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Greek State of Mind

Share This Video – The World Needs to Find Joseph Kony and Stop Him

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Even though I’m never one to jump on the bandwagon in any situation, after I watched the video below I was moved to post it here on the blog. If there is one type of person in this world that I hate, it’s the type of person who hurts helpless people. Anyone who attacks a little kid or an older person is a pathetic loser in my book. I wish they would come to me instead. I wish they would try to hurt someone who is their own size and can fight back effectively. But these cowards don’t do that because they’re pathetic and so they go after little kids instead. Monsters.

So while it’s not really feasible for an old school showdown at the O.K. Corral because this Kony monster is hiding in the jungles of Africa, the least I can do is put up this video and spread the word.

Share this video with your friends and family. This disgusting Kony monster needs to be stopped before he continues to hurt helpless kids and their families. This guy is a piece of garbage.

The Idiots at the Empire State Building Miss a Huge Opportunity

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Sometimes people can be just plain stupid. Consider the recent decision by the “geniuses” who opted not to honor the new Cardinal of New York – Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Anyone who has even remotely followed Cardinal Dolan’s career since becoming the Bishop of New York knows that he has been nothing short of a one-man promotional campaign for the city. He constantly talks about how great New York is and why people should visit the city and experience its many amazing attractions. However, now that he’s been elevated by the Pope to the College of Cardinals – a major honor for one of our fellow Americans – the people at the Empire State Building have rejected a request to bathe the tower in colors honoring the Cardinal. What a completely stupid, ridiculous decision.

In the mean time, the New York Daily News reports that they’ve honored the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 60th Anniversary of the Communist Takeover of China, and gay pride week. In the coming week, they plan to honor Corporate Philanthropy Day and National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Really? You’re going to honor the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Corporate Philanthropy Day and then NOT honor Cardinal Dolan?

Give me a break.

Thankfully, the much bigger, much more important Freedom Tower at 1 World Trade Center decided to make this situation right by bathing the building in red in honor of the new Cardinal. Take a look at these amazing pictures taken by Anthony Quintano and posted on Flickr.com:

I don’t know about you, but the Freedom Tower looks pretty good drenched in the red that is symbolic of the Cardinal’s new attire. Very nicely done by the team at the Port Authority.

My September 11th Memories – Who, What, and Where

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With everyone posting their various memories from September 11th all over the interwebs over the last few days, I thought that I might join the discussion with just a few comments regarding what I remember from that day. These comments aren’t meant to be an exhaustive retelling of what happened on that day, but rather what I remember going on in my immediate surroundings before, during, and after the terrorist attacks in Manhattan, Shanksville, and Washington, DC.

The Manhattan Skyline Before the September 11th Terrorist Attacks

The first thing I remember is my Mom waking me up by calling me on the phone. I was only living in the fraternity house for a few weeks and school only just started the week prior. I didn’t have class until a little bit later that day so I was sleeping in. Anyway, I didn’t have a cell phone yet so my Mom called me on my house line (I was the only one in the fraternity house with a house line – more on that later) and wanted to know if I was watching the news. I said no, but flipped on the television to see what she was talking about. I hopped from MSNBC (my channel of choice back then) to CNN and finally to FOX News to see what was going on. And what I saw was pretty amazing – one of the buildings that comprised the Twin Towers was burning… and pretty high up, too!

I asked my Mom what was going on and she said a plane flew into one of the towers. We talked for a few minutes and then hung up. I kept laying in bed watching the television wondering if they were going to show a replay of the plane going into the building. And as I laid there watching the television screen, it looked like I got what I was looking for because I saw a plane fly directly into one of the buildings. Except, as I was watching the television I focused in a little bit more and noticed that there was already a building burning – this must have been a second plane! It was shocking to see that happen on live television. Absolutely, utterly shocking to witness.

