Vos Iz Neias (Yiddish: What's News?)

Washington - FDA Issues Stern Cancer Warning Using J&J Foot Ulcer Cream Posted: 08 Jun 2008 10:25 AM CDT Washington - The Food and Drug Administration warned patients today that using large amounts of a Johnson & Johnson foot ulcer medication could heighten their risk of dying from cancer. The FDA added its most serious warning to the company's cream medication Regranex, which is prescribed to treat severe foot and leg ulcers in diabetics. The new boxed warning states that patients who used three or more tubes of Regranex were five times more likely to die of cancer. When patients used lower amounts of the cream, the FDA said their chances of developing cancer were no higher than patients who had never used the drug. The findings come from a long-term study comparing 1,600 patients who took Regranex with 2,800 patients who did not, according to the FDA. The label advises doctors to use caution when prescribing the drug to patients with malignancies. Regranex is a man-made version of a substance produced by the human body that helps heal ulcers. Because the drug causes cells to divide more rapidly, the FDA said Johnson & Johnson closely monitored patients for reports of cancer, which spreads through uncontrolled cell division.

Brooklyn, NY - Hasidic Land Search Company Talks Of Credit Crunch Pain Posted: 08 Jun 2008 10:17 AM CDT Brooklyn, NY - It was a climate of "anything goes, everything goes up and we won't ask too closely if it'll ever come down" that brought on the credit crunch. Inside Wall Street's cathedrals to finance, bankers forgot the basic ground rules, lending with little restraint and very few questions. Unsurprisingly, consumers joined the frenzy. There was easy access to credit. It seemed like a short cut to the American dream. The only problem is, it wasn't built to last. Foreclosures have gone up in New York by 40%. There is a new poor underclass: these are not people who don't have jobs. They're people who are in full-time employment, but simply can't keep pace with rising costs. On the other side of this coin is Joel Oberlander from Brooklyn NY. He watched the mortgage companies spread the money. "Every lender was, like, throwing money out the window. I mean, it was the easiest thing to get approved for a mortgage," he says. "You didn't even need to have good credit or even documentation of your income." And he rode high off the back of it. His company carries out land searches for the mortgage companies. The boom years were good to him - he was able to buy his own house with a small loan from the bank. "You would rush to the county court to be here nine o'clock," he says. "There would be a line, almost like a fistfight to get to the computer, just get the work done." That was only a year ago, but now he remembers it as a golden age. The corridors at Nassau County court are empty now. There's no-one fighting for the computers. In fact, some haven't even been switched on. His own business has plummeted by more than 75%. Now he's the one taking risks. He's borrowing against his home to keep his company afloat. He's already put in tens of thousands of dollars. "I should have seen it, should have been more careful" "I took my own credit to make ends meet, to pay expenses, to pay the payroll, pay all the necessary stuff. "It would be disastrous when I sit down and look at the numbers. I'm hesitant to sit down and do it." Just a month after business started to go down, his five-year-old son Lazar was diagnosed with leukaemia. Joel is relying on credit, but he hasn't told his family the extent of his gamble. "I'm even going as far as using up my home equity and credit line to put into my life, so it wouldn't affect us personally. Because now especially, my wife and children, they need my support. I don't want to show them that they're missing out on something in this time of need." He says he should have prepared better. He smiles nervously as he admits his home is now his only back-up. "I should have seen it, should have been more careful - I did one good investment, I bought my own condo, and hopefully it'll stay mine, even though I'm using my own credit line. "I'm trying, trying and I'm not at the bottom end yet with that situation. See video interview at BBC at 3:40 time

