Month: November 2012

Start the Christmas Season at Bethlehem With Greg Caldarone and The NJ Brass Quintet
Sunday Dec. 2

The members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church invite everyone to a Christmas concert on Sunday, December 2 at 3:00PM. Please join us for this free concert at in our sanctuary located at 155 Linwood Ave. in Ridgewood, NJ. We will be celebrating the blessed birth
of Christ and the love of family and friends. What better place than Bethlehem to start off the Christmas season!

The concert will feature classic and contemporary Christmas songs and instrumentals plus a carol sing along. Greg Caldarone and The New Jersey Brass Quintet, accompanied by Bethlehem’s organist and pianist Elena Crudge, will perform a free concert “Christmas: The Joy and Spirit 2012”. Come celebrate this joyous time of year with old classics and contemporary Christmas favorites. The NJ Brass Quintet is a fabulous ensemble that will immediately give you that warm wonderful feeling of an old fashioned Christmas. Greg Calderone will feature some classic Christmas songs as well as some newer ones.

Greg Caldarone, award winning singer/recording artist, has been sharing his vocal talents in our local churches and establishments for several years. He will feature Christmas classics such as “O Holy Night” and “Gesu Bambino” as well as more recent songs such as Mark Lowry’s “Mary Did You Know?” and of course Michael Card’s ” Joseph’s Song” (a signature for him). .

The New Jersey Brass Quintet will be performing a special holiday concert featuring music from their CD “Christmas; The Joy and Spirit” They will perform Christmas; The Joy and Spirit.

There will also be a sing along to get us all in the spirit of Christmas. The sing along will include “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “What Child Is This”, “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “Hark the Herald Angels” and “Joy to the World”.

The New Jersey Brass Quintet is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the cultural enrichment of the community in which it serves. The musical ensemble’s programs include educationally oriented children’s concerts, park concerts in a “Village Brass
Band” setting, and special concerts for various occasions in addition to traditional

chamber music concerts. Its repertoire ranges from earliest madrigals to the most contemporary compositions available.

The dedicated professional musicians that compose the NJBQ bring a high degree of talent and creativity to the ensemble. Each member of the quintet is an experienced educator as well as an accomplished performer.

Greg Caldarone is a singer/entertainer/ recording artist, specializing in popular standards and Italian favorites, recipient of the Universal Jazz Coalitions “Dakota Staton Award”. Also a professional song leader. Greg will include Michael Card’s “Joseph’s Song”, A song that is frequently requested of him at Christmas. He has been a song leader in music ministries in our community for over 20 years. For more about Greg Caldarone go to https://www.gregcaldarone.com/

We truly hope to see you and wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a beautiful finish for 2012. Admission is free, however a free will offering will be welcome. CDs by both Greg Caldarone and The NJ Brass Quintet will be available at the concert.

The members of Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ridgewood want you to know that God has a plan for you and he loves you. Our faith is in Christ. Our guide is in the Bible. Our love is for all. Come celebrate with us. We offer 2 Sunday services:
Contemporary Praise Service at 8:45am and Traditional Worship at 11am with Sunday School and Bible Class at 10am. Please join us at 155 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood.

U.S. to Pass Saudi Arabia in Energy Production, IEA Says: Huge Foreign Policy, Economic Implications
By Morgan Korn | Daily Ticker – 16 hours ago

A new report by the International Energy Association says the U.S. will become the world’s largest oil producer by 2017, overtaking current leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia. U.S. energy policies initiated by the George W. Bush administration and implemented by President Barack Obama have moved the U.S. toward energy independence and away from Middle East energy sources. U.S. oil production has risen rapidly since 2008 and oil imports are at their lowest level in two decades.

“North America is at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and gas production that will affect all regions of the world, yet the potential also exists for a similarly transformative shift in global energy efficiency,” says IEA Executive Director Marian von der Hoeven in a statement.

The IEA also says the U.S. could become self-sufficient in energy by 2035 and a net exporter of natural gas by 2020. The Obama administration’s push to develop and grow domestic natural gas capabilities has led to a natural gas drilling boom. Production has jumped 15% in four years but the glut in natural gas supplies have also caused the price of natural gas to plummet. According to the White House, the U.S. holds a 100-year supply of natural gas and domestic production is at an all-time high. The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task and Henry Blodget both agree that the explosion in domestic energy production could alter the geopolitical landscape and U.S. labor market.

“The foreign policy implications are maybe even bigger than the economic ones,” says Task.

https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/u-pass-saudi-arabia-energy-production-iea-says-170907660.html

Most in US won’t be able to escape ‘fiscal cliff’
Tue, Nov 13, 2012, 9:28AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Everyone who pays income tax — and some who don’t —will feel it.

So will doctors who accept Medicare, people who get unemployment aid, defense contractors, air traffic controllers, national park rangers and companies that do research and development.

The package of tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” takes effect in January unless Congress passes a budget deal by then. The economy would be hit so hard that it would likely sink into recession in the first half of 2013, economists say.

And no matter who you are, it will be all but impossible to avoid the pain.

Middle income families would have to pay an average of about $2,000 more next year, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has calculated.

Up to 3.4 million jobs would be lost, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. The unemployment rate would reach 9.1 percent from the current 7.9 percent. Stocks could plunge. The nonpartisan CBO estimates the total cost of the cliff in 2013 at $671 billion.

Collectively, the tax increases would be the steepest to hit Americans in 60 years when measured as a percentage of the economy.

https://tinyurl.com/b7ngnbz

Mike Cutler “The Threat of Illegal Immigration” Tonight at the Larkin House

West Bergen Tea Party Meeting 7 pm, Tuesday, November 13 at the Larkin House

West Bergen Tea Party Meeting features guest speaker Mike Cutler

“The Threat of Illegal Immigration”

Join us 7 pm Tuesday November 13
at the Larkin House,  380 Godwin Avenue, Wyckoff
(1/4 mile North of Stop & Shop on the right)
More information: 201 891-5918
conserative_caucus@verison.net
https://www.westbergenteaparty.com/

The Valley Hospital : Hypnosis for Weight Control Program Set for December 5

On Wednesday, December 5 beginning at 7 p.m.,The Valley Hospital will sponsor a two-hour Weight Loss Program that will provide behavior modification and hypnotic suggestions to participants so they can make permanent lifestyle changes to lose weight  naturally and successfully.

It is widely known that going on a diet doesn’t address the reasons for overeating.  Often, people cling to unproductive habits such as overeating to ease stress or relieve boredom.  This program will address the internal and external triggers of these unproductive habits by using hypnotic suggestion and behavior modification techniques to recognize them.

Hypnosis is a universal way of reaching the subconscious mind and effectively communicating new ideas and suggestions to enhance motivation and change.  When a person understands why they overeat, they can make subtle changes to reduce their weight without feeling denied or deprived.  By communicating in a relaxed – or hypnotic – state of mind, internal strengths and resources are brought to light, alternative behavior patterns are discovered, motivation is increased, and the self-confidence to overcome the unhealthy habit is achieved.

Participants in the program receive a 30-day reinforcement audiotape and a series of behavior modification cards to be used daily as positive reinforcement.  The program fee is $75, which includes the cost of materials and revisits to future seminars for one year for reinforcement.

conduct the program.  Ms. Van Duyne has more than five years experience in the field of habit control.  She has conducted wellness programs on a monthly basis in more than 20 hospitals through out New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.  She is a member of the International Association of Counselors and Therapist and the National Guild of Hypnotics.

For more information, or to register, please call 1-800-VALLEY 1 (1-800-825-5391).

Skype rats out alleged WikiLeaks supporter without waiting for court warrant
Published: 12 November, 2012, 21:14

Say goodbye to online service providers protecting the identities of their users. With just a bit of begging, a Texas-based intelligence firm succeeded in convincing Skype to send over sensitive account data pertaining to a teenage WikiLeaks fan.

Reports out of Amsterdam this week suggest that Microsoft-owned Skype didn’t wait for a court order or warrant with a judge’s signature before it handed over the personal info of a 16-year-old Dutch boy. The youngster was suspected of being involved in Operation Payback, an Anonymous-endorsed initiative that targeted the servers of PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and others after those companies blocked WikiLeaks from receiving online payment backs in December 2010. When hacktivists responded to the blockade by overflowing the servers of those sites with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, PayPal asked Dallas, Texas’ iSIGHT Partners Inc., a self-described“global cyber intelligence firm,” to investigate.

https://rt.com/usa/news/skype-warrant-dutch-isight-530/

photo from Ingridcamacho’s Weblog

Carlo’s Bakery in Ridgewood delays its opening
November 13,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, According to the Bergen Record’s Elis Ung ( https://blog.northjersey.com/secondhelpings/2452/carlos-bakery-update/ ) , Carlo’s Bakery construction has been delayed due to super storm Sandy

The “Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro’s upcoming Ridgewood bakery, which had been scheduled to open this month, suffered some setbacks from superstorm Sandy, but you can still look forward to some holiday goodies.

Spokesman Adam Bourcier says the bakery is now looking at a December opening. www. carlosbakery.com

Ridgewood High School Annual Alumni Art Show

CALL FOR ENTRIES: RHS ANNUAL ALUMNI ART SHOW

The Ridgewood High School Department of Art & Design seeks alumni to participate in the Eighth Annual Alumni Art Show. Last year’s show was a great success and we hope to reach even more of our alumni this year. The exhibition will be a show of work created after graduating from RHS. It will be held in the Carroll Art Gallery, Room 135, from December 17, 2012– January 4, 2013. There will be a reception for the artists on Thursday, January 3, 2013, from 3-5 p.m. Anyone interested in participating should contact the Department of Art & Design at 201-670-2800 ext. 20542, or email the department in care of Barbara Noto at bnoto@ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

All students, alumni, friends, family and staff are invited to the reception as well as to view the exhibition. The Gallery is open during school hours.

Ridgewood officials to reopen talks on parking at high school
MONDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2012, 2:36 PM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Village Council and Ridgewood school officials will reopen discussion on the feasibility of improved parking at Ridgewood High School (RHS).

Mayor Paul Aronsohn said that he and Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck recently met with district officials about a parking plan that would impact Heermance Place as well as other village roads in the high school’s vicinity.

At last week’s council work session, Aronsohn said he would like to invite Superintendent Daniel Fishbein and Board of Education President Sheila Brogan to a future meeting and present the proposal.

Earlier this year, the Ridgewood Council struck down a district plan that called for the village to designate 12 parking spots on Heermance, the one-way road that runs in front of RHS, as staff-only parking. At the time, those spaces were open to faculty and students on a first-come, first serve basis.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/178954771_Ridgewood_officials_to_reopen_talks_on_parking_at_high_school.html

Readers says Business will pay for Obamacare ,by raising prices, cutting employee hours or reducing staff

Well I’m sure your clients will be happy to know that you will readily jack up your prices and pass on all of your additional Obamacare overhead costs to them, rather than looking for ways to offset these burdensome regulatory costs by reducing some of your other costs – including reducing staff if that is what it takes to keep your unit prices level.

No one wants to reduce staff, but when faced with the choice of keeping your clients (by keeping the costs of your goods or services at a reasonable level even if it means reducing staff) OR raising your prices by passing on 100% of your Obamacare costs to them and subsequently losing at least some clients which ironically would force you to reduce staff anyway in the long run, the smart businessman will offset the regulatory costs in any way possible.

Besides, when raising prices to your clients don’t you want to keep the increase as profit, rather than raising prices just to pay another government fee?

Not knowing exactly what your “ten million dollar” figure represents – net or gross, sales, income, revenue, etc… and not knowing what market segment you are in, I will go out on a limb and assume that you are talking about some gross revenue number and realizing that 10M in revenue is not particularly large in most markets, I still do not know why you would want to raise your prices – with all of the negative connotations associated with a price hike (especially during an economic downturn) and get none of the benefits (profits)?

Not good business.
No one likes to fire anyone, but sometimes you are forced into this situation and it needs to be done to save the entire business. It is even more disturbing if you are forced into this situation by an onerous government regulation.

