August 11, 2009

On the Waterfront 2009.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:31 pm

waterfront-2-brandoRemember the classic movie, “On the Waterfront,” starring Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy?

The movie was inspired by the criminality that was rampant in the New York and New Jersey ports. That same corruption also gave rise to the creation of the Waterfront Commission, a bi –state agency charged with the mission of combating corruption on the waterfront.

It turns out that an investigation ordered by the former governor of New York (not the governor of New Jersey), the New York Inspector General concluded in a 60-page report (pdf) that the agency, which was created to combat corruption, was itself corrupt. The Inspector General concluded, “This was a total agency breakdown.”

For example, the Commission is charged with issuing licenses for business to operate in the ports, but it hadn’t issued a permanent license “for at least a decade.” As such virtually all the companies operating for the last ten years have been conducting business using “temporary” licenses, which were not created for such a purpose.

The laundry list of improprieties uncovered, “included improper hiring and licensing to fiscal lapses involving the misappropriation of forfeiture funds, unsound overtime pay and misuse of Homeland Security grants.” The Commission used a $170,000 Homeland Security grant to buy a patrol boat that was supposed to be “capable of early detection of a waterborne attack” and was to be used to “deploy officers … at high risk target locations such as the NYC Passenger Ship Terminal, [and] Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne.” The boat was actually used to “escort guests and VIPs during Fleet Week and other events.”

Coming under heavy fire was New Jersey Commissioner, Michael Madonna (also a former state PBA president). The report concludes that Madonna exercised virtually no oversight of the ports’ operations and essentially saw to it that supremely unqualified friends were hired for the Commission police department.

Here’s the kicker.

After New Jersey governor Jon Corzine “learned” of all this corruption from the Inspector General a few days ago, he fired Commissioner Michael Madonna. It is notable that Jon Corzine trails Chris Christie in the gubernatorial polls. Christie is a former federal prosecutor with a perfect record of convictions of a slew of crooked pols.

Jon Corzine – Crime Buster.

Yet Another Poster Boy for Term Limits.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 7:58 pm

John Dingell has been a congressman for 54 years. It shows.

I think it’s time for a new gig. Maybe a Walmart greeter?

Nah … he’d scare the customers away.

August 10, 2009

Injury.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:08 pm

Yesterday I spent several hours tearing up carpet on the stairs between the first and second floor. I spent lots of time supporting myself with my left arm and pulling out about a gazillion carpet tacks with pliers (using both hands on the damned things). I managed to inflict some kind of trauma to my left hand, rendering my pinky and ring finger somewhat numb and only partially functional. Typing with those two fingers is still a chore and guitar playing is out of the question.

I hope it’s better by tomorrow.

I think I must be allergic to manual labor.

August 9, 2009

The People’s Republik of New Jersey.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:32 pm

Jason Sorens of the University of Buffalo and William P. Ruger of Texas State conducted a study to determine how the fifty states ranked in terms of their overall respect for individual freedom:

We rank all fifty states on overall respect for individual freedom and on components of freedom: “Fiscal Policy,” “Regulatory Policy,” and “Paternalism.” Our approach in this report is to weight policies according to the number of people affected by the policy, the intensity of preferences on the issue, and the importance of state policy variation.

I felt for absolutely farookin’ sure that New Jersey would be ranked number 50. After seeing the rankings, I feel much, much better now.

August 8, 2009

Saturday Escape.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 10:30 am

Heading down to the Jersey Shore (a/k/a “goin’ downa shore”) for a b’day party. If I’m lucky, I’ll avoid all exposure to the news today, which is a good thing, as my blood pressure needs a break.

Perhaps you feel the same, in which case, you might want to watch this video. Made me laugh out loud, it did.

Swiped it from Tommy’s Place.

August 7, 2009

The Unruly Mob.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:14 pm

The administration, members of the Congress and certain Senators have characterized those with the audacity to attend a venue to question their elected representatives as agitators bought and paid for by Big Pharma and Big Insurance.

These are the people they’re referring to.

It’s beyond pathetic.

August 6, 2009

You Should Buy This Book.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:10 pm

velociman-book

Velociman (a/k/a Kim Crawford) published his first novel.

Few people can turn a phrase better than V-Man. Indeed his prose always manages to convince me that my time spent at the computer keyboard might be better spent doing something else. Although his writing covers the waterfront, he can perform a verbal evisceration better than anyone I know. A while back he wrote a post about the “Red Hat Ladies,” which resulted in the ladies of the Red Hat Society taking out a contract on his ass. [Sorry, the search feature on his blog appears not to be working.] He also wrote a piece that managed to engender the ire and ridicule of big time blogger of the Atlantic Monthly Major Knucklehead, Andrew Sullivan [he gets no link from me], a badge of distinction.

Most recently, he had one of his posts quoted extensively at Salon.com.

I ordered the book, and I am anxiously waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. I just know it will be an ass-kicking read.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I have known V-Man for more than five years. I have supped with him in a civilized manner in a Jersey restaurant and have been in his company for several blogmeets, all in Southern venues. On one memorable occasion, he helped me down a steep flight of stairs and into the passenger seat of a car after I had suffered severe ataxia as a result of my tangling ass with homemade “Georgia wine.” As such, I’d buy the damned book even if it were written in Sanskrit.

Look, just buy the farookin’ book. If you don’t like it, it will make a handy place to park your drink while you read something else.

A Sad Update.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:26 pm

I’m sorry to say that George Murray, the man I wrote about in this post, passed away on Tuesday. He was 38 years old.

I’m happy to say that when I saw him two weeks ago he was all smiles.

My thoughts are with his wife and his little boy.

August 5, 2009

Silly You…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:00 pm

And you thought that by attending a Town Hall meeting in order to present your grievances to your government representative, you were engaging in political speech protected by the First Amendment?

Wrong.

According to the White House, Members of Congress and the Mainstream Media, you are:

a Birther!

a Redneck

a Bible Thumper

a rabid extremist

an operative (well-dressed, of course) of powerful lobbies

an operative (well-dressed, of course) of health insurance companies

a part of an unruly mob

a Swift Boater

a fear monger

a Rethuglican

a hate monger

a right wing fanatic

and, last but certainly not least,

a RACIST.

Don’t say anything that sounds “fishy,” lest you be reported to Mr. Flag at the White House. But, oops! There is that pesky “political speech” thing.

Kudos to the Americans in North Carolina.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 7:35 pm

change-sign

Swiped it from here.

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