He emails:

To everyone interested in my career,

I have been waiting a very long time to announce this new book deal. I have just been signed along with Mafia icon and Howard Stern regular Johnny Fratto for the debut release from Igniter, the new HarperCollins imprint founded by #1 New York Times bestselling authors Neil Strauss and Anthony Bozza. The provisionally titled Godfather Knows Best: How To Live Like a Wiseguy Without Ever Breaking the Law is slated for international March 2010 release and will tell the story of how Johnny Fratto grew up a Mafia prince as the son of legendary Mafia godfather Luigi Fratto, only to remake himself as an adult as a Beverly Hills PR guru and beloved regular on the Howard Stern Show.

I cannot exaggerate the importance of this gig for me professionally. HarperCollins, which is part of the Fox entertainment empire, is the world’s most cutting-edge and commercially inspired publishing company. To work for HarperCollins under the umbrella of two literary superstars like Strauss and Bozza is as good as it gets for a writer.

Also, I had my highest profile publication ever earlier this month when an article I co-wrote with ex-gangster Bill Cutolo Jr. appeared in The New York Daily News for an audience of over 600,000 daily readers. You can read the article here: http://www.breakshotblog.com/nydncropped.jpg

Finally, we’re only one month away from the hardcover release of my next book, Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia, co-written with legendary Japanese-American gangster Kenny "Kenji" Gallo. In a whirlwind criminal career that began as a teenage drug smuggler for Pablo Escobar, Gallo became the most controversial gangster in modern American Mafia history as the playboy Asian-American criminal mastermind who outwitted some of the most dangerous criminals in New York history as an undercover FBI operative. For those who didn’t see it, I have attached the first of very many magazine and newspaper stories on Gallo from the May issue of Giant Robot Magazine.

You may find out more about Breakshot and my other books at MRVBooks.com, and pre-order autographed copies of Breakshot (signed both by Gallo and I) by e-mailing Sales@MatthewRandazzo.com.

Friend me at www.facebook.com/mrvbooks.

Bob emails: "I’m watching this Michael Jackson will fiasco and I’m hoping your will is in order. I would hate to see your various lovers and family members squabbling over your fortune when you pass."

Fred emails: I’m afraid that Luke’s father and siblings will be battling over possession of the serial killer van, hundreds of unsold copies of his self-published books, his porn collection, the teffilin and the original letters banning Luke from various orthodox LA shuls (a collector’s item destined to be sold at Southeby’s, considered by some to have the same value as original copies of the Magna Carta). Luke’s dad will file a lawsuit in Superior Court seeking a restraining order to keep other family members away from these valuable heirlooms.

Meanwhile, thousands of Luke’s fans will gather outside the hovel to pay homage to this ground-breaking cultural icon.

Then there will be the problem of forged wills by charlatans claiming to be Luke’s true successor. Doubtless, members of the advisory group will be called upon to testify as to the authenticity of various documents.

I worry about this scenario. Luke privately confided in me that he thinks that Amalek will deny him three times to the authorities. It’s not going to be pretty.

Khunrum emails: “.I can picture the scene outside the Hovel. Candles, flowers, tears, boom boxes blasting Air Supply ditties. I’m going to cut some of my gray hair and sell it as a lock of Luke’s beard.”

I’m reading an essay by the author Elizabeth Longford about her writing up the life of poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.

She was all hot and bothered by Blunt’s voracious sexuality.

She writes:

…But I have to admit to a moment about halfway through when I felt he was prostituting his poetry to an unworthy mode of life. He felt it too; which was one reason why my loyalty and affection returned to him long before the end.

"All this I am afraid is very fin de siecle and immoral," he wrote in 1891 when he found himself sending copies of precisely the same passionate verses to three different ladies on the same day. "But what can one do?" he continued. "Love is no respecter of time and place." (One might reply, what did he mean by this kind of "Love"?) With a final burst of ingenuousness, he concluded this unattractive passage by asserting the odious Victorian "double-standard" in sex with apparent sincerity. He expected no trouble, he wrote, from the three recipients of his love-verse even if they found out. "Women are not jealous in this way as men are," he assured his Victorian self, "for it is in the order of nature that a man’s love should be divided."

I admit I have done this same thing — sending multiple versions of the same poem to various women telling each it was for her. Hence, I have more sympathy for our cocksman.

Elizabeth Longford writes:

The total number of his "loves", from the year 1862 to about 1920 when he was no longer "capable" amounted to 38…

…No, the problem was to prevent the beauty of Blunt’s best poetry, the virility of his prose, and the courage and effectiveness of his political career from being damaged by the monotony of his lusts.

Elizabeth Longford might find Blunt’s lusts monotonous, but that’s her opinion. I doubt most men would find a cataloguing of Blunt’s lusts boring. I don’t. The beauty of his poetry and the virility of his prose is not diminished for me because Blunt screwed around.

Dennis Prager on his radio show Monday: "That’s how the Left feels about it and the Left is ruled by their feelings."

Prager was in Dallas Sunday night to give a talk to Jews and Christians who’ve raised money for a hospital in Israel.

At an exclusive reception before the speech, Dennis told a man that he liked his tie.

After his speech, the man gave Prager his tie.

Now Prager fears complimenting anyone on their tie again. What if Prager told a guy he liked his pants?

On Tuesday’s show, Dennis noted that the Obama administration has cut missile defense by 40% at a time that North Korea is threatening Hawaii with a long distance missile.

Dennis can’t think of anything the Obama administration is doing that is making America better.

"If there’s a simple explanation that makes sense, it’s probably the one," says Dennis. "Barak Obama is the first man of the ideological New Left to take over as President of the United States of America. The proof is…the so-called coup in Honduras, where the leader Manuel Zevaya was becoming an essential dictator."

"It took five days for the president to use tough language about the crackdown in Iran…but he reacted immediately to what happened in Honduras."

"It was not a coup. It was a completely legal act ordered by the Supreme Court of Honduras. The man Zelaya was subverting the constitution of the country on his own, preparing to become an elected dictator. His own party spoke out against him. The military was told by the Supreme Court that you have to take this man out and put in his number two from his own party. Did you ever hear of a coup where they put in power the next guy from the same party? Zelaya had fired the head of the country’s armed forces when he refused to use his troops to provide logistical support for a referendum designed to help Zelaya escape the country’s one-term limit for presidents. Members of Zelaya’s own party voted last week that he was not fit for office."

"I’m embarrassed that my country did not support for the forces of liberty in Iran and did not support the forces of liberty in Honduras. I’m pro-democracy, but my biggest fight is for liberty. The United States of America is on the side of the non-liberty forces in Honduras. What a shame on us."

"There have been two good things about the Obama presidency. It’s put to rest the notion that America is a racist country… The charge is made less frequently. I’ve always wanted there to be a black president. I’ve wanted a black president I agreed with.

"The other [good thing] is that it is clarifying. Everything that people like myself have said about the Left is now confirmed. You now know what they want to do… Their task is to make the state the dominant factor in people’s lives. That is what the Left has wanted to do since Marx. There is no change.

"The Left believes in the state. The Right believes in the individual. You do not know what to do with your own money. The Left knows what to do with your money because they are smarter, finer, more compassionate, more intelligent, more scientific. Everything good. They will tell you what light bulbs to use. They will tell you what temperature your house should be. They will tell you what kind of language you may use on a daily basis. They will tell you what kind of questions you may ask on your job. They will regulate more and more. They now want to regulate Tylenol. They love power. They know better than the rest of us how we should live. Their contempt for the individual is deep."

"I am fascinated by how the president says in the same speech that we are headed for insolvency because of Medicaid, Medicare, therefore we should take over the entire medical system."

"There is not a centrist bone in [Obama's] body."

Shira emails: Dear Luke, I am thinking of you, while working. What comes to mind is that things are coming together. Your important work and service to the community is bearing fruits. In the past, I have stated that it’s time to clean up the community from the self appointed leadership and corruptions. To my disappointment, it was not done. You give me a ray of hope: perhaps things are moving… Cases in point: The issue with the Ger Tzedek. He is getting ‘a new ear’ in civil court. The fact that the story was published here, is NO coincidence!!!

The other story that is gaining momentum, in my opinion is the Meir Kin divorce and ‘The pretending Agunah’. No one else had the right ‘equipment’ tell the story baldly, only you!!! Y’shar Koach.

