tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56275107168852478852024-02-08T10:41:58.348-05:00Zelnik's BlogJoe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-5492167172950104912008-03-03T13:56:00.000-05:002008-03-03T13:57:14.335-05:00Joseph R. 'Joe' Zelnik, 75, Herald Editor Emeritus, March 3, 2008Joseph R. “Joe” Zelnik, Herald editor for 25 years, died March 3, 2008 at his home here surrounded by family.<br /><br />He was responsible for guiding the weekly newspaper from a 20-page print edition in December 1982 into the 60-plus page weekly with Internet presence that it grew to be by the time of his retirement, when he assumed the title "Editor Emeritus."<br /><br />A seasoned journalist who could write humorous columns and detail-oriented budget stories, Zelnik had been employed by the Delaware County Times from 1966 to 1976, then by the Philadelphia Daily News as an editorial writer for about a year and a half.<br /><br />From the Daily News, he went the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in the Delaware County Bureau in Media, Pa., where he spent five years. The newspaper ceased publication and Zelnik went to work for Buffalo (N.Y.) Courier-Express as an editorial writer, which went out of business six months later.<br /><br />He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of Buffalo in 1954 and a Masters Degree in 1959. His first journalism job was with one of his hometown’s two weekly newspapers in Gowanda, N.Y.<br /><br />Zelnik was an editor who never lost the zeal for writing. He continued to regularly report on freeholder meetings, county Open Space Board and the county Municipal Utilities Authority. Through his years working those beats, he nurtured invaluable sources that provided him with the basis for stories that won readers’ attention.<br /><br />The opening of the Cape May County Campus of Atlantic Cape Community College was one of his proudest moments because he had worked tirelessly for decades to reveal the need for such a college campus here.<br /><br />Arrangements have yet to be finalized.<br /><br />See Wednesday’s Herald print edition for details.<br /><br />If you have any memories of Joe please post a comment here.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-47129988981268472632008-02-05T16:19:00.000-05:002008-02-05T16:22:01.154-05:00Will Four Who Died Together No Longer Be Remembered Together?Covering Delaware County (Pa.) government for the Philadelphia Bulletin’s last five years was a beautiful assignment.<br />Delaware County had more than enough political favoritism and nepotism and corruption to satisfy any reporter. And getting bylines and prominent display was as easy as finding a Philadelphia pretzel.<br />I lived in Media, could walk to the Bulletin office, and could throw a rock to the “court house” where the government was headquartered.<br />Of course there always has to be a downside. One Sunday a month, some of us working in the suburbs were called downtown to the Bulletin building where we tried to avoid a city editor who could send us anywhere, anytime.<br />Thus it was, sometime in the late ‘70s, that I was sent to cover an awards dinner of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.<br />I knew the story line of the four chaplains, but little else.<br />The story: On Feb. 3, 1943, a German submarine sank the U.S. transport ship Dorchester in the North Atlantic, en route from New York to Greenland.<br />Six hundred and seventy-two of the 902 aboard perished<br />In the ship’s final moments, four chaplains — two Protestants, one Catholic, and one Jewish — gave up their lifejackets to soldiers and sailors.<br />They went down together, praying.<br />The story inspired this nation.<br />After the war, the Rev. Daniel A. Poling, pastor of Grace Baptist Church at Temple University and father of one of the four chaplains, established an interfaith chapel. The son, Clark V. Poling, was a 1933 graduate of Rutgers University.<br />At its dedication Feb. 3, 1951, President Harry S Truman said the shrine would “stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers, so should they live together in mutual faith and good will.”<br />Make that one generation.<br />Philadelphia Inquirer reporter David O’Reilly wrote in that paper Sunday that, after several moves, lack of funds, dwindling interest, and some petty intrigues, the chapel at the Navy Yard closed. It does not sound like it will reopen — anywhere.<br />The chaplains had been honored by the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross, special Congressional Medal of Valor, a postage stamp and a “national day of recognition.”<br />But as of last weekend, the chapel does not exist.<br />The Cape May County Library has at least two volumes on the Four Chaplains: “No Greater Glory” by Dan Kurzman and the novel “Sea of Glory” by Ken Wales and David Poling. Either could be a more worthwhile experience for your child than a videogame.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-64612037584825099002008-01-29T17:07:00.000-05:002008-01-29T17:08:25.434-05:00No Signs Means...No SignsThe fuss over two men arrested for refusing to obey police orders to leave their protest signs outside Gov. Corzine’s town hall meeting at the Middle Township School District Performing Arts Center Jan. 19 is beyond belief.<br />I’m not using their names because that’s all they wanted was publicity. And they got it.<br />Republicans picked up on the arrest of these two jokers, nether of whom apparently could read the words “No Signs,” fed their sources, and suddenly it was the biggest violation of the U.S. Constitution since somebody last burned a flag.