"Now I am starting to care about California"

Bill Dupray sums up how I feel about California and, unfortunately, how many people should feel about New Jersey:

Now I am starting to care about California. But it is not because I am feeling altruistic, it is because their previously self-contained disaster has now spilled out into requests for bailout money from me. If I am going to be asked to bail out California, I want a right to go in and cut their spending, cut their taxes, and cut their regulations.

Damned right. If California is going to look to "the Federal government" (which is really just the rest of the states) for bailout money so they can keep spending, shouldn't "the Federal government" -- we -- tell them what they can do? Isn't that the same argument that the Feds used when they wanted a "pay czar"? When they wanted to determine what kinds of cars GM should build?

It seems to me that the Federal government told AIG what their executives could earn, and people like Andrew Cuomo threatened to make a lot of AIG names public if they kept their bonuses. Let's do the same to California: Yes, you can take our money, but to do it you'll have to take severe pay cuts and reduce services across the board. Get back in line with fiscal responsibility and we just might let you take control again -- once you've paid us back.

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Shocking News: NJ Tax Receipts Down

The Star Ledger today reported that New Jersey tax receipts are down:

From January through September, New Jersey collected $20.34 billion in taxes — a loss of one of every seven dollars collected in the same period in 2008.

The decline in New Jersey mirrored the experience of state governments nationwide in 2009, according to the census bureau’s report. Collectively, the states absorbed a 13 percent drop in tax collections.

This news should not be filed in the "breaking news" category for most normal people in the State of New Jersey. One of the more interesting parts of the article was a photo of Jon Corzine with the following caption:

New Jersey is on pace to end the year with the first drop in state tax collections since 2002. Gov. Jon Corzine, seen here in a November photo, has tried to address revenue shortfalls by using federal stimulus money, deferring pension obligations and raiding surplus accounts and dedicated funds to offset the losses.

It is in this caption that the Star Ledger really captures the problem both with Jon Corzine and Trenton's approach to serious issues. Notice that the "solution" per Democrats in our state was:

1. Use Stimulus money (thereby not stimulating)
2. Deferring pension obligations
3. Raiding any department left that is fiscally responsible by taking their surplus money

Notice that NOWHERE does it mention two simple words. Cut. Spending.

Five years ago, our state ran just fine with a 20 billion dollar budget. We could have paid for the entire budget by September even in this terrible economic situation if the budget was 20 billion dollars. That is the real issue impacting New Jersey citizens. And until our politicians GET IT, we will continue to have issues.

Read the Star Ledger article here.

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Far be it from Obama to politicize a situation...

Sorry, it's not tax-related. Or New Jersey-related. But my jaw dropped when I read this:

Let the authorities do their work. Don't presume; don't panic the country; don't chest-thump, prejudge, interfere, politicize (in an international sense), don't give Al Qaeda (or whomever) a symbolic victory; resist the urge to open the old playbook and run a familiar play.

The author is Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic.

And liberals in this country have avoided presumption, politicization, etc. etc. etc. since 2001? Really?

Remember You never want a serious crisis to go to waste, a comment made by Rahm Emmanuel?

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Christie sets sights on pension abuse

We noted here some time ago when reviewing the book The Soprano State (Ingle and McClure) that the audacity of some practices in the State of New Jersey went far beyond simple malfeasance. For example, the book specifically calls out lawyers who are working for multiple municipalities creating a home rule patronage mill that is generally accepted practice in many NJ towns. The law has since been changed to stop the practice. Not this story ABC News:

Gov.-elect Chris Christie is vowing to scrutinize New Jersey's pension laws in the wake of a report that questions how a private lawyer could have held 12 part-time public jobs giving him pension benefits totaling more than $100,000 a year.

The lawyer, Michael Angelini, who is also the Gloucester County Democratic Chairman, was the focus of a report last week by the state inspector general that questions whether he was qualified to join the pension system at all.

At one point, in 2003, he represented seven government entities at once. However, the report said he often assigned the work to associates at his law firm, "suggesting that the entities hired a law firm not an employee."

"This is the insanity that people sent me to Trenton to fix and I'm going to fix it," Christie said. "They shouldn't be able to be paid for more than one public job."

Note the relevant facts. This is clearly not an employee situation but a contract labor situation. Note that it was repeated in 12 different entities. And not that he is the Gloucester County Democratic Chairman. How did he do it?

Angelini tried to cash in his pension after a law was passed last year that bans "independent contractors" from getting state pensions. His request was put on hold pending a review of the inspector general's report by the Treasury Department.

The report, which was forwarded to the Attorney General's Office, said Angelini had towns put him on the payroll by using "novel and contrived arrangements, often proposed by him."

"It is reasonable to conclude that these payment structures were utilized to provide Angelini unwarranted pension benefits," it said.

While he maintains his innocence you cannot help but be left with the thought that he should have known better. And since he knew better and still did this, it had to be purposeful. This is exactly what is wrong with our state and its politicians.

Read the entire article here.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

And keep this thought. While the kids are unwrapping presents and you are visiting the family, the legislators in Trenton and Washington DC are not doing anything. And for that I will give thanks!

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Something Wicked This Way Comes: Reid Creates Defensive Perimeter on Healthcare

Republicans have been licking their chops over the seemingly perverse desire of Democrats to jump off a cliff to advance Obamacare. Privately, key Republicans seems to be envisioning the potential to run on a "Repeal the Bill" mantra next year in the 2010 elections. But WHAT IF the Democrats make it impossible to "repeal the bill"? From the Weekly Standard:

Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) pointed out some rather astounding language in the Senate health care bill during floor remarks tonight. First, he noted that there are a number of changes to Senate rules in the bill--and it's supposed to take a 2/3 vote to change the rules. And then he pointed out that the Reid bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board cannot be repealed by future Congresses:


there's one provision that i found particularly troubling and it's under section c, titled "limitations on changes to this subsection."

and i quote -- "it shall not be in order in the senate or the house of representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection."

this is not legislation. it's not law. this is a rule change. it's a pretty big deal. we will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law.

i'm not even sure that it's constitutional, but if it is, it most certainly is a senate rule. i don't see why the majority party wouldn't put this in every bill. if you like your law, you most certainly would want it to have force for future senates.

i mean, we want to bind future congresses. this goes to the fundamental purpose of senate rules: to prevent a tyrannical majority from trampling the rights of the minority or of future co congresses.

Read this entire post.

And watch the video. The Democrat leadership appears to be setting a stage toward the long term transition of our healthcare from the flawed but innovative system we have to one run by government bureaucrats. And if Harry Reid's bill passes, you won't be able to change it if you don't like it.

Constitutional? Maybe not. But how long before it could be overturned. Ask yourself a question New Jersey. Have judges done the right thing with Abbott Schools? No. Both parties have known it for some time. Change it? It takes a recession. Think about this before it gets done. There is a right way to improve our healthcare system. And this is clearly not it. Not for unions. Not for you. Not for anyone.

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The Healthcare Gravy Train: Why is NJ getting nothing?

The bribes paid to recalcitrant Democrat legislators have been documented in various blogs on both the left and right. The so-called 'Cash for Cloture' scandal can be reviewed in detail here at Michelle Malkin's site. No reasonable citizen can look at this situation and the actions by Harry Reid and not be sickened by the Senate Majority Leader using taxpayer money to bribe senators in his own caucus to support a bill that over 60 percent of Americans are against.

But my cynical side wonders where our two senators are hiding throughout this process. Menendez and Lautenberg are such comfortable votes for the Democrats that they have no leverage to get anything for the State of New Jersey's citizens. They continue to excel in their combined 30 year losing streak on behalf of our state. But hey, at least Nebraska citizens won't have to worry about their healthcare costs.

