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.

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

By now, Charlie Kratovil is a well-known figure in the New Brunswick community. His most recent attempts to bring grassroots change and “good” to New Brunswick have been gathering a lot of support, but some criticism as well. Johnsonville Press Editor in Chief Alex Giannattasio and Editor Grace Hong sat down for a conversation with Mr. Kratovil to get the inside scoop on what he’s been up to since the end of the Wards Campaign.
What follows is the full transcription of that hour and a half conversation. Do not ask …

OVER THE PAST WEEK A CONTROVERSY HAS ERUPTED AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY…

Volunteers collected takeout meals donated by students and drove them to a soup kitchen

The soup kitchen happily accepted over 100 hot meals in 2 days, delivered by our volunteers

Dining Services Director asked us to leave, saying he will “confiscate and destroy” the meals we had already collected.

Dining Services employees stole about a …

With the New Brunswick Wards Campaign’s marginal defeat all but official, Charlie Kratovil is out for blood with a vengeance. This time, his target is not an embattled political machine, but the vast matrix of stamps and statistics known as the Rutgers bureaucracy.