Thursday, September 21, 2006

Congratulations 2006 AL East Champion NY Yankees!

It took a Red Sawx loss to make it happen, but maybe that was more "poetic justice" as the Baseball Gods continue their "market correction"...? :-)

What a year! 11 more wins to #27!

LET'S GO YANKEES!!!

Friday, September 15, 2006

Don't Mess With Jack

Not that we needed more proof, but THIS is just another reason why Jack Nicholson may just be the most awesome American actor of our generation.

You CAN handle the truth!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Hey Matt - You're an Idiot!

I may not always agree with President Bush, but right or wrong he's a genuine guy who tries to do what's right (unlike his predecessor), and I have to respect that.

Plus, nothing makes me happier than when he goes on the offensive - especially when it is against a lightweight pantywaist like Matt Lauer.

Check out how Lauer tries to bait Bush (and has the audacity to argue the side of Kahlid Mohammed, of all people). Bush refuses to take Lauer's shit and treats him like the bitch that he is.

I wish W would get his rankles up more often. I could totally get on board with THIS President Bush...not that I'm not already.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Recollections, Five Years Later

It's amazing how five years can seem like five minutes, but it surely can.

Five years ago today, on September 11, 2001 my day started out like pretty much any other day. I said goodbye to Mon and boarded the 6:50AM bus. On a normal day, this bus would have gotten me to Port Authority by 8:30.

But this day, there was a disabled bus in the "express bus lane" to the Lincoln tunnel. From the loop of the Helix, I sent a text message to work to let them know I was probably going to be late. It was such a perfect morning, I didn't care. I took a few extra minutes to marvel at the Manhattan skyline and its' majesty in the morning sun.

As luck would have it, no sooner did I text my message when the traffic started moving. As the bus entered the mouth of the tunnel, I checked my watch: it was 8:45AM.

Running late, I purchased a new MetroCard, took a short cut through the 42nd street tunnel and ran up for the 1 train. As I hit the platform, an ominous announcement was being made overhead. "There is no 1, 9, or 3 service due to police activity at the World Trade Center". "Damn", I thought to myself, and prepared to walk up to get the M10 bus instead.

Strangely, as I turned to head up the stairs, a nearly-empty 1 train pulled in to the station. "Next stop, 50th Street". What luck, the train IS running. I jumped on and got off at 66th street like every morning.

As I emerged from the station to the street, my pager went off. Expecting it to be work, it instead read "Breaking News". I hit Enter and read, "Small plane hits the World Trade Center. Smoke visible for miles". I sped up 66th towards West End. At Amsterdam Avenue, I saw the guys at Engine 40 / Ladder 35 speeding out towards downtown.

As I raced up the elevator, I entered the lobby at 9:10AM. Staring at the TV monitor, I grabbed a co-worker by the arm and asked, "What the hell happened? Did a plane go through both buildings?". White as a sheet he replied, "No - there were TWO planes".

That's when I knew.

The rest of my day was a blur. The phone rang off the wall from radio stations in search of information. I remember not being able to get a dial tone, and the helplessness of not being able to call anyone. Finally, a call from Mon. I had to fill her in on what was going on as she had no TV at work. A frightening call from my Dad in Brooklyn, telling me that debris from the crash impact was landing in his backyard in Brooklyn.

Call after call, all day long. The Tower collapses. The Pentagon. Shanksville. Couldn't eat - no appetite, just a sick, queasy feeling. The next ten hours went by like a blur. The phones never stopped until President Bush came on. It was as if everyone stopped to hear what he had to say. It was then that the phones fell quiet.

With no way in or out of Manhattan, and an "all hands on deck" call at work, all of the day staff was still present. As the clock struck 10PM, we decided to venture out to stretch out legs and maybe find somethine resembling food. That was when the reality really hit me.

As the adrenaline rush of work subsided, I became aware of what was happening around me: armed National Guardsmen guarding the utility building; sharp-shooters on the roof; spotlights outside the Red Cross building; barbed-wire laden roadblocks in front of Lincoln Center; and a Broadway that was eerily dark and desolate.

