Hatch urges extending all Bush-era tax rates to avert ‘Taxmageddon’
By Russell Berman – 07/28/12 06:00 AM ET
A senior Senate Republican used the party’s weekly address to call for a full extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates to avoid “Taxmageddon” at year’s end.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, pushed for congressional action to prevent tax hikes through an expiration of the current tax rates or an unadjusted Alternative Minimum Tax.
“In just over five months, middle-class families, job creators and seniors will get hit with a massive tax hike unless the president and Congress act,” Hatch said. “This would mean that taxes would go up on virtually every single taxpaying American.”
The tax battle has taken center stage in Washington in the two weeks before lawmakers go on their annual prolonged summer recess. The Senate on Wednesday approved a Democratic plan to extend the lower Bush-era tax rates on family income up to $250,000 and rejected a GOP plan to extend the rates across the board. The House is expected to vote on both plans this week, with the Republican proposal likely to win passage.
Republicans have labeled the Democratic plan a “small business tax hike” that will hit job creators.
“The uncertainty caused by this tax crisis -or Taxmageddon – is contributing to America’s lackluster economic recovery,” said Hatch, the author of the GOP plan. “That’s not a Republican talking point; that’s based on what job creators across the country are saying.”
He noted that Obama had agreed to extend the full slate of tax rates in 2010 when the economy was in a similarly precarious condition.
Brain Cancer Patient Enjoys Productive Life Thanks to Effective Focal Therapy at The Valley Hospital
July 25, 2012 — Over the past two years cancer survivor Rachael Harris has played in soccer tournaments, gotten married, and continued to work as a vice president and operations manager for an investment bank in New York City. State-of-the-art focal therapy she received at The Valley Hospital to treat three cancerous brain tumors saved not only Harris’ life but also her ability to work and enjoy leisure activities.
Harris’ focal therapy at Valley’s Daniel & Gloria Blumenthal Cancer Center combined complex neurosurgery to remove three golf-ball-sized tumors that had metastasized to her brain from breast cancer with an advanced type of radiation therapy called TomoTherapy. This focal therapy targeted only cancerous tissue in her brain and did not harm surrounding healthy areas of her brain, thus saving her intellect and the very essence of who Rachael is.
A Diagnosis of Cancer
In December 2007, at the age of 27, Harris was shocked to learn that a hard breast lump she suspected was a bruise sustained during a soccer game was instead an aggressive type of breast cancer. Chemotherapy and surgery followed.
Says Harris, a resident of Glen Rock: “My boyfriend, Jonathan, proposed to me two weeks after my surgery, and life went on over the summer of 2009. I felt well, played soccer again, and planned our wedding.”
But in October 2009 Harris began suffering severe headaches and fainted in her kitchen. Tests revealed that the breast cancer had spread to her brain.
Advanced Treatment for Brain Tumors
The brain is a common site for breast cancer metastasis, says Valley’s Director of Neuro-Oncology Disease Management, Anthony D’Ambrosio, M.D., because chemotherapy often cannot cross the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain.
“Because Rachael is young and the rest of her body was healthy, focal therapy was an ideal treatment for her,” explains Dr. D’Ambrosio, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Focal therapy, which can include surgery, radiation, or a combination of both, is a targeted method of treatment for brain tumors that meet certain criteria. Our Neuro-Oncology team is one of the few in the area using this type of treatment.”
During a multidisciplinary conference of the Neuro-Oncology team, it was decided that surgery for all three tumors, followed by TomoTherapy would be best for Rachel. The Blumenthal Cancer Center was one of the first in the tri-state area to offer TomoTherapy, which delivers three-dimensional beams of radiation that conform to the exact contours of a tumor. For Rachel, the TomoTherapy destroyed any microscopic cancer cells remaining after surgery. In January 2010, she began the 20-treatment regimen, with her mother, a Valley employee, always at her side.
“By using TomoTherapy we avoided radiating her whole brain and preserved her ability to think, reason, remember, and function in her job,” says Chad DeYoung, M.D., Co-Medical Director of the Blumenthal Cancer Center’s Radiation Oncology Department.
Rachel, who on May 7, 2010, married Jonathan, says she put her complete trust in her Valley cancer care team: “I received wonderful care from everyone, directed by doctors at the top of their game.”
“If Rachael had instead undergone whole brain radiation, which is the standard in many hospitals, she would not have been herself and would have lost her neurocognitive function during the past two years,” states Dr. D’Ambrosio. “Her positive attitude and family support have greatly enhanced her treatment.”
