7fatcow.com

There is empty, concrete land  sitting there doing nothing in front of city hall.

There is a campaign going on now to get the mayor to plant a vegetable garden there, please sign the petition and help make this happen.

http://www.PeoplesGardenNYC.org

There have been rumors circulating among insiders in crown heights that the R'MSCh has been sighted in the Carribean. If anyone can verify these reports, it would be greatly appreciated. If anyone thinks this is some kindrish joke, they have a lot of self-examination to embark upon. If anyone understands my motives, please make yourself known to me.

Hockey Hacoon

For a while, i've preferred quietly bowing out to dramatic public announcements, not wanting to endlessly retire like an aging rock band. But now, a solid three years into the exciting creation and invitation of theis forum into being, i'm stepping down formally, from any inolvement with 7fatcow, unconvinced that it exists at all.

No bitterness. Dissapointment would imply expectations, and all my hopes and expectations for this blog where satisfied right away, constantly, along with all my concerns and suspicions, re: the inevitably difficult nature of True Expression and Engagement. That was understood from the beginning to be OK. Sometimes, when you talk with people, a lot of bullshit comes out as cushion for any insight and genuine heart-of-self that might be revealed, and that condition was understood from the beginning: along with the genius in our wider community of not-quite-ex/not-quite-ohs is a multitude of protective layer of ego and dogma; of noise and principle, of assumption and of flawed language, furious at the implication that it must be probed to be understood. That's OK, as much as any of the troublesome nature of our world is to be called OK, it's part of who we have been, and how we have expressed.

All that said, it's boring now, because maybe we've gone as far as any of us wanted to go. One of our founding members has moved beyond interest in the conversation here, as a funner life beckoned where the wit was expresseable and the company close enough that trying to blog in a noise filled room of cheesy links and ironically repressive vulgarity became uncompelling, especially once the Twitter and Facebook Status update was given unto us, to let the impulse sound more immediately, without need for context, or consensus. And so, the chance to say just a few things here was all he needed.

Another founding member has tried to give up so many times, and the clamor of each dramtic farewell, combined with the unelaborated links and occasional disavowels of entire identities for fear of Who May Be Listening, and Who May Be Judged along with him, often prevented the depth of his insight from being expressed. He erased all his posts, psuedonym after psudonym, and tried to convince somebody that he was somebody, and not actually somebody. And in that noise, his genius is silenced, and a certain unconfrontational decadence tried to grow around him; alas, woe unto those who think their sacrifices will provide security, money, or love.

And around that, behind that, so much genius was expressed.  Zoroastro/IslamoYid's and Atgate231's Scholarship, Class and Humor, Shitalpin's withering and ultimately humanist hot/cold sarcasm-masking-authenticity, Hashemsucksdick's marriage of post-religious concience and artistry, Mohammed's strange and shocking form of concience, Anivaho's Mercurial genius to let words permute into sublime association (even as any conceit towards divine synchronicty was despaired of) Yalhak's Majestic magnimamity and wholeness of vision/purity of impurity of perspective (along with the  lucid clarity of Yesod, Aisav, and the other maaminim he brought) and the writers we never even really identified, who bought so much class, genius, and perfect kvetchery to the conversation (who was Hiavrom anyway? he was brilliant! I hope he's OK.)

All the Neo-Nazis who stopped by to let us now what was going on, all the feminists and fetishists, all the excited Chabadskers, all the grieving relatives– so much got circulated, and maybe so little was heard, who knows? who knows. Who knows how much we ever hear from each other that we weren't ready to chap. But I feel like a lot of rare expression and relative taboo was aired here, and i'm really proud of that. As proud as one can be of something that one just let happen.

