Zelnik's Blog

Joseph R. 'Joe' Zelnik, 75, Herald Editor Emeritus, March 3, 2008

2008-03-03T13:56:00.000-05:00

Joseph R. “Joe” Zelnik, Herald editor for 25 years, died March 3, 2008 at his home here surrounded by family.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Arrangements have yet to be finalized.

See Wednesday’s Herald print edition for details.

If you have any memories of Joe please post a comment here.

Will Four Who Died Together No Longer Be Remembered Together?

2008-02-05T16:19:00.000-05:00

Covering Delaware County (Pa.) government for the Philadelphia Bulletin’s last five years was a beautiful assignment.
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.
I lived in Media, could walk to the Bulletin office, and could throw a rock to the “court house” where the government was headquartered.
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.
Thus it was, sometime in the late ‘70s, that I was sent to cover an awards dinner of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
I knew the story line of the four chaplains, but little else.
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.
Six hundred and seventy-two of the 902 aboard perished
In the ship’s final moments, four chaplains — two Protestants, one Catholic, and one Jewish — gave up their lifejackets to soldiers and sailors.
They went down together, praying.
The story inspired this nation.
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.
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.”
Make that one generation.
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.
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.”
But as of last weekend, the chapel does not exist.
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.

No Signs Means...No Signs

2008-01-29T17:07:00.000-05:00

The 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.
I’m not using their names because that’s all they wanted was publicity. And they got it.
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.
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.
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.
The latter has had a full week on the front pages of a local paper.
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.
The apology for the arrests from Middle officials was almost certainly a lawyer’s advice to attempt to avoid a time-consuming law suit.
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.
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.
And the freeholders are Republicans.

More U.S. Troops Heading to Afghanistan

2008-01-23T09:13:00.000-05:00

The U.S. will send another 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan in March or April to fight the Taliban.
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.
But what would be the point? What good would it do?
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.
Gates is accused of suggesting soldiers from Canada, Britain and the Netherlands were not well trained in counterinsurgency.
He has previously said that he believes Germany and France have kept their troops off the front lines.
It’s a mess.
“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.
The performance of America’s heroes in Afghanistan has never been questioned.
But journalist J. Malcolm Garcia, writing in the Virginia Quarterly Review, says we have failed to keep our promises of development.
Just back from Kabul, he saw few signs of the $13 billion in foreign aid pledged since 2004.
Too much money promised to the poor has gone for “cars, housing complexes and hotels for top government officials...” he wrote.
A $4 million fund to build schools never got spent because what he called “western interests” have taken over the land.
Military victories alone will not bring stability and peace to the suffering people of Afghanistan.

FBI: Dead Heads and Dead Lines

2008-01-16T07:31:00.000-05:00

The FBI has done it again.
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.
You couldn’t make this up.
The investigation looked at five FBI field offices, which it declined to identify, of course,
More than half of 990 bills to pay for surveillance of suspected criminals, including suspected terrorists and spies, were not paid on time.
The Associated Press story said in one office alone the unpaid bill ran $66,000.
I’ve watched enough “Law and Order” shows lately to qualify for a diploma from the county’s Public Safety Training Center.
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.
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.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine released an 87-page audit last week, but most of it was edited out as “too sensitive.” Naturally.
Incidentally, the same audit found one FBI employee stole $25,000 from the agency.
Assistant FBI Director John Miller said they’re working on solving the problem and will not tolerate “financial mismanagement or worse...”
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?

Shorter Sentences for Crack Dealers

2008-01-08T16:31:00.000-05:00

Last month, while you were Christmas shopping, the U.S. Supreme Court, in two separate cases, eased sentencing guidelines for judges in crack cocaine cases.
The net result: shorter sentences are possible for distributors of crack cocaine.
Both were 7-2 decisions.
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.
There was an assumption then that crack cocaine was deadlier. Subsequent studies challenge that.
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
crack cocaine use. They make up 80 percent of those sentenced for crack-dealing, according to David Stout of the New York Times.
Many felt that low-income minorities in cities were unfairly receiving harsher sentences.
In the first case, the court upheld a Virginia district judge who had refused to follow the stricter guidelines.
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.
He had since finished college, served with the Marines in the Gulf war, and had no felony convictions.
The dissenting justices in both cases were Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
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.

Where Were You Drinking?

2008-01-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed in recent months, I am fed up to here with drunk drivers.
Southern New Jersey seems to have more than its share: both sexes, all ages,
They maim and kill our loved ones., And then they are sooo sorry, They weep. They apologize to the survivors. They beg for forgiveness.
They are thoughtless, selfish, inconsiderate people with no concern for anyone but themselves. They think they can drive impaired and never have an accident.,
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.
Now state Attorney General Anne Milgram has issued a directive authorizing police to ask those questions of suspected drunken drivers.
Guess who doesn’t like the idea?
Some bar owners. who could receive penalties including suspension or revocation of their licenses if they serve intoxicated persons.
They say the drunk drivers could lie.
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.
“Statistically, once you see a bar mentioned 10 times, it isn’t a plot against the bar, ” he said.
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.
I know police are busy. But I urge them to add the question, “Where were you drinking?” to their investigations.

A Sigh of Relief in Sea Isle City

2007-12-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

Hear 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.
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.
But in many ways, the chief has been a disaster and many have wondered why it took so long to take action,
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.
The county Prosecutor’s decision to monitor the department temporarily makes sense, and does not reflect on the department.
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.
The chief can be expected to fight every inch of the way. Let’s get it over with.

•••
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.

Take a Break

2007-12-18T16:53:00.000-05:00

My experience tells me — and boy do I have experience — that most people do the least discretionary reading at this time of the year.
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.
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?
Have a blessed Christmas.

The $5-Million Campaign with the 46 Percent Turnout

2007-12-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

The Nov. 6 election numbers are in, and guess what?
This county led the state in two — count ‘em, two — areas.
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.
The Republicans raised about $1.5 million.
The Van Drew campaign trailed the Democratic slate in Monmouth County where $5 million was raised and all three Dems lost.
Statewide, a record $68.8 million was spent on the legislative races.
Now the other area where this county shined, if that’s the right word: Turnout.
Statewide, 32 percent of 4.8 million voters went to the polls, lowest since 1999 when it was 31 percent.
Lowest percentage vote: Hudson with 19 percent.
Highest — ta da — Cape May with 46 percent.
A correlation between dollars and turnout and who won? What do you think?

•••
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.

Jack Abramoff and the Bush Administration

2007-12-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

You remember Jack Abramoff, don’t you? Who could forget his oh-so-appropriate black hat?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
You couldn’t make this up.
So far, the White House has released information about seven Abramoff visits.
This new defense makes it clear there were more.
“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.”
Abramoff has said they’ve met “almost a dozen” times and “joked...about a bunch of things.”
This whole thing is a joke. And the laugh’s on us.

The 'Common Good' or Every Man for Himself?

2007-11-25T11:52:00.000-05:00

How do you feel about the “common good?”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Tied to Roman Catholic social teaching, the “common good” is said to have strong appeal for Catholic voters.
Among Democratic presidential candidates who have used the phrase lately: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson.
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...”
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?

Blackwater and the Krongard Brothers

2007-11-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

We can all stop worrying about those U.S. Foreign Service officers who were upset about the possibility they would be “force-assigned” to Iraq.
Our government has filled 48 upcoming vacancies strictly on the basis of volunteers.
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,
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.
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.
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.
Howard Krongard last week recused himself from any matters having to do with Blackwater.
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,
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.
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.
What’s the saying — you couldn’t make this up?
Blackwater’s Iraq contract: $1.2 billion.
This will make a great book, after the Congressional hearings, of course.

A Prosecutor Blocked from Discussing Torture

2007-11-11T19:40:00.000-05:00

In 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.
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.
Upon leaving that post. Col Couch received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a ci-tation that referred to his “moral courage.”
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.
His superiors had had no objection to his testifying, but the Pentagon general counsel told him not to appear.
Col. Couch is now a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.
Last week, he received the Minister of Justice Award given annually to a prosecutor by the American Bar Association.
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.”
It would have been good for the Congress and the nation to hear his views. What was the Bush administration afraid of?

Diplomats Declining to Go to Iraq

2007-11-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

Several hundred U.S. foreign service officers gathered at the U.S. State Department in
Washington on Halloween to remove their masks of obedience.
The diplomats were responding to announced plans to “force-assign” a number of them to Iraq.
There are about 250 serving there now, all volunteers, but about 50 will be needed as replacements and volunteers are lacking.
Some 200-300 have been identified as “prime candidates” because of their skills.
The remarks of Jack Crotty, 36-year veteran Foreign Service officer, were applauded by many.
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...
“It’s one thing if someone believes in what’s going on over there and volunteers,” he said.
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.”
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.
It is difficult to have much sympathy for the diplomats.

Big Girls Don't Cry — if They Want to Be President

2007-10-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

Ellen DeGeneres’ crying jag on national television over a dog named Iggy has prompted a great deal of reflection by pundits and misfits.
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.
That’s more than you need to know.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
It’s sexism, of course. But it’s there, isn’t it?

Giving the Pill to 11-Year-Old Girls

2007-10-22T12:05:00.000-04:00

When I was a teen-ager, some of the boys carried a condom in their wallets. Just one.
It made a round imprint in the leather, a symbol of maturity or masculinity or something.
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.
That was birth control.
We’ve come a long way.
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.
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.
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.
The King Health Center has been providing condoms as part of its reproductive health program since 2000. Abstinence counseling is part of its program.
Five of 134 students who visited King’s health center in the last school year reported being sexually active.
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.
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.
That and some of the statistics in this piece were taken from an article by Kelley Bouchard in the Portland Press Herald.
According to its Web site, King Middle School’s motto is, “Knowledge, Motivation, Spirit + Teaching, Learning, Caring Equals Success.” It’s ungrammatical.

Way to Go, Joe

2007-10-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

Penn 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.
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
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.
But Joe did it, going on to tell her he had her license plate number.
Enter, stage left, the woman’s husband to whom Paterno said, “That’s your problem.” He later said he regretted that comment.
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.

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.
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.
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.”
Little Nobel Peace Prizes to thousands of gutsy bloggers? That’s a bush league response, if you get what I mean.

A Special Education Question

2007-10-07T08:40:00.000-04:00

When should taxpayers pay for private schooling for special education students?
That’s one of several tough questions before the current term of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The “when” is the point. A “free, appropriate” public education is guaranteed by the Individuals with Learning Disabilities Education Act.
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.
Parents charge a six-month “waste of time” in public schools without adequate special ed programs damages their children.
The question of mainstreaming — having the children in the same classrooms as their nondisabled peers — hovers in the background.
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.
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.

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.
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.

If "Everyone Knows," Should the News Media Tell?

2007-09-30T13:04:00.001-04:00

If “everyone knows” spicy details about a public official, should the news media report it?
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.
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.
Former New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevy was long suspected of being gay, but little was made of it until he resigned.
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy liked the ladies, but it didn’t make print.
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?”
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.
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.
What should the mainstream media do and, further, exactly what is the mainstream any more?

