All Roads Lead to the Moore Family

PJF Auction Tomorrow Night

The Hofstra University School of Law Public Justice Foundation's annual auction is tomorrow night.  The auction benefits students working in non paying summer jobs in the public sector.  Its a good cause and we're hoping to raise in the neighborhood of $20,000.  Several of us at the law school will be auctioneers including myself.  This is one of my favorite causes and this year I will be auctioning off a unique item.  Its called "Brunch with Matt and Twinkie".  Yes the winning bidder and two of their friends get to spend a Sunday afternoon with my family, playing with my seventh month old son and Twinkie, world's friendliest people dog while I make my world famous omelets (yes, they're that good!).  After that, they get to take a ride in a 1967 plymouth barracuda convertible, co-owned by my brother and me. 

Now if you're a regular viewer to this blog (all ten of you), you've seen pictures of my son and my dog on the photo album.  Now don't you think that's worth several hundred dollars.  Other items being auctioned off include Don Larsen's jersey.  Yes, Mr Perfect World Series Game from 1956.   That's a great item right there!  There will also be a silent auction being held all day. If you can make it, its held tomorrow evening, March 1st at 6:00 pm in the law school third floor Siben and Siben Moot Courtroom.

Re-Endorsement of a Friend

On January 31, I posted an endorsement of Tom McKevitt who is running in the special election on Tuesday, February 28 for the 17th Assembly district.   It turns out if you do a search for "Tom McKevitt" in Google, this is the 7th hit on the first page.  So as the election is only four days away I am reposting my endorsement with some additions.

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A friend of mine, Tom McKevitt, was nominated yesterday by the Nassau County Republican Committee to run for the 17th Assembly District to succeed Maureen O'Connell, who was elected County Clerk in November.  The election is being held 28 days from now on February 28 (click here for a story about the the 17th Assembly District).     I have known Tom since his days here at Hofstra Law School (Tom is a member of the Class of 1996).  Tom was a member and Articles Editor of the Hofstra Law Review.  To be selected to the Hofstra Law Review, there is a writing competition, where the student submits a legal brief.  The managing editors of the Law Review then review the submission, then based on how well you wrote the brief, the student is selected for the Law Review.  Basically, you have to be very bright (ie -at the top of your class) and write really well.   These are two important qualifications for a state legislator, and Tom McKevitt meets both of them easily.

Tom has also been a town attorney for the Town of Hempstead for the last several years.  He has worked behind the scenes on many campaigns and knows the ins and outs of Nassau County.  He has also worked in the state legislature.   He is a member of the Hofstra Law Alumni board and gives back to the school.  You will often see Tom at the Hofstra men's basketball games. More importantly, Tom is probably one of the most decent people I know.  Level headed, articulate, and a dedicated public servant.   Tom is just a really nice guy.

The 17th Assembly District encompasses Mineola, Garden City Park, Garden City South, East Williston, Williston Park and parts of New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Westbury, Uniondale, Albertson, East Meadow, Franklin Square, Floral Park, North Merrick, Bellmore and portions of North Bellmore. Tom has a good chance to win In the 17th Assembly District,  The district currently has 41,000 registered Republicans and fewer than 28,000 registered Democrats (courtesy of the Times Albany Union January 20, 2006).

I fully endorse (for whatever that's worth) my friend Tom McKevitt for the State Assembly in the 17th District.  You simply can't do better than Tom McKevitt.

An Idea to Start Saving Social Security

President Bush was talking about his failed plan to save social security last night during his State of the Union Address (I only watched the highlights, I have better things to do like play with Matthew).  Here's a suggestion for GW to start saving social security.  Go on national TV and ask Exxon Mobil to contribute their $36 billion in profits to the Social Security Fund and they get naming rights for five years, renewable in 5 years with another $36 billion in profits.  The Exxon Mobil Social Security Fund.  I can live with that.  Can you? :-)

Endorsement of a Friend

A friend of mine, Tom McKevitt, was nominated yesterday by the Nassau County Republican Committee to run for the 17th Assembly District to succeed Maureen O'Connell, who was elected County Clerk in November.  The election is being held 28 days from now on February 28 (click here for a story about the the 17th Assembly District).     I have known Tom since his days here at Hofstra Law School (Tom is a member of the Class of 96).  Tom has been a town attorney for the Town of Hempstead for the last several years.  He has worked behind the scenes on many campaigns and knows the ins and outs of Nassau County.   More importantly, Tom is probably one of the most decent people I know.  Level headed, articulate, and a dedicated public servant.

The 17th Assembly District encompasses Mineola, Garden City Park, Garden City South, East Williston, Williston Park and parts of New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Westbury, Uniondale, Albertson, East Meadow, Franklin Square, Floral Park, North Merrick, Bellmore and portions of North Bellmore. Tom has a good chance to win In the 17th Assembly District,  The district currently has 41,000 registered Republicans and fewer than 28,000 registered Democrats (courtesy of the Times Albany Union January 20, 2006).

