Earlier today, CBS News posted a story on their website about the FCC lifting certain restrictions on apartment buildings with respect to cable services. They cite the ability for low-income folks who live in apartments or government-sponsored housing projects to have a choice in their cable provider. In other words, the ability to choose a lower cost provider (which is great!).

As someone who works in an industry closely related to these large-scale, low-income developments I can tell you that the folks who live in these places need all of the breaks that they can get. If that means they can save $5 per month on the cable bill, then so be it!

And isn’t this logical? That competition for services SHOULD lead to a net decrease in costs? Well, not if you’re Comcast Cable. A spokesperson for the company said:

“The net result is that many consumers are likely to wind up paying more for services if the FCC’s interference in the competitive marketplace stands,” Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in an e-mailed statement.

Huh? Isn’t the “interference in the competitive marketplace” the fact that there is NO competition in these apartment buildings? For those of you that don’t know, many of these apartment buildings sign contracts with cable providers for the entire building, which restricts tenants to using that provider.

I mean come on! This is a no-brainer. For Comcast to come out and make the dumb comment that lifting this restriction will have a net result of higher cable prices for consumers is all sorts of idiotic. First of all, you have the logic argument cited above. Second, you have the fact that a rate increase is decided by the cable companies! In other words, you have cable companies saying, “If you take this action, we will be forced to raise rates. If we raise rates, then prices go up for consumers.”

Here’s an idea, dummies - DON’T RAISE YOUR RATES!

Idiots…

One of my students made an excellent point in a response paper the other day. He cited Charlie Gibson on ABC World News Tonight at some point last week (may have been the week before). Apparently Gibson made the following comments:

One item from Baghdad today. The news is… that there is no news. The police told us that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.

My student took offense to the second sentence - that the news is that there is no news since there were no attacks. My student, correctly, deduced that if no attacks = no news, then does the mass media assume that attacks = news? Further, is it fair to the American masses that their media outlets are dictating what is “news” and what is not?

The student made many good points in his paper and I was impressed with his logic. Truly, no one can deny that today’s major media outlets and media figures are generally skewed far to the left or far to the right. This particular example shows that some media consider the only newsworthy items in Iraq to be those that are negative. For all that I’m worth, I wait to hear about new Iraqi schools being built or to hear about how the infrastructure of the country is being rebuilt. I once saw a story about the Iraqi stock market (I think it was on MSNBC) and it was fascinating!

This stuff is “news” - even though people aren’t dying! Anyway, take a Google search of this particular topic and you’ll find some interesting pages out there. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, Robert Goulet passed away Tuesday morning while he was waiting for a lung transplant in Los Angeles. I’m from a younger generation that was not around for Goulet’s impact on the American entertainment scene in the 1960’s, but I was around to hear him on contemporary media outlets and movies.

I hope to learn more about the lung transplant situation in the coming days and weeks. I wonder if he was on some list and he just didn’t get high enough on the list in time or if they couldn’t find a specialized lung for him (I don’t know, but I’d assume that blood type has a part to play in that stuff). I haven’t really searched into that, but it could be eye-opening to know what happened especially when you take into account that doctors gave him an additional 15 years after a transplant.

For what it’s worth, he always seemed like a good-natured, nice guy. My thoughts go with his family and friends.

Alright, that’s enough. Last week California was on fire. This week there is an earthquake rocking the state. For my friends and colleagues in California - get the hell out! NOW!!!

I don’t know what you did to anger God or Mother Earth or L. Ron Hubbard or whoever you guys believe in, but that deity is pissed! It’s time, my friends. Pack up your crap (those of you who are lucky enough to have anything left after last week) and get your asses over to Montana. There isn’t a damn thing going on in Montana. Leave California alone with the fires and earthquakes and everything else and go away!

NOW!

Honestly, I didn’t watch enough of the Democratic debate to form an opinion on the candidates that I feel strongly about, but the fact that I didn’t watch enough of the debate sort of says something. I watched the beginning of the debate (some 30 minutes or so) and was immediately turned off by the first set of answers. All I heard was: “Bush sucks, we need change.” I can appreciate that stance. Heck - on many issues I would probably agree with that stance these days (considering that it’s 2007 and not 2000, when I was all about Bush).

