Wildcats Can Win ALL

From Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News:

When the 61 games were done, the Final Four was not unpredictable, but, nevertheless, consists of a combination of four teams that was far from obvious. Nationally, Villanova probably was given less consideration than by those locally who had seen enough to understand the essence of Jay Wright's team. And Michigan State, under the radar in the Big Ten, played a near-perfect game yesterday to take out Louisville, the overall No. 1 seed.
North Carolina and Connecticut were no surprise. And nobody will be terribly surprised if they meet a week from tonight in the championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.
Carolina and UConn will be solid favorites. Anybody who does not think 'Nova has a chance just has not been paying attention. Are the Wildcats likely to beat UNC in the second game on Saturday? No. Is it possible? With this team, almost anything has to be considered, including a national championship.
Michigan State does not appear to have the firepower to hang with UConn, but the Spartans do have some serious athletes. Will that be enough to beat UConn? Again, unlikely.
UNC (32-4), UConn (31-4), Michigan State (30-6) and Villanova (30-7) are a combined 123-21.

Your Thoughts Count

Yesterday's column ("TelePrompter 101") was the most-read piece on the Philadelphia Daily News opinion page and it generated lots of comment on the philly.com web site.
I appreciate all of the interest and comments -- both pro and con.
I always learn something from the readers.

Here are some of the comments, unedited:

Obama does not read everything from a teleprompter. Like the president before him, who fumbled words even with one, he uses it as a tool rather than hold papers, index card, etc. Amazing how, with the economy as it is and all the other problems, the biggest problem for some people is the use of a teleprompter.

This article is a perfect example of someone who does not like the president and is looking for a way to insult him. I do not care if the president uses a prompter or note cards. I care if the president's policies move the country forward. Clearly the author does not care about such niceties.

The dependence on the Teleprompter is very relevant because it puts the lie to the notion that Obama is an original thinker with important, innovative ideas to move this country forward. If he was and if he was confident in his convictions, the power of his arguments and his own intellect, confident in his actual ability to "think on his feet" and effectively articulate his ideas, he wouldn't depend so neurotically on the Teleprompter. He does so precisely because he knows what 47% of the voting public knew on November 4: he's in way over his head, inexperienced and in no way "ready for primetime." Many more Americans are quickly figuring this out --- almost as fast as Uhuhuhbama.

As if Bush never used a teleprompter - which made his mangling of the English language even more remarkable.

While I agree that there are more important things than whether or not the President uses a teleprompter, it cannot be denied that nearly all of his early credibility as "candidate Obama" was gained on our fascination with his abilities as a speaker. His speaking abilities were interpreted as a sign of extraordinary wisdom, intelligence, insight, and thoughtfulness. Rather than fairly exploring his competancies in these areas, we were compelled to accept these competancies as genuine based largely on his stylistic delivery of speeches. Few who supported him did not cheerfully welcome the broadening of merit provided their candidate as a result of this society's willingness to draw elaborate conclusions about the man.

When Sarah Palin made her speech at the convention, the dems cried out: "Oh, she read it from a teleprompter! She just read what somebody else wrote. She's too stupid to have written it herself." No now we get Nobama reading words that somebody else wrote on the teleprompter. But we're supposed to believe that he's smart and articulate. He just reads what somebody else wrote, because he's too stupid to have any original thoughts of his own. As usual, the Democrat double standard is at work here. And who writes his speeches? George Soros? Bill Ayers?

Obama's reliance on the teleprompter reminds me of the great Oz in the wizard of Oz. It only begs to ask, Who is behind the curtain? By the way, the last time Obama was off of the teleprompter, he gave us Joe the Plumber. He can not go off of the teleprompter because he is afraid he may reveal what his ultimate goal is... (destruction of capitalizm, redistribution of wealth (except his own), etc.)

Dear Mr. Cirucci, Your guy lost. Get over it. And if you really want me to take you seriously as someone who is an expert in communication, it would help if you came from somewhere other than one of the Penn State campuses. I've seen your graduates. I'm not impressed.
Republicans are such paethetic, petty and stupid people. Go away creeps! Obamma is a very good communicator. He didn't have a tele-prompter or notes during the debates and he outshone both the Republicans and other Democrats. He's giving lots of press conference and is discussing many complex issues. That's why he using the tele-prompter. Reagan had a great memory until he testified about the Iran-Contra scandal. Then he seemed to forget everything. The "art of memorization"? What's that? I spent 25 years in theatre and have no idea what you're talking about. Neither do you.

Don't they all use tele-prompters? Didn't Bush? What a bunch of stupid sh*t to point out.

