Tue, 28 October 2008 A special thanks to DJ Z Trip for allowing me to play his fantastic Barack Obama Mix. Go Vote! Listen to the show here Category: general -- posted at: 9:46 PM Comments[4] | ||
Sat, 18 October 2008 Hopefully, Mr. Keillor won't have a problem if I repost this - what he writes is fantastic. GARRISON KEILLOR
Category: general -- posted at: 9:05 AM Comments[0] | ||
Tue, 30 September 2008  Back with a vengance, its the Jersey Toddshow. I was all fired up tonight about Podcamp Philly, and the Podcasting community. The good, bad, and ugly is all here. (Well, I'm not sure about the ugly....)Featuring Listen to the show here Buy these albums 
You know that I believe in the podcast community. Sure,
it doesn't exist in any kind of formal sense, and maybe it no longer
exists in the "us versus them" mentality that it did 3-years ago. Maybe
it doesn't exist in a "Bum Rush the Charts" kind of way. Maybe it
only exists in between your earbuds. But at the end of the day, if you
make a podcast, listen to a podcast, or know the word podcast, you are
part of the community.
I first learned of Barack Obama like the majority of Americans
at the 2004 Democratic Convention. I subsequently read his books, and,
have been an adament supporter of him since - but you know how I really
got to know Barack Obama - he's a podcaster. That's right, since 2006,
right there at the dawn of Podcasting - Barack Obama has put out a
podcast. Sometimes it was unique content, sometimes it was replaying
town hall meetings or speeches - but "The Barack Obama Show" has been
right there with you and me and this whole new media revolution. So,
I'm going to talk about Barack Obama tonight not as a politician, not
as a candidate for president, but as a fellow podcaster.
On the last episode, I made a bit of a joke that was perhaps not the most respectful thing that I had ever done. I reiterated the "Little Known Facts" meme about Sarah Palin, and for that I apologize. I sincerely apologize. I do this because at the end of the day, she is someone that deserves my respect. She is in fact the Governor of the 47th most populated State in the Country - Alaska. This is a State with 3 electorial votes, and one Congressman. A State who trails the thriving metropolis of South Dakota by over a 100,000 people. Sara Palin, who we now know, knows as much about the Bush Doctrine as she does about particle physics. Because, as a podcaster, I want you not to treat Sarah Palin as a joke. As a podcaster I want you to listen to every word out of John McCain's mouth. As a podcast listener, and part of various online communities, I want you to take Sarah Palin, the woman who potentially is another melanoma away from the Presidency, very, very seriously for one simple reason. Sarah Palin and John McCain, and the Republican Party, don't like the internet. We know that John McCain tried to stop internet gambling while
having a basketball pool on his website where you could win McCain
shwag.
We know that John McCain doesn't have the first idea about net
neutrality, or what it means to you and like Senator Stevens refers to
the net as a series of pipes.
We know that John McCain, doesn't like bloggers. He once
sponsored a bill called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our
Children Act" which would fine blogs up to 300 grand for offensive
statements, photos and videos posted to your site by a visitor.
Hmm...Barack Obama wanted to teach age appropriate curriculum to make
kids aware of pedophiles and what to do, and John McCain wanted to stop
pedophilia by fining web sites. Sheesh.
We know that John McCain was one of the most vocal opponents
to E-rate, which would provide discount Internet access to schools and
libraries because of the potential lost revenue to the
telecommunications industry.
But all of this, I look at as politics as usual. I'm not
really sure John McCain can set the VCR. I'm sure John McCain thinks
that Twitter is something pornographic, and Facebook is a movie with
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. Wow, that reference was a foul ball.
Jeez, I've been hitting references lately like the Mets have been
hitting fastballs. Its the Jersey Todd September swoon!
What really upset me was the GOP convention. I really had a
problem with this, as a podcaster and a member of Internet communities
- and maybe I'm taking it all a little personal - but then again, all
politics are local. On two successive nights, "America's Mayor" Rudy
Giuliani and "Barracuda" Sarah Palin both took the opportunity to make
fun of Barack Obama's community organizer experience.
They tried to make the term "community organizer" sound like a
dirty word. They wanted to make you think that when someone graduates
law school and has an opportunity to make a lot of money that they
should immediately do so. The downright snarkiness from them was
unbearable. I'm not saying that a community organizer has as much
executive experience as a mayor of a big town like New York City, or a
small town like Wasilla. In fact, its the community organizers in these
cities and towns that generally are a pain in the ass for Mayor's to
deal with because they help give a voice to those who don't have a
voice. No wonder they don't like community organizers. But they made it
out to sound like Barack was following Jerry Garcia for two years. I
believe since that time, even John McCain has softened his stance on
this issue like a 72-year old with an expired prescription for Viagra.
Two weekends ago, I attended Podcamp Philly. I didn't want to
go. In fact, I tried my hardest to come up with a justification not to
go. For the longest time, I have been of the community but not part of
the community. The morning of Podcamp was dark, and rainy, and the kids
were acting up, and my wife had to push me out the door. I had
committed to speak on a panel regarding music and well, sometimes you
just have to do it.
But here's the thing that blew me away, I actually had a
pretty decent time. I saw a lot of people that I only knew from online
communities. I made some amazing connections. I actually learned a
thing or two.
But here's the thing that I took away from it - as someone
that uses the Internet - the minute that you make your presence known
on the net - you automatically start becoming a "community organizer".
From your friends on myspace or facebook, to followers on facebook, to
connections on linked in, you are making a conscious effort to bring
people that you know into your little community - and then you do
something with your little community - you either try to entertain them
with your "lol" worthy humor or sharing your family pictures, or even,
dare I say it - telling them what music to buy or books to check out.
OK, now here's the clincher, as Podcasters we are using this community
organizer way in exactly the same way that Saul Alinsky, or Cesar
Chavez, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama would have wanted - we create
bottom up groups to challenge the status quo - whether its of the music
industry the video industry or whatever, and if you think that it
doesn't scare people like John McCain or Sarah Palin then I've got a
bridge to sell you in Alaska. Lets face it, Podcasters are Community
Organizers Version 2.0.
Podcasting, Blogging, Social Media, midget porn sites, have
the ability to bring people together with similar interests. Right now,
this talk may only hit one set of ears at a time, but you all are
sharing in that community experience. Shame on the Republican Party for
trying to make fun of organized communities. The right to assemble is
Constitutionally guaranteed whether online or in the streets of
Chicago, and I can stand only so much but i will not sit quietly and
allow the Republican Party to bad mouth the United States Constitution.
My name is Jersey Todd, and I am a community organizer. Got a problem with it? Category: podcasts -- posted at: 8:49 PM Comments[0] | ||
Wed, 17 September 2008 I interviewed these gentlemen a couple weeks ago, but I had to once again encourage you to check out their album. I am absolutely addicted to it, and you will be, too. Category: general -- posted at: 10:14 AM Comments[0] | ||
Wed, 10 September 2008 My candidate, Barack Obama, took some silly heat from John McCain today, because he said the following: "You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said during a campaign stop. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years." McCain's campaign accused Obama of "smearing" Governor Palin, in "offensive and disgraceful" comments and demanded an apology — though McCain himself used the folksy metaphor a few times last year,including once to describe Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan. As you know, I love to write, and I am not 100% sure that the phrase was something provided to Senator Obama, or if it was something that he came up with on the spur of the moment. However, in an effort, to help the Obama campaign, the following are phrases to avoid in the future as to not offend the hypersensitive McCain/Palin ticket:
I have known pigs, pigs have been friends of mine, and Sarah Palin is no pig with lipstick. Saying so would only insult a well respected member of the barnyard community, and I don't believe that was Senator Obama's intention. Compare the McCain/Palin reaction to perceived name calling to the Obama reaction, and really think about who is addressing the substantive issues here. Finally, what's good for the goose is indeed good for the the porker.
Category: general -- posted at: 10:58 AM Comments[0] | ||
Sat, 6 September 2008 Today, I attended Podcamp Philly. Here are my observations:
Category: general -- posted at: 10:30 PM Comments[2] | ||
Wed, 3 September 2008  Was that too long of a delay for you? Well, after the longest delay in JTS history, Summer break is over, and we go back to school. Featuring:
I failed the New Jersey Bar Exam. Back in the day, the pass rate was something around two-thirds, but that meant that there was a certain amount of people that failed. Don't ask me to do the math. Its hard. But, I was devistated. I was embarassed. I was out a couple hundred bucks to take the test, a grand for the bar prep class, oh, and had obtained law school loans of a small South American dictatorship which I shall be paying off with Social Security checks. Don't get me wrong, I studied. I studied harder for that thing longer, and harder than anything than I ever studied for in my life. Which, actually, is saying something. For about two months, every day, every hour, every thought - was directed at that god-damned test. I had flash-cards. I had wall charts. I had notes over the toilet, which, I have no shame to tell you that to this day, I become "pee shy" any time anyone mentions the Rule Against Perpetuities. I grew a goatee. I listened to lectures from BarBri on the treadmill. I watched the Rocky series, over and over and over. When the weekend of the test came, I was mentally ripped, psyched up like a caged animal and ready to release a can of whoopass all over that bad boy. Do you smell what Jersey Todd is cooking? Yeah, right, I know - I do hard-core macho like Paris Hilton does intellectual. Now let me explain to you my bar exam story. I first drove from Wilmington, Delaware where I lived at the time, having graduated Widener University School of Law down to Valley Forge, PA, the site of the PA bar exam. I get there and in the parking lot of the hotel that everyone who is taking the test, there is a car all trashed looking, and someone had spray-painted the word "NAFA" all over it. I had no idea what that meant. Bizarre. "NAFA" didn't ring a bell. And you must remember, that I am like over nervous at this point. I am on edge. I am caffinated. I am just 100% raw. Let me take a step back and explain what I was wearing - because its relevant. A year earlier, my parents had gone on a vacation, and they bought be back a t-shirt from a bar that said "Fat Cats." Comfortable shirt, and I hadn't thought anything of it. Now this was the type of hotel, where you had to take the elevator to the main desk to check in. So, I get into the elevator and in walk three of the biggest women that I think I have ever seen in my life. I mean not just chubby. Not just pleasantly plump. I mean buffaloes. I mean I think I heard the cable to the elevator say, "oh shit" when it saw them. But the worst part is that they are staring at me like I am like a fried-ham dipped in chocolate and then refried in happy juice. They looked like they were about to devour me. Again, I didn't get it, but that was the most uncomfortable yet oddly flattering 30-seconds of an elevator ride in my life. We get out of the elevator, and the sign at the front desk says, "Welcome PA Bar Exam and National Association of Fat Americans Conference." And me, with my "Fat Cats" T-shirt realized at that very moment that there is indeed a god, and they find great amusement in torturing me. The next two days was the PA bar exam, and I was rocking. One whole day of multiple choice questions for 8-hrs, and another day of essays covering something like 32-subjects, of which you were expected to be an expert in each, and for the most part, those two days, I was. Don't ask me to do it again. I doubt that I could. Following the second day, since most of the room was taking the PA and NJ exams, we all had to check out of our hotel in PA, and travel down the Turnpike, over the bridge, into New Jersey. Let me explain, how this Cannonball run went. We had over a hundred, burnt out, exhausted lawyers, who haven't slept in say - two months - whose, in their addled mind, believed that there entire future rested solely upon their actions this weekend. And then, they told us to drive. I am proud to say that I made it, but at least five people got into serious car accidents which precluded them from taking the test. One guy ended up at a Hooters somewhere in Cherry Hill, and was never heard from again. The next morning, having failed to eat anything for fear of puking I took the next 8-hours of Jersey specific bar exam. No it had nothing to do with Mobsters or toxic waste. That's too easy a joke. But again, I was rocking. I was arrogant. I even went as far in my essays to question the validity of some of the questions themselves. To say that I was on fire, would be an understatement. And just like that, it was over. It was done. It was out of my hands. Four months of agony later, my results came. I had passed the PA exam. To this day, I still am in shock that I pulled it off. However, I had failed the New Jersey exam. To make matters worse, I failed it by .5 - less than half a point. Life went on. The New Jersey Judge that I was working for at the time was decent about it. My friends and family were sympathetic. I looked around at getting a job in philly, and I went back to work at passing the thing. Six months later, I went back to the same convention hall and took the god-damned test again, played the thing a whole lot more conservatively, and almost a year to day from when I graduated law school, I found out that I had passed the New Jersey bar. The rest of the story, well, that's been going on for nearly ten years. I tell you this story not to toot my own horn, or to educate you about the bar exam. In fact, trying to condense the universal panic and terror of the bar exam into a small essay is absolute misnomer. Unless you've been through it, its impossible to explain fully. I tell you this story, to tell you another story -that of the bar exam story of Shannon Kelly. In 2003, Shannon Kelly graduated Barry University School of Law, in Florida. Last year, he took the bar exam in West Virginia. In response to his stated disability, the State of West Virginia allowed him to have exam booklets that were specially printed in 18-point type, let him take the test in a private room, and check this - gave him an extra day to finish. Despite bending over backward like a double-jointed limbo dancer, Shannon still, like a nice percentage of the West Virginia test takers, did not pass. He wants to try again, but this time he wants an additional accommodation. He has sued to be given all of the above accommodations, plus an additional day to finish the test. While in law school, his Barry U professors gave him twice the normal time to finish his exams. Twice the normal time for the West Virginia bar would be four days. Kelly's lawyer, Edward McDevitt, says that the Board has violated Kelly's rights as a disabled person under the ADA. "He has invested enormous time, money and energy to reach the threshold of the profession," explained McDevitt. "But he has severe deficits in processing speed, cognitive fluency and rapid naming." Now, I don't want to make fun of Shannon Kelly. That would be wrong. I don't know what his deficiencies are, and I don't want to assume. At the end of the day, he graduated with a juris doctorate from Barry University in 2003. Originally, Barry U was called The University of Orlando Law School. Its inaugural law school class on Sept. 18 1995. The first year the law school had only evening and weekend courses and a full time faculty of four professors. A school whose first graduating class was in 2000 with 17-graduates, and received ABA accreditation only a year before Kelly graduated. So, I'm not going to say anything negative about Kelly or Barry University, I'm just going to leave you to your own opinion. Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink. Trade school. Ahem. Kinda probably shouldn't have gone to law schoo in the first place. But, Kelly's lawsuit to acquire additional accomodations is now pending before Judge David Faber, who originally denied Kelly's request for the July. Let me give some unsolicited advice to Judge Faber: "No, No, Nein, Nunca" or as we say in Joisey - "fuggetaboutit." As much as Kelly should be proud of his achievements to date, his lawyer says that he has trouble with processing speed, cognitive fluency and rapid naming. Hey, the bar exam is a test of cognitive fluency, rapid naming and processing speed. It is a test that is partially fraternity hazing, but in most part a test to see if you can do the essential functions of the job. No Judge in their right mind is going to allow you an extra two days to write a brief. The Court Rules don't get extended just because you claim a disability. If the Rules say that you have to submit an Answer to a Complaint within 30-days, damn it, that generally means 30-days. I'm all for reasonable accomodations, but at the end of the day, there has to be a line where reasonable accomodations end and start being called special privileges. At the end of the day, if Kelly isn't quick enough, or smart enough, or able to retain enough it does him no good to actually pass the bar. Is he going to charge clients at a reduced rate? Is any Judge going to give him special accomodations based on his disability. Is his clients going to give him a pass when he doesn't get the results that they paid him for? Or are they just going to sue him for malpractice. I'm sure I could play in the NBA if they would just give me a bigger ball, stilts, and made Shaq play on his knees. Actually, Shaq would still be taller than me. I'm sure I could do brain surgery if they just told the patient that I needed more time to complete the surgery. I mean really, look what happened when we elected a President that needed special accomodations? Jeez. No. I'm sorry. Its enough. Take the test a thousand times Shannon. I hope you pass, someday. I hope that you do so under the same buck-toothed standards that the rest of the West Virginia Bar had to endure. Doing so would just lower the bar for the profession. Its a hard, unfair world, and I really really respect the effort but I don't think that its fair to make an accomodation over the essential functions of the job - in the same way that you wouldn't let an airline pilot only fly with one eye. And if you do pass, I hear that the folks at the National Association of Fat Americans are looking for an attorney. They don't pay well, but I understand that they give a generous food allowance. Category: general -- posted at: 2:21 PM Comments[4] | ||
Tue, 26 August 2008 Today, I spoke with Brian of the Star Ledger regarding Michael Strahan's divorce and possible return to the Giants. Brian does a fantastic webcast that you need to check out (and maybe he'll have me back some day). Check out the reviews of the episode on "The Exploding Newsroom"
Category: general -- posted at: 1:31 PM Comments[0] | ||
Mon, 21 July 2008 If that title doesn't grab you, what does? Featuring:
As a kid, I loved reruns of the Carol Burnett show. In fact, I have in my posession autographs from Tim Conway and the late, great, Harvey Korman. I will even go as far to say, that I would put the Carol Burnett show right next to Saturday Night Live as one of the greatest sketch comedy shows of all time. This is a non-argument, and if you disagree with me, go over to YouTube, right now and you'll see what I'm talking about - absolute classic stuff. Now just so you know, Ms. Burnett is a hero of mine. But, there is a side of her that is not so funny, and in an effort of full disclosure - I should tell you about it. First, she sued the National Enquirer for libel in 1981, and in 2007, she sued the producers of Family Guy for copyright violations. So, we're not - gonna - do - anything - or say anything - or even look funny - that would cause Carol Burnett, to want to sue me. Nobody move, and nobody gets hurt. But I did want to use Carol Burnett as an example, satirically, without any intention of defaming her or having you, the listener, devalue her image or celebrity in anyway. Jeez, is that enough scared lawyer talk? Ok, here's the punchline - you know how at the end of all of her shows how she tugged her ear to let her grandmother know that everything was ok, well in today's society that would only be interpreted as one thing.....gang signs. From the Obama's fist bump to the NFL making an attempt to crack down on players making gang signs, every one has become absolutely paranoid about our non-verbal communication. Its fair to say that your ass may ultimately get your ass in trouble. There must be something in the water, there must be a cool breeze passing through the country because this past week, in Flint, Michigan and Paterson, New Jersey proposals have butted into the public sphere, or should I say they've cracked open into our consciousness, because under proposals in Flint and Paterson, there are attempts to make it illegal to have droopy drawers. In Flint, Interim Police Chief David Dicks has indicated that he plans on arresting individuals whose pants expose their underwear or butts. "Some people call it a fad," Dicks told the Detroit Free Press this week while patrolling the streets of Flint. "But I believe it's a national nuisance. It is indecent and thus it is indecent exposure, which has been on the books for years." With all that's going on those crime ridden cities, politicians and law enforcement folks are making it illegal for individuals to let their pants sag. In Flint, if you show a little tushie, you could be punished for up to 93-days in jail and/or up to $500 in fines. So apparently, every issue related to crime in Flint and Paterson have been completely resolved and they've now become the fasion police. There is absolutely no indication, study, paper, essay, evaluation, treatise, or investigation that would corroborate Chief Dicks assertion that raising the belt level of teenage trousers would lower the crime level in Flint,Michigan or any other city. There is no indication that droopy drawers have anything to do with gang membership or any other criminal intention. In a lot of these neighborhoods, and the kids aren't going to tell you about it, but these are hand-me-down jeans passed from older brother to younger brother or younger sister. I know, I worked there. This is not a legal issue. This is a taste issue. Of course, in some neighborhoods you'll see more crack than Amy Winehouse's medicine cabinet. I don't like it at