Now, I don’t want to go through a minute-by-minute recap of that day, but needless to say that within an hour or so the entire fraternity house was awake and all classes had been canceled on campus. But unlike other days off from school, the guys didn’t rush out to get some food and drink to enjoy the day – we were all glued to the large screen television in the living room waiting to see what would happen next. Right after the plane flew into the Pentagon, I remember thinking and saying out loud that the airspace over the Pentagon was restricted and no one could get over it in the first place (I was wrong). I remember flipping through all of the channels on the dial and, remarkably, every single channel on the dial was either broadcasting news coverage of the terrorist attacks or on standby with a message of condolence related to the attacks. And folks, when I say that every channel was covering the attacks or on standby – I mean every channel on the dial. Every single one. It was truly a moment in television history, for sure.

One of the guys who lived in our house was a volunteer fireman. Somewhere around midday – after both towers had fallen – he jumped in his car and went to New York City to help with recovery efforts. When he came back later that night not only were we all still glued to the television, but he had the World Trade Center dust on his fireman boots and gear. It was unbelievable.

Another one of my vibrant memories of that entire situation was how poorly one of my professors handled the situation. I don’t know if I’ve ever written about this particular professor, but he was straight out of the 1940’s university setting – down the ultra elitist attitude and tweed elbow patches on his jacket. Anyway, what I remembered about this first class back on campus (the day following the attacks) was that this professor opened the class by saying, “Notwithstanding the events of yesterday morning, we are here for a different reason. So, let’s open our books to chapter one and begin reading about Cain and Abel.”

I was amazed at how cold and callous that professor was that night – especially considering that he was talking to a room filled with scared, horrified college students. This was a British Literature class where, over the course of the ensuing semester, we talked about traditional literary themes like good versus evil and the loss of innocence. Looking back, I shake my head at the lost opportunity that this professor let slip through his fingers. Here he had a chance to not just talk about these themes, but to show real world examples of these themes occurring all around us.

Anyway, the guys I lived with and I stayed up all night watching coverage of the cleanup and recovery efforts in New York City. We had news coverage on all day, every day. Everyone – including me – started caring a lot more about politics and who was trying to do what in our political leadership. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of the guys I lived with as well as the students on campus either became Republicans or began voting Republican. It was the general feeling of the nation and that feeling was alive and well on Monmouth University’s campus.

It was a scary and yet fascinating time to be a college student.

And it was only ten years ago. On the one hand, it feels like September 11th happened yesterday. But on the other hand, the world has changed so much since then. It makes me wonder where we’ll be in another ten years. Hopefully, terrorism will continue to decline over the next ten years and we can – as a global society – begin working towards a stronger world peace. No, not the hippie version of world peace where we’re all holding hands and singing Kumbaya. Instead, I hope we can move towards a real, workable peace that serves to advance the human race as a whole.

Moving in that direction seemed impossible ten years ago. But today it seems like a totally reasonable expectation for the future. What an amazing ten years…

An Amazing, Happy, Joyous Week and a Half Period for the Global Community

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You know, when I think about it – the last week and a half has been absolutely amazing for this world. Welcome back to JerseySmarts.com. Though I have been – and continue to be – swamped with an ever-growing pile of work, I wanted to take a few minutes to write about why the last week and a half has been such a happy time for this planet.

This has been a pretty happy place for the last week and a half.

About a week and a half ago, nearly a one-third of the planet’s population began celebrating the Easter Triduum. The Easter Triduum is the three day period leading up to Easter Sunday and the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly something for believers like me (and some 2.1 billion other believers in Christ) to celebrate.

On the first of two personal notes in this entry, one of the young men that I advised when he was an undergraduate in Sigma Pi Fraternity became a member of the Roman Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil mass. For him – and those of us who know him – this was also a reason for celebration.

After a solemn, joyous Holy Week the world then began preparing for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Normally, I wouldn’t cite this as a reason for the world to celebrate. However, following the tragic, paparazzi-fueled death of his beloved mother Princess Diana, there were many people who saw this past Friday’s wedding as a sort of victory for civility. The Sun Newspaper (based out of the United Kingdom) estimated that up to 3 billion people might watch the wedding. I’ve read post-wedding viewership figures as high as 2 billion, so I don’t know the exact number of people who saw the wedding, but I’m sure that most folks out there either saw the wedding live or saw footage.