Two Reptiles and Adolph Hitler

2007-09-23T15:55:00.000-04:00

Which of these is true?
A man in Los Angeles was charged with smuggling three valuable, endangered iguanas into the U.S. inside his prosthetic leg.
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.
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.
Actually, they’re all true.
But can you imagine kids wearing Hitler Youth buttons?
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.”
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.
To many, Hitler was and will always be the personification of evil.
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.
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.

Suspend Belichick?

2007-09-16T13:02:00.000-04:00

Not a good time for professional sports.
Use of performance enhancing drugs would be problem enough.
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.
The Patriots were found stealing, via video camera, the defensive signals of the New York Jets Sept. 9.
Say it isn’t so, Bill.
Sad to say, Bill didn’t deny it. He did accept responsibility and apologize.
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.
Many think Belichick got off way too easy, that he should have been suspended, as happens to players caught cheating by using drugs.
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?
“The cheaters win; the straight guys lose,” commented the business-minded Wall Street Journal in calling for a four-week suspension.
What are your thoughts on sports scandals, the Patriots’ perfidy and Belichick’s punishment?

(Sore) Back to School

2007-09-10T09:37:00.000-04:00

Well, the kids are back in school, sore backs and all.
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.
But it’s no longer just book bags.
Don’t forget the laptop.
Back-to-school shoppers looked particularly stressed this year, trying to match their children’s requests with available funds.
Maybe they took seriously the direct mail advertisement from Hewitt Packard that said: “Stop resisting. Give in to what your kids really want.”
And, “You will buy it for your kids and become the cool parent on the block.”
And, “Repeat three times: I want what’s best for my kid.”
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.
These kids are not only smarter than we were but more skilled at manipulating mom and dad.
My advice: Also get the three-year accidental damage protection for $350.

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.
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.”

Trade Places with Andy Reid?

2007-09-02T13:39:00.001-04:00

Would you want to trade places with Andy Reid?
Sure, the Eagles head coach makes like a million bucks a year.
Yes, McNabb looks ready.
And the pre-season? Well, that doesn’t really mean anything (knock wood).
But then there are Garrett and Britt Reid, Andy’s sons.
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.
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,
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.
The charges were driving under the influence and possession of drugs.
Leaving his arraignment Aug. 29, Britt Reid had a comment for the news media — TV, radio and print — as he exited court.
“Hi Mom and Dad,” he said, reportedly with a half-smile.
Hi Mom and Dad.
Most of us spend our lives trying to make our parents proud. Britt Reid apparently prefers to hurt the parents who raised him.
We will never know what problems — real and imagined — the Reid boys have had with their parents. Good upbringing, bad upbringing, why speculate?
Many young people like to see how bad they can be and still get away with it.
But this sounds like more. These privileged young men are to be pitied, especially if either, or both, are addicts.
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.”

Presidential Pecs; What's the Message?

2007-08-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

The president removed his shirt in front of cameras while on vacation this month.
Not Bush. Putin.
The Russian president liked the results so much he posted several images on his presidential Web site.
It gained him a lot of feminine admirers since he looks quite muscular.
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.
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.
In the bare-chested bonanza that has followed, Kremlin-watchers are trying to figure out the message.
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?
Among things for which President Bush will be remembered is his quote after meeting Putin in June 2001.
“I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul,” said admirer Bush.
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.
If Putin had been shirtless when he first met Bush, one wonders if Bush would have noticed his eyes enough to made his miscalculation.

Retribution or Forgiveness?

2007-08-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

Stephen French of Ocean City pleased guilty Aug. 17 to driving while intoxicated and to aggravated manslaughter. He had driven into three bicyclists on Ocean Drive in Egg Harbor Township, killing Richard H. Branca, 17.
The accident happened July 14, 2006. He has been free on bail the last 13 months.
French, 55, will be sentenced Sept. 27 as a result of the plea bargain. He could get a sentence of 16 years, and would have to serve at least 85 percent of the term, nine years and three months.
“I think it all sucks,” said Branca’s mother, Sherri, “but the quicker I get that man in jail, the better.” She said she’ll fight against any parole.
“I want him to suffer,” she said.
I doubt many of us would fault her feelings.
But there is another attitude: forgiveness.
Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright argues in “Evil and the Justice of God” that Jesus took our sins upon himself and that we should follow by repenting of our sins and offer forgiveness to others.
The book was reviewed by Rev. Michael P. Orsi, who has served a number of Catholic parishes in Cape May County including Stone Harbor, Wildwood and Cape May. Fr. Orsi is a research fellow at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Wright, points out Orsi, says forgiveness “is the knife that cuts the rope of sin, anger, fear, recrimination and death.”
Orsi points to the timely and inspiring example of when the Pennsylvania Amish community extended forgiveness to the murderer of their school children last year.
I’m sure many of us have had fearful moments, when we thought of dangers to our loved ones. And many of us have wondered how we would react if an evil person did them harm. Lead the charge to retribution or extend forgiveness?

Mickey Quits Smoking?

2007-08-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

New developments on two previous blog issues: smoking and colleges getting kickbacks from the student loan industry.
The news took place at Walt Disney Co. and Rutgers University, sorry to say.
Authorities say the Rutgers Athletic Department promoted a firm called University Financial Services in return for kickbacks.
According to the authorities:
The promotion consisted of free ads on the department’s web site.
The payment was to be $15,000 plus $75 for every loan.
Rutgers is the only New Jersey college involved in the nationwide probe — so far.
The ongoing smoking question generated a couple pretty radical responses to the smoke-free policy Cape Regional Medical Center announced for anywhere on its grounds in June.
After that, we reported a story that the Motion Picture Association was considering making smoking a factor in rating films. That drove some right-to-smoke people ballistic.
But now Disney has announced it will:
• Eliminate smoking from all films released under its label.
• Discourage smoking in films under its Touchstone and Miramax brands.
• Insert a public service announcement on any DVD of a family film that includes smoking.
To get on the bandwagon, Universal Pictures said it has started a policy to reduce smoking in youth-oriented films.
So there you go. Respond, but remember, this isn’t Spout Off.

How Much to Tip?

2007-08-05T14:18:00.001-04:00

How much to tip in restaurants? That’s a question with as many answers as there are people.
Frequently, it is things over which servers have no control — prices, time to prepare the order, how good the food is — which determine the tip.
I used to tip 15 percent for reasonable service, 20 percent for special. Somehow that has crept up to 20 percent most of the time.
Servers complain that they are paid well below minimum wage and must depend on tips, which is true. Some customers think restaurant owners should pay better.
Peter Kilgore, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, wrote to the Wall Street Journal recently that most tipped employers get a lot more than the minimum wage when their tips are included.
He said a national association survey showed the average hourly wage ranged from $17.10 for entry-level servers to $22.20 for more experienced.
He also said these jobs can lead to promotions, management and “ownership opportunities.”
What’s your attitude on tipping?

Is Lautenberg Too Old?

2007-07-29T08:58:00.000-04:00

Slightly more than half of New Jersey’s voters think U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, 83, is too old to serve another term, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
He would be 84 if he ran next year, and 90 at the end of his six-year term.
The same poll found 41 percent approved his performance, 32 percent disapproved. And 7 percent favored him over an unnamed Republican opponent.
Ironically, age was a minor issue in his favor when Lautenberg first ran for the senate in 1981. His opponent, Republican Millicent Fenwick, 72, was 10 years older.
But aging and views on aging have changed in the last 25 years.
For his part, Lautenberg says he is in excellent health and has no intention of hanging it up.
“The issue is effectiveness,” he said.
It’s difficult to imagine any Democratic move to dump Lautenberg. Dems presumably will be heavy favorites in a presidential election year. Republicans haven’t carried the state for president since 1988 and the last Republican elected to the senate was Clifford Case from 1955 to 1979.
Lautenberg, who served from 1982 to 2001, “retired,” was bored, and came back in 2003, has $2.9 million in his campaign fund.
Republican state chairman Tom Wilson says age will definitely be an issue if Lautenberg runs.
Your comments?

Updating Three Previous Blogs

2007-07-24T11:59:00.000-04:00

Some interesting developments in previous blog topics Katie Couric, greed in higher education and the smoking ban on the Cape Regional Medical Center “campus.”
As usual, your comments would be appreciated.
I had wondered at Couric’s relative lack of success anchoring the CBS Evening News and at my own reluctance to watch her.
That was months ago.
CBS continues in third place and now there are hints that Katie is herself dissatisfied and could move on.
In a New York Magazine interview, she said the show’s “biggest mistake” had been “trying new things,” most of which were subsequently abandoned, and the return to a “more traditional broadcast” made the job “less appealing” to her.
As for my own 6:30 p.m. viewing, should you care, as a news junkie, I am intrigued at the toe-to-toe (neck and neck?) battle between ABC’s Charles Gibson, definitely old school, and NBC’s Brian Williams for first place.
I am more familiar with and trusting of NBC’s correspondents in the trenches, but ABC is coming up with more exclusive stories. As a result, I switch back and forth.
Does trusting your reporter, whether on TV or in your local paper, mean much to you? Do exclusive stories?
The latest higher education disappointment occurred at Eastern Michigan University where the administration lied to the news media and, more important, to the parents of a female student who was raped and killed. They said there was no fowl play. Then police arrested a suspect and it all came out.
Three administrators, including the president, were forced to resign. How sad that officials in a position of trust would try to cover up a murder to spare their university’s reputation.
Finally, I wrote when about the medical center’s “smoke-free campus” that the policy would be “as good as its enforcement.”
I regret to say the policy has been little-publicized and I have seen no signs of enforcement, and numerous signs of lack of enforcement.

Keep Smoking Out of Films?

2007-07-15T09:20:00.000-04:00

Reaction to my blog a couple weeks ago about Cape Regional Medical Center extending its smoking ban to include the hospital grounds, parking lots, company vehicles, vehicles parked in the lots and adjacent sidewalks surprised me.
Five who commented were upset, saying the hospital had gone too far and was inflicting its views on others. Only three celebrated the new rules. And one pleaded for security guards not to be blamed.
I wonder what will be the response to this: The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) could give a higher rating to new films that “glamorize” smoking.
Puffing on a Marlboro would be right up there with violence, sex, profanity and drug use as the MPAA determines what rating to use in advising parents or restricting admissions.
Many have had great fun with this. What’s next: meat, mink or Mr. Softee? asked Philadelphia Inquirer movie critic Steven Rea.
But Amy Jordan at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center says tobacco use has increased in films and too many teenagers continue to become addicted to it.
I detest smoking, but a part of me also resists censorship.
The argument that people should be allowed to make their own choices is philosophically persuasive. But without rules, and enforcement, how many would not fasten seatbelts or wear safety helmets as they ride motorcycles?

If I Werer Your Pastor...

2007-07-08T16:33:00.000-04:00

Were I your pastor — Protestant or Catholic — I would do some things differently.
These policies would be aimed at summer visitors, who swell church attendance.
First, I’d forget the usual advice to dress appropriately for a church. It does no good whatsoever. Many people nowadays don’t know the meaning of appropriate,
Second, I’d have a sign at the entrance: CHILDREN WELCOME in large type. But beneath it, in slightly smaller type, “If they are too young to be reasonably quiet and attentive, please take advantage of our Children’s Room.”
Third, I’d have an usher at each door collecting a $10-per-family cover charge. After all, if they are here, they are not contributing at home. A vacation doesn’t mean a vacation from giving.
Many churches, especially on the islands, have small year-round attendance. But they are built to accommodate crowds of summer visitors who find beautiful churches, air-conditioned and fully staffed. And God.
I’d accept cash and checks, but no credit cards.
What do you think?

