Below The Fold: 'Those Ugly Aspects Of Life In New Jersey'

Corruption in New Jersey has apparently reached critical mass, as the Web site that hosts local newspapers in the state now features an entire section devoted to scandal-related news, complete with a "Rogues Gallery of dirty Jersey pols." Yes, that's a quote from the site. Here's another:

Like Turnpike traffic and the stink from the Linden oil fields, political corruption is one of those ugly aspects of life in New Jersey. Read about some of our state's scandals.

Oh, what fun we've had with voting machines, ever since the very first reference to a dangling chad. In the wake of the Help America Vote Act, Allegheny County in Pennsylvania will be spending "about $20 million next year" for new electronic voting machines, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes today. I can't wait for 2008.

Elsewhere, it looks like issues concerning civil liberties are cropping up in several American cities. In metropolitan Baltimore, drivers' cell phones are tracked to monitor traffic flow. While "Maryland highway officials are excited," privacy advocates are not. In Vermont, surveillance cameras that were installed without the knowledge of the school board were removed from a local high school after the board found out about them in a "routine principal's report," The Burlington Free Press writes. In Brunswick, Maine, the town council is set to decide whether to allow an inscription referencing God to appear on a firefighters' memorial. According to the Portland Press Herald, "The phrase that concerned some councilors reads: 'When I'm called to duty God, where ever flames may rage, give me strength to save a life, whatever be its age.'"

Religion is apparently not an appropriate topic of conversation at schools in Saudi Arabia, where a teacher has been sentenced to 750 lashes and 40 months in prison for blasphemy. The high-school chemistry teacher "was convicted of questioning and ridiculing Islam, discussing the Bible and defending Jews, judicial officials said Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media," the Associated Press reported yesterday. The sentence "likely will be seen as a setback to Saudi moves to reform its education system. Following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, the government altered the school curriculum to remove passages from textbooks that were offensive to Christians and Jews in an attempt to encourage moderation and tolerance." A "setback" for education reform is something of an understatement, but at least it got some coverage.