James Hogan's Random Thoughts

NJ22AS Files Appeal to Force State Police to Disclose Gun Documents

2012-01-19T10:34:00.001-05:00

Reposting the below from http://www.ammoland.com/2012/01/18/nj22as-files-appeal-to-force-state-police-to-disclose-gun-documents/

Manahawkin, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- On Wednesday January 4, 2012, Rick Gutman the attorney for the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS) filed an appeal with the NJ Appellate division in its lawsuit against the NJ Division of State Police.
This case revolves around the state’s refusal to allow lawful New Jersey residents reasonable access to documents which directly impact the processing of their applications for Firearms Identification Cards and Handgun Purchase Permits.
After receiving numerous complaints from applicants who were subjected to extended delays, intrusive forms and other requirements that clearly go beyond what is allowed by law, the NJ2AS took decisive action.
A formal Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for access to the NJ Division of State Police Firearms Applicant Investigation Guide was filed on March 14, 2011. A week later this request was summarily denied. Attorney Gutman then filed a lawsuit requesting that an “order to show cause” be served on the NJ Division of State Police to explain why they refused to allow access to what should be considered a public document. The order to show cause was served on May 6, 2011.
After multiple delays by the state’s attorney general’s office the case was heard by Judge Douglas Hurd in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Trenton on December 2, 2010. Unfortunately, Judge Hurd ruled against the NJ2AS. The judge’s decision was based in part on the exemption which the Division claimed under Governor Christie’s Executive Order #47. Part of this order exempts certain governmental agencies from having to reveal Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) no matter how innocuous. The NJ2AS’s request for access was also denied under the Common Law Right of Access (CLRA) which balances the plaintiff’s right to access against the state’s perceived need to protect the public interest.
The NJ2AS contends that there can be no threat to the public interest in exposing the contents of a guide designed to assist municipal authorities through the convoluted process of granting a NJ resident a Firearms Identification Card or a Permit to Purchase a Handgun. Every applicant must submit to a thorough criminal background check as well as a mental health check. They must be fingerprinted and have their fingerprints checked through an FBI database. The Society believes that nothing in the guide could possibly disclose any way to circumvent this rigorous process.
The NJ2AS also contends that the entire process is redundant since a handgun purchaser must submit to an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) at the point of purchase. The antiquated NJ Division of State Police processing was designed at a time before this more efficient national process was developed. New Jersey’s system has since become a slow, costly and redundant relic in light of this newer computerized system.

“If the state insists on continuing the use of this inefficient system of processing applications,” states Frank Jack Fiamingo, the founder and President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, “New Jersey residents must have access to the guide in order to ensure that they are not being subjected to tougher standards then residents in any other part of the state. We have received numerous complaints from our members as well as members of the community at large that they are being treated unfairly. For instance, we have identified more than 25 NJ municipalities that have introduced additional forms which are specifically disallowed under the NJ firearms statutes”.

In addition, Fiamingo indicates that he has received countless complaints of delays in processing that range from several months to over a year. According to the statutes, these applications should be processed in no more than thirty (30) days.
The New Jersey Second Amendment Society is dedicated to restoring and preserving constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms (RKBA) for legitimate purposes

Bob concedes

2012-01-14T10:42:00.001-05:00

Midway through 2nd ballot, Bob calls it a day.

Results....486

2012-01-14T10:12:00.001-05:00

Serena 243
Bob 140
Peter
Ryan

At least 487 @ convention

2012-01-14T09:33:00.001-05:00

Bob Walsh For Freeholder

2012-01-10T11:40:00.000-05:00

After careful review of the Freeholder candidates at multiple forums as well as a review of facts and statistics from their hometowns and feedback from other like-minded, concerned, private sector taxpayers, I'd like to share the following opinions and observations:

Bob Walsh is a fiercely Independent Republican -- despite being at odds with his local Republican committee, Bob forges ahead for the good of ALL taxpayers, and the good of the Republican party. Bob stands firm on his principles and convictions and is unyielding to "higher-ups" or those who would try to put road-blocks in front of him. His life story is one of overcoming hardships and diversity and that life experience gives him the ability to represent average, honest, working class people who also face the [currently dim] economic and social environment.

Bob Walsh is an open, honest and often blunt speaker -- if anyone is unsure of where Bob stands on an issue, they should ask him. Bob is well informed and will consistently speak the honest truth, even if it is a controversial or a dissenting opinion, and not sugar-coat an issue simply to make people feel good or make friends. Bob does not shy away from confrontation but rather stands firm for what he believes in while being open to the facts and reality around us.

Bob Walsh has courage and political will -- Bob has made every effort to work within the framework of the State Constitution and NJ state law to limit the size of his local government and make government more affordable. While major reforms are much needed in our system, those reforms must be made at the state level where Democrats control the Legislature in opposition to the principles we stand for as Republicans, and Bob has succeeded in working within the system we have to the benefit of taxpayers. Further, Bob Walsh will not be bullied by department heads, union bosses or other beneficiaries of the system as he has proven in his own town.

Bob Walsh is a fellow, Independent private sector taxpayer -- Bob is not a public worker and his livelihood is not dependent on political outcomes. Bob has no conflicts of interest with his fellow taxpayers and is not a beneficiary of the public system. Public workers may despise him, and Democrats may attack his unique personality, but attacks on his conviction to principles and his defense of taxpayers will be without merit.

I thank all of the candidates, their supporters and the eventual Freeholder for answering my questions and I pledge my full support, time and dedication to whoever is elected, but it is these specific qualities, among others, that I see in Howell Mayor Bob Walsh that, in my humble opinion, make him stand out among the other candidates for Freeholder at this time. It is for these qualities, many of which I believe that I share in common with Mayor Walsh, that many of you have supported me in the past and I ask you to extend that support to Bob Walsh on Saturday January 14th, and again in November.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

James Hogan
Monmouth County Republican Committeeman
Long Branch District 10

Security Theater On Display

2012-01-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Talk about Security Theater. One of my favorite daily nerd web-reads, (Slashdot or /.), tips me off to to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authorities latest efforts to stop terrorism.

I'll simply quote the one line from the MBTA website (http://mbta.com/transitpolice/default.asp?id=19050) that once again proves these aren't efforts by law enforcement to make anyone safer, it's simply a way to justify jobs and spend "Homeland Security" money while putting on a (good?) show. Here it is, hold on to your hats...

There are notices posted at the entrance to the station that the inspection is in progress

Surely, the clever terrorist with the dirty bomb will see the sign and just do the right thing and walk on over to the the friendly security officer to check his weapons, just like the fine, law-abiding citizen Meredith Graves did at the World Trace Center Memorial.. Ohh right, there are no such signs there...

Clearly I make bad jokes, but it's no laughing matter. Security of our nation and our selves and our family members should be the top priority for every individual. Learn self-defense at your local gym, take the firearms classes at Brick Armory, stay in good physical shape and keep your senses on alert at all times, because the actions and methods of the MBTA are laughable at best, even liberals should be offended at the clear waste of resources, and they offer you no protection, at a great financial cost, as well as a great cost to your Freedom and Liberty.

Stay safe my friends.

Gary Johnson Runs as 3rd Party/Libertarian Party Candidate

2011-12-28T16:56:00.001-05:00

It seems like a dream could come true... as Gary Johnson has announced his third-party bid for the White House as a Libertarian Party candidate.

While I really like what Gary Johnson stands for and his record, I'm not sure that America is ready, despite all of the problems we have today, to elect a 3rd party candidate and I suspect that he'll, at best, draw a small percentage of libertarian leaning Republicans his way and that small percentage could be what puts Obama over the top. It'll be interesting to see who the Republican candidate ends up being and who Johnson runs with as a VP, or what kind of fundraising Johnson can do as a 3rd party candidate.

For the most part, I honestly don't expect much -- but I'm glad he's staying in the race -- and hopefully he'll get to join in the debate with the Republican candidate, and Obama, when the time comes.

In a statement, Johnson says, "If I earn the Libertarian nomination, I will be on the ballot in all 50 states. I will not be held hostage to a system rigged for the wealthiest and best-known candidates in a handful of states who happen to have early primaries. And most important, we will offer a political 'home' for millions of Americans who are not finding one in the current political establishment or its candidates."

The Gary Johnson website is http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/

Welcome Home Troops, Thanks

2011-12-24T08:32:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all of the men and women of our US Armed Forces who are returning home from Iraq this holiday season. Your sacrifices and dedication to your county as individuals are not overlooked and I for one appreciate and honor your willingness and ability to proudly represent this great nation. Thank you again and welcome home.

May the holidays bring you joy and may the new year safely bring your brothers and sisters home from Afghanistan and other foreign nations.

Tea Party Leader Arrested After Attempting to Check in With Gun at Airport

2011-12-15T22:06:00.000-05:00

This sounds like the Brian Aitken story all over again... ~~a normal guy~~ an outspoken Tea Party guy trying to obey confusing and ridiculous laws, transporting his firearm, unloaded, in a locked case, was arrested today for not having a NY carry permit (which no one seems to have) when he tried to declare/check his firearm at the airport to board a flight back to California where he is licensed to carry. The gun is legally owned and licensed from what I could gather from the early news reports.

I've said it before and I mean it -- I like to say that I'm not afraid to use my little blog here to go after anyone or anything. Truth is, since my friend Art was arrested and his story become front page news because of his outspoken views, I've reconsidered. The system is about making losers out of good people. Mark Meckler being arrested for exercising one of his God given basic rights protected by our Constitution is just another sign that maybe it's just not possible to really stand up for principles you believe in without certain reprisal.

With each day that passes, and with all levels of Government having such a low approval rating, and more and more people - be it the Tea Party folks, the loony OWS folks or just average cube workers like me - fearing their government and police action more and more each, I just don't see things getting better without getting much, much worse.

What I was thinking, said in a More Gooder Way

2011-12-05T11:21:00.003-05:00

Tom over at Radio Free NJ has written what I think may be a very common feeling among conservative Republicans right now.

In my opinion, Tom's writing is always well done and well thought out must read material, but this one just happens to be just what I was thinking, and pretty much the explanation for why I've been a bit quiet lately. It's a sad state of affairs really when this is the best We The People can do.

http://freenj.blogspot.com/2011/12/rapaciousness-and-politicians.html

National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act

2011-11-15T09:10:00.001-05:00

National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act to be voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives this week!
On Tuesday, November 15, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 822, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act." Please contact Representative Pallone and urge him to vote for this pro-gun legislation. This important bill would allow any law-abiding concealed carry permit holder to legally carry a concealed firearm while visiting any state that does not prohibit concealed carry.

Please contact Rep. Pallone as soon as possible and urge him to vote for H.R. 822, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act".

Phone:
Washington, DC (202) 225-4671

Long Branch (732) 571-1140

Email: http://www.capwiz.com/nra/issues/alert/?alertid=55111516

The Facts About H.R. 822, the "National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act"

Unfortunately, but predictably, H.R. 822 continues to be attacked by anti-gun organizations and the media. Regrettably, even some so-called "pro-gun" organizations have joined with the anti-gun Brady Campaign and Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns to try to defeat this pro-gun bill.

This critically important legislation, introduced earlier this year by Congressmen Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and cosponsored by more than 240 of their colleagues, would enable millions of permit holders to exercise their right to self-defense while traveling outside their home states.

There is currently only one remaining state (Illinois) that has no legal way for individuals to carry concealed firearms for self-defense. Forty states have permit systems that make it possible for any law-abiding person to obtain a permit, while most of the others have discretionary permit systems. (Vermont has never required a permit.)

H.R. 822 would mark a major step forward for gun owners' rights by significantly expanding where permits are recognized. Dozens of states have passed Right-to-Carry laws over the past 25 years, because the right to self-defense does not end when one leaves home. However, interstate recognition of permits is not uniform and creates great confusion and potential problems for travelers. While many states have broad reciprocity, others have very restrictive reciprocity laws, and a few deny recognition completely.

H.R. 822 would solve this problem by requiring that lawfully issued carry permits be recognized in all states with some form of a permit system, while protecting the ability of the various states to determine the areas where carrying is prohibited within their boundaries.

Opponents of the legislation claim that it tramples on "states rights." States, however, don't have rights, they have powers. And while many anti-gun lawmakers who've long pushed national gun bans, national bans on private gun sales, national waiting periods and other federal restrictions have suddenly become born-again advocates of "states' rights" in opposing this bill, several provisions in the U.S. Constitution give Congress the authority to enact interstate carry. Congress also has the power to protect the rights of citizens, nationwide, under the 14th Amendment (please see related article from last week's Grassroots Alert).

Next, despite what a few so-called "pro-gun" activists have argued, this bill would not create a federal licensing or registration system, nor would it establish a minimum federal standard for carry permits. Rather, it would require the states to recognize each others' carry permits, just as they recognize driver's licenses and carry permits held by armored car guards. Unfortunately, these self-proclaimed "gun rights" supporters, who have no active lobbying presence in any legislature, have an agenda that has very little to do with promoting the interests of gun owners. Here are the FACTS about a few of their claims:

Myth: H.R. 822 would involve the federal bureaucracy in setting standards for carry permits, resulting in "need" requirements, higher fees, waiting periods, national gun owner registration, or worse.

FACT: H.R. 822 doesn't require-or even authorize-any such action by any federal agency. In fact, since it would amend the Gun Control Act, it would fall under a limitation within that law that authorizes "only such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out" the GCA's provisions. No federal rules or regulations would be needed to implement H.R. 822, which simply overrides certain state laws.

Myth: H.R. 822 would destroy permitless carry systems such as those in Arizona, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming.

FACT: H.R. 822 would have absolutely no effect on how the permitless carry states' laws work within those states. For residents of Arizona, Alaska and Wyoming, where permits are not required but remain available under state law, H.R. 822 would make those permits valid in all states that issue permits to their own residents. Residents of Vermont, where no permits are issued or required, could obtain nonresident permits from other states to enjoy the benefits of H.R. 822.

Myth: If H.R. 822 moved through the legislative process, it would be subject to anti-gun amendments.

TRUTH: By this logic, neither NRA, nor any other pro-gun group, should ever promote any pro-gun reform legislation. But inaction isn't an option for those of us who want to make positive changes for gun owners. Instead, we know that by careful vote counting and strategic use of legislative procedure, anti-gun amendments can be avoided or defeated.

H.R. 822 is a good bill for gun owners. Don't listen to false or misleading accusations; instead, read the bill and our fact sheet explaining its provisions. Then, please contact your member of Congress and urge him or her to support the earliest possible consideration of H.R. 822 this year.

Please contact Representative Pallone at (202) 225-4671 or by email by clicking here and urge him to stand up for gun owners' rights by voting for this important legislation.

Gary saying "winning"

2011-11-08T21:52:00.001-05:00

Still winning.

2011-11-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

BiWinning!

2011-11-08T21:45:00.001-05:00

Election Day Message From President Pomanowski

2011-11-08T14:51:00.003-05:00

It has a certain ring to it, "President Pomanowski". Of course, I'm referring to one of the hardest working Republicans in our county, Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club President, Wayne Pomanowski. Below is the message he sent in an email this afternoon.

Also, be sure to check out NeptuneMatters today. This is what we're up against, "folks".

Dear Republican,

Today is November 8th - Election Day 2011. This is an important day not only for our candidates on the ballot at the municipal, county and legislative levels, but particularly for our state's Chief Executive Officer, Governor Chris Christie.

We all know that Governor Chris Christie is a real executive. He and our hometown Monmouth County star, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno have made reopening New Jersey Inc. for business and job growth with lower taxes and less red tape one of their main priorities in office.

Ever since the Christie-Guadagno team hit their historic homerun in 2009, taxpayers have been winning.

Now even though we don't officially have a gubernatorial election this year, the 2011 election will determine whether our Governor can continue working to restore New Jersey to our historical greatness through ethical, transparent, conservative leadership or whether the other party in the legislature will be allowed to stonewall him and attempt to backpedal our state to the days of progressive-heartthrob Jon Corzine who has now earned the dubious distinction of not only running a state government into the ground but also bringing his job-killing skills into private enterprise.

Governor Christie needs you to go out and vote Republican so he has the support he needs in the State Assembly, State Senate, Freeholder Boards and Municipalities to keep his agenda moving.

British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill once said,

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

And that couldn't be more true this election. The Republican Party, led by Governor Christie is standing for the taxpayers and the other party is standing for those who wish to live off of the taxpayers.

SO GO OUT AND VOTE REPUBLICAN. CALL YOUR REPUBLICAN FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND MAKE SURE THEY VOTE. IF YOU HAVE YOUNG VOTERS IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD, MAKE SURE THEY GET OUT AND VOTE REPUBLICAN. IF SOMEONE YOU KNOW NEEDS A RIDE TO THE POLLS TO VOTE REPUBLICAN, DRIVE THEM.

WE MUST ENSURE EVERY REPUBLICAN MAKES IT TO THE POLLS TODAY, NO REPUBLICAN CAN BE LEFT BEHIND.

STAY TUNED TO

HTTP://WWW.MONMOUTHCOUNTYREPUBLICANPARTY.ORG

AND REFRESH YOUR BROWSER FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE ELECTION RESULTS, DIRECT FROM THE OFFICE OF M. CLAIRE FRENCH, AMERICA'S GREATEST COUNTY CLERK.

BE SURE TO HEAD OVER TO THE AMERICAN HOTEL LOCATED 18-20 EAST MAIN STREET IN FREEHOLD TONIGHT STARTING AT 7:30PM FOR AN ELECTION NIGHT PARTY TO REMEMBER.

Thank you and God Bless New Jersey,

Wayne Pomanowski, President

Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club

Wayne Pomanowski
Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club

WHAT IF WE ASKED A PUBLIC QUESTION AND NOBODY CARED

2011-11-03T11:54:00.002-04:00

NRA Grades for 2011 NJ State District 11 Candidates

2011-10-20T11:09:00.003-04:00

It's not that I'm a single issue voter, but the NRA grades do mean a lot to me. Two of our "Republican" candidates here in the new District 11 don't score so well, the only good news for Republicans is that the Democrats score worse, or didn't even give those who believe that they have a Second Amendment right the courtesy of responding to the NRA survey.

Here are the Senate Candidates:

*JENNIFER BECK (R) Grade: C-

Not necessarily a passing grade. A candidate with a mixed record or positions on gun related issues, who may oppose some pro-gun positions or support some restrictive legislation.

RAYMOND SANTIAGO (D) Grade: D

An anti-gun candidate who usually supports restrictive gun control legislation and opposes pro-gun reforms. Regardless of public statements, can usually be counted on to vote wrong on key issues.

And here are the Assembly Candidates:
MARY PAT ANGELINI (R) Grade: F

True enemy of gun owners' rights. A consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners' rights and/or actively leads anti-gun legislative efforts, or sponsors anti-gun legislation.

CAROLINE CASAGRANDE (R) Grade: A-

Solidly pro-gun candidate. A candidate who has supported NRA positions on key votes in elective office or a candidate with a demonstrated record of support on Second Amendment issues.

KATHY HORGAN (D) Grade: ?

Refused to answer the NRA-PVF Candidate Questionnaire, often an indication of indifference, if not outright hostility, to gun owners' and sportsmen's rights.

VIN GOPAL (D) Grade: ?

Refused to answer the NRA-PVF Candidate Questionnaire, often an indication of indifference, if not outright hostility, to gun owners' and sportsmen's rights.

The NRA doesn't seem to know that Dan Jacobson is running as an Independent. I suspect that since Dan seems to think I'm a "gun nut" simply because I exercise my rights and believe I have a basic human right to defend myself, he'd probably score somewhere above Mary Pat and somewhere far below before Caroline.

In any case, quite disappointing grades, but nothing we didn't know already. Jen Beck and Mary Pat were both on the wrong side of NJ's "One Gun A Month" (among other issues that matter to Republicans) -- given the system we have in place, it is still my opinion that returning these anti-gun candidates to office will yield better legislation regarding public worker benefit reforms, school choice reforms, property tax caps and reforms and give the Governor more support in pushing his agenda for NJ.

Vote Tuesday November 8th.

Bayshore Tea Party Group Endorses Herman Cain for President of United States of America

2011-10-19T14:41:00.005-04:00

Following NJ Govenor Chris Christie's endorsement of Romney (just as I predicted....oh, sorry) the Bayshore Tea Party Group has announced it's endorsement of Herman Cain.

No word yet if The Commish at CWA ,who has been in a back and forth battle with BTPG for the past several months, will endorse any of the current crop, or beat up the BTPG for getting behind a guy who is trying to add a new tax, the national sales tax. Personally, I'm going to take the easy road and stick to being a Ron Paul supporter right up until he loses the primary.

What do you think? Does either Romney or Cain have a chance of winning the Republican nomination? If either were to get the Republican nomination, does either stand a chance against Campaigner in Chief Obama?

The BTPG press release follows.

Bayshore Tea Party Group

With the Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots
Press Release

PRESS RELEASE CONTACT: Barbara Gonzalez, Founder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bayshore Tea Party Group

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 PHONE: 732-842-6652

Statement of the Bayshore Tea Party Group on their Endorsement of Herman Cain for President of United States of America

October 19, 2011, Middletown, NJ - After conducting a poll of the membership, the Bayshore Tea Party Group and the Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots are happy to announce that as a group we have decided to endorse Herman Cain for President of the United States in the 2012 election cycle.

Our groups have researched the platforms of the various Republican Candidates, and has come to the conclusion that Herman Cain is the one candidate that best represents the values of the Tea Party movement for the following reason:

The acronym TEA which stands for Taxed Enough Already is the driving emphasis of our conservative movement. Mr. Cain's 999 plan will reform the current tax code which has been used by politicians to pick winners and losers, to dole out favors, and divide our country along socio-economic class warfare. Our current economic crisis requires bold action to truly stimulate the economy and American prosperity. The 999 plan is fair, simple, transparent and efficient.

Mr. Cain's more than 40 years experience in the private sector as a no-nonsense business leader who has turned around struggling companies is exactly what America needs to correct the many problems facing our country. Mr. Cain has balanced budgets, created jobs and rescued failing companies, and his policies will do the same for the United States of America. Mr. Cain has the experience necessary to correct the problems facing our country of a faltering economy, high unemployment, and regressive tax system.

We believe it is time to stop trusting politicians to fix the problems they have caused. While Herman Cain has not held political office, he has proven his problem -solving abilities by leading failing businesses out of bankruptcy and into financial success. America needs solutions, and Mr. Cain is the only candidate offering a platform that will work.

Lastly, we here at the Bayshore Tea Party Group and Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots have decided to publicly endorse Herman Cain in an effort to encourage other tea party members, conservatives and Independents join us in the fight to restore American Exceptionalism.

###

Worst. !News Paper. Ever.

2011-10-13T07:22:00.001-04:00

Saw this in the Asbury Park Press.

$7,000 Taxpayer Dollars and 158 Fewer Guns Means More Future Victims

2011-10-06T22:14:00.005-04:00

The Worst News Paper Ever got it wrong, again. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Board of Freeholders and Police Chiefs Association spent $7,000 of YOUR money so that the Asbury Park Press can claim 158 fewer guns means safer streets. Unfortunately, the APP is making things up, again.

The statistics from DC and Chicago once again indicate what we already know, more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens means less victims. The statistics indicate:

In the first six months of this year, there were 14% fewer murders in Chicago compared to the first six months of last year – back when owning handguns was illegal. It was the largest drop in Chicago’s murder rate since the handgun ban went into effect in 1982.

Meanwhile, the other four most populous cities saw a total drop at the same time of only 6 percent.
Similarly, in the year after the 2008 "Heller" decision, the murder rate fell two-and-a-half times faster in Washington than in the rest of the country.
It also fell more than three as fast as in other cities that are close to Washington's size. And murders in Washington have continued to fall.

But the APP story just gets worse, and demonstrates the waste of money, as well as the media bias. Here is the give away:

On Thursday morning, Edward Maksym, 60, of Union Beach, surrendered a M1 carbine assault rife at the Keansburg Police Department, 179 Carr Ave., and received $100 for the weapon

Let's consider the APP's use of the term "assault rifle" first. The rifle is piece of American History. The M1 Carbine was the weapon used by our brave men who saved the world from Nazi rule. The rifle is not some kind of fully automatic machine gun like the bad guys in the movies use, it is your usual semi-automatic one round per trigger pull rifle. The US Government made well over 6 million of these rifles during the war to support freedom and democracy around the world. Or rather ,the US Government didn't make anything, but major corporations that you know and love, like GM and IBM, made the M1 Carbine, and our soldiers were happy to have them.

Given my own (obvious) bias, I'd suggest that sentence should have be written:

On Thursday morning, Edward Maksym, 60, of Union Beach, surrendered a historic and valuable WWII era M1 carbine at the Keansburg Police Department, 179 Carr Ave., and received $100 for the weapon

Historic and valuable indeed, but how valuable? A nice M1 Carbine in good working condition is probably worth $500 at a minimum, one in great condition might go for $1,000, even $1200. Proving their lack of basic economic understanding, the government authorities purchased the gun for $100, with the goal of destroying it. I will be sending a letter to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Board of Freeholders and Police Chiefs Association first thing in the morning bidding $150 for that rifle in good working condition. I'll assure these agencies that the rifle would be the hands of a law-abiding citizen and used only for legal purposes as all of my other guns are and have been used, they should be happy to recover some of YOUR taxpayer money, and they can still pretend that they took the gun from a criminal. I just hope that Eric Holder and Obama haven't already sold these 158 guns to Mexican Drug Cartels.

Again based on my own bias, I'd rewrite that sentence once more:

On Thursday morning, Edward Maksym, 60, of Union Beach, was robbed of a historic and valuable M1 carbine at the Keansburg Police Department, 179 Carr Ave and left defenseless against the illegally armed gang members with warrants out for their arrest who didn't show up at a police station.

And anyhow, just how did these agencies buy 158 of these guns in a single month, a single day even? Doesn't NJ have that silly "one gun a month" law?

Anyway, the picture is my own personal Full Page Ad that I placed in this year's Freeholders' Dinner (next week) Ad Book, I had placed a similar Ad in the Lincoln Day event book. I'm not really convinced that my investment will pay off, but I've never been shy about standing up for issues I really care about and some of my local Republican candidates voted for One Gun A Month back in the day. Maybe one day, soon, they will recognize that the law isn't reducing crimes or gang violence here in NJ and is making criminals out of law abiding citizens who just want to invest their hard earned, and income taxed, money on the purchase, and sales tax, of a firearm.

As always, if you've never held or fired a gun, but just somehow know how much you dislike them, shoot me an email and we'll schedule a date and time to go to the range, you're welcome to shoot any of my guns, I'll bring ammo and use a guest pass for you.

He's Just Getting Started!

2011-09-25T12:21:00.003-04:00

My favorite part of the video is right at the 0:40 mark, with Obama reminding us "I'm just getting started!". Seems like the one who is just getting started is Rick Perry.

Of course, I'm still a bigger Ron Paul supporter:

2011-09-04T16:01:00.001-04:00

2011-09-04T15:57:00.001-04:00

2011-09-04T15:56:00.001-04:00

2011-09-04T15:37:00.001-04:00

2011-09-04T14:53:00.001-04:00

2011-09-04T14:52:00.001-04:00

Some Last Minute Supplies

2011-08-27T14:20:00.012-04:00

With Hurricane Irene making it's way, I took a nice drive, with the convertible top down, to the supply store to get a few more things. Got there and the place was boarded up, but open, and others were stocking up on some last minute items too.

I found a few last minute supplies left on the shelves...
Like these raft building materials. I figure I can tie them together with some 550 cord and make a flotation device...

I also wanted to make sure that I would be safe from any flying debris.
So I grabbed some armor.

In case any more branches come down, I thought this might be good to have handy.

A good off-road vehicle seemed to be worth grabbing as well.

If my vehicle runs out of gas, I thought having a horse handy would be a good thing too.

And if my horse should run away, I figured some logical self-powered mode of transportation was ideal to have.

And I didn't want to get my pants wet if I had to walk in knee deep water, so a change of clothes was a must.

Hopefully I have all of the right supplies and am well prepared. Good luck friends and neighbors! There are reports of DANGEROUSLY HIGH WATER LEVELS that could splil over at any time!

Early Hurricane Damage Report: Branch Down!

2011-08-27T14:16:00.002-04:00

Early Hurricane Damage Report: Branch Down!

I'm Prepared!

2011-08-27T10:42:00.001-04:00

Beans, Bullets and Bandages.

The Future Delivered Now: Rick Perry Will Be Elected President in 2012

2011-08-13T22:42:00.003-04:00

We're still months away from state elections in 2011, but as an Average No One with no inside line on anything, I'm calling it now -- Rick Perry will be the Republican nominee for President and Rick Perry will be elected over clueless one-termer ~~Jimmy Carter~~Barack Obama.

I'm still a big Ron Paul supporter and I still believe that Ron Paul is the one guy who has been on the right side of the issues all along and holds the most sound economic and foreign policy principles, and I still like Gary Johnson who I think has a solid record to run on and would do a fantastic job as the leader of these United States, but after hearing his announcement speech, seeing his first YouTube ad and seeing him get so many write in votes in today's Iowa straw poll without even being there, I'm confident that Rick Perry will be the Republican nominee, and will go on to win the general election in a landslide victory over Obama, if Democrats don't decide to cut their losses and run a better candidate, or even a Bag of Sand, instead.

I'll also predict that every NRA member, self-included, will tell, hundreds of times, the story about Rick Perry shooting a coyote. Before the primary election, Bloomberg and his ilk will have spent millions trying to convince the public that Perry cannot be elected because of his strong pro-2A stance; the public, and quietly Bloomberg too, won't be fooled and voters will remain focused on the economic turmoil Obama's lack of leadership ability has caused and voters will focus on Rick Perry's ability to get government out of the way of an economic recovery and restore confidence and faith in America. Details of Operation Fast And Furious will be brought to the MSM headlines and devastate Obama/Holder ratings if any DemocRats dare accuse Perry and law abiding gun owners of being the cause of crime.

I'll also predict that Chris Christie will be among the first of many high profile Republicans to come out in support of Rick Perry. New Jersey, and specifically Monmouth County, will deliver a larger than Chris Christie vs Corzine sized margin of victory to Rick Perry. New Jersey will also elect a Republican US Senator over Bob Menendez; that Republican US Senator may or may not be an open 2A supporter like Perry, but will be more open to the issue than Menendez. Conservative/Republican/Pro-2A voters will ignore the Republican Senate candidate's prior record and focus on Menendez's terrible 2A record as reason to replace him with anyone, including a Bag of Sand. Frank Pallone will face another serious Republican challenger with the work ethic of an Anna Little and the financial power of a Diane Gooch, in a newly drawn district. Frank Pallone will lose his seat to this superstar candidate. Rush Holt will also face a serious Republican challenger, as well as a cross-dressing circus clown. The Republican candidate will take Holt's seat, the cross-dressing circus clown will also receive more votes than Holt. "Bag of Sand" will get several write-in votes but will not play the role of the spoiler.

Anyhow, if our nation can survive another year with BO at the helm, here is your next President Of The United States Of America, Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Danger in Long Branch!

2011-08-02T10:54:00.006-04:00

The Long Branch Patch is reporting "Dead Male Found Floating in Shrewsbury River". The area there is also called the "Branchport Creek".

Not terribly unrelated....

I missed the big FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY, but the signs remain... 5 years later and these signs are all along the river/creek where this body was found.

I would say it is fact that the man's body contacted the polluted water. DANGER!

Oh, Nuts!

2011-08-01T15:01:00.009-04:00

The Short Story: It’s NOT A Tumor!!!!!!!; and fortunately, or not, for you, I’m going to make it and continue on blogging away.

The Long Story:

Some of my readers won’t believe this and will think I’m NUTS, but being a duly elected public servant isn’t an easy job. Sometimes, but not very often, I even cut other elected public servants some slack because I know the difficulty at this level, and imagine it only gets harder as one travels up the ladder. Even just working here at very bottom of the totem pole as a lowly county committeeman, I’ve spent countless hours walking the streets of my neighborhood, and other neighborhoods where the county committee people aren’t getting the job done or there is no county committee person, to rally the voters, and then I make the phone calls, pass on important information about the candidates, plan some events and at the same time try to gain some additional knowledge of local issues and pass that information between the candidates and the people in my neighborhood, maybe I take my goofy little position a little too seriously at times. I’ve even tried to volunteer anywhere and everywhere and take advantage of being young, in-shape and full of energy, or piss and vinegar as the collective “they” say, to help out anywhere I can, no offense, but most of my fellow committee seem to be a big on the old side and a little less likely to be out walking the streets.

And along my travels, I’ve encountered all sorts of NUTS. There is a NUT a district over who keeps telling me about animal mistreatment by the government, my friend Art met this woman outside of Frank Pallone’s office once and got her on video. There is another NUT a district over in the other direction who tells me that the fluoride in the water is part of communist plot to take over the young mind; I drink water right from the tap and so far, I haven’t started preaching socialism, or communism…. Yet, maybe I need another drink! There is the NUT who sells hot-dogs from a cart down the street from me, and still has Brian Unger signs all over his truck and cart, I have to admit, I haven't actually spoke to this man yet, maybe he's not a NUT. There is another NUT a few towns over who seems to think everyone from State Senators to Sheriff to the Lt. Gov are frauds. And then there is yet another NUT who thinks his PBA members DESERVE to retire after 20 short years of writing traffic tickets and that the old system where his members contributed next to nothing was fair and sustainable... if the PBA members only knew that I have MUCH better benefits than they do working in the private sector, they might quit and go get real jobs. (And hopefully this PBA NUT doesn’t go calling Lee over at Asw. Hanlin’s office , and every other person in his Rolodex, again, complaining I called him a NUT now…)

So how do I know that my benefits are better than the local PBA NUT’s benefits? Well, I had to take advantage of my benefits, finally.

So take this message as another public service, provided by your friendly neighborhood committeeman, passed along from Doctor Steve (www.doctorsteve.com ).

Check your stupid nuts for lumps, quit smoking, get off your asses and get some exercise and we'll see you soon for the next edition of 'Weird Medicine”!

About a month and a half ago, I was enjoying a weekend of working in my garden. Yes, when I’m not out knocking on strange NUT’S doors, I have some peaceful and relaxing hobbies, like gardening. And like a real human, I’m terribly allergic to poison ivy. So about a month or more ago now, I got my yearly (I don’t learn) poison ivy rash, went to the doc, got a steroid shot (I’d leave out the part about me being TERRIFIED of needles and thus passing out in the doc’s office, but my GF keeps me honest and will tell everyone this part of the story so I’ll get it out of the way) and some pills, and started getting better; I even went door knocking with County Surrogate Rosemarie Peters in Middletown the next weekend feeling mostly better. Then Monday came, and I was MISERABLE again with that poison ivy rash; door knocking in 90+ degree weather with a poison ivy rash might not have been a good idea afterall. I kept taking the meds but wasn’t improving much, I dealt with the rash another week and I went back to the doc the following Friday after finishing the anti-poison-ivy meds I was given, but this doctor basically told me “you’ve been on meds long enough, toughen up kid. Take better showers and don’t touch the dog”. Yeah, thanks. Not much help, grin and bear it. So I took the NUT’s advise and left the office without any real help.

I spent the weekend even more MISERABLE from poison ivy, I survived until Monday, went to work even, but by Monday night, I’d had just about enough. No sleep Monday into Tuesday and finally caved and went back to a better doctor that Tuesday night. Another shot (I didn’t pass out this time… I asked the GF to come in with me just in case) and some more prescription drugs later and I was on my way to being better before I got back home.

So three trips to the doc in a two or two and half week span. My private sector health insurance seems to have covered everything, an employer sponsored FSA picks up the co-pays on the visits and Rxs. My employer also pays for my (single) healthcare coverage. If I haven’t said it enough, my boss as a person is a great guy, and the company I work for is a great organization. Glad I'm not a Mad-At-The-Boss(es) PBA member working for that terrible organization that is the State Government!

But my story about NUTS doesn’t end with a poison ivy rash. When I last left this blog, I had a real pain in the balls; and I don’t mean that PBA NUT JoeT, I mean literally, a pain in the balls. I should have probably talked to one of the three doctors I had seen about the poison ivy about the literal pain in my balls, but I didn’t think much of it, figured if I ignore ignore ignore, the problem would go away. Except the problem wasn’t going away and ,religious folks skip ahead a few sentences because I think this might be a sin, my girlfriend soon noticed the lump on my testicle and says “hey, what the hell is this?”.

There was no turning back at that point and I had to fess up to the lump, and the pain I’d been having, and ignoring, for a few months now. A fourth trip confirmed, indeed, I had a lump. A fifth trip once again confirmed the same and cost me some blood. A sixth trip to the right doctor’s office and then finally last week, a final trip with an ultra-sound and the waiting game.

