hris Myers is the GOP candidate in NJ-3rd Congressional district.  Given his lackluster fundraising thus far, you can forgive him for being a little cranky.  But his outright contempt for the progressive Netroots even caught me by surprise.

It's not every day that I get to interview a United States Senator.  You you can imagine when I landed a Q&A with New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.   Lucky for me, Sen. Menendez is very blog-friendly.  When I pitched the idea of a podcast, he was accommodating and willing to talk about the issue that's front-and-center in my mind heading into the November election: the war in Iraq.

Listen here:
Senator Menendez Podcast

NJ Courier Post:  "The sweltering heat wave in South Jersey and across much of the United States has Americans feeling like they're living in a desert. According to The Weather Channel, South Jersey's heat index -- what the temperature feels like when heat and humidity are combined -- will be about 115 degrees today. In comparison, Baghdad will experience a high of 111 degrees today. And with little to no humidity, the heat index will be about 111 degrees -- making Iraq feel 4 degrees cooler than South Jersey."

So while we're feeling the heat (and maybe a little self-pity and woe) it's worth remembering that a vast majority of us have can just crank the airconditioner.

Folks in Iraq -- Iraqis and GI's alike -- have no such option. First of all, most of Iraq can't meet electricity demand in the best of circumstances, limiting access in the country to AC, refrigerated water, etc. Secondly, this weather is much more condusive to short tempers and desperation among Iraqis and US soldiers alike. The mind reels.......

Air America:  "As temperatures rise above 120 degrees, many Baghdad residents are facing their fourth summer in a row with only sporadic electricity throughout the day, even as the U.S. State Department claims that Iraq met its electricity production goals for the first time this month. The power supply still falls about 33% short of demand, and the dilapidated power grid in Baghdad means that the capital city frequently gets less electricity than its outlying provinces. According to cable sent to the State Department by U.S. Ambassador Khalilzad, one Baghdad neighborhood recently found itself without electricity for an entire month."

Ouch.

That goes for the American Soldiers in the warzone as well. Imagine running around in this heat wearing combat boots, fifty pounds of gear and armour on your back in the sweltering heat and the fog of war. So in addition to roadside bombs, extended tours and lousy civilian leadership the troops now have another deadly factor to contend with: morbidly hot weather. It's no wonder our armed forces are burnt our. Literally and figuratively.

I dunno about you, but putting this into a bit of perspective kinda makes me feel sheepish for all the creature comforts I tend to take for granted.

This Democratic Reunion idea was fantastic!!  I've been scouring the blogs for coverage and was not disappointed.  The reception in NJ-3 was pretty good too.  Unfortunately, I could not make it, I have been bed-rested (with my foot high in the air) for a whole week so the canvassing bit is out of the question.

For those of you all who do not know,  Last summer, i ruptured my achilles tendon. Since the surgery, there have been nothing but complications which I'll spare you here.  one thing i will say is that the original incision to fix it has never healed.  That's right: one year on, and i still have a wound that requires 2x daily dressing for the past year.

two of the predicating factors to my injury are worth sharing as the election season heats up and the fight gets really intense:  first of all, I was uninsured at the time of the injury.  My treatment at Cooper Hospital was as a "Charity case" and the level of care wa astonishingly poor.  (the reason I know this is 'cuz i ruptured the

other achilles in 2000 -- when i was insured to the max -- and was fixed up and bipedal again in no time.  Fact is, this unfortunate coincidence allows me to judge first hand the differences of care i received in the two surgerys and subsequent follow up.)

Yesterday, New Jersey's Death Penalty Study Commission took testimony yesterday both for and against executions.  Its report (with suggestions for the legislature) is due in November.  At that point, the state legislature will vote to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey. 

I'd like to see the death penalty abolished here in my state. So yeah, I'm totally biased.  After interviewing Kirk Bloodsworth (who's the first American ever exonerated from death row with DNA evidence) I had no doubt whatsoever that the death penalty was both morally disgusting and ridiculous public policy.  Let's hope enough of our legislators feel the same way to ban the death penalty in New Jersey.

Yesterday's fundraiser for Congressional candidate Rich Sexton went really well.   (Rich has blogged on DailyKosbefore as one of the Fightin' Dems.)   Anyway, the weather was picture perfect, the food was fantastic and the company was pretty darn good too.   Oh, and by the way,  we also raised some cash for the campaign.   At last count, we were just shy of $1,5oo.

This year in my district, we're up against a well-financed incumbent who shamelessly accepts big-ticket donations from the likes of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff.   So the Sexton campaign relies on events like yesterday's BBQ as its life blood.

Yesterday had some real intangible effects, as well.    By helping Dems stretch the field in districts with entrenched GOP incumbents, we're helping with DNC chairman Howard Dean's mission to &take the fight to the GOP in every district of every state in the country. some pics of the party are on my blog:
http://einkleinesblog.blogspot.com/

Last January, NJ lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to suspend executions while a task force studies the ethical issues and costs associated with imposing capital punishment. When then-Gov. Codey signed the measure, NJ became the second state behind Illinois to suspend executions, but the first to do so through legislation.  The moritorium is set to expire at the end of this year at which point the NJ state legislators will vote to outlaw the death penalty all together in this state.

If ever there were a cautionary tale for outlawing the death penalty, it's that of Kirk Bloodsworth.  Mr.  Bloodsworth is the first person sentenced to death who was exonerated through DNA evidence and he was in South Jersey addressing the Coalition for Peace and Justice http://hometown.aol.com/norkarnatam/cpj. html meeting last night in Linwood.  When I promised Mr. Bloodsworth that NJ legislators read this site, he agreed to a podcast interview.  (wink)

The death penalty is morally disgusting.  It's also horrible public policy.  Listen to Kirk Bloodsworth's story and you'll know why. Podcast address here:
http://media24a.libsyn.com/podcasts/blue jersey/BlueJerseyPodcast4.mp3
(cross posted on Bluejersey.net and on my blog "Lassiter Space")

As I type away--snug in the comfort of my Cherry Hill NJ home--I'm troubled that with all this talk about Dubai and Iran and baseball's spring training, Americans seem to be forgetting that our soldiers are dying with incresing frequency in Iraq. One project I am tending to this weekend is a little war protest that I hope others will become excited about, too. I am taking little plastic army men and writing the words "BRING ME HOME" on a little piece of masking tape then sticking it onto the little plastic soldier's base.

I have about a dozen plastic soldiers in my coat pocket at all times and place them about randomly wherever I go: one in the produce at the grocery, another on the shelves at the videostore, the restroom at the gas station or a restaurant, and so forth. This seems like a mild but mindful form of protest, but I have to admit I get a bit of a high from doing it. I hope that people will find these small toys with their message, and they'll get to thinking about the Iraq war. That's really the modest goal of this for me. (And of course the wildly subversive feeling that such behavior gives me is a bonus!)