S: Is for Scrolls who have Secrets to tell!

With Easter around the corner, there are controversies that make us wonder at the whys of these holidays. After reading "The Dead Sea Scroll Deceptions," I questioned the oldest Biblical manuscripts in existence. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near Jerusalem in 1947, only to be kept a tightly held secret for nearly fifty more years, until the Huntington Library unleashed a storm of controversy in 1991 by releasing copies of the Scrolls. In this gripping investigation, authors Baigent and Leigh set out to discover how a small coterie of orthodox biblical scholars gained control over the Scrolls, allowing access to no outsiders and issuing a strict "consensus" interpretation.

The authors' questions begin in Israel, leading them to the corridors of the Vatican and into the offices of the Inquisition. With the help of independent scholars, historical research and careful analysis of available texts, the authors reveal what was at stake for these orthodox guardians: The Scrolls present startling insights into early Christianity. Insights that challenge what we have been lead to believe.

The Essenes are at the bottom of this conspiracy, and few people know really who they were. In a nut shell, they were a third religious sect during the time of Christ that lived. Keeping to themselves, they lived in simple communities. The Essenes practiced the seventh day sabbath, believed in reincarnation, non-violence to all living creatures and the sharing of all material possessions. They were uninvolved in the politics of the Sadducees and Pharisees, the ruling factions, and shunned publicity. Because of the discovery of dead sea scroll material, this ancient sect and their teachings are back and alive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden by this ancient people long ago in the caves of Qumram. The writing, stemming around 80 A.D., says that the Essenes were Jews by birth but seemed to have a greater affection for one another than they did for the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their belief in God was extraordinary.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1945, yet it took 50 years for the information to leak out about these extraordinary people. What was so shocking to the scholars who were finally allowed to examined a portion of these ancient documents was that here was a community of people practicing Christianity, at least 200 years before the time of Christ. Both the practice of baptism and of the sharing of the wine are recorded as part of their practices long before Jesus and John the Baptist popularized them. The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception is a book that details the explosive contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the Church conspired to suppress them.












One has to wonder after reading and researching the F.A.C.T.S this book presents why keeping these documents a secret is the only thing all religions agree upon. What is really hiding in the text of these worn out pages that scares them all so much. Hasn't it been said "and the truth shall set you free". These are F.A.C.T.S that need to be examined.

T: Is for Trouble in Paradise or is it home?

Gases prices have reached $5.20 and, compared to the $3.21 price of last year, everything is on the rise. Tonight's news stated that Con Ed was raising its prices by 5%, giving them a profit of $425 million. This is the biggest one-time increase in bills for electric service. The average customer will pay about $5.60 a month more.

I have known for awhile that a company called Monsanto had derived a process in which all grains would be seedless much like the watermelon. When I mentioned it to my friends, I was called a conspiracist. Think what you want of me but, sadly to say, I was right about my concern. For in owning all the grains and deciding how much they produce, you rule a world.

For a 50-pound bag of flour, it was $16 a bag last week; for Gold Medal brand flour, now it is $37 a bag. Cremosa Food of Melville, New York, confirms there are plans for a price hike to $40 a bag in the next week. With the increased price of cheese, pizza went from $2.00 to $2.50. With the new rise in flour what will pizza cost now? The cost of cereals and bakery products climbed more than 9% last month, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics during the past 12 months. A bushel of wheat now trades for more than $1100, more than two-and-1/2 times what it was just a year ago.

Huge demands for ethanol have farmers planting more corn to produce fuel when they could be growing wheat, and corn is about to become extinct to those of us who love to eat it. To make matters worse "Fifty-nine-percent of everything we raised in 2007 is leaving the U.S." That's 9-10% over what is normal. U.S. wheat supplies are at their lowest level since the end of World War II. In Manilla, one of the world's largest rice importers, they are gearing up to increase imports to beat escalating Asian rice prices and secure thinning domestic stocks. The price of soy has risen by just 3.1%. The rising grain prices are one of the first global economic indicators to tell us that we are on an economic and demographic path that is environmentally unsustainable. Monsanto's development and marketing of genetically engineered have made the company $7.344 billion. Not bad for making us slaves to their pricing.

