Author: hankkalet

Here is how the full Senate voted Thursday on the proposed civil union legislation:

Adler, John H. — Yes
Allen, Diane B. —
Asselta, Nicholas — No
Bark, Martha W. — No
Bryant, Wayne R. —
Bucco, Anthony R. —
Buono, Barbara — Yes
Cardinale, Gerald — No
Ciesla, Andrew R. — Yes
Codey, Richard J. — Yes
Coniglio, Joseph — Yes
Connors, Leonard T. — No
Doria, Joseph V. —
Gill, Nia H. — Yes
Girgenti, John A. — Yes
Gormley, William L. — Yes
Inverso, Peter A. — No
James, Sharpe — Yes
Karcher, Ellen — Yes
Kavanaugh, Walter J. — No
Kean, Thomas H. — Yes
Kenny, Bernard F. — Yes
Kyrillos, Joseph M. — No
Lance, Leonard — No
Lesniak, Raymond J. — Yes
Littell, Robert E. — No
Madden, Fred H. — Yes
Martin, Robert J. — Yes
McNamara, Henry P. — No
Palaia, Joseph A. — No
Rice, Ronald L. —
Sacco, Nicholas J. — Yes
Sarlo, Paul A. — Yes
Scutari, Nicholas P. — Yes
Singer, Robert W. — No
Smith, Bob — Yes
Sweeney, Stephen M. — Yes
Turner, Shirley K. — Yes
Vitale, Joseph F. — Yes
Weinberg, Loretta — Yes

The Assembly voted this way:

Albano, Nelson T. — Yes
Barnes, Peter J. — Yes
Baroni, Bill — Yes
Bateman, Christopher — Yes
Beck, Jennifer — Yes
Biondi, Peter J. — Yes
Blee, Francis J. — Yes
Bodine, Francis L. — No
Bramnick, Jon M. — Yes
Burzichelli, John J. — Yes
Caraballo, Wilfredo — Yes
Carroll, Michael Patrick — No
Chatzidakis, Larry — No
Chivukula, Upendra J. — Yes
Cohen, Neil M. — Yes
Conaway, Herb — Yes
Conners, Jack — Yes
Connors, Christopher J. — No
Corodemus, Steve — No
Cruz-Perez, Nilsa — Abstain
Cryan, Joseph — Yes
Dancer, Ronald S. — No
DeCroce, Alex — No
Diegnan, Patrick J. — Yes
Doherty, Michael J. — No
Egan, Joseph V. — Abstain
Epps, Charles T. — Yes
Fisher, Douglas H. — Yes
Giblin, Thomas P. — Yes
Gordon, Robert M. — Yes
Green, Jerry — Yes
Greenstein, Linda R. — Yes
Greenwald, Louis D. — Yes
Gregg, Guy R. — No
Gusciora, Reed — Yes
Hackett, Mims — Yes
Handlin, Amy H. — Yes
Holzapfel, James W. — Yes
Johnson, Gordon M. — Yes
Karrow, Marcia A. — No
Kean, Sean T. — No
Lampitt, Pamela R. — Yes
Malone, Joseph R. — No
Manzo, Louis M. — Yes
Mayer, David R. — Yes
McHose, Alison Littell — No
McKeon, John F. — Yes
Merkt, Richard A. — No
Moriarty, Paul D. — Yes
Munoz, Eric — Yes
O’Toole, Kevin J. — No
Oliver, Sheila Y. — Yes
Panter, Michael J. — Yes
Payne, William D. — Yes
Pennacchio, Joseph — No
Pou, Nellie — Yes
Prieto, Vincent — Yes
Quigley, Joan M. — Yes
Roberts, Joseph J. — Yes
Rooney, John E. — Abstain
Rumpf, Brian E. — No
Russo, David C. — No
Scalera, Frederick — Yes
Schaer, Gary S. — Abstain
Stack, Brian P. — Yes
Stanley, Craig A. — Yes
Steele, Alfred E. — Abstain
Stender, Linda — Yes
Thompson, Samuel D. — No
Truitt, Oadline D. — Yes
Vainieri Huttle, Valerie — Yes
Van Drew, Jeff — Yes
Vandervalk, Charlotte — Yes
Vas, Joseph — Yes
Vega, Silverio A. — Yes
Voss, Joan M. — Yes
Watson Coleman, Bonnie — Yes
Whelan, Jim — Yes
Wisniewski, John S. — Yes
Wolfe, David W. — Yes

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

I’ve written about this kind of thing a lot recently (here and here), but there is a quotation in this New York Times story that pretty much sums up the problem with religious displays on public property:

Several Council members said they were concerned that allowing a menorah display would open the door for other religious groups and organizations to request that their displays also be included.

“Someone said there are 79 recognized religions in the world,” said one member, Karen Weitkunat. “Where do you draw the line?” Another member, Diggs Brown, said: “If we were to open it up to a menorah, then everyone wants to get involved. You’re going to get sued if you allow religious displays, and you’re going to be sued if you don’t have them.”

I know where to draw the line: Move the symbols to private property. Seems simple to me.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

If I wasn’t already embaressed to be Knicks’ fan these days, this happens — started by an ugly flagrant foul by a New York rookie, exacerbated by stupidity, arrogance and misplaced machismo on the part of the rest of the sorry lot.

And if this is true —

Anthony says (Knicks’ coach Isaiah) Thomas, who was angry that the Nuggets were still playing four starters despite being up 19 with under 2 minutes left, told him a minute or so before the brawl that he should stay out of the paint — pretty much a warning that a hard foul was coming.

it should be all the proof finally that owner James Dolan needs to send Thomas packing.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Yesterday’s vote to allow “gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil unions that mirror heterosexual marriage” may not have gone far enough (it creates a separate, but equal and parallel structure — remember Plessey v. Ferguson), but it was rather historic for New Jersey nonetheless. New Jersey becomes only the fourth state to all civil unions and maybe ready to embark on the journey toward full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

Here is how the folks representing voters in Cranbury, Jamesburg, Monroe and South Bruswick (the 14th District) voted, according to the Office of Legislative Services:

• Assemblyman Bill Baroni (R) — yes
• Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D) — yes
• Sen. Peter Inverso (R) — no

Here is what Assemblyman Baroni said, according to BlueJersey.com (the quote was included in Star-Ledger wire-service reports yesterday, but was not included in the stories that ran today in any of the papers):

Mr Speaker – let’s vote and begin to end this discrimination.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

As promised in this week’s Dispatches, my year-end guide to my favorite discs, here are my favorite singles of the year:

1. Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
2. Chris Cornell, “You Know My Name”
3. Dixie Chicks, “Not Ready to Make Nice”
4. Prince, “Black Sweat”
5. Corrine Bailey Rae, “Put Your Records On”
6. Arctic Monkeys, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”
7. Bob Dylan, “Thunder on the Mountain”
8. Shakira w/Wyclef Jean, “Hips Don’t Lie”
9. Outkast, “Idlewild Blue”
10. Earl Greyhound, “All Better Now”
11. U2 and Greenday, “The Saints are Coming”
12. Panic! at the Disco, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”
13. Oasis, “Lyla”
14. Pearl Jam, “World-Wide Suicide”
15. Christina Aguilera, “Ain’t No Other Man”
16. Earl Greyhound, “All Better Now”
17. Shakira, “Illegal”
18. O.K. Go, “Here It Goes Again”
19. Bitter:Sweet, “The Mating Game”
20. Bruce Springsteen, “Pay Me My Money Down”
21. Beyonce, “Ring the Alarm”
22. Snow Patrol, “Chasing Cars”
23. Rihanna, “SOS”
24. Beyonce, “Irreplaceable”
25. Natasha Beddinfield, “Unwritten”
26. Pearl Jam, “Life Wasted”
27. Rihanna, “Unfaithful”
28. Nelly Furtado w/ Timbalake, “Promiscuous”
29. John Legend, “Show Me”
30. John Mayer, “Waiting for the World to Change”

I’ve probably forgotten something, but this seems to be it.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick