Mark Knows It All

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL, THE WEB SITE by clicking on the link at the top of the adjoining column Is there any good news for Ohio? The German Company DHL, the successor to Airborne Express, is closing down its hub in Wilmington, Ohio, with a loss of 8,000 jobs. It is hiring UPS for its package handling, and using the UPS Kentucky hub in place of Wilmington. DHL purchased Airborne in 2003 using John McCain's current campaign advisor as its lobbyist to get the enabling legislation through Congress. The advisor has had no association with DHL since 2005. This month’s edition of Forbes Magazine lists four Ohio cities in the top ten list of dying cities in the United States. Included on the list, in addition to Youngstown, are Dayton, Cleveland, and Canton/Massillon. Although they are not ranked in any particular order, a cursory review of lost population puts Youngstown close, if not at, the top of the list. I have always taken these lists with a grain of salt. If one just looks ...

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL; THE WEB SITE Are you tired of computer progress? Lately, I have had a number of encounters with questionable computer program “progress” that were expensive and dangerous. Welcome to Computer Program Hell. Last night, my wife went to read her emails. She has an AOL account, and the email listings said “temporarily unavailable.” I got on line to help her out through the AOL online tech support, and was told by the tech gal that the problem was with the AOL server which was being upgraded to serve us better. She said she would report the problem, but didn’t know how long it would take to fix (24 hours). So much for serving us better. Do you like using Microsoft Office that you have to buy every time you purchase a new computer? Microsoft Word is the standard for word processing programs. The newest update that is used with Microsoft Vista has a glitch. If you save your Word document as a Word document, and email it to someone who doesn’t have the Word for ...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site My attention span these days can be stretched to about 30 minutes. Beyond that, I have a problem, which can cause substantial difficulties when watching hour long television programs, or worse, spending 20 bucks at a 2 ½ hour movie. Maybe my medication isn’t working, or maybe the amount of time I spend on the computer has addled my brain, or maybe it is my superior intellect falling asleep as it deals with the mediocre media that surrounds me, but I get bored very easily. One medium that solves the problem are magazines. I love reading magazines. For the most part, the stories are short and concise…maybe a page long. They deal with issues that aren’t particularly earth shattering. They usually cover a variety of subjects. The best part? You don’t really have to read them to get the gist of what they are trying to say. A quick look at the headline and the pictures w/ captions, and you’re good to go. The theology taught in my Catholic CCD cl...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site DID YOU KNOW? The Congressional ban on off shore drilling has to be voted on every year, and expires September 30 of this year, 5 weeks before the general election. Will they have the gall to extend the ban? DID YOU KNOW? The primary drivers of oil consumption are India and China. The increase in oil prices has no effect on the consumer in these countries as their governments subsidize oil and gasoline prices. They are driving the prices up, but the American consumer is paying the price. In my entire life, there has rarely been a time when I have been afraid for the country. This is one of those times. Once again, socialism is rearing its ugly head, and this time it may prevail. Whether you call it being green, or fighting global warming, or stewards of God’s bounty, environmentalism is providing the excuse for complete regulation of your lives, and the destruction of our way of life. You are paying for it right now at the gas pump, and ...

Please visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site The wife of a friend of mine passed away this past week. I never met my friend’s wife, as she had been ill for most of the time that I have known him. But from the words of her family and friends at the funeral, she must have been a pretty spectacular person. Certainly she was a mother and wife in a beautiful family. My friend is a good and active member of my chorus, and we wanted to honor him and his wife by singing at the funeral. Every now and then a poignant moment happens in life, and two such moments happened at the funeral. Immediately prior to the service, we remembered that it was the birthday of one of our members. In the church hall where we were waiting to enter the sanctuary, someone suggested that we sing Happy Birthday to the individual celebrating another year. It struck me as being a bit sacrilegious at first, but then I thought…why not? In fact, what better place is there to celebrate both the lives of those living and t...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site My Seraphim Chorus sang a gig this past weekend. We performed for the alumni association of a local, now defunct, high school. The average age of these folks was at the high end of the 70 plus crowd, with many of the men in attendance obviously veterans of WWII or Korea. The organizer asked that we add some patriotic songs to our repertoire, and our director dutifully pulled out hymn book arrangements of America the Beautiful and The Battle Hymn of the Republic . While practicing these patriotic chestnuts before the performance, the music struck a chord in me and I became teary eyed and very sad. To make matters worse, when I got home from the concert, a friend of mine had emailed a performance of the Wilhousky Battle Hymn (think Mormon Tabernacle Choir) arrangement done recently by a local high school with a youth choir, band, and high school chorus. I am 58 years old, and I will guarantee that just about anyone my age who participated ...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site In all of the years that I have been following politics, I have never seen such a disconnect between the United States Congress and the country’s population. As gas continues to go up, and up, and up….Congress and the two assumed political parties’ nominees for President are fiddling in the parlor. If there ever was a time to put aside the dogma and the idealogy, this is it. As I watch the debate over energy in this country, I fully realize that the increase in gas prices is a precursor to the increase in utility costs coming this winter, especially here in Ohio, as we are forced to make decisions relating to our natural gas and electric suppliers. There is nothing good here. But instead of doing something about it, the political and ideological drums beat onward and onward, ever louder, and accomplishing nothing. Shame on Congress! Shame on Barack Obama! Shame on John McCain. From the Democrats, we get the same old, tired, environmental har...

Please visit Mark Knows It All; The Web Site Tim Russert’s untimely death certainly gave me pause. I am 58 years old, and don’t live what can be called a healthy life style. I love my pizza and red meat, and eschew veggies, especially the good kind like broccoli. Russert seemed to be a good and decent man. He was the epitome of the American dream, pulling himself by his bootstraps from humble beginnings. He was well liked among his colleagues from all sides of the political spectrum. His two bestselling books Big Russ and Me and Wisdom of Our Fathers , gave gravitas to the role of fathers in the American family when men are routinely trivialized as compared to the “single” mother. Bill Cosby has echoed Russert’s theme of the importance of “Dad” in the very difficult endeavor of child raising. I have written several times over the past few years about the marginalization of males in our society. Yet study after study shows again and again that the traditional nuclear family of Mom, D...

Perhaps Jeremiah Wright was right. The chickens are coming home to roost, but not in the way he meant. America’s “head in the sand” energy policy is pushing the economy to ruin as our leaders continue to fritter away the time as we slowly go to the poor house. The energy policy under the Democratic Congress and Republican President is simple: buy it from someone else. The Congress and President of the United States, as well as the current presidential candidates of both parties, should hang their heads in shame as they continue to pander to special interest groups, be it the environmental whackos or big oil, and worry about everything and everybody else but you and me. 1) While we are currently paying $4.00/gallon, soon to be $5.00, Congress attempted to pass legislation known as “Cap and Trade”. “Global Warming”, the peg upon which those who want to control the world economy are hanging their hat, was the root of this piece of “energy” legislation which was pushed by Nancy Pelosi and...

Please Visit: Mark Knows It All - The Web Site Ok, folks, here is what I want you to do. Get out your checkbook, and write a check out to “Cash” for let’s say about $1,000.00, and find yourself an African American family and give it to them. After all, it is the least you can do to pay for the suffering that your ancestors caused through slavery. Sound ridiculous, even racist? THAT…is reparations, and it is an idea that has been bandied about by the more activist segments of the black community for more than a few years. Obama, if elected President, wouldn’t do that, would he? No, well….maybe? No one knows for sure, and the Senator from Illinois hasn’t been upfront on the issue, taking a page from the Clinton playbook and parsing his words. I predict that reparations will be THE hot button issue of the coming election, and I am not so sure it is will be Obama’s choice. In any debate with John McCain, it is the obvious question to ask. And the reason for the query will be rooted in ...

Please Visit: Mark Knows It All - The Web Site The temperature is heating up so open the windows and watch a flick. It's time for this year's Summer Movie list. Two of the movies are from 1969 and are noteworthy because they were pioneers in the sexualization of the entertainment industry. Others on the list will help to celebrate the Olympics and the Presidential election. Have fun. 1) COUPE DE VILLE (1990): This little charmer is a 4 star sleeper that is as good as summer movie as you will find. Three brothers who have not seen each other in awhile are asked by their father to drive a vintage Coupe De Ville Caddy from Detroit to Florida to surprise mother on her birthday. Along the way, the brothers rediscover each of their strengths and weaknesses, and make us care about them more than we really want to. The soundtrack is non-stop and appropriately nostalgic. A young Patrick Dempsey stars in pre Dr. Dreamy days, along with my favorite, Joseph Bologna. Find a hot night, ...

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL, THE WEB SITE One of the problems I am having with this year’s presidential campaign is the media’s refusal to properly do its job and vet Barack Obama. They aren’t doing the American public any favors by treating him as Christ’s Second Coming; and ironically, they are not doing Senator Obama any favors either. He now runs the risk of being blindsided as the traditional media has left the job to bloggers and talk radio hosts and people like me who often don’t get the facts right…well, I do. I can guarantee you that the Republican Party, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton have done their homework, and issues will arise causing Obama’s usual “how dare you ask me those things” smarmy attitude to finally fail him. There are two areas that can be fatal to his campaign. Here is the first. Over the course of his campaign, Senator Obama has raised in excess of a quarter billion dollars (that’s with a “B”). He has set all sorts of records, and the media has gloated...

Please Visit: Mark Knows It All, the Web Site This past week I have had to deal with a series of deaths of family members, clients, and family of friends. It began with my uncle, who went in for heart bypass surgery and never regained consciousness. Louie was a sweet, gentle man who was always front and center to help anyone in need, never lost his temper, and always was ready to forgive the frailties of those around him. Although he and his wife never had children of their own, they were blessed with a host of nieces and nephews who stood by, ready to help in any capacity they were able. Although Louie was 80 years old and led a full life, his death was untimely as he never exhibited any symptoms other than some mild chest discomfort, and we just weren’t ready for him to go. He will be missed. Next to go was Fran, my 96 year client, who isolated herself from not only her family, but the world in general. She was a corker, feisty to the end. In one way, it was sad. On the other hand, ...

Please Visit: Mark Knows It All, the Website The Democratic Party, over the past several years, has done a good job in teaching me about acceptable standards of behavior in two important areas. 1) I have learned that the standard of acceptable sexual behavior by which our public officials should be measured is oral sex performed in the oval office by the President with a 21 year old intern. That is what I had to teach my 12 year old son as we learned about Bill Clinton’s indiscretions every morning on the Today Show as we drank our juice and coffee. If a public official’s behavior is anything less than that, hey…its OK!!!!! 2) I have learned that the acceptable level of racism and hate speech has been defined by Jeremiah Wright, as originally sloughed off by his congregant, Barack Obama. As a garlic nose Italian who apparently is responsible for killing Jesus, and a member of the KKK of America who believes in white supremacy and supports a government who invented aids to kill the bla...

Don't forget to check out: Mark Knows It All, The Website I was watching the news the other night and was shocked to see that we are having a rice crisis. How could that be? What will happen to my pork fried rice at the Main Moon Chinese Takeout? Apparently warehouse stores, such as Costco and Sam’s Club, in California and New Jersey have limited the amount of rice that can be purchased at one time. I’ve listened to several explanations as to how and why this happened. It had something to do with a crop failure in Asia, the falling dollar, Vietnam, ethanol, rising oil prices, and of course, global warming…always global warming. I don’t know what to lose sleep over first. There is the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the housing crisis, the education crisis, the gas price crisis, the climate crisis, the imported drugs crisis, the imported toys crisis, the NAFTA crisis. It’s enough to make me long for the 1970’s. All we had back then was a meat crisis and toilet paper crisis. Those were e...

DON'T FORGET TO VISIT: MARK KNOWS IT ALL: THE WEBSITE Before there was My Big Fat Greek Wedding , there was Zorba, The Greek , one of my favorite movies. Where is your madness? It’s four in the morning, and my insomnia wins out again as I turn on the television to see what early morning viewing could be had. Sandwiched between an informercial for hair replacement, and an infomercial for hair removal, there was Zorba, dancing on the beach on AMC. I was 14 when the Michael Cacoyannis cinematic masterpiece came onto the scene. My first impression of the movie was its wonderful music. My folks thought the movie was too racy for me to see (it was 1964 and Bambi was considered "morally objectionable"), but they bought the soundtrack and played it over and over again. When I finally saw the movie a year or two after its release, it was fun to see what went with the music that was so indelibly burned into my brain. It was filmed in black and white, which made it kind of artsy. T...

MAKE SURE TO VISIT: MARK KNOWS IT ALL; THE WEB SITE I have written numerous times about the vast wasteland of television. 250 channels and nothing to watch unless you are a Law and Order fan, followed by any of the CSI series: New York, Las Vegas, or Miami. Sometimes in desperation I watch Home Shopping. Colleen Lopez is easy to look at, and can sell a snowball to an Eskimo. Joan Rivers or Suzanne Sommers shows up from time to time to hock their jewelry, and both of them need to sell what they can before HSN or QVC goes to High Definition. If that is how they look in analog, I hate to think about how much additional makeup they will need for digital. Even for a news junkie like me, even I occasionally have to turn off the talking heads and seek refuge. Because food is one of my great passions, I often times turn to the Food Network. When I was small, my experience with cooking shows was Kitchen Corner with Marjorie Mariner. I can still see the salad tossing intro and hear the tatatatat...

Please visit: Mark Knows It All, the Web Site There is an order in life. The sun comes up in the morning and the moon comes out at night. Christmas comes in the winter and Easter in the spring…and so on. These are things on which you can count. It gives one constancy. Several weeks ago, my secure world was disrupted. Armstrong Cable changed my cable line up. What happened to Channel 62? Whenever I travel, I am always glad to get home to my own cable company’s channel lineup. Armstrong Cable has always had a certain symmetry to it channels. This divinely inspired natural order was probably created on the sixth day. After all, God rested on the 7th, and probably wanted to watch some television. So…NBC, CBS, and ABC were on Cable 2, 4 and 7. CNN was on cable 3. HBO was always on cable 5. Cable 6 was always some stupid station like Disney or something else. Channel 8 was ESPN. As Armstrong added stations, it followed a natural progression. USA, Nickelodeon, and TNT were next on the lineup...