Editors gush over inanimate objects

Was any of this restaurant meat raised on antibiotics and other harmful additives? Don't expect a heads-up from Staff Writer Elisa Ung, The Record's restaurant reviewer.

The Record's front page today is dominated by a Manhattan skyscraper that is still under construction and photographs that, frankly, are far from impressive.

The front of Local is dominated by Columnist Mike Kelly getting off on what he calls "a rock," as only this good Catholic could.

Above that L-1 text-and-photo package, readers get the latest news on sidewalk ramps.

Newsroom infestation

And as if the front of the local-news section couldn't get any weirder, Road Warrior John Cichowski selects the rare closure of a rail station from lice for his column on commuting problems.

It's another dull Sunday edition from Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who continues to throw crumbs to Hackensack readers looking for news.

On L-6 today, the lack of information in a Hackensack stabbing story may be due to police officers punishing The Record for its overwhelmingly favorable coverage of the defense being mounted by suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa, who is on trial in Superior Court.

Burying a lively obit

All this brick-and-mortar "news" is front and center, but a local obituary on "a lively redhead," Eileen Demarest of Bloomingdale, is buried on L-3.

Here's a great line: "The closest Eileen came to fishing was opening a can of tuna." 

 
Two Kelly columns

Is this the first time Kelly has had two columns in one edition (L-1 and O-1)?

The Opinion piece scolding Governor Christie for his big mouth exposes Kelly's disdain for unions, but I question why it isn't on Page 1 today.

More copy desk errors

On A-6 today, the caption with the photo of Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington is wrong on two scores:

The cemetery is in Bergen County -- not "Hudson County" -- and readers can see at least 10 buildings in Manhattan, not "the few New York skyline structures" described so stiffly in the caption. 

"New York skyline structures ... "? Who the hell wrote that and who approved it?

Dining-out follies

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung really lets down readers today with her Sunday column on restaurant food that doesn't live up to its billing on menus (The Corner Table, F-1).

The real concern is not whether fish is "fresh." The most important things customers want to know is whether fish is wild-caught and sustainable or farm-raised.

"Aged" beef? Who cares? 

How many times has Ung willingly conspired with a chef by praising an outrageously expensive steak that was raised on harmful antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts (bits of dead animals)?

She couldn't care less. The paper is paying for all the food she reviews, including those artery clogging desserts she crams down her gaping maw.

And she probably feeds leftovers from her restaurant meals to her husband and child, firm in the knowledge that all of them will live forever.

It's a bird, a plane, a shovel -- uh, shuttle

The Record's news copy desk apparently is unaware that Dwight Morrow High School, above, was named after a famous person whose first name was Dwight and whose last name was Morrow. A bad photo caption hyphenates the name.

Older readers scrambled to find their magnifying glasses in order to see the small objects in the sky in today's Page 1 photo.

The Record's editors and the editors at The New York Times ran a nearly identical front-page photo today of the space shuttle Enterprise soaring over the Manhattan skyline on the back of a 747.

Wowee! Gee-whiz. Would you get a load of ... what?

A second photo on A-10 appears to show the Statue of Liberty giving the finger to the 747 pilot.

As the A-1 photo demonstrates, Editor Marty Gottlieb, who spent many years at The Times, didn't fall far from the tree.

Chris who?

Then, Gottlieb squandered the A-1 lead position on Chris Olsen, the moron who refused to suspend Wayne high school players arrested on aggravated assault charges.

Does anybody care what happens to Olsen?

Unbearable


Another gee-whiz photo on A-1 -- of a lighter-than-air bear -- comes all the way from Boulder, Colo., making readers think Denver Post alum Francis "Frank" Scandale didn't get shit-canned as editor last year.


Bridge to big profits

On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, a story and photo updates the rebuilding of the Court Street Bridge between Hackensack and Bogota.

The story makes no mention that completion of the project in May is the final piece needed to make North Jersey Media Group's 20 acres on River Street attractive to such big-box retailers as Wal-Mart.

The bridge would provide a second access route to and from major highways. 

More bad errors

Production Editor Liz Houlton's error-prone news copy desk has been having a field day (see correction on A-2).

On L-2, a photo caption incorrectly hyphenates Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood.

And a much bigger photo on L-3 -- apparently needed to fill space that would normally be taken up by local news -- also carries an incorrect caption.

There is no "Main Street" in Leonia, but the main street is Broad Avenue. 

Hackensack news is missing in inaction again today.

Editors really know how to puck the reader

Hackensack residents are gathering in churches and synagogues, and praying for some municipal news from the editors of The Record. All they hear is "Puck You!"

Pro hockey all over Page 1 of The Record today is Editor Marty Gottlieb's way of saying, "Puck You!" to readers looking for North Jersey news.

Pro football at the bottom of the Local front today is head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' way of saying, "Puck You!" to readers looking for news of their towns.

Using the word "Hackensack" instead of  "Hospital" in an L-1 headline is Production Editor Liz Houlton's way of saying, "Puck You!" to residents who were fooled into reading a story about the medical center that has gobbled up a neighborhood.

Instant snoring

The editors dare you to read today's front-page headlines and stay awake:

"Fracking debate," Utilities authority," "Romney" and "Bank accounts" are guaranteed ways to put insomniacs to sleep.

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin is spending so much time in bed with the defense attorney for suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa (L-1), she hasn't found time to write about passage of the city's budget and any property tax increase -- unlike her counterpart in Englewood  (L-3).

 

Gas guzzling

Road Warrior John Cichowski and all of his gas-guzzling readers simply don't get it: 

If you can't afford to say, "Fill it up," you need to buy a hybrid or other fuel-efficient car (L-1).

Cichowski isn't the only columnist who needs to be replaced.

From the fat files

Staff Writer Elisa Ung and free-lancer Jeffrey Page turn out two of the least-interesting restaurant reviews I've seen in a long time (Better Living).

Most of the food at Tutti Giorni in Norwood sounds awful. 

A desperate Ung ends the review by saying the desserts "are still capable of redeeming any prior flaws in your meal" (Pages 18-19).

That's the sugar-addicted reviewer's way of saying to readers who don't eat artery clogging desserts, "Puck You!"

Up the river

If Page again went over his $50 limit on dinner for 2 (at River Kwai in Totowa), then he should order less food and certainly pass on ice cream for dessert (Page 20).

Zisa's defense lawyer has link to The Record

Suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa is on trial in the imposing Bergen County Courthouse, across the street from the Church on The Green, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers who know anything about criminal trials may be puzzled by how much ink The Record is giving to the defense case of suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa in Superior Court.

Since opening arguments on April 3, the so-called Hackensack reporter -- under the guidance of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes -- has been writing story after story on defense attorney Patricia Prezioso's strategy and her cross-examination of prosecution witnesses.

And the state is still presenting its case, as today's story on L-3 reports.

Zisa defense

"Ms. Prezioso has called every [prosecution] witness a liar," Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel said on Wednesday, out of the presence of jurors.

"She's living on a different planet," Keitel advised Judge Joseph S. Conte.

With her annoyingly high voice, Prezioso may be an alien, but she also is a member of a prestigious law firm with a named partner who has strong ties to The Record of Woodland Park and Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg.

Is there a link?

Could that be why Sykes is giving Prezioso all the column inches she needs as she tries to put Zisa in the best light possible in front of the jury?

Prezioso is a member of McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli of Florham Park.

The Rosen in the firm's name is Bruce S. Rosen, a former Record reporter who was one of Mac's favorites when he was publisher and the daily was in Hackensack.

Borg mortgage

Borg liked Rosen so much he gave him at least one mortgage to buy a home.

Rosen has argued First Amendment cases for North Jersey Media Group, and also represented Borg and his neighbors on Walnut Street in Englewood when they opposed the expansion of an Orthodox synagogue on their block.

Can you imagine the hourly rate charged by Prezioso and Rosen? Will the Borg family be asking for a break in the future, citing the favorable coverage of Prezioso at the Zisa trial? 

Did he do it?

None of the Zisa trial stories have explained whether Prezioso has any proof of the police chief's innocence. 

Nor have I seen her quoted telling the jury, "He didn't do it."

Here are links to profiles with photos of Prezioso, a former prosecutor, and Rosen on their firm's Web site, as well as to a previous Eye on The Record post on a potential conflict.

Patricia Prezioso

Bruce S. Rosen


Law firm's potential conflict

Giving it some gas

Editor Marty Gottlieb leads today's front page with a story on a natural-gas pipeline that winds through six towns, including Harrington Park, where Sykes lives with her husband, Kevin O'Neil, the paper's former graphics director (A-1).

I didn't see any mention of adding a pipeline extension to Woodland Park in an effort to capture the considerable amount of gas generated by certain editors' well-known flatulence.

Also on Page 1 today, a story on the arrest of a Woodland Park cop is the latest story from a  borough the paper now calls home -- to the chagrin of Hackensack readers.

Two of the best-read stories in today's paper are likely to be local obituaries -- reluctant war hero John McGrath of Elmwood Park (A-1) and family farmer John Kroner of Upper Saddle River (L-1).

Also on Sykes' Local front, readers find the latest installment of utility pole news in the form of a large photo from Secaucus. 

 Related articles

• Are the editors defending Chief Zisa?
• Ken Zisa's lawyer blows his defense
• Trials don't get more boring than this
• Editor pairs bums with princes

The wealthy always get their way

Middle-class voters took a gamble and ushered Governor Christie into office in January 2010. They would have done better playing roulette in Atlantic City, above.

Why is Road Warrior John Cichowski wringing his hands on Page 1 of The Record today over a state police escort for a caravan of super cars racing down to Atlantic City?

No one was hurt, no fenders were bent. Now, what about the 628 people who were killed in New Jersey crashes last year (A-10)?

They died because they were driving too fast or were drunk or weren't wearing their seat belts. Or, they were picked off by a maniacal driver tailgating or weaving in and out of traffic.

No enforcement

The bigger crime is the abysmal lack of state police enforcement on state highways.

Cichowski loves statistics, so why doesn't he compare the number of tickets issued on state highways in 2003, when he started writing his silly column, and in 2011. 

Governor Christie reacted in typical fashion when asked about law-breaking by the rich owners of  200-mph cars. He shrugged his shoulders.

Virtually, all of what the GOP bully has done since he took office in 2010 has been designed to help his wealthy supporters. This is no different.

Screwing commuters

The Local front today carries good news for Bergen County rail commuters -- a "loop" that would give them a coveted "one-seat ride" into Manhattan through two new Amtrak tunnels.

But those tunnels wouldn't be finished until 2025 -- just the screwing Christie intended when he cancelled tunnels that were already under construction.

That allowed the GOP bully to grab $3 billion in tunnel money to fix New Jersey roads and avoid raising the gasoline tax on his rich, limo-riding buddies.

Screwing Hackensack

There isn't any Hackensack municipal news from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes today.

Related articles

• Where is the local news in our local paper?
• Lazy editors rely on every cliche

Why not bulldoze parts of Fort Lee?

Super cars escorted by the state police aren't needed to make driving the Garden State Parkway or N.J. Turnpike a challenge, as any weekday commute will show.

Was Production Editor Liz Houlton out shopping for another schmata when the news copy editors she supervises wrote the main headline on Page 1 of The Record today?

Developers looking

for a 'wow' effect

Nothing could be further from the truth, as readers learn if they bother to read to the continuation page (A-6).

Major misquote

The word 'wow" was never used by a developer to describe the Western development, which was unveiled at a public meeting on Monday night -- four weeks after the Fort Lee Planning Board signed off on the Eastern phase and the construction of Bergen County's tallest buildings.

In fact, a Planning Board member said, "Personally ... this presentation didn't wow me." Later, Mayor Marc Sokolich said, "We're looking ... for a bit of 'wow' effect."

All I can say is, Wow. Who screwed up? And did Houlton again sacrifice accuracy to go off in search of another cheap, raggedy dress?

Where was Editor Marty Gottlieb, who has published a number of embarrassing corrections of screw-ups by Houlton and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes (see A-2 today)?

Fort Lee eyesore

The Record has been covering the proposal for vacant land near the George Washington Bridge as if it was the building of the Pyramids, instead of yet another plan to heal a four-decades-old eyesore.

Some residents are upset about the potential impact on schools and roads of all those new residents and cars.

So, maybe the developer should tear down some of the borough's older high-rises and move those residents into the new 47-story towers and other residential spaces -- guaranteeing a huge boost in property taxes, but no change in population.

