Hank Kalet

The Star-Ledger is reporting that new subpoenas have been issued as part of an investigation into a rental deal between Sen. Bob Menendez and a nonprofit group that that the senator helped receive federal funding.

The senator has continued to say he has done nothing wrong (though it is difficult to see how this does not qualify as a conflict of interest, if nothing else) and the truth will remain an illusive entity until the alleged investigation concludes. (It is also nothing compared to the shenanigans of the Abramoff Republicans.)

But it is a troubling piece of news and a reminder that the new House and Senate leadership need to impose harsh ethics rules to ensure that the Democratic majority is not tempted into the kind of bad behavior (I’m being polite) we’ve been witnessing in Congress for too long.

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

This week’s Dispatches focuses on what happened Tuesday and what it means.

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

How uncomfortable do these two look? I’m uncomfortable and I wasn’t even there.

After a bitter campaign that sometimes got personal between the president and the woman to be House speaker, the two had a makeup luncheon at the White House. Appearing publicly in the Oval Office after an hour of private discussions, the pair emphasized finding common ground and ignoring talk of bedeviling specifics, such as their division over the Iraq war. They took no questions.

And really, do you blame them? That only would have forced them to hang out together a little longer. Best to get it over with and get on to more enjoyable matters, like washing the dishes or cleaning the shed.

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

The so-called defenders of marriage and family seem intent on returning us to the middle ages. Not only are they pushing further same-sex marriage bans (seven more states passed bans on Tuesday, bringing the total to 27, and Massachusetts is considering one), they also want to make it more difficult for couples to get divorced.

What strikes me about all this is just how inhumane it is, crafting laws to regulate love relationships, requiring failed marriages to continue unless there is a specific “misconduct” and only allowing divorce after a proscribed waiting period.

Having witnessed too many married couples soldier on in bad marriages and watching what that does to the kids involved and what it does to the couple, how sour it turns them, how bitter, one has to wonder exactly what winning this fight will mean. What benefit does legislation like this have for married couples or society? None that I can see.

It’s the same question that should be asked everyday about same-sex marriage — what impact will allowing same-sex couples to marry have on the rest of us? The answer, again, is none.

What, then, is gained for society by continuing to regulate love relationships in this way? Again, nothing — unless you want to drive the entire culture back to the dark ages, which seems to be the goal.

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

This is pretty despicable — especially because it allegedly involves someone who holds rather high office and who is now being touted as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

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