NJ Saved or Created Jobs: 24,000 (at $728,197.75)

New Jersey was expecting to receive $17,476,745,987 from the $787 billion stimulus package passed by congress earlier this year. This morning, just in time for the election, it was reported by NorthJersey.com that New Jersey saved or created 24,000 jobs. We can be sure that Corzine will be trumpeting this number on the campaign trail this weekend. By my calculation, that means that the Federal government spent $728,197.75 for each job created or saved.

Apparently, if you are Jon Corzine, that is a good deal. It is certainly more than he paid Karla Katz or her brother for their silence on his ethical issues. I wonder if he counted his own job in the figures?

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NY-23 Shocker: Scozzafava out - Now it's Daggett's Turn

Politico has reported that Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has suspended her campaign for the NY-23 House seat. From this article on the announcement:

Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her bid in next Tuesday’s NY 23 special election, a huge development that dramatically shakes up the race. She did not endorse either of her two opponents -- Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman or Democrat Bill Owens.

The decision to suspend her campaign is a boost for Hoffman, who already had the support of 50 percent of GOP voters, according to a newly-released Siena poll, and is now well-positioned to win over the 25 percent of Republicans who had been sticking with Scozzafava.

The NY-23 race has been interesting due to the fact that the Republican party put up a candidate they thought could win who was well to the left of Barack Obama. And in reaction, local conservatives put up backed Doug Hoffman who has come from behind and as of last week was either in a dead heat or ahead of the Democratic party candidate Bill Owens. The net is that Scozzafava decided she could not win and dropped out of the race.

Fast forward to New Jersey. As we have said all along Chris Daggett cannot win despite his ardent campaign staff. He will likely net a total of something less than 10 percent of the vote, serving only to be a spoiler. And frankly, if his candidacy only serves to help Corzine eek out a win(and Corzine then subsequently does what he promised which is to continue to destroy the business climate in the state and raise taxes), not only will he be completely unelectable for statewide office, he might have a hard time getting elected dog catcher. Toxic would not be a strong enough word.

Daggett has run a strong campaign given his resources. If he really wants to make a difference in this state, he should drop out now and live to fight another day. Unless of course his real reason to be in this race is to siphon votes from one or the other candidate. And if that is the case, toxic would be the correct word.

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Paranormal Activity Courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation

Jake Brewer of the Sunlight Foundation sent this to us today:

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Breaking: NJ Secretary of State Wells Responds Re: Dem Ballot Request

Yesterday we commented on a story that appeared at the Corner on National Review regarding a letter sent from the Democratic State Committee attorney Paul Josephson to New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Wells. The content of the letter was allegedly a request to change state policy on absentee voting when signatures on the application do not match the signature of the voter on file. This is a tactic similar to other actions taken in the past by Democratic operatives in Washington State and Minnesota which led to significant questions of voter fraud.

We have made the attempt since yesterday to get a copy of the letter in question to determine exactly what was suggested to the Secretary of State. However, after contacting the Secretary of States office, we did get the following prompt response:

It has come to my attention that voters may be concerned with the process in use by county clerks to authenticate vote-by-mail applications. Please be assured that the Division of Elections, county election officials and I share the commitment to fully protect the right to vote and the integrity of the electoral process.

The Election Laws of New Jersey require county clerks to ensure that each applicant is a registered, qualified voter and is identified as such. The current signature verification system was the practice for many years with absentee ballot applications, and remains the practice today with vote-by-mail applications.

I have issued no recommendation to change the legal mandate for county clerks to authenticate the identity of every vote-by-mail applicant.

Furthermore, voters whose vote-by-mail applications have been rejected have the option to reapply in person at their county clerk’s office by 3 pm on Monday, November 2, or they may vote at their polling place on Tuesday.

We are committed to working with our election officials to protect the rights of voters and ensure that every vote is counted as required by law.

Nina Mitchell Wells
New Jersey Secretary of State

Kudos to Secretary Wells. If you are one of the people who have had their absentee ballot questioned, you still have time to either visit your county clerk or vote on Tuesday.

