Dennis Prager: We always hear this, but I’m not sure why it is true.

“They always say this. Every time a city’s team wins, it’s great for the city. And we all believe it. And then if you think about it for approximately four seconds, you can’t think of a single reason why it’s great for the city.

“People feel good for a day or two and then go back to the exact same problems they had before the team won.

“I happen to have been in Philadelphia the night they won the World Series. All I saw were overturned cars. I couldn’t get to my hotel because all the streets were blocked off. I couldn’t see why that was great for Philadelphia. What’s the enduring great benefit for Philadelphia?

“He went further the coach. That this is great for Louisiana. I’m sure that for Baton Rouge, Shreveport, it’s just a new world.”

“I don’t think LA misses the NFL and I don’t think the NFL misses LA. It’s a phenomenon that the second largest city the country doesn’t have an NFL team.”

“I love lines stated with great conviction that don’t mean anything. I’m happy that the citizens of New Orleans have something to celebrate. But whenever there is a ten, it is followed by a one. They’re now at an ecstatic level. It’s manic. This guy Drew Brees, could there be a sweeter guy in football? He’s tattoo free.”

“I love the absurd. I love irreverent humor. That’s why I love Monty Python. But I didn’t like this Dorito’s ad — slapping the adult, sexualizing kids.”

From DennisPrager.com: Prager H1: The New Orleans won their first Super Bowl. This is supposed to be a boost for the city – that’s one everyone says, at least, but why?… The “controversial” Tim Tebow ad finally airs. It was hard to tell what it was about… Dennis maintains his position that he doesn’t want any issue-oriented ads during major sporting events.

Prager H2: One ad that Dennis didn’t like was the Doritos ad in which a little boy tells his mom’s date to “keep your hands off my mama and keep your hands off my Doritos.” The blurring of the distinction between adults and children is bad social trend… Dennis talks to Paul Ingrassia, Detroit bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. His new book is Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry’s Road from Glory to Disaster.

Prager H3: The judge in the trial on the legality of Prop 8, the California proposition in which California voters affirmed they’re desire to maintain the traditional definition of marriage, is gay. Is this a conflict of interest? Dennis discusses this question with Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center… Here’s a Super Bowl ad Dennis loved: the Audi “Green” ad. It makes a surprising and perhaps unintentionally powerful point about environmentalism.

Dennis Prager opposes social and political issue ads on sports events.

He says the Super Bowl etc should be areas of life safe from political conflict.

On his radio show today, Dennis said: “The Focus on the Family ad, had nobody known anything about it in advance, had the pro-choice people kept quiet, nobody would’ve known what the ad was about. It was not possible to know that that ad was anti-abortion.”

“You can’t argue that ads for drinking are ads for left-wing issues.”

Dennis said: “If the environmentalist could run society, you saw your future in that ad [by Audi mocking green rules]. They are as committed to environmentalism as the Iranian regime is to their version of Islam and they would arrest people for exactly those things — ‘Are you using styrofoam cups sir? Please step out of the car’. ‘Could we come in and check the temperature in your house? We’re coming in.’

“They’ve already passed these sorts of things where they want to monitor the temperature in people’s homes. In California, no new house can have a fire place. That’s reason 84436 not to move to this state. I say it even though it hurts me because my real estate value will decline if you don’t move here.”

Dennis Prager bought his home in the Glendale area around 2005, the peak of the real estate market. Since then, the value of his home has plunged.

Dennis: “I can not think of a good reason, given what the left has done to California, for you to move here. I have a dear friend who would love to move here but he won’t because of the taxes compared to the state he now lives in. You can’t build a house with a fire place? Is that sick?

“Maybe that will increase the value of my place because I have a lot of fireplaces.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise – or advertise – his orientation.

They also don’t believe it will influence how he rules on the case he’s now hearing – whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure approved by state voters to ban same-sex marriage, unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and lesbians.

“There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,” said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.

As evidence, she cites the judge’s conservative – albeit libertarian – reputation, and says, “There wasn’t anyone who thought (overturning Prop. was a cakewalk given his sexual orientation.”

State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who has sponsored two bills to authorize same-sex marriage that were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that as far as he’s concerned, Walker’s background is a nonissue. “It seems curious to me,” he said, that when the state Supreme Court heard a challenge to Prop. 8, the justices’ sexual orientation “was never discussed.”

From Hirhurim:

• The debate over the NY Times Jerusalem bureau chief: I, II
• A diverse new wave of kosher in Teaneck: link
• Survey evaluates changing Jewish community in Rochester area: link
• R. Shmuel Hain on the middle path of women’s communal leadership: link
• Anglican church struggling over the ordination of women: link
• Anglo-Israeli religious women to discuss ‘kosher’ use of social media: link
• New genetic research indicates Jewish priesthood has multiple lineages: link

Khunrum emails: Alex is passe’ brother Luke. Start rockin’ with the Jews. Maybe you can switch “disciplines”. M. Cohen-Nehemia will undoubtedly give you a Yiddisha Discount. Actually bro you’ve gone far enough. It’s time to rake in the cash. Start your own thing. Combine the Alexander with Yoga, call it Yogander and begin gathering disciples. It’s all a bunch of $%#@& anyway.

The Mitzvah Technique is a dynamic method designed to improve posture and release tension and stress through exercises and therapeutic table work. It is based on the “Mitzvah Mechanism”, an upward rippling motion that gently reinforces the body’s balance with gravity. It works on the muscular-skeletal structure. It realigns, rebalances and exercises the entire body during sitting, standing and walking. As a result, this mechanism is readily applied to daily activities.

Rather than long-term work by practitioners, students learn how to use the Mitzvah Technique itself. Musicians have been extensive users.

The technique was developed by M. Cohen-Nehemia of Toronto, a Yemeni-Israeli immigrant to Canada. It was originally derived from the Alexander Technique, but has independently developed since the early 1970s.

So I’m sitting here Sunday night and I’m scared.

I’m scared for myself.

I’m scared for my life.

I’m scared for my finances.

I’m scared for my manhood.

I’m a 43-year old man and I’m not paying my bills. I’m just sinking deeper into debt every month.

I’ve paid for another seven weeks of Alexander Technique classes. That will leave me six weeks short of the halfway point of getting accredited as an Alexander Technique teacher. That’s about $14,500 in tuition left for me to pay.

I have $2600 in the bank. My living expenses are $2000 a month and my credit card payments are $600 a month.

For the past 13 months, I’ve been fitting my work around my Alexander Technique training.

If I can’t come up with a better way of financing myself, I’m going to abandon my Alexander Technique teacher training in seven weeks and concentrate on finding the best-paying full-time work.

I don’t like putting my dream of becoming an Alexander teacher on hold.

I feel like I am halfway to getting a real skill for which I can earn real money ($50 a lesson is normal).

I feel like I am failing as a man by failing to pay my bills every month (I pay them, but by taking on more debt).

The freelance writing work I used to do, the rewriting of real estate brochures, the consultations on internet reputation management, have fallen by the wayside the past six months.

I’m so scared right now because since 1pm today I’ve repeatedly told myself, “I’m so scared right now.”

My fright has overwhelmed all other emotions. I’m not even horny right now. I don’t want to play around. I hear about other people’s troubles and I have little concern. I’m mainly thinking about myself.

I’ve got therapy tomorrow and I’m wondering if I should walk in and burst into tears and say, “I’m so scared right now.”

Perhaps I should walk in with erect posture and talk about the wonderful challenge ahead of me and how it will make me a man.

No more excuses. Full bore ahead. No more early morning Talmud classes and long praying to God. Just say the minimum required by Jewish law as quickly as I can at home and then go full bore into blogging on refinance and other schemes.

Good God, I’m a wimp. I will now berate myself most sternly to show you how manly I am, how underneath my girlish writing beats the heart of a rugged caveman.

Good God, I’ve been borrowing money from people with families to support. I’m 43 years old for God’s sake. I should grow up. I should take action against my sea of troubles.

While taking pauses from my vigorous manly action, I’ve been listening to a book on CD — “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell.

It talks about billionaire investor George Soros. He does a lot of his investing decisions based on pains in his back.

I’m a master of the Alexander Technique so I know all about the back. It sometimes holds a lot of fear and clenching and downward pressure. Sometimes the pains in our back will tell us things that our conscious mind must scramble to understand. We can get flashes of insight from the pains in our back.

I’m stiff and scared right now. I’m flooded with fear. All thoughts aside from work, money-making and money-borrowing have fled from me. I’m bloody rigid. I’m an automaton. I’m a money-making machine.