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Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards Convinces Jake That He's Pro-Choice

Cecile Richards article at the Huffington Post shocked me. I agree with her so much.

She's talking about the abortion-related compromise made with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska:

Under this new language, anyone -- men and women of all ages -- who participates in an insurance plan that includes abortion coverage is required to write two separate premium checks each month: one for abortion care and one for everything else. I'm just trying to picture my son writing out his health insurance payment, and then writing another check for his part of the "abortion coverage."

Damned right! Why on earth is your son being forced to pay for coverage he doesn't need?

This new "extra" payment for abortion coverage is akin to an abortion rider -- as if women would take these extra steps to pay for insurance, with a separate check, that included abortion coverage. Women don't plan an unplanned or problem pregnancy any more than they plan for a heart attack. But they expect that they have coverage nonetheless.

Also right! This is coverage that many women wouldn't take, including my mother, my mother-in-law, my wife, my sisters-in-law, and, I hope and pray for the future, my daughters. Not just because the term "insurance" doesn't apply -- Do you buy "insurance" for something that's physically impossible? Do you buy insurance the only purpose of which is to destroy something that you want? -- but because they find it morally reprehensible. So yes, it's a rider, for women who want this kind of coverage.

But that's not all: Cecile and I also agree that people need insurance coverage for things that aren't planned. My health insurance covers unplanned heart attacks. My life insurance covers unplanned death. My homeowner's insurance covers unplanned fires and theft. People should buy insurance for things that they don't plan to have happen.

I guess Cecile and I differ a little bit. I mean, I can choose the amount of my life insurance, or even have none; I can choose the deductible on my homeowner's insurance. I don't understand why Cecile says that I can't choose to not have abortion coverage. That even her son can't choose not to have abortion coverage.

I'm not even sure I can explain it to my husband. He's pro-choice, but I'm not sure he's going to get why he's supposed to write a check each month to pay for abortion coverage.

Cecile, according to Wikipedia, you graduated from Brown in 1980. That puts you something north of fifty years old. Why should he write a check each month to pay for abortion coverage?

Yeah, I'd have to say that I'm pro-choice with respect to abortion insurance.

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Corzine Lame Duck Appointments - A Slap at NJ Voters

John Corzine has decided to poison the well on his way out of office(WHYY):

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is defending the appointments he's making in the final weeks of his administration. Corzine lost to Republican Chris Christie in his bid for a second term.

Nearly 200 people, many of them well known Democrats, have been nominated by Corzine for a variety of government positions including judgeships and jobs on state boards and authorities.

There is no way a New Jersey voter can view Corzine's actions in a positive light. He lost the election by a significant margin. Worse yet, his percentage of the vote was 9 percentage points lower than his 2005 total and the worst performance by an incumbent in modern history. The citizens of our state soundly rejected his policies and him personally. So what does he do?

He chooses to stack every open position he can find with cronies and Democratic party hacks before the new governor takes office. Next time you wonder why New Jersey voters are apathetic and don't show up to vote - think of this moment. I can only suggest that if the Democrats of this state want to work with the new governor, they should first take a drink from their own poison well instead. The citizens of our state would have no objection.

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Scope Matters

Do you wonder why there's so much angst about health care reform?

At least part of the reason is the scope of the legislation we're trying to pass. And I don't mean the 2,000-plus-page length of the bills; I mean the fact that it covers the entire nation.

If New York or California wanted to pass a 2000-page bill socializing their health care, I wouldn't protest. If anything, the experiment would give people examples to look at, an ability to see what is possible or likely when we try great big social experiments.

But when you want to take over the entire country's health care system, you've gained my opposition. There's no room for innovation, or for temperance. We're all in it together, and not in a good way: In scientific terms, there's no control group.

The United States are united, yes, but they're also states. They were created as a federation for a reason. We need to maintain our liberty, which means maintaining our ability to *not* always act as a single country.

