It ain't easy being green, when all you are is mean

In October 2009, the New Jersey Environmental Federation did something it had never done: It endorsed a Republican for governor.

Four years after endorsing Democrat Jon Corzine, the NJEF concluded that Corzine's environmental record was a disaster -- an accurate assessment -- but rather than sit out the election or back the third party candidate, Chris Daggett, it opted to back the conservative Republican based on a set of promises.

Christie won the election, of course, and has made the NJEF look foolish, running up the worst environmental record in memory -- worse than both Corzine and Christie Whitman.

The New York Times today, placing his most recent assault in a larger context, offers us the list:

Running for governor in 2009, Chris Christie vowed to become “New Jersey’s No. 1 clean-energy advocate.” That was a hollow promise. As governor, Mr. Christie proceeded to cut all the money for the Office of Climate and Energy. He raided $158 million from the clean energy fund, meant for alternative energy investments, and spent it on general programs. He withdrew the state from an important lawsuit against electric utilities to reduce emissions.


On Thursday, he took the worst step of all: He abandoned the 10-state initiative in the Northeast that uses a cap-and-trade system to lower carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants. The program has been remarkably successful, a model of vision and fortitude. Lacking that, Mr. Christie has given in to the corporate and Tea Party interests that revile all forms of cap and trade, letting down the other nine states trying to fight climate change.

The governor also eliminated the office of the public advocate and has slashed DEP funding, but those seem minor given the entire green -- or should I say antigreen -- record.

It should be noted that Christie's 2009 campaign featured another important element -- an attack on Corzine for breaking promises made during the Democrat's 2005 campaign. Someone should play those attacks back to Christie and remind him that the promises he has been breaking carry no less weight.

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Zirin's perspective on Noah: ingrained rhetoric and the need for change

Dave Zirin at The Nation places Joachim Noah's words in context -- linking them to other recent NBA/LGBT collisions, some good and some bad -- and reminds us the Noah is one of the NBA's more progressive players.

That Noah "got caught up" and shouted an anti-gay slur in the heat of the moment only shows how endemic the problem is in the league. Homophobia is the norm, not the exception.

Drawing lines on abortion and the budget

Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen

In the context of a massive budgetary shortfall, the governor and his party push several huge tax breaks for upper-income folks and corporations. But $7.45 million in family planning -- no dice, the GOP says.

Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex/Mercer

Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex

A Senate vote today on S2899 -- sponsored by Democrats Loretta Weinberg, Linda Greenstein and Joe Vitale -- elicited some interesting responses from Republicans, who accused Democrats of by-passing process (will they make the same argument if the governor defies the state Supreme Court?) and supporting a group (Planned Parenthood) that, in Sen. Gerald Cardinale's words, “supports abortion at every turn.”

“This bill is not about women’s health, it’s about partisan politics,” he said.

He is right, of course. The bill was as much about drawing clearer lines between the parties on two key issues: abortion and the budget. The GOP -- or at least the governor and a majority of GOP senators -- is willing to toss out funding for poor women's health to limit abortion services for poor women, even as they hand over cash to those who need it least.

Sen. Greenstein offered this statement:

“The simple fact of the matter is that the Governor’s cuts to family planning and women’s health services have left women at a disadvantage in receiving basic health care,” said Senator Greenstein, who serves as a member of the Senate Budget Committee. “With unexpected revenues coming into the State, I think it’s fiscally wise and socially conscientious to reverse cuts to women’s health care. When you consider the total savings to the State from federal matching funds, there’s simply no fiscal argument you can make against investing this money in programs that make a difference in people’s lives.”

The Democrats know that Gov. Chris Christie is going to veto the bill. They have 26 "yes" votes, one short of overriding a veto -- but either way, they will have made their point. Will it matter at the polls? Probably not for the governor. But the entire Legislature is up and I suspect it will help a handful of Democrats in an election that likely was going to favor the party anyway.

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Now he should apologize for the apology

"I just got caught up."

Joakim Noah offered his apology, saying he "just got caught up." That, of course, is nonsense. We all say things in anger, but not all of use slurs like the one Noah used -- or others harmful to other groups.

For a word like that to pop out of Noah's mouth in anger means it is part of his working vocabulary. He needs to own up to that and not just apologize for saying it.

But this post is not just about Noah's comments and apology. It also is about the quick shift made by ESPN's hosts, who focused not on what Noah said but on his possible lack of focus. He shouldn't have let the fans get to him -- which may be true, but it is beside the point here.

Noah -- and Bryant and the 358 others who play this kids' game for a living -- need to look at themselves and ask themselves why words like those used last night by Noah come so easily to their lips.

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The NBA should be grateful for Steve Nash

The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement about two hours ago that shows that not all NBA players are callous homophobes.

NBA legend Steve Nash has partnered with HRC in a new video for the group’s New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign. In the video, Nash talks about the growing number of professional athletes who are speaking out in support of marriage equality, saying, “I’m proud to be one of them.”  The video can be viewed at www.hrc.org/NY4marriage.

Nash stands out from the rest of his league for his progressive impulses -- which he has never shied away from. As much as Kobe Bryant and Joachim Noah deserve the opprobrium sent their way, Nash deserves gratitude and respect.

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Another day another slur in the NBA

In the macho culture of American sports, it's apparently OK to shout homophobic slurs. I don't mean that it is approved or condoned by the league -- $100,000 fine to Kobe Bryant shows where the league stands on it -- but just one month after the Bryant incident comes one involving Bulls power-forward Joakim Noah.

The exchange occurred after Noah was whistled for his second foul with more than six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Noah was whistled for an over the back call after attempting to tap in a Carlos Boozer miss. Noah came from behind Heat forward LeBron James to tap the ball near the cylinder and made contact with his body. After briefly arguing the call, Noah headed straight for the Bulls bench and began barking at someone seated behind him and to his right.

Noah then appeared to yell a string of profanities and finished with what appears to be the exact phrase that Bryant was fined for using. The only difference: Noah was not addressing one of the officials.

The league has a problem, whether it wants to admit it or not, and fines are not going to be enough to fix it.

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An offensive defense of military spending

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had been advocating cuts in military spending, is now counseling against significant cuts saying that reductions would leave the nation vulnerable.

Is he kidding? United States military spending accounts for 43 percent of all military spending world wide and more than the next 14 countries combined. In fact, we could cut our spending by a third and still outspend the next biggest spender by a 5-to-1 ratio, while accounting for $1 of every $3 spent on defense world wide.

The Gates comments, made at the University of Notre Dame commencement, have nothing to do with maintaining an adequate level of defensive readiness and everything to do with fear -- fear on the part of the military-industrial complex that it will lose its privileged place in Washington and its access to American tax dollars, fear on the part of politicians who count on defense contractors for campaign funding and the need to sow fear among voters who otherwise would prefer to see defense spending cut and social programs left in place.

Gates' comments unfortunately signal a likelihood that defense spending is going to be left at historically high levels even as our friends in Washington talk about shrinking government and the programs that help those of us who live in communities like South Brunswick, Princeton and New Brunswick will be gutted to make the bond markets happy.

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Going after the gas companies

Legislation that would cut aid to oil companies appears dead, thanks to a coalition of Republicans and oil state Democrats. A minority of Senators, in fact, have scuttled legislation that would end subsidies for the most profitable industry in the United States.

The lessons from this?

• Big oil -- and big business in general -- has far more power than voters and consumers, thanks in part to the industry's ability to spend massive amounts of money on political campaigns and buy candidates' loyalty.
• The Senate system is undemocratic, both because it gives as much power to small states with little population as it does to larger states, and because it allows the filibuster and secret holds.
• We need a massive realignment of our politics that shifts power back to the citizenry -- reform of the campaign finance system, constitutional checks on corporations, reconfiguration of the Senate, an end to the electoral college and to the two-party system.

The most important lesson, however, is that we cannot wait for government to fix things. Our elected representatives only react to threats to their jobs so we have to organize (civil disobedience and lobbying) and run aggressive primary and third-party campaigns designed to do what the Tea Party has done to the Republicans -- pull the Democrats to the left.

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The selling of schools

So this is what we've come to -- putting our school properties up for sale because we refuse to commit resources to education.

The South Brunswick School District -- like far too many others in the state -- is looking into selling advertising space on school property to generate revenue, an effort that has been made necessary because of state budget cuts and a general unwillingness to consider real school funding reform.

I can't blame the district for moving in this direction, even if I find the notion of commercialized school space deplorable. If the state is not going to follow through on its obligation to make sure that all schools have the needed funding, then local districts really have no choice.

The problem is part of the larger failure in the United States to commit real money to schools. Rather than fix the problems we have in our educational system, we employ gimmicks like the advertising gambit and gut the public education system with charters and vouchers and a slew of rote tests that measure nothing.

Our public schools are our most important resource, the one unifying civic institution in a fragmenting nation. But we have little concern for that. Instead, we are prepared to gut them and turn them into just another area where commerce can be done.

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Memo to banks from New York AG: No impunity

If the feds won't dig into banking practices, then the states will have to -- or, at least, New York will.

The New York attorney general has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses.


Officials in Eric T. Schneiderman’s, office have also requested meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. The inquiry appears to be quite broad, with the attorney general’s requests for information covering many aspects of the banks’ loan pooling operations. They bundled thousands of home loans into securities that were then sold to investors such as pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies.

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The charter question and Cerf's answer

State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf probably wishes he could take back his statements about a Princeton-South Brunswick charter school. Cerf, a gung-ho supporter of charters, raised questions about so-called boutique schools like the proposed Mandarin-language one here. (It has been approved by the state but has been unable to find a home that can get through the local zoning process.)

At a forum sponsored by NJ Spotlight last week in Newark, Cerf cited a proposed Mandarin-immersion charter in Princeton in questioning whether the harm such charters could cause to their districts outweighs their potential to enhance a “portfolio” of educational offerings.

“I think you really can have a very serious debate, the outcome of which is unclear, as to whether that rounds out the portfolio or impairs the success of the overall district,” Cerf said, referring to the Princeton International Academy Charter School, which hopes to open in South Brunswick in September and draw students from that district, Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro.

Cerf was correct -- and not just about the Princeton International Academy Charter School. The charter school movement requires far more scrutiny than state educational officials have been willing to give it, and this goes for those working both for Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Jon Corzine.

The argument in favor of charters is that it enhances freedom of choice for parents, but it also offers the state a convenient out when it comes to fixing public schools. Rather than do the hard work -- which would include modernizing buildings to a much greater degree than has been imagined, training teachers and paying them enough to stay in the public sector, reducing class sizes and doing what needs to be done to improve school safety (and this list does not include the societal changes required to put poor kids in a position to learn) -- the state is giving children of motivated parents a way to escape failing schools. This does nothing to fix the failures, but consigns those students unlucky enough to escape to even worse conditions.

So, let me rephrase the question Cerf was asking, but apply it to charter schools more generally: Do charter schools enhance or hinder the quality of public school districts?

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Xenophobia on the diamond

Dave Zirin reminds us that there are some courageous celebrities -- and a lot of xenophobic fans.

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Mets prognosis: Better than expected

The Mets are not a great ball club. But aside from the Phillies -- flawed in their own right -- there are no great clubs in the National League. So that means the Mets have a shot -- not a great shot, but a shot -- at the wild card.

Consider: We are now a quarter of the way through the season and the only team to get their record above .600 is the Phillies. The Marlins, at .590, are next, but no one should expect that to continue, given an uneven lineup and mediocre back-end pitching. (With Josh Johnson, however, they have one of the five best starters in the National League at the top of the rotation.)

This is what the Mets have going for them, if they can avoid a prolonged losing streak and find a way to stay close in the wild card through the trading deadline (if they fall back, look for Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and possibly Francisco Rodriguez to be dealt).

1. Reyes and Beltran are performing better than they have in at least three years and right now are among the league's better hitters.

2. Ike Davis was off to a massive start.

3. Rodriguez is pitching great and is getting 8th-inning help from Jason Isringhausen, the first time he has had this kind of setup work since he got here.

4. Chris Capuano has looked good in the rotation and Mike Pelfrey may be turning it around after a bad start.

Those are the early positives. Add to it: Johann Santana is expected to return in July. It is hard to make any assumptions about what he'll bring to the table, but his presence will make the team better.

The team cannot expect David Wright and Jason Bay to both continue slumping. One and hopefully both will start hitting, which will deepen the lineup.

Since Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner began sharing second, the position has stabilized.

And both Angel Pagan and Davis will be back soon.

Over all, I like the length of this lineup, providing everyone lives up to his potential.

Can they win the wild card? Yes. Will they? Unlikely, but if they can make a run it will be worth keeping their soon-to-be free agents.

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Welcome to triangulation, Obama-style

Gas prices are spiking and drivers are angry, a situation that demands both a political response and leadership.

Too bad, President Barack Obama is only offering the former. He announced today that he would make it easier to drill for oil on public lands, particularly in Alaska, a sop to both his GOP critics and selfish drivers who refuse to alter their own habits to address falling supply.

There are a lot of reasons that U.S. gas prices are high -- Middle East instability, demand that has been growing without thought of supply, greed in the executive suites, unnecessary federal subsidies and, yes, federal and state regulations.

Some of these causes need to be addressed and can be -- reducing demand by changing our driving habits and land-use patterns is imperative and should top the list along with finding alternative fuel sources.

Giving in to the drill-baby-drill crowd, however, is not something that makes sense on any level -- the supply would be a short-term boost that would do little for several years, which is both useless in terms of prices at the pump and counterproductive as a long-term strategy.

That hasn't stopped some environmental groups from signing on -- even though, you know they would screaming bloody murder had this been ordered by the Bush administration.

The reality is this would have been bad policy under Bush and it is bad policy under Obama.

Push back on charters from NJSBA

The New Jersey School Boards Association is asking the state to give voters a say in the development and budgeting for charter schools.

The organization "overwhelmingly" backed a resolution from Princeton that ask that the state change rules governing charter schools so that the schools would need the same kind of voter backing that new public schools require. Princeton already is home to one charter school and a second one has been approved that will draw from Princeton, South Brunswick and West Windsor-Plainsboro.


The vote is the first major challenge to the charter school movement and could give supporters of proposed charter reform legislation the boost they need to get their bill to the governor's desk. While there is little chance that charter-backer Gov Chris Christie would sign the legislation, it would make public the basic issues at play in the debate over charters.

The fact is that local tax money is used to fund charters, but the entity elected to manage the public's money -- the school board -- has been forced to sit on the sidelines as charter schools have popped up around the state. Some survive and thrive, others muddle along and many fail, but no one other than the state Department of Education has any say over whether they are needed.

The legislation proposed by state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) would change that. Before the NJSBA vote, it seemed unlikely the bill would go anywhere, even though Buono is the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee. Maybe this will alter the balance.

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More extensives tax reforms needed in New Jersey

Gov. Chris Christie's slash-and-burn budgeting appears to be having little impact at the local level -- or at least not the impact promised.


South Brunswick, for instance, is expected to raise its municipal tax rate almost 10 percent, on top of a big increase in school taxes that will cost taxpayers a combined $400 a year (the owner of a house assessed at $200,000).

And South Brunswick is not the only community looking at a tax increase. East Brunswick, despite reducing spending, is looking at a tax hike, as are numerous towns throughout the region -- the Princetons, Lawrence, East Windsor -- and the state.

The governor says the property tax hikes are the fault of local officials, but when so many towns are cutting spending and still ending up with tax hikes one has to wonder if there isn't some larger issue at play.

My sense is that the system has collapsed. I've been complaining that the state's government structure was unsustainable and broken, but it has been functioning. That seems no longer to be the case. The governor is proposing a tool kit that contains some nominally useful tools but still leaves the basic set of problems in place. A more comprehensive structural change is needed that includes a review of the corporate and income tax rates, the inefficiency of having 566 towns, nearly 600 school districts and more than 1,400 total taxing districts, and a frank discussion about priorities.

New Jersey continues to provide some useful and necessary services. We could save money if we were willing to further gut our social safety net, but then we would put our residents in the same position as my friend Lynn, who moved to North Carolina and has now been kicked off the unemployment insurance roll because the governor down there views unemployment insurance as an incentive to laziness. That seems a dubious tradeoff.

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Reprieve for Princeton couple points out 2nd-class citizenship of gays, lesbians

Henri Velandia and Josh Vandiver of Princeton should not have to prove the stability and strength of their relationship in court, but that is what they still have to do.

Velandia, a Venezuela native, faces deportation even though the 27-year-old Velandia got legally married to Vandiver in Connecticut last year. At today's hearing, the immigration judge delayed a decision on Velandia's fate until December, saying that federal marriage laws could change.

