WASHINGTON

– President Barack Obama is looking to get his groove back – at the beach.

A post-Hurricane Sandy tour of the New Jersey coast line on Tuesday, gives the president a chance for a three-point play that can move him ahead of the recent controversies that have dogged the White House. With New Jersey\’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie at Obama\’s side, effective government, bipartisanship and economic opportunity will be the unmistakable message in the face of the coastal recovery.

Sylvan Avenue–Corner property, trash, debris, grass over 10 inches high

The cold and rain has given way to a beautiful Memorial Day in Brooklawn NJ. Each year the town of Brooklawn and the American Legion Post 72 put together a touching ceremony to honor those who served for our country, and who gave the ultimate sacrifice in support of our freedoms.

A few pictures are in this post, but head over to Facebook to see more (70 total).

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Star-Ledger, May 25, 2013 7:14 p.m.

Mike Shawaryn threw a five-inning no-hitter as Gloucester Catholic, No. 12 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, defeated Bishop Ahr, 10-0, in the first round of the South Jersey, Non-Public A tournament in Brooklawn.

Shawryn (6-2) struck out eight and walked one to throw his third no-hitter of the season for Gloucester Catholic. Pat Hiester had four RBI and two doubles and John Theckston added two RBI. Phil Dickinson was 2-for-2 with two runs and Fran Kinsey went 1-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

via highschoolsports.nj.com

If it’s true that \”men moralise among ruins,\” as Benjamin Disraeli wrote, the ruins of America’s nineteenth-century mental institutions should invite some serious reflection. Built between 1850 and 1900, these crumbling edifices speak to our onetime dedication to caring for the mentally ill. Almost all were designed on the Kirkbride Plan, named for Pennsylvania physician Thomas Story Kirkbride, author of an influential treatise on the role of architecture and landscape in treating mental disorders. Even in their dilapidated state, it’s possible to see how the buildings, which followed a method of care called the \”moral treatment,\” gave the mentally ill a calming refuge from the gutters, jails, and almshouses that had been the default custodians of society’s \”lunatics.\”

Unfortunately, in the middle of the twentieth century, as asylums became grossly overcrowded and invasive treatments aroused public concern, the moral treatment came to seem immoral. The eventual result was the process known as deinstitutionalization, which steadily ejected patients from the asylums. Instead of liberating the mentally ill, however, deinstitutionalization left them—like the asylums that once sheltered them—in ruins. Many of today’s mentally ill have returned to pre-Kirkbride conditions and live on society’s margins, either sleeping on the streets or drifting among prisons, jails, welfare hotels, and outpatient facilities. As their diseases go untreated, they do significant harm to themselves and their families. Some go further, terrorizing communities with disorder and violence. Our failure to care for them recalls the inhumane era that preceded the rise of the state institutions. The time has come for new facilities and a new moral treatment.

continue to readvia www.city-journal.org

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2013 – President Barack Obama today proclaimed Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, \”as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day.\”

The president’s proclamation reads as follows: