Mark Knows It All

Have you ever tried looking for truth in modern America? It’s becoming more elusive as time goes by. The latest example was the Casey Anthony trial. It was fraught with so many lies, the jury finally threw in the towel. Everyone lied. Casey Anthony gets the liar of the decade award. Her father comes in a close second. The prosecutor who trumped up chloroform as a murder weapon with a sniffing machine is right in there. Of course, there is the defense attorney accusing the father of incest. Last place is a tie between mom Cindy and brother Lee who looked amateurish but still put on a good show. Of course the Anthony trial is the most obvious case, but the loss of truth in America is becoming something more insidious. CBS admitted this past week that its broadcast of the 4th of July fireworks from Boston was doctored with phony angles and photo-shopped computer generated backdrops. They photo-shopped 4th of July fireworks and claimed the broadcast was live? Really? Media is sp...

Alright, your howling is coming through my router loud and clear, but what can I say? Six states now allow gay marriage. Whether you personally agree with it or not is up to you. But as a lawyer I can tell my gay friends…be careful what you ask for, you just may get it. In plain terms, the gay community had the greatest gig going on in history and didn’t know it. I can guarantee you there are a bunch of straight guys, and women for that matter, who are sitting around wondering why the hell they got married. But if you were gay with a persistent partner wanting to tie the knot, you had the greatest excuse in the world…it’s illegal. Now, you are just like the rest of us. So get ready for what you don't know!!!  1) THE MARRIAGE PENALTY: Let’s start with tax issues. Yes, married couples are taxed at a lower rate than two incomes pyramided on top of one another. But married filing jointly is always more than if the two individual were not married and filing separately. ...

It’s time for all Americans to take stock of their lives and how they relate to government. Ignorance is the enemy, and unfortunately ignorance is running rampant in the country. What happens in Washington matters to all of us! It is not esoteric. It is not theoretical. It has consequences to our lives, our families, and our pocket books. And it is also difficult to change after some whackadoodle policy becomes law. And there we are left standing…. I have lots of friends who laugh at my blog and web site. To them, I am some sort of a nut who goes off the deep end in caring for what happens to my country. I have always been politically active, but when I started trading securities, I learned quickly that bad government policy has immediate and serious consequences for the country. The stock market it the great  prognosticator. It is saying things aren't so good right now.  Do you really know what is in the health care bill? Do you know that in 20...

I continually pound the table that at the end of the day, the well being of the American economy is directly tied to the cost of energy. The ups and downs in the economy, albeit subject to other forces as well, are directly linked to the cost of energy in a straight forward manner that doesn’t need some academic economic whackadakic scholar to analyze it. When the cost of energy spikes, the economy tanks! It happens every single time. The inevitable recessions are severe. It has been this way since the oil crises in the mid 1970’s. There are those who scream and yell that our government has no energy policy. They are wrong. The United States energy policy is to restrict and prohibit the development of new energy sources within the confines of our borders. Environmental concerns have been raised to a religion. We have put most of the oil reserves off limits to drilling, and have actively discouraged either through deliberate policy, accidental policy, ...

Last weekend, the Seraphim Chorus under the direction of Kris Harper, made a quantum leap from traditional and stodgy choral stuff into the world of pop and performance doing a boffo choral concert showcasing the music of the 1960’s. It had a WOW factor as we tuned up to sing some Mamas and Papas, some Association, some bubble gum fluff, some folk music, some peacenik music, and some inspirational freedom rider music from the civil rights song book. It was a ride down memory…and who knew that we had it in us??? It was supplemented by some talented musicians from Westminster College and the one and only Jim McClelland of The McClelland's fame.  Add into the mix some outstanding commentary by local activist Staughton Lynn (you might not agree with him, but he walked the walk), the concert was a home run. It was also one of our more difficult performances. Pop musicians use rhythms and harmonies unfamiliar to those of us growing up singing standard SATB fare in h...

How’s this recovery working out for you? Good? Glad to hear it. Tell the rest of the country. In all seriousness, the economic indicators reported last week are abysmal. If this isn’t a double dip recession, it sure feels like it. Housing prices still continue to fall. The private sector only produced 53,000 jobs last month. It needs to produce about 200,000/month just to keep the unemployment rate steady (break even). The unemployment rate is up to 9.1%, but in reality is closer to 19% taking into account discouraged workers. Productivity is anemic. The chronically unemployed are at a higher percentage rate than during the Great Depression. Housing prices as a percentage of value have fallen more than in the Great Depression. America’s credit rating has been downgraded to negative. And last, but not least, the stock market is sliding. What’s really scary is the Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, said on CNBC last week that HE is afraid. If this guy is losing sleep ov...

