Protest Outside the Home of Mayor Cammarano

Above is a video of a proteste outside of Mayor Peter Cammarano's home. I copied it from Hoboken 411 the site that covers the protest with the same zest they cover everything: like a vacuous, pee brained Hobokenite. I have not seen this many people gathered in Hoboken since the bars let out Friday night at 2:00 AM. Maybe people in Hoboken really are fed up with their government and they really want a change. The video is a bit crazy and the voters/citizens take it out on a Cammarano supporter.

I knew Cammarano a little bit, I first met him when I helped out with the Menendez campaign and he was so "pumped" for the campaign I knew there was something wrong with him. I said to him: "Menendez?" "Why are you here then" He said. I said the same reason I always support the Democrats because I don't want Republicans to win." He looked at me funny. He asked me what I did. So, I told him I am a prisoner reentry attorney helping to ease prisoners back into society. He looked at me like I had three horns on my head (it is part of the reason I like saying that). The rest of the attorneys looked at me funny too. He wasn't alone.

From then on, however I knew he was just another politician like the rest. He certainly had talent and was smart enough. I saw him at political meetings/voter protection meetings and everyone knew he was gearing up to run for Mayor. He was usually full of shit and said things to just be part of the conversation. He never recognized me though we worked together several times and we had several conversations. But, he would act like he knew me. I usually said something snarky and he just ignored me. He supported Clinton and I was one of the big Hoboken Obama supporters. No one in Hoboken liked that until Obama won and then all of a sudden everyone was a big Obama supporter from the beginning.

A friend of mine always told me: "Wait. He is going to get his. The Guy has skeletons." Turns out he was right. I don't think there is any question he should resign. He is innocent until proven guilty, surely, but there is a difference between being found guilty of a federal crime and doing something morally repugnant. Unless the government is lying through their teeth this guy took bribes and acted like a complete asshole. Whether the government has enough is a question, but the people of Hoboken already have and have had enough.

Several Politicians Arrested in New Jersey

According to NJ.com

Several North Jersey politicians were arrested this morning on Federal Corruption charges. The suspects included newly elected Mayor of Hoboken, Secaucus Mayor, Dennis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor, Leona Baldini and Jersey City Council President, Mario Vega. Several Rabbis and politicians from New York were arrested as well.

Looks like Cammarano's career just came to an end. More on this as it becomes available and hopefully an insider look at what happened.

Update: Below are videos of the men and women brought in and arrested for bribes and corruption. Harvey Smith, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate charged with taking $15,000 in bribes for building projects.

An Assemblyman and the Mayor of Secaucus arrested for $10,000 cash bribes

Louis Manzo, another unsuccessful Mayoral candidate in Jersey City and his brother arrested for $27,500 cash bribes for the campaign.

Leona Baldini, the deputy mayor charged with $20,000 cash payments

Other mayors in Ridgefield, NJ and Rabbis across New Jersey and Brooklyn charged with issuing the bribes and money laundering.

Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, and Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt are led into FBI building in Newark

Cammarano, the newly elected Mayor of Hoboken is charged with cash bribes of $25,000 including a cash bribe of $10,000 last Thursday!

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell led in handcuffs into FBI building

If one thing is clear, the corruption and bribery charges just made it tougher for Corzine to get elected. But, someone who has appeared in local politics in Hoboken, NJ - everyone knows this goes on and no one will do anything about it. For our state to change and for the Democratic party to change, to a party that is interested in progress and the people this had to happen. The question is this enough? Or is a political hit job?

I am not sure, but it seems obvious much of these officials are going down.

Same Sex Marriage Heating Up in New Jersey

The fight for same sex marriage is heating up in New Jersey. After Iowa, Vermont and now DC accepting out of state same sex marriages (thank you magda) the fight is turning to New Jersey and New York for that matter. Opponents, however realize this and are slamming $1.5 million dollars into the state to stop it. "The National Organization for Marriage" is leading the charge and its goal is to "activate those people who already agree with us."

The organization's television commercial, called "Gathering Storm," asserts same-sex marriage advocates "want to change the way I live" by forcing everyone to accept that same-sex marriage is acceptable. That means wedding photographers and marriage counselors could be labeled bigots and sued if they oppose working with same-sex couples, the group said.

The problem you see, is when I go to these websites and try and find out just what these "traditional marriage" advocates believe, it is a tough task. What exactly do they believe? That same sex marriage hurts regular marriage? That is an obvious claim, but why? That question is much more difficult to find. Basically, the argument is that traditional marriage is defined by a man and a woman, not by same sex couples and it has been for millenniums. That is it. Nothing else. It is pure and simple homophobia. Traditional marriage up until 1967 was also defined by people of the same race only until Loving v. Virginia changed that.

There is also something wrong with the traditional argument. It does not hold up to scrutiny. According to a book: "Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage" an exhaustive look at marriage across all cultures, marriage for love goes back about 200 years and that might be pushing it. Putting aside for a moment the gross disproportionality impact that "traditional marriage" has placed on women, Coontz says marriage was an economic and political institution, not to be decided by something as trivial as love. This is why marriage was left up to the community, neighbors and parents so they could choose the "right" partner for you. A union that would work for economic and political reasons as well as reproductive reasons. We see this today in many cultures who still practice this type of arrangement.

Not until the late eighteenth century (1780's) did individuals in Europe start marrying for personal affection and even these marriages were at the behest of the male, an institution that purely and profoundly placed women in a secondary role well into the 20th century and arguably still today. Coontz says that many men sought out women who came from wealthy families so as to acquire "standing" in society. This is where the notion of "marrying up" comes from. Our own beloved George Washington owned almost nothing until he married Martha.

The argument is a farce, a pure and simple farce. Yet, our laws based on this notion cloaked in homophobia reflect it. Yes, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and now New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island close behind we are breaking the cycle of nonsense. It is slow, however and the draconian law of DOMA which denies couples federal benefits even if the state allows same sex marriage stands with no end in sight.

As long as we know we are living in a farce. It isn't the only one.

Gay Marriage Legal in New Jersey? Nope. Iowa.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage in Iowa in a unanimous ruling. Wow. Read the ruling. Gay marriage will be legal in three weeks. Those of us in New York, New Jersey and especially in California can hang our heads in shame. Human rights are coming whether we are ready for them or not.

Death and the Maidens: Hoboken Reform and the '09 Mayorship

What dehumanizing torture will the citizenry of Hoboken have to endure this time around at the hands of green-eyed County career politicians and pop-eyed local virgins? The amorphous mayoral race in Hoboken, ever in the hands of shapeshifters, finds a new face in the race. With the advent of the once formally (but now formerly) 'not running' Fourth-Ward councilwoman Dawn Zimmer, this contest promises not only a grotesquely splayed field of fragile contenders, but also a harrowing array of self-serving elder politicos and bumptious political journeymen trying to recoup previous fecundity in Hoboken. It'll be the voter who is turned under.

The Hudson County Democratic Organiztion (HCDO) will brood, if half-distractedly, over the darwinistic self-triage of the Hoboken players going into the inevitable run-off. Then, no longer preoccupied with JC mayor/HCDO chairman Jerramiah Healy's own re-election run, county executive Tom DeGise, North Bergen boss Nick Sacco and Healy will loom Cerberus-like over whoever of the remnant is most viable and/or manipulable. Youngish mayor and state senator Brian Stack's Union City colt-and-puppy show will take side earlier (though probably not officially) and against HCDO's likely tack of Zimmer or at-large councilman Peter Cammarano, should either provide the unlikely event of surviving to the run-off. This begs consideration of the curious but abiding competitiveness of a third power axis overarching the actual candidates in the race.

Ward councilman Mike Russo and school-board member Frank Raia both achingly cozen the mayoralty from their largely Third-Ward bases yet are committed to sustaining an inherently competitive alliance, as alone either is too weak to even enter the race with a divided base. Raia has more money, Russo has better operations, together they have the best entree in the hunt to the steady Old Hoboken turn-out. Do they both have insuperable wills to faction power like the Reform faction leaders? The Third-Warders are not likely to be that politically callow. Though Raia's money might seem the decider here, he has other upward-mobility Russo does not: Raia can easily accede to Russo's Third Ward seat and simultaneously the de-facto presidency of the Board of Education to balance Russo as mayor. Such power-sharing dominance may be enough to keep them mutually gratified. Even this accommodation is not enough for likely victory - and both also have heavy and recent friction with both Stack and HCDO interests, though remain in contention for some liaison there simply by default and may well receive it ultimately.

This is where the pros and cons of callowness command the stage. First-time Second-Ward councilwoman Beth Mason, the seeming front-runner currently, can't be wed to HCDO in a run-off (their interactions get truly medieval) and is already being given informal Stack blessing - to the extent that matters in Hoboken as his influence in Hoboken is slighter than HCDO’s and as it somewhat handcuffs multi-hat assemblyman Ruben Ramos. HCDO’s next choice, though, isn't so simple.

First, formulaic weasel Cammarano's broad unlikability and lack of a native base trumps his flip-floppy pandering and cheesy grandstanding so palatable to HCDO. As Establishment-desirous as he profiles, he still can't get an established name to join his ticket and will try to pawn unvetted and unheard-of ‘reformers’ off on an incredulous Reform center . Even the ace up his sleeve, buddy and fellow at-large councilman Ramos, won't sign on fully - and is probably hoping for a Stack/HCDO compromise candidate to surface a la meat-puppet Anthony Romano in the freeholder race (possibly even himself, in a true taste of Hoboken).

Then, officeholding-virgin Zimmer's menage with handlers HCDO appointee Mike Lenz and HCDO vice-chair Carol Marsh has seemed more a case of harsh prima noctis than a honeymoon for the bulk of Hoboken voters. Even within her natural Reform base, Zimmer's political deflowering this past year or so has seen the bloom come off her rose, being untested-and-so-unsullied having been her only real political strength. With neither her nor Cammarano likely in the run-off, HCDO will only be left with the Old Hoboken Russo/Raia candidate, hacked from the same burlap as they are, to half-heartedly support against the Hudson Machine-loathing Mason.

What has Hoboken done to deserve so jumbled and broadly unhopeful a palette of choices in the midst of financial doom? Being such a wonderful little community of uniquely charming neighborhoods, obviously it is their happily wallowing in their own intense parochiality that has brought them to this dire point. So let's dispense from here on with any maudlin sympathies for this candidate or that. Regardless of the ubiquitous claims to the contrary, we all know each has cultivated a local subculture distinct from, resistant and unsavory to, every other - even where common interests abound. None distinguishes him/herself for, nor appeals broadly to, a citizenry as hungry for further extrapolation of the Obama algorithm as this one proved to be in November. Personal ambition alone - and nothing like ecumenical conciliation - has left this disfigured fetus of a race on our doorstep.

The pristine failure stillborn of all this is the gob-smacking inability of Reform to capitalize on the biggest political collapse of Hoboken's old-guard establishment in more than a generation. Advanced age and bloat, abandonment of all fiscal probity, divested city control, a universal zeitgeist of Change and an inchoate opposition potency had all been perched like Hitchcock's ravens to politically denude the old-boy regime's carcass - which now, unfortunately for every Hoboken school-child and shivering retiree, will probably continue to lurch zombie-like through City Hall for another four years. The cause of this opportunity is epitomized in the arrogant land and privilege abuses of ejectees like Lou Picardo; the cost of this opportunity is crystallized on the Reform family crest: two heads thrust out a windshield, sawing through their necks as they turn to blame each other for the crash.

Once again, Reform's own two old-guard camps are splitting on candidates - and not just for mayor, but very probably for school-board as well. This pre-emption of the greater Reform voting public's declared best interest also demoralizes that demographically ascendant base. And in turn, this has everything to do with both the future health of the city and, relatedly, Reform's own future political viability. It seems little was learned in the most recent freeholder and school-board campaigns where divided Reform interests lost the unprecedented gains of the prior year’s unified efforts that supercharged both Reform's activism and punch city-wide.

Though the dominant influence in the race is whether the Old Hoboken candidate in the run-off is heading an essentially unified ticket or not, whether Reform can muster an essentially unified face has everything to do with who the Old Hoboken candidate(s) will be in the run-off and whether Reform has a presence in the run-off. A full-tilt squaring-off between Mason and Zimmer drops the otherwise near-certainty of a Reform candidate in the run-off down dramatically. Scrambling for smallish portions of Reform credulity will decide whether the Russo/Raia alliance prevails over Cammarano and/or Ramos interests; a Mason-only race would have the Lenz/Marsh subfaction siding against their long-time objects of personal obsession, Russo and Mason.

It is here Hoboken comes full circle to the true salience of the Zimmer entry into the mayor’s race. Hoboken is not wafting heaven-ward on the winds of change; it is entrenching itself ever deeper into its historic mistakes. The gross political immaturity and strategic clumsiness of Zimmer’s dogging Mason’s heels into the race not only obliterates the hope of swift, salutary change for leaving Hoboken to the same Visigothic rapine that has nigh buried it already. This will also successfully re-brand Hoboken progressive reform as fecklessly disorganized and peevishly unempowered, as well as officeless in the longer term.

Entitlement Progam Applications Jump in New Jersey

In another sign that this economic crisis may be deepening here in New Jersey food stamp applications doubled and TANF applications jumped 60 percent in October compared to last year's numbers.

Food Stamps provide an average of $1 per meal per person for people on this entitlement program. And TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) not Welfare, the article continues to call the entitlement program Welfare, has not been raised since 1987 in New Jersey (and probably most states) and is $322 per month for a parent with two children, according to the article. Eat your heart out Citibank!

This shows how deeply people may be hurting, however and is a bad sign for our economy. Over the first 11 months of 2008, 34,400 jobs disappeared in New Jersey. The November unemployment rate is at 6.1 percent, up from 4.2 percent this time last year, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development website.

Barack Obama is trying to push through a stimulus package with Congress for the moment he steps into office on January 20th. It is a good start for the President-elect, no doubt, but we need a new outlook on the way we fund government and they way we view entitlement programs. A family of three in need is allowed $322 per month (with possible housing costs as well) and the banks receive bail outs in the amount of $700 billion.

Are our priorities really that skewed?

a brand new bag & a brand new me

a new year, a new home -- in downtown jersey city -- but i needed some new stuff. can't remember the last time i bought anything new (thanks sis for the lovely hand me downs). my only pair of jeans looks threadbare and feels uncomfortable. lucky for me, i moved right around the corner from life, a hip, out of the ordinary boutique stocked with clothes and accessories from local jersey city designers, such as billykirk (whose bag/wallet collection is made by a group of amish leather workers in PA), as well as other collections by rag & bone, mike & chris, joe's jeans & more.

i walked into life, having read about the store in NEW guide/magazine, eager to find something to perk up my lame closet of clothes. life, set in a beautiful brownstone building at quaint 112 morris street in paulus hook, just steps from the light rail, doesn't overwhelm, instead you feel invited in, comfortable browsing and touching the materials. soon enough i met cliff, the owner of life, who chatted with me in a familiar, casual way (unlike the many city boutiques i've shopped at which have a tendency to either make you feel pressure to buy or too uncool), then he magically picked up a few items to show me after i said, help i need a wardrobe boost (but i want usa/locally made items). cliff carefully described each designer's style, and how that item could best solve my clothing ills. everything he presented (billykirk bag, mike & chris grey jacket, jeans, black pants, grey james perse shirt) completely matched my style & fit almost perfectly (life handles alterations). cliff's knack for finding exactly what i craved doesn't feel forced or sales-person-y. with an air of genuine friendliness and expertise with all the designers he carries in the store, he treats each and every customer personally, listening to what the shopper seeks, yet not pushing the purchase or leading one astray.

so now, comforted in my new jeans in the new neighborhood, i praise life, the urban boutique i couldn't seem to find in hoboken, nyc, san francisco or paris ... where i go to shop, browse, pick up the latest NEW guide or visit with cliff to talk about jersey city happenings.

Bail-outs Only for the Rich, (and Definitely not New Jersey)

It is a strange world indeed when the only people who get bailed out [by us] are the rich and powerful. I heard this morning on NPR the Senate was considering extending unemployment benefits by 13 weeks (something I would personally benefit from at this point), but Bush would veto such legislation. Incidentally, jobless claims are skyrocketing with no end in sight. Just this morning a report by the labor department indicated jobless claims are at a sixteen year high.