The Gamma Knife Center
Focal therapy is just one component of the Blumenthal Cancer Center’s cutting-edge capabilities for diagnosing and treating brain tumors. Another is gamma knife radiosurgery. The Cancer Center’s newly opened Gamma Knife Center is the first in the region to feature the Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, recognized worldwide as the best of the best in stereotactic radiosurgery technology.
For more information, call the Institute for Brain and Spine Radiosurgery at 201-634-5585.
Retiring in Ridgewood is not an option for some families
FRIDAY JULY 27, 2012, 1:16 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
After each high school graduation, there are celebrations and summer barbecues. There are also goodbye parties.
Some residents move out of the village after their children graduate. Longtime resident Dom Nizza, however, vowed to ‘never move again’ after coming to Ridgewood.
After 20 years in Ridgewood, Mike Marchlik, who with his wife, JoAnn, raised four children in the Ridgewood school system, is moving to the Atlanta area this weekend.
This past June, Tim Marchlik was the family’s third child to graduate from Ridgewood High School (RHS). Even though his youngest son Sam was still attending Somerville, a career opportunity prompted the early move for Marchlik.
State says it will use trust funds for affordable housing
The Christie administration said Thursday that the money it confiscates from municipal affordable housing trust funds will be used to support a range of housing programs for low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans.
The statement from the Department of Community Affairs came two days after it sent letters to 372 municipalities, demanding that they turn over to the state all unspent portions of those funds.
While it states that the trust funds will be spent on various housing initiatives, the DCA did not detail the specific state programs that will receive the money or how much additional funding will go to each. The state budget initially set aside $200 million to be collected from the trust funds, although this week DCA put the anticipated figure it would collect at $161 million. (Lipman, The Record) https://www.northjersey.com/news/163977886_State_says_it_will_use_trust_funds_for_affordable_housing.html
Christie doesn’t budge on bogus greenhouse gas initiative
On a day when the state was pummeled by a spate of unusually severe thunderstorms, Gov. Chris Christie, as expected, vetoed a bill that would have required New Jersey to participate in a regional initiative to reduce “greenhouse gas emissions”.
In vetoing the bill (S-1322), identical to a measure he also rejected last year, the Governor said in his message to lawmakers that it would only “foist higher costs on New Jersey’s ratepayers.’’
The issue has emerged as a contentious dispute between the Republican administration and business interests against Democratic lawmakers, allied with clean energy advocates over the costs of a 10-state initiative to stem pollution from power plants contributing to global warming. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
Waiting for a bus at the Port Authority Bus terminal
Christie blocks democrat meddling at Port Authority
Governor Christie on Thursday blocked efforts by Democratic lawmakers to make the Port Authority more “accountable”, only hours before the agency announced that one of Christie’s rejected Supreme Court nominees would get a high-ranking job there.
The developments illustrated Christie’s tight control over the Port Authority and his administration’s insistence on reforming the agency from within, despite Democratic attempts to harness anger generated by recent toll hikes on the agency’s bridges and tunnels.
Christie’s veto of a proposed state law that would have forced the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to hold public hearings before future toll increases drew an immediate rebuke from the bill’s sponsors, who said Christie killed their effort to bring more transparency and accountability to the Port Authority. The bi-state transportation agency is jointly controlled by Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Boburg and Reitmeyer, The Record)
NJ Senate Race: Kyrillos Announces Comprehensive Jobs Plan
Receives Endorsement from National Federation of Independent Business
Trenton, July 26 2012… A little less than two months ago, Senator Joe Kyrillos announced that he was embarking on a statewide jobs tour. After 41 months of over 8 percent unemployment, and 20 million people unemployed or underemployed, Kyrillos wanted to hear directly from the job creators themselves the challenges they face.
Kyrillos toured 19 businesses of all sizes and types from Sussex to Cape May Counties and one message became abundantly clear: the policies coming out of Washington from politicians like Senator Bob Menendez are making things worse.
“Americans are struggling through the weakest economic recovery since the Great Depression,” said Kyrillos. “Families that played by the rules and worked hard are not looking for a handout or another government program, but for the opportunity to use their talent, industry, and smarts to build their own future. After listening to the difficulties these job creators face first-hand, I was able to create a jobs plan that directly addresses their needs.
“We need jobs and my plan creates them by restoring fiscal responsibility, reforming the tax code, reducing unnecessary and burdensome red tape, and restoring our nation’s place as the home of innovation. It will also establish programs to build a competitive workforce and put forth solutions to our nation’s energy crisis. The prosperity of our country is in jeopardy. We cannot afford to stay the course Bob Menendez has charted for our future. The opportunity for profound economic growth is before us, and we must seize it.”
