So I guess Los Angeles Times columist Joel Stein is trying to be funny ("A poll finds more Americans disagree with the statement that 'Jews control Hollywood.' But here's one Jew who doesn't."), but actually his take on this controversial subject - while accurate - is actually scary and disturbing:

I have never been so upset by a poll in my life. Only 22% of Americans now believe "the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews," down from nearly 50% in 1964. The Anti-Defamation League, which released the poll results last month, sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping. Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood.

How deeply Jewish is Hollywood? When the studio chiefs took out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times a few weeks ago to demand that the Screen Actors Guild settle its contract, the open letter was signed by: News Corp. President Peter Chernin (Jewish), Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey (Jewish), Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger (Jewish), Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton (surprise, Dutch Jew), Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer (Jewish), CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves (so Jewish his great uncle was the first prime minister of Israel), MGM Chairman Harry Sloan (Jewish) and NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker (mega-Jewish). If either of the Weinstein brothers had signed, this group would have not only the power to shut down all film production but to form a minyan with enough Fiji water on hand to fill a mikvah.

The person they were yelling at in that ad was SAG President Alan Rosenberg (take a guess). The scathing rebuttal to the ad was written by entertainment super-agent Ari Emanuel (Jew with Israeli parents) on the Huffington Post, which is owned by Arianna Huffington (not Jewish and has never worked in Hollywood.)

The Jews are so dominant, I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. When I called them to talk about their incredible advancement, five of them refused to talk to me, apparently out of fear of insulting Jews. The sixth, AMC President Charlie Collier, turned out to be Jewish.

As a proud Jew, I want America to know about our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood. Without us, you'd be flipping between "The 700 Club" and "Davey and Goliath" on TV all day.

So I've taken it upon myself to re-convince America that Jews run Hollywood by launching a public relations campaign, because that's what we do best. I'm weighing several slogans, including: "Hollywood: More Jewish than ever!"; "Hollywood: From the people who brought you the Bible"; and "Hollywood: If you enjoy TV and movies, then you probably like Jews after all."

I called ADL Chairman Abe Foxman, who was in Santiago, Chile, where, he told me to my dismay, he was not hunting Nazis. He dismissed my whole proposition, saying that the number of people who think Jews run Hollywood is still too high. The ADL poll, he pointed out, showed that 59% of Americans think Hollywood execs "do not share the religious and moral values of most Americans," and 43% think the entertainment industry is waging an organized campaign to "weaken the influence of religious values in this country."

That's a sinister canard, Foxman said. "It means they think Jews meet at Canter's Deli on Friday mornings to decide what's best for the Jews." Foxman's argument made me rethink: I have to eat at Canter's more often.

"That's a very dangerous phrase, 'Jews control Hollywood.' What is true is that there are a lot of Jews in Hollywood," he said. Instead of "control," Foxman would prefer people say that many executives in the industry "happen to be Jewish," as in "all eight major film studios are run by men who happen to be Jewish."

But Foxman said he is proud of the accomplishments of American Jews. "I think Jews are disproportionately represented in the creative industry. They're disproportionate as lawyers and probably medicine here as well," he said. He argues that this does not mean that Jews make pro-Jewish movies any more than they do pro-Jewish surgery. Though other countries, I've noticed, aren't so big on circumcision.

I appreciate Foxman's concerns. And maybe my life spent in a New Jersey-New York/Bay Area-L.A. pro-Semitic cocoon has left me naive. But I don't care if Americans think we're running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the government. I just care that we get to keep running them.

Rats have belly buttons. (Discover Magazine)

Male baby rats exposed to low doses of Aspirin, either in the womb or through nursing, have lower than normal sex drives when they grow up. (Live Science)

The most popular name for a baby boy in the U.K. is Jack. Second? Mohammed – in part because 14 different spellings count toward the same total. (BBC Blogs)

Adoptive parents spend a larger percentage of their total income on their children than biological parents do. (Scientific American Mind)In a study of 1,000 tonsillectomy operations, "82 per cent of post-operative bleeding crises occurred nearer the full moon than the new moon," according to the Journal of the Florida Medical Association. (The Independent)Man flu, n.: "the male tendency to exaggerate the effects of a cold." (a new entry in the 9th edition of the Collins English Dictionary)

Approximately 15 per cent of Father's Day cards are bought by wives for their husbands. (greetingcard.org).

Each year, Britons ruin 885,000 cellphones by accidentally (we presume) dropping them into the toilet. (Cellular News)

Growing rhubarb in the dark and harvesting it by candlelight can make it taste sweeter. (BBC News)

On this day in 1935, Dr. Robert Smith took a last swig from a bottle of beer and, with his friend, Bill Wilson, formed Alcoholics Anonymous. (American Heritage)

1. Queen Victoria started the tradition of a bride wearing a white dress at her wedding. Source: weddinggazette.com

2. Queen singer Freddie Mercury's favourite vest was a multi-coloured pattern featuring paintings of his six cats. Source: queenzone.com

3. If left to breed at will, one female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years. Source: thedailycat.com

4. One drink has the same effect on the average woman that two drinks have on the average man. Source: casacolumbia.org

5. Underage drinkers, alcoholics, and alcohol abusers consume as much as 48.8 per cent of the value of all alcohol sold in the United States. Source: casacolumbia.org

6. Kissing for 30 minutes may suppress the body's allergic reaction to pollen. Source: news.netdoctor.co.uk

7. Anthophobia: The fear of flowers. Source: aboutphobias.com

8. Phobophobia: The fear of phobias. Source: aboutphobias.com

9. Celebrities who share Queen Victoria's date of birth (May 24): Bob Dylan, Tracy McGrady, Priscilla Presley, Alfred Molina, and Gary Burghoff, a.k.a. Radar on M*A*S*H. Source: Wikipedia

10. Celebrities who share Queen Victoria's date of death (January 22): Telly Savalas, Lyndon Johnson, Rose Mary Woods (Richard Nixon's secretary), and Alan Hale Sr., a.k.a. the father of the guy who played The Skipper on Gilligan's Island. Source: Wikipedia

Source: The Toronto Star (May 21, 2006)