It was with great regret peppered with some anger that I watched the news from Columbus. Jim Tressel resigned as Ohio State’s football coach. What a pity. What a shame. But he is another in a long line of Mahoning Valley favorite sons to bite the dust. I wrote several weeks ago that the NCAA crossed the Rubicon in using “amateur” players to enrich itself and its member schools years ago. It is a crime that the NCAA and its members have built a billion dollar business on the backs of often times broke students who are willing to indenture themselves for a 1 in 500 chance of playing in the NFL. Although I am an Ohio State fan, I much less so now than I was when I was younger. Big time football has always been a business, but lately it has turned into something much more ugly with luxury boxes and tickets that are out of reach of many of the fans. This is especially true in the state schools. This isn’t pro football. At the end of the day schools like Ohio State are t...

These past few months I have had the privilege of doing some supplemental singing with the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church choir. The director of Seraphim, my community chorus, is Director of Music at St. Patrick’s, and arranged for some of us individually and for the whole chorus to do some singing in this magnificent church. This year St. Patrick’s celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. It is a big gothic old style Catholic Church located in Youngstown’s south side. In a city built on steel, the neighborhood was ethnic, blue collar and middle class. They even considered making it the Cathedral for the newly formed Diocese of Youngstown (a function it temporarily served when St. Columba’s Cathedral burned down in the early 1950’s). But the neighborhood has been in decline for years and years, and has been long considered classic inner-city surrounded by urban blight. But like several other old neighborhood Catholic churches in the area, the faithful who moved to the sub...

These past few months have seen an unprecedented attack on public employees. Never in my life have I seen anything quite like it. Salaries are being posted. Implied derogatory descriptions about benefits are in newspaper articles, blogs. I have even experienced some “critical” questions from acquaintances relating to my wife’s benefits, a teacher who has just completed her 33rd year of teaching. My son is also a public employee. He is the financial officer at the Board of Elections. When he took the job, I got many raised eyebrows from some folks along with some surprisingly smart ass comments that verged on insulting. His credentials were actually pulled by the local press. He has a Masters Degree in Accounting from the Ohio State Fisher School of Business after graduating from YSU with a degree in accounting and a 3.9 GPA. That’s the last we heard of that. Of course, nothing is said about the benefits and pay guaranteed by the government for the auto workers whos...

Last night we went to see the Easy Street Production of Forever Plaid. It was an encore performance from a few years ago. I saw it then and it worth going to see again.  Unfortunately, with Tim McGraw at the Covelli Center, Canfield High School's Senior Class Play, and the Boardman High School's  spectacular fundraiser featuring scenes from past Senior plays with the people who originally played the roles in high school….the Ford Recital Hall was only ½ full.  If you haven’t seen Forever Plaid, it runs for one more weekend .  GO AND SEE IT.  As always, you will see no better version anywhere as you will with Todd Hancock and company. The story deals with a vocal quartet called the Plaids killed on the way to a gig at the airport lounge by a school bus filled with parochial virgins in the early 1960’s. But the Plaids are given one more chance to give the performance of a lifetime before gaining permanent entrance to the afterlife, reali...

I have a friend who is currently recuperating from some back issues in a rehab center. He is close to 80 years old, but you would never know it to talk to him. I have known him for over 40 years, and he sounds and looks the same. He always has a smile; always has a good word: always ready for a laugh. Several months ago I was having some personal issues. He must have seen it in my face when out for dinner with some mutual friends, and on his own he asked me to pay him a visit just to sit and chat. We talked awhile. He was just what the doctor ordered. He told me all you have to know in life are God’s two great commandments. Love God. Love your neighbor. If you can do those two things, you will have lived a good life. How simple and to the point. Two simple rules that can make a difference! I am no great theologian. Being raised Catholic I thought there were many more rules than that; meatless Fridays, fast for three hours before communion, go to Catholic School or go to hell, don’t t...

By the time you read this, Prince William and Kate Middleton will have become man and wife in another “wedding of the century” at Westminster Abbey. All week long, cable news channels as well as channels like the History Channel, Lifetime, TLC, PBS, and Discovery have been running various specials relating to the royal wedding, including topics like Charles and Diana, the ghosts of Westminster Abbey, and what’s on the menu for the reception.  All of this being reported with gusto by questionable British reporters and American reporters who think it cute to say "cheerio"! All of this begs the question who cares! As Americans, we divested ourselves of the British monarchy in the late 1700’s with that American Revolution thing. Many of us try to act nonchalant about the whole thing. We cite the waste of money and the anachronistic nature of the Royals. We should have the problems those people have!!!! And that old lady Queen….what a puss!!! The British really ought to dump ...

