IRS is targeting the American Legion with new set of guidelines
The Internal Revenue Service is targeting the veterans’ organization the American Legion, and a U.S. senator believes that Lois Lerner — a key figure in the IRS scandal – is to blame.
“The IRS now requires American Legion posts to maintain dates of service and character of service records for all members… The penalty for not having the required proof of eligibility is, apparently, $1,000 per day,” the American Legion stated.
The American Legion was referring to a 13-part section of Part 4, Chapter 76 of the Internal Revenue Manual pertaining to “veterans’ organizations.”
Up to our ears in Al Gore’s ‘climate change’ snake oil
By Wesley Pruden
The Washington Times
Al Gore and his traveling medicine show is back in town with his new, improved snake oil, guaranteed to grow hair, improve digestion, promote regularity and kill roaches, rats and bedbugs. Al and his wagon rumbled into town on the eve of “a major forthcoming report” from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a panel of scientists affiliated with the United Nations. Their report is expected to buck up the spirits of the tycoons of the snake-oil industry.
A snake-oil salesman’s lot, like a policeman’s, is not a happy one. There’s always a skeptic or two (or three) standing at the back of the wagon, eager to scoff and jeer. The global-warming scam would have been right up Gilbert and Sullivan’s street. Would Al and the U.N. deceive us? No! Never! What! Never? Weeeell, hardly ever.
The New York Times, a faithful shill for Al’s snake-oil elixir, following the wagon from town to town, got an advance copy of the U.N. report and gives out with the “good” news: It’s a “near certainty” that humans are responsible for the rising temperatures of recent decades, and warns that by the end of the century all the little people — small children, midgets and others whose growth was stunted by drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes at an early age — will be up to their belly buttons in salt water. The seas will rise by more than three feet.
NSA paid millions to cover Prism compliance costs for tech companies
• Top-secret files show first evidence of financial relationship
• Prism companies include Google and Yahoo, says NSA
• Costs were incurred after 2011 Fisa court ruling
The National Security Agency paid millions of dollars to cover the costs of major internet companies involved in the Prism surveillance program after a court ruled that some of the agency’s activities were unconstitutional, according to top-secret material passed to the Guardian.
The technology companies, which the NSA says includes Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook, incurred the costs to meet new certification demands in the wake of the ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (Fisa) court.
The October 2011 judgment, which was declassified on Wednesday by the Obama administration, found that the NSA’s inability to separate purely domestic communications from foreign traffic violated the fourth amendment.
While the ruling did not concern the Prism program directly, documents passed to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden describe the problems the decision created for the agency and the efforts required to bring operations into compliance. The material provides the first evidence of a financial relationship between the tech companies and the NSA.
The intelligence agency requires the Fisa court to sign annual “certifications” that provide the legal framework for surveillance operations. But in the wake of the court judgment these were only being renewed on a temporary basis while the agency worked on a solution to the processes that had been ruled illegal.
A full moon at Valley hearing
Friday, August 23, 2013
The Ridgewood News
A full moon at Valley hearing
Jeanette LaRocco
To the editor:
After the Tuesday, Aug. 20 “non-meeting” with the Planning Board regarding Valley Hospital, a friend who had attended with me noted that there was a full moon that night. That was apropos considering the results.
Instead of hearing CRR’s lawyer and planner speak about their research regarding Valley Hospital’s expansion, the meeting was cancelled. It was because of the amazing support of Ridgewood residents who had come to hear the experts speak.
I truly want to thank all the residents who showed up in force, to the consternation of the Planning Board and Valley Hospital, especially those residents who had sporadically attended meetings or had never attended a meeting before. I believe that is why it was scheduled for Village Hall instead of a larger venue. There were an overflowing number of people, so much so that we exceeded the amount allowed and we could not have a meeting, whereby all residents could hear the information. As Mr. Drill expressed it, he was concerned that CRR would file an appeal because all the residents present would not be able to be in the room during the meeting to hear the presentation.
Why was manager removed from post?
Friday, August 23, 2013
The Ridgewood News
Why was manager removed from post?
Kira Semler
Kira Semler
Kira Semler
To the editor:
With regard to the recent vote by the Ridgewood Village Council to remove Mr. Gabbert from his position, I am shocked and appalled by the behavior of this so called village council supposedly elected to represent the residents of Ridgewood. What happened to getting along and trying to do the best for the residents of the Village of Ridgewood?
Why is Ken Gabbert being removed? Now hear this Village Council: The residents are entitled to know why! Is it because Mayor Aronsohn has a personal vendetta against him? Is it because Mr. Aronsohn voted against the salary increase and is still stewing about it? My opinion of the salary increase is that it was promised to Mr. Gabbert when he was hired.
State agency grants Ridgewood a hearing on utility poles
Friday August 23, 2013, 12:10 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood will receive a hearing on the PSE&G utility pole project, according to a representative of the state agency reviewing the village’s case.
