Real Journalists Get Canned While Glenn Beck Just Gets Rich(er)

Real journalists continue to lose their jobs as newspapers cut staff in record numbers. And while this is happening hucksters like Glenn Beck continue to make millions playing on ignorance and fear

About a week ago I was on a Rutgers football message board where I read the sad news of the laying off of Home News Tribune sports reporter/columnist Paul Franklin and reporter/ columnist Rick Malwitz due to cutbacks and consolidation by parent company Gannett Co, Inc. Combined, these two journalists must have had 60 years of experience between them, but were let go, as have thousands of other newspaper reporters and columnists as that industry struggles to transition itself into the information age.

I'm a self admitted dinosaur who still gets two newspapers a day, the HNT and the Star-Ledger. I find newspapers a guilty pleasure instead of a necessity- most news I get is from the internet, or TV, or radio. But I love the tactile sensation of reading a newspaper while having my morning coffee- nothing beats it. The local newspaper will give me information about local stories that most other sources will not, and because of that newspapers will probably never become totally obsolete. Newspapers had to reinvent themselves in the 1960's when satellites were launched that could beam down to the world news as it happened.....the newspaper, until then the primary source of news for most people, had to become more opinion based and targeted to certain readership in order to survive. And the big fish ate the little ones; the number of newspapers in the United States began to shrink. In New York the decade of the 1960's saw the demise of the century old The Daily Mirror, The Journal-American, The World-Telegram &Sun, and The Herald-Tribune. In New Jersey we lost The Newark Evening News and The Elizabeth Journal. The Perth Amboy Evening News morphed into The News Tribune and moved to Woodbridge, and it finally merged with The Daily Home News of New Brunswick to become The Home News Tribune in the 1990's.

And in the new century America's newspapers continue to consolidate and reorganize, merge or fold, and send hundreds of respected professional journalists to the ranks of the unemployed. Advertising revenues for the print industry continues to shrink, so payroll is slashed.

Paul Franklin reported and commented on local scholastic and collegiate sports for as as long as I could remember. Most recently he was a beat writer for Rutgers Women's Basketball, and previously reported and wrote commentary about RU football. He's a big, gray bearded gregarious guy who could be seen in press row for most of the last two decades at The RAC, and though he was always objective and professional, the reader knew that this man was a fan of the games he reported on. He did his homework, never wrote "rip pieces" in order to sell papers, and always seemed to get an angle to a story from locker room interviews from student athletes.

Paul was one of the best....I miss reading his reports and commentary already.

Rick Malwitz is a real Central Jersey guy, and wrote about the issues that affect us locally in civil, rational tones and never ventured into sloganeering and character assassination. I mentioned Rick in this blog last summer when he broke down the root cause of high property taxes in New Jersey in a way few politicians would dare; Rick used the late New Jersey legislator Alan Karcher's premise of the insane number of municipalities in the state the bottom line cause of New Jersey's property tax woes. No one ever spelled out and defined the "whys" of the situation like Rick Malwitz, no progressive or conservative, and no governor of this state.....including the current one.

With these two gentleman, it was about integrity and journalism, not demagoguery.

The Gannett Blog does a great job at detailing the ongoing saga of Gannett's downsizing and the reaction of those affected by the cuts. I highly recommend the blog, it's great reading, and please take time to read the dozens of comments.

Which brings me to FOX News, and the Websters definition of demagoguery......Glenn Beck.

And in the spirit of full disclosure I'll have to admit....I never watch the guy. But I do watch the clips of his crazy rantings, of "Islamic- socialist" alliances out to conquer the world, all at the behest of President Barack Obama. The man is making a fortune appealing to fear and prejudice, and playing on the almost total ignorance of world and national affairs of his audience. Beck has become a multi-millionaire though spewing misinformation to his viewers, and throwing a nightly pile of horsecrap at his audience to see what sticks.

I'm debating in my mind on a daily basis....is this man demented or evil, or a little of both. More on Beck can be found at blogger pal Leslie's Parsley's Pics.

