NFL players: Three out of four own guns
David Leon Moore, USA TODAY SportsShare
11:12AM EST December 7. 2012
NFL players say they need to own guns for protection, and that hasn’t changed despite the Jovan Belcher shootings.
Most players say Jovan Belcher murder-suicide will not change attitudes”I was always shocked at the number,” says former coach Tony Dungy of gun ownershipMany cite 2007 death of Sean Taylor from home invasion as motivation for buying guns
Former NFL running back Thomas Jones was always around guns, long before he became a football-carrying member of that unofficial gun club within the National Football League.
As a kid, he and his buddies fired guns in the woods in Big Stone Gap, Va. They’d shoot bottles and go hunting.
His dad had guns.
Jones bought his first gun his senior year at the University of Virginia, and, as a rookie with the Arizona Cardinals a dozen years ago, he learned quickly that guns were an ingrained part of the NFL culture.
Chanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev.
Chanukkah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs, such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation and the suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated, secular holiday on our calendar.
The Story
The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.
More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.
According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.
An Anonymous Act of Kindness
December 8th 2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , An anonymous good Samaritan helped helped a gentleman who had fallen near the Ridgewood Dunkin Donuts the Friday before last .
Ray Graglia from Rutherford was so moved by the anonymous act of kindness that he wrote a letter to the Ridgewood News in which he recounted his tale and to thank whom ever had helped him out.
Graglia wrote ,” On Friday, Nov. 30, I visited some friends in Hawthorne. That evening one took me to the train station in Ridgewood, as I live in Rutherford and it’s on the NJ Transit Bergen Line as is Ridgewood. I went to the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street, bought a coffee and roll and started crossing the street to the train station. I walk with a cane now, as a result of a heart attack and brain injury I suffered on Jan. 3, 2010.
There are gratings in the street and my cane must have slipped on them and I fell. Within a few minutes a woman came and aided me and helped me up. She could have easily walked on by.” ( https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/182486121_Letter__A_thank_you_to_an_anonymous_good_Samaritan.html
He went on to say , “She gave life to the saying “the kindness of strangers.” I did not get her name and this is my small way of thanking her.”
Ridgewood council hopes to form tree commission in wake of Sandy
FRIDAY DECEMBER 7, 2012, 3:25 PM
BY EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – The Village Council hopes to establish a shade tree commission early next year that will clarify and define arbor policy in the wake of superstorm Sandy.
“Up until now our Zoning Board, Planning Board, and Building Department really never had a tangible shade tree ordinance” for the village and personal property owners, said Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh.
Walsh, the Ridgewood Environmental Advisory Committee chair, said it is long overdue.
“Most towns have a policy, an ordinance in effect,” Walsh said. “Each town has dealt with it in its own way.” Right now, there is nothing (firm) on the books that require a developer, for example, to replace trees that are taken down, she said.
A shade tree commission — especially in the wake of the outages and difficulties for the utilities from Sandy at the end of October — would define what goes on rights of way. The commission will also address tree ownership and tree replacement options.
“A NATION IN TRANSITION “
December 5,2012
Sue Tovey
It’s the season of christmas trees and sugar plum fairies and all should be right with the world.
However, that is not where things stand in parts of suburban America today, despite streets lined with sparkling new automoblies filled with busy occupants racing to and from the stores, children’s athletic events and other destinations of import.
There is a strange pall over this image of oppulence and purpose. Where is the ready smile that goes with the holidays? Is there a preoccupation present within this scene of American holiday spirit as we have always known it? I dare say for many, there is a subliminal feeling of change, a lack of certainty and a schooled apprehension in the air.
Of course, the economic situation, natural disasters and the all pervasive hand of governmental uncertainty is in the air now, and for the year to come. No one is sure of what lies ahead with a lack of jobs, increased demands on the individual tax payer, inflation, and the increasing cost of Obamacare on the horizon, along with a fragmennted foreign policy hitched to a diminishing military and a budgetless Congress, just for starters. This reminds me of being at the wheel of an automobile with half your brakes gone, and a steering mechanism which is no longer responding to the touch. OOPS! This spells an accident going some place to happen!
How did this all come about?
Surely a slippage of this magnitude could not happen in America!
Well, Sally, take a breath, it has!
Where did we, the citizens, lose control of our own destiny?
Where is that ” American dream” we hear talked about all the time?
The picture is multi faceted. A case and point could be made from a number of different areas of our society. However, there is no doubt that the horse is running away with the wagon ,and the road is a bumpy one ahead. We have even been sited recently by Pravda, the Russian newspaper, as marching rapidly toward Marxism under Obama. The socialist manipultaion of our cuklture has been robust in recent years, along with the gradual bypassing of the US Constitution by the Congress and the Executive branch of government.
In the meantime, many are still recovering from the election. I would venture to say that very few are even aware of the numerous voting irregularities that are now being investigated throughout the country today.
What has happened to our two party system? Hiow could we have a 16 trillion dollar debt with a so called representative government? What has happened to fiscal responsibility in Congress?
It is past time for all of us to ask these questions, regardless of party.
There is a truism here which many have forgotten or perhaps have never known and that is:
“GOVERNMENT HAS NOTHING THAT IT HAS NOT TAKEN FROM YOU!”
If the American people have reached the point where they want to surrender their freedom to a central government, which was established to protect our rights, not take them away, and to allow them to walk away from their primary constitutional objective in defending this nation, then,’ HAPPY NEW YEAR” everybody. You have just surrendered to the unrelenting hand of a government that has total control of you and yours in mind, using your money to turn the trick!
Are we ready to surrender everything our forefathers have fought and died for?
I think not. How about you?
Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears Fears that the end of the world is nigh have spread across the world with only days until the end of the Mayan calendar, with doomsday-mongers predicting a cataclysmic end to the history of Earth.
By Nick Allen, Los Angeles, Malcolm Moore in Beijing and Tom Parfitt in Moscow6:42PM GMT 07 Dec 2012432 Comments
Ahead of December 21, which marks the conclusion of the 5,125-year “Long Count” Mayan calendar, panic buying of candles and essentials has been reported in China and Russia, along with an explosion in sales of survival shelters in America. In France believers were preparing to converge on a mountain where they believe aliens will rescue them.
The precise manner of Armageddon remains vague, ranging from a catastrophic celestial collision between Earth and the mythical planet Nibiru, also known as Planet X, a disastrous crash with a comet, or the annihilation of civilisation by a giant solar storm.
In America Ron Hubbard, a manufacturer of hi-tech underground survival shelters, has seen his business explode.
“We’ve gone from one a month to one a day,” he said. “I don’t have an opinion on the Mayan calendar but, when astrophysicists come to me, buy my shelters and tell me to be prepared for solar flares, radiation, EMPs (electromagnetic pulses) … I’m going underground on the 19th and coming out on the 23rd. It’s just in case anybody’s right.”
IBM will switch from matching employee contributions to their 401(k) plans twice a month to once a year The move may set a precedent for companies looking for savings in employee benefits IBM Draws Flak for Change to 401(k) Plan
By Sarah Frier – Dec 7, 2012 12:08 PM ET
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), the largest computer-services provider, drew fire from a worker organization for a change to its 401(k) retirement plan that cuts the frequency of company contributions to once a year.
The company will switch from matching employee contributions to their 401(k) plans twice a month to every Dec. 15, a move that “shortchanges IBM employees,” Alliance@IBM said on its website. While the amount that employees receive isn’t changing, workers who leave or are fired before Dec. 15 won’t get their payment for the year.
IBM said the change was made to help keep the company competitive. The move may set a precedent for companies looking for savings in employee benefits, said Dan Kravitz, president of Kravitz Inc., which administers about 1,000 retirement plans.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if other employers started to look at this for their plan,” Kravitz said in an interview. “Requiring employees to stay through the end of the year to get a match would be pretty significant cost savings for such a large employer.”
Exhibit at Cottage Gallery features pastels and oils
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2012
BY EILEEN LA FORGIA
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
“On my birthday 20 years ago, I asked my friends to buy me a good easel,” said Dana G. Abel of Ridgewood. The rest is art history, as they say.
Her love of art and her desire to paint began in her native Poland. Her father was a “Sunday painter.” She had wanted to study art but felt the life of a starving artist would be too difficult. She studied mathematics at Warsaw University instead and she met her future husband, an adjunct professor, there.
In 1979 the couple and their son came to the United States looking for opportunities. First they lived in Hackensack, and 18 years ago they chose to live in Ridgewood, which she calls a charming town.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 7, 2012, 6:37 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Council will ask the Planning Board next week to develop recommendations for the future use of the Ken Smith Motors property and the adjacent buildings and land along Chestnut Street.
Council members are expected to vote on a resolution authorizing the Planning Board to explore site rehabilitation on Wednesday.
The former automobile dealership closed in September and has remained vacant. According to Mayor Paul Aronsohn, property owner Mike Smith has entertained discussion with a private developer for a multi-family housing development, though a formal proposal or application has not been filed.
In the interim, Ridgewood governing officials held informal discussions with Smith and suggested that the property was ideal for a parking facility. That notion, Aronsohn said, had been raised in years past by previous councils.
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Police Department is scheduled for an on-site assessment as part of a program to maintain accreditation by verifying it continues to meet professional standards.
Administered by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (“CALEA”), the accreditation program requires agencies to comply with state-of-the-art standards in four basic areas: policy and procedures; administration; operations; and support services.
As part of the on-site assessment, agency employees and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public information session on Monday, December 17, 2012 at 7:00pm. The session will be conducted at the Ridgewood Municipal Court located at 131 N. Maple Avenue, 4th Floor, Ridgewood, NJ.
Agency employees and the public are also invited to offer comments by calling (201) 615-6977 on Monday, December 17th between the hours of 1:00pm and 3:00pm. Comments will be taken by the Assessment Team.
Telephone comments, as well as appearances at the public information session, are limited to 10 minutes and must address the agency’s ability to comply with CALEA’s standards. A copy of the standards is available at the Ridgewood Police Department, 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ. The local contacts are Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke, Officer Jeffrey Casson or Officer Joseph Youngberg at (201) 251-4534.
Anyone wishing to submit written comments about the Ridgewood Police Department’s ability to comply with the standards for accreditation may send them to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (“CALEA”), 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320, Gainesville, Virginia 20155.
Monday, December 10th UP3 – 2013 Unlimited Parking Permits will be on sale at Village Hall. Annual fee is $650 for unlimited parking in all Ridgewood Lots 6 – days a week.
2013 UP3 Permits can be used starting December 17, 2012…2 weeks of free parking for new customers!
Village Hall is open Monday through Friday, 8:30AM to 4:30PM.
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day remembers those who died or were injured when Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, was attacked in 1941.
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which is annually on December 7, commemorates the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, during World War II. Many American service men and women lost their lives or were injured on December 7, 1941. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is also referred to as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day.
Pearl Harbor is also the day the “Greatest Generation” stepped up and took on the greatest fight, it is hard to imagine the reaction today . While many young men and women would still step up ,the “failure generation” would be busy searching for someone to surrender to. The media would of course blame the American people and the President would tell us this is a teachable moment . More reason than ever to remember Pearl on December 7, 1941.
Black boxes in cars raise privacy concerns
Posted: Dec 07, 2012 7:32 AM EST Updated: Dec 07, 2012 10:52 AM EST
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Many motorists don’t know it, but it’s likely that every time they get behind the wheel, there’s a snitch along for the ride.
In the next few days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose long-delayed regulations requiring auto manufacturers to include event data recorders – better known as “black boxes” – in all new cars and light trucks. But the agency is behind the curve. Automakers have been quietly tucking the devices, which automatically record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop, into most new cars for years.
When a car is involved in a crash or when its airbags deploy, inputs from the vehicle’s sensors during the 5 to 10 seconds before impact are automatically preserved. That’s usually enough to record things like how fast the car was traveling and whether the driver applied the brake, was steering erratically or had a seat belt on.
The idea is to gather information that can help investigators determine the cause of accidents and lead to safer vehicles. But privacy advocates say government regulators and automakers are spreading an intrusive technology without first putting in place policies to prevent misuse of the information collected.
Helping Victims from Hurricane Sandy: Proceeds go to American Red Cross
Thursday, January 10 from 5-8 p.m. in the RHS Cafeteria
All tickets $5 (pre-sale raffle incentive) go on sale the week of December 17
Donations from AM Rotary, Stop & Shop, Daily Treat
For more information contact Nancy Reilly or Lynne Feeney at RHS: nreilly@ridgewood.k12.nj.us, lfeeney@ridgewood.k12.nj.us