Pity the Poor Doctor?

2007-07-02T13:05:00.000-04:00

Intense pressure and workplace stress.
High overhead.
Low satisfaction.
Sound like a job description for CIA director or restaurant owner?
Actually, according to features in the May issue of “Physicians Practice” magazine, it’s the situation for many of today’s doctors.
And you ought to read the letters to the editor from doctors. Example: “Is it OK for physicians to take it lying down when the world wants us to provide top-quality care with total liability for people’s lives while giving us K-mart reimbursement?”
Patients’ problems with doctors usually focus on long waits and poor communication. Putting the shoe on the other foot, many doctors are questioning their career choices.
If, for example, you are unhappy with the whole health insurance situation, imagine how unhappy the physician is.
According to an article in the magazine, many physicians have personality traits that put them at greater risk for burnout. They chose medicine because they are idealists with a strong desire to help people. They are inclined to be perfectionists. They’re not likely to seek help.
It may be difficult for most of us to imagine a physician having money worries, but the fact is, some do.

Hospital Extends Smoking Ban to Lots, Vehicles

2007-06-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

Holy smoke!
Starting on Independence Day, Cape Regional Medical Center will become a smoke-free campus.
Smoking will not be permitted anywhere on the medical center property.
That includes the buildings, grounds, parking lots, company vehicles, vehicles parked in the lots, and sidewalks adjacent to all properties owned or operated by the medical center.
That includes the properties on Village Drive and Cape Radiology in Rio Grande.
As a frequent user of hospital services, it will be great not to walk through a cloud of smoke outside the entrance.
My hat’s off to the hospital, but this new policy will only be as good as its enforcement. On that, I remain to be convinced. Who’ll be the first to take a cigarette out of the hand of a doctor lighting up in the physicians’ parking lot?
How do you feel about this — a great idea or has the hospital gone too far?

Marketing to Gays

2007-06-17T20:05:00.000-04:00

Weddings are a big “industry” in Cape May, bringing thousands of dollars to the resort.
Some in the city envisioned a large increase in gay and lesbian visitors after the state approved civil unions in December.
It apparently hasn’t happened.
Innkeepers say one reason is because many gays aren’t satisfied with civil unions. They want real marriages.
At the recent county tourism conference, a speaker said gays represent a $64-billion market in this country. He also said Cape May County is not doing enough to reach out to that market.
The county Tourism Department has responded that it doesn’t have enough money to promote to the gay niche.
I suspect there may be other reasons than lack of money.
Marketing to gays and lesbians is a logical business tactic. But if anyone is advocating gay marriage over civil unions simply to get more of their money, that person don’t have his priorities straight.
What do you think?

Better Late Than Never

2007-06-10T20:31:00.001-04:00

In a piece last month, headlined “Greed in Higher Education,” I commented on the practice of kickbacks from student loan lenders to colleges and/or their financial aid officers.
I concluded by noting the U.S. Department of Education was supposed to regulate, but apparently hadn’t.
Guess what?
The department has released proposed rules for lenders and universities.
They take up 225 pages and provide “a change in direction,” according to the New York Times.
The department’s own inspector general has been calling for these changes for years, but was ignored. This is just another example of how election of a Democratic Congress, with investigative powers, is forcing reforms within the Bush administration.
Among the proposed rules:
• Universities would have to have at least three lenders on their list of recommendations to students.
• The schools would have to explain why they were making the recommendations.
• Most gifts and payments to financial aid officers would be banned.
These proposals would apply only to federally-guaranteed loans, a sizable portion of the $85-billion industry. Yes, billion.
The chief operating officer of the office of Federal Student Aid, Theresa S. Shaw, has stepped down (read pushed out).
But I’m sure she was following the policies of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, and of the administration, that believes the loan industry should be left unregulated.
Spellings should follow in the footsteps of Shaw.

Mayor Fraser Carries Torch for Porch

2007-06-04T11:54:00.000-04:00

The Cape May Point Planning Board at 7 p.m. June 13 will review a proposed zoning ordinance aimed at discouraging “boxlike” houses. And borough commission will hold a hearing at 7 p.m. July 12.
The ordinance would allow builders more total square feet for more diverse construction. Officials cite Wildwood and Ocean City as places they don’t want Cape May Point to resemble.
Mayor Malcolm Fraser has suggested a change: Keep porches out of the square feet limits so more of them could be built.
Amen, Mayor Fraser.
Essays, poems and books have been written in honor of porches,
In two separate childhood houses, I was privileged to have porches,
As a small child, my porch was used as an imaginary submarine, a fort under attack by Indians, I mean native Americans, and all sorts of things.
As a young man, my porch was the perfect place to sit and have a beer, swat an occasional bug, and watch the birds in the field across the street.
Later in life I had a carport — not a porch but better than nothing,
The front porch is the outstanding feature in our current home. From it, I watch the seasons change, usually according to the type of tourists walking by: Right now, young parents with children not yet in school; soon, your general, all-around tourist; and after Labor Day, senior citizens.
Where would you rather have your morning coffee and newspaper, in a kitchen looking at the same old scene, or on porch where the view changes by the minute?
Fight for porches, Mayor Fraser. You are right, again.