New York City - Locking Fuel Caps For Autos Are Back In High Demand Posted: 08 Jun 2008 09:56 AM CDT As the cost to fill 'er up keeps going up, locking fuel caps are flying off the shelves of Long Island auto parts stores. Some buyers have been victims of stolen gas, but most are doing it as a preventive measure because gas prices are so high, store managers and workers said. An Indiana company that makes about 1 million locking gas caps annually said its sales have almost quadrupled in the past month. A cap typically sells for $15 to $25. Police in Nassau and Suffolk said no statistics are available to confirm or rebut whether gasoline thefts are on the rise here. "It could be happening," said Suffolk police Sgt. John Kosciuk of the Sixth Precinct in Selden. "People might not even be aware of it. As far as I can see, there's no actual crime patterns developing regarding that." Because "there's a dearth of statistics on stealing gas," it is impossible to know whether it's happening, said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for the AAA automobile club of New York. "But people are taking the precautions, because they're trying to protect themselves from losing what has become a more and more valuable commodity." The owners of older vehicles have the most reason to worry because they're more vulnerable to having gas siphoned

Postville, IA - The Reform, Conservative Hypocrites Jews Should Stop With Their Rubashkin Crap Please Posted: 08 Jun 2008 09:48 AM CDT Postville, IA - For Jews, eating kosher food is supposed to be an ethical, moral, even holy act. But the news out of Postville, Iowa, over the past few weeks has raised disturbing questions about whether keeping kosher means that my family is supporting a business that may actually be corrupt and exploitative. And it's prompted my wife and me to think hard about where our food comes from and how it's made. the company's owner said this week that "everything is a lie" — these stories suggest a culture far removed from the morality that's supposed to imbue Judaism, in general, and the laws of kashrut, in particular. Kosher means "fit and proper," says Rabbi Steve Folberg of Congregation Beth Israel, who keeps kosher even though his branch of Judaism — the Reform movement — doesn't require it. "What does it mean to label something as 'fit and proper' that hurts people, exploits people or was produced cruelly?" For my wife, Melanie, and me, it means refusing to buy Rubashkin's meat since the news broke, opting instead for industrial-sized bags of Empire brand kosher chicken from Costco. Next month we're traveling to the East Coast, where more kosher foods are available, and we plan to fill a cooler with red meat. We haven't figured out what we'll do after that. Many groups are taking a wait-and-see approach, noting that Jewish law requires a presumption of innocence. The Orthodox Union hasn't pulled its kashrut certification from Agriprocessors but has said it will do so if charges are brought. Some liberal Orthodox rabbinical students, though, are urging a full-scale boycott of the company. Conservative leaders — who have talked for several years about a kosher certification that takes ethics into account — issued an advisory asking Jews to decide for themselves whether to eat the meat. In a sermon two weeks ago, Cantor Neil Blumofe of Congregation Agudas Achim, the Conservative synagogue where I belong, challenged us to consider our responsibility. "If we dismiss the events in Postville as business as usual," he said, "we lose an opportunity to examine more closely how we can uplift our lives in the first place." Blumofe and Folberg both wonder if the spirit of kashrut can be reconciled with industrial slaughterhouses in which meat is mass produced and shipped across the continent. Each has Jewish friends who now buy organically raised (and presumably ethically produced) nonkosher chicken as a moral choice. Rabbi Eliezer Langer of Congregation Tiferet Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in Austin, strongly rejects the idea that the laws of kashrut are at odds with the modern, industrialized process. And while he's loath to condemn Agriprocessors on unproven allegations, he sees signs — the public response, Agriprocessors' looking for new management — that conditions in Postville may change. "Within the Orthodox rabbinate, there's a great deal of discussion about the appropriate steps," he says, adding that he doesn't believe the plant will lose its kosher certification: "It will change before it gets to that point." I hope he's right. And I hope that, before long, I can again buy kosher meat, confident that it is an ethical, moral, even holy act. Editors note. Rubashkin might have had some serious violations from the past, but let's wait and see what happens, but for reform Jews to be the ones to jump on a wagon, as if they are so innocently looking for kosher food, saviors of Jews, and the honesty of Judaism, please give us a break, we can guide the reform movement where to look within themselves much before when it comes to food. so please stop with your crap, you guys look foolish. Orthodox Jews need no advise whatsoever, from the reform, conservative movements when it comes to Judaism.

