www.jumpforjoey.org

In 1990, the 36-year-old Joey Novick competed in his first New York City Marathon. He likes to say he “competed” because it sounds better than “walked very slowly.” He is fairly sure that he passed this guy who at 94 was the world’s oldest marathon runner.

Stan Mack is best known for his series, "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies", which ran in The Village Voice for over 20 years. I take inspiration from him for a new series— Flemingtoon™.

In the heat of the campaign season it’s time again for “Carl The Campaign Coach”. “WPOL on your dial. 1176 on your FM dial, all political radio…. all politics, all the time.

A few weeks back Republican Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Sheriff Kim Guadagno said regarding the city of Newark, “I know what it's like to be afraid to walk across the street,” Perhaps that is the reason why the first historic debate between Senator Loretta Weinberg, Guadagno, and Prof. Frank Esposito absolutely, positively, definitively had to be in her home county of Monmouth.
 
Maybe she is afraid to leave.

And now, just about my favorite regular feature here: Putz of The Week/Mensch of the Week. For those of you who are branding spankin’ new, here are the definitions needed:
 
“Putz” is a slang Yiddish word. According to the fine folks at Wikipedia, putz is used when describing someone as being "a jerk” or a “stupid person”.

In New Jersey, we ‘rule’: Along with making lots of tomatoes and cranberries, we make lots of rules.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of laws, statutes, ordinances, regulations, and rules on the books right now in New Jersey.

In the election for governor, independent candidate Chris Daggett has qualified for matching public funds, so therefore he will be in all the debates. Appropriately so, he was in the center of the stage in between Governor Jon Corzine and Christie last week on NJN. He got off some of the better one-liners, “I am in the middle of these two guys.”

Snakes vs. Lawyers: Tough choice on who’d win that confrontation.

Both have excellent speed, power and endurance.

One stays low to the ground, always crawling on its slimy underbelly. And the other is a slick and slippery reptile-like creature. I am not sure who’s more sneaky. One eats rats whole and has bugs for dessert; the other eats towns whole.

Over the past year, due to the illness of a family member, I had not been as involved in the local politics of my hometown of Flemington, as I would have liked. So this year, with the gubernatorial race in full throttle as well as local Council races needing a helping hand, I went to a local meeting of Democrats in Hunterdon County.

A debate has broken out over health care – not in Washington, but in Trenton – and there is a real difference of opinion to consider.  Chris Christie wants to allow New Jersey companies to be able to buy into health insurance plans that are regulated by another state, but not necessarily regulated by New Jersey.