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.

Debate blogging 1

The debate on the credit crisis can be winnowed down to this basic line: John McCain blames a few bad apples — in this case Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and, by extension, the people who relied on these institutions to ensure that banks would provide them loans — i.e., the poor and those living in poor and minority neighborhoods); Barack Obama blames deregulation.

McCain’s argument ties to his “clean up Washington” rhetoric, to eliminate corruption without upsetting the basic free-market structure; Obama’s focus on reigning in the excesses of the free-market.

Runner’s diary, Tuesday

Five days off the road and I feel like a slug. So getting back on the treadmill — yes, I wimped out because of the temperature — and doing four miles was a bit of a victory. It shouldn’t be, of course, but I’ll take it as it comes.

iPod: Bill Moyers’ Journal

How not to raise the age issue

There is something unseemly about this post on FiredogLake from TBoggs about Sen. Joe Biden’s mother-in-law:

It should be noted that, at 78, the late Mrs. Jacobs is only six years older than former prisoner of war John McCain. Now it is entirely unlikely that Mrs. Jacobs spent five and a half years being tortured in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp which might have had some bearing on her untimely death, but we do know that she had the good fortune to live in a country where women outlive men by slightly over five years.

Not that any of the math or actuarial tables mean anything.

Exactly. It doesn’t matter, or only matters nominally. The death of Bonny Jean Jacobs should not be a campaign issue. (And, don’t forget, Joe Biden is only six years younger than McCain.)

Reading the signs:Uphill for local GOP

Local Republican candidates John O’Sullivan and Steve Walrond are facing long odds in the campaign for Township Council.

The evidence — admittedly unscientific — is the dearth of signs around town, especially when compared to the ubiquitous presence of Barrett-Carley-Camarota signs.

Signs, to be sure, are a somewhat dubious way in which to gauge support. But a lack of signs, when combined with several factors both current and historical help paint a larger problem facing the GOP.

Consider some recent history: During the previous five elections dating back to 1998 campaign, when the council was created, 15 council seats have been on the ballot. Of those, the GOP has won just two — and both times it was incumbent Ted Van Hessen who won.

Of the other 13 candidates, eight had run in the past (seven of whom had lost) and the party has had difficult during the last three elections — including this one — finding people to run or money to fund their campaigns.

Add to the mix a demographic change that has turned the township bluer with each passing year and you have two Republicans running up hill during an avalanche. That’s not to say they won’t win. It just won’t be very easy.

Irritable candidate syndrome?

So, just to get this straight, Sarah Palin looked like she was a deer caught in a headlight during the Katie Couric interview, because of “irritation with the questions.”

“I was thinking, ‘Man, Americans wanna know about how I think we’re gonna win the war,’” and solve the country’s economic problems, she said, not learn about what she reads.

This is nonsense, of course, but we’re likely to keep hearing it over and over again until Nov. 4.