Kyrillos also accepted an endorsement today from the National Federation of Independent Business.
“Senator Joe Kyrillos has proven himself to be a strong advocate for the small-business community,” said Laurie Ehlbeck, State Director, NFIB New Jersey. “He has established a reputation in our state for supporting measures to help businesses thrive, and we need his leadership at the federal level now more than ever. Senator Kyrillos has been awarded the NFIB Guardian of Small Business Award for his work in the New Jersey legislature, and we trust that he will continue to fight for small business in the United States Senate.”
NFIB has over 5,000 members in New Jersey. Kyrillos’ endorsement comes from NFIB’s Save America’s Free Enterprise Trust (SAFE), the association’s political action committee, and is based on positions regarding key small-business issues including health care, taxes, and labor and regulatory issues.
Marijuana proponents hold their breath on medical pot and legislation
As New Jerseyans wait to learn whether the state Senate will follow its peers in the Assembly to pass a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, the first medical marijuana dispensary within New Jersey’s borders may be little more than a month away from opening. More than two years after former Gov. Jon Corzine signed the bill legalizing medical pot, the Greenleaf Compassion Center is preparing to open in Montclair in early September and is already growing the maximum three strains of grass in preparation for opening day. (Nurin, NJ Spotlight)
Ridgewood, Paramus enter into shared services agreement for vehicle maintenance
WEDNESDAY JULY 25, 2012, 1:13 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
TOWN NEWS
The Ridgewood Village Council signed a one-year shared services agreement with Paramus, with village’s neighbor providing vehicle maintenance services on an as-needed basis.
The resolution earned unanimous support from council members and was passed via consent agenda last Wednesday; however, it did not go into the books without some uncertainty from the public.
Prior to the council’s vote, resident Boyd Loving questioned the resolution, particularly its necessity while considering that the village has a fully functional public works garage.
“My concern is that the taxpayers are paying for the operation of the village garage. It’s my belief that the village garage is supposed to be repairing all village-owned vehicles,” Loving told the council. “If the garage is staffed, they handle all of our vehicles. And if vehicles are being sent out for repair at another location, does that mean the staff at the garage can be reduced so taxpayers can realize some cost savings?
The state is considering cutting its funding for new energy efficiency and renewable energy projects almost in half, a consequence of the Legislature’s and Christie administration’s decision to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from New Jersey’s clean energy program.
In a draft proposal circulated by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities last week, the budget for the clean energy program would allocate $339 million in new spending, a sharp reduction from the $651 million proposed by the agency last December.
The cuts are a result of the diversion of money raised from gas and electric customers to help homeowners and businesses find ways to reduce their energy use, and promote the development of cleaner sources of producing electricity, primarily solar and wind. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
Registration for the Ridgewood YMCA’s fall 2012 sessions opens Monday, August 6 at 8:30am. The 9 week session lasts from September 4 to November 4.
Available classes include parent-child classes, karate, tennis, soccer, basketball and more!
Brand-new programs are also included on the schedule, such as “Intro to Teen Strength and Wight Training”, an introductory class to strength and weight training for teens ages 13-18. A complete listing of the Ridgewood Y program offerings is available at www.ridgewoodymca.org.
Registration is available online at www.ridgewoodymca.org, in person at the Y, or by phone at 201.444.5600. Active membership is required to register.
The Ridgewood YMCA is located at 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.
What it is: The state Department of Education last week released a 23-page checklist for all new charter covering academic, financial and other operations. The framework sets standards on everything from how well students must fare on state tests to financial data on how much debt a school is carrying.
What it means: The Christie administration has continued to revise its accountability standards for charter schools as it faced increasing pressure from critics and local school districts. The new framework was announced at the same time that the administration cleared the way for another nine charter schools to open in the fall, including two that will provide a mix of online and in-person instruction. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
If the polls are any indication, it hasn’t worked, but the Obama campaign spent big money over the past month attacking Mitt Romney for what they apparently believe is the worst sin imaginable: He is rich.
And as we know now (not that it was a big surprise), President Obama’s disdain for those who have earned substantial wealth runs deep. He doesn’t like you having all that money (unless you contribute it to his campaign), and he really doesn’t like you taking credit for having earned it. That’s why he said the following:
“Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”
As far as Obama is concerned, anyone who is successful got that way because of the system, by which he means the government. Democrats sometimes refer to the rich as “the winners in life’s lottery,” which is to say they merely got lucky in a game of chance – and that’s why they need to fork over so much of their wealth in taxes, so Democrats can “spread the wealth around” to all those other smart, hardworking people, who just didn’t happen to win life’s lottery.
