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The cliche` is correct. Truth is stranger than fiction.  If someone had "invented the story," there would be protests that the plot was anti-Semitic.

Crime Pays Someone -- The Madoff Movie

Bernie Made-Off with lots of other people's money. And now there's going to be a movie about him. No surprise. Crooks generally make interesting characters.

I once went to a lecture about book-writing. We were told that there must be some conflict. The Bernie Madoff story has lots of conflict. On one hand, he lived a very moral life. He was involved in Jewish organizations and seemed the model super-rich Jew. Unknown to almost everyone, he was really a top con artist. Now, the real billion dollar que$tion for the script-writers will be:

"Who else was in cahoots?"

So far, I haven't heard any real answers. Did his wife know? Did Madoff's sons know?

I think (of course, I can't prove anything being just a blogger, neither police nor Private Investigator) that his sons knew.

They, both generations, feared that the Ponzi Scheme would soon be discovered. So they decided on one last scam. The sons would turn him in claiming that they had just discovered the truth. Bernie would swear up and down that his precious sons were totally innocent, as if anyone with half a brain could really believe the guy who had been lying and tricking even his best friends all these years.

Well, fools, like tigers, don't change their stripes so fast. Just look at Israel, which keeps on giving the Arab terrorists Land, gestures etc to encourage them to make peace, and all Israel gets in exchange is terrorism, war and threats.

Will this movie really be made? And if so, who gets the profits?

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov

Have a Peaceful Shabbat and a Good Month

“Never complain and never explain.” Benjamin Disraeli, who also said: “You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life.”
Israel uses the "body language" of a victim... That must change!

Israeli Military Says Its Actions in Gaza War Did Not Violate International Law

It's foolish and dangerous to justify the complaints and accusations in that way. The only way to respond to say: That's the price of war. If the Gazans don't like it, they shouldn't attack us.

They certainly shouldn't expect G-d to protect them the way He protects us. Yes, I know that sounds a bit flaky, but there's no other explanation for the very small amount of casualties we've had. Yes, "disproportionate," but just like some families have more "bad luck" and illnesses than others, and some have more boys or more girls or more talent and money, life isn't "fair." It's also not a simple mathematical equation.

After the 1967 Six Days War, there was a popular book, So Sorry We Won, by Efraim Kishon. That's the perfect title to sum things up. The world was ready to give the young State of Israel a glorious funeral, but G-d directed a very different outcome. Yes, G-d, because there was no Israeli battle plan to liberate the Sinai, Golan, the Jordan Valley and our ancient and Biblical Homeland to the Jordan River.

Benjamin Disraeli may not have been the perfect Jew, but that doesn't mean that we can't learn from him.

Recently, there have been all sorts of mailings and articles telling us to bombard US President Obama with urgings to cease his "two states" policy. That would be a total waste of time and energy. The object of such a campaign must be Israel, politicians and media. The problem is here, not abroad. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is correct when he says that the United States will follow Israel on the issue.

Some countries, like Great Britain, have always been anti-Israel. That's why we had to fight it to establish our state, and things haven't changed. They may be experts at "proper statements," but that doesn't change history. I'm a pragmatist; I don't fall for pretty and unbacked words.

Our battle for survival is really here in Israel. We must change public opinion, the media and the politicians. Actually, the most effective order would put the media first. They control both the politicians and public. The media also muzzles the public, in order to create an impression that the public agrees with the media.

Just like how people are instructed how to avoid being attacked by bullies and muggers, it's the same here. Israel uses the "body language" of a victim. We're easy targets. That must change!

We should reject all American aid and advice... I fear our "friends" more than our enemies.

"Arik Sharon and I are training men to cross the Suez Canal."

But I have no doubt, that most surprised were Sharon's superiors, including the politicians in the know, who had never expected those plans to go any further than some "reserve duty exercise."

The IDF file cabinets are full of "what if" plans, long past their possible usefulness. Every army has them. You have to be prepared for all possibilities. They're supposed to be kept top secret, since their effectiveness is severely reduced when the element of surprise is deleted.

It was once much easier for Israel to keep its secret plans secret. No foreign army was privileged to know anything. Israeli army officers didn't consult with foreign countries. Israel didn't ask permission. We were much stronger then.

Our security is endangered by the close contact, the close connections we now have with the United States. It's to our detriment and possible, G-d forbid, destruction. We should reject all American aid and advice. I don't want to be killed by kindness and Trojan Horses. I fear our "friends" more than our enemies.

G-d willing a Shavua Tov, A Good Week to us all.