for a rabbi in their community’s prestigious yeshiva who is said to have sexually abused students for decades, and the Lakewood (New Jersey) yeshiva’s rabbinic leaders are pressuring the parents of a victim of abuse who reported it to the police to drop the charges.
In 2001, the then-new executive of the Orthodox Union, the parent organization of NCSY, said about sexual abuse in the Orthodox community: “I would like to see the OU take a leadership role in raising awareness about this problem.” But while the RCA, the OU’s rabbinic arm, has made several public pronouncements warning the community of the epidemic and offering practical ways to combat it, the OU has yet to make a public statement, nor has it supported any of the legislative initiatives of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children (www.jewishadvocates.org).
The OU does take the lead in many important areas, but it continues to refuse to publish the full report of the NCSY Special Commission. This, despite the fact that both the victims and the community have a right to know exactly what caused this tragedy, and that hundreds of thousands of community dollars were spent on the investigation.
So, the thankless fight to bring awareness to the community is left to the grassroots efforts of survivors of abuse like Joel Engelman, Mark Weiss, Joseph Diangelo and David Framowitz, and their supporters like Vicki Polin and The Awareness Center, Survivors for Justice, Mark Appel, Rabbi Nochem Rosenberg, Rabbi Yosef Blau and Rabbi Yitzchak Eisenman, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, The Jewish Survivors Network, JSafe, and JBAC, supported by the RCA. Also spreading awareness have been bloggers like Unorthodoxjew (UOJ) and LittleSheep, and courageous editors like Phil Jacobs (Baltimore Jewish Times) and Mayer Fertig (Jewish Star)
850 Orthodox Rabbis: Kagan Not Kosher for Any Court, Threatens Jewish Security Contact: Rabbi Yehuda Levin, 718-469-6999, 845-642-1679 MEDIA ADVISORY, June 24 /-- Speaking on behalf of over 850 members of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, Rabbi Yehuda Levin issued the following statement of opposition to the confirmation of Elena Kagan as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court: While any number of our co-religionists would represent the undeniable, historic Torah values shared by Orthodox and traditional Jews, we are devastated and broken-hearted by the choice of Elena Kagan. According to the Torah perspective adhered to by our 850-plus member Rabbis, as well as hundreds of thousands of Orthodox and traditional Jews, MS. KAGAN IS NON-KOSHER - NOT FIT TO SERVE - ON THE SUPREME COURT, OR ANY OTHER COURT. It is clear from Ms. Kagan's record on issues such as abortion-on-demand, Partial-Birth-Abortion, the radical homosexual and lesbian agenda, the "supremacy" of the anti-family panoply over religious liberties of Biblical adherents, et. al., that she will function as a flame-throwing radical, hastening society's already steep decline into Sodom and Gommorah. It should be clear that Ms. Kagan's long line of forebearers, presumably tracing back to Sinai, would have sacrificed their lives rather than embrace the anti-G-d, counter-sanctity agenda that she has lived and promoted. We are puzzled as to why President Obama would not honor a different minority with this nomination. We fear a backlash, fed by pent up grass-roots resentment over extremist decisions Ms. Kagan is bound to issue. In these socially and economically trying times, we are most concerned about being scapegoated and targeted by even a tiny subset of the tens of millions of citizens simply fed up with an imperial anti-family, anti-Biblical Judiciary (an example being Judge Walker, now addressing California's Prop. 8). We wonder: exactly what was the President thinking? For the record, let this statement serve as an unequivocal protest, establishing that Ms. Kagan's philosophy and approach are antithetical to traditional Judaism. We emphatically reject her ascendancy to the Court! We urge decent Senators of both parties to have mercy on the nation, in light of the direction we are heading. This nomination must be delayed in committee for as long as possible, and then either voted down or filibustered. We family and religious people will surely employ our last weapon - the ballot box - to respond to those who ignore this existential threat, and insist on contaminating the cultural wellsprings from which we and our children are forced to drink. It is late in the game. We implore voters to convey these concerns to their Senators - feckless and otherwise.
As the bookkeeper at Future Tech Consultants in Mineola, Mark Bloom of Brooklyn issued a lot of checks - among them, police said, 20 in his own name for almost $60,000.
Police said they have arrested Bloom, 34, and charged him with second-degree grand larceny, three counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and first-degree falsifying of a business record.
I was trying to score brownie points with Shmarya by making MLK Day a Yomtov in my shul and by being best friends with Black hip hop star Russell Simmons, but I think I blew it.
Geert Wilders is a member of parliament in the Netherlands :
“If there is hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment.”
I wonder why George Klein isn't on this list. He gives a lot of money to Rabbi Pinto and may have paid for the rabbi taking over Marc Schneier's former shul building on the Upper East Side after he was evicted by Obstfeld from Bobov.
I couldn't exactly invite the rabbi to the Lipstick building with all the attention my tenant Bernie Madoff was attracting.
Itchie Meyer, do you care to elaborate on this comment you made to SHmarya about your recent visit to Shafran's office at the Agudah?:
"As for Rabbi Shafran, I met with him for about 30 minutes in his office, and I came away impressed with him. We had frank discussions about issues on which we disagree such as Rubashkin. However, he was very cordial, open, and seems to be a genuinely nice person."
Do you have any idea how callous & obtuse that lowlife is when it comes to child victims of sex abuse?
Reb UOJ Iv'e read your post on Chassidisim in it's entirety and remember reading it the first time around.What I don't understand is what's the purpose of bringing up your divisive opinion that "Chassid-ism is not Judaism" at this point in time and space when we need achdus as never before. We had discussed this and disputed this once before and agreed to disagree. However, just one point.You speak of the so called infallibility of Chassidic rebbis.I don't know about you but when I went to Yeshiva many eons ago I knew that "Das Torah" was the name of a sefer.It's contemporary meaning did not exist and is a recent phenomenon.The Rosh Hayishiva has been elevated to the level of of Rebbi"worship", something that is comepletely novel to Yiddishkeit."Das Torah" meaning the so called "Gedolim",the Roshei Hayishivos, have been anointed as the "infallible ones" of our time.The same thing that you attribute to Rebbes.The yeshiveshe world ,in my humble opinion,is guilty of the same "crimes" that you accuse Chassidim of.Does that make them "not part of Judaism" to?
A Bissel Seichel Here watch this link.http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=9618&alias=video-lewin-getzy-rubashkin. There are many others. You can probably Google them.
Hi Archibald - I hear what you're saying, and he (Shafran) has dropped the ball on the child abuse thing. He can't think straight on that issue and has been brainwashed by the moetzes. He does seem like a nice fellow. Sadly, He, Zwiebel, Lerner, and all of the talking heads are nothing more than spinmeisters, Jewish versions of Paul Begala.
Take a good look around - do you think we can waste another second without lamenting the state of today's matzav ruchni?
There are wise people that one should seek out for advice if the need is there - and I agree with you that this "daas Torah" cancer must be torn out of the "body" - so we can begin the healing process.
Federal prosecutors are looking for two who got away.
Bernardo Katz, 50, of Mt. Lebanon was charged with two co-defendants a year ago for trying to sell properties for more than they were worth from 2005 to 2007, and for lying about their values and the amount of rent they generated. Federal prosecutors linked Katz and the others to wire transfers from two banks totaling $1.7 million.
Katz, a cellist-turned-investor, developed commercial properties in Mt. Lebanon and bought several Beechview buildings. He fled to Brazil in 2007 with three of his four children, authorities say.
Charged with wire and bank fraud, Katz faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
NEWARK, N.J. – Nine criminal complaints unsealed today charged 28 individuals with participating in various mortgage fraud scams that collectively sought to defraud lenders out of more than $5.5 million and involved more than 17 New Jersey properties, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward announced.
United States v. Raquel Berger, Mag. No. 10-3132 (PS)
Raquel Berger, a real estate agent and the broker of record and franchise owner of a realty company in Hillside, N.J., obtained fraudulent documents in support of unqualified borrowers in order to obtain mortgage loans to which they were not entitled.
The navi Yeshaya gives us the answer in the very first perek with two words, "ASHERU CHAMOTZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIMS! The gemara in Sanhedrin explains: "ASHERU CHAMOTZ VELO CHOMETZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIM AND NOT THE CRIMINAL! This is the type of achdus that was lacking at the time of the destruction of the two temples. The navi cried out, save yourselves by doing teshuva. Save yourselves by caring for the victims, the widows and orphans. Save yourselves by getting rid of your corrupt leaders who are the friends of thieves and love bribes . However, the people did not listen. They instead rallied around their false prophets, their corrupt leaders and the gangsters of that generation. It is said that every generation that the bais hamikdash is not built is as guilty as the generation when it was destroyed. We have still not learned our lesson. Instead of unanimously rallying around the cause of victims of sexual abuse, we see rabbis and community leaders rallying around the child molesters. Read the latest Daily News article about Baruch Lebovits if you don't believe me. See how many people came to support him in court versus how many who came to support his brave victim. See how his victims have been villified and attacked while pidyon shvuyim funds are being collected for him and other child molesters. Have these people gone insane? No, we have been this insane since the time of Yeshaya. Nothing has changed. That is why we are still in galus. We still have our false prophets who tell us everything is fine and dandy, our corrupt leaders who are friends of thieves and love shochad and who refuse to even acknowledge those that have been victimized. What has changed? Nothing!
As for Sholom Rubashkin, nebach, it is a human tragedy. Yes, the sentence was excessive. Anti-semitism? I don't think so. The man made one fatal mistake after another. For close to ten years, he refused to heed the call to change the way he operated his business. We begged him to do something about the reports of worker abuse, animal abuse, immigration law violations, identity fraud, health and safety violations, EPA violations, kashrus and labeling issues, etc.,etc. Yet, all we heard back were denials from him, his lawyers and his PR spinmeisters. After the raid and his indictment, instead of cooperating with the authorities, he stubbornly refused to change his ways. Instead of accepting a plea deal, he committed bank fraud, tampered with evidence, violated his bail terms and ultimately perjured himself on the witness stand. I don't put blame him alone for all his troubles. His partners, coworkers, lawyers, PR team, the OU and Weissmandl all share in the blame and chillul hashem that took place at Agriprocessors. SMR is not an evil person. A stubborn, misguided and corrupt businessman maybe, but not evil. For the crimes he committed, a 27 year sentence is ridiculous. However,his arrogance and lack of contrition along with some bad advice all served to grease his skids. Pleading for leniency on behalf of such an individual is noble. I myself signed a petition calling for leniency. However, to make this into a cause celebre and playing the race card is not in our best interests. Further antagonizing the judge and the US justice system is also not wise and it severely backfired in this case. Try and help the man, yes, but please stop with the histrionics and this "achdus" business. Yes, we need achdus. Gilad Shalit needs our achdus. The victims of child sexual abuse need our achdus. The State of Israel needs our achdus. The countless poor people need our achdus. The orphans, widows and agunos need our achdus. Let's show achdus where it really counts and where it really means something. Asheru Chamotz Velo Chometz! I will keep repeating it until it starts to sink in.
Achdus is a wonderful thing. Who can argue with that? Achdus will eventually bring Moshiach (the real one). The question is, what is the rallying cause that is supposedly uniting Jews from all walks of life? I've heard the term proudly used at least three times in the past four months:
1) When Martin Grossman was about to be put to death for the cold blooded murder of Margaret Park.
2) When the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Bais Yaakov in Immanuel needs to be segregated.
3) When Sholom Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Yes, there is nothing like achdus. However, when the rallying call is on behalf of cold blooded murderers, racial discrimination and a corrupt businessman, then the achdus is somewhat tainted.
The Torah nevertheless teaches us that any type of achdus is looked upon favorably in the eyes of Hashem. A perfect example is Dor Hapalaga. The people of that generation, led by Nimrod, sought to declare war on Hashem. In many ways they were more wicked than Dor Hamabul. However, Hashem spared them. Why? Because of their achdus! As evil as their intentions were, they were united, unlike their earlier counterparts, the Dor Hamabul who robbed and attacked each other. Yes, achdus is noble and praiseworthy. However, shouldn't we aspire to be a little better than that? Do we need to gain comfort from comparisons to Dor Hapalaga? Which causes should we really be rallying around with true achdus?
HAT YOU CAN DO FOR SHOLOM RUBASHKIN!!! WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR SHOLOM RUBASHKIN:
Read the coverage in JTA and Chicago Tribune.
Watch the video of Nathan Lewin speaking at the Boro Park rally.
Send a respectful e-mail to the Department of Justice Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison (oipl@usdoj.gov).
Tell them “This sentence is unfair. This sentence is excessive. This sentence is not in the public’s interest.”
Call on them to explain why Sholom Rubashkin has been targeted by prosecutors in Iowa and why he is getting 27 years in prison when others convicted of similar crimes have received significantly shorter sentences.
Remind them that more than two dozen former senior Justice Department officials – including six former U.S. attorneys general – said it would be an “absurdity” for a sentence of life in prison, or anything close to it, for a 51-year-old, first-time, non-violent offender.
Go on Facebook and Twitter and ask your friends to send an e-mail as well.
Forward this e-mail to family, friends and fellow supporters of Sholom Rubashkin
Ask your friends to subscribe to these alerts at justiceforsholom.org .
According to Nachum Rosenberg, besides for Abrahamson, Yeshiva of Spring Valley is currently investigating two other rebbeim as being molesters. One could EXPLODE the entire myth of Daas Torah and the Moetzes into thin air.
Avi Shafran and Chaim Dovid, fasten those seatbelts. Sully did a beautiful job compared to what you will have to deal with V-E-R-Y shortly.
Time to put to rest another ad absurdum pack of lies being promoted by Shmarya.
He has been attacking billionaire Michael Steinhardt, an admitted atheist, as running a "Chareidi" operation in disguise. Several of Shmarya's own readers who are not religious and who have been to Steinhardt's programs say Shmarya is off his rocker.
http://www.jewishlife.org/about.html
The Executive VP, David Gedzelman, is a Conservative "rabbi" who has Reconstructionist "semicha".
And one of the Presidents is self-described "orthodox" apikores Rabbi Irving Greenberg.
Gedzelman is also Chairman of the new Brooklyn public school that teaches Hebrew to little Black kids.
Shmarya "hiku besanverim" Rosenberg must have been blinded by malochim like the ones who blinded the anshei Sdom. He is reaching around trying to attack frum Jews but he can't even see what he is doing.
Wayne Truex crashed into Lester Eldridge while driving his police car. He later admitted that he had been drinking beer. He was fired from the Lakewood police. How is he now Fire Chief. Vote him out
Imagine if all the Kochois (energy) and money being put in to spare Rubashkin, would be spent to spare children from being molested. As much as I wish Rubashkin to be totally spared (The Torah demands repayments for fraud not jail time) of even one day of jail, I can't help but think how energized the masses are to save this one individual, but refuse to even meet to discuss sparing children from the lifelong mental jail terms they'll incur as a result of being molested.
