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The Cartel , the award-winning documentary about corruption in public education and the promise of school choice, will be released on DVD tomorrow, Wednesday Dec. 1!
DVDs remain the most important distribution platform for documentary films by far, and people who may have missed our earlier theatrical screenings will now have an opportunity to see the film, loan it to friends, and spread the word about school choice.
>THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD AND THE PLANNING BOARD HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER THE RIDGEWOOD BOE.
It has been said many times and I guess it has to be repeated again; THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD AND THE PLANNING BOARD HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER THE RIDGEWOOD BOE. (I’m not talking about defeated school budgets.) Ask the Mayor, ask the Village Mgr, ask the Village Attorney, ask the BOE Attorney, ask the Chairman of the Planning Board, ask anyone who knows what they are talking about, the Village can not force the BOE to do something nor can they stop them from doing something. The BOE “reports” to the NJ Dept.of Education. It might not seem “right” but that is the law in NJ. With that in mind; Why would the BOE go back to the Planning Board? Why would the Planning Board want them back? Why would either one of them want to waste the time when they both have a lot of other things to worry about and absolutely nothing could come from it. It would serve no purpose at all. There is a reason the first two times the BOE appeared before the Planning Board the meetings were called “Courtesy Hearings.” They were just that, a “courtesy” to the Village to outline what was going to happen. The Village had no authority to change anything the BOE was planning to do and the BOE didn’t have to appear but they did.
The BOE and the neighbors need to keep an ongoing dialogue and try and figure out a way to make the upgraded fields work. There was supposed to be a meeting earlier this week that was going to open the dialogue and hopefully move the two sides closer. The turf is in and the lights are in. I doubt either of those is going anywhere. As loud as the neighbors are complaining (and they have some legitimate complaints) the sound of the hundreds of kids and their parents who will complain will be infinitely louder should access to those fields be impaired in a meaningful way.
There has to be some middle ground and I would hope in a town like Ridgewood that ground can be found sooner rather then later so all this back and forth can stop and we can concentrate on the real important issues in town like when is the 2011 Village Calendar going to arrive so I can figure out the new garbage and recycleable schedule?
>RACE to NOWHERE: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture
The RHS HSA is pleased to bring to our community an educational documentary that has garnered national attention and sparked debate, RACE to NOWHERE: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture. The product of parent turned filmmaker, Vickie Abeles, the film examines the stresses faced by young people competing in suburban America’s test driven academic culture.
Two screenings will take place on December 6th, one for staff and one for parents. The parent screening is set for 7:00 PM at George Washington Middle School. Following the film, Assistant Principal Jeff Nyhuis and Dr. Anne Robinson will lead a discussion.
Seating is free of charge and limited. Please arrive early.
Hope to see you there,
Arlene Sarappo
HSA President
>Lightgate Part II: Renovated BF Athletic Facility Being Prepared for Installation of Lights
Electricians Now Wiring New BF Track & Field For Installation of Lighting Towers
The Fly has learned that the BOE’s electricians are now wiring the recently renovated BF athletic facility for the future installation of lights/lighting towers.
When does the BOE plan to share this fact with BF’s neighbors?
>Redistricting may impact how loud Hudson is heard
Congressional redistricting roulette soon will spin its web of uncertainty and New Jersey could become the odd man out. (Albright, The Jersey Journal)
https://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2010/12/redistricting_may_impact_how_l.html
>Christie: N.J. becoming more business-friendly
New Jersey is in the process of changing its reputation as an unfriendly place for businesses to do business, Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday. (Willis, Asbury Park Press)
https://www.app.com/article/20101201/BUSINESS/12010360/Christie-N-J-becoming-more-business-friendly
>Happy Chanukah from the Ridgewood blog,
Many Jewish communities in the United States observe the first day of Chanukah, which marks the start of Chanukah, also known as Hanukkah or Festival of Lights. Chanukah is an eight-day Jewish observance that remembers the Jewish people’s struggle for religious freedom.
Jewish communities in the United States celebrate the first day of Chanukah on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Jewish calendar. The Chanukah period lasts for eight days and is celebrated from the 25th day of Kislev to the second day of Tevet. The first night of Chanukah (or Hanukkah) starts with special blessings at sunset the day before the 25th of Kislev. Many Jewish people light the hanukiah (or chanukkiyah), which is a type of candelabrum.
Many Americans of Jewish faith also eat food fried in olive oil, such as potato cakes, and different fried breads. Chanukah dishes include sufganiot (Hanukkah donuts), potato latkes (pancakes), mandelbrot (this can be sliced like a hard bread), and rugelach (pastry that with different fillings). The first day of Chanukah is the start of a celebratory period in which a four-sided toy called dreidel is used for games. The first night of Chanukah is also a night when people sing traditional songs to celebrate Chanukah. Gift-giving is also popular at this time of the year.
more : https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/chanukah
>Lame-duck Bergen freeholders approve 19 appointments
Bergen freeholders approve 19 appointments in lame-duck session
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
BY MICHAEL GARTLAND
The Record
STAFF WRITER
The Bergen County Freeholder Board approved 19 appointments to county positions Wednesday night in their next-to-last lame duck session of the year.
The appointments, which typically are recommended by the county executive and then approved by the board, included the selection of Uwe Malakas as Bergen County police chief, Louis D’Arminio to the Bergen County Improvement Authority and Nicholas Rotonda to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority.
The Democrats on the freeholder board, three of whom were voted out of office last month, supported all of Democratic County Executive Dennis McNerney’s recommendations.
McNerney also was defeated in the November and will leave office in January.
Republican Freeholder Rob Hermansen voted against most of the Democratic appointments and criticized them as “extremely questionable” because three of the Democrats currently on the board will not serve next year.
“I don’t think it’s right,” he said. “They shouldn’t have been made at this time … They had all year to do this when they had the majority.”
>N.J. business group cautious on 2011 economy
The year ahead could be grim for unemployed workers in New Jersey, according to a report released Tuesday by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Any glimmer of hope in hiring may be matched by layoffs. (Conaboy, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
>Christie looms over redistricting and coming legislative contests, where GOP craves five seats
The roads of Republican redistricting and 2011 campaign strategy all lead back to the Trenton front office where Gov. Chris Christie wields a Teddy Roosevelt-sized club and wants legislative wins. (Pizarro, PolitickerNJ)
>Mayor Cory Booker: Police union didn’t try to avoid layoffs
There’s “massive restructuring” of government in the city of Newark, a polite way of saying that up to 500 people could be losing their jobs soon including 167 police officers, Mayor Cory Booker said at a press conference Tuesday. (Carroll, PolitickerNJ)
https://www.politickernj.com/43191/booker-police-union-didn-t-try-avoid-layoffs
>Gov. Christie authorizes state to hire lawyer to fight $271 million tunnel bill
Governor Chris Christie’s administration plans to file a federal lawsuit to fight the U.S. government’s $271 million bill to New Jersey to pay for work on canceled rail tunnel to Manhattan, an administration source said. (Method, Home News Tribune)
>Report: To pay 1 NJ worker’s salary, it takes up to 90 private sector workers
It takes up to 90 private sector workers to support the salary of one state worker making the same amount of money, according to a new analysis. (Method, Daily Record)
>Gov. Jindal Calls Obama’s National Security Strategy ‘Dumb’ and ‘Dangerous’
Posted by Jason Mattera (Profile)
“The current therapeutic approach to national security is dangerous,” Jindal writes in his new book, Leadership And Crisis, which is currently # 1 on Amazon’s “Leadership and Politics” section. “I’m just not interested in empathizing with the grievances of our sworn enemies. Let’s figure out where they’re vulnerable and destroy them.”
Jindal tells HUMAN EVENTS that President Obama’s decision to read Miranda rights and hold civilian trials for foreign terrorist suspects is not only misguided, but dangerous. “We’ve been lucky with…the Time Square bomb, the underwear bomber. Being lucky is not a strategy. The reality is we’ve been playing defense instead of playing offense.”
To Jindal, “playing offense” would entail profiling those Islamists most likely to hijack an airliner or make a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in, say Portland, go Kaboom.
“Why in the world do we have TSA examiners who are groping 6-year-old children flying home to see grandma for the holidays? Why in the world are we acting like we don’t have intelligence assets and common sense? Not using our intelligence and not using our common sense, that’s called dumb. This is a dumb strategy that we’re pursuing.”
>Associated Press-CNBC Poll : Americans prefer cutting federal services to raising taxes by nearly 2-1
AP-CNBC Poll: Cut services to balance the budget
WASHINGTON (AP) – To ease surging budget deficits, Americans prefer cutting federal services to raising taxes by nearly 2-1 in a new poll. Yet there is little consensus on specific, meaningful steps – and a wariness about touching two gargantuan programs, Social Security and Medicare.
An Associated Press-CNBC Poll showed widespread anxiety about budget shortfalls exceeding $1 trillion a year. Eighty-five percent worry that growing red ink will harm future generations – the strongest expression of concern since AP polls began asking the question in 2008. Fifty-six percent think the shortfalls will spark a major economic crisis in the coming decade.
MORE : https://apnews.myway.com/article/20101130/D9JQCLT80.html
