Rep Garrett with two vets at the Glen Rock street fair
Dear Friend, Today, our nation pauses to remember the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans—every man and woman who proudly defended our country. To a brave few, duty and service are more than words, they are a way of life. As Americans, our freedoms and liberties have been secured because of our veterans. From the Continental Armies of the American Revolution to those returning home today from places abroad, our veterans have proven, time and again, to be among our greatest national treasures.
As President John F. Kennedy—himself an American war hero—once said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” Today, and every day, please join me in remembering and honoring our veterans.
Got Freedom? Thank a Veteran NJ Tea Party Coalition
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. On November 11, 1919, Armistice Day was commemorated for the first time.
In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the day should be “filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory”. There were plans for parades, public meetings and a brief suspension of business activities at 11am.
In 1926, the United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I and declared that the anniversary of the armistice should be commemorated with prayer and thanksgiving. The Congress also requested that the president should “issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.”
An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) was approved on May 13, 1938, which made November 11 in each year a legal holiday, known as Armistice Day. This day was originally intended to honor veterans of World War I.
A few years later, World War II required the largest mobilization of service men in the history of the United States and the American forces fought in Korea. In 1954, the veterans service organizations urged Congress to change the word “Armistice” to “Veterans”.
Congress approved this change and on June 1, 1954,
November 11 became a day to honor all American veterans, where ever and whenever they had served.
The following is a list of Veterans Day discounts on restaurants, goods, services and events for 2014.
NOVEMBER 7, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Parking in the village may have gotten a little easier this week, depending on where you live.
Considerable debate regarding Ridgewood’s parking dearth — and how best to address it — resulted in determined action Wednesday night, as the council approved several ordinances and a resolution updating the village’s various parking standards.
The council’s focus in recent months has turned toward improving parking for Ridgewood’s residents and village visitors.
Recently, the council adopted regulations permitting valet parking at certain businesses, and orchestrated a deal securing space at the former Ken Smith Motors site on Franklin Avenue for parking by employees of village businesses.
Council members have also been working with county officials to secure funding to build a parking garage downtown.
But this week’s moves by the council standardized meters throughout Ridgewood, changing 12-hour meters to three-hour meters, with meters in effect from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The council also amended its parking permitting process.
Defending searches, security director says ‘every school has drugs in it’
November 3, 2014
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Charlie Brown, security director for West Michigan’s Rockford school district, believes “every school had drugs in it.”
That’s why Rockford schools and numerous others in the area employ the services of Interquest Detection Canines of Michigan, Inc. – to search out illegal substances in school, such as drugs, weapons and other prohibited items, Mlive.com reports.
And the dogs are quite effective.
Records obtained by the news site through public information requests shows Interquest has discovered more than 86 prohibited substances or items in area schools since 2011. The finds are mostly alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, but the dogs have also discovered other prohibited items like cap guns and fireworks, Mlive.com reports.
The Interquest dogs, Golden Retrievers, have even found marijuana pipes made of fruit, and alcohol sealed in plastic food containers.
“It’s not about busting them, it’s about them not having it,” Byron Center High School Principal Scott Joseph told the news site.
And students in some schools have more things they’re not supposed to than others.
Searches at Forest Hills high and middle schools revealed 28 student code violations, while searches at nearby Grandville schools netted 26 violations. Searches at Kentwood schools turned up 22 violations, and those at Byron Center produced 10 violations. The dogs only found two violations at Rockford schools, and came up empty pawed at East Grand Rapids, Mlive.com reports.
No Warrant, No Problem: Students’ Lockers Searched at Random By Drug Dogs
Robby Soave|Nov. 3, 2014 9:10 am
Students at various public schools in West Michigan are subjected to random searches performed by a specialty canine unit that uncovers dangerous contraband in kids’ lockers. Really scary stuff, like hunting gear, pocketknives, fire crackers, prescription medication. Maybe a gun-shaped Pop-Tart or two.
According to mlive.com:
The dogs, which are trained to find drugs, alcohol, gun powder-based products, tobacco and medications, also are used locally in Grandville, Forest Hills, East Kentwood and Byron Center schools among 46 districts across the state. East Grand Rapids uses the city’s public safety department to conduct regular searches on its high school campus.
Records obtained by MLive and the Grand Rapids Press under the Freedom of Information Act show the findings by dogs at area schools are relatively low compared to overall student population, but educators believe the more vigilant they are, the better for students.
The public records request showed the discovery of more than 86 prohibited substances or items at the area schools that have used Interquest since 2011. Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana or drug paraphernalia were the most common finds, but dogs also alerted to fireworks and a toy cap gun among other items banned from school property.
