>Record 19 reporters, media execs join Team Obama by Paul Bedard
For some Washington reporters and media execs, cheering their team from the sidelines just isn’t good enough: Tugging on a red, white and blue Team Obama jersey is the answer.
That’s the case for a whopping 19 journalists and media executives, including five from the Washington Post and three each from ABC and CNN, who’ve gone into the administration or center-left groups supporting the president.
Those inside the administration hit 14 this month when the Post’s Stephen Barr joined the Labor Department. That’s a record, say some revolving door watchers, and could even be much higher: The Post reports that “dozens” of former journalists have joined the administration, although Washington Secrets couldn’t verify that tally.
>How many of the nearly 25,000 residents use the library in a month? In a year?
Why would anyone sit in the library and read, unless they were killing time or hoping to make friends.
They should look at the stats. How many of the nearly 25,000 residents use the library in a month? In a year? There are probably a dedicated group of people who use the service.
It seems to be a public space for story time, computer classes, tutors and the odd few who like to sit and read in a public place. Table space is tight, so add more tables.
Do we need to maintain all those books and periodicals that are never used? Clear out the books and add more computer stations. Give everyone access to ebooks. Do away with the movie CDs and dvds. What exactly does the reference dept do?
>Ridgewood lawyer charged with leaving the scene of an accident the staff of the Ridgewood blog
(RIDGEWOOD-NJ) A Ridgewood lawyer was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, endangering an injured victim, and leaving the scene of an accident.
Daniel McNerney a Ridgewood Attorney was charged with aggravated assault, endangering an injured victim, and leaving the scene of an accident, Ridgewood Police Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke said.According to Police McNerney a 49-year-old village resident was arrested on Monday for dragging a person with his car.
According to Ridgewood Police Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke the incident resulted in serious bodily injury of the victim, causing at least a broken arm. McNerney was later arrested several miles away in Ramsey at 6 a.m. Bail was set at $35,000 with McNerney is due in court this week.
> Desperate for jobs, youth flee Obama by Paul Bedard
America’s youth vote, which turned out in record numbers in 2008 and gave a historically high percentage of their support to President Obama, has soured on him because they are having a hard time finding work and, as a result, are putting off major decisions like getting married and starting a family
Obama, who won 66 percent of the 24 million voters age 18-29 in 2008, has seen that support slashed. And in a new poll from Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit that seeks to engage younger voters, only 31 percent approve of Obama’s handling of youth unemployment, a number that threatens to rob him of the voter group that pushed him to victory.
“Ironically for President Obama,” said the group’s president, Paul Conway, “the hardcore reality is that young voters are now very dissatisfied with the direction of the country and are becoming more vocal in their demands for real jobs rather than promises of more unpaid internships and unproven programs.”
>Ridgewood Library :Everyone is missing the point here
The library is well used, go there anyday and see all the activities and folks checking out materials. The library is in effect an extension of our school system. It serves to continue the education of our total population with books, classes, performances and exhibitions.
The difficulty is that the library is supported by RW taxes and used by the larger Bergen County population. In fact, I often see people getting out of cars with NY plates and entering the library.
Nannies are defacto mommies, so why shouldn’t they be utilizing the library. Most kids programs require RW residency or the purchase of a activity card. So, don’t pick on the nannies. Tutors are different, they are conducting a business with a different student every hour. Those students and/or tutors may or may not be RW residents.
>the fly has learned that Albert Pucciarelli Planning Board Vice Chairman is looking to ad the Village council to his very impressive resume
the fly has learned that Albert Pucciarelli Planning Board Vice Chairman is looking to ad the Village council to his very impressive resume .Pucciarelli has served the village on the zoning and then the planning board for a combined 20 plus years .This 20 years of Village involvement has put Pucciarelli in the thick of things on virtually every major issue the Village currently faces including Valley Hospital , Graydon Pool and the Town Garage debacle .
In language peppered with buzz words from the Pro- Valley expansionist and the Village Urbanization crew Pucciarelli has been careful not to give away his hand as to where he stands on some of the more controversial issues . He has stuck with the rhetoric of the anti-council crew sighting the 2011 budget rise of 7.4 %,contract negotiations made with police and fire , storm damage, numerous lawsuits, and reduced property values and of coarse the 12 % increase to Village Manager Ken Gabbert .