As much as Zweibal claims "now we know", the powerful wave of de'nial is still flowing and not just in Egypt. And shoving it under the rug is apparently an ingrained trait, not only by perpetrators, but for the society as a whole.
Perhaps children don't count (although they'll eventually grow up); Perhaps sexual issues are uncomfortable to speak about (not a good enough reason not to tackle it); Perhaps they're so afraid of it, because they're afraid to open up the can of worms, for fear of how many sinful worms will creep out. Most likely!
Charter schools are publicly financed but privately run, and in some cases attract substantial private support. At Hebrew Language Academy, known as H.L.A., some backing comes from Michael H. Steinhardt, a retired hedge fund manager who has given away more than $200 million and is a supporter of Israel and Jewish causes.
Mr. Steinhardt’s daughter, Sara Berman, the chairwoman of the school’s board, said that learning about Hebrew and Israeli culture was no different from learning about Bastille Day and baguettes in French class.
Students are just as likely to learn about Christmas or Ramadan as about Purim, and teachers say they check with the school’s lawyers before veering into any lesson with ties to Judaism.
Perhaps surprisingly, the school has become one of the most racially mixed charter schools in the city. About a third of the 150 students are black, and several are Hispanic.
At the start, a few parents pulled out their children, alarmed, as Maureen Campbell, the school’s principal, put it, “at the diversity.”
Aalim and Aalima are not Jewish. They worship at a mosque affiliated with the Nation of Islam. But at the Hebrew Language Academy, they fit right in.
The school has not yet ventured into politically sensitive territory; nobody brought up the recent Gaza blockade. But provocative questions are certain to come as the students get older. Aalim recently asked his father, Willie Moody, to explain why the Jews and the Palestinians “hate each other.” Mr. Moody responded: “I don’t even understand that. Just wait until you’re older.”
Ms. Berman said the school planned to train teachers how to deal with discussions of Israel, which she said would involve an evenhanded approach.
Federal and state governments have shelled out billions of dollars on programs to track, treat and punish sex offenders—even as those programs do little or nothing to prevent recidivism, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Charles Patrick Ewing told a crowd of about 100 attending his UBThisSummer lecture yesterday in Talbert Hall.
“My conclusion is thumbs down,” said Ewing, the Law School’s vice dean for legal skills. “We, the American and New York State taxpayers, are being hosed, to put it bluntly. We’re spending billions of dollars that largely go for cosmetic programs.”
Harry says that he remembers "500-600" bungalow colonies and hotels
Harry also remembers a time when in the village nightlife was booming.
"I remember there used to be six or seven kosher delis open at two or three o'clock in the morning," he says.
Despite the fact that Ellenville's business community has been suffering some hard times, Harry feels that the old place still looks good. There are empty storefronts here, he acknowledges, but this is true all over the country. Even in Florida, where he now lives, the local economy has been suffering. He feels strongly that Ellenville, like the rest of the country, will bounce back in time.
But in February, when several YMCAs made news by revoking the memberships of registered sex offenders in an attempt to comb out predators who may come in contact with the thousands of children who use those Ys, offender advocacy groups weren't happy.
"I assume that at some point we'll get to a place where registered sex offenders won't be allowed to breathe," Paul Shannon, one of the founders of the Boston-based Reform Sex Offender project, said in an interview at the time. "This is just going down the same path of lunacy."
A U.S.-based web site that publishes child-sex abuse cases worldwide believes that Cardinal Sean O’Malley is not a suitable candidate to deal with the backlash of clerical sex abuse in Ireland.
BishopAccountability.org claims the cardinal has past precedence of “silencing” controversy over child abuse in every diocese he joins.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley has been appointed the “apostolic visitor” by the Vatican for the Dublin diocese.
It will be his role to help with the aftermath of the horrific cleric child abuse history, which unfolded last year with the publication of the “Ryan Report.”
O’Malley is often described as a veteran troubleshooter in clerical sex abuse scandals.
“O’Malley’s career ascent has been fueled by his ability to walk into dioceses wracked by horrible revelations of child molestation and enshroud them again in silence," claims the website.
The website was critical of the entire “apostolic visitation group,” made up for Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York; Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottowa; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, retired Archbishop of Westminster; and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) also came forward and objected to Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Terrence Prendergast. They said that the two U.S. archbishops had "troubling" track records.
"Just a few years ago Boston’s O’Malley was found in violation of the US bishops’ sex abuse policy, for refusing to make sure all parishes were offering abuse training, said SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris.
"No institution can police itself, especially not an ancient, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy with a horrific history of protecting predators and endangering kids.”
In March 2008, Alan Hesketh, the British-born patent director and vice-president of the global pharmaceutical company Pfizer, was arrested by Federal agents
Child-porn victims’ restitution movement sees success, critics
Amy, whose uncle abused her on camera between ages 4 and 9, is depicted in the widely distributed “Misty series.“ She is represented by New York-based defense lawyer Marsh, who receives e-mail notifications when his client’s images are involved in a criminal case. Marsh said he and Amy initially focused on filing civil lawsuits, but one criminal case led them into a different direction. Seeking money for his client will help her cover therapy costs and pay for her living expenses because he says she is too distressed to work.
Marsh said Amy first opted to seek restitution against Alan Hesketh, a British citizen and former vice president of a pharmaceutical company in New York.
“The basic reason we chose restitution is because Hesketh was a foreign national,“ Marsh said. “We had information that most of his assets were overseas. We knew a civil case would take two to three years, so by the time the court would levy any sort of judgment on him, his assets would be out of our reach.“
In February 2009, a federal judge ordered Hesketh to pay $200,000 in restitution, but he settled out of court for $130,000.
A state Supreme Court judge has ordered a kosher food plant owner to pay nearly $167,000 in delinquent utility bills by close of business July 2.
The city of Ogdensburg can shut off water and sewer service to the plant operated by Tubroburg LLC, owned by Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, on July 6 should the payment not be made, Judge David R. Demarest wrote in a decision released Thursday.
The judge last month signed a temporary injunction preventing the city from turning off services to the plant. Tubroburg claimed in an $11 million lawsuit filed last month that the city has charged it unfairly for services at the plant and hasn't turned over paperwork needed to finalize purchase of the property.
The city threatened in early May to foreclose on the kosher cheese plant if the delinquent utility bills weren't paid. The company has about 50 employees.
The judge ordered Tubroburg to pay $45,989.28 on the outstanding water bill and $120,985.15 on the delinquent sewer bill by close of business July 2.
"Clearly the attempt to thwart the city from getting paid has failed," City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra said Thursday. "While all the matters have not been settled, it's clear the judge wants the payments to come forward."
Tubroburg began operating the plant, which makes "cholov yisroel" grade kosher cheese and milk, in May 2009 after the city agreed to sell the plant for a $125,000 down payment, $12,000 monthly rent for 13 months and a closing payment of up to $900,000.
The contract called for the company to purchase the plant by June 1, but the city hasn't provided abstracts to the business to finalize the sale, the suit alleged.
While the company put its down payment in an escrow account, it subsequently missed deadlines that would have allowed its monthly rent payments to be put toward the $900,000 closing payment, city officials said last month.
"We want this business to be successful, but we can't subsidize the operation," Mr. Sciorra said.
Watertown attorney David P. Antonucci, representing Tubroburg, didn't return a call for comment Thursday.
A madman wearing only underpants and a shirt swiped a delivery truck and went for a wild joyride in Brooklyn Thursday, striking two young girls and several vehicles before he was collared, cops and witnesses said.
The lunatic was munching on leaves straight from tree branches and menacing kids with a garden hose in Marine Park before he suddenly hopped behind the wheel of a parked delivery truck and sped off - with a worker still inside.
Shimshon Eisenberger, who had hired the delivery truck to ship an order for his furniture company, identified the worker-turned-terrified-passenger as Sardo Sutherland.
"Sardo was in the back, screaming for dear life and holding on," Eisenberger said, recalling the moment when the underpants driver sped off with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.
"He smacked into a bunch of cars and kept going. I'm in total shock. I've never seen anything like this in my life."
The deranged driver tore through the neighborhood like he was in a demolition derby, in the process striking two 12-year-old girls at the intersection of 37th St. and Fillmore Ave. in Marine Park.
One of the injured girls, 7th-grader Amelia Hellebusch, said her class was returning to P.S. 201 from a field trip to Marine Park.
"The teacher tried to stop the truck, but he just went around us and nicked me," Amelia said. "I did not see it coming."
Amelia suffered an injured ankle. She and the other girl, whose injuries were also nonlife-threatening, were treated at a local hospital, police said.
The runaway driver continued his tour of devastation, sideswiping several cars before blasting through the open lawns of Marine Park, police and witnesses said.
"He was running red lights," said witness Alexis Von. "Every time he turned a corner, he hit a car."
With police on his tail, the madman veered into oncoming traffic on Nostrand Ave. in Sheepshead Bay, striking a car driven by Abdul Gul. He finally got corralled by cops after blasting into a double-parked car near the Sheepshead Houses, police said.
The runaway driver carried no identification, police said. He was taken to Kings County Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Gul said he was lucky to be "out of the car alive." That sentiment was shared by Amelia's stunned mother, Fran Hellebusch, who was "hysterical" but thankful her daughter survived her run-in with the crazed driver .
"He's not a well man, but God forbid, it could have been worse," Hellebusch said.
Deutsche Bank's co-head of equities Robert Karofsky took a leave of absence this week after being accused by one of his subordinates -- who happens to be one of closest friends -- of having an affair with his wife, sources inside the bank tell The Post.
Karofsky, 43, a top trader at the firm who ran Deutsche Bank's Americas unit, took the leave for personal reasons on June 23, effectively immediately. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment further at the time.
But multiple sources told The Post that the Karofsky move followed a heated verbal confrontation late last week at the firm's headquarters at 60 Wall St. between him and the pal, a senior trader, over the alleged affair.
The verbal volleys created a tense environment within Deutsche Bank's insular trading ranks and have slowly become a source of water cooler gossip throughout the organization.
"He's pretty much just avoided interacting with [Karofsky] since the incident," one source said of the equities boss' former pal. Making matters particularly sticky is the fact that Karofsky and the trader who worked under him have been longtime buddies, live near each other in Northern New Jersey and took family trips together.
Calls to Karofsky's home number and messages left have not been returned.
Reached at work, the senior trader would only say, "It is a sensitive matter." Through a source, the senior trader added that he was "looking to protect his children."
A Deutsche Bank spokesman said that the firm "does not comment on personal matters."
Both executives were recruited from Morgan Stanley and were a part of a group of eight traders hired in 2005 to grow the German institution's cash equity trading franchise as Deutsche sought to go toe-to-toe with heavyweight Wall Street investment banks in the US.
Among traders, Karofsky is referred to as "Killer Karofsky" for his trading acumen. Off the trading floor, however, he's described as a fair, mild-mannered, even-keeled boss who has garnered the respect of his charges and has "a magnetic personality."
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_rabbi_molested_me_too_they_say.html
ReplyDeleteAfter Borough Park newlywed Motty Borger killed himself in November, a newspaper report - citing an unnamed source - claimed the 24-year-old man had said he was molested by Lebovits.
"Totally not true," said the groom's dad, Shmuel Borger.
"When a Hasidic man gets indicted, he will lose the case. That's how the system is. They want to make an example out of [Lebovits] to the community. That's what they did," Borger said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_rabbi_molested_me_too_they_say.html
ReplyDeleteLebovits has hordes of supporters. Court hearings are packed with men who support him. Lebovits, a cantor at Borough Park's Munkatch synagogue, sang at upstate Jewish concerts, where he gained a large fan base among religious men.
"Anybody who is going through pain and suffering should be supported," said Mordechai Mandelbaum, 57, founder of the kosher soup kitchen nonprofit Masbia and a familiar fixture in the courtroom during Lebovits' trial in March.
"The allegations didn't seem to hold water. And I don't trust the secular court is the place to find justice," Mandelbaum said.
His stance is common in his community.
The Boro Park organization Yenatek gets me to defend heimishe molesters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_rabbi_molested_me_too_they_say.html
"They are rallying behind Lebovits because their feeling is this problem should be dealt in religious court, not secular court," said defense attorney Israel Fried, who represents many Hasidim, including Dascalowitz.
Lebovits' family has put their faith in the secular courts in at least one area - they are hoping he wins an appeal of his conviction.
The family "hopes the truth will come out in the justice system," said Lebovits' 42-year-old son, Chaim.
What's with the rumors that NYPD 66th precinct had repeatedly warned Shmuel Borger over the years that he had better stop beating his wife?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/06/16/elections-showed-central-europeans-lost-vision
ReplyDeleteThis is not true of Hungary, however. Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, for instance, a former policeman and now a billionaire, is rumoured to have been involved in all kind of crime, from tax evasion to very advantageous business of his security agency
Don't I look like a skinny & clean-shaven Lipa?
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/06/09/deep-vennum-blues-lawyer-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-from-clients/
A former Lindquist & Vennum partner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to embezzling about $2 million from the firm and clients, and using a big chunk of the money to renovate his St. Paul, Minn., home. Click here for an earlier post on the lawyer, Michael Margulies; here for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune article on his plea.
Margulies was fired from Lindquist & Vennum after an investigation found that he’d been stealing clients’ money through a fake business. The firm later found that he had also submitted false expense reports for dinners.
In his plea agreement, Margulies admitted that from 1994 to this year, he stole the money through fraudulent expense reports and invoices, as well as forged checks.
Margulies faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He had practiced as a real-estate lawyer for 32 years
According to the Star-Tribune story, home (and theft) is where Margulies’s home was. He primarily used the money for extensive renovations at a historic brick mansion in St. Paul that he shared with his wife until their divorce last year.
An attorney for Margulies, Joseph Friedberg, declined to comment.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=134&id=35151&t=Orthodox+rabbis+denounce+'don't+ask,+don't+tell'+policy+on+gays+in+military
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with Rabbi Yehuda Levin imitating my tekias shofar routine? Watch him starting at 7 minutes into this video.
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=19332
ReplyDeleteA new Mikve has been built near the grave site of the holy Rabbi Levi Yitzchok in Barditchev for travellers and locals alike.
Feivish Mendelowitz, a Satmar business man, built a new Mikva for the many visitors who come to the grave site of Reb Levi Yitzchok Barditchever.
http://indyposted.com/28358/we-con-the-world-yanked-from-youtube-as-nazi-videos-get-free-pass-videos/
ReplyDeleteI no longer believe the wild story that Vicky Polin told over on my show, as it states in this article.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/06/19/2010-06-19_pi_firm_digs_into_bizmans_fatal_leap.html
ReplyDeleteA private investigation firm has been hired to review the death of a wealthy Brooklyn investor who plunged from the terrace of his posh Essex House condo.
The medical examiner has ruled the June 9 death of Solomon Obstfeld a suicide.
