Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

War powers should not be partisan issue

Democrats in Congress ignored their responsibilities in military matters today when they failed to force the Obama administration to include the House of Representatives in it’s Libya deliberations.

Republicans, playing their own partisan games, are at least nodding in the direction of constitutional limits on presidential war-making, though it is pretty clear based on recent history that this is about Obama and not the constitution.

This partisan bickering is an affront. It should not matter who is in the White House or who runs Congress. It is the House of Representatives’ responsibility to take the nation into war, or keep the president from doing so.

The trouble with journalism

Dean Baker at the Center for Economic Policy Research cuts to the chase in describing the failure of big-foot journalists in a post today to his blog.

Basically, he says, journalism has been infected by the disease of he-said-she-said, allowing politicians to spout whatever nonsense they want because they know that none of the major media organizations will do anything to place their blathering in context.

The Republicans blamed the economy’s weak job performance in May on the deficit and regulations. Is there any coherent story that they can tell on this or does the WSJ not care?

Suppose the Republicans blamed the weak jobs numbers on the Chicago Bulls loss in the NBA semi-finals. Would this also just be repeated without comment. How about if they blamed it on the color purple? Sure, it’s just a he said/she said world.

For the record, if a serious person made this argument then they would back it up with evidence. For example, firms that make longer hiring commitments would be doing less hiring than firms in industries with rapid turnover. (Try to explain the loss of temp jobs in May.) We should also see a big increase in average hours worked, since this does not require any commitment by employers. (We don’t.)

You’d have thought we’d learn from all the times this failure has led to disaster — the war in Iraq, the economic meltdown and subsequent stagnation — but we haven’t. Baker again:

If reporters did their jobs, politicians would actually have to make coherent arguments when they talked about the economy, instead of just saying whatever nonsense advanced their political agenda.

It’s not an issue of bias, after all; it’s just laziness.

Knicks: One step forward, two steps back

In a world ruled by sane men — which generally leaves the folks at Madison Square Garden outside of the mix — the Knicks would have retained Donnie Walsh as president and general manager and let Mike D’Antoni go at the end of his coaching contract. Walsh, after all, has done a remarkable job of cleaning up the mess he inherited and getting the Knicks into the playoffs.

So, where does this team go now?

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.

The debt debate: Taking bets on Democratic cave-in

Moody’s has issued a warning that should shorten the debate over the debt ceiling.

Moody’s Investors Service warned on Thursday that it might downgrade the nation’s sterling credit rating if Congress does not increase the nation’s debt limit “in coming weeks,” putting a spur to sputtering talks between party leaders and the White House to reach agreement on a long-term deficit-reduction plan.

The debt ceiling has been used as a political football by the GOP this year, though Democrats have been unwilling to acknowledge that some of the questions raised by their Republican opponents about mounting debt are legitimate.

Debt is a long-term problem and will need to be controlled, but the prescriptions being pushed by the GOP are downright mean-spirited and disingenuous. We can deal with the deficit by ending our multiprong war on terror, reducing our military footprint world wide, creating jobs (a healthy economy will go a long way toward generating added tax revenues), reversing the Bush tax cuts and closing corporate tax loopholes. We don’t need to gut Medicare or Social Security.

But don’t expect Democrats to fight for these kinds of remedies. Instead, we probably should be taking bets to see how quickly Democratic leaders cave in to Republican demands as a way to avert a catastrophe created by GOP recalcitrance.

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.

Chris Christie, family man

Gov. Christie arrives by state police helicopter Tuesday afternoon at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale for the school’s baseball game against Delbarton. Christie’s son Andrew plays for Delbarton. Credit Christopher Costa for Patch

At another time, this might be just the cliched tempest in a teapot, just another governor abusing the perks of office.

But in 2011, with a great budget-balancer slashing state spending and being talked up for national office, Chris Christie’s arrogance gets placed on full view for national consumption.

The story goes like this (broken by our colleagues at the Ridgewood Patch):

Governor Christie landed in Bergen County in a state police helicopter late Tuesday afternoon to attend his son’s baseball game against St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale.

Christie arrived shortly before 4 p.m. to watch his son Andrew play baseball for Delbarton School. He was driven from the helicopter about 100 yards to the field in a black car with tinted windows.

The governor then flew back to Princeton for a meeting with Iowa Republicans — you know, Iowa, where the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses will be held in 2012.

Previous governors — Jim McGreevey, Jon Corzine — were criticized loudly by the Republicans for their use and misuse of taxpayer-paid transportation. I would have thought the governor, who is as savvy a politician as there is in the state, would have seen the controversy coming. But, and this is key, he not only is savvy, but horribly arrogant — probably the most arrogant and imperious man to occupy the New Jersey State House in memory.

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.