Category: Village of Ridgewood

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Speak Your Mind ……………………..

>Of course there’s no money left, after paying:
1) all teacher medical insurance premiums,
2) generous defined benefit pensions costs,
3) automatic pay increases
4) for too many administrators and other cushy, 6 figure paper pushing jobs

I know what you’re thinking, if you’re in the private sector you:
1) pay more than half of health insurance premiums for you and your family (employers kick in something, too)
2) virtually no one has defined benefit pensions in the private sector anymore (mostly defined contribution pensions – -you pay most of the cost, you bear all the market risk)
3) I got no raise, or a pay cut
4) I know people who got a 100% pay cut (ie, layoff)
5) middle management/admin jobs get crushed during economic hard times in the private sector

The teacher unions rule the roost, get over it. They have us by the you know what; after all, if they strike/walk out, who will watch the kids?

I wish teachers would “share” their generous economic benefits as we parents “share” the educational burden (homework, participation).

Alas, if you had it as good as they do, why would you give it up?

>Protect your rights to free choice in healthcare and preserve your access to the best healthcare in the nation. Doctor Villare brings needed expertise to Trenton for advancement of healthcare to all New Jerseyeans.

Rational Health Care Reform

The current policies proposed in Washington would result in a government takeover of the health care system. These policies would remove all decision-making concerning personal healthcare matters.

There is agreement on many of the problems that plague our current system. They are a lack of accessibility, portability and affordability. The elements to a viable solution would address these issues, yet maintain quality and individual empowerment. They include:

Create tax equity by equalizing the tax treatment between employer paid health insurance and individual health care plans. Currently, employer provided insurance is paid with pretax dollars and individual health insurance is not. Replacing the current tax exclusion with a system of universal credits would make personal, portable plans market-driven and lower their costs. The government could then direct health insurance savings to help poor individuals and families, as well as those with preexisting conditions, purchase private health insurance.
One type of insurance that has proven to reduce costs is to combine health savings accounts with a high deductible health insurance plan. Typically, money not spent in one year (in the health savings account) rolls over to the next year and can grow over time. This creates an incentive to spend these dollars much more carefully. The premium cost for the insurance component is significantly less expensive.

Deregulate interstate insurance so insurance companies can compete across state lines. Health insurance should be able to be purchased from any insurance company in any state. Market based reforms would result, because costly government mandates are eliminated. Consumers could tailor their health insurance to their needs.
Establishing medical malpractice reform would reduce health care costs. Defensive medicine (when doctors perform every conceivable test to protect themselves from malpractice suits) cost between $100 billion to $200 billion each year. These costs are passed on to patients through much higher prices for health care. Higher prices for health care causes higher prices for health insurance.
Enact medical record-keeping through use of health information technology. Today, a card no bigger than a credit card can hold your entire medical history. This allows doctors and hospitals to instantly access needed medical information.
Adopt a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many health related issues are self-induced. Cardiac disease, diabetes and obesity are often preventable if proper diet, moderate exercise, not smoking and other positive lifestyle choices are adopted.
Ensuring patients take their medications. There are many wonderful drugs that help fight chronic disease and cancer. These drugs increase our longevity and allow us to live a better quality of life. Often times, patients don’t take medications as prescribed by their doctors contributing to $290 billion a year in avoidable medical spending (including excess hospitalizations). The reasons for noncompliance vary from side effects, the challenge of managing multiple prescriptions, forgetfulness, reduced sense of need if patients don’t feel any symptoms and cost. Poor medication compliance is a major roadblock to healthcare efficiency. Solutions to this problem include delivering better care to seniors by offering assistance in the elderly patient’s home thus keeping them out of costly nursing facilities, patient education, simplify drug regimens, reducing the cost of drugs for chronic diseases and closer monitoring of patients to improve compliance.

Healthcare reform is essential. Whatever reforms are undertaken, it is mandatory that they be fiscally responsible. The result should not be a centralized, heavy-handed, massive, one-size-fits-all government system. Bureaucrats would ultimately control all healthcare decisions resulting in rationing and much higher taxes. Individuals and families should be able to choose their doctors and be the key decision-makers in their own healthcare.