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Burlington Township Embarassment - Educational Indoctrination - Part 2

Last month we highlighted the school based indoctrination at the Bernice Young Elementary school in Burlington Township, New Jersey. Remember the creepy Obama as Jesus chant led by a long time teacher in the school? As part of the post, we used a photo that was posted on a news site and we specifically did not link to the video because we felt that enough other sites had the video (and continue to have the video posted online).

Today I received a letter from the Township of Burlington School Board Attorney referencing our blog post and requesting that we remove the "video" from our web site. We have complied even though we felt we were responsible from the very beginning by not publishing or linking to the video in question. We do not want the parents or the children to feel that they have been unfairly targeted. We have replaced the post with the following graphic:



However, I would note that if the Burlington Township School Board had shown as much diligence in policing their school(and their teachers) that they have shown in policing the Internet, this entire incident would never have happened.

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NJ Democrats Prepare for Election Theft!

One would think that here in New Jersey Democrats would not have to engineer election theft as was done in Minnesota and Washington State. With a clear advantage in voter registration and long standing tactics and techniques for encouraging voter fraud, New Jersey Democrats typically don't sweat elections that much. From the ongoing scandals in Atlantic City and Essex County, to the blatant campaign 'votes for cigarettes' stories we hear in every election, Democrat vote fraud is assumed part of the fabric of New Jersey election politics. But apparently, New Jersey Democrats are worried that with Jon Corzine's horrible reputation, old tricks will not be enough this year. From the Corner on National Review:

This year, New Jersey’s registered voters can request a mail-in ballot for any reason. Before 2005, voters needed to provide a reason for why they needed an absentee ballot. The state received about 150,000 absentee ballot applications this year.

On about 2,300 of those applications so far, the signature on the request form did not match the signature on the voter’s registration forms with the state.

In a development that is depressingly predictable, the New Jersey Democratic Party is asking the state to provide provisional ballots for all these voters. Those ballots, could, presumably, be used to overcome any narrow lead by Republican Chris Christie over Democrat Jon Corzine on Election Day.

I find it amazing how forward thinking these folks have gotten and how well it has paid off for Democrats around the country in the past few years. And now it has come home to New Jersey. I suppose that one piece of good news here is that the Democrats internals must be showing Corzine in serious trouble to have to resort to these formerly unnecessary tactics.

Read the entire article here.

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Corzine and Obama Billboard - Keep what going?

As I am driving to Trenton today to catch and Amtrak to DC, I notice a billboard with Barack Obama in the foreground and Jon Corzine in the background. In large bold letters the billboard reads "Keep it going". That made me start to think...what is Jon Corzine trying to tell me? To understand the billboard, you must understand how Corzine or Obama define IT.

Let's take a shot from Obama's perspective:

Keep IT Going!

- does he mean New Jersey politicians voting in lockstep with you regardless of the impact on the state?
- could he mean that he wants more Acorn volunteers working in Trenton, Newark and Camden hustling "voters"?
- maybe he means NJ should keep adding more and more citizens to the roles of public assistance as jobs are driven from the state
- how about, keep the unions in charge of the state

Or from Corzine's perspective:

Keep IT Going!

- keep New Jersey as the state with the worst business climate
- keep New Jersey as the state with the highest in the nation property taxes
- Democrats in New Jersey could keep filling up the federal corruption dockets and going to jail
- Citizens in New Jersey can keep electing politicians who do not listen to their concerns and see them as a unending piggy bank for special interests
- Jon Corzine could keep paying off cronies when investigators dig into his ethics violations
- keep leading the charge to drive productive business out of the state
- pushing more and more of our citizens to states with a more family friendly tax policy
- laughing with his Democrat buddies knowing that no matter how many Democrats are arrested and jailed for corruption, they will be more to take their place!

I guess I get it after all.

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Wayne DeAngelo - Bought and Paid For!

Often when you hear a politician like Wayne DeAngelo pontificate on how he is a man of the people, you have to see whether or not he is supported by the people. For example, his signature achievement is the anti-business Paid Family Leave act (ie the Drive More Business Out of NJ Act). Of course, it does't do much for those now out of work in the state when their company said goodbye or those who are not hiring to avoid these kinds of mandates.

A look at DeAngelo's campaign filings are interesting. For the primary this year he collected $96,620 from 65 donors. He had all of 14 individual donate to his campaign. They totaled a whopping $520. The rest, $96,100 came Union and Business contributions. Looking more closely at the commercial donations, DeAngelo received $92,000 from Unions or union related organizations.

