Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Email Luke Essays Profiles ArchivesSearch LF.netLuke Ford Profile Dennis Prager Jul 8
J.J. Goldberg Says The Forward Is Not Liberal
Mr. Goldberg, asserting that he has defied expectations that his tenure would be liberal and offering the paper's support of a separation fence in Jerusalem as evidence, contested charges that the paper was biased. "The reason we raise hackles is because we don't have a slant. We don't say 'Oh my God, the world is burning down and the Jews are about to die.' It's the opposite of a slant and that's what people hate."
Of course the Forward leans left (as it leaned right under Editor Seth Lipsky). There's not one Republican on staff as Goldberg admitted to me in an interview. Despite this bias, it remains the best Jewish weekly.
She drips with contempt for her subject as I drip with contempt for her piece. The reader will have to judge whose contempt is most worthy.
Her lead: "Conservative Jewish radio host Dennis Prager is expanding his audience-into the bleeding heart of the liberal media he so eschews."
According to my ninth edition of Websters Dictionary, "eschew" means: "to avoid habitually esp. on moral or practical grounds: shun syn see ESCAPE"
Anybody who has spent an hour or two listening to Prager knows that he regularly cites the liberal media. In fact, he cites it more often than the conservative media. He has long said that the best daily general interest newspaper is the liberal New York Times.
Prager has long written for liberal media such as The LA Times and given numerous interviews to such outlets.
Prager does many things to the liberal media but "eschew" is not one of them.
Nor has Prager ever sworn off publishing in the liberal media or talking to it. So there's nothing unusual in his accepting the invitation to write for The Times.
Amy writes: "This past week, in “Evil Targets God’s Chosen,” Prager attempts to tie the London terror attacks to Jews being the chosen people. Prager also wrote two other recent columns. In “Our Father Is No ‘It’ or Gal God,” he asserted that God should be masculine. In “The (Culture) War of the Word,” he divided the world into people who believe the Bible is literally from God and those who don’t."
Here are Prager's first two paragraphs in “Evil Targets God’s Chosen:"
If the west understood the meaning of the Muslim terrorism against Israel and of contemporary Muslim anti-Semitism, it would be far better prepared to fight the sort of terrorism that struck London last week.
However, as almost always happens, too many dismiss anti-Semitism as the Jews' problem or even the Jews' fault, when in fact it is the most accurate predictor of an evil that humanity will have to fight.
There are many ways to summarize the essence of Prager's column, but "attempts to tie the London terror attacks to Jews being the chosen people" is particularly shoddy.
By the way, for a Jew to deny that the Jews are God's Chosen People and His representatives on earth who are going to attract the hatred of evil, is to deny one's Jewish identity and to deny Jewish history, particularly over the past 70 years. The essence of Judaism is that the Jews are God's Chosen People. To identify as Jewish yet deny this is stupid. The world keeps trying to wipe out the Jews. So unless you believe you are God's reps with a special work to do, why would you set yourself and your children up for genocide?
Prager's column was normative Judaism but Klein presents it as the work of an extremist crackpot.
As for Klein's claims about Prager's second column that Prager "asserted that God should be masculine," this is pure nonsense. Prager, along with Judaism, has always held that God is neither masculine or feminine. Prager simply argued that we should refer to God with the male pronoun for many reasons, including that humans need to view God as a lawgiver and judge more than as the quintessence of compassion.
Father's Day provides a fine opportunity to talk about our Father in Heaven. Why do Judeo-Christian religions insist on God being a father and not a mother? Is it still important to use masculine images and vocabulary to describe God? Or is that all a vestige of sexist religion?
That is the charge of "progressives" within Christianity and Judaism. Because men and women are equal, their argument goes, describing God, the highest being, in male terms is pure sexism. It simply discriminates against women and places men in a superior position. These arguments have great appeal in an age that confuses equality with sameness. So it is worth briefly sketching some of the arguments for preserving male depictions of God.
As for Klein's claim: "In “The (Culture) War of the Word,” he divided the world into people who believe the Bible is literally from God and those who don’t."
Prager's column offered an explanation of the culture war in America (rather than divided the world as Klein claimed). He wrote:
A number of years ago I discovered a root cause of America's culture war. It came to me as I debated professor Alan Dershowitz about issues of Jewish concern before a 1,000 Jews at the 92nd Street "Y" in New York City. With the exception of support for Israel, Dershowitz, a Harvard liberal, and I agreed on nothing, political or religious.
Toward the end of the evening I came to understand why. "Ladies and gentlemen," I announced, "the major difference between Alan Dershowitz and me is this: When professor Dershowitz differs with the Torah, he assumes that he is right and the Torah is wrong. When I differ with the Torah, I assume that I am wrong and the Torah is right." Dershowitz responded that for the first time that evening he agreed with me.
“I represent the large number of Jews and Christians who believe the Torah is a divine book,” Prager told The Journal.
This is typical Prager. Accurate but unbelievably arrogant sounding. No wonder Klein hates him.
I got this email:
Hi Luke, this is Rob Barnett in Minneapolis. A few months ago, I learned that Dennis Prager had addressed a conference held in 1996 by Concerned Women for America. CWA is a social conservative, Christian-oriented, women's organization that strongly champions the key staple issues of contemporary social conservatism. As a supporter of CWA, I was disturbed to learn that they had extended a speaking opportunity to Dennis, somebody who favors the continued legalization of abortion, and wrote to the organization to express my concerns. The following is the relevant excerpt from a reply email sent to me by a CWA staff member:
As you can imagine it has taken awhile to find information regarding a speaker we hosted almost ten years ago. I have spoken with our Field Development Coordinator and while she was not here in 1996, she explained to me that often we host speakers who may be specialized in one of our core issues, even if they do not share our beliefs in all six core issues.
However, I also spoke to one of our Senior Fellows who has been with us since 1999, and she pointed out that Dennis Prager has not spoken at one of our conferences since 1996, largely due to the fact that he has become increasingly outspoken in favor of abortion. She mentioned that our vetting system has become increasingly more strenuous since 1996, but it is not possible to go back and find out why Dennis Prager was a speaker.
I can safely say that while Mr. Prager spoke in 1996, he will not be speaking at another one of our conferences again unless he changes his position on abortion.
Newspaper publisher becomes the story before debate
...Yori Yanover, who was tapped to facilitate Tuesday night’s City Council District 2 debate, has some strong opinions about the feminist, gay rights and psychoanalytic movements and isn’t afraid to blog them.
......
The Awareness Center, a Maryland-based organization, is “dedicated to addressing sexual violence in Jewish communities around the world,” according to its Web site. Among the alleged perpetrators of sexual violence accused on the Web site is Yanover’s friend Worch.
“Every time you Google the guy’s name, every time he applies for a job,” the link to the Awareness Center Web site appears at the top of the search engine, said Yanover. “His name is destroyed. What can you do about this? All you can do is cower away or you can fight this.”
And so Yanover printed the full name, address and telephone number of the woman who made the accusations against Worch, removing the “the shelter of anonymity” that protected her.
“This woman destroyed the life of a man, she accused him of despicable things and hid behind a veil of anonymity and she did not deserve it [anonymity],” said Yanover in a telephone interview, pointing out that no charges were ever brought against Worch.
Ironically, the Internet and the infinite memory of Google may now have turned on Yanover, thrusting his online ramblings into the political arena. “A friend of mine last October was destroyed by sinister people and it’s been my business to defend his good name,” he said. “And if I get skewered by that then that’s the way it has to be.”
I write Yori:
I just read the article in the Villager. I had nothing to do with that boycott campaign against you. I've asked JWB if he does or knows who does.
I have never written/posted anonymously (with the exception of some of my writings on the ---- industry where I've used widely known monikers familiar to the industry).
Yori responds:
You don't have to tell me, I know it's not your style.
JWB is a sick puppy. I was watching him via your email inquiries, bursting at the seams, waiting to see the fruits of his labors, which was so funny... He really must be one lonely mother... His "sources" were able to tell him about the Villager story a couple of hours before it hit the streets. That's some sources...
On July 13, J. Whistleblower wrote me:
I had a tip that there was a major change on USAJewish.
In the past few hours, Yori removed Jane's sex survey. His posts about you and Vicki have been moved from the front page and replaced with his misquote article. His page on Jane has been significantly altered. What's up?
July 15, J. Whistleblower writes me:
This is an archived version of the main webpage (now changed) referred to in the article.
"YOU RESTORED MY SOUL"
Over the past three weeks or so, I've been receiving notes of support from many readers. This one, however, made me think (dangerous!). I'd love to open a dialogue with y'all over the ideas I wrote here in response.