There is no real talk about what every day Americans are going through though. It is bail-out banks, bail-out the auto industry, next comes the air line industry. But, where does it end and when does the focus become people, not corporations. Is that not where this conversation should begin? How are people doing? Well, a new report on food and nutrition tells you: one-in-eight Americans who struggled to feed themselves adequately in 2007 even before the economic downturn. From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of those affected rose from 10.5% to 11.1%. That's 36.2 million people.

Other highlights: The families with the highest rates of food insecurity were headed by single mothers (30.2 percent), black households (22.2 percent), Hispanic households (20.1 percent), and households with incomes below the official poverty line (37.7 percent).

States with families reporting the highest prevalence of food insecurity during 2005-07 were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15 percent), Texas (14.8 percent) and Arkansas (14.4 percent).

The highest growth in food insecurity over the past nine years came in Alaska and Iowa, both of which saw a 3.7 percent increase in families who struggled to eat adequately or had substantial food disruptions.

"Nationwide, children suffering from a severe disruption in how much food was available to them rose 50 percent, from 430,000 in 2006 to 691,000 in 2007, the worst year since 1998. Not Congolese fleeing the chaos of civil war. Not Dickensian orphans. Americans in the 21st Century."

This begs the question, what the hell are we thinking? Do bail-outs really help Americans? Will this help us turn the corner or is an entirely new way of thinking needed?

Here in the state of New Jersey Legal Services for the poor's funding is down approximately 65%. Lay-offs indeed have already begun in south jersey and the mood at the organization is bleak. Governor Corzine promised an additional 9.5 million in funds to keep the organization afloat. Word, however is this funding is in doubt (maybe Corzine is too busy thinking of who he can bail-out at the Department of Treasury). What will happen to poor people in New Jersey if this organization is forced to gut itself and cut jobs in half, which some of the plans project? Now mind you Legal Services here is asking for 9 million. Compare that to 25 billion the auto industry is asking for? Do we not have our priorities straight? Might we do both? (Just to put these numbers in perspective. The difference between a million and a billion is very significant. It takes 11 days for 1 million seconds to tick. How about a billion? 30 + years!).

While the poor are forced into poverty and "it is a result of the times" Auto executives fly into Washington on private jets and ask for 25 billion. Banks are given 700 billion. What if we took just one of those billions and divied it up amongst the poor? Would that be such a bad idea?

hoboken dance off

watch our local dancer on the sidewalks of hoboken get challenged to a dance off!

General Powell's Endorsement

The best part of General Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday was his monologue on what is wrong with being a muslim? I will let him tell it, but this is the essence of diversity and hearing it from a Republican is striking. And that in itself is troubling:

Stealing the Election New Jersey Style

And if we get a little lazy here thinking we can win the election because Obama is up in the polls, well think again. Along comes the Michigan GOP, the Ohio GOP, the Wisconsin GOP and voila - we have vote caging. Voter caging began just after blacks in the south finally solidified the right to vote. Before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 it was unheard of for black Americans to vote in the deep south. It is a shocking fact when you read this history. Martin Luther King, SCLC, SNCC and a little help from the greatest domestic policy President ever, Lyndon Johnson. Once the vote was solidified and African-Americans began, not only voting, but getting elected to office a new strategy needed to take place. It is called Voter Caging.

That new strategy began in none other than the Garden State. It began in the election of 1981 Governor Tom Kean v Jim Florio. In 1981, the Republican National Committee sent letters to predominantly black neighborhoods in New Jersey, and when 45,000 letters were returned as undeliverable, the committee compiled a challenge list to remove those voters from the rolls. The RNC sent off-duty law enforcement officials to the polls (who were heavily armed) and hung posters in heavily black neighborhoods warning that violating election laws is a crime." This brilliant strategy was used to perfection in Florida in 2000 and has become an art form by these Rethuglicans. Here is what they are doing this year.

Ohio

In Ohio, in this election in seven weeks 600,000 voters have the potential to be removed from the list if they do not pay attention to their mail. Ohio election officials are sending out a mass mailer stamped "do not forward" to all registered voters today (Sept. 5) with an absentee ballot application and other important notices for Nov. 4. If this mailer is not responded to then the GOP will challenge these voters at the polls. A similar mailer went out in March and netted 600,000 undeliverable in five counties who can now have their vote thrown out voting under the wrong address. The National Voter Registration Act prohibits any state from purging names from the voting rolls within 90 days of an election.

Michigan

James Carabelli, the Macomb County GOP leader said on the Michigan Messenger, an on-line publication that they will use foreclosure lists (those who have been so unfortunate to have their home foreclosed this year) to challenge voters at the polls. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," Mr. Carabelli was quoted as saying, according to a Sept. 10 article in the Michigan Messenger. The Obama campaign immediately filed a lawsuit, an injunction to stop these tactics.

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin GOP official (the state attorney general) filed a lawsuit in federal court has the potential to slow down poll lines in what will most undoubtedly be the highest turnout in memory. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, filed the lawsuit Monday in Dane County Circuit Court to get ineligible voters off the rolls. It calls for a court order mandating the Government Accountability Board to cross-check voters who have registered since Jan. 1, 2006, when federal Help America Vote Act legislation required that states implement a voter database to cross-check voter registrations with Department of Transportation, criminal and death records. Criticism of the law suit say it is unnecessary and is deliberately trying to slow down the polls so people who have to work will leave and not vote.

