Saturday morning dawned crisp, cold and overcast in Bridgewater. As is my winter weekend morning habit, I arose early, put on a pot of coffee; donned a pair of sweats, a fleece vest, a hat, and walked down to the bottom of the driveway to pick up the newspapers.
There are several regular joggers in the neighborhood, so it’s not unusual to greet one as he or she passes by. Yesterday was no different. As I stooped to gather up one of the newspapers, a well-bundled young woman with just the oval of her face showing, slowed down from her jogging, picked up the other newspaper and handed it to me.
We exchanged greetings and smiles, and she continued on her way. What a refreshing occasion it is to run across such a simple yet meaningful act of kindness.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Trenton Bureaucrats Dictate Housing in Bridgewater
New Jersey government is so overstuffed with state jobs, it seems, that every time you turn around, a new requirement in the form of an unfunded burden is being placed on local municipalities. Often, when that happens, it’s promoted under the guise of a good cause. Take for example, affordable housing.
Just when many communities, like Bridgewater Township, are meeting their obligations under the law, poof! Down comes another directive from the state bureaucracy. Joe Doria, Commissioner of the State Department of Community Affairs has OK’d the proposal of his Council on Affordable Housing to arbitrarily increase the number of homes currently scheduled to be built by 2018.
He says that developers will pick up the bill for this. Even if they did, it doesn’t come close to paying the full tab for such housing. Every time that a new housing unit is forced down the throat of a municipality by state mandate, it increases all of the public service, social and educational costs of the municipality and of the school district on a permanently recurring basis. And none of these costs – none – are covered by the rules proposed by Mr. Doria’s Trenton bureaucracy.
Communities in Somerset County have been planning in good faith and meeting requirements for previously established regulations for fair housing established by the state of New Jersey. Out of the blue, with no apparent regard for the already ballooning real estate tax problems of Bridgewater and other similar communities, Commissioner Doria comes up with further prohibitive requirements.
Clinton Township Mayor Nick Corcodilos, who represents a coalition of towns, has said that the DCA will be sued if it continues on this path. Good! In a recent newspaper article, both Bridgewater Township Planner Scarlett Doyle and Mayor Patricia Flannery have clearly made known the unfairness and imbalance of the State’s proposal.
Bridgewater Township should join other like-minded municipalities and execute a full-court press to stop this insane proposal.
Note: See the article on this topic by Bev McCarron at http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/120236320211890.xml&coll=1
Just when many communities, like Bridgewater Township, are meeting their obligations under the law, poof! Down comes another directive from the state bureaucracy. Joe Doria, Commissioner of the State Department of Community Affairs has OK’d the proposal of his Council on Affordable Housing to arbitrarily increase the number of homes currently scheduled to be built by 2018.
He says that developers will pick up the bill for this. Even if they did, it doesn’t come close to paying the full tab for such housing. Every time that a new housing unit is forced down the throat of a municipality by state mandate, it increases all of the public service, social and educational costs of the municipality and of the school district on a permanently recurring basis. And none of these costs – none – are covered by the rules proposed by Mr. Doria’s Trenton bureaucracy.
Communities in Somerset County have been planning in good faith and meeting requirements for previously established regulations for fair housing established by the state of New Jersey. Out of the blue, with no apparent regard for the already ballooning real estate tax problems of Bridgewater and other similar communities, Commissioner Doria comes up with further prohibitive requirements.
Clinton Township Mayor Nick Corcodilos, who represents a coalition of towns, has said that the DCA will be sued if it continues on this path. Good! In a recent newspaper article, both Bridgewater Township Planner Scarlett Doyle and Mayor Patricia Flannery have clearly made known the unfairness and imbalance of the State’s proposal.
Bridgewater Township should join other like-minded municipalities and execute a full-court press to stop this insane proposal.
Note: See the article on this topic by Bev McCarron at http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/120236320211890.xml&coll=1
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Bill Maher’s View of Mormons and Evangelicals
Did you watch the Larry King Show last night? If you did, you were treated to an hour of humor by Bill Maher, a sharp wit and a good comedian. But much of his humor yesterday was disparaging and witless.Several times, Maher could not help but to get off on a tangent. When Larry King asked him what he thought of Mitt Romney, Maher’s response was that, “Mormons have always been shape shifters.” King had not asked him what he thought about Mormons, but what he thought about Romney. The question was politically oriented – nothing else.
Maher could not resist the temptation to twist the answer into a broadside aimed at all Mormons. Shape shifter is a derogatory term meaning that a person does not stay put on solid ground, but moves about constantly, hoping to present an illusive, unsteady appearance.
Maher’s prejudice was not reserved only for Mormons. When asked by King to comment about Mike Huckabee, Maher wasn’t too enthusiastic about him either, indicating that anyone who believes in “The old book of Jewish fairy tales” doesn’t suit his fancy either.
Maher offered his philosophy that, “I think all religions are cuckoo, but I’m not a bigot.” He went on to say, “You can’t shut me up by using the word ‘faith’ because I think it’s dumb.”
During that entire hour, King did not once ask Maher his opinion of the candidates’ faith. I don’t know why Maher thinks that someone is trying to shut him up by using the word faith. Certainly it didn’t happen during last night’s interview. Larry King needs to get a grip, control the format of his show, and not act like such a wimpy host when one of his guests gets so far out of line.
