And They Don’t Keep Coming

Posted on December 27, 2007 by Luke Ford

Mickey Kaus writes:

…The LAT reports on a decline in incoming illegal immigration, and the paper has some numbers. … Mexicans who say they plan to seek work abroad: down by a third. … Border arrests: down by 20%. … Most significantly:

The growth rate of the U.S. Mexican-born population has dropped by nearly half to 4.2% in 2007 from about 8% in 2005 and 2006, according to an analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center. [E.A.]

That seems pretty dramatic. True, there’s a debate about how much of the drop is due to stepped-up enforcement and how much to a decline in construction work. The official PC position appears to be that enforcement can’t possibly have anything to do with it.** Still, the drop suggests that border control efforts may have at least as much effect on shaping the future electorate in the long run as attempts by Republicans to win over Mexican-Americans by pursuing McCainesque semi-amnesty proposals. [But illegals don’t vote-ed. Their U.S.-born children do. Plus, fewer illegals = less demand for semi-amnesty, no? Which makes it less likely that a whole new group of previously illegal Latino immigrants will ever become voters. Pandering to this now-smaller group of potential future voters in turn becomes less appealing.]

Posted in Immigration, Mickey Kaus | Comments Off on And They Don’t Keep Coming

Posted on December 27, 2007 by Luke Ford

ERSNews.com reports:

Sources close to the investigation of Tradex; a now defunct offshore investment scheme tell ERSNews.com that federal indictments could be forthcoming soon.
 
The Enterprise Report has also learned that the key suspect, the former leader of the Tradex operation is hiding out in Central America expecting the wrath of federal authorities at anytime.  

ERS News has also learned from sources close to the case that Arthur Ferdig, the prime suspect, has been recently entering the United States using a Dominica passport.  Ferdig, who was born in Minnesota, has citizenship in the small island nation.
 
A copy of Ferdig’s Dominica passport has been obtained exclusively by ERS News and can be seen here:

Arthur Ferdig’s group had a speciality in ripping off Jews of whom they were not fond. L.A. businessman Joe Fryzer was the number one target.

In an Oct. 1, 2007 report on the feud between ERSNews and LAObserved, I wrote: "I don’t agree with Roger that Roderick wants to ignore ERSNews. Kevin doesn’t care for Eric and Roger, but if he’s alerted to important information on that site, he’s not going to cut off his nose to spite his face and ignore ERSNews."

Since then, LAObserved has not mentioned ERSNews.

Posted in Eric Longabardi | Comments Off on

The R

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Luke Ford

Patrick Healy writes for the NYT:

But during those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda.

And during one of President Bill Clinton’s major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, Mrs. Clinton was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Lewinsky scandal sizzled.

In seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton lays claim to two traits nearly every day: strength and experience. But as the junior senator from New York, she has few significant legislative accomplishments to her name.

>

Posted in Hillary Clinton, Politics | Comments Off on The R

Patriots Will Go For History In First 3-Network Simulcast In NFL History

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Luke Ford

NEW YORK (AP) ? The New England Patriots’ shot at history Saturday night will be available for every household in the country with a television after months of wrangling.

The game against the New York Giants, in which the Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation’s homes with TVs.

But the league announced Wednesday that the NFL Network feed will be simulcast on NBC and CBS. It’s a major concession by league officials, who repeatedly said they would not show the game anywhere but the NFL Network. The NFL had faced mounting pressure from politicians in recent weeks to make the game available to more viewers.

This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of any kind of an NFL game since the first Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC both televised the first meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.

Posted in Football | Comments Off on Patriots Will Go For History In First 3-Network Simulcast In NFL History

Where’s the MSM’s Coverage Of John Edwards Love Child Scandal?

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Luke Ford

Mickey Kaus blogs for Slate about this:

Still impressive, near-total lack of MSM pickup of the National Enquirer‘s Edwards scandal allegations.** My guess regarding MSM thinking is 1) Nobody wants to hurt Elizabeth Edwards and 2) Everybody figures that if John Edwards loses in Iowa, there’s no reason to mention the story. It will go away and nobody will have to cover it. … If Edwards wins Iowa, however, that calculus would presumably change.

P.S..: Were the story to break out in the MSM before Iowa, the Edwards camp might react by allowing his popular wife make an impassioned plea for her husband, against sleaze, etc., which would generate considerable sympathy. His support in the caucuses could well go up in the short run. If you don’t want Edwards to win–as I don’t–it may be best at this point if the story stays undernews until January 4. Which puts me in the same page as the MSM, I think.

In other words, under this theory the worst outcome for Edwards is if the Enquirer account slowly seeps into voter consciousness, but doesn’t become known enough for Edwards to be able to profit by making a big deal of it in public (which would have the downside of bringing it to more or less every voter’s attention). … That assumes Edwards remains in contention. Should he fall significantly behind in the polls, then making a big deal out of it becomes a plausible Hail Mary gambit. …

Posted in Adultery, Mickey Kaus | Comments Off on Where’s the MSM’s Coverage Of John Edwards Love Child Scandal?

A Light For Greytowers

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Luke Ford

Does anyone know anything about this new movie? It’s not on IMDB and there’s little information about it on the net. The director is a regular at Chabad shuls in Pico-Robertson.

A Light for Greytowers: the Movie
Is Premiering at "The Sherry Lansing Theatre, December 29th at 8:30pm,
buy tickets now online to this historic, first ever for-women-only feature movie musical, A Light for Greytowers.
Four years in the making, this thrilling musical adventure is based on the popular young-adult Jewish novel and directed by Hollywood’s only Orthodox woman filmmaker Robin Garbose .

From the Forward:

Imagine a Hollywood premiere with all the glitz: red carpet, beautiful cast, photographers’ flashing lights, exhilarating buzz. Now, picture that same event with just one difference — only women may attend.

Director Robin Garbose’s first feature film, “A Light for Greytowers,” will premiere in Los Angeles on December 29 at Paramount Studios’ Sherry Lansing Theater. Based on the novel of the same title, the film is set in Victorian England and tells the story of Miriam, a young girl who lands in an orphanage after fleeing the Cossack pogroms. The cruel matron forbids the girls to observe the Sabbath or to keep kosher, but Miriam fights for her faith.

Garbose, an Orthodox Jew, created the musical movie under rabbinic supervision. In accordance with the Orthodox law that does not permit women to perform in front of men, the film is intended to be viewed exclusively by girls and women. It will be distributed to female-only audiences and to women’s groups on college campuses.

…The director became Orthodox in the early 1990s, after co-writing a Jewish-themed screenplay that was developed at Sundance Institute. Eight years ago she created Kol Neshama, a performing arts conservatory for Orthodox girls in Los Angeles. A successful director of theater at The Juilliard School and at New York University, Garbose envisioned a “Jewish Juilliard.” She recruited many of the film’s young actresses from her program.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Orthodoxy | Comments Off on A Light For Greytowers

Christmas Dinner With Lewis Fein At Pizza Station

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Luke Ford

Lewis picks me up. He drives a leased German luxury car with a navigation system — it’s I.G. Farben’s pace car — yet he lives in constant fear of destitution.

He has no trust in the Almighty.

He’s a secular Jew. He’s wearing shorts. He’s bummed that Jeff’s Gourmet is closed for Christmas.

I welcome this opportunity to do kiruv.

Lewis: "You only eat in kosher restaurants?"

Luke: "Yes."

"You buying?"

Lewis: "Yes."

"It must be weeks for you. Cultists are purposefully famished. The rebbe wears a rolex, though."

"You’re vegetarian. Why can’t you eat vegetables out of a non-kosher restaurant?"

Luke: "Because G-d said not to."

Lewis: "God did not say not to. A scribe said not to."

Luke: "The Torah says you shall not boil a kid in his mother’s milk, that means two sets of dishes."

Lewis: "I can’t wait till you start selling life insurance. You’ll have to redirect your messianic zeal to a good purpose. You’ll still be saving lives."

"Luke…"

"I’m Levi."

Lewis: "Have you covered the mirrors for Luke Ford?"

Levi: "No. I still bring him out for the goyim and the Jewish goyim."

Lewis: "Who are the Jewish goyim? Oh, that’s right. I’m Jewish goyim."

Luke: "Your parents are secular. I regard you as though you were kidnapped by barbarians and you don’t know any better. You desecrate the Torah out of ignorance."

The kosher Subway is jammed. I drag Lewis across Pico Blvd to Pizza Station.

As I walk in, a young man walking out stares at me.

I nod.

"I read your blog," he says. "My name’s Barry."

Levi: "I’m Levi."

Lewis: "My brother’s name is Barry."

Barry doesn’t give a damn.

Lewis is intimidated by a big picture of the rebbe.

He’s used to goyisha Brentwood.

Pico/Robertson is a steep elevation for him.

Lewis orders a pita fajita. "Could I get some chicken with that?"

Levi: "This is a dairy restaurant, you goy! I can’t take you anywhere without you shaming me."

Lewis pays for my tostada. He pays for a bottle of water. He leaves a generous tip, more than 20%. He never gets his water.

"Make sure you blog that they never gave me my water," Lewis says. "I want you to have a great blog post up before I get home."

I wave out the window at Barry who’s playing with his daughter.

I see a bunch of people from shul.

Lewis muses that Rabbi Michael Broyde (his professor of Jewish law at Emory) and John Podhoretz (editor of Commentary Magazine) are the Robert Redford and Paul Newman of the Jewish commentariat. He asks me who’s more handsome.

I’m stumped.

Lewis: "This is surprisingly good."

"Who’s that friend of Jackie’s she stays with? The director?"

"Screenwriter."

"Has he got the Story of Baruch Goldstein greenlit yet, God bless him?"

We go next door. Lewis buys me $10 worth of chocolates from the brunette.

We flirt and leave.

"I’m so burned out," says Lewis.

"That’s because you’re secular life is so arid."

"Should I start fiddling and buying wholesale? I consider myself the Disraeli of Brentwood. I’m Jewish from the waist down."

Let there be no hope for slanderers, and let all wickedness perish in an instant.
May all Your enemies quickly be cut down, and may You soon in our day uproot, crush, cast down and humble the dominion of arrogance.
Blessed are You, O Lord, who smashes enemies and humbles the arrogant.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Christmas Dinner With Lewis Fein At Pizza Station

I Need To Be Deprogrammed

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Luke Ford

My friend says:

I’m off my meds. Just a little xanax. The Torah is my medicine.

You need to be deprogrammed. You’ve been influenced by a false messiah (Dennis Prager), you have a van, you live among zealots and you sleep on the floor. Even Reverend Moon lets his followers keep some of the peanut brittle they sell door-to-door.

For this intervention, your father will disguise himself as a kangaroo and say, ‘Let’s go walkabout.’ Then I will club you.

I will pay for the repairs on your van if you cover your hands in fake blood, run into Jeff’s Gourmet and scream: they killed my son! my only son!

I, meanwhile, will shout "Barabas!"

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on I Need To Be Deprogrammed

Is Luke a Lonely Jew on Christmas?

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Luke Ford

I am often a lonely Jew on holidays, Jewish and goyish. It’s a reflection of my failure to develop meaningful relationships.

I’m surrounded by beautiful people yet I starve.

Holidays remind me of what an empty live I’ve constructed for myself.

Most of the other days, I can get so busy that I forget…

Chaim Amalek writes: "What does a Jew like you do on Christmas eve and day? Do you wish your family a happy/merry Christmas?  How, if at all, do you acknowledge your family’s celebration of various Christian holidays?"

I was going to go out to a party last night but the older I get, the more loathe I am to leave the house, particularly to some secular party. I no longer have the strength to go out to pick up women. I’d rather get married to a nice Jewish girl.

It was cold and dark and windy last night. That’s my excuse for staying home.

We didn’t celebrate Christmas in my home growing up. We regarded it as pagan.

We didn’t celebrate Easter either.

We didn’t celebrate much beyond the life of the mind.

We had a lot of books.

My family still doesn’t celebrate Christmas. I usually don’t bother sending greetings to anyone, including family. I prefer to listen to Air Supply and sense the rise and fall of my emotions.

God bless the Dallas Cowboys as they embark on their noble journey through the NFL playoffs.

Intellectually I don’t believe in petitionary prayer but with all my heart and soul and might, I’ll be davening with kavannah for the next few weeks.

Joe says:

"Luke at Christmas" was one of the most depressing posts ever. I can’t wait till you start shooting in Grenada Hills.

We should do a live webcast of you getting your foreskin reattached. It’ll be titled, ‘In but not of: Luke Defies Abraham.’ Brad Greenberg can narrate.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Is Luke a Lonely Jew on Christmas?

You are where you sleep, because where you sleep says to the world,

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Luke Ford

A good sentence from Taschen’s 2002 book "Cheap Hotels."

From WorldHum:

What are some of the things about a cheap room that make you, as you write in the book’s introduction, so “unexpectedly and inexplicably” happy?

It happens when I walk into a new room and sense immediately that someone has put a piece of their heart into the room, something that reflects either a proprietor’s personality, or local culture, or in the best case, both. In the book I mention, for instance, the way that in Fiji or the Cook Islands, even the most modest hotel will have the housekeepers put fresh ginger or pikake flowers on the pillow or nightstand. The flowers, as they wilt in the heat, give off the most intoxicating fragrance. You want to swoon. In Bali, of course, you will wake up and open the door and find a little banana leaf packet filled with rice and flower petals—offering to the spirits. I always am touched to think that, so far away from home, I am being cared for by a stranger concerned with my spiritual well-being.

In the less remote, more Westernized places, the quirks of a hotel room may not be so exotic or culturally rich, but they still make a difference. In the Caribbean, for instance, I’ve stayed in a few places (two of them are in the book, one in Panama, and one on the island of Carriacou) where the owners had clearly fallen in love with the local styles and customs. They’d created rooms made of local materials, with fans instead of air conditioning, bright prints and colors. True, high-end exclusive resorts do this too, but I feel much happier when I can enjoy really beautiful surroundings without all the pretension and without worrying every time I order a beer that it will cost $10.

Posted in Travel | Comments Off on You are where you sleep, because where you sleep says to the world,