My latest Progressive Populist column on Obama’s faultering commitment to change in the foreign poicy arena is available online.
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.
Doggie diaries: The story of Rosie and Sophie Bored dogs are bad for shoes
This picture speaks for itself, though I think a little background on how these Skechers became scrap is useful.
The dogs woke me at 6 this morning, partly because they wanted to go out and partly because it was hot and stuffy in our room.
So after letting them outside, I lied down on the couch in the den where we had the ceiling fan running. I figured they'd rather hang in there than in a tuffy room.
I dozed on and off. The dogs, however, were in beast mode. They stole a roll of paper towels, toilet paper, ransacked the garbage and basically made it difficult to sleep.
That's when I found them tearing up the shoes.
The moral of this story is never trust puppies. They use their cuteness as a cover for their mischievious intent.
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If you don’t see a sign do you have to follow it?
I have to wonder who placed the “No turn on red” sign on New Road at Route 27. It's not visible unless you're the third car or farther back,
We were sitting at the light tonight and the car in front of us made a right, despite what the sign says though most likely because the driver didn't see it.
Someone probably should consider moving it back.
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Dragging their feet, like everyone else
There are a lot of reasons more towns do not consolidate in New Jersey — debt, tax inequities, an unnecessary sense of singularity — but I’m wondering if the biggest reason might not be foot-dragging that kills discussions before they can start.
Consider the case of Hightstown and East Windsor. An independent group in the borough conducted a study calling for a full-blown study to be done. The Hightstown council was split but agreed to at least explore the issue. East Windsor said it was open to the discussion, but only were it clear that substantial benefits would accrue to the township.
That was three months ago. Informal discussions are set to begin this week, which means that real discussions of a real study are likely still months away.
My guess is that consolidation is unlikely, unless the state does what it should have done following the 2006 legislative joint session and empower a panel to push the process forward. As things stand now, the vague assistance the state can offer is just not enough to get anyone to the table, whether it be East Windsor and Hightstown, Jamesburg and Monroe, the Princetons or the many other doughnut and hole communities and small towns in the state.
Runner’s diary, Friday
I made it two days in a row on the treadmill — it was raining again, what a surprise — after some heavy leg work with weights, followed after by more leg and ab work. I’m still a slug, but I’m feeling a little less sluggy.
