Cartoon of the Week

Only one cartoon turned me on this week, Here it is:

Joel Pett in the Lexington Herald-Leader:

 

Nothing has changed… check my earlier entry on George Carlin.

George Carlin on The Republicans and our Culture:

Carlin did this routine 23 years ago and it is amazing how it still holds true. Be careful if the kiddies are around… this is X rated. (Thanks to my friend Joe Bratcher who passed this out on Facebook today.)

Related articles

• Could George Carlin get his own street? (salon.com)
• Louis CK Honors George Carlin (milkandcookies.com)
• George Carlin Ceremonial Speech (socyberty.com)
• George Carlin: American Dream for Sleepers (stevebeckow.com)
• Rare Song by George Carlin – “Everything is OK Anyway” (disquietreservations.blogspot.com)

What I remember on 9/11

Ten years ago, I lived in Marlborough, CT, a small town just south of Hartford, with a population made up mostly of commuters. Most of us worked in Hartford or other nearby towns (I was then working for Computer Sciences Corporation in East Hartford), but some went longer distances.

Marlborough is the kind of town where everyone meets everyone else over coffee on Sunday Mornings at the local bakery, or at the local grocery after work, or at town hall for our frequent, New England style, town meetings… or at our children’s sports events at the grade school basketball court or on our local baseball diamond.

Jim Hobin was one of the people you spoke with at these events.

Jim was one of the mainstays of the Marlborough Youth Athletic League which ran our local Baseball and Basketball programs for kids. In 2001 he was my son Buddy’s Basketball Coach. The previous year he had coached his baseball team.

Nobody worked better with kids than Jim Hobin… and he was always there fore the MYAL… he loved Baseball especially and you’d frequently find him mowing the grass at our small ball field, or  chalking the base lines, or painting the benches. He loved keeping that field ready for the teams.

He was particular known for training the kids and playing EVERY child for an equal amount of time… something that always amazed us, because his teams usually won.

While much of his work was done traveling all over the country for Marsh and McLennen, once or twice a month he had to go the 150 miles or so to New York to the company offices in the World Trade Center. September 11th was one of those days. Jim always left early in the morning to make it to the office on time… it was not like him to be late for anything.

When the first plane hit the WTC, I was at my East Hartford desk at CSC listening to the news on a local radio station as I worked on my computer. At first it was reported as a small plane accident, then the second plane struck and the whole event was devastatingly clear. My partner came over to my desk to listen to the report… then like all the employees in my division we gathered in the lunchroom and watched the buildings collapse over and over on television.

No work was done that day… we all went home to be with our families.

When I got there my wife told me that Jim Hobin had been at the WTC that morning and no one was able to get hold of him. His wife, Sheila, was especially upset at the lack of contact.

In fact, Jim was one of those whose body was never found or identified.

So, on 9/11, like most people who lived in Marlborough, I don’t think about terrorists, or war, or world politics… I think of Jim Hobin and what he meant to our children and to all of us.

10 years later, nothing has changed.

Related articles

• Remembering 9.11.01 (dahliadd.wordpress.com)
• my 9.11 (benlog.com)
• Firefighters pay tribute to 9/11 fallen (nydailynews.com)
• 9/11 Anniversary: Names Of 9/11 Attack Victims Echo Across WTC Site (huffingtonpost.com)
• World Trade Center Facts that Cannot be Ignored (papundits.wordpress.com)
• Nation honors 9/11 heroes, victims (nydailynews.com)

We’re beating the weather again… Carnival Day 2

So far, so good. The sun is out and a breeze is blowing and I’m about to open the slingshot game.

Onward and upward.