The searches are performed at random, meaning that no single student is ever the target. Administrators hold this up as good and fair—we are trampling your rights, but it’s not personal!—but the ACLU is skeptical.
Dr. Dierdre Paul, a 49-year-old Montclair State University professor, faces an uphill battle against Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., the 77-year-old nine-term Democratic incumbent in New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District.
In a candidate’s forum Monday night at the Community Baptist Church in Englewood, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and the Bergen County chapter of the NAACP, Dr. Paul said that she has not been a Republican for very long.
In fact, in 2008 she had been the Englewood chair of the Obama campaign. “No one hoped more than me that the president would succeed,” she said. “Even as late as 2012 I tried to maintain that hope and faith in the Democratic party. Instead, it was the African American base masking the same old Democratic policies.
“We have a failed war on poverty, a failed war on drugs,” she continued. “Why does the Democratic establishment feel they only need to show up in election time? People are hurting now.”
Mr. Pascrell opened by saying that his “first objective in Congress is to keep us safe. I solemnly swear to each one of you that I will keep us safe against foreign enemies and any domestic enemies who want to take advantage of us.”
Asked about economic issues, Mr. Pascrell called for raising the minimum wage, and for “fair trade policies that do not simply export jobs.” He said proudly that “the president used one of my pieces of legislation, to stop paying corporations to send jobs overseas, in the State of the Union address.” And he defended President Obama’s economic record: “We are not where we should be, but this president has put more people to work in the private sector in the six years he was president than his predecessor did in the eight years he was president. We now have the smallest federal employment base in 15 or 20 years.”
Dr. Paul said that “People are hurting in a variety of ways” and that Social Security must be maintained.
She declared it “unconscionable” that social security payments are going to ex-Nazis, and called for ending the practice of dunning social security payments to repay student loans. Rep. Pascrell replied: “Nazis are Nazis. I don’t use the word former,” agreeing that they should lose their social security benefits.
Regarding social security in general, “I’m glad you want to keep it,” he said. “I hope you tell your party.”
During the 90 minute exchange, Dr. Paul twice cited a New Testament verse (James 1:8) against the congressman. “My Bible states that ‘A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways,'” she said. The first time, she criticized her opponent as one of 20 congressmen who switched their votes from nay to yay on the Wall Street bailout in 2008. Later she used the verse when she criticized him as being too harsh on illegal immigrants.
Asked about the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Paul said “It’s here. It makes no sense to me to talk about whether I agree or don’t agree. But what I do think is that the implementation was handled poorly.”
Mr. Pascrell said that thanks to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, there are “almost eight million people who now have insurance who didn’t have it before.” It worked the best “in those states that set up their own insurance exchanges, unlike New Jersey. You have a problem not only with your party in Washington, you have a problem with our party in New Jersey. When I hear criticism of the Affordable Care Act, a bill I voted for, I always look for what are you going to put in its place.”
The candidates were asked about violence against women.
“It’s a serious problem in our society,” Mr. Pascrell said. “The culture needs to change. Equity deserves no equivocation. The first law we passed in the 2009 Congress was the Ledbetter bill, to give equal pay for women.”
The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed Congress with only three Republican representatives supporting it, two of them from New Jersey.
“I am a different face of the Republican party,” Dr. Paul declared. “I am a single working mom. A homeowner. A divorced Catholic. I can tell anyone about what domestic violence looks like because I grew up with it. My mother was a victim of domestic violence. It’s something that surpasses party lines. It’s very important to not let go of the gains made for women. In Congress that is what I would consider one of my primary responsibilities.”
Regarding the Middle East, Dr. Paul said that “Israel must have the right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Its sole reason for being is to kill Jews and the complete and utter destruction of Israel. Our current policies in the Middle East hurt our friends and reward our enemies.
“For me, radical Islam is our problem. I must be clear that the vast majority of our Muslims in Congressional District 9 are people who are peaceful and value their faith and have the same disdain for radicals the rest of us do.
“I think the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would love to coexist peacefully side by side, but that cannot exist as long as we, the United States, do not adequately support Israel in its right to defend itself. We saw this all summer, where Democrats right and left were questioning Israel’s right. Our allies don’t have confidence in us, in the U.S., and you need that.”
“That’s one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever heard, that Democrats do not support the State of Israel,” Mr. Pascrell retorted. “I’ve voted for every dollar that was supposed to go to Israel, without exception. From the time I stepped into Congress, I supported a two-state solution.
“I support a two state solution and believe Israel should defend itself. I would not want to live in Tel Aviv with rockets over my head – and no one should have to live that way.”
