Someone forwarded me a chain letter today about how offensive it is that a blatantly antisemitic web site, JewWatch, shows up at or near the top of the search results when you Google the word “Jew”.
Here’s my response: http://blog.kamens.us/jew-is-not-a-bad-word/.
Recently, I wrote about BNY Mellon’s inept handling of 2010 1099-OIDs for Israel bonds, my relief that the State of Israel had decided to replace BNY Mellon with Computershare as the fiscal agent for Israel Bonds purchased in the U.S., and my hope that Computershare would be better than BNY Mellon.
Less than 12 hours after I posted that blog entry, I received email from someone at Computershare:
My wife and I own a number of Israeli Bonds purchased over the course of many years (typically after annual High Holiday appeals). Many of these bonds are Original Issue Discount (OID) bonds. Dispensing with all the technical details, the general idea of an OID bond is that you get a 1099-OID statement every year showing how much you have to report to the IRS and pay taxes on as income, but you don’t actually get the money you’ve thus reported until the bond matures and you redeem it.
Until very recently, Israeli Bonds sold in the United States were administered by BNY Mellon. They’ve been the agents for some other stock I’ve owned, and they have been consistently difficult and unpleasant to deal with.
Ben Bresky of Israel National News has just released an interview about my “Shave a Redhead for Israel” fundraiser. Enjoy!
Here’s your chance to donate to the relief efforts after the Carmel fire in Israel and get something more than just a sense of satisfaction from having done a good deed and helped people in need. You can also get a good, hearty belly laugh from seeing me with no hair, half a beard, and only one eyebrow.
Sound intriguing? Well, then, click here to find out more!
(This is not a typical post for my blog. Those of you who aren’t Jewish can feel free to skip it.)
My bar mitzvah was December 18, 1982, the second Shabbat of Hanukah, parashat Miketz. Each year on the anniversary of my bar mitzvah, I read part of the Torah reading (the first four aliyot is all I’ve managed to learn in all these years), and each year, I see something new in this remarkable parasha. This year I noticed two things I’d never noticed before. (more…)
Dear Terry Gross,
I am a huge fan of Fresh Air. I listen to every episode. I greatly admire your interviewing skill and your obvious in-depth preparation for every interview.
Having said that, I was extremely disappointed by your interview with Lawrence Wright. (more…)
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