And you wonder...where is the justice?

Beck makes millions spreading hate and fear....and Rick Malwitz and Paul Franklin are looking for jobs after decades of good, solid journalism.

Christie Fires Schundler; The Fallout Continues

On Friday morning New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fired Education Commissioner Bret Schundler in the wake of the controversy regarding the denial of $400 million in RACE TO THE TOP money for Garden State schools because of a clerical error. The HOME NEWS TRIBUNE's editorial board contended that Schundler lied to Christie. My Letter To The Editor below says there is no smoking gun saying that Schundler lied, to the best of anyone's knowledge.


"Education Commissioner Bret Schundler got caught in an apparent lie- worth $400 million- and got canned by Gov. Chris Christie as a result".

This is how your editorial regarding Christie's firing of Bret Schundler in the Saturday (Aug 28) edition of the Home News Tribune began. I have a real problem with the wording of that statement.....it should read "Bret Schundler was fired partly because Governor Christie says Schundler was caught in an apparent lie".

After New Jersey lost out on the RACE TO THE TOP millions, Christie decided to blame Washington bureaucrats and the President of the United States for New Jersey finishing out of the money. When the tape surfaced that showed the New Jersey's representatives in the application process were at fault, Christie said that Schundler gave him bad information of what happened during the process.

Now, according to other media sources- broadcast, online, and in print-  Schundler denies that he gave the governor bad information. According to those sources Schundler told Christie not to make the claims against Washington and President Obama....but Christie did so anyway. Schundler has emails that support his claims, but other than that it's a "he said- he said" scenario.

Schundler had to go; with this $400 million clerical error somebody had to take the fall, and the ball was in Schundler's court. But your newspaper has no impirical evidence whatsoever that Schundler lied to the Governor. Christie made the situation worse with his over the top and foolish fixing of blame on the Obama administration when the fault was with his own team. The Governor once again played tough talking prosecutor and made sure the other guy- Bret Schundler- was painted in the worst possible light.

The bottomline- a very embarrassing performance by all involved. And maybe with some investigating- and with time- the truth about what really happened will surface.

Update! According to The Auditor in Sunday's Star-Ledger, the United States Department of Education held a workshop last year regarding the second round application for RACE TO THE TOP funding. Tips were given on the correct way to submit the application, as well as reminders to proofread, and that no new information could be submitted after the June 1 deadline.

The workshop was held on April 21 in Minneapolis. In all, 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico sent representatives to the workshop.

New Jersey did not, and finished eleventh, out of the money

The ten states that finished ahead of New Jersey and received funds attended the workshop.

According to The Star-Ledger Governor Christie's office has declined comment.

Quick Hits- "The Dawg Daze of August Edition, Vol.I"

So much to talk about.

So little time.

So little energy, because it's been a long hot summer.....therefore it's time for my method of last resort, when I want a blurt out some stream of conscious ramblings....it's QUICK HITS!!!!!

(1). Deepwater Horizon Disaster- The leak has been plugged, we're being told much of the oil as been dispersed and cleaned up. But the effects will still be felt for years. The damage the wetlands have sustained might be irreversible. And many Gulf fisherman may never return to their old way of life; why go back and harvest tainted shrimp, oysters, and fish and sustain even bigger financial losses? And the latest from BP is they may resume drilling in the area near the leak because of the billions of dollars worth of oil under the ocean floor.

Did anybody ever see GROUNDHOG DAY?

(2). Katie Couric vs Sarah Palin; The anchor of the CBS Evening News, who famously asked then Vice Presidential candidate Palin tough, ambushy questions like "what newspapers and magazines do you read?", is being trashed by the usual suspects for allegedly "dissing" Palin's children. A video from the 2008 Republican Convention shows Couric asking, "Where the hell do they get these names?” when she saw the names of two of Palin's kids, Trig and Track.

Okay...let's bottomline it. Trig and Track might be two wonderful, sweet kids....but they have funny names. They probably have the weirdest names of any offspring of a public figure since Frank and Gail Zappa begat Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Maybe "Trig" and "Track" were mistakes on the birth certificate.....that kind of stuff happens in Alaska. "Nome" became the name of the city when a mapmaker made a note "Name?" where the burg exists....it was misinterpreted as "Nome" and stuck.

Or....contrary to what she said publicly....maybe she does like certain herbs.



Yep....Trig and Track. Circumstantial evidence at best....but you might have to be really loaded to do that to your kids. It's amazing how this woman and her followers always seem to find a way to portray her as a victim.

There was an eighteen hour pause between items two and three. I told you, it's the Dawg Daze of August, and my mind and body are working on four cylinders...well, make that four and a half.

(3)The Prop 8 Decision- The decision rendered by US District Judge Vaughn Walker in ruling California's Proposition 8 was unconstitutional was, as former George W. Bush solicitor general Ted Olson said, not a liberal or conservative matter. When the preamble of the Declaration of Independence declares "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", it means just that. All have the same rights, regardless of race, creed, religion, national origin.....or even sexual orientation. "Inalienable rights" are that which cannot be legislated away or altered by popular vote. Olson went on.....""We do not put the Bill of Rights to a vote."

In a totally predictable reaction, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said on FACE THE NATION that Judge Walker should recused himself because he is gay; this has been rumored but never openly questioned.

Perkins said....

"I think what you have is one judge who thinks he knows -- and a district level judge and an openly homosexual judge at that -- who says he knows better than not only 7 million voters in the state of California but voters in 30 states across the nation that have passed marriage amendments. "

Judge Walker was first appointed the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan. He was re-appointed by George H.W. Bush. His nomination was opposed by congressional Democrats at the time.

Using the logic of Tony Perkins, an African American judge should never be allowed to rule in a hate crime case, a female judge in the case of a battered wife, an Italian-American judge in a Mafia trial, or any Jewish judge in a case involving Neo-Nazis.

When does it stop?

(4). New Jersey, home rule, and property taxes- Today's print edition of The Home News Tribune (WOW! Reading an old fashioned NEWSPAPER on a Sunday morning) had a feature that should be required reading by all residents of New Jersey, and all those outsiders who think they know what's going on politically in The Garden State. Namely, all of those conservative types who have declared Governor Chris Christie the new Savior of The GOP, since he got it done in New Jersey, lowering spending by draconian slashing of the state's budget and of state aid. All he did was put a band-aid on a problem that's been ailing the state almost from it's colonial origins.

The Home News Tribune's writer and extraordinary columnist Rick Malwitz detailed what the biggest problem New Jersey has, and why it has the nation's highest property taxes.....and it is, in his words, a self inflicted wound. The people did it to themselves......

There are simply too many towns in a small state like New Jersey. Conservatives like to talk about "Big Government". In New Jersey we have many govern-ments....there now 566 municipalities in New Jersey, all with their own governments, mayors, council, some with school systems, police and fire, some with garbage collection, and many other bells and whistles. Many of these municipalities began by breaking away from an existing town or township. In Middlesex County, where I live, there were six towns in 1850. One hundred and sixty years later there are 25; most of the breakaways began over neighborhoods wanting more control over businesses, schools....and of course, taxes. So they set up their own home rule, had families move into them, and before you know it they needed cops, firefighters, and more and more teachers.....and up went the taxes.

We have 566 municipalities in New Jersey; California has four times the residents of New Jersey; they have 480 municipalities.

The cure for this, and a way lower taxes would be either to merge towns or consolidate services. The problem is New Jerseyans LOVE home rule. As Malwitz noted in his piece, former State Senator Fairleigh S. Dickinson once said "Home Rule is regarded as a political concept in other states. In New Jersey, its' a precept of theology".

The late Democratic State Senator Alan Karcher wrote a book about the problem more than a decade ago, and called for consolidation and merger. Governor Christie, instead of bullying tactics to put the Democrats in their place, would have been wiser to take the Democratic leadership aside and use Karcher's concepts as a blueprint for fixing the problem rather than going for this one shot quick fix, that only manged to insure a balanced budget for only this year...and get some shots of Christie on TV.