A look at his general election filing shows a donation from the expected incoming Speaker of the Assembly Sweeney as payment for his support of $8,200 and an additional $11,200 from state and national unions.

So the next time you hear "man of the people" DeAngelo speak, recognize that he is in office for one thing. To do what his handlers want him to do. And you now know who they are.

Research for yourself here.

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There are 2 Tea Party Events in Morristown this weekend

There is some confusion regarding the Tea Party event that we announced last night for this weekend and it has to do with the fact that there are two events. The first event is Saturday October 31, 2009 from 11:00-2:00 on the Green in Morristown sponsored by The Morristown Tea Party group that we have had listed here all year. You can get more information here.

The second event will be helf November 1, 2009 at the Ford Mansion (George Washington's Winter HQ). This is the event we blogged about last night.

These two groups are not affiliated with one another. Sorry for any confusion.

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Major Pre-election Tea Party in Morristown

The Morristown Tea Party folks are going all out this time. They are planning a big event this Sunday, November 1 from 11:30 - 2:00. There list of speakers is pretty impressive.

- South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson
- NJ's own Steve Lonegan
- Tea Party leader Michael Johns
- Kevin McCullough

And a special guest James O'Keefe of Acorn expose fame! They are planning live music, refreshments and more. If you don't have plans, this is the place to be this Sunday.

See the details here.

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PPP: 72% think Daggett cannot win

Despite the response from folks at the campaign when we wrote that Daggett cannot win, a poll released today from Public Policy Polling suggest that New Jersey voters see it the same way:



One point I would like to make. If the Corzine or Christie campaigns were anywhere near as attentive as the Daggett campaign, I don't think that this race would be perceived as negatively by the public. We have already commented on the "let them eat cake" attitude of Christie's (formerly McCain) campaign staff. And it has been clear all along that Corzine wasn't even going to run a real campaign. His scorched earth strategy has been about as enlightening as the cardboard cutout campaign run by Frank Lautenberg (hide out for 6 months showing up in public just to convince people he wasn't dead). At least the Daggett folks are out there trying to do the best for their candidate.

Read the poll results here.

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While Obama campaigns for Corzine: Afghanistan gets worse.

Many people are starting to question whether Barack Obama is delaying his decision on his Afghanistan strategy until after next weeks elections in New Jersey and Virginia. Whether or not you believe it is true, the lack of a decision is severely impacting the effort in Afghanistan as 8 more die today (from AP):

The deaths bring to 55 the total number of American troops killed in October in Afghanistan. The previous high occurred in August, when 51 U.S. soldiers died and the troubled nation held the first round of its presidential elections amid a wave of Taliban insurgent attacks.

President Obama is due in New Jersey on Saturday to campaign for Corzine having been here just last week. I would suggest that the President would be better served if he sat down and stayed in the Oval office and made a decision on this topic rather than run around campaigning. One of his advisers needs to tell him the role of the executive requires him to actually make decisions. Senators debate and discuss. Presidents decide.

If we no longer are committed to the mission, so be it. Remove the soldiers now. If not, so be it. Announce your strategy and start executing it now. The vacuum is helping no one. I am starting to worry that Hillary's famous campaign advertisement about the phone call in the middle of the night was off the mark. It wasn't a question of who was going to answer the phone. It was whether the President would answer it at all.

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Daggett can't win. So why is he in this?

I continue to struggle to understand the candidacy of Chris Daggett. He is an independent candidate for governor and he is polling between 5-17 percent depending on whose poll you are looking at. Of course, I will likely get a comment on this about how he is charging and is going to win the race (and the email of the commenter will be a link to the Daggett campaign). But we are now late in the race and he has no chance of winning. So why does he continue?

Does he have aspirations to run for another office sometime in the future? Not sure. This isn't like the national stage where a big run here will equite to a book and speaking tour. And increased awareness. But it doesn't make sense here. The minute he loses in November he is once again a nobody except among party faithful - oops, he represents no political party so that logic is out. Run for something else? Democrats aren't going to stick to him long and Republicans will brand him toxic for splitting the anti-Corzine vote. No future in that either.