<br />It’s a real pleasure to apparently be the only person in the world to congratulate Middle officials for doing what was right and arresting these guys who, incidentally, were booked and released fast enough to get back to the PAC and shout questions at the governor.<br />One of the slow readers reportedly is a talk show host; the other placed third in seeking the Republican nomination for governor when Democrat Corzine won in 2005.<br />The latter has had a full week on the front pages of a local paper.<br />The governor, who probably didn’t even know about the arrests at the time, has been compared to Stalin who, by most accounts, was worse than Hitler.<br />The apology for the arrests from Middle officials was almost certainly a lawyer’s advice to attempt to avoid a time-consuming law suit.<br />The sign carriers are calling for investigations by everyone from the State Police to the state Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney, U.S. Marshal, FBI, CIA, and Scotland Yard have yet to be summoned. Guess I’m the only person in this county to think providing security to the governor is no minor matter.<br />I also might be the only person who remembers freeholder meetings at which sheriff’s officers showed up to confiscate signs from protesters. Two differences. The people gave up their signs without incident.<br /> And the freeholders are Republicans.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-70124507354174277892008-01-23T09:13:00.000-05:002008-01-23T09:14:01.399-05:00More U.S. Troops Heading to AfghanistanThe U.S. will send another 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan in March or April to fight the Taliban.<br />One could write long and hard about whether we would even still be in Afghanistan if we had gone in there originally with sufficient forces to find al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden instead of sending our troops to Iraq, where al-Qaeda was not.<br />But what would be the point? What good would it do?<br />Secretary of Defense Gates has made it clear he feels we need to send more troops to Afghanistan because our NATO allies aren’t pulling their own weight. We are believed to have 26,000 of the 40,000 troops.<br />Gates is accused of suggesting soldiers from Canada, Britain and the Netherlands were not well trained in counterinsurgency.<br />He has previously said that he believes Germany and France have kept their troops off the front lines.<br />It’s a mess.<br />“I would beg the Americans to understand that we are their closest allies and our men are bleeding and dying in large numbers,” British Conservative lawmaker and former officer Patrick Mercer told the AP.<br />The performance of America’s heroes in Afghanistan has never been questioned.<br />But journalist J. Malcolm Garcia, writing in the Virginia Quarterly Review, says we have failed to keep our promises of development.<br />Just back from Kabul, he saw few signs of the $13 billion in foreign aid pledged since 2004.<br />Too much money promised to the poor has gone for “cars, housing complexes and hotels for top government officials...” he wrote.<br />A $4 million fund to build schools never got spent because what he called “western interests” have taken over the land.<br />Military victories alone will not bring stability and peace to the suffering people of Afghanistan.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-37912281276408247722008-01-16T07:31:00.000-05:002008-01-16T07:32:24.953-05:00FBI: Dead Heads and Dead LinesThe FBI has done it again.<br />This time, a Justice Department audit reports that phone companies have cut off hundreds of FBI wiretaps because — the FBI didn’t pay its phone bills.<br />You couldn’t make this up.<br />The investigation looked at five FBI field offices, which it declined to identify, of course,<br />More than half of 990 bills to pay for surveillance of suspected criminals, including suspected terrorists and spies, were not paid on time.<br />The Associated Press story said in one office alone the unpaid bill ran $66,000.<br />I’ve watched enough “Law and Order” shows lately to qualify for a diploma from the county’s Public Safety Training Center.<br />In most of those TV programs, if the FBI shows up, the local police take their case notes and go the other way. Now I better understand that and the many plot lines where undercover money went astray or all the witness protection participants seemed to vanish.<br />Do I want the FBI to come if my bank is robbed or a loved one is kidnapped? Of course I do. But that doesn’t change the facts of this mess.<br />Inspector General Glenn A. Fine released an 87-page audit last week, but most of it was edited out as “too sensitive.” Naturally.<br />Incidentally, the same audit found one FBI employee stole $25,000 from the agency.<br />Assistant FBI Director John Miller said they’re working on solving the problem and will not tolerate “financial mismanagement or worse...”<br />Maybe the agency should offer a course in common sense business practices, to be taken right after qualifying on the firing range. What do you think?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-36117433767810919432008-01-08T16:31:00.000-05:002008-01-08T16:32:44.807-05:00Shorter Sentences for Crack DealersLast month, while you were Christmas shopping, the U.S. Supreme Court, in two separate cases, eased sentencing guidelines for judges in crack cocaine cases.<br />The net result: shorter sentences are possible for distributors of crack cocaine.<br />Both were 7-2 decisions.