J Blog Interviews! Coming Soon: Frum Satire

It's been a long time in the making but Hesh at FrumSatire has graciously agreed to be interviewed by yours truly. I believe his blog has made a significant impact on the J Blogosphere, especially with his humorous video presentations and the interesting topics he brings to light. Be on the lookout for this in-depth look at this great Jewish Blog.

President Obama? He's On His Way.....

As expected Obama beat Clinton in Oregon and Clinton won Kentucky by a landslide victory. Not surprisingly, Hillary is looking to get Florida's votes counted to give her a shot at the white house.Clinton is still hedging her bets on the superdelegates to give her the push she so desperately needs. Hillary was using a page from sales 101 in Kentucky: Assume the sale. Talking as if she was certainly going to win yesterday, she exclaimed "as goes Kentucky, so goes the nation." Maybe she should try out a different slogan, "as goes the superdelegates, so goes the nominee"? That might be a bit more accurate don't you think? I wonder if Hillary will continue running even after Obama wins the nomination.

Let The Showdown Begin: Obama & Clinton

Senator Clinton is still fighting over ever increasing odds against Obama's campaign. Mathematically it is almost impossible for her to win: Obama only needs 29 % to Hillary's 76% of the remaining delegate votes. If Obama wins as expected in the Oregon primary today, you can expect him to declare victory. Even as Obama steps that much closer to being the Democratic nominee for President, Clinton supporters are saying "Not so Fast"! Should Clinton win in the Kentucky primaries she would have won the 4 out of the 6 last primaries. All this means nothing as well as the popular vote, which may be in Clinton's favor. The Clinton's continue to rant about the votes that are not being counted which seem to be falling on deaf ears.It's interesting to note how the affluence of the voters as opposed to race, is playing out in the Democratic election. Although Kentucky has a higher percentage of black voters than Oregon, Hillary is expected to win Kentucky and Obama Oregon. Clinton has always done better with blue-collar voters and Obama's hot spots are the more affluent and college educated Democrats. I wonder if they'll try to sue for those votes to count, although I doubt there will be much of a point.

NY Governor: In Hospital On His Birthday

Newly appointed NY Governor, David Patterson, checked himself into a hospital today. Migrane headaches were the cause of this recent hospital visit . The Governor is said to be doing well and resting comfortably and will be undergoing further testing as a precaution. Mr. Patterson who turns 54 today will be missing his commencement address that was scheduled at 3PM today at Columbia University. He has chosen Andrew Cuomo to speak in his absence. Mr. Cuomo had made an unsuccessful run for Governor of NY in 2006.

German Muslim Gets Only 3 1/2 Yrs: Stabbed a Rabbi

A German Muslim, Sajed Aziz was only sentenced to 3 1/2 yrs. in jail for the stabbing of Rabbi Zalman Gurevitch(left) in the streets of Frankfurt with a 3 inch knife. The reason for the light sentencing was a lack of evidence to support the original attempted manslaughter charge. Aziz claimed it was self-defense but his lawyer will not attempt to appeal the judges ruling. Although the Rabbi claimed Aziz yelled anti-semitic slurs the defense claimed this was not a biased attack.

Donald Trump & Israel: Lawsuits, Prospects

Donald Trump is not happy. He's currently suing and Israeli land developer. He's claiming that Cresents Hieghts Diamond, owned by Sonny Kahan, had used the name "Trump Plaza" in assisting him in selling the plans to 70-story residential and commercial tower in Ramat Gan for a profit of $35 million. As upsetting as this might be for Trump, it hasn't changed his mind about developing in Israel. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, was spotted scouting for new potential areas for development in Israel for her father. Hopefully, he will have more success in this next venture.

Kosher Meat: Shortages? Price Increase?

Recent reports show that even though Agriprocessor aka Rubashkin is shut down due to current investigations, there is no kosher meat shortage...yet. I've been told by someone at the OU that there is enough meat in their current storage for a years supply. The problem will arise should the owners of the nations largest kosher meat suppliers be indicted and end up behind bars. Who can possibly pick the slack should the plant shut down indefinitely? The answer is: nobody. Even Empire who has recently cut it's production of poultry could not possibly make up the lack of kosher beef . You may be seeing some serious kosher meat shortages as well as price increases if something is not put in place should this court battle go south.

