From the JTA:

Coretta Scott King understood that a people who fight for their own rights are only as honorable as when they fight for the rights of all people. In this spirit, she championed the legacy of her late husband, .the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in strengthening black-Jewish relations, in fighting for the civil rights of Jews and in supporting the issues and concerns of the Jewish community with the State of Israel in particular. Coretta Scott King recognized that in the civil rights struggle, no segment of American society had provided as much and as consistent support to her husband and to blacks as did the Jewish community… The Jewish community mourns the passing of this noble woman of valor and dignity who devoted her life to her husband’s dream of human rights and human freedom and was instrumental in revitalizing black-Jewish relations at a critical juncture. May her memory encourage people of all faiths and ethnicities to continue the struggle for justice and equality.

Rest In Peace

Lisa’s 37, Ivy-League-educated, single for the first time in over a decade, and is looking for a nice Jewish boy. She wears glasses (not unlike the ones I just paid a fortune for on the Upper West Side), and happens to be the living embodiment of nerdy sexy, thanks to the aforementioned spectacles. She prefers to date and marrry a Jew, she tells The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. So far, could be any Jewish Lisa.

But this Lisa’s got a new reality show on E!, because she’s Lisa Loeb, the singer-songwriter known for a soft, sweet voice and sophisticatedly emotional lyrics. (She’s best known for “Stay,” from the Reality Bites soundtrack, or “Do You Sleep,” but my favorite song is one that appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is titled “How Does Your Heart Beat.” I challenge you to listen to it and not be moved. Unless you have no heart.)

With her legion of loyal fans, and with her show garnering mostly good reviews from major papers, Lisa’s now poised to become the public face of the Jewish single woman on a search for love in the big city (or big cities, since Lisa has apartments in both L.A. and New York).

She’s looking for a “highly intellectual” man who can cry at movies, eschews fake hair and “is Jewish or not seriously something else.” “Judaism, for me, is a serious avocation,” she tells The Jewish Journal of why she added the religious requirement. When she is at home in Studio City, she regularly attends Ohr HaTorah, a traditional yet progressive synagogue that emphasizes interpreting text. It’s a perfect fit for Loeb, whose songs tend “to be very analytical; to ask questions and to over-question,” she says.

I’m pretty sure that “fake hair” comment is about extensions or artificial weaves, as opposed to sheitels.

Lisa grew up Reform (and made her acoustic guitar debut at Dallas’ Camp Chai), where, she says in the piece in the Jewish Journal, “the message was ‘you should start focusing on marriage as soon as you graduate from college, and by the time you’re in your 30s, you should definitely have a family,’ she says.

So Lisa had long relationships, first with with a Catholic record producer, and atheist Dweezil “the Muffti” Zappa, son of Frank Zappa. Dweezil used to date Molly Ringwald. Frank’s other son, Ahmet, married Jewess Selma Blair in a Jewish ceremony at Princess Leia’s pad in 2004 after announcing his engagement on Friendster. True story, at least according to E!. That’s a lot of name dropping. I’m exhausted.

While the non-Jewish boyfriends did not thrill her parents, they ultimately brought the agnostic Loeb back to Judaism. “I realized throughout both relationships I was thinking about getting married and having kids and I wanted my kids to be raised Jewish,” she says. She began consulting rabbis, avidly reading books and shul shopping around Los Angeles. Eventually she forged an identity from a stew of Jewish influences, including sentimental memories of cooking with mom; texts as diverse as Chabad treatises and Rabbi Ted Falcon’s “Judaism for Dummies”; and the Ohr HaTorah congregation. (She says she’s hesitated to introduce dates to her synagogue, however, lest they stick around after a breakup.)

Then she should definitely not live on the Upper West Side. Cause that happens ALL THE TIME.

She also worried the cameras would ruin her life, but she changed her mind upon realizing she could reach out to other single 30-somethings. Of course, celebrities like Loeb encounter atypical dating woes: At a JDate party some time ago, for example, some people recognized her and “stopped treating me as a peer,” she says.

