Odds & Ends
Getting Chilly for Global Warming Climate Change Fanatics: Even some at the the Huffington Post have had enough, Al Gore’s crime against humanity,
Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that “the science is in.” Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny thing. It is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind.
Also, there is a bull market in sea ice apparently. How inconvenient. But that’s not all, the indespensible Gateway Pundit has a complete rundown of all the inconvenient truths.
BC About to Fire Football Coach for Interviewing for a Job: A huge part of me loves what BC is doing. I love that they are taking an old school stand. Just like holding to some pretty strong academic standards. These things make BC’s successes even better.
Yes, it is accepted that coaches have to move on in order to move up in their profession. It is a fact of life. However, in recent years the school jumping has gone over the line in basketball and football. BC would never have hired Coach Jags if they thought he was two-and-through guy. I’m sure this topic was discussed during the hiring process. I understand why BC is doing this. No, I do not think they would have any problem getting another highly qualified coach. From a bottom line legal standpoint, this Herald story makes it seem like BC doesn’t have a clause preventing the interview. Still, I like it.
Debating Leon Panetta: Uncle Jimbo says the Panetta pick is a lurch left and rated it an F. Micheal Leeden disagrees, he thinks it’s a smart move. Richard Miniter says, “It is hard to know what is worse: the rampant Washington insiderdom or the shocking lack of experience.” Meanwhile, hell hath no fury like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) scorned.
Hi honey, what are you doing here?
Vote for Pundit Review Radio in 2008 Weblog Awards
You can vote by clicking the logo or clicking here.
This is the fourth year in a row we have been selected as finalists in the Weblog Awards, making us the Susan Lucci of Sunday night. Thanks to Rob, Bruce and Gregg for everything. Thank you to everyone who voted in the nominating process. Also, thanks to Kevin Aylward and those who work on these awards sifting through more than 5,000 nominations in 49 categories.
The voting begins tonight and closes on Monday January 12, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 5:00 p.m. (EST) and 2:00 p.m. (PST).
Vote early and often, Chicago-style politics is all the rage these days!
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Boston blog in the spotlight: Solomonia
One of Boston’s best blogs is Martin Solomon’s excellent Solomonia. He returned to Pundit Review Radio to discuss the situation in Gaza and the local protests in support of Hamas. Martin has some great photos and video from the Boston rally this weekend.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Someone You Should Know: Special Forces A-Team 3336
Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce is a veteran of the Vietnam war and spent 28 years in the U.S. Army. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
Tonight Bruce told us how 10 Special Foces soldiers earned Silver Stars in a single battle.
About 100 Special Forces and Afghan soldiers each were carrying more than 60 pounds of equipment when they jumped from helicopters onto icy, jagged rocks and waist-deep running water in 30-degree temperatures on April 6 to assault a terrorist stronghold in Afghanistan.
Seven hours later, the members of Special Forces A-Team 3336 would have encountered a tenacious enemy in the Shok Valley and earned 10 Silver Stars, the Army’s third highest award for combat valor. The award of a single Silver Star is considered a significant combat decoration. The 12-man A-team is the basic fighting unit of Special Forces.
…“If you saw it in a movie, you’d shake your head and say it couldn’t happen,” Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland Jr., the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, said in his remarks at the ceremony.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce McQuain from QandO does an incredible job with the series every week.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
R.I.P. Freddie Hubbard
Legendary jazz trumpet master Freddie Hubbard has passed away at age 70.
A towering figure in jazz circles, Mr. Hubbard played on hundreds of recordings in a career that began in 1958, the year he arrived in New York from his hometown of Indianapolis, where he had studied at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music and with the Indianapolis Symphony.
Soon he had hooked up with such jazz legends as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, and Coltrane.
“I met Trane at a jam session at Count Basie’s in Harlem in 1958,” he told the jazz magazine Down Beat in 1995. “He said, ‘Why don’t you come over and let’s try and practice a little bit together.’ I almost went crazy. I mean, here is a 20-year-old kid practicing with John Coltrane. He helped me out a lot, and we worked several jobs together.”
… within a couple of years he would develop a style all his own, one that would influence generations of musicians, including Wynton Marsalis.
“He influenced all the trumpet players that came after him,” Marsalis told The Associated Press earlier this year. “Certainly I listened to him a lot. . . . We all listened to him. He has a big sound and a great sense of rhythm and time, and really, the hallmark of his playing is an exuberance. His playing is exuberant.”
Here he is playing the song I Remember Clifford, a tribute to another amazing trumpet pioneer, the one and only Clifford Brown.
The latest regrettable, celebrity seafaring humanitarian rescue mission disaster
When the loony left gets its humanitarian groove on, they can bring a ray of sunshine to almost any kind of disaster, man made or natural.
Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is back in the news for all the wrong reasons.