Note: 06 July 2006 Photo by Jesse Grant - © WireImage.com - Image courtesy WireImage.com
Monday, February 4, 2008
Giants Pull Out a Tight Victory
Almost all of the professional sports pundits got it wrong. (See my pre-game blog of yesterday). The New York Giants played a great defensive game against the New England Patriots. Eli Manning kept his newly-found precision passing on the mark to produce the necessary yardage that eventually gave the Giants a 17-14 win over the up-to-then undefeated Patriots.
Tom Brady was sacked too often by an aggressive Giants defense, and could not come up with enough big plays to give him the results that he needed for this contest. Even Randy Moss was held to a single touchdown and just five receptions.
As of 10:20 last night, the writers of FOX Sports on MSN had nothing to say about their lopsided predictions of a Patriots victory, where 10 out of 11 writers had called for the Giants to lose. They should have taken a course on statistics and probability before writing their articles.
That, of course, doesn’t make me, a New England fan, feel any better about it. After rooting and hoping right through to the end of this game, I was frustrated that the Pats just couldn’t come up with enough Moxie to close the deal on a potential 19-0 season. The Giants guaranteed a different outcome last night, and for that, they deserve the championship for which they fought so hard.
p.s. Go easy on me in the next few weeks. I need recovery time!
Tom Brady was sacked too often by an aggressive Giants defense, and could not come up with enough big plays to give him the results that he needed for this contest. Even Randy Moss was held to a single touchdown and just five receptions.
As of 10:20 last night, the writers of FOX Sports on MSN had nothing to say about their lopsided predictions of a Patriots victory, where 10 out of 11 writers had called for the Giants to lose. They should have taken a course on statistics and probability before writing their articles.
That, of course, doesn’t make me, a New England fan, feel any better about it. After rooting and hoping right through to the end of this game, I was frustrated that the Pats just couldn’t come up with enough Moxie to close the deal on a potential 19-0 season. The Giants guaranteed a different outcome last night, and for that, they deserve the championship for which they fought so hard.
p.s. Go easy on me in the next few weeks. I need recovery time!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
The Vagaries of Football’s Super Bowl
I was going to write about another topic, until I saw the predictions for today’s matchup between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots on MSN.com.
To read the FOXSports.com article by Senior NFL writer Alex Marvez, you’d think that the Giants might well have stayed in their New Jersey homes and enjoyed the nice sunny day. In his column of about 870 words, the Giants barely get a mention, and then, only at the end.
In another story on the same web site, FOXSports on MSN calls on 11 experts – all of which, except one – pick the Pats to win Super Bowl XLII. Kevin Hench, FOXSports.com contributor, has the Pats winning 41-10, the widest margin predicted, while Peter Schrager, NFL contributor, is the sole analyst to pick the Giants. He gives them a 4-point spread, 27-23.
I don’t know about you, but all this nonsense talk about knowing who will win the game ignores the laws of probability. Like a coin toss for heads or tails, this game could land on either side. Furthermore, the Pats’ uninterrupted 18-game winning streak keeps increasing the statistical chances of their losing. It will happen sooner or later. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?
Hey! Wait a minute here. Don’t think I’m rooting for the Giants. I’m an old Red Sox fan who knows how to cheer on his team while keeping his fingers crossed until the clock stops ticking and the final score is registered on the board.
I’m wary of Eli Manning who seems to have awakened from his regular season somnambulism and has been playing post-season games with the precision of a jungle cat trying to take down a gazelle. I don’t expect him or the rest of the Giants to do anything but to try to claw their way to victory.
Here’s to all of us slightly off-balance and sometimes demented sports fans in the New England and New York area – have a pre-game toast to the whole kit and caboodle.
Note: See http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7747796?MSNHPHCP>1=10937 for the Alex Marvey story, and http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7744306?MSNHPHCP>1=10937 for the pre-game predictions.
To read the FOXSports.com article by Senior NFL writer Alex Marvez, you’d think that the Giants might well have stayed in their New Jersey homes and enjoyed the nice sunny day. In his column of about 870 words, the Giants barely get a mention, and then, only at the end.
In another story on the same web site, FOXSports on MSN calls on 11 experts – all of which, except one – pick the Pats to win Super Bowl XLII. Kevin Hench, FOXSports.com contributor, has the Pats winning 41-10, the widest margin predicted, while Peter Schrager, NFL contributor, is the sole analyst to pick the Giants. He gives them a 4-point spread, 27-23.
I don’t know about you, but all this nonsense talk about knowing who will win the game ignores the laws of probability. Like a coin toss for heads or tails, this game could land on either side. Furthermore, the Pats’ uninterrupted 18-game winning streak keeps increasing the statistical chances of their losing. It will happen sooner or later. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?
Hey! Wait a minute here. Don’t think I’m rooting for the Giants. I’m an old Red Sox fan who knows how to cheer on his team while keeping his fingers crossed until the clock stops ticking and the final score is registered on the board.
I’m wary of Eli Manning who seems to have awakened from his regular season somnambulism and has been playing post-season games with the precision of a jungle cat trying to take down a gazelle. I don’t expect him or the rest of the Giants to do anything but to try to claw their way to victory.
Here’s to all of us slightly off-balance and sometimes demented sports fans in the New England and New York area – have a pre-game toast to the whole kit and caboodle.
Note: See http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7747796?MSNHPHCP>1=10937 for the Alex Marvey story, and http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7744306?MSNHPHCP>1=10937 for the pre-game predictions.
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