We have heard all this before from the Urbanization gang of Ed Sullivan,Russ Forenza as well as councilmen Paul Aronsohn leaving regular readers of this blog wondering were was Mr. Pucciarelli during the disgraceful and well chronicled Village Hall Fiasco , the golden toilet, the Town Garage ,Ridgewood Taxi , the Tenhove car crashes and an innumerable bunch of silly Village budgets set up to hide and obfuscate the Villages true financial condition, not to mention his association with McElroy, Deutch, Mulvaney & Carpenter attorney’s for Valley Hospital ?
So you ask does this mean anyone with even the slightest association to Valley Hospital should be treated as guilty until proven innocent? The answer is yes and given Valley’s behavior during the “Renewal” process as well as former mayor David Pfund’s inability to mention his father was a trustee of Valley as well as his law firm represented Valley , all candidates should expect harsh scrutiny .
>THE DEAL TO EXTEND THE PAYROLL TAX CUT IS YET ANOTHER STRAW ON THE CAMEL’S BACK By Ian Linker February 15, 2012
So, House Republican leaders have agreed to extend the payroll tax cut extension for the rest of the year without offsetting the extension with spending cuts. This sweetheart is one more straw straining the camel’s back.
The so-called leaders will say that politically they were cornered. They’ll say, with the Democrats in control of the Senate and a Democrat sitting in the White House, we had no choice. They’ll say at least we avoided a tax increase. They’ll say this is an election year and with 160 million workers subject to a payroll tax increase if we let the cut expire at the end of February, the consequences would be far too costly. Much of this is true. But man up. What is truly at stake, and what seems to be lost on every one who signs onto this deal, is America’s long-term future.
We are at a crossroads in this country. Do we want to shrink the size of government to return it to its Constitutional constraints? Do we want to get this economy moving in the right direction for the long term that will again make us the envy of the world? Do we want to stop mortgaging our children’s future and kicking our problems down the road? Or do we want to drive off the cliff with our foot on the accelerator? Or, to be fair, do we want to take our foot off the gas and let our momentum take us over the cliff?
So Congress wants to extend the payroll tax cut? Fine, but do so in a fiscally responsible manner that will not jeopardize our fragile economy. Do so in a manner that will not add to our staggering nearly $15.5 trillion debt. Put simply: the government needs to figure out a way to end its profligate ways, make real and durable spending cuts, balance the budget, and pay down the debt or before long we will be looking at a big fat Greek-style austerity.
There is no question the middle class deserve tax relief and should have tax relief. But the tax code needs systemic reform that will simplify the code, facilitate long-term economic growth, create millions of private-sector jobs, and expand the tax base to ensure that everyone is paying taxes, who should be paying taxes. Tax reform will give the middle class and all taxpayers much needed relief and facilitate strong economic growth.
Our representatives in Washington must stop playing politics and must start acting on principle. Every deal struck is one more straw added to the camel’s back. Perhaps the cost of each straw is nominal. But in the aggregate, the straws are beginning to have an effect – and it ain’t pretty. The camel’s back is beginning to weaken. Each straw pushes us closer to a point of no return. Each straw is heaped on without addressing the main issues: spending reform, tax reform, entitlement reform, and regulatory reform. Each straw takes us farther and farther away from our goal: to restore America as the shiny city on the hill for future generations. Ian Linker is an attorney and a former Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey.
>Times Correspondent to Address Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club on Military and Veterans Issues
James Dao, national correspondent for military and veterans affairs for The New York Times, will speak at a meeting of the Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., Thursday, February 23, at Osteria La Fiamma, 119 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood.
Dao, who lives in Glen Rock, has traveled far and wide on his military beat. It has taken him from Fort Jackson to cover the first woman to become the Army’s top drill sergeant; to Fort Sill to write about aging Army recruits in basic training; and to Afghanistan to report on American troops in Operation Enduring Freedom. He has also profiled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki and written extensively on post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dao was a Pentagon correspondent for The Times’ Washington bureau during 9/11 and later was embedded with Special Operations Forces during the Iraq invasion in 2003. He also has covered the State Department and Congress and was part of The Times’ national political team during the 2000 presidential election. Prior to joining The Times in 1992, Dao was a reporter for the New York Daily News, where he was lead writer on a series about the people-smuggling industry in China. Earlier, he was a political reporter for The Record of Hackensack.
