Month: August 2012

Senator Michael Doherty: Lack of Prosecutions in MF Global Collapse “Beyond Suspicious”

Senator Michael Doherty (R-23) responded with dismay to published reports that prosecutions are unlikely following a criminal investigation into the collapse of MF Global and the disappearance of as much as $1.6 billion of customer funds.

“This is the first time in history that segregated funds held in customer accounts were raided by a financial firm to cover the firm’s losses,” said Doherty. “It’s almost unthinkable that the mega-rich executives at MF Global could loot the accounts of farmers and middle-class Americans and be allowed to get away with it.”

Days after it was revealed that customer funds were missing and MF Global declared bankruptcy, the firm’s CEO, former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, resigned.

A piece published in the New York Times indicated that although it has been confirmed that customer funds were tapped to pay the firm’s debts, in violation of the law, it is unlikely that criminal charges will be filed against Corzine or other of the firm’s top executives.

“How much does someone on Wall Street have to steal before Obama’s Justice Department will take action?” asked Doherty. “Isn’t $1 billion enough?”

Doherty noted that Corzine is among President Obama’s top bundlers, raising more than $500,000 for the President’s reelection campaign in the first quarter of 2012.

“President Obama’s ties to Jon Corzine and the lack of prosecutions of anyone at MF Global have to raise eyebrows,” said Doherty. “It looks to the average person like you can get away with anything if your political connections or fundraising abilities are good enough. The lack of prosecutions in this case is beyond suspicious.”

The article in the Times also noted that federal regulators may not proceed with civil enforcement actions or attempt to ban Corzine from future work on Wall Street. The paper cited sources close to Corzine who claimed he might be planning to start a new hedge fund.

“Corzine wants to return to Wall Street to continue adding to his millions while countless small investors of his old firm are still waiting for their life savings to be returned,” added Doherty. “Wall Street must be the only place where the federal government lets you return to the scene of the crime and get paid for it.”

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino responds to Donovan
POSTED ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 2:21 PM
BY JOHN ENSSLIN

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino – through his spokesman Richard Moriarity – responded Friday afternoon to the statement issued earlier in the day by County Executive Kathleen Donovan – on the issue of whether to merge the County Police into the Sheriff’s Office.

Here’s what the Sheriff’s office had to say:

“Once again, the County Executive is demonstrating that she is completely out of touch with the law enforcement consolidation discussion, and that is distressing. She is proving to be nothing more than the guardian of the bureaucracy and is willing to say anything to defend it. It is unfortunate that the County Executive chooses to pick fights with everyone; it has ultimately cost the taxpayers a fortune. She is wrong with everything she has asserted in her press release.

“The Sheriff has not promised a $17 million reduction in the Sheriff’s Office – the $17 million dollar figure is the potential savings put forth by the Guidepost Study by eliminating the County Police. The Executive’s office should have their facts in order before firing out subterfuge and fear to the public.

“Instead of attacking the Sheriff, the County Executive should thank him for his efforts at reducing the overall budget of Bergen County. Last year, the Sheriff’s Office alone represented over 60% of the overtime reduction in the county, cut the budget by the most of any single Sheriff in Bergen County history (over 1.7 million in real dollars) and cemented a contract that actually saves the taxpayers money .

read more

https://blog.northjersey.com/bergenbeat/4875/this-just-in-sheriff-responds-to-donovan/

There are thousands of dogs in Ridgewood and neighboring communities. That’s thousands of taxpayers who believe dogs are important to their families.

“Somewhere else?” Where exactly? There are thousands of dogs in Ridgewood and neighboring communities. That’s thousands of taxpayers who believe dogs are important to their families. And yet there is no adequate open space where these taxpayers can bring their dogs to socialize and exercise — both activities which lead to better behavior, less aggression, less barking, etc. The old park was an imposition on the homeowners because the county didn’t do its research and instead created the conditions that resulted in overcrowding and barking.

There is a new dog park to be built in Van Saun Park. With the open space there, I hope the county will learn from its experience at the Duck Pond and do it right this time.

Niall Ferguson: Obama’s Gotta Go
Aug 19, 2012 1:00 AM EDT

Why does Paul Ryan scare the president so much? Because Obama has broken his promises, and it’s clear that the GOP ticket’s path to prosperity is our only hope.

I was a good loser four years ago. “In the grand scheme of history,” I wrote the day after Barack Obama’s election as president, “four decades is not an especially long time. Yet in that brief period America has gone from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to the apotheosis of Barack Obama. You would not be human if you failed to acknowledge this as a cause for great rejoicing.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html

Free Speech In A Time Of Authoritarian Politics
Posted on August 14, 2012, 8:00 PM

Last week, we examined the state of degradation that now besets that most representative branch of New Jersey’s government – the Legislature. In doing so, we described the fear among both Republicans and Democrats:

The New Jersey Legislature has now reached the point at which it must even look on itself as a running joke. Think of it! Talented men and women who run for office filled with ideas – an office for which they have to beg for support from political organizations, beg for money from special interests, and then beg for votes from their neighbors – only to find that they have landed a $49,000-a-year job with few perks and little authority. A junior staff member in the Executive Branch outranks a legislator – and earns a lot more.

On the Republican side, junior staffers regularly invade the caucus to watch omnipresent and report back on the slightest divergence from the party line. They are the carrion crows of a dead caucus, picking at the slightest movement and squawking loudly. The “elected representatives of the people” fear them, as they fear the dreaded call to the “front office” for some discipline.

But the Democrats are even worse. The leadership of the Assembly is cut and carved up by a cabal of party bosses – with the top jobs going to those least likely to exhibit an independent thought. So the Assembly Speakership goes to an administrative assistant working in the office of the underboss of the North Jersey Democrat “family” – one of the three “families” who run New Jersey politics.

The bosses collect legislators like gems and flaunt their opulent control over the “people’s chambers”. For instance, if this underboss needs to flex a little muscle over the state budget, there is a State Senator working in his office who serves on the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

https://conservativenewjersey.com/free-speech-in-a-time-of-authoritarian-politics

Bob Menendez: Writing Letters for Big Bank Pals
August 15th 2012

Senator Menendez may not enjoy receiving letters inviting him to debate jobs and the economy, but he doesn’t mind sending letters, especially when he’s doing the bidding for his big bank pals. According to the Wall Street Journal, Senator Menendez wrote a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The letter from Menendez, called “grotesquely inappropriate” by a nonpartisan bank regulator, urged the Fed to approve the sale of the failing First Bank Americano in 2009.

Despite the bank being ordered by the FDIC in 2007 to cease and desist from operating with inadequate loan policies, violating the Bank Secrecy Act, operating with insufficient asset coverage and operating without an adequate anti-money laundering compliance program, Senator Menendez penned the missive in defense of the Bank and its Chairman and chief Menendez donor Joseph Ginarte. Apparently, $30,000 buys more than a postage stamp in Washington and has earned the Outrage of the Week.

“It’s outrageous that Senator Menendez would rather send letters for big bank donor pals than receive a letter inviting him to debate,” said Kyrillos Campaign Manager Chapin Fay.

“Perhaps what was not in the envelope offended him. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that after taking over $8 million in special interest money, Bob Menendez ain’t fighting for the middle class.”

New Tatuaje’s are now in stock!

Cojonu 2012 Habano – 3rd and final installment of the 2012 series

Fausto FT114 – Short robusto size added to the successful Fausto line

Avion 2012 – This year’s limited release of Avion in a new smaller size

La Casita Criolla HCB – Broadleaf Puro with an extremely smooth flavor

Now available at
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
~Gary, Barbara and Collin
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: info@tobaccoshop.com
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM

The Paul Ryan Primer: Medicare, Medicaid and Why His VP Nomination Matters
Written by Molly Gamble | August 14, 2012

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney named Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as vice presidential nominee last week. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Mr. Ryan is heavily involved in fiscal policy and has outlined plans to address the growing costs of Medicare and Medicaid. While Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan agree on repealing President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, Mr. Ryan has some ideas of his own to curb the rising expenses within the two major federal healthcare programs.