This was the sort of thng you got used to seeing on TV in a war-torn nation - NOT in Manhattan. I felt sick. The combination of the ghostown-like Broadway combined with reality sinking in - oh, and "the smell" wafting up from Downtown - I probably couldn't have eaten anyway.

Our little group found a restaurant - kitchen closed, but bar open. We ordered a drink and said a prayer. The world as we knew it would not be the same again.

I decided to head back to work so I could call home before trying to get some sleep. After being scared to death by a low-flying fighter jet, I RAN back. I called home, tried to shut my eyes, and thought about everything that had gone on, not knowing when I was gonna get home, unable to sleep on the cot they set up for me because my mind was racing. Whenever I would drift off to sleep, I'd be awakened by the nightmares.

I finally gave up trying at about 3AM. I wandered into the newsroom with a hat on my sofa-headed hair and asked if I could do anything. I got put of coffee duty. Once the coffee was made, I sat and checked out the forums on NYYFans.com. It was almost theraputic.

After working another half a day came word that the trains were running to New Jersey. I finally got home at 7PM on the 12th, a trek that started around 1PM. NJ Transit was letting people on the trains for free, and I ended up taking three different trains (transfers at Newark and Bridgewater), with long pauses at almost every stop along the way so the police could walk the train. At the time, everyone was expecting another attack (I still think there was probably something else planned, but they cancelled it), so they were being super cautious with the trains. All cross roads the tracks went over were blocked with construction or farm equipment.

I stumbled into my house, ate my first real food in over 40 hours, and promptly collapsed on the sofa. As exhaused as I was, it was still the worst sleep I ever had.

Every year on the anniversary of 9/11, I replay that day in my head, minute by minute, in great detail. I guess in some way so I won't forget. None of us should EVER forget. I know I personally changed that day, as so many of us have.

As I sat and watched President Bush earlier this evening, I was reminded of how much we came together after 9/11, and how far we seem to have come apart at times since then. First and foremost, we should always remember the victims, the heroes and the fighting men and women that are still working to keep us free (even the ones that don't appreciate it).

We may never have that same naieve view of the world that we had on September 10, 2001 again, but in reality, we shouldn't. We must remain diligent and steadfast - and remember that our best plan of action is STILL to Defend, Protect and PREVENT. Freedom, as they say, is never free.

God Bless the United States of America. God Bless us all.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Insanity Update

We're now three days in to the "Path to 9/11" saga, and here's what we defintely know:

1. ABC, in their attenpt to make an even-keeled doco-drama on the events that led us to the tragedies on 9/11, used multiple sourcing (NOT just the flawed 9/11 Commission Report) as their guide. They then made the grevious error of pre-screening the thing.

2. Once the Democrats and Clinton saw that it wasn't going to be the typical Hollywood lovefest / whitewash of Clinton's culpability in what happened on 9/11, they blew a gasket.

3. In one of the most horrific examples of using power as a bully pulpit and censorship tool, the Dems further embrace the warm fuzzy glow of fascism by releasing a letter to ABC that coyly THREATENS THEIR BROADCAST LICENSE if they run the film as-is.

Since yesterday, a few things have happened: some left-wing web sites and organizations are trying to get a protest outside ABC together (wonderful); ABC claims it's still "editing" (when in fact, the final cut was completed weeks ago); Surprisingly, some of the actors in the film are speaking out AGAINST the censorship (good luck finding another job), and some 9/11 Commission members are supporting the film (not surpriising).

What has now become violently apparent, is what I have said for many years: The Democratic Left in this country talk a great game about free speech - UNTIL you say something they don't like. Then they have no problem censoring, bullying and threatening a victim into submission. Don't be fooled - this is nothing more that The Guilty not wanting people to see the fruits of their ineptitude, plain and simple.

