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[Note: I recently had a chance to rewatch "Chinatown," a film with much to admire – particularly in its technical elements and performances. However, while the majority of critics and movies fans see it as a one of the best films ever made, I’m in the minority who disagrees. Here’s why.]

Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks is a far left weekly op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times who has made a brief but noticed career out of routinely charging victim status. In researching the career of the radical Ms. Brooks since she received her law degree 10 years ago, I could not find a record of one thing she likes about America. As of this month, she is the newest member of the law faculty at Georgetown, one of America’s extreme left-wing universities. In the recent past, Ms. Brooks has been a paid consultant to three far left organizations, George Soros’s Open Society Institute and two selectively critical Jew-hating groups, Human Rights Watch and  Amnesty International. All three are cousins by incestuous marriage to the equally America-loathing American Civil Liberties Union. For an American, I would think the opening portion of the mission statement of the Open Society Institute would be a jaw-dropper: “An open society is a society based on the recognition that nobody has a monopoly on truth.” There is, therefore, no universal right or wrong. Your truth is yours and mine is mine. Armed with just that speck of information, what follows should not surprise you. I cannot say whether Ms. Brooks was sincere when she donned the raiment of a naive Gentile for this morning’s essay in the Times, but I can say that she told untruths and gross distortions. Ms. Brooks is vexed and perplexed by Jewish defenders of Israel for criticizing a fellow Jew who condemned Israel’s conduct during the recent Middle East War. Turning her palms skyward, the puzzled Ms. Brooks pleaded forlornly. How can you turn on Ken Roth, she asked, when he is one of you? The executive director of Human Rights Watch, who periodically reports to the public, told lies about Israel’s conduct of the war, equating its tactics with Hezbollah’s. Ms. Brooks was angry and baffled that Jews, in response, criticized Mr. Roth, one of my favorite Jewishly useless Jews.

Ah, the sweet irony of Stew Bubar’s latest qualitative contribution to the public discourse. The irony was sizzling when Mr. Bubar, one of the most provocative members of the School Board in Culver City, sat down to craft a well-constructed essay for last week’s edition of the Culver City Star. Speaking authoritatively as a longtime teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Mr. Bubar presented cast-iron arguments why the thuggish Mayor Wrong of Los Angeles should not be allowed to seize control of the LAUSD in his panting march toward ultimate power in the United States. I trust that Mr. Bubar, as a loyal Teachers Union member, has seen the same information that I have — that Mayor Wrong is a better bet to succeed in his coarse course toward becoming czar of LAUSD than October is to directly follow September this year. Natural opponents of Mayor Wrong’s naked grab are collapsing the way athletes do when the fix is in. Last Thursday, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, sensing the train was going to leave with the Chamber underneath it, hollered “me, too,” and desperately lurched for the greasy coat-tails of Mayor Wrong. But I digress.

The Whole Foods Market in Woodlands Hills recently put into action a community-oriented program whereby regional artists are given an opportunity to display their work. Launched with a reception, artworks are put on display for customers to enjoy and, perhaps, to purchase. On Saturday, June 10, I happily had the opportunity to share in the reception for Melisa Sharpe, whose fine art photographs will be on display for the coming month.

The location was a small, enclosed outdoor patio where sunlight poured in from large windows. A mural painted in a breezy, Italian style provided an element of ornamentation that enhanced the space without dominating it. It was a wonderful venue for a reception that featured a dozen easels, each holding a beautiful black and white photograph, and a table with fine cheeses, fruits and nuts for guests to enjoy. All told, dozens of people showed up — friends, family, co-workers, Whole Foods shoppers and staff — to enjoy images of places such as Hollywood, Santa Monica, New York and Puerto Rico.