More Senate disfunction

Unemployment is at a decades-long high and yet federal benefits are scheduled to run out this weekend, unless a single U.S. senator lifts his objection.

Forget Sen. Jim Bunning's hypocrisy -- demanding benefits be paid for even after voting for massive tax cuts that were not offset with any spending cuts -- the Senate hold he is using is just one more example of how the upper house has fallen into disrepair.

One senator can hold up legislation for any reasons at anytime. A minority of senators can stymie bills -- a minority representing no more than one ninth of the national population -- and even if we can get through a filibuster, we face the prospect that half the Senate -- representing about 20 percent or 25 percent of the population -- could kill a bill.

The compromise that created the Senate was a logical outgrowth of the times. The individual states in the late 18th century functioned as independent nations on some level and the compromise was needed to get the smaller states on board. Today, such a compromise looks quite quaint.

Amending the U.S. Constitution to reconstitute the Senate would likely be impossible, however, because the compromise enshrined small-state power in the amendment process. But the Senate cannot continue to (mal)function the way it has.

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Dispatches: Pained confessions of a book hoarder

This week, Dispatches focuses on books, my office and the need to clear space.

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Christie's pension gambit:Making it worse to make it better?

No one should be surprised by the report released today on the state pension funds. Observers have been saying for years that the people who handle the state's money have bailed on their fiduciary responsibility, preferring instead to push problems off into the future.

We could recount the devises used to avoid paying into the pension fund since Christie Whitman took office in 1994, but that would be foolish.

And we could blame Jon Corzine -- not because he created the mess, but because it is convenient to go after an unpopular governor. Of course, he avoided fixing the problem, as well.

This brings me to our current governor, who with much fanfare is withholding the small payment the state was slated to make on the grounds that nothing should go into the pension fund until reforms are passed. This is the height of foolishness. The money we are talking about is money promised to former workers, money they are due and that we have a moral obligation to pay.

I don't disagree that there are problems with the pension system as it now stands and that changes need to be made. Waiting to make changes in future pensions to pay into today's fund will only result in a larger unfunded liability as we go forward. Foolish, foolish, foolish.

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A plug from our sponsor (Me)

My book, Certainties and Uncertainties, is going to be published by Finishing Line Press in the near future. FLP has asked that I provide them with a pre-sale mailing list -- people who might be interested in purchasing the book in advance. I need a minimum number of presales to get the process rolling.

If you're interested in being on the list, e-mail me at otherhalf@comcast.net with your mailing address. And thanks in advance.

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Political hypocrisy, or why doesn't this surprise me?

Here is an interesting letter from the North Jersey Tea Party group that cuts to the chase on the filibuster issue.

Pointing out Democratic politicians' hypocrisy remains easy sport. Today, the Democrats threaten to use the nuclear option in order to enact a move toward much more socialized medicine. But in 2005, when the Democrats were out of power, they hated the nuclear option. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the use of this power a "constitutional crisis," and wailed against its "evaporation" of the government's "checks and balances." Then-Senator (and current Vice President) Joe Biden (D-DE) considered using the nuclear option "a naked power grab" and "an example of the arrogance of power." Then-Senator (and current President) Barack Obama (D-IL) worried against the "absolute power" involved in such a move, noting that it was "not what the Founders intended." Funny how these supposedly strident concerns completely disappear now that those who voiced them are in power.

Mark Kalinowski
Clifton, N.J.

As I've been writing since 2005, when I had my filibuster epiphany, the supermajority requirement in the (already unrepresentative) Senate cuts against the one-man-one-vote concept that is supposed to be at the heart of our democracy. I said at the time that the Democrats' opposition to the so-called "nuclear option" would come back to haunt them. And now it has.

Of course, the very same Republicans who were ready to pull the plug on the filibuster back then are now its most ardent supporters.

The level of hypocrisy on the issue is not surprising, of course. We are talking about politicians and political power.

