Touting bacon, editors ignore abuse of pigs, health issues

The W-brand of uncured bacon sold at Trader Joe's in Paramus comes from pigs raised without antibiotics that have proven harmful to humans. Today, The Record urges readers to eat as much bacon as possible, even if it is pumped full of additives and preservatives.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you're a big fan of the Mets or some of the unhealthiest food on the planet, you'll find a couple of alternatives to the 10th straight day of Pope Francis coverage on the front page of The Record.

Francis did accomplish a minor miracle:

Coverage of his Philadelphia appearances seems to have completely pushed mention of Governor Christie out of the paper today.

New bus depot

An editorial on A-12 today criticizes the Port Authority for delaying a decision on a new bus terminal in midtown Manhattan.

The editors continue to ignore a short- and long-term solution to delays at the antiquated depot, as outlined by commuter Richard Scala of River Edge:

"Unless the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey commits to dedicating an entire Lincoln Tunnel tube (not lane) for buses and installs a westbound exclusive bus lane in the evening rush hour ... future generations will endure the same commuter woes as their parents and grandparents," Scala said in a letter to the editor (Saturday's A-13).

Bacon obsession

The mistreatment of pigs on factory farms is well-known, but freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River could care less.

Today, on the Better Living cover, she is back with more unhealthy recipes, this time for artery clogging bacon, one of the foods blamed for sudden heart attacks (BL-1 and BL-2).

"I'm glad bacon is getting so much love and attention," the clueless Jackson says of pork industry promotions, "but as far as I am concerned, every day is bacon day."

Click on the following link to see a shocking video from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:

Bacon in 60 Seconds Flat

No man has said so much, only to be ignored by so many

Even on a Sunday, lanes on Anderson and River streets in Hackensack were closed, this time for work by PSE&G. One lane of South River Street near the county jail also was closed for replacement of the sidewalk and curb. Also closed are the Court Street Bridge and West Fort Lee Road in Bogota.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers looking for relief from the 24/7 coverage of Pope Francis get hit over the head today by another crappy baseball column on Page 1 of The Record.

That's played next to a Washington Post story on the partisan political paralysis in Congress, now dominated by conservative Republicans (A-1).

The piece at the bottom of the front page on the gender gap in coaching youth sports seems like an afterthought (A-1).

And it raises questions about why Editor Martin Gottlieb doesn't commission a similar story on the gender gap in print journalism.

Pope in Philly

The A-1 story on Francis in Philadelphia is the ninth straight day his Cuba and U.S. visits have been played on the front page of the Woodland Park daily.

It's doubtful anyone in power is going to act on anything he said in New York or Philadelphia.

Three U.S. Supreme Court justices -- Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, all conservative Catholics -- boycotted Francis' speech to a joint session of Congress.

Many conservative Republicans basically said Francis should mind his own business instead of urging the eradication of poverty, reforming immigration and slowing climate change, among other issues the GOP refuses to budge on.

On Saturday, Mike Kelly's A-1 column on Francis in Manhattan appeared under this sub-headline:

A busy day

of spreading

'good vibes' 

Local news?

Today's Road Warrior is like so many written by Staff Writer John Cichowski, who hijacked the commuting column a dozen years ago (L-1).

His piece on traffic deaths is filled with mind-numbing statistics, and sheds no light on the daily nightmare North Jersey commuters face, whether they drive or take a bus or train.

The Local front is dominated by a big photo and story on a motorcycle accident that injured rap star Fetty Wap in his hometown of Paterson (L-1).

On second reference, he is referred to as "Fetty Wap," not just "Wap," in contrast to normal practice.

The small photo and caption on naming of a footbridge to honor Harold Bloom, former principal of Hackensack High School, is the first coverage of anything to do with schools in the city for at least a year, if not longer (L-1).

VW drivers

The Business front today reports on Volkswagen drivers who feel betrayed by the automaker's illegal diesel engines, installed in 11 million cars worldwide (B-1).

The story comes six days after The New York Times did the same reaction piece to heavy air pollution from so-called clean diesels, interviewing former Record photographer John Decker, among others.

Business reporter Richard Newman managed to interview another former Record staffer, Olga Wickerhauser of Fleminton. 

Business is eight pages today, but readers find only only one other staff written story, which makes you wonder what the section editors do all week for their inflated salaries.

Hidden meaning

On the Opinion front, I got a kick out of hidden meaning in the headline over yet another Kelly column on Francis:

THE MAN WITH A MESSAGE

The veteran reporter has been an opinion columnist for more than two decades now, but he rarely has any opinions or message for readers.

South Korea

Is the ban on South Korea travel stories over (T-1)?

On the Travel cover today, the Washington Post piece on Seoul ends an apparent ban imposed by Travel Editor Jill Schensul, a vegetarian and dog lover, that dates to at least to the late 1990s.

It's significant that Schensul didn't travel there herself.

Christie helps Camden again, but still ignores Paterson

This block of Forest Avenue off of River Road in Teaneck is another street that hasn't been repaved for eons, even though residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is up to his old dirty political tricks again in Camden, where he unveiled a $1 billion waterfront project.

And The Record's editors and reporters are swallowing his B.S. hook, line and sinker (A-3).

How's that for a mixed metaphor to describe the story by Staff Writer Melissa Hayes?

In a bubble

Hayes, who is assigned to cover the GOP bully and his so-called presidential campaign, inhabits a bubble.

How else could she report that Christie on Thursday claimed:

"The news media were skeptical when he took office and reached out to Democrats. He said there were allegations of backroom deals."

The Record's chief political columnist, Charles Stile, was never skeptical of Christie's claims of cooperating with the Democrats who control the state Legislature.

Stile has filled numerous Page 1 columns with that preposterous notion, as recently as a few weeks ago.

More B.S.

Then, Hayes has the gall to quote Christie saying:

"Political leaders in this state have decided to drop their R's and their D's and instead put forward their NJ's. We care more about our state than we care about our party."

How could Hayes not challenge such nonsense, when on the next page readers see a banner headline reporting the Senate has failed again to override a Christie veto (A-4)?

"As in all the other tries in the past five years, the Democrats ... were unable to get the necessary support from Republicans ....," The Record notes.

Missing from the story is the total number of vetoes Christie has exercised (more than 350), and his political retaliation against Democrats like the mayor of Fort Lee, triggering the Bridgegate lane-closure scandal.

Why not Paterson?

Hayes story doesn't explain why "Christie has made revamping Camden a cornerstone of his governorship" while allowing Paterson and the rest of New Jersey go to hell (A-3).

In the 2010 census, Camden didn't even rank in the top 10 of communities with the biggest population, but Paterson was the third most-populous city behind Newark and Jersey City.

In fact, The Record's editors have never questioned all of the attention Christie has paid to Camden compared to Paterson, were gun violence claimed the lives of four innocent young people in less than a year.

Campaign lies

In Camden, Christie has tried "to improve the schools, reduce violence through a regional police force and bring businesses back to the city," Hayes says, noting they are among the governor's "talking points" on his doomed quest for the GOP presidential nomination (A-3).

That may fly in Iowa and New Hampshire, but in Paterson, Christie is a dirty word.

Pope Francis

The Record assigned at last seven reporters, one staff photographer and an unknown number of editors to Pope Francis' arrival in New York on Thursday (A-1, A-8, A-9 and L-1).

An eighth reporter is in Philadelphia, where Francis goes next. 

How many reporters will be assigned to follow-up on how none of the pope's initiatives -- from eradicating poverty to immigration reform to easing climate change -- will ever become a reality in the United States as long as conservative and Tea Party Republicans control Congress?

Today, the main story on Page 1 reports the pope sent "a remarkable message of empathy ... to my Muslim brothers and sisters" after a stampede killed more than 700 in Mecca.

Trump, Carson

Of course, the leading contender for the GOP presidential nod, Donald Trump, has for years demonized President Obama, and questioned whether he was born in the United States.

And at a recent town hall meeting, Trump didn't contradict a speaker who said Obama is a Muslim.

And the Uncle Tom named Ben Carson, who is second in the polls, said a Muslim should never become president.

Going to Totowa?

I wonder how many Bergen County residents are going to jump into their cars and drive to Totowa on horrendous Route 80 for dinner at Ristorante Benissimo (2.5 out of 4 stars on BL-16)?

I am so tired of all the Passaic County restaurant reviews from Elisa Ung, who can't seem to find anything but Italian-American or Turkish food out there.

Pope's visit won't change poverty, immigration and politics

Construction workers adding hundreds of apartments overlooking traffic on Route 4 east in Englewood. Meanwhile, the city's downtown merchants haven't been helped much by the thousands of people who already live in buildings on both sides of the highway.