Robert C. Villare, M.D.

Assembly Candidate, 3rd Legislative District

Visit our Web-site at: www.votedocbob.com

Robert Villare, M.D. via e-mail at: votevillare@votedocbob.com

further information, please call 856-423-4515

>Smoking ban at N.J. beaches, public parks is lawmaker’s goal

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/proposed_bill_would_ban_smokin.html

Posted by jqueally September 18, 2009 05:05AM

TRENTON – Three years after New Jerseyans were banned from smoking indoors, a top state lawmaker (Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex)), wants to keep them from lighting up in many outdoor spots as well.

Smoking would be prohibited on beaches and in public parks under a proposal that could be taken up by year’s end.

“It’s moved beyond a nuisance to a health hazard,” said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who plans to introduce a bill when the Legislature returns, likely in November.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/proposed_bill_would_ban_smokin.html

>September 17, 2009

Hon. David Pfund, Mayor
Council Members Keith Killion, Paul Aronsohn, Patrick A. Mancuso, and Anne Zusy
Village Hall
131 N. Maple Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

Dear Mayor Pfund and Council Members:

We were dismayed at last night’s Council meeting to hear from the dais that we suddenly had a deadline for deciding whether to join the Council’s new Graydon committee and that that deadline was today. We had been told privately, and it had been announced, also from the dais at the September 9 Council meeting, and repeated by a Council member at our table at the Ridgewood street fair on Sunday, September 13, that the committee meeting originally scheduled for tonight would be postponed by one week in consideration of personal issues. If meeting minutes had been posted, as they should have been, within 48 hours, we could have checked and pointed to those words.

Since a response is demanded immediately, please consider this letter to accommodate the surprise deadline.

Discussions of proposed changes to Graydon have become a highly sensitive public issue. This was amply shown by the historic demonstration of public interest in the future of Graydon at the Village work session meeting on September 9, 2009, at which members in the audience wishing to preserve and protect Graydon Park and “plake” greatly outnumbered the group demanding their demolition and replacement, as well as the more than 1,000 signatures obtained by the Coalition over a week’s time around Labor Day weekend (and still growing) on a petition with the following statement: “We ask the Ridgewood Village Council to resist replacing Graydon’s sandy beaches and large swimming area with a much smaller concrete pool or pools and to postpone issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) until less-invasive alternatives to enhance the existing facility have been explored.” Yet unfortunately, from the beginning, a behind-closed-doors atmosphere of overzealousness and negativity by the Ridgewood Pool Project (RPP) and now by members of the same group using a new name, as well as the longtime spoken and silent consent to their behavior and statements by various Village government officials, representing an apparent strange collusion with that group’s efforts to subvert a beloved Village property, has served to promote a pro-concrete agenda that most residents vehemently reject and that has undermined the public trust.

As it is the duty of the Council to respect and uphold a democratic form of government, transparency is desirable and warranted at every level, including deliberations and determinations regarding any proposed changes to Graydon Park and plake. We ask the Village Council to revisit the Graydon issue in a fully open, democratic public forum and to start anew, as you have suggested, although not by a committee of the same people who have veered in the wrong direction but through a public forum based on transparency.

The volunteer group RPP’s flawed “Final Report,” which, like their pronouncements to the public and press, contains serious false statements about Graydon; two site renderings, the first quickly rejected by all, the second by an unlicensed architect lacking experience in pool design, and both wholly incompatible with the setting; and history of misrepresentation of facts, and which represents nothing more than a social study with no real implications for the feasibility of the drastic change to the park that it recommends, have amply shown the group to lack validity. Distortions about the role and recommendations of the NJDEP with regard to Graydon and grave public misstatements by that group and by at least one Village Council member regarding the cleanliness and safety of Graydon even as the Village contests a multimillion-dollar lawsuit related to swimming safety have contributed to the dissemination to residents of misinformation that unfairly and inaccurately maligns a cherished public amenity. The discrediting of Graydon through half-truths, innuendo, and rhetoric has been a sad travesty, but one that our community can salvage if the Village immediately goes forward as described below.