California, Nevada, New York, New Jersey: Do you want to provide free health care to all of your citizens? Do so. If you don't think you can afford it on your own, what makes you think we can all afford it together? If you think its viability will be undermined by freeloaders from Pennsylvania or Arizona, how does that affect your thinking on America's relationship with Mexico? But whatever your choice, don't force it on others.

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NJ AG Milgram cracks down on MD's-but not politicians!

One cannot help but laugh at New Jersey State Attorney General Anne Milgram. She is very concerned over doctors that are influenced by drug corporations and wants to put a stop to it. From Philly.com:

State Attorney General Anne Milgram has recommended banning doctors licensed in the state from accepting gifts that don't directly benefit their patients, and requiring them to report consulting fees greater than $200.

The choice to put the responsibility on doctors, met with scorn from the Medical Society of New Jersey, was deliberate. The state has direct control over doctors through its licensing process. And, Milgram said, doctors should be conscious of how their relationships with manufacturers can influence care.

"It really is, at the end of the day, each individual doctor's conflict of interest as much as it is the industry's," she said.

I frankly don't care one way or another about the merits of the AG's recommendation. But I do find it odd that the Attorney General is VERY concerned over "conflicts of interest" all of a sudden. She has never seemed very interested in the past as her Democratic party colleagues were arrested and sent to jail-BY OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS! You see, poor Annie isn't interested in corruption in our state by elected officials, party bosses, judges or others who break the public trust.

But God forbid Dr Smith dares to support a product who sales rep took him to dinner! Maybe during that dinner the doctor actually learned something about the product he is recommending that he didn't already know that would be beneficial to his patient. Sorry Anne.

A conflict of interest is an Assembly member receiving 96 percent of their campaign contributions by organized labor special interest organizations many of which are from out of state. Now who do you think is more likely to do something to the detriment of their partner to the benefit of the organization creating the conflict? The doctor-patient? Or the Democrat-voter?

Read the entire article here.

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Go On. Be An Accenture.

Let me start by saying that I hope Tiger Woods repents for what he's done and reforms himself and his relationship with his wife. His brand may be trashed, but there are a lot more important things in his life than that. I'm about to say a lot of harsh things, but that doesn't mean he's irredeemable in the most important ways.

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Why would Accenture drop Tiger Woods for something as mundane as some extramarital club-swinging? After all, he didn't harm any Accenture staff directly, and that kind of behavior is so ordinary that our own politicians keep their jobs after committing the same offenses.

Here's what Accenture knows, which we should pay attention to:

• Tiger did harm Accenture staff, by associating them with a good-looking, smooth-talking person who happens to be a lying philanderer. How many ordinary interactions with Accenture employees were recently colored by the idea that even people who seem perfectly wholesome can be lying bastards? I felt it myself: Right after the Woods story broke, I walked through an airport and saw some of Accenture's signs, and their slogans -- one was something like "Everything depends on what you do next" -- had a completely different context. A public figure's private life is important. Sorry, public figures, but you're going to have to deal with it.


• Lying philanderers are deal-breakers; they make vows and break them. They usually try to cover up what they did. In the real world, nobody trusts lying philandering deal-breakers.


• Most Americans, despite their live-and-let-live mentality, still breathe conservative air. They may say that consenting adults should be able to do what they want, but that's not what they want personally. They don't want their eighteen-year-old daughters to have threesomes with bikers. They want their sons to commit to a woman (yes, a woman, though they may come to accept otherwise) and settle down, not to go through lots of sexual partners. (For that matter, they still prefer to have their children stick to their own race, as this incident highlights.) We won't look up to Tiger now that he's shown his proclivities.

Given the last comment, I'm led to ask, Why do we tolerate the dalliances of politicians? I can only think of one good answer: We think that, as a class, they're contemptible.

Even politicians we like -- those we think of as being "like us" -- aren't brought down completely by scandal. First we respect them; then they show their true colors; then we think of them just like every other politician out there, which is to say, contemptible but mostly tolerable -- a necessary evil. And this isn't a partisan issue. It's true whether you're an immoral Democrat or an immoral Republican.

