The Webtown Observer

Taco Hell

2012-01-27T17:15:00.003-05:00

" A Connecticut mayor's office was blasted with prank phone calls and a delivery of hundreds of tacos after his quip that he would address accusations of anti-Latino bias by eating tacos."

From USA Today story today

East Haven, CT mayor Joseph Maturo is shown ordering two tacos and a " Dorito " at a Taco Bell in East Haven, CT today.

Maturo has defended the city police officers who have been arrested and described as " bullies with badges " re: their alleged treatment of Puerto Rican residents who live in East Haven.

Maturo, shortly after this photo was taken, was allegedly seen ordering a meatball grinder at an Italian restaurant in nearby New Haven, CT.

Hasta La Vista Nanas

2012-01-27T08:32:00.000-05:00

" I'm not going to find grandmothers and deport them. Those are your words, not mine. "

Mitt Romney responding to a comment by Newt Gingrich in last night's debate, which was the 167th debate thus far this year.

Maria Gomez, a grandmother living in Pensacola, Florida, is shown leaving her house with her grandchildren following last night's Republican debate. Asked why she was leaving and where she was going, Mrs. Gomez said, " I like to be ahead of the curve, and I think we Latino nanas have a long and winding road ahead of us, no matter which candidate wins Tuesday's primary.

NYC Rocked. Then and Now

2012-01-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty recent shot of The Radio City Music Hall. But it looks just like it looked in the early 1960s when I went with my parents to The Big Apple for a weekend. We went to a broadway play, starring Ben Gazzara's wife, Janice Rule. The performance was at The Martin Beck Theater in mid-town Manhattan. I was 15. A small town kid who was lucky enough to have mill working parents who were infatuated with the neon lights, the Great White Way.

Not Seeing Eye To Eye

2012-01-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

I knew the Dems and the GOPers have been fighting, but I didn't know how bad it's gotten...

Easthampton City Arts - Mapping the City's Artists, Galleries, Theaters, and Cultural Organizations

2012-01-25T09:52:00.000-05:00

Easthampton City Arts - Mapping the City's Artists, Galleries, Theaters, and Cultural Organizations

My Latest NPR Commentary

2012-01-24T11:46:00.001-05:00

My latest, recorded this morning, can be heard at robinhoodradio.com

and on WHDD's Face Book page and on the station's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Dion

2012-01-23T19:09:00.000-05:00

Dion has a new CD out. Dion? Yes, THAT Dion, the guy who fronted The Belmonts back when...

I just listened to the CD. I was blown away, had my socks knocked off. All those cliches, cliches you won't hear on Dion's CD. This might just bne the best thing I've heard in years.

Oil &%$%# Up

2012-01-22T16:06:00.000-05:00

An oil controversy is on the minds of consumers all over the world.

No shit, you say. But I'm not talking about THAT kind of oil. It's olive oil that's on my mind this afternoon. There's a new book out by freelance writer ( A term that usually describes an unemployed writer. I know. I was one ) Tom Mueller:

Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

Olive oil? Yes, olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil. This country recently moved into 3rd place in world-wide olive oil consumption. . We're a $1.5 billion market that's been growing at a 10 percent annual rate.

We love the stuff. We're almost addicted. It won't be long before the industry has pumps where we can fill up...

Anything this luctative is bound to be surrounded by mystery, corruption and deceit. And that's excactly what Mueller's book is about. He says the extra virgin olive oil you buy at the Stop n Shop probably isn't the real thing. A virgin claiming it is a virgin when it's not?

Make your own jokes about folks our age growing up in the 60s.

Stay In School - That's My Rule

2012-01-22T08:48:00.001-05:00

I'm kicking off my new SISDDOASHGLWBFY ( Stay In School Don't Drop Out and See How Good Life Will Be For You ) campaign, a public service, pro bono campaign designed to encourage young people to stay in school, go to college and get a degree.

Shown here is my friend Mike Jann, who graduated from both high school AND college ( UConn ) Because of his perserverance, he is now and has been for years a comedy writer on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

See how good life can be when you stay in school?

I'm Guessing Newt

2012-01-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

Just a gut feeling, much of it based on me watching the news with the sound turned down. I think Newt's going to take South Carolina. I think body language is the lingua franca, the " words " we all speak. Watching Mitt make his way through a crowd is like watching someone trying, unsuccessfully, to make his way through a maze. Made not of corn rows, but people, He just looks so uncomfortable.

On Teaching Us To Make What We Eat

2012-01-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

Amish Friendship Bread. We got a starter kit from a friend last week. It takes 10 daysto make the bread. It requires patience, work. What is given to you by your friend is not bread, but the knowledge it takes to make the bread. It reminds me of that old fishing story. Give a man a fish, he'll have something to eat for a day. Teach him to fish, and...

I Like To Fire People Up. What THIS boss might say...

2012-01-20T17:48:00.000-05:00

The Boss has a new one coming out in a few weeks. Google Bruce and listen to some of the tunes. Or go to my Face Book page, where I just posted two tunes from the upcoming CD.

On The Column

2012-01-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Faithful reader and frequent WTO commentista, Kevin , commented on yesterday's tale about Moriarty and me putting a new battery in the camper.

Kevin has a truly great idea. He thinks I should do more of this kind of stuff - an advice to the lovelorn column in Popular Mechanics for couples who can " recharge " their relationships by working not just under the covers, but under the hood.

Read his comment. It's under the post with the picture of the battery.

Hilarious stuff, Kevin!!

The Heart Of The Matter

2012-01-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

What's it like to be married? Are you married? Have you ever been, or are you about to be married?

Moriarty and I had a problem this week. The camper wouldn't start. Was it the starter? Or a bad battery? The battery is the heart of the vehicles that drive us through life. A bad battery is like having heart disease.

We didn't know, yesterday, what the diagnosis was. The past two days - my wife and I have been trying to cure the camper of whatever the hell ails it. We hoped it was only the battery. That's a heart problem, but heart problems can be solved these days. We hoped it wasn't the starter. That's the brain of the thing.

Long story short. The two of us figured it out. Made the right connections.We worked together doing something neither of us feel comfortable doing. I couldn't have done this job alone, and neither could she.

That's marriage.

Wanting His Cake And Eating It, Too?

2012-01-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

Well, we're all on the edge of our seats waiting for Newt Gingrich's wife to appear on ABC tonight, aren't we?

Newt's marriage, also known as The Harrad Experiment, didn't work out. Newt wanted an " open marriage." That's what he allegedly said. She says she said " no " to the idea.

The interview is on ABC tonight. I can't wait.

Mitch Silver. You're Going To Love His Work

2012-01-18T09:41:00.000-05:00

If you like spy novels as much as I do, here's one you're going to want to get asap. It's by Mitch Silver, a former ad agency creative director who had the urge to write a novel. In Secret Service is his first one, and his second book will be available soon.

I really liked Mitch's first one, shown here. It even has Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, as a character in it.

Chicken Divan?

2012-01-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

Paula Deen, whose Food Network show has been a hit for years, just announced that she has Type 2 diabetes. She reports that she was diagnosed three years ago.

Ms. Deen, known for her recipes laden with butter and sugar...

OK. I won't go there.

I will say this. Ms. Deen has a recipe for Chicken Divan she's been pushing for years. I don't know, nor do I wish to, the ingredients. What I have heard is this - Chicken Divan goes great with Paula's recipe for Couch Potatoes

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me ( There's 8 People Ahead Of Me

2012-01-17T10:53:00.002-05:00

My latest commentary, about how I hate to wait to see the doctor more than I hate seeing the doctor can be heard at robinhoodradio.com

And on WHDD's Face Book page. And on the station's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition

The Beatles: Setting A Good Example

2012-01-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

The Beatles, a popular 20th century band, are shown crossing the road in a safe manner. Note that none of the lads is wearing earphones.

Chalk Up Another One

2012-01-17T08:45:00.002-05:00

Pedestrian injuries and deaths have tripled in the past seven years, and the biggest reason for this is walking with headphones stuck in ones' ears.

Interestingly, in a poll taken of pedestrians who wear headphones, these are the top ten songs and albums they like to listen to most:

* Abbey Road by The Beatles
* Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen
* Fun, fun, fun til my daddy took my iPod away...
                                                                         * Anything by Boyz On The Hood

                                                                         I kind of like that last one I made up. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

Myrtle Beach. The Perfect Place To Say, " I'm Outa Here. "

2012-01-16T16:27:00.000-05:00

John Huntsman chose Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to announce he's getting out of Dodge, the dodge ball game that is the mid-winter primary process. He's not the first guy to cry uncle, say, " OK! Here's my wallet. Just don't shoot me! "

Myrtle Beach is that kind of town. But, of course, you wouldn't know that from ready the Chamber of Commerce hype. The chamber says it's the best place in the world. The crime stats report it's the 14th most dangerous place in America.

We read the police reports in the local paper. MB is just 25 miles south of here. MB is not a place you want to be round midnight.

MB is kind of a phony place, which makes it the perfect place for a political debate. There's one of those scheduled for Thursday in MB. I'm not sure what time it's on. But I know it won't be round midnight

The Line

2012-01-14T20:14:00.002-05:00

I write this at 8:10 pm, EST. Denver is about to play The Patriots up in New England. Denver, led by its offensive line, will win the game by five points.

Orwellian. Sort Of..

2012-01-13T17:08:00.000-05:00

George Orwell had it all wrong. There is no Big Brother watching what we do ( OK. In England there are more closed circuit TV cameras pointed at Shaftsbury Avenue, Oxford and Regent streets, et al than in any other country. But I'm not about to let the facts get in the way of this post )

Still.

Look what happened with those Marines caught in the act of peeing on those Taliban bastards. Who caught them? One of their own.

So it goes in 2012. We tell on ourselves, spill the beans and the mess we make is our own.

Judge Not...

2012-01-12T16:57:00.000-05:00

Much is being made of the viral video on YouTube that seems to show four U.S. Marines allegedly urinating on what appears to be some Taliban corpses.

I'd like you to reread that lead paragraph. And ask yourself, as I've been asking myself since I heard about this " story."

What's really going on here?

Rumors of war. The fog of war. There is so much we don't know about war, no matter how many war movies we watch and war novels we read. No matter how many history books. I have friends who went to war, and came back. I do not ask them questions. If they wanted me to know what they saw, heard, smelled. They would tell me.

I do not know what it's like to be a warrior. Far be it for me to judge what a soldier does in battle, before and after battle. Soldiers. Theirs is a separate reality. They serve their time in hell and sometimes do things the rest of us would just rather not know about. But these days, we tend to learn about what soldiers do behind the lines the rest of us are so very, very far from.

Read Homer's Iliad. You will read of soldiers, the ones wearing the white hats and riding the white steeds, mutilating the bodies of their enemies. Read Shakespeare and his descriptions of the Battle of Agincourt.

Read Sebastion Junger's " War." About what it's like to soldier on in Afghanistan.

This viral video? Who took it? Is it real? Was it photoshopped?

Doesn't matter. Our troops are at war. What they do or don't do is usually way below our radar. Now everyone has a camera, and stories that were once told or not told by vets are out there for all of us to see and hear. In the past, there was Homer. Now this is the way we learn what war can be like.

Judge not...

Paulitics

2012-01-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

It's no surprise Mitt took New Hampshire. But Ron Paul finishing second was kind of surprising. If Romney winns South Carolina, then Florida ( Florida's the more important state here ), he might have a free ride through August. But Ron Paul's blimp might be hovering over Mitt for a while, which is good. For Mitt. It'll keep the race for the GOP nominee slot alive, and interesting.

War And Peace, Family Style

2012-01-10T17:38:00.001-05:00

Jay Parini, who I know a little ( I know a lot of people a little. Like life's one big cocktail party at which I visit and leave quickly what Tom Wolfe calls cocktail party " bouquets." Scrums in which people talk about things that " matter." Dangling conversations."

As Paul Simon might put it.

Leo Tolstoy, about whom Jay has written ( A movie based on his book, The Last Station , is out there. Jay teaches English at Middlebury, but doesn't have to. If you know what I mean. Good for him. A Lafayette grad. Class of 69. Good for Jay )

I think I've reached a point in this life where I think I know what Leo was getting at, when he said, and I paraphrase: all happy families rememble each other, all unhappy ones are unhappy in their own way.

What's your family like? Happy? One big happy family?

At peace, not at war?

Yeah, right.

Don't Let Them Eat ( Cup ) Cake

2012-01-10T16:06:00.004-05:00

" The Transportation Security Administration is defending its decision to
confiscate a cupcake from a Peabody, Massachusetts women prior to her
flight to Las Vegas."

From news story today

No, it wasn't a six pack of cupcakes. Nor was it a baker's dozen. It was one
cupcake. The security guys at the airport said the frosting fell into the "gel"
category. Gels are considered to be possible terrorist tools.

It's an airport. Couldn't they have de-iced it?

My Latest NPR Commentary

2012-01-10T11:06:00.002-05:00

My latest commentary can be heard at robinhoodradio.com.

And on WHDD's Face Book page and the station's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Chuck Berry's Still Doing It

2012-01-09T16:45:00.000-05:00

Chuck Berry was in Chicago, playing a New Year's Day gig. About an hour into the show, Chuck slumped forward onto the keyboard of the piano he was playing. He had to be helped off the stage.

He came back and thanked the audience. But didn't go on with the show.

Chuck is 85.

Object Dart

2012-01-09T11:23:00.001-05:00

The red Dart's the new one that's about to come out. After all these years, that old Slant Six is making a comeback. The old one shown here is a dead ringer for the one Moriarty drove when I met her back in the 70s.

" Pardon Me, I Gotta Run..." From A Sinatra Song

2012-01-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Moriarty's running again. She used to run a lot of 10Ks. The St. Pat's Race in Holyoke, Mass. The Manchester, CT. Thanksgiving Day Race.

She hadn't run in a few years. But she's recovering from rotator cuff sugery and hasn't been playing tennis for the past eight months or so. She's been training with one of the many new friends she's made down here. Kathy. Yesterday they ran a 5 mile race, a fundraiser for a food bank near here. Moriarty and Kathy did well. Very well. Kathy's son, a marine who just returned from a tour in Afghanistan, took a look at their time, how long it took Moriarty and Kathy to run a mile. Chris was impressed. Said a lot of the marines he knows don't do a mile faster than they ran.

Hell of a run, Moriarty and Kathy. Good work.

Neither Here Nor There

2012-01-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

So I'm writing this novel. It all takes place in England. I had a little one of these British phone booths in my Christmas Village, which I took down the other day. I put everything away, except the little red phone booth. I put that up on the mantle so I could glance at it as I worked on The Elephant Cage. The next day it was gone. I knew Moriarty had seen it up there and put it away with the rest of the stuff. I read her the riot act and put it back up there.

" What's the big deal? " she asked. I said it was no big deal. I just wanted it in the room to give me some of that British atmosphere. Make me feel like I was in England.

I just tried to buy something on my Kindle. It wouldn't let me. I got a message that reported I couldn't purchase anything here in the states because I was out of the country. Amazon asked me if I moved out of this country. Or am I just traveling abroad?

I swear I'm not making this up.

Get Dressed And Comb Your Hair!

2012-01-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong, I like Joe Scarborough. I like his MSNBC show Morning Joe. But I think he's started a trend, one I'm not sure I like all that much.

Watch MoJoe and you'll see regulars and guests wearing blue jeans and open necked shirts. The guys' hair: not combed. Lawrence Spivak would never have put up with this sartorial bad behavior when he was hosting Meet The Press way back when.

I'm watching Hard Ball now. Time Magazine's Joe Klein is a guest. He looks like a guy who just slept under a bridge. Ratty jacket and a beard that looks like it hasn't been trimmed since Newt was Speaker of the House.

John Stewart and Colbert wear suits and ties. As do their guests. Comedy Central's getting it right. In more ways than one.

" Let's See.I Think I Want The ^&%%$ Trophy Room To Be The First Thing To Go. "

2012-01-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

" She wanted something bigger and better. "

From news story today about the ex wife of Tiger Woods, who decided this week to tear down a $12,5 million mansion the couple had lived in, and build a " bigger and better " one. The torn down structure was 17,000 square feet and had eight bathrooms.

Things Go Better With Koch

2012-01-05T17:43:00.001-05:00

Where's Santorum getting the money to do what he's doing? The cash cows are no longer interested in Cain. Rick is The One. Santorum. Italian for " Show Me The Money."

The Brackets

2012-01-05T17:34:00.000-05:00

" Oh my name it is nothin'. .. the country I come from is called the midwest. That land that I live in has God on its side. "

Bob Dylan

Rick Santorum did very well in Iowa. This candidate isn't the only one who says God's on his side. I don't envy God. Santorum, Gingrich, Bachmann and Perry. They all say " God's on my side."

Whose team are we to root for?

My Own Private Iowa

2012-01-04T10:36:00.001-05:00

Ever wondered what the Iowa Caucuses actually are? How do they work? What's the process that takes place and spits a winner out like a sausage at the end? My latest commentary is an attempt to explain Iowa.

You can hear it at robinhoodradio.com

And on WHDD's Face Book page, and on the station's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Caucus. Rhymes with Dukakis

2012-01-03T17:57:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of confusion about what " The Iowa Caucuses" really are. Are they like voting, where folks go into a closet and close a curtain behind them?

Well, not exactly.

You decide to participate in the IC you go to a YMCA gym and stand in a line, and fill out a form ( with apologies to Paul Simon ) , oThen you, if you're a man, line up on the side opposite the gals. 9 it's a little like what the deal is in a synogogue. Of which there are probably none in Iowa/

More on this later.

Try To Set The Night On Fire

2012-01-02T16:49:00.002-05:00

This news story is like Blade Runner meets Day of the Locust. The former is based on a Philip Dick tale, the latter a Nathaneal West novel, in which a character named Tod Hackett creates a painting he calls " The Burning of Los Angeles."

More than 55 cars have been set on fire in L.A. in the past 4 days. Some of the car fires have spread to homes. One of them: Jim Morrison of The Doors place in Laurel Canyon.

Not a great start to the year in L.A. Unless you like big stories that give off more heat than light.

Z Is For Zoloft

2012-01-01T17:17:00.001-05:00

I wonder at times: What would I be, who would I be, if I wasn't on Zoloft.

I think of the years before I got the prescriptions. I was a low key, laid back kind of guy.

A guy who kept things in, like zoo keepers keep monkeys in a cage. My thoughts were screeching, screaming to get out. But I kept them all in. The walls of the Monkey House were thick. You had to be in there to hear all that noise.

The gatekeepers I employed were charged with keeping everyone out.

We're all well into the holiday season. It's the first day of a brand new year. As John Lennon wrote, we're all starting over.

People are stressed out. I could tell you some stories, but I'll keep them close to the L.L. Bean vest Moriarty gave me for Christmas. Not everyone's happy. Pins and needles are what people are on.

Me? I'm on Zoloft. I'm feeling fine. I'm feeling fine. I'm feeling...

Toast The New Year With Pink Martini

2012-01-01T16:32:00.002-05:00

These guys make great music. The piano player is Elton John meets Truman Capote and the lead singer has the voice of an angel.

Check 'em out.

pinkmartini.com

Happy New Year To WTO Readers!

2011-12-31T15:22:00.001-05:00

Ultimate's Evil Twin

2011-12-30T17:56:00.001-05:00

Our nephew and niece play Ultimate. It's a great game. Non violent, civil, played mostly by college kids and grad students who know the difference between Gorgeous George and George Orwell.

USA Today had a long story on one of its sports pages today about Ultimate Fighting, which makes boxing look like dodge ball. As far as I know, USA Today has never run a story about the kind of game Sam and Lisa play and love.

A sick sport gets major ink. A good one gets the blank page. What's wrong with this picture?

The Crimson Ride

2011-12-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

The Harvard Varsity basketball team is 23 in the nation in the NCAA standings. What a ride these guys are on. Climbing like ivy up a 200 year old brick building.

Me And Math Long Ago Parted Ways

2011-12-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

Add to my list: I want to get better with numbers.

My Wish List For 2012

2011-12-30T16:45:00.001-05:00

The hell with the ten best things of 2011. Here's the 10 things I want most to happen in 2012:

10./ Me getting a 24 ball box of Titleist V1 golf balls

9./ Sinead O'Connor to marry Mickey Rooney

8./ Newt Gingrich to just go away

                                    7./ Herman Cain to come out with a pepperoni and crow pizza

                                    6./ Alec Baldwin to get into a fistfight with Sir Richard Branson

                                    7./ Atari to come out with a video game based on Alec Baldwin's relationship with his brothers.

                                    I'm gonna stop there.

Ten Best Moments of 2011

2011-12-29T17:48:00.001-05:00

Another You?

2011-12-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

If you were able to meet another you, from another Earth, what what you ask your doppleganger? What would you like to be asked? Imagine. There's another you up there on that planet that's a mirror image of ours.

Another Earth is kind of a sci-fi flick. But it's so much more than that. It's about hating yourself, forgiving yourself. Starting over. I was very moved by this movie.

Check it out. You can get it at Red Box.

Wedding Wows

2011-12-27T18:48:00.001-05:00

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O'Connor announced today that her marriage has ended. She got married 16 days ago.

I've had hangovers that lasted longer than that.

It's A Great Day In South Carolina...

2011-12-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

" It's a great day in South Carolina. How may I help you? "

         The first thing S.C. governor Nikki Haley wants people to hear when they call a state agency.

I have some other ideas:

* It's another day on which the unemployment rate went up. How may I help you? If your question has anything to do with us finding you a job - Call back in 2013."

                                                                                     * It's not such a great day in South Carolina. The pole on which the Confederate flag still flies at the state house was struck by lightning last night.

                                                                                      * It's a great day in South Carolina. A federal judge here was pulled into a pond by an alligator as he tried to retrieve his Titleist V1 from the hazard.

                                                                                      * It's a great day in South Carolina. Lee Greenwood's new boxed set is at the Wal-Marts in Myrtle Beach and Dillon.

How To Go, Bruce Farr!!

2011-12-27T16:18:00.001-05:00

My good friend Bruce Farr is very close to having " Home Is The Sailor " published. This will be the culmination of a project that Bruce has been working on for more than two years. It's the story of legendary yachtsman, Richard Nye. The 250 page book has 300 archival photos between its covers.

" Home Is The Sailor " is not quite ready. A few cover jacket wrinkles need to be ironed out. But like a ship you can't wait to come in, it's within sight and will be here before you know it.

When it is, buy it!

Job well done, Skipper.

Broadcast And Podcast Of Excerpt From You Had To Be There

2011-12-27T11:20:00.001-05:00

My latest commentary is something a little different. This morning I recorded an excerpt from You Had To Be There. It's about the very first shift I worked on the psych unit.

It can be heard onrobinhoodradio.com

And on WHDD's Face Book page. These are podcasts that you can listen to at your convenience. The commentary can also be heard on WHDD's broadcasts of NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition

Here's The Antenna

2011-12-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here it is, The Elephant Cage on R.A.F. Chicksands

On The Title Change

2011-12-27T09:33:00.001-05:00

As hawk eyed readers may have noticed, I've changed the title of the novel I'm working on. The title had been The Code Breaker. It was based on what the main character, Rory Harrington is. But as I do research for the book, I've come to realize that the real " main character " is the Royal Air Force Base on which much of the story is set.

The Elephant Cage? That's the football field sized antenna that picked up the signals, the radio waves, the secrets and codes that are so much a part of this book.

Excerpts Available On Amazon

2011-12-27T08:12:00.002-05:00

Amazon.com amazon.com has just updated its promotion of my latest book, Blood Work. You can now read excerpts from the book by visiting the amazon site. Just type in Terrence McCarthy in the book search box. The 3 essay collections are beneath You Had To Be There.

A Tragic Christmas Story

2011-12-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

The mother's name is Madonna. Her father had played Santa at Saks Fifth Avenue on Christmas Eve, just hours before the fire broke out.

Madonna, her three daughters, aged 10, 7 and 7 ( twins ) and her parents spent late Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning in the big victorian house Madonna bought in Stamford, Connecticut recently.

Christmas in Connecticut. Playing Santa in Manhattan on Christmas Eve. Thoughts of Bing Crosby movies and Miracle on 34th Street.

Perfect you might think. If you were a screenwriter making stuff up.Word to the wise. There's some stuff you cannot make up.

Holy Toledo Batty Man!

2011-12-26T16:05:00.000-05:00

Shown here are three guys who are part of a crime fighting trend that's rearing those ugly heads and heads like them all over the country.

Guys are dressing up as Super Heroes, arming themselves with Mace and cell phones, trying to make the mean streets crime clean streets.

This is Halloween meets that Michael Jackson Thriller Zombie music video meets Bat Man.

According to a New York Times story on this trend today, a lot of these guys are reformed muggers and thugs who used to be the kind of people The Super Heroes are on the lookout for. I don't know about you, but if I saw these guys parading down my street, I'm not so sure I'd feel safer.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:37:00.001-05:00

I hope it's been a good day for you all. Good times with your family and friends. Good food, good times and a sharing of memories. Thoughts of those who once partied with you, but who have joined the choir invisible. Here's to Christmas, or whatever you call it. Whatever you call it, it means the same thing.

We're all in this thing together. Raise a glass ( Who cares what's in it? )

Here's to us. We who are all in this lifeboat we share.

I Got Mine

2011-12-24T14:04:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of the exact same kind of Nike sneaker I bought recently. Oh I know what you're thinking: It must be a really slow news day for The Web Town Observer to post this!

Au contraire. There's a story behind my purchase of these things.

I saw the ad in the paper.

Nike Free Training Shoes At Dick's

Free? I drove to Myrtle Beach. The Dick's lot was packed. Dick's was packed. There was a Black Friday like mob in there. All wanting what I wanted: A pair of these Nike free sneakers.

It was murder. Well almost. People were scratched, punched and bitten trying to get to these Nikes. I finally got mine and was on my way out of the store when I got stopped.

" You didn't pay for those," the security guard said.

" But they're free! " I exclaimed. Then he told me the brand is called Nike Free TR2 Training Shoes. So I had to pay for them. Can you imagine? A mob willing to cause mahem, hurt and be hurt. Just for a pair of sneakers!

But I got mine, and I'm lovin' em.

Trouble, With A Capital T In My Little Town

2011-12-24T12:44:00.001-05:00

Forgive me for posting this way too small picture. But if I'd got any closer with my camera, Billy Earl Bob and Joline would have fired a few rifle shots at me. The snapshot is of the latest addition to my Christmas Village, Faux Woods ( Pronounced Fox Woods ) It's a trailer and we're all worried it's the first of many. A trailer park in the village? Oh my.

It's my fault. I've been lax in forming commissions. A zoning commission for the village is needed ASAP. Next thing we know, we'll have big box retail stores, Adam & Eve Adult Toys and Marital Aid shops and " Gentlemens Clubs all over town.

We do have a city council, and there's been a problem with the decorum. One of the council members was heard to utter the other day, " Where's a redneck when you need one? "

And wouldn't you know Joline and her husband moved into town the very next day

Oliver's Earning His Keep

2011-12-23T16:02:00.001-05:00

Oliver is starting to earn his bed and board here. Recently I've been hunting for lost golf balls as I take him for walks around the course we live on. I found three today, and he found two. This was a first. He must be mimicking what I've been doing, and has picked up the scent of those dimpled Titleists and Calloways.

I'm hoping to train him to retrieve balls I hit into the water hazards here. Maybe in a few months, that'll be Oliver diving into the pond on the 10th hole here.

I Need To Work On My Short Game

2011-12-22T18:03:00.000-05:00

I played another round of golf today. Why do they call these things " rounds?" Maybe because golf is like boxing. With one really big difference. The guy you're punching is you.

My long game couldn't be better. I'm great off the tee. My 3 wood continues to be the sword of Damocles I hang over my opponents' heads. I hit my golf balls so much better with my hybrid than I hit a nails with a hammer.

But my short game. It blows ( See picture ) I pitch like the Red Sox John Lackey pitches. My approach shots are roach shots; they scurry off the green like the bug elopes into a drain. At least roaches go into the hole.

Newtered

2011-12-22T08:15:00.001-05:00

I Googled Newt Gingrich and got a whole page of the Spotted Newt, The Rough Skinned Newt, etc. There was only one picture of The Arrogant Newt on the page.

So I chose this pic of a Newt out on a limb.

Newt is no longer the front runner in Iowa. Now it's Ron Paul. This is, in my humble opinion, the worst, longest horse race like news coverage of a political contest ever.

Still Rockin' and Runnin'

2011-12-21T17:10:00.002-05:00

Moriarty and I are going out to eat tomorrow night. We'll be celebrating the night we met in 1972, at a bar called The Broadview. There was a guy covering Neil Young songs there that night. An ice storm raged outside and, when Moriarty was ready to pull out of the lot in her Dodge Dart, she couldn't get into the car, and the windshield was covered with ice. She came back into the bar and asked for help.

I helped.

One of Neil's songs is " Long May You Run. " I'm not sure if the guy covered that one that night. The song's about a pick-up truck, not a Dodge Dart. And it's not about running in the way my wife does it it. She's back into running. On the road again, in a slightly different way than we've been doing it lately.

Long may you run.

Like Fine Wine...

2011-12-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

Take note of the numbers on the backs of these 55 meter sprint racers. The numbers are the ages of the runners. 85. 90. etc.

I've played golf recently with a few guys who are in their 80s. They are very good golfers.

We have a friend, Bill. He's 85. He plays golf and tennis. His wife is 77, but looks 57. She plays tennis and golf.

I could go on and on about how healthy older people are down here. But I won't.

And I don't agree with futurists who say there are 60 year olds living now who may get to be 1,000 years old. I can imagine playing tennis and golf when I'm, say, 85. But at, say, 789?

Shooting my age at 85 is one thing...

My Latest NPR Commentary

2011-12-20T10:50:00.002-05:00

It's been said that the Irish are infatuated with the past. I know I am. My latest NPR commentary has this as its subject. If you've ever heard the Marley's Ghost like chains rattling this time of year, perhaps you can relate to what I had to say this morning. It can be heard at robinhoodradio.com
or at WHDD's Face Book page. And, of course, on WHDD's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

The Good Stuff

2011-12-19T16:50:00.001-05:00

I got out of the shower about an hour ago...

