Focus on the Family dangled some tidbits of information to the media knowing that the chronically hysterical left would get, er, hysterical.

And then came the commercial.

Yup, that's the 33 seconds that caused the pro-abortion fanatics to foam at the mouth.

The commercial, as far as I can tell, is about how much a mother loves her healthy and rambunctious son.

But hey, I'm not well versed in post-modern literary deconstruction.

How much do you want to bet that the pro-abortion forces are going to howl that the commercial advocates violence—becaue abortion is, y'know, not violent—against women?

Just a reminder:

Pam Tebow chose to ignore her doctor's advice, risk her own life and give birth to her son, Tim.

Just as Sarah Palin chose to have a child she knew was mentally challenged.

These two women present a narrative the left is determined to demonize. A narrative that advocates free choice.

You see, the left only believes in choice when the choice is their choice.

And oh yeah, Barack Hussein Obama picked The Colts.

The man is the kiss of death.

Seraphic Secret readers have become enthusiastic consumers of Friday Footwear. We get more mail about this feature than our oh-so-carefully written poltical and Hollywood essays.

Sigh.

Look, we admit that the insanely pricey stilletos of Christian Louboutin, the multi-tiered heels of Nicholas Kirkwood and the deliriously alien footwear—favored by Lady Gaga—designed by Alexander McQueen...

Shoes by Alexander McQueen

... are, um, architecturally and culturally fascinating, if physically and financially crippling, but we do recognize that real people in the real world usually favor just plain old hard working footwear.

A few of our readers took the liberty of sending in pictures of their favorite shoes.

Enjoy!

And feel free to send in snapshots of your footwear.

From a long time friend and reader: “My mom really wanted me to forward you the pic of her new boots. These are real Lucchese Boots. In Dallas—where I was born and raised, and of course my parents still live there—these are acceptable for Shabbat and the symphony, and she says they are also perfectly comfortable for walking.”

From Earl O'Neill, one of our Australian buddies, a fine photograph of his steel-toe capped workboots shot by his beloved Tanya. We admire the lunar landscape that is inscribed in the worn leather of Earl's boots. Perfect for working in the garden or hiking in the outback.

Frequent commenter/philosopher and good friend Bill Brandt displays the boots he wore in the Army. Look at the shine on those beauties, you can shave in the refflection. Thanks so much for your service.

Rahel, one of our many friends from Israel, practically lives in her Israeli made Teva Naot boots. They are beyond rugged and so unfashionable that they are actually fashionable.

And finally, Karen's mother Celia, proudly displayed her Granny boots to yours truly, saying: “I'll bet you'll never feature my boots on Seraphic Secret. Not fancy enough, right?”

Hey mom, never is not as long as you think.

Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and restful Shabbat.

I missed February 3, Four Chaplains Day, a story my father, a Chaplain, told me when I was just a child.

The chaplains who sacrificed their lives were the Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and the Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (Rep.) did not forget:

Baruch Dayan Ha-emet

The Lancet, an allegedly prestigious British medical journal, has retracted claims that vaccines cause Autism.

It's a little late.

Phony medicine kills:

Meanwhile, Britain's child vaccination rates had plummeted to below 70% in some areas, down from more than 90% in the mid-1990s. The country has since suffered waves of measles outbreaks. In 1998 England and Wales had 56 cases; by 2008 the number was 1,370. In 2006, the first British child died of measles in more than a decade.

Meanwhile The Lancet has yet to retract a “study” recently published which claims that Palestinian wife beatings are the fault of—who else?—the Jooz.

Phyllis Chesler reports on the Lancet Blood Libel:

Their study is titled: “Association between exposure to political violence and intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study.” And yes, they have found that Palestinian husbands are more violent towards Palestinian wives as a function of the Israeli “occupation”— and that the violence increases significantly when the husbands are “directly” as opposed to “indirectly” exposed to political violence.

I believe that Arab and Muslim men, including Palestinian men, are indeed violent towards Arab and Muslim women. I also believe that war-related stress, including poverty, usually increases “intimate partner violence,” aka male domestic violence. But beyond that, how does one evaluate this study?

Full story here.

