Dick Cheney should be ashamed of himself

This blog is a week in coming, but it is definitely necessary, especially with the tension going on currently in Iraq.


OK, so I'm starting off with a non-sports point, but I've been really angry since our former beloved vice-president Dick Cheney, a man with a very appropriate first name, appeared on national television last week, donning a cowboy hat and a vest, trying his best to look like a cross between Ben Cartwright and the man who shot Liberty Vallance, instead of the clod who once shot his hunting partner in the face.


This fool actually went on CNN and Fox News to say that the current administration, especially President Obama, was at fault as to what's going on now currently in Iraq, that it was the current administration's mishandling of Iraqi policies that led to the country's major cities falling to the radical military.


Now, I'm not a flag waving supporter of our current President. In fact, after the way he handled the trade of five Al-Queda leaders for one U.S. soldier who appeared to be a deserter, I'm done defending what Obama does. I voted for him twice, but his sole claim to fame right now is taking down Osama bin Laden and implementing a health care policy that doesn't fit the needs of all Americans. Other than that, it's been six years of wasted time.


But is this current administration to blame for what is going on in Iraq?


I think it's safe to say that there wouldn't be any situations in Iraq whatsoever if it wasn't for that money-hungry war monger, who still had his hands deep in a cookie jar called Halliburton, the company that had a $2.5 billion contract with the U.S. Army to build military bases and to also find oil refinery fields in Iraq.


Bingo. The appropriately named Dick Cheney was set to make a boat load of cash on a war in Iraq, so he contrived an idea that Saddam Hussein and the radical Muslims in Iraq had the magically named "weapons of mass destruction," when in fact, Hussein, a despicable man in his own right, didn't even have camels of mass destruction.


There's no question that Hussein was doing horrendous things to the people of Iraq and should have been stopped. But a full-fledged war? One that cost us the lives of more than 4,000 young men and women and billions of dollars?


I mean, they spent $500 million to give the Iraqi people a functional postal service. Who's kidding whom? If they wanted to send a letter to one another, strap a slice of loose leaf on a camel's back and point the camel across the desert.


So the United States got involved in a war it shouldn't have even considered, because Iraq was never ever a serious threat to our safety here. The GWB administration even tried to justify the war, saying that the Iraqi people sheltered the Al-Queda terrorists and therefore, Iraq had its hand on the attacks on the World Trade Center.


And whose idea was it to get involved in the war in Iraq? The same dick who went on the news shows last week, dressed like a complete clown, trying to be a cowboy and instead came across as being a jackass.


This is a man who should just shut the hell up and go away. Other than Al Gore and his idiocy with cable networks and global warming, what other vice-president was even heard from after the term was up? Did anyone ever hear a peep from Walter Mondale after Jimmy Carter was done? How about Spiro Agnew or Nelson Rockefeller? Scrap that idea. One went to prison and the other died having sex with a much younger woman, covered in whipped cream.


But why should we care what this Dick has to say? Why does he have to come across trying to look like John Wayne and blame the current administration for a mess that he helped to cause a decade ago? Look in the mirror, Dick. You are the one to blame.


The war started, your administration started the policies that were supposed to liberate the Iraqi people (whoever those people were, because there were three separate factions) and now the cities are falling and it's Obama's fault.


That's like blaming ice machines for the sinking of the Titanic or Lee Harvey Oswald for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.


Our beloved former vice-president, who just had yet another heart procedure done on the dime of the American public, has one gigantic set of cojones to go on national TV and place blame on the current administration when in fact, he should look in the damn mirror and put blame there. And for God's sake, take off the cowboy get-up. Leave that for Roy Rogers or Woody from "Toy Story."


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Carmelo Anthony opted out of his contract with the Knicks to become a free agent. A lot of local fans are up in arms. But can you blame him? Is there anything promising about the Knicks these days, other than bringing in Phil Jackson to run the show? There isn't much talent remaining. Anthony can go elsewhere, albeit for less money. But when you get to numbers like $75 million or $60 million, who cares? Does anyone need more than that?
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St. Anthony High School and the Archdiocese of Newark announced Monday that legendary basketball coach Bob Hurley has been named as the school's new president.


From my standpoint, this looks like a move of complete desperation. The Archdiocese no longer wants to be in the business of education and would like to close all of its schools, like it did with Immaculate Conception of Montclair this week.


So this way, the school and the Archdiocese approach the coach, tell him that they need him to take over running the school and raising even more money to keep the school open. And if it fails, then they can throw Hurley under the bus by saying, "See, even Bob Hurley couldn't save St. Anthony."


There's no question that the real estate value of the school's current location in downtown Jersey City is in the millions, perhaps as high as $10 million. That's a nice sum for the Archdiocese.


St. Anthony's enrollment numbers are down. The school is struggling and has now gone through three principals and two presidents in a span of two years. This was a last ditch effort. Hurley would do anything for St. Anthony, but he wants to coach basketball, not pinch numbers and worry about test scores, employee morale and student discipline.


Hurley was probably approached by administrators, telling him that he had to help save the school. What was he going to do? Say no? That's not Bob Hurley. But this is a huge step that it looks like he was forced to take.


It's not fair to Hurley, but then again, is anything fair when it comes to the Archdiocese of Newark? Just ask the students of schools like St. Aloysius, St. Joseph of the Palisades and St. Mary's, other Hudson County Catholic schools that were shut down by the Archdiocese in recent years. It looks like St. Anthony is next, only now, they're going to make a legend like Bob Hurley look like he's either a savior or a failure.
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You can read more of my work at www.hudsonreporter.com, www.theobserver.com and www.dailyrecord.com