Matt Yglesias offers one of the funniest posts I’ve come across lately — mixing sports (Boston titles) and politics in a way that lampoons political journalism.
I note that when Bill Clinton was president, we didn’t have this plague of Hub championships that Bush has unleashed.
You go, Matt.
This piece by John Dickerson can only be considered a critique of the McCain campaign if one buys into the Straight-Talk myth the press created about the Arizona Republican eight years ago. Forget McCain’s flip-flops — the reality is that McCain only bucks his party when doing so will have few consequence and that, when it has counted, he almost always has been the loyal Bushie. Read Free Ride by David Brock and paul Waldmann for a detailed analysis of the McCain Mystique.
You’ve heard it before, the one about how the poor are lazy, how they’d rather live on welfare, how we’ve encouraged a culture of dependency. That’s the stereotype and, as a report issued today by the Poverty Research Institute shows, it is rather far from the reality.
The report found that one in five New Jersey families suffers from what it calls “income adequacy,” meaning they fail to earn enough to cover normal expenses for the region in which they live.
Two of the key myth-busters in the report are that:
The report goes into significant detail, outlining how the sufficiency level is calculated and what the levels are by county, as well as offering policy prescriptions. It is worth reading — and heeding.
As a dog lover (and owner), I find this story just too sad for words. Congo (pictured above, taken by Mark Czajkowski of the Princeton Packet), the dog involved in an attack on a landscaper earlier this year, attacked a family member and — along with three other dogs — was euthenized this morning.
The owners, Guy and Elizabeth James, had fought a months-long court battle to save Congo from being euthanized following a June 2007 attack on a landscaper, but now they have had four of the five dogs — Congo, Lucia, Hunter, and Bear — euthanized after their involvement in the Tuesday evening attack.
Police said Congo and the other animals pounced on 75-year-old Constance Ladd, the mother of Elizabeth James, as she left the house and was walking through the yard in order to leave the James’ Stuart Road West residence.
Ms. Ladd suffered puncture wounds and lacerations to head, chest and arm and complained of pain in her hip, according to emergency workers responding to a 911 call from the James’ residence.
I know this was difficult for the family, but I don’t know that they could have handled it any differently.
The Record of Hackensack attempts to keep an important issue on the table — the double-dipping of elected officials.
By double-dipping, I mean the practice of holding an elected office and an appointed one. There are dozens of elected officials around the state that engage in the practice, including Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci who also serves as executive director of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority.
In the state Legislature, there are numerous attorneys who represent local boards — or go before local boards for developers, and a handful with public jobs like state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, who serves as the deputy chief of staff to the Essex County executive, state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Bergen, who is assistant superintendent for the North Bergen Board of Education, and Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, R-Ocean, who is an interviewer in the Ocean County adjuster’s office.
As the Record points out, in writing about a bill sponsored by state Sen. Bill Baroni, R-Mercer,
The potential conflicts of interest when a state senator or Assembly member is also a municipal engineer or attorney for one of the towns in the district are obvious to Baroni. They are also obvious to us. Such conflicts raise questions about favoritism, effectiveness and accountability. They are often a way to consolidate power and influence.
Why do some legislators understand that and some don’t?
The answer, of course, is not that some don’t understand, but that most do understand and benefit.
The editorial cites a report — “How Much Is Enough?” issued last year by New Jersey Policy Perspective — that “describes the problems created by double dipping and the state’s incestuous political culture.”
According to the report, ” … the prime motive in seeking and holding public office is to control the distribution of favors and rewards. Among the most prized favors and rewards, of course, are jobs.” It becomes accepted and even desirable to hold multiple government jobs, and some legislators see nothing wrong with it.
Not everyone sees it that way. The report cites a poll last year that found that more than three-quarters of New Jersey voters said state lawmakers should not be allowed to have another government job of any kind, elected or appointed.
But some lawmakers have trouble hearing that message. They know the public is sick and tired of corruption and wants reform. But giving up local power and influence — and more than one public paycheck — is hard.
Hard, perhaps, but necessary. One public job should be enough.
Hank Kalet 