Liveblogging the State of the Union Address

I wasn't sure I was going to do this, but I heard the ABC commentators claim that Nancy Pelosi was wearing purple because (paraphrasing) "it's not blue, it's not red, it's right in the center. I don't think that's an accident. I think it's symbolic." I had to laugh. Nancy Pelosi is right in the center, of course -- of the Politburo.

9:14 It's interesting that he can claim that "these are the reasons" -- the struggles of ordinary Americans -- are the reason he ran for President. He never could articulate that during the campaign.

9:18 We all hated the bank bailout. His discussion here assumes that it's better to prop up failing businesses and to prevent homes from being foreclosed upon.

Joe Biden grins like an idiot.

9:19 I love the way the banks are going to pay a "modest fee". Didn't they already pay back the bailout, with interest?

9:20 We cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Yet. I guess letting the GWB tax cuts lapse doesn't count. I guess if you don't count their efforts to force people to buy insurance as a "tax".

9:22 Economists on the right say that the ARRA worked? Please. Yes, it saved individual jobs. There are plenty of anecdotes for him to point to. Take enough opium and you'll feel great -- until you overdose.

9:24 He's calling for a new jobs bill. Wanna bet it's another stimulus package?

9:25 Outstanding. He's going to force banks to lend to small businesses. Mark my words, this will be like the Community Reinvestment Act -- it will force people to lend to minority-owned and women-owned businesses and those in depressed areas. Don't expect them to last as well as the average small business will. He didn't say it, but I'll bet you a dollar.

9:27 Create jobs through infrastructure: by which he means increase spending. Expect more government money to be spent on pet projects and pork.

9:30 He mentions education costs. If you ask me, we provide too much money in financial aid to students. Increasing the demand-side funding will increase the supply-side costs.

9:31 "China's not waiting." Does he know that China's emphasis on not waiting has caused them to expand their factories so much that they don't have enough manufacturing demand to keep them in business? Does he know how wasteful that kind of centralized planning is?

9:33 We need consumers and families to have the information needed to make financial decisions. As if they don't now? There's never been so much information as is available now. And when you demand that the government dictate how much information is provided, you're assuming that American legislators and regulators know more about the risks of various instruments than the people who invest in them do. I don't think so.

9:34 Hey! Nuclear power! I actually agree with him on something!

9:35 ...and the offshore drilling stuff, too. Of course, then he has to make tie this into a climate bill. But note what that means in practice -- the second item on this post.

9:39 The formula is simple -- reward success and not failure. Nice. Makes you wonder whether he felt the same way about the Palestinian problem, for which he now says, "It's hard. It's really hard."

9:42 Again with the subsidizing education, which will ultimately cause the cost of education to go up. And then he says that colleges and universities have to fix their part of the problem, too. But how, Mr. President, and why? What incentive do they have?

9:43 Finally mentions health insurance reform. Note they're not saying "healthcare reform" anymore. That's long dead.

9:44 IT'S SO not true that he didn't take healthcare on because it's good politics. Of COURSE he thought it was good politics. In the bubble he lives in, everyone believes it's a good idea.

9:45 Would your approach preserve the right of Americans to be left alone with respect to health insurance?

No. Didn't think so.

The CBO, by the way, crunches numbers according to the formulae that the the politicians give them. It's not like they're objective.

9:47 You won't turn your back on the Americans who are having trouble with healthcare. How about the unborn Americans? How about the elderly for whom there won't be sufficient resources?

You can't eliminate ill health. Therefore, the only thing that government-run health care will do is put bureaucrats in charge of what is considered "ill enough to treat, and not too expensive to treat." Everything else will go by the wayside.

9:51 Okay, let's hear the amount by which the federal government will tighten its belt.

Sorry, Mr. President, but a spending freeze is not tightening your belt. I'm waiting to hear about one program that will come down.

"We will not continue tax cuts." So part of his "cut" is forcing people and companies to pay more in taxes.

Oh, and we're going to tighten our belts -- um, next year.

9:55 "Do our work openly"? Is that really Barack Obama talking?

9:59 Did you notice that the President is doing a lot of calling on Congress to do stuff? It's how he can sidestep almost every issue, giving no details and making platitudes while still coming off like an "idea guy".

10:02 Saying "no" is leadership. It's opposition leadership, but it is leadership. And the Republicans haven't filibustered -- they've only threatened to do so. If the laws that the Democrats want to pass are so divisive and unpopular that the Republicans are willing to take this radical step, and that they're not sure they can get 60% of the senate to agree to call it up for a vote, then maybe we shouldn't be passing it.

10:05 Why does he insist on giving a timeframe? It's like telling your poker opponent that you're going to stop bidding at ten dollars.

All of our combat troops out of Iraq by this August. Just hang on a little longer, Al Qaeda. The Americans will leave, and you can fill the torture rooms again. (And by torture I don't mean "enhanced interrogation techniques".)

10:08 I don't get it. Why would the leader in nuclear technology cowtow to those who aren't nearly as capable as we are? It will disarm us, and won't stop Iran or North Korea.

Of Iran's leaders he says: "They, too, will face growing consequences." I believe that's the 21st-century cry of "Wolf!"

10:14 Oh, great -- more government regulation of business by forcing people to hire quotas of people in order to avoid lawsuits. Thanks, Mr. President.

10:15 Yes, we are a "nation of immigrants". But immigrants from everywhere don't simply have those values. Even legal immigration, if it's of too many people from a country that doesn't share our values -- Saudi Arabia, Kenya, perhaps, dare I say it, Mexico -- the more we dilute the American values that the President is praising.

10:16 Democracy in a country of 300 million people can be noisy and messy -- which is why I did everything I could possibly do to ram healthcare down your throat. And, he says, by the way, please ignore the voters. Don't worry about your poll numbers, do what you think is right, even if the public hates it. Mr. President, are you a populist who loves the American people and this nation of immigrants, or are you an oligarchist who knows better than the common man?

10:20 I totally agree that you don't quit, Mr. President. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

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Community Service - Mandated by Trenton?

Philly.com reports that community service requirements may be coming to a school near you:

Community service may have inched closer to becoming a graduation requirement for New Jersey high school students under a bill signed into law in the final days of the Corzine administration.

The legislation calls for a four-year study to start this fall at 15 high schools, including five in the southern third of the state. Under the pilot program, incoming freshmen will complete at least 20 hours of community service during their high school careers. The service must be unpaid and can take place inside or outside school.

Let me be clear on this. I think it is a good idea for High School students to perform community service activities in their community. I also believe that they should be driven by the student themselves, not some bureaucrat in Trenton.

This initiative falls into the "well meaning but misguided" category of legislation that is so prone in the legislature in Trenton. It usually starts with some new member of the assembly fresh off their promotion from town council or county freeholder. They get elected and think "what a good idea this or that would be". They then proceed to "lets make that a law and MAKE everyone in the state do it".

And there is a good reason for legislation like mandated community service if you are an assembly member (or senator for that matter). If you are busy working on trivial legislation like this, maybe no one will notice that you aren't handling the really important issue to the state. It is also a product of "full time legislators". If our state legislators spent a lot less time in Trenton, they wouldn't have the time for garbage legislation like this.

Read the Philly.com article here.

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Who is Ellie Light? What in the world is going on here?

Instapundit.com and Hot Air broke this story about an alleged citizen concerned over Barack Obama's issues after the Massachusetts election (and after the NJ and VA elections as well). From Hot Air:

Someone appears to be doing a little Astroturfing for Obama.
In recent days, a letter defending Obama has appeared in dozens of newspapers throughout the country — all signed by an “Ellie Light.” In the letters, which all use identical language, Ms. Light explains that Obama never promised to fix all our problems quickly or painlessly.

She declares:
Today, the president is being attacked as if he’d promised that our problems would wash off in the morning. He never did. It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.