So, good news today, but not all that good. In the wake of the self-congratulatory response much of the nation had to the killing of a terrorist proved we can do what we set out to do, the president said -- it underscores the incompleteness of our national project.

We are a classless society that is badly divided into classes -- gay and straight, black, white and other, rich and poor -- and class matters greatly. Gays, lesbians and the transgendered do not have the same rights as the rest of us -- not in the military, not in marriage and not in immigration.

And that must change and change quickly.

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Someone is getting paid!

Corporate profits are up and the economy is allegedly starting to grow. But the unemployment rate remains painfully high and wages are stagnant.

At least the CEOs are getting paid.

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Treating the symptoms, ignoring the disease

The patchwork nature of American politics makes it difficult to stay ahead of the smaller indignities that the capitalist system imposes on its subjects.

Issues are subdivided in a taxonomy of specificity; a hard line/border is imposed keeping us from looking at issues within a larger context of economic interest.

National security and war issues are separate from environmental issues, which are separate from the question of jobs, which is separate from immigration policy, which is separate from the political corruption of our campaign finance system. The fact that the same people benefit from decisions made across these categories gets forgotten -- or is purposely hidden.

The nexus, however, is not difficult to discern: Our oil addiction creates massive profits for the oil companies, fouls the air and water, leads to the destruction of pristine land, drives our foreign policy, enriches arms companies and the military contracting and consulting business. High gas prices -- a result of the addiction and a driver of profits -- drives up food prices and the cost of all goods, which in turn raises costs for business, which in turn cuts into profits and leads to layoffs. Oil exploration damages land and water that produce food, driving up prices just as much as transportation costs drive up prices.

The linkages are massive and complex and right out in the open. We can see the system in action, but refuse to attack it. The problems we see -- poverty and hunger, climate change, war, illegal immigration -- are the symptoms of the larger disease of corporate capitalism. We must fight the smaller battles, but we can't lose sight of the larger cause of what ails us.

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Once again, community comes to Food Pantry's aid

Patch photo by Davy James

No one can say that the South Brunswick community does not care about its own. With a heavy push in the final week, the township Food Pantry exceeded its goal and collected nearly $50,000 in cash and $15,000 in food over a 10-week period.

That means the pantry should receive additional cash from the Feinstein Foundation, which challenges anti-hunger agencies across the country to raise funds and collect as many food donations as possible. The township is now eligible for a cut of the $230 million pie.

Kudos to the community, especially in such difficult economic times.

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Getting to the bottom of financial meltdown

It's been more than two years since the economy cratered and we still have no explanation as to what happened.

Calls for a "modern version of the Pecora Hearings -- the Senate Banking Committee hearings in the 1930s that laid bare the inner (and rotten) workings of the biggest financial firms" -- have fallen on deaf ears.

But there's still a chance we can get to the bottom of the mess -- if we listen to Simon Johnson. The economist and MIT professor is calling for confirmation hearings for Elizabeth Warren as the official head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

A proper Senate confirmation hearing would be the perfect platform for Ms. Warren to explain, (a) not only do "too big to fail" banks now constitute and hugely dangerous government subsidy scheme, but (b) based on these subsidies, they are becoming larger and acquiring more market power that can be -- and has been -- used to abuse consumers in a nontransparent fashion.

All attempts so far to construct some form of Pecora Hearings have failed -- partly because the issues are complex and partly because of partisan fighting. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission made some progress but could reach no consensus (or bring anyone to justice). Senator Levin's hearings into Goldman Sachs grabbed attention and were most helpful in the Dodd-Frank reform debate but again no one is going to jail -- and few people even grasp what were the real issues at stake. And the Department of Justice has preferred to pursue insider trading cases, perhaps taking the view that these are easier to explain to juries.

But Elizabeth Warren cuts through the complexity and offers a message that -- outside of Washington -- plays well across the political spectrum.

Her message is simple: the consumer "market" for financial products does not operate like a proper market because leading firms (bigger banks and also nonbanks, like some payday lenders) have figured out how to make a great deal of money by confusing their customers.

Will the president make the nomination? We can hope, but we shouldn't get our hopes up.

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The monster and his makers

Robert Scheer reminds us that Osama bin Laden started out as something other than an enemy of the United States. And that we helped create the movement he led.

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Baseball diversion: Another Mets phenom gets surgery

Paul Wilson. Bill Pulsipher. Jason Isringhausen (1.0). Phil Humber.

