Friday, October 26, 2007

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...

Summary paragraph: a political venting of the spleen about a fellow New Yorker with the lowest ethical standard north of Tail-Gunner Joe McCarthy running for the highest office in the land. Feel free to skip this post if you have a weak stomach or are under the care of a physician.

In one of my rare forays into national politics on this blog, I felt compelled early on to share some vitriolic, visceral thoughts about the one candidate running for President who I feel is demonstrably, ethically, and pathologically unfit to lead the United States. That candidate was, is, and will always be Rudy Giuliani.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I have no horse in the Presidential race yet. Nor does it really matter to anyone. My comments about Mayor Giuliani are being provided as a public service, akin to alerting people in an apartment building about a fire, or posting signs alerting people about thin ice. It is my opinion that if you stuck a pin in Rudy's ass, after an astonishing rush of helium, you would be left with an eleven year old snot-nosed bully, who steals lunch money from other kids. Just my opinion.

And he makes pandering into a science that is tangible, visible and measurable.

Don't take word for it. Check it yourself.

Today, from a New York newspaper:
"Last July, The Providence Journal asked the former mayor this fateful question: If the Devil said you can be President if you become a Red Sox fan, would you do it?

"I'm a Yankee fan," Giuliani replied then. "I always believe it's a sign of my being straight with people, about not wanting to fool them, that I was one of the first mayors to be willing to say I was a Yankee fan."

He went on to say he had "great respect" for true Red Sox fans, but as for becoming a Red Sox cheerleader in a Devil's bargain, "Probably that's a deal I could not make," he said."

And today?

Yankee Fan Giuliani Backing Red Sox

Published: October 23, 2007, Associated Press

Filed at 7:33 p.m. ET

BOSTON (AP) -- Sounds like a baseball flip-flop. Rudy Giuliani, a lifelong New York Yankees fan, said Tuesday he's pulling for their most hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox, to win the World Series over the Colorado Rockies.

''I'm rooting for the Red Sox,'' the Republican presidential contender said in response to a question, sparking applause at the Boston restaurant where he was picking up a local endorsement.

You can't make this stuff up.

Hey, all you Newburyporters who watched TV in the 60's and 70's! Remember Flip Wilson?

"The DEVIL made me do it."

It comes down to this, really. Do you trust a Yankees fan to be President of the United States? I fully recognize that this particular line in the sand would affect people from both sides of the party equation.

Personally, I wouldn't.

Y'all can make up your own minds. I'd offer my encapsulation of the classic Reagan line, "my mind is made up, so don't try to confuse me with facts," but it isn't even appropriate when it comes to Rudy. There aren't any facts there. Nada, zilch. Rudy has been spinning the truth so long, he can no longer distinguish when the truth ends and his imagination begins.

I now return you the Newburyport Schools blog, which hopefully has much more relevance to your daily life than this rant.

1 comment:

Tom Salemi said...: Stop the e-presses! A front-running Yankee fan??!; October 28, 2007 at 4:42 PM

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NATURE OR NURTURE?

Menin was born in the Bronx, to a National League family, who taught him early on that real baseball fans rooted for any team that beat the Yankees. His parents fled to the northern suburbs in the great mid-sixties diaspora.

An indifferent student prior to college, he was an early participant in the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate program, passing the exams and earning the diploma through West London College. He has a Bachelor's and a Master's in SpEd. He also has a CAGS in Dispute Resolution from UMass.

A trained Montessori teacher, he has worked in Lower and Upper Elementary classrooms in two Montessori schools; and has 10 years of classroom experience working with students from 1st grade through middle school.

Much of his professional career has been in human services, including more than fifteen years as an Executive Director for a regional agency serving the homeless, and a start-up national association of consumer litigators. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Family Self-Sufficiency Center, Inc., in Salem, MA; as well as performing the same role for the Disability Policy Consortium for three years.

Bruce co-wrote several grants to help start the Newburyport Learning Enrichment Center & the Youth Commission, where he was the founding Chair. He has served on the Revenue Task Force, the Newburyport Youth Commission, the Skateboard Park Siting Task Force, and is in his third term on the School Committee. He has also been elected to the Charter Review Commission.

As proof no good deed goes unrewarded, some misguided and anonymous individual successfully conned the American Red Cross, Northeast Division into naming Menin a Community Hero in 2010. Hopefully, the bar will be raised a little higher in future years.

A freelance writer for nearly 30 years, Menin has published locally and nationally. He has co-written plays that have been performed in Newburyport at the Random Acts Festival, three times at the annual New Works Festival, and in the North Port Festival in New York. He has co-written some songs with EJ Oullette and some of the new artists down at Whole Music in Byfield, and has seen his poetry and short stories in print and on the Internet. No one else has reported seeing them, however. He also spent five summers as a Naturalist on a whale watch boat running out of N.H.

He has two children, and has lived in Newburyport since 1991.

The Fine Print

Disclaimer:
No post placed on this page should be construed as representing the views of any other individual School Committee member, nor does it in any way represent the Committee as a whole.

We do not endorse or recommend any product that might be advertised on this site; we do not assume the responsibility or liability for any products or claims made by following links on this site. We do not assume liability or accept responsibility for any products, claims, or materials of questionable taste that may be linked to, intentionally or accidentally, by using the search engine provided.

This is a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. It is an opportunity for the community to raise concerns about the challenges faced by the schools in Newburyport, to ask for my response as both a sitting School Committee member with nearly ten years on the Committee, (as in, a record to run on) or my position on new challenges we have yet to face.

We welcome comments that ask questions or provide feedback on the substance of the initial posting. We do not expect, nor will we allow comments that are defamatory towards any public official or any member of the community; we are not liable for such comments, and reserve the right to remove them; or edit your comments should there be any substance left once the threats, profanity and all-around nastiness have been surgically removed.

Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you have questions you do not want to raise in this public forum, although I do reserve the right to post an answer if I feel the question is relevant to our community dialogue about schools. I would do so without identifying the source of the question.

Finally, any threats that are directed at my family or me will result in a mess of legal trouble for anyone so inclined.

Have a nice day. We are not liable or responsible if your day is not a nice one, however.

Hey, Attorney Griffin- did I cover everything?

The Mission of a School Committee Member

I believe that public service is both a privilege and a responsibility. I have had the opportunity to serve for nearly ten years; I believe we are ready to move the Newburyport School system into the 21st Century; providing the best possible education for all of the children of Newburyport. More than that, I believe that the Schools have a great deal to offer the larger community.

As a School Committee member, I have always been guided in my decisions by two important facts:

My constituents do not vote.

My role is try to address the needs of all the 2,ooo plus students in the system, and those few students placed outside the system in an equitable and proportional way.

According to the Educational Reform Act, it is the role of School Administrators to administrate, and for School Committees to set policy, budget resources, and ensure that the system has a vision of excellence.

Newburyport Schools

Friday, October 26, 2007

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...

Yankee Fan Giuliani Backing Red Sox

1 comment:

NATURE OR NURTURE?

You talkin' to me?

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