May 22, 2008 | 12:02 am

American Bible Society goes on alert

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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From Gary Stern at Blogging Religiously:

I got this ominous-sounding press release today from the American Bible Society, a NYC-based group, nearly 200 years old, that tries to make the Bible available to everyone:

  New York – May 20, 2008 – The American Bible Society Board Chairman, Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson, announced today that two American Bible Society executives, Dr. Paul Irwin, President, and Richard Stewart, Chief Financial Officer, have been placed on leave at the request of the Board of Trustees.

  The Board has committed to a full and independent review of the financial stewardship of the American Bible Society.

  The American Bible Society’s Executive Vice Presidents, Dr. R. L. Vest and The Reverend Simon Barnes, will assume responsibility for day-to-day operations, reporting to the American Bible Society Board of Trustees Chairman, Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson.

Sounds like a bit of cleaning house. The New York Times had reported Sunday that the American Bible Society paid $5 million to an “electronic commerce” mogul whose clients included pornographers. Irwin denied knowing of Richard J. Gordon’s business with adult entertainers.

May 21, 2008 | 9:38 am

The singularity will give you eternal life

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I read a few years ago in The Atlantic of an impending “death shortage,” an unfortunate consequence of technological advancements that would turn 70 year olds into early-career professionals. These people—we people—would still die; it was just going to take a lot longer to happen.

But leafing through back issues of Wired last night, I came across an article about a technology prodigy trying to buy eternal life. Not the kind paid for with the blood of a lamb, but the kind that could be achieved here on earth if you were to download your brain to your laptop. You just have to live long enough.

Let me explain.

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May 20, 2008 | 6:10 pm

Villaraigosa renews his Israeli ties

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

   

To celebrate Israeli@60, Jewlicious started a feature called 60Bloggers, which has included a few notable names thus far, including Gary Wexler and The Calendar Girls. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa added his name Monday, drawing comparisons to the “culture and commerce, and ties of blood and family”:

Los Angeles and Israel are both homes of creativity and bastions of innovation - places defined by a deep respect for diversity, a longstanding belief in what’s possible, and the fervent hope, dream and commitment to build a peaceful tomorrow.

Here in Los Angeles, we celebrate the state of Israel and our own Israeli community in a variety of ways. We host the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States and we have built a strong relationship with our sister city, Eilat. Thousands of Israeli students of all ages have attended and enriched our schools and synagogues, and Israeli security specialists have come to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport to help protect airline passengers and foreign visitors. Each year, the city’s Israel Festival brings together over 40,000 people in the largest celebration of Israeli culture anywhere. And, overcoming the obstacles faced by so many immigrant groups, the vitality and vibrancy of L.A.’s Israeli families never diminish and only grow stronger every day.

Israel’s 60 years have been shaped by the resilience, strength and devotion of its people. Through criticism and condemnation, the Jewish state has stood up for the values and principles that have long made the Jewish people a “light unto the nations.” Israel’s citizens have kept faith with the hope – “ha-tikvah” – that they might live as a free nation, in peace and security, in the land of their ancestors. I know the City of Los Angeles and our people will continue to benefit from a close relationship with the State of Israel long into the future.

Villaraigosa has a very close relationship with L.A.‘s Jewish leaders. He’s been called an “honorary member of the Tribe” and his best buddy on the City Council is Jack Weiss, who represents the city’s most Jewish district.

As Speaker of the California Assembly, Villaraigosa twice visited Israel, and two years ago he developed a relationship with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal. Efforts last summer to organize a mayor’s trip to the Jewish state were unsuccessful; I’ve been told his calendar is marked for a week-long trip next month.

Though he couldn’t see the holy sites or dignitaries from the San Fernando Valley on Sunday Villaraigosa had the chance to speak with several thousand Israelis at the annual Israel Festival at Woodley Park.

I was there, but, vainly attempting to avoid the heat of the day, before the mayor arrived. Between dripping buckets of sweat and being shown how to solve a Rubik’s cube by a Messianic Jew, I enjoyed fake Hebrew coke and picked up books about Spinoza and Koufax. It reminded me of something a former field deputy for U.S. Rep Brad Sherman, who is Jewish and represents part of the Valley, once told me:

The biggest threat to Israel is Tarzana, Calif. It looks like Israel; it feels like Israel; and the people all speak Hebrew.

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May 20, 2008 | 3:43 pm

Orthodox Jews torch pile of New Testaments

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

And you thought reaction to the Messianic Jew who wanted to compete in the Bible Quiz was ugly. Orthodox Jews pull a page from Nazi playbook in this AP report:

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.

After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said.

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May 20, 2008 | 1:14 pm

NY Wasps candidly share anti-Semitic attitudes

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It seems like shameless anti-Semitism in this article online at Vanity Fair:

“It is an act of the worst kind of buffoonery. Schwarzman is horrid.”