Israel - The Reading Of Conversion Of 'Ruth' 'Shavuot', Stirs Up 'Ger' Controversy Posted: 08 Jun 2008 09:12 AM CDT Israel - A group of prospective Jewish converts stood around a threshing floor at the Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve near Jerusalem. In an excited voice, the tour guide told them: "This is where it all began." The Absorption Ministry invited some 1,500 converts to the reserve for a conference that would also be a show of "support and solidarity." The ministry's guide went on to explain that the threshing floor was so exciting because that was where Boaz, Kind David's great grandfather, met Ruth, the biblical figure who is celebrated as a convert who took the Jewish principles to heart. "So that wedding produced King David, ladies and gentlemen," the guide said. "And who will come out of King David? The messiah! And that's what I remind people who speak against converts." Such sympathy and encouragement - be they genuine or orchestrated - is not the usual response converts - most of them Russian immigrants - illicit from the public to which they aspire to belong after completing hundreds of hours of coursework over long months, sometimes even years. Many converts say that in addition to feeling despised by the ultra-Orthodox public, they also feel betrayed by the establishment, following the Supreme Rabbinical Court ruling to annul thousands of conversions that had been performed in Israel since 1999. They complain it has left many converts hanging in the balance and thrown into question the fates of those currently undergoing conversion. "It's an empty show," said one conversion tutor from the north, who would identify herself only as Ahuva. "They had this conference to tell us that they are there for us, but they don't have an awful lot to back their pretty words with." She complained the conversions crisis was detrimental for the conversion seminars. "We're feeling through the fog of battle. No one really knows where we're heading," Ahuva went on to say. "Those who created this crisis never thought about what was going to become of these people, they didn't stop to think about the consequences of their decisions. Currently, it's affecting three groups of people - those who are currently in the process of converting, those who have already converted and those who are contemplating converting." Things are worse for the graduates, she says. "We're talking about Jews in every way. They call us all the time, asking what will become of them. People are very worried."

Kiryas Joel, NY - A Community Secluded Gets Trendy, Supports Its Own Economy Posted: 08 Jun 2008 08:48 AM CDT A new day-care center is being built on Bakertown Road. Times Herald-Record/DOMINICK FIORILLE Kiryas Joel, NY - Even the music at Yonah Dresner's restaurant/cafe is different. "It's called 'shira,' which means to sing," the owner says of the a cappella music, specially recorded for the seven weeks after Passover when instrumental music is banned. The vocal music sounds through the speakers as gender-separated tables of men with curly side locks and women in wigs study menus that include pizza, blintzes and baked salmon. "It's a modern thing," Dresner says. A 22-year resident, Dresner commuted for 15 years to Manhattan's Diamond District to support a family that grew to include nine children. Sensing opportunity in the explosive changes of his community, he worked part-time for a year in cafes in Williamsburg to do "research" for his venture. His restaurant in the new business center on Bakertown Road is one of two restaurant/cafes that have sprung up within the past year, and one of only three in the whole village, adding new life to the dining out experience. The businesses mark another step in the ever-growing expansion of goods and services within the community. Take a drive through the 1-square-mile Hasidic community these days, and you'll notice a new look and feel to the place. It's not just Dresdner's trendy new restaurant, the gleaming new business center it is located in or the myriad of new buildings and condominiums going up on every hillside and new cul-de-sac. It's in the confident zip of the men in black coats and fedoras as they rush from synagogue to offices and to construction sites, in the smart fashions of the women in dark berets and trench coats headed to new village office jobs, and in the talk of officials like Gedalye Szegedin, the village administrator who speaks of the community's evolution. It seems that the deeply religious community of 20,000-plus has always had a grander vision of itself than just a small country outpost of Hasidic orthodoxy. To sustain a community where couples are encouraged to marry young, and six to eight children per household is the norm, the village has had to create more jobs, more services and more social opportunities, Szegedin says. To thrive, the 31-year-old village had to become more like a city. And that means looking like one. It's what Szegedin calls the "window dressing" phase of his community's aggressive push toward greater self-sufficiency. The more substantive changes, he emphasizes, started just over five years ago, when the village created its first fire, garbage and public safety departments, as well as expanded its water and sewer infrastructure. That provided the foundation for more growth, which resulted in more construction and more jobs, he says. An entire cottage industry of subcontractors, including concrete companies, fire sprinkler system installers, even landscapers, has sprung up thanks to the growth, providing 70 percent of all the blue-collar work in the village, Szegedin says. ot everyone appreciates the village's new look. The towns neighboring Kiryas Joel claim the village's aggressive development has been at the expense of their communities. Residents within the towns of Blooming Grove and Woodbury both formed villages as bulwarks against the Hasidic village's expansion. The village has been locked in legal battles over infrastructure improvements, including a proposed pipeline to tap New York City's Catskill Aqueduct as well as over increased sewage treatment capacity for its neighbors. By Szegedin's own estimates, 60 percent of his rapidly growing community is eligible for welfare. Many of the latest building projects, including the renovation of the old shopping center and the construction of the new women's center, were possible only with the help of generous government grants. "I see nothing wrong in making buildings more attractive," says Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, a frequent Kiryas Joel critic. "But"¦ I think you're going to find that a lot of those projects are being funded by other people. "I'd love to have my house brought up to speed myself and have somebody else pay for it."

