I just watched the finale of Monk and I see they left the door open for a future Monk Movie. I can see it now – Randy calls Monk to come to NJ because Sharona got a job on the MTV Reality show “Jersey Shore” and he is worried that she is cheating on him. Hilarity ensues when Monk goes undercover to the beach house in Seaside and slowly eases his way into the hot tub filled with Guidettes that the House Guidos picked up at a local bar,
Just when I thought I was going to do a column about Tiger Woods’ marriage being as shaky as a Nets Season Ticket salesman’s job security…. I came across the greatest thing I have seen on Television since Danny Duberstein gave pep talks to Groats Disease sufferers – the premiere of the new MTV show “Jersey Shore”.
I really don’t know where to start – on the one hand you have the biggest joke in New Jersey… and then on the other hand I could talk about the other topic…. The biggest joke in New Jersey! Three years ago I went through a phase where I started watching all the crazy reality shows on MTV… I blogged about that here on NWOW back on August 4, 2006 where I shot the average demographic age of the MTV viewer through the roof.. I just reread that column for the first time in awhile, and it was interesting to note that during the summer of ’06 I got so fed up with cable coverage of the problems in the Middle East (along with idiot liberal Jews more concerned with giving Mel Gibson a 2nd chance than the wellbeing of heroic Israeli soldiers who were taken captive) that I started to watch MTV reality shows.
That column was actually about MTV’s 25th anniversary in 2006 and I talked about the dating show “Next”… There was also a dating show where the parents watched videos of their kids dates called Parental Control… along with a pretty neat “inspirational” – type show called “Why Cant I be You?” hosted by a guy named Nick Zano who I thought dropped off the face of the Earth until I discovered that he plays Josh on Cougar Town.
We are also home to The NJ Nets whose 0-18 start was the focal point of the sports universe.. but after starting a 1 game winning streak Friday Night, the 1-18 record gives them a little break from critical scrutiny. Keep in mind that now that they have 1 win they can realize that they are already 6 ½ games out a of a playoff spot.
The NJ Nets may go down as the worst team in NBA history. Just the events of the last week show how horrific the situation has gotten. Sunday they fired the coach.. actually I should say he was let out of his misery. They then proceeded to tie the 0-17 record by losing to the Lakers in LA. A day or so later they appointed Kiki Vandeghwe as “interim coach”… the ownership situation is so uncertain at the moment that nobody gets a long term contract. And if you caught the Star Ledger coverage of the story… Vandeweghe was pretty much forced into the job by the team’s President…
Then on the night that Jason Kidd came home, the Nets set the all time record at 0-18. And even though they will not end up winless like last year’s winless Detroit Lions 0-16 record, the fact is that this may be the biggest disaster in sports history… yet the team has the audacity to ask people to PAY FOR TICKETS! What a nerve!
The irony about Kidd is that that trade was actually a pretty good one for the Nets.. they unloaded his contract a few years ago after he told the team he wanted to get out and got a pretty good player in return- Devin Harris. However, the Nets front office looked at the Kidd trade not as a way to get good young talent.. but instead as an opportunity to dump their good players. They subsequently traded away Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter and got almost nothing in return. Nothing. But they saved a lot of money so instead of paying players, the disgraced lameduck owner Bruce Ratner can pay his lawyers to help him boot out local residents from their Brooklyn homes through eminent domain so he can build his sports complex that will make him richer.
I remember how MLB kicked out George Steinbrenner in the early 1990s when he got mixed up with some monkey business. Maybe NBA commissioner David Stern should boot out Ratner too… and do it soon because New Jersey Nets basketball should not be charging "fans" to watch a very substandard product with no hope for improvement until they move out of state.
And speaking of the early 1990s…I remember the post collegiate years of trips to the Jersey Shore and the “people watching” I used to do there. Now almost 20 years later, its good to see that the next generation is still pretty much the same as evidenced by Thursday Night’s premiere of “Jersey Shore” on MTV,
This is one of those reality shows that is not a competition or a life improvement … its just watching 8 goofballs who don’t know each other thrown together in one house. Its not an unusual sequence. But when you take 8 self proclaimed guidos and guidettes and toss them in a house in Seaside… and then get a very slick video editor… you know you have something special.
The premiere aired Thursday night and has been airing repeatedly ever since. Once you start watching this … you start to Thank God that you it is not an eclipse because you can’t just look away. Of the 8, a few got more airtime than the others… with the standouts being a small girl named Nicole aka Snooki, a guy nicknamed “The Situation” and a girl whose nickname is based on Ms Lopez and calls herself JWow… you might know her cousin the ShamWow. Theres also a guy who proudly announces he is a college graduate and demonstrates his 4 yrs of higher education by showcasing his excellent skills as a fist pumper. And then there is Sammi.. a Guidette who is also the only NJ resident on the show.
We meet all 8 in the premiere 2 hr episode – and of course its interspersed with well edited “talk to the camera” segments where each character moves the story along talking about what is going on… as their name appears on screen… while grainy Jersey Shore footage rolls in the background. The 8 get to live at the house, but have to work for their landlord.. a guy named Danny who owns a Boardwalk T Shirt store.
Two of the women have boyfriends… yet one proclaims that she has officially cheated when she catches a glimpse of a Guido shmeckle. Another girl with a boyfriend rips a t shirt off one of the guys and then leaves the club with the shirt leaving him shirtless (Not a bad idea when you work at a t shirt store)… Instead she decides to go eat ham and drink water which might really mean something else.. but then again what do I know?
But the heart and soul of the premiere is “The Situation”…. A man who announces that he will hook up with Sammi… when he decides they will. The 2nd night when they went clubbing… (one of the housemates caught pinkeye and couldn’t get a replacement for the pm shift at the store because everybody else had to “get ready”: for their evening activities.. even though the T shirt store closes 2 hrs before the scheduled departure time)… “The Situation” was making his move only to see her walk away from him and start making out with another Guido cast member instead. Of course a fight later breaks out. By the way, you gotta see the shirt this girl wore to this club!
But the other thing I find interesting is how these girls talk about their boyfriends but get ticked off when the guys bring girls back to the house.. which is not too difficult when you have a camera crew following you around. We also catch on to Nicole Snooki’s intense paranoia when she hears the other girls criticizing the “whores and skanks” and Nicole thinks they are talking about her!
But the funniest thing is when those female guests go into the Jacuzzi with the Guidos and proceed to remove clothing. The female housemates (Not Nicole who is either puking or with a guy who is puking) start heckling the girls in the hot tub. But if they have boyfriends… why would they care so much? And then it occurs to me… The Guidettes on “Jersey Shore” (except Nicole)… never ever go in the hot tub probably because they are so worried about the germ killing abilities of the chemicals in their Jacuzzi that they think that those one night stand chics are leaving some kind of diseased deposits in the Jacuzzi water.
Or maybe they just watch a lot of Monk?
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK:
Last week Pumpy won to get back to .500 at 6-6. This week we go to Florida where Tiger Woods is doing some major damage control after he was caught doing some hocus McPocus. The Dolphins are (only) 3 point home doggies to The Patriots. Sayeth The Pump: “I just went to get a Shark tattoo, but instead they gave me a Dolphin,… Oh wait. That wasn’t me.. I saw that in a commercial… Take The Dolphins!
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
Last week we went 2-1 to improve to 19-17.
GIANTS 2 doggies over Dallas – A must win if the Giants want to play in the post season. They are still alive if they lose, but they would need A LOT of help.
ATLANTA 5 ½ doggies over Philadelphia – That Eagles comeback over Washington last week was a tough blow for Giants fans…
Baltimore 3 doggies over GREEN BAY – The Ravens are coming off a good win… of course that logic hopefully won’t apply to the Eagles.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
TV Sort of Quarterly Report - Part II
Happy Thanksgiving!!
As I prepared this column a week ago, I was about to write about how aside from the last season of Monk on Fridays, there are only 2 good nights of TV – but last Wednesday as I got ready to watch Law and Order SVU – I saw a promo on ABC for the new show Modern Family that featured an appearance by Elizabeth Banks! Well homina homina homina.. I have been a fan of hers since she was in The 40 Year Old Virgin hot tub scene. I decided to skip L and O and watch Banks instead, so now I guess I will slightly amend my opinion about TV only having 2 good nights.
After stumbling into the Elizabeth Banks episode – I actually liked Modern Family. Since I am new to the show I am not as familiar with the characters like the tv columnists who have press releases to held id the different characters on these ensemble shows. The Banks character was friends with 2 gay guys who recently adopted a baby. The show is about a big extended family and I have no idea who these people are just yet, except the patriarch is Ed O’Neill from Married With Children and he apparently married a much younger woman. (I only saw 2 episodes folks). He is quite sharp and easily prevents his teenage granddaughters attempts to leave a family dinner to hang out with her boyfriend. Another character who I think was Ed’s daughter gets her husband a “thoughtful” birthday present when she gets a personalized performance from a member of her husband’s favorite 80s band… Spandau Ballet. Only it turns out the husband never liked Spandau Ballet and didn't even know any of their songs. While watching the episode, I thought it really was the guy from SB... but I later found out it was actually actor Ed Norton.
The other new show is the much hyped Cougar Town. That show was ok but one of the episodes featured a woman played by Rachael Harris playing exactly the same kind of character she played in The Hangover.. the bitchy wife! The characters have different names.. but they are exactly the same!! It seems like the actress is getting typecast… Its too early to tell if I will stay with this one.. again there are a lot of characters and I’m still trying to figure out who’s who.
This season I seem to have stopped watching longtime favorites Heroes and Desperate Housewives and have replaced them with a comedy heavy lineup. I also like that new Shark Tank show but it seems to be off the air now, replaced by V which I watched religiously when it was on NBC in the 80s.. but I have not caught the new version yet.
SUNDAYS WITH SETH AND LARRY
Hands down the funniest night on Television.. and actually it might be TOO funny.
Sundays with Seth – What the heck is in Seth MacFarlane’s DNA and what made him so brilliant?
2 weeks ago it was hour after hour of Seth. Not only his triple header of Cleveland Show, Family Guy and American Dad but he also had a variety show one night that was quite funny too. Clips of Family Guy were worked into the show and it was quite odd to see the show with a laugh track as the variety show’s audience was laughing with delight. The bit about Marlee Martlin’s voice was pretty tacky but then again is that really such a shock that a Seth MacFarlane production would be tacky?
I really can only handle 2 episodes of Sundays with Seth in one setting because I still need to save some yuks for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Therefore, I haven’t really started to watch Cleveland, but even a glance here and there is getting me hooked. The Thanksgiving episode with Auntie Mama last week was hilarious and made me realize that the transvestite character modeled after Mama on What’s Happening is part of Seth’s motivation to create this show. He grew up watching all the black sitcoms and really had no forum to spoof them on his other cartoon shows. So he did what everyone else does who has 2 cartoons. He created a 3rd. He also had a funny episode a couple of weeks ago when his step daughter was supposed to take a chastity vow.. but his son did so instead which greatly upset Cleveland and pointed out the hypocrisy that sexually active teenage boys and girls have a double standard. Maybe Adam Lambert is on to something.
Family Guy and American Dad continue to roll around with typical hysterics. The concept of Stuie cloning himself and calling his clone Bitch Stuie was priceless… including his little homoerotic bathtub time with his over-eager-to-please clone. After awhile the episodes get all mixed up in my brain and I would probably have to consult tvsquad to remember what last week’s episode was about. Cant they just alternate American Dad with Cleveland Show to prevent Seth overload? Then again, some nights AD is the best of the 3 shows. Last week’s show with Stan falling in love with a band (which I later found out was a real band - after Spandau Ballet, I thought it was all fake!) was quite amusing as he swooned over them like a lovestruck teen.
Oh that’s right, the episode showed Quagmire fessing up to Brian about why he doesn’t like him… it sounded like something from Festivus.
And speaking of which…
Curb Your Enthusiasm… possibly the best show on TV this season, and Larry David has a chance to give the person who created Twilight a run for the money for Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year.
The season picked up where last year’s left off… as Larry (the man who inspired George on Seinfeld) hooked up with Loretta Black at the end of last season. The new season starts, and Black has cancer, and Larry wants out.. so he figures out a way to get her out of his house and decides to try to win his ex wife Cheryl back which became the theme of the season. And when Cheryl mentioned that she was happy when Larry worked on the Seinfeld show because he had “something to do”…. The wheels started turning and the Seinfeld reunion concept was born!
The show hit the jackpot the last 2 weeks with the final 2 episodes of the season and possibly the series. All 4 regulars returned to shoot the “reunion special” along with a few side characters such as Newman .. Incidentally, this reunion storyline has motivated me to start watching the Channel 5 reruns again.
A week ago Sunday “The Table Read” episode proved to be the funniest episode of a TV show since the last Newhart. A side story involving “Michael Richard”s concerns about the fictitious Groats Disease put Larry in a quandary. “Richards” worries were affecting his acting, so Larry decides to have an acquaintance, Groats survivor Danny Duberstein talk to him to calm him down. Only it turns out that unbeknownst to David, Duberstein died of the disease two months earlier. So who does he turn to? Leon. And as part of the plot Leon… a black man about to meet “Michael Richards” after the real Richards racist rant at a comedy club… was forced to impersonate Jewish accountant Danny Duberstein.
And while all of us were licking our chops about Leon confronting “Richards”… Leon while watching on the set points out how totally clueless he is about the Seinfeld characters and when Newman walks in to the angry “Hello Newman”, Leon looks at Larry offstage and says…”Who is that funny fat bastard?”
And the “Richards – Fake Duberstein” confrontation… turns out to be not about black anger towards Richards rant.. but instead was a showcase for JB Smoove to earn the Best Comedy Actor Emmy. The improvised scene between the 2 was absolutely hysterical with Duberstein announcing he had 3 bar mitzvahs because he has to recharge it every 13 years.
The only drawback to the episode was when Marty Funkhouser meets Jerry Seinfeld and proceeds to tell him a funny joke that was really not in character to him… but is exactly what Super Dave Osborne would have done. Both characters are played by the same actor, but it seemed out of place. Kind of like when Ted Knight appeared on The Love Boat… he didn’t ask Captain Stubing how Mary and Lou were doing??
And even though the finale was not quite as funny, it was still pretty pretty good with Larry almost sabotaging his entire show when he and “Jason Alexander” get into a bit of a snit. Jason quits and Larry decides to play George which means he was playing himself – sort of. “Jerry” was also funny and fired off a few classic zingers… almost as if he knew that he had to go the extra mile because JB Smoove was not appearing in this episode.
Ultimately the season wraps up with a satisfying ending and personally, I can’t wait for the DVD to come out.. I think the last 2 shows looped together would make a hysterical episode..
MONDAY SITCOMS ON CBS
CBS tweaked its lineup this season… How I Met Your Mother is now on at 8pm and it continues to try to be the follow up ensemble to the Seinfeld/Friends generation. Two and a Half Men may be a one joke sitcom, but it continues to chug along. But by far the best comedy of the night – The Big Bang Theory. Now that certain types of social awkwardness are referred to as Assbergers… it seems that Sheldon is not just goofy.. but has been diagnosed. His roommate Leonard might be bizarrely dating the beautiful neighbor Penny, but the Sheldon - Penny acting chemistry is quite remarkable,
Last season the seeds were planted – no pun intended – when she got Sheldon a napkin used by Leonard Nimoy. Geek heaven! But the episode a week ago was classic when she fell in the shower and needed Sheldon to pull her out naked and get her to a hospital. There are not a lot of comedy teams out there that are as funny as these two, and I never realized Kaley Cuoco had the potential to be such a great straight man.
Many might question if Sheldon is straight after that episode although he admitted to peeking when she made him put her clothes on with his eyes closed so he could take her to the hospital to treat her injured arm. She also asked him not to put her panties on… and instead went commando in skimpy shorts which didn’t seem to phase Sheldon as it would the average heterosexual man in that situation. Instead, he lectured her on the importance of wearing clean underwear just in case she was in an accident and needed to go to the Emergency Room.... even though she was actually on her way to the Emergency Room!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK- Pumpy is under .500 after last weeks loss and is now 5-6. This week in honor of Thanksgiving we go to New England where the Patriots are on the road against the unbeaten Saints which could be a very exciting Monday Night Game. The Saints are 3 point faves. Sayeth The Pump:
“Lets' take the saints, because I'm a big Louis Armstrong fan and I like his rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK
Not too thrilled with the Thanksgiving Game and the early blogging schedule. Last week the hot streak continued at 2-1 for a season to date record of 17-16.
DENVER 6 ½ doggies over The Giants – I know the Broncos have played crummy lately but has anyone seen the Giants lately? And Nets announcer (0-15 already this young season) Chris Carrino is calling the game on the radio and I predict he will call his first and only win for 2009! But they won’t cover.
Raiders 13 ½ doggies over DALLAS – Huge spread that the Cowboys will not cover. I was more interested in today's early game but it kicks off just one hour after my 11:30 posting.. so lets take the late game instead. If both Dallas and Denver win, the Giants division hopes will be finished.
Washington 9 doggies over THE EAGLES – The Skins have been somewhat decent these last few weeks.
As I prepared this column a week ago, I was about to write about how aside from the last season of Monk on Fridays, there are only 2 good nights of TV – but last Wednesday as I got ready to watch Law and Order SVU – I saw a promo on ABC for the new show Modern Family that featured an appearance by Elizabeth Banks! Well homina homina homina.. I have been a fan of hers since she was in The 40 Year Old Virgin hot tub scene. I decided to skip L and O and watch Banks instead, so now I guess I will slightly amend my opinion about TV only having 2 good nights.
After stumbling into the Elizabeth Banks episode – I actually liked Modern Family. Since I am new to the show I am not as familiar with the characters like the tv columnists who have press releases to held id the different characters on these ensemble shows. The Banks character was friends with 2 gay guys who recently adopted a baby. The show is about a big extended family and I have no idea who these people are just yet, except the patriarch is Ed O’Neill from Married With Children and he apparently married a much younger woman. (I only saw 2 episodes folks). He is quite sharp and easily prevents his teenage granddaughters attempts to leave a family dinner to hang out with her boyfriend. Another character who I think was Ed’s daughter gets her husband a “thoughtful” birthday present when she gets a personalized performance from a member of her husband’s favorite 80s band… Spandau Ballet. Only it turns out the husband never liked Spandau Ballet and didn't even know any of their songs. While watching the episode, I thought it really was the guy from SB... but I later found out it was actually actor Ed Norton.
The other new show is the much hyped Cougar Town. That show was ok but one of the episodes featured a woman played by Rachael Harris playing exactly the same kind of character she played in The Hangover.. the bitchy wife! The characters have different names.. but they are exactly the same!! It seems like the actress is getting typecast… Its too early to tell if I will stay with this one.. again there are a lot of characters and I’m still trying to figure out who’s who.
This season I seem to have stopped watching longtime favorites Heroes and Desperate Housewives and have replaced them with a comedy heavy lineup. I also like that new Shark Tank show but it seems to be off the air now, replaced by V which I watched religiously when it was on NBC in the 80s.. but I have not caught the new version yet.
SUNDAYS WITH SETH AND LARRY
Hands down the funniest night on Television.. and actually it might be TOO funny.
Sundays with Seth – What the heck is in Seth MacFarlane’s DNA and what made him so brilliant?
2 weeks ago it was hour after hour of Seth. Not only his triple header of Cleveland Show, Family Guy and American Dad but he also had a variety show one night that was quite funny too. Clips of Family Guy were worked into the show and it was quite odd to see the show with a laugh track as the variety show’s audience was laughing with delight. The bit about Marlee Martlin’s voice was pretty tacky but then again is that really such a shock that a Seth MacFarlane production would be tacky?
I really can only handle 2 episodes of Sundays with Seth in one setting because I still need to save some yuks for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Therefore, I haven’t really started to watch Cleveland, but even a glance here and there is getting me hooked. The Thanksgiving episode with Auntie Mama last week was hilarious and made me realize that the transvestite character modeled after Mama on What’s Happening is part of Seth’s motivation to create this show. He grew up watching all the black sitcoms and really had no forum to spoof them on his other cartoon shows. So he did what everyone else does who has 2 cartoons. He created a 3rd. He also had a funny episode a couple of weeks ago when his step daughter was supposed to take a chastity vow.. but his son did so instead which greatly upset Cleveland and pointed out the hypocrisy that sexually active teenage boys and girls have a double standard. Maybe Adam Lambert is on to something.
Family Guy and American Dad continue to roll around with typical hysterics. The concept of Stuie cloning himself and calling his clone Bitch Stuie was priceless… including his little homoerotic bathtub time with his over-eager-to-please clone. After awhile the episodes get all mixed up in my brain and I would probably have to consult tvsquad to remember what last week’s episode was about. Cant they just alternate American Dad with Cleveland Show to prevent Seth overload? Then again, some nights AD is the best of the 3 shows. Last week’s show with Stan falling in love with a band (which I later found out was a real band - after Spandau Ballet, I thought it was all fake!) was quite amusing as he swooned over them like a lovestruck teen.
Oh that’s right, the episode showed Quagmire fessing up to Brian about why he doesn’t like him… it sounded like something from Festivus.
And speaking of which…
Curb Your Enthusiasm… possibly the best show on TV this season, and Larry David has a chance to give the person who created Twilight a run for the money for Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year.
The season picked up where last year’s left off… as Larry (the man who inspired George on Seinfeld) hooked up with Loretta Black at the end of last season. The new season starts, and Black has cancer, and Larry wants out.. so he figures out a way to get her out of his house and decides to try to win his ex wife Cheryl back which became the theme of the season. And when Cheryl mentioned that she was happy when Larry worked on the Seinfeld show because he had “something to do”…. The wheels started turning and the Seinfeld reunion concept was born!
The show hit the jackpot the last 2 weeks with the final 2 episodes of the season and possibly the series. All 4 regulars returned to shoot the “reunion special” along with a few side characters such as Newman .. Incidentally, this reunion storyline has motivated me to start watching the Channel 5 reruns again.
A week ago Sunday “The Table Read” episode proved to be the funniest episode of a TV show since the last Newhart. A side story involving “Michael Richard”s concerns about the fictitious Groats Disease put Larry in a quandary. “Richards” worries were affecting his acting, so Larry decides to have an acquaintance, Groats survivor Danny Duberstein talk to him to calm him down. Only it turns out that unbeknownst to David, Duberstein died of the disease two months earlier. So who does he turn to? Leon. And as part of the plot Leon… a black man about to meet “Michael Richards” after the real Richards racist rant at a comedy club… was forced to impersonate Jewish accountant Danny Duberstein.
And while all of us were licking our chops about Leon confronting “Richards”… Leon while watching on the set points out how totally clueless he is about the Seinfeld characters and when Newman walks in to the angry “Hello Newman”, Leon looks at Larry offstage and says…”Who is that funny fat bastard?”
And the “Richards – Fake Duberstein” confrontation… turns out to be not about black anger towards Richards rant.. but instead was a showcase for JB Smoove to earn the Best Comedy Actor Emmy. The improvised scene between the 2 was absolutely hysterical with Duberstein announcing he had 3 bar mitzvahs because he has to recharge it every 13 years.
The only drawback to the episode was when Marty Funkhouser meets Jerry Seinfeld and proceeds to tell him a funny joke that was really not in character to him… but is exactly what Super Dave Osborne would have done. Both characters are played by the same actor, but it seemed out of place. Kind of like when Ted Knight appeared on The Love Boat… he didn’t ask Captain Stubing how Mary and Lou were doing??
And even though the finale was not quite as funny, it was still pretty pretty good with Larry almost sabotaging his entire show when he and “Jason Alexander” get into a bit of a snit. Jason quits and Larry decides to play George which means he was playing himself – sort of. “Jerry” was also funny and fired off a few classic zingers… almost as if he knew that he had to go the extra mile because JB Smoove was not appearing in this episode.
Ultimately the season wraps up with a satisfying ending and personally, I can’t wait for the DVD to come out.. I think the last 2 shows looped together would make a hysterical episode..
MONDAY SITCOMS ON CBS
CBS tweaked its lineup this season… How I Met Your Mother is now on at 8pm and it continues to try to be the follow up ensemble to the Seinfeld/Friends generation. Two and a Half Men may be a one joke sitcom, but it continues to chug along. But by far the best comedy of the night – The Big Bang Theory. Now that certain types of social awkwardness are referred to as Assbergers… it seems that Sheldon is not just goofy.. but has been diagnosed. His roommate Leonard might be bizarrely dating the beautiful neighbor Penny, but the Sheldon - Penny acting chemistry is quite remarkable,
Last season the seeds were planted – no pun intended – when she got Sheldon a napkin used by Leonard Nimoy. Geek heaven! But the episode a week ago was classic when she fell in the shower and needed Sheldon to pull her out naked and get her to a hospital. There are not a lot of comedy teams out there that are as funny as these two, and I never realized Kaley Cuoco had the potential to be such a great straight man.
Many might question if Sheldon is straight after that episode although he admitted to peeking when she made him put her clothes on with his eyes closed so he could take her to the hospital to treat her injured arm. She also asked him not to put her panties on… and instead went commando in skimpy shorts which didn’t seem to phase Sheldon as it would the average heterosexual man in that situation. Instead, he lectured her on the importance of wearing clean underwear just in case she was in an accident and needed to go to the Emergency Room.... even though she was actually on her way to the Emergency Room!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK- Pumpy is under .500 after last weeks loss and is now 5-6. This week in honor of Thanksgiving we go to New England where the Patriots are on the road against the unbeaten Saints which could be a very exciting Monday Night Game. The Saints are 3 point faves. Sayeth The Pump:
“Lets' take the saints, because I'm a big Louis Armstrong fan and I like his rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK
Not too thrilled with the Thanksgiving Game and the early blogging schedule. Last week the hot streak continued at 2-1 for a season to date record of 17-16.
DENVER 6 ½ doggies over The Giants – I know the Broncos have played crummy lately but has anyone seen the Giants lately? And Nets announcer (0-15 already this young season) Chris Carrino is calling the game on the radio and I predict he will call his first and only win for 2009! But they won’t cover.
Raiders 13 ½ doggies over DALLAS – Huge spread that the Cowboys will not cover. I was more interested in today's early game but it kicks off just one hour after my 11:30 posting.. so lets take the late game instead. If both Dallas and Denver win, the Giants division hopes will be finished.
Washington 9 doggies over THE EAGLES – The Skins have been somewhat decent these last few weeks.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
TV Sort of Quarterly Report - Part I: The NBA
This year we scrapped the long time tradition of a “regular” quarterly TV report, instead opting to chime in on a semi regular non organized basis about stuff related to the boob tube. And now that the World Series is over, it’s time for my fall season to start with a look at some trends for this season. And we start with Part I... What I Won’t Watch This Year… and it is a list of 1 .
WHAT I WON’T WATCH
The New Jersey Nets!! What a disgrace they are.. not only because their record is 0-13, but because Commissioner David Stern allowed this situation to develop.
Several years back, the Nets were actually a pretty decent team… making it to the finals twice. They had 3 solid stars in Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson. But when Bruce Ratner got his grubby paws on the franchise, it slowly returned to its embarrassing status as the joke the franchise used to be in the pre-Jason Kidd era. All this guy wanted to do was make a ton of money by building his little dream complex in Brooklyn,.. building an arena for the Nets and knocking out some homes through eminent domain in the process. But as the project gets closer to the end of the year “Crap or get off the toilet” deadline, it seems that the Nets are getting lost in the shuffle in this disaster.
A small powerful group in Brooklyn is flexing its muscles to keep the Nets from moving there, and while Ratner has been addressing those issues, he has been doing his best impression as Nero… because as he fiddles, the Nets burn. The team is the biggest joke in the NBA and appears incapable of winning a game. They suck so bad that they even blew a huge lead to Minnesota on Opening Night only to lose at the buzzer… and Minnesota has lost every game ever since.
Its obvious Bruce doesn’t give a crap about the Nets, and his real estate deal might end up going through without the new basketball arena. He already has a buyer for the team, but its immediate future will be determined soon when the decision is made if it is Brooklyn bound. This presents an interesting dilemma. The team has gone down the toilet during this intermediate status… but if they end up moving, are they just going to let the team lose every single game till they move in a couple of years? Why would any local fan want to pay to watch a lame duck team at the Meadowlands Arena if they know that the team is moving away in a couple of years??
But if the Brooklyn deal falls through… and the eminent domain opponents are doing their best to keep Ranter’s grubby money hungry paws off these properties… THEN, the team should make a commitment to staying in NJ and do something.. either a quick change of ownership to clear away the stench of Ratner… and announce a firm commitment to rebuild the franchise as quickly as possible… even if it means the team is going to head south to the Prudential Center in Newark.
But either way, this situation cannot continue, and I’m curious as to why Commissioner Stern has not stepped in to help fix this mess.
And as the Nets inch closer towards the most pathetic start in NBA history… 0-17 held by Miami and The Clippers… LA's 2nd class citizen at the Staples Center has its own bizarre controversy going on with their announcing team.
It seems that long time announcers Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith were calling the game the other night when the Memphis backup center Hamed Haddidi was brought into the game. Haddidi is the first ever Iranian player in the NBA and as Lawler and Smith discussed this, an irate caller placed an angry call to Fox Sports about the exchange (and we have the transcript) and among his complaints about this non issue were the announcers mispronounced the country by calling it Eye-ran instead of the way Christina Ammanpour pronounces it.
Sayeth the Lawler and The Smith (from the LA Times)
Smith: “Look who’s in.”
Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”
Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)
Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.
Smith: “He’s the only one.”
Lawler: “He’s from Iran?”
Smith: “I guess so.”
Lawler: “That Iran?”
Smith: Yes.
Lawler: “The real Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi – that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”
Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”
Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”
Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”
Smith: “Especially the post players.
Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”
So lets get this straight… Iran is a country that wants to nuke Israel (and the Palestinians who live there too!), yet 2 announcers get into trouble for mispronouncing it?? How absurd is that? I think the political correctness has gone too far.. and Im surprised the Post’s Phil Mushnick hasn’t written about this…(although maybe he has?) Mushnick always points out how Jay-Z the Nets part owner has songs out there that use the N-word… but that’s ok? But mispronounce Iran? Suspension!!
What the heck is going on David Stern??
Stay tuned for Wednesday: Part II of the TV Quarterly Report… We’re posting early to get the Giants and Cowboys picks in!!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Pumpy and UGF ran the table last wk and both are .500. This week Pumpy tries to improve his .500 record and since Oprah announced she is gonna end her show, for this week’s game we go to Chicago where the Bears are 3 point home doggies to the Eagles. Sayeth the Pump:
"I watched Oprah last week when she had the woman from Connecticut who was attacked by the monkey. But when she showed her face I couldn't "bare" to watch... so take the Bears!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: We’re all evened up at 15-15 after last week’s 3-0… Now time to build up a winning streak.
Atlanta 6 ½ doggies over GIANTS – The ol’ cop out “The Giants will win but not cover” pick.. but do the Giants deserve a TD advantage after a 4 game losing streak?
Washington 11 doggies over DALLAS – Maybe last week’s results were an omen??
CHICAGO 3 doggies over Philadelphia – The Sunday Night game airing opposite Sunday’s with Seth and the Curb Your Enthusiasm Sunday Finale?? I ain’t watching this one unless Danny Duberstein and Michael Richards are the guest announcers talking about Peaches!
WHAT I WON’T WATCH
The New Jersey Nets!! What a disgrace they are.. not only because their record is 0-13, but because Commissioner David Stern allowed this situation to develop.
Several years back, the Nets were actually a pretty decent team… making it to the finals twice. They had 3 solid stars in Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson. But when Bruce Ratner got his grubby paws on the franchise, it slowly returned to its embarrassing status as the joke the franchise used to be in the pre-Jason Kidd era. All this guy wanted to do was make a ton of money by building his little dream complex in Brooklyn,.. building an arena for the Nets and knocking out some homes through eminent domain in the process. But as the project gets closer to the end of the year “Crap or get off the toilet” deadline, it seems that the Nets are getting lost in the shuffle in this disaster.
A small powerful group in Brooklyn is flexing its muscles to keep the Nets from moving there, and while Ratner has been addressing those issues, he has been doing his best impression as Nero… because as he fiddles, the Nets burn. The team is the biggest joke in the NBA and appears incapable of winning a game. They suck so bad that they even blew a huge lead to Minnesota on Opening Night only to lose at the buzzer… and Minnesota has lost every game ever since.
Its obvious Bruce doesn’t give a crap about the Nets, and his real estate deal might end up going through without the new basketball arena. He already has a buyer for the team, but its immediate future will be determined soon when the decision is made if it is Brooklyn bound. This presents an interesting dilemma. The team has gone down the toilet during this intermediate status… but if they end up moving, are they just going to let the team lose every single game till they move in a couple of years? Why would any local fan want to pay to watch a lame duck team at the Meadowlands Arena if they know that the team is moving away in a couple of years??
But if the Brooklyn deal falls through… and the eminent domain opponents are doing their best to keep Ranter’s grubby money hungry paws off these properties… THEN, the team should make a commitment to staying in NJ and do something.. either a quick change of ownership to clear away the stench of Ratner… and announce a firm commitment to rebuild the franchise as quickly as possible… even if it means the team is going to head south to the Prudential Center in Newark.
But either way, this situation cannot continue, and I’m curious as to why Commissioner Stern has not stepped in to help fix this mess.
And as the Nets inch closer towards the most pathetic start in NBA history… 0-17 held by Miami and The Clippers… LA's 2nd class citizen at the Staples Center has its own bizarre controversy going on with their announcing team.
It seems that long time announcers Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith were calling the game the other night when the Memphis backup center Hamed Haddidi was brought into the game. Haddidi is the first ever Iranian player in the NBA and as Lawler and Smith discussed this, an irate caller placed an angry call to Fox Sports about the exchange (and we have the transcript) and among his complaints about this non issue were the announcers mispronounced the country by calling it Eye-ran instead of the way Christina Ammanpour pronounces it.
Sayeth the Lawler and The Smith (from the LA Times)
Smith: “Look who’s in.”
Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”
Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)
Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.
Smith: “He’s the only one.”
Lawler: “He’s from Iran?”
Smith: “I guess so.”
Lawler: “That Iran?”
Smith: Yes.
Lawler: “The real Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi – that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”
Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”
Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”
Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”
Smith: “Especially the post players.
Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”
So lets get this straight… Iran is a country that wants to nuke Israel (and the Palestinians who live there too!), yet 2 announcers get into trouble for mispronouncing it?? How absurd is that? I think the political correctness has gone too far.. and Im surprised the Post’s Phil Mushnick hasn’t written about this…(although maybe he has?) Mushnick always points out how Jay-Z the Nets part owner has songs out there that use the N-word… but that’s ok? But mispronounce Iran? Suspension!!
What the heck is going on David Stern??
Stay tuned for Wednesday: Part II of the TV Quarterly Report… We’re posting early to get the Giants and Cowboys picks in!!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Pumpy and UGF ran the table last wk and both are .500. This week Pumpy tries to improve his .500 record and since Oprah announced she is gonna end her show, for this week’s game we go to Chicago where the Bears are 3 point home doggies to the Eagles. Sayeth the Pump:
"I watched Oprah last week when she had the woman from Connecticut who was attacked by the monkey. But when she showed her face I couldn't "bare" to watch... so take the Bears!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: We’re all evened up at 15-15 after last week’s 3-0… Now time to build up a winning streak.
Atlanta 6 ½ doggies over GIANTS – The ol’ cop out “The Giants will win but not cover” pick.. but do the Giants deserve a TD advantage after a 4 game losing streak?
Washington 11 doggies over DALLAS – Maybe last week’s results were an omen??
CHICAGO 3 doggies over Philadelphia – The Sunday Night game airing opposite Sunday’s with Seth and the Curb Your Enthusiasm Sunday Finale?? I ain’t watching this one unless Danny Duberstein and Michael Richards are the guest announcers talking about Peaches!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Willis and The Liberals
As much as everyone thinks the microblogging on Facebook and Twitter are leading to the demise of regular blogging… sometimes you see something on a Facebook status update that sparks an idea for an entire column.
Two weeks ago NWOW presented an idea for government health insurance funding issues by proposing it be designed as a tax deductible tax so those of us who itemize our tax returns can get something out of it by writing off the tax. Last Saturday Night, the health bill moved closer to reality when the House of Representatives passed its version and now it is off to the US Senate.
I already see Facebook emails from people concerned about the Senate version keeping a provision involving a $750 excise tax imposed on American citizens living outside the USA. This does not exist in the House version, but many are concerned that if it is included in the Senate version and becomes part of the law, that many Americans living overseas who get insurance there, will still have to pay into this program too. This affects a lot of Americans who made Aliya and relocated to Israel but retained their American citizenship. I guess it probably makes more sense that the bill applies to American “residents” and not citizens.
Of course the new benefits exclude illegal immigrants. And I guess we won’t be hearing as much about this topic on CNN now that Lou Dobbs has left the network. Is he starting a new space website just like the last time he bolted away from CNN? However, you can call me a liberal on this particular issue, but I disagree about barring illegals from getting car insurance. Talk to somebody whose car got smacked by an illegal and you will understand the logic on this one. What happens if an illegal immigrant hits you? How are you supposed to pay for the repairs? Who pays your damages if your car gets totaled?
Anyway, I was reading FB on Sunday morning after the House vote, and I was mortified to see that a friend of mine who I will call Willis had posted a status update along the lines of ….”Health Care Reform 1, Women’s Reproductive Rights 0”… leading me to loudly proclaim…”Whatchu talking about Willis?” Indeed his friends comments started to pile on and virtually all of them were agreeing with him!
As it turned out, there was a bit of a misunderstanding among some of Willis’s friends whether the House version allowed government funding for abortions for women who are rape or incest victims or whose lives are in danger. I decided to chime in and correct the assumption that all abortions were banned by the health bill. One woman subsequently posted that that it’s a good thing she never plans to hook up with a man because it is unlikely she will ever get pregnant and need an abortion. .
At that point, Willis came up with his 2nd “Watcha talking about Willis” moment! Sayeth The Willis: "What happens if she becomes artificially inseminated and then changes her mind?"
And its moments like this that make me realize that normal thinking people like myself… non liberal Democrats… are really the only sane people left in this world! How crazy is that scenario that an “I changed my mind” abortion should be paid for by anybody other than the mind changer? Taxpayers should be paying for that?? If the fetus was prescreened for some illness, it’s understandable… but the Willis “oh I changed my mind” scenario? Of course, there are situations involving “poor people” who can’t afford an abortion. Hopefully those who are forced to keep those babies will have provisions in this bill for prenatal care and arrangements after the baby is born that it gets medical care or an adoptive home.
And its too bad that just when the Republicans start to move to the center and think like normal Democrats like myself, their party then decides to move farther to the extreme right. Why else was a no name like Sarah Palin on the 2008 GOP ticket instead of somebody more experienced like Rudy Giuliani? Oh yeah, Rudy is pro choice… just like a lot of decent Republicans like former NJ Governor Christie Todd Whitman. But the Republicans want to move further away from the normal Democrats while the liberals wrongly assume that their branch of the Democratic party is more representative of how my peeps think.
Even this week, when the Washington sniper was executed… that was an event that brought the Democrats and Republicans together. I am against the death penalty but when it comes to certain cases, its impossible to feel sympathetic towards somebody like John Muhammad or Timothy McVeigh. Yet there was a fringe of law students who were upset about the Muhammad execution because they felt he didn’t have enough time to prepare his appeal! Hellooooooooo.. he was arrested in 2002.. that’s plenty of time to figure out an appeal!
And its hard to tell if Willis was serious or just being sarcastic. But one thing my fellow pro choicers need to accept is that the pro lifers are entitled to their opinion, and we need to respect them even though we think they are wrong. And as long as the Pro Lifers don’t shove it down my throat… (or shoot abortion doctors) they are entitled to disagree with me. I really think that most Republicans are moving towards the middle of the road on this issue and are not represented by the crazy extremists in that party… just as I feel that the liberals are not the face of the Democrats!
But the Liberals are not the only ones who embrace bizarre causes…The Republicans do it too. Carrie Prejean was a no name beauty pageant contestant who was asked an irrelevant (to the pageant) question by the no talent Perez Hilton about gay marriage. She answered the question honestly and now that she has been dethroned for an “unrelated” reason, she is the poster child for the future Young Republicans… She appeared on Larry King the other night… got a little flustered by the line of questions… and then threatened to walk off the show AND claimed Larry broke a pre interview deal by allowing a live phone caller to call in…(who by the way had a heckuva tough question that never got answered). I have watched his TV show and listened to his radio show for years and I never ever heard a guest say Larry King violated a no live phone call rule… but every time the not so slick Prejean is criticized on a non Fox News show, the Republicans blame the liberal media. I don’t care that she is against gay marriage (I have a similar opinion covered in last week’s column), but just because nutjobs criticize her does not mean that this 22 year old beauty queen is the future hope of Republicans.
Its too bad we live in a society that has so many extreme right wingers who want ALL abortions to be outlawed… including victims of rape and incest and women whose lives are in danger. Its that fringe group that has me on the pro choice team… even though I am not a particular fan of abortion. Nonetheless, as long as woman has the right to choose… that is entirely up to her.. as long as she pays for it. But to have taxpayer money fund certain abortions? I think the liberals are just asking too much.
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy improved to 4-5 by accurately picking the Chargers. This week we go to Washington which is a lot safer today now that the Sniper has been executed. The Redskins are home against Denver and are 3 1/2 point doggies. Sayeth the Pump: "I like Red Skin Potato Salad... so take the Redskins!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK
Last week we went 2-1 for a year to date record of 12-15. Is this the week that we run the table and reach .500?
GREEN BAY 3 doggies over Dallas - I'm still not accepting that the Cowboys might finish with a better record than the Giants.
SAN DIEGO 1 1/2 faves over The Eagles - Maybe that win last week gave the Chargers some momentum to knock the Eagles down a notch.
CAROLINA 1/2 doggies over Atlanta - If these games all work out, the Giants would come back from the bye week in a much better position to get to the playoffs!
Two weeks ago NWOW presented an idea for government health insurance funding issues by proposing it be designed as a tax deductible tax so those of us who itemize our tax returns can get something out of it by writing off the tax. Last Saturday Night, the health bill moved closer to reality when the House of Representatives passed its version and now it is off to the US Senate.
I already see Facebook emails from people concerned about the Senate version keeping a provision involving a $750 excise tax imposed on American citizens living outside the USA. This does not exist in the House version, but many are concerned that if it is included in the Senate version and becomes part of the law, that many Americans living overseas who get insurance there, will still have to pay into this program too. This affects a lot of Americans who made Aliya and relocated to Israel but retained their American citizenship. I guess it probably makes more sense that the bill applies to American “residents” and not citizens.
Of course the new benefits exclude illegal immigrants. And I guess we won’t be hearing as much about this topic on CNN now that Lou Dobbs has left the network. Is he starting a new space website just like the last time he bolted away from CNN? However, you can call me a liberal on this particular issue, but I disagree about barring illegals from getting car insurance. Talk to somebody whose car got smacked by an illegal and you will understand the logic on this one. What happens if an illegal immigrant hits you? How are you supposed to pay for the repairs? Who pays your damages if your car gets totaled?
Anyway, I was reading FB on Sunday morning after the House vote, and I was mortified to see that a friend of mine who I will call Willis had posted a status update along the lines of ….”Health Care Reform 1, Women’s Reproductive Rights 0”… leading me to loudly proclaim…”Whatchu talking about Willis?” Indeed his friends comments started to pile on and virtually all of them were agreeing with him!
As it turned out, there was a bit of a misunderstanding among some of Willis’s friends whether the House version allowed government funding for abortions for women who are rape or incest victims or whose lives are in danger. I decided to chime in and correct the assumption that all abortions were banned by the health bill. One woman subsequently posted that that it’s a good thing she never plans to hook up with a man because it is unlikely she will ever get pregnant and need an abortion. .
At that point, Willis came up with his 2nd “Watcha talking about Willis” moment! Sayeth The Willis: "What happens if she becomes artificially inseminated and then changes her mind?"
And its moments like this that make me realize that normal thinking people like myself… non liberal Democrats… are really the only sane people left in this world! How crazy is that scenario that an “I changed my mind” abortion should be paid for by anybody other than the mind changer? Taxpayers should be paying for that?? If the fetus was prescreened for some illness, it’s understandable… but the Willis “oh I changed my mind” scenario? Of course, there are situations involving “poor people” who can’t afford an abortion. Hopefully those who are forced to keep those babies will have provisions in this bill for prenatal care and arrangements after the baby is born that it gets medical care or an adoptive home.
And its too bad that just when the Republicans start to move to the center and think like normal Democrats like myself, their party then decides to move farther to the extreme right. Why else was a no name like Sarah Palin on the 2008 GOP ticket instead of somebody more experienced like Rudy Giuliani? Oh yeah, Rudy is pro choice… just like a lot of decent Republicans like former NJ Governor Christie Todd Whitman. But the Republicans want to move further away from the normal Democrats while the liberals wrongly assume that their branch of the Democratic party is more representative of how my peeps think.
Even this week, when the Washington sniper was executed… that was an event that brought the Democrats and Republicans together. I am against the death penalty but when it comes to certain cases, its impossible to feel sympathetic towards somebody like John Muhammad or Timothy McVeigh. Yet there was a fringe of law students who were upset about the Muhammad execution because they felt he didn’t have enough time to prepare his appeal! Hellooooooooo.. he was arrested in 2002.. that’s plenty of time to figure out an appeal!
And its hard to tell if Willis was serious or just being sarcastic. But one thing my fellow pro choicers need to accept is that the pro lifers are entitled to their opinion, and we need to respect them even though we think they are wrong. And as long as the Pro Lifers don’t shove it down my throat… (or shoot abortion doctors) they are entitled to disagree with me. I really think that most Republicans are moving towards the middle of the road on this issue and are not represented by the crazy extremists in that party… just as I feel that the liberals are not the face of the Democrats!
But the Liberals are not the only ones who embrace bizarre causes…The Republicans do it too. Carrie Prejean was a no name beauty pageant contestant who was asked an irrelevant (to the pageant) question by the no talent Perez Hilton about gay marriage. She answered the question honestly and now that she has been dethroned for an “unrelated” reason, she is the poster child for the future Young Republicans… She appeared on Larry King the other night… got a little flustered by the line of questions… and then threatened to walk off the show AND claimed Larry broke a pre interview deal by allowing a live phone caller to call in…(who by the way had a heckuva tough question that never got answered). I have watched his TV show and listened to his radio show for years and I never ever heard a guest say Larry King violated a no live phone call rule… but every time the not so slick Prejean is criticized on a non Fox News show, the Republicans blame the liberal media. I don’t care that she is against gay marriage (I have a similar opinion covered in last week’s column), but just because nutjobs criticize her does not mean that this 22 year old beauty queen is the future hope of Republicans.
Its too bad we live in a society that has so many extreme right wingers who want ALL abortions to be outlawed… including victims of rape and incest and women whose lives are in danger. Its that fringe group that has me on the pro choice team… even though I am not a particular fan of abortion. Nonetheless, as long as woman has the right to choose… that is entirely up to her.. as long as she pays for it. But to have taxpayer money fund certain abortions? I think the liberals are just asking too much.
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy improved to 4-5 by accurately picking the Chargers. This week we go to Washington which is a lot safer today now that the Sniper has been executed. The Redskins are home against Denver and are 3 1/2 point doggies. Sayeth the Pump: "I like Red Skin Potato Salad... so take the Redskins!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK
Last week we went 2-1 for a year to date record of 12-15. Is this the week that we run the table and reach .500?
GREEN BAY 3 doggies over Dallas - I'm still not accepting that the Cowboys might finish with a better record than the Giants.
SAN DIEGO 1 1/2 faves over The Eagles - Maybe that win last week gave the Chargers some momentum to knock the Eagles down a notch.
CAROLINA 1/2 doggies over Atlanta - If these games all work out, the Giants would come back from the bye week in a much better position to get to the playoffs!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Bloggiversary #4 = A Busy Week for Harold Moskowitz!
Hey next week is 4 years since we launched this wacky blog! Mazel Tov!
Well what a fun week this has been for my fellow Mets fans! I wasn’t paying close attention, but I assume that the media was getting excited about 2010 and a healthy full season of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltraaaaan… and wondering if David Wright is going to hit more than 10 home runs next season. Whats that??? Nobody’s talking about this… Well if that’s the case please let me know when the Yankee hype is over so I can crawl out of my shell while my Pin Striping Yankee fan Trophy Wife walks around bellowing.. “Theeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankeeeeeeeeees Win!”.
How does a Met fan write a column about a Yankee parade even though last year’s column about Yankee Stadium was mentioned on other blogs? Here are my observations.
Ed Koch should have worn a warmer coat.
I was rereading the coverage of the Giants parade last year and frankly I don’t know that I can write about the Yankee Parade with as much love and affection. I don’t hate the Yankees.. and I actually was happy for them when they won in 96, 98 and 99. But watching that celebration at Shea at the end of the 2000 season… (and also at the same time being thankful I missed the Game 1 Armando Benitez meltdown due to the celebration of my favorite Jewish Holiday of Simchas Torah), I just don’t get too excited about hearing “Theeeeee Yankeeeeeeeeeees Win!”. In reality, in the post 2000 era, I actually enjoyed that 7 game loss to the Arizona D’backs in the 2001 World Series.
I work from home on Fridays and usually have the TV on in the background.. but when I turned on Channel 9 to get my morning dose of People’s Court…(which next week will feature an episode with the original Judge Wapner) whose NYC taping schedule baffles me.. When does Harvey Levin have time to fly in if he is on the West Coast taping TMZ every day? Anyway, the Wendy Williams Show was on Channel 9 which was when I realized that 5 had started its coverage of the Parade and bumped Wendy over to 9. For those of you who are not in the NY Metropolitan Area- both stations have the same owners and they juggle around their shows and newscasters on a regular basis.
I was a tad disappointed to see at 11 that all the local stations had picked up on the Parade Coverage. I was hoping to catch the Jerry Springer Show… a program whose penultimate segment has to be the wildest 7 minutes on TV. The first 45 minutes of the show feature well acted confrontations between cheating couples who feel compelled to reveal their extra ciriccular indiscretions on the Jerry Springer Show in front of a live audience. Yet when the inevitable fights break out… each performer seems to know exactly where on the stage they need to be for this spontaneous outburst of emotion. Ya gotta like up and coming young actors.
But after 4 or 5 segments of all this emotional drama.. the best part is when the audience starts to chime in… As a homage to the old Phil Donahue show, this is the segment where Jerry walks through the audience microphone in hand and gives audience members a chance to shoot off wisecracks at the guests. As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up watching Hollywood Squares and got a kick out of the quick wisecracks answers shot off by the celebrities when the questions were posed to them by Peter Marshall. Of course as a kid, I never knew that the witty comebacks were rehearsed in advance… I just thought that as kids grow up we develop an ability to have lightning quick comebacks. This is why I’m amazed that these redneck Springer guests can just sit there serenely moments after painful confrontations, and not only listen to these audience attacks.. but respond with witty comebacks with such speed that would make Paul Lynde and George Gobel blush!
And whereas a lot of people have complained that the November World Series ends too late, the cool thing is this parade took place after the Election… which means the politicians weren’t schmoozing as much as usual. I was just rereading the Giants Parade column from last February and I had this to say about our recently defeated Governor Corzine,… And… notice how much has changed politically since that parade which was held on Super Tuesday!
“First of all, I didn't vote for Hillary because she is the NY Junior Senator and she should have been at The Giants Ticker Tape Parade on Tuesday. I know she is campaigning.. but this is an important event... and Governor Spitzer was there as was Senator Schumer. And as for New Jersey's politicians.. why wasn't Governor Corzine at Giants Stadium for the big celebration Tuesday afternoon? Corzine was too busy to attend that event.. but had enough time to go to The Skylark Diner in Edison for a Tuesday Night Hillary Clinton Supporters Party,... just a few short miles away from Route 440 where he is planning to plunk down some toll booths!”
This leads to my 2nd commentary for today… the election results. It looks like Corzine just never quite bonded with New Jersey voters. Anybody who listened to the debates had no business voting for Chris Christie because it was quite clear he was clueless about running the state’s finances.. even though he did an excellent job as a crime fighter and should personally thank young Mr. Dweck of Deal whose snitching out of so many people while his own ass was in such deep trouble gave Christie a great popularity boost.
Actually, Chris Daggett seemed to have a better grasp with his tax ideas…. But ultimately I look back at 4 years ago when I started this blog out of my old condo and was paying a few thousand a year in property taxes and now as we reach the end of his tenure I live in a house and my property taxes are substantially higher…. Actually my house’s property taxes are up by 25% since I moved here 2 ½ years ago... and with declining home values!
A friend of mine who is a Republican Yankee fan was drooling over his twin victories this week, but my fellow Jerseyans who think that those property taxes are going to drop… … really need a reality check if they think that Christie is going to change anything. All he will do is cut services and promise tax cuts, but the local towns will lose aid and will just raise property taxes to keep afloat. Don’t people get it… there really is no such a thing as a tax cut… especially if you can’t run a deficit. So for all those who are orgasmic about the Reagan tax cuts… keep in mind that it led to an inflated deficit which lasted until President Clinton got rid of it only to see 8 years of Bush to just dig us back into yet another hole.
Also… Timmy whose tummy problems were part of the legend of the Giants Super Bowl win…(see the Feb. 2008 archives) asked me how people could vote for Christie after he loaned money to a colleague… many point out that Corzine loaned money to Karen Golding to bail her outta jail after she was arrested for stalking Democratic big macher Joseph Cryan. Lo and behold… as soon as the last vote was counted Golding announced that she wasn’t stalking him but had actually been involved a 3 year affair with him! As former Yankee announcer Mel Allen used to say…”How ‘bout that?”
And finally, regarding gay marriage.. the definition of the word is technically between a man and a woman although Washington State and its Referendum 71 seems to get it right. I have no issue with gay partners being entitled to EVERYTHING a spouse is entitled to…(including a week of hearing Theeeeee Yankeeeeeeees Win!) And Washington State’s Election Day vote for Referendum 71 better known as the “everything but marriage” law makes so much sense, I’m surprised all the states don’t adopt that..
Frankly at this stage.. people voting against allowing benefits for homosexual partners are mostly the anti abortion religious wackos who still live under a rock with other crackpots who think that a gay lifestyle is sinful… aka the Right Wing Republicans who misinterpret a line in Leviticus in the Old Testament. They are the same bunch who knocked Scozzafava out of the House Race in Upstate New York because she is not conservative enough for the Palin era. Don’t these right wingers realize that more gay men mean less abortions? Now if you will excuse me…. Trophy Wife will rewatch the World Series, while I am going to read the first 70 Referendums.
And Harold Moskowitz from the headline? He changed his name and everybody now knows him as…. John Sterling!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK – His pick of the Giant mess left by the Psychics Club meeting at his house fell short as he dropped to 3-5. This week we go to New York... the home of the Yankees as the last ticker taped team – The NY Giants are 5 point favorites over The Chargers. Sayeth The Pump:
“I just came back from the cell phone kiosk at the mall and bought myself this awesome new charger.. so Go Chargers!”
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: Unbiased? I wrote more about the Giants parade in a column about the Yankee parade! Anyway last week we went 1-2 to drop to a very mediocre 10-14. (Last yr after 8 weeks we were 16-8)
San Diego 5 doggies over THE GIANTS – The Giants will win this one by a field goal
EAGLES 3 faves over Dallas – Pick your poison. I dislike the Eagles less.
Arizona 3 doggies over CHICAGO – Green Bay and Atlanta have easy games against Tampa Bay and Washington which means a Chicago win combined with an unspoken of Giant loss would send the Giants to the bye week out of the playoff race!
CLIP OF THE WEEK: As much as I don’t like The Yankees, I admire George Steinbrenner because he pours so much heart and money into his team even though he is nowhere near the wealthiest owner. It’s a bummer that his health is keeping him from enjoying this World Series as much as he did in the past. Here is a clip from Seinfeld.. a show he never appeared on… or did he??
Well what a fun week this has been for my fellow Mets fans! I wasn’t paying close attention, but I assume that the media was getting excited about 2010 and a healthy full season of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltraaaaan… and wondering if David Wright is going to hit more than 10 home runs next season. Whats that??? Nobody’s talking about this… Well if that’s the case please let me know when the Yankee hype is over so I can crawl out of my shell while my Pin Striping Yankee fan Trophy Wife walks around bellowing.. “Theeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankeeeeeeeeees Win!”.
How does a Met fan write a column about a Yankee parade even though last year’s column about Yankee Stadium was mentioned on other blogs? Here are my observations.
Ed Koch should have worn a warmer coat.
I was rereading the coverage of the Giants parade last year and frankly I don’t know that I can write about the Yankee Parade with as much love and affection. I don’t hate the Yankees.. and I actually was happy for them when they won in 96, 98 and 99. But watching that celebration at Shea at the end of the 2000 season… (and also at the same time being thankful I missed the Game 1 Armando Benitez meltdown due to the celebration of my favorite Jewish Holiday of Simchas Torah), I just don’t get too excited about hearing “Theeeeee Yankeeeeeeeeeees Win!”. In reality, in the post 2000 era, I actually enjoyed that 7 game loss to the Arizona D’backs in the 2001 World Series.
I work from home on Fridays and usually have the TV on in the background.. but when I turned on Channel 9 to get my morning dose of People’s Court…(which next week will feature an episode with the original Judge Wapner) whose NYC taping schedule baffles me.. When does Harvey Levin have time to fly in if he is on the West Coast taping TMZ every day? Anyway, the Wendy Williams Show was on Channel 9 which was when I realized that 5 had started its coverage of the Parade and bumped Wendy over to 9. For those of you who are not in the NY Metropolitan Area- both stations have the same owners and they juggle around their shows and newscasters on a regular basis.
I was a tad disappointed to see at 11 that all the local stations had picked up on the Parade Coverage. I was hoping to catch the Jerry Springer Show… a program whose penultimate segment has to be the wildest 7 minutes on TV. The first 45 minutes of the show feature well acted confrontations between cheating couples who feel compelled to reveal their extra ciriccular indiscretions on the Jerry Springer Show in front of a live audience. Yet when the inevitable fights break out… each performer seems to know exactly where on the stage they need to be for this spontaneous outburst of emotion. Ya gotta like up and coming young actors.
But after 4 or 5 segments of all this emotional drama.. the best part is when the audience starts to chime in… As a homage to the old Phil Donahue show, this is the segment where Jerry walks through the audience microphone in hand and gives audience members a chance to shoot off wisecracks at the guests. As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up watching Hollywood Squares and got a kick out of the quick wisecracks answers shot off by the celebrities when the questions were posed to them by Peter Marshall. Of course as a kid, I never knew that the witty comebacks were rehearsed in advance… I just thought that as kids grow up we develop an ability to have lightning quick comebacks. This is why I’m amazed that these redneck Springer guests can just sit there serenely moments after painful confrontations, and not only listen to these audience attacks.. but respond with witty comebacks with such speed that would make Paul Lynde and George Gobel blush!
And whereas a lot of people have complained that the November World Series ends too late, the cool thing is this parade took place after the Election… which means the politicians weren’t schmoozing as much as usual. I was just rereading the Giants Parade column from last February and I had this to say about our recently defeated Governor Corzine,… And… notice how much has changed politically since that parade which was held on Super Tuesday!
“First of all, I didn't vote for Hillary because she is the NY Junior Senator and she should have been at The Giants Ticker Tape Parade on Tuesday. I know she is campaigning.. but this is an important event... and Governor Spitzer was there as was Senator Schumer. And as for New Jersey's politicians.. why wasn't Governor Corzine at Giants Stadium for the big celebration Tuesday afternoon? Corzine was too busy to attend that event.. but had enough time to go to The Skylark Diner in Edison for a Tuesday Night Hillary Clinton Supporters Party,... just a few short miles away from Route 440 where he is planning to plunk down some toll booths!”
This leads to my 2nd commentary for today… the election results. It looks like Corzine just never quite bonded with New Jersey voters. Anybody who listened to the debates had no business voting for Chris Christie because it was quite clear he was clueless about running the state’s finances.. even though he did an excellent job as a crime fighter and should personally thank young Mr. Dweck of Deal whose snitching out of so many people while his own ass was in such deep trouble gave Christie a great popularity boost.
Actually, Chris Daggett seemed to have a better grasp with his tax ideas…. But ultimately I look back at 4 years ago when I started this blog out of my old condo and was paying a few thousand a year in property taxes and now as we reach the end of his tenure I live in a house and my property taxes are substantially higher…. Actually my house’s property taxes are up by 25% since I moved here 2 ½ years ago... and with declining home values!
A friend of mine who is a Republican Yankee fan was drooling over his twin victories this week, but my fellow Jerseyans who think that those property taxes are going to drop… … really need a reality check if they think that Christie is going to change anything. All he will do is cut services and promise tax cuts, but the local towns will lose aid and will just raise property taxes to keep afloat. Don’t people get it… there really is no such a thing as a tax cut… especially if you can’t run a deficit. So for all those who are orgasmic about the Reagan tax cuts… keep in mind that it led to an inflated deficit which lasted until President Clinton got rid of it only to see 8 years of Bush to just dig us back into yet another hole.
Also… Timmy whose tummy problems were part of the legend of the Giants Super Bowl win…(see the Feb. 2008 archives) asked me how people could vote for Christie after he loaned money to a colleague… many point out that Corzine loaned money to Karen Golding to bail her outta jail after she was arrested for stalking Democratic big macher Joseph Cryan. Lo and behold… as soon as the last vote was counted Golding announced that she wasn’t stalking him but had actually been involved a 3 year affair with him! As former Yankee announcer Mel Allen used to say…”How ‘bout that?”
And finally, regarding gay marriage.. the definition of the word is technically between a man and a woman although Washington State and its Referendum 71 seems to get it right. I have no issue with gay partners being entitled to EVERYTHING a spouse is entitled to…(including a week of hearing Theeeeee Yankeeeeeeees Win!) And Washington State’s Election Day vote for Referendum 71 better known as the “everything but marriage” law makes so much sense, I’m surprised all the states don’t adopt that..
Frankly at this stage.. people voting against allowing benefits for homosexual partners are mostly the anti abortion religious wackos who still live under a rock with other crackpots who think that a gay lifestyle is sinful… aka the Right Wing Republicans who misinterpret a line in Leviticus in the Old Testament. They are the same bunch who knocked Scozzafava out of the House Race in Upstate New York because she is not conservative enough for the Palin era. Don’t these right wingers realize that more gay men mean less abortions? Now if you will excuse me…. Trophy Wife will rewatch the World Series, while I am going to read the first 70 Referendums.
And Harold Moskowitz from the headline? He changed his name and everybody now knows him as…. John Sterling!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK – His pick of the Giant mess left by the Psychics Club meeting at his house fell short as he dropped to 3-5. This week we go to New York... the home of the Yankees as the last ticker taped team – The NY Giants are 5 point favorites over The Chargers. Sayeth The Pump:
“I just came back from the cell phone kiosk at the mall and bought myself this awesome new charger.. so Go Chargers!”
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: Unbiased? I wrote more about the Giants parade in a column about the Yankee parade! Anyway last week we went 1-2 to drop to a very mediocre 10-14. (Last yr after 8 weeks we were 16-8)
San Diego 5 doggies over THE GIANTS – The Giants will win this one by a field goal
EAGLES 3 faves over Dallas – Pick your poison. I dislike the Eagles less.
