By Stanley P. Gershbein
Again, I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. Last week we reflected on the year that just ended. There was so much to say with words and with our hands, that instead of making my editor, fine gentleman that he is very angry, I chose to split the column in half. Today we’ll talk about 2006, part two. Thunderous applause and a standing ovation go to Ann Coulter for the best opening paragraph of any article by any columnist last year. In November Ms. Coulter wrote, “Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether.” Great. We do that and I can put my eight-ounce bottle of Natural Citrus Listerine back into my flight bag and bring it on board. 2006 was a year that we cupped our hands around our mouths and booed the predictors who said that gas was going up to five bucks a gallon, the stock marker was going to tank and there will be at least a dozen hurricanes. Gas is down to two and a quarter, the stock market is breaking records and the only hurricanes we saw down in the Sunshine State were the Miami Hurricanes with a record of….who cares? All of last year rolled by as we held our palms up and shrugged our shoulders as if to ask, “What gives?” An entire year went by without any evidence in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. I canceled one of my cruises because Aruba was one of the ports. As of this moment I am boycotting that island because I believe the Aruban authorities screwed up, perhaps on purpose. Two Oh Oh Six was a year that more of us gave American Automobile manufacturers the middle finger salute. We love this country and we’re patriotic. It’s just that we’re fed up with paying many thousands of dollars for cars that are stylish but wind up in the repair shop a bit more frequently than they should. This year there were more Japanese cars sold than ever before and if you want to read something interesting, place the following question in your search engine: “Where would General Motors be without the UAW?” The essay, by George Reisman, was first published last April and has received a fair amount of publicity. I have yet to see a decent rebuttal. That’s because there isn’t any. This was also a year when the citizenry shook its fist and stood up against the sale of six ports to the United Arab Emerits. I could make a great case for both sides of the argument but after careful thought I just don’t think that any country, Arab or not, should be managing critically important American soil. We’re talking about an Arab nation that has ties to terrorism. We’re talking about an Arab nation that has voted in the United Nations against the United States 88% of the time. Holding our hands out and putting up the stop sign was a wise thing to do. This was just another year, count them on your fingers and you’ll run out of fingers, when the mad Muslims demonstrated against a couple of cartoons. You forgot about that. Didn’t you? A great big, dumb uproar was made over a couple of harmless cartoons. Those of us that actually took the time to look at those cartoons and read the captions didn’t think they were very funny. They were the truth. We also know that this past year there was a great deal of anti-Muslim sentiment. We’re told that we’re not educated in this matter. Well perhaps the good Muslims should stand up and speak out. Let the rest of us know how you really feel. And early this year Perky Katie made headlines when she jumped ship and moved to CBS. With Palms up and shrugged shoulders TV viewers said ‘Big deal over nothing.” Even with Ms. Couric at the desk CBS news is exactly in the same place it was before she signed on. The whole episode is summed up as “oysgevarfenner gelt” An examination of Senator Hillary Chicken Ca-ca’s voting record has her still to the left of Senator Kennedy. America must do some real soul searching if it is in favor of a lying Socialist in the White House. Please don’t write and tell me that she’s not a liar. She has told so many lies that “I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A YANKEE FAN” a book filled with her authenticated quotes, was published early last year. On the cover is a photo of the Senator and her husband. She’s wearing a Chicago Cubs baseball cap and just in case we didn’t notice who she’s rooting for, there she is pointing a finger at the cap. This, just like almost all of her stupid, sometimes vicious lies, is so unimportant. So why does she lie so much? As Tevya said, “I’ll tell ya’. I don’t know.” Last May Barry Bonds was interviewed on TV about his alleged (must remember to always use that word) use of steroids. He continued to deny using performance-enhancing drugs. Poor guy. Nobody believed him. The stress and strain of the steroid accusations finally got to the superstar. While on camera, he broke down and wept. He sobbed. He whimpered. Everybody. All together now. “HEY BARRY. THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL” Just one more thought before I shut down. Every week I sit at this desk trying to create something worthy that I hope will be both informative and/or entertaining. I’ve been at it for eighteen years and I think I’ve made a few friends along the way. Many of you agree with some of my thoughts. Many of you don’t and that’s OK. This is one great country where we are free to discuss our views without being shot. I wanna close by giving you, my readers, one great big standing ovation. That’s my way of saying Thank You. Without you I’m not here. God Bless You, God Bless our Military and God Bless America. I am STANGERSHBEIN@BELLSOUTH.NET wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Safe 2007. May you dream wonderful dreams and may they all come true. ******** All letters and Emails are the property of this newspaper and may be published. For verification purposes all correspondence must contain your real name, address and telephone number.