“A boat carrying international peace activists, including former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip sailed back into a Lebanese port on Tuesday after being turned back and damaged by the Israeli navy, organizers of the trip said.”
Hot Air says that McKinney “gets a warm Israeli welcome” and notes her long history of being on the wrong side of history.
This incident is the latest in a series of regrettable, celebrity seafaring humanitarian rescue mission disasters. Who could forget Sean Penn’s New Orleans adventure?
PHOTO CAPTION: Efforts by Hollywood actor Sean Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly overnight, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak.
Mr Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina’s flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch.
I’ve seen this movie before
I woke up at 4am and watched BBC and CNN International coverage of the war in Gaza. I saw Benjamin Netanyahu destroy a female BBC anchor by turning her moral equivalency back at her. Netanyahu basically told her that blaming Israel for civilian causalities is morally wrong because it is Hamas that is using civilians in the Gaza Strip as “human shields” by placing its people and weapons in heavily populated areas. He said the sole purpose of Hamas is to inflict such civilian casualties on Israeli’s every day via rocket attacks. They celebrate civilian deaths while Israel regrets them and does all it can to avoid them. It was great television.
Netanyahu said something similar later in the morning to Reuters, another media audience who needs to hear it,
“I think the international community is right to be concerned about the death of civilians. This is precisely the point. The Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians, deliberately hiding behind civilians. That’s a double war crime in itself, and very different from us. We have tried to minimise civilian casualties. When they fire into Ashdod, one of our biggest seaport cities, or into Ashkelon, another city, they hope to get civilian casualties, they hope to get a kindergarten, they hope to get a school. When we go after the terrorists themselves, we hope not to have any incidental civilian casualties.”
I was reminded of something we did on Pundit Review Radio two and a half years ago when the international media bias against Israel was once again on full display. Rob put a montage together of anti-Israel bias from the BBC and CNN International and tied it together with a riveting live report by blogger and photojournalist Dave Bender. Dave joined us to discuss this incident and you can listen to that here.
I said at the time, “As Dave and the residents of Haifa know, Israeli citizens are under attack. Too bad the BBC and CNN can’t come to term with this. This is a great piece of citizen journalism by Dave Bender, and when put side-by-side with the international media’s work, it is really telling.”
From what I could tell watching TV this morning, nothing much has changed.
One of our favorite guests on Pundit Review Radio is retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. He had a great column in the New York Post yesterday,
DAMNED IF THEY DO BUT ISRAEL’S DEAD IF THEY DON’T
DEAD Jews aren’t news, but killing terrorists outrages global activists. On Saturday, Israel struck back powerfully against its tormentors. Now Israel’s the villain. Again.
How long will it be until the UN General Assembly passes a resolution creating an international Holocaust Appreciation Day?
… We may sympathize with the average Palestinian family, exploited by generations of corrupt leaders and now caught in yet another round of violence. But let us never forget that Israel hasn’t fired thousands of blind rockets into Palestinian cities, that Israeli suicide bombers don’t attack Arab restaurants and bus stops, and that Israel seeks to avoid harming civilians - while Hamas seeks to kill as many civilians as possible.
In a world where there are no good answers, Israel just answered as best it could. The world’s response? “How dare Jews defend themselves.”
Humanity doesn’t progress. It just changes clothes.
Read the whole piece.
Some really cool video from Gaza at the Israeli Defense Forces You Tube channel. Yes, the IDF has a You Tube channel.
UPDATE: Seems like You Tube is screwing with the IDF account already. Shocker, I know. Noah Pollack at Commentary has more, and he is asking the right questions,
The rank double-standard that YouTube has applied to Israel is disturbing. YouTube hosts all manner of similar footage — much of it far more gory than the grainy infrared images posted by the IDF — of U.S. air strikes. Why is YouTube capitulating to those who do not wish for Israel to be able to tell its side of the story?
This is not the first time we have mentioned You Tube censorship, remember F-You Tube?
Schadenfreude Alert: Manny Ramirez losing millions every day
Although the 11-win Patriots missed the playoffs, there is some positive local sports news. Manny Ramirez is losing millions every day as the free agent market doesn’t exactly work out as he had planned.
Here is ESPN’s Buster Olney yesterday saying that the market for Manny just isn’t there and that he’ll probably end up with the Dodgers,
Today, ESPN is reporting that the Dodgers may have moved on from the disgraced, aging, one-dimensional malcontent,
So long Manny? Dodgers call Dunn, source says
Apparently, the Dodgers aren’t going to sit around all winter, waiting for Manny Ramirez to beg to come back. They now have Adam Dunn on their shopping list.
The Dodgers contacted Dunn’s agent, Greg Genske, over the holidays, according to an executive of a team interested in Dunn. And that creates an intriguing option for both parties.
