Most of the people close to me hate my beard. They say it will hurt my job prospects. That people don’t like beards.
I know there are jobs that require a person to be clean-shaven, but I am not so sure that people in general dislike beards.
I’ve found that most people are either indifferent to my Orthodox Judaism or respectful of it. Most of the people who hate it are secular Jews who hate traditional Judaism and adherence to traditional Jewish practices. But much of the goyim I know don’t have a problem with my beard and my yarmulke and my tzitzit and my adherence to Jewish law. They respect people who live for transcendent values. I think most employers will respect that too.
Would you rather employ someone who fears God? I would.
D. emails: “Listen to me, Sunny Jim! You had best drop the fake piety and holier-than-the-rest-of-the-fair-dinkum-world act before I come out there and plant my boot squarely up your whinging bum! You’ve been play-acting at Judaism for years, and nobody’s falling for it. Need I remind you of the words I gave to that young journo several years ago? Paraphrasing, “Judaism for my ponce of a lad is a PSYCHOLOGICAL OUT from being thought of as a clone of his fair-dinkum DAD! Luke does NOT really behave according to the ethics of Judaism at all. It’s a fair-dinkum FRONT … even if my boy is too delusional to realize it’s a front.” I rightfully should crack you in the face with the nine-iron I use for toad bursting, dry-shave you with a rusty razor and leave you for the fair-dinkum magpies, boy. Thank goodness your brother Paul isn’t such a goldbricking, layabout fraud. At least that much is a comfort to me and your stepmum in our twilight years.”
Las Vegas entertainment executive Tom Ficara emails:
Luke….here is a bombshell from a person who claims to be a Board Member from the Las Vegas Jewish Federation.
Wow!
We are about to announce a very big name lawyer who is going to pursue this case.
Tom sends along this:
An Open Letter to The Jewish Community of Las Vegas:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention a very serious situation regarding the lack of executive leadership, moral values and subsequent board inaction regarding the treatment of staff, past and present at the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.
Under the dictatorial leadership of Elliot Karp and with the implied consent of Board Chairman Leonard Stone, Mr. Karp ha unleashed abuse, threats and intimidation upon the professional staff. This should come as no surprise since Mr. Karp has a long history of anger management issues including documented incidents at other Jewish Federations across the country.
He is “maintained” by Vicki Agron and her husband. It was Ms. Agron who championed his candidacy despite the fact she knew he was fired by the Cincinnati Jewish Federation for abusing a female co-worker, a fact that several members of our executive committee ignored.
Since early spring at least five senior level professionals have been dismissed by Mr. Karp. They were professionals who were dedicated to the values, mission and principles of our Federation. Mr. Karp and his CFO, Marjorie Greibel, devised various scenarios to hasten these people’s departure. We are talking about real people who Mr. Karp is still trying to destroy financially by contesting their unemployment and cheating them out of earned commission sales, as well as openly practicing reverse anti-Semitism through psychological and religious discrimination against selected former employees, both non-Jewish and Jewish employees.
Currently there are at least two lawsuits against the Jewish Federation. Negative national publicity, including a running blog on Luke Ford Blog continues to present our Federation in a very negative light because of Mr. Karp’s erratic current and past behavior and the lack of fiduciary responsibility exercised by Mr. Stone and our Board. I believe like you, most of our fellow Board members either know very little or worse yet, know nothing about the events. We are asked for a check and sadly for too many of us, that is the extent of our involvement. The public is finding out the truth about Mr. Karp’s abusive and racist behavior. Ultimately we will most likely have to pay for Mr. Karp’s transgressions as we have now drawn the attention of internet media and many other Federations across the country.
Mr. Karp was asked to quietly resign in a move designed so he might save face and allow the Federation to begin the healing process. He apparently refused, thus assuring that we will be engaged in a very visible and tragic public relations battle we simply can’t win. What we are not being told is that tremendous legal expenses are beginning to pile up as the Federation continues to fight efforts by former staff members to collect their unemployment benefits. The motive behind this fight is one of spite.
Lest you think this letter is about faceless people let me “introduce” you to 5 former dedicated Federation employees who incurred the attacks of Mr. Karp and were unjustly fired. Many of us worked closely with thee individuals. These were people with children, homes, grandchildren. They did not deserve to be treated this way. Mr. Karp’s stated rationale was that all of them were disgruntled employees and had to go. As smart business people and professionals this is an insulting excuse for this actions and behavior.