In the past, they've all used teleprompters for major speeches, not for small, short announcements and introductions. The difference is, Barry and his handlers have sold him based largely on his eloquence and his Kennedyesque ability to speak. As it turns out, off the 'prompter he hems and haws ("uh...uh...uh...," "aaaaaaannnnd") and makes stupid social faux pas (Nancy Reagan seances, fat Jessica Simpson, Special Olympics bowling skills) worse than George W. Bush, whose fumbles were more often than not a function of his dyslexia. The social faux pas are especially telling because it reveals an apparently insecure man who, while possessing no real sense of self-deprecating humor, certainly has a mean streak for trying to get laughs at others' expense, even the handicapped.

Thanks, everybody!

Toad Mating Closes Streets

From Gloria Campisi at the Philadelphia Daily News:
When love is in the air, the last thing one might be thinking about is the Philadelphia Streets Department.
But the Streets Department is thinking of the amorous toads of Upper Roxborough. It has issued a permit to close Eva Street and part of Port Royal Avenue for that neighborhood's annual toad migration.
Whenever the toads get around to making it, that is.
The migration is a mating ritual during which the toads leave the woods around the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education and head for the Roxborough Reservoir to find a toad of the opposite sex.
Rainy weather and a series of warm days are their siren song to burrow out from the loose soil where they have spent the winter in dormancy and kick up their heels.
Volunteer toad-spotters are prowling the roads at twilight to alert the toads' protectors to put up city-approved temporary detour signs.
The Streets Department permit was the outcome of a drive spearheaded by animal activist Lisa Levinson to keep the green-and-brown amphibians - identified by naturalist Doug Wechsler as American toads - from being squashed by cars using the side roads to avoid stoplights on Ridge Avenue.

Other People's Money

From the Philadelphia Daily News:

Powerful state Sen. Vince Fumo [shown leaving court with girlfriend Carolyn Zinni] lived like a prince on Other People's Money, the government charged in its corruption indictment against him.
Today, the Other People spoke: Guilty on all counts.
A federal jury, after five days of deliberations, found Fumo guilty of 137 counts of defrauding taxpayers, diverting money for his personal use from a non-profit he ran and obstruction of justice. Co-defendant Ruth Arnao, who once headed the non-profit, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, was also found guilty of all 45 counts against her.
U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter scheduled a bail hearing for 2 p.m. when he will decided whether Fumo should be subject to electronic monitoring and house arrest while he awaits sentencing.
Fumo, 65, could get at least 10 in jail.

Photo: Tom Gralish/Inquirer

Rouge 'Sit-In' Ended

From Philly's King of Gossip, Dan Gross in today's Philadelphia Daily News:
Political pundit Flavia Colgan, a Daily News editorial board associate, has been banned from Rouge (205 S. 18th).
Colgan, who also blogs for the Daily News at citizenhunter.com, got into an argument with a restaurant manager about 5 p.m. Friday about vacating a table she had occupied at the Rittenhouse Square staple since noon.
An eyewitness says Colgan, who had been there with some friends who left money behind for their portion of a bill, tried to pay $60 with an ATM card that had not been activated, and was also not in her name. When the restaurant provided a phone, Colgan tried but failed to activate the card. Colgan reportedly took offense at the suggestion that she was having trouble paying her bill and began arguing with the female manager, during which Colgan, we're told, shamefully threatened to trash Rouge in the Daily News.
To her credit, during the altercation Colgan walked outside to give the remainder of a burger to a homeless man, but then returned and continued fighting with the manager, who ultimately told her to forget about the $60 and please just leave and never come back to Rouge.
Colgan, who formerly worked for the late Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll and has been seen discussing politics and cultural affairs on Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN, told us yesterday that the inactive card was in her father's name as he handles her finances. In an e-mail she said Rouge has "a lack of understanding of the law, their job, and what is polite." Colgan admits that she told the restaurant that "if I had the time I would be making calls about their behavior to both law enforcement, since they have no understanding of civil liberties, and to the press," but that she decided she would rather spend her time on her charitable efforts.
Rouge owner Rob Wasserman yesterday confirmed there had been an altercation and stated that Colgan was not welcome back at Rouge. Wasserman said that he provided a $40 tip to the server who had been shorted on the bill.
After we communicated with Colgan, a man called us from New York identifying himself as her friend and offering to help.
The man claimed to be present at Rouge and said Colgan "acted appropriately," declining to provide details about the argument.
Asked what time he was at Rouge with Colgan he replied "late, around 11." When we said that Colgan had been there hours earlier and that we doubted he had been there at all, he got angry, tongue-tied and defensive.
Hey, Flavia, next time you're going to enlist a friend to call and lie to us, you should really prep him a little better.

