May 12, 2009 | 8:47 pm

Is the sword of anti-Semitism overblown? Defining ‘Defamation’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow me on

Yoav Shamir has a new documentary out called “Defamation.” You can watch trailer above; the distributor sent me a screener today, so I’ll have more later. The gist looks to be that, as an Israeli, Shamir has never felt anti-Semitism and so he set out to find out what all the hubbub was about. His conclusion, after following Abe Foxman around and talking with folks about their experiences, was that modern-day Jew hatred is tragically overblown and that “putting so much emphasis on the past, horrific as it has been, is holding us back.”

Anti-Semitism is no doubt real. Today, in fact, I found this comment on a TMZ post about new topless photos of Miss California: “danm jews.” I guess at least one person blames Harvey Levin’s Jewishness for the witch hunt of Carrie Prejean. And, as I’ve written about ad infinitum, the financial crisis has sparked its own anti-Semitic orgy.

But “Defamation” is making waves. Here’s what Philip Weiss, a liberal anti-Zionist/post-Zionist who often appears here, had to say:

Read more of this post

May 12, 2009 | 6:21 pm

Padre Oprah strays on Florida beach

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There is a new sex scandal rocking the Catholic Church. Fortunately this one doesn’t involve children.

From The New York Times:

They called the Rev. Alberto Cutié “Padre Oprah” for his insightful advice about relationships. Now his parishioners, his television and radio audience, and readers of his best-selling book, “Real Life, Real Love,” know he speaks from experience.

On Tuesday, photographs in a Spanish-language tabloid showed the 40-year-old priest with deep blue eyes lying shirtless beside, and cuddling with, a dark-haired woman on a North Florida beach. Within hours, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami removed him from his post as pastor of a Miami Beach church, and now all of South Florida seems to be abuzz with discussions of celibacy, celebrity and temptation.

Radio and television news programs, in Spanish and English, have spent hours parsing the case. The original pictures, from TVNotas, have been reproduced all over the Web, while on Wednesday at his former church, St. Francis de Sales, camera crews hovered on the sidewalk as a secretary hung a “no trespassing” sign.

“He was held up as an example of something different,” said Carlos Saladrigas, a well-known businessman here who has known Father Cutié since he entered the seminary at age 18. “It’s like any icon — when they breach the trust of society, it hurts.”

I don’t want to imply anything about Cutié, but this indiscretion reminds me of what a priest once told me about an instruction he received in seminary: “If you feel you can’t keep your commitment to God, please, find a woman.”

Seriously. This is a lot better than the alternative—though I don’t want to suggest that celibate men are more likely to become pederasts. That just happened to be the case for celibate Catholic priests. Whether they were predisposed, I guess we’ll never know.

Michael Paulson at the Boston Globe says the Cutié controversy has sparked a fresh debate on celibacy. (The Jesuit magazine America editorialized last month that the church needed to seriously consider dropping the restriction for priests.) The former president of Catholics for Free Choice had this to say:

For every high profile case, there are hundreds of cases of priests in informal marriages of long duration, loving affairs, one night stands, gay and straight sexual relationships and love for better and for worse. And there are children, some who know their fathers and some who do not.

Father Cutie has been suspended from the parish, his radio program is over, he has been asked, like hundreds of others, to go away, enter a period of “prayer and reflection” and decide whether to stay a priest and leave the woman he loves, or to leave the priesthood and be with her. And he would be asked to make that decision even if they had a child. He would be asked to abandon the child and there would be no guarantee it would be supported. It is a stupid, cruel and unnecessary choice.

Quite humorously, members of the media are referring to these photos as “racy.” Totally. I should have put an NSFW disclaimer in the headline.

Father Cutié talks about the photos on the CBS “Early Show” after the jump:

Read more of this post

7 Comments — Leave your comment

May 12, 2009 | 5:14 pm

Using Anne Frank during Palestinian Awareness Week

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Source: OC Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism

Last year I attended Palestinian Awareness Week at UC Irvine. That’s where this “Death to Apartheid” banner appeared. The series of events, for which speakers like Amir Abdel Malik Ali and Norman Finkelstein are brought in, can be categorized as pseudo-academic Israel bashing.

Sadly, the real issues that all Americans can be concerned with in the Palestinian territories get lost in the hyperbolic rhetoric of “Zio-Nazis” and “Fourth Reich.”

This photo, of what appears to be a large cardboard Israeli tank, includes a panel on “Fashion Sense” that shows Anne Frank smiling and wearing a red keffiyah beside these words:

The keffiyah (scarf in the picture) symbolizes freedom and solidarity for Palestine. “I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death ... I think ... peace and tranquility will return again”—Anne Frank.

The Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism sent me an e-mail today saying the Muslim Student Union has achieved a “newer low ... by mocking Anne Frank.” They demand, as they have for more than a year, demanded UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake “unequivocally and unambiguously speak out against the hatred on his campus.”

Here was Drake’s response last spring at the Hillel Summit in Washington.