Arizona 3 doggies over CHICAGO – Green Bay and Atlanta have easy games against Tampa Bay and Washington which means a Chicago win combined with an unspoken of Giant loss would send the Giants to the bye week out of the playoff race!
CLIP OF THE WEEK: As much as I don’t like The Yankees, I admire George Steinbrenner because he pours so much heart and money into his team even though he is nowhere near the wealthiest owner. It’s a bummer that his health is keeping him from enjoying this World Series as much as he did in the past. Here is a clip from Seinfeld.. a show he never appeared on… or did he??
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Subsidized Health Insurance Tax
Well here we are right in the middle of the World Series every Met fan is bored by... Who do we root for? We know that the 2009 World Series is a historical event, yet we watch it not really caring one way or another. It's kind of like when I watch the Soccer World Cup Final... its historical.. but who really cares?
I was just getting ready to write today’s column when I got a call today from a buddy who was quite annoyed about an issue about his company’s health insurance plan. I listened to his situation, but since I am not a lawyer, I really couldn’t do much but listen to him vent… and then at the end of the conversation, I threw in a little plug to check out today’s NWOW column because I was planning to write about the problems that plague us... and the Republicans who make it worse.
I don’t know too much about the issue but I think medical costs would be much lower if malpractice policies were lower and if people were not always suing doctors who mess up for every last dime they can squeeze out. Nonetheless, these are the cards that we have been dealt and it is time to find a solution.
Hillary Clinton took up this issue in the early days of Clinton I but since the Clinton era was followed by 8 years of George Bush, the issue was put aside because this was a topic too complex for President Bush’s limited mental capacity. Now Obama is in the White House and is making health insurance reform the centerpiece of his first year in office.
The "debate" continues whether health insurance is a right that all Americans are entitled to. Many Republicans feel it’s a luxury and many liberals feel that there should be Robin Hoodesque policy to subsidize the poor. Ron Paul was on Larry King’s show last night and said that if the government has no money and mandatory health insurance costs money, then the money will have to be collected from somewhere to finance it. That’s true but people keep crying out "Socialism!" if the government starts running the health insurance show… By the way, socialism really works well on kibbutzim in Israel. And wouldn't we rather have socialism than an aging population that cannot afford to take care of its medical needs??
The rich people of the Republican Party who spend their time drooling over Fox News Channel have a large voting bloc and many of them are fortunate to never have to worry about their health insurance or paying for it. They are lucky enough to work for companies that take care of it for them. And since I am a reasonable Democrat I can understand why they resent that they have to kick in shekels to pay for those who cannot afford it.
But how much of our tax money is allocated to pay the medical bills for those who can’t pay themselves?? And how much less tax money will pay for the federally run Obama health insurance program? And with a new plan in effect how much taxpayer money will go to pay for health insurance? My idea is to call it what it is.. a tax! We can call it the HIT – the Health Insurance Tax… or add an S in front and call it the Subsidized Health Insurance Tax.
If specific HIT money is taken from all of us to pay for health care, the HIT money should then be tax deductible. However the interesting thing is if my poor neighbor has to tap into the HIT fund, then we get to write off the neighbor’s health care costs but not our own. Right now, you can only write off health care costs that exceed 7.5% of your annual income… and a large chunk of people don’t get to write that off... especially those who will be paying a lot of money into health insurance taxes.
So let’s call it what it is… a tax that should be tax deductible. And to keep health costs tax deductible, why is 7.5% the cap to make health insurance tax deductible?… Make it all tax deductible. Right now a family making 100k that pays $7400 per year in health bills cannot write it off… Change the rules… after the government figures out how the payments will be divided up among my fellow tax paying Americans, let's make things a little more fair for everyone paying into the plan... Lower the 7.5% threshold AND turn this money into a HIT tax so at least taxpayers can get a write off for the money they are paying so the tax payments can make more sense.
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Last week Pumpy won again to raise his record to 3-4. Since this weekend is a big Philly New York weekend with the Knicks, Giants and Yankees playing against those cheesesteak teams. The Eagles host the Giants in a pick 'em game. Sayeth the Pump:
"Im hosting the Psychic's club at my home this weekend and they always leave a giant mess... so take The Giants!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
Last week we went 1-2 to bring the season record to 9-12. This week we try to run the table to get to .500
Giants PICK EM over Philly - It would be nice for the NY fans to win one of these Sunday showdowns...(Is my preference for the Phillies over the Yankees starting to show?)
Seattle 9 1/2 doggies over DALLAS - A good week for the Giants to open up some breathing room.
Minnesota 3 point doggies over GREEN BAY - If the Giants lose and 2 teams from the Dallas, Green Bay and Atlanta trio win - the Giants would close Nov. 1 going from 5-0 to out of a playoff berth!
I was just getting ready to write today’s column when I got a call today from a buddy who was quite annoyed about an issue about his company’s health insurance plan. I listened to his situation, but since I am not a lawyer, I really couldn’t do much but listen to him vent… and then at the end of the conversation, I threw in a little plug to check out today’s NWOW column because I was planning to write about the problems that plague us... and the Republicans who make it worse.
I don’t know too much about the issue but I think medical costs would be much lower if malpractice policies were lower and if people were not always suing doctors who mess up for every last dime they can squeeze out. Nonetheless, these are the cards that we have been dealt and it is time to find a solution.
Hillary Clinton took up this issue in the early days of Clinton I but since the Clinton era was followed by 8 years of George Bush, the issue was put aside because this was a topic too complex for President Bush’s limited mental capacity. Now Obama is in the White House and is making health insurance reform the centerpiece of his first year in office.
The "debate" continues whether health insurance is a right that all Americans are entitled to. Many Republicans feel it’s a luxury and many liberals feel that there should be Robin Hoodesque policy to subsidize the poor. Ron Paul was on Larry King’s show last night and said that if the government has no money and mandatory health insurance costs money, then the money will have to be collected from somewhere to finance it. That’s true but people keep crying out "Socialism!" if the government starts running the health insurance show… By the way, socialism really works well on kibbutzim in Israel. And wouldn't we rather have socialism than an aging population that cannot afford to take care of its medical needs??
The rich people of the Republican Party who spend their time drooling over Fox News Channel have a large voting bloc and many of them are fortunate to never have to worry about their health insurance or paying for it. They are lucky enough to work for companies that take care of it for them. And since I am a reasonable Democrat I can understand why they resent that they have to kick in shekels to pay for those who cannot afford it.
But how much of our tax money is allocated to pay the medical bills for those who can’t pay themselves?? And how much less tax money will pay for the federally run Obama health insurance program? And with a new plan in effect how much taxpayer money will go to pay for health insurance? My idea is to call it what it is.. a tax! We can call it the HIT – the Health Insurance Tax… or add an S in front and call it the Subsidized Health Insurance Tax.
If specific HIT money is taken from all of us to pay for health care, the HIT money should then be tax deductible. However the interesting thing is if my poor neighbor has to tap into the HIT fund, then we get to write off the neighbor’s health care costs but not our own. Right now, you can only write off health care costs that exceed 7.5% of your annual income… and a large chunk of people don’t get to write that off... especially those who will be paying a lot of money into health insurance taxes.
So let’s call it what it is… a tax that should be tax deductible. And to keep health costs tax deductible, why is 7.5% the cap to make health insurance tax deductible?… Make it all tax deductible. Right now a family making 100k that pays $7400 per year in health bills cannot write it off… Change the rules… after the government figures out how the payments will be divided up among my fellow tax paying Americans, let's make things a little more fair for everyone paying into the plan... Lower the 7.5% threshold AND turn this money into a HIT tax so at least taxpayers can get a write off for the money they are paying so the tax payments can make more sense.
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Last week Pumpy won again to raise his record to 3-4. Since this weekend is a big Philly New York weekend with the Knicks, Giants and Yankees playing against those cheesesteak teams. The Eagles host the Giants in a pick 'em game. Sayeth the Pump:
"Im hosting the Psychic's club at my home this weekend and they always leave a giant mess... so take The Giants!"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
Last week we went 1-2 to bring the season record to 9-12. This week we try to run the table to get to .500
Giants PICK EM over Philly - It would be nice for the NY fans to win one of these Sunday showdowns...(Is my preference for the Phillies over the Yankees starting to show?)
Seattle 9 1/2 doggies over DALLAS - A good week for the Giants to open up some breathing room.
Minnesota 3 point doggies over GREEN BAY - If the Giants lose and 2 teams from the Dallas, Green Bay and Atlanta trio win - the Giants would close Nov. 1 going from 5-0 to out of a playoff berth!
Friday, October 23, 2009
News of the Week
With kudos to the late legendary Paul Harvey here is some news and comment about some headlines from this week.
FUTURE OF BLOGGING??
If you take a look at the left margin of the blogs we link to, you will notice that some of my fellow bloggers have not updated their blogs lately. Not that I am taking attendance but the Joshie and Dangerspouse blogs have not been updated since late 2008! However others are regularly updating such as Liran, DAS, and Neil Best who blogs on Newsday’s wesbite. Incidentally on Yom Kippur an elderly man who had a tough time moving around walked into Temple for Kol Nidre services and the woman sitting in front of me promptly got up and offered him her seat. I didn’t know it at the time but that woman is actually Liran’s sister!
Anyway, as much as people are saying that Facebook (which just restored live feeds with friends new friends’ updates,… yay!) and Twitter’s microblogging is killing regular blogs there are some blogs that are updated frequently… and one of them is The Fine Neil Best blog…(Not to be confused with the Best Neil Fein blog) . Best updates his blog several times a day with short updates about stuff in the sports media.. or in the case of today Soupy Sales death. He even does an occasional live chat where people can kvetch about Chip Carey and other stuff. It is a daily must read.
Yesterday I logged into Neil’s blog to find an announcement that starting next week all content on Newsday’s website will only be available if you pay a fee. However, you don’t have to subscribe if you already subscribe to Newsday or Cablevision io… which just so happens to be my cable provider.
But would people be willing to pay to see websites? The biggest moneymakers for pay per view pages seem to be the pornsites, although when you look at what they have available for free, you wonder how much more you get for spending money on it. There have been rumors that Newsday would start charging and now the rumors have come true and many of the commenters on the Best blog are saying adios… and they wont pay for content… I also wonder if it will block rss feeds for non Newsday subscribers who are RSS subscribers.
And now this week we also hear that Hulu is planning to charge for some content. But this is not a new concept. A few years back when I started doing my Mortgage Podcast…(which also is one of those that has not been updated in awhile), another podcaster did an interview with me. He worked for the Clickcaster website which hosts my podcast and asked me if I ever planned to charge listeners to listen to them. I don’t recall my answer to that question, but I really doubt people would pay money just to hear my podcast.
Personally, I won’t have to pay because I am an io subscriber, but if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t spend my money on his blog. However, by that same token, I feel bad that newspapers are losing so much money because they are giving it away for free online, so maybe this subscription idea will cut down on webclicks and eventually add up to more newspaper subscriptions.
But then again, if Neil Best’s blog is not in the paper… why don’t they just charge for newspaper content and make the rest of it for free.
NJ NETS FOLLOW UP
I see that the lame duck NJ Nets who may or may not move to Brooklyn…(see last week’s column) are leaning towards playing their games at the Prudential Center. And this battle between the Prudential and the Meadowlands Arena may be resolved with an arrangement that sports goes to Newark and concerts and shows go to Izod. That works well for Newark if the Brooklyn deal falls through and the Nets stay in NJ.. and in the deal the Izod doesn’t have to worry about competing with Prudential for entertainment.
Today’s Post has an article about a lunch hosted by the Nets new owner. I think this guy has some shekels. He took a party of 6 to Nello on the Upper East Side. The tab came out to 15,000 with a $3700 tip! Sayeth the Post:
“Their check included $825 for three orders of truffle tagliolini; $600 for four orders of truffle carpaccio; $210 for three orders of veal chops with mushrooms; and $72 for six large waters.
Not to mention $15 for a bowl of chicken soup.
The lunch was topped off with a $5,000 bottle of vintage 1998 Chateau Petrus and two bottles of 2002 Montrachet Latour for $3,600."
$72 for water??
THOSE CRAZY JEW HATERS
A few weeks ago we told you about the loonie kazoonies from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. They are Jew haters and proud of it.. and the protest outside Jewish synagogues. They also hate gay people too… which means their upcoming trip to NJ will not include seeing Harvey Fierstein’s latest show.
Most people with common sense realize that these Westboro Weirdos are just a fringe group and don’t represent other Baptists. Nonetheless I hear that they now plan to protest outside a Rutgers Jewish Student building next week.
However, before thinking of attending a counter protest, I think the group from Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in Manhattan (a predominantly gay synagogue) got it right. They heard that the Westboro Weirdos were headed to their temple and they turned the tables on them by turning it into a fundraiser. Just like a walkathon where you make a pledge based on how many miles a participant walks… people pledged based on how many minutes the Westboro Weirdos protested.
A big clock was essentially planted near the protestors and the fun began. After 50 minutes Beth Simchat Torah raised $10,000!
And the Rabbi was so happy to raise 10k…. she sent Westboro a Thank You note!
And there you have… the rest of the story!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy lost again since Jacksonville needed OT to win but not cover against the Rams and his record is now 2-4. This week we go to Philly home of the NL Champion Phillies where the Eagles are 7 point road faves against Washington in the Monday Night Game.
Sayeth the Pump: “My friend who is a Phillies fan goes to an egalitiarian synagogue so in honor of Eagle-itarians… I take the Eagles”
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICK OF THE WEEK
Thanks to my picks last week of the Raiders and Chiefs we went 2-1 for a year to date record of 8-10.
Arizona 7 point doggies to THE GIANTS – After last week a TD may be a bit much to cover.. but I predict the Giants will win the game by less than 7.
Atlanta 4 doggies to DALLAS - I love when the Cowboys lose at their new home stadium.
REDSKINS 7 doggies over Eagles – What do they say about home dogs on Monday Night?? By the way, this is the 5th week out of 7 that we are going ALL doggies!
FUTURE OF BLOGGING??
If you take a look at the left margin of the blogs we link to, you will notice that some of my fellow bloggers have not updated their blogs lately. Not that I am taking attendance but the Joshie and Dangerspouse blogs have not been updated since late 2008! However others are regularly updating such as Liran, DAS, and Neil Best who blogs on Newsday’s wesbite. Incidentally on Yom Kippur an elderly man who had a tough time moving around walked into Temple for Kol Nidre services and the woman sitting in front of me promptly got up and offered him her seat. I didn’t know it at the time but that woman is actually Liran’s sister!
Anyway, as much as people are saying that Facebook (which just restored live feeds with friends new friends’ updates,… yay!) and Twitter’s microblogging is killing regular blogs there are some blogs that are updated frequently… and one of them is The Fine Neil Best blog…(Not to be confused with the Best Neil Fein blog) . Best updates his blog several times a day with short updates about stuff in the sports media.. or in the case of today Soupy Sales death. He even does an occasional live chat where people can kvetch about Chip Carey and other stuff. It is a daily must read.
Yesterday I logged into Neil’s blog to find an announcement that starting next week all content on Newsday’s website will only be available if you pay a fee. However, you don’t have to subscribe if you already subscribe to Newsday or Cablevision io… which just so happens to be my cable provider.
But would people be willing to pay to see websites? The biggest moneymakers for pay per view pages seem to be the pornsites, although when you look at what they have available for free, you wonder how much more you get for spending money on it. There have been rumors that Newsday would start charging and now the rumors have come true and many of the commenters on the Best blog are saying adios… and they wont pay for content… I also wonder if it will block rss feeds for non Newsday subscribers who are RSS subscribers.
And now this week we also hear that Hulu is planning to charge for some content. But this is not a new concept. A few years back when I started doing my Mortgage Podcast…(which also is one of those that has not been updated in awhile), another podcaster did an interview with me. He worked for the Clickcaster website which hosts my podcast and asked me if I ever planned to charge listeners to listen to them. I don’t recall my answer to that question, but I really doubt people would pay money just to hear my podcast.
Personally, I won’t have to pay because I am an io subscriber, but if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t spend my money on his blog. However, by that same token, I feel bad that newspapers are losing so much money because they are giving it away for free online, so maybe this subscription idea will cut down on webclicks and eventually add up to more newspaper subscriptions.
But then again, if Neil Best’s blog is not in the paper… why don’t they just charge for newspaper content and make the rest of it for free.
NJ NETS FOLLOW UP
I see that the lame duck NJ Nets who may or may not move to Brooklyn…(see last week’s column) are leaning towards playing their games at the Prudential Center. And this battle between the Prudential and the Meadowlands Arena may be resolved with an arrangement that sports goes to Newark and concerts and shows go to Izod. That works well for Newark if the Brooklyn deal falls through and the Nets stay in NJ.. and in the deal the Izod doesn’t have to worry about competing with Prudential for entertainment.
Today’s Post has an article about a lunch hosted by the Nets new owner. I think this guy has some shekels. He took a party of 6 to Nello on the Upper East Side. The tab came out to 15,000 with a $3700 tip! Sayeth the Post:
“Their check included $825 for three orders of truffle tagliolini; $600 for four orders of truffle carpaccio; $210 for three orders of veal chops with mushrooms; and $72 for six large waters.
Not to mention $15 for a bowl of chicken soup.
The lunch was topped off with a $5,000 bottle of vintage 1998 Chateau Petrus and two bottles of 2002 Montrachet Latour for $3,600."
$72 for water??
THOSE CRAZY JEW HATERS
A few weeks ago we told you about the loonie kazoonies from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. They are Jew haters and proud of it.. and the protest outside Jewish synagogues. They also hate gay people too… which means their upcoming trip to NJ will not include seeing Harvey Fierstein’s latest show.
Most people with common sense realize that these Westboro Weirdos are just a fringe group and don’t represent other Baptists. Nonetheless I hear that they now plan to protest outside a Rutgers Jewish Student building next week.
However, before thinking of attending a counter protest, I think the group from Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in Manhattan (a predominantly gay synagogue) got it right. They heard that the Westboro Weirdos were headed to their temple and they turned the tables on them by turning it into a fundraiser. Just like a walkathon where you make a pledge based on how many miles a participant walks… people pledged based on how many minutes the Westboro Weirdos protested.
A big clock was essentially planted near the protestors and the fun began. After 50 minutes Beth Simchat Torah raised $10,000!
And the Rabbi was so happy to raise 10k…. she sent Westboro a Thank You note!
And there you have… the rest of the story!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy lost again since Jacksonville needed OT to win but not cover against the Rams and his record is now 2-4. This week we go to Philly home of the NL Champion Phillies where the Eagles are 7 point road faves against Washington in the Monday Night Game.
Sayeth the Pump: “My friend who is a Phillies fan goes to an egalitiarian synagogue so in honor of Eagle-itarians… I take the Eagles”
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICK OF THE WEEK
Thanks to my picks last week of the Raiders and Chiefs we went 2-1 for a year to date record of 8-10.
Arizona 7 point doggies to THE GIANTS – After last week a TD may be a bit much to cover.. but I predict the Giants will win the game by less than 7.
Atlanta 4 doggies to DALLAS - I love when the Cowboys lose at their new home stadium.
REDSKINS 7 doggies over Eagles – What do they say about home dogs on Monday Night?? By the way, this is the 5th week out of 7 that we are going ALL doggies!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Off the Field Sports Craziness
The Mets went home… and after 6 months of seven day a week fantasy managing, I took the week off from watching sports while the Yankees played the Twins, but now that the League Championship Series is about to start.. it’s time to gear up for baseball again and root for the Dodgers and Angels.
By the way, Yankee fans caught in nasty traffic might want to keep an eye out for that wacky new traffic skipping balloon that guy in Colorado unveiled yesterday with that crazy media hoax that his kid was all by himself in the balloon.. which worked out very well for the all news stations to give his crazy invention lotsa “balloon time” on an otherwise slow news day.
So in a week where I didn't really watch much sports... there was plenty of craziness off the field!
WAS RUSH SCREWED OVER IN HIS ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE RAMS?
I gotta admit, even though I consider myself more of a “conservative” Democrat… I rarely agree with anything Rush Limbaugh says… but then again I never listen to his show. However, I must admit that he is an extremely entertaining radio broadcaster (but always seems to flop on TV) and that “Excellence in Broadcasting” is not to be taken lightly…. No matter how much you disagree with him he is an excellent broadcaster, and by that same token as much as you might disagree with Rev. Jesse Jackson, he is an excellent public speaker.
Rush’s early career started out as a Promotions Director for the Kansas City Royals back in the day when they were actually a pretty good team in the George Brett era. Those were the days when the ALCS always seemed to be Yankees vs. Royals. Rush then got a gig at a radio station in Sacramento replacing Morton Downey of all people and then a few years later ended up with a show on WABC in its early days as an all talk station.
Whatever Rush does.. he does it well. He has no guests on his show (from what I have heard) and El Rushbo also survived losing his hearing before it was restored in 2001 with cochlear implant surgery that changes the way he hears (not really “in the ears”) but allows him to hear nonetheless. He actually had his surgery 9 days before I met Trophy Wife! He also dated and was subsequently shown the door by former CNN hottie Daryn Kagan….
But as much as I disagree with him, I will defend him and all conservative broadcasters such as Sean Hannity and Bob Grant when rightwingers are accused of being “a racist” because unfortunately the liberals who pollute my Democratic party seem to have a hard time understanding that conservative views are against all people…and that includes white people too!. I am also disgusted by lazy people who collect welfare and live off government handouts… but that viewpoint does not make one racist even if there is a perception that the end of welfare would hurt minorities more.
And the white guilt of the liberal party appears to be an easy target for the right wingers. Rush lost an ESPN football analysis gig…(and he seems to know his sports) when he made a comment that the media really wants to see a black quarterback do well. In reality when a black player excels, the media does not only make a big deal about his accomplishments, but his blackness too. Of course part of that is because blacks were not allowed to participate for so many years so Jackie Robinson’s stats stand out moreso than white players in his era with similar stats and likewise the accomplishments of black coaches and other black quarterbacks who accomplish other “firsts”. But you can’t deny that the media doesn’t pay attention to these accomplishments… They do likewise for anyone perceived as an underdog.
But is Rush a racist not worthy of being an NFL owner? I don’t know… but I have a hard time taking “anti liberal causes” as being against a specific race. I think they are against the causes… but not the race. One of Rush’s many weddings was officiated by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who is black… although many liberal blacks call him an “Uncle Tom” because of his conservative beliefs.
Democrats may disagree with almost everything El Rushbo and Sean Hannity and Michael Savage and all these other mashugie rightwinger broadcasters, but to deny them a chance to buy a football team due to perceived racism is going a little too far.
AND SPEAKING OF RACISM…
For once I gotta admit that Phil Mushnick really hit the nail on the head in his column today…. in referring to the Limbaugh story.. but I think its more relevant pertaining to the Jayson Williams story.
Since we are talking about race today… I remember how I felt when OJ Simpson was acquitted. I wasn’t particularly emotional.. but I knew he beat the rap thanks to some excellent work by his legal team. But what really bothered me was that I was walking through town that same afternoon and a school bus drove by and some black kids yelled out tauntingly about how happy they were that OJ was acquitted.
Why are these crimes a black and white issue?? Was OJ less guilty because of an alleged racist cop whose racism was defined by use of one word! Isn’t the violent act of takinga life more painful than use of a word? And why has the Jayson Williams retrial turned into such a circus??
The Williams retrial will go on! That was just announced this afternoon (thanks to Google News!)… Williams is a tragedy with a capital T. He was an up and coming Mr. Personality while he played for the NJ Nets with a likeability similar to Michael Strahan. I always thought Williams would go on to be a broadcaster but he screwed up his own life in 2002 when he fatally shot a limo driver while foolishly playing around with a loaded gun.
The first trial a few years back resulted in his conviction on charges of covering up the shooting. However the manslaughter charges resulted in a deadlocked jury. Now that retrial time has arrived, Williams’ high priced attorneys discovered that an investigator had used the “n” word to describe Williams during a meeting with other law enforcement. And amazingly his lawyers asked the judge to drop the charges because this n-word utterance was never disclosed during the trial… as if the use of that word somehow changed the fact that Williams had shot this poor limo driver!
Yet according to today’s NY Post,… Mushnick in writing about the Rush Limbaugh story has this nugget about current Nets part owner Jay-Z the rapper. Sayeth the Mushnick:
“Jay-Z, the rapper and rap impresario, and a part owner of the NBA Nets, is among the most popular artists and influential entrepreneurs to have resurrected the "N-word," helped return it to the mainstream”
So the moral of the story is it is ok for a Nets owner to use the word but if a former Nets player fatally shoots a guy and an investigator uses that same word….. then all bets are off!!
SPEAKING OF THE NETS….
Ok… I am no fan of that ridiculous law of eminent domain but you have to credit a guy named Daniel Goldstein who has been standing up to Nets owner Bruce Ratner in his attempt to move the Nets to Brooklyn. I rarely go to Nets games anyway and oddly enough if they move to Brooklyn they will be closer to me than their current home at the Meadowlands Arena. Of course there is the Verezano Bridge and that ridiculous toll to deal with.
But the Nets are the joke franchise of the NBA. They had a nice run earlier this decade during the Jason Kidd era when they took 2 trips to the NBA Finals… but since that time the situation just gets crazier.. and by the way in college I used to get press passes to the team’s locker room and I was there the day Sugar Ray Richardson never showed up so believe me I have seen craziness at that mashugana swamp.
But Ratner is now selling the team to a Russian billionaire but as part of the deal gets to keep his new Arena complex in Brooklyn if the deal is approved in time before he loses his chance to get municipal bonds to fund the project. IN his way however is one Daniel Goldstein, the last man standing in his 9 story condo building that Ratner wants to knock down to build the complex that will pad his pockets with billions of dollars.
A court hearing was held this past Wednesday the NY State Court of Appeals peppered lawyers with questions about why this project should be allowed to proceed. One justice actually asked about relocating to Giants Stadium instead before he was informed that that structure is actually in …. New Jersey!
Nonetheless, I hope the whole thing falls through IF it means tossing people out of their homes… However, it might make more sense to move the team to the Prudential Arena in Newark which is more accessible to public transportation. I hear that the light rail to Giants Stadium does not run trains for events unless there is a larger crowd expected that surpasses the typical Nets audience.
On the other hand if they move closer to me to Brooklyn… here is an idea right out of the Rush Limbaugh Promotions book – have the Nets run a deal for Jerseyans and give us a free toll on the too expensive Verezano Bridge!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy dropped under .500… and I think this is the first time ever since he started doing picks… to 2-3. This week we go to St. Louis home of the Rush Limbaugh less Rams where the Rams are 91/2 doggies to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sayeth the Pump: “Take the Jaguars because I like that new ABC show with Courtney Cox – Jaguartown”
(By the way the show is actually called “Cougar”town…)
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
Last week we went 1-2 to drop to a mediocre 6-9.
Giants 3 point doggies to NEW ORLEANS – Would you believe I’m missing this game for an exhibition Knick game?? It’s actually a fundraiser against the Maccabi Electra team.
Raiders 14 doggies to PHILLY – I think my record will get better once I start picking more NFC East teams in these battles against crummy bottom feeders. Raiders to cover!
Chiefs 6 ½ doggies to WASHINGTON – Don’t tell Michael Vick.. we’re going all doggies this week!
By the way, Yankee fans caught in nasty traffic might want to keep an eye out for that wacky new traffic skipping balloon that guy in Colorado unveiled yesterday with that crazy media hoax that his kid was all by himself in the balloon.. which worked out very well for the all news stations to give his crazy invention lotsa “balloon time” on an otherwise slow news day.
So in a week where I didn't really watch much sports... there was plenty of craziness off the field!
WAS RUSH SCREWED OVER IN HIS ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE RAMS?
I gotta admit, even though I consider myself more of a “conservative” Democrat… I rarely agree with anything Rush Limbaugh says… but then again I never listen to his show. However, I must admit that he is an extremely entertaining radio broadcaster (but always seems to flop on TV) and that “Excellence in Broadcasting” is not to be taken lightly…. No matter how much you disagree with him he is an excellent broadcaster, and by that same token as much as you might disagree with Rev. Jesse Jackson, he is an excellent public speaker.
Rush’s early career started out as a Promotions Director for the Kansas City Royals back in the day when they were actually a pretty good team in the George Brett era. Those were the days when the ALCS always seemed to be Yankees vs. Royals. Rush then got a gig at a radio station in Sacramento replacing Morton Downey of all people and then a few years later ended up with a show on WABC in its early days as an all talk station.
Whatever Rush does.. he does it well. He has no guests on his show (from what I have heard) and El Rushbo also survived losing his hearing before it was restored in 2001 with cochlear implant surgery that changes the way he hears (not really “in the ears”) but allows him to hear nonetheless. He actually had his surgery 9 days before I met Trophy Wife! He also dated and was subsequently shown the door by former CNN hottie Daryn Kagan….
But as much as I disagree with him, I will defend him and all conservative broadcasters such as Sean Hannity and Bob Grant when rightwingers are accused of being “a racist” because unfortunately the liberals who pollute my Democratic party seem to have a hard time understanding that conservative views are against all people…and that includes white people too!. I am also disgusted by lazy people who collect welfare and live off government handouts… but that viewpoint does not make one racist even if there is a perception that the end of welfare would hurt minorities more.
And the white guilt of the liberal party appears to be an easy target for the right wingers. Rush lost an ESPN football analysis gig…(and he seems to know his sports) when he made a comment that the media really wants to see a black quarterback do well. In reality when a black player excels, the media does not only make a big deal about his accomplishments, but his blackness too. Of course part of that is because blacks were not allowed to participate for so many years so Jackie Robinson’s stats stand out moreso than white players in his era with similar stats and likewise the accomplishments of black coaches and other black quarterbacks who accomplish other “firsts”. But you can’t deny that the media doesn’t pay attention to these accomplishments… They do likewise for anyone perceived as an underdog.
But is Rush a racist not worthy of being an NFL owner? I don’t know… but I have a hard time taking “anti liberal causes” as being against a specific race. I think they are against the causes… but not the race. One of Rush’s many weddings was officiated by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who is black… although many liberal blacks call him an “Uncle Tom” because of his conservative beliefs.
Democrats may disagree with almost everything El Rushbo and Sean Hannity and Michael Savage and all these other mashugie rightwinger broadcasters, but to deny them a chance to buy a football team due to perceived racism is going a little too far.
AND SPEAKING OF RACISM…
For once I gotta admit that Phil Mushnick really hit the nail on the head in his column today…. in referring to the Limbaugh story.. but I think its more relevant pertaining to the Jayson Williams story.
Since we are talking about race today… I remember how I felt when OJ Simpson was acquitted. I wasn’t particularly emotional.. but I knew he beat the rap thanks to some excellent work by his legal team. But what really bothered me was that I was walking through town that same afternoon and a school bus drove by and some black kids yelled out tauntingly about how happy they were that OJ was acquitted.
Why are these crimes a black and white issue?? Was OJ less guilty because of an alleged racist cop whose racism was defined by use of one word! Isn’t the violent act of takinga life more painful than use of a word? And why has the Jayson Williams retrial turned into such a circus??
The Williams retrial will go on! That was just announced this afternoon (thanks to Google News!)… Williams is a tragedy with a capital T. He was an up and coming Mr. Personality while he played for the NJ Nets with a likeability similar to Michael Strahan. I always thought Williams would go on to be a broadcaster but he screwed up his own life in 2002 when he fatally shot a limo driver while foolishly playing around with a loaded gun.
The first trial a few years back resulted in his conviction on charges of covering up the shooting. However the manslaughter charges resulted in a deadlocked jury. Now that retrial time has arrived, Williams’ high priced attorneys discovered that an investigator had used the “n” word to describe Williams during a meeting with other law enforcement. And amazingly his lawyers asked the judge to drop the charges because this n-word utterance was never disclosed during the trial… as if the use of that word somehow changed the fact that Williams had shot this poor limo driver!
