Useless Trivia and Mindless Rants

George Carlin- The American Dream

2011-11-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

Its been too long since I last logged on and commented on what's on my mind.....and we'll catch up soon.

Lately I've wanted to give my thoughts on the Occupy Movement, and why its necessary. Needless to say, those souls occupy Wall Street (despite the efforts of His Worship, Michael Bloomberg) because Wall Street occupies America.

But here's a man who said it better than any of us ever could, and he did it back in 2005. The late George Carlin talks about who owns America.....and it's not you and me.

It's a restricted club.

Occupy New Jersey!

2011-10-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

To those who said that this is a fad....guess again.

It is a movement.

Today, at 2:00PM, citizens who have had enough will march on the State House annex in Trenton and the Goldman Sachs building in Jersey City.

More information may be found on the Occupy New Jersey page on Facebook.

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy New Jersey, Facebook,

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

2011-10-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs, possibly the greatest innovator in the history of communications technology since Thomas Edison, sadly passed away at age 56 yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Much has and will be written about the life and legacy of Steve Jobs. But let's go back to nearly the beginning of his story for the commercial that announced the arrival of the Macintosh, Apple's computer that sparked a revolution. The commercial was shown only once, during the Super Bowl in 1984, and was directed by future Oscar winner Ridley Scott. It is generally regarded as the greatest commercial ever made.

"Your Right To Vote Will Cost You 44 Cents"..... and Some Random Thoughts

2011-10-04T20:56:00.000-04:00

I took the absentee ballots from my Mom and Dad, and sealed them....and I did help my father in filling out his ballot....and filled out the proper spaces on the ballot acknowledging that I did assist in filling out the ballot, and that I would be transporting the ballots to the post office.

And then I drove to the US Post Office to pay the postage for each of my parents ballots. In a sense, they had to pay for their inalienable right to vote in the United States of America. The absentee ballots for Middlesex County, NJ were not postage paid for 2011's election of New Jersey state senate and the assembly.

Last year I took my parents ballots to the post office for the 2010 midterms....I had to get extra postage for those ballots. I thought the principle of an individual having to to pay any amount to vote in an election was unfair and un-American, but I kept my mouth shut. But that was last year.

And this is now.

Last year the ballots were heavy, and one stamp wouldn't cover it....so I paid the extra 20 cents, or whatever it was. This afternoon the price was only 44 cents each.....but the question remains; why should some voters have to pay to vote by mail while those who vote in person do not? The board of elections pays poll workers and for use of facilities in elections....shouldn't they be required to pay postage for those who may not be able to get to the polls without extreme physical difficulty?

I'm not asking for an entitlement, but I am asking about the right of a truly free election- the amount of money for the postage is not the problem. The fact that it must be paid in order for some of our most vulnerable citizens to vote is the issue. Where is Grover Norquist, he who hateth all taxes, on this one? And the Tea Party, in their Colonial Williamsburg outfits, complete with Brown Bess muskets, waving the Constitution in the air like it's a winning lottery ticket? I know.....it's the Ayn Rand thing, isn't it? Social Darwinism....the old folks paying to vote are just a bunch of dinosaurs on their last legs....put 'em in a corner and move on, right?

Back in the 1960's the poll tax was done away with in the Jim Crow South. It was a weapon to suppress and nullify the African American vote. Paying to vote by absentee ballot is not in the same ballpark as the poll tax....but in principle, it is just as wrong. Some citizens must pay in order to have their votes counted, and others don't.....and that is simply wrong.

Absentee ballots for all elections on all levels should have postage paid by the board of elections. Its the right and fair thing to do.

Random Thoughts

Chris Christie- "It's not my time (to run for President)".....Dang! I already had a campaign slogan already for him if he wanted to get into the Republican Primaries;

"Vote for Chris Christie- at Least He's Not Crazy"

Yeah, he's a brash loudmouth, and a bully.....but he's not a Mitt Romney "what flavor am I today?", or a yahoo like Rick Perry, or a total whack job like Michele Bachmann. But at least Christie has a charisma that goes a long way. Now that doesn't mean I've flipped and have become a Christie supporter- you can have a certain amount of charm and likability but still have a personality traits that repel and even disgust you- kind of like Tony Soprano.

You know what you get with Chris Christie....that is, if you live in New Jersey. I don't think the national media really gets it with the guy- yes, Christie got bipartisan support in getting his agenda passed, and then he threw the Democratic State Senate President and Speaker of the Assembly under the bus in front of their base in a power play. And he did the same thing to his first Commissioner of Education in the "Race to the Top" fiasco- Christie screwed up, and Brett Schundler, his commish, had to pay for it.

The alleged "tough guys" in the media, like Chris Matthews and Piers Morgan, either throw Christie softball questions or seemingly swoon over him like they have a man-crush....and Chris Matthews, do you really think that a guy with Christie's ego would ever want to become Vice President and preside over the Senate for at least four years? Chris, start talking to guys in the New Jersey media, like Tom Moran, Michael Aron, Paul Mulshine, or Kevin Manahan before you start that crazy talk. For 10 reasons Chris Christie will never be president, check out this column by the Star-Ledger's Kevin Manahan.

Oh, and did a mention....the Republican Party has moved so far to the right with it's Tea Party wing they could never stomach Christie's appointment of a Muslim to a judgeship. And that's just for starters.

Now, can we please stop this Christie for President nonsense....like, right now?

Hank Williams, Jr.- When are people going to realize that using Hitler as an analogy for all individuals and things they hate is a bad move?

Last night I was flipping back and forth between Monday Night Football and the Yankees-Tigers Division Series, and was surprised that there was no "All My Rowdy Friends" by Hank, Jr. on ESPN. I figured there was some kind of glitch, or possibly I just missed it when I stayed with baseball for a bit longer than intended.

But there was no Hank Jr.

And it wasn't until after the game was over that I saw that ESPN pulled the song, a fixture for more than 20 years, because of comments made by Williams on (where else?) Fox and Friends to the usual suspects.

Hank equated President Obama to Hitler.....and notice how Doocy, Carlson, and Kilmeade jumped to POTUS's defense IMMEDIATELY?

You didn't see it? Funny...I didn't either. And Joe Biden, he's the enemy too, in the Gospel according to Hank, Jr.

Maybe it's just me....but doesn't he appear to be in the bag, even at that early hour?

A few hours ago Williams offered a "sort of" apology for his remarks.

Isn't it odd how Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks got hate mail and death threats for their 2003 remark about being ashamed to be from the same state as George W. Bush (not to mention being ostracized by the country music establishment), and Hank Jr. seemingly gets a pass (Hank being Hank) for calling the current president "the enemy".

One last thing.....Hank said he might run for the Senate in Tennessee in 2008.

Who knows...maybe he'll be the VP candidate in 2012.

And in closing....Eric Foster's injury on Monday Night Football

It was tough to watch the terrible injury to Eric Foster of the Indianapolis Colts in last nights 24-17 loss to Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium. Foster appeared to have a dislocated ankle, that twisted horribly and unnaturally, causing even hardened NFL players to wince and even shed tears for a fallen member of their fraternity. Surgery was performed on Foster's ankle, and he will be flown home on owner Jim Irsay's private jet. Eric Foster will be placed on injured reserve- his season is over.

Eric Foster was always one of my favorite players when he was at Rutgers. The big defensive lineman was a captain and the heart and soul of that incredible 11-2 team from 2006 that just barely missed winning a BCS bowl bid. Foster became a You Tube star in 2006 after a win against South Florida made the Scarlet Knights 5-0....Foster led in this locker room chant.

Ironically, the locker room chant took place in the same stadium- Raymond James- as the one Eric Foster was carted off from last night.

Get well, big guy!

And it was a bad week for former Rutgers NFL players. In a span of eight days Foster, Colt teammate Gary Brackett, and Tennessee Titan Kenny Britt all sustained season ending injuries.

C

If You Love This Blog You Can LIKE Us On FACEBOOK

2011-09-21T00:07:00.000-04:00

And Sally said....."You like me! You REALLY like ME!!!!!

That's right.....I've decided to go crazy with the html and buttons and all that good stuff and create a Facebook page for the old bloggerroonie.

So not only can you read us....you can LIKE us!

Or you don't have to.....

But if you don't...watchout! You might know where you live. And my Uncle Nunzio from Jersey City might pay you a visi

Until I Was Interrupted...... A Brief Rundown of the Past Couple of Months

2011-09-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

After taking sometime off from blogging for the past several months (see previous posts), I thought it would be a good idea to cover briefly what's been going on in this little corner of the world. Admit it, you still care, dontcha?

Hurricane Irene- Lost power for twelve hours, a little bit of water in the basement. The only damaged property was the lightweight mop I used to cleanup the mess- the handle broke. All things considered, we were very, very lucky.

The Earthquake of 2011- The house shook, but I thought it was from the tree removal guys who were working across the street and up the block.....plus I was installing the software for my new printer and couldn't get the drivers installed! "Yeah, yeah...a friggin' earthquake....I've got problem with my computer and the house is shaking...STOP IT RIGHT NOW, dammit!!!".

The Debt Ceiling Debacle- A disgrace. No other word for it. The rest of the world is laughing at America and our dysfunctional government. And we, the people, keep allowing this lunacy to continue.

Rick Perry- That's right America......we need another shittkicker from Texas in the White House. Please read my comments about the debt ceiling.

Michele Bachmann- Had she been a man and this were 1789, she might make a reasonable presidential candidate.....but then she would start screaming about the world being flat and get all Christine O'Donnell on us about witchcraft....oh, nevermind. On second thought, she's indefensibly nuts. Let's move on.

Barack Obama- A brilliant mind and orator who needed to develop an inner Lyndon Johnson- the Republicans never cared about bipartisanship, it was all about beating Barack in 2012. The jobs bill is something I support.....but he should have presented the plan two years ago.

Best Political Line I've Heard- From Bill Maher on politicians who feel they MUST wear an American flag pin at all times..... " If you've won the election, we have a pretty good idea who's side you're on".

Best Line (Non Political/General Use)- "The distance between a halo and a noose is about 8 inches".....former Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden.

College Football Chaos- The Big 12 has only 10 teams and may soon be down to five. The Big East lost Pitt and Syracuse and as I type this the AD's and presidents of the remaining Big East schools are meeting to see what's next. The two conferences may merge, but it would make little geographic sense, and would not be cost effective for non revenue sports. Much depends on what Texas and Notre Dame decide to do. I see Rutgers and UCONN to the ACC, Notre Dame to the Big Ten, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State to the Pac 12, Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC.....and after that who knows? And that scenario could change at the drop of a hat.

Charlie Sheen- As Joan Rivers said yesterday....." Why are they roasting Charlie Sheen tonight? He's been fried for years!"

In Closing....What's Happening With Dad. Dad's condition is fairly stable...he needs some help doing routine things now, like getting dressed sometimes. He seems to be able to retain new information for about two weeks, and then it's gone. He doesn't remember having an oral surgeon yank out a molar about a month ago.....and he also had a cancerous skin lesion excised in July, leaving a hole in his forehead the size of a half dollar. I cleaned the wound and dressed it everyday for six weeks until it healed; he doesn't remember any aspect of the surgery, not the doctor, the office, the surgery, the recovery, or me caring for his wound.

It breaks your heart a little everyday....but you have to go on, look for a reason to smile and laugh. And try to keep hope alive.

Tomorrow Is Alzheimer's Action Day- Check out the Facebook page for the Alzheimer's Association. September is Alzheimer's Awareness Month, and if you have a few minutes, please read about the good work the Association is doing. And above all, care for and be kind to your aging loved ones.

Sarah Palin- You Were Cookin' Rice?

2011-09-14T23:41:00.000-04:00

The funny thing is.....I never knew she was a Michigan fan.

Let's hear it for "The Victors".

Announcing My "Relaunch"

2011-09-14T23:12:00.000-04:00

Let's just say....it's time.

To those of you who may just be checking in, I took some time off to to try to come to grips with my father's medical condition. Rather than rehash everything, you can check the story in the previous posts.

Things are relatively stable, not good, but not awful either......just time consuming.

My original intent was to relaunch this blog in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of September 11th, but as an old Yiddish saying goes, "Man makes plans and God laughs".

At any rate, The blog will be back in a more scaled back form....the days of my daily commentary and immediate comments are gone for the foreseeable future. But I feel a need to write again.....I don't want to turn this into a "living with a loved one with Alzheimer's" diary, but it is the 800 pound gorilla in the room everyday, so I'll be sharing some of that with you on occasions.

It will take awhile.....I need to do some housecleaning and simplification of some of the things I set up on these pages.

But it's time.....I'm back. Just a little quieter and not as frequent.

Memorial 2011

2011-05-30T10:22:00.000-04:00

Just take a minute or two and remember the meaning of the day.

Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to remind us that our young men and women are still fighting and dying in the Middle East.

Hopefully on Memorial Day 2012 they'll be back home with their loved ones.

God bless.

2011 Rapture Cancelled! Rescheduling Information Below

2011-05-21T19:10:00.000-04:00

I'm still standing......

AND SO ARE YOU!

Yes, 6:00 PM came and went, and I didn't even remember what didn't happen as I cleaned my grill- my last meal was going to be Bubba Burgers....I'm a Jersey Guy, I have simple tastes.

Anyway here's the latest skinny on the cancelled Rapture 2011. It will be made up sometime next year as part of a day/night separate admission doubleheader with 2012 Apocalypse. Season ticketholders may advance order, all others must wait until the first trumpets come warning of the coming of The Beast on a first come, first serve basis.

Wait a minute.....Newt Gingrich is supposed to be on Face the Nation tomorrow, singing Friend of the Devil, with Bob Schieffer playing a wicked set of spoons.

OK....I made that last part up!

Rapture 2011; MY LAST TWEETS (and Testament)

2011-05-21T15:08:00.000-04:00

It's been several weeks since my last post, and I just want to apologize one more time for not being as diligent as I used to be with my blogging......oh what the heck, it's time to say "GOODBYE" to everyone because in a couple of hours we're all going to be toast anyway.

I hate prolonged farewells.....and it's only about three hours until The Big Event.

This morning I said my goodbyes on TWITTER with my Ten Rapture Rants. You never asked for them, but here they are, just the same.

#rapture rants- (1) I'm pissed off because the world will end before the new season of MAD MEN

# rapture rants- (2) The idiot behind me is cutting his lawn at 9:00am. You mean I can't even sleep in 4 one more Saturday?

#rapture rants- (3) The world can't end! Rutgers still hasn't won a Big East title in football- or men's basketball, 4 that matter

#rapture rants- (4) Maybe there is something to this rapture stuff. The Pope just called the space station- maybe HE WANTS IN!

#rapture rants- (5) 26 years after quitting, is it OK to for me to smoke again (for the duration)?

#rapture rants- (6) Is it still possible for all those people who booked June weddings to get a refund?

#rapture rants- (7) Today the world will end at 6:00PM. On Monday gas prices will rise another ten cents a gallon.

#rapture rants- (8) This 6:00PM Doomsday stuff has me in a bind- should I start making dinner an hour earlier?

#rapture rants- (9) To the survivalists who've spent tens of thousands of $'s stockpiling food, guns and ammo- wasn't that a waste of money?

#rapture rants- (10) If Newt Gingrich is quoted saying "There will be no rapture", does that mean don't believe him?

I wonder if Harold Camping has a back up speech prepared, just in case things don't go as planned....like a rain delay, maybe?

Osama's Bin Laden's Dead- This One's for You, East Brunswick 8

2011-05-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

I was among the last people in the New York- New Jersey megalopolis to learn of the death of the mass murderer- mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Osama Bin Laden. Last night I went through my usual Sunday night routine, catching Game of Thrones on HBO at 9:00pm and Treme at 10:00. I found myself nodding off at 11:00, and I started sawing logs soon afterwards About 4:00am I woke up and turned off the TV, still tuned to HBO.

At 7:00 AM I got up, made coffee.....I put on channel 11 where I saw anchor Laurie Dhue talking about the death of Osama Bin Laden. And my jaw dropped.

I watched the celebration at Ground Zero, and the party atmosphere in front of the White House, and the elation at West Point. This was one of the moments you remember for the rest of your life....the Boogie Man who killed 3,000 of our friends and neighbors was dead, shot through the eye like Moe Green, and sleeping with the fishes like Luca Brazzi.

Well done Navy Seals, CIA, and all who executed this operation. And well done Mr President, and to your administration, for getting it done with surgical precision.

To any clown that suggests that Democrats hate America and are soft on national defense, I have to say the only thing "soft" in such people are their brains.

In the afternoon I took a ride over to the municipal building to give East Brunswick (NJ) their check for the right to live there (aka "tax day"). Upon leaving I took a walk over to East Brunswick's 9/11 monument.

As you can see, the East Brunswick memorial consists of black twin towers. On the left the names Siew Nya Ang, Susan Blair, Paul W. Innella, and Hweider Jian are engraved. The right tower lists Alan David Kleinberg, Stuart Louis, Suzanne Passaro, and Kenneth W. VanAuken etched in the black granite.

They are the East Brunswick 8, township residents who died on that horrible day nearly 10 years ago. I knew none of them personally, but in a community like ours its easy to find people who knew them or their families. These eight, and nearly 3,000 others died in a fiery inferno that collapsed around them- if they weren't incinerated alive they were crushed by tens of tons of falling debris, squeezing the life from them. They must have died horribly. Osama Bin Laden met his demise instantly and literally never knew what hit him. It was much too quick....but at least he was gone.

And hopefully the sharks in the Arabian Sea are eating well tonight.

I snapped several pictures of the monument.....and paused for a few seconds of silence. And then I spoke to The Eight.....

"They got the son of a bitch."

A memorable day indeed.