This is all part of a well-orchestrated plan to delegitimize the Jewish State. The attacks come every day, from every corner of the globe. The infamous Goldstone Report is a blood libel on an international scale. Ultimately, the Arab Muslim world and her leftist Western apologists are seeking to turn Israel into a pariah state, another South Africa. Israeli passports will no longer be recognized—first in Europe, then South America and finally North America—thus Israel wll be transformed into the final Jewish ghetto, ripe for genocide.

That is the plan.

What is our plan?

Fighting a defensive war is a sure road to defeat.

During January, Turner Classic Movies, presented Shadows of Russia, a look at Russia and the Soviet Union as seen through Hollywood's lens. This fascinating series was conceived and programmed by film blogger Self-Styled Siren and the New York Post's Lou Lumenick.

Siren explains how it happened here.

I've been covering the series for Big Hollywood—Part I, Part II—and here's today's post:

Mission to Moscow (1943), based on the memoir of the same name by Joseph P. Davies, is, well, jaw dropping. Not because it’s so bad, which it is. But because it’s a piece of slick Stalinist propaganda produced by Warner Brothers.

How did this wretched film come into existence?

With the Soviet Union abandoning the Soviet-Nazi pact, and joining America and the allies against Germany and Japan, Roosevelt understood that the American people needed to be, um, reeducated in their attitude towards the Soviet menace. Thus, Roosevelt asked Hollywood to cooperate and produce films that cleared up all the alleged misunderstandings about totalitarian Soviet Communism and mass murdering Josef Stalin.

Or that’s the standard story. In Red Star Over Hollywood, Ronald and Allis Radosh report that:

In a newspaper interview, Davies said that it was he who had approached Harry Warner about the book, after other film companies had shown interest. If it was to be a movie, he told Warner, “I want you to make it.” Warner agreed, and Davies was paid $25,000.

Whatever the truth of the film’s genesis, using Davies 1941 memoir, Hollywood went to work.

A credulous dupe, Davies, Roosevelt’s ambassador to the Soviet Union, was, like New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, a reliable apologist for Communism and Stalin’s murderous policies. Davies was, as Lenin famously labeled Western liberals, “a useful idiot.”

Most shocking in Davies memoir is the treatment of the Moscow show trials that took place between 1936 and 1938. In a major purge, Stalin accused the old Bolshevik leaders of plotting with Nazi Germany to overthrow the Soviet regime. The defendants were primarily old buddies of Lenin who had been celebrated as the first heroes of the Soviet Revolution. They were now accused of working with Trotsky to sabotage industry, assassinate Stalin, and bring down the Soviet regime.

The charges were absurd and most of the defendants were executed. Their confessions are lovingly rendered in a courtroom scene that paints the Soviets as scrupulous jurists. In fact, the hapless defendants were drugged, horribly tortured and told that their families would be murdered unless they confessed.

To read the complete article, head on over to Big Hollywood.

I live in the failing state of California. From the once golden state I watch Barack Hussein Obama declare, like Willie Stark, a populist war against the financial institutions of this country. Obama's budget is a fiscal nightmare that will bury this country in red ink for generations to come. Islamist terrorists are Mirandized by Obama's Justice Dept. And Iran has only contempt for Obama's unclenched fist and vows to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

It's enough to make a grown man cry.

Here's a necessary reminder of one man's greatness.

A reminder that there are, among us, individuals who will defend freedom no matter what the cost.

I urge you to take 6 minutes from your busy schedule and watch this video.

You will honor a great American soldier and thereby honor all American soldiers.

And an astonishing footnote posted at You Tube:

I did this as a way to honor all those who have struggled to come back from serving our country in times of war. The most interesting part for me was something I didn't find out until after I created this photoplay, was that this was Roy's second tour. He had been so gravely wounded, by stepping on a landmine, on his first tour that he was drummed out of the Army after returning. Roy built his body back up and returned to the service after proving himself fit and joined the elite Green Beret's and went back to Vietnam for a second tour for which he received the Medal of Honor.

H/T Weasel Zippers

And if you want to keep up with the U.S. Army, here's an iPhone app that features tons of articles and photos.

A little history:

Tampa mayor, Pam Iorio, proclaimed Nov. 15th "CAIR Day"

—By virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Tampa, I do hereby proclaim November 15, 2008, as ‘Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Day' in the city of Tampa, Florida.