Chaim Amalek emails: There was a time five years ago when I would check Luke’s website five or six times a day, just to see what he was posting (which often was what I was writing). Not so these days. To begin (and end) with, the substitution of news about LA’s rabbis for the chance to interact with fertile young white women (even if it was at a great remove) just does not inspire one to read it or contribute much to the effort of writing it. (Also, the "Failed Messiah" website does a better job of Jewish muckraking, possibly because it is the work of someone who was born into the orthodox world and thus has an edge that Luke as the never-quite-accepted "convert" cannot match.) This is sad, because we can all see the trajectory being followed here and where it leads. But I don’t see any good options left for Luke. He had his moment in the sun but simply failed to seize and build upon it.

Khunrum emails: “His latest “column” lost it’s Sunday errrr! excuse me, Saturday Punch. The news is turgid, depressing and lost the one plus that made old Luke such a joy to be involved with, Humor!”

Steven I. Weiss reports:

So in New Haven there was this multiple-choice test that no black firefighters passed. The city concluded the test was racially biased. So what kind of questions in such a test would favor non-black firefighters?

Many of the questions were basic math. Is math white-biased? That’s ridiculous.

"Always common sense will suggest the conservative view," said Dennis Prager on his radio show Monday. "If these black firefighters received a substandard education, then we need to fix their education."

"When equality is your greatest goal, you have to end up with authoritarian government. There is no other way to produce equality. When there is liberty, there is inequality. People are free to fail and to succeed."

Fred emails: Sir–

I recall that when Justice O’Connor was considering an affirmative action case, she stated her belief that 25 years hence there should be no further need for racial preferences. Apparently, the superior "wise Latina woman" nominated by Obama thinks that racial preferences should be permanent. (Incidentally, affirmative action in the Federal government was introduced by President Nixon about four decades ago.)

Justice Ginsberg, in her dissent on the New Haven case, dismissively comments that the Supreme Court’s decision will not last. Apparently, she also believes that racial preferences should be permanent.

So let’s look at the problem. Decades of affirmative action have not solved the problem. Therefore, the problems of the black underclass are not the mere result of a lack of opportunity. Could it be that there is something inherently damaging about the cultural norms of African American culture? Could it be that unless there is a basic change in African American culture, all other "solutions" are pointless? By failing to fix this problem, African Americans are shirking their responsibilities to solve the problem. White liberals are enabling and encouraging the shirking of this responsibility.

Further, just as welfare creates a culture of dependence, African Americans have come to believe that they cannot succeed on a level playing field and therefore must depend on special advantages doled out to them. Again, white liberals must bear much of the blame for the problems of the black underclass.

Math is the basic tool for understanding the universe. If math questions on a test inherently favor whites, doesn’t that mean that the task of understanding God’s universe is biased in favor of whites? That is the ultimate conclusion one must draw if one accepts the logic of the City of New Haven.

Three final questions: Would you seek out an affirmative action urologist? Would you seek out an affirmative action brain surgeon? If not, doesn’t that mean that affirmative action effectively tarnishes the standing of all African American professionals by making them suspect?

Orthodox rabbi Gil Student blogs:

The Forward has an article about a recent trend of mainstream Israeli singers using passages from the Bible and other religious texts in songs (link). While it is not clear to me how much of this is a sincere attempt to reach out to God and the Jewish tradition, and how much is making a mockery of Judaism. For a particularly egregious example, try searching YouTube for the group אשת חיל (note that you should pause these videos immediately because listening to them is kol ishah according to almost all views, but you can read the post and the comments to the videos).* What does Jewish tradition say about this?

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 101a) writes: "Someone who reads a verse from Song of Songs and turns it into a song or reads verses in a bar at the wrong time brings evil to the world." Rashi explains the case of reading verses in a bar as using the verses to joke around, as a source of entertainment and fun.

Rashi explains the case of turning a verse from Song of Songs into a song as meaning that any verse — even from Song of Songs — cannot be made into a song. R. Moshe Feinsten (Iggeros Moshe, vol. 2 YD no. 142) rules that this also applies to any sacred text, even prayers. None of them may be made into songs. However, he suggests that there might be reason to say that it only applies to verses from Song of Songs, not like Rashi, and therefore there is room to be lenient. (I have heard people sing actual verses from Song of Songs!)