Monsey, NY - Lipa Schmeltzer: Interview With Toker Misunderstand Posted: 08 Jun 2008 08:29 AM CDT Monsey, NY - After VIN News published a report of an interview of leading Chasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer by Israeli broadcast personality Menachem Toker, Schmeltzer himself contacted us to point out that his remarks to Mr. Toker were taken out of context in the report, and that he wanted to set the record straight for our readership. Lipa tells VIN News that what he meant was that he does indeed not regret the cancellation of the Big Event concert, and it was not a mistake to do so. He explains that he acted according to the ruling of many rabbonim who came out against the concert—and that following a halachic ruling was not a mistake, and he will always listen to what rabbonim say. However, he explains that those rabbonim ruled on faulty, false and biased information—in other words, the information they were given about the concert did not describe the concert and was simply not true, thus leading the rabbonim to pasken on an event that simply was not going to happen in the first place. It is this situation that Schmeltzer regrets, wishing that the rabbonim had been given the facts. Everything else reported, including the assertion that three rabbonim's go-ahead would be enough for any concert for him, was accurate, Schmeltzer tells us. Editors note. VIN news will have exclusive the interview with toker right after Shavuat, so you be able to hear.

New York City - Happy Shavuot Posted: 08 Jun 2008 08:17 AM CDT New York City - Jews around the world will celebrate Monday and Tuesday the holiday of Shavuot which marks the anniversary of the day when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai. At the same time we like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our readers, advertisers, supporters and we wish you all Chag Sameach the weather forecast predicts record temperatures to be in the high 90's, for the two days of Yom Tov, make sure you stay cool, and check on your elderly neighbors. Alternate side Parking rules will be suspended Monday & Tuesday, June 9-10 due to the Shuvuet holiday but meters are in effect, make sure you don't park at a meter you will get ticketed. VIN News will be off the two days of Yom Tov, we will be back online Tuesday night after 9:30 PM EST.

Brooklyn, NY - Governor to Issue Executive Order to Fairly Consider Minority and Women's Business for State Contracts Posted: 08 Jun 2008 07:33 AM CDT Brooklyn, NY - Gov. Paterson said that he wants to encourage more minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the state. At a commencement address at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, the governor said he would expand an executive order to make sure such businesses are fairly considered for state contracts. "We are going to issue an executive order about the procurement with minority- and women-owned businesses - right here in the state of New York - for a contract for investment banking and for savings and bonds and insurance, and we are going to do it this week," he said. There is already a similar executive order covering state contracts with other fields, but the new measure would expand the measure to apply to banking, insurance and the sale of securities and bonds.