I could pretend to be all empathetic right now about your troubles but the tension in my body is shouting I mainly care about my survival right now.

These are not unfamiliar feelings. I think they go back to my earliest childhood when I was moving from home to home and learning to survive.

It’s Sunday night. A lot of people I know get depressed on Sunday nights because they know that on Monday morning, they must return to work they dislike.

I hate doing work I don’t like. I’ve tried to design my life to follow my passions. Well, it’s not working out so bloody well right now.

I know people who do the same Alexander Technique teacher training work that I do and they hold down 40-hours a week of jobs on the side. Now that’s manly. They don’t codge loans. They just put their heads down and work. I could learn a lesson from them. But first I want to get my beauty sleep.

D. emails: “Listen well and listen good, Sunny Jim! I’ve had it with your fair-dinkum whinging and hand-wringing. You brought on your own problems. The main one of which is your fascination with the quackery of Alexander Technique. You may as well be throwing away your money on learning phrenology or some other pseudoscience. What a pathetic and gullible lad you are! What next? Throwing away your last penny on some magic beans? I ought to crack your skull and shove a burst cane toad down your gullet, mate, although I doubt that would help knock any sense into you. You had better stop this childish self-pitying, by cracky, and try getting a real job. If you were half the “writer” you think you are, maybe you’d be making some money doing that, but, obviously, you have abysmal talent in that department and as far as I can see, there’s not much need for a copy-and-paste boy in today’s hurly-burly world. Be more like your brother Paul, you little ponce. Now, there’s a lad that makes a father proud!”

Anonymous emails:

Hi Luke,

Hope this receives you well. At least better than the way you were probably feeling when you typed out the “Scared” blurb on your blog.

I fell on your blog via youtube.com (was looking up talks by Strauss and Bloom and fell on you — indeed, a fall).

I felt a kind word, some advice would do you well.

After reading deeper into your blog I wasn’t sure I wanted to write. But you need help. And I couldn’t help but feel like you were a brother in need. I would write, but anonymously–a prophylactic. You understand. You hurt people. You’re good at hurting people but bad at earning a living. Which is sad, because you write well. Try instead making people feel good, and as for the weaklings you expose, help them, let them know how you work on your foibles and how they may be able to help themselves. You never know, maybe there’s a living in that for you.

Here’s my advice: You can’t live in two worlds: Decide which one it is: gossip and rumormongering or Judaism. They don’t mix.

If you are still reading my words: Choose Judaism. Follow the instincts that brought you in the first place to make such a change in your life (assuming you saw the truth and peace in it I do, and not as a sick ploy to infiltrate the Jewish world and hurt some more. Unfortunately, reading over your blog I am still uncertain. I give you the benefit of the doubt for this email).

Maimonides advice in cases of serious rehab: Go “extreme” to the side of holiness. You’ll be able to find balance in your life after that.

Finish your Alexander Technique course. If it is good for others, it will be good for you. You can make a living making people feel better, instead of what you have done till now.

Get out of LA. You’re a marked man there. Besides, LA is empty. I know, I lived in Santa Monica and Malibu. It is beautiful and fun…and empty. If you stay there you will be back to porn and gossip. LA caters to crap. And dump the net site. It’s who you are now. And from what I can read your not happy with that.

Still feeling Jewish? Find out if their is a market for the Alexander Technique in Israel. This is part of the go “extreme” advice above.

Made it to Israel (it is heaven on this earth, despite what the morons in the media say), find a wife. There are so many terrific Jewish women in Israel. You can modify terrific as you wish, but it includes beautiful, brilliant, caring, etc. I married a terrific woman over twenty years ago (I am only a few years your senior).

My intention was not to talk down to you. You really need to make a change for the good in your life. You are young, smart, and have your whole life in front of you.

Don’t waste another moment. Stop writing about how scared you are.

Stop prodding into others weaknesses and affairs, you have your own to attend to.

On Friday, Feb. 5, 2010, I spoke with construction guru Mike Foreman of ConstructionGuru.com about tainted drywall that’s causing thousands of people (mainly in Florida) serious health problems:

Lev: “What is Chinese drywall?”
Mike: “It’s a gypsum-based product commonly known as drywall. It’s manufactured under a process that allows it to meet an ASTM 1396 standard.
“Chinese drywall is a product manufactured in China with some contaminants in it that are out-gassing different gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbonal sulfide, etc. It’s eating up copper components and affecting galvanized components. There are also products sold in the United States as though it were made in the United States under a different label. You can’t always say that this contaminated drywall is Chinese drywall. That term has been abused. I’m not fond of all the problems we’re having from products sent to us from China but in this case the bulk is coming from China, but not all of it. I prefer the terms ‘tainted’ or ‘corrosive’ drywall rather than ‘Chinese drywall.’”
Lev: “When did this tainted drywall become a big deal?”
Mike: “It became apparent to me in August of 2008 when I started getting phone calls from lawyers and clients. I’m a forensic consultant. We specialize in construction issues.
“It piqued my interest after I went to about 25 houses. I was opening up the air conditioning units and scratching my head and thinking, ‘I can’t believe this developer is using used units.’ That’s how bad they looked. They looked 16-18 years old. According to the owner, they were 12-24 months old. I checked the equipment and sure enough, it was 18-24 months old.
“By the end of 2008, I had analyzed about 100 homes and tried to figure out what the common element was. I finally realized that the drywall was the only thing that was common in the houses. That’s when I started doing a lot of research.”
Lev: “How does one know if one is using this tainted form of drywall?”
Mike: “It shows itself in the structure. My company has a proprietary protocol that we’ve perfected. It’s an NGE – non-destructive examination. The easiest way for a home owner to check is the coil unit in the air conditioning system. It should be copper or have a green patina. It should have little if any rust on the galvanized components. If what they think should be copper is black, or has a blistered or textured surface, they’re infected.”
Lev: “How serious a health threat is this tainted drywall?”
Mike: “My company put out a factual health data sheet. Everybody wants to reference different guidelines. We’re in a residential environment. If you start talking to me about OSHA and their PELs (permissible exposure levels), it doesn’t apply because that’s workplace, where you have a TWA (time waited average). How long have you been exposed? When you talk about PELs for residential, there are no levels. Nobody has done any studies.
“The average housewife spends far more than 40 hours a week in the house. Most women are in the house 12-18 hours a day, seven days a week. That can run up to three times the exposure level based on OSHA.
“The EPA doesn’t apply to it either. They have no documentation on it. When the data on corrosive drywall was passed around these various agencies, it ended up with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).
“A lot of people were trying to sell expensive equipment to diagnose corrosive drywall… The CPSC has been finding that a lot of it doesn’t work. The CPSC has come out with an NDE (Non-Destructive Examination) protocol, which is similar to the protocol my company has had since January 2009. We sent our protocol to them to help them elaborate.”
Lev: “What are the health effects of this tainted drywall?”
Mike reads me off a long list. “Nobody knows. These are short-term effects. Once you move out of the house, within 30, 60 or 90 days, you get back to a normal life. They get out of your system. No one knows the long-term health effects. That will take a lot of testing. I expect it will be something similar to asbestos.
“I tell my clients, if you can afford, take a two-or-three week vacation. Go some place and keep a log on how you feel. Notice what is different. Notice if your energy level goes up. Notice if you’re not having irritated eyes. Your nose is not bothering you. You’re not having the wheezing and the shortness of breath. When you move back into the house, tell me what happens.
“Consistently, they come back from their vacations energized, positive and clear-thinking. Within a few days of being back in the house, their symptoms return and they realize the difference. Most of them move out permanently.”
Lev: “How expensive is it to get rid of this tainted drywall?”
Mike: “The original protocols didn’t work. One company in the testing business is promoting a lot of additional testing. We don’t believe in that. You can’t test a house by testing drywall samples.
“It’s expensive to fix this problem. You have to take the major bulk of components out of a house and it has to be treated.
“There are multiple types of construction. In Florida, we have concrete block and wood frame with a little bit of metal stud. In California, you have a lot of wood with metal studs. In Virginia, you have a combination of wood studs and metal. You have different veneer exteriors on all these different types of building materials. You have to have a separate protocol for each type of structure.
“Once it’s broken down, there’s a treatment and a cycle we do to confirm and validate. Then we cut the contractor loose to start putting the house back together. Square foot costs can range from $30 to $100 per square foot, depending on the size of the house, the number of finishes, and what has to be removed to make it right. A 1,000 square foot house might cost $40,000 to take care of the problem. The average consumer is in the $60 per square foot range. My competitors systems are significantly more.”
Lev: “Why are the so-called experts so often wrong when it comes to discussing Chinese drywall?”