These are the tactics we know about and that are in the public discourse. Who knows what is happening behind the closed doors of the GOP in other swing states? Similar stories have been reported in Kansas and this says nothing of the many new laws that will already disenfranchise voters which are called Voter I.D. laws that voters must show an I.D. at the polls (this is against federal law, but states are free to interpret it for themselves). I.D. laws that are supposed to stop voter fraud, but the case at the Supreme Court could not site one example of voter fraud.

The GOP and the conservative philosophy has always stood for the idea that not everyone should vote; whether you are poor, a minority, disabled, homeless, etc., they will try and stop you at the polls. That is their philosophy, make no mistake about it. If you do not agree with them they do not want you to vote. It is as simple as that. It harkens back to the deep south 1960's when black Americans were murdered and lynched over the right to vote, yet still kept on. Our vote is sacred and should never be tinkered with - ever.

"Obamawitz"

one more day until the primary ... paul was interviewed on NPR's the brian lehrer show this morning. he handled the tough questions brilliantly ... listen here and rally for paul! go paul!


Nonviolence is an orphan among democratic ideas. It has nearly vanished from public discourse even though the most basic element of free government -the vote-has no other meaning. Every ballot is a piece of nonviolence, signifying hard won consent to raise politics above firepower and bloody conquest. -Taylor Branch-

Assembly Candidate Paul Newell is beginning to make waves in his longshot bid (an understatement) to unseat none other than the most powerful person in New York, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of the infamous three men in a room. Now with Spitzer gone, he may be the most powerful of the three men. But, Newell is not deterred and the blogosphere as well as the progressive community in New York City is beginning to take notice.

An event is scheduled this Tuesday night - June 24th, 7 - 10 PM, a fundraiser that sends a message with every contribution.

You can donate $77 for how many days until Newell unseats Silver; or

$149 for the amount of Assemblyman that will get a voice other than Silver; or

$500 (which gets you on the finance committee by the way) which is the amount of signatures Paul needs to get on the ballot.

He even has the attention of Ben Smith of Politico with the creative 'Obamawitz' image. This whole scenario makes me proud because once progressives (nationally for Obama and Edwards for that matter) realize they have power we can do just about anything.

There are some downsides to taking on the powerful, however. Paul told me when he began this quest that it wouldn't be easy and he would probably face another challenger funded by Silver. In pops Luke Henry. As Newell's candidacy began to pick up steam Henry announced. Suddenly, he moved back to the 64th from the West Village to challenge Silver, suspiciously in September. Doubly suspicious to Newell was that Henry has also worked for Wilson Elser (the lobbyist giant where Kenneth Shapiro works), which reps several firms with ties to Silver and the Assembly, such as the Dolans (Henry says he didn’t do political work there). Newell is concerned that Henry might be a sort of spoiler, an unserious candidate designed to split the non-Silver vote.

Paul, on the other hand, has lived in Chinatown for ten years, he is an Obama delegate and has been working for non-profits, including Ubuntu, an organization dedicated to the AIDS crisis in South Africa. Newell also speaks fluent Spanish, an important caveat in his constituency in the 64th. It is time the progressive blogosphere got behind a progressive candidate in New York City. NYC should be run by progressives, not old school democrats who we cannot tell from moderate Republicans, who we would rather have a conversation with - say Bloomberg than Sheldon Silver. It is ridiculous. Come to the fundraiser.

My favorite endorsement that Paul has received, however is the following from the Cougars of America: We the Cougars of America would like to endorse Paul Newell for New York State Assembly. We think he's just what we need in our government, a good lookin' young, single, and bold (bald) progressive. Not only is he the Bialystock of the Bowery, Paul has the right kind of touch (caress) and nearsighted vision that will bring a wave of fresh idea to Albany. It is time for change.

hoboken's new spots -- d a m e s & s w e e t

update: sweet is now open for business! cupcakes and mini cupcakes, cookies, brownies, red velvet cake, ganache cake and more... as well as many hot/cold coffee drinks. sweet has a warm, friendly vibe & enjoyable "mom's kitchen" decor. there are some tables to sit at and enjoy your fresh from the oven treats.

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oh also another new local goodie on the horizon, sweet, a bakery opening on garden and 4th streets (in the old rue de jardin spot)... we spoke to the owner, angela. her staff bakes everything on the premises.


at last, my prayers answered... just when my green tea habit really set in... no more running to joe the art of coffee on the weekend or missing the old mola vibe...

dames coffee espresso bar set up shop early in july on first (the street with no chain stores) near clinton street. finally had a chance to try their drinks. dames did not disappoint. we tried a frozen mocha and a vanilla latte (with simple yet elegant latte art). yum. better than joe since the baristas are not as rushed. i've had a few mediocre drinks and because of a crowd one time some dude swiped my drink from the bar.

dames has a serious, new & shiny la marzocco espresso machine. the decor is minimalist, black & white, with some small works of art on the brick walls, and a fancy chandelier adds a fancy touch. some limited counter space to sit and drink. too bad the space is not bigger for a few tables. dames serves counter culture fair trade, organic coffee. hopefully dames can counter the spread of starbucks in hoboken.

read more about dames on the road to epiphany and check out temp tamp!

hoboken still has a soul... help support these local businesses!

Reform und Drang: Part I

A special piece to the Subversive Garden regarding the victories, defeats and eventual schism of the Hoboken Reform movement from the artful and insider view by Hobogomil. A brilliant piece on the politics of the reform movement and why in general progressive politics cannot slay the dragon of either the evil Republicans or the corrupt (wink, wink), democrats of Hudson County. Ever its own tempest in a teapot, the Hoboken Reform movement boiled over boisterously this past year, making serious noises and big splashes all over town. By May, however, it had finally sizzled itself down to its last few wisps of hot air on the small but scalding surface of Hoboken politics. Perhaps feeling it had found a home on that range, it got - perhaps - overconfident after extending its reach into the wild west part of town with the 4th Ward successes. But it wasn't all flash and no substance - what strange brew left such a mess? And - hey, now - is that remaining hot air instead actually enough to raise a balloon to race around the world??

Whah hahppend??? Big, surprising victories over the Evil Machine in '07 school board, Democratic committee, and at least two city council races - capped with a 2-1 margin on a Machine-opposed open-space referendum - completely offset (and then some) an embarrassing Assembly-race thumping of erstwhile progressive icon, Carol Marsh, and heralded a Reform 'coming of age' in Hoboken. Pundits reeled, progressives cheered, and gob-smacked, gin-soaked Machine apparatchiki fell about the urine-drenched stoops of Washington Street like so many hopeless drunks. (Given the Hoboken likes of ex-State Senator Bernie Kenny, City Clerk Jimmy Farina and ex-City Business Administrator Dick England, there's actually no metaphor there.) The Machine trundled out all its cheapest tricks and heavily outspent Reform, but lost ground on almost all fronts anyway.

Okay, but -- whah hahppend??? 'Whah,whah,whah' happened. Wailing and whining about just desserts did them all dirty - first inside the Machine, then inside Reform. The County Democratic leadership, utterly convinced of its inalienable right to unmitigated feudal sovereignty, forgot entirely (and almost justifiably) about progressive dissent and opposition after a decade of beating it 90% to 10% in every race everywhere. Then little bosses got big ideas and civil war began to poke its hideous little face out from behind the relative calm and beauty of Union City white slavery and North Bergen thumb-breaking. "Why should these few old bosses (who made each of us) have all the spoils?" they bi-atched. Greed reared, complaints mounted, ranks broke, rancor followed - filtering down apace to the Machine lieutenants in Hoboken, aka New Pork City. Reform, ever staring glumly at the Machine's Great Wall, the political palisade always in front of them, quickly noted the opportunity in a crumbling Fortress Hudson and charged like newborn sea tortoises into the breach, snapping up minority representation for themselves all over town. Everywhere you looked, Reform was taking 40% of wards, district by district, most by a 51%/49% margin. Fiscal control and middle-class domination bobbed deliciously ahead in the next wave of '08 races.

Ah, but schism happens. Now, whereas the Hudson/Hoboken machine's ambition is dollar-denominated, the Hoboken reformer's ambition is ego-denominated and you can bet it didn't take more than a New York nanosecond for their morally-gifted, upper-middle-class selves to dive into an ethical pissing contest over who was most fitting as the next Yertle-on-Hudson. Some assumed it should be the one who had the most disposable income available for a political hobby. Green reared, complacency mounted...

Oh, come on -- whah really hahpennd??? In 2001, on the heels of state-of-the-art corruption under then-Mayor (and recent ex-con) Anthony Russo, current Mayor Dave Roberts - in a leap of political genius not seen anywhere since... late yesterday - lied unabashedly in claiming he'd end the regnant corruption and swept to victory over Russo with a council slate of three 'dyed-in-the-wool reformers'. Russo's machine methodology and gold-lust were so blatant Gollum and three syphilitic orcs could have beat him on character and charm alone. Somehow, though, the nascent Reform leadership of Marsh, Mike Lenz, Beth Mason and Tony Soares mistook this windfall changing of the terminally-corrupt guard as proof positive of personal political gifts - as some benediction of charmingly earnest grass-roots chaos turning coffee-klatsch into beer-hall putsch.

In actuality, Russo lieutenants jumped ship and exported Machine strategy and tactics to Roberts' covering brand, and then excised the honest if naive reform-minded progressives from the hustings. The new regime was not installed by Reform purity and spiritual eclat, but by old, thoroughly-organized cheats with a new, thoroughly-sterilized front. All ensuing (and myriad) election defeats for the dispossessed reformers were rationalized as due merely to a) lack of sufficient funding or b) vicious tandeming of assiduous back-stabbing by Roberts and a well-tapped parochiality of the born-n-raised polity. This, to be sure, would explain why slim victory might morph into narrow defeat above a citizenry supposedly hungry for Reform's college-bred, upper-middle-class sociopolitical decency- but not why they would lose election after election, by 20-30% or more. Reform leadership's surfing to initial victory on a zeitgeist of anti-corruption sentiment deftly managed by Machine retreads rather than their own organizing skills left them blind. And prone to castrating rationalizations about Reform's own vigor, charisma, skills and vision. Of course, Reform leadership proceeded to in-fight over just whose mayor-elect ego was owed coronation – rather than engage in any honest self-scrutiny.

Reform und Drang: Part II

Split happens. Mason and some arch-lieutenants (and we do mean 'arch') then splinter off in early '07 to form the revolutionary, new and improved, well-polished and all-around expialadocious Vote Hoboken political committee. [Oh, yes, folks we were there for it, the hot-air balloon having crashed right in our backyard on its way back to Kansas.] The Marsh/Lenz faction remained largely at the helm of Reform, but not by dint of any real leadership: it was squarely due to inertia - residual name-recognition, the defining voter-base apathy, and Vote Hoboken's utter inability to draw off much of a following at all. The ensuing bickering, posturing, and indignant outrage would fill a tetralogy of the cheapest of dime novels, (which - if you count hoboken 411, NJ.com's Hoboken forum, Hoboken Now and the Hoboken Reporter's Political column - it pretty much did). Suffice it to say, this dog had fleas, couldn't hunt, was all bark no bite and the incessant and feckless tail-chasing thoroughly eroded any burgeoning ascendancy Reform was evolving into. Early '07 victories intimating a potent Reform-oriented demographic turn and awakening amidst a (thereby-apocalyptic) Machine civil war were brutally reversed within a year as both County and municipal machines closed ranks, partly in response to Reform’s newfound bite.

