Mark Knows It All

Every now and then it is fun to dust off an old chestnut, and they don’t come any older and dustier than Lerner and Lowe’s Broadway tour de force, My Fair Lady . Pittsburgh was the opening salvo of a national tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of this melody filled classic, which premiered on Broadway on March 15, 1956. (Hard to believe, isn’t it?) This is a British production based on a British 2001 revival. It is “smashing”. When I was 12, My Fair Lady was one of the first albums I purchased when stereophonic sound hit my household. My grandmother had several 78 rpm records on which parts of the score appeared on what were early Broadway compilations. The problem is that over the years I have never seen a serious production of the musical. Mostly it went from barely mediocre community theater to perfectly awful high school productions. The music was sung ad nauseum by every choral group I ever belonged to, and we sang it badly. I reached the point where I wanted to shoot that old...

Reprinted without permission from the Cleveland Plain Dealer Merge Cleveland State and U of Akron? That's the buzz Posted by Janet Okoben September 20, 2007 23:42PM Categories: Education , Impact An idea to shake up the state's college system could combine Cleveland State University and the University of Akron and bring a medical school to downtown Cleveland. Some of the talk involves moving the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, known as NEOUCOM, from Portage County or expanding its Rootstown-based campus. • Compare the three schools. Combining CSU and UA would eliminate overlapping programs and administrative jobs, and the two schools would then function under a single leader. The two people with the ability to make these ideas happen, Gov. Ted Strickland and his higher-education chancellor, Eric Fingerhut, would not comment Thursday on what others familiar with the discussions say has a real chance of happening. Fingerhut is in the midst of de...

This is my Letter to the Editor in response to an editorial appearing in the Youngstown Vindicator in which Betram de Souza, Vindicator columnist, says Youngstown State University should become a satellite school of Ohio State. My apologies for those not from this area. Dear Editor: I am absolutely flabbergasted at Mr. de Souza’s editorial relating to Youngstown State University. First of all, this is the second news article I have seen where those attending the OSU/YSU football game were portrayed as a bunch of rubes seeing the big stadium and all the people for the first time. How insulting. My son is a senior in Youngstown State’s outstanding business school, which we chose over several other so called name schools after side by side comparisons in quality and accreditation. My wife and I are both Ohio State graduates. But I attended YSU for 2 years in addition to numerous hours of post graduate work. My wife got her Masters from YSU. I can tell you that the course work and quality ...

A friend of mine excitedly told me over lunch that he and his wife decided to do something special this past weekend. He got some wood and lit a small fire in the backyard. Then they sat and toasted marshmallows. I thought about for awhile, and realized that I haven’t toasted a marshmallow in 30 years, if not longer. S’mores are an even more distant memory. You just don’t do that with gas grills. What does one consider special today? When I was small, a second car was special. Ours was an old 1956 Plymouth with no carpet or radio. It had heat, and the heat was considered to be special. Of course, we had a one car garage, and could still walk to the bus line. In 1956, eating out was special. Once each month we would go to the Sunday buffet at the Pick Ohio Hotel in downtown Youngstown, or maybe to the Mural Room. From time to time we would go to Howard Johnson’s or to Shott’s on Market Street. But mostly we ate in. When fast food came down the pike, going to the walk up McDonald’s or ...

I have been writing this weekly blog for more than 2 years. I have tried to present thoughtful commentary on subjects that are important to me, take complicated issues and simplify them, and balance those with levity and hopefully funny stories about daily life in modern America. I have never, however, been so angry that words fail me. Pictured is the ad that appeared today in the New York Times. It is disgusting, and beyond my comprehension that anyone would want to run such an ad in these troubled times, or that the New York Times would accept it in the first place. It is sponsored by Moveon.org. That is the George Soros group. It demonstrates the total hate of America's left wing. Our troops are dying on the battlefield right now. What are these people thinking? This crosses the line when serious debate and thoughtful discussion are needed. Shame on Moveon.org, and shame on The New York Times.

September is here, and the catalogs be a’comin’. With only 14 shopping weeks left until Christmas, and Christmas in July on Home Shopping being over for more than a month, I started to shake when the Williams-Sonoma catalogue arrived in the mail today. By the way, did anyone see the Christmas Tree in a Pizza Box on Home Shopping? That Colleen Lopez babe whipped that sucker out of the pizza box by the twinkling star and I almost wet my pants. Pre-lit and everything. I digress.. Williams-Sonoma is a high end kitchen store found in most shopping areas outside of Mahoning County (we have Zabels). They have all sorts of wondrous contraptions to make your kitchen and cooking experience worth experiencing…not that anyone does much cooking these days. But the stuff really looks good on your granite countertop next to your Subzero Freezer and Viking Range. Or in my case, next to the white formica and Kenmore appliances. Goes with my vinyl floor. So this week I thought I would offer to you what ...

Today is Labor Day, and I am happy to say that some world organization is reporting what we already know. American workers are the most productive in the world. We work more hours here than in any other country. For each hour worked, we produce $35.00 worth of goods. That is second only to Norway, which produces $37.00 worth of goods for each hour worked. Hoorah for us. Now I know why we are so tired. By any standard, the American economy is humming along at a clip that my 1970’s economics teacher would have said was impossible. Our unemployment rate is 4.6%., both before and after the 9/11 recession, showing that this is the new norm. When I studied economics, I was told anything under 5% was considered full employment, and full employment was unachievable. So much for economic theory. To add to the mix, the rich may be getting richer, but so is everybody else. It has been fun watching the media try to grapple with the economy. First they said the figures were wrong. Then they said th...

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a 50th anniversary celebration for some acquaintances of mine. I don’t really know these folks all that well, but they are great people, and as a couple are dedicated to their passion for music. The entire evening was filled with great songs, good food and drink, and toasts and well earned and deserved compliments and praise. It was a hell of a party. During one of the musical presentations, another couple who were good friends of the guests of honor, stepped up to the microphone to offer a very special gift. I will call them Ted and Julia, who themselves are well into transition from middle age to the golden years. Julia, who has some physical problems, sat down on a chair. Ted stood by her side, with his arm on her shoulder. Together, they sang two madrigals, a cappella, to celebrate their friends’ anniversary. It was simple and unadorned, and a little shaky, but heartfelt through and through. Ted and Julia honored the anniversary co...

Okay, folks, every now and then one has to put down the fun stuff and ponder the more serious matters of life. For your consideration, I have provided you with some philosophical statements about the nature of man and the nature of government. Read through each one of them, and decide whether you agree, or disagree. If you get bogged down, a shot of bourbon might help you to the end. 1) Man cannot be a potential pawn of other men, nor be a part of a general collectivity in which the sacredness and the separate identity of individual human beings are ignored. 2) Man’s development, in both its spiritual and material aspects, is not something that can be directed by outside forces. Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development. The choices that govern his life are choices that he must make: they cannot be made by any other human being, or by a collectivity of human beings. 3) The economic and spiritual aspects of man’s nature ar...

Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a Dunkin Donuts to buy one glazed and a cup of coffee. In front of you is an innocuous looking person who walks up to the counter, and responds to the question “Can I help you?” with the following: "I would like 5 dozen donuts, and I don’t know what I want. Let me see, I want 2 of the donuts to be chocolate covered cake, no, make that three, no make that two, and don’t make them cake, make them like the glazed, forget that, make them cake, with sprinkles, no, leave the sprinkles off….” And that is just for the first two donuts, more than four dozen to go. The only thing worse is being at the Deli Counter at Rulli Brothers Italian Grocery Store in Boardman where some little ethnic lady is ordering five pounds of lunch meat two slices at a time, then goes and pays for it with exact change out of a buried coin purse located somewhere in a very large black bag. I was once in a movie theater trying to buy a box of popcorn. I had to ta...

I read on AOL news today about two 13 year old boys from McMinnville, Oregon, who are being prosecuted as sexual predators. While in school, they slapped some members of the female sex on the butt. There are some additional allegations that they touched a breast, but it appears that the butt slapping is the bulk of the issue. Numerous students have stated that this is common behavior in the school. Originally, they were charged with several felonies. The county prosecutor has now seen the light, and dropped the felony charges, and is prosecuting a list of misdemeanor charges that could result in a year in “juvy hall” and the boys being required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. An offered and refused plea deal would give the boys probation, but the sex offender registry would be required. Let’s see. Today on television I saw a ½ hour infomercial for Girls Gone Wild . I saw a promo for show called LA Ink hosted by a fully tattooed babe named Katmandu. I saw nume...

I have seen, lately, numerous articles and television commentary about the legacy of George W. Bush. Currently, his disapproval rating is 65%. He is tied with Harry Truman when Truman left office. The only president with a worse disapproval number when he left office was Richard Nixon at 66%. “W” also holds the record for the highest approval rating in October, 2001….93%, which gives credence to the saying “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. I can give you a litany of reasons why I don’t like George W. Bush, most of which would be the antithesis of most of the reasons Americans don’t like him. Other than his position on immigration, I am a supporter of his domestic and foreign policies. If he is guilty of anything, it is his failure to lead. Any first year political science major will tell you the President has very little real power. The strength of the Presidency is the power to persuade. It is the ultimate bully pulpit. Here, he has failed miserably. Domestically, Presiden...

The Youngstown Vindicator recently ran several articles about the traffic on State Route 224 through Boardman Township. It is a highly congested road, a prime example of unbridled growth with no planning, such as access roads. Although I have seen busier roads many other places, I have rarely seen the atrocious driving for which Rt. 224 is famous. ODOT lists it as the 6th most congested road in the state, and it is regularly on the top 10 list for accidents, albeit most of them of the fender bender variety. I drive up and down that road at list once each day, and more often than not several times each day. And although my observations may be anecdotal in nature, I think I can safely say that the Vindicator article should have been headlined to read “Bitchy Women Terrorize Local Highway”. In my travels to and from work, I am the victim of an occasional male aggressive driver who more likely than not is under the age of 25. But on a regular basis, the women top the men in bad, distracte...

For this month’s winner in the “Lord, you can take me now, I have seen it all!” category, I offer to you Animal Planet’s television show: “Who Gets the Dog?” I saw this piece of TV magic this morning while flicking through the channels for something other than infomercials and preachers. Don’t get me wrong. I like Animal Planet , and I am a fan of such shows as Pet Star hosted by Mario Lopez, who must be a candidate for sainthood as he is continuously upstaged by dogs who can dance on beach balls and acrobatic cats. I also like Animal Police , where we see the ASPCA seek out the dregs of humanity whose mistreatment of animals shakes my faith in human nature. Not to mention that the new Terri and Bindi Show . Bindi is the terminally cute daughter of the late Steve Irwin of alligator and sting ray fame. I don’t know, the promo picture shows this little girl with a snake wrapped around her neck. I thought they were through exploiting her after Mr. Irwin dipped her in the lake with snap...

The following article appeared in this week's edition of the The New Republic to coincide with the release of the movie A Mighty Heart, which deals with the death of Daniel Pearl, the journalist killed by Islamic terrorists in 2002. It was written by Mr. Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl. When I started to read it, I initially thought here is a liberal trying to justify a conservative position on moral relativism. But when I finished, I concluded that this is an eloquent, albeit a tad heavy, statement on the problem of moral relativism as I have read. It is certainly much better written than anything I could do myself, and I feel worth reading by everyone. I am probably violating 50 laws by reproducing it here, but it is something that everyone should read, especially in light of recent events in Great Britain. Here are the links to THE DANIEL PEARL FOUNDATION and THE NEW REPUBLIC . Moral relativism and A Mighty Heart Back to Focus by Judea Pearl Only at TNR OnlinePost date:...

I have written several times about creeping freedom loss in our society. Baby-step by baby-step, we have acquiesced to the do-gooders of the world who use the guise of “reform” to stifle our freedom and hinder our ability to educate our children. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States struck a blow for freedom, and proved that our checks and balance system works...eventually. In a 5-4 decision, the Supremes reigned in the McCain Feingold Campaign Reform Act. Already upheld as constitutional in a previous decision, the Bush/Roberts court finally called it for what it is, censorship. A long time ago, Russ Feingold, one of the most liberal members of the Senate, decided he didn’t want Right to Life advocates running campaign ads against him in his re-election bid. Claiming campaign reform prohibiting “big” money from "contaminating" elections and "destroying" democracy, he and John McCain sponsored the “incumbent protection act”, which outlawed individual and/or...

The Iron Bridge is a restaurant located outside of Mercer, Pa. It is one of three restaurants standing in a row owned by the Springfield Restaurant Group on PA Route 19, and was the original restaurant in what is a strong regional and now rapidly growing national chain. But the Iron Bridge still stands on its own, and quite frankly is heads above its cloned Springfield Grill (good, but not great) sister establishments in quality and atmosphere. It is the best restaurant my wife and I have ever eaten in, anywhere, anyplace, and we have been to a lot of places. It is in the middle of nowhere. There are two ways to get there. One can hop on the freeway and it is about 40 miles from my driveway down I-80. The other way is to drive through Youngstown and Campbell to Ohio Rt. 422, then to PA 208, and take the winding road through West Middlesex, New Wilmington, and Volant to PA Route 19. That is the long way. Last night, we took the freeway there as I was really hungry, but we took the long ...

Sometimes the loss of liberty comes in one swoop. But more often than not, it is stolen away from you in baby steps. That is what is happening in the United States. Below listed are 8 threats to your freedom. These are already creeping up on you as they become accepted in our society. Is this what you really want? Voters Beware!!!! 1) McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act : This is arguably the most un-American power play that incumbent politicians have ever foisted on the American public. It also shows that slapping the label "reform" on something doesn't mean that the reform is good. This hodge-podge of campaign spending regulations was sponsored by Russ Feingold, one of the most liberal Senators in Congress, and John McCain, who likes to think of himself as a conservative. Purportedly passed to limit large soft money contributions to political campaigns, it is more aptly labeled The Incumbent Protection Act . The net effect is to prevent you and me from pooling o...

In April, PBS aired a series entitled America at the Crossroads . The subject was America’s relationship with the Islam. It was strongly criticized in conservative circles for its refusal to show a contracted segment about fundamental Islam. On the other hand, and to its great credit, PBS aired an outstanding and provocative segment on fundamentalist Islam entitled Faith Without Fear . The subject matter followed a young Muslim woman named Irshad Manji, whom the New York Times described as Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare. Born in Uganda, her family immigrated to Canada to escape the terror of Idi Amin. Ms. Manji is a person of letters who is an activist for feminism, gay rights, and deep reform to the Muslim religion. Among her many achievements, she is the author of the book The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call For Reform In Her Faith . PBS followed her as she traveled around the world challenging Islam to modernize. It showed heated debates with the Imams and Mullahs who c...

Remembering America's Bravest