Rainy Day Musings (Part 1)

2011-04-12T13:18:00.000-04:00

In the past few weeks since my Dad's diagnosis I've spent a great deal of time reflecting on all those things one normally does when a serious situation arises. You think about the nature of life, it's fragility, the seeming unfairness that most of us experience from time to time, the randomness of tragedy, and about immortality. And you get a greater appreciation for that which you do have, and get a sense of the proportionality of a bigger picture, that the whole scheme of things is so inner connected and transcends any dogmatic spiritual belief.

Last September I wrote a review of Mitch Albom's book Have A Little Faith, a work that points us in a direction to recognize that religious faith should be a mechanism to unite us rather than fragment our society, and in a larger scale, our world. One of the topics Albom talked of in his story of his friendship with his aging and ailing rabbi was that each one of us dies two deaths, the first when we kick that proverbial bucket, and the second when there is no one left who remembers who we were, what we did, who we loved, and what we accomplished in our lives. I guess part of the appeal of being a movie star or recording artist is that a piece of you lives on for generations.

For the past two months I've immersed myself in music.....most of you know I'm a classic rock dinosaur, so that playlist included the usual suspects; Bruce, Zeppelin, Clapton, oldies like Humble Pie, cult performers like Richard Thompson, Gregson and Collister, and my beloved Fairport Convention.

And then there was Queen and Freddie Mercury. November 24 will mark 20 years since Freddie's passing- and it doesn't seem possible that it's been that long, or even that he has truly died. While listening to some of Queen's later songs like The Show Must Go On, Who Wants To Live Forever, These Are The Days of Our Lives I gained an appreciation of the band's (and Freddie's) sense of mortality in a way I never could before. In their final album with Freddie Mercury, Innuendo, it was clear that Freddie was dying from AIDS; the result was an album that was a curtain call, a farewell, and an epitaph.

But while listening to the songs I was reminded that Freddie Mercury did die that first death (the physical one), but he is far away from the second one- his music lives, and he is far from forgotten. And even to those who wouldn't know the difference between Freddie Mercury and Freddie and the Dreamers, all you have to do is go to any ballpark or stadium throughout the world, and on any given day you will hear the foot stomps of We Will Rock You and the triumph of We Are The Champions.

I thought about my Dad and his 30 years of teaching, and the thousands of lives he touched along the way- there are people who might have known my Dad better than I did at the time, and just maybe he was that special teacher who pointed them in the right direction, and changed their lives. And after retiring from the classroom he spent another 15 years as a fulltime employee- and a state president- of the teacher's union.

Yes, Dad was one of those guys our conservative brethren loved to hate. My father was one of those pesky union activists who helped insure collective bargaining rights for the New Jersey's teachers, and subsequently for those in other parts of the country. Obviously Scott Walker, John Kasich, and professional tough guy Chris Christie are not popular figures with this household, this family, and this blogger.

My Dad spent his life touching lives, and helping to improve them. To see his work demonized by implication courtesy of some bullying political opportunists alternately saddens and angers me. But that should and will be the subject of another blog entry.

To be sure I felt some sense of isolation in the past month or so......but then I looked at the number of people who have visited in the past couple of years, over a quarter million, and that's just since I installed the counter. And I feel grateful that more than 250,000 people have taken time to read my words....and I know that I'm not alone at all.

Thanks.

Whassup? Me and My Dad

2011-03-30T11:56:00.001-04:00

Tuesday March 29

Remember me?

Its been more than a month since I seemingly vanished off the face of the earth....and if my disappearance (or my reappearance) has been (or is) cause for concern, I apologize, but there was a reason.

About a month ago I told my readers that I was taking a hiatus from blogging, then shortly afterwords I came back and posted the previous article, and then dropped out for the next month. So let me explain what has happened, back peddling a bit.

About two months ago I took my father to his endocrinologist for his routine examine. She gave him a clean bill of health, but she was concerned about his inability to answer questions and his confusion about taking his medications and getting prescriptions filled. She called me in and we had a talk about this decline in cognitive skills, and she then gave me the names and numbers of some gerontologists and neurologists.

My father, who will be 84 this Tuesday (April 5), is a retired teacher and until about 18 months ago was active in the Saint Vincent DePaul Society and the AFT Retirees of New Jersey. He wrote columns for the retiree's newsletter, and I featured his piece We Need More Than Another FDR on this blog on November 1, 2008. Within a year he gave up the column and his work with St. Vincent DePaul, and was given a dinner in his honor by the retirees in October 2009, and he received an award for service from St. Vincent in January 2010.

During a trip to visit my brother in Ohio in June 2009 Dad had trouble walking, and a little more trouble communicating that in the past. Being under the care of a cardiologist he had been taking a statin drug that his doctor thought could have been too high a dosage, so it was altered. His walking improved but his cognitive skills were not what they were only a short time before.

By the end of 2010 Dad was forgetting routine things, like how to open the garage door with the remote, where certain kitchen items were located (even some that were in the same spot for twenty years), and recent events. He would have CNN on TV most of the day, but when I mentioned "Tea Party" to him before the elections last year I had to explain to him what and who the Tea Party was.....at one point in his life Dad was the political junkie's political junkie. He was a virtual encyclopedia of American and New Jersey politics, and knew more about labor relations and law than any five congressmen of either party.

On February 9 of this year we visited a neurologist who gave Dad a routine test of thirty oral questions, of which he got 23 correct. He knew the season but not the date or month. He could write a complete sentence but could not spell "world" verbally. He was told to remember three items in a list, and was asked to repeat them a few minutes later. He couldn't do it.

In the past few weeks I took Dad for a Doppler reading to see if there were arterial blockages to his brain....there weren't. We went for an EEG to see if there was any evidence of a stroke.....there wasn't.

And he had an MRI done as well. Yesterday in the neurologists office we got the results. Dad had shrinkage in his brain that the doctor said was similar to the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. The doctor did say that there was a 40% chance that his condition could be something other that AD, and that Dad would have to meet certain criteria - like a steady regression of cognitive skills over a period of time with no leveling off- to make a definitive diagnosis of AD. But as of now my Dad is being treated as a patient with the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

In the past few weeks I've had to commandeer Dad's driver's license, Medicare and insurance cards, as well as his credit cards so he won't misplace or loose them....and he has a couple of times. In the past two months we've found prescriptions that were written but never filled and we've started putting his pills out for him each morning, and we're making sure that he doesn't forget to take them.

To make a long story short, its been adjusting to a "new normal" around here, that's anything but normal. And to top it off, early this month my father answered a phone call from a "cousin" of mine who was supposedly in jail in Canada and said he needed bail money. He and my Mom were targets of an international scam that has victimized 60,000 elderly people nationwide.

As if there weren't enough on the plate than to deal with those lowlifes and spending part of the day reporting it to the cops.

Wednesday March 30

I'm back after a break of nearly 24 hours.....its a little harder to find time to write these days, and when I do have the time sometimes there isn't adequate energy.....and at other times, I just didn't feel like writing at all, or even logging on to my own blog. But I promise to be better in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

If you want to see a comparison about how my life has changed, take a look at at the column of my previous posts and look at 2009- you'll find 700 entries for that year. Maybe I'll do 70 in 2011....if that.

To say that 2011 has been an emotional roller coaster of year is pretty accurate- and its only the end of March. The sages tell us to never stop learning, and that's what I'm doing, maybe learning lessons of a lifetime.

I got a real lesson from an old retired school teacher on Tuesday who's neurologist was about to tell him he probably had Alzheimer's Disease. Dad and I were sitting in the doctors office....and I was noticeably more nervous than he was. A nurse came in and took Dad's blood pressure and pulse. The guy will be 84 on Monday, and his BP was 120/65 and pulse was 72. "That's great" my Dad said to the nurse, and she said "Yes it is".

Then the the doctor came in and asked us how we were....."Great!", my Dad told him. "I've already got two pieces of good news!".

When we left the doctors office and were walking to the car Dad said to me, "Well it could of been worse. At least my heart and blood pressure are good".

And that's my Dad in nutshell, possibly the most optimistic man you'll ever meet. He's the guy who kept saying "Bowl game next year!" back in the 1990's when Rutgers football was a national joke, complete with an 0-11 season in 1997. And sadly, today he can barely remember details of any of the more recent games.

I left the neurologist's office that day with a bounce in my step because I felt so proud that this sunny and courageous man is my father. He's always been a great Dad, but even a better person. How can you not love someone like him.....and I do.

Then Dad and I took a ride across town to Nathan's where we pigged out on hot dogs and fries.....we deserved it.

So life has changed for the coming years, and so will this blog. We'll be open for business, but the hours will be reduced. So if you knock and nobody answers, its probably because I'm a little tied up.

But I'll be back ASAP.

Appreciate each and every day...........

The anatomy of an $11 billion myth in New Jersey | NJ.com

2011-02-26T10:55:00.000-05:00

Hello again everyone. I'm back after taking a week off that was greatly needed. I'll be adding some new and original posting very soon, but first I'd like to link up this January 16 post from The Star Ledger's Tom Moran.

Be sure to read this prior to watching this Sunday's edition of Face The Nation when host Bob Schieffer will interview New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Moran's column explodes the myth that Christie reduced the state's deficit of $11 billion dollars. The real story, according to Moran, is that the deficit actually rose despite the draconian cuts made by the Christie administration and the deficit will be almost the same for the next fiscal year.

In a related story, yesterday about 3,000 public employees and other union members rallied in Trenton yesterday in a driving rainstorm with 35 mph winds to show support for public employees in Wisconsin. Some protesters displayed their anger at Christie, who along with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida's Rick Scott, and Ohio's John Kasich are at the forefront of an apparent assault on public employee unions' benefits and their right to collective bargain.

The anatomy of an $11 billion myth in New Jersey | NJ.com

Blogging "On Hold" Until Further Notice

2011-02-18T09:23:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to touch base with my readers and followers and first say "thanks" for helping this blog become a success.

But because of several non-life threatening health issues primarily dealing with my father I'm going on a hiatus from blogging for awhile. He's in no immediate danger or anything, but the issues I'm talking about require some extra time from me. At the present when I do find time to try and write something, "the flow" isn't really there and the effort is forced. And quite frankly, my writing has not been up to par. There's one thing I've learned in the two and a half years since I started this....if "it's not there", you can't force the issue. It's best to back away.

Maybe in awhile I'll share more about what's going on, but as of now we're in the process of connecting dots. And just maybe it can help others who may be in a similar situation.

Right now the story of the year is probably the situation in Wisconsin and other states regarding Republican governors versus public employee unions and their respective budgets. I'll chime in on the issue eventually (and guess who's side I'm on?), but now isn't really a good time.

I might be back in 24 hours ( odds; 3 to 1) or 24 days (50 to 1), so it will probably be sooner rather than later. And I will be logged on to check for comments, and the proverbial spammers, and see what my bloggie buds are doing.

Seeya later....I promise!

Real Journalists Get Canned While Glenn Beck Just Gets Rich(er)

2011-02-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Real journalists continue to lose their jobs as newspapers cut staff in record numbers. And while this is happening hucksters like Glenn Beck continue to make millions playing on ignorance and fear

About a week ago I was on a Rutgers football message board where I read the sad news of the laying off of Home News Tribune sports reporter/columnist Paul Franklin and reporter/ columnist Rick Malwitz due to cutbacks and consolidation by parent company Gannett Co, Inc. Combined, these two journalists must have had 60 years of experience between them, but were let go, as have thousands of other newspaper reporters and columnists as that industry struggles to transition itself into the information age.

I'm a self admitted dinosaur who still gets two newspapers a day, the HNT and the Star-Ledger. I find newspapers a guilty pleasure instead of a necessity- most news I get is from the internet, or TV, or radio. But I love the tactile sensation of reading a newspaper while having my morning coffee- nothing beats it. The local newspaper will give me information about local stories that most other sources will not, and because of that newspapers will probably never become totally obsolete. Newspapers had to reinvent themselves in the 1960's when satellites were launched that could beam down to the world news as it happened.....the newspaper, until then the primary source of news for most people, had to become more opinion based and targeted to certain readership in order to survive. And the big fish ate the little ones; the number of newspapers in the United States began to shrink. In New York the decade of the 1960's saw the demise of the century old The Daily Mirror, The Journal-American, The World-Telegram &Sun, and The Herald-Tribune. In New Jersey we lost The Newark Evening News and The Elizabeth Journal. The Perth Amboy Evening News morphed into The News Tribune and moved to Woodbridge, and it finally merged with The Daily Home News of New Brunswick to become The Home News Tribune in the 1990's.

And in the new century America's newspapers continue to consolidate and reorganize, merge or fold, and send hundreds of respected professional journalists to the ranks of the unemployed. Advertising revenues for the print industry continues to shrink, so payroll is slashed.

Paul Franklin reported and commented on local scholastic and collegiate sports for as as long as I could remember. Most recently he was a beat writer for Rutgers Women's Basketball, and previously reported and wrote commentary about RU football. He's a big, gray bearded gregarious guy who could be seen in press row for most of the last two decades at The RAC, and though he was always objective and professional, the reader knew that this man was a fan of the games he reported on. He did his homework, never wrote "rip pieces" in order to sell papers, and always seemed to get an angle to a story from locker room interviews from student athletes.

Paul was one of the best....I miss reading his reports and commentary already.

Rick Malwitz is a real Central Jersey guy, and wrote about the issues that affect us locally in civil, rational tones and never ventured into sloganeering and character assassination. I mentioned Rick in this blog last summer when he broke down the root cause of high property taxes in New Jersey in a way few politicians would dare; Rick used the late New Jersey legislator Alan Karcher's premise of the insane number of municipalities in the state the bottom line cause of New Jersey's property tax woes. No one ever spelled out and defined the "whys" of the situation like Rick Malwitz, no progressive or conservative, and no governor of this state.....including the current one.

With these two gentleman, it was about integrity and journalism, not demagoguery.

The Gannett Blog does a great job at detailing the ongoing saga of Gannett's downsizing and the reaction of those affected by the cuts. I highly recommend the blog, it's great reading, and please take time to read the dozens of comments.

Which brings me to FOX News, and the Websters definition of demagoguery......Glenn Beck.

And in the spirit of full disclosure I'll have to admit....I never watch the guy. But I do watch the clips of his crazy rantings, of "Islamic- socialist" alliances out to conquer the world, all at the behest of President Barack Obama. The man is making a fortune appealing to fear and prejudice, and playing on the almost total ignorance of world and national affairs of his audience. Beck has become a multi-millionaire though spewing misinformation to his viewers, and throwing a nightly pile of horsecrap at his audience to see what sticks.

I'm debating in my mind on a daily basis....is this man demented or evil, or a little of both. More on Beck can be found at blogger pal Leslie's Parsley's Pics.

And you wonder...where is the justice?

Beck makes millions spreading hate and fear....and Rick Malwitz and Paul Franklin are looking for jobs after decades of good, solid journalism.

Hugh Jee Buys An iPod (Finally)- And The World Stops Spinning On It's Axis

2011-02-14T11:05:00.002-05:00

I'm in sync!!!! Finally

And it feels good.....I think.

As of yesterday I still had a Christmas gift card from Tar-jay (and a few extra bucks) that was burning a hole in my Wrangler Relaxed Fits, so I decided to get myself a Valentine's gift. BTW.....Happy V-day, one and all.

After weeks of thinking about what to get with it, I decided against buying another camera or another guitar, and went boldly forward into the land of Apple, iTunes, and the wonderful world of digital music.

It was finally time to breakdown and buy an iPod.

Now, I'm admittedly an old dinosaur and have never even owned an MP3 player. When I want to hear music, I did it the old fashioned way....I threw on a CD, or listened to the radio.

And.....I utilized one last, somewhat antiquated piece of technology. I am the person who had the last fully functioning Sony Walkman Sports Edition in the Northern Hemisphere. It served me well from the last century, and it was part of my life since 1991. Forget that it was fragile, always needed new batteries, had crummy radio reception, and was the color of a taxicab from Istanbul.....it was a friend for nearly 20 years.

And sadly, last October, before the Rutgers- Army game, my friend passed on to that great Technology Graveyard in the sky, joining my late and lamented Toshiba Word Processor and a couple of hundred 8 track tapes. I never even knew my Walkman was ill until it just stopped working- it wouldn't pick up a radio station or play a cassette tape.

I still haven't scheduled a funeral for it.

About three or four weeks ago I was watching one of the local TV morning news shows, and the topic was outdated stuff from the past, like "the mullet", VCR's, Atari games.....and the Walkman. And it wasn't until that moment that I realized how totally un-twenty-first century I was. A Sony Walkman? I'm surprised kids didn't come up to me at football games and ask, "Hey mister.....what's in that big yellow thing that your listening to?".

So yesterday I finally took the plunge.....I looked at the iPod Classic but was not about to shell out over $200 for a piece of technology I was sure I would destroy accidentally, or at best confuse the hell out of me. The Shuffle seemed to be limited in what you could do with it, and it didn't have very much storage space for music.

So I decided on the iPod Nano (6th Generation) with the touch screen, It had 8GB of space and didn't seem too daunting or intimidating....and the price was right. With the gift card and a store discount, my total cost with tax was just over $100. Not bad.

I took Nano home yesterday afternoon, opened the small plastic box she was in and followed the directions from Apple that said START HERE.....I registered Nano, and opened an iTunes account. I found out later that you should let it charge for three hours (after checking out the manual online), but that little tidbit slipped through the cracks in the instructions that came with Nano. It really didn't hurt anything, and I continued on my merry way. It was time to add some music to the mix.

It was then that I had to come to terms with the term "sync".....iTunes found every music file on my computer, even some old samples that came with it at purchase, and stuff I downloaded years ago and had forgotten about. But what I really wanted to do is take an old playlist I had on an external harddrive and copy it to Nano. And that's where the fun began. I found out just how un-techy I really am.

What came next was about four hours of trial and error, ERROR being the operative word. I had to figure out how to get music from Point A to Point B, in order to listen to it on Point C. There were 15 files I wanted to move....so why does TUNNEL OF LOVE by Springsteen and PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM by Elton John show up, and nothing else? And why is Elton on there twice?