Not a bad first line for a song, that. But that'll have to wait. I be posting now. After I dried myself off, I splashed on some of the English Leather cologne I have on my bureau. As I doused myself with this stuff I thought: This might just be one of the oldest bottles of English Leather there is.

I got it as a Christmas present, back in the 1960s.

I know what you're thinking. This guy has to smell like a landfill most of the time. A bottle of cologne can last him four decades?

Well, I misplaced the bottle. Or it got stored with a lot of stuff we store, then dig up, like archeologists, when we move. And we move a lot.

So. The English Leather was probably in a box for twenty years. But now it's on my bureau and I just splashed some on.

English Leather has been around since 1949. Its ingredients include lemon, bergamot, orange, honey, vanilla and leather musk.

English Leather was launched not by an Englishman, but a Spaniard. Javier Serra.

I like the way it smells. And I wonder: Is cologne anything like fine wine or good Scotch? Single malt. Forty years old.

This is a really old bottle I have. It's about two thirds gone now. I like the way I'm smelling tonight, but I have to go easy on using this stuff. When it's gone, it'll be gone. every time I slap some on, it's like drinking single malt Glenlivet.

I have to take it easy with this stuff. It's old. It's good. And it's been making me smell good since 1969.

North Korean Leader Dies After Jong Ilness

2011-12-19T07:24:00.001-05:00

KIM JONG IL

North Korean leader KJI is dead. He was 69 years old.

He Men?

2011-12-18T16:45:00.001-05:00

" According to reliable estimates, total testosterone prescriptions have skyrocketed, from 1.75 million in 2002 to 4.5 million lasy year...''

News story in NY Times today

A lot of the scripts are written for guys my age. I'm the same age as Dave Barry, Dave Letterman, etc. You've probably seen the TV spots for " The Cream," the stuff they say will make us guyzers look and feel like, say, Tim Tebow.

The spots feature a late middle aged guy who looks like he'd have trouble walking three feet without getting short of breath. Like he'd be " good in bed " if good in bed meant total hours per week sleeping.

The answer to this guyzer's probs? Testosterone.

Me? Don't need it. I feel fine.

And. Re: The He Man shown here. Sometimes a sword is only a sword. Freud said something like that, didn't he?

Vaclav Havel Is Dead.

2011-12-18T07:50:00.001-05:00

The word " hero," is tossed around in a cavalier manner these days. But I think Vaclav Havel was the real deal. He was a hero of mine. I was reading a lot of his stuff as I made my decision years ago to quit the advertising business and start working as a counselor on a psych unit. I thought of him often as I worked as the unit's human rights officer.

A playwright, he was president of Czeckoslovakia, the The Czech Republic when that country was split in two twenty or so years ago.

The revolution in which he played a key role was called The Velvet Revolution, afrer Havel's favorite band, The Velvet Underground. Look for Lour Reed to comment on Havel's death soon.

The Artist's Women Are Watching...

2011-12-17T16:56:00.000-05:00

He is known only as JR. He is French. He is 28 years old. He is a photographer, whose pictures of womens' eyes started appearing in Rio de Janeiro in 2008. The photographs are the size of buildings and they stare down at areas of the city where people have been killed by the Brazilian army and narco-mafia thugs.

The womens' eyes are also staring down violent sections of Kenya, Southern Sudan, Cambodia and India.

J.R.'s women are watching, witnessing. His women see what's happening, and report it, in art galleries all over the world.

This is art. This is how art can make a difference.

Blood Work: On Amazon

2011-12-16T16:54:00.002-05:00

It's on the Amazon.com website. If you buy it now, you get a deal.

Stocking stuffer?

Taking Care Of Business, Instead Of Patients and Nurses

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

There's a front page story in the NY Times today about looming strikes by nurses all across this country. Among the many issues nurses have is this one: Why are they being asked to sacrifice, their money and their time - and why are patients sacrificing, getting less care from fewer nurses?

When hospital administrators are getting bigger and bigger paychecks, and bricks and mortar trump rank and file when it comes to budgets.

I'm with the nurses on this one.

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

2011-12-16T14:15:00.000-05:00

We're going to miss this guy. What a mind he had.

More Pre Holiday Shameless Promotion

2011-12-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

My Latest NPR Commentary

2011-12-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

My latest can be heard at robinhoodradio.com, and on WHDD's Face Book page. Also on WHDD's broadcasts of All Things Considered and Morning Edition

Blood Work To Be Published Today

2011-12-16T08:42:00.002-05:00

It should be up on Amazon's website any day now. Maybe today. Just in time for Christmas for those of you who think someone might want to read my 4th book.amazon.com

My Latest Column In The Providence Journal

2011-12-16T08:28:00.004-05:00

I have an op-ed essay in today's Providence ( RI ) Journal projo.com

Back In The Game

2011-12-15T17:31:00.001-05:00

I played tennis with Moriarty yesterday. Her shoulder's healing, and she's happy to be back on the court. She's running again, preparing for a race scheduled for Janury 7th. I played golf again today and still think I'm hitting the ball better than ever - after a very long layoff. I hit a 220 yard shot with my 3 wood on the 10th hole today. My second shot on a long par 4. Pin high. Just of the green.

I sank a put from off the green, and made another long one for a par on the 17th.

I used to define myself my the sports I played. I was never a great athlete, but I was good enough to make some teams. That was enough: Making the team. I feel, lately, like I'm making the teams again. It's a nice feeling. And it has nothing to do with writing.

Lowe Blow

2011-12-14T16:08:00.001-05:00

The home improvement big box, Lowe's, has dropped its advertising from The Learning Channel's series, " All American Muslim."

This action by Lowe's follows criticism of the show by some who believe the TLC documentary is propoganda painting Muslims in a more positive way than they believe they should be portrayed.

This is The LEARNING Channel we're talking about, folks. The channel starts airing a much needed lesson on what the majority of Muslims in this country are like, vis a vis the vast archive of negative images we're seen since September 11, 2001 and...

This is pretty amazing stuff. Lowe's caves in to these bigots. What's next? No Muslims need apply for jobs at Lowe's?

All American Muslim is a xenophobe's worst nightmare. It's message flies in the face of the belief that all Muslims are into Jihad. The family pictured here? Sleeper cell?

The critics are paranoid.

We'll be shopping at Home Depot.

And Our Dog, Bootsie, Was Run Over Last Week By A FedEx Truck Delivering A Gift Basket From...

2011-12-13T17:40:00.001-05:00

Oops. I forgot to put a headline on the previous post. And no picture.

Better late than...

2011-12-13T17:32:00.002-05:00

At the risk of pissing off the people who send us these Christmas letters...

Oh what the hell. Nice job by Globe columnist Alex Beam on this seasonal blitz...

Just another holiday newsletter - or is it?

A family’s annual missive includes glad tidings of a bundle of Joye and other upbeat news in a down economy

By Alex Beam
Globe Columnist December 13, 2011

The Joyes

110 Threadwillow Drive

Bluefish Cove, MA

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays from me, Joyce, and our extended family! Yes, we are “plus one’’ now - Johanna’s little bundle of Joye, Jynx, is sleeping in a cradle right next to my desk!

(The kid’s been sleeping for about a day and a half. Was one quarter of a Xanax too much for her? Don’t worry, Department of Children and Families - skin tone and breathing are normal.)

I know everything’s online these days, but here we are, sending out our old-fashioned, family Christmas letter! Maybe one or two trees die, but it all seems worth it if you open the envelope, cherish our happy news, and don’t just use your cursor to click “Delete’’ on some throwaway digital “e-card.’’