Editors all over the country found Light’s message strangely compelling. It was reprinted at The Politico; the Philadelphia Daily News; the San Francisco Examiner; the Washington Times; and a USA Today blog. In addition, the letter has appeared at literally dozens of small-town papers across the country, with names like the Los Banos Enterprise, the North Adams Transcript, and the Danbury News-Times.

What is going on here? I get that someone might make the attempt to rehabilitate the disaster that has become the Obama administration. But using the same name and same words? And how did all of these 'news' organizations ALL DECIDE to publish the same thing from the same person? From Hot Air:

With the help of my commenters, I have been keeping a running total at my blog of the places where Light’s letter has appeared. At last count, her letter has appeared in at least 47 newspapers in at least 23 different states.

What is going on indeed.

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Schundler to NJ Education Commissioner

The New York Post reported today the appointment of Brett Schundler as Education Commissioner for the state of New Jersey. While this isn't exactly "new" news (the word on this had been out for a few days), the Post article seemed to grasp the importance of this appointment:

New Jersey Gov.-Elect Chris Christie's most audacious move so far has been his choice for state education commissioner -- former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, a man the National Education Association once dubbed Public Enemy No. 1 for his advocacy of school choice.

Christie rolled to victory last November on the basis of voter discontent with the Garden State's high taxes and its budgetary problems. And it's clear that getting Jersey's spending under control means finding ways to get more bang for the state's education bucks -- which will require reforms like those Schundler has long advocated, but which teachers unions despise.

As the state's largest donor to political candidates, the NJEA is the kind of all 'Special Interests'. While Democrats like to pretend that special interests can only be businesses, citizens have learned to know better. As a matter of fact, the Obama administration has taken union special interest to an entirely new level (pushing a healthcare bill that apparently will only serve to help the SEIU and no one else). But while union politics is often unseemly, the situation in our urban schools is a mess:

Jersey serves as an example of how money alone, absent reform, does little to help failing schools. A series of court orders has forced the state to funnel billions of dollars into 31 urban districts (the total's now about $4 billion a year), with little impact on student achievement. Camden has a whopping $340 million budget for a system serving 13,000 students (more than $26,000 per student), yet 26 of the city's schools failed to make adequate progress last year toward federal education requirements. In Newark, only about 42 percent of eighth graders were deemed proficient on recent state math assessment tests.

Jersey's urban school districts suffer from decades of patronage, waste and a focus on politics instead of education. To take one example, in 1995, the state seized control of the Newark schools because of corruption and has operated them ever since. Though the state's takeover brought some measure of stability to the system, it did little to reform classroom instruction or improve student performance -- prompting an angered Mayor Cory Booker to declare last year, "We have to find ways to expand options for parents and reward innovation" in Newark.

I am with Cory Booker on this one. And let's hope that Schundler can start to make this system work for children instead of the NJEA.

Read the entire article here.

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Haiti CRS Update

I received an update from Catholic Relief Services today on their efforts to aid the earthquake victims in Haiti:

Almost immediately following the earthquake, CRS began delivering lifesaving supplies, including food and water, to desperate survivors. The supplies were already in place in CRS' Port-au-Prince warehouse.

"We are fortunate to have had water in our warehouse," says Karel Zelenka, country representative for CRS Haiti. "We also trucked in family food kits from Les Cayes."

CRS has a staff of 313 on the ground, with more personnel arriving daily. CRS Haiti's headquarters building was damaged but did not collapse. Until its structural integrity is assured, aid workers are working and sleeping outside in tents or cars.

Additional food will arrive soon. "Fifteen hundred metric tons of wheat and oil will arrive in port shortly," says Schuyler Thorup, Regional Director for CRS Latin America. "We will distribute it immediately."

In the neighboring Dominican Republic, CRS is preparing food packages to feed 50,000 people. The packages are five-gallon buckets loaded with ready-to-eat foods that don’t need to be cooked. CRS is also readying water storage containers, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, cookware and plastic sheeting in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

If you are still looking for a way to help the relief efforts in Haiti, you can make an online donation at the Catholic Relief Services here.

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Haiti Tragedy - Please help!

