April 11, 2010 I Don’t Want To Become A Fan Of You Luke Ford No sacred cows.

I Don’t Want To Become A Fan Of You

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Luke Ford

Many of my Facebook friends ask me to become a Facebook fan of them.

No, thank you!

None of the people who’ve asked me to become a fan of them have done anything worth making me a fan of them.

None of the people who have done things worthy of fandom have created their own Facebook fan page and asked me to join.

The less people accomplish, the more they need to trumpet it. People with genuine accomplishment don’t need to shore up their identity with boasting.

PS. I just noticed that a high school Jewish friend of mine has declared on Facebook that he’s married. I wonder if this is binding by Jewish law? Well, he’s not Orthodox, so I guess no Jewish law is binding (it gets a vote, not a veto).

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The Calvary Of Luke Ford

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Luke Ford

David Deutsch emails: So what are the chances that any of the yidn who made this list will ever be denied an aliya, much less suffer the Calvary of Luke Ford at the hands of what seems to be a considerable percentage of LA’s Orthodox shuls? We all know the answer to that one (probably the only other Jew kicked out of a shul in the 21st century was Bernie Madoff, and even there, I’m just guessing), and I only hope that by running this link, Luke won’t face a new threat of expulsion for lashon hara.

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A Heartbreaking Story From L.A.’s Chabad Community

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Luke Ford

From today’s Los Angeles Times, Maria L. La Ganga writes:

Abbie Dorn lies in a hospital bed in her parents’ home on the South Carolina coast. A halo of dark curls frames her pale face. The pump for her feeding tube clicks softly in the quiet room.
Yaakov Cohen, her older brother, settles into a folding chair by her side and begins to read. The subject is accounting. Interest payable. Bonds issued at a discount. Five-year amortization schedules.
Abbie begins to cry. Yaakov smooths her forehead, “I know this is a little boring, Abs.” She calms. He reads. Yaakov is working toward an accounting degree. Abbie once kept the books for her in-laws’ Los Angeles real estate business.
That was before she checked into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center nearly four years ago to deliver triplets — a procedure so fraught with medical error that she is no longer able to move or speak.
…She had just finished chiropractic school in Atlanta. He hoped to expand the family business, which his grandfather launched during the Great Depression. They wanted children right away and dreamed of raising their Orthodox Jewish family in the tight-knit Los Angeles Lubavitcher community.

The husband hung around for a year after she was declared brain dead. He’s painted as a monster in this Los Angeles Times article, but nobody I know of in the Lubavitch community regards him that way. He has a good reputation. He’s been placed in a horrible situation.

A Google search reveals that Maria L. La Ganga is Facebook friends with her subject Abbie Dorn.

Dan Dorn made a big mistake in not talking to the reporter. His point-of-view is not well represented in the story because of this decision.

Posted in Los Angeles, Orthodoxy | Tagged amortization schedules, cedars sinai medical, cedars sinai medical center, dark curls, orthodox jewish family, sinai medical center | Comments Off

I’m Live On My Cam!

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Luke Ford

Join the fun!

Concerned writes: The Final Days?

Am I the only one flashing on the sad last days of Howard Hughes as I picture Luke holed up in The Hovel ™, stroking his gray beard, watching endless hours of “24” surrounded by bottles of his own urine?

It’s time for an intervention, isn’t it?

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L.A.’s Budget Crisis

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Luke Ford

Dennis Prager talked on his show Friday about Los Angeles facing insolvency. “Who runs these cities?” he asked. “Not Democrats?”

“Los Angeles will become insolvent. Why? Because it has been run by liberal policies for my lifetime. That’s obvious.”

“The DWP has not paid $73 million because it needs to raise the rates. Why does it need to raise the rates? The City Council would not approve substantial increases in utility rates.

“Utility officials say they need the higher rates to invest in renewable energy as mandated by Los Angeles and state laws.

“The left is awesome. Utopianism and leftism are almost synonymous. We will have a society where all energy will come from the wind. And solar panels. And everybody will be happy. And we’ll create 100 billion jobs. All of mankind will be employed by solar and wind energy.

“They mandate these laws based on the religion of environmentalism. There is no basis in reality that this is affordable or even works well, because of the amount of water required for solar panels.

“My best example is the Long Beach airport. You should fly there just to see this. They have three or four disgusting big solar panels. There are big signs saying how wonderful these panels are, that they can power 240 Notebook computers at once.”

“The reason the DWP needs to raise rates is that the left has demanded they go over to renewable energy.

“The left lives on causes. There’s always a new cause.”

Tim Rutten writes: “The fight between the mayor and the City Council over raising DWP rates obscures the main issue. City workers must take a pay cut, and officials must bring the unions to the table to accomplish that.”

Here’s a video from Dennis Prager on happiness:

Posted in Dennis Prager, Los Angeles | Tagged budget crisis, Dennis Prager, liberal policies, long beach airport, tim rutten, utility officials | Comments Off

Shabse

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Luke Ford

Hour three of Dennis Prager’s radio show Friday.

Dennis: “Is it Shadsi in Lakewood, New Jersey?”

Shabse: “That’s correct.”

Dennis: “Could you spell it?”

Shabse: “S-H-A-B-S-E. Shabse.”

Dennis: “What ethnicity is that?”

Shabse: “Jewish.”

Dennis: “I’m Jewish. I never heard of Shabse.”

Shabse: “There are plenty of Shabses, Dennis. It’s quite common.”

Earlier in the show, a woman in her mid-forties called. “You’re a stud muffin,” she told Dennis. “You are so hot.”

“Thanks,” he said.

Posted in Dennis Prager, Jews | Tagged Dennis Prager, lakewood new jersey, radio show | Comments Off

But That Doesn’t Change The Way I Feel About You

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Luke Ford

I’m watching season three of the TV show “24”.

Kim Bauer is shocked to find out her that boyfriend Chase has a baby.

He responds, “But that doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

I thank the Good Lord that despite my more than three decades of loving women, I have never said that phrase. I have never responded to a woman, “But I love you.”

I don’t let the bitches beat me down like that.

Feelings seem like such a shaky foundation for a relationship.

I should know. I’ve had a lot of them (feelings and relationships).

In these contexts, love is like an obligation that the other person has to you.

If I love you, then you are obliged to protect my feelings by loving me back and doing what I want.

Emotions are not a strong foundation for a relationship. The Torah is.

My feelings change minute to minute. One minute I am in love, the next minute I am distracted, and then the next minute, when I find out you were unfaithful to me, my hate for you is directly proportionate to the intensity of my previous love.

If you dump me, then I really hate you.

I love Dennis Prager (in a completely manly non-homo way) and look at what I did to him.

I don’t think Pico-Robertson has ever known a more passionate lover than Luke Ford, so passionate in fact that I occasionally allowed my actions to override the specific directions of our Holy Torah, but I think feelings are a lousy basis for a marriage. An arranged marriage would likely be healthier.

And take it from me. Though I’ve never been married, I’ve had tons of girlfriends. Some of them were even Jewish.

Posted in Dating, Marriage, Personal | Tagged Dennis Prager, holy torah, luke ford, more than three decades, passionate lover, tv show 24 | Comments Off

Googled

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Luke Ford

I’m reading Ken Auletta’s 2009 book Googled.

It is filled with privacy experts decrying Google.

I don’t share this concern. I think much of this is generational. Kids today are generally more comfortable sharing information about themselves on Facebook etc than their parents.

For as long as I’ve been online, I’ve been unable to avoid people freaking out about privacy. I’ve heard people worry about the innocuous Patriot Act (is there any documented case of this information being misued?). I don’t care if government computers track my phone calls if that will make my country significantly safer.

With MySpace and Facebook and blogs, people are sharing more information about themselves than ever before.

I’ve designed my life so that I can pretty much say and do what I want.

Looking at people on Facebook, I see that many of them are not particularly worried about privacy either.

As long as you are not a terrorist or some other kind of criminal, and as long as you are not pathologically afraid of being known, then Google and social media pose little threat.

I think Google is great in almost everything they have done. I have about 100 positive feelings about Google for every critical one. I wish I could develop a relationship with a woman this positive.

Posted in Internet, Personal | Tagged Facebook, Google, government computers, ken auletta, privacy experts | Comments Off

I Can’t Morally Justify Much Of What I Do

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Luke Ford

Much of what I do is based upon my feelings rather than upon God’s immutable moral law.

I fear that I am letting down my commitments to Judaism and ethical monotheism.

Much of my blogging is done by instinct. I don’t sit down and think, what would the Torah say about what I am about to write?

I sit down and think, what do I feel?

I do this because my best work comes from my instinct, not from my thinking. I’m at my best and worst when I just react from the gut without thought of consequences, without thought of reason.

Dennis Prager writes:

A third contribution of the left’s values to what Marie did is the elevation of the artist to the status of demigod. If the feelings of mere mortals can determine what is right and wrong, the feelings of an artist are even more important.

There is no hubris like that of many contemporary artists. At some point in the second half of the 20th century the belief arose that artists formed a moral elite.

Given the moral idiocies that have been more the norm than the exception among 20th century artists — the countless artists who have glorified Communism, Fascism and Nazism — facts alone render the idea of artist-as-moral-beacon foolish. But even in theory the idea has no merit. There is nothing in art that renders an artist more morally elevated than a sanitation worker.

Sure enough, being an artist was Marie’s justification for her dishonesty. Asked on her website, “Wasn’t this dishonest?” she responded:

“I can see how it may be perceived that way. But I looked at it a different way: I am an artist. I cannot apologize for that. It goes with the risky territory of being an artist.” Marie also told the press, “I don’t think it is necessary for artists to ask permission to express themselves artistically.”

Artists are above morality. While you and I should not deceive people, artists may.