Medicare
Mr. Ryan has called Medicare “the big budget issue,” and he has stood by his plan that involves significant changes to address the program’s costs. Although known for his fiscal conservatism, Mr. Ryan has sometimes worked across the aisle and collaborated with Democrats such as Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Alice M. Rivlin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, to establish his plan for Medicare.

The Obama administration’s $700 billion reduction in Medicare spending is one matter in which Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan differ. While Mr. Romney would reverse that reduction, along with the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mr. Ryan has called to maintain those cuts and redirect the savings into a Medicare trust fund. Nearly every House Republican has backed Mr. Ryan’s plan, whereas Mr. Romney continues to advocate a full-force repeal of the PPACA. Some attribute this disagreement to Mr. Ryan’s more textured understanding of math and politics and Mr. Romney’s long-held political stance against “Obamacare” and his opposition to lessen it at this point in the campaign.

In his fiscal year 2013 budget resolution, The Pathway to Prosperity, Mr. Ryan advocates a premium support payment program for Medicare, which some refer to as a voucher program, that would begin in 2023. The program would affect people who are now 54 and younger. Seniors who choose to accept the premium support payments — which would have capped annual increases — would use them to purchase health insurance in a private Medicare marketplace. This could be a private insurance plan that is still regulated by the government or a government-run program, much like traditional Medicare.

Through competition, Mr. Ryan has said this Medicare marketplace would ideally reward providers who offer high-quality and low-cost care. Seniors who choose plans with more benefits would then pay more out of their own pockets. “It’s better to have a system where the beneficiary is the driver and the decision maker, where she gets to decide among competing providers for her benefit,” Mr. Ryan has previously told reporters.

Mr. Ryan’s plans for Medicare also include gradually raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67 by 2034. He would also cap the Medicare growth rate after 2023 so that it does not exceed the growth rate of the economy, plus an additional 0.5 percent.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/news-analysis/the-paul-ryan-primer-medicare-medicaid-and-why-his-vp-nomination-matters.html

Graydon Swim Team captures three titles at NJPMA meet

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Nine members of Ridgewood’s Graydon Swim Team – five girls and four boys – capped the summer season by reaching the individual finals of the 53rd New Jersey Pool Managers Association (NJPMA) Swim Championships, held last Saturday at Hillsdale’s Stony Brook Swim Club.

The week-long event, which also includes several relay finals at various sites in Bergen County, is for all intents and purposes a summer county meet, so Graydon can lay claim to a trio of county titles.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/166505086_Graydon_Swim_Team_captures_three_titles_at_NJPMA_meet.html

file photo by Boyd Loving

DWI crackdown under way in Ridgewood

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012, 2:34 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Starting tonight, residents planning to go out for drinks will be getting an extra reminder to be responsible.

From Aug. 17 through Sept. 3, the Ridgewood Police Department will be cracking down on intoxicated drivers. While the department is always on the lookout for drivers breaking the law, the extra crackdown is part of a national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.

In the village, and on state and national roadways, roving patrols will be on the lookout for motorists who appear to be driving under the influence. There may also be a checkpoint, Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward said.

Although the campaign was launched nationwide several years ago, it has been enforced at different times in the village depending on when grant money to run the campaign was offered by New Jersey’s Division of Highway Traffic Safety.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/166564226_DWI_crackdown_under_way_in_Ridgewood.html

Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July, the most states to show a monthly increase in more than three years and a reflection of weak hiring nationwide.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates fell in only two states and were unchanged in four.
Unemployment rates rose in nine states that are considered battlegrounds in the presidential election. That trend, if it continued, could pose a threat to President Barack Obama’s re-election bid in less than three months.

Nationwide, hiring improved in July after three months of tepid job gains. But the national unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent. Monthly job gains have averaged 150,000 this year. That’s barely enough to accommodate population growth. As a result, the unemployment rate is the same as when the year began.
Still, 31 states gained jobs in July, while 19 lost them. Unemployment rates can rise in a state even when more jobs are created if more people start looking for work. People who are out of work are counted as unemployed only if they’re looking for a job.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/17/unemployment-rates-rose-44-us-states-july/