Congress is not alone. The president's 2012 State of the Union address earned an 8.4 grade level. That wasn't his lowest. His 2011 State of the Union address earned an 8.1, the second lowest State of the Union address even given.

CNN reports: "And while the average American speaks around an 8th or 9th grade reading level, some of history's most prominent documents were written at much higher levels. According to the Sunlight report, the Constitution was written at a 17.8 level, the Declaration of Independence at a 15.1 grade level and the Federalist Papers at a 17.1 level. Even the notably concise Gettysburg Address clocked in at an 11.2 grade level."

The Sunlight Foundation’s post on its study was written at a 13.4-grade level, according to a Watchdog.org.

Dharun Ravi

The Middlesex County Prosecutor has filed notice he intends to appeal the sentence given Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student convicted of spying on his roommate and a friend via a webcam. Ravi was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service, counseling and a $10,000 fine to be used to help victims of bias crimes. The appeals process can be lengthy, probably longer than the 30 days Ravi would be in jail. This case has been controversial from the get-go and probably will be for some time because Ravi never publicly apologized for the hurt he caused and what some think is only a slap on the wrist for someone who lied to investigators and tampered with evidence.

-- 64 percent of us believe in life after death, down 4 points from a similar poll 12 years ago.

-- 51 percent believe in evolution theory.

-- 49 percent belief in life on other planets

-- 38 percent believe in astrology.

“Once again, New Jersey shows itself to be a microcosm of the nation.  We’re a little less fundamentally religious, but only just a little.  There are pockets of every type of belief throughout the Garden State,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Led by New York, they're asking that Montana's state-level regulations on corporate political expenditures be preserved. The AP obtained a copy of the brief, which will be released today.

"There is a growing bipartisan consensus that Citizens United needs to be overturned, and Montana is leading the way," said Peter Schurman, spokesman for a group called Free Speech For People. "The Supreme Court has an opportunity to revisit Citizens United here. That is important because there is evidence everywhere that unlimited spending in our elections creates both corruption and the appearance for corruption."

New Jersey is not among the states fighting this idiocy.

The states who filed the brief in support of Montana are New York, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

He didn't have anything kind to say about Obama's re-election direction, either, saying the president is "embarking upon a strategy for re-election that pits one American against another, that tells American people who have been successful in life that somehow they should apologize for that success, that tells our middle class and our lower middle class that the economic pie in America has stopped growing, and the only way for them to get more is to take some from others who have already made economic growth happen."

Christie said he thinks voters will reject "your cynicism and send you back to Chicago."

That's the kind of speech New Jerseyans are used to. But would it be received by Kentuckians? Orthodontist Dr. Mike Harris told a Kentucky reporter this:  "It was better than great. He is inspiring."

Meanwhile, New Jersey state Sen. Loetta Weinberg, among others, has been critical of Christie for spending time outside New Jersey.

A spokesman for the governor, Kevin Roberts, called Weinberg "a hypocrite and partisan." He said her 2009 running mate, Jon Corzine, left the state 105 days in 2008.

"Take one hour a day and turn that thing off  ... Take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation, a real conversation."

Low tech. But high touch. I like that.

Cory Booker

No one ever questioned that Newark Mayor Cory Booker supports President Obama. But Booker is not happy with the Obama campaign's use of an ad criticizing Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital. On NBC's "Meet The Press" Booker said,  "I have to just say from a very personal level, I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity ... To me, it's just we're getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially that I know I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people invest in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses."

Later, he made it clear via Twitter he still supports the president:

"I will fight hard for Obama to win. But just as his '08 campaign did, I believe we must elevate [and] not denigrate. This is the Obama I know."

]]> http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/2012/05/20/21337/feed/ 2 http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/2012/05/20/death-should-not-end-pan-am-103-probe/ http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/2012/05/20/death-should-not-end-pan-am-103-probe/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 23:00:35 +0000 Bob Ingle http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/?p=21332 Continue reading →]]> It was 24 years ago when Pan AM 103 went down over Scotland due to a bomb planted onboard. Abdel Basset al-Megrhi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was the only one convicted in the incident that caused the death of 270, including many from New Jersey. There were 35 Syracuse University students on their way home for Christmas among the dead. Al-Megrahi was allowed to return to Libya before his sentence was complicated because, they said, his death from cancer was imminent. That was 2009. He died this weekend. The families of the victims have stayed involved but they are far from united. Some think al-Megrahi was innocent. Others think he wasn't the only one involved.

Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House, whose daughter was among the Syracuse University students on the flight, said he never should have been allowed to leave prison. "The fact that he was able to get out and live with his family these past few years is an appalling miscarriage of justice. There was no excuse for that," she told there AP.

There are those who who think his early release had less to do with humanitarian issues than sucking up to Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi in an effort to get control of oil. Whatever it is, there are too many unanswered questions. Al-Megrhi's death should not end the drive to find out who was involved and where they came from even if this embarrasses allies.