So the good news after my little story here is that the preliminary results are in and I’ll survive, which is good for my friends and supporters here and bad for those of you who thought I gave up blogging because JoeT is mad at me. The report seems to be "just a cyst and some fluid", the doc will call me with more information soon, but the nurse says this is "common". I noted to the nurse I spoke to that the friends I have who are my age don’t seem to be talking about lumps on their balls on Facebook, Google+ or whatever so maybe it’s more common in their office than mine. I suspect and hope that since the doctor hasn't called me back, it should mean that I have at least another couple of days to live; I sure hope so, I don’t want to miss the next End of the World scenario tomorrow, on August 2^nd , when the US defaults on its debt payments as some other NUTS have been telling me and the world as we know it goes all MadMax….

So in closing, I’ll hopefully finish getting all better and/or the doc will have nothing but good news for me when he finally calls. I’ll hopefully be back to knocking on doors and talking to my neighbors, and the few NUTS in the neighborhood, this weekend. In the meantime, as part of my public service to you, let me once again pass along My Pal, Good Ol’ Doctor Steve’s words of wisdom: Check your stupid nuts for lumps, quit smoking, get off your asses and get some exercise and we'll see you soon for the next edition of 'Weird Medicine”!

Be well my friends, and thanks to the few of you who did contact me to see where I disappeared to. I leave you with this little video about Public Unions.

"Benefits Are The Real Cost of Doing Business With Government Unions"

Conviction, Not Compromise! (Ron Paul's First 2012 TV Ad)

2011-07-18T21:17:00.003-04:00

Conviction, Not Compromise! (Ron Paul's First 2012 TV Ad)

In light of recent comments here, worth noting this Ron Paul video as well:

"It's been many administrations, it's been both parties, but you even go back to the people. There is a high demand by the people to have entitlements, and then there are a lot of special interests that think we should be the policemen of the world."

"Get the American People to ask, What should the role of Government be? Should the role of our government be to be the policeman. Should it be there to tell us how to run our lives?"

"I don't think this is a budgetary crisis, the budget is the symptom of us not having a precise definition of what the role of government ought to be and the founders gave us the precise definition and that's in our Constitution and unfortunately, we don't follow it."

Long Branch Police Captain Gil Horrach Makes Up New Laws

2011-07-14T14:44:00.008-04:00

It's no big secret, I'm a legal gun owner. Every gun I own has been legally purchased, with all of the proper permits, through all of the proper channels. As I've noted recently, I have had so many background checks done on me that the police could save money by having a Black Helicopter and some guys in suits follow me around 24/7., and I also noted that getting a permit in NJ is always a problem, it's just predictable at this point.

So back on June 30th, I submitted another Handgun Purchase Permit Application to my local Long Branch Police Department, John something handles that stuff. The form, and law, requires the names and addresses of two non-relatives who are acquainted with me. I don't know why the law asks for this, it seems a bit silly really. The forms they mail out ask questions that the police should already know the answers to, ie, am I a drunk, domestic abuser, convict, trying to overthrow the US government.... well I mean I am a Republican... ahh anyhow, let's focus here, this is serious stuff.

So in the past I'd always given my girlfriend, same address with a different last name as one reference and my sister-in-law, SAME last name, different address; I've never had a problem. The LBPD sends out their little letters, two people who know me well send back their answers, I get my permit, legally and lawfully make a purchase, and all is well in the world.

This time, I figured I'd change things up a little. Rather than give my sister-in-law's name, I decided to give my GIRLFRIEND's son's name. Now his last name is different from my lastname, AND his last name is different from my GIRLFRIEND's last name. Got it? Three last names, one residence.

So let me quote the law.

http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/pdf/firearms/062408_title13ch54.pdf

states:

N.J.A.C.13:54-1.4(c) The applicant shall provide the names and addresses of two reputable citizens personally acquainted with him as references.

Somehow, the State Police then changed the law on their own and the form http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/pdf/firearms/sts-033.pdf says:

(29) Names, Addresses and Telephone Numbers of two reputable persons who are presently acquainted with the applicant, other than relatives:

So "other than relatives" seems to have been added, arbitrarily, by the State Police. No worries for ol' Jimmy, there is no legal relationship between my girlfriend and I, I certainly can't file a joint "married" return with her and she can't collect my SS benefits, even healthcare/patient access is a problem for us because, you guessed it, WE ARE NOT RELATED BY ANY LAW. Likewise, I certainly can't tell the IRS or NJ Div of Taxation that my girlfriend's son is MY dependent, they won't have that, and I can't get access to certain information of his at school, or the doctor, because again, WE ARE NOT RELATED BY ANY LAW.

Yet, as you may have guessed by now, "John" over at Long Branch Police want two new names at two different addresses. Why? Well Captain Horrach is going to explain it to me if he ever answers his phone. John says his instructions from Captain Horrach are to get people "at another residence". I'm sorry sir, I just don't see that in the law.

And let's think about it for a second here, who knows me better than the people I live with? Shouldn't the police make sure that the people I cohabitate with aren't drug dealers, gang members, terrorists... or trying to overthrow the US Government? I mean, wouldn't it make more sense for them to contact the people in the house where the firearm will be stored to verify that *I* am a "reputable person" and THEY are reputable people as well? So John says to me "well you can fill out the forms in other writing and send them back"... well I could, but that would be forgery, right John? And if you think I've committed such fraud, do please give me my day in court and prove your case. In the mean, how about you and your Captain follow the letter of the law and stop harassing me.

I hope Dave Rible funds your pensions so you two can retire soon!

PS - I should note, I did reach out to Dave Rible and Mary Pat Angelini's office for clarification on the law. I DID receive a call back from their office and upon first review, it seems I've not violated the letter of the law but they continue looking into this for me. I've also checked with a few attorneys, all are in agreement that in the State of NJ, or anywhere in the US, to the best of their knowledge/off the record, my GIRLFRIEND, and HER SON, are indeed, NOT RELATIVES.

I sure hope this doesn't turn into a bigger problem.... and I sure hope that the local police aren't arbitrarily making up the laws as they go along. Didn't they take some oath?

BTW - I think this is Captain Gil Horrach - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gil-horrach/25/804/723 The APP's DataUniverse isn't working well at the moment, I wonder how much one gets paid to make up the laws? It surely should be more than the State Legislators who have to write the laws...

