tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post3633823492893796221..comments2024-03-27T15:07:31.495-04:00Comments on <b><center>Unorthodox-Jew </center></b> <br><small>A Critical View of Orthodox Judaism</small>: "Don't Judge Judaism By The Jews!"Paul Mendlowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05887774341136059873noreply@blogger.comBlogger253125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-21521748045348092642012-08-01T06:03:22.868-04:002012-08-01T06:03:22.868-04:00Traumatic genital mutilation of babies is an obsce...Traumatic genital mutilation of babies is an obscene child sex crime.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-52944923269958635462008-05-08T12:54:00.000-04:002008-05-08T12:54:00.000-04:00I would like to apologize for my diatribe above, i...I would like to apologize for my diatribe above, it was misdirected at the wrong organizations. Having actually read the press releases, the OU and Agudah are correct in condemming the call. If my previous post could be deleted I would appreciate itAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-47448254548457758782008-05-07T17:21:00.000-04:002008-05-07T17:21:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-17622780128739134462008-05-06T18:49:00.000-04:002008-05-06T18:49:00.000-04:00Dear Chicagoans,We’ve been living in Dallas since ...Dear Chicagoans,<BR/><BR/>We’ve been living in Dallas since the early 90’s. At the time, Dallas was very small, it had Rabbi Fried and DATA (the kollel) but the community was still trying to establish its identity. The Orthodox community had to work hand-in-hand with the Traditional/Conservative movements in order to maintain the harmony. Akiba (day school) was the beacon of Orthodoxy while Yavneh (college prep school) was newer and was trying to establish its direction. It was a very difficult era for Yavneh with constant pressure from the board to move left. The Shaarei Tefilah community was relieved when Yavneh decided to hire a young, energetic rabbi from New York.<BR/><BR/>From less than a week after signing a binding contractual agreement with Yavneh, until his departure in June 1998 the community was barraged with libelous, slanderous rumors spread by Mr. and Mrs. Finkel and their representatives. These incidents gave the community a glimpse at a completely dysfunctional religious family. This gave the Traditional/Conservative leaning member’s ammunition to use against the schools sense of direction. They jumped right onto how they are concerned about Tikkun Olam and creating peace and harmony while Orthodox parents are trying to destroy their own child’s career. The desecration of God’s holy name caused by this was huge. This was the community’s first encounter with an Orthodox Jew with a criminal mind. As a direct result of Mr. and Mrs. Finkel’s continuous attempts to slander their own child the board decided to change the school’s direction.<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Motty Finkel was an outstanding role model for our teenagers, community members, and those interested in becoming Jewish. Rabbi and his wife had an open home and inspired many. His individualized approach, creativity and straight talk have kept students contacting him years after graduating. <BR/><BR/>We are heartsick that eleven years and your father’s kosher scandal haven’t dulled the animosity your family feels towards you. We are appalled by the hatred in the religious community. Rabbi, be strong, we are rooting for you. <BR/>We are in awe how you never responded in kind or revealed what caused the tremendous rift.<BR/><BR/><BR/>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-20878655268854326072008-05-06T14:13:00.000-04:002008-05-06T14:13:00.000-04:00Rav Dovid Goldwasser in siruv of Crown Heights Bai...Rav Dovid Goldwasser in siruv of Crown Heights Bais Din<BR/>http://goldwasserstory.blogspot.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-56430740665782573192008-05-06T13:39:00.000-04:002008-05-06T13:39:00.000-04:00http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649...http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649994396&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter<BR/><BR/>One of the more urgent matters he has had to deal with is a recent outbreak of measles. About 1,000 cases have been registered, and there is no end in sight. It began in August 2007, after a 22-year-old Satmar hassid from London attended a Jerusalem wedding along with 2,000 others and went to the TEREM urgent care clinic with a rash - one of the usual symptoms. Dr. Brendon Stewart, director of TEREM's Talpiot branch, said the hassid didn't show the oral sores and eye infections that also characterize measles. Stewart remembered reading about a measles outbreak in London a few weeks earlier and realized the hassid was infected. He learned that the man had never been vaccinated against measles and immediately called Dr. Nitza Abramson, the deputy chief district health officer in Jerusalem, who gave him advice. But the ministry did not act immediately to contact Satmar rabbis and synagogues, even though numerous parents in this community refuse to have their children vaccinated against numerous diseases, which they regard as "not serious." <BR/><BR/>Although the ministry's epidemiology department thought the chain of infections would be halted when haredi children went on their Succot vacation, it continued nevertheless. Months later, a vaccination campaign in the haredi community was launched, but the chain of infection continues, reaching a secular Hebrew University student, hospital personnel, people outside Jerusalem and even airline and bus passengers.