Fired University of Georgia cheerleading coach and “good Christian” Marilou Braswell continues her protest that she discriminated against Jewish cheerleader Jaclyn Steele when the senior did not participate in New Testament Bible studies at Braswell’s home with the rest of the squad. Braswell is just shocked that playing favorites according to religion got her canned and says she knows in her heart she did nothing wrong and that she “did nothing but love” all the cheerleaders, regardless of their religion. She’s calling her fight with the school’s athletic department “God’s battle” and compares herself to the Biblical David: “This situation is my giant.” (Wow, all that studying’s really paid off, honey!) The unemployed coach has decided the Christian thing to do when confronted with one’s own discrimination is to sue, so Braswell filed a federal suit against UGA Board of Regents, UGA President Michael Adams and athletic director Damon Evans last fall. No trial has been set.
We smell a tragicomic cable movie in the making- we’re thinking kosher cutie Alicia Silverstone as the wronged cheerleader, but who could capture the nuanced idiocy and bad make-up of Marilou Braswell? Here’s one suggestion; post yours below.

Most of us consider President’s Day simply a day off or an inconvenience, depending on whether you’re a student/federal employee or a self-employed shlub trying to cash a check. But here’s a reason to think kind thoughts about our country’s forefather this Monday: In the first documented correspondence with the Jewish community, newly-elected head of state George Washington responded to Savannah, Georgia congregational leader Levi Sheftall, who thanked George the Good on May 6, 1789 for “enfranchis[ing] [American Jewry] with all the privileges and immunities of free citizens, and initiated us into the grand mass of legislative mechanism” with the heralding of the U.S. Constitution.
Washington’s response: “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a promised land, whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation, still continue to water them with the dews of heaven and make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”
Such a nice sentiment. Of course, 300+ years later the same words would probably get him impeached.
Read Washington’s whole letter to the Jews of Savannah, published in the Jewish Ledger.

We were quite bitter last week when we went to buy our usual tube of kosher salami and found the shelf empty, only to find out from JTA that we’re in the midst of an actual salami shortage: It seems those who “answer to a higher authority” can’t keep up with the demand for their delish kosher products, leading to a countrywide deficit in hot dogs, salami and deli meats.

Benny Friedman, once called the

Props to Best New Artist Grammy winners Maroon 5 (fronted by oh-so-hot Adam Levine) for snagging the award from expected winner Kanye West. Levine was so surprised and humbled that the first sputtering words of his acceptance speech were “Kanye West, I want to thank you so much for being wonderful.” We hereby present Levine with a “Jmerica Mensch Award”, an invisible statuette made of pure air so it won’t crowd out that shiny new Grammy.

Those of us who secretly love puppets but might feel weird renting Sesame Street for the evening’s entertainment have found a gem in Greg The Bunny, an ill-fated FOX series just out on DVD. Though we haven’t been able to ascertain the ethnic background of lovable, furry Greg, the rest of the cast reads like a Hollywood synagogue membership directory: Seth Green stars as the puppet’s (he prefers “fabricated American”) slacker roommate whose father (the always delightfully nerdy Eugene Levy) directs a children’s show peopled (and puppeted) by the crassest, most inappropriate fuzz pelts since Meet The Feebles. Comedienne Sarah Silverman does a turn as a sexy, sarcastic TV exec, though the funniest lines belong to the puppets: “Did you hear about Snuffalupagus? Bankrupt.” “No! He was making big money!” “Yeah, it all went up his nose…”
Hilarious stuff, though obviously not ready for primetime, since FOX canceled Greg and his friends after only one season to much protest from sock lovers like us.

The son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, Miller defined the hopelessness of the American Dream in Death of A Salesman, won a Tony for pointing a finger back at the Communist-witch hunters in The Crucible and wrote about family, morality and other uncomfortable issues all the way into his last years. He was married to Marilyn Monroe for five years (she converted; her idea!) but we all know how that turned out. We are sorry to see such a wise man shed his mortal coil, but we’d think he’d say it eventually happens to all of us.

The Michael Jackson pedophile extravaganza takes on a Jewish twist as 80’s prince Corey Feldman is subpoenaed to testify that Mike showed him some porn once. (Specifically, a book about venereal diseases. Gross. But maybe not quite as gross as what Emmanuel Lewis‘s testimony might be.) If Corey had been studying for his bar mitzvah instead of snorting coke with his buddy Corey Haim, maybe it all could have been avoided.

Good Shabbos, Jmerica.

From this month’s Yoga Journal: A Buddhist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim discuss how they relate their yoga practice to their religious beliefs. Gone are the days when yoga meant twisting oneself into a pretzel and chanting mantras in India; a mind-body practice can complement Jewish life without comprimising our basic values. Says Andrea Cohen-Keiner, a rabbi in the Jewish Renewal movement:
“The mythic stories of the Hindu tradition probably do look like idol worship to traditional Jewish eyes, but here’s how I understand it: I believe that God is oneness. So that ultimately all the filters we look at that ultimate reality through are nothing more than creations of our mind. Those creations don’t limit the Creator.”

From MSNBC: The founders of the Jewish Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, a planned online museum celebrating Jewish contributions to rock music, have been slapped in their punims by a lawsuit, even though their won’t launch until next month. The Cleveland-based Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame wants the Jewish site to stop using their title, claiming that it infringes on their branding rights.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a writer for The New Yorker magazine and one of the Jewish rock hall founders says