In any event, the adoring crowds in the United Kingdom reflected the joy and happiness that most people shared for the young bride and groom.

And on a personal note – this past Friday a good friend of mine got married. I was honored to be one of his groomsmen and the excitement of the wedding helped make this past weekend a really great one for me and the hundreds of people who are celebrating this wedding, too.

And then Sunday, May 1st came. For the more than 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, we celebrated the beatification of Pope John Paul II – now known as Blessed John Paul II. The beatification mass was viewed around the world as a man who many knew as a world leader took the final step before being declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Certainly a reason for celebration among the faithful Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church communities!

Of course the only way for such an amazing week and a half period to come to completion was with the announcement that the United States had located, stormed, and killed the most wanted terrorist in the world. And not only was I excited about the confirmation of Osama bin Laden being killed, but I was proud about the way the United States citizens celebrated the victory. I posted this message on Facebook late last night about our national celebration:

When certain countries on the other side of the world celebrate a big event, radical extremists come out in the streets and burn effigies of world leaders and flags of other nations.

When America celebrates the death of a global mass murderer, we have men, women, young, old, Republicans, Democrats, black, white, Hispanic, etc. all celebrating together chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

We win. Again.

Followers of freedom and believers in liberty have a big reason to celebrate this news. Congratulations go out to the men and women of our military and intelligence services on a job well done.

As I posted on Twitter last night – I feel like this week and a half period of happiness and celebration is the beginning of something great for this world. Let’s hope that the good times keep on coming and that we continue to receive good news (or the Good News, as it were) in the coming days, weeks, and months! Enjoy!

The World Breathes a Sigh of Relief Now That the Miners are Coming Up

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Just a few quick comments on the trapped Chilean miners down in Chile. First of all, I’m sitting here watching the coverage of the miner rescue and it is absolutely intoxicating! I mean I can’t switch off the channel! The news channels – which were built for this type of round-the-clock coverage – are doing an excellent job of covering this rescue effort.

And folks, this is absolutely amazing, isn’t it? Imagine this – these guys were trapped underground for 69 days… and they survived! It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.

And I don’t know if you all are religious people, but when you look at how this whole rescue effort came together and how successful it has been thus far (as I write this, the 31st miner is on his way up the tube), you have to believe that there is a good spirit out there that is looking out for these guys. I’ll call that good spirit “Jesus Christ” and some people will call it something else, but I watch this rescue and I know that there are real angels here on earth and that there is a real source of good watching down over us all.

But this coverage is addicting!

An Entry for the “Weird File” – A Planned Gay Bar Next to a Planned Mosque?

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Every once in a long while I find myself up really late. I mean, like, really late. In fact, on these rare occasions I am awake so late that I’m able to watch this Red Eye program on the FOX News Channel. Maybe it’s because I’m more to the right than the left on most issues or maybe it’s because of the dry humor on the program, but I like Red Eye. I like the back-and-forth between Greg Gutfeld and Andy Levy and Bill Schulz. They’re hilarious in my book.

All of that being said (written?), I couldn’t help but to chuckle (kinda) when I read a post on Gutfeld’s blog, The Daily Gut. I’m sure you’re heard about the Islamic group that wants to build a mosque down by Ground Zero. If not, you can infer the situation from Gutfeld’s post below.

So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it’s all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque – after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law – who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I’ve decided to do the same thing.

I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn’t look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I’m building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps – but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.

For investment information, contact me at dailygut.com

I gotta tell ya, I’m not sure whether to laugh or just be weirded out by this entry. And no, I’m not weirded out by the fact that it’s a gay bar, but rather the fact that I’m pretty confident that Gutfeld isn’t joking here and that the ultimate response to his activities will come from the extremist fringes of the Islamic community. In other words, what Gutfeld started as the perfect “taste of your own medicine” will probably end up much worse for him than for the folks behind the mosque.

It’s times like this and situations like these where one has to wish that common sense was still the law of the day. Should there be a mosque down by Ground Zero? Of course not. Is there anything that legally prevents one from being built there? Of course not. So, at the end of the day, do the folks behind the mosque have the “right” to build one there? Of course they do. But sometimes you have to use common sense and know that having the right to do something doesn’t mean that you should act on that right.