Yet according to today’s NY Post,… Mushnick in writing about the Rush Limbaugh story has this nugget about current Nets part owner Jay-Z the rapper. Sayeth the Mushnick:
“Jay-Z, the rapper and rap impresario, and a part owner of the NBA Nets, is among the most popular artists and influential entrepreneurs to have resurrected the "N-word," helped return it to the mainstream”
So the moral of the story is it is ok for a Nets owner to use the word but if a former Nets player fatally shoots a guy and an investigator uses that same word….. then all bets are off!!
SPEAKING OF THE NETS….
Ok… I am no fan of that ridiculous law of eminent domain but you have to credit a guy named Daniel Goldstein who has been standing up to Nets owner Bruce Ratner in his attempt to move the Nets to Brooklyn. I rarely go to Nets games anyway and oddly enough if they move to Brooklyn they will be closer to me than their current home at the Meadowlands Arena. Of course there is the Verezano Bridge and that ridiculous toll to deal with.
But the Nets are the joke franchise of the NBA. They had a nice run earlier this decade during the Jason Kidd era when they took 2 trips to the NBA Finals… but since that time the situation just gets crazier.. and by the way in college I used to get press passes to the team’s locker room and I was there the day Sugar Ray Richardson never showed up so believe me I have seen craziness at that mashugana swamp.
But Ratner is now selling the team to a Russian billionaire but as part of the deal gets to keep his new Arena complex in Brooklyn if the deal is approved in time before he loses his chance to get municipal bonds to fund the project. IN his way however is one Daniel Goldstein, the last man standing in his 9 story condo building that Ratner wants to knock down to build the complex that will pad his pockets with billions of dollars.
A court hearing was held this past Wednesday the NY State Court of Appeals peppered lawyers with questions about why this project should be allowed to proceed. One justice actually asked about relocating to Giants Stadium instead before he was informed that that structure is actually in …. New Jersey!
Nonetheless, I hope the whole thing falls through IF it means tossing people out of their homes… However, it might make more sense to move the team to the Prudential Arena in Newark which is more accessible to public transportation. I hear that the light rail to Giants Stadium does not run trains for events unless there is a larger crowd expected that surpasses the typical Nets audience.
On the other hand if they move closer to me to Brooklyn… here is an idea right out of the Rush Limbaugh Promotions book – have the Nets run a deal for Jerseyans and give us a free toll on the too expensive Verezano Bridge!
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Last week Pumpy dropped under .500… and I think this is the first time ever since he started doing picks… to 2-3. This week we go to St. Louis home of the Rush Limbaugh less Rams where the Rams are 91/2 doggies to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sayeth the Pump: “Take the Jaguars because I like that new ABC show with Courtney Cox – Jaguartown”
(By the way the show is actually called “Cougar”town…)
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
Last week we went 1-2 to drop to a mediocre 6-9.
Giants 3 point doggies to NEW ORLEANS – Would you believe I’m missing this game for an exhibition Knick game?? It’s actually a fundraiser against the Maccabi Electra team.
Raiders 14 doggies to PHILLY – I think my record will get better once I start picking more NFC East teams in these battles against crummy bottom feeders. Raiders to cover!
Chiefs 6 ½ doggies to WASHINGTON – Don’t tell Michael Vick.. we’re going all doggies this week!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Letterman: Interesting and Disturbing
Last week just as I was wrapping up my column, the David Letterman scandal story broke, so instead of writing about it immediately, I decided… why not just wait a little while to see how the story plays out. Now that a week has passed, I figured I would take a closer look….
Before we get to Letterman, Yankee fans might not want to hear this.. but I had the strangest dream… involving Joe Mauer. In the dream the Twins were locked into a marathon extra inning game that was going about 19, 20 innings and the announcers kept talking about Mauer having an incredible 8 hits in the game…. However, in this dream the Twins were playing the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series! Incidentally Johnny Burnett went 9 for 11 in an 18 inning game in 1932… Perhaps this an omen.. lotsa hits and a Burnett in the same sentence…
Anyway, as the Letterman saga continues to unfold, there are certain developments that I find interesting and somewhat disturbing. Let’s start from the beginning.
1. How he came clean – Very interesting and not at all disturbing.
Dave felt that Joe Halderman was blackmailing him and he went to the cops. I speculated on Facebook if Letterman knew when he went to the cops that he would have to fess up in front of a grand jury. He initially consulted his lawyer when he was first contacted by Halderman.. would he have gone to the cops if he knew his grand jury testimony would be made public? Nonetheless, it was smart that he announced it on his show… I have seen some attorneys on Larry King say that these shakedowns happen all the time among their rich clients and most of the time the issue gets resolved and nobody knows any different. That is a great selling point for those lawyers’ potential future clients who might be blackmailed and want to keep it quiet… Nonetheless, in this day and age of SmokingGun.com and TMZ, it made sense for Letterman to fess up on his show on his terms.
2. The woman he had his affair with – Very interesting and a little disturbing…
I don’t watch Letterman as much as I used to, but through the years I have seen Stephanie Birkitt on the show many times and all I can say is… huh?? Shes ok looking, a little goofy…and a bit funny with her little Letterman nicknames (double entendre, perhaps?) I always wondered how she was able to get so much airtime when she would bring those gift envelopes to Letterman when people in the audience won prizes. By the way, those contests are exactly what Johnny Carson used to do when he gave out free dinner passes inside envelopes to audience members who played “Stump the Band”. And so far a week into the story we haven’t heard any disgruntled former female staffers step up to say that Birkett got special treatment because of their affair. Frankly, I am kind of surprised by his choice and curious about his other ladies.
3. The story on the 2nd, and 3rd day, etc. Not so interesting and increasingly disturbing…
As the week has gone on, we have heard more about this bizarre triangle between Birkitt, Letterman, and Halderman. Only Letterman and Birkitt know the real timeline but she apparently started with Dave, went to Halderman, and then some say went back to Dave. Are they still together? I would assume not, although I do worry about a video of them surfacing showing a threesome with the Jay Leno 10 pm show playing in the background.
Is Dave a hypocrite for making wisecracks about philandering politicians? Truthfully I have different expectations when it comes to politicians and celebrities who attract a large following with the younger more impressionable audience. But, Letterman is JUST a late night talk show host,…not a man aspiring to lead thousands or millions of people in government, or a pop singer whose posters adorn the bedroom walls of teenagers across America. Do young kids really aspire to be another 1130 pm talk show host?
And is it more wrong to cheat on your wife or your girlfriend of 20 years? If the cheating went on before the wedding, is the 20 year factor more “relevant” morality-wise than if it were a relationship of 20 weeks?
But even though he is just a talk show host, he is a very powerful guy despite his tendencies to downplay his status in the Show Business stratosphere. .I have seen some old late 70s early 80s game shows on GSN featuring Letterman when he was hyping his NBC daytime show and his personality is almost the same as it is now. But beneath that persona, people appearing on Dave’s show know how much a late night appearance on that show helps their careers. The women he encounters appreciate that power, and apparently he had no trouble hooking up with them.
And since I don’t read the tabloids, I don’t know if anybody ever speculated on what Dave was up to after hours.. He seems to shun the spotlight, he never appears at movie premieres or any of that Hollywood stuff and everyone seemed to assume he hopped in his car after taping his show and sped home even though some reports speculate he had a little “love pad” in the Ed Sullivan Theater.
One other story I just found is on the KIRO TV website in Seattle. There is a woman named Sherry Jackson who was featured on a 48 hours segment produced by Halderman, and oddly enough she was the victim of a blackmail scheme. Jackson’s brother was murdered in the Phillipines and somebody was blackmailing her asking for cash in exchange for the poor guys ashes. She worked closely with Halderman on that story, and Jackson told KIRO that the two spoke often about the case. After she heard about his arrest… here was her quote (from KIRO’ s website)
"We would have conversations like that: What an idiot who would do something so dumb?" Jackson said.
4. Halderman’s lawyer’s reaction – Not so interesting… but incredibly disturbing.
Y’know America is a wonderful country and we have a terrific constitution… including the concept of innocent until proven guilty. This has led to some very creative lawyers who will bust their humps to get their clients acquitted. I appreciate that.. the right to a strong defense is spelled right out in the Constitution.. but sometimes these defense lawyers walk a fine line and don’t always know when to keep their mouths shut. As much as I appreciate their attempts to keep prosecutors on their toes.. sometimes they go from brilliant legal maneuverings to advocates of ridiculous causes. If you ever heard Ron Kuby’s radio show that used to be on WABC, you know exactly what I mean.
Now I see Halderman’s lawyer on the talk show and I start to wonder who is the victim here. He is spinning these stories about how there is more to the story, etc, etc. I have seen reports that Letterman included Birkitt and NOT Halderman in his social circle but are we third graders who have to all be invited to every birthday party? I get tired of hearing about “poor” Halderman, when in reality he was the one who demanded money for silence in what appears to be an open and shut case. His threats were caught on tape... the Manhattan DA has a copy of it and he tried to cash the corresponding check.
And what does the lawyer say?? “I can’t wait to cross examine David Letterman”. In other words, let’s threaten to embarrass Letterman so that maybe the prosecution will back down from pushing this issue so a trial can be avoided, and his client can get a favorable plea bargain. But he does dangle the carrot out there that if there is a trial. let’s destroy as much as Letterman’s reputation as we possibly can… all because he had the audacity to get blackmailed..
Doesn’t this stuff sound like the lawyers who defend rapists and lick their chops when the victim gets on the stand?? He “can’t wait” to cross examine the victim, while the defendant doesn’t even have to take the stand!
I am actually somewhat surprised and also impressed that Letterman is such a stud. I feel bad for his wife if she didn’t know about it, and of course he was morally wrong. But the guy is a talk show host whose show promotes movies filled with all kinds of performers who cheat on their spouses on a daily basis. I just hope a lot of participants in these affairs are not badly hurt by Halderman’s path of self destruction.
And wouldn't it be funny if Dave Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants (now there's a pun!) produced a movie about the arrest of a producer who was blackmailing a talk show host about his affairs??
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK:
Last week Pumpy went wrong with his Detroit Lions pick to even his record at 2-2. This week we go to Indianapolis, the hometown of David Letterman as the Colts travel to Tennesee to take on the Titans. The Colts are 4 point faves. Sayeth the Pump: I have been fighting this nasty rash all week so I say take the Titans... because their linebacker Colin is like my skin - Allred!
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
We went 2-1 (Im not even sure why I went with the Jet game instead of the Redskins) for a year to date record of 5-7.
Oakland 15 doggies over GIANTS - These 2 TD+ spreads make me nervous. Maybe not the week to cover.
CHIEFS 9 doggies to Dallas – Big spread again, but I’d love to see the Chiefs steal this one.
Tampa 15 doggies to PHILADELPHIA – I get the feeling that Sunday Night the NFC East will look very strong and I’m gonna be 0-3.
Before we get to Letterman, Yankee fans might not want to hear this.. but I had the strangest dream… involving Joe Mauer. In the dream the Twins were locked into a marathon extra inning game that was going about 19, 20 innings and the announcers kept talking about Mauer having an incredible 8 hits in the game…. However, in this dream the Twins were playing the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series! Incidentally Johnny Burnett went 9 for 11 in an 18 inning game in 1932… Perhaps this an omen.. lotsa hits and a Burnett in the same sentence…
Anyway, as the Letterman saga continues to unfold, there are certain developments that I find interesting and somewhat disturbing. Let’s start from the beginning.
1. How he came clean – Very interesting and not at all disturbing.
Dave felt that Joe Halderman was blackmailing him and he went to the cops. I speculated on Facebook if Letterman knew when he went to the cops that he would have to fess up in front of a grand jury. He initially consulted his lawyer when he was first contacted by Halderman.. would he have gone to the cops if he knew his grand jury testimony would be made public? Nonetheless, it was smart that he announced it on his show… I have seen some attorneys on Larry King say that these shakedowns happen all the time among their rich clients and most of the time the issue gets resolved and nobody knows any different. That is a great selling point for those lawyers’ potential future clients who might be blackmailed and want to keep it quiet… Nonetheless, in this day and age of SmokingGun.com and TMZ, it made sense for Letterman to fess up on his show on his terms.
2. The woman he had his affair with – Very interesting and a little disturbing…
I don’t watch Letterman as much as I used to, but through the years I have seen Stephanie Birkitt on the show many times and all I can say is… huh?? Shes ok looking, a little goofy…and a bit funny with her little Letterman nicknames (double entendre, perhaps?) I always wondered how she was able to get so much airtime when she would bring those gift envelopes to Letterman when people in the audience won prizes. By the way, those contests are exactly what Johnny Carson used to do when he gave out free dinner passes inside envelopes to audience members who played “Stump the Band”. And so far a week into the story we haven’t heard any disgruntled former female staffers step up to say that Birkett got special treatment because of their affair. Frankly, I am kind of surprised by his choice and curious about his other ladies.
3. The story on the 2nd, and 3rd day, etc. Not so interesting and increasingly disturbing…
As the week has gone on, we have heard more about this bizarre triangle between Birkitt, Letterman, and Halderman. Only Letterman and Birkitt know the real timeline but she apparently started with Dave, went to Halderman, and then some say went back to Dave. Are they still together? I would assume not, although I do worry about a video of them surfacing showing a threesome with the Jay Leno 10 pm show playing in the background.
Is Dave a hypocrite for making wisecracks about philandering politicians? Truthfully I have different expectations when it comes to politicians and celebrities who attract a large following with the younger more impressionable audience. But, Letterman is JUST a late night talk show host,…not a man aspiring to lead thousands or millions of people in government, or a pop singer whose posters adorn the bedroom walls of teenagers across America. Do young kids really aspire to be another 1130 pm talk show host?
And is it more wrong to cheat on your wife or your girlfriend of 20 years? If the cheating went on before the wedding, is the 20 year factor more “relevant” morality-wise than if it were a relationship of 20 weeks?
But even though he is just a talk show host, he is a very powerful guy despite his tendencies to downplay his status in the Show Business stratosphere. .I have seen some old late 70s early 80s game shows on GSN featuring Letterman when he was hyping his NBC daytime show and his personality is almost the same as it is now. But beneath that persona, people appearing on Dave’s show know how much a late night appearance on that show helps their careers. The women he encounters appreciate that power, and apparently he had no trouble hooking up with them.
And since I don’t read the tabloids, I don’t know if anybody ever speculated on what Dave was up to after hours.. He seems to shun the spotlight, he never appears at movie premieres or any of that Hollywood stuff and everyone seemed to assume he hopped in his car after taping his show and sped home even though some reports speculate he had a little “love pad” in the Ed Sullivan Theater.
One other story I just found is on the KIRO TV website in Seattle. There is a woman named Sherry Jackson who was featured on a 48 hours segment produced by Halderman, and oddly enough she was the victim of a blackmail scheme. Jackson’s brother was murdered in the Phillipines and somebody was blackmailing her asking for cash in exchange for the poor guys ashes. She worked closely with Halderman on that story, and Jackson told KIRO that the two spoke often about the case. After she heard about his arrest… here was her quote (from KIRO’ s website)
"We would have conversations like that: What an idiot who would do something so dumb?" Jackson said.
4. Halderman’s lawyer’s reaction – Not so interesting… but incredibly disturbing.
Y’know America is a wonderful country and we have a terrific constitution… including the concept of innocent until proven guilty. This has led to some very creative lawyers who will bust their humps to get their clients acquitted. I appreciate that.. the right to a strong defense is spelled right out in the Constitution.. but sometimes these defense lawyers walk a fine line and don’t always know when to keep their mouths shut. As much as I appreciate their attempts to keep prosecutors on their toes.. sometimes they go from brilliant legal maneuverings to advocates of ridiculous causes. If you ever heard Ron Kuby’s radio show that used to be on WABC, you know exactly what I mean.
