AP Newswire Trenton February 4, 2011: New census data: Hispanics the dominant minority group; number 2: Facebook-Americans.

AP Newswire Trenton February 4, 2011: New census data: Hispanics the dominant minority group; number 2: Facebook-Americans. New Jersey's population grew more racially and online-virtually diverse over the past decade and continued its shift to southern counties, according to new data released today by the Census Bureau. The numbers from the 2010 Census provide a detailed portrait of the state's ongoing demographic changes, including population counts for all 21 counties, 566 municipalities. Among the findings: • Hispanics are now the dominant minority group in New Jersey after decades of sustained growth. • However, the number of New Jerseyans who identified themselves as "FaceBook-Americans" rose 39 percent to roughly 1.5 million. • Twitter-Americans were counted for the first time in 2010, and showed to be a growing virtual population at just under 3%. • MySpace-Americans, once a dominant group in 2000, have dwindled down to .02% of the virtual population. The Census information will be used almost immediately to redraw legislative districts in time for the November elections. A man who identified as "BobinPJs" tweeted that the "rdstrictng plns in NJ n stp trtng us like r dnt exst." The white population continued to decline in New Jersey, falling 1 percent to about 6.03 million. This is the second consecutive decade the proportion of white residents has fallen in New Jersey, which New Jersey State Tea Party chair Donald Bardus Swartz, of Teaneck immediately "blamed on the Jews." In other news, Congressman Jon Ryan expressed concern that the new census data may cause New Jersey to lose several state legislative seats: "...now we have 40 state senators. This decrease in population due to having less people may cause that number to be 38 or even 35 by the time we're all done."

Following the recession/Recession on Twitter

I am taking a long form improv workshop at the Magnet Theater in NYC. A group of theaters has sprung up on the Westside of Manhattan featuring long-form improv [as opposed to ‘short-form’ improv, the kind you’d see on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Anyway, I digress.

The class is filled with people much younger than I---mostly young actors and actresses making their way through the NYC acting scene, attempting to get their bite at the big NYC acting apple ---they are maybe 20s and 30s, tops. I attended law school with much younger folks, and feel comfortable in that environment, in case you're concerned.

Anyway, [again], during one class break we got chatting as a group, sharing some personal information about where we lived, where we grew up, went to college, yada yada, yada.

One young women [let’s call her ‘K’] shared that she lived in Long Island with her parents, and was going to move out when the “recession was over”. Hmm, I thought, she thinks these economic downturn thingies have a beginning, middle and end date. Sad to say for me, her perspective is certainly more hopeful than mine. With age comes wisdom, I guess.

But her comment got me thinking: This recession has not been ‘capitalized’ or ‘dated’ just yet [becoming The Recession like The Depression or The Great War, before we started numbering Great Wars]. Perhaps her perspective is colored by her experience, much as mine is. She follows the news in bits and bytes; emails, text-messages, and MySpaces/Facebooks. She has a “To Do” list that includes getting on with her life after the recession is over. And I am sure she will leave to future generations the capitalization of the whole Event.

So, let’s get on with Life, and not capitalize this recession, either. Let's follow the recession on Twitter ----but not become Friends with it on Facebook.

We all have much more important things to do, also. I am sure K will MoveOut very soon.

Twitter can track and report the microscopically minuscule movements

... of millions of people across America and the world.

Facebook can befriend/connect millions more, post videos, pictures, updates, report who you’re like, not like, Scrabulous plays, compare you to the dozens and dozens of denizens who like the same movies, desserts, and American Idol shows you like.

Google Earth can show you the front yard of the house you lived inn when you were 12 or back office of where your ex-spouse works. With a shake of an iPhone you can summon the GPS genie to let you know where the nearest Thai restaurant is located or which Starbucks is accepting a coupon for a dollar off on a Venti™ latte. IChat messages and videos of Paris Hilton going viral on some guy flow hither and yon faster than the lies from W’s mouth.

And yet, the power-computers that be and their super satellite allies in the sky could not track where the dollars were with any speed or accuracy to help us avoid or at least be forewarned about the current mess o’ money?

Now, I do have trouble balancing my checkbook when I can find it. And I use more than my share of cash machines and pay two bucks a pop because I forget to carry cash. But I am sure that someone somewhere could have done better.

As my Aunt Rose would say, “They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t figure out this drek.”

Problem is we have not put a man on the moon in more than 35 years or so. Hope we remember how. We could have Twittered our way to avoid this financial mess, me thinks.

Happy Hanukkah

BILL WOULD PENALIZE ETHNIC SLURS IN WORKPLACE

Many people were taken aback when the Appellate Division ruled earlier this year in Cutler v. Dorn that police officers making fun of a colleague's Jewish heritage and saying, "Let's get rid of all those dirty Jews" was not "sufficiently severe or pervasive [behavior] to create a hostile work environment." This morning, the state Assembly's Labor Committee takes up A-4209, which would amend the Law Against Discrimination to make it absolutely clear such repeated infliction of derogatory remarks - among many other listed actions - is bad enough to create an illegally toxic workplace. Says the statement accompanying the bill, "It is the sponsor's intent to encourage a workplace where employers and employees are held accountable within their workplace for abusive conduct." 12-6-07

About ten years ago I had the opportunity of being hired to provide a keynote address for a banking conference in NYC. I was scheduled to go on after the president of the organization was to speak---I think it was the NY Community Mortgage Bankers annual dinner.

I was seated at a table with the president of the organization, and several new bank managers from around the country. One couple was from Iowa or Idaho or some southern state. He was a new bank regional manager, and his wife was with him.

We got in to a conversation about how they liked the area, and the fact that they lived in North Jersey, and how different it was from the state where they previously lived.

The wife described her current neighborhood: "Oh we really like it. It's different than before. We have a daughter, and she has found some children to play with in the neighborhood.”

So far, so good. Chit chat. Then she dropped the bombshell.

"She has several friends we really like, some we don’t. The other day she brought home this loudmouthed Jew girl. Her whole family is loud mouth Jews, and we try to discourage her from playing at her house.”

And it dawned on me that this woman had never really met many Jews. She had no idea that anyone at the table could possibly be Jewish.

Now, in my mind my response took about a nanosecond. But the reasoning was clear. Do I let the comment go? Or do I stand on the shoulders of my great grandfather Morris, grandfather Joseph, and my dad Bernie, and tell her off, and risk not getting my paycheck? Well, I thought, I have a good contract, I have a 50% deposit, and if I had to leave after telling her off, that would not be so bad. I felt their smiles.

So, I said in response: "I know exactly what you mean. I also grew up in a neighborhood with very loud mouth Jews." The woman smiled and nodded, commiserating. Then I finished the sentence. "My parents. Very loudmouthed, very Jewish. I know exactly what you're talking about." My sarcasm had apparently met its mark.

She stopped smiling, and her husband looked at me sternly and said, "Don't talk to my wife like that. She did not know you were Jewish."

And I replied, "Look, perhaps where you’re from, you may have not met many Jews. But, here in NJ and NY, you're going to meet alot of us. After all in you’re in banking. And you will not always know who we are. We don't all wear yarmulkes. Or stay kosher. Or tell you ‘Hey, don't say anything anti Semitic I am a Jew'.”

They were quiet for the rest of the night. I did my presentation, and got paid from a man who was the president, who turns out was also Jewish, by the way.

Happy Chanukah.Enjoy.


iPhone, Webkinz, TMZ, Transformers,YouTube, Club Penguin, MySpace, Heroes, Facebook, Anna Nicole Smith are all the search terms that got the most hits on Google in 2007.