Dear Yori,
Thank you for your postings on your USAJewish website in defense of R. Hershy Worch, a cyberspace friend of mine as well as a fellow 'fan' of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. I also appreciate your attitude toward the so-called "Awareness center," including your stunning expose of Vicki Polin & her whole method of anonymous allegations. I have long been very disturbed by her site, as well as that of JWB. Interesting that you point out that they may be the same people.
Your accomplishment with Luke Ford [is that his real name? Is he Jewish?] is also noted. However, under your name the R. Hershy story is left pretty much as a stalemate, but on his [Luke's] R. Hershy page, the picture is pretty bleak. He should be prodded into incorporating some of what you've written into that page as well.
Finally, perhaps it's been your influence that has gotten Vicki Polin to remove her "board" page, & for Rav Blau to leave her. But I am very disturbed at what she has on this page. I feel that here, too, there are merely allegations, all based on one article from the men-hating Lilith [which is a Satanic female in Judaism] site, which again, attacks him anonymously.
They even succeeded, at least so they claim, to have the desire of Reb Shlomo's family NOT to have a Manhattan street name changed to Carlebach St. I am close to many people who knew Reb Shlomo very well, & for many years. While they admit that there may have been some indiscrete "groping" that could have occurred, the allegations of sexual relations they feel are probably someone's imagination or evil intent, which seems to be Vicki Polin's trademark. What can be done to remove such garbage from Cyberspace? I would be happy to work on this together with you.
best regards, Yitzchak from Jerusalem
Hi, Yitzhak,
My fear is that the hysteria of the past 20 years over "recovered memories," and the elevation of every inappropriate touch, every slip, every regrettable gesture to "sex abuse" are already chipping into the very fabric of our psyche, as individuals and as a society. It is depriving us of the natural eroticism which is a crucial part of our emotional and spiritual being. Teachers no longer hug their pupils, lest they be named gropers and abusers. Parents are shying from hugging their own children in public. A puritanical veil, so very Christian, and the worst of that tradition at that, has fallen on our society.
It is interesting to note that this joylessness is the byproduct of several movements which began flourishing in the late 60s, early 70's, and they're all directed against God:
The homosexual movement
The Feminist movement
The Psychoanalytical movementAll three social forces began with right, even admirable intentions: To uplift the meek, to create a more equal society, to support those who are suffering. But their real driving force, to this day, has been a denial of the spiritual principles which guide human development.
I emailed JWB to see if he was behind the boycott Grand Street News protest. JWB writes me:
I can't comment on what I do not know. I will note that over the past 48 hours Yori has removed/edited/altered numerous webpages on his blog going back months.
That should say something about the abusive and disturbing nature of the materials posted. That includes his "Sources" post on which he posts a sexual survey his Rebbe Worch gave him that he claims belongs to Jane.
Of course Worch is only man enough to work through Yanover in going after Jane, he has not responded to the allegations you printed Luke. He's never directly denied any of the allegations. Caricature images of fat women have also been removed from many of Yori's posts.
Apparently, Yori has some shame in that when his personal blog was exposed to the light of day, he knew enough to begin covering his tracks. It's often the cover-up and not the crime that says the most about a person's character.
I would note that in Yori's recent post about boycotting me he referred to me as a "whistlesucker" which may constitute "homophobic" language.
I see Yori is blaming me once again for all his woes. That seems to be a common theme of his group. The lack of any personal responsibily. Just pick an enemy and blame them. Once you post your words you should either stand behind them and take the consequences or appologize directly and learn from your mistakes. Instead, Yori chooses to: 1) radically change/alter/remove offending material as if it never existed. 2) Blame me. No need once again for any personal responsibility. And, yes Yori my sources are that good.
New LA Times Book Editor?
I don't believe it will be Tim Rutten, who is being groomed for higher things. His oversight of Steve Wasserman led to W's demise as The Times Book Editor. I don't believe it will be the assistant book editor. I believe the new Book Editor will come from inside the paper.
The Twins of Tribeca Book Party
Wednesday night was my favorite MediaBistro party yet (and I've been to almost ten). It was cohosted by Miramax.
We got free copies of Rachel Pine's first novel, The Twins of Tribeca.
Rachel spoke to people in a real way when she signed books, not in the dismissive haughty manner of many authors.
It was a classy crowd - author and attorney Jonathan Kirsch, NBC Dateline producer Susan Leibowitz, cartoonist Donna Barstow, Cathy Seipp's younger sister Michelle (actress and writer), make-up artist Shannon Novak, author Brad Schreiber, Variety reporter Claude Brodesser, writer Barak Zimmerman and his beautiful blonde girlfriend Katrina, LAist.com's Jason of NegroPlease fame....
Yes, I had a great time. I love mixing with my social betters.
Taffy Akner, Mediabistro's West Coast Director of Education, was the gracious host (but couldn't make herself heard over the music). Open bar. Plenty of hors'douvres.
Afterwards, I got a $40 parking ticket and Barak got rear-ended by a "by a bimbo in a rented car on the strip."
Brad emails:
I have just signed to do a book about things going terribly wrong during live theatre. It's called Stop the Show! A History of Absurd Incidents and Insane Accidents in the Theatre and it will be published next year by Thunder's Mouth Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing in New York. I am looking for e-mailed, specific stories.
All contributors will be acknowledged, either in the body of the story, if the person is involved, or on an acknowledgments page, if the person is relating a story secondhand.
It can be tragic, like the man who died of a heart attack during the opening weeks of The Phantom of the Opera, because he didn't know the chandelier falling from the ceiling of the Broadway theatre was a prop.
It can be humorous, like the small Alabama theatre where an actress, playing a mother putting a pie in a working oven, burned down the whole set, forcing the audience to leave for twenty minutes, come back and watch the rest of the show with no set and a lingering smell of smoke.
Lowliest amateur production to Broadway and the West End. Standup comedy. Performance art. Personal anecdote or one gleaned from publication or a story told. United States or the UK, any time in the last 100 years or so. Onstage, backstage, in the audience, in the lobby, in the flies above the stage, I don't care.
Please use brashcyber@pcmagic.net to contact me with stories or any questions.
Islam Means Surrender
Her Name Means Surrender
Who is this mysterious Christian blonde who found comfort in the arms of Islam? I had a mango smoothie with her Tuesday afternoon.
I spent 3 year under the care of the Bakhsh family from Saudi Arabia/German decent after my family abandoned me as a teenager. This family took care of me in the worst time of my illness. The father is the head of King Abdullah Aziz University Medical School. During this time I learned the importance of family respecting and treating others kindly and helping those who are oppressed and cannot help themselves.
I spent the next few years under the guidance and protection of a man from Al Shammari Tribe (Saudi). He was extremely and devotedly religious, generous, responsible and honourable.
After the fall of the twin towers during September 11th, I faced the huge sadness when I realized I could not see the man from Al Shammari again, so I decided to follow him to Arabia. Due to the harsh rules of the Saudi Royal Family, it is illegal for me to enter their country in my condition. So I moved to the neighbouring country of Yemen against his wishes.
During my time in Yemen I was working so hard at my career, which I was building in International Economics and Development. This career was abruptly ended due to political conflict, which I was unaware of. While living in Yemen I was befriended by the members of the Hashed tribe, in which they supported me and asked for a marriage commitment. This is the most powerful tribe in Yemen who maintains huge amount of control of the surrounding tribes and also controls border issues with Saudi and the trade route and united the country and expelled the communists.
When the invading forces came into Yemen they deceived me on my birthday into and interrogation and continuously worked to instil fear in me and defamated my character abused and insulted me. I could not figure out what I had done wrong until a few days later the son's of the Speaker of Parliament shot the guards in front of the British Embassy.
One week later I found myself almost dead as someone had hired some people to beat me into unconsciousness. This lead to my destabilization left into the hands of bad exploitive people and traumatizing my life.
The man who beat me up name is Samer Abu Thoriah. Samer is Palistinian when Yemen opened the border for them. He did not like Yemen and looked for any way out he wanted to live in the west. He was hired by some conspirators whom only I can speculate who they are. He was given money and a visa to Germany in return and has never since returned to Yemen. If he returns to Yemen he could be killed for almost killing me and Yemeni's are people of the Shariah Law.
Fred writes: "Sir-- This is the strangest web site I've ever seen. How the hell did she ever wind up in Arabia? One does not normally see pictures like this in a web site for an organization with a name like International Research Counsel for Society. Is this some kind of a front organization? What's her story in life? She is hot. Also looks like a pretty odd background. Is the stuff on her web site for real?"
Cathy Seipp writes: "Well, I would like to say that my antifanblog (Onanism Today) could kick your antifanblogger's ass, but I can't. He may not post that often, but the Luke Ford Fan Blog guy really is some kind of a genius. Plus, those watercolory, stylized photos are amazing. I'm sort of dreading the next installment though."
Proclivity And Responsibility
Yori Yanover writes me:
This morning I’ve reread on your website something by your friend “Jane,” who accused Rabbi Worch of rape, but then offered no substantiation, other than a broken heart and pornographic clips (you still keep the accusation online, even though it’s been proven completely false). [LF: I inserted that link into Yori's text.]
“Jane” writes: “Yanover's letter sounds all well and good. However, there is still no accounting for those who are in rabbinical positions primarily for the ego-gratification of power-over-others, using their mentoring and supposed 'spiritual' authority as tools of seduction. Has he no concern about those who pervert and abuse Judaism in this manner?"
In other words, she backs off from a real rape accusation.
So, what is your justification in keeping it on, when the very accuser is admitting she was never forced into any sexual act, other than being deply disappointed by her "mentor?"
"Jane " continues: "Yanover wants to talk about the so-called 'infantalizing' of women, that's a crock. The minute all the women who've been abused by these cretins...speak up is the minute they stop being infantalized. For more on being infantalized, in fact, he should ask...about... 'Age-Play'.”
Well, as it turns out, “Jane” has participated in quite a bit of age-play before she ever met with Rabbi Worch. She, in fact, wrote this on one occasion: “There’s a large part of me that still feels naturally very child-like very frequently, I like this aspect of myself pre- all my hangups and neuroses about sex and relationships... the perversity is hot... hearing nice things from my Daddy, being praised and stroked, etc., is incredibly wonderful and satisfying… seeing the pleasure he gets from being a Daddy is very very gratifying... being able to give sexual pleasure to Daddy, have Daddy take his sexual pleasure from me, seems to put me into possibly the deepest and most open part of my sexuality. Still trying to put words to it... I’d like to be able to experience a more easing into it, like perhaps with things like being cuddled and read to, a kind of ‘initiation’ of our special time together, prior to sexual activities, as a kind of easing into it to help me tap into feeling like a five year old more deeply.”
Incidentally, do you recall the whole fiasco about Worch’s hypnotic ability? Well, here’s what our “Jane” has written on the same occasion: “I want to be really feeling that child aspect of myself and not just pretending or acting. Probably utilizing trance or meditation prior to our playing together would be more helpful.”
So, in your judgment, what aspect of Jane’s lifestyle has been involuntary? Does she truly deserve the all-encompassing shield of “rape victim” and the accompanying anonymity, or should we classify her properly as a criminal defamer? Has this woman ever met a proclivity for which she actually accepted responsibility? Do you feel a man's reputation should continue to be destroyed online, months after his accuser has retracted the charges?
Your website carries both an accusation of rape in big, front page letters, and a retraction in a sort of afterthought.
Are you sure God put you on earth to do this?
There was no rape. You say there was. Ergo you are lying, online, and a man is destroyed.
J. Whistleblower writes:
Classic Yori. He just makes unsupportable claims. It's quite clear that materials were written and posted with Worch's information well before Jane entered the picture. But he smears Jane and then says it's a fact. Jane does not have the background in Judaism to have written any of it. Nor is there any evidence of what he claims. All the facts indicate the opposite (as usual) of what Yori claims.
Yori simply misleads the reader. Luke you talked to Jane, why don't you clarify what she told you and what others told you? Yori wasn't a party in any of this and has no first hand knowledge. So what does is his opinion or evaluation worth? Nothing.
>So, what is your justification in keeping it on, when the very accuser >is admitting she was never forced into any sexual act, other than being >deply disappointed by her "mentor?"
Luke why are allowing Worch to post materials on your blog about Jane's sexual history. First, it is irrelevant to the accusation. Second, why is Worch passing it on through Yori to you? It's a pure smear. Why don't you stop talking with Worch's bodyguard and "spin doctor" and lay down the law. Demand from Worch that he tells his story directly to you and not through his "filter" Yori. Either get worch to talk to you or stop posting Yori's nonsense. Yori has consistently provided you with claims and "facts" that have proven false or that had no supporting evidence.
>So, in your judgment, what aspect of Jane's lifestyle has been involuntary? Not one element of what Yori posted is relevant to that question. >Does she truly deserve the all-encompassing shield of "rape victim" >and the accompanying anonymity, or should we classify her properly >as a criminal defamer?
Why is that Yori's role to determine? If Worch believes he has been defamed/libeled, let him sue in a court of law.
>Has this woman ever met a proclivity for which she actually accepted >responsibility? Do you feel a man's reputation should continue to be >destroyed online, months after his accuser has retracted the charges?
Retracted? Only in Yori's mind. Has Worch ever accepted any responsibility in his life? It's clear Yori and company are ensuring he never has to. and you Luke are not helping. Why don't you demand that if Worch has information he give it to you directly? Why aren't you going to the source?
>Your website carries both an accusation of rape in big, front page letters, and a >retraction in a sort of afterthought.
I'm looking for what Yori is referring to and I can't find it. But of course if Yori says it, it must be true (pure sarcasm).
Luke, just read Yori's blog and every email he's sent you. Can he document any of it? He just makes one false claim after another. At what point are you going to realize he's not credible. Why don't you demand to speak to the real source, the man Yori is in constant contact with, Worch.
>Are you sure God put you on earth to do this?
As opposed to Yori and what he has done to Jane? Of course, he's the enforcer for the group. Sending out the message of what happens to anyone who crosses Worch and the group.
>There was no rape. You say there was. Ergo you are lying, online, and a man >is destroyed.
Yori's twisted logic as usual. Yori claims of me "We have a murderer of Jewish souls lurking among us. Each time you go into his website, you increase his Google presence and the harm he causes the innocents." Yet Worch's Orthodox-Jewish Bondage-Discipline-Sado-Masochism Yahoo group is OK? Yet it's OK to post the name, address, phone number and sexual history of anyone who crosses his Rebbe?
Luke can you point to 10 truthful documented allegations that are on Yori's blog or that he has emailed you? Or can he just claim, I posted that, that Vicki's name isn't Vicki, that I'm Vicki/Na'ama/Dratch/Blau/Jane with impunity here.
Why aren't you taking him to task for any of the clear falsehoods he's posted? Why don't you make him back up anything he claims? Why don't you call him on even one lie? You know he has material posted on his website that originated from a theft at the Awareness Center. You know he posted anonymously on Protocols threatening to smear Vicki to protect Worch. You know he and Olga were posting lies about fraud charges and court cases that never existed. All part of their smear campaign. Why are you giving Yori a pass on all of this? Where is your journalistic instinct? And most importantly, why do you let him represent Worch instead of demanding to speak to the source directly?
Call To Action: Boycott Jewish Whistleblower?
We have a murderer of Jewish souls lurking among us. Each time you go into his website, you increase his Google presence and the harm he causes the innocents. To correct this, please avoid his website and the mirror site, JWB2.
And if you would like to fix a terrible wrong he has done to a practicing Jewish physician, please read this article and link it to your website. You will save a blameless Jewish soul from the ravages of a madman, by simply raising the Google placement of his own work vs. the slander heaped on him by an e-monster.
That reprehensible Internet shmutzmeister, JWB, is a lot like your drunk uncle who staggers into mom’s birthday party in his shorts and starts fondling aunt Lilly’s upper parts. You want to yell at him and kick his sorry ass down the stairs, but you’re afraid that by making a racket you’ll only draw needless attention from all the neighbors.
So most everyone in the blogosphere, except for JWB2, who brainlessly copied the vile posting, basically avoided the post like the plague that it is. Let it die of its own needlessness.
Essentially, JWB is laboring tirelessly in order to hurt me and my friend Rabbi Worch. He’s been doing it since the beginning of last winter. Naturally, he would like to get something on me—that would be orgasmic for the boychik. But he can’t. With the single sad woman who began this mess, Nancy Barkdull, out of new crap to provide him with, he’s basically done peeing into this well. So, what can he do?
Rabbi Worch is in the habit of thanking friends who have helped him in writing his work. And so there’s a dedication to them at the opening of his kabalistic haggadah. JWB googled every single name in this dedication, to see if there might be some dirt he could pin on Worch through this indirect source.
And, lo and behold, one of the people Worch was thanking was a renowned physician, who, 15 years ago, was fined for improper compliance with prescription regulations. There was nothing newsworthy about this 1990 story when JWB “exposed” it. Indeed, even Luke Ford held back and didn’t link it. Even Vicki Polin knew better than to touch it.
But JWB is on a crusade, and as any historian will tell you, there ain’t no crusade worth its name without Jew murder. So this murderer had no problem at all dragging this man’s name into public attention. Why not? It’s his way of “shaking the tree.” Cause some pain and see what happens.
Well, what happened was that the physician was devastated, having labored for 15 years to be done with that unhappy chapter in his professional life. Now, whenever he is googled, this freshest posting about him appears first. Another life destroyed by this whistlesucker.
The physician’s son pleaded with JWB to remove the posting. This murderer’s response was rife with brazen contempt. Every pleading tear was to this monster another badge of success. There is no doubt in my mind that this man is at a very low point in his spiritual path.
Please avoid his website. By visiting there you are actually contributing to the power of Evil. You never read anything like this from me. I believe all our lives are at stake. Do good, avoid evil.
J. Whistleblower responds:
2) Apparently, only Larry Yudelson is following Yori's lead.
3) I believe that what Larry and Yori are doing by promoting Rabbi/Dr. Julian Ungar-Sargon as "An neurologist in the tradition of Oliver Sacks.." is repulsive and an insult to the great work of Oliver Sacks. They completely ignore the 1996 allegations and subsequent exclusion of Rabbi/Dr. Julian Ungar-Sargon from the Medicare program for the past decade and minimize the seriousness of the 1990 state (acquitted) and federal charges (plea bargain). Larry's post may well be a violation of not puting a stumbling block in front of a blind man, if anyone looking for medical assistance actually read Larry's blog.
4) I will not miss my 2 most vocal readers. Get lost and stay lost.
Tomorrow (or sometime this week) in the next installment of The Luke F-rd Story™ find out what happens when a Beverly Hills narcissist and a Silver Lake egomaniac become best friends. (Hint: lots of Google-ego-checking, lots of blog-hit-counter-comparing, and lots and lots of the phrase: "Enough about you, already. Let's talk about ME!")
Bomb Threat In Westwood Monday Afternoon
The streets were blocked off and buildings were evacuated.
Orthodox Jews Who Profess No Belief In God
What percentage of Orthodox Jews in your experience profess no belief in God? In mine, about five percent.
A reader in Manhattan writes: "On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, its probably a little bit higher. If you ask them about the oral law, quite a bit higher (10-15%, maybe). Then again, some might hesitate at defining themselves as Orthodox Jews. In the city, there is none of the social pressure to observe that you have in suburban orthodox communities. Where I grew up in Long Island, its close to zero."
Hava writes: "I have a friend who grew up ultra-orthodox in Israel. He’s now secular, a math professor. He seems to think that none of his childhood schoolmates believed in god. I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, and 5% may be correct in the U.S., but I think in Israel it’s way higher."
Curious writes: "If Rabbinic Judaism permits (and at times mandates) oral sex, does that mean Kaarite Judaism permits written sex?"
From The Dating Front
I talked to a girl at Friday Night Live who told me about her date with a gynecologist. Over drinks and chips, he did a trick with the napkins and presented her with a model of her uterus.
They didn't go out again.
Why Don't Francis Fukuyama and Leon Kass Like The Kindly Ronald Bailey?
Coming up on Scienceblog.com, What Would Leo Strauss Say About Stem Cell Research? Will stem cell embryos knit together Nick Gillespie's broken moral backbone? How many Jews must die before we harvest from the goyim their stem cells and bake them in our matza? Is Heaven Populated Chiefly by the Souls of Embryos? Will Ronald Bailey dry the tears of stem cell harvesters? Will those who reap in sorrow sew in joy? Why are most stem cell harvesters illegal Mexican immigrants? Is every sperm sacred?
First they came for the stem cells, and I kept silent.
Robert Light writes: "I think Strauss would have qualms with it. Strauss could plausibly be described as some sort of Heideggarian -- insofar as his entire life was a devotion to defeating/getting around Heidegger -- and so he shared much of Heidegger's fear and loathing of technology and its diminution/dehumanization of man. If you can, see Strauss's bracing essay on Heidegger published in The Rebirth of Classical Political Philosophy edited by Tom Pangle. I believe there are some good intimations there as to what Strauss's ultimate judgment re. bio-technology might possibly be."
Al Goldstein In Razor Magazine
Josh Alan Friedman writes: "As an appetizer for the book we may write, there's a feature in the July/Aug. Razor magazine. About Al Goldstein's year homeless on the streets of New York."
Razor: Sounds like the restaurant guys were most supportive.
Goldstein: Yes, but the porno people were not. Practically the whole business turned their back on me.
Razor: Is there a four-star shelter?
Goldstein: The Bowery Mission is one of the best homeless shelters. You know who tried to get me in it? Cal Thomas, the religious conservative columnist. He came to visit me with a priest, Tom Maharis. They got me into the Bowery, but then I got the apartment. From the left wing nobody did s---, but here's a right-wing priest who came through. I gave up my Star of David, I'm wearing a Catholic Cross.
Razor: Did you consider getting religion on the street?
Goldstein: Naw, I felt like if there's a God, he's shoving it up my existential ass.
Air Supply In Cuba
(AP) (7/08/05 - HAVANA, Cuba) — Air Supply is performing in Cuba, where they're being treated like the Beatles.
A Cuban newspaper says Air Supply are "idols for thousands of Cubans." The paper writes "we would never have imagined that one day they would come here -- and here they are!"
Fans went nuts when the group sang "All Out of Love" and their other hits in their first concert Thursday night. They perform again Friday at the Karl Marx theater.
Press Release from Luke Ford Enterprises
Luke Ford announces that his unofficial adviser Chaim Amalek (sometimes known by the honorific "Rabbi Gadol") has formally joined Luke Ford Enterprises as Luke's press agent and official spokesman, and that he will continue on as Luke's formal media/business/political adviser as well. Anyone desirous of the "Luke Ford [interview] treatment" is directed to write to Chaim Amalek at chaimamalek@yahoo.com for arrangements. Ditto for women interested in personalized moral instruction on living a good clean life in accord with the principles set forth in the Torah. Media outlets too, are advised that the way to Luke is through Chaim, just as Christians believe that the way to the Father is through the son.
It is hoped that through this new arrangement, Luke Ford will have more time to handle the more critically important aspects of his life's work.
Helpful writes:
How about a "class" at the Learning Annex? Any jack ass can "teach" there. I can see it now "Getting [holy] on $5 a Date" I know a lot of guys who'd sign up for that one. Go forth, Luke, and conquer!
I remember Gene Simmons (A/K/A Chaim Weitz) was asked about the groupie phenomena and he replied: "If I was a woman, I'd rather ---- a rock star than a plumber."
April Florio Receives The Luke Ford Experience
Luke Ford's greatest claim to fame, besides being a world famous moral leader and role model, is his tremendous skill as an interviewer. Mr Ford has interviewed the high and the low, from grizzled Hollywood producers to 18 year old... lovelies. My Moral Leader then writes fascinating profiles, sometimes short and snappy, occasionally long and meandering, which he posts on the Luke Ford Family of Blogs; or publishes in one of his many books. Contra cretin Ira Stoll of the New York Sun, these are not mere "transcripts" -- no, no, no! -- but carefully edited interviews with contextualising commentary by the Great Mr Ford himself.
To be the subject of a Luke Ford interview and profile is to be blessed by intimately experiencing one of the true masters of the craft of interview journalism.
FROM PAGE SIX TO PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE
STARLETTE AND MODEL APRIL FLORIO COMES CLEAN
I interview model/actress April Floria (born May 28, 1982) by phone Friday, July 8, 2005.
New York, NY, July 5, 2005-Gossip page vixen April Florio sets the record and the rumors straight in the August 2005 issue of Penthouse Magazine in an exclusive interview with Penthouse reporter Chaunce Hayden.
The 22-year-old actress and model made headlines as the woman who wrecked Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's marriage for weeks before the paparazzi caught Angelina Jolie canoodling with Pitt.
"Everyone had a different story to tell about it. It was like that telephone game where the story just keeps getting wilder and wilder," said the blond-haired beauty who was named one of Maxim Magazine's top ten most beautiful girls next door.
Currently living in Florida, Miss Florio not only rebuffed the tall, torrid tales, but also had a lot to say about Jennifer Anniston ("I loved her in Friends but she never seems to be able to get out of that character."), and Angelina Jolie ("If you ask any girl what other girl would she sleep with she'd say Angelina Jolie.").
Luke: "When you were a girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?"
April: "A singer. I'm working on that now. I started out modeling [at age eleven] and then I thought, maybe I should get into acting. Then I thought I should get back into singing while I'm doing the acting.
"My father was a singer and his mother was a singer in Italy.
"I grew up all over the place. I was an Air Force brat. I was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Moved to Texas, San Francisco, back to Michigan, Pennsylvania, lived in New York. Now I'm in Florida."
Luke: "How do you think moving so much as a kid affected you?"
April: "I loved it. It's nice that some people grew up in the same place and had the same friends but I don't think that I could do that. I love being able to leave that place and become a different person and start anew. People don't know that I used to do cartwheels all the time. Not that it really matters but in fifth grade everybody knows your business. But nobody knows when you move unless you tell them."
Luke: "What were you expected to become?"
April: "I think everybody has always known that I was going to be in the entertainment industry. It's not like anybody thought I was going to be a lawyer or anything even though I'd probably make a pretty damn good one."
Luke: "What kind of crowd did you hang out with in highschool?"
April: "I was a nerd until ninth grade when I became the cocoon turns into a butterfly thing. In the middle of tenth grade, I moved to PA. I was the girl who was friends with everybody."
Luke: "You didn't have a particular crowd?"
April: "I guess you could say the sports people and the preppie popular kids. I was a soccer player (midfielder) for ten years. Can't you tell by my legs? I ran track. I was number one in state in sixth grade for sprints."
Luke: "What kind of a student were you?"
April: "I was supposed to be skipped up to two grades but after my father passed away when I was 13, I was like, ok, whatever. I think I was supposed to be taken back a grade. Then I got back into it and sometimes I'd be a straight-A student and sometimes Cs and Ds.
"I was a social butterfly. My mom told me that they checked me to see if I had ADD or retardation or something. Even though I was so smart. The Rain Man. I would dance around the classroom and draw butterflies on my chest."
Luke: "Did your mother punish you if you got bad grades?"
April: "No. But when my father was alive, he would come in a lime-green jumpsuit and ponytail, and he had barely enough hair to put in one, and he was Italian, he had it zipped down a little and there was a little hair poking out on his chest, and he'd come and embarrass the heck out of me if I did badly in any subject.
"I sorta miss that. It was so hilarious. I was so embarrassed at the time. I think that was the biggest punishment I ever got."
Luke: "What did you do after highschool?"
April: "I gave myself a year and then I went to New York [to model]. Then I decided to become an actress."
Luke: "Did you get on the chatboards?"
April: "I just looked at that yesterday because people were telling me about it. I know just who those people are. It's not like it's random fans or people who hate me. Those are people in PA I became friends with after I graduated. One of the girls is bipolar. She was my best friend. Another one is an ex-boyfriend. I'm friends with most of my ex-boyfriends.
"It doesn't really affect me. If they have time to go online and research me and follow my career, then it obviously means they care. You would think that I would be all upset about it but I'm a tough cookie."
Luke: "Did you post on there?"
April: "No. I wouldn't waste my energy on it."
Florio is separated from her husband. They married December 28, 2004. "He wasn't a very nice person."
Luke: "How would your best friends describe your personality?"
April: "Outgoing, truthful. I'll just say the first thing that comes to mind. I'm a social butterfly who needs to get checked for being ADD again. I love being funny. I still feel like I'm 16 sometimes. Last night I took my camcorder out that my mom got me for Christmas, and [with her friends] we did skits and picked up a couple of my ex-boyfriends. I have a youthful spirit and I like to stick around people who do as well."
Luke: "Huh."
April: "You sound interested. Huh. Huh? Are you sleeping yet?"
Luke: "I'm interested. I haven't slept for a week so I'm a mess."
April: "Ahh. I didn't sleep the whole time I was in New York."
Luke: "You understand. I listen to people when they talk, so I don't have a preset list of questions that I bang off. I listen. I think. I respond."
April: "Ohmigod, a man who listens?"
Luke: "What qualities do you find attractive in a man?"
April: "Truthful. He doesn't have to be thinking about something when you ask him, what are you thinking about now? I like nice hands. That's the only physical trait I love. I don't like an insecure man. I've dated so many. You just want them to be happy, so you're complimenting them all the time."
Duke: "Are you into older guys or what age range?"
April: "I blame it on the Gemini in me. That changes. I used to like the younger boys. I remember the guy I was truly in love with. He [Mark] was 16. I was 18 when we started. It was my longest relationship -- a year-and-a-half.
"After that, I started dating people who were younger than me. It's like you can teach them. I don't know. I might've ruined him."
Luke: "Isn't that called statutory rape?"
April: "I didn't do anything badly to him until he was at least 17-and-a-half. It was legal at that point. That's how you can tell I truly liked him. I didn't try anything on him for a while."
Luke: "Are you normally the aggressor?"
April: "Yes. But I let him grow to be that way. He was very mature for his age. He went through a period where he wasn't, like after we broke up.
"It seems like when I date older men, like when I said Brad Pitt was my mother's age, men go through this period where all they want is to get laid, and that's not what I'm interested in.
"I just wanted to be around somebody who looked further than skin deep and really liked who I was. I figured that if I went a little older, that it would be that way. I know my mom's got it together and she's about to be 42."
April and I bond over our both being born on May 28. "That's awesome," she says. "I always love people who are born on that day. There are a lot of May 31sts and they end up being evil. Us Geminis can be crazy and then there are some who are balanced. Our two personalities get along with each other."
Luke: "What are the characteristics of someone born on May 28?"
April: "We're independent. We love different things. We're whirlwinds. We get disinterested pretty easily unless you really have drag and you really love something and you completely stick to it. That's why I didn't mind moving, but obviously you said you minded."
Luke: "I found it really traumatic."
April: "Aww. It makes me want to cradle you."
Luke: "You're pretty outgoing, I guess. I found it more difficult to make friends. Did you make friends easily?"
April: "Yes, I did. There's always a period, a week or two into your moving, where you don't know anybody..."
Luke: "I wonder how all that moving affected you?"
April: "Are you doing psychology on me?"
Luke: "No. I've never taken a class in psychology."
April: "Well, I did. I went to college for a bit, psychology, but I'm like, I can't do this. What I like about psychology is interpersonal relations and people-watching and trying to figure out how long someone's been together and if they're happy. I'm the sort of person who likes to help people. It took me years to figure out that people like to help themselves. That they have to help themselves. You can only give them a little push. I decided that if I do that in my real life, why would I want to do that in my job? It would just take over. And there are so many sad stories.
"When I was growing up, people would say, oh, you just want to hang out with this person because they have a worse life than you and you just want to feel better about your's. I'm like, no, I really have this thing where I want to reach out and help everybody.
"I figured out who I could help.
"I went through a lot of traumatic experiences. 'Let me help you and let you know that everything's going to be ok and try to steer you in the right direction. And if it doesn't work, then maybe you just want to be that way. Maybe in time you'll be stronger and want to do that yourself.'"
April says she's had more male friends since her early teens.
Luke: "Do girls get jealous of you?"
April: "I don't recognize that. I don't even recognize when men are checking me out. My mom recognized it when I was 13 and we were walking through the mall. She was like, 'Eww, that's my daughter.'
"I'm a flirty person. Not a tease, but I flirt with men, women. It's just part of my personality. Maybe that would bother people. But I'm not a boyfriend stealer. Or a husband."
Luke: "Did you get hurt by the publicity that surrounded the Brad Pitt thing?"
April: "It might've hurt my career. I still have yet to figure that out. I wasn't personally hurt. It's really hard for me to be personally hurt. You have to say something really messed up. The only time somebody has really personally hurt me has been talking about my dad passing away.
"I've had such an interesting life where I had to start anew and things happened that were traumatic and then you wake up another day and things are fine.
"After a month-and-a-half of going through all the publicity, I realized that I could completely handle it. It's not that hard to say, no, I'm not working at a carnival or dating Yani."
Luke: "Has all this affected the way people treat you?"
April: "Maybe a few people. I've never been one to talk about the things that I do because I do them for myself and my career. If somebody asks about them, then I'll say something.
"When I'm going out, my friends love to call me 'Homewrecker!' as a joke because of the whole Brad thing. But it really didn't happen. My friends will say: 'She's a homewrecker! She stole Brad away from Jenn.' I'll be like, ohmigod, and then I'll laugh. And people will say, 'Ohmigod. That's you? I liked you before but I like you so much more now.'
"If there had been an interest between him and I while he was married, I would've brushed him off because I'm not the kind of person who gets involved with someone who's married."
Luke: "What do you do with your spare time?"
April: "What spare time? I'm still working in all facets of the entertainment industry -- film, modeling and starting to sing again.
"When I got married, I made him promise that he wouldn't mind my career. But when we got married, and he realized that I was going to be on the phone or on the internet or on a trip, I'm not going to see her a lot and she's going to be around all these people, and there starts to be an insecurity and then your relationship goes down the tubes. I think it's his fault."
Luke: "What do you love and what do you hate about working in the entertainment industry?"
April: "I love in acting to become another person. I was working at that when I was younger. I worked at a ton of different jobs -- car wash, t-shirt girl at Hooters, waitress... Just so I could have a taste of everything and so that would help me further my acting experience so that if I could play a part, I knew I had already had experience in it.
"Singing. I've always wanted to be a moment in someone's life where they had their first kiss and they had me in the background.
"I want to make people laugh. I want to make people cry. I love the arts and entertainment. There's not much of an excuse for the modeling. It's just something that pays. I don't mind striking a pose."
Luke: "Would you pose naked?"
April: "That would be a tough thing. For years I've had my mom, who I love dearly, say don't do it. Maybe I would down the road. I love my body now. I'm not a skinny girl. I'm a thicker Beyonce/JLo thing. That's the Italian/Brazilian in me. I love my body but I'm not sure that I'm ready to bare it to the world. I used to say that only the person that I'm married to is going to be able to see it, but that didn't last very long. We'll see what happens with my naked body in the future."
Luke: "When you play many different roles, do you ever find it hard to reestablish who your true self is?"
April: "No. That's one of the great things about me."
She laughs. "That's one of the wonderful things about me -- I'm obsessed with myself.
"No. Because I loved who I was for a long time. For a while, I forgot about that when you go to highschool and all that stuff. Eighteen to twenty two is a change in your life. You realize what you don't like about yourself and you try to become as close as possible to that clear simple person, that logic you had as a younger. That's what I've done now.
"Most of the acting I do is comedy, which doesn't make me feel like I've fallen into another zone.
"I like this interview. It's very curious. I had a few earlier and they were like, hey, bla bla bla. This one's cool. I like being interviewed."
Luke: "I like to go deep."
April: "Get deep into the core of April Florio."
Luke: "I'm not interested in the Brad Pitt tabloid stuff. I'm interested in what makes you tick and who you really are."
April: "That's good."
Luke: "What would you say have been the biggest turning points in your life?"
April: "My dad made me try out for the Mickey Mouse Club when I was eleven. I got third or fourth callback. I guess I wasn't ethnic enough. It's funny that Britney Spears and Christina Aguilerra were picked that year.
"That really made me want to do the singing, the acting, the everything. I knew that I had what it took. I would give a $100 reward to somebody at Disney who could come up with my audition tape. I rocked out Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. I think I had a better voice when I was younger because I went through years where I smoked cigarettes.
"Before that [Mickey Mouse Club audition], I was just singing and dancing in my kitchen with my family after my dad got out of work. We taped that. Maybe one day you'll see those out.
"When my father passed away, that was a negative turning point. You go through all your grievances, your sadness, shock, anger. I remember in ninth grade I threw a book at my teacher.
"Then I had a Drivers Ed teacher. He had the wheel as well. He knew that my father had drowned. Everyone in Lake Orion had read in the paper and knew. He yanked over his wheel while I was driving correctly and he said to me, 'Do you want me to throw you in the lake like you did your dad?'
"I was balling my eyes out. I told my mom about it. He got fired. He was a senile old man.
"If anyone ever said anything about my first love [at 18 when she first saw Mark], that hurt. First love is when you give your heart away completely. You can't give it away completely to anybody else after that.
"Mark was dating one of my best friends, Stephanie. She'd asked me to talk to him to see if they could get back together. This was four months after they had broken up. I ended up falling head-over-heels in love with the kid."
Luke: "What was it about him that so moved you?"
April: "He was the person I wanted to go back to. He was me when I was 16. He was a Gemini. May 22. Nothing had touched him. He was cute. He was the simple pure person I wanted to be."
Luke: "Who ended the relationship?"
April: "It was a mutual thing. You're getting really deep down into everything now. I had panic disorders. I guess I had post-traumatic stress after my father died.
"After my father passed away, we had a psychologist. Her husband bought her the practice. She ended up killing herself two months after. She left a note saying she couldn't handle it.
"There goes me going, 'Ohmigod, I killed my psychiatrist too.'
"I got a panic disorder for two years [18-20]. It kept getting worse. I'd go somewhere and I'd get a panic attack. A lot of people experience them and they're the worst. I didn't want to be on medicine.
"I talked to a priest. He said I should go on medication.
"We went through every exercise we could to make the panic go away. When Mark and I broke up, I was afraid to leave my house. I was agoraphobic for a couple of months."
Luke: "What type of things would trigger the panic attacks?"
April: "I knew it had something to do with my father dying. He was the only man in my life when I was younger. I was daddy's little girl. The whole thing involved me. I had fallen into the lake and he had to rescue me. And that was the way that he passed [in a separate incident].
"The psychologist who killed herself told me that I had post-traumatic stress disorder. I never did anything about it. I read that if you don't do anything about it, it turns into panic disorder.
"I've been to counseling. It doesn't seem to help. If someone tells me a sad story about someone passing away, it just freaks me out and I'll get a panic attack. I think it's mental and hormonal."
Luke: "Does it happen before the monthly thing?"
April: "Yes. It gets worse before that time. I'd become sad. Everything would touch me. Lifetime movies, you better get out of here. I would ball.
"I've been on the medication for a year-and-a-half.
"He said a month after we broke up that I had changed. I didn't go on the medication until after I broke up with him. My emotional overdrive went 100 miles per hour. I would be all sad and sweet and want him to be near me. He was in highschool and he was hot and all the cheerleaders wanted him. He ended up dating a 15-year old cheerleader for a minute so he could get that out of his system.
"Wow. I don't think I even told any of my good friends any of this stuff. You're getting to the core. You don't have a psychology degree?"
Luke: "No. I went to therapy for years."
April: "Hello? We've got our own crew."
Luke: "Have you kept a diary?"
April: "My diary mostly consists of poetry. I find it easier to write in rhyme and beautiful words and things like that. I'm such a dramatic person. I like everything to be magnified.
"Right now I'm outside and it's so beautiful I could sit here and write a poem. That's what I like to do on my down time -- I like to draw and write poetry. I'm also going to work on a script."
Luke: "What are the most common themes you write about in your poetry?"
April: "It's usually love and then it goes deeper than that. I have a poem I wrote years ago [at age 16] that was about nail polish and how women can be like nail polish. They can be painted on and taken out and everybody adores them. Then, in one swipe of alcohol, they can be gone.
"It's all really deep stuff. Like somebody you meet who'd gone to 'Nam and was on acid for a hundred years and the stuff they talk about. All the way deep down into that core. Life is too short not to try to figure out everything."
Luke: "Can you recite for me any of your poems?"
April: "This one is really important to me but it's not like the most beautiful poem. This is how my father's death affected my relationships with men."
To walk on water
To feel so high
To never say never
And never say goodbye
To walk on water
You might still be...
"Oh God. I messed up. 'A chance to live almost Heavenly.' That's what it is."
To walk on water
And finally embrace
The sad look on your face
"I am really messing up. That's the most bland but it has to do with walking on water. If I had been able to walk on water, nothing would've happened with my father.
"There's a part about not having to live in debt or fear. It intertwines with being able to fall in love.
"I either wanted people not to leave or wanted to not have them in my life because I didn't want anything to happen to them.
"It wasn't a psycho thing: 'You can't leave and here's the knife in my hand.'
"Now I've built up a wall. For years I was trying to help everybody else. Now I'm being selfish."
Luke: "Do you swim?"
April: "I couldn't swim for years. When I moved to Florida, I wouldn't swim anywhere where I couldn't see the bottom. I decided I had to get over this. One day I just started swimming. I'm basically a fish now.
"I almost drowned a few times before my dad passed away. My mom almost passed away a few times. She can't swim either. She can doggy paddle. She makes golden retrievers jealous."
Luke: "If you were stuck half a mile off shore, could you swim in?"
April: "I don't know. After smoking cigarettes, I can't even run to the stop sign. I think I could stay treaded long enough to scream to get people to help me."
Luke: "Do you have a favorite poet?"
April: "Dylan Thomas. And Emerson and the poetry from the Harlem Renaissance."
April says her family (her mother's maiden name is Hess, a relative of Adolf Hitler's friend Rudolph Hess), a couple of generations ago, owned the land that is now Harlem.
April: "Everybody thinks Harlem is so scary now but it is one of the safest places to go. The Harlem Renaissance is coming back. You'll see people's paintings on the corners or playing jazz or writing poetry."
Florio says she talks to her mother every other day.
"I take trains instead of planes as much as I can so I can be peaceful and look at the scenery."
