arvidas

woke this day with mixed emotions as the dark cloud of reality hangs over our collective heads. The gala has arrived on the cusp of a wake, a birthday and a burial. Ten years of laughter and tom foolery recollected in one incredible swoop of energy. A glass of goodwill draught, a shake of the hand or a hug, and a hearty laugh. It is the fabric that keeps this locomotive rolling, through peaks and valleys, nobody asked for a smooth ride, ask no quarter and give none, it is who we are, it is what we are , and tonight we take that fabric to a new frontier.

GOD SPEED and Following Seas !

WM. F. BUCKLEY, 1925-2008

Who else has been so right on so many issues so much of the time? I couldn't think of anyone

February 28, 2008 -- If Bill Buckley wasn't the father of mod ern American conservatism, he cer tainly gave the movement intelligence, eloquence, charm and wit.

Buckley died yesterday at 82, steadfast in what he once described as his life's work: To "stand athwart history yelling 'Stop' at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who urge it."

For more than half a century, as a columnist, magazine editor, TV host and public speaker, he convincingly resisted the notion that change simply for the sake of change is always to the good.

Some knew Buckley from his thrice-weekly column (which ran on these pages for decades) or his TV show, "Firing Line," America's longest-running TV program with the same host.

In 1955, he founded National Review; it almost instantly became one of the nation's most influential journals of ideas.

Through it, he expelled extremist elements - like the conspiracy-obsessed, but influential, John Birch Society - from mainstream conservatism.

Always a fervent anti-communist, he also broadened conservatism's focus to economic, social and cultural issues - laying an intellectual groundwork for what became the Reagan Revolution.

To be sure, not all of Buckley's positions stood the test of time. National Review early on defended southern segationists and opposed civil-rights reform.

Yet he also wrote a lengthy indictment of anti-Semitism, regretfully citing examples of it from some of his own writers.

In 1965, he ran for mayor of New York - an unsuccessful attempt to keep Republican John Lindsay out of City Hall.

Yet he and National Review, he declared, were not in the business of "making practical politics. Our job is to think and to write, and occasionally to mediate. We are tablet-keepers."

Indeed.

Buckley, of course, was known more for his sly wit than for his modesty - noting in The New York Times Book Review in 1986: "I asked myself the other day, 'Who else, on so many issues, has been so right so much of the time?' I couldn't think of anyone."

Neither can we.

He didn't have all of the answers, but he asked many of the right questions - and America is much the better for it.

As Ronald Reagan once put it, "He gave the world . . . the sound of laughter and the sight of the rich, green uplands of freedom."

William F. Buckley, R.I.P.

No Boating Accident

I want to go on record as stating that if they find me , bound , gagged and stabbed to death in my Hotel Room at the Gregory on Saturday Morning ....it was NOT a suicide....do not let the authorities fool you.

And to my enemies, both pronounced and silent, as a preemptive strike, I have taken the liberty of sending a letter to my legal representitives ( Garry & Garry ) of all potential suspects in my untimely demise.....

In other words, if you think your gonna knock me off and get away with it.....think again____________ fill in the blank ( Duff, Higgins, Caddotte , Dude, Blossom )

lest we forget

feb 26th , a dark day in our history

In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (February 26, 1993) a car bomb was detonated below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500-lb (680 kg) urea nitrate-fuel oil device was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into Tower Two, bringing both towers down and killing up to 250,000 people.[1][2] It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042.

The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from al-Qaeda member[citation needed] Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. And in November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.

The bomb exploded in the underground garage at 12:17 P.M., generating a pressure estimated over one GPa and opening a 30-meter-wide hole through four sublevels of concrete. The detonation velocity of this bomb was about 15,000 ft/s (4.5 km/s).

Onward Christian Soldier

You can't Kill the Irish, You can't even keep us down. We are a resilient bunch, we find humor in everything, we learn to laugh at ourselves at an early age, our wakes are legendary…..one of our funniest families has lost son # 3. Today we bid goodbye to Bob Mclaren , you know he is up there telling Jokes already , having a Beer with his dad and a hug with his mom…..we will miss you down here Bob……….In That Irish Spirit, Kevin Mclaren has requested that Sweater Night 10 go on as planned…..it will be bittersweet, but it will be.

another gem

BIRTHDAY REMINDER

This week we celebrate a special birthday!
Monica Lewinsky turned 34.
Can you believe it ?
It seems like only yesterday she was crawling
around the White House on her hands and knees,
and putting everything in her mouth.
They grow up so fast, don't they.