But I absolutely hate listening to political banter at these debates that focuses on - essentially - nothing. You had the Republicans the other night bashing Hillary Clinton first and pushing policy initiatives second. Tonight, you had Hillary bashing Bush first and then sorta-kinda-maybe promising to do “everything that she can” to pass better legislation on a variety of issues (the last 20 minutes of the debate was BRUTAL listening to her bash “this administration”).

At the same time, you had the other candidates playing a two-handed game switching between bashing Hillary and bashing President Bush. It was gross - it was a waste of my time as an independent voter.

My two top choices on either side have been Romney and Huckabee for the Republicans and Hillary and Richardson for the Democrats. The only two that are worth their mettle are Richardson and Huckabee - and they’re not winning anything!

Ahhh…and the 2008 Presidential race continues. Blech…

Earlier today I found an interesting little diddy on FOXNews.com regarding some of Al Gore’s assertions in An Inconvenient Truth. The article is written by a FOX News contributor named Steven Milloy who, by all accounts, appears to be a strong conservative in all of his policy and political leanings. So bear that in mind if you choose to go read the article.

This is an interesting post to me because Milloy’s article quotes a British judge who has ruled some of Al Gore’s findings as unscientific. In other words, the judge says there is no science to back up some - not all, but some - of Gore’s claims. There is no discussion of where the judge got his doctorate in environmental science, though…

Later in the article, some legitimate incorrect assertions are detailed and I think those are all known to the public at this point (the wrong date being given for a cigarette advertisement, 2005 NOT being the hottest year on record, there not being a cure for polio, etc). But those are all somewhat moot points (except the one about 2005 not being the hottest year on record - that’s an exaggeration of the truth).

In any event, I fail to see how a judge has the standing to make such decisions. This may be more politics than anything else. Of course, this is all taking place across the pond, so I don’t care about it too much, but I thought some of you folks may find it interesting.

Anyway, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

Earlier today, the Yankees made an offer to Joe Girardi to take over for Joe Torre in New York. This is a good move as Girardi would be a better Manager than the other top choice, Don Mattingly. Girardi has a ton of experience as a Manager as well as a host of awards and accolades to his credit. Don Mattingly has a ton of a fanfare and a presumed curse that he can’t win the big one (he never won the Series as a player and he hasn’t won yet as a Bench Coach).

Girardi is the right choice here, guys. Actually, Torre would have been the right choice, but since that bridge is nothing but ashes at this point - I’ll take Girardi. Hey, did you guys know that Boston won the World Series last night? I swear I didn’t know until I read the USA Today story a little while ago that talked about how A-Rod is FINALLY gone from New York (thank God for that!).

Anyway, we’re good with Girardi, glad that A-Rod is history, and surprised that there’s still a baseball team up in Boston. Good for them for winning the Series.

Every once in a while you find a court case that is just a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and the system’s time. From my view, the recent court case against Monmouth University to block the construction of a 196-bed dorm is a great example of waste. There was no need to go forward with this case after the appeals process upheld the university’s right to build the dorm. The way that Joe Hughes (a local resident who is vehemently against the university’s advancement and running for office) pressed this case forward was shameful. Not only was he putting an undue strain on an already busted legal system, but his “coalition of neighbors” had already been outnumbered by another township-based neighbor group that supported letting the university move forward with their new dorm. A portion of the Asbury Park Press’ story:

WEST LONG BRANCH — The state Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by a group of residents seeking to block construction of a Monmouth University dormitory.

The Supreme Court issued its decision without comment, as is its custom. The action set the stage for construction of the 196-bed dormitory and adjacent parking lot in a residential zone near the school.

On nearby Kilkare Farm, the school plans to build a smaller parking lot, six tennis courts and a drainage basin. Neighbors fought for more than a year to block the plan that school officials said was necessary to house current students, not to expand enrollment.