<br />The background: Congress, in the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, mandated far stiffer sentences for crack cocaine than powdered cocaine. Example: the same five-year minimum for possession of 5 grams of crack as for 100 times as much powdered cocaine.<br />There was an assumption then that crack cocaine was deadlier. Subsequent studies challenge that.<br />But no one challenges that crack cocaine is more common in cities, powder in suburbs, and, as a result, more black people are convicted for <br />crack cocaine use. They make up 80 percent of those sentenced for crack-dealing, according to David Stout of the New York Times.<br />Many felt that low-income minorities in cities were unfairly receiving harsher sentences.<br />In the first case, the court upheld a Virginia district judge who had refused to follow the stricter guidelines.<br />In the second, the court upheld a three years’ probation sentence, instead of the recommended three years in prison, for a young man who sold Ecstasy while in college.<br />He had since finished college, served with the Marines in the Gulf war, and had no felony convictions.<br />The dissenting justices in both cases were Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.<br />Of course Congress also could have dealt with this issue with new legislation, but the poisonous air in this country’s politics probably would have punished those who wanted a change as being soft on drugs.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-8060127926169017242008-01-01T13:57:00.000-05:002008-01-01T13:58:07.373-05:00Where Were You Drinking?As you may have noticed in recent months, I am fed up to here with drunk drivers.<br />Southern New Jersey seems to have more than its share: both sexes, all ages,<br />They maim and kill our loved ones., And then they are sooo sorry, They weep. They apologize to the survivors. They beg for forgiveness. <br />They are thoughtless, selfish, inconsiderate people with no concern for anyone but themselves. They think they can drive impaired and never have an accident.,<br />Not that long ago, I urged police who investigate dui cases to include in their probe where the drunk driver was doing his or her drinking, and where the last drink was consumed.<br />Now state Attorney General Anne Milgram has issued a directive authorizing police to ask those questions of suspected drunken drivers.<br />Guess who doesn’t like the idea?<br />Some bar owners. who could receive penalties including suspension or revocation of their licenses if they serve intoxicated persons.<br />They say the drunk drivers could lie.<br />But Jerry Fischer, director of the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said no action against a bar could happen without a full investigation.<br />“Statistically, once you see a bar mentioned 10 times, it isn’t a plot against the bar, ” he said.<br />According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, New Jersey had 224 fatalities involving motorists who were legally drunk un 2006. That’s 30 percent of all auto fatalities and a 10 percent increase from 2005.<br />I know police are busy. But I urge them to add the question, “Where were you drinking?” to their investigations.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-10374126662391099982007-12-25T19:52:00.000-05:002007-12-25T19:53:31.449-05:00A Sigh of Relief in Sea Isle CityHear that unusual sound in Sea Isle City? It’s not the roar of a nor’easter. It’s a collective sigh of relief from the long-suffering citizens at the long-overdue recommendation to dismiss Police Chief William Kennedy.<br />Some hearts may go out to the Kennedys for some of their problems for which they are not responsible and for some of the personal incidents that have tested their patience.<br />But in many ways, the chief has been a disaster and many have wondered why it took so long to take action,<br />He has been a divisive force in Sea Isle City, which has enough dissension without him. It’s a tribute to the majority of the department — there are exceptions —that it has been able to function as well as it has despite the constant distractions connected to the chief.<br />The county Prosecutor’s decision to monitor the department temporarily makes sense, and does not reflect on the department.<br />I have no idea why it took so long for city officials to bring in an independent investigator, except that one usually proceeds cautiously where police chiefs are concerned. Many have a bag of a town’s dirty laundry in their closets.<br />The chief can be expected to fight every inch of the way. Let’s get it over with.<br /><br /><br />•••<br />Three weeks ago, I reported here on the Bush administration’s attempt to withhold its White House visitor logs from the public. A federal judge has ruled they are public information. The White House is expected to appeal.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-3725048207554189002007-12-18T16:53:00.000-05:002007-12-18T16:54:44.114-05:00Take a BreakMy experience tells me — and boy do I have experience — that most people do the least discretionary reading at this time of the year.<br />Everyone is much too busy with the trappings of Christmas, from baking to buying. I wouldn’t dream of adding to your burden with weighty — or light — thoughts in this week’s blog.<br />So go do what you have to. But come back in subsequent weeks when the topics will run the gamut from state aid to schools to do drunks lie to who is Cape May County’s worst mayor?<br />Have a blessed Christmas.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-66411548208572981872007-12-08T16:35:00.000-05:002007-12-08T16:36:53.426-05:00The $5-Million Campaign with the 46 Percent TurnoutThe Nov. 6 election numbers are in, and guess what?