And why are these icons shaking back and forth? Are they being arrogant or something? Why did the screen just go black? Did I break the freakin' thing on the first day?

To hell with it! Go to POPEYES! Get chickened out!

So I had dinner....sat down, calmed down.....and I finally figured it out!

Oh.....I have to check the box EACH TIME I make a change, or else the other music doesn't sync to the Nano! Gotcha!

So I figured it out....very proudly. I added the files. And then I stated to copy some old CD's to Nano.

Adding Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers....Humble Pie....Led Zeppelin.....Heart....Fairport Convention....the Rolling Stones....the Eagles.....and of course, Bruce.

Yes...the 21st century. But it's obvious from some of my musical choices that my heart and head are still "back in the day".

So I was able to add about eight albums and an additional 15 song files on the first day, and I put on SHUFFLE...the touchscreen is so cool....and listened to music in bed before dozing off. But before going to sleep I thought about music, and what it used to be, and what it used to mean. Yeah, the Nano is great, and it's an amazing bit of technology. But I thought about a generation of young people who have known nothing but the downloading of songs and have no idea what it was like back in the days of vinyl, when a new record by the Beatles or Bob Dylan was cultural event.

I remember going to stores and buying those new releases, and then tearing off the cellophane, carefully holding the record by the edges (as not to get fingerprints on the tracks), and placing it on the turntable....never used an auto changer, because they might scratch the record on the bottom. In those days my collection looked like William's in the film Almost Famous; when I saw that movie I said to myself "That kid's got my old record collection!"....Joe Cocker, Joni Mitchell, Hendrix, The Dead, Joplin.

You'd listen to the music with friends....sometimes with "recreational substances"....and read the lyrics from the album liner or jacket. And you'd check out the credits as well. It was always interesting to find out who played on what track, and what instrument they played, and if there were any guest artists on the track.

Yep, I'm getting old and nostalgic. But sometimes I feel that in those days the music seemed to matter more, and there was more interest in who made it and how. I love the new technology, but sometimes when we go forward, we often lose something in the process.

The soapbox is now closed.

They Didn't Need A Second Amendment Remedy To Topple A Tyrant In Egypt

2011-02-11T21:32:00.001-05:00

The 30 year regime of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak ended with his resignation today after 18 days of protests became a revolution; the strongman resigned his presidency with the tens of thousands of protesters never firing a shot. Today, the government has been turned over to the military, but Mubarak is out, and Egypt and Egyptians around the world are celebrating as if it were Mardi Gras and a Super Bowl win rolled into one.

And I could never be prouder of a people....a commitment to topple despotism with non violent protests worked. No guns or bombs were needed, no American flags were burned while crowds screamed about "The Great Satan", and the world watched in anticipation of what would happen next. And they got it done.

After the bungling of the Iraq war by the Bush administration when no weapons of mass destruction were found the Bushies and neocons shopped around for a new reason for the war; that aim became freedom for the Iraqi people. At last count 4,754 Americans and allies have been killed, as have tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, at a cost of $773 billion to a nation fighting it's way out of a devastating recession. We have fought and had a presence in Iraq since 2003.

It took 18 days for the people of Egypt to decide ENOUGH and end 30 years of one man rule.

Last night I thought about the vague speech Mubarak gave concerning stepping down....and it appeared he had no intention of doing so. You know that small, still voice we have within? It started jabbering to me.....as Mahatma Gandhi, as portrayed by Ben Kingsley. It was the sequence when Gandhi appeared before representatives of the British government, and told them they must leave. The British commander asked Gandhi why should the forces of Imperial Britain leave India.....Gandhi told the man "Because we will not co-operate with you. And there is no way you can force 100 million people to co-operate if they don't wish to".

And that was the beginning of the end of British rule in the Indian subcontinent. The government knew Gandhi was right; the alternative was to fill the nation's prisons with protesters, and then face the prospect of protests involving those who were arrested.

India became a free and independent democracy largely thorough non violent civil disobedience and through non violent assembly.

History repeated itself in Germany in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell; and 1994 in South Africa when apartheid went on history's scrap heap; Poland, Indonesia, Romania, Tunisia.....and in America's South, when Jim Crow was no more.

And of course, the big one....the fall of the Soviet Union

Today, the people of Egypt have risen, and seized their destiny.

They didn't need to assemble with automatic weapons and confront troops with "second amendment remedies", a solution suggested by Far Right American politicians to "take America back".

I'm still trying to figure out...."Take it back? From whom".

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice

Martin Luther King, on Henry David Thoreau

God bless the Egyptian people.

This is, indeed, a great day.

Keith Olbermann Heads to Al Gore's Current TV | Fancast News

2011-02-08T13:49:00.001-05:00

Breaking news!!!!

KO to "get Current".

A very interesting move. More news to come.

Keith Olbermann Heads to Al Gore's Current TV | Fancast News

Declaring This "A Former Half Term Governor of Alaska Free Blog"!!!

2011-02-07T19:38:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted two entries about Bristol Palin's mother, and after doing so I tossed and turned in bed and asked myself....."Why am I wasting my time on a person who knows so little about so much?" And I thought about getting out of bed, getting online, and declaring this an "SP free" blog for the immediate future.

But I didn't. And I should have.

I think the last straw was the botching of "the Sputnik Moment", and Greta Van Susteren giving her a pass on her ignorance during an interview on Fox News after President Obama's State of the Union message. And then came my moment of clarity....few Republicans or conservatives will publicly challenge her lack of knowledge on even the most basic concepts. And those on the left who criticize her are immediately labeled the enemy and the elites by the former Guv and her supporters.

So, again, I asked myself....why bother trying to shine a light on her ignorance to people who can't handle the truth, and keep on preaching to the choir again and again?

Earlier today, I mentioned my thoughts on Sue's blog in her comments section. I was feeling the effects of being Momma Grizzed out

And strangely....I wasn't alone. Little did I know Dana Milbank of The Washington Post had declared on January 21st that he was making February an "SP" free month. It seems that Milbank has written a whopping 42 articles or blogs about Momma Grizzly and has started feeling guilty about it.

Think about it. Every time any media pundit, journalist, talking head, or blogger mentions her she gets free publicity. And as it turns out, I'm as guilty as the next guy- between September 2008 and January 2011 this blog has tagged the former half term governor of Alaska 81 times!!!!!

Yeah, it shocked me too.

Dana Milibank has organized a campaign to make February an "SP" free month. And as I just TWEETED moments ago....I'm in! Better late than never.

Momma Grizzly....no mas!!!!

Well.... at least through February....then go through Lent and on to Easter.

Let's take this one step at a time.

(Oh what the hell...I'll tag her! For old time's sake).

Arizona, Idaho, and the Ghost of John C. Calhoun

2011-02-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

Pictured- John C. Calhoun, former US Senator from South Carolina and Vice President of the United States

I'm no lawyer, nor have I ever played one on TV or even in community theater, but it's time for me to get up on the soapbox.............ready or not.

While American state legislatures spend their time ratifying ridiculous bans on the implementation of Sharia Laws inside the United States.....(wouldn't there have to be a Muslim majority in this country before it was even a remote possibility?)....and other wedge issues like gay marriage, there is a more serious matter going on in certain states. And it's an issue that though not resolved by our Civil War in the 19th century we assumed would most assuredly be resolved by the Constitution's 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, and 24th amendments. Those amendments referred to the voting rights of former slaves, minorities, women, residents of the District of Columbia, and of poll taxes used to deny or hinder the vote of those mentioned by the individual states.

Those amendments insured full citizenship to all Americans and were used to supersede state and local laws that would restrict voting rights to those mentioned- and in the case of citizens of the District of Columbia, Washingtonians were finally given the right to vote with implementation of the 23rd Amendment.

In the post Civil War and Reconstruction eras Southern states passed "Jim Crow" laws to prevent African Americans from voting, using the pretense of "state's rights" to keep the law of the land being applied in those states. "State's rights" had been the creed for individual states, primarily in the South, to ignore or even nullify what they saw as an intrusion into the affairs of states....more often than not this had to do with a federal mandate that wasn't popular in that state, and in the early 19th century that often meant laws limiting the growth of slavery. But often taxes and tariffs took the spotlight in that era.

And today in the 21st century we're seeing a new phase of proposed nullification of federal laws in certain states, some a result of opposition to federal healthcare reform, derisively referred to as "Obamacare" by it's opponents. But in Arizona and Idaho there are movements under way for their respective state legislatures to nullify all federal laws that may be deemed invalid or an overreach by the federal government, at the discretion of those state legislatures.

Reactions like those in Idaho and Arizona are almost as old as the republic itself. The Nullification Crisis of 1832 was the most famous instance in our history. Below, the story of the crisis from US History.com.

The Tariff of 1832, despite pleas from Southern representatives, failed to moderate the protective barriers erected in earlier legislation. South Carolina called a state convention that nullified the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 within their borders and threatened to secede if the federal government attempted to collect those tariff duties. Robert Hayne (of Webster-Hayne Debate fame) had resigned from the Senate to run for governor of South Carolina; John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency and took Hayne’s seat in the Senate. These two men spearheaded the nullification drive. A real possibility of secession and war existed.

Jackson immediately offered his thought that nullification was tantamount to treason and quickly dispatched ships to Charleston harbor and began strengthening federal fortifications there. Congress supported the president and passed a Force Bill in early 1833 which authorized Jackson to use soldiers to enforce the tariff measures.

Meanwhile Henry Clay again took up his role as the Great Compromiser. On the same day the Force Bill passed, he secured passage of the Tariff of 1833. This latter measure provided for the gradual reduction of the tariff over 10 years down to the level which had existed in 1816. This compromise was acceptable to Calhoun who had not been successful with finding any other state to support him on nullification. Jackson signed both measures.

South Carolina repealed its nullification measure, but then spitefully nullified the Force Bill. Jackson wisely ignored that action.

I'm sure no one is accusing members of the Arizona and Idaho legislatures of treason, but it's easy to see that those who propose nullification are shortsighted in their perspective, and to be blunt, have a very narrow grasp on American history.

In Idaho Tea Party members are urging the passage of House Bill 59 which would allow the state to deem federal laws "null and void". Below, a notice from Tea Party Boise (originally printed in The Miami Herald).

"This is the line in the sand. On one side is federal tyranny — on the other side is freedom. What do you choose? If it is freedom — then be at the Capital (sic) on Feb. 7th."

In Arizona, a proposal from Republican State Senator Lori Klein would set up a panel of 12 lawmakers to review federal laws and mandates, and decide if the laws are "outside the scope of the powers delegated by the people to the federal in the United States Constitution."

Below, a statement from Senator Klein (from azdailysun.com).

"We're not seceding. We're looking at nullifying laws coming from the federal government that are mandates that are not constitutional."

The defiance of federal law in the 19th century inflamed the open wounds that were already there and led to armed conflict in 1861. Being part of this union we call the United States of America is kind of like being pregnant.....you either are, or you aren't.

It's the "United States is", not the "United States are".

Let's say state legislators decide they don't agree with the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and decide not to allow gays to serve in the state's national guard?

Or in a national emergency a military draft is instituted....and certain states don't wish to allow their citizens to be drafted?

And if a state is free to nullify federal law without ramification, what is to stop the states from conversely instituting laws that are contrary to federal law, like an intelligence test for voting, or restricting full citizenship to American born children of undocumented immigrants?

If nullification of federal law is allowed to stand, then we fought a Civil War for nothing, and a century's worth of of domestic progress would be in jeopardy.

Maybe the adage is true.....we've seen the enemy, and it is us.

But we do have a constitutional mechanism in our system to resolve situations like this...it's called "the courts".

Once again....thank you, Founding Fathers.

Below, video of Lawrence O'Donnell on THE LAST WORD, with take on the new "Nullification Crisis".

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On Super Sunday I'd Like Barack Obama To Ask Bill O'Reilly The Following Question

2011-02-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

As most of you must know by now, Sunday is "The Big Game".....it's not clear whether I can type the word that rhymes with "Duper Dole" without being busted for some kind of copyright infringement, and being required to write a check to the National Football League for more money than I have.

At any rate, prior to the game President Obama will be interviewed by FOX NEWS contributor and "#1 New York Times Bestselling Author"....(I thought the guys on FOx hated The Times).... Bill O'Reilly.

I won't speculate on the nature or outcome of the interview itself, but there is one thing I'd really like to see on Sunday. Hopefully the President of the United States will have a copy of O'Reillly's latest book. With any luck, the conversation will go like this.

Obama; "Bill, before you go on to your next question there is one thing I'd like to ask you."

O'Reilly;" What's that, Mr. President?".

Obama;" Well, your last book has a picture of me on the left on it's cover, and you on the right (he holds up a copy). The name of your book is Pinheads and Patriots. We're the only two people pictured on the cover. My question to you is....which one of us is 'the pinhead', and which is 'the patriot' ?".

And wouldn't 50 million people love to hear the answer to that one?

Sigh.....oh, to live in a perfect world.

Egypt In Crisis

2011-02-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

When I was young I often asked the question of my parents, "How was some one as evil as Hitler ever able to get control of a country like Germany." No one was able to give me an adequate answer. In fact, it took many years before I found a cultural touchstone to illustrate in almost textbook form how a dictator gains control of a people, and how he is able to hold them under a crushing boot.

That example was the Star Wars prequels, of all things. To those one or two of you who are not into the universe of Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi as created by George Lucas, one of the secondary characters was Chancellor Palpatine, who's real identity was Darth Sidious, a Sith and the sworn enemy of the Jedi knighthood.

Palpatine gained power as a trusted lawmaker of the Galactic Republic, who behind the scenes clandestinely forged alliances with various enemies of the Republic and pitted one side against another, creating crisis after crisis in which he would emerge as the Republic's savior. In the climactic third film of the prequel Palpatine was able to seize control of the government and declare himself the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire, and order the destruction of the Jedi.

No one has been able to illustrate the birth of a dictatorship than this pop cultural phenomenon. Lucas used Hitler's rise as a template for Palpatine, but he just as easily could have used Julius Caesar, Lenin, or Napoleon; all seized power in a similar way. They arose in the midst of chaos....some or all of it their own making....and emerged as the strongman. Where there once was a republic and self determination, there became a dictatorship or the creation of an empire, with a new emperor to call the shots.

I remained quiet about the situation in Egypt for the past week, but like just about everyone else I have been following the crisis on the 24 hour news stations. That is, until the plug was pulled first on the internet (since restored) and then the recent crackdown and harassment of foreign journalists that has seemed to reach a new level today.

For the past week protesters have demanded the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, the US ally who's ruled with an iron fist for 30 years. Tomorrow, Friday February 4, is the deadline demanded by the hundreds of thousands of anti- government protesters in Cairo. Though Mubarak has promised not to run again for the presidency, the protesters want him out now.

Yesterday pro-government goons were turned on the peaceful protesters, turning Cairo into a battle zone. The scene yesterday resembled a hybrid from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR> ZHIVAGO, with men on horseback and camels riding into crowds of protesters, brandishing swords, machetes, clubs, and iron bars while the army stood by and watched. Later Molotov cocktails and other incendiary bombs were hurled into the crowd. In the words of NBC's Ron Allen, as I type this, the situation in Cairo has become "an armed conflict".

And today there were attacks on foreign journalist, and arrests. Katie Couric was harassed by a mob, Anderson Cooper was punched, Lara Logan "detained", with dozens of similar incidents to other foreign journalists and news crews. No pictures are coming out of Cairo, and most journalists are calling in their stories in from hidden locations, their lives being in jeopardy. Some journalists have been accused of being agents of the United States, or of other Western nations, and some have been called spies for Israel.

Since yesterday 13 people have been killed and 1,200 have been injured.

Over the weekend Richard Engel of NBC news was on MEET THE PRESS. Engel intimated that Mubarak just might try to exploit the crisis to have a government crackdown. He'd allow anarchy to take hold of the streets of Cairo and throughout Egypt, and then use military force to restore order. Though President Obama has called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis- hinting that it's time for Mubarak to step down- Mubarak appears to be defiant. The conventional wisdom is that the genie is out of the bottle, and it is indeed over for Hosni Mubarak.

What's next is anyone's guess. With hope, Egypt can emerge as a modern secular Muslim state like Turkey, Indonesia, or Algeria, and do so relatively peacefully. But then there is the other extreme....another Beirut or Tehran from a generation ago, with a similar outcome.

One thing is certain......we are closer to the beginning of this story than we are to it's end.

Let's pray and hope for a peaceful transition, and a move to a true democracy......and progression rather than regression.

The Sarah Palin- Tea Party Battle Hymn

2011-01-31T21:06:00.000-05:00

To close out the month of January.....with a civil unrest in Egypt, healthcare reform under attack from courts, the lingering images of the Tucson massacre, and much too much snow.....let's say "GOOD RIDDANCE!" to this nasty month with a laugh or two.

Below, from The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur prsents a couple who've written a battle hymn for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party that must be seen and heard to be believed.

See you next month!

40 Years Ago On This Date A Kid From Jersey Joined The Air Force

2011-01-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

January 29, 1971 was a cold day in New Jersey, around 18 degrees in the morning. I packed light for my trip to Texas. I was beginning a new job; in a few hours I would be a federal employee, performing a similar job my father once had, and his father before him. I would be flying, but I had no need for a ticket; the taxpayers of the United States were picking up the tab. But first I had to get to the Federal Building in Newark. That's where I was to sworn in; in a few short hours life as I knew it would be gone forever, as would the adolescence I managed to hang onto as even after I had turned 20.

Because shortly after lunchtime I would cease to be Joe Civilian and would be known from that point, and for several years until I gained the rank of sergeant, as Airman. I was to take the oath and sworn in as a member of the United States Air Force, and before the day was out I would be in my new home, a barracks somewhere at Lackland Air Force Base, just outside of San Antonio, Texas.

I was too young and too foolish to be scared- I only felt a sense of relief that at long last all of the questions about would I or would I not be drafted would be over . No, I was not drafted.....but the specter of the draft made me choose the Air Force. I was joining by choice, but with more than a little nudging. My draft lottery number was 40, which meant I would probably receive a draft notice within the next two months. I had taken a pre-induction physical by orders of Selective Service two weeks before. Even though I was, and still am, incredibly nearsighted I could tell by watching what was happening around me of what was to come- I would be classified "1A", meaning I was able to serve.

It would just be a matter of time before I received a letter that said GREETINGS!

The problem was I really didn't want to go in the Army. There was this conflict you might have heard of in Vietnam, still raging in 1971 with no real end in sight. Truth be told, I was one of those long haired hippie types who knew what kind of guitars Neil Young and Stephen Stills played, but couldn't tell an M-16 from an MG. And besides, I had some authority issues as well- I flunked out of one college (maybe I should have gone to class), and dropped out of another.

So....I was draft bait. Uncle Sam wanted me....and to be honest, I was going reluctantly. And I'll bottomline this as best I can without getting into all of the late Sixties rhetoric. I hated the war in Vietnam; I bought the whole song and dance about saving Vietnam from Communism while I was in high school.....but in April of my senior year Martin Luther King was murdered. And in June, Robert F. Kennedy's life ended from Sirhan Sirhan's bullets. And my illusions of the life in America began to change in that turbulent year of 1968. I loved my country, then and now. But the land that I saw as a child as perfect had- in my eyes- some very serious flaws.

My mantra became "Save Vietnam, so they can be like us? And have leaders murdered almost routinely?". It was a time of civil unrest, well documented. Nineteen sixty-eight was a heck of year to be sent off into adulthood.

Anyway, while at my pre-induction physical, and knowing I was mere weeks away from being drafted, our whole group of "pre-inductees" were in a holding area where we saw new recruits being processed into the US military. We watched a group of guys coming in thinking they were being drafted into the Army; they were told to count off in three's. When they were done, the Army sergeant processing them told all of the three's to step forward and move across the room. After they followed his order the sergeant told them, "Congratulations....all of you men are going to be Marines".

We watched this cautionary tale before our eyes, and some of us looked at the far end of holding area; there were recruiters for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force in little cubicles. We were still in our underwear, holding the final paperwork from our pre-induction physicals. One guy sitting next me said, "That's it, I'm seeing if I can get in the Navy". I thought he made a good choice. And with little hesitation I took a walk to the Air Force recruiter and asked him if they were still taking volunteers. My entire thought process of thinking about joining the Air Force and actually doing it was about 30 seconds. I don't think I've ever made a life changing decision so split second before or since.

After I turned my medical papers over to the sergeant at the desk, he asked, "Do you want to go next week?"

"Ahhh.....how about in two weeks?", I countered.

"Sure....we need you to fill out some more paperwork". And I obliged.

And.....that was that. I had to come back the following Saturday and take some aptitude tests, but that was it. I was going into the Air Force.

Now....some may ask, if I hated the war so much why didn't I resist the draft or go to Canada?

Very simply.....I hated the war. I didn't hate my country. My country frustrated me, sometimes it made me angry....but people and things we love usually have a way of doing that. Going to jail to make a point may be the right thing for some people, but it was not my way. and as for going to Canada to avoid the draft....I never considered it. If I had gone into a self imposed Canadian exile in my own heart and soul I would have forfeited my voice forever; in good conscience, I could not do it. Go ahead and serve, just like Dad and Grandpa did during the World Wars, and I would have paid my dues. I had a right to be heard. I am an American, and in the future no one could silence me if I didn't wish to be silenced.

And so two weeks later, Mom and Dad tearfully drove me to Newark, where I said my goodbyes as stiff-lippedly as I could- I hated to watch my Mom cry. And after lunch at the Federal Building we freshly minted US airmen got on a bus to Newark Airport, where we got on an old Braniff Airlines 727- each one was painted a different color; no wonder they went broke. During the flight to San Antonio we hit an airpocket; the beautiful blond flight attendant fell into my lap momentarily. She apologized, and I smiled but couldn't think of a clever thing to say. Little did I know she would be the last woman I would come in contact with that closely for many a month.

At San Antonio it was close to 70 degrees in the evening...remember, this was January. We bussed from the airport to Lackland AFB under the direction of Sgt. Sawed Off, a little guy with glasses and a squeaky voice. There was about a dozen of us from New Jersey; soon we were joined by about twenty guys from Brooklyn, and some from Ohio, and to keep it interesting, about ten more from Mississippi. These were the 50 men I would be with during basic training....we stood on a drill pad where we met our "TI's" (Training Instructors)....let's call them Tech Sgt Face Like Clenched Fist and Staff Sgt Gold Tooth. Gold Tooth did all the talking. After introducing themselves Gold Tooth gave us our first order.

"From now on the first and last words out of your mouth when addressing me or any Training Instructor will be 'Sir!' Now, you hogs have ten minutes to get get all beards, moustaches and sideburns shaved off.....now, get your filthy asses in that dorm....RIGHT NOW!"

Now....there were 50 of us in the latrine scrambling for space to shave in the five sinks. One guy, Bill from Brooklyn, shaved so fast and sloppily that he had what looked like a Hitler moustache over his lip, but it was really a scab. It was a Friday night and we wouldn't officially begin training until Monday. We'd spend one last weekend in our civvies, sleeping in an open bay barracks. Gold Tooth got us out of bed at 5:00 AM the next day; first the light went on, and if you didn't move Gold Tooth flipped the bed over with you in it.

He only had to do it once; there were no repeat offenders.

Monday we got our heads shaved and were issued uniforms, and training began. I can remember some details of those days like it happened last week, and I can recall the smells, and tastes, and emotions, and even how the weather was for duration- it was Texas in the winter, temperatures ranged from highs in the 70's to near freezing.

I remember how the chow hall smelled outside on those chilly mornings; you could smell the bacon and hotcakes from 100 yards away.

And on the Monday we got our heads shaved we left the barbershop and were to march over to the uniform distribution center. We were supposed to get in the same formation behind the same guy we marched in with. The problem is, everybody looked different without any hair. The only way I found the guy who I was supposed to behind in formation was to look for the strange red birthmark he had on the back of his neck. I found him, but it took awhile.

I remember a kid from New York named Leroy who was dry shaved by Gold Tooth because he had too much stubble.

And there was mail call....and those letters from home that always made your day.

There was the first base liberty we had after two weeks of training- we were given $30 and freedom to go around the base (with certain limits) for a Saturday. I remember going to a hamburger stand, and ordering a chocolate shake after two weeks of nothing but Air Force chow and only Air Force chow....I never missed something so much in my life as I did those chocolate shakes. My God it tasted good. It was perfect.

There was Sgt Screech, who subbed for Gold Tooth one day, and got into my face, informing me that I marched like I have a corn cob shoved up my ass.

One cold morning that winter Tech Sgt. Face Like A Clenched Fist told us that Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali the previous night in Madison Square Garden. The whole world was watching that fight....everybody except basic trainees that is.

Then... I got the flu, and was laid up for 48 hours. I ended up missing M-16 training, which I had to make up before leaving Lackland. I had to spend an extra week there to make up "wet fire" on the range. And surprise...I qualified as a marksman.

I started going to chapel on Sundays because there were WAF's there. I had to reassure myself that women were still part of the human race; those six other days I hadn't seen a woman, and of course we had no TV or radio.

In March we were allowed to go into San Antonio on a 12 hour pass. It was St. Patrick's Day, and the river was dyed green...but were expressly forbidden from even thinking about buying a drink. It was our final week of training, and there were military police all over town watching and waiting for recruits to step out of line.

While in San Antonio on the Riverwalk, I saw an Army Sergeant a few yards away. He had a lot of fruit salad on his uniform, and appeared to be a combat vet. He turned and looked in my direction.....half his face had been melted away by napalm. That horribly scarred face has been locked in my memory banks all of these forty years. I wonder what ever became of the guy.

Lackland was the beginning of my military adventure. I never was sent to Vietnam. After Lackland I was stationed at Sheppard AFB near Wichita Falls, TX for a few months, then it was on to Hill AFB near Ogden, UT (onetime home of Donnie and Marie) for two years and then RAF Lakenheath, a British base in East Anglia leased by the US Air Force.....I was there for my final two years.

I saw a lot of the United States, and the world. And like most aspects of life there was good and bad, but for the most part there was more good than bad. But what I remember most of those days were the people, the guys who I befriended, some of whom exposed me to books and ideas I was previously unaware of, and of their own uniqueness. There were some great people, incredible parties, and a live for today attitude.....the phone could ring, and we could be told at any moment to get ready, we're being reassigned to Southeast Asia.

There are stories of those days...so many.

But that mind have to wait for another cold snow day when I feel like sharing some "war stories"....well, sort of.

Sarah Palin, Sputnik and a REAL "WTF" Moment

2011-01-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

On MORNING JOE (on MSNBC) Joe, Mika, Willie and guests watched a clip of Greta Van Susteren's interview of Sarah Palin critiquing President Obama's State of the Union Address, complete with her use of the acronym "WTF" to describe areas of his speech. I'm pretty sure she knows what it means- and it's not "Winning The Future". Surely Palin probably got some yucks from the knuckleheads who think she should run for president in 2012. But what was really interesting was Palin's response to the term "Sputnik Moment", meaning that event that challenges America to get up, be more competitive, excel, and win, just like the US did after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957 and America entered and eventually won the space race.

Hmmmm. That answer kind of reminded me of something I saw years ago. From another former pageant contestant.

Anyway....back to the original subject.

Wouldn't it have been merciful to all who still care about Sarah Palin to have Greta Van Susteren just stop Palin in the middle of her gibberish and say....."Governor Palin, you really have no idea what a 'Sputnik Moment' refers to, do you?".

But I guess the Fox News audience would have turned on Van Susteren, called her a "RINO", and demand her firing.

I guess Uncle Pat Buchanan deserves some high marks, however. At least he had the good sense as not to try to spin her words.....and the reaction from the MORNING JOE regulars was priceless.

One more time......this woman knows NOTHING.

The Official Mid Winter Cabin Fever Is Killing Me Entry

2011-01-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

Above- the view of my street after 14 inches of snow fell in Central New Jersey last night. It's only January and already it's made it to #6 snowiest winter of all time in the NYC Metro area

I used to kid my brother who now lives in northern Ohio about living in a snow belt, with lake effect snows and even days when it's so cold snow comes down with no clouds in the sky.

So I suppose there's some reverse karma at work right now....the New Brunswick area is starting to look like Ashtabula. But we were among the luckier ones; we never lost power (6,500 residents did) and my cousin in Clifton got socked with 19 inches of the white stuff.

Yesterday we had two separate storms, the first of which was 4 inches of wintry mix that began in the wee hours of Wednesday and ended in the early afternoon. Then it was the main event, a Nor'easter that had ripped through Florida early in the week and churned up the coast with warm air hitting cold air in the Mid-Atlantic, causing "thunder snow" (see previous post) and freezing rain that felt and sounded like a tropical storm, then a changeover to a heavy, wet snow that downed trees, powerlines, and made travel impossible in these parts. Central Park in New York recorded 19 inches of snow and passed the 30 inch mark for the month; this was the snowiest January in New York's recorded history.

And we've got two more months of winter to go.....Groundhog Day can't come fast enough. Please Phil, give us some good news!

Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm no youngster....heck, I still own a SONY WALKMAN (and it still works). And I'm starting to feel the physical ravages of removing snow two and three times a week.

But I must admit....snow sure can be beautiful, even awe inspiring. And it's more aesthetically pleasing than gray skies, brown lawns, and bare trees.

Here's some pics from the first few minutes prior to the beginning of snow removal.

The back patio. Check out the picnic table

The deck in the back garden

The back door, freshly dug out!

The view from the top of the driveway before I started removing snow. At the end of the driveway is a five foot tall wall of snow, courtesy of a township snowplow.

The Old Homestead

Somewhere under that four foot pile of snow are daffodil bulbs hoping to make an appearance sometime in 2011.

Quick Hits For January 26, 2011 (State of The Union And Snowbound Edition)

2011-01-26T19:19:00.001-05:00

OK boys and girls....I've been slacking off (NOT) for the past few days, and it's time to get caught up with some of the stories people are talking about, the one's that are keeping me up at night, and total fluff that maybe one or two of you have even heard of....plus a couple of personal opinions.

(1). To all parents who want to get your lazy teenage kids to remove snow from your driveway, here's a sure fire method; just buy them a car.

(2). The President's State of the Union speech last night was without a doubt a move to the center- about 90% was a message that even the Republicans couldn't rail against. How do you sit there with arms folded when Barack Obama calls for improvements to education, or new forms of energy, or a presidential veto of earmarks? His mention of a need for high speed rail and a cutting of oil subsidies met with a chilly reception for the Republicans, and a mixed review for another look at the Dream Act, as well as blank looks at the mention of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

But for much of the speech, there was little that the Republicans could pounce on and yell "extremism", though that hasn't stopped the lunatic fringe in the media, the blogesphere, and even in Congress from doing so.

(3). As I type this on January 26, 205 Americans have been shot on this day alone. On a night when Gabrielle Giffords chair was left empty, and the family of little Christina Taylor Green were sitting in the gallery with Mrs. Obama, shouldn't the President have mentioned the need to restrict the sale of extension magazines for handguns? Even Dick Cheney has mentioned that maybe its time to re-examine the easy access to high capacity ammo clips. How much is enough?

(4). Representaitive Michele Bachmann.....oh brother! I confess, I didn't watch her personal rebuttal to the SOTU that followed Paul Ryan's official Republican rebuttal. But I can't take her seriously....not when she actually told a group that the Founding Fathers did away with slavery....and she can't say she was misquoted because, as they say in football, there is "indisputable video evidence" to the contrary.

Ms. Bachmann......go into your wallet. Take out a five dollar bill. Do you see the man with the beard? Excellent! Write down his name and GOOGLE it.

And write a 500 word essay due on Friday....then you can go back to Congress, or run for president.

Anyone for tea?

(5). I was supposed to be at the Rutgers-UCONN women's basketball game at The RAC in Piscataway at this very hour.....but the weather is not co-operating. We had four inches of snow so far today, then there's been a brief pause, and a second storm that will dump around ten additional inches is just starting. The game will not be postponed because UCONN is already in town, and so are the officials.

So anybody who's reading this can have my seat in section 104 tonight.....if you can get there. My guess- they'll be around 6,000 no shows tonight for a game that usually sells out at the 8,000 seat RAC.

(6). Jets go down in Pittsburgh. I guess the countdown to baseball season has officially begun.

(7). Speaking of COUNTDOWN......that Olbermann guy has turned into The Twitter King.

(8). You're not going to believe this.....but there's lightning and thunder outside in a winter storm in January! Nah, there's no climate change!

I just checked outside, and it's freezing rain....and it's driving.

(9). I swore I'd never watch Big Love after the disaster of a season last time around. But I'm back watching.....and I'm still wondering why.

(10). Finally....I'm getting concerned that we could lose power. So I'm outta here.

NFL- The Winners of the NFC and AFC Championship Games Will Be........

2011-01-23T14:55:00.001-05:00

I have to hurry and get this posted and get on record for my picks in today's games, the last TRUE football weekend of the season. Super Bowls don't count; it's a day for people who know zilch about football to party their asses off, sort of like New Year's Eve is for "amateurs", as Jackie Gleason used to say.

OK, very quickly.....it's going to be Green Bay over the Bears, 35-17, and the Jets over Pittsburgh, 24-20. The wins will have nothing to do with Aaron Rodgers or Mark Sanchez having great games.

No, they will win because God wants them to. Trust me on this one.

I went to Mass at 12:00PM.....the priest was wearing green vestments. And so was every Catholic priest in the United States, and throughout the world. Think green!

They must have some inside info.....God willing.

Of course, I'm wearing my old #28 Curtis Martin jersey as I type this. And no, the priest this morning had no number on the back of his green vestments.

But he did sound a helluva lot like Rex Ryan.

Keith Olbermann Exits- A "Special Comment" of My Own

2011-01-23T11:32:00.000-05:00

Commentary

This morning I watched Johnny Cash's America, a two hour biographical film on A&E. It traced the highs and lows, the demons and triumphs of the life of this American original. Many of us old enough can remember the zenith of Cash's career in the early 1970's when he had a weekly TV show that appealed not only to his country music base, but to the Baby Boomer generation; on any given JOHNNY CASH SHOW you could find Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, or Stevie Wonder, often jamming with Cash and Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three.

But ten years later Cash's career spiraled downward. By the early 1980's Columbia Records, Cash's label for nearly 30 years, unceremoniously dropped him. Some friends said that the money Cash generated in record sales built Columbia's Nashville headquarters, and the suits showed their gratitude by giving him the boot.

I'm telling this little story because I couldn't help but think of the departure of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC last Friday, and the similarities it had to that of Johnny Cash being tossed by Columbia three decades ago. In my eyes, time should be marked at MSNBC as "BKO" for the years before Olbermann took over COUNTDOWN, and call whatever follows the "Left Turn Era". Keith Olbermann was THAT important to the branding of MSNBC, which before the emergence of Olbermann and COUNTDOWN was deeply mired in third place among the three cable news networks.

To be frank about it, MSNBC had no identity before COUNTDOWN. The Right had Fox News, and CNN was "the Original Recipe", the first cable news station, the one for the rest of us. Yes, MSNBC did have Don Imus in those days; many have now forgotten in the wake of the flap of his remarks about the Rutgers Women's Basketball team is that Imus would have left leaning guests on his show, not because Imus was a liberal (he was a registered Republican), but he only had guests on his show that he liked. And that included members of all political ideologies.

