

This and That, Then and Now

Governor Christie has apparently gotten stuck trying to slip through the toll booth at the George Washington Bridge without playing fair.

Every politician (and leader, in any occupation) should sit down and tell every one of his people ‘Do not think you are doing me any favors by doing anything remotely illegal’.  Then they should add, ‘In this day of security cameras everywhere, emails that never die and the ability to record, photograph and video on every cell phone, do not think for one second that anything you do will not be noted, recorded and shared.’  You’re not going to get away with anything, so don’t do anything.

Here’s what even more maddening about the whole affair: Christie won with 60.5% of the vote against his opponent’s 38%.  Why in the world would you have to play ‘pay-back’?  You can afford to be forgiving, even Jesus-like.  So what if a tiny town’s mayor dissed you?  Fugetabouit!  It’s called ‘class’ in other states.  Or even ‘leadership’.  Christie has failed, and I think, his nascent candidacy for president of the United States has failed in the borning.


When I was a cab driver, they used to fine you for ‘doing the wrong thing’ as a cabbie: going the long way, taking only the big fares and so on.  The problem was, then the wrong-doers would do more of it, to pay off the fine.  The way to stop them was to take away their cab.  Not only did they suffer, but the night shift driver lost out, too.  The night shift drivers had ways to make you stop doing that, like slicing the tires on your private vehicle (they always knew where you parked your own car).  It usually only took one slashed tire to make the point: don’t mess up.

There is a product out there called ‘Sensa’.  It is supposed to help you lose weight.  The company that makes it promised the pounds would fall off if you but sprinkled it on your food.  That is a bunch of hooey.

So the federal government got Sensa to stop.  They fined them $26.5 million.  But the problem is, they sold $364 million of product.  So, they lost 8%.  I bet they can live with that.  In fact, I bet they go out and sell 8% more, just to make up the difference.

Now, in the feds defense, there was another outfit that they seized the product, the money and the guy’s private home.  That is more like it, but it was only seven figures.

So the lesson we learn from all of this is, if you are going to screw over the consumer, do it big.


Secretary of Defense Hagel visited a nuclear launch site the other day.  The people in the hole are feeling a bit depressed.  And a bit silly, seeing as there are no real targets any more and they have little to do.  Their chances for promotion are bleak.  Hate to use the phrase, but launching nuclear weapons has become kind of a dead end job.

I am also pretty sure it was a picture of another part of the base, but the AP had a picture of Hagel talking to some soldiers.  And there, in the back, was a soldier holding her baby.

Where is Saturday Night Live! when you need them?  Even I could write a sketch about the baby loose in the launch pad.  Hagel: “What are you chewing on?  Is that your mother’s launch key?”

Dick Falkenbury

Dick Falkenbury