<BR/><BR/>There is still a problem with some haredim. Bnei Brak has a 99% vaccination rate, but in Jerusalem, there are some whole streets where parents have refused vaccination. We tried to use pashkevilim [printed messages hung on walls - the major form of communication in haredi communities] to inform residents of the urgency of vaccinating those who have not received shots. The outbreak will end, but I don't want to predict when." <BR/><BR/>Asked whether the ministry might offer material incentives, such as a bag of disposable diapers, for bringing children in, Grotto said this was "a good idea that we might consider, even though the Treasury might oppose it."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-61926042846376485482008-05-06T13:26:00.000-04:002008-05-06T13:26:00.000-04:00http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18s186...http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18s186&SecId=186&AId=59670&ATypeId=1<BR/><BR/>Yeshua Stobietsky<BR/><BR/>68 (New) The low-profile businessman who has built up the UK franchise of Hamodia newspaper from small beginnings to be, in the view of many, the main voice of the strictly Orthodox community. Writing in this month’s 10th-anniversary magazine of British Hamodia, Mr Stobietsky defines its aim as providing “kosher reading for the whole family... It is important that people should see the Charedi world in a positive light”. He is also helping to establish Hamodia in France.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-48761951794032151922008-05-06T12:49:00.000-04:002008-05-06T12:49:00.000-04:00Also I do not know how you can compare evolution t...<I>Also I do not know how you can compare evolution to atomic theory or the theory of relativity. <BR/><BR/>E=MC squared is a fact. Just ask any Japanese person about it. Also millions of homes are not powered everyday from a theory.<BR/><BR/>The theory of relativity is a fact. Otherwise interplanetary (space probes) travel would be impossible to negotiate.</I><BR/><BR/> It is evident that, like all too many Americans, you have no idea what a scientific "theory" is. It's not a guess or somebody's half-baked idea. A theory in science is a construct that explains a large body of observations. The observations (data) are the "facts" on which the theory stands. Millions of homes are indeed powered by a theory. All of our appliances work on another theory - electromagnetic theory. And when drug companies test new drugs in rats before trying them out on people they are using another theory - evolution. The business of scientists and engineers is to make, refine and use <B>theories</B>. No scientist claims that science is always correct; our theories (unlike <BR/>Divine revelations) are <I>always</I> being refined and updated in light of new evidence. The catch is you need empirical evidence. Revelations won't do. And evolution remains the central unifying principle in all of biology regardless of the unwillingess of the Feinsteins of the world to deal with it.<BR/><BR/> Science and Torah can't conflict because both are true and truth cannot contradict truth. If they appear not to be in sync, either the science is mistaken, our understanding of Torah is incomplete, or both. "Torah is always right, contrary evidence exists, Eliyahu Ha-navi will solve the problem" is a valid approach, though not mine. It becomes unacceptable only when evidence is deliberately withheld from students, which is exactly what happens when pages are torn out of books.<BR/> I don't know what you are alluding to with the Ritbaz and a meat freezer, but I know that kosher meat was available, albeit hard to find. My father a"h shlepped to Washington Hts in the '50s for Breuer's <I>hashgaha</I> and my mother (may she live and be well) learned to soak and salt her meat in the '40s because the kosher meat in McKeesport, PA didn't come soaked and salted. I would not have given a dime to Torah V'Daas or any yeshiva that taught in Yiddish, which is precisely why Yeshivah ("H" for Hebrew) of Flatbush was set up in 1927. We used the blue and yellow books of the Biological Science Curriculum Study with every page included; if the <I>limudei kodesh</I> teachers had a problem with it they could and did address it in <I>their</I> classrooms.Zev Sternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424730129824148277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-73242570430603771162008-05-06T11:58:00.000-04:002008-05-06T11:58:00.000-04:00Or the "Heil Hitler" that one teenager delighted i...