Monday, November 9, 2009

Cuz it's that big!

This is not just about Hoboken, but the impact here was as big as any event in Americans' lifetimes.  So we're taking a moment to mark it.  About a week ago, we heard the US President would not be attending this historic event: the 20th year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the largest liberation of humanity in our lifetime.  We understand there was no award, no money or accolades for President Obama. For those too young to understand the massive importance of what occurred, take a look.  No, this was bigger than your first iPod, trust us. Here's some historical context: 

Is there any doubt if this man was President where he'd be today? 

And contrast to this, which the media is practically silent on.  Watch it in its entirety, unedited and the full context of the remarks.  Anything vaguely unsettling?

 There is some deja vu as what seemed over isn't.  And to read more on that you click here.

Update: One reader noted Obama made a proclamation (saving taxpayers lots of money) but there was also a video he sent where the world's leaders past and present gathered to mark the fall of the Iron Curtain.  Here's a link to the remarks. We note, Obama mentions John Kennedy and himself but not President Ronald Reagan or the UK's Margaret Thatcher.  At all.  (What did JFK have to do with defeating the Iron Curtain?  Good question.)  Obama leaves to Norway later this month to collect his Nobel Prize award.   

And one last link giving the history where both Truman and Reagan played a large role in bringing down "the evil empire" without a major conflict between the two nations over four decades.  The professor who wrote it notes this was the first time in history such an event has occurred. 

When it goes kaboom!

We decided to move a comment so it could get more deserved attention here.  This is the third noteworthy perspective since the two spoken at the previous City Council meeting on the hospital. Have a bone to pick with the ideas go at it. With the author, take it up with Da Horsey.  Without further adieu, Mister Snitch on HUH, Hoboken University Hospital:

The 'hospital's ticking time bomb' got moved up an hour with the election of Christie. Unlike Corzine, he has no incentive to keep bailing out Menendez' money-laundering-and-patronage scheme. You'll recall, I hope, that Christie brought down Version One of this racket at UMDNJ. He became acquainted with Menendez' tactics there, so he knows exactly where the bodies are buried here. Christie knows full well where the state's money would be going if he leaves the spigot open - not that the state has much left to spend, anyway. No, the favors Christie owes aren't in the same places Corzine owed them - and Hoboken's going to notice that damn quick. 

The hospital was forced to acknowledge being $20 mill or so in arrears the other day. Menendez' henchwoman Quigley declared that the firing of the old CFO and the hiring of a new one 'fixed' the problem. (For good measure, she blamed the economy.) Right. She's the same machine functionary who's been attacking critics of the scam from the get-go. For Quigley, covering-up is Job One. 

Hoboken better get ready to cough up another $50 million gone AWOL. There's not a reformer in town equipped to take this on, so you can expect the issue to explode in the town's face only when it can no longer possibly be avoided. 

Mason's focus on salary cuts is the equivalent of giving everyone on the Titanic a bucket and telling them to bail. But the fact is, no one else is doing anything but putting on a show for the folks in the cheap seats. And the curtain won't come down until Hoboken's taxes have nearly doubled - again - and the town is forced into bankruptcy.