Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.  Love. Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.
Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.  Love. Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.
Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.  Love. Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.
Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.  Love. Love.  Love.  Love.  Love.

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is on right now.  Pay attention to the smoking hot Patricia Tallman. God, I love her.  The lifting of the plaid skirt when she runs.  Classic.  When does her life start to change for the better?  It's not when she runs away and cries.  It's not when she huddles in the car, or the barn.  

Politicker NJ is reporting that the New Jersey Democratic State Committee is backing down from a prior request to the County Clerks in New Jersey to give preferential ballot position to the candidate backed by the local Democratic County Committee Chairs.  That favored Hillary Clinton, big time.  

The Democratic State Committee has backed down from its earlier balloting position request and has instead recommended that county clerks conduct an open draw between all presidential primary candidates.

"The New Jersey state committee has been contacted by the major presidential campaigns to request that, instead of the process for ballot draws outlined in my letter of December 17, 2007, that the state committee recommend an open draw of all primary candidates. Accordingly," wrote party counsel William Northgrave in a letter to all county clerks this evening.

The Auditor, the anonymous political commentator in the Newark Star Ledger, is reporting that Chris Dodd is done:

Is New Jersey really that far away from Connecticut? The filing deadline for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to appear on New Jersey's Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot passed this week, and notable by his absence was Democrat Chris Dodd. The U.S. senator from the Constitution state -- just a short hop away on the Cross Bronx Expressway -- did not file to run in the New Jersey primary. Telephone calls seeking an explanation from Dodd's campaign were not returned.

Link here:

http://www.nj.com/...

While I am sure that we were all extremely relieved to hear recently that Iran suspended it's program to develop nuclear weapons several years ago, some news stories that I read yesterday on Iran testing another intermediate range missile that can reach Israel, parts of Europe and most of our Far and Middle Eastern bases have raised my eyebrows.

AP (Jerusalem) - Behind a poster of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reading: "Missile maneuver of the Great Prophet," Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard tests the long-range Ashoura missile in a central desert area of Iran.

The Ashoura missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers and is capable of reaching Israel, US Army bases in the Middle East and eastern European cities, including Moscow, said the TV channel.

To be fair, Janes questions whether or not the test actually occurred.  Link here:

http://missilemonitor.blogspot.com/...

More, below the fold:

Tomorrow, the New Jersey Assembly's Environment and Solid Waste Committee will consider proposed Assembly Bill A4559, sponsored by Democratic Assemblymen Chivukula (D17) and McKeon (D27).  The proposed bill, entitled the "New Jersey Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Act.", is part of a comprehensive legislative scheme proposed by the New Jersey State Legislature to promote the measures contained in the "Global Warming Response Act" signed by Governor Corzine this past summer.

See the "Global Warming Response Act", here:

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/...

More, below the fold:

Today, the United States District Court struck down a procedural challenge to the State of New Jersey's  Division of Civil Rights (DCR) investigation into the propriety of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Associations denial of the use of Victorian era pavillion to a lesbian couple that wanted to use the pavilion, as other straight couples do, for an outdoor wedding.  The pavilion is owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association but has been preserved, in part, with State historic preservation funds.   More, below the fold:

In honor of our veterans:

Iron

by Carl Sandburg (1916)

Guns,
Long, steel guns,
Pointed from the war ships
In the name of the war god.
Straight, shining, polished guns,
Clambered over with jackies in white blouses,
Glory of tan faces, tousled hair, white teeth,
Laughing lithe jackies in white blouses,
Sitting on the guns singing war songs, war chanties.

Shovels,
Broad, iron shovels,
Scooping out oblong vaults,
Loosening turf and leveling sod.

     I ask you
     To witness-
     The shovel is brother to the gun.

New Jerseyans went to the polls yesterday to elect a new Legislature. The good news is that Democrats will control the Assembly by a margin of 48-32 and the Senate by a margin of 23-17 when the 213th Legislature is sworn in on January 8, 2008.  Sadly, however, two important public questions went down to defeat.

Voters defeated, by a margin of 53%-47%, Question 1 which would have dedicated the full amount of money generated from last year's sales tax increase to property tax relief.

Voters also defeated, by a margin of 53%-47%, Question 2 which would have authorized the State to issue bonds in the amount of $450 million for grants to fund stem cell research projects.

Only one other public question has been defeated in New Jersey history.  Accordingly, many Democratic politicians have observed that they view the results on those two ballot questions as a shot over the bow of the Legislature to do something to reduced New Jersey's deficit and to provide some real tax relief.