Guests are welcome to attend the meeting. A full buffet breakfast will be served at a cost of $11. Please contact the Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club at 201-637-7335 so that extra breakfast settings can be arranged. Please leave a number where you can be reached that morning, in case major breaking news calls James Dao away from the meeting.
>The Cost of Obama 8:05 AM, FEB 14, 2012 • BY JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
President Obama’s fourth budget has now been released, which allows for a relatively full accounting of deficit spending during his four years in office. The picture isn’t pretty, but it is revealing.
>Obama’s Class-Warfare, Tax-the-Rich Budget By Larry Kudlow, February 14, 2012
If you shake out the Obama budget in terms of bold headlines, it’s really a class-warfare, tax-the-rich budget. Layer upon layer of tax hikes are piled on successful investors, small-business owners, and corporations. The capital-gains tax goes from 15 percent to 24 percent (including Obamacare). The dividends tax goes from 15 percent to nearly 40 percent, and that’s not including the double tax on corporate profits embodied in dividends and capital gains. The Bush tax cuts for top earners are repealed. There’s the 30 percent Buffett-rule minimum tax on millionaires. The carried-interest tax for private equity, hedge funds, and other investment partnerships goes from 15 to 39.6 percent. The estate tax jumps to 45 percent. State and local bond interest deductions are severely limited. Oil and gas companies get hit. So do banks. And there’s probably more stuff in there I haven’t read yet. (Jimmy P. lays it out nicely.) Paul Ryan’s press release calls it a $1.9 trillion tax hike, with $47 trillion in government spending over the next decade and the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. . .
>All I know is that a family making $250k living in Bergen county is not “RICH”
All I know is that a family making $250k living in Bergen county is not “RICH”. While $250k goes much further in southern and western states, it doesn’t lead to some extravagant lifestyle living in Bergen county (or NJ for that matter).
Between Federal Taxes, State Taxes, avg county property taxes, social security and medicare taxes, the current tax rate for a family making $250k is 49.82%!!!
If the Dems want to raise taxes they need to look to change the brackets of what they consider rich, since $250k a year in Bergen county gets you a modest 3-bedroom home, some money put away for college funds and dinner out once a month. That sounds a lot more middle class to me.
Valley Hospital looks to make Village Council Elections all about Valley
Why would Valley think that they are poised for approval? They were denied. What is there to approve, nothing has been submitted.Unless the Planning Board rescinds it’s decision to ammend the Village Master Plan,
Valley can take the same proposal to the council again. And if there are any new, pro-expansion people on that council, they surely will.The CRR is still fighting to nullify the Planning Board’s decision to amend the Village Master Plan. If they win that fight, this is over. Until then, it is vital to keep the continuity of the current council or Valley will drag the village through this all over again
>Obama To Unleash “Truth Teams” To Counter Negative Coverage GOP describes squads of supporters as “propaganda teams to deceive voters”
Steve Watson Infowars.com February 13, 2012
The Obama campaign is to “educate” and deploy what it describes as “truth teams” to ensure that any attacks on the president’s record are feverishly countered in the run up to the general election.
ABC News reports that teams of Obamanoids will be launched initially in 13 “swing states,” including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
>Gene Sperling, director of the White House’s national economic council, said today at an official meeting that “we need a global minimum tax”:
“He supports corporate tax reform that would reduce expenditures and loopholes, lower rates for people investing and creating jobs in the U.S., due so further for manufacturing, and that we need to, as we have the Buffett Rule and the individual tax reform, we need a global minimum tax so that people have the assurance that nobody is escaping doing their fair share as part of a race to the bottom or having our tax code actually subsidized and facilitate people moving their funds to tax havens,” Sperling said.
>TSA: Obama budget proposes new security, airline fees
Obama budget proposes new security, airline fees(Reuters) – Airlines and their passengers would pay up to $32 billion in new air traffic and security fees over 10 years, and grants to big airports would fall sharply under White House budget proposals on Monday aimed at deficit reduction.
The Obama administration wants major carriers, their passengers, business jets and airports to pick up more of the costs of air travel and airport improvements that for years have been borne by taxpayers.
New fees are sure to trigger strong opposition from airlines and other aviation groups who argue that the industry is already over-taxed and over-regulated.
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