Today, the body of Whitney Houston was flown back to her home city of Newark, New Jersey. And to coincide with her funeral on Saturday, Governor Chris Christie has ordered all flags to be flown at half-mast in honor of her passing. How sad is that? I mean, really. She was a singer at best and a drug addict at worst. Does this deserve the rare honor usually reserved for military people and our state’s former governors? You know, people who actually did stuff to serve and protect the state and country?
I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I just think the whole thing is a bit excessive. Though she grew up in the Armpit of America, she hasn’t lived here since she became famous. So why is Christie calling her such an icon and giving her this rare distinction? Especially for someone who spent the last decade of her life addicted to Bobby Brown and crack. Sure, she was a talented singer, but does that automatically pardon her poor life choices?
What worries me is the precedent this action sets up – if we have to fly the flags at half-mast for every dead crackhead from Newark, the American flag may never fly at full mast in New Jersey ever again.
In other sad news from North Jersey, the city of Hoboken decided not to allow MTV to film Snooki and J-WOWW in a spinoff of “Jersey Shore.” Instead, the show will be filmed in Jersey City. I could care less. Yes, that’s right. I’m over “Jersey Shore.” Five seasons in, the show has completely lost the luster of its first season. Gone is the fun and goofy group we came to know. Instead, we have a bunch of millionaires trying to outdo each other to get more screen time and more endorsements.