Lose It Whether or Not You Use It

2007-05-30T11:48:00.000-04:00

A recent news account on increasing fees at colleges indicated that many students couldn’t understand why they should pay fees for things they might never use. The school swimming pool was one example.
Explained the head of student services at Stockton, “We could not provide the services at a reasonable cost unless everyone contributed.”
When college students get in the real world, they will find they are paying federal income taxes for many programs they do not support, let alone use.
When they become property owners, they will pay school taxes whether or not they have children in public schools. They may pay open space taxes, whether or not they believe in preserving open space. They may pay a library tax whether or not they use the library.
A recent article pointed out that every airline ticket includes a surcharge that gives billions of dollars to “general aviation” airfields largely used by owners of private airplanes.
The list is endless.
Maybe the college fee system should be considered just another lesson for the young.

Wolfowitz Loses Job, Girlfriend

2007-05-26T12:49:00.000-04:00

For weeks, his name has been in the headlines every day.
No, not Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Paul Wolfowitz, outgoing president of the World Bank.
I started a clipping file on Wolfowitz more than a month ago, thinking it might be a topic for me.
As luck would have it, he finally gave in and resigned while I took a couple days off. And it seems that everything about him has been written, including the Wall Street Journal’s daily defense.
Wolfowitz has a girlfriend employed at the World Bank. He transferred her to avoid a conflict of interest. He also raised her pay, by $50,000, bringing it to $193,590.
Pretty cheap compared to what Gov. Corzine spends on his girlfriends.
Often called “the architect of the war in Iraq,” that label earned Wolfowitz little respect from the Bank’s European members and may have been a prime reason they wanted him out.
The girlfriend, Shala Ali Riza, was described in a New York Times article as speaking Arabic, French, Italian and Turkish and having “considerable experience in Africa and the Middle East.”
Too bad he didn’t get some Middle East advice from her before “designing” the war.
Not only is Wolfowitz out, but the New York Post has reported Riza, tired of seeing her name and salary in the news, dumped Wolfowitz.
And so it goes.

Chimpanzees: Smarter and Altruistic?

2007-05-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

There is increasing evidence that chimpanzees are sometimes smarter than human beings.
The New York Times reports that only “a 1.23 percent difference in their genes separates Home sapiens from chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes.”
Of course it’s been known for some time that chimpanzees can make and use tools and hunt in groups. According to the Times, they seem to be capable of “empathy, altruism, self-awareness, cooperation in problem solving and learning through example and experience,”
Based on that, I would say it’s quite possible they would give more to the United Way than Cape May Countians.
And, says the Times, chimps can even “outperform humans in some memory tasks.”
These conclusions come from a symposium in March called “The Mind of the Chimpanzee.”
It included reports on laboratory experiences that showed the chimps’ “underlying intelligence,” or “cognitive reserve.”
A chimp, admittedly with “months of training accompanied by promised food rewards,” did much better than humans on a memory test — recalling and typing numbers flashed on a computer screen.
It makes sense to me that food rewards were the key. When Bokito, the 400-pound gorilla briefly tasted freedom May 18, escaping from the zoo in Rotterdam, where did he head? To the restaurant.
Your comments would be appreciated, but I am away for a couple days so they, and my further comments, will not be posted until Thursday, May 25.

Abolish New Jersey's Death Penalty?

2007-05-15T20:38:00.000-04:00

Should New Jersey abolish the death penalty?
It could happen.
The state Legislature put a moratorium on executions at the end of 2005 when the death penalty study commission was formed.
The commission concluded in January that it cost taxpayers more than life imprisonment and did not deter crime.
That cost notion represents the expenses of the normal, lengthy repeals process, a curious angle indeed.
The State Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-2 last week to release a bill that would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, a policy in a dozen other states.
The Assembly has not considered it yet, but the Assembly speaker reportedly supports it and Gov. Jon Corzine opposes capital punishment.
The legislation would not affect death sentences in the federal system, where the suspected Fort Dix plotters would be prosecuted, for example.
New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, but hasn’t executed anyone since 1963.
It is hard to imagine a more sensitive, passionate and emotional issue. How do you feel?

College Loan Scandal Update

2007-05-10T09:34:00.000-04:00

An update to my May 2 Blog on corruption in the college-student loan industry. The House of Representatives May 9 approved legislation that would ban gifts from lenders to schools and also require schools that provide lists of approved lenders to report any business dealings with those lenders. The vote was 414-3. It’s a shame it takes a law to ensure colleges do what they should have been doing all along.

A Response to Shore Critics

2007-05-08T23:31:00.000-04:00

My editorial page column this week revealed, and rebutted, some shore criticism by Inquirer columnist Daniel A. Cirucci.
It noted that he found the shore too hot, the ocean too cold, the sand too fine, the towns too crowded, and too many beer bellies in Wildwood, which, like the bellies, really hits below the belt.
Cirucci’s most insidious implied criticism, though, was of the people, my people. He wrote that in his preferred vacation spot, Hilton Head, “the friendly natives speak in a slow drawl that invites you to linger.”
What Cirucci obviously does not know is that if the original Mason-Dixon line could be extended eastward, it would run smack through Cape May County. Further, New Jersey did not vote for Abraham Lincoln, preferring Stephen Douglas by 4,500 votes,
The folks around here around can slow drawl with the best of them. Cape May County is said to have some of the slowest people in the world.
Most local restaurants will “invite you to linger” — as long as you order another drink.
Hopefully this settles that final Cirucci complaint.
I invite your comments, but please don’t try to tell me where the Mason-Dixon line is. It was paved over a long time ago.

Greed in Higher Education

2007-05-01T17:28:00.000-04:00

Education — what finer calling is there?
Higher education — even better.
My regard for education is so strong — and I am so naive — that I am still surprised when something mars it.
No, I’m not talking about former Gov. Jim McGreevey being hired by Kean University to teach courses to do with ethics and leadership. That is so outlandish as to defy belief. I have a hunch the McGreevey connection that made possible this obvious attempt to boost his state pension will come out.
I’m talking about the scandal over colleges getting paid off to recommend certain lenders for loans to students. There are some $85 billion in college loans out there, and 21 colleges and three lenders have already made settlements.
Some of the colleges called it revenue-sharing. I call it kickbacks.
At the University of Texas at Austin, a key factor in rating loan companies was the quality of the free meals and other perks.
One may be less surprised that the banks would pay off. But colleges...
In some cases, the schools themselves may be innocent, but financial aid officers allegedly received gifts ranging from money to trips in return for pushing certain lending institutions.
It’s the same greed that we see all too often in politicians.
The U.S. Department of Education is supposed to regulate the student loan industry. It apparently hasn’t. Surprised?

The Courage Not to Prosecute?

2007-04-24T19:17:00.000-04:00

Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch seemed like a great choice to prosecute Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner believed to be connected to the 9/11 attack.
Col. Couch, a Marine Corps pilot and veteran prosecutor, lost a close friend in the attack. Former Marine Michael “Rocks” Horrocks was the copilot on the second plane to strike the World Trade Center in 2001.
An al Quaeda member said Slahi was involved in the recruitment of those who committed the 9/11 attack.
The other evidence against Slahi consisted of his own statements.
But after nine months of preparation, Col. Couch, 41, declined to prosecute Slahi.
The reason, detailed in a full-page account in the Wall Street Journal: Col Couch concluded that Slahi’s confession came as the result of torture — beatings and death threats — and was therefore inadmissible under both U.S. and international law.
According to Bill Wilder, director of educational ministries at the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, Va., Couch “...wanted to be a good soldier and yet on the other hand felt his duty to his God to be the greatest duty that he had.”
It was Couch’s belief that, according to Wilder, “...human beings are created in the image of God and as a result we owe them a certain amount of dignity.”
Slahi, 37, remains in Guantanamo. Col. Couch finished his three-year term as a prosecutor and took on a new assignment as a judge on the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals. He says he continues to hope for “some nontainted evidence” to bring Slahi to justice.
Upon leaving his prosecutor post, Col. Couch received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a citation that referred to his “moral courage.”
Do we praise Col. Couch for that moral courage, or condemn him for failing to prosecute an alleged 9/11 conspirator?

Drive Your Guzzler, but Quit Complaining

2007-04-19T17:57:00.000-04:00

The current price of regular gasoline is approaching $3.
But do most of us care?
I do a couple minor things that help improve my gas mileage. I use cruise control whenever possible. And if I am on the parkway and in no hurry, I just stay at 55 rather than bump it up to 65 where legal. (Yeah, that’s me.) Pretty small stuff, but it helps.
But most motorists, according to experts, do precious little to try to save money.
They continue to buy gas guzzlers, absurd vehicles that get 10, 12, 14 miles to the gallon, and hold in disdain smaller cars with more than double that mileage.
They don’t drive less.
They burn rubber.
Hey, it’s a free country and if you want to drive a vehicle that gives lousy mileage and if you want to continue to make unnecessary trips and drive in a way guaranteed to burn up the most fuel, that’s your right.
Just stop complaining.

High Winds Followed by Big Bucks

2007-04-16T11:19:00.000-04:00

Avalon beaches are supposed to get 180,000 cubic yards of sand this week.
Nice timing.
The wind is whistling a million miles an hour right now. At least it sounds like it. It’s so bad, even the county zoo is closed. The animals refused to leave their homes and entertain visitors.
This nor’easter presumably is eroding beaches, but I’m not going out to look.
It will be followed by costly beach replenishment projects paid for by the federal, state and local governments.
Or, more accurately, to be paid for by taxpayers.
There are arguments to be made in favor, and against.
What’s yours?

What Happened to the Stiff Upper Lip?

2007-04-13T08:54:00.001-04:00

These things happened on the same day:
Tennis great Billie Jean King said in an interview that American tennis is in a crisis because American youngsters have become rather soft.
She noted Russians “play tennis wearing layers of clothes in the snow, But “fourth-, fifth-, sixth-generation Americans...are all a little soft.”
Golf great Gary Player said in an interview, noting that American players are being dominated by international players, said the latter “aren’t spoiled. They don’t have luxury locker rooms and courtesy cars meeting them at the airport and traveling gymnasiums. They have to learn to play in different conditions and grind it out. They’re hungry.”
And finally, 15 British marines and sailors returned from being held captive in Iran for nearly two weeks during which time some confessed, apologized, and seemed to go out of their way to praise their captors.
From what we know, the Britons were subjected to being blindfolded, separated, and suffered psychological torture. None of us knows how he would react in similar circumstances, but what happened to the stiff upper lip?
NBC-TV’s Andrea Mitchell contrasted this with the experience of Sen. John McCain. He spent five and half years as a North Korean prisoner (1967-73) in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton,” even refusing an offer of repatriation.
What are we to make of all this?

Hunting Easter Eggs

2007-04-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

Easter is over, to be followed by complaints in Spout Off and elsewhere about the behavior of the children and parents engaged in the Easter egg hunts.
I couldn’t go to every Easter egg hunt. Actually, I didn’t go to any — this year.
But there are two sides to every story.
The parent(s) of a child taught to say please and thank you, a nonaggressive kid who never snatched anything out of another kid’s hand in his or her life, stands in awe as the hunt progresses.
The parent sees a child about to be terribly disappointed and led away empty-handed and weeping. So the parent either takes the child by the hand and leads him or her to an egg, or even finds one and gives it to the child.
Yes it breaks the rules. Maybe the child would be better off disappointed, but with a lesson learned. What do you think?