Representatives of the Coalition would consider participating in a Council-appointed committee under the following terms and conditions:

1. We have received the committee’s mission statement only via email, by request. To review the statement, we will need to see a copy on Village letterhead, signed and accompanied by a list of the other proposed members, the projected frequency and dates of meetings, any anticipated deadlines, and an assurance that the committee would continue to meet as long as necessary, not merely as a stopgap before issuing an RFP within a short period.

We have heard mixed messages regarding the disposition of the RFP: both that it is no longer under consideration and that it will be passed within a few weeks. We hope the former is correct, but fear from Council member’ comments at Council meetings and elsewhere that is not the case.

2. The objective of the committee must be to examine all issues relating to Graydon from an independent and critical perspective. The committee must be willing to marshal all available resources, both within and without the community, encouraging participation and suggestions by all; the Coalition, for example, has already received notes and ideas from around the country and world that its members wish to share, and would expect to be able to solicit more on various topics over time. The committee must be charged with the obligation of publishing its own findings of fact and conclusions without reference to the “Final Report,” or any other report, comment, or findings, of the Ridgewood Pool Project, whose work is done and which must be firmly instructed to cease and desist in its unremitting maligning of Graydon for its own purposes; so too for the offshoot/companion group named Fix Graydon Now! and any additional such groups formed in the future. Further, if the goal of the committee is indeed to “start fresh,” every member must be of the disposition that that is what will be done. Any individual or representative of a group known to have rejected the possibility of maintaining Graydon in its current state, whatever they may say now, would not be suitable members and would hinder progress.

3. If the committee’s mission is to proceed free of preconceptions with the purpose of enhancing Graydon with an eye to attracting more members, as has been stated, then at least one full swimming season, and more likely several, will be required to test new techniques and technologies as well as to implement a full-bore public relations campaign supported by the Council both financially and in fact. The cost of such measures will be considerably less than the many millions projected for the concrete solution, a fortuitous saving at a time of severe economic hardship for the Village.

4. Success will be contingent on the Council’s full participation and cooperation in protecting Graydon and speaking positively about it, including when the Council speaks at public meetings and to the press, in a way that residents will hear and recognize rather than permitting a group with an anti-Graydon agenda to continue its negative propaganda with the Council’s spoken or silent affirmation rather than severe rebuttal. Steps must be taken to protect Graydon throughout the year, as it remains, as intended, a public park. For example, covering the rafts with flags or other objects to prevent geese from landing on them now that the swimming season has ended would be a prudent step to take in the ongoing effort to keep the park attractive and pleasant throughout the year. Our goose control experts have some inexpensive recommendations.

5. The committee cannot have any predetermined outcome, nor can it be considered a means of achieving compromise between competing groups. The Coalition does not consider itself a competing group except in that it demands the exploration of all means to enhance Graydon rather than leveling it; in this the Coalition has been working in effect as an unpaid booster of Village property and holdings. No such compromise is possible at the current time. The purpose of the committee must be not to mollify individual citizens demanding a specific solution but to examine, without undue haste, ways in which Graydon Park, in its present format, can be improved and can restore some measure of its former popularity as a community gathering place 12 months a year; in short, to explore what is best for the community.

6. Further, the prospect of the committee’s making final determinations within a matter of weeks belies the claim that all possibilities for the future of Graydon are open. No relevant research could possibly be done and evaluated in that time.

7. No adequate environmental study has been done for this setting in the center of a tremendous floodplain area with numerous considerations requiring thorough study and evaluation, including the considerably increased impervious area caused by building in recent years and the potentially disastrous consequences of a 100-year flood. Going forward beyond discussion and scrupulous study at this time would represent sheer folly and a potentially devastating waste of time and taxpayers’ money. A feasibility study would incorporate environmental and other issues. Only after a full assessment of the plausibility of such construction could an RFP be considered appropriate.

8. To dispel rumor and innuendo from the proceedings and assure Village residents that discussions and decisions about Graydon will be open to full public scrutiny, which would be the only way to overcome the atmosphere of the past few years regarding Graydon, the committee must work with full transparency. Meetings shall be open to the public and available on closed-circuit television. (Public comments would not necessarily be available every time.) The area of the Village website designed to permit meetings held in the courtroom to be viewed online should be completed/repaired immediately so that anyone with a computer and modem could watch them. At least one venue larger than the Village Hall courtroom and supplied with the necessary technology and materials, such as television cameras, should be established at the earliest opportunity for future meetings of considerable interest to the community so that more people may participate in open government, obviating the travesty of public participation that characterized the council meeting on September 9.

9. Continuing with the theme of “sunshine,” members of the committee must be free to discuss its activities with third parties. Again, if all available resources are to be obtained, the members must, of necessity, talk with residents and non-residents. Ridgewood residents offer a wealth of expertise in many different areas, including, but not limited to, civil and hydroengineering and other technical issues; survey techniques; environmental considerations, including wetlands and floodplain issues; public relations and marketing; and operations management.

10. Members of the committee who may also be members of the Coalition must be free to continue educational and other outreach activities on behalf of the Coalition. We believe that much can and must be done to educate the community about what is good about Graydon. This is especially needed to counter the negative publicity generated over several years by the Ridgewood Pool Project, which, in the estimation of the Coalition, has contributed greatly to declining membership. In fact, the most dramatic drop in membership occurred during the summer of 2007, the first swimming season after the RPP announced its existence in February 2007. Prior to that time, membership had never fallen below 4,000. Once the RPP had organized, membership decreased by an additional 1,300 in 2007. Stunts such as marching in the July 4 parade holding signs toward the RPP’s goal must have an impact on membership and must be stopped. These examples and others demonstrate that the RPP’s insistence that it has had nothing to do with declining membership is patently false. Much damage has been done to Graydon’s reputation, and these misconceptions must be rectified. Such efforts may take some time, but will be well worth while.

11. The Coalition intends to examine the “Final Report” of the RPP in detail and to report its findings to the public. This too would have to be permitted. For this the Coalition must have, at your earliest opportunity, all the raw data on which the report was based, whether the Coalition participates in the committee or not and whether the Council already has such data in its possession; if not, and this would mean that the report had never been appropriately reviewed before becoming the basis of an RFP, the data must be obtained now from the RPP or whoever is holding it. The RPP report was partially funded with taxpayer money and should therefore be available to the public in all its phases.

12. Having no place on a committee devoted to considerations of preserving rather than destroying Graydon, by definition, is any group dedicated to such destruction. Neither the RPP, nor its alter ego known as “Fix Graydon Now!,” nor any other person or group with an agenda favoring the demolition of Graydon deserves a place at the table. Including such persons would in effect nullify claims of impartiality and a fresh slate.

13. The Coalition considers the committee’s activities to be a long-term project, and certainly not something that can be completed in a month or even, most likely, in only one more swimming season, as word of mouth can take time to take hold, especially when years of negative public relations must be overcome. If, in defiance of its own mission statement, the Council persists in even considering moving forward with a construction project involving the partial or complete demolition of Graydon as we know it, there will be insufficient time to do the independent, objective investigation required. Accordingly, all discussion of an RFP, which is not in fact a tool to “see what is out there,” as frequently stated by the Council, but a means to a definitive end, specifically a contract document, must be tabled indefinitely to demonstrate to concerned Village residents the Council’s genuine interest in pursuing the correct course.

14. The Coalition would expect to be permitted to send any designated representative to committee meetings and in addition to invite limited numbers of experts, after notifying the committee head, whoever that may be. More than two such persons might be present at any given time, depending upon the topic at hand.

15. Any meetings with the NJDEP and/or other state or federal regulatory agencies will be disclosed at least 48 hours in advance and an announcement of the time, date, and place posted. Coalition representatives will be invited to attend those meetings and site visits.