The Last Days of Chez Fous The real, inbred craziness in the royal House of Reform was not simply the rift itself, but the protracted denial and toleration of its self-destructiveness as epitomized by the testosteronic rantings of the movement's tanists, Lenz, Jim Vance, Lane Bajardi and Tony Soares. High Priestesses Marsh and Mason stepped to the background somewhat as the feud revved up but kept the bitterness of the rivalry quite alive through the feistiness of the aforementioned publicists-cum-pugilists, who availed themselves of every forum and every opportunity to bash each other into tertiary relevance within Hoboken politics (behind the rival halves of the Machine presence).

This spawned confusion and demoralization among the core Reform polity just as the Reform gains of '07 begged for consolidation in advance of an inevitable and telegraphed Machine regrouping. By the time of this past April's school board elections, Reform was so childishly self-divided that the emblematic Kids First landslide the prior year got thoroughly reversed, spanked crudely by the most acrid dregs of Old Hoboken cronyism. This was quickly washed down with the lye of a Reform freeholder candidate's massacre several weeks later, all the more caustically as she came in third behind a divided Machine vote. The feud also spawned another pair of twins – hopefully to be separated at birth, permanently and with extreme, post-apocalyptic prejudice.

On the one (more dextrous if six-fingered) hand, a Neo-Reform leadership has emerged, questing for self-direction in the aftermath of the elder Reform leadership's abdications. Dawn Zimmer, Peter Cunningham and Theresa Minutillo retain clear leanings toward The Marsh/Lenz camp due to its greater proximity to the bulk of Reform vote and its more potent operational actors. But they have each also established an individualized independence, focused largely on the relevant school-board or city council portfolio. This lends focus to their efforts and coherence to their public profile even as it sacrifices the scope of leadership they can project. But that's okay – they limn a solid leadership profile for the necessary retooling of Hoboken Reform.

On the other (more sinister and sticky-fingered) hand, the internecinematics of the Reform movie have also allowed infancy to a pseudo-Reform counterinsurgency, a shallow co-optation led by the indelible smarm of otherwise eclipsed politicos, Peter Cammarano and Maurice Fitzgibbons. If responded to artlessly or even embraced as a lesser of evils, this new pseudointellectual goo could suck Reform/Neo-Reform down to a permanent bottom at the chill and murky depths of the Hudson political scene . Fortunately, these two soulless hacks most closely resemble those grotesquely feckless-but-fierce-looking micromonsters one sees out the bathysphere window, whose huge ugly maws have almost no impact on anything except even smaller more grotesque creatures. But those could be Reformers if the leadership doesn’t watch out.

Ah, but what is so rare as a day in June?? Despite all this, Reform hopes sprout feathers in the week following the June primaries. On a single day, complete fiscal meltdown of the city due to gross and obvious Old Guard incompetence and control of the municipal Democratic Party committee fall beneficently into Reform’s lap. Stay tuned – the ramifications of this are playing out frenetically as you read. More soon.

bike hoboken--join the livable streets group launched by a local resident

had enough of the cars taking over our narrow hoboken streets? tired of loud car alarms waking you up? fed up with cars speeding through intersections? take to the streets on your bike and let's create a critical mass of hoboken bikers!


this just in... join bike hoboken!


bike hoboken is a new group organizing the Hoboken community to make the city more bike-friendly.

bike hoboken will help to create:

• Convenient and secure bicycle parking at the PATH station
• Bike lanes and greenways.
• More bike racks around town.
• Pedestrian and bicycle-safe streets.
• Less traffic, noise, pollution and reduced demand for parking.

Attend the Hoboken bike path planning meeting: Wednesday, June 25th @ 7pm at City Hall.

congratulations graduate: now pray!

here we go again... blurring the lines... graduation in a church?

from the national school boards association:

N.J. district settles lawsuit over holding graduation in church

According to the Newark Star-Ledger, Newark Public Schools has settled a lawsuit filed in 2007 by the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) on behalf of Bilal Shareef, a Muslim student who skipped his graduation from West Side High School two years ago because it was held in the sanctuary of a Baptist Church.

The suit alleged that Bilal's faith prohibited him from entering a building with religious icons, such as pictures of God or images of the cross, according to the suit filed. The suit claimed when West Side High held its graduation at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark two years ago, the district violated the New Jersey Constitution by forcing people to attend a place of worship contrary to their faith and discriminated because of religious principles.

According to the settlement, the district agreed not to sponsor or promote religious events, to no longer reward students for attendance at religious events or ceremonies, and to stop using religious buildings or places of worship for school events. Nonetheless, the settlement still allows NPS to schedule events with other schools that use religious buildings, and students may still visit religious buildings if the purpose is "both academic and secular in nature."

Superintendent Marion Bolden confirmed that there was also a financial settlement between NPS and Shareef. In addition, NPS issued an apology to the Shareefs and other students who "felt forced to forego or uncomfortable attending the 2005 or 2006 graduations." NPS legal counsel Perry Lattiboudere's statement emphasized that the settlement agreement "reaffirmed that the past scheduling of graduation ceremonies at local church locations was not in any way intended to make any student or member of the community feel uncomfortable in attending the ceremony."