So what is left? The nagging feeling I keep getting is that his candidacy only serves to help one person and one person only. Jon Corzine. To that end, I tried to review Daggett's election filings. They can be accessed here. The only obvious trend I was able to take from an analysis of his donors was that they significantly trend toward one industry - financial services. I checked Christie's donors to see if I could get the same trend however I didn't see the same thing there. Another thing concerned me about Daggett's donors. They haven't increased as his awareness has increased. As a matter of fact, his big ticket donors seem to have dried up. Contribution limits or something else?

Do I believe that Corzine has set up Daggett as a stalking horse in this race? I doubt it. But would I accept the notion that Corzine's people arranged for a third party candidate to receive enough funding to damage his opponent? You bet.

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More NJ Democrat Corruption: Funded by Jon Corzine

Another Democrat NJ politician is going to jail for corruption. From the Philadelphia Enquirer:

A federal jury has found former northern New Jersey political boss Joseph Ferriero guilty of fraud conspiracy.

The panel returned its verdict Thursday, the third day of deliberations after a 2 1/2-week trial.

Ferriero, the former head of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of mail fraud.

You sometimes wonder how our 'political bosses' in New Jersey maintain their hold on power? From this article at the Corner on National Review:

Guess how much money Jon Corzine and his family gave to Ferriero over the years?

$441,600.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie held a conference call moments ago. Highlights:

I experienced a lot of these days and led the office when this case was indicted
. . . Joe Ferriero abused a position of trust and the position of trust of his co-conspirator in order to line his own pockets. His leadership of the Bergen County Democratic Organization was a disgrace . . . This should be a day of great joy in Bergen County.

So New Jersey, do you still believe that Christie is the one who throws his weight around? Corzine is concerned when Christie lends a friend money that gets paid back. Yet NJ voters don't care that everyone Corine pays off gets a cool half mil?

Sickening. You cannot fix corruption when you are funding it. Period.

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Cartoon: John Francis Borra on the Democrats' Health Care Reform

This is a good one:



Find the original here.

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Shocking news: NY Times endorses Corzine

(Tongue placed firmly in cheek) In a breaking news development today, the New York Times has endorsed Jon Corzine. The endorsement is unique for its sophmoric cheap shots on Chris Christie and Christopher Daggett while attributing "pragmatic" ideas to Corzine. And for his small ideas, Corzine apparently deserves another four years.

Here is my issue with this endorsement and Corzine in general. Our state is sufferring from rot deep within the core. The political system is a patronage mill monolith that will not be changed by a get-along-to-go-along politician like Corzine. We already have seen the lengths he will go to coddle unions and spread money around to keep people quiet about the ethical lapses he perpetuated to get it done. In all, he is a small man, with small ideas and absolutely zero leadership.

As for issues, the state had financial problems during good times. And when the economy went south, the state has taken a hit FAR greater than it should have. New Jersey has been bleeding jobs for 10 years due to its practice of driving business out of the state to friendlier business climates. And what are the top issues being talked about by Jon Corzine? Abortion, Christie's weight, mamograms and George Bush. And the voters of the state let him get away with it.

I guess the bright spot is that at least in this election, the Democrats actually let their candidate campaign unlike the last senatorial campaign when Frank Lautenberg was not allowed to be seen or engaged in public.

The joke is on the average New Jersey voter because they keep letting Corzine and the Democrats get away with providing no plan, no leadership and mudslinging. I was thinking the other day that deep down given the current trajectory of the state, I know that my family has to leave New Jersey. It really isn't a question of whether but when. No responsible person would sit idly by while the Democrats continue their quest to turn New Jersey into Michigan.

This state needs something different. I don't know that Christie is perfect but he has shown leadership as Federal attorney taking on the rot. I KNOW that Corzine will not even try. He isn't a leader and never will be. The New York times is right:

Mr. Corzine is hardly the perfect politician. Most New Jersey voters find him astonishingly inarticulate, and his credentials as a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs do not seem as impressive as they did before the financial meltdown in 2008. He has poured lots of his personal wealth into this race, far too much of it for biting — and sometimes juvenile — attacks on Mr. Christie.

Only in New Jersey would this represent a incumbent candidate's shining achievements worthy of an endorsement by the "paper of record".