2 Comments — Leave your comment

May 12, 2009 | 1:03 pm

Trump to Miss California: ‘You’re not fired!’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s been a wild three weeks since Carrie Prejean said at the Miss USA Pageant that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, but The Donald decided today that she gets to keep her Miss California crown:

“She gave a very honest answer when asked a tough question,” he said at a New York press conference with Prejean sitting next to him. “It was the same answer the president of the United States gave… She has to be commended.”

And what about those semi-nude photos that had so many haters salivating over Prejean’s so-called hypocrisy (though hypocrisy, in this case, would have necessitated her involvement in a same-sex relationship)? “We are in the 21st century,” Trump said. “The pictures taken were fine.”

Please, dear God, let this be the end of this silly saga.

1 Comments — Leave your comment

May 12, 2009 | 12:19 pm

Make-me-Jesus app too much for Apple

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Me So Holy iPhone App from Benjamin Margolis on Vimeo.

Apple, the maker of the iPhone, has rejected an application called Me So Holy, which allows users to drop their mug into a cutout portrait of various religious figures. (Watch the Jesus transformation in the above video.) The news from Wired’s Gadget Lab:

Apple rejected the app, saying it “contains objectionable material,” according to Me So Holy developer Benjamin Kahle.

“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users,” the iPhone SDK agreement states.

Apple may be tightening its restrictions on its iPhone App Store after it approved an iPhone app called Baby Shaker, a game whose objective was to shake a baby to death. Amid parental outrage, Apple subsequently removed the app, saying its approval was a mistake.

Though tremendously successful, Apple’s iPhone App Store has been the victim of heavy scrutiny. Other than being criticized for approving questionable apps such as Baby Shaker, some developers have slammed Apple for being unclear about its App Store approval process.

Offensive or hypersensitive?

0 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 7:35 pm

The end of the Jewish people? Israel facing sperm shortage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In recent years, there has been much discussion about the low Jewish birth rate. In fact, Jews are dying off faster than they are being reborn. Haaretz reports on a new wrinkle in Jewish reproduction. The quality of Jewish sperm has deteriorated rapidly and dramatically in the past decade, and simply switching to boxer shorts might not be enough.

More based on research from Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus:

The research confirmed that in 10 years, the average concentration of sperm among donors declined from 106 million cells per cubic centimeter to 67 million per cubic centimeter. The rate of sperm motility has also declined: from 79 to 67 percent, although the profile of donors did not change over that period; they are still young, healthy and do not smoke.

According to Haimov-Kokhman, the quality of sperm has declined in most Western countries, but in Israel it has been particularly rapid.

“If we keep going at this rate, a decline of 3 million cubic centimeters of sperm cells per year, we’ll reach an average of 20 million in 2030. The World Heath Organization defines this as fertility impairment.”

(Hat tip: Bloggish)

8 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 5:37 pm

Carrie Prejean: She’s still Miss California

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I know you’ve been waiting all day—maybe even all weekend—for the Miss California USA Pageant’s judicial board to rule on whether Carrie Prejean gets to keep her crown. They did, and she does.

From the AP:

Co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler told a press conference that only Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump can make that decision. He plans to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday in New York City.

The officials said Prejean has been “unavailable” and so in the meantime they have appointed the state pageant’s runner-up, Tami Farrell, as a “Beauty of California Ambassador” to fulfill any duties the winner normally would handle.

Lewis said that if Trump allows Prejean to retain her crown, state pageant officials would welcome her back and encourage her to take part in her normal duties.

“We’re still going to be able to fulfill our duties no matter if Mr. Trump offers a second chance or utters his famous line from `The Apprentice,’” Lewis said (meaning, of course, “You’re fired”).

If you don’t know what all the fuss is about, good for you. Believe it or not, the story—more of a non-story—has been wrapped in religious undertones, particularly secular ignorance and insensitivity. Here’s a primer and a bit of naked nonsense.

Read more of this post

0 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 5:22 pm

Who wants to be a martyr?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Christianity Today Imago Fidei blog has quite the graphic on the history of martyrdom in the church. Since the beginning of Christianity, 70 million Christians have been martyred for their faith. This according to numbers from World Christian Trends.

Compare that to 80 million Muslims, 20 million Hindus, 10 million Buddhists and 9 million Jews. That may seem like a tiny number of martyrs for the most-persecuted people in history, but consider that there is roughly one Jew for every 66 Muslims in the world.

For a larger version of the graphic, which fans out as the Church split during the past 2,000 years, and a box that breaks down martyrdom by religion, click here.

10 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 5:15 pm

‘The Death of Jewish Republicanism’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Before and throughout the presidential campaign, I was told repeatedly that Republican Jews were on the rise, that they were mounting a comeback and as much as 40 percent of American Jews would vote for McCain. Only Ronald Reagan in 1980 had fared that well with the Jewish vote, and, despite the rhetoric, McCain would be no Reagan.

Seventy-eight percent of Jews would vote for Barack Obama.

