The Courier News ran a recent survey on its web site, seeking responses to the following question: Do you plan to vote in Tuesday’s [school] election? When I last checked the results, the replies were as follows: 45.3% of the respondents said they would vote; 27.8% said they would not; and, not surprisingly, 26.9% said, “There’s an election Tuesday?”
What a bummer! In the aggregate, more than half of all respondents either won’t vote or don’t even know there’s an election. I forgot to jot down the total number of people who provided their answers, but I remember it as being fairly high for this type of informal poll. Even more importantly, users of the web in this area, I am happy to assume, are fairly informed and intelligent. Don’t show me up to be wrong!
Why then are you not voting in greater numbers? I won’t talk down to you on that one, because you are much too smart for that.
Therefore, for the constituency that I am the most immediately interested in, the voting population of Bridgewater and Raritan, please get out to the polls tomorrow and do what most of the rest of the people on this planet would give their right arm (and more!) to be able to do.
Evan Lerner, Dr. Arvind Mathur and Al Smith (Raritan’s representative), would, I am sure, like to see you place your check mark next to their names. The school budget is the big issue. It’s $128.8 million dollars, and rising. It consumes by far the biggest percentage of your real estate tax bill. The Board of Education and its administration have been doing what they know to do to get out the vote. So why not make yourselves feel good and stop by your polling place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15, 2008, between seven in the AM and nine in the PM, and cast your vote?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Still the Best Baseball Rivalry!
Baseball or Politics? Did a construction worker-Red Sox fan really bury a Sox T-shirt in the poured concrete of the new Yankee Stadium? What a sacrilege! No matter, though. Unless you are hopelessly superstitious, it won’t have any impact on the outcome of what I still consider to be the best matchup in baseball.
Tonight at 8 o’clock, if you are a baseball fan, you’ll be watching these two teams slug it out inthe rubber-match conclusion of a three-game series at Fenway Park. And, if you are not such a fan … well, you might as well watch it anyway. Otherwise, one of your only other TV alternatives is to click to CNN and suffer along with two presidential candidates, as they slug it out in a two-hour program billed, Faith and Politics, The Compassion Forum.
If you choose the latter option, you’ll get a lot of politics and a lot of posturing about faith, but I honestly doubt that much of it will be accurate or meaningful. I hope I’m proven wrong about that. Nonetheless, best to put the CNN slugfest on the VCR for subsequent viewing.
Friday night’s 4-1 Yankees’ win over the Sox featured stellar pitching by Chien-Ming Wang, the go-to guy for jump-starting this rivalry in unfriendly territory. Saturday afternoon, though, Jonathan Papelbon, Boston’s super-focused star reliever, returned the favor by striking out A-Rod and putting away the rest of the line-up in the top of the ninth inning, after a dramatic, lightning-punctured 2-hour-11-minute rain delay. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis took care of producing RBIs for the Sox, garnering a 4-3 win.
I’m a Red Sox fan, but I don’t hate the Yankees – I stopped that nonsense awhile ago. I’ve since come to respect the power of the Bronx Bombers, while rooting for the Sox. It’s better that way.
Tuesday’s School Elections: A critical Bridgewater-Raritan schools election is scheduled for this Tuesday, April 15th. Three incumbents, Evan Lerner, Dr. Arvind Mathur, and Al Smith (Raritan’s representative) are running unopposed this year. Ho hum! Nonetheless, there is a monster budget on the ballot for your approval or disapproval. That last one is anything but a trivial matter. So go ahead and get out there with your vote. It really does matter. The polls will be open from 7 AM to 9 PM.
Tonight at 8 o’clock, if you are a baseball fan, you’ll be watching these two teams slug it out inthe rubber-match conclusion of a three-game series at Fenway Park. And, if you are not such a fan … well, you might as well watch it anyway. Otherwise, one of your only other TV alternatives is to click to CNN and suffer along with two presidential candidates, as they slug it out in a two-hour program billed, Faith and Politics, The Compassion Forum.
If you choose the latter option, you’ll get a lot of politics and a lot of posturing about faith, but I honestly doubt that much of it will be accurate or meaningful. I hope I’m proven wrong about that. Nonetheless, best to put the CNN slugfest on the VCR for subsequent viewing.
Friday night’s 4-1 Yankees’ win over the Sox featured stellar pitching by Chien-Ming Wang, the go-to guy for jump-starting this rivalry in unfriendly territory. Saturday afternoon, though, Jonathan Papelbon, Boston’s super-focused star reliever, returned the favor by striking out A-Rod and putting away the rest of the line-up in the top of the ninth inning, after a dramatic, lightning-punctured 2-hour-11-minute rain delay. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis took care of producing RBIs for the Sox, garnering a 4-3 win.