MOSHE POSTS: I’ve always found Sarit Hadad’s "Shma Yisrael" to be beautiful. We should all be inspired that even the pop songs of the state of Israel incorporate sacred verses, thus proving the very Jewish character of the state.

However, in the Sarit Hadad song the chorus goes "shma yisrael elohai"..is she referring to the state of Israel as her god??! ("hear oh Israel my god") Or is she saying "hear oh Israel, and my God", addressing both God and Israel? The answer to this is precisely what Gil is talking about here, whether scripture is being used reverently or heretically. Anyone know the answer in the case of the Hadad song?

Nachum Lamm posts: By the way, if you’re wondering about the motivation of the speakers, remember that the vast majority of Israelis have respect for Yahadut, if filtered in various ways- through a lens of secular Zionism, accompanied by the fact of violation of various mitzvot, colored by a strong dislike of Charedim and the religious establishment, and so on- and so I’d give these, and other, singers the benefit of the doubt and assume they mean this for the greater glory of God. It probably isn’t the way you and I would do it, but we were raised differently.

RAFAEL POSTS: Reb Gil, what about RMF’s chumra about listening to any recorded music at any time of the year due to reason of zeicher churban habayis? That would completely put the jewish music world out of business.

Micha posts: It’s an interesting cultural phenomenon, like Lee Fischer’s version of "Anachnu Ma’aminim Benei Maaminim" becoming the theme song for Beitar Y-m [soccer / football]. And thus, sung on Friday night after a victory!

The question is what does it mean about the heart of the Israeli chiloni? The songwriter clearly was thinking about what the words mean. For example, in "Veha’er Enenu" (I listened with the window blocked, if anyone cares) on only are the words easy and transparent to any Israeli, there is a rap near the end which elaborates on their theme.

I think there is a real longing for G-d, but it’s being accompanied by a new definition of the relationship with Him. One can therefore sing of only having Our Father in Heaven in whom to rely, or to pray that He illuminate us with His Torah, but mean that with no implications of wanting halakhah.

I should point out that something parallel is going on in Chardal (Chareidi dati le’umi) religious revival. It’s an acceptance of ideas from Rav Nachman, Chabad, and R’ Kook to add spirituality, a movement that leaves one allegiance to halakhah unchanged. To emphasize that parallel, the fourth pillar of Chavakuk (Chabad, Breslov, R’ Kook and Carlebach) centers on singing pesuqim!

I’m not saying this as a moral judgment; spirituality without improving one’s observance is to my mind far better than the opposite trend — ever finding more chumros in an attempt to fill a spiritual hole without working on spirituality.

OBSERVER POSTS: Gil, who are you kidding with your first paragraph? - everyone listens to kol isha. That prohibition has gone the way of ituf in mourning, or making a zecher lechurban in the house: it’s just not followed anymore.

Unless you close your ears for the anthem when you go to a baseball game, or close your ears when you hear a commercial, or never watch any movie at all, including disney - then you also dont observe it. Yes, for some you can come up with hetterim thought up by Tosfos with no support that it doesnt apply if you cant see them, but come on - bottom line is, its an issur that’s observed only in the breach.

Gil Student responds: Observer: Maybe in your circles, but not in everyone’s. I’ve personally walked out on kol ishah many times, often accompanied by other frum men.

Also, there is a difference — already mentioned in the Rishonim — of being forced to listen to kol ishah and choosing to do so.

Y. AHARON POSTS: RMF’s view of music is not generally accepted - at least, from what I have observed in both Hareidi and MO circles. As to turning verses from Shir Hashirim into song, the title of the sefer should be a sufficient indication that song is appropriate - given the right motivation. I have heard the verse, "Hevi’ani el bet hayayin….ki cholat ahava ani" song in Mesifta Chaim Berlin in the presence of Rav Hutner. In fact, the composer, as I understand it, was one of his close talmidim. If teen-age boys can sing, "ki cholat ahava ani" then anything in Shir Hashirim can be made into song.

ARI POSTS: I can’t question your mastery of halakha, but I think you may be oversimplifying what it is we’re seeing here. Commercial music like this almost certainly counts as entertainment and therefore fun (after all, that’s the point of commercial music), but the use of biblical imagery in secular Israeli music also reflects something deeper. Secular Jewish Israelis are trying to figure out their identity - just what does it mean to be non religious in a Jewish state? What part of your cultural identity is based on the religion which gave birth to the state when you reject the religion but not the state? I watched one of eshet chayil’s videos (im ishkacheh yerushalayim), and I don’t see anythign derogatory in there. What I do see is a secular call to identify with parts of Judaism, albeit not the traditional ones. We’re seeing the building of a new cultural identity here - let’s give it some time and see how it develops.

Jason "Elie" Parker emails: Toda Raba – Hashem yishmor otkha. Thank you very much, may Hashem guard you. We won another injunction hearing today. Baruch Hashem! The judge said “sounds like a business deal gone bad” commenting on the merit of the “fraud” allegations. Of course, after the hearing, their attorney said he would now ask Rabbi Teichman to convene a beis din. How convenient, we get to “win” in secular court and now they want to go to beis din. After our repeated requests for beis din, settlement, mature dialogue, etc. With your help this oppressive harassment will end and justice will be done! – Oy vey – I have 3 children under bar/bat mitzvah!

Btw – they entered this article from your blog into evidence today. It’s on the public record and they brought it to show I was being oppressed – it worked. The judge denied the injunctions.

Monday morning, I talk to true crime writer Aphrodite Jones.

A resident of New York, she’s the author of the 2007 book "The Michael Jackson Conspiracy."

I’ve read all eight of her books and previously interviewed her in January 2007.

Luke: "I wondered what you thought when you heard the news?"

Aphrodite: "Like everyone else, completely shocked and very saddened. Frankly, I was looking forward to his comeback. I really thought he would perform in England. In all the accounts I heard, he was practicing daily and working out, had a trainer, and was ready for a comeback. The last thing on anyone’s mind was that he was going to vanish from the planet like that."

"I’ve had contact with his following and his camp because of the book that I wrote. I’m flooded with emails… People are now moving on to whether there was any foul play. Did the doctors around Jackson enable him to accidentally overdose?

"There’s a lot of concern on the part of the family. There always was. I spoke to Joe [Michael's father] years ago. He wanted to extract Michael away from his handlers. This is the reason why. He felt that Michael was being ill-advised. Of course you can’t control your own child but Joe really did try to see if he could have any influence over Michael. He did try to save his life. The family had considered trying to do an intervention with Michael at some point but apparently that never happened. That was something that I heard through the grapevine. It’s not something that they would confirm, but I believe it to be true."

Luke: "How was their reaction to your book [on Michael]?"

Aphrodite: "They were very appreciative of the book. I met with Joe, his dad. He was elated that there was a book that exonerated his son, showing that he was the target of a group of grifters. Jackson’s people all read the book. I never heard from Michael himself. I never expected to because I think that was a chapter he really wanted closed and behind him."

"I decided to take a stand and speak the truth about the witchhunt to get Michael Jackson in that trial. I’ve been hearing from Michael Jackson fans for the two years since the book came out. It’s been published in France and in Japan. It’s being published now in other places in Europe. I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of people who’ve come forward to say, thank you for standing up to the rest of the media and for speaking the truth and in essence doing a mea culpa. I was wrong. I covered this. I had him guilty before proven innocent. It was a case of a DA who had a vendetta."

Luke: "Do you think that all these trumped-up charges played a role in the decline of Michael Jackson?"

Aphrodite: "I do. I think the [2005] trial was the beginning of the end for Michael Jackson. He had to sit there for so many months and look at his whole life on a stage in a legal scenario and watch so many people who he had tried to help, especially the accuser, come out and truly smear his character and ritually lie and make up allegations and watch other people come forward with angry and unhappy things about his life that nobody could withstand. Nobody could sit under a microscope and think we have lived a perfect life. That five months wore on his spirit to the point that he felt broken. He had so many people betray him at that trial, it wore down his spirit to the point where we haven’t seen him again."

Luke: "It changed the way most regular people viewed him. Not the fans but just folks. In my mind, Michael Jackson and abusing boys just runs together in my head for the past ten years because that’s the message that we’ve gotten from the news media."

Aphrodite: "People got too focused on whatever the personal allegations were and lost sight of the legacy of this man. And now with his death, things are coming back into perspective.

"Let’s face it: Those were only allegations. They were not substantiated."

Aphrodite Jones has a TV series on Discovery network starting next year.