Looking for a hero in the primary campaign? One candidate—Newark Mayor Cory Booker—has built much of his campaign on a number of overly-hyped, if doubtful, stories of personal heroics, stories that, true or not, were sure to attract the attention of credulous main-stream media outlets. In case there’s any doubt, one of his standard lines in ads and stump speeches says he “runs toward” problems rather than away from them.
Month: July 2013
Most NJ House members vote against Fourth Amendment
Most members of the New Jersey delegation in the US House of Representatives voted against a measure that would have limited surveillance of telephone calls by the National Security Agency. The House vote was 217-205 against an amendment limiting funding for the phone tracking program.
When will someone be indicted for denying a meal to a hungry child?
I want to know when someone will be indicted for denying a meal to a hungry child.
I am appalled about the amount of ink spilt on the so-called “free-lunch scandal” in New Jersey when so little is spent to discuss the problems of the poor and the hungry. The free and reduced lunch program is, at best, a minimal measure to make up for other, absurdly inadequate anti-poverty efforts.
A politically endangered species: An independent high court for NJ
Those who love and respect the law recently could savor two courageous decisions by New Jersey’s Supreme Court, a panel that enjoyed a national reputation as one of the best, brightest, and most politically independent—but now faces a grim future.
Don’t expect truth and justice from a criminal trial
No one should be surprised at the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial. Anyone who expects a criminal trial to guarantee justice is either naïve or defines justice far too broadly. The best a trial can do is guarantee fair procedures for the defendant, not justice in the abstract sense of an absolutely correct outcome–like justice for Trayvon Martin and his family.
Can one man–ok, three–decide the future of Rutgers?
Stephen Sweeney, the New Jersey Senate president, deserves some sort of recognition for serving as the poodle to both a Democratic political boss, George Norcross, and a Republican governor, Chris Christie. He best illustrates this when he deals with issues involving Rutgers University—most recently, his attempt to force the elimination of the Rutgers trustee board without bothering to hear anyone’s opinion but his own and those holding his leash.
If Joe doesn’t get in, no one does
If Joe Collins doesn’t get into heaven, then no one does.
He died yesterday. He was 72. He saw it coming. The last time we spoke in person, we were alone in his Morristown hospital room. He wondered aloud whether he’d get to Heaven. He was raised a Catholic, he said, and was told he would meet God when he died, but only if had lived a good life.
Congress Skipped Town and Left College Students in the Lurch: Federal Stafford Student Loans and the Irresponsibility of Congress
By Linda Stamato
The “Fourth of July Quiz,” courtesy of the good-humored Gail Collins, appears in yesterday’s New York Times. It poses this question at the outset:
1. Just before leaving town for its holiday break, the House of Representatives finished up work on: a) The farm bill; b) Fixing the Voting Rights Act; c) Naming a Mississippi River bridge after Stan Musial.
Isn’t the NJEA opposed to vouchers?
Remember when the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) was so opposed to private school vouchers that it would turn its back on an old friend just to punish him for supporting them?
