For more than three years, I have had the pleasure of being the editor of San Jose Inside. It has been a lot of fun and I have learned much about myself and our community and fellow citizens. That’s why today is a sad day for me as it will be the last time I will write as a regular contributor to the site. Alas, I must give up the editorship of SJI to make more time for other projects.
I would like to thank everyone who has participated in this community experiment so far. When we started this site back in 2005, we never dreamed it would be as successful as it has become and last as long as it has. It has been a fascinating experience exchanging ideas with everyone here and I have especially enjoyed sparring with those of you who do not agree with my views. I have learned most of all from you.
While I will no longer be intimately involved with SJI on a daily basis, I will join in the discussion as a citizen blogger when I can. San Jose Inside will continue much as it has but without some of us who have been here since its beginning. You can rest assured that the site is in good hands with Eric Johnson as editor and that he is committed to continuing the hosting of community discussions on matters of public interest and further developing the content side of SJI. I hope that you will support his efforts as you have mine in the past.
And finally, I would like to thank my long-time colleagues—Tom McEnery, John McEnery IV, Single Gal and Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio—as well as our many guest contributors and the more recent additions from Metro. It has been a real pleasure to work with all of you.
These are tough times for all of us in this country. Our economy has been driven to the brink and our reputation in the international community is in tatters. It is easy to blame government for our ills, but we must all share in that responsibility. The voters made a terrible mistake “electing” and then re-electing our current incapable president—who did not have the common American’s best interests at heart but those of the oil barons, war profiteers and Wall Street speculators and banksters—and either supporting his administration’s foul deeds outright or standing by with little real protest, even though we all knew deep down inside that what they were doing in our name was wrong. We are now suffering the consequences of those errors of citizenship.
We have hopefully seen the light, however, and our national purpose has been democratically altered by the majority of our citizens seeking to rectify matters before it is too late. We will soon have a new president with extraordinary capabilities. There is great hope in our country and a new common effort to improve our circumstances as a society for the benefit of the average citizen. The rats who have been manipulating the citizenry for their own benefit, robbing us blind and sending our young people to die in unnecessary foreign wars of choice, are jumping ship with all they can carry. The law, or at the very least, karma, will determine their fates. The rest of us will have to carry on and try to repair and transform our society and economy as best we can under the unique set of laws and principles that govern us.
But we must remain vigilant. The stupidity, incompetence, hubris, greed and criminality that brought us to where we are today still exist, and we must guard against their return to the highest echelon of leadership. That’s why sites like San Jose Inside are so important to the functioning of our society now. There is nothing more dangerous to those who would bring harm to us than an informed and educated citizenry free to share information and speak their thoughts, ideas and observations as provided for by our wise founders in the Bill of Rights. So please continue coming here and saying what you think. Keeping community discussions going on blogs all over the country just might ensure our survival as a society in the future.
I wish you all a happy holiday season and the very best of luck for the coming year.
Keep Blogging!
Oh, Jack, I’ll be so sad to see you go! I’ll really miss reading your posts. But I wish you all the best in your new endeavors. Thank you for all you’ve done at SJI, and thank you personally for your support when I was running for office.
Tremendous work, Jack on SJI, you’ve made a huge difference in the community. I don’t know what I’ll miss more, your great work unearthing important topics or your over-the-top missives about G. Bush. In any case, I’m sure you’ll apply the same level of criticism to current admin when it pursues the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, refuses to stop warrantless wiretaps, doesn’t close Gitmo, and doesn’t repeal Bush tax cuts
. But seriously: well done and good luck on your new gig. You leave big shoes to fill.
God Speed Jack, You made the difference! Thank You and Wishing for you a wonderful Holiday season. My GrandPa would have been very proud to call you Gringo. The circle of Pride is complete!
The Village Black Smith
Thank you sir. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to voice my opinions and I’ve enjoyed hearing yours.
Good luck in all your endeavours!
Jack:
I’ve admired your ability as a blog editor, to keep things flowing and not stifle opposing points of view.
However, I take exception to your gratuitous Bush-bashing paragraph. You won the last election, can’t you let it go at that and see how the new administration screws things up?
For the record, there were safeguards put in place back in the 30s to prevent banks from getting involved in high leverage loans etc. There were also standards in place to prevent people on welfare etc. from qualifying for home loans too. Who signed the law to get rid of those regulations? Bill Clinton and treasury secretary Paul Rubin, in 1999. Who was the guy that’s been the official government overseer of the banking and financial system for the past two years? Congressman Barney Frank, who it turns out was literally sleeping with a VP of Freddie Mac for several years. He’s also one of the guys that pushed HARD to get rid of the mortgage safeguards so even the unemployed could get home loans. Who was it that held a press conference in July 2008 and told investors that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were basically solid? Barney Frank. Who was the man in charge of the Senate finance committee for the past two years, who was equally responsible for making sure regulations were being followed? Senator Dodd, that’s who. You know, the guy that got an $80,000 loan at “VIP” interest rate from Countrywide. Remember them? They got their money’s worth, didn’t they? Another Democratic
Senator on the finance committee, Kent Conrad, also got a hot-damn loan from Countrywide. Who was it that just recently told the public that things are going to get a lot worse? Retail sales died that very day—I saw the data on the Walmart, Target, and Walgreen computer screens. That was the very inexperienced Barrack Obama who
said that, and now we are getting massive layoffs at retail stores and even companies like Sony. There’s going to be recessions every decade or so, and there’s going to be boom times too. It’s global. No politician can do much about it either, although the uneducated sure seem to think so. Sheep.
Sure, there’s plenty of blame to go around. NONE of the politicians saw this coming. NONE of them really understand the financial system. NONE of them are looking out for us. NONE of them can really even DO anything. If you want to drink the ideological Kool- Aid and live with your head in the sand, that is your business though. I always thought you had better analytical abilities than that though. Really, I did. So please, no more robot-speak about “our current incapable president.” It was a team effort. Or rather, a team LACK of effort.
Obama is not the messiah, and he will surely disappoint those voters who think he is. As for the current mess, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Hugh
Jack,
This is a very sad day for all of us. I will miss you very much. I thank you for all you have taught me on a personal level. You have been one of the main reasons I’ve stuck out the Metro invasion of SJI.
Your kind words and guardianship of animals is deeply appreciated. If just one person learned the value of the humane treatment of animals because you wrote articles championing their plight, you have saved one more animal from suffering. For that I thank you!
I wish you all the very best as you forge into new adventures! I look forward to seeing your artistic imprints on the new San Pedro Square. Your dedication to our community and legacy will live on long after SJI is gone. I expect GREAT things from you Sir Van Zandt! God speed!
Jack:
Thanks for everything. Thanks for working to make San Jose a better place. I’ll miss your columns.
Pete Campbell
Jack: thanks for all your hard work—time and effort—in making this site work.
But, so, where R U going?
Thanks for your efforts over the last 3 years.
After straying from SJI for the past several months I’m glad I checked out the site in time to see Jack’s farewell. I have to say that besides having some major changes thrown at me since May, one of the reasons I dropped off the radar was the Metro invasion. Jack, you kept a part of the original SJI going and you’re going to be missed. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a SJI regular again especially with you being gone, but best of luck to you and thanks for all of your hard work.
Thank you, Jack, for your commitment to free expression and sense of fair play—real rarities these days.
Good luck Jack on your new endeavors. I enjoyed speaking with you on the occasion of the memorial for Leonard. You are someone with whom I can talk about Kings College Chapel and the River Cam and you know about them.
Jack – Good luck and thanks for forwarding the discussion in San Jose. Let’s just hope that with your departure SJI does not become more “Metroized.” We need more independent media.
Jack- You have been a great steward for SJI. I appreciate all your hard work and effort, keeping us opinionated bloggers in line couldn’t have been an easy task!
It won’t be the same without you. I know you’ll do well wherever you go, here’s wishing you the very best.
Give please. Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
I am from Belarus and now teach English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Jason calacanis most recent post to his email mailing list is particularly relevant to our audience.”
With best wishes
, Gretel.