Dr. Paul attacked the congressman for his support of Mohammad Qatanani, the Paterson imam whom the United States is seeking to deport, and for not stepping forward “when Steve Rothman was accused of dual loyalty in the Arab community when you ran against him last time.”
“I supported Qatanani because the FBI people I consulted with said there was no basis to the charges,” he said. “I’m not going to act as judge and jury.
“I have a great relationship with the Jewish community and with the Arab community. I’m not going to fight that battle over again. I did that loud and clear two years ago. “I just came back from Israel,” in August, he continued. “They wouldn’t have invited me if they didn’t know they had a true friend here.”
On education, Dr. Paul, who is a professor of education, praised vouchers.
“How long should we ask parents in Englewood, in Garfield, in Passaic, in Paterson, to send their children to failing schools? Paterson had 26 college-ready students graduate high school; now that dropped to 19. I believe in educational alternatives, including non-corporatized charters and vouchers. Competition is needed, so failing schools can improve their performance so they can compete, or shut down so they can’t continue to hurt children,” she said.
Mr. Pascrell said that though he was the product of parochial schools, “I believe very strongly in public education. I can support charters, and I did in the past when I was in the state legislature, before it became fashionable, if they have a particular purpose so we know where the money is being spent.
“I do not support vouchers. We should keep the separation between church and state. We have our hands full in trying to make our schools work,” he said.
There was little difference between the candidates on the question of incarceration. Both praised the work being done by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on drafting a bipartisan sentencing reform bill.
Both also criticized banks.
“I envision my role as not propping up banks that are too big to fail,” Dr. Paul said. “They had no responsibility in giving people mortgages to people who they knew could not pay them back.”
“There’s no question in my mind a lot of folks running banks should be in jail,” Mr. Pascrell said. “My grandfather used to say that the wrong people are jail. Five banks in America control 90 percent of the assets. We have to deal with that.”
On Ebola, Dr. Paul said “I am fully supportive of Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo in their approach. The governors have a responsibility for public safety that far outweighs an individual’s right.”
Mr. Pascrell disagreed. “Both governors have backed off their original position. I would listen to Dr. Fauci” – Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who testified to Congress about ebola earlier this month – “before Governor Christie.
“We politicians are experts in anything. We’re architects, we can tell you when a bridge is falling down. We can tell you in a 10-year budget what it’s going to look like. And we can tell you how to take care of health care issues without experts advising us.”
In his closing remarks, Mr. Pascrell praised Dr. Paul for her work as a teacher. “There is not enough applause for teachers in the classroom, for teachers of teachers.”
Dr. Paul closed by saying that “Elections are about choices” and that voters should decide “whether they are better off today than they were 17 years ago,” when Mr. Pascrell first entered Congress. “If the answer is no, the choice is a clear one. New leadership is needed for new and more challenging times.
“One of the biggest compliments I have received is that I am a different kind of Republican. And I am.”
I have some very strong concerns that my town, Ridgewood, and Bergen County are in the process of spending valuable money to build a parking garage in an attempt to attract more shoppers and ease the crunch for residents.
I don’t know what the crunch is. I moved into Ridgewood in 1952, have lived in the general area since then and am a resident of the village once again. I have never had a problem finding a parking spot except in extreme cases like on the Fourth of July.
My primary concerns can be easily observed by spending a short amount of time in town on a Saturday evening. Cars are speeding through town and not paying attention to pedestrians in crosswalks. There are also arrogant jaywalkers galore, cars making illegal turns and cars illegally parked. There is no police presence.
WHAT FUELS ISLAMIC STATE RECRUITMENT? JOHN KERRY VS. REALITY October 29, 2014 Elan Journo
The Islamic State, the jihadist force rampaging in Iraq and Syria, has succeeded in recruiting fighters because — wait for it — there’s no peace between Israel and the Palestinians. So claims the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry. Now to be fair, he sees that as one cause, but nonetheless a factor significant enough to mention. Kerry’s talking point, which alludes to anger on the Arab streets, encapsulates an actual theory. It’s the idea that jihadists (many of whom deploy the tactic of terrorism) are moved by the desire to redress some bundle of grievances. What to make of that theory?
The scholar Michael Rubin offers a sarcastic tweak of a Clinton-era slogan: “It’s the Ideology, Stupid!” Rubin suggests that we ought instead to look at the ideas that jihadists embrace, and points out some of the facts that belie that alleged grievances-terrorism link that Kerry and others put forward.
the most oft-cited grievances — poverty and lack of education — have no statistical link to terror. Suicide bombers tend not to be those with the least opportunities; rather, they tend to be those from educated, middle-class backgrounds. In the Gaza Strip, Pakistan, Turkey, and elsewhere, recruitment occurs in the schools. Nor do we see a rash of terrorists and murders arising from the ten poorest countries on earth.
Read the whole thing.
I would add that the thirteen years since 9/11 are the story of America’s ongoing refusal to look seriously at the ideas motivating the jihadist cause.
There’s more to say on why scholars, diplomats, Arab leaders, and some jihadists (e.g. Hamas) view the Israel/Palestinian conflict as The Core Issue in the Middle East, from which all the woe of the region emanates. Let me just note: that view is false — the Syrian civil war is one of many countervailing data points — and that I intend to cover this topic in future writing.
Survey: Since Newtown school attack 85% of N.J. school districts have tightened security
OCTOBER 28, 2014, 9:00 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014, 9:00 PM BY HANNAN ADELY STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD Print
Since the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn., more than 85 percent of school districts in New Jersey have taken new security measures, including adding cameras, hiring security and making building changes, according to a 2013 survey of local school officials.
Their responses were included as part of a report titled “What Makes Schools Safe?” released Tuesday by a task force of the New Jersey School Boards Association. The task force studied security improvements and made recommendations for school safety.
Of the 273 school board presidents and business administrators who answered the survey, about two-thirds said their schools had made technology improvements, including adding surveillance cameras and upgrading electronic access systems for buildings.
About 45 percent said they had made physical changes like safeguarding windows and doors and changing outside landscaping. Just under a quarter started using emergency alert systems, while an additional 31 percent added perimeter patrols.
Since Newtown, many schools have hired security personnel. About 17 percent of respondents use retired officers and 19 percent use non-police security, but the survey did not ask if those individuals carry weapons. An additional 2 percent employ part-time police who are paid less and don’t have training to work in schools.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/survey-since-newtown-school-attack-85-of-n-j-school-districts-have-tightened-security-1.1120219#sthash.iIoQ7Nzm.dpuf
file photo Boyd Loving Hudson County Democrat Machine in Ridgewood
Hudson County Democrat Machine looks to push Cho in Bergen County
Ridgewood Nj, In the latest attempt by the Hudson County Democratic Machine to take over Bergen County , two of Hudson County’s top Democrats are looking to move into Bergen and push Roy Cho .
These are the same forces pushing for over development , higher taxes , and more control of our schools to Washington DC.
CD5 race: Prieto, Sires: Hudson Dems ready to put ‘bodies on the ground’ for Cho
JERSEY CITY – Two of Hudson County’s most prominent Democrats looked north at fellow Democrat Roy Cho’s effort in the Fifth Congressional District race, then offered Election Day help in a traditional Hudson way. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
Freeholders agree to fund (another) parking study for Ridgewood
October 27, 2014 Last updated: Monday, October 27, 2014, 11:28 AM
By Jodi Weinberger
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News
The Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted Wednesday to fund a parking feasibility study in Ridgewood.
The resolution, passed unanimously by the seven-member board, specifically calls for the transfer of $179,160.92 from a 2002 rail network capital bond to the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA), which will lead the study.
“I’m grateful to the Freeholder board and I’m encouraged that we have their full support,” said Mayor Paul Arohnson on Thursday. “That’s important. It’s great that we’re all on the same page.”
The dollar amount is what’s left of a $500,000 bond that was issued by the county in 2002 “for the engineering and design for the creation of a multi-county regional rail network,” which went to upgrades of train stations in several different towns.
In the resolution, the money is not specifically allocated to Ridgewood and can be used toward any municipality, said BCIA executive director Rob Garrison. He estimates that the study in Ridgewood will likely cost $100,000.
OCTOBER 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The county and village could soon be partnering to address parking problems in an attempt to attract more shoppers to the downtown and ease the crunch for residents.
The Bergen County freeholders unanimously voted on a resolution earlier this week authorizing the transfer of nearly $180,000 from the county planning department’s budget to the Bergen County Improvement Authority.
Ridgewood officials have been meeting with representatives from the BCIA over the past year to discuss a partnership for a multistory parking garage, which would likely be built downtown on Hudson Street.
“I am grateful to Chairman David Ganz and the entire Freeholder Board for their leadership and partnership,” said Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn.
“Working together with BCIA Executive Director Rob Garrison and his board, I am increasingly confident that we can make a Ridgewood parking deck a reality,” Aronsohn added.
The BCIA will meet next on Nov. 6 to consider funding a study of the parking situation throughout the village, while making suggestions for improving it.