What do they all have in common? They were highly touted as Mets prospects and went under the knife. Some had productive careers -- Izzy was a top-level closer who is back with the Mets as their eighth-inning guy -- but none of them ended up being productive with the Mets.

Should we add Jenrry Mejia to the list? The team announced today that the 21-year-old, who opened the season in the Met bullpen last year (which only proved that Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya should have been fired much earlier than they were), is about to get the dreaded Tommy John surgery.

Highly regarded New York Mets pitching prospect Jenrry Mejia appears headed for Tommy John surgery that will sideline him for a year.

The 21-year-old Mejia, who made the Opening Day roster last season as a reliever, has a complete tear of the medial collateral ligament in his right elbow, the team announced. Mejia was examined Monday in New York by Mets doctor David Altchek, who recommended surgery.

Mejia plans to get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., before proceeding.

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Still dead

We're watching "Dancing with the Stars" here in the Kalet household (yes, my wife loves the show and I am watching with her) and Diane Sawyer breaks in with a special news update on Osama Bin Laden -- photos of the compound that really added little to the story.

All I could think of was this skit from "Saturday Night Live":



So, yes, Osama Bin Laden is still dead. Can we move on now?

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Political World: Terrorists Learned Language of Violence from U.S.

I posted a short column -- based on some remarks Chris Hedges made in California last night -- earlier today. Check it out, especially the comments at the end. I don't mind criticism -- expect it, really -- but can we keep it civil and on point?

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• Read poetry at The Subterranean.
• Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
• Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Our politics remain fractured, even with bin Laden's death

I was trying to figure out what I should write in response to the news that Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday by American troops. It is not an easy topic, given my general abhorrence of the tools or war and my opposition to the death penalty, and my sense that his death might have some cathartic impact on our culture.

And yet, the chants of "USA, USA, USA," and the tears and jubilation I witnessed on TV last night leave me feeling oddly disembodied.

I think the reason is that I remember the speed with which our political culture descended into jingoistic chest-thumping and I am concerned that the chanting and rooster-like crowing we are engaging in now will only lead us back to that uncomfortable place.

Just as significantly, there resides just below the surface of this apparent unity a festering ugliness that has only grown worse during the Obama presidency.

Reading the comments on my Patch sites, I was struck by these comments:

God bless America. Funny how Obama jumps right in to take all the credit!!

Then:

Barack Hussein, who never wore the uniform one day in his life, will take credit for the brave men who went in to a hostile country and rid us of Bin-Laden. How did Barack Hussein get this by Holder and the Justice Dept.?

The fact that bin Laden was living in a suburb of a major Pakistani city will be explained by some B.S. rather than the plain truth that the Pakis despise us and, while taking our money, give full support to our enemies.

Great job by the CIA and military. It is they whom we must rely on, and not the venal politicians like Barack Hussein.

A later respondent summed up what I think is the best way to view the two above comments -- comments that are flying around via email and on Facebook and not just on news sites:

I assume that if Bush had given the order, you would have given him no credit as well? And that you would have repeatedly referred to him with thinly veiled bigotry?

Everyone, from our brave troops to our intelligence community to the President and his advisors deserve credit for finally putting this creep in the dirt. Let's enjoy the achievement and celebrate being Americans.

There are other dangers, as the historian Rick Perlstein writes on his Facebook page:

I'm already seeing my liberal pals naively saying: neato! Now BHO can do his thing and bring the troops home, and end this "Global War on Terrorism" business just like he's always wanted. But the only thing he said about the GWOT in the speech was that it ain't over, and so did George W. Bush in Obama's support—"the fight against terror goes on." The modern presidency never gives up its power.

The modern presidency -- which dates from the Kennedy administration -- has only grown in unilateral power over the last 50 years. Obama, in far too many ways, has used the Global War on Terror as an excuse to maintain the powers accumulated in his office by his predecessors and to expand them (unmanned drone strikes in a nation with whom we are not only not at war, but that is supposed to be our ally).

I wish I could say I feel good about where we are this morning, but I am fearful that the imperial presidency and the rah-rah jingoism evident today might just give each other sustenance and push us one step farther down the road to fascism.

• Send me an e-mail.
• Read poetry at The Subterranean.
• Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
• Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.