Iorio was finally informed—talk about a clueless liberal—that CAIR, an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, has ties to Islamist terrorists: Whoops, I made a boo-boo.

Obama's repeated public displays of (false) humility are a sign of the narcissism that is the abiding feature of this man's character.

Haveil Havalim #254, The Tu B'shvat Edition is up and live, this week presented by The Israel Situation.

Recently, Ma'ayan Ariel and her parents visited Israel. Offspring #2 and her husband both spent a full year as religious seminary students in Jerusalem, but this was Ma'ayan's very first visit. They rented an apartment in Jerusalem, stayed with friends in Mo'din, visited with cousins in the Galilee, and spent a Shabbat in Efrat with Karen's brother David and his wife Elana.

Ma'ayan goes shopping.

A day at the beach in Tel-Aviv.

Climbing stairs in Jerusalem

Sunset in Mo'din.

And oh yes, when Ma'ayan was in Israel, the Hamas 54, all Democrats, took firm aim the Jewish State.

Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a meaningful and joyous Shabbat.

Yesterday delivered a remarkable study in contrasts.

Two leaders presented their, um, tablets, to a world audience.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, introduced the iPad, a sleek, multifunctional tablet.

Barack Hussein Obama introduced, well, Barack Hussein Obama.

Steve Jobs handed down his tablet to the world press as a revolutionary device that will, among other goodies, create a new business model for media.

Barack Hussein Obama's tablet was BIGGER government.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created by Jobs.

Barack Hussein Obama has never created a single job in his entire life.

Steve Jobs has created wealth for millions of workers and stockholders—including yours truly who has been buying Apple stock since it was stuck at about $13.00 per share.

Barack Hussein Obama has never run a business, never had to meet a payroll, never created wealth for anybody.

Steve Jobs innovates.

Barack Hussein Obama supports a thuggish political status quo.

Steve Jobs created Apple computers, the iPod, the iPhone, phenomenally successful businesses. Hundreds if not thousands of spinoff businesses have been born from these products. Thus wealth is created.

Barack Hussein Obama does not believe in creating wealth, but in the redistribution of wealth.

Steve Jobs understands that he is the CEO, thus when Apple fails he takes responsibility and corrects his vision. It's called personal responsibility.

Barack Hussein Obama blames President Bush for, well, everything. It's called whining.

Steve Jobs believes in the genius of the free market.

Barack Hussein Obama believes in the genius of government—an oxymoron.

Steve Jobs believes in simple devices that are user friendly.

Barack Hussein Obama believes in armies of pencil pushers and complex layers of bureaucracy.

Steve Jobs leads by example.

Barack Hussein Obama leads by demagogic rhetoric.

I heard two great noises yesterday.

There was the great sucking sound of the Democrats going down the drain in November.

And there was the sound of Apple's stock surging into the stratosphere.

Full disclosure. I served as creative and religious consultant.

Procession is the touching story of Shayna, beautifully played by Lisa Strauss—her face is so filled with conflicting emotions that she hardly needs words to convey the depths of her pain—an orthodox girl who is unable to properly grieve when her (secret) boyfriend suddenly passes away.

Procession was invited to be part of a Fun Film Series called Cinema Speakeasy. There's a screening followed by a Q & A discussion and will take place Feb. 2nd in Echo park at 7:45pm. For more info go to: Cinema Speakeasy.

The film was also accepted by the Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival. Festival Dates are March 26 - April 1st 2010 at the Laemmles Sunset 5 in Hollywood CA. Here's their website. It is is still being updated with 2010 festival details.

For more information go to Procession. Highly recommended.

There are movie stars who who are movie stars because of the longevity of their careers, the high quality of their work, the charisma they project. I recognize the greatness of, say, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford without feeling any particular affection for these actresses. Their craft, their tenacity, and their ability to survive and thrive in Hollywood—a town of smiling cannibals—evokes my deepest admiration.

And then there are stars who have touched me in a way that is so profoundly personal that, when they pass away, I actually feel as if I have lost a central portion of myself.

I was just a child when I first saw Jean Simmons in David Lean's superb Great Expectations, (1946). As Young Estella, Simmons is coolly cruel and lovingly destructive to the orphan Pip. Simmons perfectly embodied Miss Havisham's monstrous creation. I loved and hated Estella/Simmons.

Simmons was just fifteen-years old when she appeared as Estella. As Pip observes, she is very proud, very pretty and very insulting.

After seeing Great Expectations, I made it my business to watch every movie in which Jean Simmons appeared. It was the beginning of my love affair with Hollywood stars. Or rather their shadows. As I soon learned as a screenwriter, Hollywood stars are just like you and me—only richer and crazier.

Angel Face (1952), paired a grown up Simmons with tough guy Robert Mitchum. Once again, Simmons plays a beautiful monster, a woman with serious daddy issues. It might be Simmons greatest performance. Even as she weaves her web of destruction, we glimpse a vulnerability that is heart-breaking. This was Simmons greatest asset, her ability to project warmth and yearning through that aloof mask of symmetrical beauty.

Here's a clip from Angel Face. The entire film is posted on youtube. Watch and listen. Simmons has a beautiful speaking voice, crisp and clear as a diamond.

In The Actress (1953) Simmons portrays a small town girl who yearns to move to New York to be an actress. Simmons is in pigtails and pinafores, light years away from the calculating femme fatale of Angel Face, and she perfectly embodies a dreamy young girl who yearns to escape her dreary life. It's a fresh and lively performance that was a mirror of my desire to escape Brooklyn and go to Hollywood.

In Elmer Gantry (1960) Simmons plays Sister Sharon Falconer, an evangelical preacher who travels through rural America. This is, perhaps, my favorite Simmons movie. Her religious convictions run deep and true, yet when she falls in love with the fast talking Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster, a charming huckster, her faith is sorely tested. Simmons is no saint, and she doesn't play it as such. Instead she endows Sister Sharon with a steely innocence that, eventually, leads to Gantry's moral awakening. It's a subtle, restrained performance, a great performance that should have been nominated for an Oscar.

in this clip from Elmer Gantry, Jean Simmons makes her appearance at about the four minute mark.

As Varinia, the beautiful slave girl in Spartacus (1960), Simmons loves Kirk Douglas with such depth that in the end, when she holds up her infant child for the crucified Spartacus to behold, I actually fell apart in the movie theater. Thick tears rolled down my cheeks, and I understood, perhaps for the first time, the emotional power of movies.

Here's the last scene from Spartacus. Watch and weep. The score, by the great Alex North, is one of the finest ever composed.

I've always thought of my wife Karen, as my very own Jean Simmons; the same regal bearing, penetrating eyes, ink black hair, tiny waist, and a cool, ferocious intelligence that masks a universe of deeply felt emotions.

Born in England, Simmons became an American citizen. She was married and divorced twice, to actor Stewart Granger (1950-1960) and director Richard Brooks (1960-1977). Both men were quite a bit older than Simmons and both were, ah, quite controlling. She had two daughters, one from each marriage. Simmons was an alcoholic and spent time in rehab.

In 1965, on the set of Life at the Top, Simmons was interviewed by photo journalist Eve Arnold. At age 36, Simmons was in a reflective mood, acutely aware that she was approaching that point in her career where starring roles dried up for aging beauties:

I cannot help but constantly think about that age thing. At thirty you start thinking about being forty, and pushing age. I hope to get over it soon, and then get on with it. I don't know what it is, but in this country, it is as though it is a crime to grow old. As though everybody isn't doing it. Or maybe it is just this business.

Jean Simmons passed away from lung cancer, age 80, on Friday January 22, in Santa Monica, surrounded by family.

Thank you for all your hard and beautiful work.

Rest in Peace.

For more articulate and touching Jean Simmons memorials please visit:

John Nolte at Big Hollywood.

Self-Styled Siren.

Dan Callahan at Slant Magazine.

H/T Israel Matzav

Designed by Frank Gehry, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is an architectural gem in downtown Los Angeles. The acoustics are wonderful and the hall seats 2, 265.

The shiny, undulating surface is stunning. The building looks like a post-modern alien space ship parked regally at 111 South Grand Avenue.

Initially, the computer-designed surfaces caused problems for neighbors as sunlight bounced off the shiny stainless steel, creating intense glare that reflected into condominiums. Rooms turned hot as steam baths. Frank Gehry and Partners solved the problem by sanding the offending panels, thereby dulling the mirror-like skin.

Tefillin alert, Tefillin alert! There, don't you feel safer.

Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

I have to tell you, this story has all the ingredients for a delightful screwball comedy.

She's young, she's beautiful, she's Jewish and she's in the army. International supermodel Esti Ginzburg has joined the Israel Defense Forces while still juggling a career as a model and actress.

There aren't many international supermodels who would choose to serve in the Israeli army—right smack bang in the middle of their careers, but Israeli model Esti Ginzburg isn't about to let that stop her.

The 19-year-old from Tel Aviv, who has modeled for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and designer names like Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry, and Pull & Bear, is now serving a two-year military service for the Israel Defense Forces, while also juggling international modeling jobs.

Ginzburg's job in the army is to talk to high-school students about their options in the service. It's a far cry from the exotic photo shoots, glittering events, and designer clothes she's used to, but Ginzburg doesn't mind.

"If you live in this country and you grow up in this country then you have to serve and do the minimum," she tells ISRAEL21c. "It's the values I grew up on and I always knew I was going to go in, even though it's hard."

Last year, Ginzburg—who began modeling at the age of eight—made her acting debut in the film, Twelve, directed by Joel Schumacher, which will premier at the upcoming Sundance film festival.

Original story here.

H/T Air Force Officer.

And while we're on the subject of the IDF—hey, this is not just some random cheesecake posting—here's an excellent analysis comparing U.S. and Israeli Homeland Security, prepared by the USAF.

This report compares United States and Israeli homeland security practices. Its purpose is to determine whether there are lessons from Israeli experience that might enhance U.S. homeland security efforts. The research for this study included a literature review as well as field interviews with American and Israeli elites in Washington, D.C., and Israel during the summer of 2005. The principle investigator met with key Israeli homeland security and counterterrorism experts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramla, and Hertzilya.

This report sets the stage for a comparison of United States and Israeli homeland security issues and policies by addressing the common and unique threats facing each state. It then looks at how each state has organized its governmental response to those threats, its policies for preventing terrorist attacks, and its response capabilities should an attack occur. In the final section it lists lessons from Israeli experience that might be considered by the United States, along with a discussion of the reasons the United States will likely be unable or unwilling to implement those lessons.

Full report here.

A week ago, Karen and I sent money to the Scott Brown campaign. Sitting on the sidelines we felt a bit helpless. Maybe, we reasoned, our contribution will help Brown's noble effort. Or at least make us feel a bit less helpless.

But, I cautioned myself, this is Mass., the state that went for McGovern.

The state that has been fully colonized by liberal Democrats.

The state that went for Obama by a 26 point margin.

And the seat occupied by Ted Kennedy for, oh my gosh, 47 years.

But the polls were moving in Brown's favor.

(Definitely because of our contribution)

Then I smiled.

Hugely.

Because Barack Hussein Obama climbed aboard Air Force One and winged his way to Mass., to bolster Coakley's campaign.

I turned to Karen and said:

“This is great. Obama's doing a Copenhagen all over again.”

That's the wonderful thing about narcissists. They never learn. They remain, um, narcissists.

In Mass., Barack Hussein Obama delivered a fab-u-lous, completely tone deaf speech.

Barely mentioned his government run health care medicine show. Even he knows it's toxic.

But he did heap scorn on Scott Brown's pick-up truck, not once, not twice, but six times.

A truck made by GM.

Obama is not just a narcissist but an elitist.

At Lexington and Concord, in 1775, a band of brave Americans started a revolution.

And now in 2010, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one, a massive group of Americans have fired another shot that will reverberate around these United States.

Americans do not want socialized medicine.

Americans do not want Obama's horrific expansion of government bureaucracy.

Americans do not want higher taxes.

Americans do not want massive government deficits.

And Americans do not want Islamist terrorists to be treated like American citizens.

In short, this election was a repudiation of Obama's radical, far left policies.

Come November, the next Democrats to fall are: Harry Reid (Nev), Blanche Lincoln (Ark), Arlen Spectre (Pa), Russ Feingold (Wisc) and Evan Bayh (Ind).

I'm already signing checks, and that makes all the difference.

For an articulate look at Scott Brown's win, please read my friend Wolf Howling's analysis.

Victor Davis Hanson points out that no one likes a serial whiner.

And hey, the Dems loss in Mass., is a victory for—you guessed it—Israel.