Vanity Fair

Daniel Greenfield writes:

When Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake went to live in the rectory at St. Mark’s Church they moved into the epicenter of the New York City conspiracy junkie scene and already suffering from paranoid delusions, they OD’d on it and Frank Morales was their pusher. Suffering from an unhealthy worldview and a persecution mania, Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake wound up with one of the few men in New York capable of feeding their worst impulses with ravings about the government, MK-Ultra and the CIA, giving that to people who already believed they were being followed everywhere was the equivalent of shooting up a heroin addict with uncut product.

The sad reality is that Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake lived sad wasted lives and demonstrates why the Warhol values of fame that worked in the late 60’s and 70’s don’t work anymore. Theresa Duncan produced three games that virtually no one ever played, had a deal for two movies that never came close to being made and made a witty satirical animated movie that a handful of people watched. Jeremy Blake was a moderately talented artist. She excelled at promoting herself and him, that worked for a while but neither of them could ever deliver anything meaningful. Her unacknowledged mental problems meanwhile went on to swallow them both as her domineering personality devoured his and spent its last bets efforts on madness, ultimately destroying them both.

That is the true story and there is nothing romantic about it. Frank Morales tried to save them in the same way that a crack dealer tries to save his customers, with more product. Theresa Duncan desperately needed mental help and Jeremy Blake needed independence, what they got instead was a social circle where crazy behavior was encouraged and 9/11 conspiracies and all sorts of raving loony mania were trendy. And in the end they died trendy deaths and are trendily remembered. Philip K. Dick would have understood.

A source writes: "Theresa was an innovator in gaming and Jeremy was a very good artist who had much success. Lisa Walker was Frank’s heroin flame. He was a heroin addict with her in the mid 1990s."

I’m struck by a disturbing relationship between believing in conspiracy theories and committing suicide. Is Danny Casoloro an example?

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Moral hazards in Bush bailout

Why should I, a struggling blogger, bail out rich people with mortgages?

I know the government isn’t kicking in money, but it is interfering with the free market and the inefficient allocation that results from that hurts all of us. If people make bad loan decisions, or bad romance decisions, etc, why should the government bail ’em out?

From NationalPost.com, Dec. 10, 2007:

Capital markets without losses is like religion without hell.

Leave it to the Cato Institute to come up with an appropriate quote to bring the Bush housing bailout into perspective.

"Talk about moral hazard," says Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the Washington-based libertarian think tank. "This is moral hazard with capital letters."

The plan announced last week by President George W. Bush is a three-pronged program to ameliorate the U.S. housing slump. Struggling borrowers will be able to refinance existing mortgages at a lower rate, refinance into a mortgage guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration or freeze the loan’s rate at the introductory rate for five years.

It would apply to borrowers who took out mortgages between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, and those that would face a payment increase of 10% or more on their first reset. The administration estimates 1.2-million homeowners could be eligible for the assistance.

It is hard to believe a plan like this could come out of what is supposed to be the world’s powerhouse free-markets economy. There are many things wrong with it starting with the very clear problem of moral hazard.

Simply put, if you bail them out today, they’ll engage in risky behaviour tomorrow.

"We have a lot of borrowers and lenders with burnt fingers who probably don’t want to get their fingers burnt again," Mr. Mitchell said. Make the pain go away and that lesson is lost.

Secondly, borrowers weren’t forced at gunpoint to take out loans they couldn’t afford and lenders weren’t obliged to lend to borrowers they knew couldn’t afford it.

Why should investors, future homeowners and potentially taxpayers pay for the sheer unadulterated greed on both sides, through higher costs and interest rates?

Here are 57 cool videos on mortgage refinance:

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty One Twenty Two Twenty Three Twenty Four Twenty Five Twenty Six Twenty Seven Twenty Eight Twenty Nine Thirty

Thirty One Thirty Two Thirty Three Thirty Four Thirty Five Thirty Six Thirty Seven Thirty Eight Thirty Nine Forty Forty One Forty Two Forty Three Forty Four Forty Five Forty Six Forty Seven Forty Eight Forty Nine Fifty

Fifty One Fifty Two Fifty Three Fifty Four Fifty Five Fifty Six Fifty Seven

Posted in Economics | Comments Off on Moral hazards in Bush bailout

Who’s Going To Be The New Editor Of The Forward?