Now Monsanto is attempting to acquire water rights in countries with water shortages in a move to control the people's basic means of survival. Seeking to privatize the world's water and putting it on the open market for sale to the highest bidder is their goal. Millions of the world's citizens are being deprived of this fundamental human right, and vast ecological damage is being wrought as massive industry claim water once used to sustain communities and replenish nature. You may like these F.A.C.T.S. but they are here and staring us in the face!

C: Is for Clothes that Understand a Women's Body!

We live in a society, especially in New York and LA that if you are not a size 0-6 you do not deserve to be dressed in designer threads. If you go into a store on Rodeo Drive you are looked at like you have committed a major crime just because your body type was different. No one saw this more than Katie Campbell owner and buyer of a new NOLITA store "True Boutique". Originally working in production, Campbell labored behind the scenes for a variety of networks and a variety of top musical talents, including Beyoncé, Sting, Mary J. Blige and many others. In 2007 she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on A Tribute to James Taylor. When shopping in LA Campbell came to realize that she wasn’t receiving the same treatment as her “size 2” friends and recognized that there was a real lack of understanding regarding appropriate sizing. She became intent on filling this void in the marketplace. Katie’s goal for "True Boutique" is to see that each customer feels good about both themselves and their fashionable purchases regardless of whether they are size 0 or 16. Her goal is to make you feel comfortable and she offers some unique services such as private appointments for those who are shy about their body and photographs of you in the item, so that you can take them home or go on-line and show your friends before making that all important decision. The boutique features the services of a professional in-house tailor on site, further insuring that the clientele gets the perfect fit. Campbell states “Every woman can benefit from wearing garments that truly fit. Sometimes that means buying a size up and having it tailored down, or making sure pants break at just the right place for the illusion of a longer leg. It’s amazing what a difference in one’s appearance having a properly fitted garment makes. "True Boutique" offers another perk to it's customers in this as well. You can have your jeans tapered and ready for your body while you enjoy a glass of wine. If the tailoring is a longer job you can have it messengered to you by the next day. I found that to be the best reason shop here as I normally go shopping out of depression because I have a function I have to attend. Of course nothing fits perfectly and tailors can take up to two weeks. To shop and have it tailored just for me over night and delivered is a dream come true. Being at "True Boutique " is like being in Katie's bedroom and playing dress up and that is exactally how she wants you to feel. Featuring a blend of new and established designers she includes: Cloak and Dagger, Vandelborne, DAC, Guido & Mary, Beija Flor, Jordache, C.enne.V, Marlova, Richard Ruiz, Soni and cindy, Enza costa, Tehya, Sherri Bodell, Dallinchase and Dessous so you are sure to find a favorite. The later two had an adorable blue and white strip collection that was perfect for making any body look fresh and in style and a creme silk charmeuse had me seeing visions of the sexiest summer dress. Not every body is the same and Katie and "True Boutique" celebrate that difference and that is a joyous F.A.C.T.

True Boutique is located at 278 Mott Street (between Houston and Prince). For additional information www.betruenyc.com.

A: Is for Art that has us Confused!

The 2008 Whitney Biennial tells us “where American art stands today”. "Cheese" (2008), is a multichannel video piece by Mika Rottenberg, shows a iffy economy and lowered expectations. With 80 artists, this is the smallest show yet it takes up three floors and continues at the Park Avenue Armory, at 67th Street. This Biennial is unglamorous, installation are plain and forced. There are certainly elements to hold ones attention such as Spike Lee’s HBO film about Katrina-wrecked New Orleans but does this really belong in an art museum show meant for emerging artists? I did find Phoebe Washburn’s floral ecosystem refreshing and a light in this dim experience. A lot of the work seemed to be in a transitional, questioning mode, art as conversation rather than as statement. In a sense this show went "Green" and all kinds of found and recycled ingredients, otherwise known as trash became art. Examples are wood scraps, disposable coffee cups, old socks in blocks of resin for display. Spidery, shapes based on traces of bird droppings from plaster covered in debris. If painting is what you came here to see you will be deprived as there is little that follows that format. The Biennials use to be the best of the best of the art galleries so for better or worse, the art in this show is genuinely new. From the old we have Frances Stark’s free-associative collages. The 2008 Biennial is a political show, at least if you define politics, in terms of indirection, ambiguity; questions asked, not answered; truth that is and is not true. The best pieces though film are Omer Fast sex, lies, and a civilian shooting in Iraq a film-within-a-film. William E. Jones takes a very personal tack on the subject of civilian surveillance by recycling an old police video of illicit homosexual activity shot in an Ohio men’s room. The video dates from 1962, the year the artist, who is gay, was born, and the police sting triggered a wave of antigay sentiment in the town where he grew up. Though there is some interesting pieces one comes out of this show confused to what is art and what is film and what is to be thrown out with the trash. They say art is in the eye of the beholder but this is a disturbing F.A.C.T.

“Whitney Biennial 2008” runs through June 1 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, and through March 23 at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street.

F: Is for Food Personalities making a show!

For those of you who have never heard of Rachel Ray you have been hiding you head in the sand. The perky chef has been all over the news as of late. First there are the rumblings that her talk show, produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, may be cancelled as soon as her contract expires in 2010. The problem is her ratings, which were a meager 2.5 when she debuted two years ago are dropping steadily. Also Rachael's set is very expensive and elaborate. If Ray is axed, a possible replacement is already in the works: King World is producing a chat show for Marie Osmond, which will be ready by 2010.

Rachael Ray is be the world's most talked about chef and not in a good way. Entire blogs are devoted to slamming the perky Food Network superstar—"Rachael Ray Sucks" is particularly vicious. On Web sites like Gullet, a "society for culinary arts and letters," users say she should be "tarred and feathered." And professional chefs, including Slate food writer Sara Dickerman, turn up their noses when Ray comes around. It's easy to see why using boxed corn muffin mix for her Cracked Corn and Cheese Squares, and chunky peanut butter in her Thai Salad With Peanut Dressing. She loathes baking so her "homemade" desserts is Black Cherry Ice Cream With Chocolate Sauce: Buy the ice cream and top with chocolate sauce and a dash of cherry liqueur (Reddi-Wip is optional). She endorsed a Burger King chicken sandwich in 2003.

Ray's ditzy demeanor also makes her easy to dismiss what with the constantly praises of her own cooking. The acknowledgments in her $40 a Day cookbook read like a high-school yearbook: "Don …You are the tallest man we've ever had on crew, and yet you pack the smallest bag—ever! Cool." And it didn't boost her credibility when she posed for pinup shots in FHM. (One featured Ray licking chocolate off a spoon.) When the magazine hit newsstands, she said, "I think it is kinda cool for someone who is goofy, and a cook, just a normal person to be thought of in that way."

Today she hit newsstands with her South by Southwest music festival, Rachael Ray's artist showcase. "I guess people think that I just live in a kitchen but I love music, every type of music." "I know that I'm more than just a cook. I think that's why people probably thought it was so weird but I married a man who has an indie-rock band, so how is it that weird when you really think about it?" The band, The Cringe (led by her hubby John Cusimano), was among the performers at Ray's showcase, which had people lined outside the door waiting to get in. But music wasn't the only draw: after all, Ray's claim to fame is her cooking. She made up three recipes for the event, including a seven-layer slider and a vegetarian macaroni and cheese, which were among the dishes served up to the packed crowd.

No matter if you like her or hate her this is one girl who knows how to stay in the lime light and cook up publicity and that is a F.A.C.T.