I was participating in an all day meeting today when this news item came across:

The archbishop of Port-au-Prince was killed in the devastating earthquake that has demolished the Haitian capital and taken untold lives since striking Tuesday, according to a dispatch from the Vatican.

The body of Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, 65, was found under the rubble of the archdiocese, and may be one of only hundreds of victims trapped in the ruins of Church buildings on the island.

I was struck that when a horrible tragedy like this occurs, it is often the clergy who coordinate efforts to help the citizens. Losing the servants of the people cannot be helpful and it doesn't sound good for those who would normally be a refuge for those in need.

Please help out any way you can. If you are looking for a way to help, one option is Catholic Relief Services. You can follow their blog and donate if you would like. And keep all of the people in Haiti in your prayers.

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Does Corzine Really Not See The Irony?

Here's the headline from BusinessWeek:

Corzine Condemns ‘Too Damn High’ New Jersey Taxes as He Exits

...and here's the lede:

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, making his valedictory speech to lawmakers, said the most critical issue facing them and his successor boils down to this: “Everyone’s property taxes are too damn high.”

Super. Too bad he's about four years too late. He says other good things, too, that he should have been talking about for years. But keep going:

Corzine, 63, a Democrat with a Democrat-controlled Legislature, said his single term succeeded in adding children to the ranks of state-run health care programs and expanding access to preschool even as the U.S. suffered the worst recession since World War II.

Huh? In the same speech, he's going to say that our taxes are too high and that he's proud of the way he increased our fiscal obligations during a recession?

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In-State college tuition for illegals has been dropped

We have noted here the tendency of fiscally challenged New Jersey legislators to use lame duck sessions to stuff through 'feel good' legislation with unfunded mandates while they think no one is watching. We have also noted specifically the poorly conceived bill promoted by Democrats Rice and Ruiz of Essex that would essentially grant a college tuition subsidy (in-state tuition) to illegal immigrants. The in-state tuition system was created as a nod to the taxpayers of our state who FUND our colleges and universities. It recognizes that WE THE TAXPAYER have invested in these institutions and will get a discount when our children enroll in them for that financial support. Illegals do not pay taxes and do not support these institutions therefore are not entitled to the discount. A college education is not a civil right. And now this silly bill is dead (from NorthJersey.com):

The sponsor of a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition rates at New Jersey’s public colleges called off a vote on it Monday because he lacked the support needed to pass.

“We just don’t have enough votes,” explained Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, adding that it was about four votes short of the necessary 21 during the closing hours of the Legislature’s lame-duck session .

Added Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, who was a co-sponsor of the bill, “I’m hugely disappointed. This was a matter of fairness.”

The bill’s sponsor in the Assembly, Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, had said that although the Assembly seemed to have enough votes to pass the measure, it would not hold a vote without passage in the Senate .

Perhaps the sponsor's of this bill can now concentrate on promoting a culture of job creation in the state for its citizens and taxpayers and get the state's fiscal house in order.

Read the NorthJersey article here.

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Want to stop Obamacare?

Scott Brown is the Republican candidate for Senate in Massachusetts to replace the seat vacated by Ted Kennedy. He has a real shot and could defeat the Democrat(Martha Coakely) in that race who will just be another rubber stamp for Harry Reid.

You can volunteer to make calls. Or you can donate to his campaign. With your help, Scott Brown can win and break the Democrat supermajority that has allowed this mess of a healcare bill to get this far.

Click here to find out more.

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NJ is a Leader in Outbound Migration

Check out this report from Atlas Van Lines. As usual, New Jersey is a leader in losing residents.



Check out the entire report here.

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Air Security, Profiling and the UndyBomber

In order to understand the weakness of our current policies that produced the undybomber on Christmas day in Detroit, you have to look at a country that has had this problem for decades and doesn't seem to get shoe bombers, undybombers and terrorists doing walkthroughs on their air transportation. Israel.

Several years ago, I had to travel to Tel Aviv on business. Now, to set this story up, it should be clear to the reader that I have travelled in the "millions" of air miles. So I have been through more security screenings in more countries than the average traveller. The trip was a surprise due to a colleague having to bow out at the last minute and it was to be added on to an already scheduled short trip to Stockholm I had planned.

When I got to the airport bright and early on Sunday for the trip, I was greeted by a very attractive El Al representative (allegedly). She asked me some questions and I politely answered much like I have many many times before to the questions of a thousand gate agents "just like her". The next thing I know, she asks me to wait while she speaks to her supervisor.

Her supervisor returns and they jointly ask me questions with a smile and a steady gaze. Where am I going? What hotel am I staying at? Who are my contacts? What are their names? What are their phone numbers? What is the name of their company? Where is my speaking engagement? How many people are expected to attend? Do you have the complete agenda for the event? Who is travelling with me when I get there? Why are you meeting him at the bar on the beach near the hotel when you get in? And on. And on. And on for two hours. I was eventually allowed to proceed to the gate area with my ticket.

But before I left, I asked the nice young lady why they put me through the ringer. She told me that for every passenger they do secondary screening when the passenger triggers at least 3 questions (eyebrow raisers, alarms or whatever term you want to use). She told me I had 5. They were as follows:

- Last minute ticket
- Casual attitude even through I never been to Israel before
- Recommendation letter with my colleagues name crossed out and mine put in
- Not much luggage

And the one she alluded to but wouldn't say outright:

- my Irish name

You see (I am dating myself now), at that time there was another spot in the world where terrorism was still brewing. Northern Ireland. And at that time there were some concerns regarding Irish terrorists hooking up with Arab terrorists. Israeli security was paying attention.

I was later told by my contacts in Tel Aviv that they received a call from Israeli security as I was being questioned and confirmed that I was indeed expected. My contacts also told me that the folks doing the questioning were very unlikely just under the employ of El Al.

Which brings us to the Undybomber. Let's apply the same screening process I received while using the news accounts as leading information:

- Used cash for the ticket (Strike 1)
- Had no luggage (Strike 2)
- Had incomplete or problematic paperwork (Strike 3)
- Is a muslim between the age of 18-25 (Strike 4)
- Was on a "list" even though it wasn't the no fly list (Strike 5)

What do you think the Israelis would have done? And since they are our ally, why don't we ask them to teach us how to do this properly. And by the way, in case you were wondering how I felt about being profiled because of my ancestry?

Safe.

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NJ Lame Duck Session: Let them smoke pot!

It appears that the normal gaggle of lame duck hi jinks will be a bit curtailed this political season (from NJ.com):

Although chances are dwindling for Democrats to enact laws before Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie takes office Jan. 19, lawmakers said most of their grand plans — with the exception of medical marijuana — have fizzled, many with gut-checks over the state’s fiscal crisis. In addition, the transition from Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine to Christie has focused more Corzine’s nominations of allies to state entities than last-minute legislative moves.

"Lame duck’s becoming so anticlimactic," said Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who will become Senate president when the new session begins Jan. 12. "There are very important pieces of legislation that are going to move through, but the energy level in past lame ducks seems different." Many bills faded because they would have required new spending without the state revenue to support them, Sweeney said.

Translation: We are teetering on the edge between citizens carrying pitchforks and torches to Trenton versus quietly doing some last minute tidying up. Apparently someone in Trenton has figured out that there is no money left. And that has spoiled the party.

But don't worry, at least they can legalize marijuana use in the state:

But lawmakers are clearing a path for seriously ill residents to legally use marijuana to ease their pain. The qualifying illnesses are cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, seizure disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and "any other medical condition" approved by the state Health Department, according to the latest version of the bill (S119).

I really don't have an opinion regarding medical use of marijuana and would defer to sound medical advice on its applicability for really ill patients. It does however seem a little bit strange when you see something like this as a part of a lame duck session as it is not without some controversy. And we all know that these sessions are usually the time to stuff pet programs down NJ citizens' throats that couldn't get approved when the sunlight is on and accountability is high.

At least for now this isn't going to cost us anything.

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New Jersey Tax Revolution Roundup: Taxing, Spending, Salaries, and Solar Energy Incentives

Some odds and ends for you to browse this evening.

From the Courier-Post Online:

The new head of Burlington County government has pledged to continue the tax-cutting policy of the county board of freeholders.

Freeholder-Director Bruce Garganio of Florence also said he was truly grateful for the opportunity to serve as director in his freshman year on the board....

"We owe this to the taxpayers of Burlington County," Bruce Garganio of Florence said of trimming the county property tax levy further during his state of the county speech at the yearly reorganization on New Year's Day in the Olde Burlington County Courthouse.

The Press of Atlantic City discusses how New Jersey's "incentives" (that's taxpayer money being funneled into selected businesses) are affecting the renewable energy market. Three highlights: Business owners with no experience, operators of solar facilities earning ten times the market value for energy (60 cents per kilowatt vs. 6 cents), and a lot of startups but no regulation.

The major attraction has been the state's financial incentives, which New York-based Global Solar Center called "the most generous incentives for solar power in the nation." The most notable one may be the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, a credit-based system adjusted in 2006 to capitalize on the state Energy Master Plan's mandate that 20 percent of the state's energy come from renewable sources by 2020.

The use of the solar certificates has helped New Jersey grow its solar power industry in a hurry by making solar energy profitable.

Operators of solar energy sites, from large commercial facilities down to homeowners, can earn credits for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity they produce. The credits can be sold to other energy companies seeking to meet their renewable energy goals.

With a solar certificate, an operator of a solar facility can earn 60 cents per kilowatt hour, said Joe Isabella, director of the Vineland Municipal Electric Utility. In the traditional wholesale energy market, a kilowatt is worth about 6 cents.

In another sign of local fiscal pressure's ability to roll back entitlements that have gone too far, The Daily Journal reports that Millville is preparing to renegotiate its union contracts. It's pretty clear why:

Millville reached a contract with its firefighters in September 2008. The five-year deal gave firefighters a 3.6 percent raise the first year and 3.8 percent annual raises for the remainder of the contract....

Council 18 members -- who include maintenance workers, police dispatchers, parks and recreation employees, public works employees, utility workers and other City Hall employees -- received 3.6 percent annual raises for three years. The administrators received a five-year contract with 3.4 percent raise each year.

Let's do the math: The median annual salary for a firefighter is about $44,000, according to salary.com. If we started with that salary in September 2008 (it may have been slightly lower, but this is just an illustration of the numbers) then the salaries would be:

Year	Salary
2008	44,000
2009	45,584
2010	47,316
2011	49,114
2012	50,981
2013	52,918

For those of you playing the home game, that's an increase of 20% (((52,918-44,000)/44,000)*100) over the course of five years. Council 18 members see an 11% increase over three years, and administrators see an 18% increase over five years.

The Washington Post tells us that "State and local pensions plans are on path to failure":

Even if pension funds do manage to achieve that magical 8 percent average rate of return over the next 15 years, they will only have an average of 45 percent of the money they need to pay benefits, according to an analysis by state pension expert Kim Nicholl of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The picture for health benefits, which states are generally paying out of current revenue, is even worse.

It's worth reading the whole thing.

The Star-Ledger Editorial Board discusses a plan to tax students at local colleges and universities, highlighting why it's a misguided thought:

In fact, it’s an awful idea that burdens students and lets town officials delay tough spending cuts. It also frays the relationship between universities and towns, which should be collaborating on solutions instead of pointing fingers....

The resolution estimated the average municipality loses about 13 percent of the taxes it could collect "if all property within its borders were taxed." ... But taxing all property within a town’s borders would mean hitting up hospitals, churches and many other charitable and nonprofit institutions. Why should colleges be singled out?

There's more, too: Did you know that Seton Hall, although it's tax-exempt, pays "payments in lieu of taxes" and full taxes on its off-campus property? That adds up to $364,000 -- on top of which, it "contributed $500,000 toward a sports field for the South Orange-Maplewood community." This is a great editorial, not terribly long but very impactful, and also well worth reading.

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