<br />This county led the state in two — count ‘em, two — areas.<br />No one will be surprised to learn that the campaign of Democrat Jeff Van Drew and his running mates, Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam, raised more than $1.1 million in its final week, more than any other legislative slate, and that put their total to $3 5 million, a record for Cape May County.<br />The Republicans raised about $1.5 million.<br />The Van Drew campaign trailed the Democratic slate in Monmouth County where $5 million was raised and all three Dems lost.<br />Statewide, a record $68.8 million was spent on the legislative races.<br />Now the other area where this county shined, if that’s the right word: Turnout.<br />Statewide, 32 percent of 4.8 million voters went to the polls, lowest since 1999 when it was 31 percent.<br />Lowest percentage vote: Hudson with 19 percent.<br />Highest — ta da — Cape May with 46 percent.<br />A correlation between dollars and turnout and who won? What do you think?<br /><br />•••<br />Incidentally, three weeks ago, I wrote about charges against U.S. State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard to do with his investigation of Blackwater. He has resigned, effective Jan. 15.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-53835119957283959222007-12-02T15:14:00.000-05:002007-12-02T15:15:42.142-05:00Jack Abramoff and the Bush AdministrationYou remember Jack Abramoff, don’t you? Who could forget his oh-so-appropriate black hat?<br />The lobbyist is serving six years on a criminal case out of Florida, but hasn’t been sentenced yet on a number of other charges to do with influence-peddling in Washington: mail fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion.<br />Among a dozen so far convicted after the Justice Department probe of Abramoff: former Rep. Bob Ney, Ohio Republican, and David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration.<br />There’s a new — very new — wrinkle in the Bush Administration’s efforts to keep from revealing any additional details on the White House visits of Abramoff.<br />Last year, the administration agreed to produce records sought by by the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch and another group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.<br />But last week, the administration filed a new argument that said identifying the visits of Abramoff could reveal the methods “used by the Secret Service to carry out its protective function.”<br />The Secret Service says records created while conducting extensive background checks on certain visitors to the White House could make it possible for some to figure out Secret Service activities.<br />You couldn’t make this up.<br />So far, the White House has released information about seven Abramoff visits.<br />This new defense makes it clear there were more.<br />“I don’t know him,” President Bush has said of Abramoff. “I’ve never sat down with him and had a discussion with the guy.”<br />Abramoff has said they’ve met “almost a dozen” times and “joked...about a bunch of things.”<br />This whole thing is a joke. And the laugh’s on us.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-73593994991810759032007-11-25T11:52:00.000-05:002007-11-25T11:53:15.006-05:00The 'Common Good' or Every Man for Himself?How do you feel about the “common good?”<br />Democrats seem to be uniting on it as the way to describe their stand on social and economic issues, such as health care, tax policies, the environment.<br />Of course no one exactly agrees what it means. In general, it means a vision of “broader opportunity and equality,” John D. McKinnon writes in the Wall Street Journal.<br />That would be in contrast to Republican pro-business, free-market views and to what some perceive as increased selfishness on the part of Americans.<br />A 2006 poll by the Center for American Progress, a liberal group, found that 68 percent of Americans agreed that “the government should be committed to the common good and put the public’s interest above the privileges of the few.”<br />Tied to Roman Catholic social teaching, the “common good” is said to have strong appeal for Catholic voters.<br />Among Democratic presidential candidates who have used the phrase lately: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson.<br />Here’s the problem, If policies favor the common good, Sen. Clinton acknowledged, that may require “people giving up a little bit of their own turf...”<br />What does the common good mean to you? Do you believe in it as a policy, and would you, or others, be willing to “give up a little bit” to achieve it? Or are we in fact a bunch of selfish louts?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-38565288985677214092007-11-19T10:50:00.000-05:002007-11-19T10:51:06.832-05:00Blackwater and the Krongard BrothersWe can all stop worrying about those U.S. Foreign Service officers who were upset about the possibility they would be “force-assigned” to Iraq.<br />Our government has filled 48 upcoming vacancies strictly on the basis of volunteers. <br />Some of those who did not want to go called it “a potential death sentence” and also indicated that they didn’t think much of our being in Iraq in the first place,<br />But, as pointed out here, and by several who commented, when one joins the Foreign Service, one agrees to serve wherever needed, and whether or not one agrees with policy.<br />In Iraq, State Department and government officials most often are protected by the mercenaries of Blackwater, a security contractor currently under investigation for recklessly endangering Iraqi lives and in particular for an incident in which at least 17 Iraqis were killed.