Mike: “There are no degrees for tainted drywall. It’s not something that’s taught. It’s so new that there is no education on it. Many of my compadres on this are getting an education on it from me and other guys in the field. We have a lot of home inspectors who are out there who have enough information to be dangerous. I was the guest speaker to the 2009 local ASOHI meeting in Sarasota, Florida. They had no clue about what was going on. I gave them enough information for them to be dangerous. They jumped on the bandwagon to make it an income stream for them. I have no problem with people making money but you have to know what you’re diagnosing. Chlorine will give you a different diagnosis that looks similar to this. If you open up the air conditioning unit and it looks black but is really grey, and you have no other symptoms in the house, that doesn’t mean you have it, even though home inspectors were diagnosing it that way because the coils were black or grey or discolored. We found consistently that these homes were misdiagnosed until the real estate community got involved. You and I both know that you don’t want to come between a realtor and his commission check. They don’t get paid until the job closes. These home inspectors were queering their deals and giving a bad diagnosis and people like me were having to come in and clean the mess up. It got to the point where the home inspectors were no longer trusted.
“Not every house is 100% drywall. You could have ten boards in the house and it would take about 24 months to show up.
“If you’ve got a new house 24-36 months old, and you haven’t developed any symptoms, you’re going to be diagnosed safe. You’re not infected. You’re going to notice it with 12-24 months, and no more than 36 months, whether it be one board or 50 boards.”
Lev: “How long has this tainted drywall been coming into the United States?”
Mike: “I’ve found it as early as 2001.”
Lev: “What else should people know about this?”
Mike: “You need to talk to your doctor if you start having symptoms.
“Not all of the tainted drywall is giving a gas you can smell. Just because your house doesn’t smell does not mean you don’t have it.
“If you start developing symptoms that you never had before, that’s your first red flag that something is not right.
“With the efficient air-tight houses we’ve created, we’re seeing more of these type of problems. You don’t have the air exchange you’d have in a house 20 years ago that you and I would say was very poor as far as energy efficiency.
“If you’ve got the problem, move aggressively on it.
“The government has been slow to move on this. The government wants to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution. They are finding out rapidly that that isn’t going to work. With all the variables, there’s not going to be such a solution in the near future. They’re going to have to start regionalizing this and specifying different situations. It’s going to get complicated.
“We live in the best possible government in the world, but if you are waiting on the government to do something about this, it’s going to be a long time coming. The court system is going through motions where they are trying to sue Chinese manufacturers.
“The lawyers are going after Chinese companies such as Taishan. That company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese government. If you think you are going to prevail in a court in the United States and get a judgment and to be able to invoke it on a Chinese company and collect money on it in the near future, I wish you luck, but I think you need to go see a therapist and have a serious talk with them about it. I just don’t see it happening.
“I’ve talked to numerous attorneys involved in this class action and they’re probably going to get a settlement from a company named Knauf, which manufactures in three different facilities in China. The most popular one is Knauf Taishan. That company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a German company.
“I know that in class-action lawsuits such as these, the consumer never gets what’s necessary to be whole. The lawyers make a lot of money.
“My company fights for consumers. We’re consumer advocates. I anticipate that consumers will get about 10% of what it costs to fix the problem. That’s what bothers me about these class actions. The consumer’s getting hung out to dry. It’s not whether you are right or wrong in our court system. It’s how much money you have and the lawyer you’ve hired.
“If you’ve got a problem, call me. We travel all over the United States. My website is construction-guru.com. We’ll try to give you good directions and try to help you from being taken advantage of any further. They’re already victims. I don’t want them to be victimized more by the charlatans out there.
“There’s a company out there that will tent your house and pump it full of chlorine oxide, which is similar to what they use when they kill your termites. The problem is that it does not penetrate through the drywall and get into the backside. They wanted me to endorse it and I couldn’t because I couldn’t get any positive results out of it.
“I don’t know how many people I’ve had who’ve told me they can paint the walls and it solves the problem. Another company has an ozonator that changes the air molecules and supposedly solves your problem. It’s just a cover-up. It’s like putting a smell-good in your house and you’ve got a big turd in the middle of the floor. It will cover it up for a time, but as soon as you take the good fragrance away, it’s going to come back.
“We’ve been through hell and back with these get-rich-quick schemes. We’ve got this snake oil and it can do this and that.
“You’re going to hear this term ‘defective’ when we talk about this tainted drywall. It is not defective. It may be tainted, but it is not defective. The percentage of tainted material in the board that is causing the problem is 1-3%.
“China does not have one mine that mines out the same thing day after day. No mine does. You have different components coming out mixed with the gypsum. There are no less than 20 manufacturing processes on how to make gypsum. Some of the problems are based on the recycled dry wall and recycled water being used. There were problems years ago with mold and mildew. That had to do with the reprocessed water not being properly treated and cleaned and it didn’t take but a little bit of moisture and boom, you started molding up. The mold was already there. It just got activated by a little bit of moisture.
“When you start talking to me about one size fits all, I’m looking at three major components that are never going to allow that to happen. One – the mines are all different. Two – the manufacturing processes are all different. Three – you don’t have one type of construction. You have multiple types of construction, multiple types of building materials, multiple building envelopes.”