All the martyrs and all the victims; all the heroes and all the wimps. All the Faggotry and all the ugly, ugly Charedi shock-porn. All the piety and simple faith. Everything but the bullshit, and the noise, and the hiding of ourselves inside of our conceptions. It really has been a great ride, and I can only pray that some of this survivesinto the annals ofHistory, the story of how the Jewish Problem was, if only for a moment, touched upon, if not successfully adressed, from within, rather than just from without. God bless you all, to move on, and see how easy it is just to start up a crazy fucking conversation in this great, wide future of accessible interests, may we one day merit to see it to it's end.

Shana Tov, and i'll see you at the Jubilee

Yoseph Leib,

AKA Yhosephus,

AKA the guy that fucked your sister, back when she was still cute.

Some 7fc New Year's posts:

http://7fatcow.com/2009/08/29/the-letter-of-the-rebbe-reb-bunim-on-rosh-ha-shanah/

http://7fatcow.com/2008/09/24/shofar-concerto-op-1-1885/

http://7fatcow.com/2008/09/29/the-jews-the-jews/

http://7fatcow.com/2008/09/29/time-is-in-the-mind/

http://7fatcow.com/2007/09/13/caught-dipping-his-apple-in-a-honey/

http://7fatcow.com/2006/09/19/day-of-broken-dreams/

This letter was sent by the Rebbe Reb Bunim to one of his Chasidim who couldn’t make to him for the holiday. It was also signed by some of his other Chasidim as well as Reb Bunim’s son Avraham Moshe.

Sunday, Ki Savo, 1826 – here in Pershuschah.

Life, peace and joy to his honor, the friend of my soul and heart, the brilliant and sharp rabbi of renown, the perfect sage, his name is known at the gates, his honored name, our teacher the Rabbi Alexander Ziskind, may his light shine.

Since it is a number of years (until the coming of the Redeemer) that ‘the honor of his torah’ resides within the chamber of my heart, and is a friend in the hidden reaches of my thoughts’ legacy, I will speak this time as to my own heart.

It is written (II Kings, 4:13) “I dwell in the midst of my people” and it is written (Jeremiah 31:3) “God appeared to me from afar” – and this is the secret of Rosh Ha-Shanah. The joy and the anxiety are concealed in fear (ha-simchah ve-ha-da’agah musteres be-pachad) may god grant us both together. The understanding grows from the deed; for the deed is “mystery” and the understanding is “light,” and they resemble each other (ha-binah tigdal me-ha-ma’asah ki ha-ma’asah “raz” (=207) ve-ha-binah “or” (=207) ve-sh’neihem domim).

And bless God, who has preserved and sustained us, that we rise in remembrance before the Lord of all, so that perhaps it arouse mercy to take us from darkness to light. With God’s help, ‘the honor of his torah’ will not be forgotten from our hearts and from the hearts of all the members of our group, for a good remembrance. And may God in His mercy give him joy and life and a “writing and sealing of good” to him and his household and his entire city.

Thus the words of his soul and heart which yearns with love,

Simchah Bunim.

We too, his loved ones and friends, seek his welfare with love and may the blessing of our Rabbi (may he live) be fulfilled and may we merit to hear from him good tidings and rejoice together always, with his soul and the souls of his friends,

The small one, Yitzchak of Zarik (Vorker Rebbe)

The small one, Yitzchak Meir (Chidushey Ha-Rim)

The small one, Menachem Mendel of Tomishov (Kotzker Rebbe)

Meir Kvaller

R. Yaakov Vorker (Radzminer Rebbe) and R. Shlomo Zalshiner indicate his welfare as they are in the middle of praying.

I, the young one, too seek his welfare and I ask of him that he preserve this letter and bring it with him, god willing, when he travels here and then we shall study it together in an in-depth seminar.

The words of his beloved friend, the small one,

Avraham Moshe

-atgate231

Runaway Train
La Belle Et La Bête
Wings of Desire
little odessa
Babettes Feast
the hairdresser
the circus
Night of the Hunter
Ordet
Starship Troopers
Apocalypse Now
Dumb And Dumber
Raising Arizona
Jaws
To Kill A Mockingbird
Running on Empty
The Straight Story
King of Comedy
Radio Days
Diner
Midnight Run
Midnight Express
Strange Days
Quiz Show
The White Balloon
In the heat of the night
Punch Drunk Love
To Sir with Love
A Thousand Clowns
Network
Wait Until Dark
American Splendor
Chicken Run
Babe
The In-laws
Planes Trains And Automobiles
Home Alone
Rosemary's Baby
On The Waterfront
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Apostle
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Blue Velvet
True Romance
Field Of Dreams
Something Wild
Dog Day Afternoon
Donnie Brasco
Good-bye Columbus
Bye Bye Braverman
Diary of a Country Priest
Ordinary People
The Thin Blue Line
Jacob's Ladder
Forbidden Planet
Miller's Crossing
Nobodys Fool
Die Hard
Road To Perdition
Beautiful Girls
My Life as a Dog
Kingdom Of Heaven
King of Hearts
Sophies Choice
The Andromeda Strain
The Insider
Stand By Me
Dr. Strangelove
Monsieur Verdoux
Five Corners
Five Easy Pieces
Five Fingers of Death
A Man of No Importance
Night of the Living Dead
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Berlin Alexanderplatz

and anything by Vittorio de Sica

i know i'll get shit for this but can anybody write in telling us how the cow has changed your life? did it make you:

• frei
• commit suicide (no response will be considered a yes)
• frum (because this is the kind of loser you become by being frei)
• anti-semitic
• philo-semitic
• questioning
• doubting
• hopeless
• hopeful
• horny
• flaccid/dry as the sahara
• laugh
• cry
• angry
• confused
• disgusted
• nauseated
• murderous
• adulterous/promiscuous
• constipated
• gassy
• bald
• argumentative
• spiritual
• curious
• open-minded
• close-minded
• cheap
• charitable
• hard of hearing due to waxy build-up

Tehran, December 1978

Tehran, June 2009

In light of 7FATCOW being as alive as a pro-Mousavi blog in Tehran, it is appropriate to break this track of slow traffic by bringing you DIRECT reports from those in Iran. A Cow has been in regular touch with residents in Tehran since Election Day in Iran over a week ago, and has heard confirmation of many of the reports and images we've been seeing lately. Here are some more details to fill in the gaps. According to 7fatcow's Tehran informant, who lives in the south near Tehran University:

* Already on Election Evening, when they kept the polls open for an extra 4 hours, the feeling was that practically everyone in line to vote expressed that they were voting for Mousavi. And this was in South Tehran. Unlike Iranians' general mannerisms to push & cut in line etc., everyone was very cordial, even letting otehrs go ahead of them.

 * It is rumored that many of a basijis are speaking Arabic, the assumption being that they are Hamas or Hezbollah members trained in Iran.

* It is the women who are the most brave & have been at the forefront of the green movement from the beginning.

* The calls from the rooftops every night from 10PM on reached a cresendo  Saturday night and is still continuing every night.

* Contrary to the images we see, Tehran is not at a standstill (at least not until today), and Tehranis that need to go about their daily business know to avoid certain areas.

* After Saturday, the people were "in a state of shock" on Sunday from the brutality of the forces.

*  The general mood is that this will take a while & that more "sacrifices" will be needed.

* Travel out of the country seems to still be open, as long as you are not "suspect."

* Before the elections, the anti-cleric secular Iranians debated if they should sit this election out too or vote for Mousavi anyways, despite his being part of the Islamic Republic. While some secularists did sit it out, many DID go and vote for Mousavi, for they see him as a catalist to greater freedoms.

Much of the above may be known to some already, but hearing it live from over there directly gives it ever more validity.

Yes, I know the neo-con & right-wing Israeli views that there is no difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad, or that this will ironically make it more difficult for the West to halt Iran's nuclear aspirations, or that this is another case of "limakeh Mitzrayim bivchoreyhem" so who cares? — But lifee aniyus da'ati haklushoh this is nisht oysgehalten, for several reasons:

 1) Even if true, Mousavi is "the lesser of two evils."

2) Think of Mousavi as Gorbachov, who was the precursor for Yeltsin.   

3) Despite Mousavi's central role at the beginning of the revolution, he has certainly moderated, and is even at the point of critisizing some essential aspects of the Islamic Republic. Think of him as in the process of "teshuvah." This has been attested by people who know him for the past 20 years since he left politics until a couple of months ago (e.g. the filmmaker Machmalbuf who knows him during this period). Though he may never admit that the revolution was essentially wrong, he is certainly blowing big holes in the fundamentalist abslutism of the status-quo. (Even Rafsanjani seems to have changed his hardline views a=concerning the revolution, though one must certainly view him with more scepticism and opportunism.)

4)  He is certainly more trustworthy when it comes to "the Bomb."

5) Not supporting him now will send a counter-productive message to all those valient protesters, which include anti-cleric secular Iranians.

6) The opposition MUST stay united. The big flaw of 1978-9 was that the Marxists & the Socialists & Communists etc. were factionalized with inner quibbling, which enabled the Islamists under Khomeini to take over. In fact, there was a brief moment of secular rule for a few months until the Ayyatolah took over (not unlike the Reds pushing out the Whites aty the beginning of the Soviet revolution).

7) Not supporting Mousavi now in order for Ahmadinejad to remain in power so that the West can use this as final "proof" that Iran is extremely radical & hence untrustworthy, meriting to bomb their nuclear sites, will only unite the opposition with the currect regime against this external threat.

8 ) Playing into the Shiite ideology of martyrdom, the more protesters killed, the stronger the opposition becomes validated as being the true heir of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet — the creation myth, so to speak, of Shiite Islam and mesiras nefesh. The more the opposition demonstrates and fataly fall, the stronger they become.

 So do not be dismayed if the opposition uses Islamic slogans & scream "allahu akbar." If anything, the protesters are spitting "Virtuous Islam" back in the face of Khamenei, making him unable to claim that they are anti-religious agitators. Let's just hope that the young Iranians do not fall back into an opium stupor, as many of this generation in Iran have.

Yidden! Goyim! it is time to take a stand up for those whose blood is spilling for freedom!!! 

Here are some sites for un-to-the minute info on what is going on.:

http://niacblog.wordpress.com/

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

There are several others, including facebook (e.g. for the young woman Neda who was killed & dies on camera) & flickr photo sites & much video etc. etc., but this is a start. The guardian and BBC have also been on top of it, as has Reuters etc.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article of how Western companies helped Iran install a sophosticated system to spy on the content of all internet & email outlets in the country, & even able to rewrite content with misinformation. Read it here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html

There is so much more, so until next report,  LONG LIVE FREEDOM!!!

Hachoisem bidmo'oys sholish vidam,

Mino'i,

Zoro

Islamo

Yid

(kishmoy kein hu)

PS: Wondering what Neturei Karta's position is on all this. Mohammad, please?

Dear Sir and Mademoiselle

In response to your query about the marital and the Judaic.

The woman and man readying themselves for marriage must prepare themselves as moral beings approaching the Temple Mount. The unification can only be pure and unadulterated by following the Mosaic law and its precepts.

Unfortunately, in today's dire days of immorality and fornication, American Jewish youth approach the wedding as another party function; a stepping stone to nowhere. Men and women living in sin can in no manner approach the Lord and his Sanctuary through the gates of Ba'al and Astarte. The secular sexual revolution is contrary to the Judaic with black and white lines defining borders which go back to our forefathers and their glorious heirloom of a religion known as Judaism.

The prophets have warned us against the licentiousness found today. May God help his young people find true love and approach marriage with the purity of mind and body as the patriarchs and matriarchs did.

With blessings and warnings,

Rabbi Euclid Biernbaum

Most trapped beings are not as lucky as this one and are stuck for life.

-From the Holy onion

we gatta free ourselves from the zoo