White House mad at British press - because they can't control them!

Drudge linked today to a report from Politico that described Press Secretary Gibbs attacking the British press:

“I want to speak generally about some reports I’ve witnessed over the past few years in the British media. And in some ways, I’m surprised it filtered down,” Gibbs began. “Let’s just say if I wanted to look up – if I wanted to read a writeup today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champion’s League cup, I might open up a British newspaper. If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I’m not entirely sure it’d be in the first pack of clips I’d pick up.”

“You're not going to find very many of these newspapers and truth within 25 words of each other,” Gibbs continued.

I suspect he was talking about the fact that the British papers in some cases chose not to print stories that were either too inflammatory (prisoner abuse photos) or were not sufficiently loose toward the release of information that might endanger secret government programs aimed at keeping US and British citizens safer. The real joke in this story is that it is pretty clear to me where his real issue resides.

He doesn't like that the British press will not accept the Obama White House narrative without question. That is his version of "truth". It's also why I read a lot more of the British press the the US press anymore. When US journalists talk about the tingling up their leg when Obama talks, it is really hard to take the seriously at all.

So keep at it British press!

Read the Politico story here.

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Lonegan finally details his plan. And its solid!

I just received a copy of the so called Republican News which is a Lonegan campaign publication. Up until now, it has been a complete turnoff. Why? Because it was full of negative attacks on Christie but no positive Lonegan news worth reading.

This edition he explains how his tax plan will work. Frankly, it is worthy of discussion. For example, instead of perpetuating a tax situation that taxes the most productive in New Jersey, Lonegan's plan taxes everyone equally and the net result is a tax reduction for most if not all suburban households. Not a bad concept. He also lays into the Abbot schools situation which is frankly the main reason local property taxes are out of hand.

If you receive the publication,check it out. In the spirit of openness, I am still leaning Christie's way. But I think Lonegan's positive story is compelling and worth paying attention to. I wish he had started it earlier.

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Sotomayor's real downside

I know that many blogs on the right are buzzing with anti-Sotomayor rhetoric and that is fine. The left blogs did the same thing for every Bush nominee and it is to be expected to a certain extent. I have read quite a bit both about the nominee, said nominee's colleagues, her resume and lawyers that have appeared in front of her.

Oh yes, I have also heard the speech at Berkeley and her borderline racist commentary. They will provide plenty of fodder for her to be questioned when she goes through her confirmation hearings. As a matter of fact, they provide plenty of opportunity to have thoughtful questioning of the nominee.

What bothers me about Sotomayor is the repeated suggestion that she 'isn't that smart'. That is not a good trait in a justice of the supreme court. This country survives because of the relationship between the Executive (job needs competence), Legislative(founders built balance into a system that could potentially breed over politicized incompetence - see Pelosi) and the Judicial (requires the maximum competence) branches of government functioning together.

What is the evidence? My first clue is in her 3 out of 6 success rate when her appellate cases were reviewed by the court. Worse, she is likely to also lose the New Haven case which is so clearly unconstitutional. So she could literally be confirmed in time to bring the ultimate jurisprudence losing record to the supreme court.

And that scares me.

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Property Tax Gimmicks - Lonegan is right!

A recent Christie add attempted to play the typical New Jersey entitlement card by attacking Steve Lonegan's tax plan. The comment in question was where Lonegan called the state's property tax rebate system a "gimmick". The joke here is that Christie's ad people have so little respect for New Jersey voters that they really expect people to get fired up over this. And they are probably correct. New Jersey's voters frankly so routinely vote against their own interests, they are only outdone by Michigan voters.

While you may not agree with Lonegan's tax proposals, he is absolutely correct about one thing. The property tax rebate program is a complete joke. It was instituted to provide political cover for weak politicians in both parties who didn't have the courage to deal with the issues behind property taxes spiralling out of control. It was then perpetuated as a give away program for people who didn't pay property taxes AT ALL. If that isn't a gimmick, I don't know what is.

And kudos for Lonegan for bringing it out. And shame on Christie for acting like a New Jersey Democrat. If you really want to change this state, bad policy like the rebate program need to be looked at seriously.

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State deficit - Corzine says everyone is doing it!

Jon Corzine made a comment meant to suggest that New Jerseys fiscal woes a the same saying "almost every state is in the same situation". Do the facts back him up(from CBPP)?




So, while many states have deficits, they all do not. And while many states are revising their numbers (these were prior to most states evaluating their revenue collection for 2008), it is not all states. As a matter of fact, 29 states have budget deficits. 21 do not. And 7 states have a deficit in excess of 10 percent of their budget, New Jersey being one of them.

So maybe Governor Corzine should say "7 states have completely failed in their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers and we are one of them". That would be a lot more accurate.

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NYC Mayoral Control Battle - A Lesson in Corrupting Influence

I have been following the battle going on in New York City over mayoral control of city schools. Just before Rudy Giuliani exited the stage in New York city, the legislature voted to attempt mayoral control for the schools as long as Rudy wasn't the guy (clearly thinking that a Democrat would win the mayors office and all of the various embedded special interests would be protected). When Mike Bloomberg pulled of the upset and won the election, the process moved forward and he took over the city's schools.