Lindenhurst, NY - Vehicles Vandalized with Graffiti Posted: 08 Jun 2008 06:53 AM CDT Lindenhurst, NY - Vandals hit the neighborhood drawing swastikas and crude pictures on vehicles parked along Farmers Avenue and Heathcote Road. Residents of the normally quiet block awakened to find the vandalism, which included explicit drawings and phrases such as "heil Hitler" and "dead babies" written on light-colored cars, trucks and vans parked along the curb. Some removed the graffiti from their vehicles easily, using denatured alcohol. But others that had their vehicles baked in the morning sun were more difficult to clean, and they used nail polish remover, acetone and polishing compound to remove the markings from their vehicles, but it wouldn't come off completely. Suffolk police said they did not consider the vandalism a hate crime, although a bias-crimes detective was investigating the scene.

Washington - McCain Calls For Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem Posted: 08 Jun 2008 01:18 AM CDT Washington - Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on Friday said that he believes the American embassy in Israel should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is undivided, Jerusalem is the capital and we should move the embassy to Jerusalem before anything happens," McCain said while campaigning in Miami. McCain stressed, however, that the "subject of Jerusalem itself will be addressed in negotiations by the Israeli government and people." The presidential hopeful was responding to comments made by Democratic rival Barack Obama, who told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday that he would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear arms, and that Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel. "Let me be clear," Obama said, "Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper. But any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," he added, in efforts to secure the Jewish vote. But a campaign adviser clarified Thursday that Obama believes "Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties" as part of "an agreement that they both can live with." McCain took the opportunity to criticize Obama for changing his position on Jerusalem, as well as on "sitting down and talking unconditionally with Ahmadinejad and other dictators."

Albany, NY - Court: Police Don't Need a Warrant to Place Tracking Devices Posted: 07 Jun 2008 10:47 PM CDT Albany, NY - A state appeals court says police don't need a warrant before placing GPS tracking devices on the vehicles of potential suspects. In a 4-1 ruling, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court declared it constitutional to place the devices on vehicles as long as they're in public view. The court said it would have been inadmissible only if the police put a device that was inside the vehicle or hidden somewhere on the car.

New York, NY - Anti-Zionist Group Allege Censorship on Wikipedia Posted: 08 Jun 2008 08:17 AM CDT New York, NY - The Satmar group, True Torah Jews Against Zionism, is stating that a long article describing the group in neutral terms has been deleted from Wikipedia and replaced by four lines about the Satmar group in an article about anti-Zionist Jews. The group characterizes the deletion of the article under the name "Ichud Olami", as politically-motivated censorship, and recommends that it be brought to the attention of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, who it doesn't believe are antisemites.

New York, NY - NYPD Expanding Use of Taser Stun Guns Posted: 07 Jun 2008 09:36 PM CDT New York, NY - The NYPD is expanding its use of the Taser stun gun, an old tool in the law enforcement arsenal, but one that has seen limited use in the nation's largest police force. Starting Wednesday, thousands of police sergeants will begin carrying electronic stun guns on their belts as part of an effort to give officers more alternatives to deadly force. The main reason for the change is that newer Tasers are smaller, lighter and easier to carry in a holster than earlier models were, department spokesman Paul Browne said Saturday.

Los Angeles, CA - Group Demands Venezuela Envoy Recall over Anti-Semitic Remark Posted: 07 Jun 2008 09:43 PM CDT Alexis Navarro Los Angeles, CA - A leading anti-Semitism watchdog group wants Venezuela's ambassador to Russia recalled. The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center says Ambassador Alexis Navarro made anti-Semitic comments. Navarro was quoted by the daily Moscow News as saying that a failed 2002 coup that briefly ousted President Hugo Chavez involved Israeli Mossad intelligence snipers "who were Venezuelan citizens, but Jews." The group said in a statement that it wrote a letter to Venezuela's foreign minister saying the comments were racist and incite violence against Jews. A foreign ministry spokesman reached by phone said there was no immediate government response.

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