<br />Funny thing about that investigation. Howard J. Krongard is the State Department inspector general involved in the probe. His brother, Alvin Krongard had just joined, and just as quickly resigned, from Blackwater’s board of directors.<br />Howard Krongard last week recused himself from any matters having to do with Blackwater.<br />Alvin Krongard was with the CIA from 1998 to 2004 and concedes to a “routine role,” according to the New York Times, in helping Blackwater gets its first big security contract from the CIA for guards in Afghanistan,<br />He’s tight with Blackwater founder Erik D. Prince and admits connecting Prince with CIA officials, but says he did not exert pressure on Blackwater’s behalf.<br />At the CIA, Alvin Krongard was a counselor to CIA Director George J. (It’s a slam dunk!” he told President Bush of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) Tenet.<br />What’s the saying — you couldn’t make this up?<br />Blackwater’s Iraq contract: $1.2 billion.<br />This will make a great book, after the Congressional hearings, of course.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-82434904369872173022007-11-11T19:40:00.000-05:002007-11-11T19:42:24.989-05:00A Prosecutor Blocked from Discussing TortureIn this space in April, I reported on the case of Marine Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, a pilot and veteran prosecutor assigned to prosecute a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay believed to be con-nected to the 9/11 attack.<br />After nine months of preparation, the Wall Street Journal reported, Col. Couch declined to prosecute Mohamedou Ould Slahi on the grounds his confession came as the result of torture and was inadmissible under both U.S. and International law.<br />Upon leaving that post. Col Couch received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a ci-tation that referred to his “moral courage.”<br />Col. Couch was back in the news last week. As part of the debate on waterboarding, he was slated to testify before Congress about techniques employed by U.S. interrogators.<br />His superiors had had no objection to his testifying, but the Pentagon general counsel told him not to appear.<br />Col. Couch is now a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.<br />Last week, he received the Minister of Justice Award given annually to a prosecutor by the American Bar Association.<br />It is Couch’s belief that “...human beings are created in the image of God and as a result we owe them a certain amount of dignity.”<br />It would have been good for the Congress and the nation to hear his views. What was the Bush administration afraid of?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-5926261697895232012007-11-04T16:02:00.000-05:002007-11-04T16:04:28.182-05:00Diplomats Declining to Go to IraqSeveral hundred U.S. foreign service officers gathered at the U.S. State Department in <br />Washington on Halloween to remove their masks of obedience.<br />The diplomats were responding to announced plans to “force-assign” a number of them to Iraq.<br />There are about 250 serving there now, all volunteers, but about 50 will be needed as replacements and volunteers are lacking.<br />Some 200-300 have been identified as “prime candidates” because of their skills.<br />The remarks of Jack Crotty, 36-year veteran Foreign Service officer, were applauded by many.<br />He said force-assigning to a place like Iraq was “a potential death sentence, and you know it. Who will take care of our children if we’re dead or seriously wounded? At any other embassy in the world, the embassy would be closed with all these incoming rockets...<br />“It’s one thing if someone believes in what’s going on over there and volunteers,” he said.<br />Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice replied that “people need to serve where they are needed.” And Ambassador Ryan Crocker said that any who “put their personal safety over the national interest are in the wrong line of business.”<br />Depending on how long they’ve been with the Service, foreign service officers make several times what our soldiers, sailors and Marines in Iraq are making. Most of the latter probably did not volunteer to go to Iraq. And they are at considerably more risk.<br />It is difficult to have much sympathy for the diplomats.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-2155358180723349822007-10-28T12:27:00.000-04:002007-10-28T12:29:10.898-04:00Big Girls Don't Cry — if They Want to Be PresidentEllen DeGeneres’ crying jag on national television over a dog named Iggy has prompted a great deal of reflection by pundits and misfits.<br />The terrier wasn’t dead, maimed or missing. The previous owner, a pet rescue agency, had taken it away from DeGeneres’ hair stylist who got it from DeGeneres when she found it didn’t get along with her cats.<br />That’s more than you need to know.<br />But with so many people who have nothing better to do than post to and peruse of the Internet (the 20 seconds of loud wailing have been viewed by millions), the issue has been expanded by some to question whether a male President can shed tears, but a female president —now who are we talking about? — wouldn’t dare.<br />Former President Bill Clinton has shed tears more than a number of times. Imagine his sadness when he learned Monica Lewinski hadn’t had her infamous blue dress dry-cleaned. But in general, Clinton’s salty tears have indicated compassion while some suggest a female politician’s would reflect weakness.<br />There are exceptions. Women are allowed to tear up when a man asks them to marry. Men are allowed to weep if there’s no beer in the refrig just before the big game.