New Jersey bits and pieces....

It's all nine-eleven, all the time in the State, the Nation, and the World. I would say it's hard to believe it's been that long, but the President has done an awful good job punctuating his every change of direction with some reference to the tragedy. Anyway, while folks like you are me are doing our best to mourn the fifth anniversary of terror attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans, including some from Burlington County, GOP golfers will be trying to break par -- between breaks for cocktails. Read it and cringe. Or weep. Or hurl.

Wednesday (September 13) is the second meeting of the state's death penalty commission. It's at the Statehouse annex in Trenton from 2pm-4pm. From the New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty's website: "Join members of NJADP and other interested citizens of New Jersey as we observe the 2nd public hearing of the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission. This is a public hearing - everyone is welcome and all interested parties are urged to attend."

Former NJ Governor (and heterosexual) Jim McGreevy is set to launch a month-long national book tour tomorrow with the taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show. He'll be making several stops in NJ, including a book reception hosted by our friends at Garden State Equality on Sept. 19 in Woodbridge and four other New Jersey bookstore appearances on his schedule: at Barnes & Noble stores in Moorestown and Edison on Sept. 23; Watchung Booksellers in Montclair; and Here's the Story in Union on Sept. 24. No word yet whether the book tour will be making any stops at any of the state's "dirty" bookstores. Meanwhile gay escorts in the New York and Philly metro areas are praying that the ex-Gov. won't be naming names.

The NY Times poses this rhetorical question to Kid Kean this morning: "IF you were an employee of a company and were disgruntled with its performance, who would you want to hold accountable? The chief executive, who is popular with key constituents and wields clout over your financial well-being? Or at least one, if not two, of the chief executive’s top lieutenants, both unpopular, and presumably easy to scapegoat?"

We know the answer to the question. It remains to be seen how Junior deals with the consequences of the Iraq mess as the campaign hits its highest gear. We can, however, be sure where Senator Menendez stands on Iraq. He outlines his unwavering position beautifully in a podcast interview with me last week. In any event, this race is still close.

NJ-3 Democratic Candidate Rich Sexton recently unveiled his flashy new website, done by our our own tech genius Jason Springer. Additionally, there is a really cool concert/fundraiser this weekend in Moorestown for the Sexton campaign featuring the musical stylings of Phil Roy whose tunes have been recorded by Mavis Staples, Los Lonely Boys, Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Aaron Neville, Guster, Widespread Panic, Tuck and Patti. His songs have also been included in movies including, "As Good as it Gets", "Leaving Las Vegas", "The Mask", "Love + Sex", and "Me, Myself and Irene". Phil Roy will be in South Jersey on Saturday singing and raising money for Rich Sexton's run for Congress. Hey, if you had to choose between "Sex" and "Sax" which whould you pick? Yeah, I thought so.

So what's on your mind?