I’m a Red Sox fan, but I don’t hate the Yankees – I stopped that nonsense awhile ago. I’ve since come to respect the power of the Bronx Bombers, while rooting for the Sox. It’s better that way.
Tuesday’s School Elections: A critical Bridgewater-Raritan schools election is scheduled for this Tuesday, April 15th. Three incumbents, Evan Lerner, Dr. Arvind Mathur, and Al Smith (Raritan’s representative) are running unopposed this year. Ho hum! Nonetheless, there is a monster budget on the ballot for your approval or disapproval. That last one is anything but a trivial matter. So go ahead and get out there with your vote. It really does matter. The polls will be open from 7 AM to 9 PM.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Good Intentions, Bad Bill
At first glance, the bill for Paid Family Leave which State Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) shepherded through the Senate, and which Governor Corzine says he will sign into law looks like a winner. But start unpacking its provisions and, what you find is a fractured law which needs fundamental change, before it even hits the street.
This new legislation applies only to companies with fewer than 50 employees. Larger companies are already required to provide paid family leave and to hold the job until the employee returns – not so for smaller companies.
The new proposal is for firms with fewer than 50 employees. It will provide up to six weeks for a parent to care for a newborn or adopted child, or to care for a sick parent, spouse, or child. The benefit, to be funded by an employee payroll tax of $33, will replace up to two-thirds of a person’s pay, with a $524 weekly limit.
But there is at least one major, built-in problem-in-the-making. It’s the hardly trivial possibility that, under this legislation, a worker effectively can be fired for going on family leave. Here’s how that would happen: If an employee is replaced while he or she is on paid family leave, that person could be virtually out of luck. Under this law, the employee has no right to sue or to take any other action against his/her employer. That worker is now out in the cold, out of a job!
Senator Lance and Governor Corzine are about to implement a law which will have a discriminatory impact upon small companies and their workers, while providing a glaring loophole which could tempt owners of small companies to persuade employees into not taking family leave, under the subtle threat of losing their job. If you own a small firm and cannot afford to keep a critical position unmanned, how would you handle the situation? Neither the small company owner, nor the employee should be put into this untenable position.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I wonder if Lance went along with the inane provisions of this bill simply to get something – anything – through the New Jersey Senate.
This new legislation applies only to companies with fewer than 50 employees. Larger companies are already required to provide paid family leave and to hold the job until the employee returns – not so for smaller companies.
The new proposal is for firms with fewer than 50 employees. It will provide up to six weeks for a parent to care for a newborn or adopted child, or to care for a sick parent, spouse, or child. The benefit, to be funded by an employee payroll tax of $33, will replace up to two-thirds of a person’s pay, with a $524 weekly limit.
But there is at least one major, built-in problem-in-the-making. It’s the hardly trivial possibility that, under this legislation, a worker effectively can be fired for going on family leave. Here’s how that would happen: If an employee is replaced while he or she is on paid family leave, that person could be virtually out of luck. Under this law, the employee has no right to sue or to take any other action against his/her employer. That worker is now out in the cold, out of a job!
Senator Lance and Governor Corzine are about to implement a law which will have a discriminatory impact upon small companies and their workers, while providing a glaring loophole which could tempt owners of small companies to persuade employees into not taking family leave, under the subtle threat of losing their job. If you own a small firm and cannot afford to keep a critical position unmanned, how would you handle the situation? Neither the small company owner, nor the employee should be put into this untenable position.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I wonder if Lance went along with the inane provisions of this bill simply to get something – anything – through the New Jersey Senate.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
A Happy Coincidence
As the TV commercial for financial services says, “Life comes at you fast.” It can also deal out quite a few surprises, some good, and others … well, you can fill in the rest of the blanks.
Friday night, though, was, for Priscille and me, a happy occasion. We had gone out to Luna Rossa’s Italian eatery in Pluckemin to celebrate our wedding anniversary. That section of Bedminster so closely abuts the northwest tip of Bridgewater, that it might as well be part of the township.
We had reservations for an early evening dinner, arriving just about an hour or so before working people start dribbling in. Our server made sure that the wine glasses were steadily filled with Chianti, as we slowly dined our way through warm bread, appetizers, and a salad. It was just about then, that four Bridgewater friends spotted us as they approached to be seated at the next table.
What a pleasant surprise it was to see the Tracys and the Conlons, who live at opposite ends of Bridgewater. Both couples are long-standing residents here. John Tracy served with me on the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and became a trusted ally. Bernie Conlon was also a backer. Their wives, Susan and Barbara, were part of a group of rock-solid, active women supporters.
Today, these four are simply friends with whom we are able to share wonderful memories of times past, as we bump into one another along the path of life in Bridgewater Township. Most of us have recollections of life’s events from which we have grown and learned, (some of which we’d just as soon forget!).