NYPD detectives have yet to close the case, although they have not found anything that contradicts that conclusion.
But some of Obstfeld's friends are not convinced.
They say the father of five was involved with a host of shady business partners - including one caught in a bribery scandal involving former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"The people who hired us do not believe it was a suicide, but what they really want are answers to why this happened," said Tom Ruskin of CMP Protective and Investigative Group.
Ruskin declined to comment on whether he was hired by Obstfeld's family or by one of the businessman's close friends.
"People who commit suicide, even those really depressed, leave a note, make a will, think of the family they leave behind and take care of them," Ruskin said.
Obstfeld was entangled in a series of murky business deals, including ties with billionaire Martin Schlaff. Israeli police recommended this week that Schlaff be indicted for bribing Sharon.
Schlaff was one of hundreds who turned out for Obstfeld's funeral, sources said.
A highly religious Bobover Hasidic Jew, Obstfeld left no note or will before he plummeted from his 19th-floor condo, sources said.
All that was left behind was the 55-year-old's glasses, Ruskin said.
A family friend who identified Obstfeld's remains told investigators his watch was smashed and frozen at about 6:35 p.m., or about 15 minutes after what employees said was Obstfeld's last known phone conversation, an unremarkable business chat, Ruskin said.
Obstefled's body was discovered when kitchen workers at Essex House's posh South Gate restaurant looked out and saw a body.
The city's medical examiner's office inspected the body, but an autopsy was not performed because of religious objections. Obstfeld's family told others he died of a heart attack.
He had recently put his three luxury Essex House apartments up for sale for a combined $6.5 million, and investigators were looking into friends' concerns that he was juggling money troubles.
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5764/VYS64features.htm
ReplyDeleteThe Agudah picked the mashgiach ruchni of Tropper's yeshiva to head their Commission on Kedushas Beis Haknesses.
Are they still going ahead with their 50th anniversary party hosted by Speaker Christie Quinn in the City Council chambers?
ReplyDeleteChristie Quinn, who is openly gay, has been pushing for toyeva "marriage" in NY City and NY State.
http://www.forward.com/articles/6159/
(Current Queens Vaad executive director) Rabbi Chaim Schwartz, (previously) executive director of Agudath Israel of New England and a member of the Coalition for Marriage, strongly condemned the JCRC’s endorsement and claimed that the Boston Orthodox community was largely opposed to the newly adopted resolution. The Aguda is not a member of the JCRC.
“The Torah response is not what they have supported,” Schwartz said, referring to what he described as the biblical ban on same-sex relationships. “It pains me greatly to have to speak about this in public, but once this group comes out in support of gay marriages, I don’t want people to get the impression that Judaism condones this behavior.”
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/63023/Yerushalayim-Beis-Din-Cancels-Lalum-Agreement.html
ReplyDeleteAv Beis Din Rav Avraham Dov Levine announced on Tuesday morning that the arbitration agreement signed with Yoav Lalum is null and void, explaining that the rabbonim shlita unfortunately fell prey to Yoav Lalum, and they are now aware the beis din was manipulated by him to advance his agenda and to satisfy his needs regarding the media.
On Sunday, YWN-ISRAEL reported that Lalum signed an arbitration agreement with the Yerushalayim Beis Din, giving the beis din total authority to adjudicate matters. Lalum’s responsibilities included withdrawing all High Court petitions within three hours of signing the document. On Monday at 11:00am, the beis din came to the realization that Lalum has no intentions of doing any such thing, but he abused the beis din by taking cynical advantage of it, using the arbitration agreement to feed the media.
According to R’ Yossi Deutsch, Lalum is simply a “liar and he cannot be trusted”. Deutsch explains that Lalum is a family man and has to support his children, questioning why no one seems to ponder just where he receives the funding to continue living and filing High Court petitions, not to mention the funds required for the attorneys and courtroom proceedings.
The beis din today (Monday, June 21, 2010) released a sharply-worded letter condemning Lalum, canceling a planned session of the rabbinical court set for today. Deutsch told Kol Chareidi that “Lalum simply has no regard for halacha or for the rabbonim. The beis din now understands that Lalum is not a man of his word, and he manipulated the beis din to advance his agenda”.
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=19402
ReplyDeleteCan we all get along?
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/06/david-dinkins-obama-is-not-a-o.html
ReplyDeleteDavid Dinkins: Obama Is Not A One-Term President
http://www.jewishjournal.com/flotilla_file/item/rabbis_and_faith_leaders_fast_for_gaza_20100617/
ReplyDeleteRabbis and faith leaders “Fast for Gaza”
Posted by Ryan Torok
One day every month, from sunrise to sunset, members of Ta’anit Tzedek—Jewish Fast for Gaza, a self described “ad-hoc” initiative of over 100 rabbis and other faith leaders from all over the U.S., go on a political diet. They fast, refraining from eating or drinking anything except water, to raise awareness about Israel’s blockade of Gaza, a blockade they consider unjust.
“As Jews and people of conscience, we can no longer stand idly by Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” says a message on fastforgaza.net, the group’s website.
Local rabbinical supporters of Jewish Fast for Gaza include Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles and Rabbi Steven Jacobs, rabbi emeritus of Temple Kol Tikvah in the San Fernando Valley.
The group fasts on the third Thursday of each month, and so the group’s members fasted today on Thursday, June 17. The first fast took place almost one year ago, on July 16, 2009.
Following the Israeli navy’s recent deadly raid of the Mavi Marmara, Rabbi Brant Rosen, the Illinois-based project coordinator at Jewish Fast for Gaza, criticized Israel’s handling of the flotilla and the country’s maritime blockade of Gaza.
We “call upon the government of Israel to turn away from the policies of occupation, siege and indifference to international law,” Rosen wrote in a blog post on the group’s site.
http://www.vosizneias.com/38241/2009/09/12/los-angeles-la-jewish-cemetery-accused-of-desecrating-500-graves/
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Bayside's neighboring Mokom Sholom cemetery. The cemetery removed headstones in the 60s and tried to rebury on used land in the 70s but kept hitting bones (ask the NYS cemetery commission for the Perry Fisher report.) In the 90s, with the blessing of Rabbi Elchonon Zohn, David Jacobsen continued removing headstones and wanted to add another six feet of dirt and rebury again but he was caught by Moshe Handler and two others. Zohn then traveled to Israel to try to convince R' Eliyashiv shlit"a that there was no remains buried there. When Rav Eliyashiv ruled that the stones must be replaced, they are assur bihana'ah, and no second layer of bodies could be buried, R' Zohn said he didn't have to listen to R' Eliyashiv because as an Israeli posek R' Eliyashiv has no authority in America.
More recently a communications company built an antenna on the site of the old office building and pays trustee, David Jacobsen more than $1600 a month rental for the space. The money should go towards restoring the cemetery (I think $1600 should be enough to get all the grass mowed.) The Vaad Harabonim of Queens makes over a million dollars a years for taharas. That's three and and half times more then they make on hashgochas. Rabbi Zohn makes 102K as "burial director".
Information is from VHQ 2007 IRS 990 form on guidestar.org.
The judge has released the sentencing memorandum a day before she sentences Rubashkin to 27 years.
ReplyDeleteThe prosecution had asked for 25 years but he got an extra 2 years for perjuring himself on the stand when the govt had evidence he was lying and for destroying evidence and having witnesses intimidated.
The judge did not allow a downward variance for rachmonus reasons as has happened in other cases due to Rubashkin's lack of remorse ie complete denial and refusal to make compensation.
This is a very sad day because Rubashkin himself, the hashgochos and the Agudah could have avoided all this by heeding the many warnings over the years. Nathan Lewin also shares some blame imo with an arrogant strategy that blew up in his face. I also believe that all the assifos and complaining to the Justice Dept only made the judge angry. (There are also rumors that heimishe lunatics were making threatening phone calls to the court like they did to Florida's Gov. in the Grossman case)
The memorandum outlines how Rubashkin trucking records were forged in an elaborate way to defraud the banks & IRS.
The hashgochos should keep this in mind when they continue to certify Rubashkin's South American meat. How are they able to monitor shipments through paperwork only when this family has a history of forging records?
IMO, once you get involved in auditing you just create a new power group whose word as auditors is gospel. It's self defeating.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think we should do is refuse to give to any Yeshiva that does not have complete transparency. Yes, that means nobody will be able to give b'tzin'uh anymore. But that is a good thing. You get to know who has influence with the Yeshiva administration.
Otherwise nobody would ever think of going after someone like tropper. He's just so CUTE! You wanna SHQUEEZE him!
http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/semiannual/2010/semiannual_spring2010.pdf
ReplyDeleteHHS OIG Semiannual Report to Congress
Spring 2010
Office of Inspector General Administrative Sanctions
OIG excludes from participation in Federal health care programs individuals who fail to repay HHS‐secured educational loans and investigates specific allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse affecting public health and human services programs. These investigations are often complex and can include allegations of misuse or theft of grant funds, conflict of interest, and kickbacks. The following sections provide descriptions and data related to these efforts.
Each of the following individuals entered into a settlement agreement to repay the amount indicated:
New York – Chiropractor Eric Obadia ‐$107,091
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/06/20/2010-06-20_rahm_emanuel_obamas_chief_of_staff_to_quit_white_house_in_six_to_eight_months_re.html
ReplyDeleteRahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff to quit White House in six to eight months: report
http://www.debka.com/article/8866/
ReplyDeleteThe armada of 10 US warships plus an Israeli and German battle vessel each, which transited the Suez Canal Friday, June 18, has reached the Persian Gulf, debkafile's military sources report.
Switching over to a tough line, US defense secretary Robert Gates warned a Senate panel on June 18 that Iran could fire "scores or hundreds" of short- and medium-range missiles against Europe - in salvoes rather than one or two at a time.
Four days later, Gates told a Fox interviewer: "I don't think we're prepared to even talk about containing a nuclear Iran. I think… our view still is we do not accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons."
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/madoff_HD9ShMJK26jjNYTFSO7LpJ
ReplyDeleteMadoff began attending sessions with a female prison psychiatrist last year after becoming depressed about a tell-all published in August by his former mistress, Sheryl Weinstein.
"He was having problems with his wife [Ruth]" over the book's revelations, the inmate said.
"He felt she might leave him."
The book, "Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me, " details Weinstein's sexcapades with Madoff and how he screwed her out of her life savings.
The shrink prescribed Madoff antidepressants, the inmate said.
Ruth Madoff did not abandon him and still visits, the inmate said.
But Ruth, who has not been charged, has moved out of New York state to get away from the harsh public attention.
Madoff is known for regularly hanging around with another notorious inmate -- Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy -- and former New York pharmacist John Mancini, who was locked up for illegally distributing millions of painkillers.
"Jonathan Pollard and him watch TV together. They watch CNN," the inmate said. "Bernie likes watching to see if there's anything about him on it."
But Madoff "gets upset" if he disagrees with how he is portrayed on television and was particularly disturbed by the reports that he had been assaulted, the inmate said.
Madoff also sometimes chats with Colombo crime-family boss Carmine Persico, who is serving a life sentence at Butner.
"They play boccie" and take walks together, the inmate said.
As with Persico and Pollard, Madoff is one of -- if not the most -- high-profile inmate at Butner.
"Everybody knows Bernie Madoff," the inmate said. "Everyone says, 'Hey, Bernie, how are you doing?' To a lot of inmates, he's a god.
"The higher the profile, the more they look up to you."
The beis din in Israel originally poskened against the Slonimers.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible the beis din is now going against Lalum because they were threatened by Slonimers who didn't like the psak?
Zweibel the grandstanding lunatic is demanding a meeting with Ambassador Oren to discuss the Emmanuel Bais Yaaakov crisis. Agudath Israel of America can't control abuse and human rights violations in the American day school system. What is he thinking trying to stick his nose in Israeli schooling?
ReplyDeleteSo until this issue, the Agudah was pro-Israel? Can you name me a single Agudah Institution that says the Tefila for the Medina or the Misheberach for the soldiers each Shabbos, or that celebrates Yom Haaatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim? Why this sudden love for the State of Israel?
It's not a sudden love for Israel from Agudah. Agudath Israel of America is trembling out of fear that once Israel starts sorting out the Charedi internal mess-- that is rivaling Pakistan's Mulah controlled courts and schools--the American judicial systems might start to intervene in private schools, especially yeshivos that are committing human rights violations by not teaching core subjects needed to survive in the global economy. The Charedi world wants to keep its populations dumber and dependent on community for survival. If the Charedim were given solid basic skills and allowed to think independently, then their system of control and lunacy would collapse like the tower of Babel. Education leads to independence which=freedom. Charedim and Muslim radicals have one thing in common and it is to resent state laws and government authority and regulate what their followers can learn, think, say, and do.
BLOGS==The GREAT EQUALIZER!!
"Animal Vs. Human Flesh (Part one)
ReplyDeleteThe following moving episode related by Cantor Moshe Kraus from Ottawa, who observed it first-hand.
As a youngster, Moshe Kraus worked in the home of one of the great religious and spiritual Jewish personalities in pre-war Europe, the Rabbi of Munkatsh (a town in southwestern Ukraine), Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira (1871-1937), known as the "Minchas Elazar." In his duty of cleaning up and organizing the numerous scattered books in the Rabbi's study, Moshe Kraus regularly encountered the many people who came to have the Rabbi mediate their disputes and quarrels.
One day, as moshe Kraus was organizing the books, the leader of a particular Jewish community, came to the Munkatcher Rebbe to settle an ongoing quarrel he had with the community Rabbi.
The community leader, who loathed the Rabbi deeply, has been hunting him down (what else is new in the world?). He went so far as to instruct his wife not to ask the Rabbi any questions concerning Jewish law. "Should you have any questions," he told her, "you ask me."
One Friday afternoon, a question arose regarding a chicken she was preparing for Sabbath, and her husband was not home. In desperation, she went to the Rabbi to receive a ruling concerning the chicken's kosher status. The Rabbi ruled it was Kosher. So the woman went ahead and cooked it.
When her husband came home and found out what happened, he was furious. After inspecting the chicken himself, he announced that it was not-kosher. "Aha! He exclaimed. You see, I told you he's not a competent Rabbi, as the chicken is not Kosher!" and with that he put away the chicken on the side and would not eat it.
After Sabbath, the husband, with chicken in tow, called on the Rabbi to come with him to the Munkatsher Rebbe to settle the matter. Once and for all, he would prove to the world that this Rabbi was indeed an ignoramus and unworthy of his position. Arriving at the Rebbe, the community leader proceeds to tell the whole story, showing the Rebbe the chicken. Finishing his narrative, he says: "Rebbe you see, the Rabbi is feeding us non-kosher food! He must be dismissed from his post."
The Munkatsher Rebbe did not say a word. He simply took the chicken and examined it well. Then he took a piece of the chicken, closed his eyes, recited the blessing of shehakol (the blessing we recite before eating chicken or meat), and ate it.