From Bradenton.com:

Chinese-made drywall has been alleged to have high levels of sulfur that can cause corrosion on piping and wiring. Those with the tainted drywall also have reported health concerns such as upper respiratory issues and nosebleeds.

…Last year, construction consultant Michael Foreman of Foreman & Associates began hosting educational seminars to help real estate agents in the area better understand the problem.

The seminars address common signs of corrosion in homes with tainted drywall, the importance of homeowners getting multiple drywall analysis conducted and what a proper analysis to detect Chinese drywall entails.

“We’re educating the Realtors because they’re the first line of defense or the first line of contact to the client,” Foreman said. “We’re trying to make them understand the details that need to be looked at.”

Foreman & Associates, which specializes in Chinese drywall analysis, hosted at least six seminars last year, the most recent about two months ago in which 120 agents from the Sarasota Association of Realtors attended.

The firm explains to Realtors its home analysis starts with a questionnaire for the previous homeowners that looks for potential health issues. Then the firm inspects the home’s copper piping and components, electrical wiring and outlets and takes interior and exterior wall readings to examine for Chinese drywall.

Here are some related articles:

11/26/09 – The Epoch Times – Hazards of Chinese Drywall Confirmed by U.S. Study
11/23/09 – Scripps News – Government approves screening test for Chinese drywall
9/24/09 – Herald Tribune – Senators see potential problem with formaldehyde in homes
9/23/09 – Desert Sun – Drywall suspect in woman’s woe
9/18/09 – Herald Tribune – In a desert town’s walls, an even deeper mystery
5/17/09 – Bradenton Herald – Theyve got it: Chinese drywall
5/15/09 – Angie’s List – Chinese drywall crisis spreading across U.S.
5/11/09 – Florida Association of Realtors – Chinese Drywall Issue Goes to the U.S. House
4/16/09 – The Epoch Tines – Tainted Chinese Drywall Contaminating U.S. Homes
4/11/09 – Fox News – Chinese Drywall Poses Potential Risks to American Homeowners, Apartment Dwellers
4/11/09 – FOX 13 NEWS – Legislation targets Chinese drywall
3/29/09 – Bradenton Herald – Law firms lining up to attract drywall clients
3/18/09 – CNN – Chinese-made drywall ruining homes, owners say
3/14/09 – Palm Beach Post – Builders removing Chinese drywall from two Port St. Lucie developments
3/13/09 – South Florida Business Journal – Manufacturer says drywall is ‘fume free’
3/13/09 – Palm Beach Post – Builders removing Chinese drywall from two Port St. Lucie developments
3/7/09 – Herald Tribune – Drywall worries multiply
3/03/09 – ABC – Are health concerns tied to Chinese drywall?
2/25/09 – Bradenton Herald – States tainted drywall list grows
2/23/09 – NPR – Scope Widens In Tainted Chinese Drywall Cases In Florida
2/18/09 – Herald Tribune – Scope widens in Chinese drywall case
2/10/09 – 7 News – Chinese Drywall
1/30/09 – Bradenton Herald Study – Tainted drywall not a health risk
1/29/09 – Herald Tribune – Builder’s study finds drywall tied to corrosion
1/27/09 – Lakewood Ranch Herald – Drywall lawsuit, more complaints filed
1/23/09 – South Florida Business Journal – More problems with Chinese drywall surface
1/14/09 – ABC 7- Home inspectors learning more about dangerous Chinese drywall
1/13/09 – Herald Tribune – Drywall worries affect Lakewood Ranch homeowner

Shmuel Hain, a Modern Orthodox rabbi, writes on JTA:

NEW YORK (JTA) — Another month, another round of recriminations in the Modern Orthodox community.

Two months ago it was a breakaway rabbinic organization established, in part, to promote decentralized conversion standards. Last month it was a public forum on homosexuality in the Orthodox community.

The latest controversy centers on the decision by two rabbis to bestow the title of rabba, a feminized version of rabbi, on a woman previously ordained with the title of Maharat.

Public pronouncements followed by denouncements that generate name-calling and more rhetoric: chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name). Conservative. Post Orthodox. Fundamentalist. Haredi. Beyond the pale. Off the reservation.

From a comment to Hirhurim:

Original
There once was a wise Maharat
Who said, “Shas and poskim I’ve got
Though I’ve studied those tomes
With two X chromosomes
An Orthodox Rabbi I’m not.”

Revised

She now seems more clever than wise
The Maharat title just a disguise.
Proving she and her mentor
Are far far left of center
To ordain Orthodox female rabbis.

Y. Aharon posts: Thee best that can be said of R’ Pruzansky’s post is that it’s not as ignorant as the editorial in the American Yated. I note also that he is melamed zechut on those who believe that income tax evasion or having a kept woman is permissible according to halacha. Interesting that he can see the other side on ethical and moral issues, but not on issues of equity.

I note that Gil appears to equate melacha on shabbat with ordaining women rabbis, whatever their official title. That is a highly questionable comparison even if we only consider amira le’acum which is forbidden rabbinically (i.e. explicitly assur, not just a question of novelty). I wish the Conservative movement would have adopted busing congregants to shul on shabbat instead of having them drive themselves. That would have been an halachic approach to a distance problem (even if some like RYBS may have demurred). Instead, they opted for overt chilul shabbat compounded by a so-called ruling that perverted halacha. By the way, the issue primarily involves turning on and feeding fuel to a combustion (not combustible) engine. In fact, I don’t understand why RYBS would object to busing by a Gentile driver since that would constitute zarchei rabim which is normally permitted, to my knowledge – as opposed to the Conservative congregants violating grave issurei de’oraita to attend services.

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I don’t have strong feelings about the game. I don’t care much about either of the teams.

I hope something controversial happens so I can provide some scintillating blogging about it and get oodles of hits.

I just had a long talk with a close friend. I’ve been so caught up in my own life that I have not been registering the struggles of a lot of people close to me. I get pretty tunnel-visioned and selfish.

I returned to yoga this morning for the first time in 11 days (even if I only did about 20% of the class). For the first time in ages, I’m feeling a little zip of energy.

PS. I’m looking at Saints receiver Marques Colston drop an easy ball for a first down. I wonder if Alexander Technique would help with this sort of concentration? The habitual desire to turn away from the ball to check out who’s going to hit you is really strong and the whole nervous system has to be reprogrammed to watch the ball all the way into your hands before taking your eye off it to look at who’s going to hit you.

KhunDiddy: you watching the game…I’m in and out but right now I want to see if these old WHO geezers can cut the mustard
KhunDiddy: Pete has a cap on to hide the bald dome…good idea
KhunDiddy: He was getting flack this past week for his Kiddy Porn bust a few years ago hahahaa!
KhunDiddy: guys in their 60’s singing about Teenage Wasteland…hahahaa!
KhunDiddy: poor Pete looks a little shakey…his arthritas must be acting up
KhunDiddy: that was underwhelming at best

Las Vegas entertainment executive Tom Ficara emails:

The battle began in earnest Thursday at 5pm when the Las Vegas Jewish Federation rejected the counter offer of former Head of Womens Philanthropy Charry Kennedy.

Complaints are presently being filed with the EEOC the ADA, and the Nevada Bar Association regarding the behavior of Danny Greenspun, Attorney Leonard Stone, Elliot Karp, and Attorney Kim Wanker. Lawsuits against the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Jewish Federation, Greenspun personally, Karp personally, Stone personally, and Wanker personally are being prepared.

The television episode Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Jewish Federation of the series Las Vegas Justice Bureau is continuing its investigation, including not only into the issue of Elliot Karp’s past abuse and current abuse, but also the connections of the National Jewish Federation offices and Vicki Agron as to their role in getting Karp this position. It will also investigate the relationship of Karp, Agron, and Agron’s husband, and how that dovetails with the relationship of the three to Danny Greenspun. It will also investigate the possible financial improprieties of the Las Vegas Jewish Federation under the stewardship of Greenspun and now Stone and to unveil if the Jewish Reporter community newspaper was shuttered by Greenspun and Karp for the reasons disclosed of if there was another, hidden agenda that involved Greenspun looking to provide a similar service through his own company instead of through the Jewish Federation. It is also investigating a possible linkage between the Jewish Federation CFO Marjorie Greibel with the reported financial improprieties of the Springs Preserve, how Greibel could serve in both capacities, and what-if any relationship there is between the two organizations as both have a Greenspun involved as well.

On February 22 I will be traveling East in order to interview victims of Karp’s abuse. The trip will take me through Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and then Ohio.

Such testimony, along with the many victims from the Las Vegas Jewish Federation.

It is further noted that we have identified no less than four more people within the Federation who are currently suffering from the same abuse that was leveled against Arthur Bloberger, Mark Levine, Aaron Schoenweiss, and Charry Kennedy. We will also be interviewing the two newest ‘ex employees’ once they are safely out of the offices of the Las Vegas Jewish Federation (they have given their notice but are still on staff).

We will also be charting the ‘Charity Navigator’ rankings of the Las Vegas Jewish Federation over the years that these longtime employees were on board as compared to the Charity Nagigator rankings of the various Federations where Elliot Karp worked.

Tom emails this:

TO: State of Nevada DETR

FROM: Mark N. Levine

RE: Arthur Bloberger’s Appeal of Unemployment Claim Denial

DATE: October 28, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

The following statement is accurate and honest with respect to my knowledge of events related to Arthur Bloberger from the period of March 17, 2009 (when I began working with him) up until his last day of employment with The Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.

By way of background, I interviewed for the position of Director of Communication, Marketing and Public Affairs with the Federation in early March 2009. The initial interview was conducted by the new CEO/President, Elliot Karp.

During the initial interview, one of the questions I raised was how the Federation utilized its widely acclaimed publication, The Jewish Reporter. Mr. Karp totally surprised me with his response that the newspaper was being edited by a goy (a disrespectful term for a non-Jewish person) and that he found this fact distasteful.

Following two additional interviews, a firm offer of employment was tendered to me with an agreed starting date of March 17. Again, Mr. Karp clearly indicated he was unhappy with the fact that the Federation newspaper was being edited by a non-Jew.

Over the succeeding six months that I served the Federation, I personally witnessed more than a dozen instances of Mr. Karp complaining about the fact that Arthur was not Jewish, often distastefully so. In my capacity, I worked closely with Arthur for six months and never saw any evidence that his religion compromised his ability to produce a high quality Jewish newspaper every two weeks, which he did for nearly two and a half years. It should be noted that over the past three decades, I’ve launched and served as editor of some high quality, award-winning publications; I think I can tell a quality, effective publication when I see it, and Arthur’s work was extremely effective and thorough.

As time went on, I witnessed Mr. Karp make similar discriminitory comments about Arthur in front of many others. I also witnessed him directing his anger directly at Arthur. I also heard Mr. Karp make racial comments regarding Blacks (specifically about a Hillel ad in the paper featuring a Black student). He asked me whether Arthur and I had “lost our minds” by putting a (insert the N word here) in a Jewish publication. I informed him the person in question was a Jewish student who happened to be Black. Mr. Karp’s response was that we “better be right.”

There was also an instance where Mr. Karp hatefully put the word “kike” in the mouths of some of the newspaper’s non-Jewish clients, although they never said such a thing.

From my perspective, there was no doubt that Mr. Karp purposely went out of his way to create an impossible workplace environment for Arthur to function by continually pointing out that his not being Jewish was a problem. Mr. Karp told me that Arthur could easily be replaced by a monkey and that the major difference would be that a monkey “would work for bananas.” He wasn’t joking.

I would be more than willing to attest to the above recollection of these events under oath.

Respectfully,

Mark N. Levine