Thursday, December 24, 2009
Bargainman
Enjoyed a browse through Radio Shack although they didn't have what I wanted. Then, just to be perverse, I walked across the street to the most frightening store in the world, Bargainman. I knew this two level emporium of slave labor clothes, crap plastic battery toys, ugly home furnishings, & astonishing kitsch dust collectors would be a madhouse. It was. Nothing in Bargainman is a bargain - because everything is worth what you pay for it or less. I buy six-packs of black cotton socks there. I regret not recording the cacophony of 500 plastic battery demonstration toys from China any one of which, should you be foolish enough to buy it for a child, will be broken at this time tomorrow.
Then I walked up the block to Shoppers World, an urban dept. store chain that picks up where Bargainman leaves off. Some of the same clothing & kitsch, but also name brands. The Fruit of the Loom underwear is not seconds. I found exactly what I wanted; an inexpensive, small, well-rated Proctor Silex electric mill that, hopefully, won't grind nuts & pumpkin seeds into butter. Merry Christmas to me & my smoothies. Why is Shoppers World open on Christmas Day from 9 to 5?
***
N.J. father David Goldman and son fly home from Brazil
I feel for Sean Goldman. He doesn't want to return to the United States. He hardly knows his dad & he's coping with the death of his mom. It's a Solomonic emotional predicament. But the law is clear enough. His mother abducted him to Brazil. His natural father appealed to international law in gaining custody. Nothing has come to light about David Goldman that would make him appear an unfit parent. This should have been resolved quickly, after he was taken to Brazil. The only reason Sean didn't receive earlier press attention was because Sean stayed in a middle class lifestyle in an open, westernized nation. Had he been taken to China, or Uganda, or Saudi Arabia, he would've been a Nancy Grace cause célèbre all along. Rep. Chris Smith assured his reelection with this, not that he was in danger of losing; he also happens to be an expert on this kind of matter. But there's talk that NJ Sen. Frank Lautenburg finally got pissed off & brought the hammer down on Brazil just by shuffling some of the inbox appropriations committee paperwork on his desk.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Then I walked up the block to Shoppers World, an urban dept. store chain that picks up where Bargainman leaves off. Some of the same clothing & kitsch, but also name brands. The Fruit of the Loom underwear is not seconds. I found exactly what I wanted; an inexpensive, small, well-rated Proctor Silex electric mill that, hopefully, won't grind nuts & pumpkin seeds into butter. Merry Christmas to me & my smoothies. Why is Shoppers World open on Christmas Day from 9 to 5?
***
N.J. father David Goldman and son fly home from Brazil
I feel for Sean Goldman. He doesn't want to return to the United States. He hardly knows his dad & he's coping with the death of his mom. It's a Solomonic emotional predicament. But the law is clear enough. His mother abducted him to Brazil. His natural father appealed to international law in gaining custody. Nothing has come to light about David Goldman that would make him appear an unfit parent. This should have been resolved quickly, after he was taken to Brazil. The only reason Sean didn't receive earlier press attention was because Sean stayed in a middle class lifestyle in an open, westernized nation. Had he been taken to China, or Uganda, or Saudi Arabia, he would've been a Nancy Grace cause célèbre all along. Rep. Chris Smith assured his reelection with this, not that he was in danger of losing; he also happens to be an expert on this kind of matter. But there's talk that NJ Sen. Frank Lautenburg finally got pissed off & brought the hammer down on Brazil just by shuffling some of the inbox appropriations committee paperwork on his desk.
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, holidays, in the news, New Jersey politics, shopping