On the other hand, some of those memories are identified with the cheery, smiling faces of friends that, when fate causes them to cross our paths once in a while, only evoke the best of thoughts. The two couples we bumped into at Luna Rossa’s last night comfortably fall into the second category.
Friday night, though, was, for Priscille and me, a happy occasion. We had gone out to Luna Rossa’s Italian eatery in Pluckemin to celebrate our wedding anniversary. That section of Bedminster so closely abuts the northwest tip of Bridgewater, that it might as well be part of the township.
We had reservations for an early evening dinner, arriving just about an hour or so before working people start dribbling in. Our server made sure that the wine glasses were steadily filled with Chianti, as we slowly dined our way through warm bread, appetizers, and a salad. It was just about then, that four Bridgewater friends spotted us as they approached to be seated at the next table.
What a pleasant surprise it was to see the Tracys and the Conlons, who live at opposite ends of Bridgewater. Both couples are long-standing residents here. John Tracy served with me on the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and became a trusted ally. Bernie Conlon was also a backer. Their wives, Susan and Barbara, were part of a group of rock-solid, active women supporters.
Today, these four are simply friends with whom we are able to share wonderful memories of times past, as we bump into one another along the path of life in Bridgewater Township. Most of us have recollections of life’s events from which we have grown and learned, (some of which we’d just as soon forget!).
On the other hand, some of those memories are identified with the cheery, smiling faces of friends that, when fate causes them to cross our paths once in a while, only evoke the best of thoughts. The two couples we bumped into at Luna Rossa’s last night comfortably fall into the second category.
Integrity
As my wife and I sat down to sipping a cup of Joe from Gloria Jean’s at the Bridgewater Commons Mall, we began to discuss the question of integrity.
Think of how often you are called upon to make a quick choice about whether or not you can trust a person. It happens every day in innumerable situations and contexts. How are you to deal with the quote that you’ve just been given from the salesman from that siding contractor? What about that relative, co-worker or acquaintance who is always shading the truth or holding back on information? Or the elected official whose conduct you are trying to evaluate, but who seems to be just a little too slick?
Priscille and I had begun discussing the topic earlier that morning, as we did our early morning pacing around the inside perimeters of the Mall’s three floors. It happens that the person which we were discussing has had a long history of withholding information, reinventing the past, and holding others responsible for actions of her/his own doing.
If you were the person in question, you would have wanted to have my wife on your side because, in the presence of even the slightest iota of doubt, she will always cut you a great deal of slack: “What about this?” she will remind me. Or, “You don’t really know what happened, because you don’t have all of the facts.” Such an approach to evaluating personal integrity is sound. I’m lucky to be married to such a person.
I, on the other hand, will exhibit a lot of patience with people, but not when I begin to suspect that they are trying to roll me – again!
If, at the end of the day, a person – or a company – consistently exhibits behavior patterns inconsistent with the facts, then that person’s or that company’s integrity begins to fracture. All of us have to make such evaluations constantly.
Just think of what’s going on at the national level right now. We have to decide which person will become President of this country: Clinton, Obama, or McCain? Who do you really believe and trust? The answer to that question is irrevocably tied to a personal evaluation of each candidate’s integrity.
Think of how often you are called upon to make a quick choice about whether or not you can trust a person. It happens every day in innumerable situations and contexts. How are you to deal with the quote that you’ve just been given from the salesman from that siding contractor? What about that relative, co-worker or acquaintance who is always shading the truth or holding back on information? Or the elected official whose conduct you are trying to evaluate, but who seems to be just a little too slick?
Priscille and I had begun discussing the topic earlier that morning, as we did our early morning pacing around the inside perimeters of the Mall’s three floors. It happens that the person which we were discussing has had a long history of withholding information, reinventing the past, and holding others responsible for actions of her/his own doing.
If you were the person in question, you would have wanted to have my wife on your side because, in the presence of even the slightest iota of doubt, she will always cut you a great deal of slack: “What about this?” she will remind me. Or, “You don’t really know what happened, because you don’t have all of the facts.” Such an approach to evaluating personal integrity is sound. I’m lucky to be married to such a person.
I, on the other hand, will exhibit a lot of patience with people, but not when I begin to suspect that they are trying to roll me – again!
If, at the end of the day, a person – or a company – consistently exhibits behavior patterns inconsistent with the facts, then that person’s or that company’s integrity begins to fracture. All of us have to make such evaluations constantly.
Just think of what’s going on at the national level right now. We have to decide which person will become President of this country: Clinton, Obama, or McCain? Who do you really believe and trust? The answer to that question is irrevocably tied to a personal evaluation of each candidate’s integrity.
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