> Scott Garrett: Health Care Act provision threatens our freedom WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2012 BY SCOTT GARRETT THE RECORD
OUR COUNTRY’S founding principles of limited government and individual liberty were on trial this week as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
At the heart of this act is the individual mandate, which holds that the federal government can require citizens to purchase health insurance under threat of monetary penalty.
Such a law is unprecedented, unnecessary, unlimited and, above all else, unconstitutional. Never before has the federal government required people to buy a good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States. And yet, using the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution as its rationale, that’s exactly what the Obama administration intends to do.
Public Hearing for Green Acres ROSI Correction – March 28, 2012
Village of Ridgewood
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
TAKE NOTICE that the Village of Ridgewood has filed a request with the NJDEP Green Acres Program, proposing to amend the Village’s Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI) by reducing the size of Block 1607, Lot 2 as shown on the Village of Ridgewood Tax Maps. Upon review of this listing on the ROSI, it is clear that a fire house has always been located on a portion of this lot and is not appropriate for recreational or open space pursuits. The existence of the fire house has been documented to be at its location since 1947.
Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:36-25.3(h)2v, a hearing to obtain public comment on this request has been rescheduled to be held by the Village Council on March 28, 2012 at 7:30PM in the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room on the 4th Floor at Village of Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey. All interested parties are invited to attend and participate in the public hearing. Written comments may be submitted to the agencies listed below. Public comments on this ROSI amendment request will be accepted until April 11, 2012.
All information submitted by the Village to the Green Acres Program in support of this requested ROSI amendment is available for public inspection at the Village of Ridgewood Manager’s Office at 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450; the Ridgewood Public Library at 125 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450; and the Department of Environmental Protection, Green Acres Program Office, 501 East State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08625.
All written comments should be submitted to the Village with a copy to NJDEP Green Acres Program at the following addresses:
Village of Ridgewood
Attn: Village Manager
131 N. Maple Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Green Acres Program
Bureau of Legal Services and Stewardship
501 East State Street 1st Floor
Mail Code 501-01 PO Box 420
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0420.
Attention: Nancy Lawrence
For additional Information, please contact Janet Fricke at Village of Ridgewood, 201/670-5500 x204
Gov. Chris Christie’s ideas for reforming public education will likely to be scrutinized when Democrats examine his proposed budget for schools.
Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf will testify before the panel Thursday.
Christie’s proposed budget includes a $213 million increase in school aid over last year, which reverses some cuts the governor made two years ago.
School aid overall tops $8.8 billion in the proposed budget. That figure includes aid for preschool and special education, charter schools and building aid. The biggest piece , $7.8 billion , comes in aid to public schools. (Associated Press)
>The numbers game: Christie vs. Office of Legislative Services or was it Corzine?
The governor could not control his anger: David Rosen, the budget officer for the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services, had just testified that he had a $383 million hole in his current budget and that his treasurer was overestimating next year’s revenue by $227 million. Thanks to Rosen, opposition legislators were rushing to issue press releases attacking his budget.
The furious governor? It wasn’t Chris Christie. No, it was the man he replaced, Democrat Jon Corzine. (Magyar, NJ Spotlight)
Quote from the Patch: “Though Shinozuka, who lives in the “forgotten” side of Ridgewood east of Route 17 (AKA Burglary City),…….”
First of all, did the Patch even consider the amount of taxpayers and voters in Ridgewood who happen to live east of Route 17. I can promise you it’s a considerable force to be reckoned with! I can’t believe a news outlet dared to right such a disgusting remark.
Second, since the Patch is the mouthpiece of Councilman Aronsohn these days one would question whether he is in agreement with these disparaging comments. Stay on “your side” of town and leave us alone!
Note to all residents of the “Forgotten” side of Ridgewood, VOTE SHINOZUKA!!!!! And shame, shame, shame on the Patch!
The Annual Ridgewood Wildscape Association Spring Walk, at Pleasant Park, will be held on April 1st , 1PM, Sunday. Edith Wallace, a botanist, will lead us, and identify plants along the way.
Directions: Either Stevens Ave or S. Pleasant, ending at Hawes, we will meet at the rear of the school, next to the ballfield.
For any of you who have not picked up your copy of our new brochure, listing our 10 Wildscapes, they are available at the Stable, or by mail if you are a member.
And, we plan to “update” our website very soon, so please be patient.
As always, children are more than welcome, as are friends and family.
More notice will be sent out as the time gets closer.
PS: And for those who observe Palm Sunday: this is a great way to spend an hour with the family after church.
The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a School Board Candidates Night Tonight
The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a School Board Candidates Night on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, floor 3.
>School Homework Offers Little Benefit, Australian Study Finds Updated: Tuesday, 27 Mar 2012, 8:02 PM EDT Published : Tuesday, 27 Mar 2012, 7:26 PM EDT
By: The Daily Telegraph
SYDNEY – Children are being lumbered with hours of school homework every week — but the extra slog does not do them any good, according to an Australian study.
Research reveals elementary school homework offers no real benefit — and only limited results in junior high school.
Only senior students in grades 11 and 12 benefit from after-school work, said associate professor Richard Walker, from Sydney University’s Education Faculty.
> Health care law endures tough questioning from swing justice at Supreme Court showdown By Lee Ross Published March 27, 2012 | FoxNews.com
The man often known as the Supreme Court’s swing justice posed tough questions about the scope of the controversial health care overhaul Tuesday, suggesting he might have doubts about its validity. Justice Anthony Kennedy did not fully tip his hand as to how he might ultimately vote in the case — leaving all sides to ruminate for the next few months until an expected summer ruling.
> IRS seeks 4,000 agents, $303 million for Obamacare
The Internal Revenue Service wants to add about 4,000 agents to hunt down tax cheats and still plans to spend $303 million building a system to oversee Obamacare even though its future looks bleak in the U.S. Supreme Court.
A new Government Accountability Office review of the IRS 2012 tax return season and the taxman’s fiscal 2013 budget request also found that the agency’s customer service rating has slipped and 5.5 million returns were delayed a week because of a computer programming glitch.
>Justices poised to strike down entire healthcare law By David G. Savage
March 28, 2012, 8:35 a.m. Reporting from Washington—
The Supreme Court’s conservative justices said Wednesday they are prepared to strike down President Obama’s healthcare law entirely.
Picking up where they left off Tuesday, the conservatives said they thought a decision striking down the law’s controversial individual mandate to purchase health insurance means the whole statute should fall with it.
The court’s conservatives sounded as though they had determined for themselves that the 2,700-page measure must be declared unconstitutional.
Americans angry with Obama over gas prices By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON | Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:14pm EDT
(Reuters) – More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday.
Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign.
In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3.90 and the Republicans seeking to replace the Democrat in the November 6 election have seized upon the issue to attack his energy policies.
Christie has harsh words for Office of Legislative Services, calling it a ‘tool’ of Democrats
Gov. Chris Christie sharply criticized the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services Tuesday for offering a more modest snapshot of the state’s revenue growth than he has, accusing the office of being a “tool” of the Democrats who control the Legislature.
The blistering attack came as David Rosen, the longtime budget officer for OLS, testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee that he expects the state will generate about $537 million less revenue than Christie has predicted over the next 15 months.
Rosen’s lower estimate served to cast more doubt on Christie’s robust revenue projections, which have caught the attention of Standard & Poor’s. (Renshaw, The Star-Ledger)
David Banks is a nationally known name in the school reform movement — the father of all-boy public education in New York City, and a tireless cheerleader for the differences his schools make for black and Latino males.
Now Banks is bringing his single-gender ideas to New Jersey.
Newark superintendent Cami Anderson announced last week that Banks’ Bronx-based Eagle Academy for Young Men will open an all-boys school next year as part of her reorganization of New Jersey’s largest district. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Rutgers University :Guadagno ‘powers up’ supercomputer
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on Tuesday pressed the “power button” on what is expected to become one of the 10 most powerful academic supercomputers in the world at Rutgers University. The symbolic “powering up” ceremony marked the opening of the Rutgers Discovery Informatics Institute (RDII), which will house the IBM supercomputer and provide expertise to companies that want to take advantage of its abilities. Only eight of the nation’s 62 scientific computation centers have industrial partnership programs. (Staff, Gannett)