<I>Or the "Heil Hitler" that one teenager delighted in shouting at my father and me when we walked to the synagogue.</I><BR/>Sounds like the wiseass can do with a punch in the mouth.Zev Sternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424730129824148277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-3279072210390784382008-05-06T11:49:00.000-04:002008-05-06T11:49:00.000-04:00Malka Tova bas ChayaMother of 5 with yenner machle...Malka Tova bas Chaya<BR/><BR/>Mother of 5 with yenner machlehAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-46667935793691854332008-05-06T09:39:00.000-04:002008-05-06T09:39:00.000-04:00In American dollars it's about 3 quarters of a mil...In American dollars it's about 3 quarters of a million.<BR/><BR/>http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11&SecId=11&AId=59352&ATypeId=1<BR/><BR/>Charity told to repay rabbi £322k <BR/><BR/>11/04/2008<BR/>By Simon Rocker <BR/>A North London rabbi has won a High Court claim to be repaid more than £322,000 by a strictly Orthodox charity which he says was intended as a loan, not a gift.<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Moshe Meisels, from Stamford Hill, had sued supporters of the anti-Zionist Satmar Chasidic sect who raised funds for a charity, the Yetev Lev Jerusalem Trust.<BR/><BR/>On Wednesday, Mr Justice Blake hoped “that the bitter controversy this claim has created within the synagogues of Stamford Hill will now abate”.<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Meisels, who himself attends a Satmar synagogue in Stamford Hill and is a businessman with 50 UK properties, issued his writ against Menachem Lichtman, currently a trustee of Yetev Lev, and Berish Berger and Solomon Weiss, who were fellow trustees at the time of the transaction.<BR/><BR/>The dispute came after Rabbi Meisels transferred £322,000 to Yetev Lev in two instalments in December 2004. The transaction was recorded in what the judge called a “hastily written document” in Hebrew drawn up between Rabbi Meisels and Mr Lichtman. The absence of the word for “gift”, matana, was “striking”, the judge said.<BR/><BR/>A year later, Rabbi Meisels — described by the judge as “a reserved man who would avoid conflict and social turmoil if he could”— approached an American rabbinic court to recover his money, but Mr Lichtman argued that the case should have been heard in a British Beth Din.<BR/><BR/>Mr Lichtman claimed that the money had been an “outright donation”, but he should have been aware that it was repayable, the judge said.<BR/><BR/>Between September 2004 and March 2005, the charity’s books showed receipt of £6 million in donations, but by June 2006 its fundraising activities appeared to have wound down, leaving a number of creditors.<BR/><BR/>Mr Justice Blake said that the fact that the charity had transferred the funds from Rabbi Meisels to Israel “does not make it unjust” that the defendants should have to repay them. “There is no reason, now that its legal obligations have been made clear, that it cannot revive its fundraising activities to meet them,” he remarked.<BR/><BR/>Although Mr Berger and Mr Weiss were not directly party to the agreement, the judge said, they had relied on Mr Lichtman’s “efforts as fundraiser and director for the trust when it was active, and they must take its failures along with the successes, the rough with the smooth. I imagine that there is an apposite Yiddish phrase.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-79419081665889359682008-05-06T09:17:00.000-04:002008-05-06T09:17:00.000-04:00http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/...http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/04/29/2008-04-29_new_hollywood_film_immortalizes_gravesen-1.html<BR/><BR/>Among the five or so "Law & Order" episodes that appeared on primetime television last week, one that hit closest to home - for some, at least - involved an investigation into possible pedophilia in Williamsburg's Hasidic community.<BR/><BR/>Although watching TV is shunned among Satmar Hasidim, it didn't stop one local leader from critiquing the portrayal, to which - no surprise - he gave two thumbs down.<BR/><BR/>"It was a rerun," sighed Isaac Abraham, who watched the episode from his computer a month or so earlier after someone sent a link for the show to his e-mail account.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-51454056574424079342008-05-06T09:03:00.000-04:002008-05-06T09:03:00.000-04:00http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/05/hospital-ko...http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/05/hospital-kosher-certified-cafeterias.html?showComment=1210022340000#c1526001216722147793<BR/><BR/>Anonymous said... <BR/>I have information from inside the OU about Manhattan restaurants. My source tells me he could get in trouble for "leaking" this poshutta info that is against the OU's Iron Curtain policy.<BR/><BR/>The Prime Grill has long been receiving Alle meats & Kiryas Yoel chickens. They are the same owner as Solo and use the same provision orders.<BR/><BR/>Talia's Steakhouse on the Upper West Side is using Rubashkin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-17457582206848822432008-05-06T09:01:00.000-04:002008-05-06T09:01:00.000-04:00http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/05/hospital-ko...http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/05/hospital-kosher-certified-cafeterias.html<BR/><BR/>Some of the comments on this blog are schocking! Anyone familliar with the WEILER Hospital in the Bronx Re: the kosher cafeteria?<BR/><BR/>We would like to hear your experiences with the cafeterias & the kosher hospital food.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous said... <BR/>Hamyvin yovin about the kashrus horrors at Maimonides Hospital in Boro Park. Even after a complaint was made to NY State kashrus enforcement, it's not clear if all the problems were fixed. The chutzpa of the Hivnover Rov that he called it "mehadrin" when it was taaruvas basar becholov of ben yomo. He used the kula that a yoledes is allowed to eat treif. What about everyone else eating there?<BR/><BR/>Anonymous said... <BR/>I'M A MEDICAL STUDENT IN AECOM IN THE BRONX, THE COLLEGE CAMPUS HAS 2 CAFETERIAS, ONE ON CAMPUS AT THE MAZER BLDG AND ONE RIGHT NEXT DOOR AT WEILERS HOSPITAL.<BR/>BOTH ARE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE OU. AT THE MAZER CAFETERIA THERE IS A HIGH PROFILE OF NOTICED SUPERVISION WHICH MAKES MOST OF THE "FRUM" STUDENTS AND DOCTORS COMFORTABLE EATING THERE. ANYTIME THERE IS A QUESTION THE MASHGIACH IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO EXPLAIN AND ANSWER ALL QUERIES.<BR/>AT THE WEILER CAFETERIA ITS VERY DIFFICULT TO NOTICE ANY SIGNS OF HASHGOCHA, AND THEY ARE ALWAYS PUSHING OFF THE QUESTION TO THE HEAD SUPERVISOR IF YOU CAN GET A HOLD OF HIM.<BR/>I DON'T REALLY BELIEVE THAT THE OU HAS 2 STANDARDS. COLD YOU SHEDSOME LIGHT ON THIS MATTER<BR/><BR/>Anonymous said... <BR/>Perhaps the younger readers know if the situation has improved in the YU cafeteria.<BR/><BR/>20 years ago, students who didn't care much for kashrus would put whatever they wanted in the microwave, creating a taaruvas basar becholov. Some may have even warmed non-kosher food. When a frummer student would put up a sign warning the microwave is treif, the signs would be torn down almost immediately.<BR/><BR/>Who is responsible for the kashrus?<BR/><BR/>Anonymous said... <BR/>How many hospitals are using Rubashkin?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-79604862960280709242008-05-06T01:03:00.000-04:002008-05-06T01:03:00.000-04:00http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980601.htmlThe...http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980601.html<BR/><BR/>The first Vishnitz vs. the original Vishnitz <BR/> <BR/>By Yair EttingerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-41426053237468265082008-05-06T01:01:00.000-04:002008-05-06T01:01:00.000-04:00A major development is expected Tuesday in the cri...A major development is expected Tuesday in the criminal probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. <BR/><BR/>The media has quoted senior law enforcement officials as saying that this affair is likely to remove him from office. <BR/><BR/>While the nature of the development cannot be revealed due to a court-imposed gag order, law enforcement sources on Monday said it may lead to an indictment against the prime minister. <BR/> <BR/>They added that the former head of the Prime Minister's Office under Olmert, Shula Zaken, may be indicted for similar charges. Zaken is currently under house arrest. <BR/><BR/>When the story first broke last week, Channel 1 quoted a senior legal source as saying, "Olmert is in a grave situation. It is doubtful whether he will be able to continue to hold his position."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-32505841641340897862008-05-06T00:38:00.000-04:002008-05-06T00:38:00.000-04:00if they make a big deal about taub stealing diamon...if they make a big deal about taub stealing diamonds they should go after little shorty but BIG GANEV potchie lipshitz from frankel shul tooAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-4935492570199987612008-05-06T00:32:00.000-04:002008-05-06T00:32:00.000-04:00http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2022604/From-Eth...http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2022604/From-Ethiopia-to-Estonia-From-Pulpit-to-Potatoes-Chabad-Students-Toil-for-the-Seder.html<BR/><BR/>Last year, in Accra, Ghana, two of them helped Pinchas Ben Elazar HaCohen put on tefillin. A Holocaust survivor living in Israel, HaCohen lost his only daughter in a bus bombing and his wife to a heart attack a few weeks later. He had severed all his ties to Judaism save one: putting on tefillin. But that morning, HaCohen had left his tefillin behind.