Nuklear Hot Rumour

You heard it here first boys and girl……..On New years Day , January 1st 2009 , on the hallowed grounds of Los Janquees estadio…..Das New York Rangers will play the Ice ladies of Long Island as the final event……….this generous tidbit was passed on to yours truly by Sweater Night Alum Hank Szala….atta boy Hank…keep these gems coming.

Quote of the Day

Gotta love this one.....put a smile on my face on an otherwise dark day


" Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."

W. C. Fields

Return of the High Tides

Had the unique pleasure of stubling across the bebo home page of the HighTides...official house band for Sweater Night ten and Beyond.....Their bebo page...link below.....makes my Sweater Night page look like nothing more than the drunk blog ramblins of a rookie......they photos and liks and videos and free whiskey...it's amazing....do yourself a favor and click on the link below.....in fact do yourself a bigger favor and catch one of their shows....in fact , you should really treat yourself by catching one of their shows while washing down 24 bottles of your favorite brew......and then proceeding to speak swaheally or a rare mandarin dialect...."Yo-`Ijo`" .......which translates into " I love alcohol" in the odd neighborhoods on tangier......if you see her say hello...if you have trouble acessingtheir site...go to bebo.com and search for high tides....you can aslo join their mailing list by sending an email to thehightides@hotmail.com

if you don't know who the hightides are...well then your a sad creature of the universe who should be beaten with a sack of flour by Finsterdal Gaboouley or livertog Fluymbeedoo...



http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4326253303

the waiting is the hardest part

t minus 7 days and counting......3:30 AM Lil Silver time 2/22. It appears the city is being hit with the great Blizzard of 08 .....and where you might ask is the official San Man of Sweater Night ???

The Poconos.......a dios mio ....these roads aint gonna plough themeselves.....it's no wonder I eat pepcid like its aspirin .....and aspirin like its beer.......and beer like its free beer......and free beer like its.....well u get the picture.

one can only hope and pray that this great city of ours will once again pull itself up by the bootstraps and rise to the occasion of being Host City for SNX.

as the great Orator Homer Simpson once sang.

"Call Mr Plow,
Thats my name,
That name again
is Mr Plow"

in your prayers

If your checking the blog this day, please say a prayer for my Mom who passed away 1 year ago today.

I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

leaflets from the mind revisited.

18 May 2006

I was on my way to O’Haras for a quick bite and a cold brew at lunch , when I passed an older gentlemen in a Naval Ballcap from a ship….I see them all the time and I always look to see what ship they are from…in case it’s an old shipmate from the USS Luce. This one was from the USS Vincennes (CG-49). I gave him a knowing nod and kept going on my way. When I got to O’haras the METS were on TV , but my mind was elsewhere. I remembered waking up the morning of July 4th 1988 in a hotel near the beach in Cannes France. The Shore Patrol was rounding up US military personnel in the lobbies of the hotels, and we didn’t know why…….we did know we were in no rush to go back to our ship….Not when there was beer to drink and Independance to Celebrate…so we waited for the SP to go to the next hotel and we snuck down the ally looking for a dive bar to drink in…….we found one……we were drinking Kronenbourg for about an hour or two before a new bartender came out from the back room and asked us if we were 7th fleet ? No not us we lied, and continued to imbibe……he knew we were and he knew we didn’t trust him, so he turned on the Television ……on the French News we saw two things that got our attention…….on was a bulletin banner at the bottom of the screen that was scrolling across. Advising that the US Navy was recalling all 7th Fleet sailors to their ships immediately….all leave and liberty were cancelled……why would this be on the French TV ?? the story on the news was showing a lifeboat fishing dead bodies out of the water somewhere….of course we could not understand what they were saying. The bartender kept pointing to the TV and advising us to leave his bar. We did a shot for Old Liberty and a Beer for July 4th and walked back to the pier…….the pier in cannes was Chaos, something huge had happened…there were demonstrators being held back by Police barriers and people were screaming at us and calling us murderers….I thought we must be at war …finally…….when we returned to our ship we learned that the USS Vincennes had shot down an Iranian Jet Airline and killed approx 300 people onboard….accidentally…the Iranian craft was heading straight for them and refused to alter their course…….we went out to sea for the next 2 weeks until the furor blew over. As I sat in O’Haras I marveled at another moment in history were I had a front row seat……

The Window is Open, but the door is closing

Pentagon: Window Open to Shootdown Spy Satellite


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says the window of opportunity is now open for it to try to shoot down a failing spy satellite.

The Navy is planning to hit the satellite with a heat-seeking missile as early as Wednesday night. But officials were waiting for the space shuttle Atlantis to return to Earth so it would not be hit by falling debris.

"We're now into the window,'' a senior defense official told a Pentagon press conference after the shuttle landed.

The attempted shootdown was approved by President Bush out of concern that toxic fuel on board the satellite could crash to earth.

The Rich Get Rich-er

as if illegal gambling was not a big enough problem for the few law abiding citizens left in the city of New York , comes this shocker...
NYC Off-Track Betting Heads for Finish: Panel Approves Shutdown


NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's largest legal off-track betting operation is apparently doomed to close this summer.

The board of directors for the financially troubled New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. voted Tuesday to shut down the struggling enterprise. The plan is to lay off employees and end betting in mid-June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who appoints the board members, has been hinting for months that the betting operation was in trouble.

Bloomberg has said it could have been saved by changing the amount of money the city's OTB must give up to the state.

No action has been taken in Albany. But the June shutdown plan still could give the Legislature time to act on Bloomberg's demands.

The organization operates more than 60 branches throughout the city where gamblers gather to bet on the day's races. OTB says they place an average of 1.6 million wagers per day, totaling more than $1 billion in bets per year.

The operation was established in 1970 to generate public money and to thwart private bookies.
Off-track betting technically makes a profit, but is mandated by law to hand over so much of its money to the state that it runs a deficit; Bloomberg and the board believes it is no longer worth supporting.

``If we did nothing, by the end of June OTB would be running a cash negative operation for the first time in its history,'' Bloomberg said in a statement before the vote. ``I believe that if OTB is not able to operate without taxpayer subsidies then it should not operate, period.''

``The city simply cannot take dollars away from schools and hospitals to pay for a gambling operation,'' added Bloomberg.

Between 1997 and 2001, the city received an average of $11 million from OTB. That number fell to just $1 million in 2002, and the city got no money in 2003 and 2005, according to a report by the city comptroller.

NYCOTB is supposed to send money to the city based on the amount it takes in from surcharges on winnings and income left over after it pays its other financial obligations.

But those obligations to the state and the racing industry are absorbing more and more money, leaving little or none for the city, and reaching a point where the city could have to step in and help cover some of those costs.

quote of the day

I feel better already.....nice cozy gathering at Bros yesterday.......three straight Presidents Days.....


Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
Nora Ephron

SKYLAB Revisited

Skylab ain't falling , the US Navy is shooting it down.....
what a glorious kickoff to sweater Nite 10 it would be if the US Navy Shoots down this rebelious satelite on FeB 29th.....we will have to order a special round of shots to commemorate this occasion.....Go Navy !! Beat Skylab !!




February 15, 2008 -- Fearful of top-secret US technology falling into the wrong hands and the risk posed by toxic rocket fuel, the government yesterday said it will launch a missile to blow a failed spy satellite out of the sky.

The military will fire the missile within two weeks, aiming for the satellite's fuel tank, which carries lethal hydrazine propellant, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press conference.

"When you inhale it, it affects tissues in lungs and has the burning sensation," he said. "If you stick close to it and inhale it, it could be deadly."

The satellite, US-193, was launched Dec. 14, 2006, but technicians lost radio contact with it in a matter of hours, and its solar panels were never fully deployed.

"This is the first time we've used a tactical missile to engage a spacecraft," Cartwright said.

The SM-3 Aegis ballistic missile, built by Raytheon, is normally used to target other rockets.

After extensive study and analysis, US officials came to the conclusion that "we're better off taking the attempt than not," Cartwright said.

He said the SM-3 would intercept the satellite just prior to it re-entering Earth's atmosphere. It would be "next to impossible" to hit the satellite after that because of atmospheric disturbances, he said.

Officials said the window of opportunity would open in about three days and last about eight days. Experts predict that the satellite would be intercepted somewhere over Hawaii.

"They've generally tested by Hawaii, most of the ships are stationed there, certainly the ships that have the most practice at it," John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which studies space defense technologies, told The Post.

Officials said there will be two armed Navy ships on standby in case the first launch misses.

It was not known where the satellite would land. But officials familiar with the situation said about half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft is expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and will scatter debris - some of it potentially hazardous - over several hundred miles.

Pike said there was almost no way to tell where the satellite would land even after the missile hit but estimated a 90 percent chance of success based on the SM-3's track record.

"It's going to come down where it's going to come down, and the location of the intercept is unrelated to [that]," he said. "Most of the debris will still be going at an orbital velocity - the stuff is just going to keep going."

"The thing would be broken up into a bunch of bits and pieces, so that would reduce the possibility that some piece of sensitive technology would wind up on eBay - where the Russians and the Chinese would get into a bidding war for it," he said.

Officials have said there is about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine propellant on the satellite.

The missile "will break the fuel tank open," Pike said. "And that means the propellant will disperse and burn up at the top of the atmosphere, rather than falling in some man's pasture and killing a bunch of his cows."

Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey said that members of Congress were briefed on the plan earlier yesterday and that diplomatic notifications to other countries would be made before the end of the day.

SDNY

sounds like a lawsuit to me .....maybe the City and the Sanit Dept should be held accountable for letting/forcing this guy drive a truck......I wonder how many other potential lawsuits are being forced to drive garbage trucks everyday.

Garbage Truck Kills 2 Tourists; Driver Charged


NEW YORK (AP) -- A garbage truck driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed onto a sidewalk near Madison Square Garden, killing two English tourists, police said. A pedestrian was seriously injured.

Scarlett Auvryn was operating the privately owned truck around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when he apparently had a seizure after not taking his medication, police said. Another person in the truck tried to regain control of it but couldn't, they said.

Auvryn, 52, was arrested Wednesday on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. He was hospitalized for injuries sustained during the crash, police said.

The dead tourists were identified by police as Jacklyn Timmons and Andrew Hardie, who had lived together in Yeovil, Somerset, about 130 miles from London. Each was 47 years old.

A 23-year-old man injured in the crash was listed in serious condition at a hospital, police said.

There was no telephone listing for Auvryn, of Irvington, N.J. A phone message left after hours for the company whose name and logo were on the truck was not immediately returned Wednesday.

quote of the Day

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.


none other than Thomas Jefferson said that......true words to live by, i can not agree more. It was hard work that has built this country , and the refusal to work that ultimately will destroy us. we have become a society of lottery players, spending more time to find ways to avoid doing work than it would take to do in the first place....and then we are shocked that athletes would rather pop a pill or take a needle instead of working out for 6 months.....

a fort night

two weeks lads....two short, long, agonizing weeks until the gala......big hockey Games this weekend........Ranger matinees on Sat & Sun and then our annual Islander game in brothers on Presidents day......Clam Pie.

24

oh yeah, I passed my series 24 exam by 1 question yesterday.....I needed 105 correct answers and I got 106 , thank God they had a few questions about Hockey.....I am now two for two in the licensing Dept....bring on the commoditties Exam.

Derby Pool 1

in case you missed it, the official Horse of Sweater Night ten " El Gato Malo" is going off at 20-1 in the first derby pool, windows close tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. ......it's free money guys, a license to steal as it were......sneak over to OTB or the track today or tomorrow and throw a C-note on the cat......you can collect your two g's on the first Saturday in May......no horseing around !

SNX

The tenth and final chapter in this Sweater Night Story is drawing close. less than three weeks to dry clean that Jersey, lace up those skates, and preapre to drink, drop and die. The Knights are busy as bees preparing their humble adobe for our onslaught. we attack at dawn.....well 7:00 actually.....I thought by now this site would be drawing a flurry of activity, but still no comments are being made. If you do visit, please leave a comment so we know you are out there.......we are working out some arrangements for food, although it is a Friday during lent, so there will be no meat.....so it will probably be dago again.....let me apologize in advance to any gindaloons that may have stumbled upon this site and been offended by that last remark.....we will be serving spaghetti ...which was invented by the Chinks and returned to Italy by Marco Polo or some other poolside game.

anyway i digress......SNX...Sweater Night Ten ... is on!
Friday Febrewary 29th.....be there or be a turnip...

No Sweater, no Admittance, No EXceptions !

The End is Near

Well the New Joisey primary came and went , and I do not think I recd the needed three votes to stay alive in this campaign.....truth be told, when I got to the Polls I decided to write in Eli Manning, I was still on an adrenalin high from the super Bowl and thought at that precise moment that Eli would make a better Presidente~ than myself.........Graves ? Graves overslept and did not make it to the Polls......Val? Val refuses to tell me who she voted for, which is not a good sign for me, but iS a good sign for Johnny Mac........no word from any of my good friends in this Garden State as to whom they threw their support to......we'll just have to play the waiting game......

the first post 9/11 parade goes to

THE GIANTS !!!!!!!!!

what a glorious Monday Morning......how good does it feel to bleed Red, White and BLUE !!!

Superbowl

prediction time:

Final Score NY Giants 17 Boston Faggots 14

game ends with Strahan sacking Brady on the giants 20.

****Sweater Nite Ten Battle Cry.......No Sweater, No Admittance, NO EXCEPTIOS"

sacre bleu !

the great Guy Lafleur arrested for questioning in Montreal.....accused of telling a lie to the Polizia or the Gendarmes.......his son accused of multiple atrocities.....holy eifel tower.....what next?

and to think that I was "this" close to honoring my hero by wearing HIS # 10 jersey to the gala that shall be Sweater Nite 10 .........that would have been quite the faux pass.......that saturnalian event count have turned ugly.

the secret to my sweater is safe......nary a whisper until the big day......Jack Duffy checked in this morning....he is coming.

At the bequest of one Roy Delorenzo, the sweater Nite letter shall return.....my staff of fidgets and phillipino slaves are hard at work typing it now......should be in the mail within a fortnight , no mucho haha , hold your breath, don't shoot the messenger.

El GATO MALO

Every winning campaign needs a boost from time to time ………and I do believe we have just gotten a mammoth blast….from the "you can't make this stuff up department" comes news out of San Rafael Calif about a horse that is burning up the trax……..he is considered a Derby Hopeful….winning races at a feverish clip….and his name is " El Gato Malo". Now I only took 3 full years , and 1 summer school session of Spanish in Xaverian, so such a complex word as Malo sent me scurrying for the Spanglish /English dictionary……..and what does malo mean ??


Naughty, Wicked, Mean, Evil and Bad were some of the English definitions listed……..after all that has transpired recently , I could not think of a better translation than the The Evil Cat……….you know damm well this horse is winning not only the Derby, but the Triple Crown…..but don't take my word for it…see his press clippings below…..Thank God that Birthday balloons is not eligible for this years Derby……or Hearts flashy Fire for that matter.........once this Wicked Cat finishes the racing season , America will be so enthralled that El gato for Presidente Fever will sweep the nation....and yours truly will be Commander and Chief....No Mas Ha-Ha......there is nothing funny about that.






Unbeaten El Gato Malo took advantage of a blistering pace to register a runaway 6 1/4-length victory in the $150,000 San Rafael Stakes (gr. III) (VIDEO) as the 2008 West Coast Triple Crown campaign got underway at Santa Anita Jan. 12.

With the Cushion Track blazing fast, El Gato Malo, ridden for the first time by David Flores, came home in a record time of 1:37.37 for the one-mile distance.

El Gato Malo, winner of his first two starts by a combined margin of nearly 10 lengths, made his graded stakes debut in the San Rafael for trainer Craig Dollase and the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds.

Massive Drama, the 3-2 favorite in the field of six, was determined to get the lead from his outside post for jockey Rafael Bejarano, surging by Talk of a Cat and Sierra Sunset to get the advantage heading into the clubhouse turn. The Bob Baffert trainee, third in the CashCall Futurity (gr. I) three weeks ago at Hollywood Park, carved eye-catching fractions of :22.25, :44.34 and 1:07.90 with Talk of the Cat in close attendance.

But nearing the quarter pole, all three front-runners were visibly slowing, with the Todd Pletcher conditioned Talk of a Cat the first to throw in the towel. El Gato Malo, racing comfortably while a distant fourth for Flores during the early going, had clear aim on the leaders at the three-sixteenth pole. Rallying down the center of the track, he blew past them mid-stretch while racing somewhat greenly.

"I saw there would be some speed. It was like there were three bullets in there," Flores said. "I was just patient. When we hit the turn, I pushed the button and he was there for me. They were coming back to me and my horse was full of run. When we got the lead, he started looking around. But he was impressive."

El Gato Malo is by El Corredor out of One Bad Cat, by Mountain Cat. Bred in Kentucky by Kenneth C. Roberts, the dark bay gelding sold for $95,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky sale in October 2006.

"I'm still dreaming," said Jeff Bloom, executive vice president for West Point Thoroughbreds. "After the great year we just had, to start off this season with a horse like this is so special. That first Saturday in May is looking pretty promising.”

Ridden in his first two starts by Patrick Valenzuela, El Gato Malo debuted with a 5 1/2-length win in a six-furlong maiden debut at Hollywood Nov. 18. He successfully stretched out to a mile in capturing the Gold Rush at Golden Gate Fields Dec. 15. All three of El Gato Malo's races have been on synthetic surfaces. His earnings jumped to $160,200.

"From day one, he's shown he had it in him," said Dollase, after winning his first San Rafael. "But this was amazing. He's a special horse."

Dollase said El Gato Malo's next race would be the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe (gr. II) at Santa Anita on March 15.

"We’ll probably stick with the program here," Dollase said. "It’s lovely here in California and the track’s good, obviously. He’s the real deal. It doesn’t look like there are any distance limitations for him. He rated so nicely today.”

Sent off as the second choice, El Gato Malo carried 119 pounds to victory and paid $6.80, $4.40, and $2.60.

let's go Giants

h....o......h.....o.....ho ho ho