Luke: "Are you afraid of flying?"
April: "No. It's kinda gross. My ears bleed. I get ear infections easy. Pressure when I'm up that high kills my head. I don't think you want to sit on a plane next to me and have my head explode all over you.
"Your voice is so chill. I think I'm tired again.
"So Luke is back from his zombie-like sleep."
Luke: "Playing the greatest hits of the '60s, '70s and '80s."
April: "Is that what you play?"
Luke: "I like '80s music."
April: "So do I."
Luke: "My favorite group is Air Supply."
April: "I can't live if living is without you. I love all that stuff. My ex-boyfriend played that song for me and then asked me back out. I want to sing so I can have one of those stories.
"I wish there was more Air Supply. You like the deep stuff too. I can tell. Let's get down to the bottom of Luke now. This is my turn. Are you having women problems? Let's talk about it. I can hear it in your voice.
"I don't like cats otherwise I'd be one of those ladies with a whole bunch of cats."
Chaim Amalek writes:
You need to ---- this girl. And then we need to invent a word to describe the act of having sex with women who have had sex with famous men. (When was that fling?) What does one ask a woman like this? Does she want it known that she ----ed Brad Pitt? What does she think of interracial adoption? Why won't Angelina Jolie make her own babies?
Why ask questions for which we all already know the answers? Luke, for all of us, ---- all of them. Then talk about it in your next book that you will never write (because you will be too busy writing a book about something both Jewish and boring): "The Vagina Dialogs: Women I've Copulated with Talk about the Celebrities Attached to the Penises They've Had"
Khunrum writes: "Chaim. Let us not forget that Luke's "young brother" is not performing up to par. He seems to be at permanent "parade rest." Should we take up a collection to buy him a few viagra tablets?"
Luke Ford Fan Blog Update
(aka Mr Ford, My Moral Leader, Chaim Amalek, Rabbi Gadol, Khunrum, Duke Floored, Dear Friend Tom, et al.)
Today I begin a series of profiles of leading Jewish public intellectuals. This will help me learn more about the people I hope to soon join. What kind of people are the Jews? How do the Jews, practising and non-practising, conceive of themselves relative to Christians, Muslims, and others? What are their moral values and politics? What, for example, is the relationship between diaspora Judaism and leftism, Zionism and conservatism? These are complex and fascinating issues. I will start, of course, by profiling the Great Luke Ford, and proceed to other leading figures across the political spectrum, such as Bertell Ollman, Dennis Prager, Noam Chomsky, Melanie Phillips, Mark Steyn, Rebecca Schoenkopf, David Horowitz, Christopher Hitchens (and his little brother Peter), "Best Friend" Cathy Seipp, and many more.
Luke Ford is 5' 6¾" and weighs 235 pounds.
He claims to be 39 years old and to have been raised by a tribe of wild aborigines in the Australian outback. Critics reject both assertions, arguing that Mr Ford is actually much older and lies about his age so he can continue to attend Friday Night Live For Young Jewish Singles at Temple Sinai. The latter claim, although more plausible, is widely believed to be simply an excuse for his strange eating and sleeping habits. (Mr Ford always eats with his fingers and sleeps on the floor.)
It's true that Luke Ford is an Australian. He was, in fact, born into an Australian family of deeply-committed Seventh Day Adventists, a millennialist Christian sect that preaches the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Seventh Day Adventists Church was founded in the mid-19th century in America. Mr Ford's family moved to California for religious reasons when Luke was about 10 or 12. (I can't remember the exact details as I'm working from memory. I read XXX-Communicated about two years ago, and because I've set myself the difficult task of profiling all the leading contemporary Jewish public intellectuals, I don't have the time to go back and re-read Mr Ford's memoir. But, I think, I have the gist of My Moral Leader's life story. I trust you will forgive me for any minor error of detail.)
Luke Ford was a sensitive boy. He liked to read and listen to his record collection, his favourites being Air Supply, ABBA, the Village People, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Bette Midler, and fellow countryman Peter Allen.
A great catastrophe occurred in Mr Ford's life when he was a boy. His mother died tragically of cancer. This event devastated young Luke and deeply affects him to this day. I suspect it helps explain his adult conversion to Judaism, a religion based on a covenant, i.e., conditional relationship, between G-d and His people. This perhaps reminded Luke of his family life. Luke's father expressed his love for his family by creating a very structured environment with many rules and regulations that Luke found a challenge to consistently follow. Conceivably he misinterpreted his father's parenting style as an absence of unconditional love, which combined with the loss of his biological mother, led him to a lifelong search for affection that deep inside he doesn't feel he always deserves.
............
TO BE CONTINUED ...
(Tomorrow Luke Ford becomes a p-rn journalist, gets his ass kicked by Dennis Prager, stops being a p-rn journalist, meets "Best Friend" Cathy...)
Chaim Amalek Presents a New book Opportunity for Luke
Chaim Amalek writes:
I just read an article about some gentile women who wrote a book for shiksas who want to date and marry jewish men.
Luke, why not take a break from writing yet another book that only a handful of people will ever read (and most of them severely mentally disturbed at that), and instead take a crack at writing "The Gentile's Guide to Dating Jewish Women" before someone else does?
You present yourself as a man who is in the know since he has lived both as gentile and as jew, and dated both. This ought to be an easy pitch for you. To get the ball rolling, my suggested chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Why Date Jewish Women?
3. Where Can I Meet a Jewish Woman?
4. What About the Family (Hers)?
5. What About the Family (Mine)
6. What About the Family (Our Kids)?
7. Planning a Proper Mixed Up Home
8. Quick Primer on Jews and Judaism
9. Afterward by Chaim AmalekModels for you to crib from in setting the tone and style of this work: "He's Just Not Into You" and "The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman."
You could pitch and sell this puppy in an afternoon, and I'm willing to assist in its writing.
Here is a project that you can make a living off of; here is a project that would propel you out of that very obscure mental ghetto you have crawled into. All I ask is that when that tall shiksa goddess you are dating is tired of you, you send her my way.
PS It occurs to me that this could be the start of an entire series of books, much like the "Left Behind" books that have made tens of millions of dollars for their authors. (And don't tell me you and I can't write at least as well as those authors!) Among the titles in this series, which I think ought to be called "Projects in Practical Diversity" could be:
1. The Black Man's Guide to Marrying a White Woman
2. Ditto, but flip around gender and race to make lots more titles.
3. How to Date and Marry a Porn Star or Other Kind of Hooker
4. So you Want to Marry a Muslim
5. So You Want to Marry a Mexican
6. Diversity Makes Us Stronger: The Straight Man and Woman's Guide to Gay Marriage
7. Love Me, Love My Dog
8. The Jewish Woman's Guide to Meeting and Marrying a Gentile Man
9. Cats, Yoga, and Ipods: The Virtual Hymen and How to Penetrate it Too much work for any one man to do!Get Cathy Seipp in on this, and think of all of the money we will make and fame we will enjoy!
Liberation Biology: The Scientific And Moral Case For The Biotech Revolution
Do you guys have any questions about stem cell research? I'm interviewing Ronald Bailey, science correspondent for Reason magazine, and the author of the new book Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution. I don't know anything about this stuff. Do you guys have any questions I should ask?
Jack writes: "Did you rock his world? Ask him about the homosexuality rumors? Challenge him on his anti-Dutch stance? Demand an explanation of the little-remembered "Hollywood Park" incident?"
This is nonsense. Ronald Bailey is a married man and a serious writer on science. Your questions are more worthy of being posed to a fellow like Nick Gillespie.
Chaim Amalek writes:
How old must the parts of a dead baby be before it becomes immoral to use them to better the life of an old millionaire? Is it wrong to pay thirld world women money to get pregnant just to have abortions for the purpose of harvesting stem cells? Can europe ever have too many muslims? Is diversity ever too much of a good thing? Are Negroes as smart as Jews? Are Caucasians as smart as Koreans? Are Injuns as smart as Indians? Why are there so many Jews in ----? Was Hitler right about anything? Is homosexuality a disease? If it is and a cure is found, should it be forced on people? What if it is determined that it is a disease against which a vaccine can be administered at an early age? Should that be compulsory? Should it be illegal for a man to marry another man? What if that other man is his brother? Should it be illegal for a man to marry his dog? What if the dog is dead? I'd start with these.
Fred writes:
At what point does a fertilized egg (e.g. zygote) become a person or deserve to be protected as a person by our laws?
When does it have a soul? Is there a specific point in time when something should goes from non-person to person (e.g. when the heart starts beating)? Or is it a gradual process (e.g. at 6 months its 40% person; At 8 months its 80% person)?
