LARRY ROIBAL

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As a New Jersey Giants fan, I had reason to believe they could repeat as champions this year. They were 11-1 and were looking like the best team in football. Then Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, they lost the last four out of five games and the Philadelphia Eagles ended their post season. Okay, season over, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks, move on…. But I will be watching the Super Bowl to see New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform at half time.

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But will deficits keep carriers from their appointed rounds? US Postmaster General John Potter proposed a five day a week mail service. Testifying before congress, Potter asked law makers to remove the annual appropriation bill rider that requiring the Postal Service to deliver six days each week. Personally, I can’t think of anything that comes in the mail that I can’t wait an extra day for.

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The two time Pulitzer Prize winning writer, looses his battle with lung cancer. The author of more that fifty books and short stories including “Rabbit Is Rich” and “Rabbit at Rest,” listened to his father worry about his old car and the family bills and realized that life wasn’t easy for the American male. It was a topic Updike would explore in the four novels featuring character Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom. Opdike was 76 years old.

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This is what’s called Media Week at Super Bowl 43…thats right, the Steelers and the Cardinals will have the same four, fifteen minute quarters to decide who’s champion, but the media gets a whole week. Is the tail wagging the dog? Of course. (don’t even get me started on the pre-game show) The vast majority of the coverage is inane BS, especially since Jerry Izenberg retired from the Star Ledger. He was a New Jersey treasure. Jerry started writing for the Star Ledger while still a student of Rutgers University in 1951. If you wanted the score, go somewhere else, but if you wanted the story this was the guy. He is one of only three daily newspaper columnists to have covered all 42 previous Super Bowls. He has retired but today the Ledger published his account of Joe Namath’s Jets defeating the Colts in Super Bowl III. I miss reading him.

Some video of Izenberg talking about how Cassius Clay Shocks the world and beats Sony Liston

Super Bowl III Memory

Super Bowl II memory This one is classic Izenberg

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With the Short term interest rates effectively at zero percent, the Fed only has few tools left in the shed. They may consider buying long term Treasury securities in order to push up the price, lowering the yields and hopefully reducing the cost of long term borrowing.

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Brace yourself for a heated NIMBY debate. As Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year, Republicans say the devil is in the details. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius says her state doesn’t want any detainees and Minority Leader John Boehner filed a bill seeking to bar federal courts from ordering detainees be allowed into the United States.

That was a short honeymoon.

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Citing personal reasons, Caroline withdraws her name as a contender to fill the US Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.

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Yesterday it seemed everyone was a VIP.

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My heart skipped a beat when I saw a big cream colored envelope in the mail containing a very impressive 8.5″ x 11″ engraved invitation requesting the honor of my presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of Barack H. Obama. I later found that one million commemorative Invitation were printed and mailed to supporters. I’m sorry to report this only invites me to the public events and is not a ticket. Even though I will be watching the speech from my home I’m proud of the work that I did on behalf of our New President and proud of the American people. I plan on framing this invitation (don’t worry, I didn’t draw on it).

My First Post ten months ago.

The Poster I was asked to do

It’s A New Day!

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American artist Andrew Wyeth passed away at his home in Chadds Ford Pennsylvania. Son of famous American illustrator NC Wyeth, Andrew found beauty in simple subjects, baron landscapes and pensive figures. The Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth was the first art book I bought. He was 91.

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89 year old Pete Seeger rocked it out at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday.

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I hate long goodbyes.

I went into NY today and did these bonus doodles on the train. The suspensions are awful, and you’re never able to place the pen in the right spot, but for some reason I like these bounce drawings best.

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Shortly after take off, Us Airways flight 1549 heading to Charlotte hit a flock of geese. 57 year old Pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, quickly scanned the highly populated region below him and deftly put the plane down in a frigid stretch of the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey, all 155 passenger and crew members survived. As the plane was sinking, the former Air Force fighter pilot and a 29-year veteran of US Airways searched the plane making sure all were safely off before exiting.

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New Jersey’s own Lisa Jackson received a warm reception from the US Senate at her confirmation hearing to become head of the EPA.  Jackson earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and is a graduated summa cum laude fromTulane University’s School of Chemical Engineering. She has served as Commissioner of Environmental protection of New Jersey and Chief of staff to New Jersey’s Governor Jon Corzine.

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The Senate through softballs to the very well prepared Clinton.

PS. I have a few early morning photo shoots today so excuse the rushed doodle.

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Sacrates said “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”

As the Bush administration enters it’s final week in office, many are writing about the last eight years in the harshest terms, but I don’t believed Bush and Cheney are evil,… lets just say that I agree with Socrates.

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Prince Harry, third in line to the British thrown, just wanted to prove he’s a regular guy by doing some killing and using racial slurs,.. he’s apologized for the racial slurs.

A Special Thank you to distinguished art educator and accomplished painter Dianne Mize. She was kind enough to mention me and my drawings on her informative blog Compose.

See it here

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Kiefer Sutherland is back as Jack Bower in a new season of 24 and he doesn’t give a crap if the  CIA is headed by Leon Panetta or Leon Spinks, if you don’t tell him what he wants to know, he’ll shoot your knee cap or electrocute you with a lamp cord first, ask questions later. I love it!

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Obama chooses former Clinton Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, to head the CIA. Was the intelligence appointment handled with intelligence? Well, this was a no win situation for Obama. For years Democrats have railed against the CIA and it’s tactics. Word was that no one wanted the job. Should Obama have appointed someone that had intel experience and presided over torture or someone with a clean slate but had no experience?

Panetta graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Santa Clara University. He also received a Juris Doctor from the Santa Clara University Law School. Panetta was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California’s 16th congressional district. Hewas reelected for nine terms before being tapped by the Clinton administration to serve in the Management and Budget Office and as Chief of Staff. Continue Reading

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Governor Blagojevich called everyones bluff by appointing Roland Burris to fill Obama’s vacant Senate seat.
The 71 year old Burris received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale before studying abroad on scholarship at the University of Hamburg, Germany majoring in International Law and then earning his Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. He became the first African-American National Bank Examiner for the US Treasury , served as Chief Operating Officer for Operation PUSH and became State attorney general for the State of Illinois.
Many believe that Blagojevich named an African American to diffuse the controversy surrounding his appointment, but black or white, Burris’s skin had better be thick because he’s receiving a chilly welcome from fellow democrats who blocked him from claiming the seat and turned him away from yesterdays swearing in ceremony.

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A Ponzi scheme, named after the notorious Charles Ponzi who perpetrated the scheme in the 1920’s, promises a large return on investments, then in order to to gain legitimacy and prolong the scheme, pays returns to existing investors with funds from new investors. Eventually the pyramid comes crashing down, this time on the head of present day Ponzi, Bernard Madoff.

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Bill Richardson withdraws his name from consideration as the Commerce Secretary over pay to play scandal.

Happy New Year!