This storefront on North Dean Street, near Palisade Avenue, Englewood's main business street, has been vacant for months.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With Governor Christie running New Jersey and other uncharitable Republicans controlling Congress, Pope Francis' message of hope and unity will fall on deaf ears.

You have to wonder why The Record and other media have been publishing hundreds of thousands of words and images for a full week now on Francis' first visit to the United States (A-1, A-6, L-7).

A big break in that coverage is the death of Yogi Berra, but you won't find the best story about the Yankees legend on the front page or in the Sports section today (A-1 and S-1).

On Page 1, sports Columnist Bob Klapisch's first line is an instant turnoff:

"This was way back in the early 2000s...."

On the Sports front, Columnist Tara Sullivan can't wait to tell readers about "my few, if memorable, intersections with Yogi...."

For the most moving story about Yogi, see Jay Levin's piece on his Montclair neighbors, who recall Berra as a regular guy.

The story is on the front of the Local section under a great headline:

"His home field since 1958"

Other news

Also on Page 1 today, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg is telling NJ Transit bus riders a new Manhattan terminal one block west of the current hub will take 13 years to build and cost $9 billion (A-1).

But there's not a single word in his long account about the easiest way to ease delays at the antiquated terminal now -- running two express bus lanes into the Lincoln Tunnel during the morning and afternoon rush hours. 

In the years Boburg has been covering the Port Authority, he has written little about the bi-state agency's rail and bus operations. 

Ken Zisa

On the Local front, Staff Writer Todd South is reporting a judge is giving the lawyer for Ken Zisa and an assistant prosecutor four months to prepare for a motion to dismiss the remaining charge of official misconduct against the former Hackensack police chief and state assemblyman (L-1).

Four months?

Our glacial legal system is a national disgrace that seems designed to line the pockets of defense attorneys, impoverish defendants and deny many others access to the courts.

Second look: 9/11 photo, IRS scam, Fidel, climate change

Richard L. Cerbo speaking at a Hackensack City Council meeting on Sept. 1. Cerbo, son of a former mayor, is running in a special Nov. 3 election for an open council seat under the banner of "We can do better." His name appears first on the ballot, which lists three other candidates.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With another front page dominated by Pope Francis' first visit to the United States, I'm taking a second look today at recent photos and stories that made their own big splash in The Record.

The photo on the front page the day after the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America was simple and moving:

A father flanked by his two sons, all wearing first-responder uniforms, bowing their heads as they looked at the name of a relative at the memorial in lower Manhattan (A-1 on Sept. 12).

Tall and short

But another photo from the same staff photographer, Chris Pedota, showed a rare gathering of officials at the ceremony, including Governors Christie and Cuomo and the former and current mayors of New York City (A-8 on Sept. 12).

Cuomo is only a few inches taller than Christie, who stood next to him, but I'm sure I wasn't the only reader who was reminded of how much more he has done for the people and economy of New York than the GOP bully has done for the Garden State.

Christie's regressive policies and unbending conservatism are the principal reasons New Jersey remains in the shadow of New York and so many other states.

Yet Editor Martin Gottlieb continues to assign several reporters and editors to Christie's so-called presidential campaign while largely neglecting the state's downward spiral.

Cars v. buses

At the other end of the photo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio towers over his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg may be short, but more than any other previous mayor, he tried and succeeded in taking back the city's streets from cars, and failed only in getting drivers to pay a special toll for entering Midtown.

That story was ignored by The Record, even though tens of thousands of North Jersey residents were affected by the relentless spread of parking meters, red-light cameras, bike lanes, bike-sharing stations and other restrictions.

In New Jersey and at The Record, the car is king, as can be seen from more than a decade of Road Warrior columns examining driving and drivers from every possible angle while ignoring mass transit and related commuting issues.

Mounting traffic congestion at the Hudson River crossings, despite higher tolls, increases pollution and speeds climate change, but the Port Authority hasn't been criticized for refusing to expand rail and bus service into Manhattan.

It's not clear whether that coverage has anything to do with all of the advertising from car dealers and manufacturers in the Woodland Park daily, revenue that is helping to keep the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group afloat.

IRS scams

Kudos to Staff Writer Chris Harris for his riveting expose on IRS scams in New Jersey, including a sidebar recounting his phone call "with a group of IRS scammers," that led the paper on Sept. 18.

