>Christie holds property-tax relief hostage to union givebacks in budget
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is holding homeowner tax credits hostage until he gets state unions and their legislative allies to agree to give up some benefits as part of his $29.4 billion budget for fiscal 2012. (Dopp, Bloomberg)
>Congressman Scott Garrett: Christie Budget Makes Job Creation Priority Number One
WASHINGTON, DC, February 22, 2011 – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) issued the following statement today after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie unveiled his budget plan during a speech at the New Jersey Statehouse:
“I applaud Governor Christie for unveiling a budget plan today that strikes the right balance between cost-cutting savings and incentives for private-sector job creation. By cutting business taxes and the eliminating wasteful government spending, Governor Christie has made job creation is his number one priority. Business tax cuts will not only help grow the economy and create jobs, but will signal to the business community that New Jersey is determined to do all it can to tear down barriers to job creation. In addition, Governor Christie’s spending cuts will prove that New Jersey is serious about getting its fiscal house in order, which will go a long way in creating the certainty necessary for businesses to expand. Like Governor Christie, I, too, am determined to reduce spending and cut taxes, and I believe the Governor is on the right path.”
>
Sammy Hagar
Tuesday, March 15th @ 1:00pm
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and former lead singer with Van Halen, will sign his new book: Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.
Books available March 15th
Harlan Coben
Wednesday, March 23rd @ 6:00pm
International Bestselling Author and Ridgewood Resident, will sign his new book: Live Wire.
Books available March 22nd
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
>Cuts in state payments to municipalities for open space could devastate small-town budgets
The rural communities of southern New Jersey anxiously wait to see Gov. Chris Christie’s budget this week as many fear the complete cutting of aid money that compensates them for their preserved open space. (Procida, Press of Atlantic City)
>Christie’s business-friendly posture starting to produce positive results
Amid statewide glimpses of economic growth, a campaign to create a more business-friendly climate has not missed Central Jersey. (Burd, Gannett)
>The rise and decline of the NJEA
In 1991, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the state teachers’ union, reached the zenith of its power. The NJEA opposed the teacher pension funding reforms proposed by the then Governor Jim Florio and therefore endorsed most 1991 Republican candidates for the state Senate and Assembly. (Steinberg, PolitickerNJ)
https://www.politickernj.com/alan-steinberg/45051/rise-and-decline-njea
>Get ready for a ‘global Katrina’: Biggest ever solar storm could cause power cuts which last for MONTHS
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 8:59 AM on 22nd February 2011
Comments (273)
Add to My Stories
Earth is overdue a solar storm as the sun enters its most active period
The world is overdue a ferocious ‘space storm’ that could knock out communications satellites, ground aircraft and trigger blackouts – causing hundreds of billions of pounds of damage, scientists say.
Astronomers today warned that mankind is now more vulnerable to a major solar storm than at any time in history – and that the planet should prepare for a global Katrina-style disaster.
A massive eruption of the sun would save waves of radiation and charged particles to Earth, damaging the satellite systems used for synchronising computers, airline navigation and phone networks
>Federal, state and local debt hits post-WWII levels
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 20, 2011; 11:33 PM
The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the United States will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy, according to government estimates.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022003201.html
>Ridgewood kids have been racing to nowhere long before the documentary
Ridgewood kids have been racing to nowhere long before the documentary. The emphasis for resume building begins in ‘enrichment’. God forbid you call it pre-K in Ridgewood. Kids are guided into a plethora of programs and activities that we actually have to have a ‘holiday’ to do nothing.
If being athletic is good, then more is better, right? Ask baseball or soccer players about 3-season sports, club teams and personal trainers. Places like PBI and Parisi are virtual gold mines for all the local kids who are brianwashed into believing that they are the greatest players to ever walk onto the field.
Forget about teachers teaching kids being enough. We have tutors for every discipline, music instructors with Lincoln Center backgrounds and SAT prep programs bankrupting families because having the best is the only option.
I have regular, happy and and reasonably well-adjusted kids. They have friends who started in therapy while still in single digits and pre-teen years because of stress and anxiety problems. And for this, we are shelling out 18k per student.
We might show them more compassion by putting them in lock-up at juvi.