However, in today’s litigious society if someone is told that they should use common sense and refrain from exercising one of their rights the extremists on the left go bonkers. So we’re going to wind up with a mosque down by Ground Zero – which makes no sense whatsoever. And when that mosque is built I hope that Gutfeld’s plan (is real) gets approved and there is a 24 hour gay bar next to the mosque.

If we’re going to push common sense aside in the name of tolerance, then let’s do it right and go balls out (pun intended).

Bill O’Reilly Comments on the Catholic Church and its Current Scandals

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Today is Good Friday and for the world’s more than 1.1 billion Catholics (of which I am one), we spend the day fasting and remembering how Jesus Christ was tortured, crucified, and murdered for his message of peace. While I am not the best Catholic on the planet, I do try to adhere to most of the restrictions and regulations put into place by the Catholic Church for holy days of obligation such as Good Friday. So… I won’t be eating today as it’s a day of fasting and abstinence in the Church.

Anyway, for some time I’ve wanted to put up an entry on this blog about the Catholic Church and its current scandals. However, I haven’t been able to find the right words to say that the scandals – while individually horrible – are not the proper way for the public to frame the Catholic Church. FOX News commentator Bill O’Reilly actually wrote a column on his personal website yesterday that perfectly addresses the way that I think most Catholics view the scandals in the Church. The column, in its entirety, is below.

Over the years, I have occasionally written about being a practicing Roman Catholic, a fact that sometimes leads to incredulous statements like “YOU go to church?” Somehow, I don’t believe the question is a compliment.

This is a tough Holy Week for Catholics, as once again the terrible specter of child molestation is in the air. Driven by a series of articles by the New York Times, the church now faces questions about whether Pope Benedict XVI ignored some past abuse cases when he was a cardinal. The evidence is scant, but damning anyway, because of the previous priest-pedophilia scandals.

A number of Catholics have left the church because of the priestly sins, but not me. From the beginning, in Sister Claudia’s first grade class, I understood that the Catholic Church was about Jesus, not Father Flannery. Believe me, I saw so many loons in my Catholic school days that I should be a Buddhist. But it is the theology, not church leadership, that keeps me in the fold.

You may remember that I was a driving force in bringing down the villainous Cardinal Law in Boston, a man who allowed child molesting priests to run wild. When Law was forced to resign, I was happy. But then the late Pope John Paul II gave him a cushy job in Rome, where he remains today. If it were up to me, the cardinal would be in prison.

Even though I respected Pope John Paul’s holiness, I was deeply disappointed that he did not meet with molestation victims when he visited the United States in 1999. The pope should have done that simply to show devastated American Catholics, and the victims themselves, that he cared and understood their pain. When I publicly criticized Pope John Paul for avoiding the issue, the Catholic League scorched me. And that’s fine. They are entitled to their opinion.

Throughout it all, however, I stayed with the church. If you cut through all the bull, the doctrines of treating others as you want to be treated, forgiveness and redemption, and charity for all stand the test of time. Even if the atheists are right and there is no God, the philosophy of Jesus is full-force positive. Live the way he lived, and the world will be a better place.

The actions of others must be considered, of course. But I like this analogy: We’ve had some pretty bad leaders in America, right? Do they make you want to renounce your citizenship? The United States is not the people who lead it. It is all of us.

Same thing with the Catholic Church. It’s not corrupt priests or apathetic leaders in Rome. It’s Jesus and his followers, the folks who sit in the pews on Sunday. And that’s good enough for me.

Again, I think that Mr. O’Reilly does an excellent job of capturing the describing how most Catholics feel about the Church.

Wait, President Obama Won The Nobel Peace Prize?

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Are you serious? Look, I like President Barack Obama. By and large I think that he’s doing an okay job. No, he’s not the best President that America has ever had and no, he’s not the worst. Frankly, he’s not been around long enough for anyone to make such judgments. However, it appears that whatever set of dummies that run the Nobel organization have decided that he has been around long enough to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Again, I’m as American as the next guy in this country and I love the fact that an American won the award. Yet, I can’t help to wonder the basis of President Obama’s nomination or his award. What…exactly…has he done to warrant such a prestigious award?