The verdict has been stated: the community leader was in the wrong; the Rabbi was in the right. The community leader left the home angry and upset. His scheme to dethrone the Rabbi did not materialize.
Present at this occurrence was the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Yitzchok Sterhell (author of Kochav Yitzchok on the Jerusalem Talmud.) After the two plaintiffs had left, he turned to the Munkatcher Rebbe and asked: "Although according to basic Jewish law the chicken was indeed kosher, it was certainly not "Glatt?" It was certainly not on the highest level of Kashrut. Why did you have to eat from it; you could have merely said that it was kosher?"
The Munkatsher Rebbe slammed his fist on the table, causing all of the books to shake, and replied sternly: "And human 'meat' is Glatt Kosher?!"
The message the Munkatcher Rebbe was conveying was that if the laws of kosher food are being enforced while human flesh is being consumed, at the expense of human dignity and basic kindness, you ought to be weary of this type of "kashrut." The Munkatcher was ready to lower his religious standards of kosher, in order to put an end to the ugly witch hunt of an innocent human being.
Where's the Apology? (Part Two)
ReplyDeleteIt is troubling to say, but such a form of "kashrut" has recently developed. A few years ago, a new kosher symbol by the name of "hekhsher tzedek" originated by rabbis within the Conservative movement and has been endorsed by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. Its mission statement was to introduce higher ethics into the preparation of kosher food.
The new certification resulted from the initiative of Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, following investigative reporting by Nathaniel Popper in The Forward (a weekly Jewish newspaper) regarding working conditions at the Rubashkin Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa.
In an interview with Pamela Miller from the Star Tribune, Rabbi Allen states, "While it [the team led by Rabbi Allen] was not able to verify all of the Forward's claims, 'we witnessed some things that went against the dignity of workers.'" Allen argues that "We should not be eating food that has been produced in a way that has denied the dignity of the laborer. We should not be more concerned about the smoothness of a cow's lung than we are about the safety of a worker's hand."
Noble instincts indeed. Alas, as it turns out, this new kosher certification speaking in the name of ethics has been established on the foundations of tragic and unjust human abuse. For years, leading activists of Hekhsher Tzedek slandered the Agri kosher meat plant and its manager Sholom Rubashkin for the supposedly horrendous mistreatment of workers. Yet, on June 7th, a jury in Waterloo, Iowa proclaimed kosher slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin not guilty of all 67 child labor violations he has been charged with. It turns out that the accusations were unfounded.
[In separate charges for obtaining bank loans for the company through fraudulent reports, Rubashkin was sentenced today to 27 years in prison. The bank loans were being used to sustain the Agri plant and were paid up till the Federal government shut down the meat plant. The lawyers vowed to appeal this uniquely harsh sentence.]
We have not heard an apology from the Rabbinical Assembly for the creation of a new kosher symbol dedicated to ethics fueled, inspired and validated by the unjust character assassination of Mr. Rubashkin and his company. Does the Jewish world really want a kosher mark born of Jewish suffering?
Hath not Sholom Rubashkin eyes? Hath not Rubashkin hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? If you prick him, does he not bleed?"
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - A state judge ordered the Boy Scouts of America to release its secret files documenting 20 years of sexual abuse from scoutmasters - with the names redacted - but the order was put on hold when the Boy Scouts immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court. Some of the files were entered as evidence in a sexual assault case here that resulted in an $18.5 million damages award against the Boy Scouts.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d84667f2-3bc9-4229-a344-8c16b49a6cac/1/doc/09-0234-cv_opn.pdf
ReplyDeleteWhich Amnon Cohen is this that has been named as a defendant in Shereshevsky's ponzi scheme?
There is a Shas MK in Israel by that name.
He lives in Las Vegas nv back at his old Ponzi schemes
DeleteTwo more Boy Scouts claim they were sexually molested by a Scoutmaster, and that sexual abuse by Scoutmasters "in the 1970s reached an average of one every three days," in Seattle Federal Court.
ReplyDeleteUnited Potato Growers of Idaho, Dole Food and others conspired to fix prices by controlling the supply of potatoes in the United States, according to an antitrust class action in Pocatello Federal Court.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.courthousenews.com/2010/06/21/BoyScouts.pdf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/hoax-military-investigation,1351785.html
ReplyDeleteJune 17, 2010 -- Danny Ace, a Top Clearance Software Engineer who is being Investigated by US Air Force, releases his report about the Military Investigation based on Radiation Hoax. To justify the investigation and to involve other Law Enforcement agencies, the Air Force distributes a false claim that Danny Ace is running around with traces of Radiation. Danny Ace provides facts about this Investigation as well as conclusive evidence such as Geiger Counter readings and Blood Test results to prove that the Radiation claim is a Fraud.
Seven years ago Danny Ace worked on a US Air Force Base as a Lockheed Martin Software Engineer with a Top Secret Security Clearance. Currently, Danny Ace is being investigated by the Air Force for no apparent reason. Danny Ace reports that in order to justify this investigation and to involve other Law Enforcement agencies, the Military distributes a Hoax that he is running around with traces of Radiation. As a result, Danny Ace is being under constant surveillance. This includes his phone, mail, e-mail, the people Danny Ace meets with, etc. Moreover, Danny Ace states that all of his communications (phone and electronic) are being filtered and often blocked. In addition, on several occasions drugs (cocaine) have been found in his system, even though Danny Ace is not a drug user and drugs are explicitly forbidden by his religion (Jewish Orthodox).
To dispel the Radiation Fraud that is being disseminated among the Law Enforcement agencies, Danny Ace obtained a digital Geiger Counter (extremely sensitive), which shows absolutely normal levels of radiation on his person and in his house: 8-10 microRem/h. These measurements are consistent with normal background radiation. In addition, Danny Ace has done several blood tests (TSH 3RD Gen, CBC and Standard) specifically made to detect any traces of radiation. All blood tests turned out completely normal.
"I am an innocent citizen and certainly not a spy. This investigation is conducted on baseless grounds. My contacts, mail, phone calls and emails should stop being monitored, filtered and blocked. It's impossible to live and work in this manner."
Danny Ace demands that this investigation be immediately stopped.
Author: Danny Ace Ace Inventions & Software Inc Phone: (253) 617-3767 E-mail: developer(at)ace-inventions(dot)com Web: http://ace-inventions.com
What kind of message is Young Israel sending? (Pinny Lipschutz will no doubt be even more dramatic)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/us/22iowa.html
“Our community will react just as I have, with shock and disgust,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, who has organized support for Mr. Rubashkin among Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Lerner said he would try to raise an outcry to bring attention to the appeal.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/breaking_news/judge_rubashkin_get_27_years
But both the judge and prosecutors scoffed at the assertion that Rubashkin never profited from his crime. Prosecutors presented evidence that Rubashkin diverted from Agriprocessors $300,000 to pay his credit card bills, $200,000 to remodel his house, $76,000 to pay his state and federal income taxes, $41,000 to pay his mortgage, $25,000 for jewelry, $20,000 for sterling silver, $1,245-a-month for life insurance, and $365 for car payments.
Reade wrote also that Rubashkin “lied at trial under oath” and that his “lies were willful … [and] material because they related directly to the nature of his involvement in the offenses of conviction.”
For instance, she said he lied when he claimed never to have asked an employee to create bills of lading to match false invoices – directly contradicting the testimony of the employee and the fake invoices and bills of lading introduced into evidence.
“The defendant’s testimony on this matter is incredible,” the judge wrote. “By perjuring himself at trial, defendant willfully obstructed or impeded … the administration of justice.”
“The defendant’s obstructive conduct in the instant action was more excessive than that involved in a typical financial crime case …,” Reade said.
“Like most human beings, defendant’s character includes good traits and bad traits,” she wrote. “In light of defendant’s character as a whole, the court finds that his charitable and civic nature does not warrant [leniency]. Additionally, it is entirely possible that a number of defendant’s charitable deeds were funded with proceeds from his crimes. It is far easier to be generous with someone else’s money instead of one’s own.”
The judge also rejected the defense claims that Rubashkin suffered from depression that “impaired his judgment,” saying the assertion was “unsupported by any credible and independent physician.”
To watch just about every major hedge fund manager get away with billions of dollars of fraud in one guise or another and not see the inside of a prison, including government officials who were tacitly involved in the actual crimes and/or cover-ups -- enough to bring the global economy to its knees --- to see a stupid, wiseguy meat packing executive get a 27 year sentence at age 50 (tantamount to LIFE), is a gross miscarriage of justice. I hope his attorneys will have success on appeal in getting his sentence reduced! Let's see Alan Dershowitz do his thing!
ReplyDeleteChof K supervision
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/abramoff_to_work_at_tov_pizza/19332
Abramoff To Work At Tov Pizza
June 21, 2010
Phil Jacobs
Executive Editor
Jack Abramoff was serving time in Western Maryland.
Now, he’ll be serving pizza in Baltimore.
Well, sort of.
Abramoff, 51, is a Capitol Hill lobbyist and businessman who pled guilty in 2006 to felony counts related to his lobbying and political activities.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board has the same pircha on Rubashkin as UOJ, but proposes a different solution.
ReplyDeleteThey say that instead of reducing Rubashkin's sentence, the other crooks should get longer jail time than Rubashkin.
The former head of a Port Authority union pled guilty to living high on the hog — with a pen of hookers, no less — with $300,000 of his members’ money on June 16.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Hughes, 49, the disgraced president of the Port Authority Field Supervisors Association — the group that represents Port Authority facilities, tunnels, bridges and airports — admitted to swiping thousands from the union bank account between January, 2005 to December, 2007 during a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
He freely admitted to using the cash to pay for expensive dinners, lavish casino vacations and steamy trysts with high priced hookers.
Hughes faces five years in jail at sentencing, said Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/conference_aims_to_strengthen_black-jewish_ties_20100621/
ReplyDeleteConference aims to strengthen black-Jewish ties
(AP) — A Connecticut television reporter has been accused of shoplifting more than $100 worth of merchandise from a department store.
ReplyDeletePolice say 33-year-old Desiree Fontaine was arrested Saturday after they received a complaint that she took $104.98 worth of items from a Sears store in Milford without paying for them. Police did not provide further details.
Fontaine is the morning news traffic reporter for WTNH in New Haven
http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/news.do?feed=yellowbrix&storyid=145850425
ReplyDeleteRabbi David Avigdor who was arrested in last week's FBI sting was also the lawyer who defended this Muslim wife beater. Thanks to Avigdor's legal skills, his client was released and proceeded to go home and shoot his wife to death.
Maybe brother Morton from the Agudah gave David some tips on how to defend abusers.
NY law would be 1st to take DNA from all criminals
ReplyDeleteBy MICHAEL VIRTANEN (AP) – 1 hour ago
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson has proposed roughly doubling New York's DNA database to include samples from even low-level offenders, making it the first in the nation to so broadly collect and use that evidence to solve crimes and exonerate people wrongly convicted.
He was a celebrated priest, praised by Pope John Paul II.
ReplyDeleteBut Father Marcial Maciel had secrets, which included illegitimate children and sexual abuse, according to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut on Monday.
Raul Gonzalez claims the Vatican protected the man he knew as his father for decades, chiefly because of his efforts with the highly profitable Legion of Christ.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/22/2010-06-22_father_marcial_maciel_my_dad_sexually_abused_me_raul_gonzalez_claims_in_lawsuit.html
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/06/watch_congressman_steve_cohen.html
ReplyDeleteHere are some videos of Tennessee Democratic congressman Steve Cohen this weekend, sporting some strange sweat patterns in the 100 degree heat while dancing to rap music in some ill-fated attempt to ingratiate himself to his Memphis district's many African-American voters.
Even a Conservative rabbi who initially camped out at Failed Messiah because he enjoyed orhtodox-bashing, is getting sick of Shmarya:
ReplyDelete"Shmarya to quote Agnew you are a NATTERING NABOB OF NEGATIVITY, or to quote the great Marx (Groucho) Whatever it is, I'm against it.
You will always find some reason to oppose. I guess that is where the money is."
Archie,
ReplyDeleteIt's 2 hours until Rubashkin will be brought in to the courtroom for official sentencing by the judge.
Somehow I don't think Shmarya will take advantage of this last chance to use the "travel expenses" he shnorred from the public.
It's been a while now that any comment posted to FM about this fraud of collecting money under false pretenses is immediately erased by Shmarya.
I wonder if anyone who is angry they were suckered would like to contact the Minnesota Attorney General.
The Charedi world wants to keep its populations dumber and dependent on community for survival. If the Charedim were given solid basic skills and allowed to think independently, then their system of control and lunacy would collapse like the tower of Babel. Education leads to independence which=freedom. Charedim and Muslim radicals have one thing in common and it is to resent state laws and government authority and regulate what their followers can learn, think, say, and do.
ReplyDeleteBLOGS==The GREAT EQUALIZER!!
Tzadik - you have reincarnated the wisdom of the ages that when they threw off the yoke of the superstitions and the priests that created them, formed a revolutionary revelation, that of one universal deity. You've have seen the writ of man-made deification in the form of organizational idealogues who will weep over their loss of influence. Hashiveynu and we will truly be free.
The Queens Vaad cemeteries scandal is sadder than anyone could know.
ReplyDeleteMany of the yesomim who were dug up came from the Deborah Nursery, an orphanage that opened in Washington Hts in 1878.
Before these young children died from various diseases, they were abused by at least 2 superintendents who were eventually arrested. Conditions were so bad that the City shut the place down in 1897.
Even after their neshomos departed, they were ripped out of the kever a century later & discarded like trash by Ohel's David Jacobson & his partner in crime, the Queens Vaad.
NY TIMES - June 6, 1895
ACCUSED OF CRUELTY TO BOYS - Beating Youths.
Bernard Abrahams, ex-Superintendent of LADIES DEBORAH NURSERY, held in $300 bail on assaulting Joseph Bernstein, 13, Louis Prager, 10 & Charles Polowetsky, 12.
Rabbi Morris Epstein, appointed to succeed Abrahams, presented a letter to Justice Martin stating Abrahams no longer had authority & directed him to prevent Abrahams taking boys from the Institution for any purpose.
Abrahams said he'd received no notice of his removal & was still in charge.
Bernstein testified he was picking flowers near the institution with Prager & Polowetsky & failed to hear the breakfast bell. Abrahams beat them with a stick & locked them in a coal bin in the cellar, after tying them by the hands to a gas pipe. An hour later, John Mendoza, a teacher & watchman Samuel Brachfeld let them out. Later, Bernstein & Prager ran away. Mendoza corroborated Bernstein & said he found marks of the beating on each boys' back & red marks made by rope on Bernstein's wrists.
Brachfeld & Annie Kovitch, a servant, corroborated the testimony. When the servant was put on the stand Epstein was asked to interpret.