The pointy heads at Cottage Place should be focusing on a good educational experience for ALL kids and not just an excellent experience for some.
>Pension Reform : It is the State government that has failed to pay into the pension
While there is little doubt that some form of change will take place. Public employees have paid into their pension each and every pay period. It is the government that has failed to pay into the pensions. Where did that money go? Why were the payments not made? If a private pension fund was managed that way someone in management would go going to jail.
1. The teachers (and other state employees) paid their share of pensions, the state repeatedly did not pay their share, that is why it is massively underfunded.
2. During the boom years people made choices. In the private sector, achievers got large raises and bonuses. Teachers didn”t fly high but got the promise of job security and very good benefits. Now that the boom is over, the former high-flyers say that teachers should be treated just like them. If the economy ever booms again, will you be giving private sector style bonuses to teachers?
3. I absolutely agree that public pensions shouldn’t be able to be manipulated at the end – moving from a 3 year average salary to a 5 year average salary is very sensible. What happens now is that crafty people go for a supervisory job at the end of their career, a job that they don”t really want or put their heart into, but which boosts their salaries.
Presidents Day: More than just a Presidents Day sale part 2
Presidents’ Day is celebrated in February to honor two of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. The holiday is celebrated in the United States on the third Monday in February.
George Washington : When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.” Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies–he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington
Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you…. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.”
Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln/
>Christie loses weight with diet and exercise
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has cut more than the state budget in his first year in office: he has also dropped a few notches in his belt. (The Associated Press)
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/nyregion/21weight.html?ref=christopherjchristie
>Public Employee Unions : We have reached a defining moment on this issue
The point is not the percentage of the population represented by public union members (police, fire, teachers, government employees, etc) or even the specific amount that they contribute to their pensions or health care benefits. The simple point is that, across the country, public union members have not paid their fair share for decades and these programs are underfunded. Therefore, ALL taxpayers must make up the deficit. This forces the government to increase taxes or cut services to fund the public union obligations. THAT is why this small minority of public union members in the population are a significant contributor to the failure of local, state and federal governments to balance their budgets.
Most of the union membership has been misled by their leadership on these issues and do not understand the facts. Unfortunately, like Pavlov’s dogs, the union members have been conditioned to believe that they are entitled to the status quo, or worse, that the status quo is unfair when compared to the private sector. Neither is true.
We have reached a defining moment on this issue. The only way that this gets resolved satisfactorily for the country is for the 90%+ of the population that has been picking up the slack for public union members to insist on change, right now! This requires public union employees to contribute the same amount toward health care and pensions (if pensions are even a viable alternative) as their private sector peers. It also requires that the benefit structure be reviewed to ensure that it does not inflate at the end of a worker’s career, that the benefits do not kick in prematurely (encouraging early retirement), that benefits are not overly generous when compared to private sector options and that benefits can not “be accumulated” by retiring early from one job and then starting one or more new careers under the same or another public union benefit plan.
>The 23rd Annual SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY is March 12
SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY
Free Event is Saturday, March 12, at RHS
9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
This year’s Super Science Saturday extravaganza will feature an interactive show by the Franklin Institute on motion and machines and the traditional paper airplane contest and live rocket launch.
All Ridgewood Public Schools students are invited to present any type of science project.
Full details of the day, including registration forms, can be found on the Super Science Saturday website at www.supersciencesaturday.org.
>Opposing sides meet as Capitol protests enter sixth day
DEE J. HALL, MARY SPICUZZA and CLAY BARBOUR | Wisconsin State Journal Saturday, February 19, 2011 11:45 am
Tens of thousands of people are descending on the state Capitol Saturday for the sixth day of protests targeting a controversial budget repair bill that effectively strips public workers of their collective bargaining rights.
Some 40,000 protesters — including the Rev. Jesse Jackson — showed up Friday to help cheer on Democratic lawmakers who successfully delayed action on Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s bill by leaving the state and depriving the Senate of a quorum.
Officials expect Saturday’s crowd to be even bigger and bring a new dynamic: opposing sides. Union protesters have largely had the Capitol to themselves for the week. But a counter-protest has been organized for Saturday involving pro-Walker and Tea Party supporters.
