Not. Buying. It. Jon.

I have been meaning to comment on Corzine’s congressional testimony. If you’ve ever read the older posts, you’ll know that I don’t care much for him. Not because he is/was a Democrat, but because he was so underwhelming and squandered a golden opportunity to make the state better.  And his toll plan was one of the more idiotic efforts I have ever seen by any politician.

While I have not read everything about MF Global, I can tell you this. I have been the finance guy in a few companies. I have run my own company. Unless they kept Corzine locked in a room and only brought him out to schmooze clients….he knew where the money was. In your company, you know. I would know. The owners knew just as well as I knew. They asked every day. Most got reports every day. And when your big bets are due and you need money fast, do you actually think that they wouldn’t ask where this “miracle money” came from? Even if they didn’t know the individual accounts affected, they knew in generalities what happened.

This is utter, utter BS. If he didn’t give the order..he knew what was going on. The people under him wouldn’t have stuck their necks out like this. If they did, they are the biggest idiots on the planet.

These aren’t people losing a shoebox of records. This is not misplacing a batch of paper slips. These guys had systems that reconciled accounts daily. They knew who they took from, how much, and where the money was placed.  And they have backups of that information.

Here are what thieves look like. This is what arrogant pieces of human refuse look like.

http://www.c-span.org/Events/Senate-Gets-Its-Chance-to-Question-Jon-Corzine-on-MF-Global/10737426222-2/

The statements and testimony of these guys are pathetic.

And they should fry for this.

It is insulting that they are leading with the “we didn’t know” defense. What is even more insulting is that it will probably work. And the accounting staff that most likely did nothing wrong is probably soiling themselves right now, as these guys will throw them under the bus for their own decisions in a heartbeat.

They. Knew. EXACTLY. What. Happened. They know where the money is. And they don’t have the honor to come clean.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a41e2254-25b4-11e1-9c76-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gU1ZlKLC

To paraphrase the President…they should be given fair trials and sent to prison.

 

We DO have ourselves a football team….

An overdue congratulations to the 2011 Cranford High School Football Team.

http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/196308942603665205/parsippany-hills-0-at-cranford-27-njsiaa-tournament-final-round-north-jersey-section-2-group-3-football/

Excellent job, boys.

Too bad they can’t play a couple more weeks to determine the best of the best of Group III.

 

Holy Smokes. It looks like we have ourselves a football team.

Congratulations, Cranford High School Football for getting to the finals of the North Jersey 2, Group 3 Finals. Nice 34-7 thumpin’ of Colonia.

http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/-803707057403334753/cranford-34-at-colonia-7-njsiaa-tournament-semifinal-round-north-jersey-section-2-group-3-football/

Good luck against Parsippany Hills.

 

Election Results

Cranford
Township Committee Two 3-Year Terms
Daniel J. Aschenbach (D)* 2,351
Thomas H. Hannen Jr. (D) 2,511
x Andis Kalnins (R) 2,727
Lisa Adubato Nesi (R) 2,698

A little suprise here. I had guessed Kalnins had a good shot. He has been working the room for a long time. I spoke with him briefly once and his commitment was clear.

Didn’t expect the R sweep, however. Congratulations to the winners. Good Luck…you will be needing some.

 

Don’t forget to do some votin’ today

Once per person, please.

No endorsements here.  Sorry, you’re on your own. (Although there is one person who I’d like to see have more time to spend with family.)

 

Here’s some insight into how the Save Our State Plan would have worked out.

Longtime readers or archive searchers would be aware of my utmost respect and adoration of Jon Corzine.

You know, the guy whose signature achievements were an increase in the sales tax and signing some horrible union contracts. I was a little mean to Mr. Corzine, accusing him of being clueless about finance, behaving as if he was beholden to unions when his squandered fortune didn’t require it and being completely unimpressed as he conducted his brief dog and pony show to justify increasing the NJ tolls 800%.

Well, I think even the Star-Ledger would think twice about referring him as a Wall Street Whiz these days, as he drove his shiny post-political company into the ground.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Regulators-Investigating-MF-nytimes-752197815.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

In less than two years. That takes a special talent, my friends.

 

Well, THAT was a fun couple of days.

This morning I was talking to a Westfield resident, who interestingly had the same observation that I did: where the hell were the trucks for the past two days? What areas were cleared before Cranford and Wesfield, because besides one tree crew that I saw Saturday, I saw no Cranford / County tree crews until today. I didn’t see any activity to bring back power until late last night and a lot of activity this morning.

Anybody know where these guys were for those two days?

Now school is finally back on, as is the power in my neighborhood. But we lost a day of school / work for something that could have been avoided.

Yes, I know they worked really hard…yes, I know there were a lot of roads closed.

It’d still be nice to have an explanation.

 

Stay Home.

Wow.

The early freak snowstorm will keep tree service guys busy for weeks.

Lots and lots of branches down as the leaves just hold too much of the snow.

Here’s proof:

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Lots of wires down…probably about half of the streets are outright closed…we’re staying home for the rest of the day.

If walking your dog, be sure to keep looking up.

 

Oh, look, here’s the exit for Cranfo….WHAM!

25 or so cars have brand new dents from driving on the Garden State Parkway this afternoon.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/up_to_25_cars_involved_in_acci.html

There was a big rainbow earlier, maybe the rubbernecking did them in.

 

RIP Steve Jobs

After going on Facebook tonight and seeing about 35 or so people chime in about the passing of Steve Jobs….I suppose that a lot of people feel strongly about how he made his contribution in life.

My first thought was that he was a great marketer…for a couple of reasons. One, he kept the engineers from adding features that they thought were interesting but would detract from the user experience. Two, he mastered promotion, hype and image that few can.

My second thought was that while he had a good eye for design and was obviously exceedingly bright, at the end of the day, most of what he focused on were short-lived gadgets…which will fade like the Zip drive, once useful, but replaced by successors that do the job better or solve the problem more conveniently. I would also be suprised if iTunes is much of a force in 10 years.

So in 20 to 25 years, I wondered what would he be most likely remembered for? Do we get nostalgic for David Sarnoff? Bill Lear? No. We read about their contributions in Popular Mechanics articles or wikipedia when a paper is due, but don’t celebrate them.

So what will Steve Jobs be remembered for in 2031?

Probably Pixar, whose movies play on demand via little chips implanted in our brains.

While not 100% awesome, they have produced some work that I would think would stand the test of time. The Bambi and Cinderella of the millenial generation. I believe that is what, especially for those under age of 30 then, will think of Steve Jobs.

Still, not bad.