Joanne Friedland faithfully served the Federation for 14 years as director of sales for the now defunct Jewish Reporter. Several years ago during a very difficult period in the Federation’s leadership she and Arthur Bloberger kept the Federation alive through the paper. This past summer after selling a recording number of ads Joanne and the paper’s staff were fired. Mr. Karp had made the decision to shut the paper down much earlier, but did not tell them until High Holidays ads were sold. To date Mr. Karp has refused to pay Joanne’s commission because he coerced several advertisers to consider the advertising contract they agreed to be used as a tax-free donation to the Federation. That is his out in not paying Joanne her hard-earned commissions. Joanne was forced to accept a $1,400 buyout ($100 for each year of service) and has had her unemployment challenged.
Arthur Bloberger, dedicated editor of The Jewish Reporter, was a veteran newspaperman, who took great pride in producing a widely recognized professional publication. He worked many long hours (without overtime) to ensure our community had a paper it could take great pride in. Mr. Karp determined that since Arthur wasn’t Jewish he had to go. Since Mr. Karp’s arrival as CEO he continually demeaned Arthur as the company” goy” and told people he was an embarrassment to the Federation since he couldn’t possibly understand the Jewish perspective. Arthur’s health was seriously jeopardized by Mr. Karp’s continual harangue and ultimately forced him to leave his position prior to it being officially terminated. To add insult to injury Mr. Karp has personally ordered the Federation to fight Arthur’s unemployment claim “to teach him a lesson”
Charry Kennedy, director of Women’s Philanthropy, fell into disfavor with Mr. Karp by telling the truth regarding his regrettable and unprofessional behavior toward another professional member this past summer. Despite raising significant dollars a month women’s Jewish community her every decision was second guessed. Her last day at the Federation resulted in her having to call Metro to escort her to her car because Mr. Karp was “off the deep end” threatening her in her office. She locked the door fearful that he might repeat his scene with a female employee in Cincinnati (who he slapped). Charry has also had her unemployment claim challenged.
Marc Levine came to the Federation in March as director of communications and marketing. By the end of the summer he too was fired. Marc had a personal family tragedy that required several trips to Florida as his daughter gave birth to premature twins. His grandson died soon after birth and his granddaughter, a micro preemie, was in extremely critical condition as she clung to life for nearly months. Mr. Karp continually berated Marc for spending too much going back and forth to Florida to provide support for his family. He told Mar he could no longer go to Florida unless he had his (Karp’s) written permission prior to planning any trips. Marc refused and was ultimately fired in September.
Aaron Schwamberg was fired in the early spring. He served as director of the Federation’s JEWEL program as well as Mr. Karp’s daily whipping boy for whatever went wrong, real or imagined.
There are other current employees who on a daily basis are subjected to Mr. Karp’s anger. Leonard Stone was invited by eight staff members to come to the Federation offices and listen to their concerns. He came to the meeting and warned the staff he wasn’t interested in anything Mr. Karp did unless it involved “a white powder and a razor.” Leonard Stone empowers Mr. Karp to continue his abusive behavior upon Federation staff by not responding to numerous requests for help regarding staff treatment and their eventual unwarranted termination.
My fellow Board members and friend, this is the current state of our Federation executive leadership. Much of this information will soon come out in the press and as part of the legal testimony. Subpoenas are in the process of being issued and affidavits have already been filed.
As leaders and influential members of the Las Vegas Jewish community we must make our voices heard and re capture the Federation so the true mission and values of creating a united Jewish community are allowed to go forth.
The time to make our voices heard now. As a full board and leaders of the Jewish community we can do the right thing and put an end to the evil being perpetrated.
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: “If I were single and picked up a single mom and the kid came over to me and said, ‘Keep your hands off my mother’, I would’ve been out of there before the mom got out of the bedroom. I would’ve thought this was the weirdest house I had ever visited. This kid had been prematurely sexualized. I’m outta here, man. Let alone if a kid slapped me. What kind of monster are you raising? We obviously don’t share values. As nice as your legs might be, I’m outta here.
“I don’t like fooling around with the stature of adults and parents. Already the distinction between adult and child has been so obliterated…”
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 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.”
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.
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:
Luke: “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 contaminants in it that are out-gassing different gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbonal sulfide, etc. It’s (out gassing vapors) eating up copper components and affecting galvanized components. There are also boards sold in the United States as though they 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 of tainted and corrosive drywall boards are coming from China, but not all of it. I prefer the terms ‘tainted’ or ‘corrosive’ drywall rather than ‘Chinese drywall.’”