But it was Keith Olbermann's emergence as the most prominent liberal.....if not the only....voice in cable news that began the re-branding of MSNBC as a progressive alternative to the FOX NEWS juggernaut, and the bland neutrality of CNN. At a time when it was still fashionable for The Right to use the word "liberal" as a pejorative, Olbermann was unapologetic for his progressive views. While war raged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and any criticism of the wars was deemed as unpatriotic by the Right, Olbermann showed that dissent from popular opinion at risk to one's own position may be in itself the highest form of patriotism. The emergence of his progressive voice began a process that saw more liberal voices coming out of the woodwork and seeking a platform. Not only did Keith Olbermann set a tone for what came to follow at MSNBC, but his voice may have been responsible for spawning hundreds or even thousands of others in the media or in the blogesphere.

And for that, we owe him a collective "thank you".

We may never know all of the reasons for Olbermann's departure from MSNBC. Some conspiracy theorists say that COMCAST was behind the termination...I don't buy that, and yes, I am aware of the situation involving Bill O'Reilly, COMCAST, and former COMCAST broadcaster Barry Nolan. You don't show your biggest star the door when you depend on ratings for advertising dollars. It's business, and it's still always about money.

Keith is rich, and will return to TV even richer. And maybe this is a good time for him to step back and take some time for himself. In the past two years he had to bury both of his parents, and saw a politician he financially supported (resulting in his suspension) shot in the head. And maybe in this time when media and politicians are being asked to tone it down and heed the call of the "new civility" Keith Olbermann just decided to step away, and just watch what will happen next.

Olbermann Leaves MSNBC

2011-01-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

In a surprising turn of events, tonight Keith Olbermann announced that this would be his last night hosting COUNTDOWN on MSNBC.

It wasn't a gag, or a publicity stunt. NBC News said on TWITTER that MSNBC has decided Olbermann's contract would not be renewed. Friends such as Luke Russert and Shannyn Moore immediately tweeted goodbyes and goodlucks to Olbermann.

Below, his short farewell and thank you to his audience.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well...what's next?

It's just my opinion, but don't be surprised if Keith ends up on CNN. Their ratings are in the tank, their Parker/Spitzer is a disaster and is a poor lead in to the new Piers Morgan Show. The entire evening lineup needs a makeover, and fast.

I think after Olbermann's non-compete is completed he ends up at 8:00PM Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

One thing you can bank on...he's not in line to replace Regis.

THE LONG ORDEAL OF JAMES BRADY - NYTimes.com

2011-01-21T20:15:00.000-05:00

Pictured; Jim and Sarah Brady

In the September 27, 1981 link below Dr. Richard E. Cytowic, a Washington neurologist and medical writer, told the story of President Ronald Reagan's press secretary Jim Brady, shot in the head by John Hinckley during Hinckley's attempted assassination of the President on March 30, 1981.

What followed were hours of confusion and false reports of Brady's death by the news media while the fight to save his life continued at George Washington University Hospital. Some of what is presented in the article will remind the reader of the ordeal of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, of the possible trauma to her brain and the swelling that could have resulted in her death. Like Jim Brady, Gaby Giffords was shot in the daytime, a fact that may have given her a better chance of survival since full daytime staff was on the floor of the hospital as she was brought in.

Brady's story of survival and the aftermath of the shooting may serve as a guide as to what to expect in Gaby Giffords' road to recovery. Dr. Cytowic's story is an eight page glimpse of what it was like on the day Ronald Reagan almost lost his life, and Jim Brady's life was altered forever.

Click the link below for the full story, from THE NEW YORK TIMES.

THE LONG ORDEAL OF JAMES BRADY - NYTimes.com

It is January 21, 2011. As of 8:00PM, 224 Americans have been shot this day.

Had enough? Visit The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

In The Time I Took To Write This Entry, Twenty Americans Have Been Shot

2011-01-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

Commentary

It's 6:37PM Thursday evening and so far today, according to The Brady Campaign, 207 Americans have been shot, including two police officers in Miami, one of whom has died died according to MSNBC. And as of this date, January 20th, 2011, the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inauguration and his "ask not what your country can do for you" speech, 5,301 Americans have been shot either accidentally or or with intent to do harm.

Over 9,000 Americans were murdered with guns last year. Two hundred were shot to death in Canada, 194 in Germany, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, and 17 in Finland. The United States has about 283 million guns in civilian hands, and 4.5 million guns are sold each year.

I could go on and on, and keep adding facts and figures to try and try to score points, but I'd only find myself preaching to the choir. But I will not lash out against guns and gun ownership; it is a Second Amendment right, as upheld by are courts, and if a law abiding citizen wishes to buy a firearm, they have the right to do so.

However, there are two points I'd like to mention, The first of which I think no member of the gun lobby or Second Amendment can give a logical and coherent argument against; the second point speaks to us as a people.

More gun ownership in America does not make us safer. Period. End of story And as we say in parts of New Jersey, you have to be a little stunod to think otherwise. In a nation of more than 300 million, with an estimated 283 million guns in civilian hands, and hundreds- that's right, plural- of people shot by firearms everyday, how are we safer? Canada has one tenth the United States population, around 30 million people, yet had 200 shooting deaths last year as opposed to over 9,000 shooting deaths in the United States. About 90% of all female homicides in the United States are killed by someone they know, and gun owners are 7.8 times more likely to have threatened their partners with a gun.

In the United States children 5 to 14 are killed at a rate 11 times higher than the combined rates of 22 other populous high income nations. Twenty-two percent of US teenagers have witnessed a shooting, and three years ago an average of eight people aged one year or less to age 19 were killed by firearms everyday.

As for those who protect and serve, the nation's law enforcement officers, from 2000-2009 490 state and local officers have been killed and 20,459 have been assaulted with guns. And in the five year period from 2005-2009 501 federal officers have been killed or assaulted with firearms.

So I ask....how is America safer with more guns?

The answer is...we aren't. And to believe otherwise is either delusional, naive, or for lack of a better word, pretty stupid.

But the saddest statement about the situation that we allow to go on is.....that we allow it to go on.

And that's the second point I'll toss at you.

Our politicians are either funded by or are fearful of gun rights organizations who hold a great deal of clout. The gun guys always seem to work their magic around election day, with phone banks and ads about candidates they see as a unacceptable, usually calling the opponent a threat to the Second Amendment. And so after a bloodbath like Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or Tucson there is an initial outcry from the media and certain lawmakers about gun violence in America....and a few weeks later, it's on to the next story- what should be a national shame is reluctantly accepted, and we move on....until the next big shooting.

But everyday, there are all the little incidents that don't make the 6:00 news, or the morning edition, or your internet homepage. Imagine writing up a story for each of the 9,000 lives that get snuffed out each year from being on the wrong end of a gun.

Let's say someone at a news organization started to read the story of each shooting death in the United States for last year, that's 9,484 men, women, and children. And let's say each story lasted for one minute, and there were no commercial interruptions. We'd start reading at 12:01am on a Sunday morning......that would round off to 159 straight hours of reading about American shooting deaths.

The roll call of all of those killed in one year would finally end about 1:00PM the following Saturday.

I keep asking myself in chicken or the egg fashion, are the atrocious amount of gun deaths the disease, or is it a symptom of something more insidious going on in America? And how do we cure it?

This shouldn't be about Democrats or Republicans, this is an American issue. And I'm sure some may want bring up the Founding Fathers, and what they meant in 1789 with the ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the ambiguity of the wording of the Second Amendment. Most is subject to interpretation and debate among the readers.

But I'm certain of one thing; if we could somehow transport Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Franklin to the 21st century to give them a look at how we're doing, I'm sure they would be pleased with much of what they would see- a world of wonder they would barely comprehend two centuries ago.

And then they would see the death toll modern America experiences everyday as the result of firearms. I'm positive that the founders of our republic would be sickened by that sad terrible fact.

In closing....it's 7:53 PM. And 227 Americans have been shot today.

Colleagues, family and friends honor fallen Lakewood police officer with candlelight vigil | NJ.com

2011-01-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

Note: In the days since the massacre in Tucson we've been told countless times that the gun laws in America are sacrosanct, and will not and cannot be changed by our elected leadership. No one is saying take all guns away, and I am not either. But something dark and evil grows like a cancer in America. According to The Brady Campaign the United States of America had 9,484 gun murders last year; Canada was second among Western nations with 200, and England and Wales had 39 gun deaths. The United States leads developed nations with 9.42 gun deaths per 100,000 persons. Switzerland is second with 6.20, Canada is way down the list at 3.20, and the UK failed to chart.

As I type this on January 17, 4,532 have been shot in the United States in 2011.

And 244 Americans have been shot today.

Yet the answer to ending the gun violence in America from our leaders has been simply this to the public......just buy more guns.

Since this blog has found readership in 177 nations I've decided to link with stories of those who's lives were snuffed out too soon courtesy of the gun. Starting this chronicle on the day we remember Dr. Martin Luther King seems entirely appropriate.

The link below will take you The Star-Ledger, where you'll read the story of Lakewood (NJ) police officer Christopher Matlosz, who was shot three times and killed after a routine stop on patrol last Friday night.

Colleagues, family and friends honor fallen Lakewood police officer with candlelight vigil | NJ.com

Martin Luther King, Jr

2011-01-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

Before moving on to the day's activities.....and checking out some of the holiday sales....stop and take a moment or two to reflect on the life and times of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the greatest voice and figure of the civil rights movement, and someone who should be in the list of everyone's Ten Greatest Americans.

Had he lived, he would have been 82 years old on Saturday, the same age as my mother, who's birthday was last week as well.

Dr. King was murdered at age 39.....a life cut tragically short.

And he was one of too many of our countrymen who's life ended as a result of gun violence.

The President's Speech and The Loss of A Precious Young Life

2011-01-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

Just in case you were in a cave last night and didn't hear President Obama's speech at the memorial service in Tucson last night, here it is below in it's entirety.

The one victim of this senseless tragedy who has continue to haunt me, and millions throughout the world was nine year old Christina Taylor Green. Below are some of President Obama's remarks regarding the little girl who's short life was bookmarked on each end by tragedies, her birth being on September 11, 2001, and her passing last Saturday. (From a transcript found at cnn.com).

That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine, imagine here for a moment, a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just beginning to glimpse that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism, vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.

This was already mentioned, Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. 'I hope you help those in need,' read one. 'I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.'

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here, on this Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and we commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.

The rest of the night I couldn't get this old song from The Moody Blues out of my head, "The Eyes of a Child", composed by John Lodge, and released on TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN (1969). I found this very appropriate video on YouTube.

BLOOD LIBEL: A Video History (Mrs Palin, Are You Watching?)

2011-01-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Today Sarah Palin broke her silence after the tragedy in Tucson last Saturday, by posting a video that repudiated the accusation by some that the harsh political rhetoric in the country had any connection with the shooting that left six dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the target of alleged shooter Jared Loughner.

Palin's website at one time had a picture of Ms. Giffords in crosshairs such are found in a rifle, targeting Giffords for ouster in the upcoming midterm elections.

Palin said the following in the video.....

I listened at first puzzled, then with concerned, and now with sadness to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event If you don't like a person's vision for the country, you're free to debate that vision. If you don't like their ideas, you're free to propose better ideas. But especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible."

And as usual, Palin did her best to portray herself as a victim. And Sarah being Sarah, she made a huge tactical blunder by using the term blood libel, which was used in the past and in the present day by anti Semites to accuse Jews of sacrificing Christian and Muslim children and consuming their blood. Jewish groups, upon hearing Palin use the term, expressed their outrage.

Furthermore, Gabrielle Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona.

Below, a video history of "blood libels".

Maj Dick Winters 1918-2011; Commander of WW II's "Easy Company"

2011-01-11T19:50:00.000-05:00

I just heard the news that Major Richard D Winters passed away on January 2, two weeks before his 93rd birthday. Dick Winters was the commander of Company "E", 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, US Army, popularly known as "Easy Company", who's exploits were told in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. In the series, Major Winters was portrayed by Damian Lewis, and Winters added some commentary to the series along with other surviving members of Easy Company.

Winters and his men parachuted into Normandy in the dark morning of June 6, 1944, and began to fight their way across France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany. D-Day, the Bulge, the siege of Bastogne, and into Hitler's Germany; Winters and Easy Company were there. He was one of the dwindling numbers of our Greatest Generation, one of those men and women who fought to save civilization during World War II and then went home to post war America and set the stage for what would be the zenith of the American Century.

His was a remarkable story, and he led an extraordinary life.

We are all in his debt, as we are to all who served in that era. My condolences to his loved ones, and here's a final salute a man who's story and that of his comrades will live for generations.

For more on the life of Major Dick Winters click here.

The Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords; A Commentary

2011-01-09T14:13:00.001-05:00

Commentary

When I heard the news yesterday of the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a meet and greet in a Tucson supermarket I must admit, I was not shocked. I was saddened to hear of the incident that left Ms. Giffords shot through the head, and six others dead and another 12 people wounded. A man who can best described as a deranged lunatic named Jared Lee Loughner was the alleged gunman. Federal judge John Roll, 9 year old Christina Taylor- Green-the granddaughter of former Phillies manager and Cubs general manager Dallas Green, Gifford's aide Gabriel Zimmermann, 76 year old Dorothy Murray, 76 year old Dorwin Stoddard, and 79 year old Phyllis Scheck lay dead after the scene was sprayed with shots from a handgun that we're told held 30 rounds of ammo in it's magazine.

No, I was not shocked in the least....in fact I said to myself, well, it finally happened. "It" being a violent event so shocking that the entire nation would be talking about it, just like after Virginia Tech, and just like after Columbine. And as in the case of those two horrific incidents, much will be said about guns and gun violence in America, and the examination of the Second Amendment...and ultimately nothing will change.

But this slaughter was different from the others in that it seemed to have a sitting member of Congress as it's target. We know that Ms. Giffords' congressional office in Tuscon was vandalized in the hours after the healthcare bill was passed last year- Ms. Giffords was a supporter of the bill. And we know that Sarah Palin had an image of crosshairs on her website targetting Giffords and 19 others for defeat in 2010 (Palin's aid Rebecca Monsour defended the image in an interview conducted Saturday).

No rational person can say that the angry rhetoric we hear in political discourse everyday was responsible for the shooting. But sometimes irrational people can believe the nonsense that they're hearing and act on it. I've often wondered if Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck actually believe even half of the BS they spew out daily, or are they just throwing it out there to appeal to a lunatic fringe. The extreme voices that talk about "second amendment remedies", and accuse a sitting president of being (pick one) a Communist, Nazi, racist, Marxist-Socialist, a Muslim, or not even being an American citizen didn't pull a trigger that killed six and wounded a dozen others. But they stir a pot that's ingredients are fear, ignorance, and paranoia.

And to certain deranged minds, like that of Jared Loughner, the conspiracy theories and angry rhetoric make perfect sense.

The Right will say there was anger and vitriol pointed towards the Bush administration and towards conservatives in general. To be sure, there were angry words- but never did members of People For The American Way show up "locked and loaded" with firearms at a Bush political event, nor did any Blue State governor call for secession if we didn't stop using his states' National Guardsmen in an Iraq war he didn't support. There was anger, but the progressives left 19th century remedies where they belong.

And to those who say the words of politicians and extreme media members don't incite people to violence, well aren't some of those the same people who fingered rappers and rockers for lyrical content that they contend lead young listeners to misogyny, drug addiction, and the murder of the nation's cops?

Many years ago I worked in a hotel in Miami. The Speaker of the House at the time, the Democrat Thomas Philip "Tip" O'Neill was a frequent guest with his wife.The Speaker would vacation with his best friend from Massachusetts, the Republican Silvio Conte. Among those in their close circle of friends were Bob and Elizabeth Dole, both Republicans and, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Bob Strauss. That was about 25 years ago, but it was a glimpse as to how things used to work in Washington- lawmakers were like an extended family, with disagreements on certain issues, but in many instances with deep personal friendships when the nation's work ended. It's no coincidence that the wedge that began to divide America was born in the late 1980's with the rise of Right Wing talk radio. The conservative base found a voice with Limbaugh, and he spawned scores of imitators and wannabes.

And the nation changed....and for my money, not for the better.

Below, a special comment from Keith Olbermann.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rudy Giuliani To Chris Christie- "They Elected You Governor.....They Expect You To Be There".

2011-01-07T19:58:00.001-05:00

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on Friday's edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and guests Lesley Stahl and Donny Deutsch, and the onetime Republican presidential candidate had a constructive critique of his successor's handling of last week's blizzard, and also of the governor of New Jersey's disappearing act during the weather emergency.

Giuliani said that overall New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has done a good job as mayor, and shouldn't be judged by the poor snow removal performance in the city last week. A Marist poll has said that only 21% of New Yorkers thought that the mayor handled the situation well, while more than 70% thought he did a poor job.

But Giuliani's most pointed criticism was directed towards New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who went to Disney World on the day the blizzard hit, while his lieutenant governor was also vacationing. State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat and third in command, was in charge while the Republican governor was in Florida. Rudy joins Republican stalwarts Pat Buchanan, Ed Rollins, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in tweaking the YouTube star Christie for his no show during a statewide emergency.

In the interview Mika Brzezinski asked.... "Was it (taking a vacation during an emergency) a mistake on Chris Christie's part?"

Giuliani- "Yeah. Chris should have come back. If he would have asked my advice I would have said, 'They elected you governor, they've got an emergency, they expect you to be there. You've got to be there if you are a governor, a mayor, or even a president if it's important'".

There's a famous YouTube video that might be responsible for putting Chris Christie in the public eye. In it, Christie tells a teacher at a town hall meeting that if she doesn't like the conditions in schools that she doesn't have to teach.

And turnaround being fair, if Chris Christie doesn't want to govern during a weather emergency, then he doesn't have to be governor.