J.J. Goldberg was never a good manager of the paper. What he does best is write editorials and tilt the paper left. So he’s now got the title of "Editorial Director."

I hear JJ has not been into the office in months. He’s busy writing a book on American Jews and Israel.

He’ll keep his "Editorial Director" title.

The acting Editor-In-Chief is Wayne Hoffman (circa 38yo), the former managing editor. Wayne’s the most logical choice to become the new Editor-In-Chief. Others in the running include Ami Eden (about 34, he left for JTA about six months ago), Andrew Silow-Carroll (circa 48), and the Queen of Jewish Culture — Alana Newhouse (32?).

Alana is not only the most beautiful of any of the candidates, but most importantly she is the only candidate with an endowment to match her newspaper’s.

She’s my imaginary girlfriend.

I’ll have to make one of my legendary videos about her…

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Is Mike Huckabee Good For The Jews?

A Gentile friend of mine who is into New Age thought emails:

I was wondering how the Jewish right-wing radio personalities view Huckabee…he’s the only candidate who says he wants to bring America "back to Jesus," endorses Christian prayer in public school and obnoxiously proclaims Jesus Christ as his "lord and savior," etc.

I think Dennis Prager should discuss this potential problem, if he hasn’t already, along with Michael Savage and Michael Medved….all Jewish guys!

On some "level," they must be feeling uncomfortable with Huckabee, although their right-wing loyalties would undoubably prevent them from speaking harshly against him.

And Huckabee has never reached out for the so-called Jewish vote.

Weird, isn’t it?…..that a guy like Huckabee, a Baptist minister who thinks the earth is 6,000 years old, just won the Iowa primary. It’s scary.

I don’t care which candidate "loves Jesus" the most! We already know that Bush "talks to Jesus," but what about the 100,000-plus innocent Iraqis who have died from his war?

Would Jesus just sneer at them and turn away?

The first pundit to take Mike Huckabee seriously was Michael Medved, an Orthodox Jew. Medved’s rooting for John McCain to win the Republican nomination but he thinks Huckabee would be a fine choice. Dennis Prager finds Huckabee too sectarian.

Prager and Medved were on the fourth hour of Hugh Hewitt’s marathon radio show last night. "Nobody was knocked out," says Prager. "If Huckabee did not win, he was out."

"I don’t like identity politics," said Prager. "I don’t like Obama playing up black identity and I don’t like Huckabee playing evangelical identity."

Medved: "He did it on the strength of his performance in those televised debates. How did Huckabee end up in a different position than Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter? Because of his likable humorous winning consistently eloquent performance in the debates."

Here’s Prager Friday morning. He asks: "When has there been unity and goodness?"

Political analyst Arnold Steinberg said that if Romney was not a Mormon, he would’ve won in Iowa.

From Prager’s blog:

David Brooks: Iowa turns out to be big, especially for Obama.

Dennis Prager and the Dog Whisperer on YouTube. Here’s the link.

Alison Armstrong on male-female relationships. Alison is one of Dennis’ favorite guests. Here’s a link to her website. Or watch her on YouTube.

Dick Morris on Iowa. A useful tout sheet.

More record cold. In Florida. And Mexico. Maybe we should be wishing for global warming.

The equation of human and animal life happens right before your eyes. Note that reports that the boys fired rocks at the tiger with sling shots are being denied by the San Franscisco police.

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on Is Mike Huckabee Good For The Jews?

On A Pole?

I know a woman who is a professional dancer (in a modern dance troupe).

Whenever she tells an Orthodox Jewish guy that she’s a dancer, he invariably responds, "Like on a pole?"

Nobody else responds that way.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on On A Pole?