all, either. But I do not feel that the police have any right to tell people how to dress. Look if the kid is running around intentionally naked and causing a disruption that's one thing - but I don't think that this is the case. I think these are kids that are letting their drawers sag to get attention - in no different a fashion as a mohawk would be in a different setting. Ultimately, the fact that this is suddenly only an inner-city problem and not a suburban problem says more about law enforcement in inner cities than it does about anything else. This is something that can be fixed very simply with a belt either applied liberally to the waistband or to the behind. At the end of the day, this is not an issue for the police but one of parenting. Maybe we can get corporate America to help out. I'm sure all of these inner city kids would be completely happy if Haines or Fruit of the Loom just came out with boxers that, well, looked like jeans. And I'm sure, that somewhere in a warehouse, there are boxes and boxes of Mork from Ork suspenders just laying around from the late seventies unsold, and all it takes is one Kanye or P.Diddy track - and those things are hotter than big ass rims on a Cadallac. Maybe its about fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of things that are absurd. But, I'm really not afraid of a kid with baggy pants mugging me - heck, what's he going to do afterward run? He'll be ass over feet within two steps. Shop-lifting? Are we really as ignorant to think that kids with baggy pants are going to be shop lifters? Well, if I ever owned a store, and a kid comes in and shoves one of my product down the front of his pants or down the back and tries to steal it....well, I don't really want that product back anyway. That's what insurance is for. There are laws that are going to be applied to poor African-American or caucasian teens. I want this law applied equally to all people in the community. I'm talking to you, Mr. Plumber-Butt. I can't tell you how many times my old landlord used to shoot the moon every time my sink stopped up. I just wanted to drop an ice-cube down that Grand Canyon. It was like a car-accident - I didn't want to look but that crevace was just enormous. Nasty, nasty memory. But on the either end of the spectrum, we wouldn't want to all be complete chauvinists, either - because I can't tell you how many young women let me see the dental floss that they're wearing for underwear, and as a married man, let me just say, that is so wrong. Young, available women showing off their butts like that. Just really, really wrong. Maybe Officer Dicks just has a thing for young male butts. Maybe he has a thing for young inner-city males rear ends. Maybe he's going for a promotion. Of course, it would strain the credibility of this very podcast if I were to say that if he were promoted he'd be Inspector Dicks, so lets just hope he gets demoted back down to Private Dicks. These kids have a 1st Amendment right toward self-expression. If they want to look like a bumbling idiot, they're allowed to. If they want to look like they have a dirty diaper, they're allowed to. If a girl thinks a boy looks more attractive because his chariot swings lower than the next guy, I say, Really? For better or worse, its about communication, and I don't want to go all Bill Cosby here, but these kids are communicating horribly - but I really believe for better or worse, they have a right to expose their BVD's as long as they watch their Ps and Qs - as much as I don't like it. Like I said, its a matter of taste and a matter of degree. As much as I personally don't want to see it - I don't know how this became a priority or how its enforced. I can't even imagine a trial involving this. What Judge in their right mind is going to want to listen to an officer talking about a kid's butt. But, heh, at the end of the day, when you're talking about putting a person in jail for a 93 days, there is ultimatly going to be a trial and even more of a waste of municipal resources. Maybe there is a bright-line test. Boxers and briefs ok, but at the end of the day - just say no to crack. Oh wow, Carol Burnett would be so disappointed in me that I just spent the last few minutes of your life talking about the social-political ramifications of butts. Actually, I'm kind of ashamed of myself, too. Just say no to crack. Horrible. Category: general -- posted at: 10:19 PM Comments[2] | ||
Thu, 17 July 2008 Check out this nice email that I got from the boys at Woodfish. 'Hey Todd, I told the 95.9 WRAT to plug your podcast. They are pushing our show for this Saturday and I had them use a quote from, you, “They are just a lot of fun, with a mix of sounds and enthusiasm that is just infectious.” Plus it’s a nice plug for your podcast. Now podcasting, is taking over FM.
Category: podcasts -- posted at: 10:28 AM Comments[0] | ||