Someone sent me a link to an entry on Power Line that spells out VERY clearly ALL of the Islamofascist attacks that took place while Clinton was president. It's WAY more than you think. It's a good learning tool for exactly how brazen these savages were while Clinton sat in the Oval Office, planning his next conquest. So I don't want to hear any more bullshit from the Dems about Clinton's "dilligence" against terrorism. He couldn't have cared less if he tried.

Clinton's been pretty lucky in getting a free pass or successfully blaming his messes on others since leaving office. As soon as he gets the FIRST example of Hollywood not playing nice-nice, he circles the wagons and calls out the Schumerman Pinscher attack dogs to squash the misbehaving child IMMEDIATELY to make sure it never happens again.

This is shameful behavior of the highest order, but since the 2000 Elections, I have learned that the Democratic Left has NO shame. I'm not surprised - just amazed.

PS - it was pointed out to me that several of the former Clinton administraions complaintants - and loud 9/11 Commission complaintant Richard Ben-Veniste - happily accepted invitiations to - and attended - the premiere of Fat Boy's polemic "FatAss 9/11". Surprising? No. Like I said - NO shame.

Friday, September 08, 2006

The ABC / Dem Saga Gets Crazier

Shame on me for not watching the news BEFORE posting last night's blog, or I woulda been REALLY steamed...I had no idea that Iger / BAC was doing a complete cave-in on "The Path to 9/11" because of the shameful bullying tactics of Clinton and the Democratic Party (I guess the old line appiles to the Dems as a whole: "You can't HANDLE the truth!"). There's even some discussion now that ABC might cancel the whole thing. Incredible.

Rather than go over and over what's already being blogged elsewhere, check out a detailed compliation of how this mess has been unfolding over the last 24-48 hours over at Hot Air (as always, mega-props to Tammy Bruce for the heads-up). There's stuff on there about the current conent being posted on the official Democratic Party web site that will make your colon prolapse.

Even more harrowing details of "The Great Cover-up" (a.k.a. the "Demo-Fascist-Bully-Censorship") are posted at Texas Rainmaker, whose link I got from Hot Air (above).

I can't believe kind of shit goes on - and gets neatly tucked away by 90% of the media (they seem to be coyly siding with the Dems - what a shock). I'm sure if the Bush Administration protested their portrayal in the film (something they haven't done BTW because they don't wring their hands about image issues), what the reaction would be.

Some people have no shame - others just don't care.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

The Lunatics and their Asylum

Hey all...been a while since the last blog, been super-busy. The Archive Project is moving along so quickly even I cant believe it. I'm in the process of setting up a PodOMatic page to replace the Archive Shows page on the RFNY Site, and all other exciting bits of this and that...the Yankees are 9 games up, the Magic Number is down to 15...all the while, trying to work some SLEEP into the math.

But that is not why I come to you this fine evening. No, I am pounding away at the keyboard because I have my nuts in the kind of twist that can only be untied via all-out gut-spillage.

We sit here tonight four days away from the 5th anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 - the worst attack on this country since Pearl Harbor. This is a topic for a future entry, probably on Monday.

However, the news was vivid today with stories and images of a newly-discovered tape on Al Jazeera (a.k.a. Terror TV) of Osama bin Laden meeting with the 9/11 hijackers in advance of the attacks (guess THAT shoots a hole in many of the wacko conspiracy theories out therebut then again, the insane ARE delusional). Interesting timing by Terror TV in magically finding this footage so close to the anniversary of the attacks, dont you think? Its akin to someone magically finding video of a loved one about to be murdered on the anniversary of their death. Nice work.

If it serves ANY purpose, it's a stark reminder of the lengths these parasites went to in their plan to commit mass murder. I know it's easy for a lot of us to not think about what happened, but its something we should ALWAYS think about.