Speeding commuters

The Record and other media continue to focus on the state police-escorted caravan of super cars that raced down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City on March 30 (A-1).

But no reporter is asking Governor Christie why there is so little enforcement of traffic laws during the rush hour, when ordinary cars and SUVs travel 20 m.p.h. or more over the speed limit, tailgate and weave in and out of traffic -- all because those drivers are late for work.

Free lunch in Vegas

Let's hope Christie doesn't see the story on A-8 today about the Heart Attack Grill, a restaurant in Las Vegas that offers free meals to people weighing more than 350 pounds.

The Record has been running stories lately about Christie working on his national image, including Monday's A-1 report on the GOP bully's plan to cut income taxes, as Republican Christie Whitman did  in 1994 with disastrous results.

Christie's critics can't wait for him to run for national office. The sooner he does that, the sooner the rest of us can start rebuilding the middle class way of life in New Jersey.

Front-page hype

Why is all of Christie's hype and exaggeration reported in Page 1 stories and the reality left for the Editorial Page cartoon (A-10 today)?

On Sykes' Local front today, a gee-whiz, non-fatal accident photo is used as filler (L-1).

The "Welcome to Hackensack" sign in the background of the photo -- and the lack of Hackensack news -- clearly show that Sykes has ordered her staff to stay out of the county seat.

Related articles

• Democrats answer Christie's racism
• Christie caught in another whopper
• Editors try to sell Christie tax cut
• Utility pole news undercuts new editor

Editors reveal Christie's minority strategy

Publisher Stephen A. Borg supports Tenafly officials who have consistently opposed the extension of light-rail service to the old station, above, fearing even more burglars will find rich pickings in the town Borg calls home.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what Governor Christie has done for all the minorities in New Jersey.

In 2010, he proposed cutting $5.5 million from the school breakfast program for low-income students, and first lady Mary Pat Christie chose to tackle the hunger problem in the state -- not the obesity epidemic.

A couple of years after the governor got rid of the only African-American state Supreme Court justice, he named a black lawyer to a seat on the high court, but because the nominee also is gay, he wouldn't be able to take part in any cases involving same-sex marriage.

Today, The Record's front page provides a partial answer to the GOP bully's minority strategy:

A state police escort for a wealthy, led-footed African-American pro football player who led dozens of friends in super cars on a 100 mph-plus trip to Atlantic City (A-1 and A-4). 

That item is only one of Editor Marty Gottlieb's bizarre choices for Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily's once-respected Sunday edition.

Editorial fantasy

If the Nets have been losers since they moved to New Jersey 35 years ago, why make them winners by giving them so much of A-1 today?

The so-called essay on the "City of North Jersey" that leads the paper is a fantasy from the uncluttered mind of a lifer whose cushy job has been the talk of the newsroom for years.

Staff Writer Charles Saydah, the error-prone letters editor, completely ignores all the corrupt municipal officials who have stopped any real progress for residents of more than 100 North Jersey towns.

Sure. We have lots of highways. But we're also saddled with an antiquated local-road system whose traffic jams rival the city's infamous congestion, as well as a dysfunctional mass-transit system. 

Unhealthy news

The only serious piece on A-1 today is Staff Writer Lindy Washburn's eye-opening story on the fund-raisers needed to help people left behind by our pathetic health-care system.

On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, the Road Warrior shows he isn't completely brain dead on commuting problems, but he buries any useful suggestions in a discussion of politics that few readers will slog through (L-1).

View from Tenafly

The latest in a series of stories on Tenafly break-ins appears on L-3 -- apparently inspired by Publisher Stephen A. Borg, who nervously tracks the progress of burglars as they get closer and closer to his Churchill Road McMansion.

Borg already is being held up by Tenafly officials for annual property taxes of around $70,000. He got his $3.65 million mortgage from the family bank, North Jersey Media Group.

Words from a sage

One of the paper's legal experts -- Columnist Mike Kelly -- weighs in on the trial of suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa (O-1).

Here is one of the reporter's brilliant insights: "Think of the 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' mud-wrestling with the cast from 'Jersey Shore.'"

You can be sure the gray-haired Kelly isn't wrestling with anything -- least of all his conscience.

More table scraps

Readers of The Corner Table column in Better Living continue to wait for a discussion of restaurant issues that directly affect them, including low wages for servers, tipping and restaurants that dish low-quality food to boost profits.