This statement was made to me by a member of New York’s Protestant establishment in reference to the renaming of the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue at 42nd Street after Stephen A. Schwarzman, C.E.O. of The Blackstone Group, a private equity company. In March news broke that Mr. Schwarzman had agreed to lead the library’s current fundraising campaign by pledging a $100 million gift—the largest the institution has ever received. In recognition, the library announced, his name would be would be carved onto the exterior of the lion-guarded building.

Within senior Wasp circles, Schwarzman and the distinction he has received for his gift have set off a great deal of concealed outrage. Perhaps the best way I can describe it is to say that when I sat and talked with several Wasps about the diminishing influence of their clan, they often waited until the interview was winding down and I had folded up my notebook, and then they jumped back into conversation about Schwarzman and the library.

Old-guard Wasps appear to feel threatened by the newly rich and their growing influence around the city, and dismiss new money as “tasteless and gauche.” When discussing vastly rich people who are Jewish, it is not uncommon for them to use anti-Semitic slurs.

“Come on, though, it’s not Wasps giving Jews a bad name, it’s Jews giving Jews a bad name,” one said. Another told me, “The Astors knew to put their name on the inside. It’s good taste, that’s the difference between old and new.” A third said Schwarzman, who is Jewish, “is cleaning himself up, that’s what new money does. I suppose my family had to do the same thing hundreds of years ago, but look at us now, we’re like deities.”

I imagine this is what it sounded like in Hancock Park years ago as the tony L.A. neighborhood transitioned from the Waspyist address in town to the center of many a fights over Orthodox Jewish practices in residential neighborhood.

But today we are enlightened and Jews in America probably enjoy the most privileged diaspora lives since at least Islamic Spain if not Joseph’s years as viceroy of Egypt. (Anyone want to make a case for pre-Nazi Germany?) Which is why it’s surprising to see anti-Jewish sentiments so openly aired by somebody not named Kevin MacDonald or his anti-Semitic admirers. Even if they are being expressed anonymously.

The mere mention last summer by Tom Wolfe that many of the new hedge fund managers, like Schwartzman, were Jewish led Moneybox’s Daniel Gross to say, “When you finish reading the piece, the faintest whiff of anti-Semitism lingers.”

I read the article, and while I agree its quality did not meet Wolfe standards, likely because of the unavoidable comparisons to “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” I didn’t close Portfolio thinking Jews were money grubbers scouring American society.

Then the housing market tanked ...

There is no question Schwartzman is a jerk. Anybody who throws himself a $3 million birthday party has to be. But this should have nothing to do with Schwartzman being Jewish. In fact, it’s worth arguing that if he were a better Jew, he’d be a little less selfish (regardless of how much money he’s worth, or was worth).

Maybe Mondoweiss is right. Maybe something historic is happening.

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May 20, 2008 | 1:12 pm

Jerusalem bans ‘Sex and the City’ ads

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Good for the Holy City.

Outdoor advertising company Maximedia has notified the distributors of ‘Sex in the City’ Forum Films and its publicist, Golan Advertising - that the movie based on the popular TV series of the same name will not be allowed to advertise in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva, because the word “sex” appears on the signs.

I don’t agree on religious grounds, partially because it is not “Sex in the City” as the Haaretz reports states, despite letters larger than Sarah Jessica Parker. I just can’t stand that show.

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May 20, 2008 | 1:05 pm

‘Jews Against Obama’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It was only a matter of time.

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May 20, 2008 | 12:41 pm

Rod Parsley: firebrand and gonif

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I strongly disagree with Rod Parsley‘s characterization of Islam (based on “revelations from demon spirits” and “an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world”), but as someone who believes there is Truth and not just religion, he has the right to be divisive. But to what end?

More troubling to a God-fearing Christian—me—is that Parsley appears to be a purveyor of the Prosperity Gospel, that vile distortion of the Bible infamous for conning little old ladies out of their social security checks. (Though it may be true in a different context that giving makes you rich.) From the Huffington Post:

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May 20, 2008 | 10:36 am

‘The Ned Testament’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The 2001 cover story about the evangelical presence of Ned diddly ed Flanders on “The Simpsons” is one of the most popular to run in Christianity Today. It’s author, Mark I. Pinsky, cobbled the article from his reportage for “The Gospel According to the Simpsons,” and it was based on details like these:

An Oral Roberts University graduate who is never without a Bible and a large piece of the True Cross (which saved his life in one episode when he was shot), Ned believes that an essential element of a good life is “a daily dose of vitamin church.”

Pinsky returns to CT with a short review of a tract by “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening called, “Flanders’ Book of Faith.”

There are two running features in the book that elucidate Flanders’s religious faith and its practical application. One is “What Would Ned Do?” Among the things he would do is sacrifice his son, as the patriarch Abraham was ordered to do, without question. He’d also audit his own taxes and charge himself an additional $65.42.

There is also an ongoing dialogue in which the children of The Simpsons ask him deceptively simple questions that require profound responses. “If God is love,” Lisa asks, “why does he send people to hell?” Ned thinks a moment, and then explains, “Technically, God doesn’t send anyone to hell, Lisa. People send themselves there. It’s what we call ‘free will.’” Bart scoffs that the Bible “is filled with trick questions.”

Bart is, of course, right. My favorite example is when Jesus was asked whether his followers should pay taxes in an act of submission to secular authority.

“Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

  He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

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May 19, 2008 | 5:15 pm

God gets a blog to discuss stuff He hates

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This supposedly sayeth the Lord:

Of the many human body parts I intensely dislike, there is none I hate more than the foreskin. I believe this small stretch of penile tissue is responsible for turning more men away from Me, the Almighty Lord your God, than anything Lucifer has ever done.

See, back when I was designing the first man, I decided to just make him look exactly like Me. Perfect in every way. I sat naked in the Heavenly Hall of Mirrors for a couple of hours and sculpted Adam’s body to look just like Mine.

And so I gave Adam a huge penis. With some balls. And a foreskin.

And as you all know, that accursed foreskin made sex such a wondrous experience for Adam that he turned away from Me for that dirty-slut-whore Eve.

I blame Eve, but I mostly blame the foreskin, with its thousands upon thousands of pleasure-inducing nerve-endings. Damn you foreskin!

Despite all My best efforts, of the total number of penises worldwide today, 87% still have foreskins. This is a travesty!

I consider every male attached to those foreskins My forsworn enemy! I also consider any woman who has sex with an uncircumcised man equally culpable! As Myself as My witness, they will all burn with Eve in the fiery pits of hell!

These are the alleged ruminations of the Almighty on His new blog dedicated to Stuff God Hates. It’s not very believable, what with the pettiness and f-bombs. I did, however, enjoy the post about cats.

A little while back, my editor suggested such a gimmick might be a cool addition to The God Blog—a regular feature called God’s Blog, in which I would speak as the Lord on the big news of the day. I liked the idea, and still might try it, but when I thought about how to make it work, I realized my voice would likely be either dull or melodramatic.

Stuff God Hates opts for the latter. The tone might not work, but the blog has the exact same design, and even object-noun-verb domain, as Stuff White People Like, and that has certainly been successful. It’s not clear, but I’m going to gander that they’re written by the same Christian Lander of Culver City. Lander launched that blog in January, which has had 28 million hits (that’s ridiculous), and by March signed a book deal for their musings on white people. Example:

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May 19, 2008 | 4:51 pm

Saban accused of trying to bribe superdelegates

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Haim Saban, a major financial supporter of Hillary Clinton, allegedly attempted to buy two superdelegates with a million-dollar gift to Young Democrats of America. Saban denied it, but the Huffington Post has some damaging information from four independent, and, of course, anonymous, sources:

Members of the Young Democrats agonized about the potential fallout of Saban’s call; his financial offer represented one-third of the group’s 2008 budget. Democratic officials and fundraisers were consulted about how to respond, and at times the discussions were “emotional,” one participant said. “It is scary for them, Haim is very powerful, he has great influence over donors who give to them.”

Another source said that Hardt and others were acutely aware of Saban’s status within Democratic circles and were concerned that their organization would suffer long-term harm if they declined his offer or if news of the proposal became public.

“I said I thought that the appropriate response was to call Haim back and say thank you but we are not interested,” said the source. “I also said that it was surely the case that this story would get out because it is too interesting not to and they should think about how to deal with it. It was a day or two [before they responded]. They felt afraid. They were like, ‘Holy sh—, this is Haim Saban.’”

Clinton’s Israeli-American supporters living in Los Angeles sure have been causing a stir.

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May 19, 2008 | 2:49 pm

U.S. prez says Islam ‘fanatic and fraudulent’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Not that president. But give me a second to mention this week’s paper first.

I like The Jewish Journal‘s cover for Israel@60 because it shows some of the diversity of Israeli society. Inside is the thickest issue we’ve published since at least High Holy Days, and quite a few notable bylines—Avraham Burg, Yossi Klein Halevi and, my favorite, Tom Tugend.

There also is an article titled, “Israeli Heart, Jewish Soul,” written by Michael Oren,, author of the bestseller “Six Days of War.” Oren’s most recent book is “Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to Present,” and I’ve been working through it for the past month and marked up countless pages to blog about. Here’s one nugget, surprising for what it reveals about Americans’ early view of Muslims, and for who’s saying it.

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