(Toss it in the trash, see if I care. Almost everyone on this mailing list has been burned by my husband, son, or daughter in one of the countless scams they’ve run over the years. Actually, I kind of admired little Jon-Jon for setting up that phony charity, “Kids Karing for Kundu,’’ collecting money for a destitute African state invented by the writers of “The West Wing.’’)

Now for the family news. If there was a reality show called “America’s Best Husband,’’ my Jon would win hands down! He is America’s greatest breadwinner and entrepreneur. What recession? Jon’s not waiting for a handout from Obama and the crooks in Congress. He’s back in business, working 24 days, crisscrossing the country. Who knew that you could make money in the flat-on-its-back financial services sector? But my Jon has found a way!

(Did you see that “60 Minutes’’ report about Obama’s formidable Justice Department, which has brought zero - repeat zero - fraud cases against the Wall Street scum who blew up the economy in 2008? That’s because they can’t find them! Jon dreamed up this fantastic idea - the Witless Protection Program. All those morons at Countrywide Financial and Freddie Mac who pushed subprime mortgages out the door - they’re in hiding! Jon has managed to stash them and their ill-gotten gains in backwoods hollers all over the South and West, a Dogpatch Archipelago with no cellphone coverage and zero respect for government authority. Eric Holder & Co. - don’t come knockin’, if you know what’s good for you!)

What news of son Jon-Jon? He’s just like his father; he spots a market opportunity and he plunges right in! Business school? This kid barely finished college. They’ll be naming a campus after him soon enough.

(If he stays out of jail, that is. Here’s his latest scheme: monetizing Occupy!

Remember those kids who started Nantucket Nectars, selling wildly overpriced juice drinks to thirsty rich people in Nantucket Harbor? Jon spotted an equally desperate, captive market: the zhlubs in the Occupy movement. That’s right, he and his confederates created a nationwide black market, price-gouging left-wing college kids and jobless losers in their smelly encampments. Right now he’s using fake ID to sell $20 rolls of toilet paper to the children of the One Per Cent in Harvard Yard.

Sure, Menino and the other Little Caesars have been rolling up Jon-Jon’s customer base, but what does he care? He’s made his pile, let the truncheons fly! Profiteering - it’s the American way!)

You know where baby Jynx is - cooing right next to me. Where is mother Johanna, you ask? Jon and I offered her a break from motherhood; we all know how stressful that can be! We made her a small loan and told her she’s always welcome back at home, whenever she’s ready to assume the difficult responsibilities of motherhood.

(I wish we had LoJack on the car she stole from us. She pulled off a reverse grann y-dump, leaving me with her baby. I have to say, I don’t mind caring for Jynx, especially when she’s asleep. I’m thinking of renting her out for creche scenes, if the ACLU hasn’t completely killed them off. Or baby modeling, if we could fix that crushed nose she must have inherited from her no-name father. Is it too early for Botox? I think I saw a coupon in the Sunday paper. . .)

So that’s our brief holiday snapshot from Bluefish Cove! Jon and I are reliving the Joye-ful years of young parenthood! What could be more rewarding? From our all-American family to yours - best wishes, good health, and wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!- from Joyce, Jon, Jon-Jon, the absent Johanna, and the adorable baby Jynx! God Bless America!

(I’m thinking of emigrating to Canada, or to that new planet, Kepler 22b. Maybe Canada; I hear they just got Fox News North up there. If you could stick your head out the door and not have it freeze off, I’d head for Snow Mexico in a Winnipeg heartbeat. America is toast. I say deep-six the next election and proceed directly to martial law. It’s our only hope.)

Introducing BostonGlobe.com digital subscriptions, just 99¢ for your first 4 weeks.

Alex Beam is a Globe columnist. His e-dress is beam@globe.com.

Saint Timothy

2011-12-13T14:32:00.001-05:00

They call him " God's Quarterback,' and he's been performing gridiron miracles in the final minutes of Denver Broncos games for weeks.

His name is Tim Tebow, and he is one hot pop culture superstar. Tebow was the topic of Nightline last night. He was profiled in Time Magazine recently. He was the subject of a whole hour of NPR's On Point this morning.

Tim Tebow has been a McCarthy household name for about six years now. That's because our pal, Mr. Collins, The Genius From Jacksonville, has been a Tebow fan since TT quarterbacked the University of Florida Gators.

Movie star handsome, polite, generous ( He never takes credit for his performances. Always praises his teammates - and The Lord ). But TT does have his critics. Lots of them.

Sportswriters and some Bronco front office guys says Tim can't throw well. They say he isn't up to the task of being an NFL QB. This despite the fact that Denver leads their division, and the team's QB has pulled off some incredible stuff in the late going of games in which they were behind.

And some critics say TT is too " religious."

You can't win for losing in the NFL, an organization with more thugs in it than the cosa nostra.

Leave TT alone. He's a good guy, and one hell, oops, heck of a quarterback.

An Open Letter From Some 99 Percenters Who Work The Ports

2011-12-13T08:59:00.000-05:00

Join the Campaign!

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Dateline: Los Angeles/Long Beach

An Open Letter from America’s Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports

December 12, 2011

We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day.

We have been elected by committees of our co-workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York and New Jersey to tell our collective story. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face. One of us is a mother, the rest of us fathers. Between the five of us we have 11children and one more baby on the way. We have a combined 46 years of experience driving cargo from our shores for America’s stores.

We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Percenters” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible.

Today’s demonstrations will impact us. While we cannot officially speak for every worker who shares our occupation, we can use this opportunity to reveal what it’s like to walk a day in our shoes for the 110,000 of us in America whose job it is to be a port truck driver. It may be tempting for media to ask questions about whether we support a shutdown, but there are no easy answers. Instead, we ask you, are you willing to listen and learn why a one-word response is impossible?

We love being behind the wheel. We are proud of the work we do to keep America’s economy moving. But we feel humiliated when we receive paychecks that suggest we work part time at a fast-food counter. Especially when we work an average of 60 or more hours a week, away from our families.

There is so much at stake in our industry. It is one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations. We don’t think truck driving should be a dead-end road in America. It should be a good job with a middle-class paycheck like it used to be decades ago.

We desperately want to drive clean and safe vehicles. Rigs that do not fill our lungs with deadly toxins, or dirty the air in the communities we haul in.

Poverty and pollution are like a plague at the ports. Our economic conditions are what led to the environmental crisis.

You, the public, have paid a severe price along with us.

Why? Just like Wall Street doesn’t have to abide by rules, our industry isn’t bound to regulation. So the market is run by con artists. The companies we work for call us independent contractors, as if we were our own bosses, but they boss us around. We receive Third World wages and drive sweatshops on wheels. We cannot negotiate our rates. (Usually we are not allowed to even see them.) We are paid by the load, not by the hour. So when we sit in those long lines at the terminals, or if we are stuck in traffic, we become volunteers who basically donate our time to the trucking and shipping companies. That’s the nice way to put it. We have all heard the words “modern-day slaves” at the lunch stops.

There are no restrooms for drivers. We keep empty bottles in our cabs. Plastic bags too. We feel like dogs. An Oakland driver was recently banned from the terminal because he was spied relieving himself behind a container. Neither the port, nor the terminal operators or anyone in the industry thinks it is their responsibility to provide humane and hygienic facilities for us. It is absolutely horrible for drivers who are women, who risk infection when they try to hold it until they can find a place to go.

The companies demand we cut corners to compete. It makes our roads less safe. When we try to blow the whistle about skipped inspections, faulty equipment, or falsified logs, then we are “starved out.” That means we are either fired outright, or more likely, we never get dispatched to haul a load again.