I fully endorse (for whatever that's worth) my friend Tom McKevitt for the State Assembly in the 17th District.  Best of luck to you Tom!

Commentary on the Tom Penders Technical Foul Call on the All News Site

There is a commentary posting on the All Roads Lead to Gary's News site on Conference USA's ruling of the technical foul called on the coach who passed out during a basketball game on Saturday.  Click on the link on the left hand side for the All Roads Lead to Gary's News site.

The Sad Story of Kaitlyn Hassard and the Media Fear That's Resulted

I am sure many of you by now know the sad story of six year old Kaitlyn Hassard, who accidentally died of strangulation as the result of playing with her one and a half year old golden retriever, Jesse.  The dog was playing tug with Kaitlyn's scarf, which she had wrapped around her.  The dog dragged Kaitlyn across the ground and she was found dead in the yard. 

Unfortunately for the family and perhaps for the rest of us, we now have to hear the tripe from so called experts stating that children should never be left alone with the family dog and that we must be alert and aware at all times when children are with dogs. 

We have our perfect example of this in a Newsday article on the tragedy.  Supposed expert, Nancy Williams, an associate certified applied animal behaviorist in Manchester, Md stated the following

"No matter what type or size of dog, "children should never be left alone with a dog for one second, even if it's Lassie or Rin Tin Tin.   Dogs are not playmates, they're animals, and you can't trust them.  It takes half a second to get your face bit, and anything can happen."

"You can't trust them"?   Excuse me?  Please tell that to all the owners whose dogs alerted them to fires or notified them of their babies choking.  I am sure those owners trust their dogs with their lives. 

Golden retrievers are known for being wonderful family dogs.  The family put Jesse in The Town of Brookhaven Animal Shelter for understandable reasons (it would be really hard to have the dog around even if the dog did not mean any harm), but the shelter has already received 300 callers offering to adopt Jesse.   That's how fondly golden retrievers are thought of and I believe those people know that Jesse meant no harm and that it was strictly an accident.  Those 300 callers rightfully could care less what Ms. Williams has to say.

I agree that young children should be supervised when playing with the family pet, but young children should be supervised with playing with other children as well. 

As for Ms. Williams' comments, Ms.Williams, we are animals/mammals too.  Does that mean I shouldn't trust anyone else either?   I don't think so.  And also, I would trust my current dog more than a good number of the people I have met in my life. 

Another so called expert, animal behavorist Peter Borchelt comments, "In truth, the only lesson from this may be that a young, highly active and playful dog can injure somebody, or worse, in the process of playing, whether it's knocking an older person down the stairs or dragging a child into oncoming traffic."

Did we really need to hear that last comment?  Was that really necessary?  Couldn't he have just left it with "a young highly active and playful dog can injure somebody or worse in the process of playing"

It really amazes me what people say and what the media publishes.  It was an accident.  A tragic accident.  But that's all that it is.   But now the media makes it a larger story and brings in all these experts.   Once again another example of the media making us live in fear.  Now we have to live in fear of our family dog...

I am very sorry for the family of the daughter.  I can't imagine their loss.  Having Matt, I hope I never do.  I just hope people will leave them in peace...

Later tonight..

After I get home from Hofstra beating Towson tonight (hopefully), I will have a blog posting on the following topics

1) The most inhumane act by college basketball referees this past weekend involving Houston coach Tom Penders.
2) The tragic story of a little girl accidentally strangled by her pet dog , an inane comment from a "supposed" animal behavior expert and the media fear hype resulting from the incident.
3) Why radio sports host Michael Kay is often just plain wrong.

That's it for now.

Posting on News Site...

on the merger of the WB and UPN into one crappy network. :-)

Life is Very Strange

As many people know already, actress Shelley Winters died last weekend at age 85.  She was once married to actor Anthony Franciosa.  Well he suffered a major stroke this week and died on Thursday (it was not reported until yesterday).  He was the star of the TV show  "The Name of the Game" (1968-71), but was "fired for erratic behavior". (courtesy of AP). 

Talk about a weird coincedence...or maybe not...

Just heard...

William Shatner's kidney stone was auctioned off for $25,000. 

First reaction.. Who would pay for such a thing?

Second reaction..Why?

Third Reaction... How much would he get for his toupee?  :-)

Willing to put 2-1 odds that it was a Trekkie that bid on the kidney stone.  Either that or Leonard Nimoy who once upon receipt of the kidney stone will smash it into millions of pieces saying "I have to play second fiddle to that hack for all these years!  Take that Shatner! And that! And that!" :-)