Draine on Society

There are two forms of government economic policy: monetary and fiscal. Monetary policy is conducted by a central bank, or the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States, while fiscal policy is conducted by the Department of the Treasury and the Legislative Branch. This article will examine both forms and evaluate their relative effectiveness in promoting economic activity and growth in times of recession.

Recently my family and I made an attempt to adopt a rescue dog from a shelter not too far from my home. The shelter asked that we fill out a lengthy questionnaire in order to determine whether or not we would make good owners for the pet. Aside from asking standard questions such as how long will the dog be alone during the day, one of the questions asked if you had any pets before and whether or not they had been neutered.

As Of Yet Untitled

Let me be clear: I am not an Obama supporter. I did not vote for the man, and frankly, I disagree with the majority of his policy initiatives. That said, to my mind, no President has made a more real and concerted effort to cut through the muck of political rhetoric (read: lies) and work in a bipartisan manner with the opposing party.

When I received my absentee ballot to vote in the special election to replace the late great Ted Kennedy, I felt an immeasurable disappointment with the names I saw on it. The choices, as I saw them, were these: a giant douche, a cold-hearted woman, a babbling hypocrite and a space for me to waste my vote. To be honest, no candidate on the ballot seemed capable of filling the position. Over the course of several days I deliberated and resolved that I simply could not make a decision. And …

In his last piece, Ben Kharakh took a tour of New Brunswick with Charlie Kratovil, local political activist, to get an inside view of the Hub City. This week, Ben took the time to tour the city with Bill Bray, City Spokesman to incumbent Mayor Jim Cahill, in order to get the other side of the story. Bill spoke of his time in New Brunswick and some of the city’s positions on low income housing the “swing space” school on Jersey Avenue, and initiatives to combat littering.

It has been over a month since President Obama’s widely anticipated Dec 2 speech at the West Point military academy which officially announced his plan to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan. Since then, media coverage has been somewhat derailed by such things as Tiger Woods’ sexual escapades and Gene Simmons’ anger issues. Despite these diversions, a great deal of criticism was still relayed to the American people from Republicans and Democrats alike- from the problems with financing the war to the issues of a timetable of withdrawal. Although many had …

Draine on Society
The global warming debate has become infantile in practice as both sides stick to their approved platitudes and mantras and each side accuses the other of lies, manipulation, and conspiracy.  The truth, as usual, is more complicated than either side makes it out to be, but not so complicated that the average individual cannot get a good understanding of it.

Local Group Urges Senate to Vote Down S-3157
Today, the State Senators of New Jersey are being asked to vote on S-3157. If signed into law, it would extend the time citizens must wait between submitting petitions for charter changes from 4 years to 10 years.  This is unreasonable, undemocratic, and harmful overall to civic engagement, and we are asking our State Senators to vote against this measure.

Draine on Society

On Tuesday December 1st, 2009, President Barack Obama made public his intention to send an additional 30,000 American soldiers to the combat theater of Afghanistan.  Though expected, this move was drastic and raised questions about the intentions of his administration regarding the ongoing wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  The decision to add 30,000 troops to Afghanistan is reminiscent of the decision of the Bush administration to bolster the troop levels in Iraq by approximately 25,000.

The photos herein were taken by Dan Bracaglia and Brendan McInerney, New Brunswick’s premier photojournalists. Both individuals have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, a quality most desirable in photographers. All Rights Reserved by the artists.
You can access more of Dan’s work at www.thelondonbroil.com
You can access more of Brendan’s work at www.newblogswick .org