Unless these conditions for success are met, the new committee will be unable to make a decision in the best interests of the Village, and the public desire and good can never come about.

We made many points at our well-received presentation on September 9 and had many more prepared that we were discouraged from presenting but that deserve consideration and investigation before rational, careful decisions can be made about the future of Graydon.

Support from experienced and skilled professionals in the Village is available and should be accepted. For example, a letter to the Council from the Ridgewood Historic Preservation Commission (September 4, 2009), published in full at our website, www.PreserveGraydon.org, concludes: “The recent proposal to destroy more than half of this tranquil setting is contrary to the intent and historical importance of Graydon Park. We urge the Council to consider a non-intrusive design and instead improve upon Graydon’s natural and historical landscape. We would be glad to participate in this effort.”

Reconsidering and re-forming the committee as described above would be of tremendous benefit to the Council, Graydon, and the Village. The Coalition has accumulated masses of information, suggestions, forward-thinking ideas, and recommendations from experts in the United States and other countries; many are cost effective. Graydon can only benefit from that input and those ideas. Would it not be a disservice to the Village and Graydon if the only reason the Coalition’s ideas could not be put into place was the absence of a sound, productive committee open to the public scrutiny that residents have craved all along? The most expedient way to share those ideas would be as members of the committee; however, if that is not possible, we will continue our research independently.

One of the jewels of our community is in great jeopardy, causing widespread confusion, bewilderment, and anger among a large proportion of residents, many of whom are just learning about the situation. “Horrified” would not be too strong a description of the average resident reaction to the prospect of losing Graydon Park to concrete. A Facebook site on the subject has over 1,100 members. The RHS Class of 1951, already planning its 50th reunion in 2011, and the RHS Class of 1958 (www.ridgewood58.com) have independently adopted our cause. We have received hundreds and hundreds of email messages and letters protesting the possibility that Graydon could be removed and offering help of time, research, letter writing, and money. This is more, much more, than “nostalgia.” It can no longer be said that no one cares about Graydon.

Time and care must be taken to ensure that proper decisions are made. Fundraising groups and philanthropic individuals, and persons who are relatively new to a community encompassing many families that harbor strong positive feelings about Graydon, often for several generations, must not be permitted to proffer a large check that determines the future of this or any other of our unique open spaces or to replace with an ordinary concrete structure the long-lived, long-loved, still-vibrant site of active and passive recreation in a sunny park in the center of town.

The Preserve Graydon Coalition, like the Village Council, understands that any changes to Graydon must have the support of our citizens. With transparency, our community can find the best solution. One fine way to bring the community together and back to Graydon would be a townwide celebration in honor of the park’s 100th birthday in the spring.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel, Co-Chairs
For The Preserve Graydon Coalition

via email and by hand

cc: Heather Mailander, Acting Village Manager
Timothy J. Cronin, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation
Nancy A. Bigos, Deputy Director, Department of Parks and Recreation
Christopher Rutishauser, Village Engineer
Ridgewood News
Bergen Record

>Last night was back to school night and my child’s school, and I was rather insulted by the amount of time spent discussing fundraisers and a potential bond issue to help the schools “install new light switches, and building additions”. As a taxpayer, who is already overtaxed, I find it insulting that I already paid my dues, and the first thing you hear is that the schools are poor and have their hat out looking for additional money.

For the record, I didn’t get a raise this past year because of the economy. I’m quite lucky I didn’t have to give any of my salary back. But it’s good to see that the teachers will all be getting an additional 4% this year.

>ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports:

https://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/09/dem-senator-warns-of-big-big-tax-on-middle-class-in-baucus-bill.html

It’s not every day that you hear a Democratic senator charge that a fellow Democrat is proposing to raise taxes on the middle class, but that is what happened on Tuesday when Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., ripped into the health-care bill developed by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mt., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The Baucus proposal would impose, starting in 2013, a 35 percent excise tax on insurance companies for “high-cost plans” — defined as those above $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for family plans.

