A blog about politics, poetry, sports and music.
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The Suburban Newspaper Association just released this year's contest winners. I took first in opinion column again for Dispatches. I'm allowed to crow about it, right? Other Packet Publications winners are:
That said, giving taxpayers the opportunity to "voluntarily donate a portion of their income tax refund" to the new fund seems sensible. Money donated to the fund, according to a press release from the Assembly Majority office, "would be distributed to community food pantries through the state’s food purchase program. All the money is to be used exclusively to buy food."“The global economic crisis is hitting our state hard and may get worse,” DeAngelo (D-Mercer) said. “People who never thought they would ever visit a food pantry are now relying on them to put food on the table for their families. These are tough times, and anything we can do to make it easier for people to help those less fortunate is a good thing.”Expecially when there are an "estimated 250,000 new clients ... seeking help this year from New Jersey’s food banks."
The CityTeam closure is a piece in the expanding problem of homelessness across the nation: Shelters and related services for the homeless are facing funding shortfalls as the downturn takes its toll on state budgets and corporate donations. And while individual donors in many cases are keeping up gifts — or even digging a little deeper for charities that help with urgent needs like food and shelter — the service providers say they are faced with a rapidly growing demand from people losing jobs and homes in the economic crisis.
“A downturn in (overall) funding in this case is accompanied by a surge in demand, so a homeless shelter, food pantry, or job-training program is going to feel it first,” says Chuck Bean, executive director of Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, in the District of Columbia. “Even if they have 100 percent of their budget compared to last year, they now see a 50 percent surge in demand. Then (they) get into the tough decisions: Do you thin the soup, or shorten the line?”
Shelters across the country report that more people are seeking emergency shelter and more are being turned away. In a report published in December, 330 school districts identified the same number or more homeless students in the first few months of the school year than they identified in the entire previous year. Meantime, demand is sharply up at soup kitchens, an indication of deepening hardship and potential homelessness.
“Everything we are seeing is indicating an increase,” says Laurel Weir,
policy director at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. “And
homelessness tends to lag the economy. So we’re probably seeing the tip of the
iceberg here.”
In the foreclosure crisis, the people being displaced from homes won’t likely be on the street immediately, explains Michael Stoops, director of National Coalition for the Homeless.
“The people who have lost homes or tenants in homes that were foreclosed … have downsized, and if that doesn’t work they will move in with family and friends,” says Stoops. “After a while, they will move into their RV in a state campground. The next step is a car. And the worst nightmare for a working, middle-class person or even a wealthy person who has never experienced homelessness is knocking on a shelter door.”
Ms. Juega said it appeared that a disproportionate number of Hispanic drivers were stopped by police in the area around the Brunswick Circle, which borders Trenton. The reasons for being stopped were “pretextual” — a rosary hanging on the rearview mirror or tinted windows or driving a car with out-of-state license plates, she said.
A review of Lawrence police videotapes and written records “confirmed our fears” that Hispanic and black motorists were stopped more often than other groups, Ms. Juega said. They also receive more tickets when they are stopped than other groups, she said.
Richard Rivera, a retired West New York police officer and who is now the director of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey’s Civil Rights Protection Project, said he had helped investigate racial profiling allegations made against the New Jersey State Police.
”When you look at the whole police department, you try to assess particular patterns of behavior,” said Mr. Rivera. “There were a lot of stops of people of color that happened on the border (between Lawrence and Trenton). The officer sits on the street and watches (incoming) traffic from Trenton.”
Some of the traffic stops that were videotaped showed some “questionable behavior” that related to the officer’s own safety, such as shutting off the microphone during a stop or giving the incorrect location of the stop, he said.
”After you look at this, it starts to form a pattern,” Mr. Rivera said. “You also form an opinion. You kind of get the feeling of the overall culture and oversight of the Police Department. There is a lack of oversight.”
Based on “where the facts took us,” Mr. Bostock said, township officials concluded the Police Department does not practice racial profiling and steps are being taken to ensure “fair and equal treatment.”
"I will say personally, I have real confidence in the Police Department,” he said, adding that township officials will continue to work with LALDEF and to ensure that Hispanic drivers will receive “the fair and equal treatment they deserve as a matter of basic human rights.”
Dear Mr. Kalet,
What you really can't forgive President George W. Bush for is that he was right in his steadfastness on Iraq which has brought us a democratic state in this vital region. His sophomore successor couseled retreat which would have brought us Vietnam II and possibly worse.
Let's hope that the rookie now in charge with his pro-Palestinian background and terrorist associates has truly reformed or you really will experience some real nightmares.
Krugman? Olberman? You need a little balance in your media experience.
Proud to be in the 25% Bush minority.
Sincerely,
Nick Lardieri
iPod: WHYY's Radio Times from last week on closing Guantanamo
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Mike, from Planet of the Geeks, has created Lego versions of all sorts of professional athletes, including Carlos Delgado and David Wright, as you can see here:Not much to add, really.
…out…standing… well done, mike, well done indeed…
Update, 10:20 am:
Paulaecinc in the comment’s section writes:“What is great about these lego peices is that you can play with them all year long, up until September, thats when they usually fall apart.”…zing… well played, sir…
BILL MOYERS: You mentioned policy ills. And this gets me to the question of governance. So what do you, as progressives, as liberals, what do you expect of him that will fulfill your hopes for him, beyond the symbolism into the actual world of policy and decision making?Basically, it comes down to the idea that it is the people in this democracy who are responsible for pushing their elected representatives to act. That's why I chafe at the use of the word leader when referring to the president and Congress. They must show leadership, I guess, but it is more important that they follow the imperatives laid down by the masses.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: One of the images I've been using as we've been going around the country trying to place the King holiday in the context of a new Obama era is I've been using the image, iconic image of Barack Obama excuse me. Ah! Of Martin Luther King...
BILL MOYERS: There you go.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Right. Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson together in the White House. And I say to people, okay, where's — if you can superimpose Barack Obama's face onto one of these two characters, onto whose face would you project it? And most people say, "Oh, well, King." And I say, "No, no, no, no. Barack Obama's LBJ in this picture."
We've elected him to the U.S. presidency. So the missing image is who will play the role of King? Because, in fact, the president needs Kings. I actually think it's plural. It's not a single King. But the myth-
BILL MOYERS: You mean that they need agitators out there-
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: That's-
BILL MOYERS: -who are pressing them to do the right thing-
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: That's exactly right.
BILL MOYERS: -as Lyndon Johnson said to Martin Luther King — go out there and make it possible for me to do the right thing.
"Anecdotally, we're seeing people coming in who have suffered foreclosures and have exhausted all their resources," Finston said. "Not only have the national trends reversed, but we are only at the beginning of how bad it's going to get."
Abbott-Young said the economic crisis -- a factor driving more people into shelters -- has also resulted in a decrease in furniture and clothing donations, but the organization received monetary donations during the holidays last month.
"We're going to have an increase in factors known to contribute to homelessness," she said, "unemployment, increase in stress levels, mortgage foreclosures."
The giant pharmaceutical company, wrestling with a dearth of new drugs and expecting a major revenue hit next year when its cholesterol-fighter Lipitor faces generic competition, attempted to strengthen its business by acquiring Wyeth, which will give it more than a single blockbuster drug to help ride out the coming storm.The companies -- which will retain the Pfizer name once the deal is approved -- would not discuss potential layoffs, but NJ.com
The one-time rivals laid out plans yesterday for a $68 billion deal that will provide Pfizer with a range of products, including lucrative biological medicines such as the arthritis treatment Enbrel, vaccines and over-the-counter remedies like Advil and Robitussin. Industry analysts said by acquiring Wyeth, Pfizer stands to increase its revenue by 50 percent, at least in the short
term.
The acquisition of Morris County-based Wyeth, which appears to defy the credit crisis that has constrained corporate financing, will only heighten the wave of job losses occurring across the pharmaceutical industry.Wyeth has two facilities in New Jersey, including one on Ridge Road in South Brunswick. There is no word how these facilities will be affected -- but the smiles on the CEOs' faces (above, during yesterday's press conference) makes it clear that the companies' employees should be very afraid.
Even before the acquisition was announced, Pfizer had disclosed plans to slash 10 percent of its global work force, including 800 researchers, by 2011. As part of the
transaction, Pfizer expects to reduce the global work force of the combined company by 15 percent, including the previously announced cuts. Analysts say the number of jobs lost could amount to 20,000 worldwide
I'm not talking about just any Beatles track or Springsteen singing "Hungry Heart" -- you can get that from a class rock station -- but so-called deep album tracks and outtakes and the kind of eclectic soup that matches my CD, download and vinyl collections (filed under C, you can find not only the expected artists like The Clash, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, but also bands like the Come On, Hayes Carll, The Cult, the Cruzados, Sheryl Crow and others).
I have 18 stations set, 13 music stations and five talk. The music stations include the Springsteen station and Little Steven's great Underground Garage channel, a station devoted to Outlaw Country, a jazz station, one called First Wave (early punk and new wave), stations devoted to the '80s and '90s, and several others. The talk stations include two public radio channels, a sports station, CNN and something called AmeriLeft, which plays liberal and left-leaning talk, much of it from Air America.
It is the Little Steven channel, however, that has me hooked. Consider this recent string of songs: "Not Fade Away" by the Stones, "Circles" from Les Fleur De Lys, "Too Good To Be True" by The Yum Yums (a recent punk track), "He's a Rebel" from The Crystals and "Cara-Lin" by The Strangeloves.For all federal projects -- that includes highways, bridges, schools, et cetera -- the total money earmarked is $355 billion; of that $355 billion, $136 billion, 32 percent, spent by the end of 2010 -- 32 percent, about one-third of the total.McLaughlin then put a badly worded and biased question -- "Do you agree that the problem with capitalizing the economy through federal money poured into infrastructure rebuilding, the problem is that the process, under the best of circumstances, takes between one and two years; it does nothing for the next 12 months?" -- to his largely conservative panel, generating the expected responses:
John, that's just one of the problems with it. No doubt that is a problem. It's down the road. So it looks more and more like this is just a big permanent expansion of the federal government. Secondly, the thing is beginning to be larded up with pork. The National Endowment for the Arts is coming in for $50 million. Third, the Republican tax cuts are diminishing in size. This is going to be the mother of all pig-outs. It's losing, quite frankly, that cachet of an immediate, dramatic injection into the economy. And that's why the markets, under Barack Obama, since his election, the equity markets and things have been tanking. What they are saying is one of two things. Either he ain't going to get it through -- but he is -- or this is not going to work or it is not relevant to the economic crisis and the financial crisis this country faces.Monica Crowly, a "synicated radio commentator," followed suit:
Well, look, I mean, when we talk about one or two years down the road, look, when the Democrats came in and Obama won the presidency, they talked about having an economic stimulus package on his desk day one. Now they're talking about mid-February, toward the end of February. They can't get it together. Why? Because this economic stimulus bill is an epic mess. There are 152 different appropriations in there -- nurse training, Medicare, Head Start, weather-proofing your house.... because what we need right now is an immediate economic stimulus that is going to have immediate short-term gains in the exact areas we need it. We do not need pork in there for weather- proofing your house. Okay, we need it targeted. And if it's targeted with tax cuts, a temporary halt on payroll taxes, relief for businesses, in ways that are not going to blow up this $1.2 trillion deficit as it is -- I mean, what we're talking about now is not economic stimulus. This is a $1 trillion load of porkAnd then there was Mort Zuckerman, of U.S. News & World Report, who offered what he called an alternative to the Obama approach, even though his alternative is included in the Obama plan:
running down Pennsylvania Avenue like a herd.
I think it is the wrong -- it is a well-intentioned but ill- focused program. Certainly it's going to go -- this recession is going to go on for a long time. And if he has a program that moves as slowly as this, he's finally going to be blamed for it and he's not going to be able to lay it off against President Bush. There is another alternative to this kind of capital investment, which is to work through the state and local governments, who have pre-approved programs that can get started right away. It takes it out of the hands of the federal government, and therefore out of whatever their political benefits would be. But that seems to me to be by far the better way to do it and the faster way to do it. It is critical, critical, that we get this jobs program going as soon as possible. This economy is still going downhill at an accelerating rate. And if he doesn't have a federal program that moves fast enough, he is going to and should be blamed for it.Only Eleanor Clift, of Newsweek, countered the conservative script:
We are in uncharted territory, and that phrase has been expressed on this show many times. There is a collective feeling among economists from the left and right that a massive spending package is required. And you cannot have the economy digest everything in the first year. Frankly, if the bulk of this is spent in two years and we get out of this in two years, we'll be ahead of the game.The problems with this discussion are many. First, the so-called report was nothing of the sort. As the Huffington Post reported on Friday -- that would be two days before McLaughlin aired -- "there is no such report."
"We did not issue any report, any analysis or any study," a CBO aide told the Huffington Post. Rather, the nonpartisan CBO ran a small portion of an earlier version of the stimulus plan through a computer program that uses a standard formula to determine a score -- how quickly money will be spent. The score only dealt with the part of the stimulus headed for the Appropriations Committee and left out the parts bound for the Ways and Means or Energy and Commerce Committee.The HuffPost story came after a piece in Thursday's edition of The Washington Post, which also raised questions about the expanding narrative:
Because it dealt with just a part of the stimulus, it estimated the spending rate for only about $300 billion of the $825 billion plan. Significant changes have been made to the part of the bill the CBO looked at.
Peter Orszag, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said Wednesday that if House or Senate versions of the bill do not spend the money as quickly, the White House will work with lawmakers to achieve the 75 percent goal. Congress is working on a stimulus bill of at least $825 billion.And, still, conservative commentators -- like Pat Buchanan on MSNBS this morning -- are pushing their misleading narrative.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Orszag responded to a Congressional Budget Office assessment that money targeted for infrastructure under a House proposal would take years to be spent. He said the issues identified by CBO could be easily corrected.
"There are relatively straightforward changes to increase the spend-out on that part of the bill," Orszag said.
CBO concluded that only $26 billion out of $358 billion in infrastructure and other appropriated spending would be delivered into the economy by the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. The CBO's analysis applied only to 40 percent of the overall stimulus bill. Still, Republicans cited the study in pushing for more tax cuts and less spending.
iPod: a mix -- Tokyo Police Club, "Shoulders & Arms"; The Gaslight Anthem, "The '59 Sound"; The Gutter Twins, "Flow Like a River"; The Airborne Toxic Event, "Gasoline"; R.E.M., "Airliner"; The Pretenders, "Boots of Chinese Plastic"; Alice Russell, "Got the Hunger"; Ray LaMontagne, "You're the Best Thing"; Raphael Saadiq, "100 Yard Dash"; The Ting Tings, "Shut Up and Let Me Go"; Bruce Springsteen, "Working on a Dream"; Death Cab for Cutie, "Your New Twin Size Bed"; The Streets, "Everything is Borrowed"; The Ting Tings, "That's Not My Name"
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At the moment, he's chowing down on a pretzel. We'll eat, get our provisions, and then we'll get him a pickle. It's what he's into.
Maybe I'll get a juicy pickle, too. Who knows.
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But that's starting in the middle. I grabbed David Bowie's Changesbowie -- the double-length best of originally issued as two albums -- and found myself singing like I was on stage, like I was Wayne and Garth and their buds in the car in Wayne's World.