But it is the business he has chosen.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

BELIEVE! Eric LeGrand's First Interview With ESPN's Tom Rinaldi

2011-01-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand, paralyzed from the neck down after making a tackle in a game against Army last October, has his first interview since the injury with Tom Rinaldi of ESPN. And there is hope for recovery.

What a courageous young guy. Whenever you think you're having a bad day, think of Eric.

BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!

Changes! Here They Are.................

2011-01-05T19:37:00.000-05:00

OK my friends...

A couple of days ago I spoke of some changes that I wanted to make to the blog. Some of these will be about content, some will be about publishing. None of these changes will be a radical departure, but I'll explain as I get into the nuts and bolts of what's going to happen.

1). I'll be doing fewer national political stories- I said fewer, not excluding them altogether. I've decided to do this because of the redundancy that happens in the blogesphere; hundreds of posts about the same subject with an equal amount being buried in the shuffle. There's alot of people out there writing about national issues, and doing it better and more passionately than me.

2). Instead, I'll be writing more New Jersey related entries, and about topics that may be flowing under the radar. I just heard of the new poll that says Chris Christie could beat Barack Obama in a general election. I guess those voters in other states are smarter than we are here in New Jersey regarding our governor, you know, the guy who went to Disney World while his state was buried (in parts ) with three feet of snow, and who returned to blame anyone but himself for any problems encountered while he was away? No, there's plenty to write about here in New Jersey. And the "under the radar" people and topics always seem to get the most response from readers, and the most comments. There will be books, movies, and TV reviews as well....and the odd national topic discussed, just not as frequently.

3). I'm going to be posting less. This has become a necessity for me, and without going into too many details, I'll try to explain. As many of you know, I'm the primary caregiver to both of my 80-something parents. Their needs are becoming more acute with each passing month- nothing life threatening or anything like that, just more frequent and time consuming. For example, I just went through a five day stretch where I took my Dad to three different doctors in that time frame, all during New Year's weekend- nothing big, just routine maintenance for eighty year olds. Some of the more mundane tasks they used to perform alone now need an extra pair of hands, meaning me. So, I'm kind of on call, 24/7. Hey, it's my job, man! And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

4). I need more personal time for me. I do need to sneak away for personal time whenever possible, just to recharge and clear my head. And as much as I like blogging and the exchange of ideas, it's becoming clear that I do need to get away from the keyboard more often, and smell the roses. I need to do a few more things for me.

5.)Finally, I'm thinking about renaming the blog. Maybe redesigning it as well. Did you ever just get a point when you look at your hosue and just need to paint it? Well, that's how I'm feeling right now.

Change is good.

Sometimes, anyway.

Singer Gerry Rafferty Dies at Age 63

2011-01-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

If you're of a certain age you'll remember turning up the volume on your car stereo in those days of the late 1970's.....there was the slow, ethereal sounding intro, followed by an unforgettable sax solo, and then the Lennonesque voice of Scottish singer Gerry Rafferty singing his greatest hit song Baker Street. He was once part of the group STEALER"s WHEEL with partner Joe Egan, and had a hit with Stuck In the Middle With You in 1972, and his debut solo album, 1978's CITY TO CITY contained Baker Street and another hit, All Down The Line.

Those were the highlights to a good career that had the potential to be great. And today we've learned that Gerry Rafferty has passed on at age 63 after being taken off life support in the UK. He was suffering from liver failure after battling alcoholism for years.

I'm very sad to hear the news....I liked his music, and feel this man only scratched the surface of his talents.

Changes

2011-01-02T20:33:00.000-05:00

I'll get it to it in more detail very shortly.....but anticipate some changes to this blog soon.

Speaking of CHANGES.....wasn't the guy in the video above once known as Cat Stevens?

Bowled Over by Bowls

2011-01-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

Good morning and happy "1-1-11"!

That's the most "ones" we'll have in any date for 10 days and it's "1-11-11", but still nothing compared to November when it becomes "11-11-11".....a numerologist's Dream Day.

There's kind of a strange vibe to this New Year's Day, and much of it has to do with the bowl games today. For what seems like forever the bowl schedule would begin with the Outback Bowl from Tampa (Florida vs Penn Sate) on ESPN at 11:00AM. The Capital One Bowl from Orlando (Alabama vs Michigan State) would begin on ABC at noon, followed by "the Grandaddy of "em all", The Rose Bowl from Pasadena (TCU vs Wisconsin) at 4:00, also on ABC.

Meanwhile, the Cotton Bowl from Dallas (LSU vs Texas A&M) would start at noon on FOX, and CBS would have the Gator Bowl from Jacksonville (Michigan vs Mississippi State) around the same time. Back in the day, NBC would have the Orange Bowl from Miami (Stanford vs Virginia Tech) to close out the day, with the Fiesta Bowl from Arizona (Oklahoma-UCONN) and the Sugar Bowl (Arkansas vs Ohio State) from New Orleans either preceding the Orange on New Year's Day, or one would be played New Year's Eve.

Before the BCS, we would have final polls on January 2, and an unofficial national champion would be declared by the writer's and the coach's polls. This year the champions will be crowned after the meeting of Auburn and Oregon in Glendale, AZ....on January 10.

I know it seems confusing and a lot of gobblegook from anyone who's not a fan of college football. But the rhythm of what used to be has once again been disrupted, partially to facilitate TV scheduling, and also to maximize profit.

Something I've never heard of, the the Ticket City Bowl (I HATE the use of corporate names attached to the bowls) is being played in the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on New Year's Day, pitting Northwestern and Texas Tech. Meanwhile the Cotton Bowl Game is NOT played in the Cotton Bowl, but in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington...and the venerable old New Year's Day classic has been moved to Friday, January 7. The Orange Bowl, not played in the old Orange Bowl Stadium (now torn down) for at least ten years, has been moved to January 3, and the Sugar Bowl will be played on January 4th.

All six of the New Year's Day Games will be on the ABC-ESPN family of networks....The Ticket City at noon on EPNU; the Capital One on ESPN at 1:00PM; The Outback on ABC at 1:00PM; the Gator on ESPN 2 at 1:30: the Rose at 4:30 on ESPN; and the Fiesta at 8:30 on ESPN.

For the first time the Rose Bowl will not be on one of the Big Four Networks, and the Gator has moved to basic cable for the first time. The Outback went from a 11:00 am regular on basic cable to a network featured game on ABC.

Are you confused yet?

Well don't worry about it... I'm a college football fan....and I'm having a hard time keeping track of all the stuff.

Happy New Year 2011!

2010-12-31T20:15:00.000-05:00

Time to start icing the champagne, and ease into a new day, new year, and new decade, and here's a wish that all find happiness, health, and prosperity in 2011.

BTW....I'm much more comfortable saying "twenty-eleven" rather than the stiff and too formal sounding "two thousand eleven".

I wrote a lot about politics in the the final months of 2010.....perhaps too much. But in this morning's Star-Ledger I saw a column by Steve Politi that was of special note. And I wanted to close 2010 by mentioning it, and urging you to read it.

Politi is a sports columnist for the newspaper, and today he published a list of the top 10 sports stories (in his opinion) for the New York- New Jersey metropolitan area.

Number 1 wasn't about Rex Ryan and his bluster, or the resurgent Knicks, the collapse of the Devils, or the quicksand Tom Coughlin is standing in as I type this.

And even the passing of George Steinbrenner was #2 on the list.

Steve Politi chose the story of Rutgers University football player Eric LeGrand, his tragic on field injury that left him paralyzed, and the outreach of tens of thousands of friends and fans who gave their support to Eric and his family in the aftermath of his injury as the most important sports story of 2010.

We can choose to accept life in a cold, cruel world and live self serving lives. Or we can try to do the small, right things that make it a better place, and give of ourselves to the best of our ability. Eric's story touched many, not just in the Rutgers community, but throughout the nation and world.

The story of Eric LeGrand and the thousands who reached out in the days since his injury show what mankind should and could be. I think this column by Steve Politi is a final holiday gift to Eric and those who became part of the story, those who stepped up to the plate and cared.

The column is available online by clicking here. Read it, and please pass it on.

Have a Happy New Year!

And I'll be back with you.....soon.

Late Addition- Eric LeGrand is the winner of the 2010 Discover Orange Bowl-Football Writers Association of America Courage Award which will be presented January 3 at the Orange Bowl game in Miami.

Where's Chris Christie? From PROGRESSIVE CHANGE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

2010-12-30T20:18:00.000-05:00

If you're old enough, some of you can remember.....

Where's Waldo?

The first Where's Waldo? books were published in 1987, a children's series in which the little buggers were supposed to find the pictured Waldo in a collage like this one....

It would keep the kids occupied for just long enough that you could watch an hour long show like DALLAS or MOONLIGHTING and not be interrupted. Where's Waldo? became so popular in the late 1980's that there had to be spinoffs and knockoffs. One of my favorites was Where's Dan Quayle?. I actually gave this one to my nephew when he was three years old. I don't think my sister-in-law was pleased.

In more recent years, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has had an entire line of products that asked the question, Where's Bobby?, included is the tote bag pictured below.

As of now Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie doesn't have any books or a line of accessories named after him. But the governor who left on a Florida vacation just hours before a blizzard crippled New Jersey for days- and while his lieutenant governor is also vacationing, leaving Senate President Steve Sweeney, a rival and a Democrat, to cope with the situation- he has something more high tech in the dubious honors department.

Chris Christie is now featured in a new website; Where's Chris Christie?, courtesy of our friends at Progressive Change Campaign Committee. And the question is answered....he's just about anywhere BUT in the state of New Jersey. In the last three months Gov. Christie could be found in Florida, New Mexico, California, Massachusetts, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Connecticut, and Delaware. I probably left a couple of states out, but he'll be there in 2011, you can count on it.

Where's Chris Christie? Coming to your town....soon. Unless you live in the Garden State.

You can count on it.

Scocca : Chris Christie Is Too Important to Care About Snow, or Cancer, or His Job

2010-12-30T10:40:00.000-05:00

To borrow a a line from Ricky Ricardo....."Chris Christie, you've got some 'splainin' to do."

Much has been said and written about Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's decision to go ahead on a vacation the day a blizzard hit the state, leaving third in command Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat, to handle the emergency. Sweeney was sworn in as acting governor because Lt Governor Kim Guadagno was also out of state. On Monday morning Sweeney appeared on News 12 New Jersey and declared a state of emergency. When asked why he was serving as acting governor, Sweeney replied Christie was vacationing in Florida, and he didn't know where Guadagno was.

Some in the Christie administration have countered the criticism of Christie by calling it partisan sniping. But when voices like that of Republican stalwart Pat Buchanan tell MSNBC that Christie should have been on the first plane back to New Jersey after 30 plus inches of snow fell in Monmouth and Union Counties, and similar amounts in the rest of the state, well...that's trouble. The STAR-LEDGER's resident conservative columnist Paul Mulshine has called Christie's absence during a statewide emergency "inexcusable".

I've read dozens of blogs, editorials, and stories related to Christie's no-show and abdication of leadership during this event, but none so pointed and as on target as Tom Scocca's entry in Slate. Click the link below to read....he won't be on Christie's Christmas card list in 2011.

Scocca : Chris Christie Is Too Important to Care About Snow, or Cancer, or His Job

16" +.....The Holiday Blizzard of 2010, and The Case of The Missing Governor and Lt Governor

2010-12-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

For lack of a better term, it's being called the The Holiday Blizzard of 2010, with 30" of snow falling in New Jersey's Union County, and with an unofficial estimate by yours truly of 16 inches locally in this end of Middlesex County. The snow began around 10AM on Sunday (December 26) and ended in the wee hours of December 27th, with wind gusts in excess of 30 mph and bone chilling cold, and drifting snow blowing all over the place.

A state of emergency was declared in New Jersey by Acting Governor Steve Sweeney who's filling in for the vacationing Chris Christie....I have a few things to say about that, but be patient, it's coming. It's bad out there, and the bottomline is simple; if you don't have to drive, stay home. There's been stories on all of the news outlets of people throughout the region being stranded on highways for 12 or more hours, or in airports, train stations or on subways overnight.

We had three significant snow storms last winter, one in December and two in the same week in February. I'd say this was worse than any of last year's storms, and this might have been the worst storm to hit New Jersey since the Blizzard of 1996.

Now here's the interesting thing....to those of us following this thing as of Christmas Eve, on just about every local news station, the consensus was that the storm would miss the area almost entirely. On the 11:00PM news on WNBC (New York) on Christmas Eve, the forecast was for cloudy skies Christmas Day, and with a near miss of the developing storm with the Twin Forks of Long Island getting a couple of inches of snow, and New York City and New Jersey getting a dusting to perhaps an inch of snow. The minor snow event would start late on December 26, and would be of little consequence. Go about your business and enjoy Christmas. The brunt of the storm would be a hundred miles of more out to sea.

No big deal, right?

So on Christmas Day, I went about my business and had a nice day, enjoying it all and relishing Santa's bounty. After a filling dinner and a few drinks on Saturday night, I went to bed, but had a hard time sleeping. I got up and had some coffee at 7AM Sunday.....I put on the news. I hadn't watched any news, picked up a newspaper, listened to news on the radio, or been online since Christmas Eve.

And the storm that was going to miss us? GOTCHA!!!!

It was only a few hours from hitting New Jersey, New York, and the whole Mid-Atlantic Region.

It was the re-energized storm that dumped ungodly amounts of rain in California, and even deposited snow in the Deep South, like in places where it never snows, in Georgia and South Carolina, the first White Christmases in those states' histories.

And surprise.....an intense blizzard was about three hours away; and I didn't even know the status of my snow blower. It always had a knack for dying on me when I needed it most. Hopefully there was no bad gas in it from last year, and the carburetor didn't gum up on me again.

So before breakfast, it was off to Home Depot to get some two cycle oil and carburetor cleaner, and then on to buy fresh gas for the snow blower. Home Depot, at 9:00 AM Sunday morning, was a total freaking madhouse. Literally pallet after pallet of ice melt and snow shovels were coming out of storage. The parking lot was packed, the store was full, and I overheard one employee say to another, "I've never seen anything like this, ever, at this store". It was one of those scenes you see on the news, and you watch and shake your head in disbelief.....but this time I was part of the same incredulous scene.

After Home Depot I went to a local HESS gas station with my empty gas can. At the station there was one attendant working four lanes, with about six cars deep in each lane, and also with a few guys standing around to get their gas cans filled. It seemed that many people decided to get an early start and hit the road before the storm hit on Sunday, and most gas stations staffed like they would for a typical Sunday morning; that is, very minimally. They were slammed. It took a half hour to buy one gallon of gas, and the situation was the same all over.

And then Came The Blizzard......

The ornamental reindeer with antlers is about three feet tall, his grazing female mate is buried under the snowfall.

Between the two candles is a three foot tall Santa Claus

I had intended to include more pictures of the aftermath of the Holiday Blizzard of 2010 before removing snow, but while walking around out there I got stuck in the snow bank created by the snow plow.....I mean, physically stuck. The snow was close to three feet in depth in that spot, and yes, I literally had cold feet (rimshot!).

BTW....Where was the Governor when the blizzard hit? Better yet, where was the Lt Governor?

Before beginning to dig out of the worst blizzard since 1996, I watched the updates from News 12 New Jersey. On air at the time was the Acting Governor of New Jersey, State Senate President Steve Sweeney, who declared a state of emergency in New Jersey.

It was explained to the viewers that New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie was vacationing in Florida, and Sweeney, a Democrat, was serving as acting governor. But that led to the next obvious question....where was Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, Christie's running mate and the New Jersey's first ever lieutenant governor?

Steve Sweeney didn't know the whereabouts of Guadagno when asked. But it appears that she too was on vacation, leaving town at a time when a major snow storm threatened the region.

The voters of New Jersey chose to create an office of lieutenant governor in 2005 after a turbulent period where New Jersey had five governors in five years. Previously the state Senate President served as the acting governor while the governor was ill or out of town.

So let me ask the obvious....why do we have an office of lieutenant governor in New Jersey if both governor and lieutenant governor choose to vacation at the same time? It's back to a letting the Senate President run the state...and in this case, it's during natural disaster, doing the the job we voted for a lieutenant governor to do.

Lame duck governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania was on the job during the blizzard. So was lame duck governor David Paterson of New York as the storm threatened.

The joke among New Jersey Democrats is "How is Chris Christie unlike God?".

"Because God is everywhere....and so is Christie- except in New Jersey."

OK....Governor Christie does deserve to go on a family vacation over the Christmas holiday if he wishes. But shouldn't his #2 be there to mind the store while he is away?

This is a really bad job an both of their parts....and they can't blame this error in judgment on Barack Obama or Brett Schundler.

Maybe they'll hang it on the crew of THE WEATHER CHANNEL.

Merry Christmas To All! Photos From A Recent Trip To New York

2010-12-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all for your readership, support and friendship, and wish all the merriest of Christmases!

Below are a series of pictures taken in New York City last Sunday in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden, and from atop the Empire State Building. Even the worst Scrooge would have a hard to dispute there is no place like New York during the holidays.

Click the photo for the full sized view!

Take care, stay warm.....and be sure to use a designated driver.

"The Naughty List", 2010 Edition

2010-12-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

Hi!

Remember me?

I'm the guy who used to post new entries to this blog everyday......and then a funny thing happened. It's called "Christmas". From Thanksgiving until about 9PM last night (Happy Belated "Festivus", BTW) I've been running a 30 day sprint, trying to get things done before The Big Day. And finally, when I got up this morning, I looked around....and EVERYTHING IS FINALLY DONE!

Free at last! Now I know many of my fellow bloggers have been keeping up with current events, politics, and pop culture while I was making myself hysterical for the past three weeks. So why go through a rehash of everything that's been said already? Those guys know what they're talking about....I'm just a wise guy from Jersey.....no, not THAT kind of "wise guy".....maybe I should say "smart ass" instead.