<br />The acceptance of a powerful man (Lincoln) with tears in his eyes was once okay, then went out of favor. As AP writer Jocelyn Noveck has pointed out, Sen. Ed Muskie’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 was wounded by his alleged tears in response to attacks in a New Hampshire newspaper on his wife. (Muskie argued his eyes watered in the extreme cold and wind.)<br />The AP article alludes to a study by Yale social psychologist Victoria Brescoll due to be published in Psychological Science. She found that many might admire an angry male president for looking tough, but an angry female president would scare hell out of some.<br />It’s sexism, of course. But it’s there, isn’t it?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-8681512951813428792007-10-22T12:05:00.000-04:002007-10-22T12:08:36.835-04:00Giving the Pill to 11-Year-Old GirlsWhen I was a teen-ager, some of the boys carried a condom in their wallets. Just one.<br />It made a round imprint in the leather, a symbol of maturity or masculinity or something.<br />Once in a while, somebody actually used one. Mostly they got yellow and dried out and forgotten, but not so forgotten you’d let you parents see your wallet.<br />That was birth control.<br />We’ve come a long way.<br />King Middle School Board of Education in Portland, Maine, has decided by a 7-2 vote to allow the school health center to give birth-control prescriptions (pill, patch) to girls. The Middle School, with an enrollment of about 600, is for grades 6-8. Ages generally run 11 to 13.<br />We have vacationed in Portland and area several times. A one-hour flight (great airport) or a 12-hour drive. An attractive, diverse small city on the waterfront with great restaurants, different shopping, a wonderful art museum, a couple colleges including the Maine College of Art. And lobster.<br />The health centers are operated by the Portland Division of Public Health which recommended the birth control measures. They have been doing this at the high schools since 2003.<br />The King Health Center has been providing condoms as part of its reproductive health program since 2000. Abstinence counseling is part of its program.<br />Five of 134 students who visited King’s health center in the last school year reported being sexually active.<br />Students must have signed parental permission to use the health centers. But state law does not allow the center to inform parents about services the students receive. The centers do encourage the students to stop having intercourse and also to inform their parents.<br />According to the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the percentage of middle school students in Maine who reported having sexual intercourse dropped from 23 percent in 1997 to 13 percent in 2005.<br />That and some of the statistics in this piece were taken from an article by Kelley Bouchard in the Portland Press Herald.<br />According to its Web site, King Middle School’s motto is, “Knowledge, Motivation, Spirit + Teaching, Learning, Caring Equals Success.” It’s ungrammatical.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-59881802955882492632007-10-14T08:30:00.000-04:002007-10-14T08:31:44.906-04:00Way to Go, JoePenn State (5-2) football coach Joe Paterno is under a lot of pressure. He’s also 80, which is a time in life when some people get sweet and others can get a little crotchety.<br />Regardless, many probably applaud him for chastising a woman driver who went through a stop sign on the Penn State campus. He pulled along side and pointed his finger at her. It was not his middle finger, he insists<br />I caution my wife not to do this because sure as heck the driver will have an AK-47 on the seat beside him or her.<br />But Joe did it, going on to tell her he had her license plate number.<br />Enter, stage left, the woman’s husband to whom Paterno said, “That’s your problem.” He later said he regretted that comment.<br />Of course it got blown out of proportion. The woman, a Penn State employee, filed a complaint. University police investigated and, surprise, decided there was no reason to file any charges against the Nittany Lions coach. Incident closed.<br /><br />Having absolutely nothing to do with the above, the Wall Street Journal editorial page Oct. 13 had a somewhat crotchety response to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize.<br />The Journal, which probably never met a Gore position it liked and most certainly is cool on his global warming views, ran a lead editorial that did not mention Gore, but listed people who did NOT get the prize and it felt should be considered next year. <br />Among those the Journal considers more deserving than Gore: “Thousands of Chinese bloggers who run the risk of arrest by trying to bring uncensored information to their countrymen.”<br />Little Nobel Peace Prizes to thousands of gutsy bloggers? That’s a bush league response, if you get what I mean.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-66670601953679056472007-10-07T08:40:00.000-04:002007-10-07T08:41:28.137-04:00A Special Education QuestionWhen should taxpayers pay for private schooling for special education students?<br />That’s one of several tough questions before the current term of the U.S. Supreme Court.<br />The “when” is the point. A “free, appropriate” public education is guaranteed by the Individuals with Learning Disabilities Education Act.<br />This case, started by parent Tom Freston of New York City, hinges on whether parents must first give public schooling a chance before getting reimbursed for sending their children with learning disabilities to private schools.