It's easy, I think. to forget how great a songwriter and recording artist Bowie was (I'd say "is," but I haven't been crazy about much of the little he's done in 20 years.
My only questions are is: Why "Fame '90 Remix" and not the far superior original? And what about "Panic in Detroit" or TVC15? Just wondering.
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The speculation game will go into overdrive now that Kennedy has quit, and every prospect will be analyzed not with regard to his or her potential contributions to the Congress but with regard to his or her potential benefits for Paterson.None of this is new and none of this should be surprising. It was just three years ago that newly elected Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Bob Menendez to the Senate seat Corzine was vacating -- a move designed to shore up his standing with the Latino community, but also because he viewed Menendez as the stronger fundraiser and the best chance to keep the seat in the capital "D" column.
That's what is wrong with allowing senators to be appointed by governors. If political and personal considerations by governors may not always be Rod Blagojevich ugly, but they are always ugly.
Governors appoint senators with an eye toward helping themselves and their friends. And the appointed senators become frontrunners for vacant seats. From a small "d" democracy standpoint, the process is doubly compromised.
Less than a week after the Jersey Shore station WHTG (G-Rock) 106.3-FM switched from an alternative rock format to contemporary hits, a group calling itself "Bring Back G-Rock,'' with a Facebook page, is planning a protest at noon Saturday, outside the station's studio at 2355 West Bangs Ave. in Neptune.
"Over 400 people have RSVP'ed and will be there,'' said group organizer Elyse Jankowski of Middletown. "It will be done in an organized manner, completely peaceful - we don't want to make anyone nervous or the police and authorities alarmed - however we want to make it known how upset we are.''There are more than 3,500 in the group, Jankowski said.
Tom, who read for us in South Brunswick, has a background in geography and a love of travel that is apparent in the poetry.
To get a copy, write EXIT 13, PO Box 423, Fanwood, NJ 07023 or exit13magazine@yahoo.com.
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Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
(T)he administration of the newly inaugurated president, in one of its first actions, instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at Guantanamo -- a clear break with the approach of the Bush administration, whose term ended at noon Tuesday.It's expected that Obama will follow up by closing Guantanamo:
In Washington, meanwhile, aides to President Obama were preparing an executive order that would begin the process of shutting down a detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay naval base for captured terrorist suspects. According to the Associated Press, the draft executive order calls for closing the detention center within a year. It was not immediately known when Obama would issue such an order.
a growing chorus of environmental groups says it falls short of those goals, providing too much funding for new roads and too little for public transportation and other green initiatives.They say there is
Under the current proposal, new construction could consume three times as much funding as public transportation. The environmental groups hope more public transit money will be added when lawmakers make changes to the proposal in committee, an amendment process which began Wednesday afternoon.
“At a time of erratic energy prices, Congress should use this opportunity to move
America away from highways and toward railways and mass transit,” said Karen Wayland, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. “The transportation component of the stimulus package underfunds mass transit in deference to highways and bridges.”
plenty of room to improve the Democrats’ blueprint. At the forefront of their criticism, the proposal includes $30 billion for highway construction but dedicates only $10 billion to public transit and rail — a discrepancy prioritizing new roads at the expense of public transportation.I'm not saying that a good chunk of the road money is not needed -- some of it definitely is. But road money would be best spent on repairs and upgrades to existing infrastructure, rather than carving out new thoroughfares that will just lead to sprawl and more congestion down the road. If some of the money were shifted from asphalt to mass transit, that would go a long way toward greening the stimulus.
Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, says the spending on new roads will only act to increase pollution and fuel consumption — two problems the Democrats’ proposal was designed to alleviate.
“It is particularly disappointing to see that, unlike highway funds, public transportation and passenger rail funds have been cut below the levels suggested by the House Transportation Committee, limiting job creation in these areas,” Blackwelder said in a statement. “Public transportation investments create 19 percent more jobs per dollar spent than investments in new highways.”
