> 73 percent of Americans believe U.S. on wrong track
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:21pm EDT
(Reuters) – Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.
The poll reflected growing anxiety about the U.S. economy and frustration with Washington after a narrowly averted government default last week, a credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, a stock market dive and a stubbornly high 9.1 percent jobless rate.
President Barack Obama was politically bruised in the brutal, weeks-long debt debate, and negative views on the economy are worrisome signs for his 2012 re-election bid.
His approval rating dropped to 45 percent from 49 percent a month ago, according to the poll conducted from Thursday to Monday. Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, never saw his approval rating dip below 46 percent in Gallup polling in his re-election year of 2004.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 73 percent of Americans believe the United States is “off on the wrong track,” and just one in five, 21 percent, think the country is headed in the right direction.
>Global Warming Link to Drowned Polar Bears Melts Under Searing Fed Probe
by Audrey Hudson
08/11/2011
Polar bears drowning in an Alaskan sea because the ice packs are melting—it’s the iconic image of the global warming debate.
But the validity of the science behind the image—presented as an ignoble testament to our environment in peril by Al Gore in his film An Inconvenient Truth—is now part of a federal investigation that has the environmental community on edge.
Special agents from the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office are questioning the two government scientists about the paper they wrote on drowned polar bears, suggesting mistakes were made in the math and as to how the bears actually died, and the department is eyeing another study currently underway on bear populations.
Biologist Charles Monnett, the lead scientist on the paper, was placed on administrative leave July 18. Fellow biologist Jeffrey Gleason, who also contributed to the study, is being questioned, but has not been suspended.
>LINKER CONDEMNS MENENDEZ’S FEAR-MONGERING OVER TRANSPORTATION FUNDING BILL
(Ridgewood, NJ): On Monday, conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey Ian Linker blasted Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for his recent statements about H.R. 1737, the Surface Transportation and Taxation Equity (STATE) Act. The Act, introduced by U.S. Congressman Scott Garrett (R-NJ 5), “returns primary responsibility for transportation and infrastructure projects back to the states without increasing taxes,” said Congressman Garrett.
Senator Menendez has criticized the bill as “political” and “not about creating jobs, or investing in our future, it’s about ideology.”
Linker condemned Menendez’s statements, “This may come as a surprise to Bob Menendez but the federal government does not collect and distribute funds collected through the gasoline tax to be spent on highway construction and improvement in the most efficient way. A lot of the money we allocate gets spent on red tape and does nothing to improve our roads or create jobs. The STATE Act cuts out much of the bureaucracy and gives flexibility to the states to collect and spend money on transportation projects where needed.” Linker said.
Linker continued, “Rather than discuss the issue, Bob Menendez once again stands in the way of progress and innovation by fear mongering. In classic Menendez style, with cameras and microphones present, the Senator stood in front of a picture of a car going off a cliff and told folks the STATE Act will cut spending and kill jobs. What the good Senator failed to mention, however, is that the Act will save money, but only because the government will spend it more efficiently and cut out bureaucracy, something we already have too much of in Washington.”
“So does Bob Menendez have a proposal to improve the way we spend money on highway construction and improvement? You’ll have to ask him. Because while he was busy engaging in class warfare, conjuring up imagery of destruction and famine, he forgot to mention it,” Linker added.
>Araya Rebirth Hosts Diaper Drive
Mon, August 01, 2011 – Sat, October 01, 2011
Time: 12:00 AM
Location: Araya Rebirth Spa, 10 Garber Square, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Araya Rebirth is hosting a Diaper Drive during the months of August and September. Araya will be collecting diapers in closed packages to donate to the Childrens Aid and Youth Services in support of their belief that acting locally helps build our surrounding communities. Please help by bringing any donations to Araya Rebirth Spa at 10 Garber Square in Ridgewood. For more info contact (201) 445-7005.
Gov. Chris Christie won’t rule out toll hikes on Port Authority bridges and tunnels
Gov. Chris Christie today would not rule out a toll increase for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s bridges and tunnels, saying he would first listen to the public and confer with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo before making a decision.
“Gov. Cuomo and I want to do it in concert with each other to make sure that (a toll increase) has the power and authority of both governors who have supervision over the Port Authority,” Christie said. “There are going to be public hearings next week. We’re waiting to see the results of those, get some reaction, some formal reaction from the public.”
A spokesman for Cuomo did not return calls tonight.
The two governors have veto power over all Port Authority actions. (Strunsky and Spoto, The Star-Ledger)
>Ridgewood Schools :The focus of RPS is on social-emotional learning
After reading the BOE minutes of June 13, I sincerely doubt that our schools have the time, nor the resources, to address readiness for college and careers. The focus of RPS is on social-emotional learning.
Forget about math and english. We must teach our children to apply social-emotional learning skills. We must have culturally appropriate instruction and address the social dimensions of academic learning. Our kids must work in small groups baking cookies with a teacher.
This innovative educational agenda does not come cheap. Resources will be used to train teachers in social-emotional learning, and also social skills training for lunch aides. Of course other money will be spent to supplement school libraries with texts about social emotional issues.
Maybe the “alternative homework” being considered can be used to address some of those not-so-important aspects of education, like math and English.
Of Coarse : NJ Transit derailment renews calls for second tunnel under Hudson River to Manhattan
Never let a crisis go to waste
The area between New York Penn Station and the Hudson River train tunnel resembles a big bowl of spaghetti, with wires and tracks and trains veering in every direction.
Even on a normal day, it is a delicate dance to make the system work for the 1,300 trains that pass through the tunnel each day.
But throw in what NJ Transit calls a “minor derailment” and you have two mornings of hellish commutes, overheated train riders and news releases with I-told-you-so’s from advocates of an additional commuter rail tunnel from Secaucus to midtown Manhattan.
Twenty eight hours after two train cars derailed outside the Hudson River train tunnel, rail operations resumed without interruptions at around noon today. (Frassinelli, The Star-Ledger)
Jobs: three large manufacturers in South Jersey announced they would shut down
In a span of only a few months, three large manufacturers in South Jersey announced they would shut down, shedding more than 500 jobs and leaving almost 1 million square feet of factory space idle.
It is, in part, a reflection of a sharp decline in consumer spending.
But the closures also are part of a trend toward companies growing still leaner and meaner, jettisoning property and personnel to cut costs.
“People are buying less, so manufacturers are not producing as much,” says Philip Kirschner, CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, a Trenton-based trade group representing 22,000 state businesses. “We also know that companies are looking for cheaper places to operate and in New Jersey real estate and labor are more expensive.” (Smith, Gannett)
Eight states have raised their standards for passing elementary-school math and reading tests in recent years, but these states and most others still fall below national benchmarks, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
The data help explain the disconnect between the relatively high pass rates on many state tests and the low scores on the national exams, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
In fourth-grade reading, for example, 35 states set passing bars that are below the “basic” level on the national NAEP exam. “Basic” means students have a satisfactory understanding of material, as opposed to “proficient,” which means they have a solid grasp of it. Massachusetts is the only state to set its bar at “proficient”—and that was only in fourth- and eighth-grade math. (Banchero, The Wall Street Journal)
>Start of new NJEA prescription drug plan delayed in N.J.
The new labor-management committee charged with creating new health benefit plans for teachers and educators this week delayed implementation of a new prescription drug plan designed to save New Jersey $49 million.
Representatives of the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, requested extra time to study the matter. Union members want about half of the savings to be used to lower drug co-pays for retirees.
The move came days after union members of another committee, charged with creating health plans for most rank-and-file state and local government workers, also delayed action on the drug plan, which was recommended by the state’s consultant firm, Aon Hewitt. (Method, Gannett)
Gov. Chris Christie Judges out of order on pension pay protest
Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t think much of the lawsuit seeking to exempt judges from the new pension and benefit reform law.
The argument, when the case is heard by Mercer County Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg on Sept. 16, will center on whether the law violates the state constitution by making the judges pay more into the pension plan.
“This lawsuit by the judges is absurd. They should be ashamed of themselves,’’ Christie said at a news conference in Burlington City this week. “These are the highest-paid people in state government, $165,000 a year, and after 10 years they’re entitled to a full pension. The average judge in New Jersey puts $50,000 into the pension fund and in their first year they get paid $107,000. In the first six months into their retirement they exhaust what they put in and the rest is on the back of the taxpayers. And they’re suing over this?” (Jordan, Gannett)
We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.
Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.
Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family. https://www.physorg.com/news170614271.htmlhttps://itgrunts.com/2010/10/07/facebook-steals-numbers-and-data-from-your-iph….
You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.
The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.
Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.
This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.
We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us
> Summer Sizzles at A Mano: Mozzarella Making and Homemade
Pasta Demonstration – August 18th
Delivery to Ridgewood Residents Begins August 15
Ridgewood New Jersey’s authentic Neapolitan trattoria A Mano, will host a delicious demonstration featuring the tasty techniques of preparing fresh pasta and mouthwatering mozzarella, from traditional ingredients to classic methods. Taking place on Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 6:00 PM by reservation only, the demonstration will reveal some of the savory secrets behind A Mano’s key dishes.Guests will take an up close look at the art of making fresh egg pasta, from dough making and rolling, to pasta cutting and other expert techniques used to create favorite homemade pastas featured on A Mano’s menu which includes: Homemade Lasagna Bolognese, Vegetable Lasagna, Pappardelle ai Funghi (wide ribbon pasta with assorted wild mushrooms),
Tagliatelle Bolognese (ribbon pasta with classic meat sauce) and Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce, basil and homemade
mozzarella).
Also to be demonstrated, is the craft of making melt-in-your-mouth mozzarella, including stretching, forming and setting the cheese. In addition to topping A Mano’s authentic Neapolitan wood fired pizzas with mozzarella that is made on site daily, the fresh cheese also appears in recipes of signature dishes such as the Mozzarella Pinwheel (handcrafted mozzarella roll with proscuitto and grilled vegetables), Caprese Salad (mozzarella, vine-ripe tomatoes, basil and extra virgin olive oil) and more.The cost of the demonstration is $10 per person, which will be credited towards dinner immediately following the event, should guests choose to enjoy a meal at A Mano.
In other news, soon A Mano will bring the taste of Naples to the door steps of Ridgewood residents. Mondays through Thursdays beginning August 15th, A Mano will deliver it’s authentic Neapolitan cuisine to homes in the Village, with plans to expand delivery in the future.
What: Educational homemade pasta and mozzarella making demonstration ($10 per person) at A Mano, in Ridgewood, NJ
When: Thursday, August 18th, 6:00 PM, by reservation only
Where: A Mano – 24 Franklin Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Telephone: 201.493.2000
Website: www.amanopizza.com
Reservations Required: Limited engagement. Please call A Mano for reservations.
The state’s senior economist said Tuesday that despite growing unease over the nation’s shaky economy, he is not revising his positive outlook for New Jersey.
“We expect the unemployment rate to go down and incomes to rise, maybe not as rapidly as we would like, but that’s what we expect,” said Charles Steindel, chief economist for the New Jersey Department of Treasury.
Steindel’s cautious optimism comes in the wake of a dizzying dose of bad economic news, starting with Standard & Poor’s historic decision Friday to downgrade the federal government’s credit rating, which sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting by 635 points on Monday, the sixth-largest decline in its history. (Renshaw, The Star-Ledger)
Every school year brings changes and challenges, but few are as formidable as the one now facing administrators: implementing the state’s new anti-bullying law.
The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights requires districts to have a host of new procedures and protocols in place when schools open their doors, strengthening the rules put in place in 2002 and 2007.
These include requirements that spell out the specific number of days allowed for a case to be reported, investigated and resolved. The law also expands the definitions of bullying, including the tricky issue of online or electronic harassment taking place outside of school.
More than 1,000 school administrators have gone to day-long training sessions across the state over the past month, organized by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey School Boards Association. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
