h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A thin skin is a liability in politics.

Nah, she's not gone for good. No one with that much ambition is going to retire from politics.

Would our New Jersey residents (I'm lookin' at YOU, Witty and d'E) like to comment on the 40-odd arrests that took place this week, netting several mayors, state officials and rabbis and involving bribery, corruption and the illegal sale of human organs?

Is New Joisey a great place or what?

It seems to be a given that publicly elected officials here earn a substantial bonus income to look the other way so the illegal activities can continue unabated, I think they consider it a perk. The mayor of my municipality was in the last major sweep, plead guilty to what is probably a tiny portion of his true bribery take and served 18 months in federal prison. The prosecutor in that sweep was Chris Christy, who is now the current Republican candidate for governor. He is attempting to out Jon Corzine, who is so dismal as governor he is having trouble finding a running mate for the newly created lieutenant governor position. Personally, I am pleased to see another major sweep only a few years after the prior one.

Incidentally, the stool pigeon in this is singing in an attempt to gain some consideration for the charges he is facing for a huge real estate and mortgage scam he was running in my area. He was arrested 2 years ago trying to cash a $25.2 million check at a bank drive through window, trying to cover another $25 million phony check he deposited at another bank. You've got to admit, he's got chutzpah! His father was one of the rabbis arrested this week.

Here is some local perspective for those interested in delving further:

http://www.app.com/article/99999999/SPECIAL/90723060&template=periodic&theme=FBIPROBE

This is one of the craziest stories in recent days! Kidneys! You think this kind of thing only goes on in third world countries, or among poverty-stricken immigrants (not that that's okay, either) but among *rabbis*? In *New Jersey*? Insane!

With rabbis you'd expect a chopped-liver shop, wouldn't you?

Whaddya I look like to ya'? A black market kidney?

To be fair, some of the rabbis are from New York.

NJ does have a terrible political corruption problem (the former mayor of New Brunswick, more recently a state senator, is also in jail courtesy of Chris Christy). But something strikes me as very odd about this particular sweep - I think the scope is terribly broad and the crimes unrelated to each other, enough that there might be problems when they prosecute.

Unfortunately, Chris Christy is as much a part of the NJ political system as everyone else. I get the same bad vibe from him that I got from James McGreevey when he was mayor of Woodbridge.

The McGreevey skeevy vibe?

Shatner reading Palin on the Tonight Show. Who says culture is dead.

http://www.popeater.com/television/article/william-shatner-sarah-palin/596519?icid=main|main|dl7|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2Ftelevision%2Farticle%2Fwilliam-shatner-sarah-palin%2F596519

From The New York Times:

Some Parents Oppose Obama School Speech

Conservative parents have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html

< sigh >

It's really stupid. There's four schools in my area that are not showing the speech - Arlington, Mansfield, Aledo, and Eagle Mountain... I think there's another one, but I can't remember which one that is.

I think things are getting really crazy. Part of the problem is that we have a political party in this country that believes that God is on their side. This enables the members of that party to think that their way is the right way, and to achieve that goal, they're entitled to use any means necessary - including trampling on the civil rights of others. I'm getting sick and tired of it.

Things seem to be getting particularly crazy in Texas. I saw video of the gubernatorial candidates standing on the capitol steps screaming for secession to a crowd of several hundred. The one fellow was ranting about how much he hated the American flag. They were fringe, but they called themselves Republicans.

I lived in Texas long enough that nothing that comes out of Austin ever surprises me. *sigh* Which is not a blanket condemnation of Texas. I loved living in San Antonio and would still be there if life hadn't interfered. It's just that the politicians there are true nutters.

"I wouldn’t let my next-door neighbor talk to my kid alone"

What???

How's that kid ever going to be an independent person in an ever-more compplicated world? Oh of course that was never the idea in the first place....

I wouldn't trust some of those parents to talk to their *own* kids alone! Indoctrination indeed...

Here is the speech as prepared. I don't know if Obama deviated from it, I'm at work at the moment.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/images/09/07/obama.school.speech.pdf


Scary stuff, huh?

Not.

Can't have kids hearing stuff like this.

It's sad that Republicans are so full of hate that they'll take something as upbeat and encouraging as this and try to turn it into something evil.

On a different note - I don't now if any of the Californians here would find this interesting:

http://www.recovery.ca.gov/HTML/RecoveryImpact/map.shtml

Ben

Thanks, Ben -- that's very interesting. I notice that LA again got the lion's share. Economically, it's the tail that wags the dog here. Even Silicon Valley doesn't have as large an economy. Most of it is going to education; no surprise there.