Luke: “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 construction consultant. We specialize in construction issues.
“It peaked my interest after I analyzed about 25 houses. I was opening up the air conditioning units and scratching my head and thinking, ‘I can’t believe this developer is installing 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 model and serial numbers 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.”
Luke: “How does one know if one is using this tainted form of drywall?”
Mike: “It shows itself on the components and equipment with-in the structure. My company has a proprietary protocol that we’ve perfected. It’s an NDE – non-destructive examination. The easiest way for a home owner to start checking the structure is the coil unit of 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.”
Luke: “How serious a health threat is this tainted drywall?”
Mike: “My company put out a factual health data sheet March 2009 on our web site (constructionguru.com). 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 weighted average). How long have you been exposed? When you talk about PELs for residential, there are no levels established or validated research, to-date. 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 equals over 84 – 126 hours per week. That can obviously and easily run up to three times the acceptable exposure levels based on OSHA Guidelines.
“The EPA Standards or Guidelines do not apply to it either. They have no documentation on it. When the “HOT POTATO” or corrosive drywall was passed around these various agencies, it ended up with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).
“A lot of people are trying to sell expensive equipment to diagnose corrosive drywall… The CPSC has been finding that a lot of it lacks definitive answers and doesn’t work. The CPSC has recently (last week) come out with an NDE protocol, which is similar to the protocol my company has implemented and used since January 2009. We sent our protocol to them (CPSC) to help them elaborate on their protocol.”
Luke: “What are the health effects of this tainted drywall?”
Mike reads me off a long list (refer to “Factual Health Data Sheet” from our web site constructionguru.com). “Nobody knows. These are short-term effects. Once you move out of the house, within 30, 60 or 90 days, you progressively get back to a normal life. They (chemicals) get out of your system. No one knows the long-term health effects. That will take a lot of testing, research, and validating documentation. I expect it (findings) 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.”
Luke: “How expensive is it to get rid of this tainted drywall?”
Mike: “The original protocols (by others) 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 cost effectively test a house by testing drywall samples.
“It’s expensive to fix this problem. You have to take the major bulk of construction components and appliances, not to mention the occupants personal property and furniture 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 the structure is “demo’d and preped, there’s a treatment and a time-frame and testing 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 type and level of finishes, and what has to be removed demo’d to make it right. A 1,000 square foot house might cost $40,000 to take care of the problem. The average consumer residence or structure is in the $60 per square foot range. My competitors systems are significantly more.”
Luke: “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 in schools, colleges, or even trade schools. It’s so new that there is no formal 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 and knowledge to be dangerous. I was the guest speaker to the 2009 local ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) 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 vapors 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 dark 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 or her 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 (consultants / experts) 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% tainted or corrosive 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-in 12-24 months after occupancy, and no more than 36 months after occupancy, whether it be one board or 50 boards.”
Luke: “How long has this tainted drywall been coming into the United States?”
Mike: “I’ve found it installed as early as 2001.”
Luke: “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 out-gassing a vapor you can smell or at detectable levels. 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, created over the last several years, we’re seeing more of these types 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 just 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 corrective protocols 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 be able to invoke it on a Chinese company and collect money on the judgement 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 your actions. 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 -Tianjin. That company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a German company Knauf, who manufactures numerous construction materials, and types of construction products.
“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 actually fix the problem. That’s what bothers me about this and other 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 constructionguru.com or ForemanandAssociates.com. We’ll try to give you good directions (advice) and try to help you from being taken advantage of any further. They’re (homeowners) 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 deoxide, 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 or wall cavity. They wanted my firm to endorse their product and I couldn’t because I couldn’t get any positive results from 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 lipstick on a pig, you still have a pig, or perfume on a person who has not showered for a month, the smell is still their, just covered-up. 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 and snake-oil salesman. We’ve got this snake oil and it can do this and that.
“You’re going to hear the term ‘defective’ when we talk about 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%, and to-date “ALL” drywall or gypsum board meets ASTM 1396 Standards.
“China does not have one mine that supplies “ALL” the manufacturers or factories day after day. No mines materials are consistent and no mines materials are identical. You have different components coming out mixed with the gypsum. There are no less than 20 manufacturing processes on how to make gypsum or drywall boards. Some of the problems are based on the drywall manufacturing processes and recycled water being used in those processes. 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, the drywall or gypsum board started molding up. The mold was already there, it just got activated by a little bit of moisture, providing the food source for activation or growth.
“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 mined components 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.”
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.
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.
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.
was a cakewalk given his sexual orientation.”