Sweet, sweet Schadenfreude.
The more “you know” Caroline Kennedy
The more “you know” Caroline Kennedy, the more ridiculous it is that she thinks she deserves a senate seat.
In Massachusetts government, Christmas is the season for taking
Nothing says Merry Christmas like robbing the taxpayers blind via pension abuses. Two absolutely outrageous stories this week that demonstrate the power of the Hack-Progressive Alliance.
The first is Sen. Jim Marzilli, the disgraced, indicted perv. This self-described “socialist” allegedly crudely demeaned and molested women who just happened not to be his wife. In a just world, this creep would be worried about simply holding on to his pension. This being Massachusetts, Marzilli is asking for HIS PENSION TO BE DOUBLED. If you think that takes balls, wait until you hear his reasoning,
Globe: Ex-senator wants double pension; Marzilli resigned amid criminal case
J. James Marzilli Jr., the former state senator from Arlington who resigned in disgrace after being charged with harassing or attempting to grope women in downtown Lowell, wants the state to nearly double his pension.
In a request submitted to the state Board of Retirement, Marzilli, a 50-year-old liberal Democrat with 23 years of local and state service, cites a state law that allows elected officials under age 55 with more than 20 years of creditable service to boost their pension if they fail to win reelection.
He failed to win re-election because he had been arrested for assaulting multiple women. A self-described socialist representing Arlington is about the closest thing one can think of to lifetime job security. Despite this, this creep allegedly assaulted multiple women like a filthy pervert. AND HE IS ASKING FOR HIS PENSION TO BE DOUBLED BECAUSE HE WASN’T RE-ELECTED. Why wouldn’t every hack in the legislature run right out and start a massive crime spree in order to get their juicy pensions further juiced?
The second whopper of the week occours over at Massport. I know, you’re shocked, shocked!
Mining vacation gold at Massport
Benefit is used to increase salaries, pensions of workers
In an arrangement that is extremely rare throughout the rest of state and local government, officials at the Port Authority of Massachusetts can take advantage of a little-known benefit to add as much as 6 percent to their paychecks by “selling back” up to three weeks of unused vacation time.
About 300 Massport employees cash in some vacation time each year, including both management and union workers, costing the agency about $750,000 annually. And it is a benefit popular among those contemplating retirement, because by boosting their income, they also increase their pensions.
In the case of its highest-paid administrator, executive director Thomas Kinton Jr., the perk was worth $15,875 this year. As a longtime employee, he gets five weeks of vacation. This year, he took two and sold back the rest. That payment came on top of Kinton’s $295,000 annual salary.
Anyone reading this who works in the DPS (dreaded private sector) who enjoys this perk? I’ve been toiling away in the DPS for 20 years and have never come across such a policy. When it comes to vacataion time, in the real world, it’s use it or lose it. If you’re lucky, maybe you can roll some days over if they are unused. Go ahead, go to your DPS boss and ask for cash instead. See what they say.
A spokeswoman for Massport, defended the benefit with this gem,
We operate as a business and we compete for the best talent with those in the private industry. And to compete with the private industry in attracting and retaining talented employees, we strive to provide a competitive benefit package. If someone chooses not to take vacation time they have rightfully earned, we believe they should be compensated for it.
Massport, the home of the infamous nationwide job search that typically ends in the selection of a niece or nephew of a state rep. Please Massport, don’t pee on our leg and tell the taxpayers it’s raining. Obviously, anyone with fifteen minutes of DPS experience knows this benefit, and the excuse for it, is complete and utter BS.
Fred Foulkes, a Boston University professor and director of the university’s Human Resources Policy Institute says,
“It’s an abuse - it’s not right and the public deserves better. You would be hard-pressed to find any examples like it anywhere in the workplace. It’s easy to keep track of lower-level folks, but at higher levels, there often isn’t adequate record-keeping. Nobody asks a top manager for a doctor’s note when he’s out sick, for example. There’s a high level of trust. You assume a lot. And that’s risky.”
Michael Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said,
“This is an extremely unusual and lucrative arrangement, not found in either the public or private sectors,” Widmer said. Patrick administration officials declined to comment.
The problems in Massachusetts are not all Big Dig related. There is a generational culture of corruption in this state that has been festering for decades. It is in the agencies like Massport and the Pike and up and down Beacon Hill. Reform in Massachusetts has to start with the pension system. Yes, holding down taxes and tolls is important. But nothing will begin to correct the systemic abuses that are bankrupting this state like serious, draconian pension reform.
Here’s one recommendation. Every state worker who starts their job after Jan. 1, 2009 gets a nice 401K plan from Fidelity, like the rest of us. No more lifetime healthcare, no more pay for “unused” vacations, no more pensions, period!
Here’s to an awful 2009 for the Hack-Progressive Alliance. Cheers!