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Christie's plan vs Corzine's plan

Governor Corzine continues to attack Chris Christie over his "lack of a plan". The compliant media repeats his assertions. So I deicded to go to each of the web sites and compare the plans of these two men.

First the Christie web site regarding his "plan":

•I believe we can and we must lower taxes. Lower taxes will invite back businesses, jobs, employees, residents and students. More people paying taxes means more revenue.

◦Reduce the personal income tax. This year alone, Jon Corzine raised income taxes by $900 million.
◦Reduce corporate business taxes. Jon Corzine raised taxes on businesses by $270 million this year.
◦Restore property tax relief for everyone.
◦Eliminate the “double-taxation’ on New Jersey S-Corporations.
◦Eliminate special interest labor union giveaways that increase taxes. End the use of project labor agreements on public construction projects which ultimately raise costs and taxes.
◦2/3 majority vote to impose new tax or to increase existing tax.

•I believe we can and we must control spending and enforce accountability.

◦Use the line-item veto.
◦Elect independent state auditor.
◦Eliminate 2/3 political patronage jobs.
◦Eliminate pensions and benefits for part-time workers.
◦Immediate freeze on proposed new agency rules and regulations.
◦Sunset provisions for all new programs after 4 years.
◦Transparency – put everything online with searchable databases.

•I believe we can and we must fight for priority programs like education and our urban communities, without fail.

◦CityTrak. Enforce accountability to demand results. Measurable goals will save money, ensure efficiency and encourage innovation.
◦First Houses Program. ◦Exempt new residents from income tax.
◦Retaining New Jersey’s urban minority students by expanding New Jersey Education Opportunity Fund.

•I believe bringing sustainable, quality jobs to New Jersey’s the key to our future.

◦Create the New Jersey Partnership for Action to promote economic growth and job creation. Just look at PA….what we need is an executive who makes this their number one priority.
◦Garden State Growth Zones. Combing existing economic zones to create a super zone to attract new private investment and jobs.
◦Putting New Jersey Back to Work. Focus on worker retraining for unemployed New Jerseyans and connecting with them with businesses looking for a specific skill set.
◦Provide grants for public four year institutions and community colleges for renewable energy related curriculum and training.
◦Renew NJ and the Choose New Jersey Energy Campaign. Consolidate all renewable energy manufacturing efforts and have New Jersey undergo a brand makeover to market and sell New Jersey’s resources to energy producers, innovators and developers.
◦Incentivize energy manufacturing with tax credits. 100% of the corporate business taxes or the insurance premium tax for any wind turbine and manufacturing facility that locates in New Jersey.
◦New Jersey will create higher-paying clean energy production jobs in the next four years. Commit to a 5/1 ratio of higher-paying, clean energy production jobs to lower paying, efficiency jobs. While New Jersey has one of the strongest renewable portfolio standards in the country, according to the US Energy Information Administration, the state actually ranks 43rd when it comes to generating renewable energy.

Now the Corzine plan from his website:

Dealing with the national economic emergency: As the governor said in the State of the State, the economy is priority 1, priority 2 and priority 3. The Corzine administration will continue to work tirelessly to address the immediate hardships caused by the crisis, ensure that all New Jerseyans are treated fairly, and see to it that the state is poised to prosper once the recovery takes hold.

Creating jobs and putting New Jersey on a sound fiscal footing: Recovering from the current crisis is just the beginning. Governor Corzine will keep looking for ways to stimulate job creation even as he continues to stabilize the state’s long-term financial practices.

Providing affordable healthcare for all: Even as the Obama administration makes progress on a national healthcare plan, Governor Corzine is ensuring that all New Jersey resident have access to appropriate and affordable healthcare.

Keeping education a top priority: New Jersey schools – from preschools up to universities – are second to none. The Corzine administration will continue to make sure progressive education programs are funded and our children have the chance they deserve.

Protecting the middle class: Too often in a fiscal crunch decisions get made that place undue burdens on the middle class. Governor Corzine has vowed to defend the middle class and find innovative, progressive ways to generate the revenues needed to fund essential programs and balance the budget.

Be a partner, not an obstacle: Governor Corzine’s partnership with President Obama, his cabinet, Democrats in the US Congress and here in New Jersey is well-known. As the country moves in a new, more progressive, direction that attempts to undo to the damage of the Bush years, it’s critical that New Jersey has a leader who is in sync with that vision and will not let New Jersey get left behind.

Christie's plan contains policy objectives and specific actions to support his approach. Corzine's plan is a series of fell good generalities with no action proposed to solved them. Much like his term as Governor, all words with no concrete plans.

Which candidate has no plan? It seems clear to me.

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Foreclosures at a record high - and what is our government doing?

CNN Money today reported that home foreclosures are at a record high:

Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter, according to a report issued Thursday.

"They were the worst three months of all time," said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes.

During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter -- whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession, the RealtyTrac report said. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

This was the start of the financial crisis. So, the government shores up the banks so that Goldman Sachs can distribute record bonuses by trading on taxpayer money. The politicians get busy on:

- Cap and Trade
- Stimulus for their union friends
- Healthcare reform that won't save money and won't reform healthcare

And the foreclosures keep piling up...

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Star Ledged endorses candidate with 6% support.

In an amazing statement, the Newark Star Ledger endorsed Chris Daggett for Governor. While they are well aware that he only has about 6 percent support statewide, they still feel the need to make a statement. Their logic?

The newspaper’s decision is less a rejection of Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie than a repudiation of the parties they represent, both of which have forfeited any claim to the trust and confidence of the people of New Jersey. They share responsibility for the state’s current plight.

Interesting for the editorial board to lay claim to a moral stance regarding the state's political parties. But while they are correct that both parties are far too beholden to special interests, I wonder what they feel about their own support of the existing political system. Where was the Star Ledger when the mayor of Newark with no income aside from his government job acquired a yacht, a Rolls Royce and money to invest in properties around the city. Where was their investigative journalism?

Why do we not see the media in this state actually push the politicians to investigate anyone? For far too long, the media including the Star Ledger have acted as an arm of the corrupt New Jersey Democratic party.

What sounds more likely? The Star Ledgers editorial board really believes what they say about Daggett or they would like to split Chris Christie aka "the most disappointing candidate"'s vote thereby assuring the re-election of Jon Corzine. Sorry if I am going with the latter. It reminds me of The Philadelphia Enquirer endorsing Frank Lautenberg's opponent after allowing the senator to hide for 6 months.

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US News: Apologize and explain yourself Jon!

In an interesting article in the US News and World Reports, blogger Peter Roff sounded a refrain often heard here at NJTaxRevolution regarding Jon Corzine:

In a new attack ad the Corzine campaign began airing this week, Christie is shown in slow-motion, emerging from a sport utility vehicle as the announcer talks about how the former U.S. attorney once "threw his weight around" to avoid some traffic tickets.

Whether or not there is any truth to the underlying charge—and Corzine has his own problems where traffic law infractions, speeding, not wearing a seat belt and, for that matter, personal ethics are concerned—the ad clearly pokes at Christie's waistline as though that somehow disqualifies him to be New Jersey's next governor.

In Jon Corzine's New Jersey, the property taxes are the highest in the nation. The state is nearly bankrupt. Close to 50 elected officials of both parties we recently arrested as the result of a corruption probe. And Corzine himself has yet to explain how the actions he took while a Wall Street high flier as co-CEO of Goldman Sachs failed to contribute to the recent financial crisis.

Rather than address all or any of those things, or present a reasonable case to the voters as to why he deserves another four years in office, Corzine is asking them to choose between the fat guy and the thin(ner) guy.

Indeed. Read the entire post here.

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Newsflash NJ Voters - Corzine wants you to know: Christie is fat.

I guess when your entire record as Governor of the most taxed state in the country with the third worst financial problems, you make the campaign about...your opponents weight.
From the New York Times:

It is about as subtle as a playground taunt: a television ad for Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows his challenger, Christopher J. Christie, stepping out of an S.U.V. in extreme slow motion, his extra girth moving, just as slowly, in several different directions at once.

In case viewers missed the point, a narrator snidely intones that Mr. Christie “threw his weight around” to avoid getting traffic tickets.