It may be difficult to comprehend the complex issues and nature of our employment. For us too. When businesses disguise workers like us as contractors, the Department of Labor calls it misclassification. We call it illegal. Those who profit from global trade and goods movement are getting away with it because everyone is doing it. One journalist took the time to talk to us this week and she explains it very well to outsiders. We hope you will read the enclosed article “How Goldman Sachs and Other Companies Exploit Port Truck Drivers.”

But the short answer to the question: Why are companies like SSA Marine, the Seattle-based global terminal operator that runs one of the West Coast’s major trucking carriers, Shippers’ Transport Express, doing this? Why would mega-rich Maersk, a huge Danish shipping and trucking conglomerate that wants to drill for more oil with Exxon Mobil in the Gulf Coast conduct business this way too?

To cheat on taxes, drive down business costs, and deny us the right to belong to a union, that’s why.

The typical arrangement works like this: Everything comes out of our pockets or is deducted from our paychecks. The truck or lease, fuel, insurance, registration, you name it. Our employers do not have to pay the costs of meeting emissions-compliant regulations; that is our financial burden to bear. Clean trucks cost about four to five times more than what we take home in a year. A few of us haul our company’s trucks for a tiny fraction of what the shippers pay per load instead of an hourly wage. They still call us independent owner-operators and give us a 1099 rather than a W-2.

We have never recovered from losing our basic rights as employees in America. Every year it literally goes from bad to worse to the unimaginable. We were ground zero for the government’s first major experiment into letting big business call the shots. Since it worked so well for the CEOs in transportation, why not the mortgage and banking industry too?

Even the few of us who are hired as legitimate employees are routinely denied our legal rights under this system. Just ask our co-workers who haul clothing brands like Guess?, Under Armour, and Ralph Lauren’s Polo. The carrier they work for in Los Angeles is called Toll Group and is headquartered in Australia. At the busiest time of the holiday shopping season, 26 drivers were axed after wearing Teamster T-shirts to work. They were protesting the lack of access to clean, indoor restrooms with running water. The company hired an anti-union consultant to intimidate the drivers. Down Under, the same company bargains with 12,000 of our counterparts in good faith.

Despite our great hardships, many of us cannot — or refuse to, as some of the most well-intentioned suggest — “just quit.” First, we want to work and do not have a safety net. Many of us are tied to one-sided leases. But more importantly, why should we have to leave? Truck driving is what we do, and we do it well.

We are the skilled, specially-licensed professionals who guarantee that Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart are all stocked with just-in-time delivery for consumers. Take a look at all the stuff in your house. The things you see advertised on TV. Chances are a port truck driver brought that special holiday gift to the store you bought it.

We would rather stick together and transform our industry from within. We deserve to be fairly rewarded and valued. That is why we have united to stage convoys, park our trucks, marched on the boss, and even shut down these ports.

It’s like our hero Dutch Prior, a Shipper’s/SSA Marine driver, told CBS Early Morning this month: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

The more underwater we are, the more our restlessness grows. We are being thoughtful about how best to organize ourselves and do what is needed to win dignity, respect, and justice.

Nowadays greedy corporations are treated as “people” while the politicians they bankroll cast union members who try to improve their workplaces as “thugs.”

But we believe in the power and potential behind a truly united 99%. We admire the strength and perseverance of the longshoremen. We are fighting like mad to overcome our exploitation, so please, stick by us long after December 12. Our friends in the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports created a pledge you can sign to support us here.

We drivers have a saying, “We may not have a union yet, but no one can stop us from acting like one.”

The brothers and sisters of the Teamsters have our backs. They help us make our voices heard. But we need your help too so we can achieve the day where we raise our fists and together declare: “No one could stop us from forming a union.”

Thank you.

In solidarity,

Leonardo Mejia

SSA Marine/Shippers Transport Express

Port of Long Beach

10-year driver

Yemane Berhane

Ports of Seattle & Tacoma

6-year port driver

Xiomara Perez

Toll Group

Port of Los Angeles

8-year driver

Abdul Khan

Port of Oakland

7-year port driver

Ramiro Gotay

Ports of New York & New Jersey

15-year port driver

© 2010, Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports. All rights reserved.

Focusing On Winter

2011-12-12T18:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Mr. B knows a lot about a lot of things. Golf is his game now. He played Ivy League football once upon a time. Among the guys he faced was a guy by the name of Hank Paulson. Hank played for Dartmouth.

Our friend jc, informed Mr. B. that I was playing golf again. Mr. B golfs like a pro. He offered me a lesson: When you address the ball, don't think. Erase all thoughts from your mind.

Good advice. It reminded me of what the psychologist on the unit where I worked told me. When he was my mentor and I was his student. He wasn't talking about golf; he was talking about how to tee off, get things going in a group therapy session.

" Go into it without memory or intention."

That's what the psychologist said.

Just do it.

Yeah. That's Nike's slogan.

I address the white dimpled ball. Odds are it's a Titleist. The balls I hit tend to be found objects, spotted as I walk the dog on the cart paths of this golf course we live on. Titleists. Good balls.

They're the balls upon which I 'm most likely to focus these days. Trying to think of one thing, among the many things on my mind as late autumn dies, and winter is about to be born.

The New Jersey Nyets?

2011-12-12T17:22:00.003-05:00

Just when you thought news about the National Basketball Association couldn't get more weird, there's this:

New Jersey Nets billionaire owner, and Russian native, Mikhail Prokhorov, has announced he wants to challenge Vladmir Putin in a run for that country's presidency.

If he gets the nod, the world will have an NBA owner who is also the president of what Reagan called The Evil Empire.

I know. I know. The easy jokes are he'll change the name of his team to the New Jersey Nyets. And move the team to Georgia.

I'm thinking my friend, Mike Jann, who writes for Jay Leno, hasn't got much sleep since he read about this one. This one's a comedy writer's gold mine. Sure to keep Mike and others up nights...

Damonization

2011-12-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

I have a theory. For what it's worth, here it is.

Back when I was a Tonight Show With Johnny Carson addict, stars like Robert Redford, Sir Lawrence Olivier and other pop culture gods, were smart enough to know that frequent appearances on talk shows lessened their god-like cachet. The great Greta Garbo knew this, too.

" I vant to be alone, " she is said to have uttered. And, for most of her life, she was. She wasn't seen out much. Her mysterious ways made her far more appealing than publicity hounds.

I love Matt Damon. But even I'm getting tired of seeing him so much. He seems to make two movies a year. He's on talk shows talking about his political views. He's overexposed.

As is our president, Barack Obama. I love the guy, but he's like the Rich Little character in that old sit-com set in San Francisco: Love On A Rooftop. The Little character played the neighbor of the young couple next door. Little was always barging in. Knocking at the door. Imposing himself on two people who liked him, but were getting more and more annoyed each time he made an appearance.

Obama is on TV every day. Press conferences. Rose Garden announcements. He was on 60 Minutes the other night. He was on The Tonight Show last month. I'm half expecting to see him on Dancing With The Stars soon.

And so it is with these Republican candidates. I've lost count of how many debates these people have had. Now Donald Trump is going to moderate a debate. So far, only one GOP candidate has committed to this thing. It might end up with The Donald debating Rick Santorum.

Trump gets it. He can never get enough exposure. Especially when it's the kind of free media he gets when he does and says outlandish things. He's not running for anything, even when he says he's running for something. What he does, and does very well, is sell himself. Thereby selling what he sells: real estate, books, TV shows.

But the rest of them: Obama, Gingrich, Mitt, The Hermanator, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman.

Enough of them already! I like Obama, and I'm still sick of seeing his face. I don't care for any of the Republican candidates, but even if I did, I'd be sick and tired of them, too. And we still have another 11 months of this!

