Hank Kalet

My column from the Progressive Populist on the failures of energy deregulation is online here.

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

Received a flier on card stock in the mail today from the local Democrats that had some familiar language:

Gambatese and Killmurray … are offering a vision of the future.

Both have worked hard and have been successfull …

They have acted and deserve credit …

We endorse them without any reservations.

The language is familiar, of course, because it is the same language we used in an editorial a week ago, but edited to maximize impact.

It is a pretty standard tactic — a number of years ago, the Republican candidates used a stray remark in a flier to make it seem as if we were endorsing them (this was back in 1991, when Roger Craig ran and won his first race for Township Committee; the add said we called him experienced, but failed to mention that we refused to endorse him even as we endorsed his running mate Jeff Siegel).

Another year, the GOP used critical comments from us about the Democrats in an flier (we were portrayed as a small thought bubble of some sort). And the Democrats have done the same over the years.

I offer this post not as direct criticism, but only to ensure that the full edit remains in play. So here is the portion quote, but unedited:

The incumbents have put together mixed, but generally positive, records in office and are offering a vision of the future. Both have worked hard and have been successful at preserving open space and plan to make smaller parcels in already developed areas a priority, something that should aid residents in the more congested sections of town.

While we have been critical of their approach to the township budget, in particular their use of surplus, we believe their focus on sharing services with neighboring communities could result in real cost savings for taxpayers.

Our chief criticism of Mayor Gambatese and Mr. Killmurray is that they too often have needed to be prodded into action — as with the township’s recently enacted rental-inspection rules and the push to preserve Van Dyke Farm on Davidsons Mill Road. The key, however, is that they have acted and deserve credit for doing so.

We endorse them without any reservations.

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

Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation’s editor, names 12 candidates for House and Senate in her blog who it calls peace candidates. Among them, Bob Menendez here in Joisey. Here is what she said:

Sen. Bob Menendez opposed the Iraq War from the start, back when most of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate failed to take a strong stand. Although Menendez angered many in the peace movement with his vote for the Military Commissions Act, he supports beginning troop withdrawal this year. He faces a tough opponent in Tom Kean, Jr., and is locked in a tight race.

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

Does this make it any less hypocritical? Now we have a right-wing evangelical who admits to buying drugs but not to hiring a male escort. His choice what to do with his life, but you’ve got to wonder why he thinks he has the right to tell the rest of us how to live.

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

This week’s Dispatches looks at the state Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.

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