Health economists believe a tax on high-priced benefits could help slow the growth of health costs by making consumers more sensitive to prices.

The tax contemplated by Baucus is also a big revenue raiser. It is expected to raise $200 billion, money that Baucus is hoping to use to pay for subsidies for the uninsured.

Given how much money this kind of tax can raise, Rockefeller says he understands why it is “tempting.”

The West Virginia Democrat worries, however, that a lot of middle class workers, like the coal miners in his state, will end up facing “a big, big tax” under the Baucus bill because they currently enjoy generous employer-provided health care benefits which they receive tax free.

Referring to Baucus, Rockefeller said, “He should understand that (his proposal) means that virtually every single coal miner is going to have a big, big tax put on them because the tax will be put on the company and the company will immediately pass it down and lower benefits because they are self insured, most of them, because they are larger. They will pass it down, lower benefits, and probably this will mean higher premiums for coal miners who are getting very good health care benefits for a very good reason. That is, like steelworkers and others, they are doing about the most dangerous job that can be done in America.”

“So that’s not really a smart idea,” Rockefeller continued. “In fact, it’s a very dangerous idea, and I’m not even sure the coal miners in West Virginia are aware that this is what is waiting if this bill passes.”

Rockefeller made his comments on a conference call with reporters which was sponsored by the liberal Campaign for America’s Future.

Rockefeller, who sits on the Finance Committee, said that he cannot support the Baucus bill unless it receives major improvements during the amendment process.

Baucus, the Finance chair, is scheduled to discuss his “chairman’s mark” with reporters on Capitol Hill at 12 noon on Wednesday.

ABC News’ Brittany Crockett contributed to this report.

https://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/09/dem-senator-warns-of-big-big-tax-on-middle-class-in-baucus-bill.html

>

2008
Puzos (30%)
Ridgewood Pizza (7%)
Lenny’s (12%)
Renato’s (23%)
Mamma Rosa’s (1%)
Brooklyn (15%)
a player to be named later (8%)

>The Destruction of Capitalism (and Civilization)
Mises Daily by Art Carden Posted on 5/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

https://mises.org/story/3454

Unfortunately, the great libertarian polemics of the middle of the 20th century are taking on a newfound relevance as we trudge along the road to serfdom. Fortunately, the most important ideas in the classical-liberal tradition are crystallized in these works. One such work is Ludwig von Mises’s 1956 book The Anticapitalistic Mentality. He offers a psychological sociology of ideas in which he surveys and attempts to explain the rise of anticapitalist thought in the West.

In his first chapter, “The Social Characteristics of Capitalism and the Psychological Causes of Its Vilification,” he offers a contribution similar to Friedrich Hayek’s in Capitalism and the Historians in that he seeks to set the record straight. With characteristic clarity and verve, he points out how “[t]he characteristic feature of modern capitalism is mass production of goods destined for consumption by the masses” (p. 1) and notes that “[c]apitalism deproletarianizes the ‘common man’ and elevates him to the rank of a ‘bourgeois'” (p. 1). In much the same fashion, Hayek argued that the creation of the proletariat was not due to increasing immiseration but due to the fact that advances under capitalism allowed people on the margins of society to survive and to become members of the proletariat rather than entries into British mortality statistics. The creation of the proletariat was a demographic shift brought on by the success of capitalism, not by any inherent tendency for it to increase the exploitation of the workers.

For Mises, it was “obvious that man’s discretion to shape his fate can never trespass the limits drawn by what are called the laws of nature” (p. 2). We don’t have the option of assuming away the law of gravity or the laws of thermodynamics. One of the fundamental contributions of 19th- and 20th-century political economy was that it showed that we do not have the option of assuming away the laws of supply and demand or the law of comparative advantage.

One of the consequences of interventionism, according to Mises is “a return to barbarism.” While things have not gone so far as the generation of total chaos or barbarism, this has been evident in the experiments with totalitarianism and hyperpopulism in Asia, Europe, and Latin America in the 20th century.