Tiger wasn't a politician. He was a nice guy, one of us. We're reacting to his scandal the way we would normally react to scandals involving priests, Marines, and soup-kitchen workers. Since he's shown us that he's as bad as a politician, he's utterly incapable of being the face of Accenture.

Where does that leave us?

With the knowledge that we have nothing but contempt for our politicians, and that, if we were smart, we'd do what Accenture does, and throw the bastards out at the first sign of impropriety.

Go on, America. Be an Accenture.

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Cherry Hill Courier Post Wants Rebate Checks

In an article this week in the Cherry Hill Courier Post, the writer was promoting the retention of rebate checks for NJ residents due to the lack of reform of the property tax system in the state.

At a New Jersey Business and Industry Association policy forum with 250 business owners in Woodbridge Tuesday, a few Democratic state lawmakers suggested that property tax rebates could disappear entirely next year. The state is facing a projected deficit of at least $8 billion for the fiscal year that starts in July.

If rebates become extinct in 2010, it will demonstrate just how miserably and completely the state Legislature failed in its half-baked attempt to lower our highest-in-the-nation property taxes. Lawmakers put on a big show in 2006 with their special committees and came up with a raft of recommendations for changing the way things work in New Jersey. The centerpiece of their plans was not a massive reduction in the size of government at all levels, which would have lowered property taxes permanently. It was rebate checks.

Gov.-elect Chris Christie said while campaigning that even though rebate checks aren't the best way to do tax relief, he's determined to keep them because they're the only help overtaxed homeowners get in New Jersey.

What puzzled me about this article is that it has no writer listed which would suggest it is editorial. But it isn't labeled as such. So I guess we can call it 'editorial news'. And while the article brings up some points worth considering, it draws a conclusion that Christie should reflexively re-instate the Property Tax Rebate.

We at NJTaxRevolution are always proponents of the reduction of taxes for New Jersey citizens. However, if this system were to be re-instated, it also needs to be seriously re-examined. For example, this program in the past did not provide tax rebates for a significant number of people who actually PAY PROPERTY TAXES while providing REBATES TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T PAY PROPERTY TAXES. And unless Christie intends to completely overhaul this program, he would be much wiser to address the core problem of out-of-control property taxes right after he looks at the state's spending apetite.

Read the entire article here.

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Technology Gets Smarter Every Day

I use Thunderbird for personal email. I recently opened an email from Barack Obama about healthcare reform, and this is what I saw:


In case you're having a hard time reading that, it says, "Thunderbird thinks this message might be an email scam."

Maybe the citizens of Arizona, Illinois, California, and other troubled states should put Thunderbird on the ballot next time they need to elect an official with common sense.

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Barack Obama: The Teflon President...NOT

Barack Obama today blamed the GOP for the economy and anything else that would make his life difficult (from Reuters):

U.S. President Barack Obama packed an economic speech with a political punch on Tuesday, blaming Republicans for creating high deficits, mismanaging bank bailouts and obstructing efforts to reform healthcare.

I am not sure what it is about this president. He is incapable is taking any responsibility. Anything bad is someone else's fault. In the rare case when he takes responsibility he doesn't really have his heart in it. This excerpt is from a speech in March regarding the AIG bonus fiasco(AFP):

"Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president," Obama said at a "town hall" meeting in Costa Mesa, California, where his bid to sell his economic revival policies was swamped by news coverage of the bonus fiasco for a fourth day.

"We didn't draft these contracts. We've got a lot on our plate -- but it is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this," he added, amid outrage across the United States.

In the same sentence he takes responsibility he blames someone else. That isn't taking responsibility, it is deflecting it.

He can blame Bush because his liberal following lives for that pap. However, we remember who created the housing bubble and it wasn't Bush(just ask Barney Frank and Chris Dodd). TARP was a byproduct of his friends at Goldman Sachs just as much as Bush(he should know this, they all work in his administration now). And while we can forgive Bush for taking decisive action in the middle of a major economic crisis we may as well for the Democratic congress that authorized the "Bush" plan, isn't that right Mr Obama?

He wants to blame Bush for deficits? Sorry Mr President. President Bush was fiscally irresponsible. YOU sir, are a spending GLUTTON! Bush produced a deficit. You quadrupled it.

Grow up President Obama. And start fixing the problems that the average American thinks are important. Such as:

1. Jobs (and next time you hold a summit on jobs, talk to real job producers not your liberal donors and unions)

2. Spending (repeal the stimulus and try again without advice from Pelosi and Reid)

3. The Economy (stop sabotaging the greatest economic engine in the world. Between Cap and Trade, your new EPA regulations, threatening to tax everything that moves and 22 visits to the White House by your union "muscle", business is running scared and it is YOU that scares them)

4. Corruption (Democrat leaders promised to drain the swamp. I dare say you have found a way to pollute it!)

5. Borrowing (Stop borrowing money at the Federal level to pay States to avoid getting their fiscal house in order-you are actually prolonging the necessary steps to fix the problem. Every state that had a deficit this year before the stimulus will have one again next year only worse. And they will have to take action either with higher taxes or job cutbacks. And your policies will be credited with the "double dip recession" that is almost sure to come after the holidays when the states have to take action. Stop it!)

Then, once the economy starts to rebound and spending is under control and people are back to work...we can look at healthcare. Any maybe this time you might actually look at the problem instead of trying to socialize medicine and find jobs for your SEIU thugs.

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NJ Democrat Pols: Borrow more before Christie gets here!

Didn't we just listen to the Governor of New Jersey progress through a re-election campaign and claim that he was the fiscally responsible one after many years of irresponsible government? Of course, his rap was much less believable when he last responded to a Schools Construction Corporation (the NJ government agency that manages public school construction money) corruption scandal by borrowing $4.1 billion for the entity. New Jersey Democrats have long been hypocritical on borrowing-decrying Republican Christie Whitman while engorging themselves in debt once they moved into power. And now this:

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey, the third-most indebted U.S. state, will sell more than $200 million in bonds today to finance voter-approved capital projects a week after Governor- elect Christopher Christie said he opposed borrowing more money.

The state will issue $209.1 million of bonds, including $205 million of tax-exempt securities, the largest such competitively bid offering in the market today, according to Bloomberg data. Christie, a Republican who defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine last month, said he opposed new bond sales after the state last week detailed $2.7 billion in borrowing it plans for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June.

It appears that the last acts of the Corzine administration will be apply the maximum amount of long term financial damage to the citizens of New Jersey before they leave office.

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NJTaxrevolution speaking at Social Media Club of North Jersey Event - Dec 10

I will be speaking at the Social Media Club of North Jersey this Thursday December 10 in Seacaucus. If you are in the area and want to network with other bloggers and social media innovators in the area, stop in for breakfast.

A breakfast event sponsored by Social Media Club North Jersey.

* Insights from communications leaders who are shaping New Jersey politics
* Forum for Q & A and topics of interest
* Networking with marketers, PR professionals, journalists, bloggers, students and practitioners of social media

Scheduled Presenters:

Dennis McLaughlin
Editor
NJTaxRevolution.com

David Polinchock
Innovation Catalyst
Consultant to the Daggett gubernatorial campaign

Matt Rooney
Editor
The Save Jersey Blog

Moderator:

Michael Menche
Managing Director
Axiom Media Service

Thursday, December 10
8-10 am
Houlihan's
700 Plaza Drive
Secaucus, NJ 07094

* A breakfast buffet is included.
* Seating is limited; please register early.
$15 per person ($20 per person day of the breakfast)

More info here.

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Obama's Team: "We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem."