Kosher Restaurant Review: EJ's Too, Dairy Restaurant

West Hempstead, Long Island is currently home to about 1000 religious orthodox Jewish families. Unfortunately it never fared very well in the way of restaurants. Many eateries have come and gone and there are only 2 that have been a mainstay: Wing Wan (kosher chinese) and Hunkis Pizza. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a sign for a dairy restaurant in the neighborhood. This new restaurant I refer to is EJ's too, located on Hempstead Ave right next to I & DGlatt. The great thing about this new establishment is that they are open later ( Till 12 AM Sat. nights) than Hunkis ever was. Hunkis isn't even open Sat. Nights after Passover, so that is a welcome change for the community. EJ's too is a offspring of Ej's Pizza in Teaneck owned by Elliot Rosenfeld. They went all out on the decor and space for this new establishment. Ej's too is by far one of the best looking kosher pizza stores you will find in Long Island. They feature a full salad bar and plenty of seating space to accommodate even the largest crowds (and they are getting them too). Ej's offers a nice selection of different pizzas as well as pasta dishes. Prices are reasonable: regular slices are $2, pasta dishes are $4.50 for sides and $6.50 as a main. I sampled a regular slice and thier garlic knots( 25 cents each). The garlic knots were a nice size but they lacked enough garlic flavor and should have been a bit oilier. The pizza was not bad: nice amount of cheese and the sauce although not my favorite was pretty good. It looks like the neighborhood is standing behind this new restaurant and many of the younger kids seems to like it as well. They are starting a special for Monday nights where pies are just $9.99. That will certainly capture a lot of interest I'm sure. Ej's too is set to be the next hotspot of West Hempstead and I think even some 5- Towners may start frequenting this new dairy restaurant.

Sameach Music Free Music Download: A Capella Version

Sameach Music Episode #48 is now up and features songs by AKA Pella, Avraham Fried and family singing ( not available in stores ever), six 13 and Yosef Karduner (Alainu L'shabaiach).

BREAKING NEWS EXCLUSIVE: BANK ROBBERY!

I've just been informed that the Capital One Bank in Great Neck at 60 Cuttermill Rd. was robbed this morning. There are police helicopters on police cars on the scene looking for the thieves as we speak. There was a man robbed at this location less than 3 yrs ago at an ATM. Update: The bank is closed and under investigation I've heard though that perhaps only 3k was actually stolen. Developing...

Detergent: Best Buys and Practices....

The summer is almost upon us and that means kids getting out and getting all dirty. From grass to grease stains you will most likely find all kinds of dirt on your little ones clothes. The question becomes what detergent to use and is one really any better than the other? There are people that walk down the aisle of a store and simply buy the cheapest brand they can find. If that brand doesn't really take out the stains, is that really money well spent? I will attempt to take out some of the guess work in choosing great detergent at great prices. Hopefully I can assist you in being more knowledgeable in the ways of the world of detergents. As you may have heard, Tide is always considered the top rated detergent by Consumer Reports and many people will agree that statement. The reason for it's top rated status is that tide has special added agents that break up the dirt. As if Tide weren't good enough it's even trying to outdo itself with a new version, "Tide with Dawn Stainscrubbers". I wonder if the "Dawn" additive makes any difference and perhaps it's all a marketing ploy. Certainly Tide is one of the most expensive brands and the market so the question then becomes: What other brands work well?In 2005, consumer reports rated Ultra Mountain Fresh from Wal-Mart a best buy for "top loaders"( the ones most of us have) and is probably about half the price of Tide. Another brand that's less than half the price and highly rated:Costco's Kirkland Signature Ultra, whose cost is about 12 cents per load v.s. Tides 35 cents . Another money saving tip : Use less detergent. Many experts will agree that you don't need quite as much detergent to effectively clean you clothes as the companies would have you believe. Certainly you can experiment on this method and figure out what works and what doesn't. What has your experience been?

Jewish Music Insider: New Releases: Karduner & Amar

Here is a sneak peek at 2 new album covers to be released in time for Lag B'omer from Sameach Music: Yosef Karduner and Benny Amar. For those of you not familiar with Benny Amar he is a driving force with the a capella group Kol Zimra (being a co-founder) and also runs the cantorial choir for Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence, NY.

Technology Update: New Blackberry Release

RIM has done it again with the release of their latest smartphone:the Blackberry Bold. This new version is action packed featuring a half-VGA (480x320 pixel resolution) and a 65,000-color display, quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with full A2DP support, and built-in GPS. Here is a video on this latest Blackberry release: