November 21, 2005

Hey:

I had a bit of a scare last Tuesday.

    5 years ago, if you someone told me the following story and old me they were scared, I would have
laughed them out of the room. But in this day and age of terror, its no laughing matter. Not that I didn't
laugh a bit at myself after the fact.
         Anyway, I was at work on Tuesday, and I had gone downstairs to get something to eat. Now you
can get off the train at Rockefeller Center and walk into my building without going outside between 7 AM
and 7 PM weekdays. Cafe Metro is in the walkway between my building and the subway. There's a
Wendy's right next door, where I had gone to get a burger.
         So as I was going into Cafe Metro to get a soda, I heard something drop. I turned around and saw
a schoolbag lying there. And I saw some people walking away, just leaving it there. I stood there frozen
for what seemed like 10 minutes, (it was probably more like 10 seconds) waiting for someone to scream
"Allah Akbar!" followed by a loud bang, followed by my entering the pearly gates with a cheeseburger.
         But finally a kid turned around and picked up the bag. I don't know if he didn't know he dropped it
or if someone had grabbed if from him and thrown it back, or what. All I know is that a bag that is
dropped and left that close to a subway is usually trouble. There were a couple of girls walking who saw
the whole thing and when they got to where I was standing, started laughing. They weren't laughing at me
either. They had the same thing going through their minds, and it was more relief than anything else.
        I went back upstairs and got on with my day, not giving it much more thought. Pretty much as soon
as I got back to work, I got slammed with a whole bunch of things to do, so I didn't tell anyone. And it
was one of those 12 hour days, so I didn't have time to think about it even. But it's a story worth telling,
just because it tells you the state of the world that we live in, when a dropped bag can cause so much
concern.

    Things got much better Friday night when Tara and I went to Fr. Pete's for his annual pre-Thanksgiving
dinner. Every year, Fr. Pete gathers about 60 of his closest friends to the Holy Cross rectory and cooks
a turkey dinner. It's quite a mix of people too, mostly friends he's made over the years at his house in
the Hamptons.
    But something happened the other night that I thought was really cool. Fr. Pete introduced me to a
woman who told me that her sister was a photo editor at the Post. During the day, there are about 10
people working on the photo desk, and most of them wouldn't know my name if you put a gun to their
head, despite the fact that I see them every day. One of the ones who does know me and is quite
friendly, is Rose Fiorentino.
    Sadly, Rose got another job and her last day at the paper was Friday. In my haste to get to Fr. Pete's
on time, I ran out without saying goodbye. I told Tara I'd ask her sister for her e-mail address.
    Now I had heard that one of Rose's sisters was the actress Linda Fiorentino, but I didn't think this was
her at the party. But Kerry's boyfriend Brian said at one point "I think that's the girl from Men in Black."
And when I went over to get Rose's e-mail address, Fr. Pete said "Hey Linda, here's Wild Bill from the
Post."
Holy sh-t!
    So we sat there and talked about the newspaper business and the big going away bash they threw for
Rose Thursday night. She also asked about the wedding and wished us the best of luck. The funny thing
was, as nice and friendly as she was,  I had once read somewhere that she was "difficult to work with." I
thought I had seen that on IMDB.com. Sure enough there it was.

Has a reputation for being hard to work with, as director Kevin Smith confirmed in his DVD
commentary for Dogma (1999). Smith said that Linda wouldn't even speak to him some days
and, in retrospect, he wishes he had given the part of Bethany to Janeane Garofalo instead.
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000400/bio)

In other words, Kevin Smith, one of the more overrated directors of all time (Clerks sucked OK?) would
have rather of had Miss Air(head) America than someone as talented as Linda Fiorentino.

The food as usual was fantastic, and Fr. Pete was his usual jovial self. It was another great time.


 News Item: Bill O'Reilly vs. San Francisco:

        As many of you know, and much to alot of your chagrin, I'm a fan of Bill O'Reilly, host of the
O'Reilly Factor and a fellow News Corp. employee. Last week, O'Reilly was particularly steamed that San
Francisco voted for a proposition that barred military recruiters from public schools, colleges and
universities. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the measure in non-binding, which unless I'm
misunderstanding it, means that its not enforceable.
       So O'Reilly's response was to suggest that since San Fran wasn't interested in helping staff the
military then they shouldn't be the recipients of military protection. He went so far as to say on his radio
show:

"You want to be your own country? Go right ahead,"... "And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up,
we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, 'Look, every other place in America is off
limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.' "

This was over the line. Way over.

No, O'Reilly,  San Francisco is OFF limits, as is any other city in the US. Hey, most of us were in New
York City on September 11th, 2001.  I don't wish what happened that day to happen to any other
American city. Blow up the Coit Tower? That would kill hundreds of people, including tourists from other
states that have strong military ties. This was about as moronic a thing I've ever heard. Our goal here is
to see terrorism defeated, not tell these animals were they can bomb.
       You know who O'Reilly sounded like when he said that? Like one of these bleeding hearts, the ones
that insist that the US deserved 9/11 because of American foreign policy. I rip those people here in
Weekly Mail, and they deserve every bit of it. O'Reilly deserves it too, because by spouting out such
spew, he showed that he was no better.
     
         And you know something? On the merits of the argument itself, he's right. I know that Michael
Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 tried to say that the military only targets the poor and in that sense, its not truly
an "all volunteer army." But it is. There is no draft. If you think that the military is too dangerous, then no
one is forcing you to go.
        But to keep recruiters out is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. You may have
opposition to the war in Iraq, which is legit, but what happens if we are attacked again, or in another
country or countries invades? A strong military is what has kept us protected all those years. It also is
what helped free Europe from Hitler back in the 1940's.  
       Right now, it may seem like making military recruitment more difficult is a victory against the
administration that many consider "a war machine." But while encouraging al-Qaeda to attack California is
retarded, limiting the ability of the military to recruit may be dangerous as well.

The only thing that is making this football season somewhat bearable is that my fantasy football team,
The Rock Park Renegades, is in 1st place. We are 8-3, having just lost for the first time in 7 weeks.
Unlike my baseball team, perennial doormat, the Woodside Wild, the Renegades have a legitimate
chance of winning the league championship.
    It sure beats watching the Jets, who have been disgraceful all year. Injuries have been a big part of it,
but I still think that the bad karma they got from their loss in Pittsburgh last January has something to do
with their horrid 2005 season.
    And how 'bout them Giants? They may actually win the NFC East. Albeit a weak NFC East, but hey a
division title is a division title, no matter how you slice it.

Happy Birthday Anne-Marie Haley.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone else
and Have a Great Week
Bill