"It's kind of a mixed message," Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) said. "That's the message. You've got to get your house in order. The voters said we want Dems, but we want them to solve this fiscal problem." [Star Ledger]

[more analysis and results, below the fold]

Someone told me that he is an Irish guy who reads all of the comments on D Kos but never posts.   Why is he lurking?  Is he afraid to speak out about something.  That's what I heard.  Is this true?  And why does everybody hate him?   And what's with all the criticism of Obama?  Isn't Obama allowed to have Irish friends, or would that be too Uncle Tom of him?  I don't get it.  Seems to be a lot of whoop de doo about some guy who probably has a UID higher than the national debt.  Anyhow.  Sorry to waste diary on this, but I couldn't wait for an open thread, what with all the excitement and everything.  

I have been wondering how California is subject to so much wildfire damage when wildfires occur in California on such a regular basis, so I started doing a little research.   Apparently, our wonderful government is all over the problem.  Not.

For example, the USGS, National Forest Service are in the midst of a ten year study to monitor trends in wildfire burn severity in order to provide a data base to the various agencies charged with preventing wildfires.   Apparently, Smokey Bear has been hibernating, because even this baseline effort did not commence unti 2004 and is not scheduled to conclude until 2011.  You can read all about it, here:

http://www.mtbs.gov/

This story concerned me today, until I saw that Nancy Pelosi recognized that we all have the right to believe or not believe:

WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old Eagle Scout wanting to honor his grandfather's "love of God, country and family" with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol has helped remove a ban on the word "God" in certificates that accompany these flags.

More below the fold:

Lately, a lot of attention has been given to "border security".  Protecting us all from the scourge of "illegal aliens" has been a hot topic.  Well, I'm one guy who thinks that certain  illegal aliens should be gassed.  That's right, gassed.  The "illegal aliens" that I am talking about have six legs, antennae and and wings.  I'm talking about insects, i.e. the Formosan Termite, the Asian Long Horned Beetle and foreign born bees.  Congress and the last several Presidents have done little to protect our country from an invasion that is having a major effect on our housing, food supply and our forests.  More, below:

I am disappointed in my team today.  The fact that the NY Times MoveOn ad preceded the Petraues testimony today irked a lot of people.  Kos should have addressed the question on HardBall when asked about the ad, instead of dodging it,like a politician.  I would have respected that.  

Dr. Moreau knew this.  Some things should just not be
tampered with:

Human-animal embryo study wins approval
Mixing cells and eggs to be allowed in search for new medical treatments

Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian Tuesday September 4 2007

Plans to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos are expected to be approved tomorrow by the government's fertility regulator. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority published its long-awaited public consultation on the controversial research yesterday, revealing that a majority of people were "at ease" with scientists creating the hybrid embryos.

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced today that she was directing all New Jersey Law enforcement offices to inquire into the immigration status of all persons arrested for committing a crime.  

I strongly recommend that everyone read the actual directive before drawing an opinion.   What a novel thought!  See the AG's directive, here:
http://www.nj.gov/...  

In an attempt to limit the chilling effect of the Directive on the obtaining of cooperation from crime witnesses, this Directive does not apply to misdemeanors, even Federal immigration violations, nor does it mandate inquiring into the immmigration status of crime victims or witnesses.  In fact, it prohibits that practice.

Tom Tancredo is an idiot.  That is a given.  His unforgivable use of the murder of three bright young African American students from Newark New Jersey for the limited political gain of moving from the bottom of the Republican heap to the layer just below the surface scum was reprehensible.  However, the nub issue of his statement, the existence of "sanctuary cities", needs to be examined more closely.  

There are multiple sanctuary cities and counties in the United States, the bulk of which are, not surprisingly, in areas which are magnets for "unauthorized" workers.   Most of those areas are in California, the Southwest, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and New Jersey.  Almost every governmental entity offering sanctuary is run by a Democratic administration.   No surprise there, given the current political climate and the avowed antipathy of Republicans to anything "foreign".  Xenophobia is the oldest part of their playbook, after all.  [follow me]

It could be 1984 all over again in the upcoming election.  With some major Democratic candidates failing to garner "positive" ratings in excess of fifty per cent from their own party faithful, the proverbial "Reagan Democrat", typically ignored in the Democratic primary, may be the key to winning the next election.  [more below]