You need to decide if you are running a business (no matter how small it is) or if you are running a charity

Wealthy Dump Assets Amid Worries About Going Over ‘Cliff’
Published: Monday, 12 Nov 2012 | 5:05 PM ET Text Size
By: Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter & Editor

For many of the wealthy, 2012 is becoming a good year to sell.

They’re worried about the “fiscal cliff,” which is when tax cuts expire and spending cuts are set to go into effect at the end of the year.

Fearing an increase in capital gains and dividend taxes, many of the rich are unloading stocks, businesses and homes before the end of the year.

Wealth advisors say that with capital-gains taxes potentially going to 25 percent from 15 percent, and other possible increases in the dividend tax, estate tax and other taxes, many clients are selling now to save millions in taxes.

“Under almost any scenario, it makes sense to take the gains this year,” said Gregory Curtis, chairman and managing director of Greycourt & Co. “Clients aren’t selling willy nilly. But if they can and they have a huge gain, they’re selling now.”

https://www.cnbc.com/id/49792979

Gas rationing to end at 6 a.m. Tuesday 
November 12, 2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ ,Governor Christie announced that New Jersey’s gas rationing system, put in place in 12 northern counties to deal with fuel shortages after super storm Sandy will officially come to an end tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.

At a mid day press conference in Middletown, Christie said the state’s gas supplies are now plentiful and that the long lines of motorists waiting to fill up after the storm have all but disappeared.

Christie had claimed correctly that the gas lines were caused by a combination of gas station power outages and logistical obstacles rather than a shortage of gasoline in the state.

Super storm Sandy not only took Port Newark out of commission, knocked out power to both gas terminals that feed gas stations as well as gas station pumps throughout North Jersey, which lead to hours-long lines.

Christie thanked Michele Brown head of the state’s Economic Development Authority, for leading the effort to solve the gas crisis, saying she coordinated a response with the White House and other federal officials.

How Would the Fiscal Cliff Affect Typical Families in Each State?

New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut Hardest Hit

Washington, D.C., November 12, 2012—Dramatic changes to both tax and spending policy at the federal level are scheduled to take place at the end of the current year unless Congress acts. On the tax side, the biggest potential change is the expiration of all Bush-era and Obama tax cuts, which will increase tax liabilities nationwide. Typical families in high-income and low-income states would be hit harder than typical families from middle-income states, with taxpayers in New Jersey, Maryland, and Connecticut seeing the largest jump in their tax bills, but with residents of Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia also among the top ten states, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation.

Additionally, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) has yet to be patched for the current tax year. Congress could pass a retroactive patch, as it has done in the past, which would apply to the current year as well as next year. If it does not, however, the AMT exemption level would revert to what it was twelve years ago, and certain credits (such as the Child Tax Credit) would no longer be allowed. If this were to happen, millions of middle-class taxpayers could see a substantial tax increase, which for some could be even larger than the change from the end of the Bush-era tax cuts.

Finally, the 2% temporary cut to employee-side social security payroll taxes is also scheduled to expire at the end of this year—a potential third tax increase that would affect the vast majority of taxpayers.

To illustrate the potential impact on typical families, the Tax Foundation has used U.S. Census and Internal Revenue Service data to estimate income and deductions for the median two-child family in each of the fifty states. That data is processed using the MyTaxBurden Tax Policy Calculator under two scenarios—2011 tax law (chosen because it is the latest year that an AMT patch was in effect), and 2013 law, assuming all Bush-era and Obama tax cuts expire and AMT remains unpatched.

While there are exceptions, the general pattern is median families in high-income and low-income states are more affected than those in middle-income states. Higher-income families would be disproportionately affected by the imminent AMT changes. At the opposite end, low-income states are disproportionately affected because the two tax increases from the end of the Bush-era tax cuts—the reduction in the child tax credit, the elimination of the 10% bracket, and the reduced standard deduction for married filers—represent fixed increases that do not depend on income.

Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 341, “How Would the Fiscal Cliff Affect Typical Families in Each State?” by Nick Kasprak is available here.

The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937. To schedule an interview, please contact Richard Morrison, the Tax Foundation’s Manager of Communications, at 202-464-5102 or morrison@taxfoundation.org.