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Nuclear reality

The Vermont legislature hasn't ended our growing national obsession with nuclear power, but it may toss some sand in the engine.

Consider this story in The New York Times:

In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 Wednesday to block operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials and other problems.


Unless the chamber reverses itself, it will be the first time in more than 20 years that the public or its representatives has decided to close a reactor.

The vote came just more than a week after President Obama declared a new era of rebirth for the nation’s nuclear industry, announcing federal loan guarantees of $8.3 billion to assure the construction of a twin-reactor plant near Augusta, Ga.

While it is unclear how Vermont Yankee’s fate could influence the future of nuclear power nationally, the reactor’s recent troubles are viewed by some as a challenge to arguments that such plants are clean, well run and worth building.

The Vermont decision is unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere because of the specifics of this situation -- as the Times points out, Vermont had power at the state level to deal with the plant because of some unusual circumstances -- but it offers a more blemished view, if you will, of the nuclear industry than what we have been getting lately.

Nuke plants are not the sleek and clean providers of power that the industry wants us to believe they are. There are security issues, waste disposal issues and the reality that should a plant fail the consequences will be massive. And the Vermont plant, with its slew of troubles, should remind us of this.

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Convincing argument on climate

The deniers are wrong about climate change -- it is happening and it's happening more quickly and with more pwerfully than our political will can stand.

But the deniers -- and big business -- have enough traction on this to keep things stalled.

So we need a more effective argument to make sure we move ahead with efforts to control carbon emmission -- such as this one offered by Robert Frank in his column in the Business section of Sunday's issue of The New York Times:

WE don’t know how much hotter the planet will become by 2100. But the fact that we face “only” a 10 percent chance of a catastrophic 12-degree climb surely does not argue for inaction. It calls for immediate, decisive steps.

Most people would pay a substantial share of their wealth — much more, certainly, than the modest cost of a carbon tax — to avoid having someone pull the trigger on a gun pointed at their head with one bullet and nine empty chambers. Yet that’s the kind of risk that some people think we should take.

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Grassroots: Don't ask, just end it

Grassroots -- my Progressive Populist column -- is available here. It's on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

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Sending condolences to Cesar Millan

Cesar Millan's great pit, Daddy, died Friday. Our condolences -- having lost three dogs over the years, we know what the Millans are feeling.

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Conspicuous consumption, Part II

Seems my post on our little shopping trip to Jackson today to the Coach outlet was misconstrued as 1) criticism of Coach accessories or 2) of Annie. Neither was intended. Rather, what I found interesting was the obsessive quality to the trip -- the long line to get into the store, with people waiting a half hour in the cold, and the women with four and five bags on their arms.

My criticism is of the way we have allowed ourselves to be sucked into the brand-name game. We pay extra for the name and then wear the name, literally, on our sleeves and breast, becoming walking billboards.

Consider the way pop stars and actors sponsor their own clothing and perfume lines -- not because clothing design or pefume fulfills some creative need, but because it extends their personal brand, allows them to diversify as if they were some massive corporation. Which, of course, is what they have become.

As I said in my original post, there is a marked increase in quality when you buy something like a Coach purse and get rid of the knock-off or discout brand, as my wife did, or when I spend $100 on a pair of Brooks running shoes instead of paying half for a pair of inferior sneaks at Target.

Quality, however, is not what drives a teenager to refuse anything but Coach or Ed Hardy or Timberland. In that case, it is all about the name.

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Conspicuous consumption is our dominant value

Annie decided she wanted a real Coach bag for her birthday, which was last month. At 47, after owning a couple of knock-offs, she decided it was time to splurge. Personally, I just don't get it, but it was her birthday and so here we are at the outlet in Jackson where the line to get in the store reminded me of the line for a general admission concert.

The experience is strange, at a time when job losses have mounted, for so many people to be swept up by the desire for what essentially is just conspicuous consumption run amok.

Coach bags -- like a Rolex or any other designer label item -- may offer a degree of added quality, but it,s mostly a status thing, a way to visually signal where you want people to see you on the American ladder of class and status.

That's not a criticism of anyone in particular -- we all play the game to some degree. It's more a commentary on the skewed priorities of the larger society, our obsessive consumerism run amok.

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Under the gun

It's rather disturbing that the league would feel it necessary to tell players not to bring guns to the game.

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Dispatches: Abolishing COAH is not reform

Dispatches, on the governor's toss-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater approach to affordable housing, is on our site.

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T-Mac rental part of summer plans

The Knicks have made a habit over the years of bringing in guys with nothing left in the tank, guys who could have/should have been Knicks earlier in their careers when their particular skill set would have made a difference.

Think of players like Kiki Vanderwegh and Terry Cummings, or the former sharpshooter Rolando Blackman and former all-world guard Anfernee Hardaway. Tracy McGrady, who apparently will join the team for the remainder of the season, seems to be the latest addition to the club.

T-Mac was a star earlier in his career, whose brightness has been dulled by injuries.

So why bring him in and why cut loose rookie power forward Jordan Hill? Money. McGrady adds another expiring contract to a team loaded with expiring contracts meaning the Knicks could be more than $35 million under the salary cap when the off-season starts -- an off-season in which Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson and others will be available.

That's a lot of cash to go after some significant star power -- and it leaves open a good possibility that the team could find a way to retain all-star David Lee if everything breaks right. As things stand, the team is committed to only a few players next year -- most notably the young wings (Wilson Chandler and Danillo Gallinari) and guard Andrew Toney. (Eddy Curry also is on the books, I believe, a sad reminder of the pre-Donnie Walsh era.)

The team better snag a couple of names, because the fans have been waiting for too long just for this club to be competitive.

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Public option not completely dead

Talking Points Memo is reporting that New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg has signed a letter pledging to pass a public option via the reconciliation process -- essentially, an end-around the fillibuster. I'd rather see a single-payer plan, but failing that, it is clear to me that we cannot reform the healthcare industry without creating a publicly administered, national nonprofit health insurance company that can act as competition for the insurance cartel.

That means 16 are on board and another 35 are needed (which could include Vice President Joe Biden). The odds are not good, but longshots do occasionally finish in the money.

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A driver with a sense of humor

This is the best window decal I've seen in a while: "If you can read this, flip me over." Too funny.

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Three readings

Three readings, the first featuring yours truly, the other two are part of the Sundary reading series in South Brunswick:

Wednesday, Feb. 17:
Somerset Poetry Group Poetry reading featuring New Jersey Poets Hank Kalet, Ray Brown, and Paul Sohar.
Followed by an Open Mic. Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
Free. Bridgewater Public Library, 1 Vogt Drive
908-526-4016
Contact: Bob Rosenbloom bloom306@yahoo.com

Sunday, Feb. 21:
South Brunswick Library reading series featuring Metta Sama and DéLana R.A. Dameron
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m.
South Brunswick Library, 110 Kingston Lane, Monmouth Junction
732-329-4000, ext. ext.7635
e-mail, arts@sbtnj.net or otherhalf@comcast.net
Readings are free, but a donation of a nonperishable food item for the South Brunswick Food Pantry is encouraged.
Open readings follow all features.

Sunday, March 21:
South Brunswick Library reading series featuring Madeline Tiger, Lois Marie Harrod and Renee Ashley
Sunday, March 21, 2 p.m.
South Brunswick Library, 110 Kingston Lane, Monmouth Junction
732-329-4000, ext. ext.7635
e-mail, arts@sbtnj.net or otherhalf@comcast.net
Readings are free, but a donation of a nonperishable food item for the South Brunswick Food Pantry is encouraged.
Open readings follow all features.

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• Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

The storm of the century

Finally made it out the door to check out the snow. Let's just say I don't look forward to clearing the driveway. This first blast seems pretty heavy, and it is picking up again. I was out for about a half hour taking pictures for the paper and had to come in -- too cold.

The dogs, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it -- and now they are sacked out. We didn't get too many pictures of them, but we'll try later, when we get brave again.

Here are some photos from around the neighborhood.

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Assault on COAH

The perfect storm apparently has hit the state Council on Affordable Housing. With suburban communities in revolt, with an influential state senator playing politics and a new governor elected with suburban votes all taking aim at COAH, it appears we could be headed back to court to defend the underlying right endorsed by the state Supreme Court in its Mount Laurel decisions: that towns have a responsibility to allow lower-priced housing to be built for low- and moderate-income homebuyers and renters.

The web of laws and lawsuits and the bureaucratic maze created in their aftermath have not accomplished the court's goal. On the contrary, the backlash we are witnessing -- culminating in the governor's announcement today that he was creating a task force to "review" the future of COAH and affordable housing in New Jersey -- has narrowed the space for discussion of the issue.

Reform, as we wrote in an editorial last week on the legislation being proposed by state Sen. Ray Lesniak, is obviously necessary. But reform has to respect the basic goals of the original Mount Laurel suits:

After more than 20 years, it has made only the smallest of dents in the need for housing or the income and racial segregation that plagues the state, while also contributing to sprawl. The question is whether the Lesniak bill, which essentially shifts responsibility for providing housing back to local communities, will accomplish what needs to be accomplished.

There are three issues at play.

The first is the need to build more housing for low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans. The state Supreme Court in 2008, in tossing out the latest COAH rules, estimated that 115,000 affordable units would be needed by the end of 2014. That figure, however, may significantly underestimate real need. According to NJ Future, a nonpartisan planning and research organization, housing advocates place the number at 900,000, a figure that takes into account the large number of families in the state who live either in substandard housing or housing that busts their household budgets.

The second is the need for regional planning that acknowledges the impact that both industrial and residential development has on housing need, traffic and the environment.

And the third, which goes to the heart of the COAH debate and we believe was the central point made by the state Supreme Court when it forced the Legislature to address the housing issue, is the idea of fair share. The court did not just rule that housing was necessary, but that every town had to supply its fair share of housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income households. Its point — which remains valid — is that racial and economic segregation is not good for the state, and that all of us had a responsibility to close that gap. COAH, unfortunately, has failed to do so — the state is home to three of the nation’s wealthiest counties (Hunterdon, Morris and Somerset) and three of its poorest cities (Camden, Newark and Paterson).

We obviously can do better, but it remains to be seen whether the legislation on the table will fix the problem or further exacerbate it. Before the Lesniak bill — which is being reviewed by the Economic Growth Committee — moves forward, its sponsor needs to demonstrate just how his reforms will result will lead to more housing and a less segregated state.

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Grassroots: The second Clinton presidency

My Grassroots column on President Barack Obama -- and my sense that he is reprising the Clinton presidency in ways we never expected -- is up at The Progressive Populist.

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Driving the rich away

I have my doubts about this study -- not its findings or methodology, but the political bias it plays into.

Commissioned by the state Chamber of Commerce and conducted by a Boston College institute -- the Center for Wealth and Philanthropy -- that has endorsed a repeal of the estate tax, the study has found that rich folks are leaving the state and taking their money with them. The reason for this "exodus of wealth," according to "local experts and economists," was

a series of changes in the state’s tax structure — including increases in the income, sales, property and “millionaire” taxes.

“This study makes it crystal clear that New Jersey’s tax policies are resulting in a significant decline in the state’s wealth,” said Dennis Bone, chairman of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and president of Verizon New Jersey.

So who are these experts The Star-Ledger is quoting? Well, there is the Chamber, of course, and Jim Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, and a certified public accountant that offers some anecdotal evidence. Not exactly an exhaustive attempt to get past the what of the so-called wealth transfer to the why. The Chamber, as we know, has a political agenda (profit, profit and more profit), while our accountant friend offers a nice touch but not much in the way of real empirical evidence.

