Didn't catch this Washington Post piece from a few days ago, about the OWS marchers who came through New Jersey a few days ago on their way to D.C. Apparently, they got a pretty chilly reception when they came through Princeton.
Washington Post reporter Elizabeth Flock is embedded with a group of occupiers, who are now through NJ and into Delaware. They plan a D.C. arrival Nov. 23, the day Congress considers extending the Bush tax cuts.
What happened outside the Princeton bar, after the fold.
Even before she became a candidate, Jeff Pickens and I were working with Marie Corfield to expose some of the lies perpetrated by the Christie Administration. Jeff and I were thrilled when Marie decided to do something and run for the legislature. But Marie can't do it alone. She has a great team, and we need to send her running mates to Trenton, also.
Marie's running mate on the Assembly side is South Brunswick businessman Joe Camarota. I met Joe early on in the campaign, and he's a down-to-earth practical citizen who understands the concerns of both people and businesses. Here are some highlights from Monday night's debate.
I will post highlights of Joe's and Marie's running mate, Maureen Vella, candidate for Senate, tomorrow.
There is a reason to believe that New Jersey election officials have destroyed evidence in a pending court case, perhaps to cover up the noncompliance with these measures or to cover up irregularities in this election. There is enough evidence of a cover-up that a Superior Court judge has referred the matter to the State prosecutor's office.
Chris Christie: Looks down on those who won't walk 460 feet, takes tint-window limo to carry him 300 feet between a chopper and a kids' ball game. - Good catch on the Princeton info, vakerr. - - Rosi
Just 12 days before he helicoptered to his son's baseball game and then rode in a limo some 150 yards or more to the field, Governor Christie told a Princeton University audience that he was a big fan of the University plan to relocate the Princeton train terminus (known as the Dinky) 150 or so yards to the south to accommodate commuter automobile access to a parking garage. Christie:
I not only am willing to walk the extra 460 feet to pick up the Dinky, but everyone else is going to be willing to walk the 460 feet so that we can get the type of continued [campus] expansion and growth...that [will] keep this campus and this community a vital and growing part of the state of New Jersey.
The Governor sits on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and also calls the shots for NJ Transit. According to the University, a 1984 contract with NJ Transit gave it the "right" to ask that the current train terminus be abandoned in favor of one nearer its parking garage.
The current Dinky relocation plan was preceded last year by a plan to replace the train entirely with a Bus Rapid Transit system. Over 7000 members who opposed that plan joined a Facebook group (SavetheDinky), and the BRT idea was scrapped. The plan to move the train stop farther away from Princeton's Nassau Street is also controversial. The proposal has been promoted as a part of an Arts & Transit project to be funded by a $101 million gift from Princeton alumnus Peter Lewis, who, coincidentally, is the CEO of Progressive Auto Insurance. Another Princeton alumnus, Henry Posner III, who is the CEO of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), opposes the Dinky move. Posner has offered to fund a public/private partnership that would at no cost to Princeton taxpayers permit Princeton Borough to acquire the Dinky land and preserve the current train service. See stories at Save the Dinky.
Opponents of the University's train relocation plan argue that it will make the train less convenient for pedestrians and that ridership will decrease. The University has offered to make up for the lost convenience by running shuttles to the train, a solution that would suit the Governor. The distance is probably too short to justify use of the state helicopter.
I leave it to other on Blue Jersey to talk about the rest of the map. Here's my first thoughts about the re-drawn 15th / 16th and 23rd districts affecting Hunterdon, Somerset and Mercer Counties.
To put it simply -- I think this is a far better map for the Dems than is being portrayed.
The lead story is that Princeton has been taken out of the 15th -- taken away from Trenton -- and progressive Assemblyman Reed Gusciora has no chance to win in conservative Somerset county.
But folks need to take a look at the rest of the district.
First of all, Bedminster, Bridgewater and Bernards (and environs) are no longer in the district. Neither is Assemblywoman Coyle for that matter. This takes away some of the most conservative part of the district.
Second of all -- and here's where I think there's gains to be had -- Flemington Borough, as well as Raritan and Readington townships in Hunterdon County are now in the 16th.
So the new district includes much of the Democratic core of Hunterdon County, along with Princeton, Somerville and Manville -- town centers that have voted Democratic.
