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Corruption in New Jersey politics is not a new phenomenon. Rather, it is a part of everyday political life in New Jersey, the lard that keeps the densely packed population from grating against each other. The topic has even been touched upon in the Johnsonville Press in months past. Even so, never in my time in New Jersey have I seen the hailstorm that is Jersey politics reign down so openly and violently as it has in July, 2009. Rallies, races and arrests are converging on …

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Alexander Draine’s most recent column in Draine On Society entitled “Carbon-based Lifestyles” opened up the debate on climate change and HR2454 (“Waxman & Markey”) from a perspective which had hitherto not been discussed on the Johnsonville. In approaching the issue from the angle of population growth—and consequent economic expansion—Mr. Draine hits upon the key issue that, in my opinion, is driving the debate.

Last week, I had the pleasure to debate Bill Godshall of Smokefree Pennsylvania on the merits of the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, or HR 1256, which has recently reorganized the way tobacco is manufactured and sold in America. The debate was hosted by publicsquare.net, a political blog focusing on “uncommon debate”. Indeed, it is uncommon

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With June all but behind us, and the Fourth of July just around the corner, I can finally say that summer is here in force. This is an interesting time for us Johnsonvillians. School has ended, and with it a major vibration of hustle and bustle has left the town. Thousands of Rutgers employees and students have migrated to their summer homes, leaving only a few summer-scholars to pepper the otherwise sardine can style streets.

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On June 11, 2009, Congress passed HR 1256, or the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. A milestone in the fight against tobacco-related health issues, this legislation brings manufactures of tobacco products under the broad regulatory supervision of the Food and Drug Administration.

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This week, I decided to explore a topic with which I am not very familiar, but which I hope to learn more about in the course of our discussions. My topic will be currency. The continued economic forecasting by leading libertarian thinkers including Lew Rockwell, economist Peter Schiff, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul are deeply concerned with currency, and warrant further investigation.

In New Jersey politics, the machine-mentality is the norm. Perhaps it’s the overwhelming population density characteristic of New Jersey communities, or perhaps it’s simply the deep seeded heritage of gang-politics that New Jersey boasts; whatever the reason, last week’s municipal elections bore serious implications for two old guard NJ political machines—those of Edison and New Brunswick.

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Last week marks the graduation of the 11,430 members of the Rutgers class of 2009. Convocation was not one cohesive event; at Rutgers, each of the many sub-schools has traditionally held its own commencement ceremony, and this year was no different. Rutgers actually hosted 27 convocation ceremonies over the course of the week by my count.[1] Being a member of Rutgers College

This coming Friday starting at 12:00 noon on Bishop Beach at the College Avenue Campus, some of us at the Johnsonville Press will be taking a walk, in commemoration of the late practice of anti-war walkouts at Rutgers. With the rise of President B. Obama and the withdrawal of President G. U. U. Bush, this particular form of protest has fallen out of style, along with civil unrest and disobedience. Our “walk-out-side” will feature a quick stroll from Bishop Beach (where I first touched down at Rutgers) over to …

A couple of weeks ago, I published an article on the JV Press which broadly addressed some of the issues raised by Ben West in a letter he wrote to the Daily Targum. For those of you who don’t know Ben, he is the RUSA chair of the University Affairs Committee here at Rutgers. Ben was kind enough to respond to my article with some questions of his own, and so I’d like to follow up on our discussion. If you’d like to catch up, you can find my original …