Mr. Bolden acknowledged that in response to the lawsuit, and concerns students might be discouraged from attending graduation, none of the district's schools are holding commencement at religious buildings this year. The ceremonies will be held in either government owned facilities or secular private venues. "There has to be sensitivity to that because you don't know what children are thinking," he said. "(Shareef) might have been the one who voiced an objection, but others might have gone and been uncomfortable."

Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 6/10/08, By Kasi Addison

New Jersey's Race Problem in Youth Detention

New Jersey has the highest ratio of minority youths in detention in the nation, a pattern mirrored at Mercer County's Youth Detention Center, where nearly all the young offenders are black or Hispanic. Ninety-Eight percent of the children in jail are of a minority descent. Disgusting and sad. It should be so alarming that we immediately conference on the issue.

A report released yesterday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore says that in New Jersey and Connecticut, eight times as many minority youths as white youths were in detention in 2006. The national ratio is 3 to 1.

"Racial disparity has been a longstanding issue in New Jersey," said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Newark-based Association for Children of New Jersey, which is affiliated with the foundation.

In cities such as Trenton and Newark, police procedures, urban pressures and the lack of parental advocacy for children rob young offenders of chances to avoid detention, Zalkind said.
"When a kid gets in trouble in a small suburban community, the parents have more of a chance to work with the police on an alternative," she said. "There are more detention alternatives available for non-African-American kids."

The dramatic extremes between rich and poor in New Jersey, one of the nation's wealthiest states, accentuate the varying treatment of young offenders in different communities, she said.
At the same time, Zalkind said it was good news that the state, along with Vermont, has the nation's fourth-lowest rate of 10- to 15-year-old kids in custody.

But, a more profound problem is the racial bias in sentencing in communities. What Zalkind said is true, but when a kid in Newark is smoking marijuana he is considered on his way to criminal activity and a person who needs monitoring. But, when a kid from Livingston (in the same county) is caught smoking marijuana he is considered a young man getting a little crazy and more appropriate for his parents to handle it.

All the tools that seek to diminish the number of kids in detention (some are working) have reduced the number of kids by a third in detention since 2002. Yet, the racial gap continues and it begs the question are these tools helping black and Hispanic kids?

No one wants to talk about racism. We will talk about race and the racial gap in schools, in jails, in corporate america, but we leave the term racism out. What other explanation could there be for every one white kid in detention there are 8 black or hispanic kids? Notwithstanding black and hispanic kids make up about 30% of the kids in the state. It is time to do something; stop studying the problem and realize it is about bias.

New Jersey Workers Stealing Children and Gas: Assclowns of the Month

Not only are DYFS workers stealing children from New Jersey families they have resorted to stealing our gas too. Thirteen motorists — all but one a public worker — filled up for free at state-owned pumps, authorities alleged today. The alleged thefts, from April 2007 until last month, totaled at least $2,000.

The North Jersey defendants are both affiliated with the Paterson office of Children and Families. Each was charged with third-degree official misconduct, which carries a prison sentence of three to five years. Like the rest of the indicted defendants, they will be arraigned within a month, Milgram said.

Eleven of the suspects used pumps at several locations in Camden County, Milgram said. Four worked in the Camden office of Children and Families; four were employees of the Camden Board of Education; and two worked for the Camden Bureau of Recreation.

Now, who in this climate would not be tempted to take gas that does not belong to you? Who doesn't want to steal gas from say, Exxon-Mobil or Shell. But, to steal gas from us, New Jersey citizens, not to mention from the people you are supposed to be serving strikes me as a bit sad.

It warrants this months Assclown.

Who Are We?

I grew up in Rutherford, NJ, but I first lived in Weehawken and North Bergen. I was born in New York Hospital, so technically, I am a New Yorker. Each of those places is made up of recent immigrants. My mom used to tell me that the neighbors used to stare at my blond hair and blue eyes. I was a minority in Weehawken. When I came to Rutherford, some of my first friends were recent immigrants, from Japan. I used to watch my Puerto Rican neighbors breakdancing on cardboard down the block. I used to go over to my friend Abdul's house to hang out. His parents were just over from India.

I live these days in Bauru, Brazil. I have to go to the US Consulate more than I would like, and every time, I mean every time, there are huge, snaking lines, of people trying to get a visa to go the States. Every one of them will get questioned, maybe rejected, maybe accepted, and almost never smiled at. They are nothing more than a number, and they will feel that from the minute they get on that line.

But, after reading an editorial in the New York Times this evening, I started thinking about something...and it was really a question: why?

Why do so many people still fight through red tape, across Mexican deserts, hidden in cargo containers, or in the backs of trailers, to get to the US? Why do they save up thousands to pay coyotes to get to a country which has so easily forgotten that it is made up of immigrants. The New York City subway, one of the greatest engineering feats in the world, was completely built by immigrants.

But then I remembered a friend, born and bred in the suburbs of Jersey, just like me, who summed up the mentality of so many Americans when he told me why he hated going into Manhattan: "Because it's full of so many types of people."

This is the crux of things: fear. Fear of change, fear of dissolution, fear of your neighborhood starting to get different names on the mailboxes. But we try to cover it up by saying we are only against illegal aliens, and not immigrants. That the raids in New Jersey at 5 in the morning that rip parents out of their beds, are not symptomatic of a much larger problem, spreading all over the world, and infecting every country that calls itself 'first world': a fear of what is written on that slab the Statue of Liberty holds..."give me your dirty, your tattered masses..."

Did America ever want them?

Read the article if you have two minutes.