A local NYC celebrity will be in Los Angeles in February and hopes that Lisa will make time to treat her as a peer. Or at least show her how to make her famous kugel.

Oprah Winfrey and Elie Wiesel have made their journey to Auschwitz as part of the overall publicity campaign, tuchas covering, humanitarian mission that came with choosing Elie Wiesel’s Night as her latest book club book.

While many are saying that this choice following the Frey Fiasco will wipe Oprah’s book-choosing slate clean, the LATimes had a cynical take on the venture:

Oprah in Auschwitz. Not since “Springtime for Hitler” have we been treated to a Holocaust production so surreal. If nothing else, Oprah in Auschwitz — and the sales of “Night,” which are sure to multiply — will bring home the horrors of the Nazi genocide to millions of Americans. It may even improve black-Jewish relations, bringing together a Jewish survivor of the camps and a black survivor of racism, violence and childhood sexual abuse.

Yet Oprah in Auschwitz may also turn the Holocaust into another recovery narrative — a “feel-good story about the ultimate feel-bad experience,” as the film critic J. Hoberman memorably wrote of “Schindler’s List,” in which the principal Jewish characters survive.

The then go on to give an absolutely scathing critique of Wiesel’s credentials that I will leave you to read on your own.

Not to be outdone however, the announcement of the book selection prompted Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to opine “My emotions were so betrayed by James Frey’s fictionalized memoir. I felt violated. Then Oprah picked Night, Elie Wiesel’s memoir of the Holocaust. But how can he have a memoir about something that never happened! Is she trying to pull the wool over our eyes twice? That’s it! I’m dropping out of the book club!”

Also be sure to see the daily breakdown of Iran’s Holocaust conference here.

Highlights include: “The Myriad of Benefits The Jews Gained from the Holocaust,” “‘Annihilate Israel’ Roundtable” and “world premiere of controversial documentary Bowling for Kristallnacht”

Remember that idiot, who thinking himself a one man Beit Din, took it upon himself to stab participants at the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade? Well, just moments ago he was convicted of three counts of attempted murder. We’ll let you know what happens at sentencing.

Hat tip to John for the hot scoop!

Now that Christmas is almost here…again…I bet I know what you’re thinking:
What do I get for the yeshiva girl who has everything? Let me help you out on that note. First, a few questions.

1- Does your yeshiva girl show you pictures of her most recent desert tiyul wherein a battery of young women are seen wearing sweatshirt hoodies and floor-dusting denim skirts?

2- Does your yeshiva girl fret when you run out to the shore gallivanting around in your speedo and/or bikini, only to be left in her polyester frock, opaque nylons, and loafers surrounded by beach umbrellas as a self-made mechitzah?

3- Is your yeshiva girl sick of ‘women’s only’ swimming hours being just a thin guise for unabashed lesbian cruising?

If so, WholesomeWear may be the perfect gift for your yeshiva girl for the upcoming holiday season. The currently highlighted look is the Skirted Swimmer, a Spandex under garment for maximum flexibility that is joined at the zipper to a looser fitting skirted outer garment. The skirt snaps between the legs for in the water and unsnaps for playing on the beach or going to town without changing.

In the sage words of Paris Hilton: That’s Hot!

Girls’ Night On, the women’s only open-mike performance night, is making a return to the stages of Makor in NYC this Wednesday night, February 1. Be a part of this event, where women rock different genres and styles of song and spoken word, and this year, dance, as well.

Last time, Neshama Carlebach performed. Making return appearances are Chava (see article ) and Nummy Kimmel doing standup and musical covers.