<br />Parents charge a six-month “waste of time” in public schools without adequate special ed programs damages their children.<br />The question of mainstreaming — having the children in the same classrooms as their nondisabled peers — hovers in the background.<br />Cape May County has an excellent Special Services School District for those who cannot be mainstreamed. But that district is being buffeted by inadequate state funding, by the increasing trend to mainstreaming, and by the growth in autism.<br />Autism Speaks, a federal project, filed a brief supporting Freston. The National School Boards Association has backed the school district, citing the cost of private education.<br /><br />An update to a recent column and blog on the case of Stephen French of Ocean City who, after allegedly drinking 10 glasses of wine in a Somers Point restaurant, struck three young bicyclists on Ocean Drive in Egg Harbor Township, killing Richard H. Branca, 17.<br />French has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. And Branca’s family has filed a civil suit against Romanelli’s Restaurant, where French allegedly drank for four hours before getting behind the wheel of his car. No word on whether authorities also are taking action against Romanelli’s.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-7383511260416305792007-09-30T13:04:00.001-04:002007-09-30T13:04:59.099-04:00If "Everyone Knows," Should the News Media Tell?If “everyone knows” spicy details about a public official, should the news media report it?<br />Idaho Republican Sen. Larry E. Craig, arrested for alleged sexual overtures in an airport men’s room, apparently was widely known, or suspected, to be gay, which he still denies. It was the arrest that brought it out.<br />Former Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley, who apparently liked male pages, had long been rumored to be gay. The scandal that forced him from office got it in the news media.<br />Former New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevy was long suspected of being gay, but little was made of it until he resigned.<br />President John Fitzgerald Kennedy liked the ladies, but it didn’t make print.<br />New York Times columnist Abby Goodnough recently quoted journalism professor Jeff Jarvis asking about all these secrets kept, “Does it mean journalists are doing a good job, or does it mean they are doing a bad job?”<br />Some journalists, factoring in the reliability of the topic and the importance it might play in the elected official’s performance, would add the hypocrisy factor. There is probably nothing journalists would rather expose than hypocrisy. Craig had voted against pro-gay legislation at every opportunity.<br />The Internet may be changing the equation. It is unfiltered. Anything goes in the blogs, social networks, etc. If they don’t want to say it themselves, according to Jarvis, they can just offer a link to someone that does.<br />What should the mainstream media do and, further, exactly what is the mainstream any more?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-29852985151520467022007-09-23T15:55:00.000-04:002007-09-23T15:59:19.087-04:00Two Reptiles and Adolph HitlerWhich of these is true?<br />A man in Los Angeles was charged with smuggling three valuable, endangered iguanas into the U.S. inside his prosthetic leg.<br />A man in Oregon put his pet diamondback rattlesnake in his mouth; it promptly bit him and shot enough venom in him to kill a dozen people. Doctors saved his life.<br />A federal judge in Newark overruled the Bayonne school board and said two students could wear buttons featuring a picture of the Hitler Youth to protest a school uniform policy.<br />Actually, they’re all true.<br />But can you imagine kids wearing Hitler Youth buttons?<br />I’d not only have banned the buttons but assigned the historically-challenged kids to watch all 15 hours of Ken Burns’ documentary “The War.” <br />It covers World War II, started by the Nazi leader and German dictator. More than 50 million Europeans died. Hitler did his best to eliminate the Jewish race from the face of the earth.<br />To many, Hitler was and will always be the personification of evil.<br />But U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr., citing a 1969 case in Iowa in which students were permitted to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam war, ruled for the Hitler Youth buttons as freedom of expression under the First Amendment.<br />A black armband opposing a war used to justify buttons showing the young followers and soon-to-be soldiers of Adolph Hitler. That seems like a stretch to me.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-82687586701435547662007-09-16T13:02:00.000-04:002007-09-16T13:04:16.519-04:00Suspend Belichick?Not a good time for professional sports.<br />Use of performance enhancing drugs would be problem enough.<br />But this year, in rapid order, a cheating, point-shaving NBA referee, a dog-killing NFL quarterback, and now a thieving top coach of a top team, Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.<br />The Patriots were found stealing, via video camera, the defensive signals of the New York Jets Sept. 9.<br />Say it isn’t so, Bill.<br />Sad to say, Bill didn’t deny it. He did accept responsibility and apologize.<br />NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick the maximum half-million dollars (he makes five or 10 times that) and fined the team $250,000 and loss of some important draft choices.<br />Many think Belichick got off way too easy, that he should have been suspended, as happens to players caught cheating by using drugs.<br />How long and how much have the Patriots used stolen signals? Did they come into play when the Patriots defeated the Eagles by three points in the 2005 Super Bowl?<br />“The cheaters win; the straight guys lose,” commented the business-minded Wall Street Journal in calling for a four-week suspension.<br />What are your thoughts on sports scandals, the Patriots’ perfidy and Belichick’s punishment?Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-26988863931981578542007-09-10T09:37:00.000-04:002007-09-10T09:38:29.362-04:00(Sore) Back to SchoolWell, the kids are back in school, sore backs and all.<br />Their book bags are so jammed with material — much of it probably never even removed at home — that the children are all hunched over. I predict back problems in later years.<br />But it’s no longer just book bags.<br />Don’t forget the laptop.<br />Back-to-school shoppers looked particularly stressed this year, trying to match their children’s requests with available funds.<br />Maybe they took seriously the direct mail advertisement from Hewitt Packard that said: “Stop resisting. Give in to what your kids really want.”<br />And, “You will buy it for your kids and become the cool parent on the block.”<br />And, “Repeat three times: I want what’s best for my kid.”<br />I guess the cool parent will get the Notebook PC for $1,030 and add Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition plus a wireless mouse and a TV tuner and remote for a total of $1,320.<br />These kids are not only smarter than we were but more skilled at manipulating mom and dad.<br />My advice: Also get the three-year accidental damage protection for $350.<br /><br />NOTE: During the spring and summer, I commented several times here on corruption in the college-student loan industry in which colleges and/or their officials received various forms of compensation (kickbacks) from lenders for pushing their companies.<br />The Press of Atlantic City joined in Sunday, Sept. 9, with an editorial welcoming a code of ethics issued by this state’s attorney general, but a call for “real solutions...at the federal level.”Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-86079889027017932022007-09-02T13:39:00.001-04:002007-09-02T13:40:29.650-04:00Trade Places with Andy Reid?Would you want to trade places with Andy Reid?<br />Sure, the Eagles head coach makes like a million bucks a year.<br />Yes, McNabb looks ready.<br />And the pre-season? Well, that doesn’t really mean anything (knock wood).<br />But then there are Garrett and Britt Reid, Andy’s sons.<br />In case you were shipwrecked on Champagne Island the last six months, Garrett, 24, awaits sentencing on Jan. 30 drug and traffic charges to which he pled guilty July 26.<br />And Britt, 22, apparently is trying to do his brother one better. Already out on bail for a Jan. 30 road-rage incident that included illegal drugs and waving a hand gun, he was arrested Aug. 24 after a shop keeper called police to report Britt looked unable to drive,<br />He was trying to navigate out of a shopping center when the police got to him, possibly saving others who could have been in his path.<br />The charges were driving under the influence and possession of drugs.<br />Leaving his arraignment Aug. 29, Britt Reid had a comment for the news media — TV, radio and print — as he exited court.<br />“Hi Mom and Dad,” he said, reportedly with a half-smile.<br />Hi Mom and Dad.<br />Most of us spend our lives trying to make our parents proud. Britt Reid apparently prefers to hurt the parents who raised him.<br />We will never know what problems — real and imagined — the Reid boys have had with their parents. Good upbringing, bad upbringing, why speculate?<br />Many young people like to see how bad they can be and still get away with it.<br />But this sounds like more. These privileged young men are to be pitied, especially if either, or both, are addicts.<br />But not as much as the parent who raised a child only to see and him saying into the camera after his arraignment, “Hi Mom and Dad.”Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627510716885247885.post-88042690403701136762007-08-26T17:27:00.000-04:002007-08-26T17:28:09.837-04:00Presidential Pecs; What's the Message?The president removed his shirt in front of cameras while on vacation this month.<br />Not Bush. Putin.<br />The Russian president liked the results so much he posted several images on his presidential Web site.<br />It gained him a lot of feminine admirers since he looks quite muscular.<br />It also gained him gay admirers since they felt he was pleading for more tolerance for homosexuality, which shows anybody can get anything out of a photo.<br />The Putin pecs were revealed at about the same time it was charged that the magazine Paris Match airbrushed the love handles out of a photo it took of French President Nicolas Sarkozy canoeing on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.<br />In the bare-chested bonanza that has followed, Kremlin-watchers are trying to figure out the message.<br />After all, Putin says he plans to step down next year at the end of his second term. So why’s he need good P-R?<br />Among things for which President Bush will be remembered is his quote after meeting Putin in June 2001.<br />“I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul,” said admirer Bush.<br />The mutual admiration — Putin strongly supported Bush for re-election in 2004 — is long since gone. Putin’s soul doesn’t look all that pure.<br />If Putin had been shirtless when he first met Bush, one wonders if Bush would have noticed his eyes enough to made his miscalculation.Joe Zelnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142529075618135385noreply@blogger.com1