South Brunswick’s road warriors

I ran six miles today — on the treadmill, but six nonetheless — and am starting to feel good about my running again. I did 15 miles last week in four days of running, 16 in five runs the week before, with the goal being 25 miles in a week, five days on the road, with the long-term goal being next year’s Long Beach Island run.

So far this week, I’m at 14 miles — four miles each on Tuesday and Wednesday, six today. I’m shooting for three tomorrow and then three on Sunday during the second Viking 5K.

The race last year was quite successful (I unfortunately missed it), with the money going to help athletes through the Viking Athletic Club.

I make no promises — I’ve learned that doing so is just bad politics, so to speak, but say hi if you see me.

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

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

So much for accountability

The president says the buck stops with him, that he is accountable for all that goes wrog.

So why is he so allergic to any agency, panel or individual whose job it is to keep an eye on what he and his administration are doing? Is he worried that we’ll find out more stories like this?

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

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Court should have gone for the goal

I have had a little time to think about what the state Supreme Court did yesterday, and my enthusiasm for the ruling was probably a bit premature. It was not a loss by any stretch, but yesterday’s decision in Lewis v. Harris was not exactly a win.

As I said, a day of reflection and some strong arguments from an array of gay-marriage supporters indicate that, while gays and lesbians will have the same rights and benefits the rest of us enjoy, they still must endure a separate, inferior status under the law.

In the end, a bad decision that might have some good results, but not enough to make up for the continued second-class status that same-sex couples will endure and the ugly public fight that is likely to occur over the next six months.

Bob Braun’s angry, pointed column in The Star-Ledger is a a must-read on the subject:

The New Jersey Supreme Court choked.

Choked on a word. Just one word.

Marriage.

A court once gutsy enough to find a fundamental right in high school spending — and shut down the state’s schools to vindicate it. That once sought to transform housing patterns throughout New Jersey. A leader in product liability law and laws against discrimination and freedom of the press.

Even a leader now — really — in granting rights to gays and lesbians (because it does that, sort of, mostly, in this decision). Like a gagging Ralph Kramden physically unable to apologize to his wife Alice, the court simply could not bring itself to say that one word.

Marriage.

Braun called the decision, which was full of linguistic gymnastics that allowed the court to endorse gay marriage without endorsing gay marriage, “Purple prose, but lousy law.”

Because that, of course, is precisely what the tribunal should not have done — ducked an important decision that was the court’s to make and, instead, put us all in those “swift and treacherous currents of social policy.”

So now on to the Legislature — the “same crowd that couldn’t keep state parks open during the hottest days of the summer,” Braun says– where the political process should turn the latest drive for civil rights into an ugly, hateful battle for political space.

The court, it appears, punted when it shcould have gone for the goal-line.

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

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.