Author: admin

>OBAMA’S NSA: CLOSE TO KNOWING ALL ABOUT US
Nat Hentoff sounds alarm over more citizens’ info going into databases for future tracking

Not long before Dick Armey – a conservative Republican constitutionalist – retired as House majority leader, he gave a speech expressing his worry about the government’s increasing blanket surveillance over We the People. He practically begged President George W. Bush to “use these tools we have given you to make us safe in such a manner that’ll preserve our freedom” (my book, “The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance,” Seven Stories Press, 2003).

Bush’s response, alas, was to listen more and more to Vice President Dick Cheney.

And now for the first time in American history, according to the Government Accountability Project’s Jesselyn Radack, Attorney General Eric Holder has officially and publicly declared “new guidelines that permit the federal counterterrorism investigators to collect, search and store data about Americans who are not suspected of terrorism, or anything …

“According to the Justice Department, law enforcement and other national security agencies can copy entire databases and sift through the data for suspicious patterns to stop potential terrorist threats” (“Govt. Keeping Data on Americans With No Connection to Terrorism,” whistleblower.org, March 23).

https://www.wnd.com/2012/04/obamas-nsa-close-to-knowing-all-about-us/

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NV Energy windmill program generates rebates, little electricity
By Anjeanette Damon (contact)
Friday, March 30, 2012 | 2 a.m.

A year ago, a Reno clean energy businessman warned the Public Utilities Commission that if it didn’t set a few standards for NV Energy’s wind rebate program, its customers could end up footing the bill for turbines that rarely produce electricity.

One reason behind his concern: To be eligible for rebates, customers didn’t need to prove that the wind actually blows enough to justify installing a turbine on their property.

https://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar/30/nv-energy-windmill-program-generates-rebates-littl/

>Beware the unholy alliance of state and internet
By Evgeny Morozov

Surveillance means safety. This is the argument wherever and whenever governments seek new powers to monitor their citizens. Proposed legislation in the UK to enable police and intelligence services to access emails, Skype calls and Facebook messages is another such example. It is also another case of the unnecessary and dangerous expansion of state power, in collaboration with companies, into our online – and offline – lives.

The UK government has said that without a warrant it could only get “who, when and where” forms of data – times, dates, numbers and addresses of communications – not the content of emails, chat messages or Skype calls. The latter would still require a warrant, according to the government. Some critics are sceptical, and rightly so.

https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4f7adc4e-7cb0-11e1-8a27-00144feab49a.html#axzz1r1xGVfW7

>Ridgewood’s school board trustees tenure reform bill
Tuesday April 3, 2012, 11:28 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Ridgewood’s school board trustees believe changes to the state’s teacher tenure system are necessary, but agree the reform bill currently on the State Senate floor is not the answer to all the problems.

Board of Education (BOE) members last Monday opted to pass a resolution advocating changes to legislative bill S1455, the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act.

Ridgewood’s move comes on the heels of a hearing earlier this month led by the bill’s author, state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark). During that session in Trenton, which was held for discussion purposes only, Ruiz’s bill was lauded by supporters and challenged by critics.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/145936075_Ridgewood_school_board_trustees_challenge_tenure_reform_bill.html

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Despite Gas Prices, Hybrid Sales Stall
Apr 03, 2012, 11:26 AM
By AnnaMaria Andriotis

Car sales are up again, but despite rising gas prices, few consumers are buying hybrids. Instead, they’re choosing less fuel-efficient – and less costly — subcompacts and mid-size vehicles.

March sales rose 22% from the previous month and 13% from a year ago to an annualized rate of 14.3 million vehicles, according to data released today by Edmunds.com. Experts credit rising gas prices as a leading factor for this spike in consumer demand. Sales of subcompact cars and mid-size cars made up 24% of total market share in March, up three percentage points from a year ago – the biggest growth in any category, according to forecasts by Kelley Blue Book. But despite the large swings in gas prices, hybrid sales have barely budged: they made up just 2.1% of market share last month, almost unchanged from a year ago. Of the 1.4 million cars that sold last month, less than 30,000 of them were hybrids. “Interest in hybrids is not as high as one would think especially in light of high gas prices,” says Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence at TrueCar.com.

https://blogs.smartmoney.com/advice/2012/04/03/despite-gas-prices-hybrid-sales-stall/

>April is National Safe Digging Month – PSE&G Reminds Everyone to Dial 811 to Call Before You Dig

(April 3, 2012 – Newark, NJ) – April is National Safe Digging Month, and PSE&G is reminding customers, contractors and excavators that they must call before digging to avoid hitting underground gas and electric lines. To make it easy to call, 811 has been designated as the national dialing code to have underground lines located and marked.

When you call 811, you are automatically connected to the New Jersey one-call center which collects information about the digging project. The one-call center then provides the information to the utility companies who will send representatives to mark the locations of underground lines in the immediate vicinity of the planned work location with flags, paint or both. Once lines have been properly marked and your locate request becomes valid, you are free to carefully dig around the marked areas.

Every digging project – even a small project like planting a tree or building a deck – requires a call to 811 whether you’re hiring a professional or planning to do the job yourself. Striking a single line can cause outages and result in repair costs and fines.

What you need to know before digging:

• Underground gas and electric lines are everywhere, even on individual properties. You can easily damage them if you don’t know where they are. Digging into these lines can disrupt vital utility services and result in costly delays, expensive repairs and environmental or property damage. Worse, you can seriously injure yourself or others.

• Whether planning a major home improvement project or installing something as simple as a fence or mailbox post, a call must be placed beforehand to know where it’s safe to dig.

• Call 811 or 1-800-272-1000 at least four business days before each job to have underground pipes, wires and equipment located. Utility workers will respond and place markers where utility lines are buried, free of charge.

• Be sure to wait three full business days after calling before doing any digging. Don’t dig until lines have been marked.

• Respect the marks. Always hand dig within two feet of marked lines.

• It’s not only a good idea to call before you dig, it’s the law.

For additional information about the Call Before You Dig program, visit the PSEG  Web site at:
www.pseg.com/call811 or the New Jersey One Call site at:  www.nj1-call.org.

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photo by Boyd Loving


No NJT fare, MVC fee hikes for 2013

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>Join Friends of the Ridgewood Public Library Today!

The mission of the Friends is to stimulate community awareness and use of the Ridgwood Library and to support the Library in developing its collections, its reference and research facilities and its programs. To this end, we shall attempt to raise funds for the purchase of items and equipment outside the normal Library budget, to encourage charitable gifts and to enhance public support for the Library’s programs.

Friends sponsored programs include:

Family Fun Nights
Annual Reel Voices Film Festival
Sunday Concert Series
English as a Second Language Services
Lectures, Special Cultural Events
and so much more!
For membership information, or to contact Friends of the Library
please call 201-670-5609
Download A Membership Form :https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/pdf/FOL%20membership%20form%20web%202010.pdf