From the Mouths of Utah Babes & The Outrage of a Whiny Clueless Billionaire

Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City, Utah

I'm sitting here scratching my head trying to figure out what possessed an adult human being with the job title of "child nutrition manager" to walk up to 40 elementary school students in the lunchroom of Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City, and physically take their lunch tray of food from in front of them and throw it out.

Why? According to an article first published on Wednesday by The Salt Lake Tribune, there were outstanding unpaid balances on the lunch accounts of some of the students.

I almost thought it was a joke when I first heard the story earlier tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, but sadly it's true.

Seems an employee of the Salt Lake City District became aware that a number of student's lunch account balances were outstanding at Uintah Elementary, decided to pay a visit to the school and thought the best way to handle it was to completely humiliate the students in front of their peers by taking their lunches away and throwing them in the trash.

I wonder what kind of nation we're becoming when a "child nutrition manager" even thinks of doing something heartless like that given all we know about the critical role a healthy nutritious meal plays in the ability of children to stay focused and learn. What's next? Booting a kid off the school bus because his parents are late on their mortgage payment?

That moron should be fired on principle; shame on them.

Speaking of shame, San Francisco multi-billionaire Thomas Perkins doesn't seem to possess any.

Despite having a net worth of over $8 (with a B) billion and having once dropped $150 million on a yacht, Perkins took to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal to stick up for maligned gazillionaires all across the country by equating the growing progressive movement against the massive economic inequality in this nation with the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II.

Are America's billionaires being secretly herded off to camps where they're systematically beaten, starved, forced to to do back-breaking physical labor until they drop dead or are murdered in gas chambers? No.

Frankly I'm guessing Tommy would probably benefit from spending some time doing a little reading about the rise and fall of the Third Reich and the Holocaust; because his loony comparison is making him come off as dumb as a post.

America's billionaires pretty much run the show in this nation; Perkins himself once ran over a doctor with his yacht in France, killed him, was charged with manslaughter - then got off with paying a ten grand penalty.

Know where I'd be right now if I ran over a doctor in France and killed him? In a dark cell in a French prison wearing a striped beret while eating stale croissants.

Unfazed by the flood of outrage over his comments in the WSJ, Perkins reaffirmed his bizarre position in Bloomberg News; railing on about "class demonization." Awww, poor Tommy!

(In the time it's taken me to write this blog entry, the interest he's earned on his $8 billion is probably more than I'll make in a decade.)

A billionaire who lives in a 5,500 square-foot penthouse on the 60th floor of a luxury building overlooking San Francisco feels persecuted because of his wealth while elementary school children have their lunches taken away from them - land of the free and home of the brave indeed.
   

Attacking Funding for the Arts, But Ignoring Ethical Boundaries - The GOP's Christie Quandary

New Jersey Lt. Gov Kim Guadagno - (Photo-The Star Ledger)

It's common knowledge that conservatives in this country have been stripping away government funding for the cultural and artistic enrichment of the lives of American citizens for 30 years.

But not many of the people around the nation outside the Tri-State area who've seen New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on television trying to stake his claim as the 2016 GOP presidential candidate know about his vindictive war against the arts here in the Garden State.

For a politician who holds up his ability to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters as strong evidence of his ability to lead the Republican party back to the White House, Christie's hostility towards government funding for the arts is remarkably out of step with the views of a huge portion of the electorate he'd need to win over to become President - and sheds light on deeper issues.   

For instance, in the summer of 2011 after a series of back door meetings conducted outside public scrutiny or open debate, he sold off NJN, New Jersey's former state-owned public television and radio network, laid off it's staff of 120 and closed the operation after 43 years. 

But as an eye-opening article in the Gotham section of Monday's New York Times clearly illustrates, his administration had begun efforts to cut off government funding for the arts long before he shut down NJN.

With the help of current New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, the Christie administration went much further. Michael Powell wrote a scathing account of Guadagno's bizarre year-long campaign against the New Jersey Council on the Arts; which she zealously led in 2010 - a year before Christie dismantled NJN and sold the pieces off as if it were some kind of derelict shipyard.

One really must read Michael Powell's well-written Times article (click the link above) to truly appreciate how far Guadagno and the Christie administration went to try to attack the New Jersey Council on the Arts; railing against the well-respected organization with irrational hysteria.

As if the modest $16 million NJCA distributed around the state annually to support the arts was somehow corrupt in nature, or the cause of the Garden State's economic and fiscal woes.

But it's Guadagno's year long effort to try and discredit a modest, organized and civic minded New Jersey artist/writer named Daniel Aubrey that bears real scrutiny; and offers insight into the mindset of Guadagno and the Christie administrations vendetta against government's role in supporting artistic enrichment.

Aubrey was earning $12 - $15 dollars an hour working on a time-line of the events surrounding 9/11 for Liberty State Park, but according to Michael Powell's article, Guadagno tried to suggest his contract from the NJCA and his work was a fraud.   

The charges later proved to be totally unfounded, but Guadagno's conduct in the matter raises questions; particularly with regard to more recent allegations that she threatened a NJ mayor with political extortion.  It shows a pattern of behavior not befitting a public servant.

Before being tapped as Lieutenant Governor, Guadagno was a prosecutor (like Christie) and her treatment of Daniel Aubrey in 2011 certainly comes off as a witch hunt - even though it's now clear no wrongdoing on the part of the NJCA or Aubrey related to the project in Liberty State Park had ever taken place.

When Guadagno (pictured above) dismissively shrugged off recent accusations from Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that she'd relayed a carefully veiled threat from governor Chris Christie (in a parking lot no less) demanding that Zimmer back a land redevelopment project or risk loosing Sandy relief funds for Hoboken, her denial was almost contemptuous.

Like her boss casually brushing off the initial allegations of political motivations behind Bridge-gate, Guadagno's self-righteous denials to the press in January that she'd threatened Zimmer gave the distinct impression that she was offended someone would even ask her such a thing; she didn't deny meeting Zimmer in the parking lot though.

When she quickly surfaced in front of television cameras volunteering at a Sandy Aid project in New Jersey pitching in for hurricane victims; it came off as disingenuous and staged.

In light of disturbing new revelations that Christie approved $6 million of Federal block grant funds (earmarked for parts of New Jersey that were seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy) for Franklin Manor; an affordable housing complex for seniors in Belleville, NJ, there's been a renewed focus on Dawn Zimmer's allegations that she and the citizens of Hoboken were denied additional Sandy relief funds because she failed to support the governor.

Aside from some downed trees and power lines, Belleville wasn't really hit that hard by Sandy; it certainly wasn't flooded like Hoboken. There's no evidence any residents were displaced by the storm; and two weeks after the $6 million was approved, the town's Democratic mayor publicly endorsed Christie for governor.

By itself it's not a smoking gun or anything; or all that shocking for state politics.

But on top of the Bridge-gate allegations, the charges that the governor's office used Sandy relief funds to try and strong-arm Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer into supporting the land redevelopment deal, and the recent news from NorthJersey.com that Christie's brother Todd invested heavily in land around a Harrison, NJ PATH train station linking the town to Manhattan then flipped the properties for a huge profit after local property values soared once the PATH improvement project was announced - one thing is clear. The governor has an ethics problem of massive proportions.

Take a look at WNYC's list of Christie's 18 State Secrets - it's not very presidential.

Something just doesn't sit well with a politician who on one hand vilifies government funds being used to support the arts by (in part) using his lieutenant governor to smear legitimate expenditures; then on the other hand demonstrates an almost ceaseless appetite to use the power and influence of his position to financially enrich his family, friends and close associates.

It just doesn't come off as presidential when you don't seem to really stand for anything other than enriching those around you; or turning a blind eye to flagrant ethics violations.

Baggage like that just isn't going to make it through the unyielding 24-7 media meat grinder of the presidential nomination process. At this point, based on this ever-growing list of political shenanigans, choosing Chris Christie as the GOP nominee for 2016 would be like handing over ammunition on a silver platter for the opposition to use.

By virtue of their absence of rational policy direction that appeals to mainstream America, allowing Tea Party extremists to dictate the party's agenda and tone, and an absolutely atrocious legislative record in the House of Representatives, Republicans have enough of an uphill battle on their hands with upcoming Congressional elections, let alone the 2016 quest for the White House - they simply can't afford Chris Christie's ethical shortcomings; and those of the people around him.

Dragging those things to Iowa or New Hampshire would be disastrous for the GOP - my guess is the smart money in Republican circles are already quietly vetting candidates who can make it through the grueling party nomination process and emerge intact enough to match up against the political juggernaut that Hillary Clinton is going to represent.

You can be sure it's on the agenda for the three day Republican Congressional pow-wow going on in Maryland at the moment; where the weight of Chris Christie's baggage will be oft discussed.



 

Dinesh D'Souza Discovers Karma

D'Souza in NY 2012 - Photo by Bryan Pace - NY Daily News

Far right-leaning commentator and pundit Dinesh D'Souza is back in the media headlines these days, unfortunately for him, this time it's not for scoring points with right wing media for tossing cheap shots at the president.

The bespectacled Mumbai-born Dartmouth grad is under indictment by a Federal Grand Jury for illegally helping to channel individual cash donations well in excess of U.S. Federal election law limits to Republican Wendy Long; a failed challenger for the New York Senate seat held by Democrat Kristen Gillibrand.

The charges have Republicans crying foul (the creepy former candidate for NY governor Carl Palladino suggested the charges against D'Souza amounted to a "liberal witch hunt") but the law is clear on individual contributions to Senate campaigns and D'Souza broke it.

In a statement released by the FBI, the US Attorney for Manhattan Preet Bharara said, "...this office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process."

Honestly though, did D'Souza really think there would be no consequences for spending six years trashing the president? We'll see what the former Ronald Reagan disciple has to say about big government now.

For a guy who's made a career out of stoking the fires of the evangelical Christian conservative mindset through a relentless assault on the moral failings of others, (and a freakish, borderline cult-like obsession with smearing President Obama) Dinesh D'Souza has spent much of the past 16 months discovering what it's like to be publicly outed for having the same human frailties as everyone else.

As Peter S. Canellos revealed in a Boston Globe article back in 2007, D'Souza adopted his petty, bully mentality as a young writer for the Dartmouth Review when he penned pieces and commentaries that attacked affirmative action, mocked African-American speech, outed members of the Dartmouth Gay Student Alliance and made anti-Semitic comments about a Jewish faculty member among other things.   

So conservatives can whine about D'Souza being targeted for political reasons all they want; he's been a smug, insulting, condescending bigot for years - and his arrogance caught up with him when his hatred for Democratic Senator Gillibrand got the better of him and he thought he'd be clever and dump $20,000 into a Republican challenger's coffers (and lie to the Republican challenger about where the cash came from) and no one would be the wiser.

Maybe it just didn't occur to Dinesh that talking and writing smack about the sitting president put him under the spotlight until he was actually caught in the spotlight. Hindsight is 20-20 and like The Who, no doubt Dinesh can now see for miles and miles.

While he entered a not-guilty plea last Friday, news reports suggest both Wendy Long and the two people who channeled D'Souza's illegal $20,000 campaign contribution to her, will all be testifying against him in court.

D'Souza's high-priced defense attorney Benjamin Brafman will probably keep his client from doing jail time, but the damage to his already tattered reputation will probably keep him from being a serious threat to Hillary Clinton's candidacy; unless the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson take pity on him and bankroll another Benghazi book or something.

Truth is it's getting harder to take him seriously.

Lest we forget it was only back in October, 2012 that D'Souza was outed for adultery (at a Christian Values summit in South Carolina no less) after he was discovered shacked up in the hotel with married blogger Denise Joseph; Conservative values indeed.

Karma's a bitch; maybe Dinesh could write a book about that.

TKE Chapter at ASU Celebrates Dr. King By Denigrating African-American Culture

The state of higher education in Arizona?

One of the really sad parts about all of these Tau Kappa Epsilon frat clowns from Arizona State University who held a "Martin Luther King Black Party" over the MLK holiday weekend is they're probably too young and too stupid to know who Barry Goldwater is or how his politics shifted the tenor of race in America in the late 60's and early 70's.

I seriously doubt they even know who former Arizona Governor Evan Mecham is.

Or if they're aware of the national controversy (and embarrassment) he brought to the state of Arizona by his leading opposition to the creation of a federal holiday in Dr. King's name and defending the use of the word "pickaninny" to describe black children.

My first thought when I heard this account of 21st century black face by blond suburban college kids from America with a remarkably one-dimensional and contemptuous view of black culture was not surprise, but, "Arizona? Here we go again."

Just look at the three kids in that picture. Look at the girl holding a watermelon cup.

It's not just how they're dressed up in the way they perceive African-Americans (as gang-sign slinging, low-pants wearing ignoramuses in NBA jerseys), it's the idea that of all people, they tie this event to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - a man of the cloth who preached non-violence, fought to heal the nation and eventually gave his life for the rights and dignity of all of humanity.

It's so insulting and offensive, I doubt the three douche-bags in that photo even get it.

To top it off, not only did these braniacs take photos of themselves dressed like 2014 versions of Stepin' Fetchit; they posted them on the Internet via Instagram, with Twitter hash-tags like #blackoutformlk and #ihaveadream.

Kappa Alpha Thetas from Columbia University
at a "Beer Olympics" party in Feb. 2014 

By now the story's blown up to the point in the national media spotlight to where Arizona State's brand as an institution of higher learning is bleeding credibility with every minute the administration doesn't crack down hard on this dimwit TKE chapter with a very troubled history.

Of course students of all races from ASU expressed outrage at this incident, so I'm not for a second suggesting ASU harbors a large population of culturally insensitive bigots.

People like the frat members and others who attended this party seem to be, nor is such behavior confined to the ASU Greek system either - as Derek Clifton reported in an article for MIC.com, Kappa Alpha Thetas from Columbia University were photographed in their Mexican regalia for a "Beer Olympics" party in February, 2014 *.

[*Editor's note, I originally published this blog on 1/23/14, but updated it on 2/24/18]

Give it time. The usual suspects for right wing conservatism will soon be weighing in to bravely defend the frat boys and their right to think and say what they want.

I've already read a couple articles raising the question of whether the TKE brothers have a "Constitutional right" to insult and mock African-American culture then post it on the Web; as if this is some kind of free speech case that will go to the Supreme Court.

But this is a state school, not a private hunting club; and this wasn't some intellectual expression taking place in a classroom during debate club.

Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

The TKE brothers held a party where there was underage drinking while the frat was already on probation from an incident in 2012 when members of the frat went to an apartment en masse and assaulted a black member of a rival fraternity.

And let's not forget the context.

Arizona is the state with Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Maricopa County and Obama-hating ex-Gov. Jan Brewer.

Neither of whom who ever met an immigrant or gun law they liked.

Stuff like this isn't new for America's fraternity system.

Frat houses (some, not all) have been havens for ignorant expressions of bigotry for years. When I was a student at Penn State in the late 80's there was a campus-wide controversy over a frat that held a "Ghetto Party", it was replete with the same kind of offensive and cartoonish portrayals of African-American culture that were displayed by the TKE brothers at ASU.

Last year Kappa Sigma frat brothers and sorority sisters at Duke University did the same thing with an "Kappa Sigma Asia-Prime"party. Do you even need to click that link to know what it was about?

Tau Kappa Epsilon wasn't the first, they won't be the last, but it makes you wonder. Think about the parties we don't hear about.

Frats consider themselves the elite of the campus community, so if denigrating and mocking non-white cultures is some kind of longstanding social tradition within the Greek system, what's that saying about institutes of higher learning in America? What's it say about the kind of values passed on by the Greek system?

Let's not pretend college administrators don't know all about it either. What kind of people are those kids in the photo going to grow up to be? That doesn't seem to be the kind of attitude one just shrugs off and sheds when one (hopefully) graduates.

If I had a child, I sure as hell wouldn't want that chick in the middle of the photo above holding that watermelon cup in her hand teaching my kid in kindergarten; because I'm not sure she'd really see my child at all - she'd see exactly what she's been taught to see.   

Bob McDonnell Got Some Gifts, Eee-Eye-Eee-Eye Ohhhh

Bob McDonnell & wife Maureen; happier times (AP)

Former Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen had good reason to smile as they danced at his inauguration ball in Richmond back on the night of January 16, 2010 (pictured left).

They were riding the crest of a political wave that swept 29 Republican governors into office; including NJ Governor Chris Christie three days later on January 19th and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on November 3rd.

Democrats were humbled in the 2010 mid-term elections that saw the GOP capture 63 seats in the US House of Representatives to recapture the majority and also boost their Senate minority numbers by 6 as well; they captured 680 seats in state legislatures around the nation creating a number of "Super Majorities".

But as we know, a lot can happen in four years.

McDonnell and his wife appeared in Federal Court earlier today to face 14 counts of obstructing Federal investigators, conspiracy and fraud. The charges stem from at least $140,805 worth of gifts they received from Jonnie Williams, the wealthy CEO of a nutritional supplement company called Star Scientific.

This afternoon McDonnell was adamant about he and his wife's innocence: “We did not violate the law, and I will use every available resource and advocate I have for as long as it takes to fight these false allegations, and to prevail against this unjust overreach of the federal government.”

The embattled ex-Gov trying to curry sympathy with the right by characterizing the charges as some kind of infringement by the Federal Government is a pretty desperate ploy.

Frankly he's got some cojones accusing the Federal Government of "overreach" considering the gifts he and the former-First Lady of Virginia received from their pal Jonnie; including golf bags, golf shoes, an engraved Rolex watch, designer dresses, earrings, wallets, two iPhones, $15,000 worth of catering for the McDonnell's daughter's wedding and free trips on Williams' private plane.

The jaw-dropping list of goodies was summarized in a stunning document made public in the 45-page indictment - click here to take a look at the list of gifts for yourself. You think that's bad?

The Washington Post reports the McDonnells also had the gall to bill the state of Virginia for personal items like nasal spray, sunscreen and dog vitamins too. And don't think their buddy 'Ole Jonnie was in some kind of perpetual gift-giving mood for no reason either.

An excellent article on the Politico Website today by Alexander Burns and Elizabeth Titus details several specific instances when McDonnell used his political influence and the power of his office to do favors for Star Scientific immediately after some kind of lavish gift from Jonnie was received.

And so yet another once high-flying GOP governor once mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2016 falls under the cloud of scandal; even though McDonnell's gift grab pales in comparison to Bridge-Gate.

Speaking of which, even as Christie was sworn into office today and basically ignored the growing scandal surrounding his massive abuse of power during his speech, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer  isn't backing off an inch on her charges that Christie's Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief funds for Hoboken if Zimmer didn't back a massive redevelopment project on a three-acre site proposed by The Rockefeller Group.

Who did the Rockefeller Group hire as it's lobbyist? According to the NY Daily News, none other than former Christie cabinet officer Lori Grifa. The Daily News article also points out that The Rockefeller Group's law firm, Wolff & Samson is the law firm of (drum roll please) Port Authority Chairman David Samson - a Christie appointee.

Kim Guadagno was probably pushing the righteous indignation act just a little bit too hard the other day when she called Zimmer's accusation of political retribution "completely false" and "illogical".   

According to WNYC reporter Sarah Gonzalez, Zimmer fired back with a copy of a letter dated April 23, 2013 written to Governor Christie in which she objects to Sandy aid being contingent on her supporting the Rockefeller Group development proposal to counter charges from the Christie camp that Zimmer's charges against the Governor appeared out of nowhere.    

Seriously what is it with these Republican governors anyway? It's like the political power buzz of the 2010 elections and Tea Party fervor never wore off and they saw it as some kind of rubber-stamp edict from the voters who elected them to do whatever they pleased; even if it was ethically and legally reprehensible. 

How about Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory? This state might as well have the flag of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) flying over the state capital, or they should just send Republican thugs out across the state with bats to beat the poor, working class and middle class citizens of the state into submission.

Journalist Bill Moyers has been doing some excellent coverage of ALEC on his television show and his Website. He reports that The Raleigh News & Observer reporter John Frank claims that 54 out of 170 state legislators in North Carolina are members of ALEC; including the Speaker of the House Thom Tillis; ALEC's 2011 "legislator of the year".

Governor McCrory's new legislative lobbyist? State ALEC chairman Fred Steen; himself a former state legislator.
 
No wonder North Carolina has passed some of the most draconian voter suppression laws since the Jim Crow Era and actually voted against the state accepting additional funds from the Federal Government to extend available unemployment benefits for those in the Tar Heel state still struggling to find work.

Not only are Republicans busy suppressing as many votes as they can, Think Progress.org reports that Governor McCrory is catching heat for leaving North Carolina's 12th Congressional district without an elected US Congressman representing them for more than a year.

According to the article by Josh Israel, Democratic Rep Mell Watt resigned his office on the first day of the legislative year to become director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Governor McCrory won't hold a special election until November 4th - meaning a Congressional district that stretches from Charlotte to Greensboro with over a million citizens, the majority of whom are minorities, will have no representative in the US Congress for 12 months.

Kudos to MSNBC's Chuck Todd for confronting McCrory last Wednesday on The Daily Rundown.

But confrontation isn't enough. The mainstream media, average citizens and the Justice Department have to come together to identify, address and stop this kind of contemptuous dismissal and denial of the Constitutional rights of citizens.

Par for the course for this Republican party - and a blight on the basic ideals of liberty, freedom and citizenship for our nation. Republicans just can't sell their extremist policies and rigid ideology to mainstream Americans, so they're determined to cut off access to the political process (and health care) for millions of Americans who don't vote Republican.

But have faith. In "The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News - And Divided a Country" a new unauthorized biography on Fox News chief Roger Ailes, one of the chief architects of this divisive form of political warfare, author Gabriel Sherman asserts that the Republican party has shackled itself to a rapidly shrinking base that's aging fast - and unable to connect with the more diverse, politically progressive, younger and more technologically savvy voter base that is becoming the majority in this nation.

Smarter more moderate Republicans like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Senator Lyndsey Graham and Arizona Senator John McCain know the numbers don't lie; but they sit quietly on the side of the room while the Tea Partiers dance. If the GOP couldn't pull it off with Mitt Romney in 2012 against Obama; it's probably not going to happen in 2016 either.

Not while the GOP is ruled by misogynists, zealots and reactionaries; and governed by an archaic  intolerance that's indigestible for the majority of Americans. 

For Republicans, the states have become the last bastion of this vicious brand of Conservatism.

But as we've seen by the actions of Republican Governors like Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Pat McCrory, they're starting to loose their grip on the pulse of the states as well as they increasingly operate not in the actual political arena - but in an abstract ideological vacuum where reason, dissent or debate are not tolerated.

By their own actions they have become the authors of their own epitaph; maybe not tomorrow, but soon.

Signs O' The Times: Toast Goes Hipster - Mexican Bird Narc

"Artisanal toast" for $7 a slice. Really?

As I've playfully griped about before, my job in the real estate business requires me to work every other Saturday.

Given that this economy is still quite sluggish for the 99% of us (no offense meant to any 1%'ers who may be reading) I'm definitely not complaining, but at this time of year Saturdays can still be pretty slow.

NPR keeps me going though, and on Saturday's edition of "Wait...Wait Don't Tell Me!" host Peter Sagal mentioned a couple items during the show that I felt compelled to share.

Now I don't claim to be an expert on hipster culture by any means, but having lived in a pretty cool 5th floor duplex with a roof deck in a building populated by numerous hipsters (and many more wannabe hipsters) right next to the Montrose Avenue subway stop near Williamsburg in Brooklyn for a couple years, I've had some close hand exposure to the lifestyle.

For the record, I was not trying to be a hipster; the room was a steal at $800 a month, the building was a 90 second walk to the L-Train into Manhattan and I was friends with the brother and sister who lived there; plus it was cat-friendly and had the aforementioned roof deck with amazing views of Manhattan. 

One of the interesting aspects about the hipster lifestyle is their uncanny ability to latch onto things once considered relatively mundane or a thing of the past, and make them "hip" again. While trucker hats, skinny jeans, old bicycles, beards, thick-framed eye wear and vintage clothes were quite familiar to me, I was surprised to hear that toast has achieved hipster status.

Yes, toasted slices of bread are now a "thing." Apparently "toast bars" are popping up inside restaurants, bistros and cafes in hip urban settings all across the country.

For me growing up, toast was something you threw into the toaster, buttered (maybe some jam) to go with eggs; or maybe you answered "Whole wheat" when the waitress at the diner took your breakfast order at 4am after a night out and asked what kind of toast you wanted with your eggs.

So I congratulate hipsters and foodies for taking toasted bread from something that was secondary to a side order; to something people now line up for and pay $3 - $7 a slice for; granted some are getting apricot jelly, exotic jams, maybe some truffles or some kind of special "organic goat butter" or whatever spread on this delicious new hipster toast - but call me old fashioned.

I'm just not shelling out $5 bucks for a piece of %$#@&* toast, I don't care how cool it is.

Finally, the second funny thing mentioned on "Wait Wait..." on Saturday was the unfortunate case of Mexican driver Guillermo Reyes. As reported by Lee Moran on the NY Daily News Website, sometime during the week of January 6th, the 49 year-old Reyes was pulled over by cops at a DUI checkpoint in Mexico City.

The traffic officers heard someone yelling, "He's drunk! He's drunk!" from the back seat of Reyes' car; turns out it was poor Guillermo's parrot. The law-abiding, or possibly spiteful bird prompted police to pull Reyes out of the car and he was found to indeed be past the legal limit and was hauled off to the drunk tank to sleep it off. The cops did allow him to take the bird with him though, so that was cool of them.

For the record, I am not a parrot fan. When I lived in the aforementioned duplex in Brooklyn my roommate had one. Let me tell you, on TV or in the movies the idea of a talking bird is really funny, but in real life I found it disturbing and creepy.

The birds can be moody, real wise-asses and apparently have intelligence and reasoning ability that's akin to a three year-old human child, really they do.

The bird used to mimic my cat's meow from the other room; which was disturbing when I was chilling out with my cat next to me watching a movie. And it used to sit in the shower in the dark muttering "pretty bird, pretty bird" to itself for hours. I'm just not a big fan of animals with the capacity to mimic human speech.

But I am fond of the story of Winston Churchill's famous parrot Charlie, who lived to be over 104 years old. The bird was born in 1899, Churchill purchased Charlie in 1937 just before the war broke out and his beloved bird spent much of the Blitz with the famous British statesman and prime minister.

The bird was well known for cussing out Nazis and Adolph Hitler in particular, Lord knows Churchill loved to drink and likely spent hours cursing out Hitler during the war. Many world leaders were shocked to hear Charlie the parrot yelling "Fuck Hitler!" enthusiastically, which apparently delighted Churchill to no end.

Right about now I'd wager poor Guillermo Reyes is probably wishing his own parrot had simply kept it's beak shut when he got pulled over by the cops in Mexico City at the DUI checkpoint.

See if Guillermo had had a cat in the backseat when those cops stopped him, he'd have been in the clear - no cat would be dumb enough to narc out the hand that feeds them and changes the litter. Besides, a cat would most likely have simply napped through the whole affair.

What Guillermo was doing getting his drink on and cruising around Mexico City with his parrot in the back seat of the car in the first place is another story.



    

Dismantling the Myth of the Black Father in America

Tara Culp-Ressler posted a really well-written and insightful article on the ThinkProgress.org Website yesterday, "The Myth of the Absent Black Father" that cites some interesting results from a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that examines the role of fathers in family health and child development.

There's no question that in parts of urban communities in America with high rates of poverty and unemployment like Trenton, NJ there's a real need for the presence of more positive black male role models in the lives of children of color; in the home, in the school and in between.

But years of data presented in "Fathers' Involvement With Their Children: United States, 2006 - 2010" a study published by National Health Statistics Reports this past December offers proof that only one part of the narrative of black fatherhood in America is being told.

Growing up there was not a single moment when my father was not an integral part of my life.

He did his share of diapers when I was a baby and held me when I cried; he was up until the early hours on many a past Christmas Eve pouring over instructions to assemble gifts for my siblings and I.

On the warm overcast fall afternoon when I learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels in the street in front of our home, he was right behind me running along; shouting words of encouragement with those strong hands of his extended protectively in case my mastery of balance was not fully developed.

He was also there with that stern look and words of reproach whenever my report card wasn't up to par, and later offered wise counsel during times of uncertainty when I was learning to become a man.

So you'll appreciate it if the oft-perpetuated myths and stereotypes of the absentee black American father, which so often circulated through the mainstream media when I was growing up, confused me.

Both of my grandfathers were strong, devoted, church-going working men who were totally dedicated to their families. Just like my uncles and the fathers of all the African-American friends I was close to growing up through elementary, high school and later college.

Those fathers were there at school plays, music recitals, career days, parent-teacher conferences, church services, summertime picnics and football games.

I'm not a sociologist but somewhere along the line in this country politicians, pundits and even members of academia began to paint the broader perception of the black father in America with the brush strokes used to define those separated from the traditional family structure because of poverty resulting from limited job opportunities or career training, substandard educational opportunities, incarceration, substance abuse, infidelity or worse.   

Civil rights activist Cecil B. Moore

How this unfair perception of the black father emerged is a complex question with no simple answer.

Did it start in the 1950's and 60's when public assistance became more widespread among poor urban populations concentrated in areas with shrinking job opportunities as manufacturing jobs began to disappear?

In the 1960's Cecil B. Moore, the former Marine who served in WWII and went on to become a lawyer who fought on behalf of poor residents of north Philadelphia and later became head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP (and a hard-charging civil rights activist) argued that the welfare system stripped away the core motivation for self sufficiency.

And eroded the work ethic of many African-Americans.

Maybe it started earlier in the 1930's and 40's during the second great migration of huge numbers of African-Americans fleeing the stifling institutionalized racism and lack of educational and work opportunities in southern states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama.

Large populations of blacks who were the product of substandard educational systems in the south found themselves in traditionally African-American neighborhoods alongside better-educated people of color with deeper community ties, jobs and a different work ethic who'd lived in the north for years.

Is it really surprising that someone with a 2nd or 3rd grade education who'd been a sharecropper in the south (and threatened with violence if he/she tried to vote) found themselves unable to find a job after moving to the north and ended up on welfare?  

The reasons are myriad but as the CDC study shows there were black fathers who were and are strong, positive and nurturing father figures. Maybe those guys didn't make for interesting press coverage.

Image from the notorious Willie Horton ad used
by the Bush campaign to slander Dukakis 

Perhaps it just didn't serve conservative politicians or "limousine policy liberals" to trumpet the hard-working African-American men who were responsible fathers and dedicated family men.

In the 1980's as the GOP began taking a hard turn to the right Ronald Reagan vilified black single mothers as "Welfare Queens" - as if they were responsible for the recessions in the 80's - and in turn it became almost fashionable to lambaste "absentee fathers" who'd impregnated and abandoned them.

To defeat Democratic candidate Mike Dukakis in the 1988 presidential elections, the GOP (with the consent of George Bush senior), ran the notorious Willie Horton ads repeatedly on national television in a subconscious effort to indoctrinate (and frighten) white voters with the image of the African-American male as some kind of violence-prone homicidal maniac - who would be "unleashed" on the country if Dukakis was elected; and boy did he lose.

I never saw a Republican TV ad with someone like my father, a college-educated corporate career professional who mentored young men and women of all races. 

There are many reasons that the strong positive black father figure in America has been distorted within the mainstream media for years, but with the conclusions from the CDC study based on years of research and data; we know that black fathers from the same circumstances as whites or Hispanics, are just as loving, committed, nurturing, dedicated and present in the lives of their children as fathers of other demographic groups - even more so in some cases as the study notes.

As Tara Culp-Ressler noted about the study in her ThinkProgress.org article, "...the Los Angeles Times noted that the results “defy stereotypes about black fatherhood” because the CDC found that black dads are more involved with their kids on a daily basis than dads from other racial groups."

Don't hold your breath waiting for that to be reported on Fox News - they'll be too busy looking for "absentee fathers" to vilify to fit in with their distorted views of a demographic they've become addicted to using to manipulate their electorate.

At least we now have proof of what many people of all races, religions and nationalities have known all along - that the perception of black fathers in the eye of the American media is anything but "fair and balanced."

America's Culture of Confusion

Kelly Thomas' parents (photo LA Times)

Sometimes the violence in this country just leaves me flat-out confused. Take the gun situation for example.

Consider the sadly clock-like regularity of shooting massacres like Virginia Tech, Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook; and those are just a few.

Or the ongoing plague of gun violence terrorizing marginalized urban communities in places like Detroit, Wilmington, DE, Trenton, NJ or Chicago - where young men who've developed an unnatural obsession with gun culture are killing each other over petty slights, perceived insults or worse; or less.

Polls show a vast majority of Americans support some sensible handgun laws; reasonable things like mandatory Federal background checks, limits on purchases and restrictions on sales.

Yet the Congress we elected to write legislation that protect us seems more interested in campaign donations from the NRA and abstract theories of Constitutional freedoms than the ongoing death toll going on all around us.

So when a 71 year-old retired Tampa police captain named Curtis Reeves decides to go catch a movie in Florida with his wife, he takes a loaded .380 handgun with him. Does he use the handgun to take down some delusional nut-bag with an AR-15 who played too many violent video games?

No, the ex-captain shoots and kills a man who's using his cell phone, and wounds the victim's wife when she tries to instinctively shield her husband from the bullets with her hand. News reports suggest the victim turned around and struck Reeves before being shot so don't be surprised if the 'Stand You Ground' defense is eventually used; if it worked for George Zimmerman after murdering an innocent teenager, it'll work for a 71 year-old retired police officer.

The mainstream media finds six ways to Sunday to tell us all about how shocking it was.

But how come the media isn't shocked by the nations lax gun laws? What are these reporters doing standing in front of a theater in Florida doing live reports when they should be in DC on Capitol Hill asking Republicans why they oppose any kind of firearms legislation?

Why aren't they standing in front of NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre's driveway asking why the NRA lobbies against the kinds of laws moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters and children all want?

How come the mainstream press isn't asking why LaPierre makes $972,000 a year to oppose common sense laws that would make the country safer? At what point did it became OK in Florida to use a handgun on someone talking too loudly on the phone?

This leaves me confused.

Did you read Josh Marshall's TPM blog about Multnomah County Republican Party in Oregon who are auctioning off an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in honor of the upcoming celebrations honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln? Don't they understand how sick and vulgar that sounds to most people to "honor" two seminal figures in American history who were both assassinated by gunmen by auctioning off a rifle used to kill people?

The weapon will be given away at the MCRP's Lincoln Day Dinner on February 14th; the featured speaker? Rafael Cruz, father of Ted Cruz (the apple sure didn't fall far from this tree).

That leaves me really confused.

And with one of the most well trained, well... well-equipped police forces anyway, in the nation you'd think members of the Fullerton, California police department could find a way to take an unarmed, mentally-ill homeless man like Kelly Thomas into custody after a 2011 confrontation at a transit parking lot.

But no, former Fullerton Police officers Jay Patrick Cicinelli and Manuel Ramos beat him to death.

Even though Ramos' attorney asserted the two officers were just "doing their job" and "had no malice in their hearts", a widely-seen surveillance video clearly shows Ramos putting his gloves on and shaking his fists in the face of Thomas before the two officers began beating him with their fists, clubs and using a Taser device on him.

A jury from Orange County found both men not guilty on all charges, sparking outrage and protests across the nation for this shocking case of excessive use of force.

While I understand people needing to comply with police commands; was it really necessary for these cops to beat Kelly Thomas to death for 30 minutes while he screams and begs for his life?

30 minutes.

Kelly was beaten so badly multiple bones in his face were broken, he choked on his own blood and the compression on his thorax by the officers prevented him from breathing; he was brought to the hospital in a coma and died five days later when his parents (pictured above) decided to take him off life support.

I won't post the photo of Thomas' face taken in the hospital; it's actually hard to tell it's a human face. But take a look at the photo if you don't believe me.

Because the Thomas beating was such an disturbing example of police brutality, I decided to post an news report/discussion that contains an edited version of the video beating that was caught on surveillance tape.

Hearing an unarmed innocent man scream and plead for his life during a violent police assault suggests we have become a confused culture - hard as it is to hear (the light in the video is poor so it's difficult to really see) I think everyone should see it once.

Just so there's no confusion about where we are as a nation.

Republicans Weigh in On Bridge-Gate - Was Loretta Weinberg the Real Target of Christie's Wrath?

NJ State Senator Loretta Weinberg (Photo by Ed Murray/Star Ledger)

After weeks of relative silence on governor Chris Christie's growing Bridge-Gate scandal, leading figures in the Republican hierarchy have started to chime in on the issue.

On Fox News earlier today, GOP strategist Karl Rove had nothing but praise for Christie's handling of the scandal, noting with optimism,
“I think he did himself a lot of good,”, he even suggested it proves the NJ governor has what it takes to be president.

If nothing else you have to admire Rove for thinking outside the box. Clearly Rove has never been in a car stuck in traffic headed east-bound on the George Washington Bridge on a sunny Friday afternoon in the summer when the Yankees have a 7:05pm start time in the Bronx.

Not surprisingly the morally upright and pious former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum as well as RNC chair Reince Priebus (best-name-ever) also towed the party line.

Instead of commenting on Christie's misuse of political power, they used the opportunity to instead criticize President Obama for Benghazi (which both a recent book and a New York Times investigation called a "scandal" concocted by right-wing media) and the IRS brouhaha when Republicans cried foul after the IRS investigated conservative non-profits using funds for political purposes in violation of US law.

There's a new theory gaining traction too. On Friday Trevor LaFauci posted a very interesting piece on the PoliticusUSA Website regarding some of the detailed research and analysis on the Bridge-Gate scandal conducted by Rachel Maddow and her staff.  

Maddow is a tenacious journalist and she was really the first to break this story; and she suggests it goes much deeper. According to LaFauci's article, Maddow has floated the theory that Christie's retribution was not aimed at Fort Lee governor Mark Sokolich, rather it was intended for NJ Democratic Senate leader Loretta Weinberg (pictured above) whose district is in Fort Lee.

Please click the link above and read the article, but here's how the "Maddow theory" works:

After an initial seven year term NJ State Supreme Court judges must be renominated by the governor and approved by the state senate for a life-time term. In 2010 Justice John Wallace, Jr., the only African-American on the State Supreme Court, was NOT renominated by governor Christie - this was the first time since 1947 that a State Supreme Court judge was not renominated for a life term and it apparently infuriated the NJ Democratic legislative establishment.

So in retribution, Democratic senators opposed three subsequent Christie appointees to fill Wallace's position on the court; including most recently, Judge Helen Hoens. Here's where it gets interesting.

According to Maddow, Hoens' husband was tight with Chris Christie and worked in his administration. On August 12th of this year, Christie, knowing Democrats would oppose her renomination to the court for a lifetime tenure in a political process that would possibly tarnish her reputation, decided not to renominate her.

According to LaFauci's politicususa article, Maddow suggests Christie was so irate about having to withdraw Hoens' nomination, that he then ordered the lane closure on the GW Bridge.

As records now clearly show, the e-mail sent from Christie's staff to David Wildstein (Christie's ex-high school classmate and the former director of interstate capital projects for the Port Authority) ordering the Port Authority to close the access lanes that snarled traffic for three days was sent on August 13th, one day after Christie's angry press conference announcing the withdrawal of Hoens' name.

It's a pretty fascinating theory, one that would alter the scope of the scandal significantly. It suggests the whole 'revenge against Sokolich' story was a smokescreen.

If it's proved that Christie did order the bridge closures as retribution for the State Supreme Court nomination - then the story not only leads back to Christie refusing to renominate the only African-American judge on the court back in 2010; it's also clear his former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly would never have been responsible for calling up the port authority on her own to order retribution on a close personal friend of Christie's.

If Maddow's theory does turn out to be true, she deserves serious journalistic accolades for uncovering a truth Christie is desperate to keep hidden. If David Wildstein or Bridet Kelly decide to lawyer up and cop a plea to avoid jail time, the truth won't stay hidden for long.

Regardless of how it all turns out, Maddow and her staff have done some excellent investigative work - work that could end up altering the 2016 Republican nominee for president.

Perhaps we should all start calling her "Tenacious R".   

Sister Simone's Quest for Justice & Turning the Tide Against Voter Suppression

Sister Simone Campbell

We've heard enough about Chris Christie's petty political vindictiveness all week, so I thought it might be nice to switch media gears and share an interesting story about someone making smaller headlines for helping to bring about significant positive contributions for social justice in America; the truly amazing Sister Simone Campbell.

If you're near a computer and have about 30 minutes, journalist/ host Ben Wikler did a really interesting interview in December with Sister Simone on his podcast 'The Good Fight' - sponsored by MoveOn.org. It's available online.

It's insightful, funny, inspiring and definitely worth a listen.

Not only does she recount the actions that led to the first 'Nuns on the Bus' tour in 2010, she reminds us that there are millions of Christians in America who oppose the rigid kind of fundamentalist quasi-political claptrap that the Duck Dynasty debacle exposed; people who imagine the New Testament of the Bible is some sort of license to marginalize and judge people.  

Sister Simone's story is fascinating. Born in southern California, at age 18 she was tutoring in the south Los Angeles public school system and became so frustrated with the inequality she saw in terms of resources and facilities for Hispanic children that she joined a sit-in at the LA Board of Education building to demand changes.

Further inspired by the courage of students engaged in lunch counter sit-ins in the south and others facing attacks by Bull Connor's heavy-handed police tactics, she joined the Sisters of Social Service to devote her life as a nun to serving God by helping others.

During World War II members of the order in Hungary risked their lives to help Jewish families; some of the nuns were even killed by the Nazis for their efforts.
 
Sister Simone is no ordinary nun either; she's also an attorney, a poet and a lobbyist! She's the executive director of a small lobbying group in DC called Network, which, according to their Website, "...lobbies on issues of peace-building, immigration reform, health care and economic justice."

After leading Catholic bishops came out against the Affordable Health Care Act, Sister Simone sprang into action and wrote a letter of support for the health care bill that received massive support from the vast majority of orders of American Catholic nuns.

But it also earned them a very public dressing down by then Pope Benedict who tapped an American bishop to "rein in" the feisty American nuns; which of course only fired her up and galvanized huge public support for the nuns and their support of health care on moral and ethical grounds.

This woman actually helped to change the culture of the Catholic Church; and interestingly five of the Catholic bishops who'd originally opposed the heath care act in 2010 were inspired by her and actually changed their minds; the bishop of Austin, Texas even apologized publicly.

Anyway check out the Sister Simone podcast, it's pretty cool.

