ELECTION DAY! GO VOTE or STFU!!

Vote today in New Jersey to help farmers AND the environment! Vote YES on ballot question #3!

Interviewing Governor Corzine

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is blog-friendly. We met yesterday at Rutgers University to discuss stem cell research, Iraq and more. First of two parts.

Me and the Governor, part II

Corzine muses about healthcare for kids, gay marriage equality and crime. He also reflects on his near-fatal accident last summer. Interesting stuff, if I do say so myself.

Jim Saxton, the biggest S-CHIP head in Ocean, Burlington, Camden counties

I hope Jim Saxton gets bludgeoned for this S-CHIP vote coming up tomorrow....assuming of course Saxton bends over for George Bush. Again. Which I fully expect.

Note to Jim Saxton: we don't need S-CHIP to beat you in 'o8 but you can bet the farm that your obit just got a whole lot more unsympathetic!

Crossposted over at Blue Jersey

Grande Hypocritical Latte, please (aka Starbucks Sucks)

I used to love starbucks and their forward thinking business model. But nowadays, they are just another rootin', tootin', pollutin', highfalutin', Union bootin' Frappuccino factory with little to no regard for the communities they leech off of.

The following email exchange between myself and local manager Delma Wells proves they just don't give a damn.

-----Original Message-----
From: jay lassiter
To: Delma Wells
Subject: customer feedback

I live near the Haddonfield Starbucks. Usually the drinks and the staff are great. This is why I choose to spend $4+ on a cup of coffee from time to time. Unfortunately, on a recent "trash day", the staff put dozens of clear plastic trash bags on the sidewalk which were full of recyclables (and compostables) for a landfill. Again. This is a weekly issue.

Seeing the store's disregard for the environment offends me. For Starbucks to ignore its PROGRESSIVE policies in such a visible way -- right on the sidewalk --is a drag. It also contradicts the Starbucks mission statement which, according to your business card, seeks to contribute "positively to community and environment."

Whatever the reasons you are not recycling, I suggest that you revisit them. At present, the store is ill-equipped and the staff is not trained to properly dispose of its trash. Throwing everything out together on the sidewalk in clear plastic bags is unacceptable.

As neighbors, we share this burden. I am eager to help with a solution.

I look forward to your reply and i appreciate you making yourself available for feedback.
Jay Lassiter

Her reply follows...

Delma Wells wrote:

After speaking with the store manager he has informed me that the Township will not pick up the recyclable from Kings Highway because it interferes with traffic flow in the A.M... I will continue to work with the town to find an answer. I hope to resolve this ASAP, and will keep you posted.
Thanks again
Delma W.
District Manager

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My reply follows...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miss W:

So what you're saying is "It's too hard to recycle."

We can not wait for the township to get its act together and make it easy for us!! You should take initiative! Anything short of this is falling short of the mission statement.

Forty bags of (mostly recyclable) trash every collection day? Can't you at least try to do better?

jay lassiter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That email exchange happened 2 months ago. I heard nothing more from the Starbacks district manager since, despite her vow to "keep me posted.". If Starbucks can be consciencious of the plight of some far-off indigenous coffee farmer, then they can surely stop shitting all over their own neighborhood!

Jay's Garden State.

Check out this cool interview I did with NJ Secretary of Agruculture, Charles Kuperus. It's a lot more interesting that it might sound, I promise.

Playing Politics with Genocide

Not too long ago, in response to the Sudanese government's genocidal policies, Assemblyman Bill Payne shepherded a bill through the Statehouse that would prohibit the state of New Jersey from investing in Sudan.

In doing so the Garden State joined Illinois as the only state in the land to put its money were its mouth is when it comes to the extermination of an entire race.

The move to divest was largely hailed as an important symbolic move. In fact, the House of Representatives commended New Jersey and Illinois for their leadership on this issue . Likewise, all over the country, men and women of conscience were pleased to see someone finally doing.... something. After all, genocide is forever and already the number of dead and displaced is too high to count.

You'd think with something as serious as mass extermination , most people would be sympathetic to the cause. But you'd be wrong.

From a recent Rush Limbaugh show:

Democrats "want to get us out of Iraq, but they can't wait to get us into Darfur," Limbaugh said.

He continued: "There are two reasons. What color is the skin of the people in Darfur? It's black. And who do the Democrats really need to keep voting for them? If they lose a significant percentage of this voting bloc, they're in trouble."

Now it's possible that it was the OxyContin doing the talking, but still.....

Limbaugh fans notwithstanding, I suspect anyone troubled about the plight of Darfur is probably concerned that hundreds of thousands of people are dying. Black, white, or polka dotted, it wouldn't matter much. Am I right?

Now it's worth pointing out that Assemblyman Payne's leadership on the issue of genocide in Darfur is a family affair. His brother, Congressman Donald Payne chairs the Africa and Human Rights sub committee in Washington who has made Darfur a huge personal priority. Unfortunately the lack of leadership in the Whitehouse (and State Department) have limited the American response to hollow gestures for the most part. (In fact in a Dec 'o6 interview with Blue Jersey Congressman Payne remarked that the United States finds itself currently in a pickle where our purported human rights values are in direct conflict with our post-9/11 "intelligence" objectives.)

It's for these reasons that New Jersey and Illinois' brave position on Darfur (and genocide on general) is so unique and noteworthy.

Now what?

First of all, regarding Limbaugh, click over to Media Matters and add your name to the growing list of folks demanding an apology from Rush for his latest race-based rant. It might not seem like it would make much difference, but here at Blue Jersey we have a proud tradition of rising up to challenge hate speech on the airwaves. Imus? Jersey Guys? Hello!

After that, call your representatives in Trenton. Very, very few places have laws on the books that specifically address the situation in Darfur. New Jersey is one of them. This issue was very much a bi-partisam one so keep this issue on Trenton's radar!

Finally, call Congressman Donald Payne. He's chairman of the House Africa and Human Rights Subcommittee, thus represents all New Jerseyans in that capacity. Again, remind him how much genocide matters to you.

And when you're done with all that feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. I've no doubt that you have something to say about genocide or Rush Limbaugh (or both), so by all means fire away.

Blur

Come for the novelty, stay for the musical score. It's stunning. The music I mean.

This video is one of the more iconic of You Tube's short history and I was pretty blown away at first blush. But what keeps me coming back is that delicate (yet throbbing) piano accompaniment by musician Carly Comando. The music in a word: Perfect.

What's your favorite Elvis tune?

Find your favorite Elvis Presley song on You Tube and leave it as a message! Here's mine!

Google me Timbers

It's amazing what folks try to find with Google. It's even more amazing what some folks try to find on the net, only to find me instead. Here's a sampling of the latest search engine gems, according to my site meter:

* Danish+Male+escorts
* Bigmany in New Jersey
* Dirty bookstores in New Jersey
* Free+Lady+piss
* Toy+Soldier+lawn ornament
* "Do black people have achilles tendons?" and finally.....
* "Let peace begin with me"

Hey, whatever floats your boat!