The Board of Public Utilities (BPU) decision, which was communicated Thursday morning, comes in response to a petition Ridgewood filed on Aug. 15. That petition asked the BPU to review PSE&G’s 69-kilovolt transmission upgrade project, including its process and the project’s route and safety, and consider a public hearing on the matter.
“The lack of any review to this project by BPU or the local development boards fails to ensure the health and safety, environmental and financial concerns of the village and the affected rate payers in our community,” said Village Attorney Matt Rogers in his letter to the BPU.
The details of the hearing – the date of which has not yet been set – will be communicated soon, said the BPU representative, who did not want to be named.
Campers say bittersweet farewell to director of Ridgewood swimming program
Friday, August 23, 2013
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The day before moving to Singapore for three years for her husband’s job at Credit Suisse, Ridgewood resident Eileen Mohan had a barbecue to put on for 60 children from Paterson.
The barbecue at Graydon Pool last Friday was the traditional end to an annual program that enables Paterson children to receive free Ridgewood YMCA swim lessons at the pool.
This year, the happy occasion was also tinged with sadness: It marked the culmination of Mohan’s 28 years aiding the Community Association with a Ministry to People Youth Development Program (CAMP YDP).
4 Problems with Federal College Scorecards
Lindsey Burke
August 23, 2013 at 6:50 am
Yesterday, President Obama announced his plan to make “college more affordable, tackle rising costs, and improve value for students and their families.”
But a big part of the President’s plan includes creating a college rating system—a federal scorecard—to evaluate colleges on measures such as graduation rates, the number of low-income students served (i.e., the percentage of Pell Grant recipients), graduate earnings, and affordability.
Scorecards are a seductive idea. But having the federal government issue scorecards to measure college output would be a mistake. Four problems with the President’s plan:
1. Government says what’s best. As we wrote yesterday in National Review Online, for one thing, a monopoly government scorecard would inevitably reflect what bureaucrats—rather than parents, students, and scholarly communities—determine is or is not important in education.
2. Special-interest institutions with more clout could shape the standards. Existing institutions that are comfortable within the cocoon of protectionist accreditation would lobby hard, and no doubt effectively, for output measures that define success in their own terms.
3. Standard-setters would also control college funding. Educational institutions’ lobbying becomes particularly problematic when considering the second part of President Obama’s proposal: to then tie federal student aid to the new rating system by giving larger Pell Grants and lower student loan interest rates to students who enroll in colleges that fare well on the federal scorecard.
The logical outcome is a system that has the federal government handing out subsidies based on a rating system designed by the people handing out the funding. What could possibly go wrong?
4. We already have scorecards. A competing range of private outcomes-based scorecards already exists, sponsored by such outlets as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, ACTA, and Kiplinger’s. Each of these reflects the differing visions of quality held by different Americans, from post-graduation salary to the likelihood of a well-rounded education. A one-size-fits-all federal rating system is unnecessary and will likely trump these independent evaluators that parents and students have long trusted.
If the Obama Administration truly wants to “shake up” higher ed and bring down college costs, it would acknowledge that federal government intervention is the problem, not the solution.
Continuing to increase federal subsidies enables universities to raise tuition. Since 1982, the cost of attending college has increased 439 percent—more than four times the rate of inflation. Increases in college costs exceed increases in health care costs, which have risen more than 250 percent over the same time period. Economist Richard Vedder argues that “some of these financial aid programs have contributed mightily to the explosion in tuition and fees in modern times.”
The key in education reform is to do things that improve students’ learning. A federal college scorecard gets an F on all counts.
Rutgers team works to revive history’s sweet Jersey tomato
Friday August 23, 2013, 12:23 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
The Record
Will the real Jersey tomatoes please stand up?
That Garden State staple you’re slicing, dicing, salting and serving may have been grown in our soil, and it may have its own allure, but it’s likely not one of the luscious, tangy-sweet, vine-ripened summer-in-a-fruit varieties that years ago caused the state to forever be associated with tomato. The quest to reinvent that greatness has begun.
Dom Nizza’s famous 2lb tomatoes
Rutgers University’s New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station has been working to bring back the Jersey tomatoes of yesteryear, such as the Rutgers tomato introduced in the 1930s, and the 1968 Ramapo tomato. Over the years those varieties got crossed with other varieties and eventually died out, replaced by seeds bred for warmer climates with longer growing seasons. Those seeds, along with most of the tomatoes in our supermarkets, are grown in California and Florida nowadays. But even if the tomato is grown in New Jersey, it may not be the same.
Dom Nizza bigger than a $1 bill
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Rutgers_team_works_to_revive_historys_sweet_Jersey_tomato.html#sthash.rpXxnb4q.dpuf
Reader says Booker’s campaign strategy is akin to a ‘prevent defense’ in football
I’m getting the sense that Booker’s campaign strategy is akin to a ‘prevent defense’ in football. Teams slip into this non-aggressive, use-your-lead-as-a-cushion technique when they think the other team will not have the time on the clock to make up the difference in the score. It may also be that, what with Booker’s amiable temperament, he doesn’t have it in him to go toe-to-toe with Lonegan.
In the meantime, however, I think Lonegan is landing some pretty good body blows and may soon draw blood. Eventually if the polls tighten sufficiently Booker’s supporters may urge him to take the race more seriously but by then he may have waited too long to engage. That’s why many NFL teams that slip into a prevent defense get beaten ultimately-they fail to maintain that aggressive edge and when they finally decide to use it, it’s too dull and won’t cut.
Reader says At some point, the property tax increases necessary to fund the salaries, pensions, and health benefits will cause bankruptcies of municipalities, just like Detroit.
We pay your salary (assuming you are a cop or fireman) and it’s wrong that you’re raping the taxpayers with unsustainable raises/pensions/benefits because the VC doesn’t know how to negotiate.
Most studies have shown that public compensation is out of line with the skill, education, and responsibility as compared to the private sector. that is due to politicians spending other peoples’ money and they unattentive electorate.
Its unreasonable to expect states and municipalities to continue to make these contractual promises of pensions to retirees who also got generous salaries and benefits. Years ago workers would sign up for a govt/city/state job to put their time in (20-25 years) for wages less than the private sector with the trade-off being the security of a pension & generous health care benefits. Now we have wages that in many cases exceed the private sector, while still providing the pensions and benefits. At some point, the property tax increases necessary to fund the salaries, pensions, and health benefits will cause bankruptcies of municipalities, just like Detroit.
Harlan Coben :favorite baseball teams. Go Thrillers!
Governor Christie and Ridgewood’s own Harlan Coben inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence
August 22,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Along with the Governor Chris Christie Ridgewood’s own Harlan Coben was one of this year’s inductees into the Little League Hall of Excellence.
The Governor and author Harlan Coben were inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence this past Sunday.
Coben shared the honor with his childhood friend and Little League teammate from Livingston Chris Christie .The two men, were coached by the governor’s father, Bill, in the mid-1970s and have remained friends .
Christie called Coben a “good friend” and said “It is an honor to be inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence, and receiving this recognition with Harlan and my father makes it even more special.”
Readers asks Why is Heather A. Mailander capable enough to fill in but not to actually be appointed to the position
Why is she capable enough to fill in but not to actually be appointed to the position. Another woman running a dept and not being recognized. She is better than Gabbert and Ten Hoeve
Heather Mailander would make an excellent choice for Village Manager. She is highly capable, has a tremendous work ethic, she knows the town and she well respected and liked by both Village employees and residents. Most importantly she has good common sense………..which is in short supply in Village Hall.
Judge rejects parents’ request to halt move by Bergen County special services school
Thursday August 22, 2013, 4:52 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
A judge on Thursday declined to temporarily stop the relocation of a county-run school from Rockleigh to Ridgewood, denying a petition by the parents of a 19-year-old autistic student who said the move would disrupt the teen’s education.
Elizabeth and Fred Dabies filed a lawsuit earlier this week in state Superior Court in Hackensack, arguing that the New Bridges program, which taught 60 disabled students at a Rockleigh campus last year, planned the move without evaluating their son’s individual education plan.
The lawsuit claims that the school did not follow proper procedure in announcing the move and in notifying parents. It also said the Ridgewood facility is not safe for the Dabies’ son, who has a history of running away and might end up on a busy street near the Passaic Avenue building.
Delta Airlines and the $100 Million Costs of Obamacare
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | August 21st, 2013 at 10:01 PM
Republicans in the United States House of Representatives and Senate claim they will vote to defund Obamacare, but they won’t actually fight for it. What they want to fight for is just a delay of the individual mandate. That’s it. But there is so much more that is so much more onerous about Obamacare. Delta Airlines, in a letter it prepared back in June, outlined just how onerous Obamacare would be to the airline.
In the past twenty-four hours, during my radio show in Atlanta, numerous Delta employees called in to tell me Delta is now telling its employees their healthcare will be radically changed because of Obamacare. A handful of them said the June 2013 letter from Delta to the Obama Administration is being circulated among employees.
The letter is stunning. According to Delta, in 2014 Obamacare will cost the company at least $38 million in direct costs and that is only the beginning. With added medical inflation, Delta claims “the cost of providing health care to our employees will increase by nearly $100,000,000 next year.” A $100 million increase thanks in large part to Obamacare and ancillary cost increases derived therefrom. Yes, I have the letter. From the letter:
The ACA requires large employers to pay an annual fee of $63 per covered participant in 2014. For Delta’s roughly 160,000 enrolled active and retired employees and their family members, this represents more than $10 million added to the cost of providing health care next year. As we discussed, this fee, which is meant to help stabilize the state exchanges as they get started, provides absolutely zero direct benefit to our participants. It is, essentially, a direct subsidy from us and our employees to those who participate in the exchanges.