Speaking of justice in America, as many of you know last year a slim 5-4 majority in the case of Shelby County v. Holder by our right-leaning Supreme Court gutted two key provisions of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1964 with the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Koch Brothers and Tea Party extremists.

Remember the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized by Congress in 2006 under President Bush with strong bipartisan support.

This opened the floodgate for an unprecedented slew of legislative assaults by state legislatures around the country intended to make it more difficult for students, the poor, elderly people, minorities and legal immigrants to exercise their basic Constitutional right to vote.

But progressive forces are actively at work building support for Congress to strengthen the provisions of the Voting Rights Act to fight back against the conservative majority state legislatures that have developed a Constitutionally unhealthy obsession with making it legal to block the right of citizens to vote.

Organizations like the NAACP have been taking on these archaic state laws in places like Pennsylvania for some time.

The ACLU has been at war with the state of Florida and their notoriously disgraceful efforts to enact extraneous voter ID requirements and reduce the available times and locations for people to vote.

The Department of Justice has also geared up its efforts to deploy the resources of the Federal Government to take on voter suppression in places like North Carolina - which has enacted some of the most absurdly restrictive voter rights laws since the Jim Crow Era.

So stay positive, the majority of the American people are getting behind this movement and remember; the Supreme Court is just ONE branch of the Federal Government. If average citizens can keep up the pressure on their Congressional representatives, we can move Congress to put the Voter Rights Act back onto the floor to put some teeth back into this law.

No way are hard working people going to just stand around while the hard-fought civil and voter rights gains of the 40's, 50's and 60's are unraveled by conservative big money donors and right wing extremists using legislative tricks and wildly exaggerated figures on voter fraud to suppress the right to vote.

You can do something right now to support this movement. The People for the American Way have started a petition calling on Congress to restore the Voter Rights Act back to full strength, take a cue from Sister Simone's drive and energy and add your name to this petition.

Remember, they can only suppress the rights of all Americans to cast their vote at the ballot box if we allow them to. When 96 year-old Chattanooga, Tennessee resident Dorothy Cooper is told she can't vote without a photo ID, then is rebuffed by some petty little desk clerk when she brings her documents to the DMV to get an ID, Republicans have simply gone too far.

Our country might not be perfect, but suppressing the vote is not the American way. 

Well that's it from here beside the Delaware River, I'm off to the gym to try and work off some of the French toast I made for breakfast then I'm gonna catch some of the New Orleans - Seattle playoff game at 4:35pm - which of course is the American way.
 

"She lied to me" - Christie Blames Bridge Gate on a Rogue Jersey Patsy

Ex-Christie deputy chief/bus victim Bridget Anne Kelly

Really? Did she? I listened to Chris Christie's press conference/ Mea Culpa - like millions of other people.

Aside from the embattled NJ governor's carefully scripted apology, I'm just not buying his repeated assertions that his staff somehow "went rogue" on him and decided to tell their boss's Port Authority appointee to order access lanes to the GW Bridge to be closed without his knowledge.

Based on reactions to the press conference, from a cross section of average citizens across to the main stream media, to scores of Twitter followers as well as some of the comments from listeners of the Brian Lehrer Show earlier today, I'm not alone.

The New York Times reports that newly released documents show top members of Christie's staff not only knew all about the lane closures, they went through extensive efforts to keep knowledge about them covered up. And Christie didn't know? Come on.

Anyone who watches that guy for ten seconds in a press conference can tell no one on his staff sharpens a pencil without him knowing about it - let alone makes an ethically and legally questionable request of the Port Authority.

By now I'm sure Bridget Anne Kelly is wishing she'd bought a house somewhere in outer Mongolia, but it is what it is. No doubt that right now she's the target of every Tom, Dick and Harry wanna-be journalist with a digital camera or cell phone with video capacity trying to capture her image to satisfy the angry villagers wielding pitchforks and outrage.

Hey, I'm guilty of the same thing too. Look at that picture above.

Does that look like someone with the power and influence to call up someone at the Port Authority and ask them to close three major access lanes to intentionally cause traffic because of some petty political vendetta?

No one's buying that malarkey, despite Christie serving it up like some kind of deflection device intended to keep his pristine image as a straight-talkin' bipartisan politician looking to stake his claim to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Like many others, I gave Bridget some grief based on transcripts of her now famous e-mail portraying her as some kind of rogue element within the tightly controlled Christie administration intent on serving up retribution for disloyalty to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. 

But the evidence emerging suggests she's been cast into the role of a Jersey Patsy to protect a vindictive control-freak governor caught bullying a Democratic mayor who posed absolutely no threat to him.

As facts clearly demonstrate, this is a governor with an extensive history of using the powers of his office to exact harsh punishment against those he sees as opposing him.

Earlier today on the Brian Lehrer Show, the managing editor of NJ Public Radio Nancy Solomon said she'd spoken with a journalist (who's covered NJ politics for years) who'd met Bridget Anne Kelly long before she was Christie's deputy chief of staff; and said it was completely outside her character to do something like initiate a lane closure on the GW Bridge as a form of political retribution.

Listen to the segment and decided for yourself.

Christie's problem (or one of them) is that no one is buying the idea that Kelly, along with other Christie staffers, somehow made the decision to independently contact Christie appointees to the Port Authority and tell them to close the lanes without the governor knowing about it - or ordering it.

Former Port Authority official David Wildstein is pleading the 5th, but give it time. The truth of this sad affair is still unfolding.

Bogus Disability Claims & Bridget's Role in Bridge-Gate

Could e-mails doom Chris Christie's White House hopes?

While it's been painfully frigid across the Lower 48 the past few days, I'm not sure it gets much colder than the audacity of the 106 retired New York City policemen, firefighters and EMT's who were indicted in State Supreme Court yesterday on charges of  submitting bogus claims of severe psychiatric trauma as a result of having worked at Ground Zero on 9/11.  

The shocking details leveled by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance are all over the media and as someone who lived in Manhattan on September 11, 2001, this massive case of fraud is truly sickening. People using the horrific tragedy of 9/11 to collect between $30,000 - $50,000 in disability claims a year is bad enough; seeing these greedy idiots posting photos of themselves living it up on the tax payer's dime is even more insulting in these turbulent economic times.

My favorite is the photo of the guy holding up a huge sailfish while fishing off Costa Rica.

Unbelievable.

Speaking of warmer climates, things are about to get much hotter for perpetually straight-talkin' NJ Governor Chris Christie. After weeks of his overly-pious denials in the press, the smoking gun has finally surfaced directly linking top members of his own staff to the GW Bridge-Gate scandal.

After the former director of interstate capital projects for the NY-NJ Port Authority David Wildstein (Christie's high school classmate) was subpoenaed  in the wake of the scandal, he released a trove of internal e-mails sent between Port Authority officials and Christie's staff.

The e-mails released this morning show that Christie's deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly was actually gleeful the day after the lane closures snarled traffic on the George Washington Bridge as she sent Wildstein an e-mail saying, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Apparently the idea of young children stuck in school buses for hours being made late for class because of intentionally-caused bridge traffic really turns Bridget on. Where do you find people like this?

We can only hope Bridget gets to know the inside of a jail cell for her role in this; but she's just one cog in a bigger wheel. And how brilliant is it that the top Christie aide who (supposedly) ordered the GW Bridge-Gate is named "Bridget"?

If you haven't already read the details of this ego-fueled misuse of power, check out my blog from December 11th; knowing how this gargantuan Garden State debacle unfolded will make Christie's soon to be heard excuses and denials all the more amusing.

EMS officials have publicly stated very specific examples of how emergency responses (including the search for a missing child) were delayed by the traffic snarl.

Also troubling are transcripts from text messages showing that Christie's campaign manager Bill Sepien and Bill Baroni, who resigned as the deputy executive director of the Port Authority in the wake of the scandal, both derisively referred to Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich as a "Serbian" - Sokolich is actually of Croatian descent.

The whole thing stinks and totally rips the cover of Christie's supposedly bipartisan image and demonstrates that allegations of his bully mentality are totally true.

Frankly his attempts to toss top aide Bridget Anne Kelly under the bus to cover up the fact that he ordered this retribution are pretty pathetic.

Anyone who believes a Christie aide like Kelly, A Mount St. Mary's University grad who only began her possibly short-lived political career in 2002 (and makes $114,000 a year) was the one who ordered a massive interstate entity like the Port Authority to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge - I've got a bridge to sell you. 

'Maus' Creator Art Spiegleman Lights Up New York

Cover of volume 1 of Spiegelman's 'Maus'

There are an enormous array of artistic forms of creative expression that examine the impact of the Holocaust.

From paintings, sculptures and plays, to an incredibly wide range of scholarly articles, books, films, documentaries and music.

The list is justifiably long; as were the millions of innocent victims of that heinous and staggering crime against humanity.

One of the most innovative, genuinely touching and deeply personal of these is the graphic novel 'Maus', written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman.

Earlier this afternoon Spiegelman was interviewed on the Leonard Lopate show on NPR in part to promote a retrospective of his work that will be on display at the Jewish Museum until March 24th.

You can click here to listen to the interview on the WNYC.org Website.

First published in 1991, 'Maus' was not without controversy for Spiegleman's fascinating creative choice to use animals to depict the characters in his graphic novel; Jews are mice, Germans are cats, Americans are dogs, ethnic Poles are pigs and French are frogs.

He chose mice as his protagonists as a play on the German propaganda of the earlier part of the 20th century that frequently depicted Jews as vermin.

'Maus' was published in two volumes (the 2nd came out in 2004) and was the very first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. If you've never read it don't be fooled, the story is totally engrossing, the characters intense and multidimensional and the subject matter is as terrifying illustrated as a comic as the events it depicts.

In some ways it being drawn as a comic lends itself to a hyper-realism that's one of the most emotional stories I've ever read; I try to read 'Maus' at least once a year, and it still brings me to tears.

The story is based on extensive interviews Spielgelman conducted with his father Vladek, a moody eclectic, colorful Holocaust survivor from Rego Park, NY who was often estranged from his son.

One of the strengths of the story is that it depicts not only Spielgelman's real struggles with his aging father in terms of their rocky relationship, his own identity as the son of a Holocaust survivor and Vladek's telling his story of the Holocaust in series of flashback sequences that stretch over two volumes; but Speigelman also brilliantly tells the story of his efforts to create the very story that would become 'Maus'.

It's a brilliant and educational piece of art and one I highly recommend for those who've heard of it but never read it.

There's no question Spiegelman's career merits a retrospective at a museum to examine the span of his work. "Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective" will be on display at the Jewish Museum in New York City (5th Avenue and 92nd Street) through March 24th.

Speigleman will also be on-hand for a 90-minute multimedia presentation called "Wordless!" at BAM in Brooklyn on Saturday January 18th at 7:30pm. He'll be discussing "the battle between words and pictures" and the evolution and impact of the graphic novel as a serious art form accompanied by live jazz from Phillip Johnston. Tickets are $30.

I'm definitely going to try and catch both; even though he did make the cats Nazis.

Horse Weather Predictions & The GOP's Dangerous Chicken

Suomi NPP satellite image (courtesy of NASA/NOAA)

This satellite image of the snowfall in the northeastern US taken on January 3rd pretty much sums it up for much of the country.

Some of the people in the company I work for deal directly with snow removal from parking lots and sidewalks.

Even back in Autumn when preparations for the winter were being made in terms of purchases of salt and equipment, the word amongst these guys was that this winter was going to be bad; and they were on the money.

One of the most interesting winter weather predictions I heard came not from the Weather Channel or Janice Huff - but from horses.

A plumber I work with has a good friend who resides in Pennsylvania and he keeps horses. Now I never knew this but it's normal for our sturdy four-legged friends to shed some of their hair after summer and grow a longer "winter coat" in preparation for colder temps.

This year his horses were shedding in late August, which is much earlier than usual, as their horse-sense told them winter was coming early. And sure enough we've had at least two snowfalls and temps down in the single digits BEFORE winter began this year - maybe the Weather Channel should have like a live "Horse-Cam" and have an actual horse-whisperer (like Monty Roberts) stand there and translate their weather observations.

Seriously though, how do horses know bad weather is coming months before it comes? Perhaps it's just evolution and horses having to find ways to prepare for winters for thousands of years.

Speaking of evolution, a recent ThinkProgress.org article cites recent polls showing a significant increase in the number of Republicans who do NOT believe in evolution. What's next for the Republican base, going back to the flat-Earth theory? 

The degree to which Tea Party extremists have shifted the base of the Republican party and moved its values to the far right is simply incredible. It's reached the point where even mainstream Republicans have now drawn a line in the sand and are actively raising funds to keep members of their OWN party safe from Tea Party supporters and their warped scorched-Earth policy views.

Eric Lipton wrote an interesting article in the New York Times on Friday about Steven C. LaTourette, a former long-time Ohio Congressman who left office over frustration with the massive gridlock in Washington caused by obstruction-obsessed members of the Tea Party who've adopted an inflexible policy of blocking virtually ANYTHING President Obama supports - even if most American voters support it.

Their "ideology over the good of the People" approach to governing has produced the least productive House of Representatives in US history. For instance, by June of this year, they had passed a total of thirteen laws, none of which had to do with creating jobs.

The Tea Party has torpedoed Republican approval ratings to record lows, to the degree that even main stream Republicans like Mr. LaTourette are now actively engaged in battling to keep them out of office. 

Isn't it interesting how it's taken the GOP this long to finally learn what an unqualified disaster the Koch Brother's-financed Tea Party is for the American people? Too bad these mainstream conservatives stood by when all these wing-nuts were crying about the president not being born in America or being a Muslim.

Now that Tea Baggers have embraced not believing in well-established scientific theory like evolution and climate change, and are all but tripping over themselves defending Duck Dynasty's Phil Roberts to trumpet their fundamental "Christian belief"s to boost their "street cred" with Bible-Belt district voters in the south and middle America - beliefs which have little to do with the actual teachings of Jesus by the way - centrist Republicans are scared.

These mainstream members of the GOP are waking up out of a six year slumber to realize this enormous dangerous chicken not only came home to roost long ago, it's now turned on them (and is not to be confused with the Vicious Chicken of Bristol).

It's not going to be easy getting it out of the hen house in time for the next Congressional elections or the 2016 presidential race either.

So congrats to our mainstream Republican friends! You've finally discovered what we've been saying all along - that chicken just ain't gonna fly with the mainstream voters you need to win the White House. And it's a really crazy bird - Allen West anyone?