"I won't have that man!" shouted Abrahams, "he's a conspirator. The whole thing is a conspiracy."
Bernstein said the beating bruised him badly. He said Abrahams had beaten him twice before for trivial offenses, leaving marks on him each time.
Abrahams protested & asked to question the boy. Justice Martin objected, but the defendant persisted:
Do you know what I am?"
"The Superintendent," was the reply.
"What are my duties?"
"To whip me when I'm bad."
Justice Martin interrupted Abrahams & accused him of cruelty & brutality.
"I've never cruelly punished a boy in my life," Abrahams shouted.
"You have no right to treat any boy cruel," Justice Martin said severely.
"I wasn't cruel," Abrahams shouted. "I had to discipline."
"You're paid to teach these children yet you put them in public schools," the Justice continued.
"I teach them too.
"What do you teach them?" asked the Justice.
"Morality," Abrahams shouted.
"You do? I admire your methods," observed the Justice.
Abrahams began a long harangue, but was interrupted by the Justice:
"You aren't here to make speeches."
"I want to vindicate my character," cried Abrahams.
Prager & Polowetsky gave testimony similar to Bernstein & were corroborated in every detail by Mendoza, Brachfeld & Kovitch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies'_Deborah_and_Child's_Protectory
Israel Schwartz, a 13-year-old Jewish boy, accused superintendent Herman Engel of assaulting him with a cane, in May 1893. Engel was held & fined $300. Schwartz complaint was one of many which were reported around this time.
In Nov. 1896 the facility was ordered to make reforms by the New York City Board of Health. At this instance the nursery was afflicted by ophthalmia. In March 1896 eighty cases of the disease were reported at Ladies' Deborah Nursery. Infected children were quarantined but 22 were released back to the main building, despite continuing to suffer from various eye diseases.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000708133748/www.jewishinterest.com/MokomSholom/rav.htm
ReplyDeleteThe Queens Vaad ignores Rav Elyashev's order that they restore the kevorim they destroyed for profit!
Wacko Schechter groupie Michael Hersh is trying to harass Rav Doniel Eidensohn & his readers!
ReplyDeletehttp://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/06/subpoena-notice-from-google.html
Just received the following letter from Google today - along with a pdf of the subpoena which mentions my blog. Anybody know the significance of this? [not the lawsuit but the significance for me] As far as I can tell there was in fact only one comment on my blog regarding these individuals and that was basically citations of items that appeared in the newspaper. They obviously are not sending this to find out my identity since it is mentioned on the front page of my blog. Thus it seems to be a fishing expedition for the identity of anyone who has ever commented on my blog.
==========================================
Hello,
Google has received a civil subpoena for information related to your Google account in a case entitled MiriamHersh and Michael Hersh v. Elizabeth Rebecca Cohen, Raphael Cohen,Aryeh Larry Wolbe, Eli Wolbe, et al., Supreme Court of the State of New York,County of Kings, Case number 006170-2009.
To comply with thelaw, unless you provide us with a copy of a filed motion to quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court) via email at legal-support@google.com no later than 5pm Pacific Time on July 11, 2010, Google may provide responsive documents on this date.
It looks like Michael Hersh is trying to learn the identity of Daattorah reader RaP, a major critic of Leib Tropper, who uses the same style as "Tropper is Troubled" and another moniker here that is highly critical of Chaim Berlin.
ReplyDeleteSchechter, Fruchty & Mehlman might possibly be behind this, using Hersh as a cover for any eyebrow raising legal actions in secular court.
Comment on Rabbi Eidensohn's blog:
ReplyDeleteI personally know of Rebbeyim who were caught abusing children who were "quietly" asked to leave the school, but and were given "recommendation letters" so they could find work in the next school.
Some of these Rebbeyim are on their 3rd or 4th school. Where are the courageous administrators who should have warned the public against these predators?
How many more Mondrowitzs and Lebovits must be revealed and how many more kids must suffer before we wake up and really tackle the problem?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/touro_college_construction_manager_DkCAqolx3n2ns3LvSAf6FJ
ReplyDeleteA construction manager at Touro College was busted today in a bid-rigging scheme after allegedly getting caught on tape telling a crooked contractor that the FBI wasn't "interested" in the multi-million dollar fraud.
"But you know, the more I'm thinking about it, like, the situation that we did with this, well first of all it's a private institution. It's non-public....They're not interested in this (unintelligible) s--t. They're interested in you know, federal offenses and s--t like that," Lawrence Pesce allegedly said.
Moments later, after allegedly pocketing an envelope stuffed with $10,000 in cash inside a New Jersey diner, Pesce cracked himself up, saying: "Oh boy, we couldn't be any more obvious than that," according to court papers.
Pesce was charged with wire fraud for allegedly cheating his employer out of $2 million-plus by helping the unidentified contractor win a $10.9 million deal for a construction project at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine building on West 125th Street in Manhattan.
According to a Manhattan federal court complaint, Pesce instructed the contractor to jack up his planned $9.1 million bid because he knew the college was expecting to pay about $12 million for the work.
The two then conspired to have other companies submit higher "dummy bids" so the contractor -- who is cooperating with the feds -- would win the deal, the complaint says.
Pesce also allegedly helped the contractor submit artificially inflated "change orders" that pushed the total price of the project past $12.4 million.
In exchange, he got more than $750,000 in cash and checks, along with $350,000 toward the purchase of property in Wantagh, Long Island, the complaint says.
Pesce was also allegedly slated to receive title to four housing units at a Wappinger Falls development as part of a phony sale worth more than $1 million, but that deal didn't close before his arrest.
http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/1236163/jewish/Jewish-Students-Return-From-DC.htm
ReplyDeleteLieberman, meanwhile, spoke about his personal relationship with Chabad over the years – a relationship that has allowed him to eat kosher food on the campaign trail when emissaries have delivered meals to his hotels and events – and the movement’s worldwide reach.
“There are more Chabad Houses popping up in Connecticut than Subway franchises,” he quipped. “The Rebbe was one of the greatest leaders of all of Jewish history, and that’s a lot of history.”
From Yeshiva World
ReplyDeletePETA Celebrates Rubashkin Sentence
(Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010)
The following is from PETA’s blog (on the PETA website); take note of the last line in their post.
“Last fall, a jury found Sholom Rubashkin, former Agriprocessors CEO, guilty on 86 federal financial fraud charges. Now, a judge in the case has announced that Rubashkin will be sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $31 million in restitution!
This is the culmination of a long, sordid history of financial crimes at the plant as well as violations against humans and animals dating back to PETA’s original undercover investigation in 2004.
Advertise On YWN »
This undercover investigation exposed that Agriprocessors was hacking out the tracheas and esophagi of cattle immediately after the kosher slaughter cut, when the animals were still conscious and able to feel pain. Many animals remained conscious for prolonged periods, some even struggling to their feet in agony three minutes after their throats were cut, their organs dangling from their necks.
Dr. Temple Grandin, the world’s leading slaughterhouse expert, called this “the most disgusting thing [she'd] ever seen.” The USDA agreed with PETA and cited Agriprocessors for “engaging in acts of inhumane slaughter.” Sholom Rubashkin tried to defend these egregious methods, but PETA undercover investigations in both 2007 and 2008 caught his facilities again performing dressing procedures on conscious animals. Dr. Grandin said, “The undercover video clearly showed that when they think nobody is looking, they do bad things in this plant.”
At least Sholom Rubashkin will not have the opportunity to harm any more animals for the next 27 years.
Posted by Shawna Flavell”
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteThat PETA are lowlives does not exonerate your criminal friend.
"This undercover investigation exposed that Agriprocessors was hacking out the tracheas and esophagi of cattle immediately after the kosher slaughter cut, when the animals were still conscious and able to feel pain".
ReplyDelete*
R' Arthur,
If the above is in fact true, and there is raglayim l'davar that this was going on - on a fairly regular basis, besides being over on Tzar Baal Chaim, the particular cows would be a treife.
How many Jews ate non-kosher meat from the Rubashkin plant?... Sholom will one day have to answer to The Real Judge!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20007937-504083.html
ReplyDelete(CBS/KPIX) A judge showed no mercy Tuesday in sentencing 32-year old Aaron Vargas to nine years in prison, for murdering the man he claimed sexually molested him as a child.
According to CBS affiliate KPIX, Vargas testified that 63-year-old Darrell McNeill sexually abused him when he was 11 and continued to pursue him into adulthood. Vargas shot McNeill in February 2009 with a Civil War-style pistol and watched him take his last breath while the victim's wife, Elizabeth McNeill, stood nearby.[...]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575311011923686570.html
ReplyDeleteIsrael and the Surrender of the West
One of the world's oldest stories is playing out before our eyes: The Jews are being scapegoated again.
By SHELBY STEELE
There are some camps that take part of the youth corp money. The excuses may be that they have to pay someone to the paper work or some other bootleg excuse.
ReplyDeleteIf one takes a look at the SYEP FAQ's at , it is clearly written that this practice is PROHIBITED.
It is understandable why camps don't pay someone who gets youth corp; that's the reason the government is paying, to give employers an incentive to hire. However, the money should not be TAKEN.
Does anyone have a valid reason why this "genaivisha shtick"
goes on??
http://www.hazon.org/go.php?q=/food/conference/2009FC/ChickenShechita.html
ReplyDeleteThe OU certifies chicken shechita at Green Oaks Creek Farm in California under none other the OU head of shechita himself, Dokter Rabbiner Seth Mandel.
Here's where the problems start:
One of their shochtim is a Naftali Hanau who learned shechita from a Chabadnik in Crown Hts. (Yehuda Benshemchoun)
http://jcarrot.org/keeping-kosher-on-the-claremont-campus
Hanau calls himself a "post-modern orthodox" Jew and publicly admits he has no problem eating vegetarian food from a treif cafeteria, in kelim contaminated with treif meat.
http://jcarrot.org/winners-rosh-hashanah-dinner-challenge
Hanau states here that he eats the shechita of Shalom Kantor from Binghamton, who is said to be the only Conservative shochet in the world.
http://www.jstandard.com/index.php/content/item/6062/
This article states that another shochet at this OU operation is Andy Kastner from Avi Weiss's YCT.
Kastner is known to shecht together with Kantor at a private shechita in New England. YCT holds that Reform & Conservative apikorsim rabbis are completely legitimate.
Kastner once told the Jewish Week that he is also shechting at a major shechita on the East Coast but declined to name it in case the hashgocho gets flak for his association.
I asked rabbonim at the time if it was possible he was shechting for the OU. They just assumed that the OU would not be crazy enough to employ him and were wondering if Conagra (Ralbag) might have an area shechita.
www.lokomeat.com
Hanau has also started giving his own hashgocho to this shechita
I am also a supporter of Rabbi Pinto
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalpost.com/sues+owners+York+Lipstick+Building+after+loan+default/3183945/story.html
Royal Bank of Canada sued to force a sale of the Midtown Manhattan office building where Bernard L. Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history because the landlord defaulted on a US$210-million loan. The owners, which include real estate investor Haim Revah's Metropolitan Real Estate Investors LLC, allowed a fund set up to pay interest on the loan to fall below the agreed minimum of US$2.3-million, according to a complaint RBC filed yesterday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Violating terms of the contract allowed the lender to demand full payment immediately, RBC said. The bank is seeking a court-appointed receiver to oversee the property and asked the court to arrange a sale to pay off the debt.
Reb UOJ , Please view and then judge.
ReplyDeletehttp://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=9618&alias=video-lewin-getzy-rubashkin
"Arthur,
ReplyDeleteThat PETA are lowlives does not exonerate your criminal friend."
Whether you like it or not, "my criminal friend", as you put it so "succinctly", is your brother as well as mine and therefore I care and so should you.
Why does it take a tragedy to bring about some semblance of achdus between us? First Mumbai and now Rubashkin (except for the usual nay sayers).
ReplyDeleteHirshel Tzig tells Rav Eidensohn that Google has been subpoenaed over his website as well and that he believes Harry Maryles has been targeted too.
ReplyDeleteThere is a possibility that someone other than Chaim Berlin is putting Michael Hersh up to this as the commenter they are after has pissed a lot of people off.
There is Leib Tropper, although that is indirectly a Chaim Berlin issue itself.
There are the folks from NJOP & AJOP and Rabbi Rafi Butler who he ridiculed on top of everything else for having a fancy wardrobe.
Nat Lewin: "Tantamount To Life" - Where did I hear that line before?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/rubashkin_sentence_seen_%27piling_%27
Rubashkin's son eggs on a huge crowd in Los Angeles that his father's sentence is "racism".
ReplyDeleteOU Executive Director Steven Weil joins the chorus since his employer has plenty to cover up for. When addressing Lubav crowds he suddenly calls himself by his Jewish name.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/community/article/la_rally_protests_27-year_sentence_20100622/
“That’s racism at its best…or at its worst,” Meir Rubashkin said.
Rabbi Sholom Weil of Los Angeles, standing next to Meir Rubashkin, agreed that Rubashkin’s sentence makes a statement about negative attitudes toward Jews. “It’s not about Sholom Rubashkin. It’s an attack on Jewish identity, Jewish ideals,” Weil said.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23848169-i-was-naive-says-victim-of-pound-10000-dating-fraud.do
ReplyDeleteA LEARNING support assistant today revealed how she transferred more than £10,000 to a man she met on a dating website before realising she had become the victim of a scam.
The fraudster told Elana Brown, 46, of Ruislip, he was an American officer in Afghanistan who needed a loan to help a wounded fellow soldier.
Mrs Brown, who met the man on the Jewish dating site JDate, said: "I was hypnotised by him. I trusted him because he kept sending me messages and phoning me to tell me he was in love with me. He persuaded me he was a good man and that he would never hurt me. I was naive."
Her bank manager warned that she could be the victim of a fraud but she continued to send payments for two months. The man spoke with an American accent and an accomplice pretended to be a US army financial officer. Mrs Brown realised he was a conman when he stopped responding to her emails and calls. The divorced mother of two, who used up much of her savings and took out extra loans, said: "I now have serious financial problems."
Mrs Brown has passed telephone numbers and details of email accounts and Western Union money transfers to the Met police, although she has now complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about how long the investigation is taking.
Victims of similar tricks have posted their experiences on dating advice websites. They describe how fraudsters sometimes use the identities of real officers from MySpace or Facebook. One woman posted: "Please don't be taken in with this man - he is too good to be true and is just a fantasy of all that we women would want in a man!"
The Serious and Organised Crime Squad said one woman from West Yorkshire remortgaged her house to send £45,000 to a bogus US officer who claimed he needed the money to pay off a kidnapper in Iraq. The money was traced to the account of a man in Ghana who was subsequently arrested.
There is this prominent rabbi who tells (in confidentiality) this story:
ReplyDeletehe was invited to one of the EJF conferences. As it turns out the low level rabbis got rooms in one area of the hotel and the choshov ravs got suites in another area of the hotel.