The truly sad part of this advertisement is that this is what our sitting Governor believes is relevant to running the state of New Jersey. He screams about Christie throwing his weight around and allegedly "influencing" a traffic ticket while hiding the fact that he has OUTRIGHT PAID OFF his girlfriend, he brother and others who could shed light on some serious breaches of ethics regarding backroom deals in negotiating union contracts. And after three years, he still refuses to come clean.

All while our great state continues to deteriorate. And his plan for the future? More of the same. The person who is throwing their weight around (and by weight I mean CASH, earned from Democratic Party affiliate Goldman Sachs) is Jon Corzine. And he is doing it to deflect attention from his record. And he believes the voters of New Jersey are too stupid to notice. He may be right.

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An Open Letter To Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood

Today I received an email from Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on behalf of Planned Parenthood NJ. I'm pro-life (help out here), and I stay on email lists like this to keep informed about abortion-related activities in my area.

Here's what the email said:

Dear Jake,

Women must not be worse off after health care reform than they are now. I've said it, and repeated it, and fought for it for months. But it seems that lawmakers haven't been listening — not to me, not to you, not to the millions of women and men who desperately need a health care system that provides access to affordable, complete reproductive care.

A few days ago, the New York Times reported that health care reform could prohibit private insurance companies from covering abortion care — even those that currently do so. Anti-choice extremists aren't just trying to deny uninsured women access to reproductive care — they're fighting to make sure that women whose private plans currently cover abortion care lose their access as well.

This is a dangerous moment for women. If opponents of women's health succeed in hijacking health care reform, we'll be suffering the consequences for a generation or more. We need you now. Here's what you can do:

• Make an emergency contribution to Planned Parenthood. We're working the phones, the mail, and the internet day and night to build a war chest for this fight, and anything you can afford to pitch in will help our work — immediately.


• Call your senators now. The most effective way to demand that your senators stand up for women's health is by calling them directly — and we've made calling simple and quick with an online form.

We have no time to lose, and no room for error. Please, give what you can, speak out as loud as you can, and help me fight for our essential goal: women must not be worse off after health care reform than they are now.

Sincerely,
Cecile Richards

I feel compelled to respond.

Sorry, Cecile, but who exactly is an "opponent of women's health"? Do you really think we're a bunch of gravelly voiced old men leering at women and saying, "How do I give that one cancer? How do I make that one too sick to work?"

Really, we're just focused on the health of the youngest and most helpless of women, those between zero and forty weeks' gestation -- about six hundred thousand of which are killed every year. [1]

This anti-choice "extremist" is fighting on two fronts: to prevent the government from forcing me to pay for your killing of children in the womb, and to prevent you, Cecile, from pretending that willful slaughter of innocents isn't evil.

Don't get me wrong. I would fight against abortion whether or not my taxes fund it. I don't think killing a person, no matter how young, is a choice that the state should condone. But don't try to get me to pay for your abortions by tarring me as an "opponent of women's health".

Sincerely,
Jake Freivald
West Orange, NJ

By the way, if you'd like to see what this taxpayer-funded organization is doing with your money, I highly recommend their Speaking Of Sex podcast. I particularly recommend "Sex Toys, Sex Joys", "5 Ways to Make Safer Sex Sexy", and "The Anal Sex Show". After all, you're paying for it.

[1] The Guttmacher Institute says that about 1.2 million abortions were committed in the US in 2005 (the latest statistics they have on their fact sheet). Assuming that about half were female, that's six hundred thousand in utero girls. Of course, in some cultures, girls are aborted more often than boys. I hope the women who favor multiculturalism realize that fact.

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Corzine whopper: Will only consider taxes as a last resort. Huh?

In last night's Governatorial debate, Jon Corzine said this (from Bloomberg):

Corzine said raising taxes would be a “last resort” to balance the budget, and proposed encouraging towns and cities to merge and share services to control the state’s highest-in-the- nation property taxes.

Who is Jon Corzine kidding? Mr "I didn't take this job to be scrooge" has always consider new taxes as a FIRST resort. And the fact that Corzine thinks the public will believe this blatant lie just shows how little respect he has for the voters in New Jersey. Jon Corzine feels entitled to this job. He is a Democrat in New Jersey so it doesn't matter what he says or does, he should be re-elected.

It is about time he learns different.

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