| I had always thought that New Jersey-jokes were neither funny
nor in good taste. I was wrong.
Consider Amiri Baraka, a Communist ("Marxist-Leninist" in his
terminology), anti-Semitic, America-hating racist who has devoted his life
to the promotion of hatred. He is New Jersey's official poet.
Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones, came to public notice recently
when Jewish groups pointed out that in his most recent poem, "Somebody Blew
Up America," Baraka writes:
"Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed
Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
To stay home that day.?"
Jewish groups publicized this anti-Jewish slur. "Israeli" is a
euphemism here for Jewish -- it is doubtful that a hundred Israelis worked
at the World Trade Center; and in any event this Arab-originated lie states
that "Jews" stayed away on 9-11.
But the poem is far worse than its few anti-Semitic lines. It is
a 1,169-word hate-filled tirade against whites and America, which in New
Jersey is not only OK, it is rewarded. New Jersey is governed by cynicism.
The Democratic governor, James E. McGreevey, appointed a black bigot as the
state poet in order to help keep the black vote Democratic. It is not enough
for liberal Democrats to make appointments based on race; the blacks who are
appointed should ideally come from those segments of the black community
most angry at America. This reinforces black perceptions of Democrats as
people who hear their grievances, while at the same time reinforcing those
grievances -- which is critical to the Democrats' success because a black
who is not angry at America may vote Republican.
McGreevey knew exactly whom he was appointing. But alas, Baraka
did the only unpardonable thing in the cynical state of New Jersey -- he
offended another key Democratic constituency, Jews. So the governor has now
demanded Baraka's resignation. New Jersey can tolerate hatred of whites and
of America, but not hatred of a Democratic constituency.
This corruption and cynicism explain the unanimous New Jersey
Supreme Court ruling that any New Jersey candidate for public office can
resign whenever he thinks he will lose, especially if he is a candidate to
whom some of the justices had contributed. This ruling violated
pre-existing New Jersey law, common sense and the democratic process.
Indeed, it is probably the most antinomian, politically driven,
democracy-undermining court decision of our lifetime. Under New Jersey law,
a candidate has until 51 days before an election to resign. Democrat
candidate Sen. Robert Torricelli resigned 36 days before the election
because he believed he would lose. Given the clarity of this law, the
candidate's name should simply have remained on the ballot, just as Missouri
Governor Mel Carnahan's name did in the 2000 election after he had (SET
ITAL) died . But the New Jersey Supreme Court serves liberalism
and its party, not America or New Jersey law. That is why two justices who
had donated to the Torricelli campaign did not remove themselves from this
case.
New Jersey cynicism also explains the election of U.S. Sen. Jon
Corzine and former Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Neither had served in any public
office before being elected to the Senate. But they had what it takes to win
in New Jersey: they are fabulously wealthy liberal Democrats who can spend
tens of millions of dollars to buy a Senate seat. Corzine, former CEO of
Goldman Sachs, broke all previous records of spending on a Senate campaign.
But for a man worth an estimated $400 million dollars, it was pocket money.
Lautenberg, worth a mere $40 million, spent $60 million to buy his New
Jersey Senate seat. Beyond amassing fortunes, both are undistinguished men.
As Slate.com, a liberal Web site, wrote, "Lautenberg is scrappy, sometimes
mean, unpopular, occasionally nasty, and insecure. In short, he's
New Jersey " (emphasis added).
The rot runs deeper yet. New Jersey's most celebrated
institution, Princeton University, is in a greater state of moral decay than
almost any other elite university -- which is quite an achievement. When
Harvard's president asked Cornel West, a professorial version of Amiri
Baraka, to produce something scholarly and not preoccupy himself with making
rap records, guess which university leaped to hire West. Princeton.
Princeton has also recently lured another scary professor --
Peter Singer of Australia. Prof. Singer was named the DeCamp Professor in
the University Center for Human Values, one of the most prestigious
appointments at Princeton. Among other views of Prof. Singer that mock
Princeton's origins is his belief that parents should have 28 days after the
birth of their child to decide whether to kill it if they deem the child
sufficiently handicapped. Ideologically, New Jersey is to America what
Berkeley is to California; and Princeton now fits there quite well.
Baraka, Torricelli, McGreevey, Corzine, Lautenberg, a
politicized Supreme Court. Only one state has them all.
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