But the death of Jewish Republicanism is not what led Sen. Arlen Specter, who until last month was one of two Republican Jewish senators, to switch sides. Or so Jonathan Tobin, the new executive editor of Commentary, opined in his column for the Jerusalem Post. Tobin writes:

Rather it was the noxious personality of Specter and his indefatigable egotism that eventually earned him so many enemies in his home state party that nothing, not even the need to preserve a 40th Senate seat for the Republicans, could ameliorate the open hostility that he provoked.

Though in the age of Obama the Republican tent is far smaller than it used to be, there is plenty of room in it for fiscal conservatives and foreign policy hawks who don’t share the socially conservative views of Palin and others. Had Specter carved out a niche for himself on either of those topics, his views on abortion would never have brought him to the point where he had to jump from the GOP before he was pushed.

Jews remain incorrigibly liberal and more loyal to the Democrats than every sector of the population except African-Americans. The ascendancy of social conservatives in the Republican Party has ensured that this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future, even if this puts the Jews in the position of rejecting their closest allies on the question of security for the State of Israel. But this has little to do with Specter’s apostasy.

It may be that Jewish Republicans feel the senator’s defection puts a period on their hopes for a greater share of the Jewish vote. But that is more of a statement about their bad judgment in hitching their star to his shaky wagon than the supposed intolerance of a conservative-dominated party that desires purity over diversity. The strange journey of Arlen Specter from Democrat to Republican and back again to the Democrats is a story of one man’s unbridled ambition and political expediency, not the tale of a party held hostage by the Right.

Read the rest here.

0 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 2:34 pm

Pope arrives in Israel, vows to fight anti-Semitism and support Palestinian state

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The world was watching as Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel today. Under fire for reinstating a bishop who continues to deny the scope of the Holocaust, Benedict put Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial at the top of his itinerary. “May the names of the victims never perish and may their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten,” he said.

Upon arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, the pontiff had committed to fighting the global rise in anti-Semitism to to supporting an independent Palestinian state. JTA reports:

“Sadly, anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable,“ he said. “Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for the members of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe.“

The pope then switched his attention to achieving peace between Palestinians and Israel.

“In union with people of good will everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders,“ he said.

1 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 1:30 pm

Reporter sees Virgin Mary in coffee stain

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s common for reporters, particularly religion reporters, to get called out to write about some amazing apparition: Jesus in a window shade or Jesus on a piece of pita bread or Obama on a slice of toast. But it’s unusual for a journalist to actually see one of these apparitions, too—let alone find comfort in it.

Last week, though, Jonathan Tilove, a veteran journalist who’s had a really tough run lately, spotted the Virgin Mary on a coffee stain. He wrote into Romenesko to explain:

I have been a reporter for more than 30 years, most of them at the Newhouse bureau in Washington. When they announced last year they were closing, I was rescued by The Times Picayune, which took me on board as a second Washington correspondent. In November, when the Newhouse bureau shut its doors, four of us - survivors from Newhouse - moved into some empty cubicles in the Cox bureau on Capitol Hill, a beautiful office with a lot of extra space. Within weeks of arriving, Cox announced it would be closing its Washington bureau in the spring.

Last week, the four of us, like hermit crabs, moved into empty cubicles in another beautiful newspaper office in Metro Center, subletting space from Hearst Newspapers, which sublets from McClatchy, which took over the office when it bought Knight Ridder.

On Monday evening, May 4, I went back to the Cox office to pack the rest of my boxes and clean out my cubicle. And there it was, on my desk, a coffee stain in the image of the Virgin Mary.I was a little surprised. Why me? I’m Jewish.

But I have some ideas why I might have been chosen.

* My wife’s uncle, the holiest man I ever knew, was a Roman Catholic bishop with a special devotion to Mary.
* Our house has its share of Mary art.
* My wife (who lost her job when Newhouse closed) and I visited Fatima on our honeymoon to Portugal. We stayed an extra day because we were so fascinated by the scenes of devotion, and, for me, a collector of odd postcards, a treasure trove to choose from, including a priceless 3-D twitching Jesus.
* I write for New Orleans, which no doubt would appeal to Mary on all kinds of levels.
* Perhaps, most crucially, I provided the medium for the appearance of the coffee-stain Madonna by allowing the remains of a cup of coffee to slowly leak out of a paper cup and then only casually blotting up the spill with an old notebook.

I am still not sure what it means, but I confess that amid all the layoffs and furloughs and forced relocations, seeing the image comforted me. As it has been written, “When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me ...”

If you are wondering how bad it has been for newspapers lately, read this 14-month-old post about the beginning of the bloodletting at my old paper and then consider that the LA Daily News has had four or five dramatic rounds of layoffs since. The situation is similar at publications across the country.

1 Comments — Leave your comment

May 11, 2009 | 1:15 am

‘Star Trek’—beam me up

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m waiting right now for the previews to begin before an IMAX showing of “Star Trek.” I mentioned last week a JJ interview with JJ Abrams and the GeekHeeb discussed the top five Jewish scenes in the series. Check that out. Hopefully I’ll have some exegesis tomorrow.

0 Comments — Leave your comment