J.D. Salinger, the reclusive creator of angst-ridden Holden Caulfield, has died at the age of 91.
Salinger had been seldom seen or heard in the last half of his life. He reportedly continued writing even after after his last book was published, but only wrote for himself. The unpublished creations are rumored to be locked away in a safe in Salinger's home.
The man was evidently quite strange. Friends reported that his reclusiveness was necessary in order for him to keep his sanity. He successfully sued to prevent the release of an unauthorized biography, but he could not stop the publication of books by an ex-lover and daughter which described his eccentric eating habits (he reportedly drank his own urine), his penchant to speak in tongues and his habit of writing in a cement bunker.
Most of us have read his most famous novel, A Catcher in the Rye. The books' protagonist, Holden Caulfield, scorns the adult world of corruption and struggles to hold on to the innocent world of youth. Holden is the symbolic "catcher" of people as they "fall from Grace" (youthful innocence) into the rye field (adulthood).
One of Catcher's most magical passages details Holden's witnessing of his sister reaching out for the brass ring on a carousel. As the metaphorical "world" spins round and round, Holden realizes he cannot stop his sister from reaching for the brass ring, even though he is afraid she may fall.
Although Salinger has just passed away, the reality is that, to his fans, he really left us a long, long time ago. Regardless, the character of Holden Caulfield and the universal themes in his most famous novel will resound for decades, if not longer.
Rest in peace, J.D. Salinger.
As an aside, I am willing to bet that the man's Last Will & Testament is fascinating.
Meet Grant Desme, a soon-to-be Catholic seminary student in Orange County, California. He's 23 years old, and has decided to join the Catholic priesthood after a lot of soul-searching, during which time God called him to abandon other Worldy things. Like his MVP Award for the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .288 and smacked 31 home runs in the Oakland A's minor league system.
This 8th-ranked prospect in the A's farm system is hanging up his spikes and calling it quits, forgoing the likelihood of millions of dollars, notoriety, and playing a game for a living.
"I'm doing well in baseball", Desme said. "But I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. It took awhile to trust that and open up to it and aim full steam toward Him... I love the game, but I'm going to aspire to higher things."
Now of course I'm a huge baseball fan. But I'm an even bigger fan of God. So, all you can really say, is....
Moyer and Manganello team up for Haiti relief efforts
Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer, and his wife, Karen, have agreed to match up to $50,000 in donations made to their charity, The Moyer Foundation. Their organization specializes in helping children in distress -- historically assisting children who are grieving with individualized camps. You can visit MoyerFoundation.org for more information.
My son Alex, pictured here with Moyer in Clearwater, Florida during Spring Training in 2008, has also jointed the Haiti relief efforts by donating the $1.00 he recently received from the tooth fairy to the Gloucester County American Red Cross. Alex has learned that on February 5, 2010, he will be honored by the American Red Cross for making this donation during a building dedication ceremony the Red Cross is having in honor of a gentleman who donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in the name of his deceased wife.
You can team up with Alex and Jamie to contribute as well. Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 on your cell phone bill to the relief efforts, or make a larger donation directly to your local Red Cross.
Anybody else shocked that someone named Scott Brown, who evidently was an obscure state legislator from Massachusetts, has come out of left field to undermine our chances of passing meaningful health care reform?
While we were sleeping, there was this little thing called a U.S. SENATE RACE which was necessary to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the liberal lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy. It seems as if this race must have been taken for granted by many of the higher-ups in the Democrat party, because it wasn't even on the national radar screen until the last few days before the election.
The unbelievable significance of this race between Brown and Martha Coakley is that, if the Republicans took the seat, the Dems would no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Translation: If the R's win the seat, they can block any piece of legislation with the procedural move known as a filibuster. The R's did win, and now they look to exercise their minority right of filibuster to block health care reform. Notably, it is health care reform that just passed BOTH houses of Congress. However, because of a number of different amendments to the bills passed in each house, there will need to be another vote in the Senate. And this is where the filibuster may come in.
From this point on, you will see incredible pressure being placed on more mainstream Republicans to lean to the left and help get this through Congress. You will also see pressure on the D's to water down the bill.
It's really fascinating if you think about it: one race, two people, a few hundred thousand voters, turning health care reform on its head in the blink of an eye.
And that's exactly the way our Founders would have it.
Just testing video on my blog. This little snippet is from Spring Training 2009 in Clearwater, Florida. If it works I will try to post more to satisfy your winter baseball cravings.
Taking the lead from Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh is discouraging folks from providing assistance to Haiti, declaring, "We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax."
We are now at the notorious "72-hour" mark -- the time experts claim that trapped survivors face imminent death from dehydration. More are still missing than have been found. News reports are showing us that the injured and homeless are lying right next to the dead and dying. Literally, pure hell on earth.
You have to ask yourself, why do we let people get away with acting so callously?
I've been feeling a little guilty recently about having not attended church in a while, but Pat Robertson's comment today makes me realize that my Sunday mornings may be better spent sleeping in.
According to Robertson: "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti. They got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French."
So, according to Pat Robertson, the Haitians brought this disaster upon themselves. This is the wrath of God, I guess.
Can you believe that a man who purports to be of God would make such a callous, cruel and obviously insane comment at a time like this? There are still thousands of people trapped under rubble, struggling to stay alive. Not to mention all those families mourning or desperately searching for their loved ones. It probably doesn't help them to think that God did this as payback.
Robertson's comment is a huge disservice to organized religion, especially Christianity. Religious leaders across the world need to condemn his ignorant comment for what it is: the misguided babblings of a man whose time has come and gone.
We're not quite 24 hours from the catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti, but would it be too much to ask for there to be a little more Facebook chatter on this? From my bunch of eclectic FB friends, only three have mentioned it, and one of them was me. For the record, you can send the text "Haiti" to 90999 and $10 will be added to your phone bill and donated to the Red Cross relief effort. Another worthy effort to contribute to is Doctors Without Borders, as another FB friend of mine noted.
The people of Haiti -- especially the millions that live in or near its capital, Port-au-Prince -- are in desperate need. Imagine your hometown destroyed, without a national government infrastructure to help build it back up. Hospitals leveled, no police protection. Famine and crime rampant. This is what the people of Haiti will be facing shortly. Not to mention thousands of dead on the street.
It's syncronized with the flight data recorder so all plane movements - pitch, bank, yaw, as well as thrust and controller movements like the flaps -- are recorded in real time with the video. Internal cockpit conversation as well as Captain Sully's communications with New York Departure are also included.
What's really interesting to me are the three areas where things really could have gone wrong. Of course the bird strike was potentially catastrophic since two engines were lost, but one of the first main decisions the Pilot had to make was whether or not to try to take the plane back to LaGuardia. The plane was wheels up at 8:25am and the bird strikes occurred just two minutes later as the plane was still in its climb out at just 2,900 feet.
At this point you can see and hear that the pilot is trying to turn the plane around toward LaGuardia by banking it to the left. This is the first place where things really could have gone wrong, as a low and slow plane on a steep bank angle can stall. If that had occurred, the results would have been catastrophic. However, Capt. Sully kept the bank angle relatively low. This resulted in the plane not even coming close to being able to complete the turn back toward LaGuardia, but also resulted in what the Captain had noticed moments before the bird strike -- the beautiful Hudson River shimmering in the cockpit window. Sure enough, there was a vast expanse of river -- which the plane was essentially perpendicular to-- running left to right in front of it. Continuing toward the river and slowly banking left, with the plane still losing altitude, Captain Sully considered his remaining options. But, one major crisis -- a stall -- had been averted.
The next decision was whether or not to go for landing at nearby Teterboro airport in Northern New Jersey. At this point, however, the plane is still losing altitude or at best just barely holding at around 1,000 feet for a few seconds. Unless the vectors into Teterboro were provided immediately and it was less than a minute to touchdown, there was no way the plane would make it. Capt. Sully smartly decided to nix Teterboro and made the instantaneous decision to drop it in the Hudson. Smart move considering that was the only possible choice. Crisis number 2 resolved.
The last problem was the biggest: how to get the plane down in the Hudson without causing catastrophic damage to the body of the plane, which would invariably result in instant death or drowning for at least some passengers and crew. You'll notice that, as the plane continues its descent down into the Hudson, the Captain employs the "flaps". Those little pieces of machinery are attached to the backs of the wings and are used by pilots to allow a plane to fly slower without stalling, and to descend without increasing airspeed. The employment of the flaps at this time was absolutely critical as it permitted the plane to bleed off airspeed. If the plane had come down too fast (and pointing the plane's nose down toward the ground in order to land will increase airspeed because of the force of gravity), it almost certainly would have broken apart in the water. Another issue was keeping the planes' wings absolutely level. Even a small error with the yolk would have resulted in a wing being sheared off, a wing which was full of gasoline and which also could have resulted in a catastrophe. Captain Sully feathered the plane down slowly, slowly, and simply planted it as smooth as could be right in the Hudson. Last crisis averted.
Amazing piloting skills. Capt. Sully was cool and calm the entire time and managed the crisis before him to perfection. It is a testament to the training all pilots receive and makes me proud to be a pilot.
Amid our ongoing war, the looming threat of terrorist strikes on our homeland, our continued listless economy, rising gas prices and the health care debate, it appears a large number of Americans are concerned about.....(drumroll, please.......).......whether the President's State of the Union Address will preempt the season premier of Lost.
Thankfully, the President bowed to the pressure, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, while fielding questions on the important national security issues of the date, did in fact confirm that the White house would ensure that the State of the Union did not interfere with the Lost premier.
Listen, I'm a fan of Lost. My wife sucked me into the drama a few years ago and I've been following it ever since. I'm looking as forward to its final Season as anyone, and yes, I know that the premier is a three-hour special.
But my goodness guys, what in the world does it say about Americans that we place more value on the season premier of a fictional show than we do on hearing from our leader on the critical national issues that effect us all? It's not like ABC can't move the premier to another day/time or push it back.
So I'm in Wawa getting my wife her morning cup of Joe, and, as always, I pour the French Vanilla and English Toffee mix so high that the foam is about an inch higher than the lid of the cup, thus filling the refillable mug to its max. And, as usual, the clerk at the register (the one who can always be counted on to give you a cheery "Hi there, how ya doin?" and "Have a great day!" at 6am) looks at me like I'm abusing the system.
"This is not an act of gluttony", I smartly reply. "This is an act of love....it's for my wife."
Situation diffused, I am rung up and out the door with my wife's legal drug addiction.
It's just that the look, that same look I get every time....it gets old.
So, I'm thinking next time I go in, and I get that look......instead of engaging in the same old light-hearted banter, I just run out the door with the coffee as fast as I can - without paying or saying anything.
The New Jersey State Senate voted down the Marriage Equality Act this afternoon. Evidently, marriage is only between a man and a woman. Why is that, you ask? Because evidently that's the way God made us. Who says? Why, the Bible, of course.
So, all other religions and beliefs be damned, two men can't marry and two woman can't marry and that's that. I guess the Biblical edict means is that really what it all comes down to is your plumbing. Got a penis? Then you better find someone with a vagina to marry. Otherwise, you're out of luck. Just like most of us didn't choose to be heterosexual, and we were just "wired" that way, if you were "wired" to dig people of the same sex...well, you better get "re-wired" or find another state to get married in. Cause you're not welcome to do that in Jersey. And if you're a hermaphrodite, you're really screwed.
So I guess marriage is all about sex, and, as a friend of mine pointed out yesterday, specifically who can do it with whom in order to procreate. Forget about married heterosexual couples who are infertile and need a medical assist to have kids; as long as the plumbing is correct, they can marry, whether or not they can procreate on their own.
Is this really the 21st century we're living in? What exactly is it that our elected officials, mostly conservative, straight men are afraid of? The same dudes that like watching girl-on-girl?
The three-headed monster is here. Say hello to Jacob and Joshua, the boys referenced in an earlier blog posting for March of 2007. This is what a couple of years of feeding, clothing and diaper-changing will create. For some reason they keep growing. In the spirit of equal time, I'll post a picture of my oldest son soon too. This was just the first picture that popped up when I tested adding a picture in my blog posting. So really, this is kind of like beta. Cool.
The White House is not properly vetting those who have access to the President and the White House.
The would-be Christmas Day airline bomber actually had contact with the Fort Hood shooter, and we knew it well before Christmas.
Prior to anyone knowing he had explosives on him, and based on a review of the passenger manifest AFTER the flight took off from Amsterdam to Detroit, we had agents standing ready to intercept the Christmas Day airline bomber.....AFTER he landed in Detroit. We're lucky the plane made it that far; it should have been intercepted immediately and rerouted.
And, in a matter also involving our government and related with the common thread of ineptitude, the US Census is prepared to disseminate the 2010 Census Form with a category that includes the terms "Negro".
It all began with this seemingly innocuous Facebook Post:
Concerned Citizen No. 1: I am afraid of what the consequences of 3 more years of "Systemic Failures" will cost our country; Bomber on US flight Christmas day, dogs at Philadelphia airport can't sniff bombs, man bypasses security at Newark airport by entering an unlocked exit door.. They went to review security cameras only to find the cameras haven't worked in days! Who feels safe?
And the argument degraded thusly:
Concerned Citizen No. 2: In none of the failures cited has anyone died, unlike under Bush's watch where thousands of innocent Americans were killed on our own soil.
CC1: Thanks CC2. BTW, how is Obamas campaign promise of troop removal going? Don't even get me started on Guantanamo..... (I still wake up to the laughter from the Taliban on that one)
CC3: Im with CC2. At least the guy takes the tiime to think things out and not shoot from the hip
CC4: CC1 you just had to pull me in huh? Failures for Obama - he has many. And people have died under his watch. He is the commander in chief and soldiers have died under his command. So that statement is false. I am glad people say its so wonderful that Obama takes time to think. Meanwhile people are dying while he thinks about his response to his General. At the same time he is ramming healthcare down our throats. No thought there! I could go on and on. Someone tell me one good thing he has done for our country. I would love to hear it. You Bush blamers are all the same. He was not perfect, no one is, but he loves his country and did a lot of good. He never apologized to anyone or any country either. Check your history books, other countries need us and our military. They crave to have our freedoms. Its funny how Obama has plenty of time to play golf and vacation but can't find the time to work on national defense. (I believe the # is 87 rounds of golf this year and a trip to Hawaii that could not be cut short even though our borders had been crossed again by the Taliban). Everyone scoffed at how much time Bush spent at Camp David and at his ranch "vacationing". They failed to mention he almost always did so with his cabinet and or top advisers. Some vacation. Obama, not so - he needs time away with the family, or time to lobby for the Olympics, or time to accept the Nobel prize (a joke by the way), or time to apologize...... Time away? You are the PRESIDENT you f^%$%ing idiot! Remember, you wanted this job and you work for us. It is time consuming, tiring, stressful and the like. Nobody said its easy but you wanted it anyway. Everyone needs time to recharge the batteries but Obama takes it to new heights especially in the world we currently live in. I have plenty more to say but I don't have the time, plus that was exhausting. Thanks CC1.
CC2: Try to cast aside your black and white, Partisan views where Bush = great! and Obama = bad!. Seriously, how do you think history is going to judge Bush? "a great leader"? "a true intellect"? "he was for the little guy"? "he really helped America lead the world"? Give me a break. Anybody with half a brain (which unfortunately your admitted half of the electorate does not have) knows that Bush was a moron who was in Wall Street's and the Middle East's pocket. Follow the money. What you don't know fills books. Answer me this: why did we go to war with Iraq? Did we bring to justice the man who was responsible for 9/11? How did our economy do under Bush's failed policies? Sounds like you're against health care reform also. Typical. Obviously you have health care so I guess you figure no worries there. I for one will gladly sacrifice some of the excellent health care I receive so that we call all afford health care. You can denigrate Obama, the Nobel Prize, the goal of health care reform which this country has been working on for 80 years. You're probably - no, make that definitely -- against gay rights too. I know you're type -- narrow-minded and singularly selfish. Get over yourself and realize that there's a whole world out there, all of whom are not you, and they're looking to America for leadership on huge international issues like global warming. But then again I'm sure you believe global warming is a farce and that torturing enemy prisoners is ok. Next time you wipe tell Bill O'Reilly I said hi. Please, please, climb back into your hole and only come out when you're ready to accept others' points of view. Until then, FB away in your Parent's basement.
CC4: CC2 - number one. You do not know me. My parents' basement? Not so. I am married with two kids. I own two small businesses in SJ. I have healthcare but I fucking pay for it and 75% of it for my employees, they pay 25%. I welcome others points of view and I enjoy debating the facts. Fact is, you never gave me an answer in any of your garble about what Obama has actually done..... Bill O'Reilly, not my type. Global warming, a farce? Not sure but we don't know enough to call it global or climate anything. There is not enough accurate weather history to determine that. Plus no matter what we do as Americans and we have done plenty, that will never change India or China who create something like 80% of the world's pollution. We put these constraints on ourselves and force good companies out of business in th US and force jobs overseas. This is not good for you or me. Torturing enemy prisoners is good and helps our intel. This enemy would kill you in a heartbeat and step right over your dead body. End of story. They hate you, me, and anyone else who has our types of freedom. Narrow minded? No. Gay rights? Everyone as Americans has rights and what goes on behind closed doors is none of my business. So if someone is gay, so be it. It does not affect me. But when it comes to marriage, then yes I believe its between a man and a woman. Break it completely down to the most basic animal instinct and we were put here to pro create. Last time I checked, gays can not do that. Again it does change my daily life in the slightest, but it does not work. I am compassionate and would help anyone in need, gay or straight, but marriage is where I draw the line. Healthcare, needs reform - yes. But not the way they are trying to do it. Lift the restrictions and let the private sector fight harder for the business. Get the lawyers out of it and you will see the prices come down. Healthcare is a priveledge, not a God given right. And last I checked, no one is refused medical help in our country. Its illegal to do so. But I agree the system needs to change. And what exactly did Obama do to receive the Nobel? Hmmmmmm. Exactly....NOTHING! Which all leads me back to Bush in closing. A good man and a good president. Not great but good. Economy? Are you serious? Remember the President is just one man with veto power when the Libs controlled everything else. Bush and his admin tried to stop and reform the doom that was coming. Check the facts. They saw the bubble would break but the libs controlled everything and they said it was fine. Well you see where that got us. 9/11 was of course tragic. Could Bush have stopped it? I don't know but he did keep us safe for the remainder of his tenure. Don't forget about the national defense mess he inherited from Clinton or lack of national defense. Oh that's right, Billy boy was busy having his dick sucked rather than running the country or let alone tending to his family. A man willing to risk his family - his most precious gift, is certainly willing to risk the rest of us and our families. "The Man" of 9/11. Again its many not just one and he was working on it. More than I can of Obama who wants to give away all of our strategy and try these people in US courts. Terrorism is everywhere and protection starts here. Did we get the man you speak of, no. But I hope and pray we get every other one here and abroad. If allowed, I know our military is capable. And finally, the war with Iraq. Lets see here. Oil - check. Because again we can't dare drill here and possibly keep jobs here. That would be evil and we could harm a bird or some stupid fish. This reverts back to one of my earlier statements. Genocide - check. Thousands of innocent people were being killed and again were not allowed the freedoms you and I enjoy. These people needed our help. Harboring terrorists - check. Training camps, flow of money, gov't protection, etc. Weapons of mass destruction - check. I know what you will say. The UN inspectors never found any. True but what they did find were all the parts and components to build them. And last time I checked, the UN has never really helped the US. I could go on and on but I must go back to work now to support more government causes. Plus my boss is calling. Oh wait, that's me. Be careful what you say before you know all of the facts. Again, you don't know me. But what I can say about me is that I provide jobs to people. Real jobs. People work for me, collect a pay check which provides food on their table and a roof over their head and their families. I am a hard working citizen who is an asset to the community and provide for my family and many others. I like to think I have good morals and sound values. I hope to instill these same values in my children. That is by working hard and teaching them nothing is given. You must earn it first.
What do you do? Who are you?
CC2: Blah blah blah. CC4, you must be very busy at work to have time to write all this. Perhaps you had called the Rush Limbaugh show and were on hold. Either way, dude, it's nothing personal. I may not be a lawyer (but then again I may be), but most of what you're talking about is boilerplate conservative bullshit. I've been down that road. Run for office, run a business, got my doctorate, worked for a Congressman. Worked for the most powerful man in new jersey. Do you even know who that is? Prob not. The point is, the answer to all these things is not contained in partisan political rhetoric. Half of what I said in my last post was calculated to see if you'd actually bite. Now that you did, I see that you are a typical boilerplate conservative. And for the record, I am no big Obama fan at this point either. He has not acted swiftly enough in bringing troops home from our failed wars. I am also not a liberal democrat who support higher taxes. Have you not yet figured out that we've got a nuch of crooks on both sides of the aisle? And you're right, it wasn't just Bush's fault that the economy went south. However, his economic policy was devastating and fueled the fall. C'mon you know that. When God speaks to you again about why we were put here on this earth, can you please ask him for a new brain? One that doesn't just read Republican talking points? I gotta get back to work. Please respond after you've spent some quality time in the history and religion section of Barnes and Noble -- and don't confine yourself to just the section on Christianity.
CC4: Touche'. You are a funny man and I knew you were a lawyer. Seems as though you bit right back. And since you have plenty of time to answer, I guess not a very good lawyer. You talk just like an attorney. Some blow hard liberal who spent too much time in school and thinks he is God's gift to everything because he an esquire after his name. Get real. Remember, you attacked me. I never called out anyone. I was making statements in response to others. You made the personal attacks so I fired back. And because I am conservative, that makes it boiler plate bullshit? C'mon man. I answered questions based on my opinions. You have yet to answer a question (typical lawyer). Once again, you have no idea who I am, what I do or what and who I do and don't know. Who is the close minded one here? And yes there are crooks on both sides of the isle. I never said I was a Republican either.Come down off your pedestal oh great one. We get it, your an attorney. OOOOH and AHHHHHHH! You sound like an egotistical maniac who either didn't get enough time on your mom's boob or maybe it's because you are making up for other short comings?
CC3: The Main thing guys is we have to respect other peoples opinions unless they are like totally wacked... I watch Fox news even though it makes my Jaw tighten... I think both sides are lying... we are decending into intellectual anarchy..we have to pull it together or we are doomed united we stand divided we fall!
CC2: The thing CC3 is, it's the views of guys like your buddy CC4 who are getting our soldiers killed fighting these ridiculous wars. As a father of three boys, I am inclined to shine a light on their ignorance in the hopes that my boys won't be called to fight their stupid battles. If we weren't at war and living in this era of terrorist threats, his view would be merely juvenile, rather than dangerous. It's all good; I'm sure you're friend's a great guy. Oh and CC4, keep my mom's boobs out of this. You don't know her boobs and have never seen either one (right??) At least my parents didn't give me a first name that ends in a vowel. I mean, what's up with that?
CC4: CC2, two things are for sure: I am passionate and I have never seen your mother's boobs. My first name? You wish yours was as cool :-) We will agree to disagree. I merely wanted to debate the facts and or opinions. I respect both and debate them often with friends and family. Again its what makes our country great. Having that freedom. However, on your second to last comment I am not juvenile or dangerous. I have a son as well and if he chose to serve in the military, I would be proud. Concerned but proud. Same goes if he wanted to be an attorney - YIKES! My belief is all of our freedoms and the like are worth dying for and thats the truth. Is war ugly? Yes but its also sometimes necessary. There is no greater hero than an American GI. Freedom is not free and they lay their life on the line everyday for you and me. There is nothing I could do or say to ever honor ours troops enough.
CC2: Got it CC4. I would like to conclude with something witty and olive-branchy, but I just can't after your pro-military rant. I don't think you get points for being pro-military. That's just a "given". Do you realize that the Iraq war was over oil and retribution, and that the 9/11 attack was just a pretext for our Iraq war? You seriously think your son's life was worth losing in Bush's Iraq war? Iraq never attacked us. It is a PROVEN FACT that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY CABINET MEMBERS AND THE PRESIDENT'S PRESS SECRETARY stating that the administration was trying to build a case and connect dots that weren't there in order to justify an Iraq way against "the guy who tried to kill [Bush's] daddy" (Those are Bush's words). You have the right to your own opinion, as totally misguided as it may be. You do not have the right to your own facts.
And so, there it is. A unique exchange of ideas, with a blessed minimum of ad hominem attacks, shared between concerned citizenry of this great experiment we call America. Hope you enjoyed it. And now, a word from our sponsor.
First day back in the saddle for the New Year. Working out of the house today, cleaning up and catching up. Getting a first-hand glimpse of what my wife, who is a stay-at-home mom, has to deal with every day. It's clearly both a privilege and a huge responsibility taking care of our kids all day. Which reminds me, I really need to purchase a pair of earplugs for days like this.
Those of you who follow me on FB no doubt have been very concerned about my possible abduction yesterday (driving on a lonely dark road in the Pine Barrens, slowed down to check something out....and then, other than a cliche quote from a Robert Frost poem, I was not heard from again)....but alas I am fine. Turns out the blinking light was....well, just a blinking light. Sorry I don't have anything more exciting for you at this time. But I'll work on it.
I hope that coming soon, assuming Mark has the time to help me with it, will be a new video blog to accompany the written word on this site. I spend the bulk of my day practicing law, so when I blog, the law will probably be the last thing I talk about. I instead plan on ruminating on current events and other newsy type matters. Who knows, we may even make the news.
Gotta get back to work.
Follow me on twitter: @esq4hire Follow me on facebook: Christopher Michael Manganello
Al Qaeda is poised to strike the U.S. again on our homeland, according to government sources. This announcement comes on the heels of the failed Detroit-bound airliner bombing 1 1/2 weeks ago, and today's news that U.S. and British Embassies in Yemen -- a known terrorist breeding ground -- have been ordered closed as a result of credible intelligence that they are also terrorist targets.
The question that comes to mind is, why are we hearing that al Qaeda is only now poised to strike us on our homeland? Isn't this a little like saying the Phillies are only now poised to win the world series? The Phils tried and failed last year. They're going to try again this year. But both years they were ready and willing to do it, and the same can be said for al Qaeda...they have always been ready and willing to strike us here. The question is not are they ready and willing. The question is, are they able? And, sadly, I suspect the answer is yes.
We can continue to try to outmanuever them. We can spend billions of dollars fighting wars in other countries, overthrowing governments, trying to establish new governments, and attempting to fortify hard targets here at home while hoping our soft targets are protected by a vigilant public. But what is our end game? Do we have an exit strategy from the psychological and legal effect that terrorism exacts on a democracy?
Can we just kill them all?
Can we protect ourselves to such an extent that our underlying freedoms remain, and our security is ensured?
How long will this go on before we realize that there is a reason that other countries view us as evil? That perhaps instead of imposing our will on other nations, we just have to learn to get along?
If we're going to act like the biggest bully on the block, we've got to expect potshots from our weaker neighbors. Until we learn to act like a citizen of the world, not just an island unto ourselves, we're going to face repurcussions. Until then, international relations are going to remain difficult....and little things like flying and going to large events will be potentially dangerous.
This is not the way it's supposed to be.
And no, we can't kill 'em all. But they sure can keep trying to kill us.
We're going to kick it off by watching the "Polar Bear Plunge" at the OC music pier this afternoon. As fast as people run into the Atlantic, they run out even faster - like their swim trunks are on fire! Good family fun! Will post video on my facebook page this afternoon.
Please accept our best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year!
You're looking at a future Man of the Cloth.