This event’s confirmed performances include a range of styles: Friend of Jewlicious Naomi Less of Less Nessman gives a special solo performance (sometime between 8:15 and 9pm); Jane Babbitt (folk rock player); Rebecca Fishman (whose music event organizer Leslie Ginsparg describes as being a “cross between Billy Joel and Elton John, but more Elton John”); a fifteen-year-old Bais Yaakov student who plays electric guitar; Ashira (a trio of women who have own interpretation of traditional Jewish songs); and original songs by Ginsparg, one of which, she says, is a “empowerment anthem of the Jewish girl who doesn’t fit into the ‘nice Jewish girl’ construct.” Plus, many more performers will sign up at the door…

DETAILS:
Wed, February 1st
An open mike night for women, by women.
Act, sing, dance, play, read, joke, filibuster or come watch.
Sorry guys, this event is only open to those with two X chromosomes…
Doors open at 7:30. Event begins at 8:00pm.
Makor
35 West 67th Street
Admission: $10
For more info: call Leslie at 212-865-0085 or visit www.girlsnighton.com (and tell her you heard about it from Esther at Jewlicious!)

FAQ Sheet available here.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, announced the establishment of an R&D center in Israel.

Brin and co-founder Larry Page were among the more visible participants at the economic conference. Both have forged tight links with Israeli Internet entrepreneurs… [T]he company had recently recruited a large number of academics, engineers, mathematicians, statisticians and economists to further develop the company’s search engine algorithm and its smart ad systems on the Net.

Clearly, they did not read Mazin Qumsiyeh’s article titled “Boycott Israel” which appeared in Global Agenda, a magazine published by the forum and distributed to participants. The article equated Israel’s policies toward Palestinians with apartheid and said countries should divest from Israel and impose a boycott. Of course as soon as the article came to light, the organizers of the WEF, who allegedly missed the article in the editorial process, pulled it and issued profuse apologies.

“There was an unacceptable failure in the editorial process, specifically an insufficiently short period for review of content, for which there is no excuse,” Schwab said. “The article is totally in contradiction to my own, and the forum’s, mission and values.”

In the meantime, Google’s newly minted Chinese portal continues to toe the Chinese government line by censoring content that the crusty old Communist mandarins deem to be offensive.

“I didn’t think I would come to this conclusion-but eventually I came to the conclusion that more information is better, even if it is not as full as we would like to see,” Brin told Reuters at the World Economic Forum.

So much for Google’s pledge “not to police or censor content” and uh… so much for Jewlicious China. Damn. Having principles sucks. But you do sleep better at night.

Zzzzzzz ….

SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: If you are an Evangelical Christian, a Hamas member, or are offended by profanity and the implication that key members of the US Administration participate in humiliating Japanese sex acts, DO NOT read this post!

“Yooouuuu are very very bad man!”

You know, if it wasn’t for the kaffiyehs and the Emerald City-esque obsession with the color green, couldn’t you almost mistake a Hamas rally for a run of the mill American Evangelical good ol’ boy protest march against the fags/the baby-murdering atheists/the Christmas-squelching secular non-house-negro Jews? Seriously, just imagine the Most Reverend Fred Phelps leading the pack, Holy Writ raised in the air like a battle standard, truckstop hooker named Diesel Jenny covered in hot grits waiting for him back in the Motel 6…

Ahem. Praise him! Where was I? Ah yes. Palestine! Yes, things are hopping over in the land of milk, honey, and uninspired Soviet-esque concrete architecture in the wake of Hamas’ election victory. Fatah supporters, enraged at their party’s shameful defeat, are venting their frustration by rioting, firing automatic weapons into the air and burning cars. Hamas supporters, thrilled at their party’s sweeping triumph, are expressing their jubilation by…rioting, firing automatic weapons into the air and burning cars.

Apparently the Zionist Entity, in addition to land and olive trees, stole the Palestinian People’s balloons, bunting and crepe paper. But, God bless them, they’re plucky, the Palestinians are, and they make do with what they have – gasoline and an extremely underdeveloped understanding of basic ballistics.

And, proving that having the responsibility level of a 7 year old with a Ritalin prescription and a father who never remembers to lock up the gun is an endemic problem in Palestinian society, the entire PA Cabinet resigned in a fit of pique. I think somebody (probably Jimmy Carter, he’s the only guy stupid enough) needs to take a little trip to Ramallah and gently explain to the Palestinians that “democracy” means “when you lose an election, you remain involved in the goverment and try to make changes to fit your political agenda from the inside,” not “when you lose an election, take your ball and go home, then stuff your ball with plastic explosives and take out a school bus with it.”

Can you imagine if, in response to the Republicans gaining a stranglehold on the US government last election, the Democrats had marched out of the House and Senate and torched the Washington Monument?

I know, I know, it would have been fucking sweet, right?

But seriously. Now that Mahmoud al-Zahar and Khaled Mashal have woken up from their post-victory orgy of sweet forbidden wine and adolescent girls, Hamas has revealed its grand plan for negotiations with Israel: if Israel retreats to its 1967 borders, Hamas will hold to a “long-term,” although still temporary, truce.

(APPLAUSE)

It’s sort of like if you were getting mugged, and the mugger said, “I’ll cut you a deal. Give me just half your money, and I promise I won’t mug you again for at least, like, six months.”

But here’s the kicker, boys and girls. The world isn’t buying it. The governments of the US and EU are refusing to give any aid to a Hamas-run government until it accepts Israel’s right to exist. Which is not only noble, but finally proves that, contrary to popular right-wing blogger belief, Kofi Annan, Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair and other heads of state do NOT participate in a bizarre Israel-hating voodoo exorcism ritual that involves a bukkake party over a map of Mandatory Palestine while a bust of Arafat benevolently looks on. (Something similar to this happens, but instead of a map of Palestine, it’s actually Condoleeza Rice.)

So hey. Maybe this Hamas victory isn’t so bad. For the first time, we can honestly say we have no negotiating partner. Because we don’t. Instead we have a bunch of Islamic fundamentalist petulant crybaby bitches with combovers. Al hamdu lillah.

Yesterday’s funeral of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri drew over 200,000 mourners who jammed Jerusalem’s Bukhari neighbourhood. Rabbi Kaduri, who passed away Saturday night after a brief illness was estimated to be at least 106 yeaars old. He was considered one of the last great kabbalists and often had miraculous powers attributed to him.

In his eulogy, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar relayed to the teeming mass of humanity that gathered outside the yeshiva Kaduri’s wish that each and every person present accept upon himself or herself one good deed… “He was sacrificed for all of us,” said Amar. “We must repent.” Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, known as the head of the”tshuva movement,” a grassroots push to encourage religious observance, spoke of Kaduri’s righteousness in heart piercing lamentations… “He was our spiritual light tower,” cried Elbaz. “We are lost without him.” Rabbi Ya’acov Hilel, head of the Ahavat Shalom Yeshiva and a respected teacher of Kabbala, said that Kaduri was not just a Jewish mystic. “He was a role model for the pursuit of truth who mastered anger, never argued, nor was he ever jealous or hateful. He had nothing but love for the Jewish people.”

Mourners included masses of black clothed haredim, normally dressed Sephardim, women in pants, men in disposable cardboard kippahs and, reportedly, 14 plane loads of mourners from France.

ברוך דין אמת

Maybe I’m just a perv, but whilst looking at the map of Jerusalem circa 1973, I couldn’t help but notice how…excited…the top of the Jordanian area appeared.

I guess we see what we want to see – but what say ye, gentlefolk?

Make it into the proverbial cloud/Rorschach Test. What do you see? Most creative answer gets a hug from CK.

You can almost make out Che Guevara in the center…

Join Jewlicious in Israel this summer – for free!
You all ought to know about Taglit-birthright israel by now: they provide a free trip to Israel to any young Jew between the ages of 18-26 who has never been to Israel on a peer-based trip before. So if you or someone you know qualifies and wants to go – start planning now! It’s a free, 10-day trip that includes travel, sightseeing, activities, accomodations and 2 meals a day – and you get to do it with the gang at Jewlicious – what more can one possibly ask for?