Now I see Halderman’s lawyer on the talk show and I start to wonder who is the victim here. He is spinning these stories about how there is more to the story, etc, etc. I have seen reports that Letterman included Birkitt and NOT Halderman in his social circle but are we third graders who have to all be invited to every birthday party? I get tired of hearing about “poor” Halderman, when in reality he was the one who demanded money for silence in what appears to be an open and shut case. His threats were caught on tape... the Manhattan DA has a copy of it and he tried to cash the corresponding check.
And what does the lawyer say?? “I can’t wait to cross examine David Letterman”. In other words, let’s threaten to embarrass Letterman so that maybe the prosecution will back down from pushing this issue so a trial can be avoided, and his client can get a favorable plea bargain. But he does dangle the carrot out there that if there is a trial. let’s destroy as much as Letterman’s reputation as we possibly can… all because he had the audacity to get blackmailed..
Doesn’t this stuff sound like the lawyers who defend rapists and lick their chops when the victim gets on the stand?? He “can’t wait” to cross examine the victim, while the defendant doesn’t even have to take the stand!
I am actually somewhat surprised and also impressed that Letterman is such a stud. I feel bad for his wife if she didn’t know about it, and of course he was morally wrong. But the guy is a talk show host whose show promotes movies filled with all kinds of performers who cheat on their spouses on a daily basis. I just hope a lot of participants in these affairs are not badly hurt by Halderman’s path of self destruction.
And wouldn't it be funny if Dave Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants (now there's a pun!) produced a movie about the arrest of a producer who was blackmailing a talk show host about his affairs??
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK:
Last week Pumpy went wrong with his Detroit Lions pick to even his record at 2-2. This week we go to Indianapolis, the hometown of David Letterman as the Colts travel to Tennesee to take on the Titans. The Colts are 4 point faves. Sayeth the Pump: I have been fighting this nasty rash all week so I say take the Titans... because their linebacker Colin is like my skin - Allred!
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK:
We went 2-1 (Im not even sure why I went with the Jet game instead of the Redskins) for a year to date record of 5-7.
Oakland 15 doggies over GIANTS - These 2 TD+ spreads make me nervous. Maybe not the week to cover.
CHIEFS 9 doggies to Dallas – Big spread again, but I’d love to see the Chiefs steal this one.
Tampa 15 doggies to PHILADELPHIA – I get the feeling that Sunday Night the NFC East will look very strong and I’m gonna be 0-3.
Friday, October 02, 2009
5770 in Middlesex County
To paraphrase Bill Maher - it is time for New Rules at NWOW. There is no hate allowed here... except if it is directed at an unreliable vehicle that strands you!
Last Friday afternoon I had to run an errand and I ended up parking my Saturn across the street from a synagogue. When I returned to my car, I was greeted with a trend that a lot of Saturn owners suffer from – the freaking car would not start. That cockamamie car is very temperamental about starting.. but sometimes if it doesn’t kick in right away, it might start up if I try again 15 – 20 minutes later. Nobody seems to know what is going on with it and thanks to Google I see that I am not the only Saturn owner with this problem.
On that particular Friday, I needed to get to my office to pick up a package so I called Trophy Wife to pick me up and I decided to deal with the car later. However, because it was Friday afternoon, observant Jews do not drive on the Sabbath, and non observant Jews do not advertise their Sabbath driving in front of a synagogue. I discovered this at a very young age on Yom Kippur 1973 – the day the Yom Kippur War broke out. My parents took me home for lunch in the middle of the day…(I was way too young to fast) and after we walked a few blocks from the synagogue we discovered a line of parked cars with passengers sitting in the drivers seats, all of them listening to 1010 WINS to hear what was going on with Israel’s newest war. That was when I realized that Jews who drive to synagogue when they are not supposed to…. park a few blocks away!!
So my solution to the sticky situation was to arrange to have the Triple A tow truck come after Friday night services were completed. I went back to where my car was parked later that evening and while I waited outside for the tow truck, I discovered how incredibly peaceful the street was. People would occasionally stroll by and cars were coming up and down the street… and I also took note that the exterior of the synagogue was so well lit that it almost looked like it was the middle of the day... even though it was really late in the evening.
Unfortunately, in Edison on Monday night, nobody’s unreliable Saturn got stuck on Jefferson Street in front of Temple Beth-El, since nobody sat outside after Yom Kippur waiting for a tow. It was not until early Tuesday that somebody discovered that some thugs had spray painted swastikas on that synagogue. The Rabbi of that synagogue - Rabbi Rosenberg has been very vocal about anti Semitism in the area and he speculated to the media that he might have been targeted by a group of Jew hating teenagers.
The week before, on Rosh Hashana,. A Jewish Yeshiva student in Edison was walking down the street when he was attacked in what is being called a bias incident, since the word “Jew” was apparently used during the attack. This story was not mentioned on the news at first until Rabbi Rosenberg spread the word to the local Jewish community and the news media about this crime. A teenager under the age of 18 was subsequently arrested…. but because he is a minor his identity has not been revealed by law enforcement authorities.
I don’t recall if I have ever met Rabbi Rosenberg… but I do admire his guts to stand up against anti- semites and I did write about him here on NWOW a few years ago. (See January 29, 2006) Back then, a local resident wrote a silly letter to a local Jewish paper criticizing the Rabbi’s wisecrack during a public Menorah lighting ceremony about a prayer that Iran’s Ahmadinejad would drop dead. I thought complaining about it was silly… and even though I agree with the Rabbi, perhaps an event with so many little pishers might not have been the right forum for that comment. But for a Jew to write a letter to a Jewish paper about wishing death on a Hitler loving Holocaust denier? I found that to be quite bizarre..
Nonetheless, even though I might not always agree with Rosenberg. I appreciate that he stands up against Anti semitism… (For many years he had a dispute with another Rabbi who I greatly admired, and I'm not sure Rabbi Rosenberg was 100% right about that issue) Rosenberg also said that he seems to think that his actions pertaining to the Rosh Hashana incident motivated the post Yom Kippur vandalism… plus he feels there is some spillover from the anti Semitism brought on by Ahmedinejad during his UN visit last week. Sadly the Rabbi’s December 2005 wish did not come true.
But anti Semitism has also reared its head in another ugly way recently. Last month we followed the news story about the young lab tech from Connecticut who disappeared the week before her wedding. The cynic in me thought she was just getting cold feet like the woman in Atlanta a few years ago who became known as “The Runaway Bride”. Sadly, she was not a runaway bride and police discovered her body on the day that she was to be married.
Since that time there have been numerous memorial services and one incident caught my attention. The woman was engaged to a Jewish man, and his synagogue was the target of some Jew hating wackos the day after her recent memorial service. The craziness was organized by the loonie kazoonies at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. This crazy church’s website’s cover page declares that “God hates Fags!” Some of the pre printed picket signs at their “demonstrations” say such nuggets such as “Thank God For AIDS” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”. They also protested at the funeral for Matthew Shepard who the website refers to as an “impeninent Sodomite”. The site also talks about how they hate Jews because Jews killed Jesus and on and on it goes.
And in an article I found online on northshoreoflongisland.com, Arlene Gross wrote about the anti Semitic protest outside Temple Beth El in Huntington, that took place the day after Annie Le's memorial service was held there. But the protest was held during Hebrew school lessons, so young students who study there were forced to be exposed to this trash. Gross’s article contained this fascinating piece of information. Here is the actual quote:
“Among the picketers on Park Avenue was a boy wearing an anti-gay T-shirt that matched his mother's. When asked what he was doing there, he replied: "Picketing."
When asked if he knew why, the 7-year-old replied, "No."
So when Rabbi Rosenberg wonders why teenage minors paint swastikas on his synagogue…. take a look at the parents of these kids. If 7 yr olds walk around with anti gay shirts that their parents force them to wear you really need to wonder what kind of homes are these hate filled teens coming from? And how likely is it that the Anti Semitic rhetoric that is drilled into these kids by their Jew hating parents manifests itself into the next generation when those kids line up in front of a synagogue with their spray paint bottles?
I’ve always said that these Jew haters should be banned from taking any medicines or vaccines discovered by Jews… but of course as sensible as that sounds, the ACLU would say that that is too harsh. But the next time you hear a story about kids being arrested for this mischief… you should question what is going on behind the closed doors of those homes that would let a kid think that desecrating a house of worship or attacking a person just because he is Jewish or black or gay or all 3 is a proper way to conduct oneself.
And because arrested minors' names are not released to the public, the hate filled parents also get to retain their anonymity enabling them to continue the cycle. Maybe it's time to release the names of juveniles who are arrested for bias crimes?
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Last week Pumpy hit on the Colt (Nidre) Yom Kippur night game... This weekend as we begin to celebrate Sukkot, we go to Detroit where it was announced this week that Saturn will officially cease production. The Bears are 10 1/2 point faves. Sayeth the Pump: "Take Detroit... because at night I will be "lion" down and sleeping in the sukkah"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: Last week we went 0-3 for a season to date record of 3-6.
Giants 9 point faves at KANSAS CITY - Double digit road faves? After last weeks game... I'll take the Giants.
DENVER 3 point doggies over Dallas - I think John Elway was a better Joe Buck HBO guest than Jerry Jones...(and I loved the opening where Artie Lange started chasing Joe on the street!)
Jets 7 point doggies to NEW ORLEANS - J-E-T-S... have you ever seen a 3-0 team as such an underdog??
Last Friday afternoon I had to run an errand and I ended up parking my Saturn across the street from a synagogue. When I returned to my car, I was greeted with a trend that a lot of Saturn owners suffer from – the freaking car would not start. That cockamamie car is very temperamental about starting.. but sometimes if it doesn’t kick in right away, it might start up if I try again 15 – 20 minutes later. Nobody seems to know what is going on with it and thanks to Google I see that I am not the only Saturn owner with this problem.
On that particular Friday, I needed to get to my office to pick up a package so I called Trophy Wife to pick me up and I decided to deal with the car later. However, because it was Friday afternoon, observant Jews do not drive on the Sabbath, and non observant Jews do not advertise their Sabbath driving in front of a synagogue. I discovered this at a very young age on Yom Kippur 1973 – the day the Yom Kippur War broke out. My parents took me home for lunch in the middle of the day…(I was way too young to fast) and after we walked a few blocks from the synagogue we discovered a line of parked cars with passengers sitting in the drivers seats, all of them listening to 1010 WINS to hear what was going on with Israel’s newest war. That was when I realized that Jews who drive to synagogue when they are not supposed to…. park a few blocks away!!
So my solution to the sticky situation was to arrange to have the Triple A tow truck come after Friday night services were completed. I went back to where my car was parked later that evening and while I waited outside for the tow truck, I discovered how incredibly peaceful the street was. People would occasionally stroll by and cars were coming up and down the street… and I also took note that the exterior of the synagogue was so well lit that it almost looked like it was the middle of the day... even though it was really late in the evening.
Unfortunately, in Edison on Monday night, nobody’s unreliable Saturn got stuck on Jefferson Street in front of Temple Beth-El, since nobody sat outside after Yom Kippur waiting for a tow. It was not until early Tuesday that somebody discovered that some thugs had spray painted swastikas on that synagogue. The Rabbi of that synagogue - Rabbi Rosenberg has been very vocal about anti Semitism in the area and he speculated to the media that he might have been targeted by a group of Jew hating teenagers.
The week before, on Rosh Hashana,. A Jewish Yeshiva student in Edison was walking down the street when he was attacked in what is being called a bias incident, since the word “Jew” was apparently used during the attack. This story was not mentioned on the news at first until Rabbi Rosenberg spread the word to the local Jewish community and the news media about this crime. A teenager under the age of 18 was subsequently arrested…. but because he is a minor his identity has not been revealed by law enforcement authorities.
I don’t recall if I have ever met Rabbi Rosenberg… but I do admire his guts to stand up against anti- semites and I did write about him here on NWOW a few years ago. (See January 29, 2006) Back then, a local resident wrote a silly letter to a local Jewish paper criticizing the Rabbi’s wisecrack during a public Menorah lighting ceremony about a prayer that Iran’s Ahmadinejad would drop dead. I thought complaining about it was silly… and even though I agree with the Rabbi, perhaps an event with so many little pishers might not have been the right forum for that comment. But for a Jew to write a letter to a Jewish paper about wishing death on a Hitler loving Holocaust denier? I found that to be quite bizarre..
Nonetheless, even though I might not always agree with Rosenberg. I appreciate that he stands up against Anti semitism… (For many years he had a dispute with another Rabbi who I greatly admired, and I'm not sure Rabbi Rosenberg was 100% right about that issue) Rosenberg also said that he seems to think that his actions pertaining to the Rosh Hashana incident motivated the post Yom Kippur vandalism… plus he feels there is some spillover from the anti Semitism brought on by Ahmedinejad during his UN visit last week. Sadly the Rabbi’s December 2005 wish did not come true.
But anti Semitism has also reared its head in another ugly way recently. Last month we followed the news story about the young lab tech from Connecticut who disappeared the week before her wedding. The cynic in me thought she was just getting cold feet like the woman in Atlanta a few years ago who became known as “The Runaway Bride”. Sadly, she was not a runaway bride and police discovered her body on the day that she was to be married.
Since that time there have been numerous memorial services and one incident caught my attention. The woman was engaged to a Jewish man, and his synagogue was the target of some Jew hating wackos the day after her recent memorial service. The craziness was organized by the loonie kazoonies at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. This crazy church’s website’s cover page declares that “God hates Fags!” Some of the pre printed picket signs at their “demonstrations” say such nuggets such as “Thank God For AIDS” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”. They also protested at the funeral for Matthew Shepard who the website refers to as an “impeninent Sodomite”. The site also talks about how they hate Jews because Jews killed Jesus and on and on it goes.
And in an article I found online on northshoreoflongisland.com, Arlene Gross wrote about the anti Semitic protest outside Temple Beth El in Huntington, that took place the day after Annie Le's memorial service was held there. But the protest was held during Hebrew school lessons, so young students who study there were forced to be exposed to this trash. Gross’s article contained this fascinating piece of information. Here is the actual quote:
“Among the picketers on Park Avenue was a boy wearing an anti-gay T-shirt that matched his mother's. When asked what he was doing there, he replied: "Picketing."
When asked if he knew why, the 7-year-old replied, "No."
So when Rabbi Rosenberg wonders why teenage minors paint swastikas on his synagogue…. take a look at the parents of these kids. If 7 yr olds walk around with anti gay shirts that their parents force them to wear you really need to wonder what kind of homes are these hate filled teens coming from? And how likely is it that the Anti Semitic rhetoric that is drilled into these kids by their Jew hating parents manifests itself into the next generation when those kids line up in front of a synagogue with their spray paint bottles?
I’ve always said that these Jew haters should be banned from taking any medicines or vaccines discovered by Jews… but of course as sensible as that sounds, the ACLU would say that that is too harsh. But the next time you hear a story about kids being arrested for this mischief… you should question what is going on behind the closed doors of those homes that would let a kid think that desecrating a house of worship or attacking a person just because he is Jewish or black or gay or all 3 is a proper way to conduct oneself.
And because arrested minors' names are not released to the public, the hate filled parents also get to retain their anonymity enabling them to continue the cycle. Maybe it's time to release the names of juveniles who are arrested for bias crimes?
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK: Last week Pumpy hit on the Colt (Nidre) Yom Kippur night game... This weekend as we begin to celebrate Sukkot, we go to Detroit where it was announced this week that Saturn will officially cease production. The Bears are 10 1/2 point faves. Sayeth the Pump: "Take Detroit... because at night I will be "lion" down and sleeping in the sukkah"
UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK: Last week we went 0-3 for a season to date record of 3-6.
Giants 9 point faves at KANSAS CITY - Double digit road faves? After last weeks game... I'll take the Giants.
DENVER 3 point doggies over Dallas - I think John Elway was a better Joe Buck HBO guest than Jerry Jones...(and I loved the opening where Artie Lange started chasing Joe on the street!)
Jets 7 point doggies to NEW ORLEANS - J-E-T-S... have you ever seen a 3-0 team as such an underdog??
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