But I will touch upon some of the people who deserve coal in they're stocking this Christmas.....there is a list, you know. Trust me. It does exist. I found this video on the internet that proves it.

Elf - Naughty List | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Walter Hobbs is not alone, Buddy.....and as for New York, we'll I'll talk about that later.

But first.....here's a list of those who've made Santa's Naughty List. Some should remain on it for years.

(1). Senator Mitch McConnell- The Republican minority leader from Kentucky has earned this description from MSNBC's Chris Matthews; ".....a character from Charles Dickens.". It's hard to tell what he's for, and much easier to talk about those things he's against, like the START treaty, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", The Dream Act, the bill for medical aid for the 9/11 first responders.....oh yeah, he is FOR the giving of billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires when the money could be used to aid municipalities around the nation on the brink of default.

(2). Senator John McCain- probably the biggest political sellout of the early 21st century. The Republican who ran for the presidency on the motto "Country First" opposes START, was a leading voice to kill the repeal of DADT, has swung way right on immigration issues, and called the Zadroga 9/11 First Responder's bill "fooling around" in a speech on the floor of the US Senate. The once proud maverick has morphed into The Angry Old Man of the Senate

3). Governor Chris Christie- the guy blows a $400 million government grant to education, then tries to blame the Obama Administration for the New Jersey delegation's error, and when that doesn't work he throws his education chief under the bus. His personal war on the teacher's union has led to referring to New Jersey students as "drug mules", carrying information from teacher union leadership home with them, and his allying himself with conservative gonzo filmmaker James O'Keefe. There's a lot more to say about this guy, but time is limited. The governor, who's personal style reminds me of Billy Martin at his worst, is finally starting to have some veneer wear off of his once somewhat (by GOP standards in New Jersey) lofty status. Recent polls have shown his job approval dropping 5% in the past month, while disapproval in New Jersey shot up to 48%.

4). Sarah Palin- much can be said why she belongs on the naughty list. But this year it's because Santa is afraid the former half term governor of Alaska will shoot one of his reindeer.

5). BP- It's not cool to pollute our waters....and even worse when some of our political leaders, like Texas Congressman Joe Barton apologized to BP's CEO when President Obama took the company to task for the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.

6). Oh yeah....Joe Barton. You're on the list, too.

7). The New York Giants. You guys were beating the Eagles by 21 points (31-10) with less than eight minutes to play.....and lost 38-31! C'mon, man! All of you belong on the list after that one.

8). The NCAA- the governing body of college sports has decided to punish five Ohio State football players for selling personal items, trophies, and awards by suspending them for the first five games of the 2011 season. OK, the "student athletes" bypassed the rules laid down by the NCAA. But all five players remain eligible to play in next week's Sugar Bowl game. So when is a suspension not a suspension? When it impacts the showcase of a BCS bowl, and the big bucks a BCS game generates. Shame on you, NCAA.

9). LeBron James- to paraphrase Michael in GODFATHER II, "You broke our hearts, Fredo......I mean, LeBron". So speaketh the hurting sports fans of the city of Cleveland. But this video says it better than I ever could.

And finally.....

10). Rex and Michelle Ryan- the head coach of the New York Jets and his wife have been making some news lately......is it naughty?

Actually...it's not THAT naughty. Maybe even kind of nice.

That is, if you're into that kind of stuff.

I wonder if they exchange argle socks for Christmas?

Christmas (and Other Forms of Temporary Insanity)

2010-12-15T09:37:00.000-05:00

Crazy Whacked Out "Countdown To Christmas Rant, #1"

Ten more days.

Then I can breathe again.

My brain, once brimming with the insightful witticisms of a typical, swarmy, smart allecy, know it all, online amateur pundit has completely turned to mush. And I'm sure certain conservative Republican types are probably muttering to themselves....."it's a big improvement".

All I can say is....thank God Christmas is only once a year, and Happy Birthday, Jesus. Because maybe the ailing economy can use the influx of cash to regain some semblance of health, but the holidays......and I'm trying not to be Scrooge-like here....are starting to make me feel like I'm on a treadmill that's gone beserko, and I can't stop the dang thing, and the gym attendant went out for a quick smoke while no one is watching.

OK...I love Christmas Day, and friends and family and the festive atmosphere. I just dislike some of the preliminary events leading up to it, and the DEADLINES, both imposed by others and ourselves. Like the last day to mail cards, parcels, decorate outside, decorate inside, get the house cleaned before such and such date, plan dinner (or cheat and go out like we will this year....I need a break!)- and oh yeah, I almost forgot. Christmas shopping! I know. I'm the guy who mocked people out for Christmas shopping after the 4th of July. I still think they're crazy....but kind of smart, if that makes any sense at all.

What I'm trying to say to you, oh loyal readers....the Ole Hugh Jee is getting buried alive by Christmas cheer.....and I'm trying to dig my way out, and I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel......and it's an out of control HO scale train set heading in my direction.

So if I don't have any comments on the news of the day, or remain strangely silent for days, or even a week at a time....blame it all on good cheer of the holidays. Because I really am not dealing with a full deck at this point anyway, and probably will not be "normal" until after New Year's. I'm sure you're feeling the same way.....what's even scarier is that we have guys in Washington with the same problem, and they vote on legislation that will affect us all for years!. "Lame duck sessions", with "lame" being the operative word.

But I am thankful, even so, for good health, friends and family....and most of all, for Sam Adams Winter Lager, this man's best friend during the Countdown To Christmas.

Talk to you soon.

GOP blocks 9/11 first responders bill; ABC, CBS, and NBC ignore the story

2010-12-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

It's been a very busy time around here, but I wanted to take a few minutes to alert others, to fellow bloggers, and those of conscience regardless of your political philosophy, of a tragedy that's ongoing and the lack of response by our government that should be labeled a national disgrace

First responders to the September 11, 2001 tragedy are dying at an alarming rate, and our elected officials are letting it happen.

And, according to MediaMatters contributor Eric Boehlert NONE of the news broadcasts of ABC, NBC, and CBS covered the story of the Friday December 10 vote in the United States Senate of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 . This bill had a price tag of $7.4 billion, and would have been set up to cover the medical expenses of the heroic first responders to the attack on New York's World Trade Center, many of whom have had medical problems linked to the toxic atmosphere in aftermath of the tragedy. These were first responders from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and later from other areas of the United States.

The bill made it to the United States Senate yesterday.....and it was killed by a Republican filibuster in a 57-42 vote to begin debate. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

Republicans said that the cost of the $7.4 billion, a mere fraction of the total cost of the Iraq War, was too high. The vote went along party lines.

The GOP leadership has made it clear that no new business will be considered until the extension of the Bush era tax cuts to even the wealthiest Americans is finalized.

The Republican Party, which at every opportunity has wrapped itself in the American flag and preached God and country, are now telling heroes of 9/11, those who came to the aid of their country when it was needed out of sense of purpose and duty, that they have to wait until the rest of America gets a tax cut before they will raise a finger to help. And then they'll try to blame Democrats for the stalemate.

Sadly, I think this lack of response and empathy for the first responders is part of a pattern of our society, our media, and our government, to distance themselves from 9/11. The public wants to forget. The news media sees it as an old story. And there are those in the federal government who don'twant to deal with the first responders because it might involve paying for the medical expenses of those who need it....got to get those tax cuts so a zillionare can get his new yacht.

Cancer schmancer....

To the GOP senators who say "we don't have the money" I say- in this cleanup up version- that's bullcrap.

Find it. For once, do the right thing. Country first, heh? It's just one big lie that you sold on the American people in last month's midterms.

The GOP's stance on this bill is nauseating, disgusting....and cowardly.

The following excerpt is from the statement of New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

"The idea that tax cuts for millionaires would derail this legislation is simply outrageous and offensive," she said. "The men and women who rushed to the burning towers and worked for hundreds of hours on the pile did not delay and the Senate should not have delayed either, certainly not to give tax breaks for millionaires. We should not have to wait for tax deals to do what's right."

I want to take a second to point out that locally, some in the New York City area media have done much to keep the story of the plight of the 9/11 first responders alive. In particular, PIX 11 has been updating the story and doing updates on air and online.

Click the link below for Eric Boehlert's story on the vote....and note his update- if you wanted to know how the Senate vote went on this bill yesterday don't bother watching Brian, Katie or Diane....the DAILY SHOW with John Stewart covered it.

GOP blocks 9/11 first responders bill; ABC, CBS, and NBC ignore the story

Thirty Years Ago Today; 12/8/80 The Murder of John Lennon

2010-12-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

There is more than a little irony in that this entry follows the one on the passing of Don Meredith, former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and longtime color analyst on Monday Night Football. Because thirty years ago tonight I was watching the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots on MNF, when Howard Cosell broke this tragic news to me and to millions of others watching on ABC.

John Lennon, the founder and for years the official unofficial leader of The Beatles, author, artist, political activist, and until late in 1980 a stay at home Dad caring for son Sean, was murdered, shot in front of his home in Manhattan's The Dakota by deranged fan Mark David Chapman at 10:50PM, and pronounced dead at 11:07 PM at Roosevelt Hospital.

Several hours early Lennon autographed a copy of his comeback album, Double Fantasy, for Chapman.

Below, two segments of VH-1's Behind The Music, Remastered, telling of John Lennon's last days, the shooting, the frantic attempt to save him, and the aftermath of his death.

In the second clip you can hear WNEW-FM's Vin Scelsa tell his audience that he was momentarily speechless. I was part of that audience, at home across the river in Jersey. I didn't put on the news on TV that night; I wanted to spend time with music people, not talking heads. I put on Vin and listened to his show. He took calls from his listeners, and was joined by other NEW-FM deejays throughout the night; I'm pretty sure Dave Herman and Scott Muni joined Vin, but it was thirty years ago and my memories of the immediate hours are kind of fuzzy. As one who grew up with the Beatles as a teenager and remained a fan of the former members after their split, John's death was like that of a family member. Though he was nearly ten years older than me, we kind of grew up together, he in that fishbowl of fame, and me in the anonymity of the life of a regular guy.

But a little piece of me, and of Our Generation, was killed by Mark David Chapman that day. The Dream really was over.

Below, segment of a YouTube documentary on New York rock radio legend Vin Scelsa and his long running (to this day) FM show Idiot's Delight. The clip begins with the death of John Lennon, and the reaction of Vin and his listeners.

The following Sunday a tribute was held for John Lennon in Central Park. I was committed to be at a now defunct bowl game in Giants Stadium that day. But I found a small space, and stood in silence for a few minutes, away from the crowd.

I just wanted to say "Thank you" to John Lennon one more time....and say it was nice to know him.

Don Meredith; 1938-2010

2010-12-06T19:40:00.003-05:00

Just taking a minute to remember "Dandy" Don Meredith, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and member of the classic Monday Night Football broadcast team for 12 seasons, along with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell. Keith Jackson was MNF's play by play man during it's first season.

Don Meredith was 72.

"Turn off the lights.....the party's over".

Update 12/7/10 This morning I read a great column by Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger with some comments on Meredith and Monday Night Football's impact on American culture and media back in the day. Included in the column were some classic "Dandy Don-isms".

There was the time that Spiro Agnew, then the country’s vice president, visited the Monday Night booth. “I didn’t vote for you,” Meredith told him, “but you do have a nice suit on.”

or.....

....the time when, discussing what it was like to play for Dallas legend Tom Landry, he said, “He’s such a perfectionist that if he were married to Dolly Parton, he’d expect her to cook.”

and

....his assessment of teammate Walt Garrison: “If you needed 4 yards, you’d give the ball to Garrison and he’d get you 4 yards. If you needed 20 yards, you’d give the ball to Garrison and he’d get you 4 yards.”

He was one of a kind. MNF has been trying replicate the magic of Gifford, Meredith, and Cosell for a quarter of a century now. Tirico, Chuckie and Jaws are good, so were Michaels and Madden, and Michaels, Gifford and Dierdorf.

But the MNF crew of the 1970's and early 1980's was the gold standard, as iconic in sports broadcasting in their way as ALL IN THE FAMILY and HAPPY DAYS were to TV comedy in that era.

As Howard Cosell might have said it...."Rest in peace, Dan-DAH Roooo."

Rutgers Football; They'll Be Back In 2011 After A Painful 2010

2010-12-06T01:27:00.001-05:00

(Texas A&M.....Alabama....Miami)

Last night, before I watched a tough minded UCONN Husky football team beat South Florida 19-16 (without scoring a point on offense) to win the Big East championship and a berth in a BCS bowl- probably the Fiesta, against Big 12 champs Oklahoma, I sat down and wrote three pages freehand on a legal pad about "what happened?" to Rutgers football in the wake of a 4-8 season. Early in the year I stopped doing my weekly updates about the 2010 season; last year it was a fixture in this blog. There was a strange lack of continuity to the season, even before the six game losing streak to end 2010, when Rutgers started the year a respectable 4-2, though the two losses should have set off the alarms.....one was to a poor Tulane team at home, the second to a North Carolina squad beset with a dozen suspensions, also a loss in Piscataway.

But looking at what I wrote last night, I now have come to realize that any criticisms by me have already been said by hundreds on RU message boards and by dozens of print journalists. We know the the offensive line was probably the worst in the FBS with a ridiculous 61 sacks allowed (compared to 10 in 2007), and that poor run blocking and injuries at running back led to too much reliance on the "Wild Knight" formation to generate any semblance of a running game. The three and outs had the defense out on the field way too long game after game, and injuries to that unit and wear and tear caused it to collapse by the end of the year. And at quarterback, young freshman Chas Dodd took over for injured soph Tom Savage, and never relinquished the job....so who's team was it really, anyway?

And of course, there was the catastrophic injury to Eric LeGrand at the New Meadowlands Stadium in a win against Army that left the young defensive tackle paralyzed. It was Rutgers last win. They were 4-2, and then proceeded to drop the next six games in a row, culminating with yesterday's loss to West Virginia in Morgantown 35-14, Rutgers' 16th loss in a row to WVU.

The Army game on October 18, a 23-20 Rutgers win, followed by the tragic news that Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down was the turning point of the season. It was as if a team that was already struggling for an identity was hit with a blow that it never really recovered from. The questions were asked then, "Will LeGrand's injury effect this team? How would they respond?". The answers were, yes it did effect the team. And I believe many of the players didn't know how to respond to such a terrible injury to a friend and teammate.

(Penn State....Tennessee....Nebraska)

Last year cornerback Jasper Howard of UCONN was murdered in an incident, stabbed to death. UCONN was able to turn it around what was a losing season and make it to a bowl game at the end of the year, defeating Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks. So if UCONN could right the ship after the death of a player, then why couldn't Rutgers after LeGrand's serious injury?

In football terms I think Rutgers had much more serious issues on the offensive side of the ball then UCONN had last year. The Huskies had a stellar running game with two 1,000 yard rushers and massive O line. Rutgers running game in 2010 was based on "trickeration" and too many doses of the Wildcat.

But on the emotional side of the game, dealing with losses of Howard and LeGrand, we see a vast psychological difference. Because as tragic as the loss of life of any friend is, we always find a way to turn the page and go on. But when someone close to us is seriously injured, as in LeGrand's case, paralyzed, how do we go on?

How do we handle our grief for a person who survives, but is forever changed by catastrophic injury? Where is the guidebook to lead us out of that one? I'm a believer in psychologist Eisabeth Kubler-Ross's theory of The Five Stages of Grief- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I was present at the game when LeGrand was injured; I felt a sense of depression for days, and I had not even met the guy personally. A college football team is made up of young people, some of whom were only in high school a few short months ago.....a bunch of kids. Most have probably had to deal with the death of a loved one; probably very few (if any) had a friend who was ever carted off the field with the paralysis in his limbs and below his neck. For all we know he may never be able to button his shirt, feed himself, change the channel on a TV, or text message his friends ever again without assistance. And in the back of each of those kid's minds could be hidden the guilt of a survivor, either overtly or buried deeply in their subconscious.

Probably to some degree the entire Rutgers football team, and even Greg Schiano's coaching staff, may be stuck somewhere in those five stages of grief. The stages don't always follow the sequence as I've listed them. As described to me, and experienced by me, the stages of grief can be found in conditions other than a death or a serious illness- the end of a relationship or financial ruin can lead to the same feelings of loss, denial, and the other stages.

Of course, the injury to Eric LeGrand was NOT the only reason for RU's struggles on the field, but it probably did act as a catalyst to speed its collapse in the second half of the season.

(Michigan.....Notre Dame.....Texas)

OK....so what's with the colleges in parenthesis and italics that I posted every couple of paragraphs?

Those are all universities that have powerhouse football programs, national names that few could dispute help to define college football. They have won national championships, some have worn the national crown on multiple occasions.

And they have something else in common; all have had one or more losing seasons since 2003.

All have rebounded, or will return to prominence. And so will Rutgers to at the very least the level of success they have achieved in recent years, and hopefully RU football will move beyond those limits.

Greg Schiano came to Rutgers 10 years ago, and after a rough start he accomplished what no RU football coach had done since Frank Burns in 1978.....he got Rutgers to a bowl game 2005. His 11-2 team in 2006 captured the imagination of the nation and won Schiano the National Coach of the Year Award. And the Scarlet Knights won a bowl game that year, their first ever bowl win. And they went to- and won- a bowl game the next year, and the year after that, and for good measure the year after that. For the record, that was five consecutive bowl appearances, and four consecutive wins. And while accomplishing those successes on the field, Rutgers players excelled in the classroom; every year Rutgers can be found in the top five of the NCAA's Academic Progress Report (APR). This year Rutgers was number one in the FBS in the APR. They were winning games, graduating players, and sending unprecedented numbers of young men into the NFL.

Greg Schiano and his staff did it the right way. And I have no reason to believe that he will not get the ship righted.

This was a year when the program hit a speed bump that ended up causing damage....and it was a step back. But as mentioned before, it happens to "The Big Guys" from time to time as well.