Could President Obama be the spark that creates great forms of positive change in the world? Well, yeah, I guess. But then again – you or I could be that same spark. Some would argue (successfully, too) that President George W. Bush was such a figure. Others might say that the work that President Bill Clinton has performed since he left office make him a clear choice for the Nobel Peace Prize. But President Obama?

Hmmm…

I think the folks behind this award are suffering from a form of premature exasperation. That’s right. I think that they hear President Obama speak about good will and their hearts flutter. I used to work for a guy who was absolutely euphoric over President Obama winning the White House (he was later fired from the office due to incompetency). It appears that the folks behind this award are absolutely euphoric, too.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to let President Obama actually become the force for good that everyone thinks he can be and THEN reward him for it? Oh wait, I forgot that he’s a liberal minded politician leading a world power during the localization of the globe. In other words – he can do no wrong in some people’s eyes… which is a damn shame.

Congratulations, President Obama. I hope that you live up to this award.

Bring Sean Goldman Home – Now

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For those of you living in Tinton Falls, you may know this story of a local man whose son has essentially been kidnapped by Brazil (my interpretation of the facts). Eight-year-old Sean Goldman, son of David Goldman, has been in Brazil ever since 2004. A story on FOX News gives a brief description of how the young boy came to be where he is today:

Sean’s mother took him on vacation to Brazil in June 2004, but instead of returning to New Jersey, she divorced David Goldman and remarried in Brazil. She died last year, but Sean’s stepfather continues to raise him in South America and claims custody rights.

Pretty ridiculous, huh? Thankfully, the House of Representatives passed a resolution yesterday calling for the boy to be brought back home as soon as possible. Also, President Obama is meeting with the Brazilian President today and among the topics they will talk about is the Goldman case. This seems like a no brainer to everyone who hears the details of the case as cited above. Sean Goldman should be brought home and his father should be the one who raises him, not the stepfather who drew his mother away from his father in the first place.

If our top diplomats – as human beings – can’t manage to get Sean back with his father, then how can anyone believe that there is any hope left for common sense and decency in this world? The kid should be home with his dad, period.

Uhhh Ohhh… Guantanamo is Humane!

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Sometime in February I bookmarked a page on the FOX News website that talked about a report on the Guantanamo Bay prison which was prepared for President Barack Obama. Some interesting information pulled directly from the report:

As a presidential candidate, Obama criticized the detention center that human rights groups and many in the international community widely condemned for harsh treatment of prisoners during the Bush administration. The military has defended its actions, saying prisoners have been treated humanely since the center was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The report found the camp to be in compliance with the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3, the international rules that require the humane treatment of prisoners taken in unconventional armed conflicts, like the war on terrorism. The camp’s controversial force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strikes was also found to be compliant with the Geneva guidelines, a second government official confirmed.

I can appreciate that Obama will probably read this report and change his position during the election on whether or not Guantanamo is/was a humane place to keep prisoners. In fact, I would assume that the President is privy to higher levels of information now that he’s the Commander in Chief and that, in this role, he knows things about Guantanamo that we will never know about. I get it – he’s the President, he should know those things.

But what gets me is that you’ll never hear about this story being covered en masse by the mainstream media. You’ll never hear the political extremists come back and say, “Oh golly. Looks like we goofed on that whole ‘inhumane’ thing down at Guantanamo Bay. Our bad!” Not going to happen. However, if this report for President Obama proved the opposite – that Guantanamo was a disaster and that it was an inhumane place to keep prisoners – then you’d have people calling for President Bush’s head right now!

Isn’t that annoying? Isn’t it annoying that we have extremists in the mainstream who will call for the prosecution of a President based solely on their own ideas and thoughts? However, when those ideas and thoughts are proven wrong by the administration of their favorite son, the extremists won’t turn around and say, “Wow. We were mistaken. Our apologies.”

What a sad commentary on the loud voices…