The rabbi’s room was next to the elevator and he could not fall asleep so in the middle of the night he went to the reception area and asked to be transferred. The hotel moved him to a suite in a better floor.
While he was transferring his stuff he passed by an partially open door where very attractive girl was leaving and he saw her talking to a very choshuv rav (who is very close to Tropper), The choshuv rov was still inside the room (with the door half open) in his underwear ...
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN says it's hiring former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to co-host a round-table talk show for its struggling prime-time lineup.
ReplyDeleteSpitzer was a renowned prosecutor before being elected State Attorney General. Two years ago he left the governor's mansion in disgrace, following a prostitution scandal.
Who is the choshuv rav?
ReplyDeletePerhaps he sincerely believed in Tropper
ReplyDeleteReuven Feinstein (Chometz ben Yayin) may be corrupted to his core but he is no stupid
"Rubashkin's son eggs on a huge crowd in Los Angeles that his father's sentence is "racism".
ReplyDeleteOU Executive Director Steven Weil joins the chorus since his employer has plenty to cover up for. When addressing Lubav crowds he suddenly calls himself by his Jewish name."
Perhaps I was a bit hasty in speaking about "achdus" in the face of tragedy.The lack of achdus in itself is perhaps the greatest tragedy of all.The above quoted post is surely indicative of this lack.
It seems that someone from the OU siding with Rubashkin is some sort of conspiracy to cover up some alleged "crimes".The very term that Rubaskins son "eggs on the crowd" reflects on the writers negative mind view and of course is another crime added to the litany of "crimes" committed by the Rubashkins and by extension the "Lubavs".To top it all off the worst "crime" is that the OU speaker actually used his Hebrew name.Another "mind boggling and audacious travesty of justice".
In Yiddish there's an expression to describe the above post."Er kricht of glatter vent".(Impossible to translate into English).
"Er kricht of glatter vent"
ReplyDelete* He's crawling up a ladder with no rungs.
* He's eating soup with a fork.
* He's looking for Moshiach in New Square :-)
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteThere were crimes committed and the OU does share some of the blame. If you cannot or will not see that, then there is "no one home" and it a waste of time speaking to you.
Achdus does not mean we have to proclaim a guilty man as a 100% innocent scapegoat. Farkert. What they said at last night's rally in LA and much of the hype until the sentencing is creating chilul Hashem & aivah.
Filed at 3:50 p.m. ET
ReplyDeletePHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A jury says the city of Philadelphia cannot evict a local Boy Scouts chapter from a city-owned building for refusing to admit gays.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/22/news/doc4c213e601664d410126991.txt
ReplyDeleteRabbi David Avigdor is looking at 185 years & a $3.25 million fine.
The FBI is warning people about a new scam in which computer hackers tie up the phone lines as a diversion while hitting the victim's bank account.
ReplyDeleteThe agency describes a scenario in which a person gets hundreds or thousands of calls on the phone lines. The person answering hears dead air, recorded messages, advertisements or possibly phone sex menus.
Meanwhile the "telephone denial-of-service" is just the beginning.
"Turns out the calls are simply a diversionary tactic: while the lines are tied up the criminals – masquerading as the victims themselves – are raiding the victims' bank accounts and online trading or other money management accounts," the FBI press release states .
Walletpop.com stated that these attacks are similar to ones used by hackers for years to crash websites. Now hackers are using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts as they target consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses.
Keeping sex offenders locked up in treatment after their prison sentences became a popular get-tough tactic in the 1990s, when states were flush with cash. The Associated Press reports that the costs have soared far beyond what anyone envisioned. The 20 states with ”civil commitment” programs will spend nearly $500 million this year alone to confine and treat 5,200 offenders considered too dangerous to put back on the streets.
ReplyDeleteThe annual costs per offender was as much as $175,000 in New York and $173,000 in California, and averaged $96,000 a year, about double what it would cost to send them to an Ivy League university. In some states, like Minnesota, sex offender treatment costs more than five times more than keeping offenders in prison. Those estimates do not include the considerable legal expenses necessary to commit someone. The AP says the programs have created a quandary for legislators who need to cut spending in the midst of a recession but don’t want to be seen as soft on rapists and child molesters. “I’ve heard people in a lot of the states quietly say, ‘Oh, my God, I wish we’d never gotten this law,’” said University of Maryland law Prof. W. Lawrence Fitch. “No one would ever dare offer repeal because it’s just untenable.”
Link: http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/06/175000_per_offender_get-tough.html
http://www.ajop.com/person/4896274/Morris-Shoulson.htm
ReplyDeleteHow is it that Philly's Rabbi Morris Shoulson is a staff rabbi of Rabbi Buchwald's AJOP kiruv organization?
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/2465/show_me_the_way_of_the_hebrews:_the_making_of_an_african_american_rabbi_
He pushes for the so called Black "Israelites" to get bris milah.
http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=9426&SectionID=4&SubSectionID=&S=1
And he is osek in giving semicha to people who call themselves "Conservadox" and pro-gay
http://www.adath-israel.org/ShiratAmericarelease.pdf
And to Conservative rabbis (2nd page)
"Achdus does not mean we have to proclaim a guilty man as a 100% innocent scapegoat. Farkert. What they said at last night's rally in LA and much of the hype until the sentencing is creating chilul Hashem & aivah."
ReplyDeleteTens of thousands of Jews from all sectors of the frum world,Litvish,Chasidish,Yeshivish,Rebbish,rosh yeshivish and even non Jewish think otherwise, and nobody including the "Lubavs" claim he's a "hundred percent innocent scapegoat" but to add to the "avlis" with some asinine "crimes" that the above poster does, is achzoriisdic.You don't want to support him in any way, by all means don't but at least keep your mouths shut.That means you and all the sanctimonious naronim like you. I think it's a greater chilul Hashem to do what you and all the other "velts chachomim" do in the name of "Torah values".Go check your Tfillen and say some Tihillim for the man.
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CID4-p7PpoaSrgEQrAIY-gEyCIynjLTQuzEA
ReplyDeleteReb UOJ
ReplyDelete* He's looking for Moshiach in New Square :-)"
Naughty,naughty,but I like it anyway
News Alert
ReplyDeletefrom The Wall Street Journal
Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation's economy and environment.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703900004575325263274951230.html?mod=djemalertNEWS
Good Morning L.A. Times - Like 3 years too late!
ReplyDeleteMortgage crisis could damp consumer consumption for years to come
Los Angeles Times Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:47 PM PDT
Borrowers who defaulted could have low credit scores for years, crimping their spending. And changes in scoring and how it's applied could dramatically affect all Americans' ability to borrow. For countless Americans struggling to make their mortgage payments, the problems have just begun.
http://poststar.com/news/local/article_11881588-7d74-11df-a6d0-001cc4c002e0.html
ReplyDeleteMotel owner who housed sex offenders jailed for welfare fraud
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=26989
ReplyDeleteDr. Daniel Berger, who has been the subject of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation following alleged improprieties at his Northstar Medical Center, has reached an agreement with the FDA
The OU is certifying some Dole products
ReplyDeleteBy ANTHONY McCARTNEY (AP) – Jun 7, 2010
LOS ANGELES — A California judge said Monday threats had been made against her and witnesses in connection with lawsuits claiming Nicaraguan workers on Dole Foods banana plantations were harmed by pesticides.
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/06/subpoena-notice-from-google.html
ReplyDeleteRav Eidensohn has new details surrounding Michael Hersh's lawsuit.
http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488
ReplyDeleteObama using our tax money to resettle Hamas terrorists from Gaza inside the United States.
Presidential Determination
Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby determine that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.
http://twitter.com/chaptzem/status/16810456603
ReplyDeleteChild molester Jerry Yechiel Brauner pleads guilty to most recent molest charges, sentencing on July 27
Toyota’s chief test driver, Hiromu Naruse, died in a head-on collision on Wednesday in Germany while test driving a vehicle, the newspaper Rhein-Zeitung reports.
ReplyDeleteA Toyota spokesman, Wade Hoyt, confirmed that Mr. Naruse, 67, had been killed in the crash.
----
Chief Agudah spokesman Avi Shafran suffered a nervous breakdown while defending the latest Agudah pro-molester position according to a report leaked to the Jewish Star.
Former Agudah of New England spokesman Chaim Schwartz who is the currently Executive Dreck-tor of the Vaad Harabbonim of Queens confirmed that Rabbi Shafran was in a mental hospital for observation.
How Hasidism Went Astray
ReplyDeletehttp://forward.com/articles/128935/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24gore.html?hp
ReplyDeleteA massage therapist accused former Vice President Al Gore of “unwanted sexual contact” at a hotel in October 2006, but no charges were filed because of lack of evidence, law officials said Wednesday.
A lawyer for the woman contacted the police in late 2006, said the Multnomah County district attorney, Michael D. Schrunk. Mr. Schrunk said the woman, who has not been identified, had refused to be interviewed and did not want the investigation to proceed.
But in January 2009, she contacted the police and gave a statement in which she said Mr. Gore had tried to have sex with her during an appointment at the Hotel Lucia. The National Enquirer first reported the accusations on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Gore, Kalee Kreider, said he had no comment. Mr. Gore and his wife announced on June 1 that they were separating.
A police report prepared in 2007 said the alleged incident occurred at 2 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2006. Mr. Gore was in Portland to deliver a speech on climate change.
The woman, according to the report, canceled appointments with detectives on Dec. 21 and 26. Her lawyer canceled a Jan. 4 meeting and said the matter would be handled civilly.
The woman “refuses to cooperate with the investigation or even report a crime,” the report states.
In January 2009, the case was reopened. Detectives interviewed the woman but determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
In a transcript of the interview, the massage therapist said she had been doing requested abdominal work on Mr. Gore when he demanded she go lower.
“I was shocked and I did not massage beyond what is considered a safe, nonsexual area of the abdomen,” she said. “He further insisted and acted angry, becoming verbally sharp and loud.
“I went into much deeper shock as I realized it appeared he was demanding sexual favors or sexual behaviors.”
She alleged he later tried to have sex with her.
“I did not immediately call the police as I feared being made into a public spectacle and my reputation being destroyed,” she said. “I was not sure what to tell them and was concerned my story would not be believed since there was no DNA evidence from a completed act of rape.”
Detective Mary Wheat, a Portland police spokeswoman, said the woman contacted detectives this month and asked for a copy of her statement. The woman, according to Detective Wheat, said she planned to take her case to the news media.
Excerpt taken from a post on another blog site and apropos for some of the posters on this one.
ReplyDelete"All the discussion about Rubashkin does is bring out the best in people, where you have idiots commenting how it's all this one's fault and that one's to blame for not cooperating or for wearing a kittel to court. How much can one person take? If you don't like the way they raised money or blasted the prosecution go and do it yourself. Organize the people and glavanize the masses the way you see fit. I guarantee you don't make one tenth of what these guys collected. I'm not quite sure which crime they committed by raising money and proclaiming his innocence! Now we need to just sit there and take it from an overzealous team of witches that were obviously out to get him? Would any other ethnic or religious group take it like this? I doubt it. They have no problem defending and praising cop killers like Mumia abu-Jamal and making him a cause de celebre', but we can't defend a man who was hunted down for no good reason?! And to you baboons out there who seem to lump him together with the run of the mill white collar crooks we see today, I say: Read the history if you can, or have your wives or mothers do it for you. You may learn that you were very mistaken about what his "crimes" were. There, I've said it. I can't do it anymore. Zol der eybershter rachmonis hubben af unz allle."
"How Hasidism Went Astray"
ReplyDeleteThis reform "Rabbi",the author of the above named article, printed in the newspaper well known for it's "love" of Orthodox Jewry,must be the "new Martin Buber" of our generation.As such, my question is, does this man who praises the origins of Chassidus, believe in G-d? Martin Buber the "great" philosopher of Neo Chassidisim was a kofer beikkur, so what makes this man different?.
In addition the title could just as well been "How Yeshivas Went Astray"
The same malaise that he attributes to Chassidim applies to Yeshivas too, where the mantle of Rosh Hayishiva passes on from one generation to the next in the same family, as exemplified in Lakewood,Telz,Mir,Ponoviez and others.It seems that the dictum of "nepotism uber alles" is also prevalent in the Yeshiveshe world. .
"Mr. Gore was in Portland to deliver a speech on climate change."
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't I know about that?
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about your pal Moishe Rubashkin, who almost singlehandedly destroyed Crown Heights moisdos, including the beis din and CHK hashgocho.
http://unorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2005/08/enemy-within-part-three-chassidism-is.html
ReplyDeleteChassid-ism is not Judaism
Come one, come all and join Shmarya in the shvitz
ReplyDeletehttp://www.startribune.com/business/96943069.html
600 Minnesotans a week are jobless and sweating
http://unorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2005/07/enemy-within-part-two-evolution-of.html
ReplyDeleteYeshivish-ism
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Wary-of-rape-mob-beats-up-man-trying-to-lure-girl/637716/
ReplyDeleteWary of rape, mob beats up man ‘trying to lure girl’
Sorry to burst the bubble of Arthur's Out-to-Lunch Club
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/rubashkin_sentence_seen_'piling_'
Marc Stern, an attorney and co-executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said he does not believe the way Reade applied the sentencing guidelines is sufficient to set aside the sentence.
“There is nothing wrong with making them the presumptive sentence,” Stern said. “Before the Supreme Court changed the rule, it was thought they were mandatory. Now the courts are free to depart from them as long as they give a reason. In that regard, there is nothing to criticize the district court [Reade] for. The fact that she applied the guidelines is not in and of itself grounds for reversal. If she thought she was bound by them, that would be reversible error. But she recites the correct standard about them being advisory.”
On the other hand, Stern said, he found the sentence “very much on the harsh side and troubling. >>>> And I am equally or more troubled by the efforts to turn Rubashkin into some sort of saint who is an innocent being persecuted.” <<<<
“They created the first Ivy League yeshiva. They made it difficult to get in, unless a student was very bright or of course there was money in the family. In a relatively short period of time, their campus was built with state of the art facilities, and they had no mortgage.”
ReplyDeleteUOJ: That’s a blatant lie! Until the famous fire, around 30 or more years after the Yeshiva was built, they DID NOT have ANY sate of the art facilities. It was more “yeshivash” then you can imagine.
I know because I was there!
Stick to the truth and stop lying or exaggerating!
"Don't forget about your pal Moishe Rubashkin"
ReplyDeleteLets get this straight.I have never met,spoken or otherwise have had any connection in any form or shape with Rubashkin,and he doesn't know of my existence so lets C the C.I'm no different then any of the tens of thousands of Yidden who have stood up for him vis ah vi the harsh penalty's placed upon him by the Federal judge
For the umteenth time I have never said that he is innocent of all the crimes attributed to him.So again C the C.
"Sorry to burst the bubble of Arthur's Out-to-Lunch Club"
ReplyDelete"Marc Stern, an attorney and co-executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said he does not believe the way Reade applied the sentencing guidelines is sufficient to set aside the sentence."
Mark Stern.Oich mir ah dayeh zogger.
Five former US attorney generals (attorneys General???) and quite a number of US federal attorneys have vehemently protested,in writing,the harsh penalty placed on Rubashkin.One kaker attorney who is co-chairman of the American Jewish Congress (oich mir ah Yichus) who in his "infinite wisdom" disagrees."Sorry to burst your bubble of your out to lunch club".
As I said to another "oihaiv Yisroel","Check your Tfillen and say a kappitel Tehillem for Rubasshkin" and may I add,say one or even more kappitlach for yourself.
"Chassid-ism is not Judaism"
ReplyDeleteReb UOJ
Please clarify the above.By your definition,is there a difference between Chassdisim and Chassid-isim?
If not,bemchilas kvodcho,do you really have the "breite plaitzes" to make such a blanket condemnation of such a large sector of Jewry?
http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/opinion/jewish_community_still_behind_confronting_abuse
ReplyDeleteTuesday, June 22, 2010
Asher Lipner
Special To The Jewish Week
Even as I write, the Queens Vaad Harabbanim continues to cover up for one of its own, who was forced off the Rabbinical Council of America years ago for allegedly molesting children, the Baltimore Vaad Harrabanim covers up for a rabbi in their community’s prestigious yeshiva who is said to have sexually abused students for decades, and the Lakewood (New Jersey) yeshiva’s rabbinic leaders are pressuring the parents of a victim of abuse who reported it to the police to drop the charges.
In 2001, the then-new executive of the Orthodox Union, the parent organization of NCSY, said about sexual abuse in the Orthodox community: “I would like to see the OU take a leadership role in raising awareness about this problem.” But while the RCA, the OU’s rabbinic arm, has made several public pronouncements warning the community of the epidemic and offering practical ways to combat it, the OU has yet to make a public statement, nor has it supported any of the legislative initiatives of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children (www.jewishadvocates.org).
The OU does take the lead in many important areas, but it continues to refuse to publish the full report of the NCSY Special Commission. This, despite the fact that both the victims and the community have a right to know exactly what caused this tragedy, and that hundreds of thousands of community dollars were spent on the investigation.
So, the thankless fight to bring awareness to the community is left to the grassroots efforts of survivors of abuse like Joel Engelman, Mark Weiss, Joseph Diangelo and David Framowitz, and their supporters like Vicki Polin and The Awareness Center, Survivors for Justice, Mark Appel, Rabbi Nochem Rosenberg, Rabbi Yosef Blau and Rabbi Yitzchak Eisenman, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, The Jewish Survivors Network, JSafe, and JBAC, supported by the RCA. Also spreading awareness have been bloggers like Unorthodoxjew (UOJ) and LittleSheep, and courageous editors like Phil Jacobs (Baltimore Jewish Times) and Mayer Fertig (Jewish Star)
850 Orthodox Rabbis: Kagan Not Kosher for Any Court, Threatens Jewish Security
ReplyDeleteContact: Rabbi Yehuda Levin, 718-469-6999, 845-642-1679
MEDIA ADVISORY, June 24 /-- Speaking on behalf of over 850 members of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, Rabbi Yehuda Levin issued the following statement of opposition to the confirmation of Elena Kagan as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court:
While any number of our co-religionists would represent the undeniable, historic Torah values shared by Orthodox and traditional Jews, we are devastated and broken-hearted by the choice of Elena Kagan. According to the Torah perspective adhered to by our 850-plus member Rabbis, as well as hundreds of thousands of Orthodox and traditional Jews, MS. KAGAN IS NON-KOSHER - NOT FIT TO SERVE - ON THE SUPREME COURT, OR ANY OTHER COURT.
It is clear from Ms. Kagan's record on issues such as abortion-on-demand, Partial-Birth-Abortion, the radical homosexual and lesbian agenda, the "supremacy" of the anti-family panoply over religious liberties of Biblical adherents, et. al., that she will function as a flame-throwing radical, hastening society's already steep decline into Sodom and Gommorah.
It should be clear that Ms. Kagan's long line of forebearers, presumably tracing back to Sinai, would have sacrificed their lives rather than embrace the anti-G-d, counter-sanctity agenda that she has lived and promoted.
We are puzzled as to why President Obama would not honor a different minority with this nomination. We fear a backlash, fed by pent up grass-roots resentment over extremist decisions Ms. Kagan is bound to issue.
In these socially and economically trying times, we are most concerned about being scapegoated and targeted by even a tiny subset of the tens of millions of citizens simply fed up with an imperial anti-family, anti-Biblical Judiciary (an example being Judge Walker, now addressing California's Prop. 8). We wonder: exactly what was the President thinking?
For the record, let this statement serve as an unequivocal protest, establishing that Ms. Kagan's philosophy and approach are antithetical to traditional Judaism. We emphatically reject her ascendancy to the Court!
We urge decent Senators of both parties to have mercy on the nation, in light of the direction we are heading. This nomination must be delayed in committee for as long as possible, and then either voted down or filibustered. We family and religious people will surely employ our last weapon - the ballot box - to respond to those who ignore this existential threat, and insist on contaminating the cultural wellsprings from which we and our children are forced to drink.
It is late in the game. We implore voters to convey these concerns to their Senators - feckless and otherwise.
Arthur, can you point to the former AGs protesting the 27 year sentence?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cops-mineola-bookkeeper-charged-in-check-fraud-1.2049893?qr=1
ReplyDeleteAs the bookkeeper at Future Tech Consultants in Mineola, Mark Bloom of Brooklyn issued a lot of checks - among them, police said, 20 in his own name for almost $60,000.
Police said they have arrested Bloom, 34, and charged him with second-degree grand larceny, three counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and first-degree falsifying of a business record.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/22/mcchrystal-has-crossed-swords-with-superiors-over-policy-before.html
ReplyDeleteMoetzes resign!
R' Arthur,
ReplyDeletehttp://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2007/02/uojs-response-to-rabbi-eidensohn-on.html
I was trying to score brownie points with Shmarya by making MLK Day a Yomtov in my shul and by being best friends with Black hip hop star Russell Simmons, but I think I blew it.
ReplyDeletehttp://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/06/russell_simmons_lobbies_for_re.html
Is Russell Simmons Helping or Exploiting the Poor?
http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/geert-wilders-speech-on-the-islamization-of-europe/
ReplyDeleteGeert Wilders is a member of parliament in the Netherlands :
“If there is hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment.”
http://cismigiu.blogspot.com/2006/05/sage-of-manhattan.html
ReplyDeleteI wonder why George Klein isn't on this list. He gives a lot of money to Rabbi Pinto and may have paid for the rabbi taking over Marc Schneier's former shul building on the Upper East Side after he was evicted by Obstfeld from Bobov.
I couldn't exactly invite the rabbi to the Lipstick building with all the attention my tenant Bernie Madoff was attracting.
Itchie Meyer, do you care to elaborate on this comment you made to SHmarya about your recent visit to Shafran's office at the Agudah?:
ReplyDelete"As for Rabbi Shafran, I met with him for about 30 minutes in his office, and I came away impressed with him. We had frank discussions about issues on which we disagree such as Rubashkin. However, he was very cordial, open, and seems to be a genuinely nice person."
Do you have any idea how callous & obtuse that lowlife is when it comes to child victims of sex abuse?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/europe/25belgium.html
ReplyDeleteBelgian Catholic Church Offices Raided in Abuse Inquiry
Reb UOJ
ReplyDeleteIv'e read your post on Chassidisim in it's entirety and remember reading it the first time around.What I don't understand is what's the purpose of bringing up your divisive opinion that "Chassid-ism is not Judaism" at this point in time and space when we need achdus as never before.
We had discussed this and disputed this once before and agreed to disagree.
However, just one point.You speak of the so called infallibility of Chassidic rebbis.I don't know about you but when I went to Yeshiva many eons ago I knew that "Das Torah" was the name of a sefer.It's contemporary meaning did not exist and is a recent phenomenon.The Rosh Hayishiva has been elevated to the level of of Rebbi"worship", something that is comepletely novel to Yiddishkeit."Das Torah" meaning the so called "Gedolim",the Roshei Hayishivos, have been anointed as the "infallible ones" of our time.The same thing that you attribute to Rebbes.The yeshiveshe world ,in my humble opinion,is guilty of the same "crimes" that you accuse Chassidim of.Does that make them "not part of Judaism" to?
A Bissel Seichel
ReplyDeleteHere watch this link.http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=9618&alias=video-lewin-getzy-rubashkin.
There are many others. You can probably Google them.
Hi Archibald - I hear what you're saying, and he (Shafran) has dropped the ball on the child abuse thing. He can't think straight on that issue and has been brainwashed by the moetzes. He does seem like a nice fellow. Sadly, He, Zwiebel, Lerner, and all of the talking heads are nothing more than spinmeisters, Jewish versions of Paul Begala.
ReplyDeleteR' Arthur,
ReplyDeleteTake a good look around - do you think we can waste another second without lamenting the state of today's matzav ruchni?
There are wise people that one should seek out for advice if the need is there - and I agree with you that this "daas Torah" cancer must be torn out of the "body" - so we can begin the healing process.
The time is YESTERDAY!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_685803.html
ReplyDeleteFederal prosecutors are looking for two who got away.
Bernardo Katz, 50, of Mt. Lebanon was charged with two co-defendants a year ago for trying to sell properties for more than they were worth from 2005 to 2007, and for lying about their values and the amount of rent they generated. Federal prosecutors linked Katz and the others to wire transfers from two banks totaling $1.7 million.
Katz, a cellist-turned-investor, developed commercial properties in Mt. Lebanon and bought several Beechview buildings. He fled to Brazil in 2007 with three of his four children, authorities say.
Charged with wire and bank fraud, Katz faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
NEWARK, N.J. – Nine criminal complaints unsealed today charged 28 individuals with participating in various mortgage fraud scams that collectively sought to defraud lenders out of more than $5.5 million and involved more than 17 New Jersey properties, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward announced.
ReplyDeleteUnited States v. Raquel Berger, Mag. No. 10-3132 (PS)
Raquel Berger, a real estate agent and the broker of record and franchise owner of a realty company in Hillside, N.J., obtained fraudulent documents in support of unqualified borrowers in order to obtain mortgage loans to which they were not entitled.
The navi Yeshaya gives us the answer in the very first perek with two words, "ASHERU CHAMOTZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIMS! The gemara in Sanhedrin explains: "ASHERU CHAMOTZ VELO CHOMETZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIM AND NOT THE CRIMINAL! This is the type of achdus that was lacking at the time of the destruction of the two temples. The navi cried out, save yourselves by doing teshuva. Save yourselves by caring for the victims, the widows and orphans. Save yourselves by getting rid of your corrupt leaders who are the friends of thieves and love bribes . However, the people did not listen. They instead rallied around their false prophets, their corrupt leaders and the gangsters of that generation. It is said that every generation that the bais hamikdash is not built is as guilty as the generation when it was destroyed. We have still not learned our lesson. Instead of unanimously rallying around the cause of victims of sexual abuse, we see rabbis and community leaders rallying around the child molesters. Read the latest Daily News article about Baruch Lebovits if you don't believe me. See how many people came to support him in court versus how many who came to support his brave victim. See how his victims have been villified and attacked while pidyon shvuyim funds are being collected for him and other child molesters. Have these people gone insane? No, we have been this insane since the time of Yeshaya. Nothing has changed. That is why we are still in galus. We still have our false prophets who tell us everything is fine and dandy, our corrupt leaders who are friends of thieves and love shochad and who refuse to even acknowledge those that have been victimized. What has changed? Nothing!
ReplyDeleteAs for Sholom Rubashkin, nebach, it is a human tragedy. Yes, the sentence was excessive. Anti-semitism? I don't think so. The man made one fatal mistake after another. For close to ten years, he refused to heed the call to change the way he operated his business. We begged him to do something about the reports of worker abuse, animal abuse, immigration law violations, identity fraud, health and safety violations, EPA violations, kashrus and labeling issues, etc.,etc. Yet, all we heard back were denials from him, his lawyers and his PR spinmeisters. After the raid and his indictment, instead of cooperating with the authorities, he stubbornly refused to change his ways. Instead of accepting a plea deal, he committed bank fraud, tampered with evidence, violated his bail terms and ultimately perjured himself on the witness stand. I don't put blame him alone for all his troubles. His partners, coworkers, lawyers, PR team, the OU and Weissmandl all share in the blame and chillul hashem that took place at Agriprocessors. SMR is not an evil person. A stubborn, misguided and corrupt businessman maybe, but not evil. For the crimes he committed, a 27 year sentence is ridiculous. However,his arrogance and lack of contrition along with some bad advice all served to grease his skids. Pleading for leniency on behalf of such an individual is noble. I myself signed a petition calling for leniency. However, to make this into a cause celebre and playing the race card is not in our best interests. Further antagonizing the judge and the US justice system is also not wise and it severely backfired in this case. Try and help the man, yes, but please stop with the histrionics and this "achdus" business. Yes, we need achdus. Gilad Shalit needs our achdus. The victims of child sexual abuse need our achdus. The State of Israel needs our achdus. The countless poor people need our achdus. The orphans, widows and agunos need our achdus. Let's show achdus where it really counts and where it really means something. Asheru Chamotz Velo Chometz! I will keep repeating it until it starts to sink in.
Achdus is a wonderful thing. Who can argue with that? Achdus will eventually bring Moshiach (the real one). The question is, what is the rallying cause that is supposedly uniting Jews from all walks of life? I've heard the term proudly used at least three times in the past four months:
ReplyDelete1) When Martin Grossman was about to be put to death for the cold blooded murder of Margaret Park.
2) When the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Bais Yaakov in Immanuel needs to be segregated.
3) When Sholom Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Yes, there is nothing like achdus. However, when the rallying call is on behalf of cold blooded murderers, racial discrimination and a corrupt businessman, then the achdus is somewhat tainted.
The Torah nevertheless teaches us that any type of achdus is looked upon favorably in the eyes of Hashem. A perfect example is Dor Hapalaga. The people of that generation, led by Nimrod, sought to declare war on Hashem. In many ways they were more wicked than Dor Hamabul. However, Hashem spared them. Why? Because of their achdus! As evil as their intentions were, they were united, unlike their earlier counterparts, the Dor Hamabul who robbed and attacked each other. Yes, achdus is noble and praiseworthy. However, shouldn't we aspire to be a little better than that? Do we need to gain comfort from comparisons to Dor Hapalaga? Which causes should we really be rallying around with true achdus?
HAT YOU CAN DO FOR SHOLOM RUBASHKIN!!!
ReplyDeleteWHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR SHOLOM RUBASHKIN:
Read the coverage in JTA and Chicago Tribune.