Most importantly, the district is far more diverse. About 70% white, over 16% Asian and 8 percent non-white hispanic.
I'm not saying it's a lock district for Democrats, but Bateman and Biondi have a greater chance of losing to good Democrats than ever before. Reed Gusciora has announced his intensions to run and I hope doesn't try to move back into the 15th, and stays here to run with Marie Corfield.
This got posted late-night, so I'm retitling with an Update and pulling it up top again for anybody who missed it.
Update: We're getting a little detail now on Holt v. Watson. Holt reminds us math & science education is key, and research & development is important: "While it was fun to out-do Watson for one night in trivia; it is vital that, as a nation, we out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world for generations to come." Holt lead in categories Presidential Rhyme Time and Also a Laundry Detergent proving his knowledge both historical and practical. And he knew what Hippophobia is the fear of. It's not hippos. - - Rosi
This was an exhibition game hosted by IBM. Watson took on 5 congressmen in the Watson vs. Members tournament: Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Nan Hayworth (R-NY), Jim Himes (D-CT) and Holt.
Looks like the Federal Trade Commission got its first choice of Chief Technologist, because it's hard to think of anyone better to serve in that capacity than Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten, a guy whose CV makes everyone from Microsoft to Diebold shudder in embarrassment. A renowned computer researcher, Felten has over the years led charges against some of technology's most ill-starred concepts chronicling them in his widely read Freedom to Tinker blog.
On the Freedom to Tinker blog he states "My main role at the FTC will be to provide advice on technology policy issues." This FTC release tells us what they have in mind, and it sounds good to me:
"Ed is extraordinarily respected in the technology community, and his background and knowledge make him an outstanding choice to serve as the agency's first Chief Technologist," Leibowitz said. "He's going to add unparalleled expertise on high-technology markets and computer security. And he also will provide invaluable input into the recommendations we'll be making soon for online privacy, as well as the enforcement actions we'll soon bring to protect consumer privacy. We're thrilled to have him on board."
Seven years ago, a couple of actresses from New York City, disturbed by the manipulation of a country into pre-emptive war, founded what they expected would be just a local event, a performance of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. The idea of staging a reading or performace of the play - in which women manipulate men by withholding sex, forcing them to negotiate the end of the Peloponnesian War - soon caught the imagination of many, many more people. It became The Lysistrata Project. And on March 3, 2003, there were readings and performances of Lysistrata all around the world. There were 12 around NJ,. More than 1,000 around the world (impossible without the internet). 59 countries.
One of those involved the Artistic Director of the McCarter Theater, Emily Mann, who performed it with actors Blair Brown and Julyana Soelys.
Right after the election, the McCarter is staging The Illiad. And Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action is sponsoring a discussion after the play about the work, and how what it's about is still relevant today. I might go to this. After the battles of November 2, it may be a relief to look back 2,800 years, let the immediate partisan battles recede like yellowing newsprint, and dig Homer's long view. I might have to go to this.
Here's a link to analysis from Princeton prof Julian E. Zelizer to go along with this diary. Paragraphs 10 & 11 particularly cogent. Promoted by Rosi.
Our War of Independence which we are proud to celebrate today was hard fought and successfully won. Most, not all, of our other many military engagements have been ill-advised, cost too many lives, wasted money, and proven to be non- productive, and some have ended in embarrassment. Once begun presidents and legislators have a hard time stopping wars, as some form, and often a changing form, of "Victory" is foremost in their minds. Such is our sad history in Afghanistan and Iraq, where no pre-established exit plan was created and the goal posts to justify continuation keep changing.
Five months after elections, Iraq has still not formed a government, adding another impediment to our withdrawal. Mutterings within the military imply the possible need for extending our stay. In reality shortly after we reduce troops to a "holding" number, whenever that occurs, Iraqis will do as they wish, not as our leaders proclaim. So now is the time to to hasten our withdrawal.
In Afghanistan what started as a counter-terrorism action (kill al-Qaeda and its leaders) has morphed into a counter-insurgency activity (strengthen the government and people) which requires a timeframe of another ten years not the one year which the President advocated. Indeed, interpretation of the July 2011 deadline seems constantly in flux. Most of al-Qaeda has left to greener pastures, so much of our effort is in fighting different anti-government elements, which upon our departure, whenever that is, will do as they wish anyway. While a limited counter-terrorism action in the border area has some merit for us, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, our government's notion of creating a stable government and nation in such a short time frame is a pipe dream. So now is the time to hasten our withdrawal.
So today while we enjoy this weekend and celebrate the independence one war brought us, let's have no illusions: now is the time to hasten our withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier this week, Katie Couric gave the commencement speech at Princeton University and she brought some one liners along with her. Taking a jab at Sarah Palin, Couric offered:
When Princeton called to invite me, I was thrilled. It also gave me a perfect excuse for turning down Harvard and Yale - my safety schools! And since I've been called a cougar lately in the tabloid press - today I'm very happy to be an honorary tiger! Coming here was a real no-brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!
Going after Former Secretary of Defense and Princeton Alum Donald Rumsfeld:
I understand Class of 54's Donald Rumsfeld has been charged with guarding the Big Cannon. I don't want to say he's taking his job too far, but he's reportedly been telling President Obama there are weapons of mass destruction hidden at Rutgers.
A glimpse into what might happen has been offered up by a new study out of Princeton University. Assistant Professor of economics and public affairs Sam Schulhofer-Wohl and Miguel Garrido looked at communities affected by the closing of the Cincinnati Post at the end of 2007, and it's not an attractive view.
The study is very small in scope, since the Post had a total of only 27,000 subscribers in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. And it measures only the outcomes in northern Kentucky, since Ohio has not had municipal elections since the Post's closure. But even with those limitations, a few trends seemed to emerge: in towns the Post regularly covered, voter turnout dropped, fewer people ran for office and more incumbents were reelected. That is, when there were fewer stories about a given town, its inhabitants seemed to care less about how they're being governed.
In the only possible hint of a bright spot, it seemed that smaller towns were much less affected by newspaper closures than larger ones. Voter turnout in the smaller communities did not change.
You can view a pdf of the full study. While it was only a limited look, the results may indicate what we could see happen on a larger scale when papers close:
While the study only looked at one newspaper, if the larger findings hold true, it?s not just areas in which a newspaper folds that will be affected. Municipalities covered by newspapers that have sharply scaled-back newsrooms, such as the Newark Star-Ledger, may also see similar trends emerging, because the papers simply cannot cover as much local news as they had previously.
the latest setback for the Star-Ledger newsroom, which has already seen the cutback of 131 staffers through buyouts last fall; threats of closure; and the merging of its statehouse bureau with longtime rival The Record of Hackensack.
In the Princeton study, they started with the quote, "Give light and the people will find their own way." That light certainly isn't as bright anymore making it much harder for people to see.
Princeton students are braving the cold to show their support for Traditional Perambulatory Values:
A group of students opposed to the recently-passed California marriage amendment (Proposition 8) gathered outside of Firestone Library at 9:30 this morning to launch a day-long protest in support of their own Prop 8, an initiative to ban Freshmen from sidewalks in order to "restore the definition of sidewalk accessibility to what the vast majority of Princeton students already believe it should mean and what Princetonians agree should be supported, not undermined." The protest's organizers explain their demonstration on the group's Facebook page:
We believe that California's Proposition 8 is illegal and immoral. The use of a state-wide referendum to limit the rights of a minority group is the very sort of action the that the constitution ought to defend against. We hope to point out the danger and absurdity of that proposition by advocating for our own "Princeton Proposition 8" which will 'ban freshmen from walking on campus sidewalks.' We hope to parallel the language and actions of the real Prop 8 as much as possible, as we believe the injustice speaks for itself and needs no exaggeration. We will be careful not to turn this into an attack on any particular group or organization, instead choosing to focus on the moral, legal, and logical reasons why Proposition 8 should be overturned.
The protest is scheduled to continue throughout the day today and again from 9:30 to 5:00 PM tomorrow. If you're in the Princeton area, stop by to show your support!
When we think of alternative energy, fusion power seems ideal: No soot to pollute the air. No carbon emissions to contribute to global warming. The fuel -- deuterium -- easily available from the ocean. And most of all, none of the radiactive wate that plagues the nuclear fission industry. New Jersey's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a world leader in the development of fusion.