My Night with Anna Nicole

2007-04-06T15:14:00.000-04:00

I am not making this up; I give you my word. I dreamed last week that I was standing in line to see the body of Anna Nicole Smith.
I was on the second floor of a building — does the Rio Grande Firehall have a second floor? — and there was a huge crowd. My wife was with me.
The glass-topped coffin was on a stand or something so it was waist high.
Just before one got to the coffin, there was a large notebook on which the viewers could write a comment, like “Love you Anna Nicole.” My wife wrote something, but I couldn’t see what. I didn’t.
I was there as a reporter but I didn’t have a reporter’s notebook, just a tiny piece of paper folded over and a little stump of a pencil with a very thick point so I could hardly read what I was writing at the time, let alone later.
Just as I got to the coffin, the crowd surged and I and those around me were forced up against it and I envisioned the glass breaking and being impaled on it,
Wouldn’t that be a story? I thought: Reporter killed while viewing Anna Nicole Smith.
But it didn’t happen.
There was just a skeleton in the coffin and, writing this a few hours later, I remember that the previous night I had watched the bones-filled TV program “Bones.” At least part of the reason for the dream was revealed.
After passing by the coffin, there was a table of baked goods for sale, but they were all in opaque bags and one couldn’t tell what they contained. It occurred to me that this was a fund-raiser.
I believe I woke, and I believe I fell back asleep and the dream resumed, something that does happen with me occasionally.
In my dream, it was the next morning —early, dark, pre-dawn — and the coffin and I and maybe a hundred persons were outside — I had a feeling it was on Route 9 in Court House — and we were there to see the coffin taken away.
I was still a reporter with the same slip of paper and useless pencil and trying to find and interview whoever had spent the night with the coffin. No one seemed to be in charge, but someone told me “Harry from Public Works” did. I couldn’t find anyone by that name.
Then one young man improbably lifted the coffin up on his shoulder as if it were very light and walked away with it and I felt terribly sad.
I repeat, I honestly dreamed this and, as I type, all sorts of interpretations come to me including my own illness, Easter approaching, whatever.
If you want to comment on this — do you dream, do you believe they mean something, can you figure out mine? — just click on the comments button. It would be great if a psychologist or psychiatrist chimed in. But don’t send me a bill.
I’ll be offering new comments as events or ideas occur all week plus a “significant” blog sometime before noon on Saturday, April 14.

Is Sexism Katie Couric's Problem?

2007-04-04T15:06:00.000-04:00

The ABC World News with Charles Gibson and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams are locked in a tight race for No. 1.
The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric trails far behind. as it did when Dan Rather was there.
TV news pro Jeff Greenfield, who will be joining the Evening News, says it’s sexism.
My first reaction was to reject that claim. But as I thought about it, I realized I had given Katie only one look. Then I settled on Williams and only recently moved to Gibson, with lots of going back and forth.
But I haven’t given Couric, who I liked on the morning Today show, a second chance. I think the problem is Katie. I had and have no trouble, for example, with Diane Sawyer. But I’m not sure. What about you?

Do You Believe in Demons?

2007-03-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

Do you believe in demons?
I mean seriously, not just as an excuse for doing something really stupid, like coming home at 4 a.m. with liquor on your breath, missing one shoe and saying, “The devil made me do it.”
I mean demons, out here among us, sent by the “chief demon,” the devil, to influence us.
I suspect many of us pick and choose such beliefs, like going to a Chinese restaurant. One from column A, two from column B. Heaven, sounds good. Hell, no thanks.
Our culture tends to treat these concepts lightly. “Angels” are currently selling Philadelphia cream cheese in a television commercial.
The March 19 issue of the New Yorker magazine portrayed both concepts in two cartoons. In one, a six-inch tall angel/conscience whispers advice into a man’s right ear while the same size devil implores into the other ear.
The other cartoon shows a man and woman standing in a fiery hell, a devil behind them, and the woman says to the man, “You’re never going to be happy if your only definition of success is heaven.”
Rev. Michael P. Orsi, after more than 30 years in the priesthood, no longer doubts the existence of demons and evil spirits.
Many of you know, or know of, Fr. Orsi. He spent some 20 years in this county. His assignments included St. Paul’s in Stone Harbor, St. Ann’s in Wildwood, where he also was an administrator and teacher at Wildwood Catholic, and Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cape May.
Fr. Orsi, incidentally, once remarked of Stone Harbor, “I have tasted heaven.”
A brilliant man, he is currently chaplain and research fellow in law and religion at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Mich. He has a PhD in education from Fordham University and is the author of four books.
In an essay in the February issue of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Fr. Orsi says he once doubted demonology and evil spirits. But “now with more than 30 years of priestly experience under my belt...I no longer doubt the reality of malevolent spirits.”
He notes numerous stories in the gospels of Jesus’ “encounter with demons” and points out that “St. Paul...continually refers to the demonic forces present in the world and the damage they cause.”
With references to the words of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine and to writings by psychiatrists and the like, Fr. Orsi warns of demons that can take control of people, especially the lonely, the alienated, the unloved.
These subordinates of the devil are not easily recognized, says Fr. Orsi. They can take any shape or form. Is it possible that I was briefly under the influence of a demon more than 30 years ago when my actions resulted in great unhappiness for myself and my loved ones?
What about you? Do you believe in demons and the devil, or is it all silly? Do you have stories to share? Click on “comments” and share your beliefs and feelings. You need not identify yourself.
(A new blog subject will appear here Saturday morning, April 7.)