This appears to be a bit of a distortion -- the speaker claims that he never spoke to members of the Obama administration -- but it's funny anyway, and I'd hate to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

A very big Thanks to Michigan member Mike Partridge who sent in this bit of humor, which was forwarded from a senior-level person at Chrysler. The date on this note was Sunday, July 19, 2009.

Monday morning. I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker guest was David E. Cole, Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at the University of Michigan). You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry. news lately.

Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto Industry . There have been many meetings were a 30+ year experienced automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero finance experience and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.

Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows: There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole (engineer, automotive experience of 40+ years. and Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (a whole other topic). They were quoting BTUs of LNG and battery life that they had looked up on some web-site.

Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a TRUNK FULL of batteries and a LNG tank as big as the car to make that happen. and that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from....

The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here): "These laws of Physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that." (Some of the others wrote down the law name so they could look it up.) "We have the congress and administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem That's why we are here, to fix these sorts of issues."

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A must read on Obama's Afghanistan speech..."drunkblogging"

This was so good I had to share with our readers. Last night, Pajama's Media blogger Vodkapundit "drunkblogged" the speech. Excerpts like this give you a taste of the narrative:

5:23PM Afghanistan is not another Vietnam! Well, of course it isn’t. Obama would never have sent more troops to fight communists.

5:23PM “There are those…” First of the night! Everybody drink.

5:24PM “There are those…” number two! Shoot a double, folks.

5:26PM Camera shifted to Hillary, who looks more bored than the cadets, and more disdainful than Darth Vader confronting an Imperial Janitor who left a dustbunny trailing on Vader’s cape.

Read the entire post here. It is worth the time. Hat tip Instapundit!

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NJ Legislature: The Silly Season Begins...

As we have commented in the past, the New Jersey does their best impression of fiddling while Rome burns after election time each year. It is during this time that our elected representatives in the Assembly and Senate take a look at the prevailing issues of the day and then completely ignore them. Prior sessions gave us critical legislation like their apology for slavery. And while you tend to expect a certain amount of legislative stupidity out of Trenton, the stakes right now for our state are high and the citizen's want seriousness.

So what are the silly season highlights so far?

A Democratic state lawmaker has introduced a bill that would force Republican Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie to select a Democrat to replace New Jersey's U.S. senators - both of them Democrats - if either was unable to complete his term.
(From the Inquirer)

When Republican Chris Christie unseated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in the gubernatorial election last month, it gave gay-rights activists more urgency to try to achieve their long-held goal of getting a same-sex marriage bill through the Legislature before Christie takes office Jan. 19.

The reason is simple: Corzine supports the bill. Christie says he would veto it.
(AP)

In summary, our legislators think the most pressing issues of the day are some pre-planning for election gerrymandering and gay marriage. It is interesting that exit polls from our most recent election didn't mention either one of those topics. And to refresh our esteemed legislators minds, here is what the PEOPLE want them to concentrate on:

1. Economy and jobs
2. Property taxes
3. Corruption

Well, it least they are working on continuing the third one. But for some reason, I don't think that's what the voters were looking for....

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Thanks for Thanksgiving Efforts, 4Sixty6

I received this on a local (West Orange, NJ) email list. Kudos to a local business, 4Sixty6, that's working with the community.

I worked all morning at the Holy Trinity/West Orange Food Pantry distributing Thanksgiving meals and our usual food for clients. Several hundred people will have Thanksgiving meals and food thanks to our community and the efforts of specific groups.

I was surprised that several staff members from 4Sixty6 came in with over 100 turkeys and a lot of non perishable food and spent the entire morning with us distributing food to our clients. Apparently they are very interested in community relations and establishing themselves as a viable community entity. Hopefully this will be sign of things to come... so let's wait and see what happens with the new club. In the meantime, their generosity this Thanksgiving helped many West Orange, Orange, and East Orange residents, most of whom, I suspect, will never even patronize the club!

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