Unfortunately, using nuclear fusion is extremely difficult. While liberating huge amounts of energy using fusion was achieved over half a century ago in both the USA and the USSR (we call it the hydrogen bomb), no one has been able to design and build a practical power plant. I've noticed that some think this is odd, since the Sun is powered by nuclear fusion, but when you consider that the Sun is 15 million degrees (K) at the core, you can immediately see the practical difficulties involved. Worse yet, from the viewpoint of a building an efficient reactor, the Sun is actually too cold. We need to achieve temperatures over a hundred million degrees in our reactors. Obviously a reactor made of any substance you can think of could not survive such temperatures, so somehow magnetic forces must be used to confine the hot plasma. That will involve clever physics -- and then a lot of engineering. The bottom line is that it will take time and money to do the necessary research.
Frank Lautenberg and Rob Andrews campaigned today in Princeton at the annual spring Communiversity celebration. Lautenberg arrived first, a little before 1:00, and spent over an hour walking from table to table talking to community members and students. The senator was accompanied by, among others, Congressman Rush Holt and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora.
Andrews, who spent the first part of the afternoon at a town hall in Edison, arrived at around 4:00 and fielded questions from some local Democrats at the PCDO table. He left shortly after giving an interview to Max Pizarro. I asked Congressman Andrews if he thought the presidential candidates should focus their attacks on John McCain rather than on each other. He said yes, but added that the media often encourages the two candidates and their surrogates to attack each other.
On March 19th, about 100 Princeton High School students held an anti-war walkout to commemorate the 5 year anniversary of the war in Iraq. The students missed two periods of class during the hour-long rally and speak-out and for that, Principal Gary Snyder gave them each two days of detention.
Today, an expected 200-250 students will protest the punishment with a teach-in and march to the Princeton School Board meeting at 4pm where they plan to participate in the public comment period.
"This detention is unfair, because we were taking a chance to voice our opinions and educate ourselves, which we are not given the opportunity to adequately do so in school," said Aislinn Bauer, a Princeton High School sophomore and one of the organizers of the walkout. "We're turning this punishment into something productive."
"What I do not understand is how we were able to miss three periods to see Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience perform and throw Mardi Gras beads at us, which had little to no educational value," said Russell Cavallaro, a Princeton High School sophomore. "This walkout actually had educational value. Students were educated on the causes of the war, why it should never have happened, and had a chance to offer their respects to the fallen soldiers."
Yep, Mardi Gras beads are cool in school, but those darned kids have to be kept in their place and trained to be good little mindless automatons.
It was appalling to read that Frist has been hired as a professor in the Woodrow Wilson School. The Frist family had donated money for the student center of the same name. But does this mean that senior faculty appointments are available to the highest bidder? What, exactly, are Frist's qualifications in public policy? He was an accessory to the failed Iraq policy. Is that his qualification? Yes, he was a Senator, but plenty of other people have held high office. Princeton could have courted Madeleine Albright, a diplomat and daughter of a diplomat and eminently qualified to train Woodrow Wilson School students for such careers. What are the students of Princeton doing about this? Princeton faculty and students seem to have no say in university decisions, as compared to Penn, for example. I thought that professorships were supposed to be awarded on the basis of knowledge and scholarship, and I really don't see what Frist has to offer, except to recruit potentially Republican students.
Here's sad news. Micawber Books, one of my homes-away-from-home in Princeton, is closing down in March. The New York Times takes note of the passage as well as gauging the odds against other independent booksellers.
Micawber started out in 1981 as a used-book store and gradually widened out to sell a mix of new and used. The widening out included expansion into a neighboring space, making for a place that was very pleasant to walk through and explore in leisurely fashion.
One of the things I've always liked about Princeton is that it's such a booky town. In addition to the university store, which is a pretty serious bookstore in its own right as well as a place to get textbooks, there's another used-book place a couple of blocks down from Micawber. People in Princeton take this culture stuff pretty seriously. Where else would you find a town where, on Superbowl Sunday, masses of people would head to the Montgomery Center cinema to pack the house for Kenneth Branagh's production of Henry V? (I was two rows down from Joyce Carol Oates - we few, we happy few, baby!)