What is mindboggling are those types who come out of the woodwork to trash this program in a down year, calling it a failure, and even now there are loonies who call for a return to the days of playing Lehigh, Bucknell, and Princeton in front of 10,000 people or less. Some of the print media don't help the perception either; last week one local paper showed a nearly empty Rutgers Stadium late in the fourth quarter (and on Black Friday) against Louisville. For the record, the official attendance for that game was 37,422, far from being a sellout in the 52,000 seat stadium, but not a ghost town either. The 10,000 students who are usually at every game were represented by a fraction, maybe 1,000; the student body was on Thanksgiving break. In addition, many ticketholders and regular fans were out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, the season average per game was 46,195, roughly 6,000 fans short of capacity but also about 4,000 more than the capacity of the stadium before the expansion project two years ago. A cause for concern, yes. But hardly a cause for alarm.

The cranks, the critics, and overzealous editorial boards will write pieces complaining about Rutgers football and the waste of money it is. But do a GOOGLE search for Rutgers, and click on to IMAGES.....the vast majority of the pictures are not of old buildings and famous alums (other than James Gandolfini).....

The largest number of pictures you'll find in that search will be of Rutgers football, it's players, it's coach, and it's fans. Some may hate the fact, but the recent football success has given Rutgers greater visibility than the university has ever had before despite it's high academic standing.

Forty thousand plus people don't pay $50 a ticket to attend a chemistry class on Saturdays in the fall. And ESPN won't give RU a check for $100,000 to televise a symposium on Hamlet's Oedipus Complex.....that is, unless Hamlet played high stakes poker as well.

So critics, take your best shot.....because this team and it's coach will be back.

And I'm one fan who says "Thank God!" for that.

Suspicious package at Gloucester County College discovered to be bible, deemed suspicious due to Armenian writing, authorities say | NJ.com

2010-12-03T21:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a weird story that fell through the cracks last month. A "suspicious package" caused evening classes to be canceled, and evacuation of the building, at Gloucester County (NJ) College last month.

The package had foreign writing on the outside, and was on the campus for several days before suspicions were aroused. So the package was taken out of the building and placed on a golf cart several hundred yards from classroom buildings. The local bomb squad checked out the package, and then x-rayed it.

Inside the package was a bible.

And the suspicious foreign writing on the outside of the package?

It was Armenian. You know.....Armenia, dontcha?

Here's a geography refresher....

The Republic of Armenia was once part of the Soviet Union. The majority of citizens of Armenia (98%) are ethnic Armenians. Most are Christian, and have their own distinctive alphabet and language, though Russian is a second language in the landlocked nation.

OK.....the powers that be were acting on the side of caution in handling the package.

Be vigilant in these dangerous days, by all means.

However.....somehow I feel there's a real funny joke to be made about this entire escapade. But I just can't think of one now.

Click below for the full story, from The Gloucester County Times

Suspicious package at Gloucester County College discovered to be bible, deemed suspicious due to Armenian writing, authorities say | NJ.com

When Stink Bugs Attack!!!!!

2010-12-01T12:27:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought I had 'em all out.....they find their way back in!

This morning while reading the editorial pages of The Star-Ledger- ironically, the op-ed piece that Joe Scarborough wrote about Sarah Palin that I commented on in my last blog entry- I felt something buzz past my left ear. And I knew they were back, and I had failed.

The previous Sunday I bought an eight pack of Hot Shot Indoor Fogger at Home Depot, and proceeded to bomb the garage and the basement, using two cans in the garage in my vain attempt to stop the invasion of the latest peril from the Far East.

We've been told ad nauseum that in a few years the Chinese economy will exceed that of the United States. I'm no economist, but I do know this.....an invasion from China has already begun. And New Jersey is one of the first places to be conquered.

Because the ugly, disgusting, and prehistoric looking Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, a species that hitched a ride from China to Allentown, PA in 1996 has been a constant (and unwelcome) visitor in my home for months now. And I've been lucky....I'm only finding maybe one or two a day. Many New Jerseyans are finding dozens of the little guys in their houses and apartments everyday. And during autumn the situation only seems to get worse; the stinkers try to get into homes before the onset of winter, when they become dormant.

They are so named because of the foul odor they give off when they are squished; and consequently they have few natural enemies. Birds don't mess with them, and only certain spiders, wasps, and mantises will eat them; and for the most part, they're dormant at this time of the year.

Last week I shot a can of a generic "flying insect bomb" directly at a stinker as he walked across the wall in the family room; I sprayed for five seconds...ten seconds...15 seconds.....he was still moving! Eventually he fell to the floor, I picked him up in a tissue and sent him for swimming lessons in my septic tank- maybe he's like Rasputin, and should have been shot a couple of times just to make sure he was a goner.

Yes, the little guys are harder to kill than Freddy Krueger, Jason, or Dracula combined. The website Ask The Exterminator says a professional exterior treatment with Talstar Pro may help to keep the stinkers away, but the best way to prevent a home invasion of these guys is to make sure doors and windows are sealed. Over the summer I found some stinkers trying to get in the house through the window mounted air conditioners; when I took them down at the end of the season the problem in the affected rooms ceased.

There has been some research done at universities as far as developing traps for the stink bug, but so far none has proven to be effective. And they may soon become more than a household pest; because of their diet, stinkers may become a very real agricultural problem as their numbers become larger and their range grows.

Some bits of good news are that stink bugs won't reproduce in homes, and that the invasions usually stop during the winter months; they head for cover until spring when the cycle starts all over again. They usually eat fruits, veggies, and plant life, and cause no damage to home exteriors or interiors.

And I know...."stink bugs"...."New Jersey".....yeah, let the jokes begin.

Let me be the first one- "Don't kill that stink bug! He's our state bird!".

Joe Scarborough Hits Sarah Palin In Op-Ed

2010-11-30T22:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm back after taking a few very needed days off for Thanksgiving to spend with friends and family.....and then some extra time to clean up the mess we created, and take a day or so to recover....and stretch it out as long as possible. My fellow bloggers have been doing their stellar job and covered most of the bases, but I just came across this article, and ready or not, here's my two cents.

In Politico, former GOP congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough takes Sarah Palin to task for being Sarah Palin; that is, being a reality show personality by choice, and one who has practically no chance at all of ever being elected President of the United States. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Palin said that she believed she could defeat Barack Obama in 2012.

Also in in Walters interview Plain seemed to downplay Ronald Reagan, a figure close to sainthood in the Republican pantheon of heroes, as well as her referring to President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush as "blue bloods".

Scarborough says the following about the young Sarah Palin and her contrast to the young George Bush, a naval pilot during World War II.

I suppose Palin's harsh dismissal of this great man is more understandable after one reads her biography and realizes that, like Bush, she accomplished a great deal in her early 20s. Who wouldn't agree that finishing third in the Miss Alaska beauty contest is every bit as treacherous as risking your life in military combat? Maybe the beauty contestant who would one day be a reality star and former governor didn't win the Distinguished Flying Cross, but the half-termer was selected as Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants.

To anyone who's ever read my blog you know that I'm a lifelong Democrat, but one who did a 180 in my assessment of the first President Bush after reading the book Flyboys by James Bradley several years ago. I may not agree with George HW's politics, but I never questioned his commitment to his country or his patriotism. He left Yale at age 18 and was at the time the youngest aviator in the US Navy. His father, Senator Prescott Bush, told George he could get him a deferment from the draft- George wouldn't hear of it. He believed it was his duty to serve when so many with less advantage then he were being drafted to fight the Nazis and Imperial Japan. He was shot down near Chichi Jima, near the more famous island of Iwo Jima in September 1944. Though his plane was burning, and most of crew was killed, Bush completed his mission before ending up ain the ocean; Bush barely avoided capture by the Japanese, who at that time were executing mots of their allied prisoners.

Some blue blood.

And Sarah Palin?

A reality show star, former beauty queen.....and a governor who quit her job in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years to get rich through book deals and speaking engagements.

Below, more from THE HUFFINGTON POST on Scarborough's verbal evisceration of the famous Half Term (former) Governor of Alaska.....you betcha.

READ MORE.....Joe Scarborough Hits Sarah Palin In Op-Ed

Happy Thanksgiving! A Repost of ALICE'S RESTAURANT, Arlo Guthrie's Thanksgiving Classic

2010-11-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

A Happy Thanksgiving to all! Company started to arrive this afternoon, and it's time to get ready for the big day....so I'm going to cheat a little bit and repost last year's (2009) Thanksgiving entry about Arlo Guthrie and "Alice's Restaurant Masacree", probably the only song ever written that referred to Thanksgiving...that is, if you can call it a song at all......it's kind of a story, set to music......and we'll start telling the story after it comes around on the guitar.....one more time. ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY! And I'll be back with you in a couple of days.

It was 44 years ago or maybe 44 years ago on Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie went to visit his friends Alice and Ray in their restaurant, but that wasn't the name of the restaurant, its just the name of the song.....and Arlo went on tell the story of his post Thanksgiving feast act of kindness- taking the trash to a city dump and how he was arrested for littering and how it affected his status with Uncle Sam and the draft during those days of the Vietnam War and....whew! I need to catch my breath!

Arlo Guthrie's 18 minute musical monologue has the distinction of being the definitive Thanksgiving song- and I don't mean this in a backhanded way, but its by default. Name other song about Thanksgiving....times up! "Turkey Trot" by Little Eva doesn't count.

Arlo is the son of folk legend Woody Guthrie, and claims to have once had a babysitter named Bob Dylan when he was a kid. The story began in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1965 when Arlo visited friends Alice and Ray Brock in their home, a deconsecrated church- the Thanksgiving dinner took place at the Brock's home, not at the restaurant they ran, THE BACK ROOM REST in Stockbridge, six miles away.

Arlo recorded the LP ALICE'S RESTAURANT in 1967, and it became an instant FM radio classic at the time. Director Arthur Penn, fresh from his BONNIE AND CLYDE success in 1967, adapted the song into a film in 1969, starring Arlo, Pat Quinn, and the late James Broderick, Matthew Broderick's father. The film had cameos by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays (a member of THE WEAVERS, blacklisted in the 1950's), and William Obanhein, aka "Officer Obie", the arresting officer in Arlo's case.

Arlo is still performing after all these years, and is a proud progressive activist (God bless him). You can find out more about Arlo, including his upcoming shows and activities by clicking here.

For those who are interested, click here for ALICE'S RESTAURANT'S LYRICS.

For even more information on the story of Alice's Restaurant, visit this entry by Dennis Volkert for GateHouse News Service.

JFK; Remembering That Day In Dallas- November 22, 1963

2010-11-22T14:35:00.000-05:00

It's 2:00PM EST on November 22, 2010 as I post this.

Exactly 47 years ago to the minute (1:00PM CST) President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead in Trauma Room 1 in Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Within 40 minutes of Kennedy's shooting Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in a movie theater in connection with the shooting death of Officer J.D. Tippit. Oswald slipped into the theater without buying a ticket; Tippit had stopped Oswald for questioning after Kennedy was shot.

Before long the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza would be searched and a murder weapon, a Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle would be found on the 6th floor. A palm print belonging to Oswald would be found on the butt of the Carcano, plus records showing that he purchased it, and photos of him posing with the rifle. Oswald never got his day in court for the murders of Kennedy and Tippit; as we all know, Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered two days later by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

To all who were alive and at least of school age, the details of that November 22 and the following days will remain with you forever. I was in a shop class in junior high; when our teacher told us that Kennedy had been shot we thought het was pulling a bad joke. I remember looking outside and telling my classmates, no it's true....the flag was flying at half staff.

I went home that day and found my mother cleaning the oven with EASY-OFF. And she was crying. Later we sat down and watched the TV for hours. In those days there were only the Big Three Networks, but in the New York metro area we had four independent stations. The Indies stopped broadcasting their staples of cartoons, old movies, and reruns and just put a picture of the slain president on the screen, with somber funeral music in the background.

The networks stayed with the coverage of the events unfolding in Dallas, and of those in Washington, where Kennedy's body had been transported, and it's arrival with the widowed Jackie Kennedy, and the new President, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Most of those images and words have become iconic, as were the reporters of the tragedy in Dallas.

I remember one of the reporters on TV holding up a copy of the DAILY MIRROR from London. The headline consisted of just three words.....

In so many ways, it was day in which the universe changed. You can say it marked the true end of the general era of good feeling we call "The Fifties" and the beginning of the turbulence, upheaval, and creativity and change of "The Sixties". The nation fell into a state of mourning that lasted into the holiday season. By the first day of 1964 a buzz was starting in America about a rock and roll band from Liverpool who would soon conquer America and the world, and change pop culture to an extent that no one has been ever able to equal.

A lot of people say that the assassination of JFK set the stage for the Beatles to take America by storm. Count me as one of those guys. After Kennedy's death the country was looking for something to pull them out of the dumps. The world seemed a bit colder and grayer. It took the arrival of the Beatles and the subsequent "British Invasion' to give the country a pick me up.....and in the course of doing so, not only was music changed but art, fashion, and films were transformed as well. In about 100 days after Dallas, all things British were considered good in the United States. No longer would pop culture be a unilateral American export.

The death of JFK also ushered in an era of assassination and attempted violence against public figures that lasted for nearly a generation. In the next 18 years Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X would be slain, George Wallace would be paralyzed, Gerald F. Ford would have two assassination attempts on him, and Ronald Reagan would be shot and seriously wounded. And of course John Lennon, part of the healing after JFK's murder, would ironically and sadly be murdered as well.

And JFK's death gave birth to another phenomenon- the Age of The Conspiracy Theory. We've dealt with conspiracies involving the deaths of most of those listed in the previous paragraph, the alleged murder of a Pope, conspiracies involving the death and possible marriage of Jesus Christ and his alleged descendants, of Vast Right Wing Conspiracies, and bigger Left Wing Conspiracies. Today we have birthers and truthers protesting (unsuccessfully) the legitimacy of the Obama Presidency.

And all the while I wonder, as do many others who look back on those events in Dallas in 1963...."what if?".

Just how different would our world be had those shots fired in Dealey Plaza missed? I wonder if the world we live in would have been better. Sometimes an enormous tragedy has ramifications in the fabric of time that runs longer than the lives of all who experienced it first hand.

We're Going Into Our "Holiday Schedule"

2010-11-20T10:34:00.000-05:00

No, "Righties". The President isn't blessing the turkey, only pardoning him. I'm still trying to figure out what Ole Tom did get arrested in the first place

Announcement.....

First I'd like to thank all for taking the time to read and comment on this little old blog over the past year. It's always uplifting to see so many people from the United States and other nations drop in and read the drivel that I commit to the blogosphere.

As you know I usually try to add at least one new entry per day throughout most of the year. In 2009 I decided to limit myself to three posts each week from about Thanksgiving to the beginning of the New Year. Very simply, real life starts to take precedence for the end of the year holidays, and this year it seems to be a little hectic just a little bit earlier. I'll have a house full pf people by Thursday, and after that comes Christmas preparation and shopping- not just for me, but for my parents as well. To those who don't know my Mom and Dad are in their 80's and I'm their primary caregiver at this point. I'll be Christmas shopping for them, and for myself as well.....and yes, it is going to get a bit hectic. To be honest, it already is.

So rather than leaving readers guessing "whassup?" when I don't post for a day or two, that's the reason.

I'll commit to three entries per week from next week until early January 2011. But that's not cut in stone.....if there is something I want to comment on that I think requires it, I'll chime in.

But my bottomline is I need to create just enough space for myself for the next five weeks to take care of personal things.

See...even bloggers have "lame duck sessions".

Seeya later.

"Hugh Jee"

First Read - N.J. court rules citizens cannot recall U.S. senators

2010-11-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

Chalk one up for the Constitution of the United States of America, and a loss for the Tea Party in New Jersey.

In a 4-2 decision today the New Jersey Supreme Court struck down a provision added to the New Jersey Constitution in 1993 that gave New Jersey citizens the power to recall US Senators. New Jersey Tea Party members had been trying to recall New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez. The following passage is from MSNBC.

The only way to end a Senate term early, the court said, is clearly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, which empowers each house of Congress to "determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member." As far back as 1906, the New Jersey Court said, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that a senator's seat "could only become vacant by his death, or by expiration of his term of office, or by some direct action on the part of the Senate in the exercise of its constitutional powers."

I find it continually amazing, fascinating, and sometimes amusing that Tea Partiers, who claim to be so concerned about about preserving and "restoring" the US Constitution, seem to have such selective memory about it's provisions.

Below, the link to full story as reported by MSNBC's Pete Williams.

First Read - N.J. court rules citizens cannot recall U.S. senators

Christie-anity; A Sampler Of Cartoons Starring The Governor of New Jersey

2010-11-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

I was going to say a few words about the Governor of New Jersey- now that his National Tour 2010 has ended and he's staying in state for a few weeks- but then I decided to let it pass. Anyway, our blogger pal TC wrote an excellent piece featuring Chris Christie called Journalism; The Good, the Bad, and The Republican. It shows the vindictiveness of Governor Christie, no holds barred, and how he had no qualms about allowing the personal destruction of a woman who spoke disparagingly of him.....even if it meant choosing to ally himself to a convicted criminal to do so.

There are 45 Chris Christie entries on this blog, and many more related to New Jersey politics. I think I'll just post some of the works of the nation's and New Jersey's best cartoonists, and amuse or outrage you, depending on your political views.

And in closing.....today 130 employees of New Jersey Network received their layoff notices, effective in 45 days. Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

New Jersey Network went on the air in 1971. It's purpose was to provide New Jersey specific news to the only state in the union that did not have its own VHF television station at that time. In a cost cutting move, the governor and members of the legislature want NJN to be privatized or to become a non profit. The lights will go out at NJN at the end of the year if no alternatives can be found.

So far, no plan is in place for the future of NJN.