A kink in the keg rules

This story in the Courier-Post could stall South Brunswick’s efforts to crack down on underage drinking. The state Division of Alcohol Beverage Control told the Courier-Post that it would not approve ordinances that require retailers to register kegs — something the South Brunswick Township Council approved last month.

The (South Brunswick) keg registration ordinance requires retailers to place an identification label on every keg sold so that police can track the purchasers of kegs found at parties where minors are discovered drinking. Retailers must keep a record for 90 days of the buyer’s driver’s license number, the date and time of the purchase, the keg’s identification number and the buyer’s signature.

The state has a different idea:

(S)uch regulation should be addressed “on a statewide basis,” said Jerry Fischer, director of the state Division of Alcohol Beverage Control. Fischer said he would not give his approval to the measures, which is required under law.

So, it appears that it’s back to the drawing board.

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

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Magic: The reviews are in

My review of Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Magic, will appear as my Dispatches column tomorrow in the South Brunswick Post and Friday in The Cranbury Press.

But here are a couple of reviews from others:

  • A.O. Scott’s oddly constructed mix of interview and review was required reading this weekend.

  • David Corn picks on some of the same themes I hit on in his blog at The Nation.

  • Jay Lustig in The Star-Ledger offers this.

  • Five stars from David Fricke in Rolling Stone.

  • Four stars from Ann Powers (one of the best critics out there) in the L.A. Times.

  • This last one comes from The Village Voice — another in a long line of bad Voice reviews of The Boss that prove nothing more than the paper’s arts coverage is way too consciously trendy for its own good.

This is, as most of these say, a remarkable, mature album. Check back tomorrow for more.

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

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Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Take that, you obstreperous children

Seven years in and the president has vetoed four bills — including one today that denies health coverage to about 10 million children of low- and moderate-income families. The bill would have reauthorized and expanded the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to cover an additional 3.4 million kids (from 6.6 million).

But according to our fearless leader, this was not about denying coverage but about a “philosphical divide.” The nearly two thirds of House members and more than two thirds of Senators apparently believe their responsibility was to cover as many children as they could; the president believes in private insurance.

The policies of the government ought to be, help poor children and to focus on poor children. And the policies of the government ought to be, help people find private insurance, not federal coverage. And that’s where the philosophical divide comes in. I happen to believe that what you’re seeing when you expand eligibility for federal programs is the desire by some in Washington, D.C. to federalize health care. I don’t think that’s good for the country. I believe in private medicine. I believe in helping poor people — which was the intent of S-CHIP, now being expanded beyond its initial intent. I also believe that the federal government should make it easier for people to afford private insurance. I don’t want the federal government making decisions for doctors and customers.

Customers. Apparently patients are no different than car buyers — except that many are sick and most are scared and confused.

The president’s answer, as it has been for most issues, is to play with the tax code:

That’s why I believe strongly in health savings accounts or association health plans to help small business owners better afford insurance for their workers. That’s why I believe we ought to change the federal tax code. You’re disadvantaged if you work for a small business and/or an individual trying to buy insurance in the marketplace — disadvantaged relative to somebody working for a large company. If you work for a large company, you get your health insurance after tax. If you buy insurance you have to pay — no, you buy your insurance after taxes as an individual; you get your insurance pre-tax when you’re working for a large corporation. You’re at a disadvantage if you’re an individual in the market place.

So I think we ought to change the tax code. I — my view is, is that every family ought to get a $15,000 deduction off their income taxes, regardless of where they work, in order to help people better afford insurance in the marketplace.

Nothing wrong with altering the tax code to make medical expenses an automatic, pretax deduction. But that won’t fix the problem.

Providing coverage and getting the insurance companies out of the mix just might.

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

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.