Nearer My God To Thee

Lives on the Edge: Profiles in Sex, Love and Death

My new book is dedicated to Holly Randall and has 80 pages of excruciating detail (most of which I have not published before) on the rise and fall of our relationship.

Here's the back cover:

Lives on the Edge profiles models, evangelists, writers and photographers who've spent years in the sex industry.

"For me to enjoy being a centerfold star," says Penthouse Pet Lori Wagner, "which is my right, which I worked hard for, because of that, I've been disrespected and not loved for who I am."

"If you're a woman who likes to look nice, and wears make-up, you have a hard time making female friends," says Penthouse Pet Courtney Taylor. "I'm 30-years old. I planned on being a doctor by now. But the money for modeling has been so good that I've put off my schooling."

"I wish my dad molested me," says porn star Joanna Angel. "It was the other way round. I was ignored. I would've loved for my dad to molest me. He wouldn't even talk to me."

..........

There are 52 chapters and 360 pages in the book.

After choosing the fragility of life as my theme, I selected 52 of my best interviews.

Lauren Grodstein - Reproduction is the Flaw of Love

I call her in New York August 7, 2006.

Luke: "You do look like Monica [Lewinsky]. The full mouth."

Lauren: "Maybe I did. Once they started referring to her as chunky, I decided I didn't look a thing like her."

Luke: "Did you really have all that angst over it as you wrote in The Modern Jewish Girls Guide To Guilt or was that more of a construct?"

Lauren: "I felt embarrassed that she was Jewish.

"When I went to graduate school, I decided to forgive myself more. I couldn't control the political landscape."

Luke: "I don't understand what you were forgiving yourself for."

Lauren: "I wouldn't say I was forgiving myself for anything I had done."

She sighs. "I was letting myself off the hook for feeling weirdly implicated while I was in France for being a friendly Jewish-American woman who smiles a lot. The French tend to mock Americans for being puritanical and ridiculous."

Luke: "I've noticed that a lot of Jewish women say their biggest flaw is they give too much. I ask them about their moral struggles and they say, 'Oh, I give too much.'"

Lauren gives the laugh of recognition. "I think all women feel that way. We're raised to take care of other people."

Luke: "It seems delusional to think that 'my biggest moral struggle is that I give too much.'"

Lauren: "Can people identify their biggest moral struggles? I have no idea. I know I have several but it's hard to pin them down."

Luke: "With guys, you know the biggest moral struggle is not to screw around and not to beat people."

Lauren: "Really? To keep your pants zipped and your fists to yourself. Women also face that."

Luke: "To the same intensity men do?"

Lauren: "I have no idea."

Luke: "You [frequently] write the male perspective. I'm impressed with how well you understand the male psyche. It's basically blowjobs."

Lauren laughs. "And existential angst and the girl who got away.

"Men and women aren't that different from each other. When the character Grant Miller [in Reproduction] fell in love, I tried to make it how I felt when I fell in love. People say how well I got into the male character but all I tried to do was write about myself honestly."

Luke: "Did Blair [the girl who got away] and Stan [Grant's father] ever get it on?"

Lauren: "I don't think so. I could never decide for sure."

Luke: "Why did you tell this tale of despair?"

Lauren: "I thought it had a happy ending. The guy [Grant] decides he can be alone. I did get teary when I wrote about Stan's death."

Luke: "Almost all your stories tend to be bleak and depressing."

Lauren laughs. "Maybe that's true?"

Luke: "Is that a reflection of your psyche and your experience? I can't imagine a happy person writing a lot of bleak stories."

Lauren: "The stories aren't autobiographical aside from location. I'm a happy person who gets the sadness out in what I write. Never in my life have I thought of myself as a sad person.

"The stories are about people in their late teens and early twenties. I wrote one of them when I was 19 and the last one when I was 25. That's a terrible age. Those were not the best years of my life. I was uncertain. I never imagined these stories were going to get published.

"I tend to write about absent parents and both of my parents are alive and well. I tend to write about broken hearts and I've been with the same man for six years and we've been married for almost two."

Luke: "The emotional landscape is so bleak."

Lauren: "I thought it was funny."

Luke: "What happened to your blog?"

Lauren: "I felt extremely exposed. In fiction you get to hide behind your characters. I freaked out and stopped."

Luke: "Would you rather write a great novel or have a great marriage?"

Lauren: "Write a great novel. I don't think it's even a question. Luckily I'm married to the kind of guy who understands why I said that."

Luke: "How did the title - Reproduction is the Flaw of Love - help you tell your story?"

Lauren: "Here's the whole quote, from Baudelaire's La Fanfarlo: 'Although Samuel had a depraved imagination—perhaps even because of this—love, for him, was less a matter of the senses than of the intellect. It was, above all, admiration and appetite for beauty; he considered reproduction a flaw of love, and pregnancy a form of insanity.'

"The quote reminded me of the way Miller might try to justify his admiration for Lisa - as a matter of the intellect, perhaps, if not the senses. Also, in this novel, reproduction (or the possibility of it) is the thing that ends whatever form of love Lisa and Miller have managed to muster up."

Luke: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Lauren: "A writer."

Luke: "What crowd did you hang out with in highschool?"

Lauren: "I was pretty dorky. I hung out with the smart kids. When I was a junior, I scored myself a marginally more popular boyfriend, which made the rest of highschool a lot better."

Luke: "What's been your relationship with Judaism?"

Lauren: "I've become a better Jew since I married my husband who was not born Jewish but became interested in it after we met. We took courses together. We started going to a synagogue in our neighborhood, a progressive, socially-conscious place. We try to light candles on Friday night.

"I was raised in a culturally Jewish home but not religious."

Lauren is the eldest of three kids.

Luke: "How does your family feel about your writing?"

Lauren: "My father was very concerned about this choice. He's a physician... Now he's proud of me. He believes that all my sex scenes come from things I've seen in movies."

Luke: "There's a strong theme of blowjobs in your writing."

Lauren: "Fiction, fiction, fiction."

Tod Hunter writes

Madame Tussauds general manager Adrian Jones points out that there was an interest in a Jenna figure from guest surveys, and describes her as meeting three criteria: She's famous, she's from Las Vegas, and she is a successful businesswoman, a meme that has been turning up every time Jenna's name has been mentioned lately. He also pronounces the name of the place "Madame Too-sahds," which may be correct but sounds a little precious when I try it later... "She's been fantastic with the process," Jones continues, and adds that she was very cooperative with helping them find the right skin tones, hair colour, and replicating her tattoos. Jenna also recorded a voice track for the figure, which will speak when you touch the tattoo on her ankle... The curtain opens, and Jenna is sitting next to the figure on a fur-covered bed. Jenna is in a white and red dress, the figure is clad only in a leather belt, her arms coquettishly covering her breasts.

Daniel Metcalf writes me: "Plagiarism? Well this isn't quite the same thing, but you DO have a track record of cutting excerpts from peoples' message board posts (including my own from ADT) and presenting them on lukeisback.com as if they were whole, often creating an impression contrary to what the person actually intended (which would be clear if the message was re-posted in original form). It's never fun to be deliberately misrepresented, is it Luke?"

There's as much of a parallel between quoting someone's posts and plagiarism as there is between consensual sex and rape. Both are forms of intercourse but that's where the similarities end.

If I quote from someone's post, I link to the source so people can read the whole thing in its original context. But I only quote the parts that I find interesting for obvious reasons. Not everything people post is interesting. It is my job to winnow out the good stuff and reject the dull stuff. People read lukeisback.com because they are interested in my judgments about what is going on. Usually a person's post will get one hundred times as much attention if I quote it on lukeisback as opposed to letting it languish on some posting board.

I save readers time. They could spend hours combing the boards or they can spend five minutes on lukeisback.com and read the good stuff.

If a person gives an hour long interview to The LA Times or 60 Minutes, only a sentence or two or three may be used. That's just how journalism works. When people write a post or give an interview, they usually think it is their story they are presenting, but once a journalist gets a hold of their post or interview, he will shape it into his story, reflecting his judgments of what is important. See the book The Journalist and the Murderer.

So, no, Daniel, it is never fun to be deliberately or undeliberately misrepresented, but in my experience, much of the time when someone feels their post or interview has been misrepresented, it is a case of the person not wanting to stand behind what they said (with all their extraneous remarks deleted).

People don't usually see themselves. When they make a post or give an interview, and then deal with the consequences, they are often forced to confront themselves, and it is large part of their own selves that they do not like.

There's nothing people like more than talking about themselves and there's nothing they hate more than seeing it in end up in print.

Al Goldstein Interview

He now blogs here.

I call him in New York Tuesday afternoon, August 1.

Al: "I'm an old Jew with bad hearing."

Luke: "When is your book coming out? The one you worked on with Josh Alan Friedman."

Al: "I got a call from Peter Bloch [Editor] at Penthouse.

"I called Josh yesterday. I said they [the publishers] are a bunch of scumbags. They haven't even sent me a copy of the book. It's coming out next month. Here I am the writer. Review copies have been sent out. And I haven't gotten a copy."

Luke: "How was working with Josh?"

Al: "I love Josh. He was my editor 25 years ago. He loved going to all the massage parlors. He's written six books. He holds me in high regard.

"Frankly, I've been depressed since Screw went bankrupt two years ago. I'm looking for a job. I've been turned down by Starbucks and Costco. I'm not the big mouth I used to be. That's why Josh went to the editorials from 1968 and older ones when I still had piss and vinegar.

"I hate the porno industry. I helped start Larry Flynt. I've had 21 arrests. No one in the porn business has offered me a job. If it wasn't for doing the blog, I'd be back in a homeless shelter. My rent in Howard Beach is paid by Penn Jilette.

"When I start doing publicity for my book, I'm going to abuse the s--- out of it. It's no different than religion. Religion sells a fantasy. Pornography sells a fantasy. The bulls--- that you are going to have those type of women in your life is pathetic. It's delusional."

Luke: "Have you changed your views on the porn industry?"

Al: "Not at all. You look at Screw. It as Mad comics. There's nothing wrong with masturbation. There's nothing wrong with fantasy. But let's call it what it is.

"Fishbein at AVN was telling me that the business is down 20%.

"What put Screw out of business was the websites.

"I'm guilty of the same thing. I ran jerk-off photos. But at least I made fun of the girls.

"Pornography has the same right to exist as religion and reality shows. But I know it's sleight of hand. That's what my book's about. All men are coagulated testosterone. Men are pathetic creatures. I'm guilty. I have five ex-wives. That's why I went bankrupt.

"Playboy I could never jerk off to but Hustler I could because the girls are sleazy."

Luke: "You have a wife?"

Al: "I have a fifth wife. She's 29. I'm 70. Together three years."

Luke: "What is her attraction to you?"

Al: "Nobody else will be with me. There's no reason to be with me. I have no money. Wives are prostitutes who won't work in a whorehouse. She likes that despite my 21 arrests and bankruptcy, I'm still in there trying.

"Everyone dumped me. Ron Jeremy was best man at the wedding. Two people have been loyal to me -- Ron Jeremy and Paul Fishbein. Nobody else in the industry has done s--- for me. I hope everyone gets busted. Everyone needs a five year jail sentence at Leavenworth."

Luke: "How did you maintain your friendship with Fishbein? You've been caustic about him and his magazine."

Al: "I love Paul because he's a good friend. I only speak the truth. I am an obnoxious assaultive uninhibited Jew boy from Brooklyn. Everyone I've slammed is having the last laugh -- ignoring me, gloating when I failed. My son, who's 30, who graduated Harvard Law School four years ago. I was boasting about him on the Howard Stern and Don Imus show. He got so offended he would not invite me to graduation."

Luke: "Is he gay?"

Al: "I think he is. I think he sucks a dick now and then. I've always argued it takes a real man to suck cock. After my fifth marriage ends, I'm going to become a fag."

Luke: "What did you think of Gil Reavill's book Smut?"

Al: "I don't read about porno. What do I care? I'm rereading Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Why do I want to read about pornographers? To be titillated? To learn about it? I don't care if it is pro or con. Gil's another mercenary. There's nothing wrong with him."

Luke: "What happened to your relationship with Larry Flynt?"

Al: "I wish he'd hire me. I went to him and begged him to at least give me a job as a manager. I don't want to be a dishwasher. He did give me an assignment and he loaned me $3,000 but I want a full-time job and Larry has not done it.

"I'll tell you who the biggest [jerk] of all is... I hope you're not going to censor this. Dennis Hof owns the Bunny Ranch. I was the first person to cover his bordello for Penthouse. I gave him publicity. Put him in my columns and on my TV show. He promised me there would always be a place for me. What a perfect job for me to be maitre de, to greet people at his whorehouse. He would not give me a job. He is the typical porno ingrate. I hope he dies of diabetes."

Luke: "What are the lessons to be learned from your rise and fall?"

Al: "Nothing. Nothing is real. Nothing is forever. Enjoy the moment. Mine is not the first story, be it Tyson or a rock 'n' roller. Don't believe the words of wives, 'I love you,' because as soon as you lose the money, they're gone.

"My ex-shrink, Ted Rubin, he wrote David and Lisa, said, 'Al, you have to learn the art of inhibition.' I repress nothing. I censor nothing. Like all honest people, I am hated and loathed."

Luke: "Where do you find happiness?"

Al: "I don't. A cup of coffee, when I ejaculate, and the taste of pussy. Right now I just want to survive. I go to the V.A., they give me lithium. I'm a zombie. I've thought of killing myself but I won't kill myself because I'd make too many people happy.

"Have you got enough?"

Luke: "Thank you."

Al: "As you've noticed, I still don't pull my punches."

Satire:

Holly Randall Arrested For Drunk Driving, Blames The Jews

Returning home from the Temptation Awards Sunday morning, Holly Randall, the director of Love Between the Cheeks (AVN Editor Mike Ramone called it the most anti-Semitic film since Triumph of the Will), was pulled over by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy.

Lukeisback.com has learned that Miss Randall aka The Second Coming of Leni Riefenstahl went on a rampage when she was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, hurling religious epithets. Lukeisback.com has also learned that Adult Video News had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps.

According to the report, Randall became agitated after she was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told she was to be detained for drunk driving Sunday morning in Malibu. The director began swearing uncontrollably. Randall repeatedly said, "My life is f****d."

Law enforcement sources say the deputy, worried that Randall might become violent, told the photographer that he was supposed to cuff her but would not, as long as Randall cooperated. As the two stood next to the hood of the patrol car, the deputy asked Randall to get inside. Deputy Mee then walked over to the passenger door and opened it. The report says Randall then said, "I'm not going to get in your car," and bolted to her car. The deputy quickly subdued Randall, cuffed her and put her inside the patrol car.

Lukeisback.com has learned that Deputy Mee audiotaped the entire exchange between himself and Randall, from the time of the traffic stop to the time Randall was put in the patrol car, and that the tape fully corroborates the written report. Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Randall began banging herself against the seat.

The report says Randall told the deputy, "You mother f****r. I'm going to f*** you." The report also says "Randall almost continually [sic] threatened me saying her parents 'own Malibu' and will spend all of their money to 'get even' with me." The report says Randall then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Randall then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

The deputy became alarmed as Randall's tirade escalated, and called ahead for a sergeant to meet them when they arrived at the station. When they arrived, a sergeant began videotaping Randall, who noticed the camera and then said, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?" A law enforcement source says Randall then noticed another female sergeant and yelled, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?"

We're told Randall took two blood alcohol tests, which were videotaped, and continued saying how "f****d" she was and how she was going to "f***" Deputy Mee.

Air Supply's song "The one that you love" was the #1 song in the U.S.

It was the summer of 1981 and I was falling in love for the first time (that was requited). I frolicked with my girlfriend at the Pacific Union College pool many afternoons. One day a little black boy wearing goggles surfaced beside us and asked me, "Why is your penis sticking out like a lance?"

I never kissed my love. I was too scared. Over the next nine months, however, away from my love and at public school for the first time, I learned how to french kiss. That next summer, back at P.U.C., I got the nicknames "Hans Ford" and "Romeo." I made out with my love and went to R-rated movies with a college girl four years my senior. For the first time, I learned that women's panties get wet when they're sexually excited.

A friend asks me July 30, 2006: "How are you?"

Luke: In a torpor, perhaps depressed, have a hard time leaving my bed, just exhausted, back hurts, money prospects poor etc. All I do is lie in bed and listen to Jonathan Safran Foer's book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

>It's good that you have enough energy to take part in the shul stuff ... lectures etc. I really wish I could revive myself to the point where I'd go to the fancy aish shul, but that was four years ago already. The formality of it gave me focus.

Luke: I need to go to shul more, it gives me energy, I just hate getting up in the AM.

I Despair About Israel

I'm no political or military expert, but as as many Hezbollah rockets are falling on Israel today (July 30) as they were at the start of the war almost three weeks ago, I can only conclude what I believed when the war began -- that Israel's prime minister, Defense minister and IDF leadership are incompetent.

Nosh n' Drosh On Death

Judaism revolves around eating, praying and leading a holy life.

It's the religion of life.

"We all know that we should have an advanced medical directive that indicates our desires should we, God forbid, become ill and incapable of expressing our desires," said the rabbi. "But the topic doesn't come up often on "date night" (or on the elliptical at 24-hour fitness). The same is true for the disposal of our worldly assists when we're no longer here to enjoy them - and doing so in a manner that will not run into halachik obstacles. And what about that organ donor dot? So come on over. It'll be a laugh a minute!"

"That sounds great," he thought, and as his calendar was empty, he put on his tzitzit Saturday afternoon and his white shirt and black tie and black pants and black jacket and trudged a couple of miles through the humidity to a beautiful home in Beverlywood.

Once inside (5 p.m.), he grunted at the host and went right for the cold water and then for desserts and then for generous helpings of the fruit salad.

Then he found a seat in the back, next to a Holocaust survivor, and listened to the rabbi speak. During the lecture, he watched the kids playing catch in the backyard. He kept imagining that at any moment the ball would come crashing through the window.

He felt his jacket pull down on his weak shoulders. As he moved in his seat, he felt his back spasm. As the room filled up, he felt claustrophobic.

The rabbi referred to rabbis.org where you can make a nifty will. It says: "Jewish religious law does not recognize the validity of a will."

Yet Rav Moshe Feinstein says that a secular will is just fine.

To what extent do you use heroic and invasive measures to sustain the life of the terminally ill?

The rabbi said people should fill out an advanced medical directive making their will known in these matters.

Rav Feinstein provides a lot of room for letting the terminally ill die without resorting to any efforts beyond providing oxygen, food and water.

"I could do with some oxygen, food and water right now," he thought.

It was 6:20 p.m. "No need to resuscitate me," he muttered and made a mad dash for the door, barreling past two dozen cramped but pious souls. "If I don't get out of here right now, I'm going to die. I don't care that I'm being rude. I don't care that I'm leaving while a dozen people want to involve the rabbi in some esoteric discussion. Let me go right now. No heroic measures need to be exerted on my behalf. I can't breathe in here. I want to go home."

HollyRandall: that girl you wrote about sleeping with
HollyRandall: and you tried to tell me later that you made it all up?
HollyRandall: you did f--- her you liar
Luke: OK, I lied.
HollyRandall: lol
HollyRandall: why did you say you made it up?
Luke: because that is what I would've wanted to hear if the situation was reversed.
HollyRandall: if you were trying to make me jealous like you said, wouldn't you stick to the story that you did hook up with her?
HollyRandall: oh Luke
Luke: I was observing the golden rule.
Luke: It was the ethical thing to do to lie.
HollyRandall: oh please
Luke: How did I know I was going to get found out?
HollyRandall: the ethical thing to do would have been not to sleep with her in the first place
HollyRandall: because liars always do
Luke: We were broken up. I had no plans to be with you again.
HollyRandall: even more reason not to have lied about it
HollyRandall: whatever i really don't care that much
HollyRandall: i just wanted to catch you out

That's the title of a short story in Steve Almond's collection, My Life in Heavy Metal:

What Darcy enjoyed most was a good lathering between the thighs. As a lifelong liberal, this was one of my specialties. In some obscure but plausible fashion, I viewed the general neglect of the region as a bedrock of conservatism. The female sex was, in political terms, the equivalent of the inner city: a dark and mysterious zone, vilified by the powerful, derided as incapable of self-improvement, entrenched and smelly. Going down on a woman was a dirty business, humiliating, potentially infectious, best delegated to the sensitivos of the Left.

I relished the act, which I considered to be what Joe Lieberman would have termed, in his phlegmy rabbinical tone, a mitzvah. It required certain sacrifices. The deprivation of oxygen, to begin with.

False Reports On Red Light District

Over the past two days, I've had three separate (and usually reliable sources) tell me that the FBI was at Red Light District poring over their 2257 records. I published two of these reports and then pulled each one. According to David Joseph, RLD owner, the FBI has not visited his business.

Everyone at RLD's warehouse was scrambling on the day Diabolic was visited. Word got around that the FBI was visiting, but it was not accurate. I'm sure it was a case of "telephone." Many took it as fact they were coming, but I think they just wanted to be 100% ready for a visit.

Flaw In Wankernomics

James writes:

Reading Winai Wongsurawat's paper it's a great example of why fundamentally and technically-superb economists are prone to [soiling] the bed on relevancy so often. a paper published in 2006 using 1991 penthouse magazines just doesn't MEAN anything in the post-max era. in terms of concern about material titilating people into sexual violence, a printed copy of penthouse(even more so in that era) is a totally different animal than a movie with real people acting out sexually-violent things. the penthouse is closer to a "maxim" or "fhm" than to captured domestic violence. only the most-conservative people pick up a glossy/artsy mag like that and feel equally as concerned it's something to worry about versus speculums, choking and physical blows to a partner acted out as realistically as possible on film. good technically, but so far removed from the current reality of what people are concerned about.

Prostitution pricing in the U.K.

Ray Guhn’s Arrest and Pending Censorship of the Adult Industry

Andy Craft aka Jim Manley posts on JBM:

If you have anything to do whatsoever with the adult industry, you will want to read this entire post. I am making this post to offer my view and to update our industry on the latest news of the arrest of Ray Guhn and several members of the www.cumonherface.com and www.cashtitans.com team and how it can affect you. For those that are not aware of the arrests, here are the links to those articles http://www.xbiz.com/news_piece.php?i...ing=ray%20guhn and http://www.xbiz.com/news_piece.php?i...ing=ray%20guhn

Most of you know me as Jim Manley or Big Jim. For those of you trying to picture who I am here is the most memorable pic of me brought to you by JFK http://www.fubarwebmasters.com/curre...pbp/z02847.htm now that was a great night and memory that I will cherish forever.

Ok, first, I am not really able to comment on the facts of the case only to say that Ray Guhn’s legal team will be fighting these charges aggressively as long as the money holds out. Ray has retained the legal team of Weston, Garrou, DeWitt & Walters. The well known and respected Larry Walters plans to spearhead a vigorous 1st amendment defense as you can imagine. Now please carefully read this next part. The predicate on which Ray Guhn and associates are charged can seriously impact how YOU as webmasters, producers, hosting companies, affiliates, and pay site owners will be permitted, or not permitted, to conduct your business in the future. The cops are claiming that paying people to perform sexually on camera is prostitution and therefore illegal. If the prosecution wins the Ray Guhn case in Florida it will have the chilling effect of setting precedent of illegalizing porn production throughout Florida which in turn will eagerly be used by other states anxious to squelch free expression to justify filing suits or applying pressure against webmasters, producers, hosters, affiliates and site owners who engage in showing ‘paid performers engaging in sex while being photographed or videotaped or on webcam’.

1) Why the charge of Racketeering? As mentioned, the cops assert that compensating people who perform in, or produce, adult sexual content is prostitution and that any parties earning an income derived from activity based on prostitution is Racketeering (which carries up to 30 years in jail). The 2nd predicate they are using is an Obscenity charge, ie: that COHF content is stronger content than Pensacola community standards allow, even though you can walk into dozens of stores in Pensacola and purchase many different porn mags showing detailed glossy images of group sex, anal sex, triple penetration, bondage sex, dildo sex, lesbian strap on sex, oral sex, cum swapping and oral/facial cumshots. But we all know how vague the obscenity law is, depending on your locale a girl posing nude could be considered obscene by a conservative jury.
2) Don’t believe everything you read in the papers, the guns they seized at Ray’s home were all legally owned along with a weapons permit and the “drugs” were only one medication type legally prescribed by licensed physicians. But it made for a sensational byline in the article.
3) It’s Election year here. So the stronger the headlines, the better, as far as the guys running for reelection are concerned.

I really can’t comment more on the case but after reading some of the posts when this story broke on GFY and other boards I wanted to clear up a few confused posters who poked fun at this situation without understanding how THIS CASE is the landmark case that many in the adult industry have been fearing for years. Grave consequences will occur first in Florida and next industry wide if the prosecution prevails in reclassifying porn performers and actors… as prostitutes. If performers are reclassified as prostitutes, smart money says the law will next move to classify people like YOU who webmaster, produce, host, manage, or resell that ‘illegal’ content as criminals and racketeers. (remember, racketeering carries up to 30 years in jail!).

Attorney Larry Walters has set up a legal defense fund for this fight. I am asking everyone to donate to this fund, not just to help defend Ray and myself, but also to preserve our adult internet industry as we currently know it. This case is already creating expenditures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and honestly guys we need industry financial help from our friends, associates, fellow businessmen and industry moguls to win this battle... for all of us. Please donate directly to Larry Walter’s firm at: www.RayGuhnDefenseFund.com NONE of the donations go to Ray, myself or COHF.
I can only hope that the generosity (and sense of self preservation) of our industry will shine in this moment of darkness and contributions will flow in to assist defending against these charges. Please read this article concerning this case as it was posted on AVN http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary...tent_ID=270764 I hope that after reading this you will understand that this is much more than just another case against a few guys in Florida, but rather it is a veiled legal attempt to begin the process of outlawing all porn production not only in Florida, but eventually reaching across the country.

www.RayGuhnDefenseFund.com

On a personal note I wish to thank the industry for their support and emails and phone calls and im’s about this situation. I am truly grateful of everyone’s concern. I now understand what it means to be at the bottom of the barrel as I have lost everything, my job, my income and for the few that knew I had a daughter as of now the state has ended my rights to see her, so again if you don’t think this case is important for those of you who have children, please imagine not being able to see them again simply because you operated or worked for an adult business. If you think for one second it can’t happen to you as I did, WELL IT CAN! I am not sure if I will stay in the adult industry after all this is over. I have to consider the options and what I might have to do to regain custody of my daughter. I would like to talk to anyone that might need a general manager type, employee or sales rep to weigh my options. I will consider all offers as I have stated before I have no income and my savings is almost gone.

I will respond as I can to the replies of this thread I ask that it be bumped quite regularly if possible to keep this subject fresh in the minds of all webmasters.

Thank you in advance for your donations (www.RayGuhnDefenseFund.com) and emotional support and let’s ALL hope that when the sun sets Ray Guhn and his legal team’s fight to preserve our 1st Amendment freedoms for the adult industry are successful. Truth and the 1st amendment are on our side. The best 1st amendment team in the country is on the case, but the effort needs donations now to the legal fund to avoid being railroaded into a defeat that will shake the foundation of the adult industry.

Who's Going To Host The Temptation Awards?

Temptation says 350 people are confirmed to come.

Where Is Mark Carriere?

Does he still run Leisure Time? Does his company still move 200,000 DVDs a month?

Ariana Jollee Slugs Director Roy Karch Saturday On Set Of Sex Z Pictures Tranny Movie

Ariana felt that Roy was directing her too much.

After she punched him, she said, "Now you're my bitch," and walked off the set.

Roy shrugged it off and went back to work.

Whatever Happened To Mason?

Pierre writes:

I would like to know what has happened to the once much talked about porn director Mason. About two years ago now, she was on the cover of AVN and was recognized by her peers, but also created much controversy. Her hard-edge style in movie-making sure wasn't for everyone, but she was quite a big name in the gonzo type of movie.

What bothers me is that in the spring of 2005, at the end of February or May, her site (whish included her journal) went down, in about the same time she started changing companies. Leaving Elegant Angel for a brief stint at Platinum X, and after she is supposedly went with Hustler. They didn't kept her long (her movies probably too extreme for the brand), and since then she kind of disappear. I think her last movie was Mason's Sluts, which came out last year. No others came following that one.

So you see, my problem is that I am very much interested to know what happened to her, but I cannot contact her since I can’t reach her through her site since it is down. I don't know for which company she works, I don't even know if she is still active in the business.

As far as I can tell, Mason's gone into a shell since the Delilah Strong fiasco two years ago. She has/had a directing deal with Chris at Anabolic.

What happened to her? Here are some possibilities:

* Her brutal pornography may scare a lot of distributors.

* She's never been prolific. She produces her scenes and movies very slowly.

* She's bounced through various directing deals and may be out of options.

A source writes: "She blew all the money from the Diabolic deal and is slowly getting that movie done one scene at a time."

The #23 Enigma

A source writes: "The articles online say they are after 10 different studios yet it is 23 films from various studios in question."

FBI Visits Diabolic Video to Check 2257 Records

Paul Fishbein writes on AVN.com:(the last time I saw his byline was June 23 on the sale of Club Jenna to Playboy):

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - FBI agents are currently visiting the offices of Diabolic Video here checking their records in accordance with the 2257 statute, according to Diabolic owner Greg Allan.

“The agent said there are 10 companies on their list and we were the first, but Diabolic, not Anabolic,” Allan told AVN.com exclusively.

This is the first time an adult company was visited to verify compliance with the record keeping requirements of 18USC~2257.

I believe that Anabolic/Diabolic is going to get popped on federal obscenity charges within the next year along with several other (maybe dozens of other) hard-edged gonzo companies. This 2257 investigation is a way for the feds to pile on the charges against the extreme porn companies.

L-Pink writes on GFY: "Let's hope pornotube is one of the next inspected. One of their Japanese, teens dressed as school-girls, gang-banged, no 2257 info provided clips."

2:35 p.m. I return Mary Carey's call . She says: "Legend is right next door to Anabolic/Diabolic. I was supposed to go to Legend to pick up my paycheck. Then they told me not to come today because the FBI was at Diabolic. I started freaking out. I want my paycheck now in case... They say, 'Why don't you wait and get your check tomorrow when we'll know what is going on.'"

Legend is across the street from JM Productions which was busted on federal obscenity charges a few months ago.

Mary: "I'm sitting here trying to figure out who are the other 10 companies. Legend doesn't do those type of movies."

In 2001, Legend stopped distributing Max Hardcore.

Pearl Abraham's Best Interviews

I email her: "I'm sure you've been interviewed over 100x... Who was the best and the brightest?"

She replies:

Dutch journalists are far and away better than American ones, more literary or something, at least the ones I've encountered. Jan Donkers who interviewed me for NRC was very good, not only literarily but also skilled at use of tape, at getting things right, no misquotes, nothing out of context, Really on, and uses the interview form with some panache. He got a full front page, so that may have helped. Also in the Netherlands, even the mags, such as beauty mags, have better educated, smarter, good writers/journalists. Dutch Elle for example has Ilonka Leenheer, who interviewed me and wrote up a really smart piece. And she was given enough space too.

Ehud Havazelet

I phone the author of three books Tuesday afternoon. He lives in Corvallis and teaches creative writing at the University of Oregon.

Luke: "How do you like your name?"

Ehud: "If I didn't like it, I would've changed it. It's always been an issue with pronunciation. Since age four, whenever teachers have stopped and looked confused, I raised my hand and told them.

"My two sons are named Jacob (5) and Michael (18).

"My name bothered me when I was younger because I felt like it stuck out but now it's fine.

"I was a wannabe musician for a few years and this guy told me that if I wanted a chance with Roulette Records, they were going to call me Ed Hazel. My wife and I use that as a joke name."

Luke: "Did your [second] wife [of six years] take your name?"

Ehud: "No."

Luke: "How do you feel about that?"

Ehud: "Fine. Jacob has my last name. I would've been proud if my wife had taken my name..."

"I've been mistaken more often for an Arab than an Israeli."

Luke: "You were never going to be able to assimilate with your name?"

Ehud: "No. And nobody has asked me assimilate with any name."

Ehud moved to Oregon in 1989.

Luke: "When did you break with Orthodox Judaism and why?"

Ehud: "The second semester of college. I didn't have a positive experience growing up Orthodox in New York. I found it closed, vicious and sniping. I didn't know anyone who had spirituality."

Ehud's father Meir just retired at age 78 as a professor of rabbinics at Yeshiva University.

Luke: "At what age did you first smoke pot?"

Ehud: "Fifteen."

Luke: "At what age did you become a rebel?"

Ehud, the eldest of four kids: "I was rebelling all the time. I went to college wearing a yarmulke and a ponytail. The public rebellion came when I stopped keeping kosher and stopped wearing a yarmulke and started having tremendous fights with my father.

"In 1967, I was eleven when the Six Day War happened. My father and I talked excitedly about getting on a plane and going there and seeing what we could do. By the 1973 war, I had seen the other side. I was against the war in Vietnam and against militarization.

"I hated going to yeshiva. I had to get there at 7 a.m. to pray. I left at 5:30 p.m. I had some rabbis who were very traditional and some very troubled. Some were rigid and sadistic. One threw a kid down the stairs and broke his back. I used to get hit.

"I went to Ramaz. It was the most modern yeshiva. I wanted to go to a non-yeshiva school. My parents said no way. You go to a Jewish school but you can pick the one you want."

Luke: "What crowd did you hang out with in highschool?"

Ehud: "There wasn't much of a crowd. There were a few of us getting high and going down to the Philmore [for concerts by the Grateful Dead, etc].

"Somebody at [Ramaz] found out that somebody was getting high so they had the police department come down to this nice Jewish school and had a display of the various types of drugs and all the reasons you shouldn't use them. Winning arguments such as, 'Why do you think they call it dope?'

"With wonderful naiveté, they passed around five joints so we could all get a look at them. At the end, only three of them came back to the stage. The principal got up and said, 'No one is leaving this room until they come back.'"

Luke: "Did you get expelled?"

Ehud: "I was suspended often."

Luke: "Have any Orthodox institutions invited you to give a reading?"

Ehud: "Yeshiva University has. A colleague of my father's likes my stuff. I had dinner with a bunch of students from Stern College [the women's branch of Y.U.]."

Luke: "Did you corrupt the youth?"

Ehud: "No. I was on my best behavior. I had a couple of Scotches before I went to make sure I could take whatever would happen. They were very nice. My impression is that they were hampered by having one reference point. They didn't have a way of approaching my material [except] was it pro or anti-Jewish. That's not what I'm aiming for.

"There's a scene in my short story 'Leah' where Rachel's boyfriend is beaten up. I was accused of condoning anti-Semitism."

Luke: "What emotions did you see on your father's face when you were with the yeshiva crowd?"

Ehud: "He loved it. He co-opted the whole thing. My father can't resist an opportunity to be on stage. We started talking about what he thinks, what he thinks the stories are about... It's like asking a person who's never painted to care about everything in a painting and understand how it was put together. He's not a painter.

"Within that context, he's a wild man He's more provocative, liberal and questioning than most of his students.

"My dad's swung to the left politically without changing his allegiance to Israel. He's for a two-state solution. He's there now. We can't get him to come home."

Luke: "When were you last in Israel?"

Ehud: "My bar mitzvah in 1968."

Luke: "Was there anything you loved about Orthodox Judaism?"

Ehud: "I loved the Torah, the Bible, the stories.

"I loved studying Talmud because of the logical argumentation.

"I had the study habits of a dreyhorse. Anyone who goes to 12 years of yeshiva has great work habits. When I turned on to Marx or Shakespeare or James Joyce, I didn't have to develop the tools to approach it.

"I come from a long line of scholars. I grew up with the notion of memorizing things and showing off what you knew. The emphasis was on accomplishment and competition. We didn't talk about the meaning of the ideas behind them [the texts].

"When I was six, my maternal grandfather bought me a Tanach (Hebrew Bible). I remember sitting up at night and reading it through.

"When I was older, I read the Yiddish writers such as Shalom Aleichem.

"My [Jewish] affiliation is more cultural than philosophical."

Luke: "Are you happy?"

Ehud: "Yeah, I'm very happy."

Luke: "But your writing doesn't have much happiness."

Ehud: "Yeah."

"I don't think happiness is what most people's lives are about most of the time. It's about struggle and loss and strife. To write about life as if it is resolvable is not true."

"I write about characters who work hard to find what they need. I write about characters in a lot of pain, with a lot of weight and baggage, who don't behave well, not because they're bad people, but because they're troubled.

"I don't believe in happy endings in art."

Luke: If I were to talk to the people who knew you best, how many would describe you as happy?

Ehud: "None."

Luke: "Why are you happy?"

Ehud: "Because of the direction my life has gone [in the past decade, since he met his second wife, the only years he'd describe as happy]."

Luke: "What does your father think of your writing?"

Ehud: "I don't know. He loves reading. He especially loves the 19th Century Russians. That was a great connection when I was younger -- we'd read books together. I remember him taking tremendous glee when I was twelve in telling me the end of Anna Karenina. 'It's not the plot that matters,' he said. 'You have to get under the plot.' Thanks.

"I don't know that my father has read enough modern literature to have a real grasp of some of the things I'm trying to do.

"I don't know how deeply he wants to look into some of the things I'm talking about. Some of the things you and I have been talking about -- it is not a happy portrait.

"Some of his more literary friends say to him, 'Look at what he's writing about you.' I think he has the sense to know that is not true.

"He has a traditional view of how writing is put together. He gets hurt by things I have written even when they are not about him. But he's very proud of me.

"The huge push from all my friends and family was to be a rabbi, and if not that, to be a doctor or lawyer.

"My parents never discouraged me from being a writer. They worried about it -- for good reason.

"Parents would like their kids to write happy stories. It means they had a happy life."

Luke: "How much does one need to know before one can appreciate your writing? Does one have to be a smarty pants?"

Ehud: "First, there is a measure of acquaintance with what literature in the Modern period and since has done that might help get a handle on some of what I'm trying--if you're most conversant with fables or morality shows, you'll be less comfortable with open-ended (negatively capable) stories like mine. So yes, a bit of smarty pants I'll admit to. The other, related issue, which has nothing really to do with what you've read (though reading always helps me) is your willingness to confront the emotional substrate of your material. Such as: when I was growing up, the Akeda was presented as a lesson solely in faith -- Abraham heeding god's word. What interests me as a storyteller much more is what the characters might feel -- what father would sacrifice his son, what son could live after being strapped to the slaughter block. To these questions there is no single answer and that's why they're often not asked, or given simplistic answers -- faith, submission, god's inscrutable ways. God, except for Moses who got a direct look, is an idea, even to the devout; I'm interested in people."

Luke: "Your father sounds very much like Rabbi Max Birnbaum in your short story collection, Like Never Before -- a bibliophile, absent-minded professor..."

Ehud: "Yes. Immersed in another world. The restlessness and insecurity of Max. My father was a much more successful scholar than Max.

"Both sides of my family were out of Europe before the Holocaust.

"A lot of the tensions between us are in the relationship between Max and David. The biographical facts are different. Max never wrote anything."

Luke: "What about approachable vs. removed? [Max was removed.]"

Ehud: "It's a mix. My father is charming and openhearted. He will talk to anybody about anything. He'll sit on a bus for two minutes and have three friends. He's constantly meeting people. We constantly had people over at the house. I've never met anybody more approachable.

"He's also circumscribed by his beliefs and background. He's from Mea Shearim [the ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem]. Parts of him are still in Mea Shearim. We have relatives who are [charedi] and have never left that world.

"He'll debate with anybody but we've not had a real discussion about religion since I was a kid because I don't think, and this will upset him to read, that he really wants to know how I feel about it. He wants to convince me I'm wrong. We had so many fights about it that I demanded and he acquiesced to not talk about it. If we kept down that road, we weren't going to see each other any more.

"My father, to his credit, has straddled two worlds [modern scholarship and traditional piety], but not comfortably."

Luke: "Could you discuss the documentary hypothesis with your father?"

Ehud: "Oh sure.

"He's about the most rebellious irreverent person I've ever seen within his circle."

We move on.

"I don't tell people what my stories are about and how they should interpret them. I just hope they read them.

"I don't write stories to make polemical points."

Luke: Orthodox Judaism is largely absent from your first book [What is it Then Between Us?] but fills your second book.

Ehud: "All first books are apprenticeships. There's some abject imitation in there. I was responding too much to what I had read.

"I was not ready to write about [Orthodox Judaism]. I was young. I was angry.

"It kept coming up. In graduate school, my best teacher was Lynn Sharon Schwartz. She said [Orthodox Judaism] was my material. I said, 'No, it isn't. My material is hard-drinking, hard-loving misanthropes.'

"I'm publishing my third book next year -- a novel (Bearing the Body)."

Luke: "Do you keep any mitzvot [divine commandments]?"

Ehud: "I keep in mind the concept of a mitzvah as much as I can. A mitzvah to me is an act of generosity, a good idea. But I don't start with them as an injunction.

"My grandfather (Rabbi Samuel K. Mirsky) had a big shul in New York (at one time, he had the biggest Young Israel in the country, a thousand-member shul). We'd come back from shul on Friday night and all the grandkids would line up and he'd bless us. I give the same blessing to my boys. The older one accepts it readily and the younger one is bored and wants to go back to videogames."

Luke: "Do you eat pork and shellfish?"

Ehud: "Yes.

"The first time I ate non-kosher meat I thought I was going to get sick. Two of my sisters claim that they did get sick."

All fours kids left Orthodoxy.

Ehud: "I can't tell if I'm disappointing you."

Luke: "One advantage of your upbringing is that you always knew who you were."

Ehud: "No. The opposite. That's what was intended but I had an identity handed to me that I was supposed to emulate and I was never allowed to develop by myself. I grew up within a small intense internecine New York Jewish community.

"We had non-Jewish families living on our block but we had nothing to do with them.

"I was proud of my family. I thought we were like the Kennedys. We turned out to have their flaws.

"I wanted to write my own stories, not repeat the ones I was told. I wanted to write about people. I wanted to see the world and find myself. I had to go find my identity."

Luke: "What is your primary identity?"

Ehud: "Father."

"The breaking point between my father and me... As long as I stayed in the same landscape, we could argue about anything. When I said I'm leaving, we didn't have anything to talk about."

Luke: "Has he read your books?"

Ehud: "I'm sure he has. I just don't know how deeply.

"There's a scene in Like Never Before where David Birnbaum gets on the roof of the neighboring shul and dances on the ledge and taunting everybody in front of my father. That was completely made up. I used to go on the roof with friends, anything to get out of shul for a while, but I was terrified of heights. There was no way I would dance on the edge and taunt everybody.

"My father said to me, 'I remember that. I've always felt so guilty you were up there. I should've come up and gotten you but I just stood there and watched.'

"I wanted to say, 'That was the one thing that was completely made up,' but that is the one thing he feels the worst for."

"One of my favorite memories is when my father would tell Bible stories to Michael when he was five, six, seven, eight. It brought back my favorite memories of growing up. But part of modern life is that you don't live in the same village as your family. My mother died last year. I don't think my younger boy will remember her."

Luke: "Do you think your boys will become writers?"

Ehud: "My 18 year old has shown no such inclination. My younger boy, as far as lying and embroidering and wanting to hold everyone's attention, he certainly has that.

"I don't care what they become as long as they don't become neo-Nazis or go into advertising."

Luke: "I'm thinking about the advantages for a writer in coming from a particularistic background, an advantage that your children won't have."

Ehud: "Yeah. I do regret that there's no way I know to immerse my children in the ritual and culture I grew up in and hated most of the time. I have the memories of all the Succos and seders and the endless hours in shul on Yom Kippur. From age nine, my father would let me bring books of Jewish writers in to shul. He said, 'Sit down and shut up. Don't make a big deal out of it. But you can read those instead of daven.'

"I grew up as an unhappy troubled kid. I wouldn't do that to my kid. The system I was brought up in was repressive and did not give you the chance to find your own answers."

Luke: "It must kill your parents that all four kids left Orthodoxy."

Ehud: "It was hard for them, not just the ideological split..."

Luke: "But the practical..."

Ehud: "Yeah."

Luke: "Did they ever ask you -- 'Where did we go wrong?'"

Ehud: "No. It was more telling me where I went wrong.

"It was as frightening to them as if I had turned out to be gay. They weren't able to understand it. [Orthodox Judaism] was the most important thing in the world to them. 'How could you not want it?'"

Luke: "Is your wife Jewish?"

Ehud: "No."

Luke: "Did your parents come to the wedding?"

Ehud: "Yes.

"My first wife converted [to Judaism] of her own accord. She more into it than I was. She took Michael to Israel for his bar mitzvah. But my parents still had a lot of trouble with her. I would never blame them for the marriage not working out but they sure didn't help.

"I think they realized that."

"I don't go out of my way to read Jewish writers. I read 19th Century writers. I read what I need to write."

Superjux.com Hillary Breaks Down

I saw this one coming for months. She was dating a guy who did not remember her birthday and it's the straw that's broken the camel's back and she's on blogging hiatus. She's been in a downward spiral for months and it's made for fascinating reading in that car-crash way.

Hillary appears to comes from a close and caring family but her dating life is killing her.

"Low self-esteem and a bad upbringing comes in handy later in life," notes a friend.

There's a long comment thread on why the guy didn't call her on her birthday. My answer is -- he's just not that into you.

If admitting immigrants means making choices, CATHY SEIPP argues that even “moderate muslims” need to step to the end of the line

Anyway, you can’t avoid importing suicide bombers just by eschewing immigrants from fanatical backgrounds. Remember Raed Mansou Albanna? He was the Jordanian carbomber who, before finding Allah and blowing up 132 Iraqis outside a medical clinic a few months ago, apparently grew up in a secular home. Albanna was also a fun-loving Hollywood clubhopper for a spell, admitted to the U.S. on a tourist visa in early 2001 before returning to Jordan in late 2002.

So other than those who are actually fleeing persecution from Islam, the Free Speech Religion, or who have helped American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, I say keep them all out. Why should even the most festive Arab partyboy be allowed to take the place of one Mexican gardener?

Joy Comes in the Morning

This is a terrific novel by Jonathan Rosen.

The protagonist, Deborah, a Reform rabbi did not go to the mikveh, even though her ex-boyfriend Reuben, Orthodox, had asked her to. "The hypocrisy of his wishing to honor ritual purity while sleeping with her out of wedlock -- and after having explained to her why he could never marry her -- had astonished and depressed her." (pg. 222)

I've told at least a dozen women I've been with that I could not marry them (mainly because of our unbridgeable religious differences, yet I was happy to put aside such things to sleep with them).

They went to a seder hosted by a friend of Deborah, a Conservative rabbi named Wendy about whom Deborah...observed, "She'd be a better rabbi if her ass wasn't so big." (pg. 232)

Despite their somber garb, Orthodox men were the white rabbits of the religion, always rushing past -- late! late! late! -- except on Shabbas when they sauntered with time-killing ease. (pg. 243)

What's The Difference Between Young Orthodox Women In Los Angeles And Their Peers In The Rest Of The World?

One source of mine maintains that Orthodox women in L.A. (religious from birth, 18-24) tend to be more sheltered than their peers around the world.

Are Orthodox maideles from Brooklyn and West End Avenue and Riverside Drive less likely to be shocked by certain human realities than girls who grow up in L.A.? Are N.Y. Orthodox women more mature than their L.A. sisters? In New York City you take the subway and you see Orthodox girls everywhere. They cannot hide from the blend of humanity. How often, outside of a few blocks, do you see them in Los Angeles?

If you want to live Jewish and you are 18 and ambitious, you have to leave L.A. UCLA has not been able to maintain a critical mass of Orthodox Jews. There's no Stern College equivalent in L.A.

I'd like to hear from Orthodox men in Los Angeles who've flown to New York for a date. A friend of mine is researching this for a magazine article.

If an L.A. Orthodox girl is not married at 18, and not headed for an elite college or Israel, she may well languish at a community college.

If you are Orthodox and single in L.A., people assume there is something wrong with you. If you have something on the ball, you leave L.A.

I sense from my own observations that there are comparatively few Orthodox women in L.A. aged 18-24. Most of them seem to move to New York (upon graduating highschool and doing a year in yeshiva in Israel) to go to school and to find a husband. Many of my single Orthodox male friends in L.A. fly to New York for dates.

What's up with that? Why do Orthodox girls leave L.A. at 18 for Israel and New York? A part of the answer is that much of the best in the diaspora's Orthodox community, particularly among the youth, move to Israel.

New York's Jewish life is more intense than L.A.'s.

There's a much bigger Orthodox singles scene in Manhattan and New York than in L.A.

Yitz writes:

How come you don't launch at the 50 richest jewish families in L.A. and challenge them to endow a religious jewish college in Los Angeles? Why do orthodox rabbis at the SWC (Simon Wiesenthal Center) not use their rolodex to fund some sort of endeavor? Why won't YU make good on its 30 year old west coast expansion project.

I have a feeling that pico robertson jews like eating at pat's (most expensive kosher restaurant in L.A.) scarfing junk at munchies and reading their printouts at lectures than putting in the elbow grease necessary to create a full jewish orthodox community in Los Angeles. When high school grads leave L.A. for their year in Israel and then matriculate at YU, the chances that they will come back to L.A. are much less. They are more likely to end up in the hellholes back east like Passaic and Teaneck or make aliyah. Those who come back to L.A. are generally the ones who were coddled by their folks growing up and can't really make it in a foreign land. You would need many hands to count just how many wealthy jewish families in L.A. have children serving as COO of the family business back here after going back east to find a wife and a degree. Only the brats come back. The go-getters end up on Wall Street.

A Walk Through The Jewish Divorce Ceremony

An essay from In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction:

I am wearing a long black skirt, a white blouse with sleeves that cover my lascivious elbows, and a black sun hat. When my husband enters the room and sees me dressed in uncharacteristically ultramodest garb, reading Psalms, he chides, "Who the f--- do you think you're kidding?" (pg. 271)

...[T]hree rabbinic judges sit ensconced on cushioned chairs. They wear costumes -- black jackets, white shirts, grey beards, and black hats with wide rims. The rabbi on the left is immersed in reading a tome and does not look up when we enter the courtroom. The rabbi on the right is sucking his thumb. He avoids my incredulous stare, which he would have to interpret as lecherous, versed as he must be in rabbinic wisdom. The judge in the middle looks at my husband and me as if our whole sad history is incised on our foreheads. (pg. 272)

Rabbi Yitzchock Summers (Anshe Emes) To Sign With Shaarey Zedek?

That's what Shmarya reports. My sources say no decision has been made yet on who will be Shaarey's new rabbi. "The powers that be at S.Z. have promised us a rabbi with star power," says a Shaarey member. "The equivalent stature of Aron Tendler who was known around the world. It's not going to be Rabbi Summers. It might be Asher Brander."

Pico Robertson posts:

I wouldn't say that SZ is moving right. Let's face it--Anshe is "black" compared to all of the MO shuls in the "Teaneck of the West Coast" aka the Pico Robertson area. I think it is less political and more character driven. In character, the tame hearted Summers is a complete 180 from what Aron Tendler is / was. It is less hashkafic and more about the personality of the Rav that SZ wants.

LA Jew posts:

At the Town Hall Meeting that this news was broken at—the president of Anshe Emes suggested that Anshe consider keeping Rabbi Summers by establishing relationships with high paying people outside of it's walls who want to learn privately with the Rav—and by extension would then increase his salary to the one offered by the Valley Shul. Unfortunately, Anshe does not have, nor has it ever had in recent years an infrastructure that is necessary to produce outreach or appointment booking for it's solo Rav to learn outside of the Shul boundaries. It is a basic davening location, where it's members are pious and unfortunately straped for cash, time and energy. The vast majority of them live in apartments, and some homes in the area. The physical workings of the Shul are maintained by the handiwork of a few individuals who are dedicated.

Anshe member posts:

Rabbi Summers has not even had his shabbos interview at SZ. I know R' Brander has and I highly doubt that they would offer him the job before he spent a Shabbos with them. I was also at the [Anshe] town hall meeting. and I know the results of the money that they are trying to raise. If all it came down to were dollars and cents Rabbi Summers will be staying at Anshe.

Rabbis Are Like Strippers

"Everyone has a private spiritual core but only a few people exhibit it in public." (Joy Comes in the Morning, Jonathan Rosen)

I feel shame because I remember how close I was with them and then I feel how appalled they must've felt and feel when they realize who I am and what I've written. I tasted sanctity with them and then profaned their world.

Yaakov writes:

At least you had the good sense to withdraw from commotion. No one speaking out on such a topic ever sounds intelligent, instead we get everyone's ego and need to win the point or appear a certain way. The world will always make the Israelis look more violent than they are. Have you been to the website the augean stables? Very interesting exchanges there. And then this other very terrible thing, apparently some Israeli children were given permission to write on bomb shells aimed at Lebanon, Stars of David, insults. Terrible. Although we know this is not official policy, meanwhile the mullahs call us a virus and they hide their missiles in ordinary neighborhoods, inviting more death.

The way the issues link is almost beyond the expression power of language and words. For example I had a theoretical support for the Iraq war but never believed that the Republicans were the administration to succeed. And I was right. And for all that Michael Moore's film on 9/11 bothered me in its picture of happy Iraqis without admitting that Saddam Hussein was a bloody torturuer and murderer responsible for much pain, it was also true in that film that the Republican leadership did not expect their own children to fight in the war. And they still don't. How many American Jews who are Israeli hawks expect their own children to either join the IDF or the US Army when they come of age? And don't use the excuse that study in an Israeli yeshiva is equal to service.

Hot Young Chix - An Issue Facing The Nation

Often when I'm interviewed for documentaries there's some old geezer in charge and he's assisted by a couple of hotties. Do these chix get their jobs purely through their professional skills? Are they hired in part because of their looks? Do the geezers hire the chickies because they want to be around chickies (and possibly sleep with chickies) or because the geezers believe that their documentary subjects will be more likely to open up to chickies?

'What is the point of showing suffering Lebanese?'

That was Dennis Prager's angle Monday morning. He called such reporting "utterly unproductive."

"Is anyone making a difference [with Lebanese suffering]? Yes. Israel is making a difference because they are on the front line of the war against terror.

"Now you know why the world sees the U.S. and Israel as such villains. Because of television reporting.

"It's just cheap -- inexpensive, easy, it garners interest but it doesn't teach us anything. Are we so stupid that we don't know what the suffering of a child is about? I don't think that CNN in its history reported on one Tibetan child suffering under the Chinese.

"In WWII, the Germans would have allowed British and American cameramen to show German suffering.

"Every time you see an Arab child suffering, and it is a terrible thing when any child suffers [should show the terrorist attacks on Israel that provoked Israel's offensive].

"Is it the point of news to show the suffering of war? There's something voyeuristic about this. It's easy reporting. It's easy to rivet the human eye on to children suffering."

Prager says the Lebanese failed to control Hezbollah and thus brought this suffering (the Israeli attack) on themselves.

Why is the suffering of the Lebanese less newsworthy and less important than Israeli suffering?

Prager and Judaism would argue that's because the Jews are God's Chosen People and represent God on earth and serve as the world's miner's canaries revealing evil because evil focuses first on Jews.

`A Real Defining Moment'

Braving extreme heat, a crowd of Israel's supporters estimated at several thousand clogged Wilshire Boulevard, waving Israeli and American flags and cheering speakers who included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Both lamented civilian casualties in Lebanon but expressed strong support for Israel.

According to the Times lead paragraph, the primary thing that Israeli supporters did Sunday in Los Angeles was "clog" Wilshire Blvd. The verb chosen for the paper's lead sentence was "clogged." The subject of that sentence was "Israel's supporters."

I'm curious if those who support left-wing causes, such as the massive rallies a few months ago for illegal immigration, also "clogged" L.A. streets? Or do only Jews clog our town?

A search of "clog" on dictionary.com reveals only negative connotations to the word (and its variations), including:

1. To obstruct movement on or in; block up: Heavy traffic clogged the freeways.

2. To hamper the function or activity of; impede: “attorneys clogging our courts with actions designed to harass state and local governments”

A search of "clogged" (as well as "clog" and "clogging") on LATimes.com reveals that the newspaper has never used the word to describe any other rally in America (going back as far as March 24, 2002).

I'd be shocked if the Times ever described black or Latino protesters as "clogging" streets.

The Times story (by Teresa Watanabe and Valerie Reitman) only quotes Jews on the Left -- Rabbi Steven Jacobs, Jewish Journal Editor Rob Eshman, David N. Myers, Michael Berenbaum, Daniel Sokatch, and Zev Yaroslavsky.

The one possible exception is Jewish Federation L.A. leader John Fischel, who is difficult to place on the political spectrum but could certainly not be considered right of center.

Look at the second sentence of the story: "Both lamented civilian casualties in Lebanon but expressed strong support for Israel."

What kind of twisted thinking places lamenting civilian casualties in Lebanon in opposition to expressing strong support for Israel? Why did the Times choose the word "but" instead of "and"?

The Times evidently believes that lamenting civilian casualties in Lebanon is the opposite of expressing support for Israel.

Protect Israel By Thinking Pure Thoughts

Not only do I watch Fox News and pay my synagogue dues, but I also protect Israel by abstaining from female flesh.

Launched into my fifth decade of life, I don my kipa and tzitzit Sunday afternoon, sew my shirt together (first time I've picked up a needle in about a decade) and (skipping the sunblock because Psalm 121 says God will keep the sun from harming me, though, oy, we're in the days of the great slaughter, when the towers fall... the sunlight is seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days... with burning anger... his tongue is a consuming fire) haul my aching back to Wilshire and San Vicente Blvds to join 1,500 or so other Jews rallying for Israel.

I walk past a hundred people (about a quarter seem to be Jewish) rallying against Israel.

I hope there's a rumble.

I find a trash container in the shade (the temperature must be close to 100 degrees) and sit on it and read a book on creative non-fiction.

Anne Dillard advises me to not write about myself.

Though I'm a vegetarian, I check out the different ways my fellow Jews cope with the heat. The more Orthodox are completely covered up. Some look good. Some wear black suits. Most look dumpy.

The more secular Jews wear less but don't seem to cope with the heat any better for their bareness.

I see many religious Jews who make me feel ashamed. Some of them I hope will pass out before me but none do. Still, it's cool to watch your enemies suffer. I'm in the shade and I feel a breeze.

I see dozens of people I know but approach none of them. I don't want to come off as emotionally needy.

Who Would Jesus Bomb?

There's an enormous roar for the Governor.

A few anti-Israel protesters carrying the Palestinian flag wander by. A Jewish kid with a bullhorn tells them: "This is the wrong corner. Suicide bombers are on the other side of the street."

They leave.

If each of my loyal readers patronizes one fewer hooker this week and instead donates that money to Israel, together we can make a better world.

Mayor Villaraigosa's office is taking a tally as to whether the mayor should had attended Sunday's rally. mayor@lacity.org

Wow, I'm writing on the internet.

KS writes:

Hey Luke, You seem to be duplicitously involving yourself in the march supporting Israel. As though you went, but were not really involved, or went just as an observer. Interesting that this facet of your personality also seems to extend to your faith.

I have to tell you that I am less than impressed by Israel's conduct. I don't like the fact that Israel constantly falls back on its protector (the USA) when taking a tough stance. It's cowardly to speak boldly while your big brother stands behind you smacking his knuckles into his palm. It's even more pathetic when said big brother only associates with you for his own (political) expedience. What are your thoughts on Israel’s startling ability to cause maximum civilian carnage? Do they actually mistake those ice cream trucks for Hezbollah/Palestinian HQ's? At this point who is the oppressor/the oppressed?

I agree with President Bush who said after 9/11 that the United States will not distinguish between terrorists and those who harbor terrorists. Lebanon has chosen to harbor terrorists. So Lebanon will pay the price for choosing to make a deal with the devil (Hezbollah) just as Afghanistan and Iraq paid the price for harboring terrorists.

Israel got bombed. Israel now wants to destroy those who bomb it. That seems just. How would you like the United States to act if it got bombed by terrrorists in Canada or Mexico or Cuba?

Israel is doing the opposite of causing maximum civilian damage. If Israel wanted to cause maximum civilian damage, it would use its nuclear weapons and kill millions of people.

Author Steve Almond - Which Brings Me To You (Novel), The Evil B.B. Chow (short story collection, Candyfreak (non-fiction), My Life in Heavy Metal (short stories)

I call Steve (who blasted his nemesis Mark Sarvas, a fellow Jew, on Salon.com on Yom Kippur, Oct 13, 2005) Friday afternoon, July 21, 2006.

Steve: "My parents were psychiatrists. I don't think I wanted to do that. I've got lousy memory when it comes to my childhood. My earliest memory [about work] was that I'd work for a newspaper. I did that after college for almost a decade."

Then Almond got an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. "The MFA is the artificial welfare state for people who are passionate about writing and reading. There aren't many environments where people are word-drunk.

"People used to make a living at writing before MFAs were around, but then there were venues where you could make a living as a short story writer. The culture was a reading culture.

"There's more great writing than ever. There are just fewer readers."

Luke: "What was it like writing a novel with Julianna Baggott?"

Steve: "It was a thrill at the beginning. Then it got complicated and rancorous. That's what happens when you have two fragile narcissistic characters sharing a byline and a fictional world. We went at it fiercely. That was good for the book, to knock each other around. It wasn't pleasant. It was exhausting. The emotional veracity of those letters was predicated on Julianna and I putting each other through the wringer."

Luke: "Are you and Julianna a couple?"

Steve: "No. She's been married a dozen years. I just got married [to Erin, a writer from California]. But the writing of the novel was intense. We were in an intense relationship for six months. Would we want to write another book together? I can only guess that she would say no.

"My wife is a fan of Julianna's. I'm sure Julianna's husband heard a lot of 'That f---ing Steve Almond' comments. My wife heard a lot of 'Juliana's driving me crazy.' We each had someone in our corner to tell us to be less sensitive, that what matters is the book, to rub us down with salts and then send us back out into the middle of the ring to beat on each other more."

Luke: "How involved are you in Jewish life?"

Steve: "I write this crazy Jewish sex column. My wife tells me she's converting to Judaism. I've never believed in God. I'm deeply compelled by Jewish history. I identify culturally. My mom would use Yiddish words. They sneak their way into my work. I'm proud of the moral and intellectual tradition of Judaism.

"A lot of the great writers -- Philip Roth, Saul Bellow -- they have a Judaic perspective on life, an anguished apprehension of the suffering people go through in trying to love those around them.

"The Old Testament is the best writing on earth. It has the best stories.