<BR/><BR/>In Nigeria, last year, Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, 25, was shopping for vegetables in a bustling marketplace. A young woman stopped to ask a very technical question regarding the use of new dishes in a kosher home. Startled, because the question went well beyond the usual beginner repertoire, Behrman asked about her story. A divorcee from Bnei Brak, Israel, the woman had married a Nigerian but was raising her children as Jews. Behrman helped her hang up mezuzahs and brought her a package of frozen kosher meat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-81323986304445590032008-05-06T00:17:00.000-04:002008-05-06T00:17:00.000-04:00http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/05/vito...http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/05/vito-fossellas-life-sucks-right-now.php<BR/><BR/>It's been four days since Republican Congressman Vito Fossella was arrested for drunk driving and it's beginning to look like he's got bigger, blonder problems on his hands. Not only is the Staten Island pol facing a possible five days in jail and calls for his resignation, but a New York City tabloid is on his tail and it smells affair.<BR/><BR/><BR/>The Daily News tracked down Fossella's "friend" Laura Fay, who he called to pick him up from jail, but was unable to get comment from the blonde 45-year-old. Or from her ex-husband. Or his mom. What it did get, though, was a reaction from D.C. insiders wondering why Fosella would call Fay when his chief of staff lives just as far away from the jail as she does. The most important question of all—are they more than friends?—remains unanswered. But the evidence (she's a blonde divorcee, he's a married Republican who makes bad decisions) says something. <BR/><BR/>Not that a "mystery woman" is the most of Fossella's worries. He's also got a potential jail stint to deal with, watchdog groups barking down his neck for spending campaign cash to hire a "damage control expert," and Staten Island Advance columnist Cormac Gordon wondering "What's Vito done for us?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-66883776282040142192008-05-06T00:03:00.000-04:002008-05-06T00:03:00.000-04:00http://www2.nysun.com/pf.php?id=75269&v=8406400121...http://www2.nysun.com/pf.php?id=75269&v=8406400121<BR/><BR/>President Bush will highlight the increasing alarm over the plight of the nation's inner-city Catholic schools today with a summit at the White House.<BR/><BR/>Several New York City education leaders will be in attendance, including the general counsel of a Jewish advocacy group, David Zwiebel of Agudath Israel of America; a former Democratic congressman of Queens, the Reverend Floyd Flake, and a professor of public policy, Joseph Viteritti, who directs the graduate program in urban affairs at Hunter College.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-8545773395451506582008-05-05T23:52:00.000-04:002008-05-05T23:52:00.000-04:00http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/12821.htmRabbi ...http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/12821.htm<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America. This article appears courtesy of Am Echad Resources. <BR/>shafran@agudathisrael.org <BR/><BR/>I spent my childhood in a racially mixed neighborhood; one of my best friends was a black boy a bit older than I. Junie and I would wrestle, play ball and ride our bikes on the rocky hills near where we lived in Baltimore. We had "kid to kid" conversations, too. He learned a lot about how religious Jews lived, and I learned things from him too. (Quite the critical thinker, he once knit his brow when we passed a local synagogue advertising the availability of High Holiday seats for purchase, and asked me incredulously, "You gotta PAY to PRAY?" It was a good point.) <BR/><BR/>Another black presence in my formative years was Lucille, our "cleaning lady." She would come to my parents' modest home once or twice a week and help my mother with ironing and housekeeping. We children, following our parents' example, always treated Lucille with great respect, and, not to be clichי, she really was in many ways part of the family. My mother, may her memory be a blessing, would serve her lunch each day she came. And when Lucille grew older and unable to do any real work, my mother, mindful of our housekeeper's financial neediness, made a point of continuing her "employment," having her come over and wipe off a counter or two, so that she could be given her wages -- and lunch, of course -- as compensation, not charity. <BR/><BR/>Then there was Dhanna, the librarian in Providence, where my wife and I raised our children, who was so kind to them during their frequent visits to the public library, always smiling at them, helping them find what they were looking for and proudly placing the artwork they produced for her on her desk for all to see. And Desi, our own young daughters' friend from those years, who became quite conversant with the laws of kashrut and Shabbat. <BR/><BR/>To be sure, I have had unpleasant encounters with blacks. Like in my youth, when a group of boys who had asked my classmates and me to join our baseball game, once at bat, decided to turn the Louisville Sluggers on us. Or the "Heil Hitler" that one teenager delighted in shouting at my father and me when we walked to the synagogue. Even today, I come across the occasional anti-Semite of color. <BR/><BR/>But more than the occasional pale-faced one too. There are good and bad people in every population. Mindful of the Talmudic imperative to judge "all men favorably" (Avot 1:6), I have never measured any human being by any yardstick other than his own words or deeds. And my wife and I always sought -- and I think successfully -- to instill that attitude in our children. <BR/><BR/>Mere months ago, I would have imagined that preachers in black churches speak to their flocks about serving G-d and living moral lives, about humility, self-respect and love. And maybe most do. But the current presidential campaign's sideshow of "Wright stuff" has been sadly educational. If even a minority of black church leaders are of the Trinity mold (both the word's senses intended), feeding their congregants the sweet poison of suspicion and hatred, the dream of a truly color-blind society will have been set back a century -- even if an African-American is elected to the very highest office in the land. <BR/><BR/>And, of course, as elsewhere in the world, the general anti-American and anti-white ravings of black religious leaders like Wright and Farrakhan exhibit an undercurrent of anti-Israel sentiment -- today's "respectable" proxy for anti-Semitism. The latter famously sneered at Israel's "dirty religion" (he meant Zionism, he later clarified helpfully). And the former, pairing Israel with South Africa, charged that both countries "worked on an ethnic bomb that killed Blacks and Arabs." <BR/><BR/>I can't imagine Junie or Dhanna or Desi sitting through such tripe. What anguishes me is that, for all I know, their children or grandchildren may be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-82932631917797688442008-05-05T23:16:00.000-04:002008-05-05T23:16:00.000-04:00Doubts Raised on Big Backers of Mortgages By ...Doubts Raised on Big Backers of Mortgages <BR/> By CHARLES DUHIGG<BR/><BR/>Published: May 6, 2008<BR/><BR/>As home prices continue their free fall and banks shy away from lending, Washington officials have increasingly relied on two giant mortgage companies — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — to keep the housing market afloat. <BR/><BR/>But with mortgage defaults and foreclosures rising, Bush administration officials, regulators and lawmakers are nervously asking whether these two companies, would-be saviors of the housing market, will soon need saving themselves.<BR/><BR/>The companies, which say fears that they might falter are baseless, have recently received broad new powers and billions of dollars of investing authority from the federal government. And as Wall Street all but abandons the mortgage business, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now overwhelmingly dominate it, handling more than 80 percent of all mortgages bought by investors in the first quarter of this year. That is more than double their market share in 2006. <BR/><BR/>But some financial experts worry that the companies are dangerously close to the edge, especially if home prices go through another steep decline. Their combined cushion of $83 billion — the capital that their regulator requires them to hold — underpins a colossal $5 trillion in debt and other financial commitments. <BR/><BR/>The companies, which were created by Congress but are owned by investors, suffered more than $9 billion in mortgage-related losses last year, and analysts expect those losses to grow this year. Fannie Mae is to release its latest financial results on Tuesday and Freddie Mac is to report earnings next week. <BR/><BR/>The companies are sitting on as much as $19 billion in additional losses that they have not yet fully acknowledged, analysts say. If either company stumbled, the mortgage business could lose its only lubricant, potentially causing the housing market to plummet and the credit markets to freeze up completely. <BR/><BR/>And if Fannie or Freddie fail, taxpayers would probably have to bail them out at a staggering cost.