What a load of crap. To listen to these people, you’d think being rich was the worst thing anyone could do.
Well I’ve got news for them: Being rich is cool. Not only that, but when someone has become rich, others should endeavor to learn as much as they can about how he or she did it, instead of resenting it and dismissing it as merely lucking out because of all the help the government provided.
The best example I can give you is my dad. He started his adult life in the 1940 with nothing but the clothes on his back. At one point he worked three jobs at the same time. I suppose wealth is relative to everyone’s situation, but my dad had a goal of getting rich as he defined it – and he achieved his goal.
Did the government deserve any credit for his success? When he walked off that small dirt farm in Tennessee, the road wasn’t even paved. I’m not saying there were no government functions that worked well and benefited him. Of course there were. But they were the same ones that benefited everybody else. My dad achieved his particular goals because of his particular dedication, his good plan and his hard work. And yes, he was perfectly within his rights to be proud of himself for being so smart and working so hard.
And let’s be honest: It was true then, and it’s even truer today, that when you get rich you largely do it in spite of the government – its rules, its regulations, its confiscatory tax policies . . . and now the tendency of certain leaders to assail you for your success.
The coolest thing about rich people is that, in order to get rich, you have to make your skill and your capital work for other people. Instead of ripping Bain Capital for its success, the Obama Administration and the media should study what Bain did and how it did it. Bain created thousands of jobs – many more on a net basis than it eliminated via strategic layoffs – because it made smart business decisions and built successful enterprises.
I’ll take that any day over what Obama does, which is to flush money down the toilet in the form of stimulus that doesn’t stimulate, “green energy” investments that lead straight to bankruptcy and tax and regulatory policies that stifle capital formation and entrepreneurial innovation.
Mitt Romney got rich because he is smart and he works hard. That makes him pretty darn cool in my book. Those of you who resent the rich, get over it and study how they did it. Along the way, you’ll discover that the rich not only pay most of the taxes, but in all likelihood they pay your paycheck too.
And you’d better study them while you can, because there’s no telling how many of them will be left once Obama gets finished with them.
2012 WIBIT 50 METER SPLASH, Wednesday, July 25th (rain date 7/26) at 5:30 p.m. at
Graydon Pool – Co-sponsored by Commercial Recreation Specialists
All participants who have passed the Deep Water Test are welcome to join. Register individually or as part of a 5-man team and vie for 1st prize, a $100 gift card for the team, team picture and bragging rights. 2nd and 3rd prizes are $50 gift cards per team. The fee to participate is $25 per team prior to June 20th; $30 thereafter.
Individuals may register for $6 per person. All participants must provide a signed waiver and posess a Graydon Pool membership or purchase a daily pass.
Register in person or by mail: The Stable, 259 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ. Telephone 201-670-5560 with questions. Download the registration form
Obama Proposes Federal Paychecks for Local Teachers
Lindsey Burke and Jason RichwineJuly 19, 2012 at 9:57 am
This week, President Obama proposed a new $1 billion federal program that would establish a “Master Teacher Corps” in 100 locations across the country.
This is not the first time the Administration has proposed subsidizing teacher salaries, but it is the first proposal that would give federal-issued paychecks directly to local teachers.
Each site designated by the new program would have 50 corps teachers, designated as such based on “demonstrated effectiveness in teaching one or more STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] subjects” and their “contributions to the continuous improvement of teaching and learning.”
According to the White House, decisions about what qualifies teacher effectiveness would be made locally or regionally, but compensation—up to $20,000 in bonus money per teacher—would be provided by federal tax dollars.
This national teacher corps is part of an effort, the Obama Administration stated, to move American students from the middle to the top of international STEM achievement.
For policymakers looking for a quick fix to our education problems, federal money cannot buy teacher quality. The only robust and reliable predictor of a teacher’s effectiveness is his or her past performance in the classroom. Licenses, certifications, advanced degrees, and hours of professional development have little to no impact on what students actually learn from their teachers. Paying for more of these qualifications would not lead to better student outcomes.
But even if the “Master Teacher Corps” program does reward objective classroom performance—it is unclear how teacher effectiveness will be defined—the new money will come on top of the existing teacher contracts that often have gym teachers on the same pay scale as STEM teachers.
More federal dollars for teachers will either exacerbate our existing irrational teacher pay system or—at best—postpone fundamental reforms at the local level.