Watch the video of Nathan Lewin speaking at the Boro Park rally.
Send a respectful e-mail to the Department of Justice Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison (oipl@usdoj.gov).
Tell them “This sentence is unfair. This sentence is excessive. This sentence is not in the public’s interest.”
Call on them to explain why Sholom Rubashkin has been targeted by prosecutors in Iowa and why he is getting 27 years in prison when others convicted of similar crimes have received significantly shorter sentences.
Remind them that more than two dozen former senior Justice Department officials – including six former U.S. attorneys general – said it would be an “absurdity” for a sentence of life in prison, or anything close to it, for a 51-year-old, first-time, non-violent offender.
Go on Facebook and Twitter and ask your friends to send an e-mail as well.
Forward this e-mail to family, friends and fellow supporters of Sholom Rubashkin
Ask your friends to subscribe to these alerts at justiceforsholom.org .
According to Nachum Rosenberg, besides for Abrahamson, Yeshiva of Spring Valley is currently investigating two other rebbeim as being molesters. One could EXPLODE the entire myth of Daas Torah and the Moetzes into thin air.
ReplyDeleteAvi Shafran and Chaim Dovid, fasten those seatbelts. Sully did a beautiful job compared to what you will have to deal with V-E-R-Y shortly.
Time to put to rest another ad absurdum pack of lies being promoted by Shmarya.
ReplyDeleteHe has been attacking billionaire Michael Steinhardt, an admitted atheist, as running a "Chareidi" operation in disguise. Several of Shmarya's own readers who are not religious and who have been to Steinhardt's programs say Shmarya is off his rocker.
http://www.jewishlife.org/about.html
The Executive VP, David Gedzelman, is a Conservative "rabbi" who has Reconstructionist "semicha".
And one of the Presidents is self-described "orthodox" apikores Rabbi Irving Greenberg.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/24/education/1247468095607/dual-language-school-offers-hebrew.html
Gedzelman is also Chairman of the new Brooklyn public school that teaches Hebrew to little Black kids.
Shmarya "hiku besanverim" Rosenberg must have been blinded by malochim like the ones who blinded the anshei Sdom. He is reaching around trying to attack frum Jews but he can't even see what he is doing.
http://waynetruex.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHow can Wayne Truex be Fire Chief
Wayne Truex crashed into Lester Eldridge while driving his police car. He later admitted that he had been drinking beer. He was fired from the Lakewood police. How is he now Fire Chief. Vote him out
Steve,
ReplyDeleteImagine if all the Kochois (energy) and money being put in to spare Rubashkin, would be spent to spare children from being molested. As much as I wish Rubashkin to be totally spared (The Torah demands repayments for fraud not jail time) of even one day of jail, I can't help but think how energized the masses are to save this one individual, but refuse to even meet to discuss sparing children from the lifelong mental jail terms they'll incur as a result of being molested.
As much as Zweibal claims "now we know", the powerful wave of de'nial is still flowing and not just in Egypt. And shoving it under the rug is apparently an ingrained trait, not only by perpetrators, but for the society as a whole.
Perhaps children don't count (although they'll eventually grow up); Perhaps sexual issues are uncomfortable to speak about (not a good enough reason not to tackle it); Perhaps they're so afraid of it, because they're afraid to open up the can of worms, for fear of how many sinful worms will creep out. Most likely!
Hashem Y'azor.
Shmarya has lost it and is attacking the benefactor behind a concept that gives him wet dreams.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/nyregion/25hebrew.html
Charter schools are publicly financed but privately run, and in some cases attract substantial private support. At Hebrew Language Academy, known as H.L.A., some backing comes from Michael H. Steinhardt, a retired hedge fund manager who has given away more than $200 million and is a supporter of Israel and Jewish causes.
Mr. Steinhardt’s daughter, Sara Berman, the chairwoman of the school’s board, said that learning about Hebrew and Israeli culture was no different from learning about Bastille Day and baguettes in French class.
Students are just as likely to learn about Christmas or Ramadan as about Purim, and teachers say they check with the school’s lawyers before veering into any lesson with ties to Judaism.
Perhaps surprisingly, the school has become one of the most racially mixed charter schools in the city. About a third of the 150 students are black, and several are Hispanic.
At the start, a few parents pulled out their children, alarmed, as Maureen Campbell, the school’s principal, put it, “at the diversity.”
Aalim and Aalima are not Jewish. They worship at a mosque affiliated with the Nation of Islam. But at the Hebrew Language Academy, they fit right in.
The school has not yet ventured into politically sensitive territory; nobody brought up the recent Gaza blockade. But provocative questions are certain to come as the students get older. Aalim recently asked his father, Willie Moody, to explain why the Jews and the Palestinians “hate each other.” Mr. Moody responded: “I don’t even understand that. Just wait until you’re older.”
Ms. Berman said the school planned to train teachers how to deal with discussions of Israel, which she said would involve an evenhanded approach.
http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2010_06_23/ubts_ewing
ReplyDeleteFederal and state governments have shelled out billions of dollars on programs to track, treat and punish sex offenders—even as those programs do little or nothing to prevent recidivism, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Charles Patrick Ewing told a crowd of about 100 attending his UBThisSummer lecture yesterday in Talbert Hall.
“My conclusion is thumbs down,” said Ewing, the Law School’s vice dean for legal skills. “We, the American and New York State taxpayers, are being hosed, to put it bluntly. We’re spending billions of dollars that largely go for cosmetic programs.”
Imagine all the UOJ surveys I could have done back then!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shawangunkjournal.com/2010/06/24/news/1006242.html
Harry Resnick Visits Ellenville
Harry says that he remembers "500-600" bungalow colonies and hotels
Harry also remembers a time when in the village nightlife was booming.
"I remember there used to be six or seven kosher delis open at two or three o'clock in the morning," he says.
Despite the fact that Ellenville's business community has been suffering some hard times, Harry feels that the old place still looks good. There are empty storefronts here, he acknowledges, but this is true all over the country. Even in Florida, where he now lives, the local economy has been suffering. He feels strongly that Ellenville, like the rest of the country, will bounce back in time.
http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Is-your-childs-lifeguard-a-sex-offender-96880954.html
ReplyDeleteBut in February, when several YMCAs made news by revoking the memberships of registered sex offenders in an attempt to comb out predators who may come in contact with the thousands of children who use those Ys, offender advocacy groups weren't happy.
"I assume that at some point we'll get to a place where registered sex offenders won't be allowed to breathe," Paul Shannon, one of the founders of the Boston-based Reform Sex Offender project, said in an interview at the time. "This is just going down the same path of lunacy."
A U.S.-based web site that publishes child-sex abuse cases worldwide believes that Cardinal Sean O’Malley is not a suitable candidate to deal with the backlash of clerical sex abuse in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteBishopAccountability.org claims the cardinal has past precedence of “silencing” controversy over child abuse in every diocese he joins.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley has been appointed the “apostolic visitor” by the Vatican for the Dublin diocese.
It will be his role to help with the aftermath of the horrific cleric child abuse history, which unfolded last year with the publication of the “Ryan Report.”
O’Malley is often described as a veteran troubleshooter in clerical sex abuse scandals.
“O’Malley’s career ascent has been fueled by his ability to walk into dioceses wracked by horrible revelations of child molestation and enshroud them again in silence," claims the website.
The website was critical of the entire “apostolic visitation group,” made up for Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York; Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottowa; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, retired Archbishop of Westminster; and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) also came forward and objected to Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Terrence Prendergast. They said that the two U.S. archbishops had "troubling" track records.
"Just a few years ago Boston’s O’Malley was found in violation of the US bishops’ sex abuse policy, for refusing to make sure all parishes were offering abuse training, said SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris.
"No institution can police itself, especially not an ancient, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy with a horrific history of protecting predators and endangering kids.”
http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2010/jun/01/cathie-adams/gop-chair-says-health-care-law-provides-free-viagr/
ReplyDeleteObamaCare will use your tax dollars to provide free Viagra to convicted rapists and registered sex offenders
In March 2008, Alan Hesketh, the British-born patent director and vice-president of the global pharmaceutical company Pfizer, was arrested by Federal agents
ReplyDeletehttp://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/article/child-porn_victims_restitution_movement_sees_success_critics/21554/
Child-porn victims’ restitution movement sees success, critics
Amy, whose uncle abused her on camera between ages 4 and 9, is depicted in the widely distributed “Misty series.“ She is represented by New York-based defense lawyer Marsh, who receives e-mail notifications when his client’s images are involved in a criminal case. Marsh said he and Amy initially focused on filing civil lawsuits, but one criminal case led them into a different direction. Seeking money for his client will help her cover therapy costs and pay for her living expenses because he says she is too distressed to work.
Marsh said Amy first opted to seek restitution against Alan Hesketh, a British citizen and former vice president of a pharmaceutical company in New York.
“The basic reason we chose restitution is because Hesketh was a foreign national,“ Marsh said. “We had information that most of his assets were overseas. We knew a civil case would take two to three years, so by the time the court would levy any sort of judgment on him, his assets would be out of our reach.“
In February 2009, a federal judge ordered Hesketh to pay $200,000 in restitution, but he settled out of court for $130,000.
Are there any Lubav food manufacturers that aren't shysters? These guys took over Ahavah Dairy after the big chilul Hashem there over the years.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100625/NEWS05/306259959
A state Supreme Court judge has ordered a kosher food plant owner to pay nearly $167,000 in delinquent utility bills by close of business July 2.
The city of Ogdensburg can shut off water and sewer service to the plant operated by Tubroburg LLC, owned by Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, on July 6 should the payment not be made, Judge David R. Demarest wrote in a decision released Thursday.
The judge last month signed a temporary injunction preventing the city from turning off services to the plant. Tubroburg claimed in an $11 million lawsuit filed last month that the city has charged it unfairly for services at the plant and hasn't turned over paperwork needed to finalize purchase of the property.
The city threatened in early May to foreclose on the kosher cheese plant if the delinquent utility bills weren't paid. The company has about 50 employees.
The judge ordered Tubroburg to pay $45,989.28 on the outstanding water bill and $120,985.15 on the delinquent sewer bill by close of business July 2.
"Clearly the attempt to thwart the city from getting paid has failed," City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra said Thursday. "While all the matters have not been settled, it's clear the judge wants the payments to come forward."
Tubroburg began operating the plant, which makes "cholov yisroel" grade kosher cheese and milk, in May 2009 after the city agreed to sell the plant for a $125,000 down payment, $12,000 monthly rent for 13 months and a closing payment of up to $900,000.
The contract called for the company to purchase the plant by June 1, but the city hasn't provided abstracts to the business to finalize the sale, the suit alleged.
While the company put its down payment in an escrow account, it subsequently missed deadlines that would have allowed its monthly rent payments to be put toward the $900,000 closing payment, city officials said last month.
"We want this business to be successful, but we can't subsidize the operation," Mr. Sciorra said.
Watertown attorney David P. Antonucci, representing Tubroburg, didn't return a call for comment Thursday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/06/24/2010-06-24_halfnaked_man_goes_for_disastarous_joyride_after_stealing_van_and_striking_two_y.html
ReplyDeleteA madman wearing only underpants and a shirt swiped a delivery truck and went for a wild joyride in Brooklyn Thursday, striking two young girls and several vehicles before he was collared, cops and witnesses said.
The lunatic was munching on leaves straight from tree branches and menacing kids with a garden hose in Marine Park before he suddenly hopped behind the wheel of a parked delivery truck and sped off - with a worker still inside.
Shimshon Eisenberger, who had hired the delivery truck to ship an order for his furniture company, identified the worker-turned-terrified-passenger as Sardo Sutherland.
"Sardo was in the back, screaming for dear life and holding on," Eisenberger said, recalling the moment when the underpants driver sped off with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.
"He smacked into a bunch of cars and kept going. I'm in total shock. I've never seen anything like this in my life."
The deranged driver tore through the neighborhood like he was in a demolition derby, in the process striking two 12-year-old girls at the intersection of 37th St. and Fillmore Ave. in Marine Park.
One of the injured girls, 7th-grader Amelia Hellebusch, said her class was returning to P.S. 201 from a field trip to Marine Park.
"The teacher tried to stop the truck, but he just went around us and nicked me," Amelia said. "I did not see it coming."
Amelia suffered an injured ankle. She and the other girl, whose injuries were also nonlife-threatening, were treated at a local hospital, police said.
The runaway driver continued his tour of devastation, sideswiping several cars before blasting through the open lawns of Marine Park, police and witnesses said.
"He was running red lights," said witness Alexis Von. "Every time he turned a corner, he hit a car."
With police on his tail, the madman veered into oncoming traffic on Nostrand Ave. in Sheepshead Bay, striking a car driven by Abdul Gul. He finally got corralled by cops after blasting into a double-parked car near the Sheepshead Houses, police said.
The runaway driver carried no identification, police said. He was taken to Kings County Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Gul said he was lucky to be "out of the car alive." That sentiment was shared by Amelia's stunned mother, Fran Hellebusch, who was "hysterical" but thankful her daughter survived her run-in with the crazed driver .
"He's not a well man, but God forbid, it could have been worse," Hellebusch said.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/deutsche_treat_q5uBgqMxMei9nPKtAAR8FI
ReplyDeleteDeutsche Bank's co-head of equities Robert Karofsky took a leave of absence this week after being accused by one of his subordinates -- who happens to be one of closest friends -- of having an affair with his wife, sources inside the bank tell The Post.
Karofsky, 43, a top trader at the firm who ran Deutsche Bank's Americas unit, took the leave for personal reasons on June 23, effectively immediately. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment further at the time.
But multiple sources told The Post that the Karofsky move followed a heated verbal confrontation late last week at the firm's headquarters at 60 Wall St. between him and the pal, a senior trader, over the alleged affair.
The verbal volleys created a tense environment within Deutsche Bank's insular trading ranks and have slowly become a source of water cooler gossip throughout the organization.
"He's pretty much just avoided interacting with [Karofsky] since the incident," one source said of the equities boss' former pal. Making matters particularly sticky is the fact that Karofsky and the trader who worked under him have been longtime buddies, live near each other in Northern New Jersey and took family trips together.
Calls to Karofsky's home number and messages left have not been returned.
Reached at work, the senior trader would only say, "It is a sensitive matter." Through a source, the senior trader added that he was "looking to protect his children."
A Deutsche Bank spokesman said that the firm "does not comment on personal matters."
Both executives were recruited from Morgan Stanley and were a part of a group of eight traders hired in 2005 to grow the German institution's cash equity trading franchise as Deutsche sought to go toe-to-toe with heavyweight Wall Street investment banks in the US.
Among traders, Karofsky is referred to as "Killer Karofsky" for his trading acumen. Off the trading floor, however, he's described as a fair, mild-mannered, even-keeled boss who has garnered the respect of his charges and has "a magnetic personality."