Why did this happen at all? For some time, NYC schools were controlled by a massive centralized bureaucracy mixed with local school boards. This patchwork "rule by committee" operation continued to fail the students, fail the parents, allow crumbling schools to endanger student and teacher alike in addition to spending that was absolutely out of control (with no effect). This system was a failure even by New York's liberal tolerance for corruption and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Along comes mayoral control. Mayor Bloomberg first put assessment and accountability into the system starting with himself. They measured the management, they measured the schools and they measured the teachers. They closed non-performing schools. They replaced them with better schools with more motivated teachers. They increased charter schools to engender healthy competition. They removed failing teachers and principals and replaced them with motivated professionals. And they got rid of many of the parasites who exist solely to feed off of the excesses of a failed system.

Given all of this, why is there a debate? Because this is New York. And the teachers union doesn't like accountability. And the special interests don't like that the money spigot was turned off and they want it turned back on. And the legislature is frankly so corrupt and tainted by money influence none of which has the students or their families in mind...and this has become a real debate.

By all measures this should be a success. But like most of what amounts to governing in the Northeast of this country, the lobbyists may well bring New York City back to the 70's. And that is just the way they like it. Shame.

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Wisconsin Tea Party Mom Speaks Out

Glenn Reynolds from Instapundit highlighted an article from a fed up Wisconsin Mom in this post this morning.

COLUMN:Tea Party organizer a fed-up mom
By Meg Ellefson • For the Wausau Daily Herald • May 6, 2009

At a town hall meeting in St. Louis last week, President Obama referred disrespectfully to those people who attended the Tax Day Tea Parties last month. What continues to haunt me is the fact that while Obama traveled all over the world to shake hands, bow, pose for photos and apologize to those who have explicitly declared their hatred for America, he refuses to engage in dialogue with those in his own country who love America and wish to defend our freedoms, our beliefs and our way of life.

That's astonishingly hypocritical from someone who campaigned on the message of uniting the country, promising a new nonpartisan tone in Washington.

While the media continues to portray the tea party movement as a fox news organized fake event, people who participated in them know different. The media and the President can continue to delude themselves, but this movement is real. We recognized in two years ago in New Jersey. Normal people need a forum and they are going to get it, whether or not the New York Times or the Philadelphia Inquirer like it or not.

Read the entire article here.

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NJ Senators just plain batty!

I can't help but want to scream when I see an article like this one:

N.J. legislators join push for funding to aid ailing bats
Effort aims to understand deadly syndrome
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
BY BRIAN T. MURRAY
Star-Ledger Staff
Federal lawmakers are seeking emergency funds from the U.S. Department of Interior to help scientists in the Northeast investigate "white-nose syndrome," a phenomenon blamed for the deaths of more than 1 million bats over the past two winters.

U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), along with 23 lawmakers from a dozen other states, signed a letter written yesterday by Vermont's congressional delegation to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking for his support. Citing the importance bats play in the North American ecosystem, including their consumption of insects, the letter states that white-nose syndrome "has profound public health, environmental and economic implications."

It isn't that I am anti-bat. Frankly, I have not noticed any difference in the number of bats swooping out of the trees behind my house at night. Clearly that is not a scientific argument. What galls me is that our senators should have something better to do.

One thing is clear. Senator Lautenberg and Senator Menendez vote complete lock step in line with whatever Harry Reid tells them to vote for. There is no independence. There is no real work involved with going along. And what is the evidence?

They are more worried about bats than they are about New Jersey taxpayers. Maybe they have more affinity for the former than the latter.

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Some thoughts from former NJ residents...

My wife and I recently took a long weekend off down south to visit some former lifetime NJ residents. These were folks who were born and raised here in the state and had all of their family here as well. So I was curious whether or not they regretted their decision to leave the state 8 years ago.

One of our friends was very emphatic. No way no how would they ever return to the Garden state. Even with the current economic conditions, business is good enough, they make less than when they lived here but take home more. All in all a good deal and a much better standard of living.

The other friends moved nearby. Again, no one has any desire to move back and have been attracting other family members to come. I had an interesting conversation with one of our friends who took a job as a equipment operator for the state. He told me that he was following the news in NJ that state workers wouldn't give up their raises or accept temporary furloughs to save money and cut the state's budget deficit. I was curious to see his reaction.

He went off that the people who work for the state of NJ are nuts. If his current state asked him to take days off as a way to save his job-he is in 100%. If his current state pared back a raised that was already agreed-he would accept it. He said everyone is in it together in these tough economic times and we should all be happy we have jobs. No one is entitled to anything.

Indeed.

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Lonegan versus Christie

I have made a point not to comment on the emerging challenger's race for New Jersey Governor. The reason is that I like both candidates for very different reasons and I would like to see them trully highlight their ideas and plans. But, as this is New Jersey, that is apparently not going to happen.

Down in the polls since the beginning, Lonegan has been running a slew of negative attack adds against Christie. He also seems to have support from some very thinly veiled front organizations that have a small list of achievements but great attention to this race-including running negative adds on Lonegan's behalf.

My gut feeling right now is that Lonegan is a real turn off. His polling may tell him he is doing the right thing but as a conservative, he is showing a liberal's complete lack of class. Instead of attacking Corzine and the mess that Democrats have created in this state, he is firing at Christie and firing in typical Jersey low form. And now Christie is replying in kind.

Note to Chris and Steve: Clean it up. Direct your fire at Corzine. And let's hear the meat, not mudslinging.

UPDATE: Jake here. I couldn't agree more. I respect Lonegan, but he needs to clean up his act and stop using scare tactics that will hurt conservative efforts down the road.

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