What characteristics do you examine to determine whether something is a person? What are the characteristics that you examine to determine the extent to which something is person? What makes those characteristics relevant?
Does this guy believe that an embryo has a soul? What about a fetus at 7 months? A typical teenager? What about a teenager that listens to rap music?
How big a benefit must stem cell research potentially confer before one would endorse research? How likely must success be before stem cell research is legitimate?
There is some issue that I don't quite understand regarding "stem cell lines." Bush apparently seeks to limit the number or types of cells that federally funded researchers may use.
What is the technological controversy concerning how much this restriction hampers research? Does he analyze this problem in light of any particular religious tradition?
Get a summary of exactly what sort of experiments should be performed and how? What do the scientists hope to find out, and how?
See if you can get this guy to be specific. What are the arguments of the opposition that he considers most meritorious? Least meritorious? (Scientific as well as moral arguments?)
Impotent Western Man (no, I'm not referring to anyone here)
Chaim Amalek writes:
Some are awake, some are asleep, but most just would rather not face up to the matter and if the Arabs will but oblige them, Europe will be theirs. Western Europe, at a minimum, will be lost, and it will fall to the Eastern Slavs to do the hard work of preserving Western Civilization. History may yet have a mission for the Poles and Russians that we today can scarcely imagine.
Both as a fraction of the population and certainly in terms of absolute numbers, the Japanese were a much smaller problem then than the Muslims of Europe are today. At a minimum they need to cut off further immigration from those lands, couched perhaps in terms of some sort of program for "reciprocal immigration" if need be to assuage what is left of liberalism there.
J. Whistleblower writes:
I'm calling this Yorigate because the material was posted on Yori's blog.
Yori on LukeFord.net: >1. Do you realize you've published twice an unsubstantiated accusation >against me that I was involved in a break-in?
Yori needs to learn to read.
>Do you know that this is defamation?
Libel not defamation (you would think a journalist would know the distiction), but as everything I posted was accurate, truth is a complete defense.
>Have you done one singular thing to substantiate this claim? Did you, for >instance, contact the police to verify that there even was a break-in?
You could ask any of the board members at the time. As this was a break-in directed at the Awareness Center, all were informed at the time.
>Are you going to ask afterwards why I didn't contact your provider to complain >about your defaming me? Are you going to state later "Yanover never directly >denied breaking into Vicki's apartment"? And he does not deny anything once again to you. >2. Do you also realize that there's no such thing as a "Worch file" because >if there were, Vicki would have posted it months ago?
Nonsense, I gave both you (Luke) and Vicki the name of a Rabbi that was the choirmaster in a major Jewish community that was removed for sexually molesting boys in the choir. Both of you have had that information (Vicki for years, you, Luke for several months). I haven't posted it, you haven't and Vicki hasn't. Yori doesn't know spit about how any of us operate.
>JWB's modus operandi is always to announce "I have a really really bad thing >I know about this person and very very soon I'll reveal it." He's issued at >least two ultimatums to me in that fashion. And you don't even press him to >say what is it that he "knows." All he does is repeat the lie and adds >decoration. He's playing you and you seem to be the last man on the Internet >to actually fall for this crap.
So far my information has been particularily accurate. I would note, Yori has not criticized any aspect of my post on his fellow Rabbi Jeremy Hershy Worch groupie Rabbi Julian Ungar-Sargon for being a lie. (Yoram goes on an irrelevant tirade about Jane, Vicki, which he also does on his blog, all of which is irrelevant to the Yorigate allegations)
>you've accused me of burglary.
Which of course you haven't, Luke.
>So, do I call a lawyer in LA to send you a letter to cease defaming me?
Another empty threat. A letter like that costs $250 and means nothing.
>This is not a threat, this is a direct question.
What's he suing you for Luke?
>What do you think I should do now to tackle this problem? Should I publish a big >headline on my website: "I am not a burglar"?
Why not, you print whatever you want on your blog anyway?
>It appears you've brought along the kangaroo court tradition from the old homeland. > >For the record, now, I ask you to either substantiate the allegations >against me you've posted on your website or remove them with an apology.
Why? I would note Yori is the one who publishes unsubstantiated allegations all the time accusing people of theft. Read the Yossel/Groucho/Shalom Salem posts. Or just read his latest Usajewish posts: PSYCHOTIC KLEPTOMANIAC and his basis? Zero. Each is a specific DSM-iv diagnosis. Vicki does not meet the criteria at all. Now that is pure libel. At least now he admits Vicki is actually her name. Remember the lituny of lies here including this classic Yori lie: "While we're at it, it is now clear that the name Vicki Polin is made up. I suspect that here is no one by that name who has earned an MA in any US university."
Wow! Now, that's libel.
Yori on Usajewish: >Yours truly was accused by the unholy trinity of Vicki Polin, JWB and >Jane of committing a felony, by burglarizing or causing the burglarizing >of the Awareness Center to steal a file.
Once again, only I made an allegation (more a statement of fact) and it was not this.
>Ever the pathological liar, Vicki came up with the burglary explanation.
The fact was Jane was not aware of the break-in until she read my statements in your blog Luke. Vicki made no such explanation. She merely informed police and her board of events momths ago and a few others (not Jane). I was the one who saw the material on Usajewish and put 2 and 2 together, not Vicki and not Jane.
Now that we've establised that Yori was Shalom Salem/Yossel and was posting a version of the allegations Olga/Sofia months later took to you. That he had previously threatened revenge: Earlier posted on lukeford.net (Yossel email): "Either apologize and take Hershy's name off your website (including the "innocent" reference to some unknown rabbi in Rogers Park), or expect that the rest of us, normal, civilized people, with jobs and businesses, who are well rooted in the community, will find ways to come after you."
Note Yori's post involved credit card fraud charges (false), in the courts (again false). I checked, no police charges, no court charges ever filed. Not even a police report.
As I told you before this was a mere case of a disagreement as to the repayment schedule not a disagreement as to the existence of debt. Vicki paid everything that was submitted to her and at the time and told Olga that if there were any related interest or charges, submit documentation and they would be paid as well. Maybe you should ask Olga, who is part of Yori/Worch's Monday night conference calls, about these posts and her relationship to giving Yori this information which he then posted.
I would note that I sent you copies of several posts made by Yori (Shalom Salem) and a friend of his very good friend (Sofia) on the old protocols about fraud charges and court proceedings that were false.
Shalom Salem @ 5:20PM | 2004-10-15| >>Who and what money prey tell? Both Luke and Vicki are predators of the weak and unsuspecting, asking for a handout here, a gift there. Vicki is in court now for credit card fraud. Ford is facing a suit following the publication of his book (not all those interviews actually took place). There's nothing more dangerous than the professionally self-righteous, and these two are a match made in hell. He accuses, she follows up, he confirms, she emails -- one hand confirms the other. But the fate of scoundrels is usually to end up in jail -- and these two are just not big enough to beat back their pursuers.
Shalom Salem @ 7:31PM | 2004-10-16| Vicki borrowed a friend's credit card to do some office purchases. But instead of returning the card and paying off the debt, she proceeded to make more purchases and ruining her former friend's credit. The friend has sued, it's in the courts. Luke Ford is the running dog of his mentor, radio and TV personality Dennis Pragger, a Conservative Jew in the pocket of the RNC, a regular pro-Bush voice on Fox News and elsewhere.
Lyrical Larry Yudelson writes:
JWB, amidst his smoke and mirrors, failed to address Yori's claim that the information could have indeed come from sources other than the claimed break-in. To call the alleged-breaking "Yorigate" and then continue "11) I want to make it clear that a line has been crossed here. This type of behavior will not and cannot be tolerated."
Whether linking such comments to my "circle" is defamatory on its face is an interesting question, one that would doubtless be left to a jury to decide.
So too the questions of whether Yori and I are public figures, and whether publishing allegations sourced to anonymous email account and a self-proclaimed baby-killer constitutes reckless disregard of the truth.
Heck, some might argue that relying on the say-so of someone who righteously quotes a spurious distinction between "defamation" and "libel" (he's confusing the distinction between libel, visual defamation, and slander, oral defamation) constitues a reckless disregard of the truth.
In other words, have you considered the possibility that JWB/VP/Nan are following the lead of your favorite Communist sympathizer [Air Supply], who once wrote:
I know just how to whisper,
And I know just how to cry;
I know just where to find the answers;
And I know just how to lie.
I know just how to fake it,
And I know just how to scheme;So, again, with egg on his face for "deducing" that materials "could only" have come from a confidential file, JWB ends the conversation and looks for another avenue by which to pursue his/her agenda.