"When I walk into a room, I'm drawn to the Jews. I usually recognize them. We have an attitudinal link to one another. It's the home team."

We talk about the internet.

Steve: "Any literary website has a certain amount of interviews, reviews and serious consideration of what interviews means. That's great. Then there's the other half -- the Fox News part -- malicious, gossipy, aggrieved, envious."

On May 12, 2006, Steve resigned from his writing position at Boston College after the university invited Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to speak.

Steve: "Boston College had a lousy record on gay rights and other things. Then I found out they were inviting Condoleeza Rice and I just thought it was a f---ing cynical thing to do. To cash in on her fame and make sure you get lots of donations and send the message to students that it is OK to lie as long as you get power."

Not only do I watch Fox News and pay my synagogue dues, but I also protect Israel by abstaining from female flesh.

Launched into my fifth decade of life, I don my kipa and tzitzit Sunday afternoon, sew my shirt together (first time I've picked up a needle in about a decade) and haul my bad back to Wilshire and San Vicente Blvds to join 5,000 or so other Jews rallying for Israel.

I walk past a hundred people (about a quarter seem to be Jewish) rallying against Israel.

I hope there's a rumble.

I find a trash container in the shade (the temperature must be close to 100 degrees) and sit on it and read a book on creative non-fiction.

Anne Dillard advises me to not write about myself.

Though I'm a vegetarian, I check out the different ways my fellow Jews cope with the heat. The more Orthodox are completely covered up. Some look good. Some wear black suits. Most look dumpy.

The more secular Jews wear less but don't seem to cope with the heat any better for their bareness.

I see many religious Jews who make me feel ashamed. Some of them I hope will pass out before me but none do. Still, it's cool to watch your enemies suffer. I'm in the shade and I feel a breeze.

I see dozens of people I know but approach none of them. I don't want to come off as emotionally needed.

There's an enormous roar for the Governor.

If each of my loyal readers patronizes one fewer hooker this week and instead donates that money to Israel, together we can make a better world.

Wow, I'm writing on the internet.

My Parents Went Through the Holocaust and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt: A Near-Life Experience by Suzan Hanala Stadner

Hanala calls me at 4 p.m. Friday, July 21.

Luke: "How has your life been affected by the publication of your book?"

Hanala: "It's surreal. I wrote it for ten years. It's like being pregnant for ten years. I finally gave birth. So now it is tremendous relief but are you going to like my baby. I've yet to get a bad review."

During her AA meetings (Hanala's been sober for 23 years), she often sketches. "I have a recurring theme of a little girl pulling her hair out. That was me expressing how I really felt. One of them had this T-shirt that said, 'My parents went through the Holocaust...'"

Luke: "Could you walk me through a typical day in your life?"

Hanala: "I'm a spin instructor. I used to weigh 160 pounds. I will either teach a class or take a class [in the morning]. Dealing with depression my whole life, I need the endorphins. I don't think I'd be sober today if it weren't for the gym.

"I'm doing a lot of interviews and promotion. It used to be that I was writing all day, or not writing and feeling guilty. Dating. Until a year ago, a lot of my days were taken up with my husband. I was in an 18-year marriage. I left last year. Leaving him was like getting sober all over again.

"I have a drug and alcohol counseling business.

"What I hate about my life: I hate hormones. My head gets busy telling me that I'm not doing enough, that I'm getting old. 'Have you looked at the cellulite? Have you checked out the wrinkles?'

"I've realized I should never try to solve my big problems after 8 p.m. After that, my head isn't working. Everything is so dark. I still have nightmares. My parents used to scream in their sleep. My father screamed in his sleep then we all screamed when he was awake. My mother says she still screams about the Nazis. I showed her my house in the Pacific Palisades with a gorgeous view down the ravine to the ocean. And fifty years after the war, she said, 'There are a lot of places to hide. The Nazis would never find me here.'"

Luke: "How do you feel about getting older?"

Hanala: "I'm not. I'm getting younger because I teach spin and I periodically get my face sandblasted (laser). I came to LA to get into TV and instead I got a tan. Unfortunately, that translates into skin damage. That's starting to show. But they have these wonderful things that are very painful and expensive but I'm willing to pay the price for my mistakes in the past."

Luke: "Anything you like about getting older?"

Hanala: "I have the kind of self-confidence that I thought only other people could have. Now I can talk to you and have a good time. In the past, I would've been sweating."

Luke: "When you date, do you tell people your real age?"

Hanala: "I'm openly telling people that I'm the child of Holocaust survivors, so we know I'm not 30. Yeah, it's hard to say. I like when people see me first. And then go, 'Wow, you look great!' Rather than me saying how old I am and then they're looking."

Luke: "What do you love and hate about dating again?"

Hanala: "I hate feeling lonely. But I felt lonely in my 18-year marriage and there's nothing worse than feeling lonely when you're with someone because not only are you lonely, but you're stuck. With being single, there's the hope that I will find someone who's funny.

"I have a feeling that once I'm doing more of what I want to do, once I get back to television, and next time real TV instead of cable access, I will meet a lot more people and the whole dating thing will become more natural. I'll know who I'm about to date because he's a popular TV star like me. We'll know each other. And then we'll do movies and sleep with other people."

Luke: "How do you feel about monogamy?"

Hanala: "I believe in monogamy. I was monogamous for the 18 years of my marriage. I don't believe my husband cheated on me. He didn't have the self-worth. He didn't believe that any other woman would have him."

Luke: "What does it mean to you to be on TV?"

Hanala: "I'm comfortable in front of an audience. TV is my dream job."

Luke: "Do you feel most alive when you're on camera?"

Hanala: "Yeah. I love it."

"My parents are hysterical. When I asked my mother why she married my father, she said, 'He dressed nice and he had a bike.'

"My sister is as funny as a chair. She has no sense of humor."

Luke: "Your time as a [community access] TV host has prepared you for interviews."

Hanala: "I didn't do too much interviewing on my show. It was all about me. I was more of a storyteller.

"I talk in my book about how my mother is narcissistic. If my mother wasn't cold, I didn't need a sweater. I picked up some of that narcissism. If your needs aren't being met, you learn to get them met any way you can."

Luke: "How did your ex-husband react to your book?"

Hanala: "He's heard about it. People have told him that I didn't pain him in the best light but he can't make himself read the book, just like he can't make himself see our dog. It's too painful.

"There's so much I didn't tell because I don't want to hurt him. He probably didn't like me telling certain stories but tough. Let him write his own book."

Luke: "Do you participate in Jewish life?"

Hanala: "I went to services a couple of times because I have a friend -- Rabbi Mintz at Chabad of Bel Air. His wife is the best cook in Los Angeles. But I'm more spiritual than religious. But I'm very religious. If I had to pick one religion, I'd be a Jubu (Jewish and Buddhist)."

Luke: "When you say you are very Jewish, what do you mean?"

Hanala: "My first language is Yiddish. If you saw me now, you'd see how my hands are moving through the air. Within two minutes of meeting me, you know my parents are Holocaust survivors. I talk about Jewish issues. Guilt -- the gift that keeps on giving. My sense of humor is very Jewish."

Luke: "Where are you and God these days?"

Hanala: "We're tight. I breathe God in. It's not like God is separate from me. I believe God is present in me unless I shut him/her/it out through negative thinking and hormones. Hormones will keep God away.

"I believe in karma. If you do things you are not proud of, you will suffer for them. I can't afford to have my self-esteem go down. That's how God gets me.

"God is about love. What happened in Nazi Germany was because there was no God because there was no love. Fear took over. Fear kills love."

Luke: "How many years of therapy have you had?"

Hanala: "Oh God, I could've bought a Rolls. With my therapist, it's been about eight years. If you saw where I came from... A lot of people say, 'Isn't that a long time? Don't you think you've had enough of that?'"

Luke: "What have you learned from therapy?"

Hanala: "Being raised by Holocaust parents, I learned that my silly feelings should be ignored. I had no right to feel bad, "Is a Nazis chasing you?" As I said in the book, Hitler spoiled my parents for regular suffering. So, in therapy I learned that my feelings WERE important, therefore I was important. After all, if we're not our feelings, what are we here for, to be money-making robots?"

Molly Jong-Fast Interview

She's the daughter of Erica Jong (Fear of Flying) and novelist-professor Jonathan Fast.

She calls me Tuesday, July 17, 2006 at 1:24 p.m. PST.

Luke: "What effect did your memoir (The Sex Doctors in the Basement) have on your life?"

Molly: "I was walking down the street the other day with my mom and we went past [actor] Marisa Berenson [article] and she looked so pissed. I can never go to 57th Street anymore because Joan Collins lives on 57th Street. There's a BLT restaurant on 57th Street and I won't eat there anymore because Joan Collins eats there.

"It's made me even more paranoid than I was before and more neurotic.

"People hate me now. I've always been working for that.

"You get more people hating you for a successful book than for a book that says questionable things about them. Nobody's jealous of me. They'd be insane to be. They may be annoyed with me.

"I'm as cynical as I can be. I always thought that at 19, because I'd been a drug addict, alcoholic, in every casino, had an affair with every creepy psycho, but now I'm even more jaded.

"That's good news."

Luke: "Were there juicy stories you hung back on because you didn't want to lose friends?"

Molly: "Losing friends was not my motive. Being sued [was her motive for holding back on some stories].

"I will probably never write a memoir again because I've probably exhausted anything interesting about my life.

"Between my mom and I mining the same [material]. She got a DUI three years ago in LA. I really wanted to write about it. She wouldn't tell me, not because she was embarrassed, but because she wouldn't want me to scoop her. I knew something had happened. She came home early.

"She wrote about it in her book and it pissed me off because I had always wanted a DUI and never gotten one. When I was an adolescent drug addict, I always hoped that some day I would find myself in jail.

"I never did. It's very hard as a white semi-affluent...to find yourself in jail. My mother was able to accomplish something yet again that I could not. It's heartbreaking."

Luke: "How may years of your life have you spent in therapy?"

Molly: "Minus three? But I don't know that that's the measure of crazy anymore, unfortunately. I wish it were. Things would be more clear."

Luke: "Have you ever had sex with any of your shrinks?"

Molly: "No. It's New York. You'd have to find a really f---ed up shrink for that. My psychotic meter is good enough that I'd probably spot that."

Luke: "That's not something you've tried to bring about."

Molly: "No. I'm very appropriate about that kind of thing. I'm the opposite of my mother.

"I was wild with drugs. She was wild with sex."

Molly stands 5'8".

Luke: "How much of your life were you overweight?"

Molly: "Some."

Luke: "At what age did you get that under control?"

Molly: "It's something you always deal with."

Luke: "How has it affected your writing?"

Molly: "It is one of the best thing going for me. It's something that most women struggle with. The more rarefied I am, the less useful I am. I know a lot of writers who, the more successful they got, lost contact with anyone who wasn't a sycophant. They wouldn't interact with normal people. Their experience became less valuable. As writers, the most important thing we have going is observing other people's lives. The least important thing is what's going on with us.

"Issues about my appearance have dogged me, even into my years as a married person. I'll never get closed off from that because I'll never be that successful."

Luke: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Molly: "I don't even know what I want to be now. I go through periods of wanting to do something worthwhile in the world, such as a decorator. Of course there's nothing worthwhile that attracts me. I'm not good at anything.

"I'm getting you so depressed. I feel like I get everybody so depressed lately.

"It used to be that people would hate me and then they'd meet me and say, 'You're so nice.' Now people meet me and say, 'I'm so sorry for you.'"

Luke: "What about an English teacher?"

Molly: "I'm very dyslexic. And I get weirdly into helping people and they'd be living in our house..."

Luke: "What were your parents expectations for you?"

Molly: "I don't know. They didn't really have any. I was able to start a cycle of disappointment at an early age."

Molly attended highschool at Riverdale Country in the Bronx. "My mother had been a brilliant academic. My father had been an incredible musician and admitted to Princeton on his musical ability. My grandmother had this crazy marriage where Dashiell Hammett had been in love with her and tried to run off with her. She'd gone off with Madame Curie. You can never live up to that.

"I was this lackluster drug addict student whose friends were druggies. The school was JAPpy.

"Ohmigod, I'm making myself so depressed. Usually I have this pathology where I can talk about my life with complete and utter abandon, with a pathological attachment to it where 'This happened and then that happened...'"

Molly used drugs from 12-19.

Luke: "What do you love and hate about Jewish life?"

Molly: "I'm not very Jewish. We're members of a [Reform] synagogue and I've become exponentially more bourgeois in my adult life. I like that you're not allowed to swallow and no crucifixes and no little pictures of Jesus. I would not be cool with a lot of religious art.

"Reform Judaism. What's not to like?"

Luke: "Will you send your son to Hebrew school?"

Molly: "I don't know. I was never bat mitzvahed. I never went to Hebrew school."