Instead, Staff Writer Elisa Ung continues to promote owners and chefs.

Today, Ung's review of eco-friendly initiatives at restaurants is interesting, but why didn't she list chefs who donate leftovers to homeless shelters and food banks (F-1)?

Now, that's the most meaningful recycling of all. 

 

Are the editors defending Chief Zisa?

Superior Court Judge Joseph Conte in Hackensack is weighing a request from the Ken Zisa trial jurors to substitute White Manna hamburgers for their usual lunch of Persian kabobs.

The Record continues to publish story after story on the defense strategy of suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, whose family has ruled the city for decades.

Editors lead the paper today with an "ANALYSIS" -- untroubled that Zisa's defense attorney apparently has conceded he is guilty as charged.

Although Publisher Stephen A. Borg abandoned the city decades ago -- moving the daily paper and North Jersey Media Group to Woodland Park and Rockaway -- Editors Marty Gottlieb and Deirdre Sykes seem to be sticking by Zisa's side.

The facts aren't disputed: 

Zisa is charged with coercing his subordinates to file false police reports at least twice -- in 2004, when his girlfriend's teenage sons were involved in a planned ambush, and in 2008, when she was driving dunk and wrecked the chief's SUV.

Insurance fraud

Zisa also is charged with filing a fraudulent insurance claim for $11,000, claiming girlfriend Kathleen Tiernan swerved to avoid hitting an animal.

Tiernan is on trial with Zisa, but now she is called his former, live-in girlfriend. Of course, Zisa (at least in 2004 and 2008) acted as if his brain is in his penis.

Those Secret Service agents in Colombia also acted as if their brains are in their penises (A-1 and A-4 today).

Will the predominately female jury at the Zisa trial identify with his defense lawyer, Patricia Prezioso, who is coming to the chief's rescue, just as he came to Tiernan's rescue?

I spent an hour in the courtroom on Thursday -- before I was driven out by sheer boredom. 

Poker faces

But the jurors were poker-faced as they listened to the cross-examination of Police Officer Laura Campos, so there is no way to know what they think of the defense case.  

With Stephanie Akin, the so-called Hackensack reporter, covering the Zisa trial full time, Sykes had to assign two other reporters to Hackensack news today (Local front, L-2).

On L-1, a story on the rezoning of 39 city blocks in and around the struggling downtown makes no attempt to identify who owns all of that property and who will profit from a new urban center.

Friday's paper

The Record has never been friendly to mass transit, and continues to ignore the thousands of NJ Transit bus riders who have to stand in the aisles on their morning commute to the city (A-3)

Governor Christie's eyes closed during an April 9 Bruce Springsteen concert. But the GOP bully claims he wasn't just sleeping off another big meal (A-4).

Road Warrior John Cichowski still hasn't admitted his own addiction -- to rewriting surveys and studies in a desperate bid to avoid leaving the office and reporting on commuting problems (L-1).

Boring kabobs

In Better Living, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung tells readers nothing about the quality of the beef, lamb and poultry served at the forgettable Ravagh Persian Grill in Edgewater (Pages 16 and 17).

She is either endorsing the owners' focus on profits over serving quality food to customers or cares more about sampling the restaurant's desserts.

With so many Turkish, Syrian and Lebanese restaurants around, kabobs are among the least exciting dining choices in North Jersey.

Trials don't get more boring than this

In Courtroom 312, some people were nodding off today.

After reading The Record's report of a "bruising cross-examination" and the judge threatening a witness with "contempt of court,"  I rushed over to hear testimony today in the criminal trial of suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa.

BOR-R-R-R-ING.

Even the headline on Wednesday's L-2 story was incorrect -- as Editor Liz Houlton's news copy editors continue to shoot themselves in the foot:

Hackensack cop grilled by Zisa's lawyers

True. There are two defense attorneys. But one represents Zisa's former girlfriend, who is on trial with him.

The trial is being held in a small, plain courtroom on the third floor of the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack. 

Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte is presiding, having lost a far nicer courtroom on the fourth floor that had a view of the ornate courthouse dome (see photo).

Akin and Kelly

Hanging on every word are Staff Writer Stephanie Akin -- the so-called Hackensack reporter -- who typed occasionally on a laptop computer, and other reporters.

Sitting next to Akin this morning was Staff Writer Mike Kelly, whose hair has turned all gray or white. I can't imagine how he is going to hype the tedious proceedings and turn them into a column. 

Police Officer Laura Campos continued her testimony today under questioning from Zisa's defense lawyer, Patricia Prezioso, a tall, thin woman with an annoyingly high voice.

Not much of a defense

Prezioso is trying to attack the credibility of Campos, using the officer's previous testimony in related proceedings, including a lawsuit.

Trials don't get any more boring than this. 

Prezioso referred to interrogatories, transcripts and certifications, at times projecting them on a large screen opposite the jury box, where women outnumber men.

During a break, Zisa got up from his seat at the defense table and asked a woman in the audience for her opinion of Campos as a witness against him.

Today's paper

Don't you love to see a top Port Authority executive squirming under questioning about high tolls (A-1)?

But readers shouldn't be fooled into thinking lavish front-page coverage of all this thunder from Sen. Frank Lautenberg is going to result in a rollback in the price of admission to the Hudson River crossings.

What's the matter with Lautenberg anyway? 

The multimillionaire could have reached into his pocket, taken out $2,000 or $3,000 in large bills and thrown them at PA bigwig Bill Baroni, who said the senator enjoyed free tolls for years.

"Here's your crummy money, you bum!" 

But that never happened.

Word pusher

On L-1 today, where is Kelly's gray hair in that unflattering thumbnail photo with his column?

He's writing about the death of a 19-year-old immigrant, and another photo shows people laughing in a hardware store.

Kelly's lead paragraph says Denis Batres Duarte's "American Dream came to end ... on a street where pink dogwood is blushing and the summer's canopy of sycamores is just beginning to bud."

Is it "summer" already? Is Kelly the gardening columnist now? Is that kind of random detail really appropriate?

Free advertising

On L-7, the business editors again eat Better Living's lunch with a long, promotional story on the latest venture from one of the biggest restaurant families in North Jersey.

The Dohertys own nearly 100 restaurants. Imagine  how rich they are. Why are they getting all this publicity for a wine bar in Clifton? 

For balance, shouldn't the reporter have told readers just how little employees of this restaurant empire are getting paid?

Wednesday's paper

Road Warrior John Cichowski is getting so desperate for material that he answered a supposed e-mail from his father, referred to as "Dad," in his L-1 column on Wednesday (L-1 and L-2). 

Doesn't he ever visit the poor soul?

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes had to rely on another freak accident photo to fill her Local section (L-1).

It doesn't look like the SUV actually broke through a wall, so the photo over line is incorrect:

AN UNEXPECTED HOUSEGUEST

A riposte from Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies

Was the captain "texting" before the ship hit an iceberg?

Jimmy Margulies was quick to defend his Titanic cartoon, which ran in The Record on Sunday -- 100 years after the ship went down with more than 1,500 passengers.

The cartoonist deflected my criticism on Tuesday -- that he used a non-sequitur to attribute the cause of the disaster to "texting" by the captain.

Margulies says:

"For your information, not only did The Record publish my cartoon on the Titanic, but Newsday did also, as well as The Palm Beach Post.

"You are the only one in the entire country who objected to it.

"And what does winning awards in the past have to do with this cartoon? The awards I won were for cartoons done in previous years.

"In addition to your completely irrational and  hateful attitude towards many of your former colleagues, your editorial judgements are very questionable, to say the least.

"You often do not know what you are talking about."

Jimmy Margulies

Margulies is typical of most journalists, who never feel a need to explain themselves to readers or provide any insight into the editorial process.

Saying his cartoon was published elsewhere is really lame. Am I supposed to bow down to the editorial judgment of Newsday or The Palm Beach Post?

Sadly, newspaper journalism is at a low point. Even The New York Times has had scandals.

I brought up his awards because Margulies is wildly inconsistent. Maybe, journalism prizes should be awarded for a body of work, not just one or two cartoons or stories.

And if Margulies doesn't care to be exposed to my "hateful attitude" toward some of my former colleagues, I invite him to read my food blog, where the only hateful attitude is toward low-quality meat and poultry.

Here is a link to my blog, Do You Really Know What You're Eating?  

Click here: Eat Me!