Daniel Becker, head of the Safe Climate Campaign, said the proposal is a significant step in the direction of cutting pollution and increasing energy efficiency, but there are notable holes that could use plugging. “There’s a lot of new asphalt-laying [in the bill],” Becker said, “and that will undercut a lot of the green efforts.”
Marchant Wentworth, legislative representative for clean energy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, agreed that the $10 billion for public transit is insufficient to accomplish the Democrats’ goals. “You could triple that and still have needs out there for relieving congestion,” he said.
New Jersey's unemployment rate climbed to its highest level in 15 years last month, triggering worries that the drain on the state's unemployment insurance fund will prompt payroll tax increases.
The 7.1 percent unemployment rate was a full point increase over the rate in November, and just barely under the national average of 7.2 percent, Gov. Jon Corzine and State Labor Commissioner David Socolow announced today.
In an effort to appeal to a mainstream audience, Press Communications LLC has switched the format of a local alternative rock radio station to current hits radio.The new format, according to The Asbury Park Press, "includes music from recording artists such as Rhianna, Pink, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and David Cook."
"What our research showed us was that we needed to have a more mass appeal format that reached all ages between 18 to 44," said Alice MacCormack, general sales manager for station owner Press Communications LLC. The radio station is broadcast as WHTG-FM 106.3 in Eatontown and WBBO-FM 106.5 in Bass River Township.
Once called G Rock Radio, the station is now known as Hit 106. The change was made at noon Monday, MacCormack said.
was known for breaking in top alternative bands, such as The Ting Tings and The Duke Spirit.Of course, the blogger says sarcastically, you just can't have too many stations playing songs by the winners of American Idol.
That said, I put in a slow three while listening to a mix and then did some crunches. It's time toget serious.
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There on Oprah were Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, intellectual lightweights, talking about themselves as if this historic moment offered insight into their holiness.
And there were others -- both on the celebrity shows (Oprah, GMA) and the news programs.
It was enought o turn me sour to the whole thing.
And then I catch Beyonce on GMA this morning before leaving for the gym. She was truly proud and grateful to play the smallest role in the Obamas' moment and the nation's history that I can put the pretentious nonsense aside and focus on what yesterday really says about us and where we as a nation are headed.
It reminded me, as someone wrote on Facebook, that America needed a celebratory day like yesterday.
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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.But also that we are not defined by these circumstances, that these "indicators of crisis" and the "sapping of confidence across our land," the "nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights," can and will be met by a renewed sense of purpose.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.The United States he described is a resilient one that has allowed itself to become complacent, one that has been all too willing to proclaim its own greatness as its leaders protect their own "narrow interests." It is a time that has "surely passed."
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.I would add: "We have no choice."
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to
meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.You can read this as a rebuke of the Bush administration -- as it surely is. But it also is a rebuke of the Clinton years and every presidency going back to Nixon. The last time we had a president who truly focused on improving the lives of everyone was Lyndon Johnson (civil rights legislation, the Great Society war on poverty), who managed to squander his political capital on the war in Vietnam and doom a surprisingly progressive agenda.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.In the end, what was most stirring about the speech was Obama's recognition that "our patchwork heritage is a strength (and) not a weakness."
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.To that I can only add, amen.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
Many others in the poetry world lamented the decision.
"It has left me grief stricken. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut," said Maria Mazziotti Gillan, executive director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson. "It was a beacon every two years, a celebration of language and the connection that language and poetry can make between people. It was just a high.
"I wish there was some way to get it back," she said.
the State’s interest in insulating the negotiation and award of State contracts from political contributions that pose the risk of improper influence, purchase of access, or the appearance thereof, is a sufficiently important interest to justify a limitation on political contributions. The panel further found that the $300 limitation on contributions to gubernatorial candidates and political committees by businesses and principals of businesses who enter into substantial State contracts constitutes a “means” of protecting this interest that is “closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgement of association freedoms.”In particular, it is important that the state -- whether it be the judiciary or the Legislature -- step in and expand it to municipalities. The courts had nixed a portion of Monroe's pay-to-play rules earlier this year -- those governing money contributed by land developers -- forcing the town to rewrite its ordinance. That was unfortunate and needs to be changed -- as campaign finance reformers point out.
Harry Pozycki, chairman of the Citizens' Campaign Legal Task Force that helped draft the campaign-finance law, applauded the Supreme Court decision and said the law's reach should be expanded to all levels of government.It's difficult to argue with that.
"Now that the Supreme Court has spoken so decisively, it's time to quickly expand the approach used at the state level to county and municipal government," he said.
State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) also called for a statewide ban.
"We must finally clean up New Jersey's culture of corruption and restore
New Jerseyans' faith and trust in their government," he said.
Ms. Adamko spent Sunday with her family in South Brunswick commemorating the 10-year anniversary of her sister’s death. Ms. Adamko left early Monday and was killed in a seven-car pileup around 10:42 a.m. near Exit 49A on Route 78.
State police said the accident began after a dump truck, which was in the westbound express lane, crossed into the eastbound lane and turned over. The dump truck struck a tractor-trailer, which then jackknifed, and five passenger vehicles were caught in the accident as the dump truck spilled rock and dirt across the interstate, according to state police spokesman Stephen Jones.
CERTAINTIES AND UNCERTAINTIES
(After Attila Jozsef, "To Sit, To Stand, To Kill, To Die")
To drag this rake across wet leaves,
to scrub the crud from the bottom of this pan,
to wake as sunlight breaks through the gap in the shades,
to worry that all this could burn out, break,
all in the blink of an eye,
to pray that it won’t, that this can continue,
that these loves, this life can live on,
to wait for the telephone’s electronic ring,
to wander in the vast tundra of the mind,
to catch lighting bugs in jars,
to stare in disbelief as jets crash
and the towers crumble,
to know the calendar pages still turn,
to wander the curves of your hips
and the crevices of your soul,
to capture your queen and move on your king,
to reboot your computer after it’s crashed,
to answer nasty e-mails
or just delete them unread,
to forget,
to crest upon you like a wave in your mind,
to leave and never return,
to only know the moment
and guess the future,
to look these uncertainties in the eye
and laugh or cry but
always to keep it going, to get along
in this, this uncertain world of ours.
“Waterboarding is torture.” It was so defined under the Spanish Inquisition and when used by the Japanese in World War II, he said, and it remains so today.
President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to close the prison, which Mr. Holder said he agreed with. “There are possibly many other people who are not going to be able to be tried but who nevertheless are dangerous to this country,” he said. “We’re going to have to try to figure out what to do with them.”
Asked whether a president might have the power to immunize people against criminal charges if they employ waterboarding, which creates a drowning-like sensation, to obtain intelligence to use against terrorists, Mr. Holder answered unambiguously: “Mr. Chairman, no one is above the law.”
By the close of the calendar year, the deepening recession had required us to cut spending by another $800 million. That's a total of $1.4 billion in cuts in this fiscal year alone.Let me repeat -- $1.4 billion ...... not in the rate of growth, but in absolute dollars.
It's been painful, and we've had to make many ugly choices. But together with my partners in the Legislature, we are making the hard choices.
“The ratio between the accomplishments of the past and proposals for the future was far more in favor of the past, especially compared to his past speeches,” he said. “So it lacked a coherent vision of what we want the state to be.”
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Mr. Dylan took some liberties with the truth in the song, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” though there is disagreement over just how many. He recorded it in 1964 for the Columbia album “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” for some reason dropping the letter “t” from Mr. Zantzinger’s name.
Democrats have a 20-15 majority in the State Senate and a 95-54 majority in the House. Some House Republicans are backing a constitutional amendment to ban marriage for gays and lesbians, but we're hearing quiet support from unexpected allies on the right.