The other and more ponderous story of the day was the former Clinton administration's reaction to preview screenings of the upcoming ABC docu-drama, "The Path to 9/11". To ABC's credit, they chose NOT to go with the broad whitewash of the administration's culpability in what transpired on 9/11 as much as the so-called "9/11 Commission" chose to (thanks in many ways to the heel-nipping of Dem commission lackey Richard Ben-Veniste, who has also chimed with his two cents against this film).

Previous to the day at hand, the buzz about "The Path to 9/11" was that it was a more close to what actually went on leading up to the attacks than what we actually got out of the 9/11 Commission. When I first heard that, I wondered what THAT meant. When I saw Clinton and his lap dogs going apoplectic in the papers this morning, I finally knew.

There's a pretty good reason why they are all foaming at the mouth: because the representations laid out in the film are just TOO close to the 'real thing'. The first blow in the war against America WASN'T on 9/11: it was eight years earlier when the FIRST attack on the World Trade Center took place. Then, the attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Africa. The terrorists saw the Clinton administration doing NOTHING to retaliate for these attacks, so they got bolder. Next came the attack of the USS Cole (something a little bit too close to home for MY liking), after which Clinton did - you guessed - it nothing.

Three major attacks and all Clinton could really get worked up about was how much adultery he could commit in the Oval Office without getting caught. It's percieved of late that the miscommunication problems between the FBI, CIA and other branches of law enforcement that proved so fatal on 9/11 all spiraled out of control under Clinton's watch. No one was able to muster a cohesive plan to take out bin Laden; several opportunities to do so were blown and lost.

One of the more outspoken critics of the ABC pic is none other than Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Clintons national Security Advisor, who gets called out in this film as being too tentative - and allowing bin Laden to escape a possible attack. Sandy's a fine, upstanding citizen after all, whose word is GOLD. This is the SAME Sandy Berger that stole critical documents from the National Archive and shredded them at home before the 9/11 Commission could see them! What a guy.

What makes this most humorous is the fact that "The Path to 9/11" supposedly takes a pretty even-keeled approach in the blame department. George W. Bush does not escape unscathed, although it IS pointed out in the film that the man had only been in office for 200 days at the time of the attacks. OF COURSE, the Clinton camp hasnt said word one about the Bush portions of this movie, because I'm sure they believe THOSE parts are ALL true! In actuality, Bush was probably never properly briefed about the Al Quada threat because despite Clinton's claims to the contrary, he couldnt give two flying shits about Osama bin Laden when he was in office.

All Clinton gave a crap about for eight years was getting fat, making hay and banging interns. All this crybaby bullshit that is coming out from Clinton (and his bunch of gorillas) today is nothing more than him trying to maintain this Vaseline-on-the-lens, smoke-and-mirrors joke of a supposed legacy he's invented for himself. WHAT legacy? As the Bang Master? Clinton believes if he keeps repeating it, everyone will eventually start believing it, too. Most Clinton sycophants already do.

When the 2000 Election mess was finally settled and the dust was clearing, I remember sitting here with The Mrs. and saying, "There's probably so much underhanded shit that went on while Clinton was President that this country will still be tripping over it for years to come". Little did I know at the time that Osama bin Laden, already viewing America as a weak, paper tiger in light of our lack of action and reaction to repeated attacks, had the worst by-product planned to come.

Of course, late word is coming now that Iger and ABC are caving in to the all-out uber-fascista-censor-and-fear campaign being waged by the Clintonistas, and will make some tweaks to "The Path to 9/11", and will stress that some of the film is a dramatization (something they previously swore they wouldnt do). Incredible. John Gotti didnt have such pull. I think Clinton is feared more than HE was, although I have no idea why. Strip away the faux-Hollywood veneer and he's still just a two-bit Arkansas used car salesman in a thousand-dollar suit, same as always.

As I said on December 15, 2000...we may never know the true extent of the royal fucking this country (and several interns) may have endured for eight years. Hopefully, 9/11 was the worst - and last - of the under-the-rug surprises.

Behind The Wall of Sheep

I love the Smithereens and I always have, since the first time I heard the "Especially for You"LP back in the summer of 1986. WHOT...