THE SOUTH SHORE STANDARD • DEC. 2-8, 2011 by Mike Kurov

• THE SOUTH SHORE STANDARD • DEC. 28, 2011

Opinion DEAR THAT’S LIFE

Howard Barbanel

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Editor and Publisher

Susan Varghese Associate Editor

Jonathan Walter Scott P. Moore

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By Miriam L. Wallach

Barbara Pfisterer

Staff Reporters

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EDITORIALS

Proud of LHS Football

ast Sunday our Nassau County Champion Lawrence High School Golden Tornadoes Varsity Football team traveled out to Stony Brook to face the Suffolk County Champi-

on Sayville Golden Flashes for bragging rights and the Long Island Championship. Sayville won the whole enchilada last year and were both undefeated this year going into Sunday’s match-up and also the defending Long Island champs. Given the impressive scope of Lawrence’s prior post season victories (see full season recap in our Sports section, Page A6) and the way they manhandled many of their opponents, it was reasonable to be optimistic that Lawrence could go all the way. What happened was a clash of titans resulting in a ﬁnal score of 78-61 in favor of Sayville. Scores of 78-61 sound a whole lot more like basketball than football and is reﬂective of the offensive prowess possessed by both teams. In the process of not winning the Long Island Championship, the boys from Lawrence showed that they really are big winners. First, virtually every record in Long Island football was shattered, and by a wide margin with Lawrence players (especially QB Joe Capobianco who put up NFL-worthy num-

A DEMOCRATIC VOICE

TODAY IS THE NEXT YEAR OF YOUR LIFE By DAVID M. FREEDMAN

bers, passing for over 500 yards after throwing for more than 300 in the Nassau Championship game the week before) responsible for most of the record-breaking. (See our story on this, Page A6). Also, the Lawrence team conducted themselves with dignity and class from beginning to end, showing that the Lawrence coaches, teachers and parents are doing an excellent job turning out not just outstanding athletes but solid citizens as well. Although we’re sure the team is disappointed to have smashed long standing records and put up 61 points only to come away without a win, but it needs to be said that Lawrence is the Nassau County Champion and any time someone goes to the Super Bowl, one team will lose and losing to a team like Sayville is no embarrassment by any means. And, again, Lawrence is the Nassau Champion – a serious achievement that all the players, coaches and the

his first weekend after Thanksgiving has been a tremendous success for retailers. Sales are up significantly and unless something changes, it appears that consumers are starting to spend again, albeit slowly and cautiously. Good news, possibly for the economy. What does this mean for us politically? As we get closer to the start of the primary and caucus season, it presents a unique challenge to the Democratic Party. Since the Mid-term election, they have run as the underdogs who have been perceived as wrong on most things economic. As I said in my last article. President Obama’s failure to find a rapid cure has hurt both him and the Democratic Party, because of the perceived lack of lead-

community should be exceptionally proud of.

David M. Freedman

You can watch the Nassau Championship game against Plainedge on MSG Varsity’s website at http://www.msgvarsity.com/long-island/full-game-lawrence-64-plainedge-34-1.817041 and see highlights of the Long Island Championship game at http://www.msgvarsity. com/highlights-sayville-78-lawrence-61-1.821781 .

As of press time, no one has planned any kind of victory parade, rally or ceremony for the Golden Tornadoes. This needs to be corrected and right away. We urge the School Board, Villages of Cedarhurst and Lawrence to incorporate a public acknowledgement of Lawrence’s winning season and their Nassau Championship as part

has been a resident of Cedarhurst for 12 years. He is a business owner in the Five Towns and is currently the President of the Five Towns Democratic Club. He is a published author of a novel “A Butterfly on the Gowanus Expressway” and he maintains a political blog called Federal Follies located on the web at http://thefederalfollies.blogspot.com. He is married with two children and is active in the community both politically and socially.

of the annual Christmas Tree Lighting in Cedarhurst Park on Sunday, December 11th or the Chanukah Menorah Lighting, also in the park on December 20th. These guys deserve some ticker-tape (in a ﬁgurative sense) in a public setting and we call on District 15 Superintendent Schall, Cedarhurst Mayor Parise and Lawrence Mayor Olin-

Public Displays of Religion

n Sunday, December 11th at 4:00 p.m., the Village of Cedarhurst will be hosting their annual Christmas Tree Lighting, public caroling, bonﬁre, hot chestnuts and

hot chocolates. Local Catholic clergy will be there. There will also be a public Menorah lighting on the ﬁrst night of Chanukah, December 20th at 6:00 p.m., where Chanukah songs will doubtlessly

be sung and the Rabbi of the local Chabad ofﬁciating. In a time where municipalities are besieged by virulently secularist and anti-religious forces and compelled by the courts to forbid any public displays of religion in the public square, it is a beacon of light and hope that the Village of Cedarhurst continues to sponsor these important events that enhance our quality of life, inspire our children and bring beauty to our towns. It is also a testament to the diversity and tolerance in our area that these kinds of events can coexist side by side in harmony. The Constitution forbids the establishment of any one ofﬁcial religion but at the same time safeguards freedom of religion and expression. Some are uncomfortable with giant Menorahs, others with the visual trappings of Christmas – to these people we frankly say – get a life and get over it. People need meaning to their lives and these holidays evoke “peace on earth and goodwill towards men” and the pursuit of liberty over the forces of oppression and intolerance – quintessentially American values that transcend religion and speak to what we’re about as a society. So, kudos again to Mayor Parise for these events and we urge everyone in The Five Towns to come down and participate in these public gatherings of love, joy and harmony.

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SOAPBOX

Where is the Outrage? By Joel Moskowitz

er to get behind an event of this type and make it happen in the next few weeks while football is still very much on everyone’s mind.

ership from Washington. Nonetheless, an upturn in the economy, if it is signiﬁcant and continuing changes the dynamic mightily. After all, as the expression says, “It’s the economy, stupid.” As the economy improves, memories will fade and anger will subside. At that point President Obama becomes a very formidable foe for the Republicans to beat next November. Why so? First of all I must preface this by saying that I am very disappointed in the job the President has been doing. As a Democrat four years ago, I watched Candidate Obama speak at the Democratic Convention and he changed my view of him. I believed that he was a voice for change, much in the way we perceived John F. Kennedy. On that, I was totally wrong. He has proven to be a cold man who does not encourage in me much conﬁdence in his ability to change anything. He has not taken the mantle of leadership and the country remains mired in a sense of uncertainty that still makes me very uncomfortable. That being said, he is still the likely winner in 2012 because the Republicans have shown no inclination to bring a serious candidate to the forefront. Mitt Romney is not liked by his own party. Newt Gingrich has too much baggage. Rick Perry publicly seems to be small minded and not that bright. Herman Cain, a fellow with some interesting, albeit different ideas is self-destructing under

wo stories came out last week that should have caused a huge outrage, but the relative silence was deafening. The first story was the one that told how the big banks were bailed out to the tune of over $4 trillion not the $900 billion of TARP as originally thought. The bailout came in the form of Federal Reserve Bank asset purchases and loans with such low interest that banks were able to profit from the spread of investing those funds in U.S. government bonds. In essence, the Fed gave banks money below one percent and they turned around and lent it back to the Fed at over three percent. This enabled banks that were for all intents and purposes insolvent to be able to post profits. This of course was kept secret because had the news gotten out that these banks were getting a further bailout from the Fed, there would have been a run on the stock causing market turmoil. But that’s not the part that should have caused the outrage. The part that all of us should be really ticked off about is not the bailout itself. I truly believe the Fed was acting in what it thought was the best interests of the economy and the country. The benefits of this action will be debated for years to come but I’m willing to concede the point to the professionals on this one. What should anger everyone is that the bailout came with no strings attached, no modification of bank behavior and zero help to struggling homeowners. More on that later.

Joel Moskowitz is a writer and businessman who resides in Lawrence. He is married with three children and prides himself on being outspoken. Comments can be sent to yoelmosk@aol.com.

The other story that should cause outrage is the front page story in last Sunday’s New York Times profiling billionaire Ronald Lauder and the legal tax breaks he takes advantage of. Again, the outrage is not for the reasons you may think. I, for one, think Lauder and any other American should try and pay the least amount of taxes legally allowed, this country was built on a tax revolt, it’s inherit in our culture and basically logical. No, the part that should have everyone up in arms is the attempt by many in the media and certain political circles to turn the financial crisis into class warfare. It’s not about class warfare; it’s about a lot of things but class warfare it certainly is not. It’s crucial we separate corporate greed and a system that places the shareholder over a corporation’s social compact from wealthy people holding on to their money. Also, say what you want about Ronald Lauder, but he got no government bailout and no excessive bonus for doing nothing. Sure, Lauder made money the old fashioned way; he inherited it, but so what? I don’t begrudge him any of it and I’m pretty confident most Americans don’t either. What The New York Times was doing was simply trying to inflame passions away from the core issue; the relationship between money and politics and focusing it on scapegoating. I don’t care if the scapegoats are the rich, scapegoating is the precursor to persecution and we should be outraged by it. What we need to focus on is not more taxes per sé, but figuring out a way to save homeowners and the housing market, creating jobs and modifying the behavior that got us to this point. I am not against regulation; I’m in favor of smart regulation. How many of us would board an airplane that the FAA will not vouch for its safety? How many of us would take a pill not approved by the FDA? Why

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ith the voluntary filing of Chapter 11 by the parent company of American Airlines, recent talking heads bemoaned the state of air travel in the US. “It is hell on earth,” commented one contributor to an early morning show I avidly watch. The host of the program, however, cited Jet Blue as an exception to this rule. He seeks them out as often as he can, making these comments on national television sans an endorsement deal. He knows what to expect out of their flights, knows the planes are new and their staff professional. It seems Jet Blue still appreciates the term “customer service.” There are a numerous merchants in our area who pride themselves on similar values, reminding us that small businesses deserve our support. Just recently, my husband arrived at a store with our son to buy him new a suit minutes after it had closed. Despite advertisements in the paper stating that they would be open until 7:00 p.m., they closed an hour earlier. Still there when my husband arrived, one of the owners reopened the store to accommodate my husband. Seems his wife called a number of times during the next hour to determine when he would be home – they had prearranged plans with their children and he was late. It had not been his fault the store’s hours of operations had been misprinted, but he graciously assisted us nevertheless, smile included. The most challenging area in which to satisfy a customer is, undoubtedly, the food service industry. That takes a special set of nerves, patience and tolerance. When a friend decided to open a take-out store, I asked him if he had a death wish. Recently reflecting on that anecdote, my brother asked me if I had ever found a hair in a dish I ordered at a restaurant. Seems he found an errant hair in something he had ordered, but decided not to alert the waitress. I said I had been similar situations, to which he added, “Well, did you say something?” I smiled. “When have you ever known me NOT to say something?” I responded. Even as recently as a few weeks ago, my daughter found two hairs in two different items she had ordered. Since neither hair matched our hair color, it clearly belonged to someone else. The waitress was apologetic and replaced both items. The issue was handled quickly and efficiently, without excuse or silly answers. My husband quickly reminded me of an episode that did not go as smoothly. “There is that one place she won’t go back to,” he said, reminding me of what happened. A number or years ago, my husband and I tried a new restaurant. When my dish arrived, I got more than I had bargained for. It was not a

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Miriam L. Wallach,

MS.ed., M.A., has been writing “That’s Life” for close to five years. She lives in Woodmere with her husband and six children and can be found all week long on her blog at www.dearthatslife.com.