Luke: "Is your husband Jewish?"

Molly: "Yes. It's great. We have all the Jewish genetic diseases. We have a one in four chance of having a baby that's going to die. People say, 'You have such great genes.' I have horrible genes."

Luke: "What's been your relationship to Judaism?"

Molly: "When I discovered I was Jewish at 13, I was shocked. It's pretty great. With Reform Judaism, there's not much to swallow. I grew up ostensibly Catholic. My nanny raised me Catholic. I know the Rosary."

Luke: "Can you say it?"

Molly: "I could probably. 'Our father who art in Heaven...' Oh, that's the wrong words. The Rosary is the one with Mary.

"I've had enough Rosary beads. I've never taken communion. That would be a sacrilege. But I've gone to church. I've prayed on my knees. I think I know more about Catholicism than many Catholics."

Luke: "Has God played any role in your life?"

Molly: "He hasn't struck me down, but no, not especially. I have some belief in God but I'm too embarrassed to talk about it. I'd much rather talk about being a drug addict."

Molly went to NYU and Barnard but did not graduate. She doesn't drink or smoke or lend her bum to other blokes.

Luke: "[Tobacco] is a gateway drug."

Molly: "A gateway to fun and happiness. I can't do it because I have a small child.

"You can't hate yourself with the same kind of zeal when you have a child. The love I have for him is exponentially greater than the love I have for anyone else in the world."

Luke: "Including your husband?"

Molly: "Yeah. And my husband feels the same way. If I had to save Max or him, I'd save Max. He'd save Max too. We've had that conversation."

Luke: "What have you learned from being written about?"

Molly: "Not to Google myself. I haven't done it in two years.

"I care. Part of me is like, 'I'm nice. Why don't you like me?'

"I've had a lot of people interview me who did not like me and I've been able to turn it. I'm a junkie. I know how to do that.

"But if I know how to do that, why haven't I gotten further in life? Shouldn't I be able to do anything?"

Luke: "Your next book?"

Molly: "It's gorey. It's upsetting. I hope all the fancy program ladies will stop talking to me after this. The hope is to alienate everyone."

Luke: "Isn't it tough to write something gorey when you have a kid?"

Molly: "No. I pride myself on my ability to compartmentalize."

Luke: "You don't think about your kid reading your books?"

Molly: "No, because I never read any of my mother's books. They didn't interest me.

"Do you have enough?"

Luke: "One more question. Would you rather have written a great book or have a great marriage?"

Molly: "It seems like neither is ever going to happen. I guess I'd rather have a great marriage. I'd rather be happy than successful or famous. That's the one lesson of my childhood."

Luke: "Why did you keep your name and not take your husband's?"

Molly: "That was never going to happen. That's not even a real question, is it? Why didn't I get my husband to change his name? I wanted our son's name to be hyphenated but he put his foot down."

From Molly's New York Times wedding announcement of November 2, 2003:

Molly Miranda Jong-Fast, the daughter of the writer Erica Jong of New York and Jonathan Fast of Cos Cobb, Conn., was married last evening to Matthew Adlai Greenfield, the son of Connie and Stewart Greenfield of Westport, Conn. Rabbi Sarah Reines officiated at the New York Palace Hotel.

Ms. Jong-Fast, 25, is keeping her name. She is a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts degree in English at Bennington College. She is a freelance magazine writer and the author of a novel, ''Normal Girl'' (Villard, 2000). Her mother's most recent novel is ''Sappho's Leap'' (W. W. Norton). Her father is an assistant professor of social work at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York. The bride is the stepdaughter of Kenneth D. Burrows, a partner in Bender Burrows & Rosenthal, a New York law firm, and of the Rev. Barbara Fast, the associate minister of the Unitarian Church in Westport.

Mr. Greenfield, 39, is an assistant professor of English at the College of Staten Island in Willowbrook. He is also a poet and an editor of ''Edmund Spenser: Essays on Culture and Allegory'' (Ashgate Publishing, 2000). He graduated from Yale, from which he also received master's and Ph.D. degrees in English literature.

His father, who retired as the chairman of Oak Investment Partners, a venture capital firm in Westport, is the chairman of the Alternative Investment Group, a management firm in Southport, Conn. The bridegroom's mother retired as the chairwoman of the zoning and planning commission in Westport.

Dawn Eden writes:

One day during that summer of 1999, I returned home to my Hoboken, N.J., apartment after a day of work to find an odd message from a man from my past. It went something like this, in a voice that sounded like James Cagney after gargling with gravel: "Hello, Dawn, this is Mike McPadden ..." He sighed. "...Selwyn Harris."

I knew the name all right. A blast from the past. I even knew how he'd gotten the moniker; he'd named himself after the last two old-fashioned seedy movie houses left in Times Square back in the early Nineties, when he started his sex-industry fanzine. The publication was named Happy Land, in a sick reference to the 1990 fire at an illegal Bronx social club.

...I hadn't heard from Mike — then calling himself Selwyn — after having a few seemingly promising dates. A mutual acquaintance informed me that there was a simple reason for the silence: The man I'd considered a potential beau had neglected to tell me that he had a girlfriend all along.

Another Steve writes Dawn:

A hollow laugh escapes me when MM claims "God doesn't hate my predilection for eyeballing nudies, I concluded, nor anybody else's."

Would Mike eyeball these nudies if they were a member of his immediate family? Wife, Mother, Sister, daughter? Would he? Really???

There's a real dislocation in his values system somewhere.

Yaakov writes:

I found your website by way of your Zaggat guide to the shuls of Los Angeles. I was amazed that anybody under the age of 75 still remembers the Playboy Rabbi of Temple Emanuel. So many years ago! What a sad story, he was actually a very gifted rabbi who excited many young people to continue Jewish studies, and yet, over time, he proved to be criminal, ending his career under accusations of embezzlement at the City of Hope. I knew him casually then. Reform Judaism in his day was very different from how it is practiced now, there was a defiance against tradition. Things...have changed, but that's the beauty of Judaism, that over the three millenia we have thrived, lost, adapted, regrown, followed destructive paths, returned to growing paths. I am always hopeful for us, since maintaining joy and hope is so much better than despair, and despair is a sin. We have a few days a year mandated for grief, and so many more mandated for joy and satisfaction.

Finding the guide to the shuls led me to read deeper into your blog. You have a great enthusiasm for literature and writers who I have not had the pleasure of previously encountering. What a fine writer you have found in Nathan Englander.

I wish to add a few old cents to some of the other issues you raise, if I may. When Joseph and his brothers met behind closed doors in the palace, they cried so loudly that their cries were heard throughout the palace. There's an interesting midrash on this: Jews should keep their voices down when crying among themselves. I'm afraid that this whole issue you have raised over the sexual crimes of some rabbis approaches the violation of that principle.

One of the basic attacks on the Jews, which you can find in Mein Kampf and on the internet, is the connection between Jews and pornography. I refuse to Google such sites anymore, but it's easy enough for you to find them. A few basic realities: Jew haters make no distinction between secular and religious, Haredi and Reconstructionist. They would make no distinction between the Jews who make porn (and let's not avoid a dismal truth, there are indeed many Jews in porn in the San Fernando Valley), and a Jew who maintains a website devoted to gossip about porn that takes, or took, advertising from porn. Such distinctions, the anti Semites say, are a form of Jewish reasoning that is a demonstration of the Jewish poison.

Vicki Polin's transcript from Oprah belongs to a discredited world of recovered memories, and the specifics of her charges of flesh eating and Satanic abuse under a Jewish cult actually follows a script that seems to have been written in the 1950's, about a Jew who survived the camps and brought a child abuse cult to America. Again, this can be researched. Tremendous damage, lives ruined, followed this belief in the uniimpeachable memories of abused children.

An interest in the sex lives of porn stars must have included watching a fair amount of porn. This is unhealthy. You seem to have transferred your interest in the sex lives of other people from porn to the rabbinate. Your long posting about the Gay Mafia in Hollywood is also reflective of what I think is an unhealthy preoccupation.

The groups that are pursuing the sex lives of rabbis are not working from pure motives, nor from a position of Torah. And I say this knowing that there are many sins that have been covered. I was privileged to know Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and when the accusations against him were made, I was terribly saddened. And many rabbis defended him, or at least made light of the charges. And yet... and yet his melodies have done more to bring Jews of all kind back to the prayer and shul than any single force in the world Jewry in the last thirty years. The shabbatons you mention as necessary for bringing Jews back to Torah, as you sketch it out, feel like the kind of punitive brainwashing workshops in an EST weekend.

I haven't read all of your words, but I don't see anywhere in your writing a sense of the simple joy of Judaism. It is said that the plague of darkness was so thick, the Egyptians couldn't move, and yet they say the shabbos lights of the Jewish tables, in the houses of the slaves. Where, in your writing, is that light? What elected you to be an avenging angel, in partnership with some dubious people? The list of rabbis among whom Saul Berman signed his name are men of Torah and probity.

No one is unimpeachable. This is a lesson of Judaism. None of us are without sin and for our sins, all of us beat our chests, but lightly, on Yom Kippur, singing a very gentle melody, remember that, the melody of the al cheit is gentle, like a lullaby. You make a joke about seduction and interviewing, but in light of the rest of what you are concerned with, it's not so funny, Luke, not at all. To seduce by interview is a form of coercion, an abuse of power, especially if the interview is a technique you use like a weapon, instead of freely exhchanging heart and vulnerability with a woman. Boned? Is that the best word to come from a man who condemns rabbis about whom he may be wrong? You're forty and are you married?

If you were in my community I don't think you'd be likely to find a bride among any of the fine, educated women who are frum from birth. Their fathers and mothers would not allow it, not because you were once involved with porn, but because your interest in the sex lives of others hasn't changed position in your heart, only in your focus.

Forget all of that! Become a great booster of Jewish writers. Stay out of the debates over modernity and Orthodoxy; this debate has raged from the beginning of our people. You might condemn Hokmah ha Goyim, but there are more than 800 Greek words in the Talmud. The Rambam brought Judaism into what was then modernity by stripping Judaism of what he thought of as superstition, using Greek philosophy as a lens, and then coming back with books whose depths are still to be found. The Shulchan Aruch was a scandal in its day, heavily criticized. The Haredi descend from the Hasidim, in whose founding generations the forbears of the rabbis we call Orthodox today were informing on their leaders for apostasy. Christianity was founded by men who were enraged by the hypocrisy of the Priests, so much so that like adolescents everywhere, they gored their fathers with a religion they knew would enrage them.

I am a great admirer of the Chabad movement, with one important reservation: they still speak of their last rebbe in the present tense. A disappointed messianic movement is not unknown to Judaism, and I am not the first to expect that in a hundred years they will not be recognizably Jewish. And yet, these rabbis open their homes to Jews of no practice, and teach and encourage and add a mitzvah at a time, with no expectation of full fledged membership in the, well, sect, cult, or tribe. Many great teachers have computers with pictures that they wouldn't want exposed.

Many great men have unbearable urges, as Mr. Englander knows, and they wear black and go to a city where they are not known. The definition of adultery in Judaism, the traditional definition, is sex with a married Jewish woman. Is that an exculpation? Is that fair? Many great men and women, great teachers, great artists, great leaders, have lived in ways that are not spiritual. We can't expect perfection; in fact the expectation of perfection is Christian, not Jewish. We do not have perfect saints. Jacob, my ancestor and yours, barely survived his battle with his shadow. And if he barely survived, how can men such as you and I expect more from others than we can expect from ourselves?

The private lives of adults are their own business except under the specific situation of pastoral counsellors and therapists abusing the trust of those who come to them for help. In some states this is a crime, in others a lapse of professional ethics subject to some penalties. The abuse of minors is a crime.

Stop worrying about sexual misconduct, for your own health. Find something vital that will help you grow and be attractive to the kind of women who want only to spend their lives with a man who loves books so much that a great book makes him want to vomit. I like that kind of paradox.

Live with enthusiasm. This will be bring you love.

I know personally some of the men you are siding with. Some of them are not invulnerable. Some of them, I think are misguided. But even where I disagree with them, or I'm waiting for certain shoes to drop, at the same time, I know them by their services, by their communities, yes, and by their shabbatons, and I have spent many hours learning with them. Disputing, too, but learning. And when/if some problems catch up with them, I hope I have the strength to stand by them and offer whatever I can to help them make teshuvah, with the least interruption to the life of our community, and by community, I mean, from Pico Robertson to Williamsburg, from Pacific Palisades to Miami Beach, and from all of those regions, to Eretz Yisroel.

Shlomo taught a great lesson, that every Jew has to love to love every Jew, and yet this is hard for, and I can't underline this but.. for all of us. Hard for all of us. He joked, "There's a Jew in Alaska, I like him, I don't know him, but I like him." We have to love each other. This may sound weak to an avenger, but among a few truths I think I've learned, it's near the top.

