The John Edwards Story: Another Black Eye For The LA Times

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

These clowns can’t get out of their own way.

It’s so satisfying to see this arrogant institution humbled.

Kevin Roderick reports:

Executive editor Meredith Artley of the Times website follows up in an email to Times bloggers:

From: Artley, Meredith
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 11:59 AM
Subject: Hubbub

Hi everyone. Many of you have probably seen the Slate item titled “LAT Gags Blogs” citing Tony’s note asking you all to steer clear of the alleged Edwards affair. It’s now linked to from Drudge, and Gawker has an item too.

In the spirit of transparency I want to give some background on this, and to note how in hindsight we might have done things differently to avoid the discontent that led to yet another public poke in the eye.

Various colleagues on the 3rd floor have been working on reporting the story. I made the decision that while we are working on verifying if this has any truth to it, we should stay away from joining the fray. We still don’t know that, and national and metro are still pursuing.

Our message to you (I asked Tony to drop you guys the note) should have been more nuanced. I should have first not encouraged posting on this topic, but if any of you feel that you have a post you really to write, to please discuss it with Tony and myself first since we must always tread carefully on unverified stories. And I should have explained the thinking behind that decision. The idea was not to muzzle any of you and then walk away – that is never a recipe for success.

Russ, myself, Tony and all the editors you work with trust you guys to engage us in open and frank dialogue on just about anything that’s on your mind, and we’ll do the same. You have our confidence and we expect the same. We have a strong network thanks to all of the thoughts that many of you have shared, creating better blogs, growing the readership, and staying focused on the work and not the drama. Let’s keep that up and settle for nothing less.

Questions, thoughts, etc? Ask me or Tony.

Meredith Artley
Executive Editor, LATimes.com

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‘Praying In Her Own Voice’

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

I invite a Torah girl to watch this documentary with me.

She replies:

Do you need me to be a 10th for a  minyan of fat,  ugly women?  "These women are fat and passionate and old and bizarre." 

I’ll come wearing tefillin, talis and blowing a shofar, so please give me an aliyah.

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Why Is Joel Grishaver Still Allowed To Work With Children?

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

Joel Grishaver used to molest little boys.

How is he still allowed to teach in Jewish life?

From his website:

Joel Grishaver is a hammer for education . He pounds on the anvil of accepted wisdom and works curlicued miracles out of the staid and the commonplace. He combines the tradition of a maggid, the itinerant teller of the redemptive narrative, with the American Jewish story of the entrepreneur.

Rabbi Mark Boone
Fitzerman, Tulsa

What impressed me most about Joel was a sense of genuine caring and interest in the people with whom he taught, particularly the teens. Not only did he teach them much, but he exhibited a real interest in what they had to say and who they were, which will last a lot longer than the texts he taught. He also conveyed an important message—that relationships are the essence of teaching. His actions make him the consummate text person and an important role model for all of us.

Robin Shiffrin, Temple Sinai, Rochester

Joel Lurie Grishaver is available for scholar-in-residence-weekends and other kinds of teaching experiences. He regularly works with adults, teens, families, intergenerational learning communities, schools age children, and faculties.
His weekend experiences can be for any or all of these audiences.

In the past year Joel has been a:

  • Synagogue scholar-in-residence
  • Family educator-in-residence (both at camp and in a synagogue)
  • Scholar-in-residence in elementary and middle school day schools
  • Community scholar shared by a number of institutions
  • Speaker at UJA and Federation events
  • Guest teacher at Hebrew high schools and other teen settings
  • Keynote speaker at a Regional Biennial of the UAHC and at various regional Jewish teacher training events and a guest scholar at the Festival of Reform Judaism in Great Britain
  • Faculty member at CAJE, LIMMUD, and The Whizin Institute
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John Edwards Hides In The Toilet At The Beverly Hills Hilton

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

 

A hotel security guard told FOXNews.com he intervened this week between a man he identified as former Sen. John Edwards and tabloid reporters who chased down the former presidential hopeful after what they’re calling a rendezvous with his mistress and love child.

The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men’s room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.

"What are they saying about me?" the guard said Edwards asked.

"His face just went totally white," the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.

The guard said he escorted Edwards, who was not a registered guest at the hotel, out of the building after 2 a.m. Edwards did not say anything while he was escorted out, said the guard, adding that at times the reporters on the scene were "rough on him," sticking a camera in his face and shouting questions.

The guard did not recognize Edwards at the time of the incident, but said he concluded it was the 2008 presidential hopeful after hearing reports about the incident and finding an Enquirer reporter’s notebook at the scene.

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Criminal Complaint Filed In John Edwards Affair

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

From the National Enquirer:

UPDATE: John Edwards’ secret meeting with his mistress at the Beverly Hilton hotel has now become part of a criminal complaint.

    NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporters Alan Butterfield and Alexander Hitchen filed a criminal complaint with the Beverly Hills Police Department on Thursday, July 24, charging that hotel security acted unlawfully while the reporters were trying to question the former senator.

Edwards now could be contacted by police to give an eyewitness account of what occurred.

Hotel security tried to stop the reporters from questioning Edwards in the basement of the hotel at approximately 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, July 22 after Edwards came off an elevator and appeared to be attempting to leave the hotel unseen.

His secret mistress Rielle Hunter and her baby were upstairs, and Edwards had just spent hours with them in a secret rendezvous.

As Butterfield and Hitchen tried to question Edwards, he ran down a hallway and ducked into a men’s public bathroom. The reporters attempted to follow him in and Edwards pushed the door shut from inside.

Hotel security showed up and intervened. The reporters charge that not only did one security guard threaten to break their camera but that security also violated several statutes of the California Penal Code, including false imprisonment and preventing a guest from entering land.

The ENQUIRER reporters were registered guests at the hotel, while Edwards was not.

Police recorded the criminal complaint and will turn it over to detectives.

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Sinai Temple Sued For Breach Of Contract

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

Case Type: Breach Contrct/Warnty(Sellr Pltf) (General Jurisdiction) Case#: BC394811 CASE NAME: ORIT NISSAN-GREENFIELD VS SINAI TEMPLE ET AL

A Google search says Orit was/is a lecturer at American Jewish University.

I guess it’s the season to sue Leonard Liberman: Case Type: Other Employment Complaint (General Jurisdiction) Case#: BC394757 CASE NAME: BARBARA MAGRINI ET AL VS LIBERMAN BROADCASTING INC

Case Type: Other Employment Complaint (General Jurisdiction) Case#: BC394862 CASE NAME: BARBARA MAGRINI VS LIBERMAN BROADCASTING INC ET AL

Who is Leonard Liberman? He is a prominent member of Shaarey Zedek. He pushed for Yitzhock Summers to become the new rabbi there. When he failed, he got disenchanted and hasn’t been seen at the shul much since. His family name is on Shaarey Zedek’s building.

Leonard Liberman (circa 45yo) is a genius. His dad Jose aka Pepe was from Mexico and became a big supporter of Shaarey Zedek. He realized there were a lot of Mexicans in LA and got the idea to open a radio station in Spanish. The station had Jaime Jarrin on it. He used to broadcast the Dodger games in Spanish. His son Jorge Jarrin flies in the helicopter and butchers the English language in traffic reports for KABC AM 790.

Leonard took what his dad did and took it to the next level.

He was on the radio (including John & Ken on KFI AM 640) a lot a couple of years ago over some Mexifornia controversy.

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More Layoffs, Please

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Luke Ford

The Los Angeles Times showed the same reluctance in covering the end of the mayor’s marriage.

The National Enquirer for the past decade has been as accurate as the LA Times.

I can’t believe that LAT blogging czar Tony Pierce wanted to issue this edict.

If I had been in his position, I would’ve refused.

If I were an LA Times employee, I would refuse to follow this command.

Fancy a newspapers telling its employees not to cover the news!

It is not true to say that the National Enquirer is the only source for this story. It started on the Huffington Post.

Mickey Kaus writes:

LAT Gags Blogs: In a move that has apparently stirred up some internal discontent, the Los Angeles Times has banned its bloggers , including political bloggers, from mentioning the Edwards/Rielle Hunter story. Even bloggers who want to mention the story in order to make a skeptical we-don’t-trust-the-Enquirer point are forbidden from doing so. Kausfiles has obtained a copy of the email Times bloggers received from editor Tony Pierce. [I’ve excised the recipient list and omitted Pierce’s email address]:

From: "Pierce, Tony"

Date: July 24, 2008 10:54:41 AM PDT

To: [XXX]

Subject: john edwards

Hey bloggers,

There has been a little buzz surrounding John Edwards and his alleged affair. Because the only source has been the National Enquirer we have decided not to cover the rumors or salacious speculations. So I am asking you all not to blog about this topic until further notified.

If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don’t hesitate to ask

Keep rockin,

Tony

That will certainly calm paranoia about the Mainstream Media (MSM) suppressing the Edwards scandal. …

P.S.: Is the Times’ edict a) part of a double-standard that favors Democrats (and disfavors Republicans like Rep. Vito Fossella and John McCain)? Or does it b) simply reflect an outmoded Gatekeeper Model of journalism in which not informing readers of certain sensitive allegations is as important as informing them–as if readers are too simple-minded to weigh charges that are not proven, as if they aren’t going to find out about such controversies anyway? I’d say it’s a mixture of both (a) and (b). This was a sensational scandal the LAT and other MSM papers passionately did not want to uncover when Edwards was a formal candidate, and now that the Enquirer seems to have done the job for them it looks like they want everyone to shut up while they fail to uncover it again. …

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Compartmentalizing

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Luke Ford

My Moral Leader emails:

Re: that video you did a while ago as you rambled around one night, wondering what to do with your life–why not do a few things that interest you as far as blogging, etc. go and see what works? I don’t mean setting up blogs about condos in Vegas or whatever, but, as I’ve suggested before, an author-interview blog, a Jewish blog, etc. and see what works. It would allow you to be multifaceted but with space to present each side of you more completely, as opposed to jumbling everything together in one blog.

This might help you in a few ways–as I’ve said before, you can monetize each separately and attract different audiences. And, it’ll allow you to have your cake and eat it too–you’ll have a serious side (or sides) and you can still have your more personal blog(s) with Air Supply and what not etc.

Right now, if you want people to take you seriously, it’s harder to do so with your current blog because you mix everything in over there. Separated, you could show people your serious side(s), e.g. interviewing authors, etc., and people would have something to hold on to if/when they saw your more personal stuff. You’d be able to create a context for them to see it as the goofier "performance art" side of someone more serious. Kind of like the way actors can be known for doing serious work and also for having tawdry affairs, etc.. Despite the latter, the former gives people a context to still take them seriously. Their serious achievements drive out the tabloid fodder in people’s perception of them. However, if they mixed everything together–showing up late on the set because they are off having tawdry affairs, say–then it would be hard for them to succeed and people would not take them seriously.

To put it another way, compartmentalizing your output would allow you to wear different masks, to take on different roles. As a Trickster-type, you may find that useful.

(For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster — interesting to see that Coyote is viewed, among other things, as a monster-slayer…remind you of anyone? Note, btw, that while it’s not mentioned there, Tricksters not only manage to confound others–they run the risk of confounding themselves too, as no doubt you’ve discovered…)

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‘What I can get, I do not want and what I want I cannot get’

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Luke Ford

That’s the lament of my bachelor friends.

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Rupture and Reconstruction: The Ramones

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Luke Ford

I put in 50 minutes this evening watching "The End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones."

I found it so disturbing that I had to turn it off.

There are certain vices I can relate to and tolerate in others.

Then there are the vices of the Ramones — drugs, crime, homosexual prostitution, nihilistic music — that turn my stomach.

I hate punk. I hate nihilism. I hate anarchy. I hate mess. I hate laziness. I hate drugs and alcohol. I’m creeped out by man on man sex. I’ve got a burning anger for clergy who abuse their position.

Aside from that, I’m a pretty easy going guy. I’ve got a lot of love to give. It’s burning up inside of me. I feel like I’m on fire.

I want someone to douse the flame consuming me.

Doctor, doctor, can’t you see I’m burning, burning?

Oh, hold me now…

Jim emails:

 You hate laziness? No more copy-and-paste jobs, then. Please.

And, by the way, the Ramones were, essentially a POP group informed by Spectorpop and ’60s rock…they just played it faster and louder and frosted it all with hysterically funny lyrics. The Ramones, unlike your precious Air Supply (not even a footnote in the annals of pop music), had impact and influence on the music that followed their first release.

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