Youngstown was at the heart of the American industrial revolution in the mid 1800’s. During World War I, more steel came from Youngstown than anywhere else in the world. It’s no wonder, then, that the area was home of some of the best of everything, including department stores. Strouss-Hirshberg and McKelvey’s were the Macy’s and Gimbels of northeast Ohio, and offered to local residents the best of what money could buy. Strouss will always hold a special place in the heart of this area. It is hard to believe that there are twenty somethings today that haven't heard of it, or go “huh?” when you mention it. I tried doing some research on its history. Believe it or not, it is hard to find. As near as I could figure, the Strouss Hirshberg Company was originally known as D. Theobald and Company. Isaac Strouss clerked there, and eventually bought the store in 1875 with his new partner Bernard Hirshberg. The store was incorporated in 1906. The Readers Digest version of the life of the ...

My Seraphim Chorus is doing a Summer of Love, Music of the 60’s concert in June. One of the concert selections is Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie’s folk song standard This Land Is Your Land. It is a boffo arrangement that elevates it more than a tad beyond some of the hokey versions many of us sang in our high school choir days. Sometimes a song has been performed badly for so long, to hear it done well is almost like a re-introduction. This is one of those songs. I was curious as to the song’s back story, so I did a little research. It was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 as a backlash of sorts to Kate Smith’s version of God Bless America . He felt the Irving Berlin standard did not ring true to his vision of the spirit of America, and I suspect neither did Kate Smith. He put his lyrics to the tune of an old Baptist Gospel Hymn entitled Oh My Loving Brother and made famous by the 1930 Carter Family recording re-named When the World’s on Fire . You ...

April 12 marks the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War. 150 years ago, General Beauregard, commander of the Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison located on an island just off the coast. When Major Robert Anderson refused, the Confederates opened fire on the military installation. Two days later, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to the Confederacy. The war had begun. I find it amazing that nowhere is this being reported, considered, talked about…whatever you want to call it. The Civil War is the single biggest event in the history of this country. It formed who we are today. In 1861, the population of the United States was 35 million. 24 million lived north of the Mason Dixon line. 9 million lived in the south. Of the 9 million who lived in the southern states, 4 million were slaves, leaving a white population of about 5 million people. The industrial capacity of the entire South was surpassed by the indust...

I am always amazed when life goes full circle. In my Youngstown Eats blog, I wrote that I had had contact with a gentleman named Howard from California who was originally from Youngstown. He said he was a graduate of YSU, and was putting together a reunion for his ZBT fraternity. On his web page, he was posting pictures of old restaurants and was wondering if I could get him one for the old 20th Century Restaurant on Belmont Avenue. He and I talked quite a bit, and I was successful in procuring him photographs with the help of a friend of mine. In conjunction with my trip down memory lane with Howard, I wrote a blog about old Youngstown restaurants which turned into one of the more popular things I had written. Get into the Wayback Machine with me and travel back to the mid 1960’s. My cousin Debbie, who was two years older than me, married a guy named Bob Turner when they were very young. Bob was a nice enough guy, and there was a big wedding on the way to happily ever after. Unfortuna...

We have a problem. I got home from work yesterday and found out that the United States had launched a Connecticut Military Operation. The television dude the reason they did this is that Congress would never approve a Declaration of War. I would hope not. What’s wrong with Connecticut? President Obama says that this operation is necessary to protect the civilian population. From whom do they need protecting? Supposedly its against the leader of the state. I looked it up. Her name is M. Jodi Rell. She must be pretty bad because even the Arab League is upset with her. Maybe she had snow removal issues this past winter. Or maybe they want her to wear a burqa. Gee, I hope she doesn’t get caught by any Egyptians. The Drudge Report said the army was given protesting women virginity tests. Yikes. I don’t think Obama is really into this Connecticut invasion. He is looking to hand it off to somebody else. I am guessing that New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island aren’t interested in taking ov...

I usually try to vary topics for the Mark Knows It All blog. I know I wrote a local arts column last week, which for people not from this area, and some that are, is probably B-O-R-I-N-G! But sometimes things just need to be said, and this is one of those of times. The Oakland Theater is among my favorite venues in the area for live theater. Its intimate space lends itself to smaller, edgier pieces. Many of them are controversial dealing with subjects that would make some feel uncomfortable. But the productions are ALWAYS top notch quality, well conceived and well produced. Some of the productions don’t appeal to me, and I don’t go to see them. But many do, and they just keep getting better and better. Those of us who enjoy theater are fortunate to have these kinds of offerings available to this area. Over the past two weekends, the Oakland hit a home run with its production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by Doug Wright “I Am My Own Wife.” Not only was the Oakland s...