Lot’s of talk on Oprah about his historic struggle and decision to come out of the closet — a historic decision, no doubt — but nothing about the culture of corruption that made it impossible for former Gov. James McGreevey to stay in office. New Jersey would have accepted a gay governor; it just couldn’t accept the slime that came with the McGreevey administration.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
I received a number of letters and Web responses to a column I wrote recently on Bob Dylan‘s latest, Modern Times.
There were years when this didn’t seem possible, when the release of a new Dylan
album was met less with hope than with resignation, with a sense that maybe Dylan would awake from his musical slumber and once again make music that mattered but that the chances were slim. There were 20 years of uninspired music that had damaged his reputation, recasting rock’s first bard as a hokey has-been, a caricature of the man who changed both rock ‘n’ roll and folk music with a trio of explosive rock records 40 years ago.
The notes took one basic tack — one that I don’t necessarily disagree with, that the albums from that 20-year period between Desire and Time Out of Mind are better than too many critics are willing to admit. The problem, to my ears anyway, is that the defenders of this music have taken their response too far in the other direction.
I am the first to admit that there was plenty of good music made during the 1980s — the late ’70s is a more difficult proposition, given that the religious albums are a hard sell, though actually pretty good on an emotional level. I own most of it.
My argument about it is not that all of it is terrible, but that there really only was about three discs worth of good music during the time — Oh Mercy was the only fully realized disc, one that could have been viewed as the first comeback if it weren’t marred by David Lanois atmospherics or followed by Under the Red Sky (good musically, awful lyrically) and his two folk cover records.
There were five studio albums released between Saved and Oh Mercy, five albums of inconsistent quality. Only Down in the Groove lacks much of redeeming value (I blame this on his association at the time with the Grateful Dead).
The four remaining discs could be culled, I think, to make two good discs:
In the end, the decade’s music is marred by his disconnection from the times (something that he later realizes and uses to his great advantage), but his striving to be relevant. It led too often to unrealized lyrics and poor production.
So there you have it. I stand by my thinking on those albums and will continue to listen to them.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
America’s best columnist — or one of them, at least — on Bush’s torture policies.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Received this response (from someone called Zoom) to my death penalty column a little while ago:
Hi. I just saw your death penalty piece on Commondreams.org.
You know, I agree with much of what you say, and especially this sentence: “Capital punishment is essentially nothing more than premeditated murder, a revenge killing dressed up as an act of justice.”
But when you ask this question…
“On what ethical grounds can we send a man to death if there is even the slightest of chances that he was not guilty?”
…for me, it begs the question “On what ethical grounds can we send a man to prison if there is even the slightest of chances that he was not guilty?”
I’m curious how you might respond to that.
Well, here goes: The difference between life in prison and the death penalty is that there always is a chance with life in prison to free an innocent man. It would remain a tragic story, but not final. The death penalty can never be revoked.
It is, unfortunately, fine line.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
There are two narratives in the New Jersey Senate race.
The first is one being told by the national Democratic Party, one in which Democrats attempt to play on the anger and dissatisfaction over the way the Bush administration is handling the war. It is one in which the Democrat, incumbent Robert Menendez, has attempted to turn his opponent, Republican state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., into a surrogate for the president.
To that end, Sen. Menendez has attempted to make this election about several basic issues: The war in Iraq, the security failures of the administration, Social Security and the tax cuts. And while the voters of New Jersey are in tune with his stands on those issues, he is facing a far more difficult fight than he should in what has become one of the bluest states in the nation.
The reason is narrative number two, the one being pushed by Sen. Kean and his fellow Republicans: Corruption. Democrats in the state have earned a deserved reputation as being less than honest — the list, as Tom Moran points out in his Star-Ledger column today, is seemingly endless: Bob Torricelli, John Lynch, James McGreevey, Wayne Bryant, Sharpe James, George Norcross.
Robert Menendez, himself, faces corruption allegations that have the Republicans drooling — the U.S. attorney’s office has apparently subpoenaed records pertaining to an old rental agreement (Menendez, when a member of the House of Representatives, is alleged to have profited from some federal funding he directed to the tenants).
So the question is which narrative will New Jersey residents connect with? History says the Democrats have the upper hand (read David Rebovich on this) and I think, in the end, this blue state is likely to look into the face of continued Republican domination of the federal government and decide to keep Sen. Menendez in office.
I’m hoping that’s the case, anyway.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Hank Kalet 