Refinance Your Mortgage Now!

Due to popular demand, I’ve started a new blog — RefinanceMortgageNow.net.

It’s going to become the place to see and be seen in the blogosphere.

I’m employing the latest in blogging bells and whistles to make it the most satisfying surfing experience for Jew and Gentile alike.

Never forget that the ground is level in the blogosphere and at the foot of the cross.

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Books, blogs, and the future

Author T.L. Davis emails:

Luke:

I have been watching some of your videos, reading your blog and some of your interviews and intend to do so in the future. You have a good presence and a frank delivery that seems unclouded by emotion or self-defense.

I ran across your videos on LiveVideo where I do video blogs. As a writer myself (novelist, playwright, screenwriter, freelance, etc) I find my world changing. I’m not even sure I want to put in the time and effort to write another novel. I have mostly written "westerns" that are not genre enough to be purchased by the major publishers, who aren’t buying Westerns anyway. I’m not sure what any of it means.

What does it mean to be "published"? I’ve been published in magazines, novels, short story analogies, etc. It doesn’t feel like it means anything unless a desire to impress is the only goal.

After a ghostwriting gig where I produced 90,000 words in 90 days, and could claim none of the fruits of that labor as my own work, I nearly quit writing for good. The ghostwriting paid well enough and the work received good reviews, as good as any other review I had ever received. I was getting paid for writing spy, terrorist, type plots that I really didn’t want to write. So, my career came down to writing what I wanted to for little or no money, or writing what I didn’t want to write and making a meager living at it. Since then, (1997) the whole world seems to have changed.

The purpose of this e-mail is to encourage you to seek out this question with the influential people you talk to. What does it mean? What is it about todays media that we can rely on for the future? Is it more important today (I mean for the future) to have a popular blog than a great novel? Are videos and popular video makers the filmmakers of tomorrow, or the just the stars of tomorrow? When it all shakes out what is the best place to put one’s efforts?

These are just some of the thoughts that go through my head as I finish up a screenplay that no producer will probably ever see, before I start work on a Western no publisher will ever want, and do video blogs that have as good a chance at making me successful as anything else I am doing.

Posted in Blogging | Comments Off on Books, blogs, and the future

G-d’s House Is A Great Place To Meet Chix

There’s no better way to organize yourself socially than by religion. You get to spend most of your time with people who share your values, your rituals and your food.

Khunrum emails: "Wouldn’t it be more accurate to suggest that it is you sharing their food, you shnoorer you? Unless you’ve been throwing wine and cheese tasting parties at the Hovel."

Curious writes: "Is bukkake considered a ritual?"

I’ve found there’s no better place to meet chix than in G-d’s house.

Whether it’s church or synagogue or mosque, these are social places where you get to meet a better sort. There’s nothing like shul to see and be seen and to advance your social prospects by connecting with the opposite sex far above you in status.

In a house of G-d, people are simultaneously on their best behavior, less defensive, more open, and more aroused. If you meet a woman who’s been turned on by the prayers, the singing and the rabbi’s sermon, you can leverage that to your own ends.

Houses of worship usually meet at night. That’s the most romantic time of the day. Women look better at night, particularly the ones over 30.

After "Scream and I’ll kill you!", my next most successful pick-up line is, "Where do you go to synagogue?"

Women, even shiksas, think you’re the serious and moral sort when you ask that sort of question and they lower their defenses.

At shul, the amount of money you make seems to matter less, particularly if you are walking to shul on Shabbos.

Poor Jews need love too and kiddish is a great time for me to make that point to the sundry doctors and lawyers in the cholent line.

Friday nights remind otherwise successful single Jewish females that they are alone and they hate that. I have compassion for such ladies and like to be around Makor (until they kicked me out) to give pastorly advice and foot rubs as the need may be.

Women have inexhaustible needs and I am only one frail guy but I do the best I can with the advice Dennis Prager gave me.

After Shabbos, after this period of restriction is over, women often want a ride home and an excuse to bust free. After carefully observing the Almighty’s minute precepts for 25 hours, they want to spend some time taking care of their own needs.

That’s where I come in.

Women love a challenge in addition to a ride home.

"I’m on anti-depressants and can’t get excited anymore," is a common one.

"Then you won’t mind if I…" is my response.

Don’t be intimidated by Orthodox shuls. Single Orthodox females, and not so Orthodox females who venture inside, need love too.

It was the Shabbos that Yitzhock Rabin was assassinated. I was at Aish HaTorah. A lot of people, including this one woman I wanted, were quite happy about the killing.

I put aside my delicate sensibilities and opened my heart wide enough to offer her a ride home.

We stopped by my guest house in Beverly Hills. We hung out.

She gave me that line about antidepressants.

I showed her compassion.

Next thing I knew she was screaming out how much she liked it rough.

In my video, I teach you how to get more bang for the buck with the ladies.

In my first year in LA, I lived out of my 1979 Datsun stationwagon yet I got more lovin’ during that time than all the rest of my life put together. It’s not the size of the hovel but the motion of the ocean.

My videos may not be high in technical quality but at least they’re honest and from the heart. I am as much in earnest as a dog humping your leg.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on G-d’s House Is A Great Place To Meet Chix

Bill Kristol To Write Weekly Column For NYT

When I heard the outrage about William Kristol’s selection for the New York Times op/ed section, I didn’t get it. So what if Kristol was wrong about the war in Iraq and a lot of other things? So what if he’s a conservative ideologue? How is he any worse than other pundits?

I’m a busy man and I don’t have time to think the issue through.

I’m no fan nor a critic of Bill Kristol.

I read Charles Kaiser‘s outrage (in Radar) over Kristol but it made no sense to me.

Luckily for the clarity of my thought, Jack Shafer wrote about the brouhaha for Slate. Jack often solves problems for me that I don’t have the time or ability to understand:

Last week’s appointment of Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol to a once-a-week slot on the New York Times op-ed page induced grand mal seizures among the Huffington Post left and their political bedfellows.

A "supercilious man," wrote Nora Ephron, who called for Kristol’s dismissal before he filed his first column. A "confirmed propagandist," added Erica Jong. An "ideological bully and thug," wrote Katha Pollitt. Jane Smiley upped the ante to "a war-monger and a hate-monger" while Charles Kaiser wrote, with apparent endorsement, that many "Times readers consider Kristol a third-rate neocon apparatchik."

Speaking for the multitudes, David Corn writes that it’s "bizarre" that after editorializing against the Iraq war since before the beginning, the Times would hire one of the conflict’s "chief cheerleaders." And Josh Marshall asked what sense the hire made when Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. already has David Brooks—"the house-broken William Kristol"—writing for op-ed page unless Sulzberger "got some sort of two for one deal or other kind of group discount."

Matt Drudge is unimpressive tonight. The networks are reporting Caucus results already and Matt had nothing for half an hour (now he updates).

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Let’s Play ‘Between Your Legs’

From SomaReview.com:

A friend told me about this game circulating at Facebook. The rules are simple: Just think of a movie title, and add "Between Your Legs" to it. Here’s a list I came up with; feel free to add your own titles in the comments section:

An Inconvenient Truth Between Your Legs

The Awful Truth Between Your Legs

Traffic Between Your Legs

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Between Your Legs

The Greatest Story Ever Told Between Your Legs

The Passion of the Christ Between Your Legs

The Lost Weekend Between Your Legs

Dr. Strangelove Between Your Legs

The Black Stallion Between Your Legs

Ordinary People Between Your Legs

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming Between Your Legs

Some Like It Hot Between Your Legs

The Sound of Music Between Your Legs

The Man Who Knew Too Much Between Your Legs

The Man Who Wasn’t There Between Your Legs

The Secret Garden Between Your Legs

Five Easy Pieces Between Your Legs

Mississippi Burning Between Your Legs

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Between Your Legs

101 Dalmatians Between Your Legs

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