(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) says President Obama is wrong to “give the Cubans just about everything they want” without getting “something significant in return.”
“I think the president has a misguided calculation that if you open your hands to dictators that they will unclench their fists,” Menendez told “Fox News Sunday.”
“And while Raul Castro may have said some nice things about President Obama, at the same time, just last month, we had 600 arrests of innocent people inside of Cuba who were detained, many political activists and human rights activists who were not allowed to leave the country to go to the Panama Summit.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
________________________________
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
Ridgewood NJ , The sad truth is most politicians only have to speak with voters ever 2- 4 years , but they speak to lobbyists every day .Special-interest groups in New Jersey once again laid out millions trying to shape and influence legislation in Trenton.
The 2014 list had one notable exception, the free spending teachers union not making the Top 10 list for the first time in years, and spending less than $400,000 on lobbying activities .However the union still easily led the list of political campaign contributors.
So here is the list of the state’s top special-interest groups and their lobbying expenditures in 2014, as reported by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
1. AARP NJ: $1,645,217
AARP’s New Jersey chapter doubled its spending compared to the previous year and approached its all-time record for lobbying expenses. Much of its reported focus was in the Legislature on bills such as the earned sick-leave requirement and other bills intended to help families caring for elderly relatives.
2. Honeywell International, Inc.: $780,000
The Morris County-based company is a frequent presence on the lobbying list as one of the state’s bigger employers. For 2014, Honeywell’s key lobbying work targeted NJ Transit and the state’s transportation department, according to the ELEC. Honeywell’s lobbying efforts focused on ongoing development opportunities connected with pending transportation projects.
3. Verizon NJ: $719,986
In addition to telecommunications-related bills, Verizon is another example of New Jersey companies lobbying hard to try to influence business policies and legislation in general, including the paid sick leave bill.
4. Prudential Financial Inc.: $716,340
Prudential led the way for insurers, which spent more than $4.2 million overall on lobbying and political contributions combined, the most of any special interest sector in 2014.
5. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers: $557,842
The alliance was new to the list for 2014. Its focus was on legislation pertaining to the regulation of car dealerships and, specifically, one bill that would allow the open sales of the Tesla vehicles. More than $400,000 of the total was spend on a communications campaign.
6. Public Service Enterprise Group: $530,177
Public Service – the owner of the PSE&G utility — recently won Board of Public Utilities approval of a major energy efficiency initiative, as well as several transmission upgrades that are part of a 10-year, $8 billion project.
7. First Energy/Jersey Central Power and Light: $525,051
Among the issues concerning the utility giant in Trenton: a base-rate case argued before the BPU, and a host of directives having to do with hurricane preparation.
8. NJ State League of Municipalities: $513,407
The league is a perennial member of the list, lobbying on any number of bills that affect its member cities and towns, from infrastructure to taxation. Among the league’s key issues this year — and also on the list of the most heavily lobbied bills statewide – were those related to the Transportation Trust Fund and the statewide open-space referendum.
9. New Jersey Hospital Association: $489,804
The NJHA is new to the list in 2014, although its presence continues a run for New Jersey’s hospitals among the biggest lobbying spenders. The association replaces Hackensack University Medical Center, which was on the list in 2013.
10. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ: $483,494
Joining Prudential on the lobbying list of major insurers, Horizon listed a number of bills and regulations where it lobbied for changes, both in the Legislature and with the Christie administration, including those related to the state health-benefits program.
A Wednesday “Good Morning America” piece gave President Barack Obama an open mic to claim that, in ABC’s words, “climate change became a personal issue for him when his older daughter Malia, now 16, was rushed to the emergency room with an asthma attack when she was just a toddler.”
Somehow, ABC managed to avoid another possible contributor — besides the obvious possibility that Malia developed asthma independent of external influences — namely the President’s 30-year smoking habit. He is said to have quit once and for all in 2011. USA Today columnist James S. Robbins wasn’t impressed with the President’s “reasoning,” and with good cause, as he articulated in a Thursday evening column. He even managed to get a “there’s been no warming for a long time” observation past USA Today’s editors (links are in original; bolds are mine):
Global warming didn’t give Malia asthma
President’s smoking more likely to cause daughter’s health problem than climate change.
President Obama blames global warming for his daughter’s asthma. Today that’s politically useful spin, but the science says something different. If you’re looking for a culprit, it just might be Malia’s dad.
… The president connected his daughter’s malady to global climate change. In a discussion Tuesday, he said “all of our families are going to be vulnerable” to global warming-induced health risks because “you can’t cordon yourself off from air or from climate.”
A White House fact sheet connected the dots, saying that asthma rates have more than doubled in the past 30 years, and that “climate change is putting these individuals and many other vulnerable populations at greater risk of landing in the hospital” like Malia.
The good news is that there is less reason for alarm than the White House suggests. The Environmental Protection Agency cautions that “outdoor air pollution and pollen may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma.” Yet the EPA also reports that our air quality has substantially improved; aggregate emissions of common pollutants have decreased 62% between 1980 and 2013. It is unlikely that cleaner air is causing the increase in asthma.
Whether there is a link between asthma and global warming, Malia herself hasn’t really experienced much. The high school junior was born in 1998, when temperatures spiked. By some measurements, the world hasn’t warmed significantly since then.
… Even when smoking is done outside, nicotine in infants’ hair is five times higher for babies with outside smoking parents than non-smoking parents. Smoking-related chemicals in infants’ urine is seven times higher. Other studies have found similar results.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “tobacco smoke is one of the most common asthma triggers,” and “if you have asthma, it’s important that you avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.”
No father wants to feel that his habits might hurt his children. But sometimes you have to look in the mirror to find the guilty party, not search the stratosphere for a hidden culprit.
Russia lifted its ban on the delivery of an anti-missile system to Iran just weeks after negotiators reached a framework agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters reported on Monday.
The ban on the delivery of the S-300 system and other weapons has been in place since 2010, when the United Nations announced its own ban on selling arms to Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly signed off on lifting the ban on providing S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to Iran.
Earlier this month, Western powers and Iran reached a framework agreement to limit Tehran’s nuclear research in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. Russia is a party to the talks.
Ridgewood NJ, Applications for the Chief Michael Feeney Jr.Police Academy Class #2 are now available at Ridgewood Police headquarters. The Jr. Police Academy is scheduled from June 22nd to July 1st 2015 and held at B.F. Middle School, The academy is open to Ridgewood Residents entering 6th 7th and 8th grades next fall. The Application deadline is June1st 2015.
The Junior Police Academy has proven to be a valuable experience for all involved and has provided a vital link between the Police Department and the youth of Ridgewood. Further, the Junior Police Academy has afforded students a deeper understanding of the Police function as well as an increased ability to see what the Police and the community can do to serve the Village. The overwhelming success of our first Junior Police Academy class has far exceeded the expectations of everyone involved. This program attracts a highly motivated group of recruits, and the Instructors thoroughly enjoy their interaction with these young people. We look forward to another great class.
photo by ArChick
Tax Day gets complicated for same-sex couples in states that don’t recognize their marriages
By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A necessary burden for most Americans, Tax Day is an accounting nightmare for thousands of gay and lesbian couples as they wrestle with the uneven legal status of same-sex marriage in the United States.
They live in a country that recognizes their marriages, but some reside in the 13 states that do not, an issue that will be argued before the Supreme Court later this month.
At tax time, and Wednesday is the filing deadline, it gets complicated because most state income tax returns use information from a taxpayer’s federal return.
Straight couples simply copy numbers from one form to another. But that doesn’t work for same-sex couples reporting combined incomes, deductions and exemptions on their federal tax returns. These couples must untangle their finances on their state returns, where they are still considered single.
“We’re adults, we’re contributing to the welfare of society and yet, here’s this one thing that just reaches up every year and kind of slaps us in the face,” said Brian Wilbert, an Episcopal priest who lives in Oberlin, a small college town in northern Ohio.
Wilbert married his husband, Yorki Encalada, in 2012, at a ceremony in upstate New York. He is filing a joint federal tax return for the second time this year. But Ohio, which doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages, requires the couple to file their state tax returns as if they were single.
“It may not be the most burning thing,” Wilbert said. “But as we think about equality and marriage equality, this is an important thing because it’s part of what couples do.”
The State Department agreed back on April 2 to investigate department-wide email preservation policies in the wake of the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, the National Archives and Records Administration announced on Thursday.
Archives’ release of State’s correspondence came hours after a former Archives litigator and other records management experts appearing on a panel expressed anguish at the slow pace at which the government is complying with email recordkeeping requirements.
Secretary of State John Kerry has asked State’s inspector general to review the agency’s recordkeeping and FOIA practices, said the letterfrom Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Information Services Margaret Grafeld. The letter was in response to a March 3 message from Archives Chief Records Officer Paul Wester Jr.
Grafeld’s letter stressed State’s “longstanding demonstrated commitment to managing our records” in partnership with the Archives. It described formation of a “working group” led by Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy last year that produced an August 2014 memo to senior State leaders reminding them of record keeping obligations and warning them not to use private email. “Secretaries Clinton and [Colin] Powell had used non-government accounts during their tenures, but the degree to which records were captured in the department’s systems was unknown,” it said. The 55,000 emails Clinton turned over to State in December, the letter noted, are being reviewed for responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Not included in the response was any information on Clinton’s original decision to set up a private email server.
“Where was everyone?” demanded Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation for the Archives, speaking at an open government panel at the National Press Club Thursday.
APRIL 12, 2015, 11:51 AM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015, 11:56 AM
BY FRANK ELTMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINEOLA, N.Y. — A $24 billion sea of red ink has millions of Americans in vulnerable flood zones, including homeowners still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy, facing steep increases in flood insurance premiums.
New legislation that went into effect this month — the second time in two years Congress has tweaked the troubled National Flood Insurance Program — allows rate increases of up to 18 percent.
“This appears to be death by a thousand cuts,'” said Scott Primiano, an Amityville, New York, insurance broker who has been holding seminars for clients to explain the new legislation. “The concept sounds good, but no one can say what the full risk is. … They are going to take it in bits and pieces every year and it keeps going until Congress determines we’ve had enough.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said the flood insurance program has for decades been paying out more than it took in, with the United States as a whole totaling more than $260 billion in flood-related damages between 1980 and 2013. He said the new legislation is “intended to improve the long-term sustainability of the program while being sensitive to needs of policyholders.”
Lemaitre noted that a previous overhaul in 2012 had socked many policyholders with even higher rate hikes — as much as 25 percent annually.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. This meeting will include a Joint Meeting with the Ridgewood Village Council to discuss the proposed 2015-2016 school budget.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the April 13, 2015 Joint Meeting with the Village Council and Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the 2015-2016 preliminary proposed budget presented at the March 23, 2015 Regular Public Meeting
Rev. Jan Phillips will lead the discussion. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Ridgewood NJ, at the last meeting there was a consensus to continue the series of forums that are exploring civility. Additionally, we agreed to further discuss rules, regulations and guidelines for community sports.
Several participants have asked to discuss the recent Mahwah Council Meeting. The forum will discuss the impact of anger, frustration and behavior.
We have access to the Senior Center located within the Ridgewood Municipal Building,Monday May 11, 2015, 7:30 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld will hold office hours for Ridgewood residents and business owners on Thursday, April 23 between the hours of 4:30pm to 7:30pm. This is an opportunity to share your thoughts and provide input to Roberta. These sessions will be scheduled at 15 minute intervals and will be held in the Garden Room – on the First Level of Ridgewood Village Hall. Please contact Beth Spinato at 201-670-5500, ext. 203 to make an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome but should realize that the schedule may already be booked. We will announce the schedule for these meetings on a monthly basis
APRIL 12, 2015, 10:41 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015, 10:43 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD
Sen. Bob Menendez frowned Sunday when asked if a 14-count indictment accusing him of bribery and false statements means he betrayed the public trust.
“Absolutely not,” he declared to the “Fox News Sunday” camera, accusing prosecutors of taking “snippets of a story to make their case” and promising the whole story would come out in court.
“When all the facts are known, I know that I will be vindicated,” Menendez said.
In his first television interview since the April 1 indictment, Menendez made no revelations. But he telegraphed what his strategy may be as he returns to Congress this week and faces questions from the media about the case: Profess innocence, denounce prosecutors and leave detailed answers to some future date in court.
“He will not be running from reporters. It’s not his style,” spokeswoman Tricia Enright said last week. “Nevertheless, because this case is now in the courts, he won’t be able to say anything about it more than he has already.”
OBAMA-CASTRO MEETING OVERSHADOWS ANTI-US LINE AT SUMMIT
BY JOSHUA GOODMAN AND PETER ORSI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PANAMA CITY (AP) — As usual when Latin America’s leftist leaders get together with U.S. officials, there were plenty of swipes at the U.S. during the seventh Summit of the Americas.
From 19th century territorial raids on Mexico to U.S. support for the overthrow of Chile’s socialist government in 1973 and the 1989 invasion of Panama that removed Gen. Manuel Noriega, Washington’s interventions in Latin America were targets of rebuke during long speeches by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his allies. That prompted President Barack Obama to retort, “I always enjoy the history lessons that I receive when I’m here.”
But the historic meeting between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday before the summit closed provides the U.S. and Latin America with an opportunity to move beyond a history of grievances and mistrust and set a course of closer cooperation.
There were concerns in the run-up that recent U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan officials could undermine the goodwill generated by Obama’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba, but they proved unfounded.
The conciliatory tone was set by Castro, who joked that since Cuba had been barred from the previous summits he was entitled to speak well beyond the eight minutes allotted to each of the 30-plus heads of state in attendance.
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Arts Council (RAC) is inviting all Ridgewood artists and art-lovers to an informational social to be held in the Senior Lounge at Village Hall on Tuesday, April 21, at 8pm. The hour-long session will feature a live demo of the RAC’s interactive community arts calendar and will have on display the first donations to the “Ridgewood Art at Village Hall” installation. The goal of the event is to continue to raise awareness of RAC’s mission which is to promote and support the vital role all arts play in Ridgewood. Snacks will be donated by local vendors. Any artist who cannot attend the event but is interested in donating a piece of his or her work to the Village Hall installation is encouraged to email [email protected] (Subject Line: Art Donation) for submission form and guidelines.