Registration begins rather early this year – February 8th. We strongly urge you to sign up for the Summer 2006 mailing list so that you can receive a reminder to register as soon as registration opens. This summer Jewlicious is teaming up with Oranim, the largest private taglit-birthright israel trip provider. As such we will have not one, but two buses – one departing in May and one in June. Your madrichim (subject to change) will be laya and ck in May and esther and Michael in June. Expect the usual and very popular Oranim program as well as a couple of additional Jewliciously inspired components.

So why go on a taglit-birthright israel trip based on a blog? Well… it’s hard to explain. We just know it works really well and everyone tends to both have a good time and learn a lot. And develop a life-long love of fine quality hummus. Also your friends and family will be able to follow along on Jewlicious as we live blog the entire trip. Sounds like fun? Well then don’t waste time! Sign up for the Summer 2006 mailing list and then register on February 8th. It’s generally first come first served but it’s also no obligation so even if you think you may want to go but you’re unsure, just sign up and register to avoid disapointment.

this trip is a gift from Taglit-birthright israel

That’s right, we’re adding one hasidic reggae superstar to the Jewlicious @ the Beach guest list.

Matisyahu and his wife Tahli will be joining the JTB2 participants over shabbat, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have them.

Spaces are filling up fast, so reserve your spot now for the fun filled extravaganza.

The conference takes place over President Day weekend, Feb 17-20 in Long Beach California.

Click here for more info or here to register now.

Everyone knows Salvador Dali was a rad* artist. Not everyone knows that in 1968 he published a suite of 25 lithographs entitled ‘Aliyah,’ published by the Shorewood Press of New York commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of Israel. The original portfolio came with a text by Columbia University history professor, Gerson D. Cohen, and an introduction by none other than David Ben Gurion. If you’re in Los Angeles you can see the entire set at the University of Judaism, but if you’re not there, you can take a look at the entire work over 3 pages of images here.

* – I’m originally from the San Fernando Valley, hence the colloquialism.

Found this online. Don’t quite know what to make of it. Reminds me of the handmade greeting card company I started with my friend in college. We made a big red blob from acrylic paint on the front of one and put two red rhinestones for eyes and in the most elegant cursive we were able to muster wrote, “Thanks for the abortion.” Needless to say, the line never quite took off.

Another Jewlicious Public Service Announcement™

As another week slowly gives way with the setting of the sun to the blissful repose of Shabbat, I find myself thinking of Israel, my beloved land. And so, being meditatively disposed as I am, I feel the need to use my journalistic platform to deliver a heartfelt message to the land and to its people on this Shabbat eve. I begin with a simple picture:

I don’t expect my Israeli readers to recognize what is pictured above, as it is apparently foreign to Israeli society. But hear me out. It’s called a “shopping basket.” It can be used in a grocery store to place purchased goods in when one is planning on buying too much to carry by hand but too little to justify the use of an entire shopping cart. It comes in especially handy on Fridays, when every single man, woman, child and dog in Israel and their entire extended family from Queens go to the grocery store, creating a scene of mass urban warfare that makes Grozny look like Des Moines. Now, bear with me…the use of shopping baskets frees up significant space that would be normally occupied by homicidal little babushkas slamming down too-narrow aisles with entire carts to hold their three rutabagas and loaf of bread. It would mean the lines for the register wouldn’t extend all the way back to the meat counter, out the back door, down the street, around the corner, to a small village in northern India (it turns out that young Israelis aren’t really vacationing in the Far East, they’re just in line). And (here Michael pulls out the trump card) Americans use them. America is cooooool, isn’t it? Yeah…you want to be like Americans, don’tcha? Come onnnnnnn…

Well. Anyway. Now that I’ve finished my Friday shopping, I’m going to go lie down and nurse my post-traumatic stress syndrome. Shabbat friggin’ shalom.

I have to post this one early because I will be out of commission most of the day. The flower is for Mrs. Bronfman and all those who are in mourning this week. May you find peace as the shabbat descends.

(source of photo is this amazing young woman who has been living in Israel and shooting beautiful photos)

Welcome Home Andy
Andrea Bronfman was laid to rest today on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem following a funeral service attended by nearly 1000 people. Speaking at the funeral were family members and associates as well as Shimon Peres and acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. We wish once again to extend our condolences to the family. Everyone spoke about Andrea Bronfman’s legacy and how her many, many good works will continue to keep her memory alive for years and decades to come.

We here at Jewlicious like to trumpet the fact that we are a grass roots endeavor. We are not funded by the organized Jewish community and we relish in pointing out aspects of it that we feel are worthy of criticism. However, during the funeral, I sort of realized how much I owe Philanthropists like Andrea and Charles Bronfman – how much of their selfless work has benefited me and the people I love. I dare say that even this Web site would never have happenned but for the synergy created thanks to Bronfman funded projects like birthright.

Both Laya and Michael made Aliyah shortly after having been on a birthright trip. Our continued understanding and exposure to young Jews, both Israeli and in the diaspora is made possible by virtue of our volunteer work as madrichim with birthright. I was able to rekindle my love of the physical state of Israel by virtue of my work with birthright.

All of this has served to inspire us to continue doing what we’re doing with Jewlicious and for that we thank Andrea for her part in making it happen.

Shalom Andy – thanks for everything.

A 9th generation Israeli writing about American Immigration to Israel..from New York. Seemed a little hafuch, or upside-down to me. Nonetheless, Author and Culture Editor for the New York Jewish Week, Liel Lebovitz indulged me in several email rounds of modern talmudic debate about zionism and Judaism which all began with one simple, if lengthy interview, ostensibly about his book.

Titled Aliyah: Three Generations of American-Jewish immigration to Israel, the book asks

why would american jews – not just materially successful in this country but perhaps for the first time in the two-thousand-year jewish diaspora truly socially accepted and at home – choose to leave the material comforts, safety and peace of the united states for the uncertainty and violence of israel?

I’ve pretty much lived this book, yet still find Liel’s perspective to be an interesting one. The interview reprinted below transcends the genre, and goes to the heart of the American Jewish experience.

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Dust off your ballgowns and tuxedos – The Ball is back!

The second annual Jerusalem Winter Ball a formal dinner, drinks & dancing, to benefit charity is taking place next week.

As the only non-political event in Israel that really requires fancier footwear than sandals it’s nice just to have a reason to get dressed up. Nonetheless, you can feel good doing it. All of this years proceeds goes The Good Neighbor Association, a service which collects food during the week, and distributes it to families in need before Shabbat on Friday.

Thursday,February 2,2006
Drinks at 7:30pm,Dinner at 8:30pm
Chatzer Hamoshava, 43 Emek Refaim (behind Super Ha’moshava)

Tickets are nis 175 (remember, it’s also tzedaka)

for Tickets call: Yoni 054-723-4614 or Aliza 054-582-5492
For more information
jerusalemwinterball@gmail.com

Hamas, showing up the Conservatives in Canada’s recent election, cleaned up in the recent elections taking 76 seats in the 132 member legislature. For those of you who are less than minimally competent with math, that’s well over half giving them a solid majority. Their main opponents, Fatah, took a pathetic 43 seats with 13 seats going to independents.