I fear that we are seeing this in the United States. The change is slow, incremental, and difficult to notice, but we can trace some of the increasing divisions in the world to state action that pit brother against brother and friend against friend. Increasing global integration occurs in spite of state efforts to divide us. Rhetoric about “working together” and understanding our common responsibilities to one another is superficially appealing, but it is fundamentally divisive. Embedded in these statements are assumptions about who is to serve and who is to be served and assumptions about who is to produce and who is to consume. It necessarily assumes a class of predators and a class of prey — or perhaps a more apt metaphor would be a class of parasites and a class of hosts. It does not recognize the fundamental and ennobling effects of capitalism.

Is the entrepeneurial class a new plutocracy? Bourgeois riches come from customer service. Aristocratic riches are expropriated (p. 5). Aristocracy rests on intrinsic value whereas capitalism rests on the exchange of value for value. One’s relationship with the strongman under capitalism is of limited value. In medieval Europe, people attained ranks of privilege not by providing value but by attaching themselves to people who were victorious in war (Mises 1956 [1994]:6–7).

In a society based on caste and status, the individual can ascribe adverse fate to conditions beyond his own control. He is a slave because the superhuman powers that determine all becoming had assigned him this rank. It is not his doing, and there is no reason for him to be ashamed of his humbleness. … [In capitalism,] everybody’s station in life depends on his own doing. (p. 9)

Mises explains anticapitalism as an element of the psychology of envy:

Everybody’s self-reliance and moral equilibrium are undermined by the spectacle of those who have given proof of greater abilities and capacities. Everybody is aware of his own defeat and insufficiency. (p. 10)

This isn’t legitimately actionable. In the hyperjargon of welfare economics, it isn’t clear that we should weight envy in the social-welfare function.

Even beyond this, what do we do when we shackle those who can avoid hurting the feelings of those who cannot? Suppose Bob is a painter. Bob does not become a great painter if we prevent better painters from painting. All we do is destroy the output of those who can. As Ayn Rand pointed out, using force to thwart ability means using force to try to negate reality. Mises offers the following advice:

To the grumbler who complains about the unfairness of the market system only one piece of advice can be given: If you want to acquire wealth, then try to satisfy the public by offering them something that is cheaper or which they like better. Try to supersede Pinkapinka by mixing another beverage. Equality under the law gives you the power to challenge every millionaire. It is — in a market not sabotaged by government-imposed restrictions — exclusively your fault if you do not outstrip the chocolate king, the movie star and the boxing champion. (p. 8)

more
https://mises.org/story/3454

>
Newsweek ranking of top 1500 high schools — Ridgewood is #498 Not sure if you saw Newsweek’s new rankings of the top 1500 high schools in the country — thought it was great news for Ridgewood High School:
https://www.newsweek.com/id/201160/?s=New%20Jersey&q=2009/rank/1

Ridgewood High School’s ranking rose to #498 in 2009. It was 541 in 2008 and 576 in 2007.
Other high schools in New Jersey District J schools were ranked as follows: Millburn — 170 Ridge — 175 West Morris Mendham — 474 Cranford — 568 West Windsor Plainsboro — 678 Haddonfield — 713 Chatham — 735 Mountain Lakes — 1,074 Rumson Fair-Haven — 1,111

>
@Twitter is the only open news source working in Iran right now
@Twiitter maintenance shut down was postponed due to huge out cry from twitter users
@Main Stream Media (State Media) has been forced and dragged kicking and screaming by twitter users to cover events in Iran
@Twitter is being monitored by Iranian Secret police be careful about giving twitter addresses on RT(retweets) or any pro democracy information too specific with your tweets

twitter.com

#Iranelections

>
By Mel Fabrikant Friday, June 12 2009, 05:00 PM EDT

https://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20090612110053201

A-Mano Say Mel, how would you like to join me for dinner at A-Mano wrote my friend Keith Sly. He had just sent me a release on A-Mano and knew that I am a foodie. We met recently at the restaurant located at 24 Franklin Avenue where Keith explained some of the foods to me and made sure I met Manager Eric Ryan.