Anger Over Police Slayings

Here are some Letters to the Editor from today's Philadelphia Daily News:

Yet another officer is killed doing his job. A job that he does in a community that, due to a handful of bad officers unworthy of the uniform, has no love or respect for him or the department he works for.
The answer is simple. Create a new law that can't be dealt down by the D.A. or a high-priced lawyer. Make the judges accountable for the acts of criminals they sentence, take away the sovereign immunity that lets them give breaks to career criminals.
Increase the mandatory time for using a weapon against an officer to 40 years, no parole, and apply it to all open cases. Seek the death penalty in all killings of cops. Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, retrain your officers in all facets of policing and make sure they wear their vests at all times.
James Brawner, Philadelphia

There's no justification for the killing of the very people who put their life on the line to protect us every day.
These low-down good-for-nothings should be put away forever. To shoot down Officer Pawlowski shows the mind of a mad, cold-blooded, good-for-nothing criminal who if I had my way would never see daylight. The law should never let these career criminals on the street. Let them rot in jail.
Louis Dillard, Philadelphia

Once again, I'm ashamed to live in this city with these people who continually kill and have no regard for anyone.
As a mother who raised five children, two of them boys, I didn't go through this with my sons. They never went to prison or carried a gun. I'm so tired of the bleeding hearts who say they had a hard life - give me a break.
And when these people go to court, the judges are a disgrace to continually let them go free. Here is my solution: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan. No jail, straight to the military. The soldiers who've done four and five tours can come home.
Set up court for these killers and get a real judge who will do his job. Have someone from the military right in the court and off they go - no training because they already know how to take a life. I bet there will be weeping and wailing in the court just like the families of these police officers had to do. The families of the killers should leave town - if I had this on my conscience, I would. This city is going to hell in a handbasket.
Harriet B. Brown, Philadelphia
Another young officer has been slain in a city whose mayor and D.A. want gun roundups while repeat violent offenders walk the streets. A city whose police chief believes the Second Amendment should be abolished, and says that no citizens of Philadelphia should be allowed to carry a gun.
Yet nobody seems to understand why these killings happen. This isn't just stupidity on the part of our elected officials and citizens - it's a case of willful ignorance.
Stuart Caesar, Philadelphia

When are victims of crimes going to get their "rights"? Liberal judges who let out thugs like Rasheed Scruggs give them more rights than I have Victoria's Secret underwear. Let's go back to the '70s mentality when cops were able to do their jobs without their hands constantly being tied with all this politically correct nonsense.
These judges that let these parasites with a laundry list of priors out on the street time after time need to start being held accountable.
Likewise with the parole board who let hardened criminals with weapons offenses out. No parole for them at all. They all need to stop dissing these officers who constantly put their life on the line in Killadelphia.
Officer Pawlowski is from my parish of St. Anselm. Hearts are heavy and prayers plentiful. All that's left of this tragic reality is prayer for the Pawlowski family and for Kim, his wife, so she can bear this new member of the family to carry on in John's name.
Diane McDowell

The Grand Opera

From Christine Flowers at the Philadelphia Daily News:
With a name like Flowers, you wouldn't think I was Italian.
Don't be fooled. While only half my DNA qualifies me for paisana status, it's the dominant part of my personality.
Which, in simple terms, means every emotion I've ever had has been pumped up on steroids. Italians don't feel, we emote. We don't hate, we despise. We don't love, we adore. And we don't steal. We plunder.
To us, life is an opera. . . .
To read the rest of Christine's wonderful column, click here.

Daily News' Most Popular

Thank you for making us today's most-read column in the Philadelphia Daily News opinion pages.
It's quite an accompliahment, considering these two factors:
1) Another columnist in the Daily News today (who shall remain nameless) actually set out to write the most-read column of the day by picking a sexually-related topic, and;
2) Our op-ed piece didn't even focus on Philadelphia. Indeed, it is rare for a piece about New Jersey to become the day's most widealy read column.
BTW: The column was also featured at Lucianne Goldberg's popular web site.
If you have already read the op-ed you can read it now by clicking here.

The Jersey Bounce

Let's face it - sooner or later the Republican Party will rebound. It will find its voice and the tide will begin to turn. The only question is where, when and how.
When the answer arrives, I'm thinking it's going to surprise a lot of people. The resurgence won't begin exactly where you might expect. And the timing and personalities who trigger it are likely to defy expectations as well.
The turning point may be right here in our own backyard, sooner than you think. And it may be arrive in a rather unlikely personality. . . .
To continue reading my column from today's Philadelphia Daily News click here.

Catnip To Masses

The word itself is magic.
It sort of rolls off the tongue like "abracadabra" or "Allakhazam."
It's "charisma." And it seems to be the word of the moment.
The Greek origins of the word charisma conjure up various meanings, including favor, divine gift, yearning and even grace, beauty and rejoicing.
What is it that makes a person charismatic? We say we know it when we see it - or when we've seen it, since charisma can be fleeting. So much of it is "of the moment." . . .
To read the rest of my column from today's Philadelphia Daily News click here.