My best wishes and I hope you find an exciting Jewish woman to raise a family with, and have children who learn Torah with the enthusiasm you have for literature.

It's not Friday, but I like to say it anyway, "Gut shabbes, Luke Ford."

What Is Modern Orthodoxy?

The Modern Orthodox rabbi packed in his Modern Orthodox congregants Saturday afternoon as he told them what Modern Orthodoxy was -- "The Harder Path, but the Right Path."

The air conditioning was delicious. The food was delicious. The self-satisfaction was delicious.

"We are right," they thought.

Modern Orthodoxy has been losing the war with its more religious counterparts over the past 40 years. Most teachers at Orthodox day schools are religiously right-wing and a substantial portion of Modern Orthodox kids are either becoming charedi (fervently Orthodox) or leaving Orthodoxy.

The rabbi definied Modern Orthodoxy as a "dynamic engagement with Modernity" from a base that accepts that the Torah is the word of God and that the rabbinic tradition (particularly the 15th century legal code Shulchan Aruch) is authoritative.

The rabbi said "Modern" is not a diminutive.

In the real world, the more an Orthodox Jew emphasizes that he's Modern, the less observant and Torah-knowledgeable he tends to be. "Modern" in Orthodoxy tends to be a cop-out. It usually operates as an excuse to get out of observing (and believing in) inconvenient parts of the tradition.

Every Jewish religious movement (from Reconstructionist to Reform to Conservative to Orthodox) claims to be the hardest, though in practical fact, the more religious, the more rigorous behavior is required. We can't judge the difficulty of the intellectual rigors a Jew puts himself through. We can only gauge behavior and behavior shows that the more religious deny themselves more of the pleasures of the secular world while doing a better job of keeping their kids Jewish.

Far Rockaway, Queens, used to be a bastion of Modern Orthodoxy. Kids grew up in the seventies rarely davening mincha (the afternoon prayers). Now Far Rockaway is a charedi bastion.

The rabbi said Modern Orthodoxy has three distinguishing characteristics:

* It welcomes truth from any source.

Hmm. Everybody says they accept truth from any source. Modern Orthodoxy by definition does not accept truth from any source. It only accepts those non-Jewish truths that don't clash with Orthodoxy's essential beliefs, such as divinity of the Torah and the historicity of the Exodus from Egypt. For instance, the Rabbi Joseph Hertz chumash (Pentateuch with commentary) only contains non-Orthodox commentary when it supports Orthodox positions. By contrast, the Artscroll Chumash (charedi) contains no Gentile commentary.

* Places a premium on human dignity. Thus hearing aids are allowed on Shabbat and women's prayer groups, bat mitzvahs (bar mitzvah ceremonies for girls are only 80 years old) etc.

The problem with this argument is that "human dignity" is a flexible conception and common sense argues that it must be balanced against numerous other considerations such as moral standards and Jewish law.

* Accepts reality and does not try to fit it into a comfortable preconception.

For example, Modern Orthodoxy does not look at the vast majority of Jews who are not Orthodox as people who need to be brought to the truth through such things as Shabbatons about the Torah codes. Modern Orthodoxy understands that most Jews are not Orthodox as a result of the Enlightenment, rationalism, the Holocaust, etc.

Marc D. Stern writes in Tradition magazine (36:2):

"It is a commonplace in the Orthodox community to denounce feminism, but that movement has worked profound positive changes...

"...Do we oppose equal pay for equal work for women (though too many yeshivot do not implement that policy in paying teachers, which may help explain a shortage of women teachers in yeshiva)? Are we for tolerating sexual harassment of women in the workplace? Do we advocate the unrestricted availability of pornography? Substantial progress has been made against these unacceptable behaviors, not because the Shulhan Aruch forbids them but because feminist fought against them in the name of equality.

"The attack on sexual harassment would not have been brought about by citing Even he-Ezer, nor the war on pornography won by invoking hilkhot tseni-ut. (One such effort by Agudath Israel to remove offensive ads from subway cars has gone on for years unsuccessfully, running up against cries of censorship and religious impositions)."

The rabbi said Modern Orthodoxy was not rollerskating with a yarmulke on or studying Torah at Starbucks. He said these were flip characterizations of Modern Orthodoxy that do no justice to its intellectual and moral seriousness.

The rabbi said the essence of Modern Orthodoxy was struggling to engage with the wider world from within the authentic Orthodox tradition.

I contend that only intellectuals want to intellectually struggle, and they're numbers are never going to account for more than 1% of a religious denomination. Any religion based on such struggle is not going to work. Most people will do what they do because of habit. Most people will try to lead the meaningful part of their lives with people such as themselves (meaning that most Orthodox Jews are only going to interact with Gentiles and the non-Orthodox to earn a living, and then, because of Orthodoxy's strict laws, it's only easy to relate to fellow Orthodox Jews in an intimate way).

If Modern Orthodoxy is based on intellectual struggle, it's going to fail because only about 1% of its members are going to intellectually struggle, and of those who do struggle, some will leave Orthodoxy all together and others will leave Modern Orthodoxy to become more religious.

"Modern Orthodox" is a contradiction in terms. They are incompatible if you take either Modernity or Orthodoxy seriously. When the Modern Orthodox study sacred text, they do so as though the Englightenment never happened. Then they go earn their living and seek out their entertainment (with substantial exceptions) as though they weren't Orthodox.

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein writes:

"Who can fail to be inspired by the ethical idealism of Plato, the passionate fervor of Augustine, or the visionary grandeur of Milton? Who can remain unenlightened by the lucidity of Aristotle, the profundity of Shakespeare, or the incisiveness of Newman?"

That's easy to answer. Almost everybody. Only intellectuals are moved by such writers. Only intellectuals give a damn about Milton and Newman and co.

Second. It makes no difference to the moral level of a person's behavior whether or not he appreciates "the ethical idealism of Plato" or the "incisiveness of Newsman." Most people are not morally improved by studying great thinkers. They are morally improved by fearing God and what their friends, family and community will say.

Third. What Rav Aharon Lichtenstein (a Ph.D. in English, he wrote a thesis on Milton) provides are beautiful words that feel good to hear but signify nothing. Modern Orthodoxy is shot-full of such intellectual pretensions (see Saul Berman). When the rubber hits the road, it is deed that matters over creed, and that's where the Modern Orthodox are losing to the Charedi Orthodox.

Appreciation of Milton and Plato is never going to make a difference to a Jewish religious movement. These are esoteric concerns of intellectuals far removed from the moral struggles of ordinary humans.

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein wrote: "There is hokmah ba-goyim, and we ignore it at our loss."

The Modern Orthodox Jew (literate in Hebrew and adept at leading prayers) reading this section out loud to the group could not pronounce "hokmah ba-goyim" because he did not know what it was.

It means the wisdom of the non-Jews.

I love what Rav Aharon Lichtenstein writes (Leaves of Faith, pg. 94):

"To deny that many fields have been better cultivated by non-Jewish than Jewish writers is to be stubbornly, and unnecessarily, chauvinistic. There is nothing in our medieval poetry to rival Dante, and nothing in our modern literature to compare with Kant, and we would do well to admit it."

The Modern Orthodox rabbi said people should be conflicted and troubled by homosexuality because on the one hand people may be born that way, but on the other hand the Torah condemns that behavior.

But what's the conflict? Homosexual behavior is a sin. And let's be real -- it is a far more serious sin for a man than most sins because it takes him away from having a traditional family life, the bedrock of Judaism and civilization.

There was an awkward moment during question time when the religiosity of a specific and well-known (in the community) child was raised as part of a challenge against Modern Orthodoxy.

Teen's Slaying Highlights Robertson Boulevard as a Brutal Border

Slain teen lived on gritty east side of Robertson; to the west is a wealthy area with far less crime.

In the area around Hamilton High School, the distance of a few city blocks can mean the difference between a million-dollar home on a tree-lined street and a block of dense apartments struggling with crime and blight.

The slaying earlier this week of 16-year-old Hamilton student Ana Interiano has evoked sadness over her loss but also highlighted a stark economic and social divide along a stretch of Robertson Boulevard on the Westside.

On the west side of Robertson are the affluent communities of Beverlywood and Cheviot Hills, where the choicest real estate approaches Beverly Hills standards.

A Times analysis of last year's LAPD crime records tells the tale: There were 121 assaults and robberies in the neighborhood around Cadillac Avenue east of Robertson Boulevard. To the west of the boulevard, there was one robbery and no assaults.

Why Do Rockers Wear Such Tight Pants?

I'm watching over and over again my DVDs of Journey and Air Supply and I feel uncomfortable about the tightness of these guys' pants. What's up with that? Surely it's not healthy. Maybe that's why these blokes look so haggard today.

I can't ask my friends about this because they'd say I'm a fag.

The Interview as Seduction

I've been interviewed over 100 times and I always give a better interview to an attractive woman (though I've never had sex or even kissed anyone who's interviewed me). I want to be swept away by an interview, to forget myself, to get excited and be charmed and enthralled by my interviewer. I want her to see things in me that I don't see in myself.

I hang my head with shame when I reflect that there have been several women I've interviewed who I've ended up seducing (though never on the spot). I know this is a violation of my Jewish and professional ethics, but it's a lot of fun, and frankly without some sexual tension, it's hard to get a great interview.

On the other hand, I've never seduced a woman without (informally) interviewing her.

Oh, the shame! The obloquy! What would Kevin Roderick do? I bet he's never boned anyone he's interviewed. I must do better.

I fear I have taken the journalistic commandment to massage a source too literally.

'May God Bring Salvation'?

I was listening to Dennis Prager Friday morning. He said he doesn't look to God to bail us out. If we don't take care of Islamic terrorism, it will destroy us.

I went to a rally for Israel Thursday afternoon. We recited Psalms (I've never cared for the Psalms, ugg) exhorting God to bail us out.

Friday morning, I got an email from a rabbi full of practical suggestions of what we can do for Israel during this time of war.

Then he closed by saying: "May God bring salvation."

I know religious people are supposed to talk this way (the more religious you are Jewishly, the more you hold by divine providence), but I don't buy it. I don't believe that God will bring salvation for our terrorism problem. It is up to us to bring salvation. God has told us what is right and wrong. Ultimately, God will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. But I don't think God is going to bail us out of our Islamic problem or our personal problems. If we are in a bad relationship, it is up to us to improve it or get out. If we are able-bodied and don't have a job, it is up to us to get a job. If we are bipolar, it is up to us to get a doctor and get on medication.

I don't blame God one bit for the Holocaust. I blame Germans and Europeans. I don't blame God for Islam-launched rockets falling on Israel. I'm not the least concerned with blaming the Muslim terrorists either. They're doing what they said they will do -- try to exterminate Israel.

We know we have a problem with Hezbollah and company and, frankly, it is up to Israel to take care of it. Israel has the capability of solving this problem by killing the bad guys. Israel should have taken action after the first bomb landed on its territory. I blame the Israeli government, particularly the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for allowing rockets to fall on Israel. Olmert and co have fallen down on the job and it is up to them to get back up and solve things.

The Benefit For A Woman Of Sex on the First Date

Aimee Bender writes in The Girl in the Flammable Skirt:

...[W]hen it's the first date, and you ----, the guy holds you much better than he does the next few times. The first date, you're sort of the stand-in for whomever he loved last, before he fully realizes you're not her, and so you get all this nice residue emotion.

Defrocked Rabbi Drops Case Seeking Anonymous Bloggers' Identities

End of Suit Is a Victory for First Amendment Rights on the Internet

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, the former leader of an Orthodox Jewish congregation in New Hempstead, N.Y., has withdrawn the proceeding he filed in Ohio in an attempt to subpoena the identities of four anonymous bloggers who wrote on the Web about his alleged sexual misconduct.

Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy represented the bloggers, www.rabbinicintegrity.blogspot.com, www.jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com, www.jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com and www.newhempsteadnews.blogspot.com.

The four bloggers had anonymously posted material on their Web sites describing the former rabbi's alleged misconduct and sexual harassment of female congregants whom he had been advising. Tendler had filed petitions to subpoena the bloggers' identities, both in Ohio and California district courts.

Public Citizen, which has been a strong defender of First Amendment rights on the Internet, has filed a motion that Tendler's California petition should be denied because it would violate the bloggers' constitutional right to free speech.

"This just goes to show the importance of protecting anonymity, because as soon as Tendler found out that we had filed a motion against him, he withdrew his petition," Levy said. "He was never prepared to prove that the allegations against him were false - he only wanted his critics' names so that he could go after them. The First Amendment demands this kind of protection for citizens using their right to free speech."