I may have missed it, but Harris could have made the point the Internal Revenue Service always sends notices about back taxes or tax underpayments by good, old-fashioned snail mail.

So just hang up if you get a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS.

Cuba coverage

The coverage of Cuba and Pope Francis' visit to the largest island in the Caribbean was especially weak (last Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday), principally because most of it was handled by long-winded Columnist Mike Kelly, who was sent to Havana.

Much of his reporting sounded like an echo of what The Record published the last time a pope visited Cuba.

However, the photos with his columns were supplied by a freelancer, not a staff photographer, in another sign the Woodland Park daily is cutting corners.

One story Kelly didn't cover was the meeting of Francis and Fidel Castro.

Castro, 89, has often been demonized by the media, especially in the years when The Record assigned two Cuban exiles, Miguel Perez and Liz Llorente, to cover the onetime Cuban leader.

Climate change

I chuckled when I read a Washington Post story on The Record's A-6 on Monday reporting "the two [Francis and Fidel] ... discussed their mutual concerns about climate change."

That same day, the editors gave front-page coverage to owners of gasoline-engine cars who spend many thousands of dollars to lower them.

Yet, I have yet to see equal time on A-1 for owners of purely electric vehicles and others drivers who are trying to help the environment.

Every time the price of gasoline drops, The Record trots out a celebratory story on how much drivers are saving, but ignores the impact of more driving on pollution and climate change.

Editors are calling all Catholics and ignoring the rest of us

Teaneck Road and Forest Avenue, where two lanes merge into one, is one of the many traffic bottlenecks in Teaneck that frustrate motorists.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page coverage of Pope Francis' visit to Cuba and the United States drones on today for the fifth day in a row.

From Havana, Columnist Mike Kelly managed to push around tens of thousands of words about Cuba on Saturday, Sunday and Monday without discussing the impact of the decades-long U.S. trade embargo on the island's economy.

GOP bully

In other news, political Columnist Charles Stile is back with another effort to keep Governor Christie's struggling presidential campaign alive (A-1).

"Christie isn't showing any signs of leaving this race anytime soon," Stile reports, basing his conclusion on interviews with "political analysts" (A-4).

Readers say...

Of course, readers became disgusted with Christie months ago, but The Record's lazy assignment editors aren't about to interview any of them.

Their only forum is Your Views (A-8), where letters to the editor appear:

"His refusal to pay for the special costs for his security detail during his presidential run while allowing our state to further decline is inexcusable," says Vince Giovinco of Mahwah.

"The governor should stay home and run the state."

Hackensack news

In Local, the editors managed to find room among all of the Law & Order and Passaic County news for a story about Hackensack (L-1).

For the second year in a row, the state has approved a long-term bond that allows the city to settle another portion of an estimated $30 million in property tax appeals, Staff Writer Todd South reports.

Pope in N.Y.

On Monday, The Record's transportation reporter provided more tips and advice to commuters (and people going to see the pope) than has ever appeared in the paper at any one time.

Also on Monday's front page, The Record focused on drivers who pour tens of thousands of dollars into their cars to get them to ride inches above the ground.

As if that isn't bad enough, the story was assigned to Christopher Maag, the transportation reporter.

If commuters wonder why their awful experiences on NJ Transit buses and trains rarely make the paper, the answer may be that the editors think of a horse race, low riders and other fluff as "transportation" stories.

Marty lets Francis and Sandy hog Page 1

This large, nearly empty lot at Park and Gamewell streets in Hackensack, above and below, already has trees and would make a great park for neighborhood residents, City Hall workers and worshipers at a mosque on Trinity Place. Why don't city officials ask the West New York-based developer of an apartment building on State Street to buy the land, turn it into a park and donate it to the city in return for a proposed 30-year tax break?

Editor Marty Gottlieb devotes almost all of the front page today to Pope Francis and Superstorm Sandy -- in a one-two punch that misses the vast majority of readers in North Jersey. 

Gottlieb does get some points for crowding out a sports column or story, which have become Page 1 staples since he took over The Record's Woodland Park newsroom.

For the third day in a row, A-2 carries a correction.

We miss Jimmy

As The Record's cartoonist, Jimmy Margulies had many big hits and a good number of big misses, but anything from him was better than the tripe that has been running on the Editorial Page since Gottlieb laid him off to cut expenses (A-20).

Today's Local section contains three pages of county, municipal, crime and court news, and three pages of death notices.