As for Hughes, he is an important researcher and academic, he also has a tendency to speak in a pro-business, pro-developer language that has always left me wondering how much of his analysis is tinged with a pro-corporate bias.

So, you'll have to excuse my skepticism when reading this report. I'm having trouble buying it.

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Dispatches: The promise of change (New Jersey-style)

Here is Dispatches, on Gov. Chris Christie's promises to reform the budget and end the state's long-standing structural deficit and how it has an all too familiar ring.

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Colorado Springs and the future of American government

This story comes to me courtesy of our lifestyle editor, Michael Redmond:

Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many

The reason I share it -- and that he passed it along -- is that it just may be our future, if we're not careful. The gist is this: The antitax fervor in the Springs has left the city with a busted budget and no hopes of generating new revenue. Without revenue, there is no way to pay for services -- many of which most of us take for granted.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

It is not a pretty picture and it's one we could face if we continue to pretend that we can have top-shelf services without paying for them.

I've been covering state and local government in New Jersey for a long time and it is clear to me that the credit-card mentality that nearly destroyed our economy (and remains likely to) has infected every public financial and fiscal decision we make.

New Jersey is buried in debt and facing a recurring, structural budget deficit. Its pension and healthcare systems have been borrowed against, leaving far too little money available to pay off our promises to state workers. The federal government, rather than help the states, spent the Bush years cutting taxes for the rich and pretending that the impending budget crisis would never come.

And it is here and has been for quite a while. And yet, everytime we talk about making tough decisions, we flinch. We think we can balance our books by eliminating waste and corruption, as if waste and corruption make up more than just a tiny fraction of our structural deficit. We have no interest in making real sacrifices -- though we are willing to have others sacrifice on our behalf (the suburbs want spending on the cities cut, for instance, while many seniors are willing to skimp on school spending and so on).

Colorado Springs may seem like a novelty story, a one-off problem. But it isn't. It is the canary in our fiscal coal mine and we better take heed.

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Tin-ear syndrome

This headline from The Washington Post Web site pretty much tells you what you need to know about the financial industry:

AIG plans to pay about $100 million in bonuses Wednesday

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Ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' but only at the military's pace

From a progressive standpoint, the most significant positive to come out of the president's state of the union last week was his commitment to ending the military's arbitrary and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

In practice, however, expect the military to drag its feet -- even if top military officials say they also are committed.

Today, for instance, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress the military was committed to the repeal, with Mullen offering some pretty strong language:

“No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said it was his personal belief that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.”

However, there is a caveat. The repeal is going to be phased in over a number of years -- to give the military time to address some of what it considers to be sticky issues:

Mr. Gates said that the review would examine changes that might have to be made to Pentagon policies on benefits, base housing, fraternization and misconduct and that it would also study the potential effect on unit cohesion, recruiting and retention.


For further information, Mr. Gates said he would ask the Rand Corporation to update a 1993 study on the effect of allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly. That study concluded that gay service members could serve openly if the policy was given strong support from the military’s senior leaders.

Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen were responding to President Obama’s campaign pledge to end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which the president, after a year of saying of little about it, reaffirmed in his State of the Union address last week.

“The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it,” Mr. Gates told the committee. “We have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. However, we also can only take this process so far as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress.”

This might seem reasonable, but it leaves gay and lesbian soldiers in limbo and signals to straight members of the military that their gay and lesbian comrades are somehow different -- so different, in fact, that even with the lifting of sanctions against them they must be treated differently.

The military was desegregated -- which meant mixing black soldiers with racist whites -- and women have been serving with only minor incident (on the part of neanderthal men who should be drummed out). Gay and lesbian soldiers have been serving honorably and will continue to do so.

Don't ask, just end the policy.

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