Even the Borough Council got involved, when a majority of its members voted to sue their own Zoning Board of Adjustment for approving the portion of the project slated for Kilkare Farm. The council declined to pursue an appeal.

In June, a state appellate panel upheld a decision by then-Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer that determined the West Long Branch zoning board acted correctly in 2005 when it voted 5-1 to approve the project.

Property owners fought for more than a year to block the plan at the zoning board level before being rebuffed at the trial and appellate court levels.

There are so many variables at work here that it’s hard to put a finger on all of them. One of the things that gets me is that you have a minority of homeowners trying to make their stance the final stance when a majority of homeowners either disagreed with them or did not care about the issue. That’s wrong. America was not founded such that the minority position would win out and the legal system proved that in this case (although I am confident that was not the basis for their decision). The minority is to have a voice and that voice is to be heard and respected when possible. But when that voice is “my way or no way,” the majority rules.

I admire the passion of the minority homeowners group and they can never say that their voice is NOT heard in the township when it comes to university issues. They recently had the new sports complex at Monmouth University reduced in size thanks to their voices being heard. This is an example of public policy working as it should in terms of community input. But when your input isn’t taken as gospel, you shouldn’t immediately go to the courts. That’s ludicrous!

For me, this non-decision by the Supreme Court is one of their more sane actions lately. Let the university build and let these new beds take more students out of the surrounding communities and onto the campus. As a side note - I find it funny that these same neighbors are the ones that complain about students living in their neighborhoods. On the one hand, they don’t want more dorm beds. On the other, they don’t want students living next door. No logic there, folks.

The New York Times ran an article on their website the other day where they talked about Max Levchin, the Founder of PayPal (and the guy who eventually sold it to eBay). Needless to say, Levchin is filthy rich - the kind of rich that the rest of us only dream about. But the point of this article is an interesting one; the New York Times postulates that Levchin, and other young tech-millionaires like him, may be bored. How bored? So bored that they are starting new business and new ventures - in essence, they are in competition against themselves and against each other to hit the next big thing.

I found this to be very interesting. My roommate and I had a discussion the other day about how money does and does not buy happiness. You would think that these guys who have so much money that they no longer need to think about working would be floating on an island somewhere. At the very least, you would think that they are in a low-impact position at some global corporation like Google or Microsoft. Turns out that they’re not - they’re out there trying to make the next Facebook or MySpace.

For my part, I know what I would do if I ever hit it rich. I’d pay off my debts (and my family’s debts, of course) and then I’d set-up an annuity or a trust fund that generated about $100,000 annually in interest (I’m assuming that I REALLY hit it rich). After that, I’d give the rest away. Seriously - what’s the point in sitting on tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars? Why not go to your local high school or your alma mater and give each graduating senior a free college education? Or go to the local senior center and give them the state of the art amenities.

I just think that there are better things to do with millions and billions of dollars than just sit on them. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to prove that one day - but not quite yet! Anyway, the article is a good read - I suggest it if you have some spare time.

Alright - is everyone listening? This is a good idea alert! I was reading the Roxbury Register online the other day and they had an editorial sent in from a Ms. Tamara Scully. Ms. Scully is a member of the Foodshed Alliance. According to their website, the Foodshed Alliance:

a grassroots, non-profit devoted to promoting profitable, sustainable farming and locally-grown, fresh, healthy food in northwestern New Jersey. We believe that the future of our health, our land, and our communities depends, to great extent, on the existence of local farms-that farmers are the keystone to our connection with our food, the land and our sense of place.

Anyone who is interested in this “going green” movement and the idea of making our bodies and lives healthier by eating sustainable foods should check out the Foodshed Alliance at www.foodshedalliance.org. It sounds interesting to me and is definitely something that I’ll be sure to look into the next time I’m up in the Northwest New Jersey area. When I was a little bit younger I had the chance to eat some home grown fruits and vegetables from Northwest New Jersey and they were good!

Anyway, check it out.