My advice. Lay low for a while. Be more like Garbo than Damon. If you get invited to make an appearance, say " I vant to be alone for a while. "

Newt Gingrich tends to demonize his opponents. But he, like all of them, are Damonizing themselves.

Enough already. Make yourselves scare. My guess is it will do you good in the long run.

Math = Women?

2011-12-11T17:19:00.001-05:00

It's no secret that math and I get along as well as my junior high school math teacher Miss Hadro and I got along. But numbers do fascinate me, as other things I will never understand fascinate me.

Women for instance.

But that's another post, for another day...

Here's something you might want to bring up, if the conversation at the holiday party gets a lttle boring.

If there's a pause in the chatter, bring this one up:

Say: " 12 + 1 = 11+ 2

Then say: The letters in 12+1 spelled out - rearranged - are exactly the same as the letters in 11+2.

Try this. The folks at the party will be &^%$# impressed. Or they'll think you're some kind of pencil necked geek. One.

Another Kubrick In The Mall?

2011-12-11T10:12:00.001-05:00

I took my laptop to a computer repair shop in Myrtle Beach Thursday. The guy who runs the place is Hal. I'm not making this up.

Hal still has my machine. He's supposed to call me today and let me know if he can fix it, and if so, how much it's going to cost me.

The name of this guy's shop? Just Ask Hal.

Dave Bowman did that in 2001, A Space Odyssey. HAL wasn't doing too well on that mission. At one point, Dave needed some vital information from the onboard computer. All HAL had to sing was, " Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do..."

I'm hoping I don't hear that if, or when, this Hal calls me today.

The Latest On Blood Work

2011-12-10T15:32:00.001-05:00

I got the proof copy from the printer today. I'm going through it now and if it looks OK, it'll be published and available on Amazon, B&N, etc. maybe as soon as tomorrow or Monday. Will let y'all know.

Hats Off To Vito

2011-12-09T16:07:00.001-05:00

The only reason I'm posting this mug shot is to prove that I have had my picture taken without me wearing a baseball cap. This is our new couch, so this must have been taken pretty recently. I have no idea who took this one. Since I've become a best selling author, and people have learned that I dated Angelina Jolie a few years ago ( I won't boast about The MacArthur Genius Award I'm rumored to be in line for ), I've had to swat the paparazzi away like flies. I think this one might have been taken by some guy named Vito, who was later caught hiding in the azalea bushes in our backyard.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-09T14:37:00.001-05:00

If someone says " Happy Holidays " to you, or sends you a card with those two words on it rather than Merry Christmas, don't jump to conclusions and think they're Godless heathens who spend most of November making a list of human sacrifice choices.

I use the phrase " Happy Holidays " all the time. Moriarty's family is Jewish and mine isn't, so it's a convenient, and, in my humble opinion, fitting way to wish folks well this time of year.

Thursday In The Park With Oliver

2011-12-08T16:08:00.001-05:00

" Dog parks where canines can romp freely without a tether are the fastest growing segment of city parks, according to a study by the non-profit Trust For Public Land."

From news story in USA Today today

A lot of this has to do with demographic changes in the USA. There are now more households with dogs ( 43 million ) than with children ( 38 million ).

Those numbers translate into political power, the lobbying power needed to convince cities and towns to let their parks go to the dogs.Moriarty and I took Oliver to a new dog park in Myrtle Beach this morning. It was very nice, and we made two friends ourselves: two retired school teachers who recently moved down here from Keene, New Hampshire. Dog parks offer socialization opportunities for both dogs and their owners ( I wanted to run around with the woman shown here, in the white cap. Oliver would have loved to romp with her Sheep Dog, and I...

But Moriarty said, " Down boy. " And she wasn't talking to Oliver )

Where was I?

The dog park. Believe it or not, we do have mixed feelings about these places. This one seemed to be a good one. The dogs were well behaved ( And so was I ). But we have had a very bad experience at another dog park near here. The worst dog fight we've ever seen broke out there. Dogs were hurt. Owners were hurt. It was scary. So we tend to shy away from parks where the number of dogs looks like it might be overwhelming.

But all things considered, dog parks aare a good thing, as long as bad dogs and bad owners don't frequent them.

Mad Men

2011-12-08T15:05:00.001-05:00

Moriarty and I were in The Soul Man this morning, on our way to do a few chores. We were stopped at a red light. The light turned green. There was one car ahead of us in line, and a guy in a van behind us. The instant the light turned, the guy driving the van started blasting his horn. As we started to move forward, he hit the gas and passed us fast on the right. I honked my horn at him ( I always say to Moriarty, when I do this: " That'll teach him." It's kind of a comment on how minor a road reaction this is, compared to what some guys might do - like get into a high speed chase with the culprit or something like that ) How did the guy react to me blowing my horn? He threw me the finger, flipped me the bird.

About an hour later, we were stopped at another red light. The light turned. I waved at the woman driver whose car was headed our way. I motioned for her to go ahead, make the turn. I'd wait. It's a nice thing to do. I like it when people show me that consideration. She proceeded, and then the guy behind her started waving his arms over his head. The body language made it clear what he thought of my gesture, which had just cost him a whole second or two. Gosh. I was making him late for his Mensa meeting.

But these two episodes pale in comparison to what happened on the campus of Virginia Tech today. A campus police officer, stopped a guy. The guy shot and killed the cop. Then killed someone else. As I write this, the guy is still loose.

Yes, Virginia Tech again, the same campus where a guy shot and killed 32 people a few years ago.

We hear so very often on the TV news shows about how angry Americans are. Today we saw some of that anger. And we're following that developing story that's unfolding in Virginia.

The Wines They Are A Changin'

2011-12-07T16:08:00.001-05:00

Remember when wine was the classy choice? You'd be out to dinner with friends. You'd order a Harvey Wallbanger and your friend's new girlfriend would say to the wait staff, " I'll have a glass of cabernet."

That sounded so good. And you just knew she was a Smith College grad.

That was then. Now? The best selling wines in the country have names like Sassy Bitch, Royal Bitch and Ball Buster. The very best selling French wine?

Fat Bastard.

The wines they are a changin'

A-Rod's Going To Prison

2011-12-07T14:49:00.001-05:00

Former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. More on this moron later.

Blood Work's Almost Here

2011-12-07T14:37:00.001-05:00

Blood Work is in to the printer. I'm awaiting a proof copy and once I get it and go over it and approve it, the book will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble sites and elsewhere.

Fasten Your Seatbelt, Baby - You're In For A Bumpy Ride!

2011-12-05T15:05:00.001-05:00

Ryanair CEO, Michael O'Leary has announced that the airline's planes may soon offer in flight pornography on its seat screens.

Recent news item

There was a time when you heard someone say, " I'm having trouble getting it up, " it was the pilot's quivering voice as the plane failed to gain altitude.

The Heron

2011-12-04T17:53:00.001-05:00

We see the Great Blue Heron often at the edges of the ponds where the ducks swim. It's the best looking bird on the golf course on whose edges we live.

We love the ducks and the baby geese on the pond. They are, for us, something special. They are that for the herons as well. The big bird preys on the birds we watch.

Beware of nice looking creatures, handsome guys, whose charm matches their looks

WOODS

2011-12-04T16:04:00.001-05:00

I'm watching a golf tournament on NBC. It's The Chevron Classic, sponsored by the Tiger Woods Foundation. Tiger is tied for first on this final day.

If you're watching this ( I know. You have a life, and you're not ) the hills in the background might look familiar. They're the hills near where the TV series M*A*S*H was filmed.

I was a big fan of that show. Every episode communicated the human vis a vis the inhuman aspects of war.

Now I'm watching a golf tournament in which millionaires play against other millionaires, and I'm actually rooting for the richest guy to win.

We've come a long way since Korea