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>NJ TRANSIT CONFRONTS SERIOUS BUDGET CHALLENGE

>IMG00014
February 17, 2010
NJT-10-012

NEWARK, NJ – NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein announced today that the statewide transit agency is aggressively confronting current and future budget shortfalls that have arisen due to the severe national recession and the state’s $2.2 billion current-year budget gap, and $11 billion FY11 budget gap. Weinstein called for riders and the public to provide input to NJ TRANSIT while the agency develops the proper mix of solutions to balance the budgets while maintaining safe, reliable bus and train service.

Last week Governor Christie announced an 11-percent subsidy reduction, about $33 million, to NJ TRANSIT’s FY10 state operating subsidy as part of a number of steps the Governor is taking to close the state’s current budget shortfall.

“This reduction is painful but we understand the challenge the state is facing,” Weinstein said. “We know the Governor appreciates the importance of the transit system to New Jersey’s mobility, but we recognize that difficult measures are required to keep the state budget balanced.”

The budget outlook is even grimmer for FY11, which starts July 1 for both the state and for NJ TRANSIT. Weinstein said the state faces an $11 billion deficit next year and is not likely to be able to continue to provide its historic level of NJ TRANSIT operating assistance. NJ TRANSIT also is unable to depend on another round of federal stimulus and other one-time federal transportation funding, which was utilized to help bolster the operating budget by $150 million.

In addition, NJ TRANSIT is facing inflationary cost increases for things such as fuel and equipment parts, even as ridership declined systemwide by about four percent year to date, reducing fare revenue.

“In the transition report that I helped prepare as head of the transportation committee, we indicated that NJ TRANSIT would face a budget deficit next year (FY11) of about $200 million,” said Weinstein. “After reviewing more recent data, the projected operating deficit in FY11 is approaching $300 million.”

“NJ TRANSIT has an obligation to balance its budget and we cannot ask the state for help it cannot afford to give. We also cannot pretend otherwise or we risk making a bad situation much worse,” he said. “Balancing the NJ TRANSIT budget will take a combination of actions and innovative thinking about doing things differently. But we will not compromise on safety and service reliability, and we will not ask our customers to pay more at the fare box until we have identified every possible efficiency, and sacrificed internally,” the executive director emphasized.

Weinstein said NJ TRANSIT will be as inclusive as possible as it studies options to meet the financial shortfalls and will seek input from customers and stakeholders on any fare and service proposals. The agency will be reaching out to customers and the public over the coming days to solicit comments and suggestions.

To that end, we are announcing today a series of public hearings on the fare and service change proposals. The hearings will take place mostly at our facilities and will be held in Newark, Atlantic City, Trenton, Secaucus, Camden, Paterson, Hackensack, Manalapan and New York. An extended period of public comment will be available online on njtransit.com beginning in early March.

More detailed information on the proposals and the hearings will be made available in the next week or two on our website and through formal public notices statewide.

“Clearly, some of the adjustments we will have to make will be painful,” Weinstein said. “But we can emerge from this challenging time as a stronger agency, with a more stable financial picture, and continued pride in our service.”

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>Mac Murphy’s Restaurant in Wlisey’s Square Invites You

>

As proprietors of Mac Murphy’s Restaurant in Wlisey’s Square for 22 years,
we invite your readers who haven’t experienced a warm, friendly, and local
restaurant to stop by.

Some may know us for our fabulous St.Patrick’s Day dinners including our
famous corned beef & cabbage, shepherds pie and Beef & Guinness, which
are on our everyday menu with American fare. But, our culinary chef also
dishes up delicious lunch and dinner specials including many seafood items.
Take out also available.

Our bar had a roaring fireplace, and we have happy hour all week from 4 to 6
with the best drink prices in town.

Tuesday nights we have a Team Trivia contest from 8 to 10 with prizes for the
winning team.We have dart boards and also belong to a dart league. Really fun
and free.

We have lived in town our whole lives and appreciate seeing old classmates,
friends and newcomers stop by and support local businesses.

Scott Smith & Eileen Gilsenan-Smith
Mac Murphy’s
6 Godwin Ave.
201-444-0500

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>Super Cellars : Rewards Card Wednesday

>Rewards Card Wednesday

Deals of the week 2/17/2010

Size Matters, when it comes to cheese and cookies that is. How so, you may ask? Cheese is a kind of a funny thing, on the wheel it ages gracefully, it breathes, it’s safe, it’s protected from the elements, resting in its natural state, it’s happy. A fresh cut from the wheel offers the best a cheese will taste. Purchase only what you plan to consume in the next couple of days, and you avoid what we call “supermarket cheese”. Wrapping in airtight plastic weeks on end, suffocates, and leads to off putting abominable ammonia flavors that develop. So, here’s my retailing genius for the week, get a taste, heck, get a couple of tastes, decide what you like, buy only what you need, get a fresh cut from the wheel…it’s the only way we sell. As for cookies, read on. Thanks

Tates Cookies…….Full 8oz package……only……$3.99 w/reward card
Could it be true?…..Does a little specialty cheese & artisianal marketplace in Ridgewood, NJ have the lowest price in the country for these incredibly delicious award winning cookies from the Hamptons? How could that be? The gourmet supermarket chains are now offering the new and improved 7oz size (in the bigger package) for a dollar or two more! More cookie, (it’s all about the cookie)..lower price…go figure…..size matters!

———————————COUPON ———————————-
ONE DAMN GOUDA DEAL!

The” Black Wax” 3 year Gouda

Only $1.99 per 1/4 lb
w/25 points

Code # 4276 Approx size 1/4 lb, we cut as close to weight as possible, but hey cut us a break if we’re a couple of ounces off one way or the other. Reg price $14.99 lb Have a taste, then buy the size that matters! No limit while supplies last! Valid Thru Feb. 2010
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Deals that continue

Stonewall Kitchens……….save 10%………….. w/ your rewards card
All products from the terrific portfolio, over 70 available, are included in the promotion. Check out the Black Bean Salsa, when added to a kosher dog it takes you to heights that seem surreal on the goodness scale. So simple, so perfect, become a hot dog genuis!
Reg Sale
Midnight Moon………………………$27.99………………..$15.99
Aged six months or more, this pale, ivory cheese is firm, dense and smooth with the slight graininess of a long-aged cheese. The flavor is nutty and brown-buttery, with prominent caramel notes. The wheel is finished in a beautiful black wax. Made in Europe for Cypress Grove and patrons of the CHEESE SHOP.

Reg Sale
Champignon Mushroom Brie………….$16.99……………….$9.99
This cheese has reached the apex of readiness, and is in “super” form. Soft, creamy, lush, w/that mushroom scent and taste ….does it get any better?…..perfect!
Reg Sale
Jarlsberg………………………………….$9.99……………….$5.99
Cube it, dip it, slice it, melt it, pop it…feed the crowd….our new everyday low price!

Le Roule………BUY ONE GET ONE FREE w/50 points…….$5.99
Save 50% on this 5oz wheel of fresh gourmet spread able cheese rolled in garlic and herb. Looks good…..tastes good…easy!
Reg Sale
Lucini Parmigianino Reggiano………$29.99/22.99……………$14.99
Buy two only…….………….…………….$20.00
Buy three…… get four w/100 points…..$30.00
Buy four………get six w/200 points……$40.00
As we said before the best parm money can buy! Aged, organic, ask for a taste!

Carr’s Crackers………….Buy one box …$3.75…Two for ….$5.00
Famous and at a price equal to the “traders” of the world!

DELI
We slice the top quality meats we use for our sandwiches. Have a taste when you order!
Reg Sale
Specials …per lb..Turkey Breast………….$7.99………..$3.99
Black Forest Ham………$9.99……….$4.99
Roast Beef.. home made..$9.99………..$5.99
Pastrami…………………$10.99.……..$5.99
Imported Ham w/herbs….$11.99………$9.99
Capocollo………………..$11.99………$9.99
Prosciutto di Parma…………………$25.99………$14.99 (not a mis-print)
Speck (smoked Prosciutto)…………$25.99………$14.99

Watch for our Saturday Food Demo and Wine Tasting e-mail on Fridays
Discovering good wine and food together!

Super Cellars
32 South Broad Street
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

(201) 444-0012

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>Ridgewood Schools: Teacher says ,"The lack of support there is uncanny"

>So according to this “Teacher” an $80 plus million School Budget plus a $48 million School Construction referendum from a Village of 24,000 people for 5500 give or take students shows an “uncanny” lack of support by the Village of Ridgewood for teachers and Schools?

I left RPS years ago to teach elsewhere. The lack of support there is uncanny. What a bunch of complainers who have no idea what living on a teacher’s salary means. Do yourself a favor- leave while you can!

If teachers are scheduled to attend a professional workshop, then I agree with you 100%. In my district we would never dream of not attending. However, if you are referring to the NJEA convention- there we disagree. Having spent the last 10 years educating children and loving it, I myself have not been able to afford to go on a regular vacation. To that means, because my FAMILY COMES FIRST, I also cannot afford the convention. Food, accommodations, and travel are very expensive right now. If you can find a way to support a family of 4 on my salary (single parent by the way!) and still be able to go to these conventions I would love to hear it. The word convention means, “a gathering of people who have a common interest or profession.” It rarely has anything to do with professional development and for that I am not taking food out of the mouths of my children.

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>Ridgewood High School Students set Records in Vaulting

>
Ridgewood jumpers, vaulters set records

Friday, February 5, 2010
BY TIM LEONARD
The Record
STAFF WRITER

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/83616987_Ridgewood_duo_set_records.html#

TOMS RIVER — It was easy to find a Ridgewood athlete at the North 1, Group 4 indoor track championships. All you had to do was look up.

There were Maroons flying higher than anyone at the Bennett Center on Thursday. Ridgewood boys and girls took first place in both the pole vault and the high jump, setting or tying meet records in the process.

Those results helped lead the Maroons to a second-place finish in the girls’ competition and a third-place finish for the boys. The Ridgewood boys scored 47 points. West Orange was the boys champion with 80 points. The Ridgewood girls finished with 41 1/2 points, well behind Randolph, which won the title with 105 points. Passaic Tech (34) and Clifton (26 1/2) came in third and fourth, respectively.

The top six finishers in each event advanced to the State group finals on Feb. 14 at the Bennett Center.

“All of us are super-dedicated. We practice every day like it’s a meet,” Ridgewood junior pole vaulter Kayla Polcari said. “There’s a lot of internal support.”
Polcari was able to clear 11 feet 6 inches on her first attempt, breaking the group record that was shared by her sister, Ann. She scraped the bar as she went over it, but it bobbed up and down a few times before steadying as Polcari watched hopefully from the landing pad. Emily Urciuoli of Clifton, who also had a share of the record, finished second at 11-0, more than a foot below her Passaic County record.

John Wisener won the boys pole vault in a jump-off, clearing 13 feet in fewer attempts to decide the event. That broke a record that was shared by George Mena of Clifton, who cleared 12-6 in 2008.

Both high jump medals were going to the same house. Tommy DeVita won the boys event by clearing 6-6, tying the record set by Marcos McKenzie of Eastside in 2008. Sarah DeVita took the girls event with a jump of 5-0, tying a record equaled by Brittney Kilkeny of North Bergen in 2009. Their younger sister, Mimi, took sixth in the pole vault.

“We always come in knowing we’re one of the best teams and trying to compete at that level,” Tommy DeVita said. “It’s nice that we can have two people be among the elite in their events.”

Kennedy also swept an event, winning both of the 55 hurdles races. Keshon Brown edged Josh Major of West Orange to win the boys 55 hurdles in 7.56. Jaivairia Bacote won the girls race in 8.56.

Amber Allen of Passaic Tech had one of the top individual performances of the day. Allen won the 55-meter dash and the 400, coming back later to contribute to PCT’s first-place finish in the 1,600 relay. Allen doesn’t normally compete in the 55, but won the event in 7.53 seconds, edging Julisa Isom of Kennedy, who ran 7.54. Allen will run the 400 and the relay at the State Group 4 meet.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/83616987_Ridgewood_duo_set_records.html#

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>Not-So-Great Depression

>harding warren
by Jim Powell

https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9880

Jim Powell, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, is the author of FDR’s Folly, Bully Boy, and Greatest Emancipations

Added to cato.org on January 7, 2009

This article appeared on National Review (Online) on January 7, 2009

Which U.S. president ranks as America’s greatest depression fighter?

Not the fabled Franklin Delano Roosevelt, since unemployment averaged 17 percent through the New Deal period (1933–1940). What banished high unemployment was the conscription of 12 million men into the armed forces during World War II. FDR actually prolonged high unemployment: he tripled taxes; he signed laws that made it more expensive for employers to hire people, made discounting illegal, and authorized the destruction of food; and he launched costly infrastructure projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority that became a drag on states receiving TVA-subsidized electricity.

America’s greatest depression fighter was Warren Gamaliel Harding. An Ohio senator when he was elected president in 1920, he followed the much praised Woodrow Wilson— who had brought America into World War I, built up huge federal bureaucracies, imprisoned dissenters, and incurred $25 billion of debt.

Harding inherited Wilson’s mess— in particular, a post–World War I depression that was almost as severe, from peak to trough, as the Great Contraction from 1929 to 1933that FDR would later inherit. The estimated gross national product plunged 24 percent from $91.5 billion in 1920 to $69.6 billion in 1921. The number of unemployed people jumped from 2.1 million to 4.9 million.

Harding had a much better understanding of how an economy works than FDR. As historian Robert K. Murray wrote in The Harding Era, the man who would become our 29th president “always decried high taxes, government waste, and excessive governmental interference in the private sector of the economy. In February 1920, shortly after announcing his candidacy, he advocated a cut in government expenditures and stated that government ought to ‘strike the shackles from industry. . . . We need vastly more freedom than we do regulation.’ “

One of Harding’s campaign slogans was “less government in business,” and it served him well. Harding embraced the advice of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and called for tax cuts in his first message to Congress on April 12, 1921. The highest taxes, on corporate revenues and “excess” profits, were to be cut. Personal income taxes were to be left as is, with a top rate of 8 percent of incomes above $4,000. Harding recognized the crucial importance of encouraging the investment that is essential for growth and jobs, something that FDR never did.

Powerful senators, however, favored giving bonuses to veterans, as 38 states had done. But such spending increases would have put upward pressure on taxes. On July 12, 1921, Harding went to the Senate and urged tax and spending cuts. He noted that a half-billion dollars in compensation and insurance claims were already being paid to 813,442 veterans, and 107,824 veterans were enrolled in government-sponsored vocational training programs.

In 1922, the House passed a veterans’ bonus bill 333-70, without saying how the bonuses would be funded. The senate passed it 35-17. Despite intense lobbying from the American Legion, Harding vetoed the bill on September 19— just six weeks before congressional elections, when presidents generally throw goodies at voters. Harding said it was unfair to add to the burdens of 110 million taxpayers.

Harding’s Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover wanted government intervention in the economy— which as president he was to pursue when he faced the Great Depression a decade later— but Harding would have none of it. He insisted that relief measures were a local responsibility.

Federal spending was cut from $6.3 billion in 1920 to $5 billion in 1921 and $3.2 billion in 1922. Federal taxes fell from $6.6 billion in 1920 to $5.5 billion in 1921 and $4 billion in 1922. Harding’s policies started a trend. The low point for federal taxes was reached in 1924; for federal spending, in1925. The federal government paid off debt, which had been $24.2 billion in 1920, and it continued to decline until 1930.

Conspicuously absent was the business-bashing that became a hallmark of FDR’s speeches. Absent, too, were New Deal-type big government programs to make it more expensive for employers to hire people, to force prices above market levels, or to promote cartels and monopolies.

With Harding’s tax and spending cuts and relatively non-interventionist economic policy, GNP rebounded to $74.1 billion in 1922. The number of unemployed fell to 2.8 million— a reported 6.7 percent of the labor force— in 1922. So, just a year and a half after Harding became president, the Roaring Twenties were underway. The unemployment rate continued to decline, reaching an extraordinary low of 1.8 percent in 1926. Since then, the unemployment rate has been lower only once in wartime (1944), and never in peacetime.

The Roaring Twenties were a time of unprecedented prosperity. GNP expanded year after year without inflation. Productivity improved, and real wages increased. The stock market tripled. There was a dramatic expansion of the middle class. The Great Migration occurred during the 1920s, with some 7 million African-Americans moving north for better schools and job opportunities. Women had the vote. Millions of Americans began to buy cars, originally a luxury of the rich. People bought radios that enabled ordinary people to hear the finest entertainers in their own homes. Movies became popular. Frozen food made possible a more varied diet year-round. Doctors developed new medicines to fight deadly diseases like diphtheria and tuberculosis.

While Harding can hardly be considered a champion of laissez-faire economics (he supported tariffs, after all), the pro-growth policies he implemented are directly responsible for the astonishingly rapid growth in prosperity— and widely shared prosperity— America enjoyed throughout the Roaring 20s.

Unfortunately, Harding’s stunning success as a depression fighter was overshadowed by the Teapot Dome scandal that engulfed his administration after his death in August 1923. This resulted from “progressive” era conservation policies in which the government owned land known to have petroleum reserves— at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California. Since the beginnings of recorded history, government involvement in the economy has led to corruption, and Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall accepted bribes for leases enabling private companies to extract the oil. There wouldn’t have been a scandal if the reserves had been privatized, as more than 250 million acres of government land had been privatized during the previous century.

Rather than follow the model of FDR— whose policies raised only Americans’ spirits— President-Elect Obama ought to consider the model of Warren G. Harding, whose policies raised Americans’ standard of living, and lifted the nation itself out of a depression— before it had a chance to become Great.

https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9880

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>U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital

>U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital after fall

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was taken by ambulance tonight from his Cliffside Park home after suffering a fall, his spokesman said. The 86-year-old Democrat was conscious when he was taken to the hospital “as a precautionary measure,” said the spokesman, Caley Grey. Grey said he did not know if Lautenberg had fallen inside the Bergen County condominium or whether he had suffered any injuries. Lautenberg was elected to his fifth term in the Senate in 2008, defeating former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer with roughly 55 percent of the vote.

He was thrust back into the political spotlight in recent months as his name became synonymous with two major political storylines in the state — the security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport and the Sean Goldman custody case. The Paterson-born Lautenberg was one of the most outspoken critics of the Transportation Security Administration after Haisong Jiang, a Rutgers graduate student, wandered beyond a security checkpoint last month to steal a kiss from his girlfriend, shutting down Terminal C for nearly six hours and accidentally exposing security flaws at one of the nation’s largest airports. Just a week before the airport incident, Lautenberg claimed he “used the hammer” of senatorial power to help Tinton Falls resident David Goldman regain custody of his son, Sean, ending an international custody dispute between the Monmouth County man and the Brazilian government which had dragged on for years.

Lautenberg returned Friday night from a whirlwind 11-hour trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was scheduled to have a news conference today in Newark to discuss the trip and state efforts providing relief. (Queally/Jackson, Star Ledger/The Record)

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/us_senator_frank_lautenberg_ta.html
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>Grover Cleveland : 22nd and the 24th President

>prh 01 img0048

The First Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later.

One of nine children of a Presbyterian minister, Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. He was raised in upstate New York. As a lawyer in Buffalo, he became notable for his single-minded concentration upon whatever task faced him.

At 44, he emerged into a political prominence that carried him to the White House in three years. Running as a reformer, he was elected Mayor of Buffalo in 1881, and later, Governor of New York.

Cleveland won the Presidency with the combined support of Democrats and reform Republicans, the “Mugwumps,” who disliked the record of his opponent James G. Blaine of Maine.

A bachelor, Cleveland was ill at ease at first with all the comforts of the White House. “I must go to dinner,” he wrote a friend, “but I wish it was to eat a pickled herring a Swiss cheese and a chop at Louis’ instead of the French stuff I shall find.” In June 1886 Cleveland married 21-year-old Frances Folsom; he was the only President married in the White House.

Cleveland vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. Vetoing a bill to appropriate $10,000 to distribute seed grain among drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he wrote: “Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . . . “

He also vetoed many private pension bills to Civil War veterans whose claims were fraudulent. When Congress, pressured by the Grand Army of the Republic, passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland vetoed it, too.

He angered the railroads by ordering an investigation of western lands they held by Government grant. He forced them to return 81,000,000 acres. He also signed the Interstate Commerce Act, the first law attempting Federal regulation of the railroads.

In December 1887 he called on Congress to reduce high protective tariffs. Told that he had given Republicans an effective issue for the campaign of 1888, he retorted, “What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?” But Cleveland was defeated in 1888; although he won a larger popular majority than the Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison, he received fewer electoral votes.

Elected again in 1892, Cleveland faced an acute depression. He dealt directly with the Treasury crisis rather than with business failures, farm mortgage foreclosures, and unemployment. He obtained repeal of the mildly inflationary Sherman Silver Purchase Act and, with the aid of Wall Street, maintained the Treasury’s gold reserve.

When railroad strikers in Chicago violated an injunction, Cleveland sent Federal troops to enforce it. “If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a post card in Chicago,” he thundered, “that card will be delivered.”

Cleveland’s blunt treatment of the railroad strikers stirred the pride of many Americans. So did the vigorous way in which he forced Great Britain to accept arbitration of a disputed boundary in Venezuela. But his policies during the depression were generally unpopular. His party deserted him and nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896.

After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement in Princeton, New Jersey. He died in 1908.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland22

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>The New Math : Public Employee Pension Obligations Bankrupt States

>
How’s this for an investment?

https://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-math-union-pensionomics.html

You pay a total of $124,000 into your pension plan and, upon retiring at age 49, you receive $3.3 million in pension payments and $500,000 in health care benefits. You receive $3.8 million in total on a $124,000 investment.

Or this:

You pay a total of $62,000 towards a pension plan and absolutely nothing for health care (medical, dental and vision coverage) over your working career. Upon retirement, you are paid $1.4 million in pension and $215,000 in health care benefits. You receive $1.6 million on a $62,000 investment.

These are real world examples from New Jersey’s crushing public sector union retirement plans paid for by the state’s taxpayers. Republican Governor Chris Christie is demanding drastic actions to prevent New Jersey from falling off the precipice and into full-fledged bankruptcy.

https://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-math-union-pensionomics.html

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>‘Climategate’: Scientist admits there has been no global warming since 1995

>Scientist admits there has been no global warming since 1995

https://dailycaller.com/2010/02/14/scientist-admits-there-has-been-no-global-warming-since-1995/

The global warming movement is facing a one-two punch today, as a key figure of the Climategate scandal admitted that there is no evidence the earth has warmed recently and new research suggests existing records aren’t sufficient support for global warming claims.

Phil Jones, who stepped down from his position at the Climatic Research Unit after emails surfaced showing the unit apparently conspiring to manipulate climate data, also said global warming may not be unprecedented after all [1].

READ JONES’ FULL Q&A WITH THE BBC HERE [2]

From the Mail Online [3]:

The academic at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.

Colleagues say that the reason Professor Phil Jones has refused Freedom of Information requests is that he may have actually lost the relevant papers.

Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.

The data is crucial to the famous ‘hockey stick graph’ used by climate change advocates to support the theory.

Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming.

The admissions will be seized on by sceptics as fresh evidence that there are serious flaws at the heart of the science of climate change and the orthodoxy that recent rises in temperature are largely man-made.

Professor Jones has been in the spotlight since he stepped down as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit after the leaking of emails that sceptics claim show scientists were manipulating data.

The raw data, collected from hundreds of weather stations around the world and analysed by his unit, has been used for years to bolster efforts by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to press governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Meanwhile, The Times reports that scientists have found that temperature records are not a reliable indicator of warming. In many cases, they said, “apparent temperature rise was actually caused by local factors affecting the weather stations, such as land development.”

Reports the Times [4]:

In its last assessment the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the evidence that the world was warming was “unequivocal”.

It warned that greenhouse gases had already heated the world by 0.7C and that there could be 5C-6C more warming by 2100, with devastating impacts on humanity and wildlife. However, new research, including work by British scientists, is casting doubt on such claims. Some even suggest the world may not be warming much at all.

“The temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change,” said John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a former lead author on the IPCC.

The doubts of Christy and a number of other researchers focus on the thousands of weather stations around the world, which have been used to collect temperature data over the past 150 years.

These stations, they believe, have been seriously compromised by factors such as urbanisation, changes in land use and, in many cases, being moved from site to site.

https://dailycaller.com/2010/02/14/scientist-admits-there-has-been-no-global-warming-since-1995/

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>Chinese New Year : 2010 the Year of the Tiger

>tiger

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is also called “Lunar New Year”, because it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month pinyin: pronounced zhēng yuè in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as chú xī. It literally means “Year-pass Eve”.

Chinese New Year By the Chinese Calendar 2010 is the Year of the Tiger,which is also known by its formal name of Geng Yin.2010 is also Year 4707 in the Chinese Calendar .The Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries. It predates the International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar) in use at the present, which goes back only some 430 years. Basically, a calendar is a system we use to measures the passage of time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in days, months, years and centuries. These are fundamentally based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.

Each year is also designated by one of the 12 Animals For instance, 2005 is Year of Rooster; 2006 is Year of Dog; and 2007 is the Year of Pig. 2008 is the Year of the Rat and 2010 is the Year of the Tiger.

This system is extremely practical. A child does not have to learn a new answer to the question, “How old are you?” in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they are rarely asked about their present age. Every one just have to remember that he or she was born in the “Year of the Dog” or whatever.

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>Graydon Pool : It was a Tragic Loss felt by the Whole Village

>This is truly a tragic situation on all counts. No matter what the Graydon Staff does have a level of liability. That liability is assumed in any business when you open the door and let the public in.

However, parents need to be responsible for their children. While I don’t know what the outcome of this will be, perhaps more defendants in civil actions should pursue this course.

No matter what there will be no winners here and my heart goes out to the family for the tragic loss. No amount of money can make up for the loss of a child.

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>Graydon Pool : Blame Game for Drowning that Shocked Village

>Village seeks to add names to Graydon lawsuit

Friday, February 12, 2010
BY MICHAEL SEDON
The Ridgewood News
STAFF WRITER

https://www.northjersey.com/news/84234917_Village_seeks_to_add_names_.html

A Bergen County judge may rule next week whether attorneys representing the Village of Ridgewood can file a third-party complaint against the parents of a 13-year-old Korean boy who drowned at Graydon Pool in 2008.

Soo Hyeon Park died July 15, 2008, when he drowned in the deep end of the municipal pool, according to a police report.

The boy’s family filed a complaint with Bergen County Superior Court on Feb. 19, 2009, claiming the village was negligent in the drowning and seeking “pecuniary damages and losses.”

On Feb. 3, Rivkin Radler LLC, the law firm representing the village in this matter, filed with the court a motion for leave to file a third-party complaint.

The village’s third-party complaint “alleges negligence” against the boy’s parents, Youn Wha Jung and Seong Wook Park.

The brief submitted in support of the motion by attorney Francis J. Leddy III, representing the village through the municipal Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), claims that the parents “failed to ensure that the decedent [Soo Hyeon Park] understood and complied with all Graydon Pool rules and regulations prior to entering the pool.”

Those rules included taking and passing the “deep water certification test” required for swimmers to be allowed in the 12-foot-deep section of the pool, according to the brief sent to the judge. The brief also alleges that the parents “were grossly negligent in the supervision of decedent and failed to adequately respond to him as he drowned.”

“Therefore, should liability attach to the village in this matter, Youn Wha Jung and Seong Wook Park will be, at least, partially liable for those damages awarded against the village as a result of the wrongful death of the decedent,” Leddy’s brief states.

Neil S. Weiner, the attorney representing the deceased boy’s family, further explained the implications of including Jung, the administrator of the boy’s estate, as a defendant.

“If the judge permits Ridgewood to essentially sue the mom, arguing that ‘it’s not our fault; it’s partially her fault, among others,’ … then if the mother served as both the administrator of her dead son’s estate, she would have a conflict of interest,” Weiner explained. “You can’t be both a defendant and a plaintiff at the same time.”

Weiner said the claim against Jung would require a new administrator of the estate to be appointed.

The village’s complaint also “alleges negligence” against the deceased’s two teenage friends and their parents, all of Ridgewood, as members of Graydon Pool. The complaint claims they should have been “aware that the decedent and his family did not speak fluent English. These parties breached their duty of care to the decedent by failing to ensure that the decedent understood and complied with all Graydon Pool rules and regulations.”

The deceased and his parents were visiting Ridgewood from South Korea and were at the pool as guests of the Ridgewood residents when the drowning occurred, according to a police report filed at the time.

Weiner described the village’s third-party complaint as being “very odd” in this specific case, and admitted that if it is granted by the judge in its entirety, it would complicate the proceedings by requiring the Ridgewood family and the deceased’s parents to obtain separate legal representation.

The third-party complaint also alleges that “Youn Wha Jung and Seong Wook Park, waited fifty (50) minutes before notifying the Graydon Pool lifeguards and staff that the decedent had drowned,” according to the document.

full story The Ridgewood News…

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https://www.northjersey.com/news/84234917_Village_seeks_to_add_names_.html

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