Should We Prolong or End Unnecessary Suffering?

This week, former Jesuit student and current governor of California Jerry Brown signed a law that makes his state the fifth in the nation to offer solace and relief to certain terminally ill patients.

California’s “Death with Dignity” act is modelled after a similar law in Oregon that gives people with less than six months to live the option to accelerate their inevitable dying process by prescribing medication that enables them to die peacefully at the time and place of their choosing.

There’s a bill that would extend these choices to New Jersey residents who find themselves in similar tragic situations. The bill is supported by a diverse, bi-partisan group of legislators ranging from Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) to the Assembly Minority Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon (R).

There are multiple of safeguards in the bill that would ensure the patient is not making a decision under coercion, and experience in Oregon demonstrates that this option is not being misused.

Opposition to giving people this choice is huge. Some oppose on religious grounds, but people need to remember that this aid in dying initiative is totally optional and one’s religious beliefs should never be imposed on someone else. Others like Governor Christie oppose the bill for political purposes. He would rather cater to the misnamed “pro-life” crowd and see prolonged suffering of someone who is severely ill than allow that person the choice of how to end the final chapter of life.

We won’t see enactment of death with dignity as long as Christie is governor. But he won’t be in that office forever. It’s time to alleviate unnecessary pain and suffering and enact New Jersey’s  Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act.

Americans United Puts Cape May City Government on Notice

The upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia and the accompanying World Meeting of Families (which may bring 2 million people to Center City) presents many challenges regarding the Constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
Because the Pope is a head of state, the normal security afforded to a person in that position does not present a constitutional problem. But there is also a religious aspect to his visit.

Recently, the Cape May city government announced that they will be streaming a live broadcast of the Papal Mass in their Convention Center and one of the outlets handling ticketing will be their City Hall. This is clearly a case of the government promoting a religious event.

When this was brought to the attention of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, they sprang into action. They sent a letter to the Cape May city government (see the letter below) outlining how the event, as currently planned, may violate both the U.S. and New Jersey constitutions. Appropriate judicial precedents are cited, and AU goes on to provide suggestions on how this event may be provided without government sponsorship.

Pope Francis' popularity among Americans, both Catholic and non-Catholic is unprecedented. But the organizers of his visit need to pay as much attention to the Establishment Clause as they do to safety and logistics.

Disclosure: I am a card-carrying member of AU because I believe the First Amendment clearly requires separation of church and state.

Memo to the Kentucky Clerk who Refuses to Allow Gay Couples to Marry

After the courts determine that your actions constitute dereliction of duty, you will probably want to pursue a new career. I wish you luck in that and hope you make a wise choice. But please don’t choose engineering as your next career.

You see, according to the Bible (1 Kings 7:23), the value of π, a mathematical constant used extensively in the engineering community, is exactly 3, not the irrational number 3.14159… that “science” claims it is. (Perhaps to you, that’s why it is “irrational.”)

So if you choose to pursue an engineering career and decide that the Bible commands you to use the value 3, I’m afraid that any bridges you design will not stand up for long.

Maybe to you and your Republican friends, bridges that don’t collapse are not important, but please be advised that this is very relevant to the rest of us.

So please, once you leave government service (even though your “service” to the people is unconstitutionally selective), do us all a favor and pursue a career in something more benign, like gardening.

New Jersey Residents: Chris Christie Just Gave Your Money to Exxon

If you're a New Jersey family of four, do you have $4,000 lying around waiting to be squandered away? Well, you're too late. Chris Christie just gave that money to his big oil patrons and a judge agreed with him.

Today, Christie won his suit in court that allowed him to give $8 billion to Exxon by letting them go almost scot free for their pollution of dozens of sites in New Jersey. Instead, the taxpayer will be stuck with the cleanup bill over the next 20 or so years. That works out to about one thousand dollars per New Jersey resident. So Christie continues to bow down to the oil interests that he hopes will propel him to the White House while you and I are stuck with polluted ground water and contaminated soil.

Let's Focus, People!

I don’t know if I should be puzzled or disappointed in the way Hillary Clinton is being treated. (For the record, I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, but Hillary would be a better president than any of the GOP contenders.)

The coverage she gets focuses not on issues, but on trumped-up scandals (no pun intended.) Is that the fault of the media, or is the media just echoing public sentiment? The discussion around Hillary should focus on her moderate approach to social issues and her conservative approach to foreign policy and trade. But Benghazi and e-mail seem to be what the public is getting.

The same applies to Chris Christie. Yes, his culpability in Bridgegate says a lot about his character, but at the end of the day, that’s not where the important issues are. We should be talking about his dismal record on New Jersey’s economy, his tendency to put cronyism ahead of competence, and his disdain for the rights of the people of the state.

Talking about Clinton’s emails, Bernie’s hair, or Christie’s cronyism takes away from the serious discussion about issues that affect us all. Let’s focus, people.

We're Joining the Podcast Craze

You can now download and listen to selected posts and other material from our new Deciminyan podcast. Just search for deciminyan on iTunes or Stitcher. Enjoy!

Here it is. Your Moment of Zen

Bob Menendez is done. The once powerful chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now a back bencher, under indictment, and may or may not serve out the rest of his term which ends after the 2018 election.

What are the desired characteristics of a successor? He or she should be to the left of center politically to match the sentiment of New Jersey's blue state voting bloc. Our next U.S. senator should be someone who is well-known and well-connected to donors who can provide the necessary funds to fuel an aggressive election campaign. Ideally, he or she should be disconnected from the political patronage machines that are pervasive in New Jersey politics.

One such person, who appears that he will have some time on his hands, is the recently-departed host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart. While there's a lot we don't know about him beyond his television persona, his intellect, wit, and probing interview style demonstrate he has the capacity to join Al Franken as a comedian-turned-statesman in the U.S. Senate.

If Stewart decides on a political career as his next life experience, how should he run? As a Democrat? Or as an Independent?

Not being a part of the inner circle of Norcross/DiVincenzo political structure may be an advantage and a disadvantage. He's untainted by the ethically dubious undertakings that are endemic in the state, but we have seen how the bosses mistreat Democrats who don't toe the line (see: Barbara Buono 2013).

Running as an Independent has its plusses and minuses too. He would have to build a campaign structure from the ground up and his campaign would be more of a grass-roots Bernie Sanders style approach where social media and personal contact are key.

What do you think? Would Jon Stewart be interested in a political career? Should he run as a Democrat or as an Independent? One thing you can be sure of. With the interest he and his wife have on humane treatment for animals, the pig crate bill would become law instead of succumbing to a governor's veto.

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