He also introduced me to the chefs behind the counter. Andrew is the taller one with the dark hair and Rob is the shorter one when you look at the pictures of the quaint brick ovens in the background.

Keith ordered two different pizzas plus a salad for us to share. Afterwards, with plenty left over for another meal at home, we had some of their gelato. Eric stood behind the case and dipped small plastic spoons so that we could taste the different flavors and select one that was pleasurable to our palates. Of course they were all pleasurable, but not wanting to keep Eric bending over too much and possibly running out of sample spoons, I selected the pistachio.

Questioning the small elevator that I saw, Keith explained that they had room upstairs for private parties if needed. I planted the seed in his mind that our Paramus Sunrise Rotary Club could use it for one of our International Dinner nights, a Neapolitan affair.

https://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20090612110053201

>Balance Your LIFE…A Wellness GALA! Comes to Ridgewood Featuring Kung Fu Master, Karl Romain
By Wellness Gala
5/26/2009

https://www.thealternativepress.com/article.asp?news=3635

Kung Fu Master Karl Romain, seen on Oprah and featured in Dr. Oz’s video and book, You Staying Young, joins a select group of experts in the health, wellness and beauty fields at a unique wellness event to be held at the West Side Presbyterian Church, 6 South Monroe Street, Ridgewood, NJ, on Sunday, June 28, 2009, from 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM.

Experience and interact with specialists in the fields of holistic health concepts and modalities, rejuvenation and stress reduction techniques, and personal growth tools. Then join us at 3:30 pm for a Chi Kung session with Kung Fu Master, Karl Romain. Workshops, lectures and demonstrations will be offered beginning at 2 PM.

The Gala festivities also feature “Live” chamber music throughout the day, an espresso bar and desserts, and a “Live” performance of the music of Grammy Award Winning Producer/Sound Healer, Barry Goldstein, critically acclaimed singer, Elisa Brown, and internationally renowned classical guitarist, Virginia Luque. A renowned Sound Healer, Goldstein’s music has touched the audiences of Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, James Van Praagh, Gregg Braden, and Shirley MacLaine. He won the Grammy for his work with Les Paul on the song “69 Freedom Special.” Ms. Brown has performed around the globe for The Zaraspe Foundation on behalf of the United Nations and the Vatican to raise awareness for the less fortunate. A student of legendary Spanish guitarist, Andres Segovia, and recording artist with Abbey Road Studios, Virginia Luque has captivated audiences around the world with her virtuosity “…played a concert…that was stunning both for its technical fireworks and its musical warmth.” The New York Times.

The General Admission Fee for this event is $20.00, and includes workshops, lectures, and demonstrations; desserts and espresso bar; all “Live” entertainment, plus a sampling of services offered by professionals in a variety of fields, including Borghese Spa Products, Nutritional Counseling, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Massage, Anti-Aging Medicine, Reiki, Stress Reduction Techniques, Jewelry, Art, Weight Management Systems, Feng Shui, Energy Balancing, Makeup, Beauty Treatments of All Kinds, Alternative Healthcare Options, Essential Oils, Wellness Books and CDs, and much more.

The VIP Admission Fee for this event is $100.00, and entitles VIP Attendees to all of the above PLUS a gift bag of goods and services valued at $300.00, including a private lecture demonstration with Renowned Intuitive Energy Healer, Dr. Robert Kandarjian, and Going Beyond: a Two Hour Mediumship with Gifted Psychic, Shira. “…a group of graduate students at Pace University, studying unlikely business challenges…found that most of Shira’s clients came away satisfied…” The New York Times. VIP Admission is limited to 50 Attendees. Pre-registration is required to secure the space.

A portion of the proceeds of the Wellness GALA will benefit the Autism Research Institute (ARI) and The Tourette Syndrome Association of New Jersey, Inc. (TSA).

https://www.thealternativepress.com/article.asp?news=3635