UPDATE 1-Approval of Internet traffic rules likely-analysts
By Jasmin Melvin
WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Contentious Internet traffic rules facing a vote next week are likely to be adopted without radically veering from a proposal unveiled earlier in the month, telecommunications policy analysts said on Wednesday.
The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Dec. 21 on whether to adopt regulations that ban the blocking of lawful traffic but allow Internet service providers to ration Web traffic on their networks.
The proposal laid out two weeks ago by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was met with concern from the other members of the FCC, putting in question the likelihood of winning over a majority of the five-member FCC.
>Gov. Chris Christie has selected former New York City schools official Christopher Cerf to be his next commissioner of education
N.J. education chief is named
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has selected former New York City schools official Christopher Cerf to be his next commissioner of education, two sources close to the administration said. (Fleisher and Martinez, The Wall Street Journal)
>‘Back to Work NJ’ legislation includes bills to streamline state permitting process
Several bills designed to make New Jersey more business friendly were released from committees on Thursday, but some were criticized by a traditional ally of the Democratic-controlled Legislature. (Statehouse Bureau, Daily Record)
From left: Knights John Ginty, Bill Fahey, and Doug Hatler, Roger Campbell of the Wounded Warriors, and Doug Findlay.
Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Raise Funds for Wounded Warriors
Ridgewood-NJ-December 16, 2010: The Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Council #1736 held a Thanksgiving Eve fundraiser that raised over $1,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), which is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors of the United States Armed Forces. The Wounded Warrior Project works to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs.
Roger Campbell, who sits on the WWP board of directors and is also a member of the Ridgewood Knights Council, gave a touching speech about the reason behind his involvement with the WWP. “On September 11th, I left Ridgewood bound for the World Trade Center where I worked. Many who boarded the same trains that passed through Ridgewood that morning never returned, including my friend and brother Knight Dan McGinley. Today, in distant lands, our finest young men and women fight, are often wounded and sometimes die to prevent another 9/11 from happening. That’s why I’m on the board at the Wounded Warrior Project and that’s why I’m here tonight to say thanks to every one of you for your tremendous support of those our charity serves”, said Campbell.
Also present at the fundraiser was Frank Giordano, a 1983 graduate of West Point and the brother of WWP co-founder Al Giordano. “My brother Al helped start the Wounded Warrior Project as a way to give backpacks to injured vets returning to Walter Reed Hospital from overseas. In that backpack were little things like socks and books that made those who served and were terribly injured know that they were truly cared for and loved. Our mission has widened, and our charity has grown, but it’s events like this one and 85 others held around the U.S. in November alone, that will continue to enable us to serve those who have given so greatly in defensive of our nation and our freedom”, said Giordano.
As a special treat, renowned New York City musicians Bob and Norm played the best of music from the ‘60s through the ‘80s. “This was a great opportunity to show support for our Veterans while having a great time,” said event organizer Alexandra Antonacci, a Ridgewood High School Senior who developed the idea for the fundraiser and then worked with the Knights to help put the event together
Today marks the 236th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
There are taxes, regulation, a massive corporate bailout, and a popular uprising called “the Tea Party”-but it’s not 2010. It’s 1773, and today marks the 236th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. The similarities are illuminating.
Early in 1773, Parliament pushed a bailout package for the British East India Company called the Tea Act. The bill extended a massive loan-well over what was already owed-and more government control over the company’s governance. It also allowed the East India Company the freedom to sell tea directly to the Americas.
While Parliament had removed some of the regulatory roadblocks for tea sales, it decided to keep the tea tax in place.
Being unrepresented in Parliament, the patriots opposed importing the tea and vowed resistance. The Boston patriot club, the North End Caucus, voted to “oppose the vending [of] any Tea, sent by the East India Company to any part of the Continent, with our lives and fortunes.”
In a well-orchestrated piece of protest and political theater. The “Indians” boarded the ships and dumped hundreds of crates of tea into the bay, destroying the entire cargo.
History never really repeats itself, but an observer would have to be thick to miss the parallels here. Governments that distort markets with taxes and regulation, perpetuate incompetence with bailouts, utilize cronyism and ignore constituents should not be surprised when those same constituents rock the boat and upset the crates.
Full Article: https://nation.foxnews.com/boston-tea-party/2010/12/16/happy-birthday-tea-party
The Bergen County Freeholder Board approved 36 appointments to county positions Wednesday night, bringing the number of county appointments to at least 58 during the last two months, despite Republican requests to cease such action until five newly elected county Republicans take office next year. (Gartland, The Record)
>Investor in talks with NJ Gov. Christie to privatize Meadowlands Racetrack
A harness racing enthusiast who restored one racetrack and built another track is eyeing the Meadowlands Racetrack, with a lease of the state-owned facility under consideration. (Jordan, Daily Record)
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will seek proposals from private companies to take over toll collection duties on the turnpike and Garden State Parkway after the new year, agency officials confirmed Wednesday. (Rouse, The Record)
Gov. Chris Christie credited his policies during his first year in office for New Jersey’s increase of 9,300 private-sector jobs in November, saying in an interview Wednesday that Democrats working on job-creating bills should watch what he is already doing. (Fleisher, The Wall Street Journal)
>Home Rule :The fact that the police are local, even neighbors. It keeps them close to the people they protect and accountable.
I don’t know about you, but I really like the fact that the police are local, some even neighbors. It keeps them close to the people they protect. And accountable.
Sure, they have warts too, they are regular people. Some of them have personal problems too, just like us.
But my point is this: when you hire out-of-towners (state or county police, for example) to protect you…its very, very different. You really don’t know them, they aren’t neighbors and they don’t have a stake in our community. And when one of them turns out to be rotten – no one is going to help you deal with that problem.
Local police are much more accountable to the people and community they serve. And Accountability brings respect. Accountability is the most important quality when it comes to law enforcement.
Don’t kid yourself. It may seem like a white collar job being a cop in Ridgewood, but its not and it’s often dangerous. We hold them accountable and they deserve and hold our respect.
“The Sun is the primary forcing of Earth’s climate system. Sunlight warms our world. Sunlight drives atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Sunlight powers the process of photosynthesis that plants need to grow. Sunlight causes convection which carries warmth and water vapor up into the sky where clouds form and bring rain. In short, the Sun drives almost every aspect of our world’s climate system and makes possible life as we know it.
“… According to scientists’ models of Earth’s orbit and orientation toward the Sun indicate that our world should be just beginning to enter a new period of cooling — perhaps the next ice age…
“Other important forcings of Earth’s climate system include such “variables” as clouds, airborne particulate matter, and surface brightness. Each of these varying features of Earth’s environment has the capacity to exceed the warming influence of greenhouse gases and cause our world to cool. ” [Emphases added.]
Lord Monckton didn’t write that. Neither did physicist Richard Lindzen, physicist William Happer, or physicist Hal Lewis. Nor was it Steve McIntyre who blew the whistle on the “hockey stick.” It was none of the usual suspects among the “skeptic” community.
It was NASA, home of our space program, the currently unmuzzled James Hansen and one of the major centers for collecting climate data and analyzing it. (HT: Ace.)