Like the Canadian election, a primary reason for the result was the perceived (and real) massive corruption in the dominant party. So Muffti guesses we should be glad that a corrupt government got its due and was shmiced in a democratic election. And, in an impressive display of democratic participation, 77% of the eligible voters turned up! In comparison, Israelis in the 2003 election ran about a 68% turnout rate, US (2000 presidential election) was at 68% [63% in the 2000 house elections], 61% in Canada (2000 Parliamentary elections) and 69% in the 2000 Russian Federation elections, 60% in the 2003 French Parliamentary elections (though, in fairness, a whopping 80% in the Presidential election of 2002!]. So, it’s like the Pals are a democratic light unto the nations! Mazal tov on the turnout and making democracy work for you! Just a shame you don’t have better taste…

It’s not easy to find a silver lining on this cloud, but Muffti is trying. Things have really gone from bad to worse. Mostly for the Palestinians. The US has already announced a refusal to deal with them, hinting that desperately needed aid will dry up. The Israelis have announced that they won’t bargain with Hamas. Hamas refuses to recognize the state of Israel. It’s really worse than being back at square 1. It’s more like being back at square minus 5.

As Homer said during a classic Simpsons moment: When are people going to learn? Democracy doesn’t work. First Harper and now Hamas. Not to mention any other obvious egregious decisions by democractic nations in recent years. Maybe Homer isn’t so stupid.

But it offends me neither as a Jew, nor as an Israeli. Nay, it offends me as a lover of cinema.

Moral equivalency be damned. Munich was just a crap movie.
Cliche, didactic, cheesy, with terrible dialogue, uninteresting characters with shifting but indiscernible accents, a boring and overly simplistic plot, lose ends, and general unbelievability.

I can really enjoy the spy/assassin drama when done well, even when it’s fluffy material. However this movie took an interesting subject matter and completely botched the execution, not unlike the laughably clumsy and inefficient mossad team itself.

They went through the motions of their missions as if they were a rag tag team with absolutely no formal training in this sort of thing. I would expect more intelligence and planning from Harriet the Spy.

Cinematographer Januz Kaminski, beloved alumni of my alma matter, seemed to have lost his ability to use basic lighting techniques to create beauty and aid basic believability.

Screenwriter Tony Krushners anti-Israel comments bother me less than having to had listen to line after line of dialogue with less nuance and fluidity than people in my second year screen writing class were able to come up with.

The movie rests on it’s so called “controversy”, having dealt with touchy a subject, but it lacks the quality needed to justify itself.

In short, total shite. Unworthy of its budget, attention and an embarrassment to the genre.

More on this later, but I just wanted to remind our readers just who we’re dealing with here in the new Palestinian government. Oooh, here’s another oldie but goodie about Hamas. Oh heck, here are a whole bunch more.

pic source.

A Celebrity Dad Smackdown!
You may recall that during his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, George Clooney made a crack about disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff:

“Who would name their kid Jack with the last word ‘-off ‘ at the end of your last name?” he asked. “No wonder that guy is screwed up.”

Unfortunately, members of Abramoff’s family, along with 19 million viewers worldwide, were watching the broadcast – including Jack’s 78 year old father, Frank. he had this to say about it:

“Oh, how far Hollywood has fallen,” said his letter to the Desert Sun. “Your glib and ridiculous attack on my son, Jack, coupled with your obscene query as to the choice his mother and I made in naming him brought shame and dishonour on you and your profession.” … Mr Abramoff added that on hearing Clooney’s remarks, his 12-year-old granddaughter – one of his son’s five children – burst into tears. “Are you proud of that?” he asked. “One wonders how your father would respond, were the roles reversed.” … He went on to explain that Jack was his own father’s name, telling Mr Clooney: “You decided to take a gratuitous slap at my son, my family and even my dear departed father. Is this the tradition of Gable, Bogart, Pacino and Burton? Are you the heir to the dignity and greatness of Hollywood’s past, or more likely a portent to a depressing and horrific future?”

Nick Clooney, George Clooney’s dad ressponded as follows (George had no comment):

“I understand what it is like to have one’s son criticised in a very public way,” Mr Clooney Snr, who lives in Kentucky, told a Desert Sun reporter … “It’s very painful and it’s very difficult. The difference here, and it must be said, is Mr Abramoff’s son, instead of pursing some positive efforts to do what he hoped would change the climate of American politics, has confessed and has been convicted by that confession of subverting the political process.”

