The Corzine administration is looking increasingly like a rudderless boat lost at sea. The administration has spent the better part of its three years in control of the state offering controversial proposals and then backing away from them, allowing the state Legislature and the special interests that surround it to fill the vaccuum.
The latest reversal is his decision to restore some of the cuts he proposed in aid to smaller municipalities. While I’ve never viewed the aid cuts as a good idea — using aid as a hammer is unfair; if the governor wants large-scale consolidation he should push the state Legislature to mandate a broad study and then have the Legislature vote on the results — the governor’s willingness to abandon nearly everything he has proposed when faced with political opposition has left him weak and ineffectual.
It is no way to run a state and a waste of the executive’s office — the most powerful executive’s office in the country.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
E-mail me clicking here.
Hank Kalet 
Well, when you run a gang, that imposes it\’s will on people by force, you become timid that your fellow gang members may turn on you.The man is a dilettante!He bought the guv\’s chair. But, unlike at Goldman, where the objectives are clear, here he has no objectives. Satisfy the bosses and masses. He leads like a figurehead \’leads\’ a viking ship. The inmates control the asylum.May I suggest that we are in Newark with a map of Camden? Gooferment is an idea who\’s time has past. The use of force to compel people to do stuff is as antiquated as the Ugg and Ogg bashing each other\’s heads in for a bigger cut of the kill or the favors of Oggette or Uggette.The political class got exactly what they wanted — sheep. And, until the sheep grow a set of huevos, there\’s no need for the politicians to DO anything. Except get bigger and bigger shears.A governor with stones would: (1) convert state pensions to 401ks. (2) End the drug war. (3) Cut Trenton 50% for a start. (4) Eliminate \’public education\’.Then his fellow gang members would really turn on him!Where\’s the pitchfork, torches, tar and feathers?
Oh, it would be so much better to turn the government over to big business and the likes of Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Bernie Ebbers. Oh wait, we did turn our government over to 2 big oil men; Bush did say he would run the US like a business. Business is always right, it\’s perfect, just let the free market determine everything because government is evil. Geezus, deliver us from goofertarian ideologues. Goffertarians are a bunch of strait jacketed boobs. Where is the libertarian paradise? Where is the great advanced libertarian government on the earth today? Libertarianism is filth, a joke, a travesty and would solve nothing. Bad corrupt government certainly is a problem. So the solution is to get rid of government? We have bad, corrupt but highly successful businesses, is the solution to get rid of capitalism? We have rich powerful successful corporations polluting the crap out of our environment and the goofertarian solution is to do nothing and to wait for the free market to kick in at some distant undefined time in the distant far future in some other galaxy. There is a need for effective, honest government to protect us from rapacious corporate thugs, amongst other things. The health insurance and drug companies spend millions buying congressmen so I guess, according to libertarianism, we should get rid of government and we should get rid of the drug and insurance companies? Really stupid. There are corrupt police forces, does that mean we get rid of the whole concept of police. No, it means we go after the crooked cops and reform that police force. The same with government, go after the crooked, corrupt pols and haul them away. Reform and fine tune the government but don\’t get rid of it. There\’s a price to be paid for living in a civilized, civil advanced society as the USA and it\’s called taxes.
>So the solution is to get rid of >government? Yes.>We have rich powerful successful >corporations polluting the crapThe government is the generally acknowledged largest polluter. And, they created the \’corporation\’ that gets away with polluting. >to wait for the free market to>kick in at some distant undefined The Market is always operating. It\’s the gooferment that fouls everything up with its use of force.>There is a need for effective, >honest government to protect us>from rapacious corporate thugsYou really can\’t be serious. Have you ever heard of the concept of \’regulatory capture\”? The government regulators are in bed with those that they \’regulate\’. All they do is protect each other. The FDA prevents competition and that\’s why it takes two decades for a new drug and costs a grazillion bucks. Please keep your \’protection\’ to yourself. >drug and insurance companies? >Really stupid. Here an example: Life insurance — relatively unregulated; cheap, affordable, easy to get. Health insurance and \’health\’ in general — highly regulated; expensive, hard to keep, and difficult to get. Do you think there is a connection? >There are corrupt police forces, >does that mean we get rid of the >whole concept of police. Yes. Thugs with blue suits and badges are the moral equivalent of the mob. Private security? Pinkerton, Wackenhutt, et etera. When was the last time they were cited for civil rights violations or corruption.>Reform and fine tune the >government but don\’t get rid of >it. Don\’t you see that you\’re falling under their siren\’s song. People can\’t be left alone. They won\’t do the \’right\’ things. They have to be forced to do the \’right\’ things and we the political class will tell you what to do.>There\’s a price to be paid for >living in a civilized, civil >advanced society as the USA and >it\’s called taxes.\”barbara streisand\”Sorry but that\’s what THEY want you to believe.Guess once again, we\’ll have to agree to disagree agreeably. The revolution is coming. Too bad it\’s goign to hurt when the rosy color glasses get ripped off.
The Pinkertons could be vicious thugs, too.At its height, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency employed more agents than there were members of the standing army of the United States of America, causing the state of Ohio to outlaw the agency due to fears it could be hired out as a private army or militia.During the labor unrest of the late 19th century, businessmen hired Pinkerton agents to infiltrate unions, and guards to keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories. The most well known such confrontation was the Homestead Strike of 1892, in which Pinkerton agents were called in to enforce the strikebreaking measures of Henry Clay Frick, acting on behalf of Andrew Carnegie, who was abroad; the ensuing conflicts between Pinkerton agents and striking workers led to several deaths on both sides. The Pinkertons were also used as guards in coal, iron, and lumber disputes in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as the railroad strikes of 1877. The Ludlow Massacre was engineered by Colorado militiamen, private police forces and assorted hired goons. The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency had been brought in to suppress theColorado miners. They brought with them an armored car mounted witha machine gun–the Death Special– that roamed the area sprayingbullets. The day of the massacre, the miners were celebrating GreekEaster. At 10:00 AM the militia ringed the camp and began firing into thetents upon a signal from the commander, Lt. Karl E. Lindenfelter. Not oneof the perpetrators of the slaughter were ever punished, but scores ofminers and their leaders were arrested and black-balled from the coalindustry.