Chris Christie could have gone in the books as a statesman instead of one term conservative media darling.

And what about next fiscal year?

At this point there is another pause of about three hours to go to the Red Lobster on Route 18 and consume a more than reasonable amount of skewered shrimp and a portion of snow crab legs.....and enough Yuengling to put a smile on my face. Back to work!

(5) Copy cat clown bank robbers in Pennsylvania- across the I-78 bridge in Pennsylvania, Carolyn A. Williams, 43, was arraigned on charges robbery, theft, and receiving stolen property after she was arrested for stealing $7,000 from a bank in Bethlehem. Williams, dressed in a clown suit, told the teller she had a bomb on her after entering the bank on Friday. Minutes later, after trying to allude police, she was caught with her pants down. Literally.

Williams was changing out of her clown suit when the police caught up with her.

But....didn't something like this just happen before? Also in Pennsylvania?
Yes....Less than two weeks ago, across state in Swissvale, near Pittsburgh, Dennis Hawkins, 48, tried to rob a bank wearing clown pants, a wig, and fake breasts. His disguise didn't fool anyone....his goatee was showing. He tried to rob the bank with a BB gun....and he forgot to use a getaway car.

Oh yes...."The Tears of a Clown".




In Closing- it's the one year anniversary of my buddy Sue's blog, Hello Mr. President.....Are You Listening?. And I just want to congratulate her on that milestone. She does her homework, always has something interesting to say, and is passionate in what she does. Politics and political discussion are in her DNA, much moreso than me. So if political discussion...and an occasional food fight...is your thing, then give her a visit....even you conservatives out there. But be nice!

Tea Party Comes To Town

Its happened in my backyard. Practically.

As reported in this morning's Home News Tribune, Tea Party activists had a picnic in Babbage Park, North Brunswick, NJ yesterday despite the cloudy and rainy weather. About 50 people were there, most of whom appeared to be Republicans. From what I gather at least one of the attendees was Republican candidate for Middlesex County Sheriff, Keith B. Hackett, as well as Republican candidates for county freeholder and North Brunswick township council.

Also among those who were at the picnic was African American Barbara Summers, who in the past has been a guest on Glenn Beck's show on FOX NEWS.

She is reported to have said the following....

“The tea party people are not racist. I'm here. I'm very, very militant and I would never stand for that. I feel welcome when I come here."

It was never disclosed in the article how many of the other 50 attendees were members of ethnic minorities.

Some of the things they allegedly talked about were the size of government, healthcare, and taxes. But the article points out President Obama was not the most mentioned individual at the picnic. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was.

Quoting one attendee (by the HOME NEWS TRIBUNE)....

"If we look at our governor, I compare him to George Washington.He made it to Trenton. We got to get the rest of the troops there."

Hmmmm. Don't you think its a bit premature? Comparing a governor who's been in office only three months to the man who beat the Hessians at Trenton, the British at Princeton and Yorktown, survived brutal winters with his troops at Valley Forge and Morristown.....and just happened to be elected as our first President?

Get that space on Mount Rushmore ready.

What if the Gov was magically transformed to George Washington? What would that look like?

How about.........

Finding the uniform was the easy part. The powdered wig? Well....they just don't make 'em like they used to. Thank goodness for PHOTOSHOP.

Click here to read more about the Tea Party picnic in North Brunswick.

From Rutgers scarlet to an orange jumpsuit | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

Another great column from the Home News Tribune's (NJ) Rick Malwitz, about Rutgers grad James O'Keefe, who appears to have moved from conservative gadfly to accused felon after he and three others posed as telephone repairmen at the offices of US Senator Mary Landrieu, allegedly entering government property under false pretenses.

I wonder if Mr. O'Keefe has a picture of G.Gordon Liddy on his nightstand?



READ MORE.......from mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com


Late addition!....A statement regarding the incident from James O'Keefe can be found here.