So ok, it’s never cool to make a 12 year old girl cry, and George Clooney’s joke really sucked. But you know what sucks harder? Being a total douchebag slimeball and an embarassment to all your people and all people that wear Borsallinos. I feel for Abramoff’s father, but clearly he shoulda growed his son a little gooder.

Abramoff has pleaded guilty to charges in a Congressional influence peddling scandal and could face 30 years in prison and $25 million in restitution. He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and will provide evidence about (mostly Republican) members of Congress.

Final Round Voting Has Begun!
The final round of voting for the JIB Awards has commenced. Click on the cute but imperilled dog to see all the blogs in 17 categories. Visit a few new blogs and maybe even cast a vote – try to make an informed decision or at the very least expand your horizons.

So you might ask, “what’s with the imperilled dog?” Well, it’s basically a dig at all the Web sites involved in the JIBs who are whoring for votes. I think it’s cool to put a nominee banner up on your site. It’s definitely less cool to provide your visitors with links only to those categories that you’ve been nominated in so that they may quickly make a few clicks and vote for you without at all considering any other aspect of the contest or any of the other blogs involved – “And after you’ve voted in all XXX categories, then do it all over again in three days!…Hey you want us to win don’t you?” That kind of defeats the purpose of the whole exercise, no?

One blog notes the importance of Media attention in promoting their agenda – “That is why the “Blog Awards” contest is so important … Please help by voting!” These are not isolated examples either. The “whoring” as the ever astute Harry put it, is rampant. Some have even said that WE ourselves, by doing the Play by Plays, are similarly whoring for votes. To that I say NO! We’re not whoring. Instead we’re holding a dog hostage. And if you don’t vote for us we WILL kill the mutt (with apologies to National Lampoon). You have till Feb. 2 – and then the dog gets it.

Anyhow losers, here’s what we think of the best designed blog finalists:

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There are many beautiful things about living in Israel. The plumbing unfortunately, is not one of them. In the oldest neighborhoods of Jerusalem neighborhoods, like the Old City, or Nachlaot, both which were built before indoor plumbing was the norm, you come to expect certain…issues. Many apartments I have been in in Nachlaot have the kitchen and bathroom on the porch, because in that historically poor neighborhood it was cheaper to add on than reconfigure to house to accommodate pipes.

But now I live in Rehavia, Nachloat’s adjoining, more affluent brother neighborhood. I’ve moved on up since the homeless, jobless state ck discovered me in on Har Habayit.

Rehavia, with streets named for poets and sages of the Golden Era in Spain, designed with green-spaces in mind, tree lined streets and proper trash receptacles that get picked up with alarming frequency is, for all intents and purposes, considered a nice neighborhood.

So why, oh why is there raw sewage sitting outside my bathroom window making the room smell like it was enveloped by a giant rancid ass, mixed with dead fish and rotting corpses, served on a bed of carrion left in the sun, with a side of month-old counter-top milk.

And I wish I was exaggerating.

Apparently there was some kind of plumbing problem in the building, we noticed because our toilet didn’t flush so much as just add more water to dilute anything that might be in there. Maintenance men were called and they attacked the sewage pipe running right through our back yard with the professional, hi-tech instruments of a water hose and long stick.

However, they seem to have forgotten to deal with the gigantic puddle of ass mud which is still sitting just below the aforementioned bathroom window of the otherwise lovely Chateau Laybecca.

I’ve sterilized the toothbrushes and moved them to the kitchen but every time I reluctantly go into the bathroom to pee the noxious fumes cause me to gag and cough and fight the urge to hurl, knowing that that would just add to to the overall smell.

I’ve resorted to my hippy past and have been burning incense and scented oils in there around the clock, but the best it gets to is rotting vanilla ass.

So, eh…maybe Shabbat dinner at my place isn’t the best idea this week.