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-15643557921908684822008-05-05T22:27:00.000-04:002008-05-05T22:27:00.000-04:00http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/211866-dann-admi...http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/211866-dann-admits-affair-with-staffer-refuses-to-resign<BR/><BR/>COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann says he has no plans to step down despite a report Friday criticizing his leadership and admitting that he had an extra-marital affair with a subordinate. <BR/><BR/>"I have not conducted myself in a way that is consistent with my values as a husband, a father and my responsibilities as attorney general," the Democratic attorney general said at a news conference Friday. <BR/><BR/>"In a difficult time in my marriage, I got involved in a romantic relationship with a member of my staff. That conduct was intrinsically wrong," the 46-year-old Democrat said.<BR/><BR/>Dann, a former state senator who was elected attorney general in 2006, said he was surprised that he was elected as attorney general and conceded that he "was not as well prepared for the office as I should have been."<BR/><BR/>He admitted to the affair on Friday morning, after the release of a 57-page report substantiating allegations of sexual harassment against Dann aide and friend Anthony Gutierrez.<BR/><BR/>The report found that: "Management employees encouraged and tolerated a workplace atmosphere of frequent profanity, extremely casual and improper personal interactions with subordinates and a general lack of professionalism and respect."<BR/><BR/>On the heels of the scathing report, Gutierrez and the attorney general's communications director Leo Jennings III were fired for trying to coax an assistant attorney general to lie to investigators, while Dann's chief of staff, Edgar Simpson, was forced to resign.<BR/><BR/>Dann had the affair with Jessica Utovich, 28, who voluntarily resigned her position as AG office's travel coordinator. <BR/><BR/>The report also found that Dann "exercised poor judgment by engaging in and permitting (employee) Cindy Stankoski to come to his home for drinks and pizza." <BR/><BR/>The report continued that, "When it was obvious that she was intoxicated, arrangements should have been made to have her escorted home in a safe manner."<BR/><BR/>Among those who have called on Dann to step down is Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, who said the attorney general allows an immoral and unethical atmosphere to thrive under his watch.<BR/><BR/>"He turned the attorney general's office into a raunchy frat pad, lied to the press, and lied to his own investigator," Dewine said. <BR/><BR/>"It's simply not acceptable that everyone but Dann himself will be held accountable. I'm confident the voters will terminate Mr. Dann's employment at the end of his disgraceful term if he does not do so himself sooner," he added.<BR/><BR/>From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-32547090294201957902008-05-05T21:29:00.000-04:002008-05-05T21:29:00.000-04:00Hamodia Hypocrisy!!!We all know that the editors o...<I>Hamodia</I> Hypocrisy!!!<BR/><BR/>We all know that the editors of <I>Hamodia</I> will never print any negative stories regarding crime and corruption in the frum community. That's why you will never see an article there about Mondrowitz, Kolko or any other sexual predator. Nor will you find any articles about the Spinka case or any other financial shenanigans that take place. Nor will you ever read anything negative about Rubashkin and the several scandals surrounding them. The perception they like to give is that they are a positive, family oriented frum newspaper that is always dan lkaf zchus. <BR/><BR/> That's why in today's paper you will not find any mention of this Weinberg fellow who was arrested last night on child molestation charges. However, on page 11 of today's paper there is an article about a certain IDF rabbi who is accused by Hamodia of being mechalel Shabbos. What were the circumstances? In turns out the rabbi was with a platoon in the border town of Yerucham on Shabbos Erev Pesach. That day at the nearby border crossing of Kerem Shalom, Hamas terrorists attacked the troops stationed there by blowing up two jeeps. In all 13 IDF troops were wounded in the attack. Upon hearing the news and fearing the worst, this IDF rabbi got into a jeep and drove to the attack site. The Hamodia article blasts the rabbi, claiming that his presence was not needed at the site. It goes on to further condemn him for returning to his platoon on Shabbos in order to conduct the Seder that night. When the Hamodia asked the rabbi to explain his actions, he refused saying that he "owes the newspaper nothing." The article lists the full name of the rabbi and calls his actions a "public chillul shabbos".<BR/><BR/>So a rabbi who's in a war situation where there is pikuach nefashos involved is villified, while rabbis that commit the ulitimate crimes and sins along with major chillul hashem get a free pass. That is what they call balanced and unbiased reporting at Hamodia- all the news that they see as fit to print.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-3363393884989074402008-05-05T20:44:00.000-04:002008-05-05T20:44:00.000-04:00For the umpteenth time, that is a different Aron T...For the umpteenth time, that is a different Aron Tendler.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com