>I am excited to announce that it is once again time to launch the annual Congressional Art Competition. This nationwide art competition allows Members of Congress to showcase the talent of their high school constituents and acknowledge the nation’s most gifted young artists. Many students in our area have already participated in the program and earned the honor of seeing their original artwork on display in the United States Capitol.

Students are able to submit an array of two-dimensional artwork including paintings, drawings, collages, photographs and computer generated art. All artwork must be original in concept, design, and execution and may not violate any U.S. copyright laws. More information and guidelines will be available soon. Please do not hesitate to contact Holly Ostby in my Western District Office at (973) 300-2000 or by email at [email protected] with any questions.

CONGRESSMAN SCOTT GARRETT

>Hi Everyone,

My name is Jim Arakelian of RE/MAX Real Estate Limited in Oradell and I am the listing broker of BLEND BAR.

I have been involved in several high profile liquor license / bar / restaurant transfers in North Jersey in the past few years.

As you might have read in Friday’s Ridgewood News, we are currently negotiating with several operators in the area, however, we are still interested in finding others that may be interested.

Please fell free to contact me directly if you know of someone that would be interested in re-opening one of Bergen County’s crown jewels of entertainment. My direct number is 201-599-1100 x304.

>

>December 23, 2008

https://www.app.com/article/20081223/NEWS03/812230316/1001/newsfront

N.J. remains likely to forfeit House seat, new data show

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

New Jersey still appears likely to lose a seat in the House of Representatives despite a slowing of the migration to the South and West, new Census figures indicate.

The population estimates released Monday by the Census Bureau show the nation’s great migration south and west is declining, thanks to a housing crisis that is making it hard for many to move. Most southern and western states aren’t growing nearly as fast as they were at the start of the decade, pausing a long-term trend fueled by the desire for open spaces and warmer climates.

The development could impact the political map when House seats are divvied up following the 2010 Census, and New Jersey has been pegged as a likely loser.

In response to the possible loss of a House seat, officials from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development told lawmakers at a hearing in October they were were striving to ensure every person in the state is counted.

According to the figures released Monday, Southern and Western states still will take congressional seats away from those in the Northeast and Midwest. Florida could gain as many as two House seats, and Texas could pick up four. But some seats hanging in the balance could stay put, and California could be in danger of losing a seat for the first time since it became a state.

“People want to go to where it’s warm and where there are a lot of amenities. That’s a long-term trend in this country,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“But people have stopped moving,” he said. “It’s a big risk when you move to a new place. You need to know that moving and getting a new mortgage is going to pay off for you.”

The Census Bureau released state population estimates as of July 1, 2008. The data show annual changes through births, deaths, and domestic and foreign migration.

According to the estimates, New Jersey’s population is 8,682,661, up 3.2 percent from 2000. Despite the increase, other states grew at faster rates, leading to the possible loss of one of New Jersey’s 13 House seats.

The population shifts will be felt following the 2010 census, when the nation apportions the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, based on population.

Texas stands to be the biggest winner, picking up as many as four seats, while Ohio could be the big loser, giving up as many as two seats, according to projections by Kim Brace of Election Data Services, a Virginia-based firm that crunches political numbers.

Other states projected to lose single seats are Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Brace projects Arizona to add two seats, while Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Utah could add one each. Florida could add one or two seats, Brace said.

Utah was the fastest growing state, knocking Nevada from the top ranks. Utah’s population climbed by 2.5 percent from July 2007 to July 2008. It was followed by Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Colorado. Nevada was ranked eighth, after 23 years of ranking in the top four each year.

Nevada was listed as the fastest growing state a year ago when the 2007 estimates were released. But adjustments to the 2007 numbers, released Monday, show that Utah was the fastest growing state in 2007 and Nevada was ranked third.

Only two states — Michigan and Rhode Island — lost population from 2007 to 2008, according to the new estimates. But growth rates fell in many states, even for those that had been adding residents at a rapid clip.

Foreign immigration has slowed since the start of the decade and fewer people are moving around within the nation’s borders. Florida has attracted more people from other states than any other state in the nation since the start of the decade. However, from 2007 to 2008, more people left Florida for other states than moved in — a net loss of nearly 9,300 people. The state still gained population from births and foreign immigration, but growth was slower than in previous years.

From 2007 to 2008, California had the biggest net loss of people moving to other states — more than 144,000 people. It was followed by New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Illinois.

https://www.app.com/article/20081223/NEWS03/812230316/1001/newsfront
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we are only as good as our aspirations

>My good buddy, Liz, from This Full House has gotten Stop and Shop to pony up $1 for every comment left (up to $300) under the blog post linked below. Please take a second to click and comment. Let’s see how quickly we can raise $300 more bucks for the FoodBank.

(https://www.thisfullhouse.com/this_full_house/2008/12/blogging-out-hunger-we-cant-let-this-bank-fail-the-big-give.html)

Thanks so much and Happy Holidays!

Deb Smith
JerseyBites.com
Win Something Tasty Every Wednesday on JerseyBites

>How is that, you ask? They take fees unjustly; pulling stunts to collect overdraft fees of $35.00 a pop.

Here’s how it is done. Say you have $100.00 in your checking account. You make a purchase for $20.00 with your debit card at 4pm. Your balance shows $80.00. Now, if you have a $101.00 transaction that posts that night from your automatic bill paying system that you forgot about, Bank of America will hit you with an overdraft fee for both. You see, the bank posts automatic bill payments between 12:01 am and 5:00 am the next day and dates the transaction for the previous day. This allows them to charge you an overdraft fee of $35.00 for each, even though they had authorized the debit card purchase for $20.00 earlier the day, when in fact you had the money in the account to cover the purchase.

But wait you ask, you had the money in your account when you made the debit card purchase. How can they charge you a $35.00 overdraft fee? We all know that if you don’t have the funds in your account, a debit card purchase is declined.

Bank of America has found a way around that fact. Bank of America’s policy is that they allow for the $20.00 deduction because they couldn’t know of the impending automatic withdrawal for later that night. But overnight, when they reconcile your account, they deduct the highest withdrawal first. Having done that, all other purchases made prior can now be classified as overdrafts too.

Get how this works? Even though at the time of purchase you had funds to cover the transaction, and it was approved by Bank of America, they then reverse the order of the transactions to ensure that they can charge you additional fees by deducting the highest withdrawal first. This guarantees that all smaller withdrawals are posted as an overdraft too, even if you had the money to cover the smaller transactions.

Thus they can charge you an overdraft fee of $35.00 for the lower debit transaction. Even though this defies logic and common sense, Bank of America says that it’s their policy, it’s written down.

This is a shameful scam. One that Fleet, Nat West and Ridgewood Bank would never perpetrate on its customers. After 25 years, I guess it is time to find another bank. Bank of America is just too big and doesn’t care about its small customers. Goodness knows, it was my mistake to have forgotten to transfer the funds to cover the larger automatic payment.

This policy is duplicitous and a shameful reflection on Bank of America. No customer should be treated in such a manner. This is just another example of the arrogance endemic of huge banking institutions such as Bank of America, the largest bank in the U.S. I think I shall have to find a smaller bank, one that values my business and does not take undue advantage of its customer’s mistakes.

>In this era of heightened awareness of our environment, artists are increasingly turning to junk stores, trash bins and surplus outlets to satisfy their urge to create while still caring for our planet. The tradition of recycling dates back to the nineteenth century, when American pioneers used recycled items instead of discarding them. Crazy quilts, pieced quilts, weathervanes made from scrap wood, and rag rugs are a treasured legacy of America’s tradition of recycling. Indeed, throughout our history, Americans have learned “to make do,” saving rubber bands and tinfoil and recycling gift-wrap and other items.

For the past one hundred years, artists have seen creative possibilities in cast-offs. Pablo Picasso, one of the foremost artists of the twentieth century, fashioned a bull’s head from a discarded bicycle handlebar and seat, while Marcel Duchamp, a founder of the Dada movement, asked viewers to see sculpture in a urinal and snow shovel. During the 1930s and 1940s, Alexander Calder made whimsical animals from coffee cans, while Joseph Cornell created intimate, surrealistic tableaux from found objects.

In the 1950s, artist Louise Nevelson created poetic and evocative sculpture from scrap wood, while Robert Rauschenberg began to explore the creative possibilities of junk as an artistic medium. In the 1960s and 1970s, John Chamberlain used auto body parts—squashed fenders, broken doors, twisted bumpers, and dented hoods, to create dynamic and expressionistic works of art. With increased environmental concerns in recent years, the use of recycled materials in art has gained new credibility.

Have no fear good people of Ridgewood the dopey hippie ideas your children have been exposed to are just recycled ideas of the past.

Or…..

Ms. Zusy calls them Christmas decorations doesn’t mean that they are not garbage-on-a-string.

It wasn’t as if something was done to them to change their status, they were just thrown there, and people were told that they had to like them because “THE CHILDREN” made them. Any criticism easthetic/religious or otherwise has been interpreted by some as an attack on “THE CHILDREN”. It isn’t. We know that had “THE CHILDREN” had a choice, they would have made something decorative and pretty.

We are doing wrong by the children to tell thm that the tree is decorative, that garbage-on-a-string is art, and to, in the first place , coerce them to waste their time doing this.

>Sorry we missed this one

For information on steps to prevent Cyberbullying ….

What steps can parents take to prevent their children from becoming victims
of cyberbullying? (pro-active approach)

If they become victims, what can victims and parents do, where can parents
go for help and when do they bring it to the attention of school
administrators or law enforcement?

What to do if you discover that your child is a Cyberbully?

Most victims of CyberBullying are so affected by the threats and harassment
that they keep quiet and never report it to their parents, teachers or
friends. It is important that victims realize that trusted adults are here to
fight this new form of bullying.

More information may be accessed at the following website. www.wiredsafety.org

for more information: contact Mary Lou Handy at [email protected]

>At approximately 12:35 PM on Sunday, a Hope Street resident was struck by a vehicle plowing snow on the street as she was shoveling out her driveway. The vehicle, described as an unmarked black pickup truck with flashing strobe lights, fled the scene without stopping. The victim was uninjured.

Initial reports are that the vehicle description matches one used by a landscaper under contract with the Village for street snow removal services. Police and public works department personnel are currently investigating the incident.

>”There are strong and powerful forces that maintain the system, because it works well for lots of people, just not the kids.

The tragedy is how many kids are graduating wholly unprepared for anything that follows. The easiest way to improve the graduation rate in America is to lower the standards. And lots of people have done that, and as long as we keep doing that, we’ll delude ourselves into thinking we have a decent graduation rate, but in fact our kids will be wholly unprepared.

The magic ingredient in the game I play is high-quality teaching. We don’t remotely have enough of it because we don’t reward it properly, we backload the pay scale. The real money goes into the people who are in the system a long time, gets rolled up in a defined-benefit pension plan, makes it very hard to attract new talent. We don’t reward excellence, we don’t give hardship pay, we pay the same thing for a science teacher and a math teacher that we do for a physical-education teacher. If any university did that, they’d go under.

The countries that succeed, they tend to draw their teachers from the top quarter, top third of their graduating college classes. These are people who have been academically successful, who believe in assessment, because they’ve lived under it and it’s served them well. In the United States, we draw teachers from the bottom quarter of our college graduates, and our kids in high-poverty neighborhoods get the bottom quarter of the bottom quarter.”

Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education in his Wall Street Journal Interview – November 23, 2008