UPDATE - 4:00PM July 14:

As an update already...

So I had a long talk with Captain Gil... basically he's not going to not even bother doing an investigation and just wants two different names, or maybe he'll only want one more, he's not sure what law he's going to make up yet.

He says I'm welcome to comply with his demands, but he can't tell me which law gives him authority to make additional demands. He tried to quote N.J.A.C. 13:54-1.5 Prerequisites for a permit to purchase handgun or a firearms purchaser identification card

but what he read to me is different from the law on the NJ State Police website: http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/pdf/firearms/062408_title13ch54.pdf

He says I'd be more than welcome to Appeal to Judge Destefano WHEN turns me down, I think that's a threat.

Then he immediately got all defense and asked if I was taping him because if I was I was violating the law. I told him I was pretty sure that I only need my own consent (one party) to record, but I wasn't... I probably should have been.

Gil also started telling me how great of a person he is, that he's been doing this job for 34 years. I tried to tell him that I'm a great person too, candidate for US Congress back in 08, a committeeman, FID holder, CCW holder in 3 states, never broke a law in my life, graduate of Rutgers, 2nd in my class in High School... he didn't care, hopefully he investigates and see's I'm not just a good person, but a great person!

Ohhh, and then he started telling me that because of gun crimes in Arizona, and now this thing in NY... the story went no where, but he started telling it. I'm not sure how I'm lumped in with those criminals just because I legally submit a handgun purchase permit.

Sad really.... and let's be honest, I could give thousands of names. Any of my fellow Republicans I think would vouch for me, I hope, my neighbors, my cousin's spouses, my girlfriend's family members, the guys at FBody.com in my nationwide car club... but again, WHO KNOWS ME BETTER AND WHO BETTER TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS THAN THE PEOPLE I LIVE WITH???

Garbage, and Gil knows it.

Rible Ensures All Police Pensions Will Be Funded, One Idiot Complains

2011-07-14T10:05:00.005-04:00

AP: Bizarro World, or New Jersey -- Assemblyman Dave Rible is under fire from an officer of law.

It seems that Assemblyman Rible did the right thing by voting to ensure that police, and other public union, pensions can be funded in the future ... so that these clowns who work 20 years can retire with full pay and benefits for the next 40 years of their lives... by voting for pension and benefits reforms.

And what does Dave get for making sure his fellow officers can continue to retire young and have better, cheaper benefits than most any private sector worker who pays dearly for worse benefits? Shots fired at him from Michael A. Deroian of PBA Local 314 of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.

Mr. Deroian earns a yearly salary of $86,632 according to the APP's DataUniverse public records. At 5.5% yearly towards his pension/retirement, my calculations, if correct, would indicate that Mr. Deroian is paying less than $5,000 towards his benefits/retirement each year. After 20 years of paying such, he'd of paid $100,000 into the system. Again, if I understand the laws correctly, Deroian is then going to collect 60% of his FINAL PAY, not 60% of what he paid each year. If his final pay stayed the same (it won't, he'll get raises year after year even when us private sector guys take pay cuts) at $87,000, he'd get $52,200/yr in pension payments... after paying $100,000....

Dave Rible, along with Gov. Christie and the rest of the State Assembly, seem to have done the best thing possible to protect PBA members, including Mr. Deroian, by making the contributions meaningful and the payouts reasonable, afford... possible.

I see the anonymous trolls at the APP taking their shots at Dave, I suggest they call Dave's office and ask for the full, real story rather than spout the "Main Stream Media", who they claim to despise on any other day, version of the story. From my understanding, Dave applied for, and tried to get out of the disability program so he could return to work, State lawyers and doctors prevented him from doing so while also telling him to try to lead a full and healthy life. Dave knows that I personally don't agree with the double-dipping, but then, as it's been pointed out to me before by another Double-Dipper, it's not illegal, not against any laws, and Dave has done a great job in the State Assembly, despite collecting two paychecks. In my opinion, until and unless the laws are change, Dave is the best man in the new District 30 for the State Assembly, or maybe Sean Kean is, either way, hard to find a harder working pair of individuals on a team together.

Worth noting, the suit seems to be filed by Mr. Deroian, not the PBA Union itself. I'm curious if the Union boss(es) endorse Dave and/or support the lawsuit, or if they will sit by quietly so see how the public reacts and then pick a side to win public support. In any case, their "Oath" seems ridiculous to me, but I'm just a lowly private sector guy looking forward to working 9-5 ... or 8-6 or 7 to 11.... for TheMan until the day I'm lucky enough to fall over in my lovely cubicle.

%%UPDATE%%

Well there it is folks, Joe Tuohy, PBA #314 President showing his true colors.

Let me summarize PBA #314 President Joe Tuohy's comments:
"Those Private Sector, Non-Union, Bank Negotiators did a better job of screwing you private sector taxpayers than my Public Sector, Union, Police Negotiators did so now I want more because I deserve to screw the taxpayer the hardest." -- Joe Tuohy

I notice you don't want to dispute MY facts, Joe. You just want to attack me and deflect from the taxpayer robbery that is going on in this state. You want to distract the taxpayers who fund your lavish benefits and retirements from the real benefits of the reform package Rible and Christie supported because it brings public union workers closer to the economic reality that us private sector workers face. You and your police union buddies have salaries that far exceed the average private sector salary, You have benefits that cost far less than anything in any private sector job most taxpayers have ever held or seen.

Joe Tuohy, PBA #314, doesn't care about protecting and serving the public, you care about getting the most money, best benefits and lowest cost contributions for your members, at the expense of the taxpayers in the State of NJ. If you cared about protecting and serving the public, you'd fire all of the guys making $85K+/yr and getting GREAT benefits on top of that, yourself included, and go hire twice the number of officers off of the unemployment line at $42K to patrol the streets, or twice the number of officers to hide in the bushes and write speeding tickets while gangs continue to grow and patrol the streets.

Proof? A copy of Rible's letter on the topic is here. http://moremonmouthmusings.blogspot.com/2010/06/dave-rible-addresses-controversy.html.
After surgery, I engaged in months of intense physical therapy in the hopes that I would be allowed to return to my job. Unfortunately, despite my fervent desire to return to work, the doctors decided that I was physically unable to perform a job that could require me to chase or restrain violent criminals–possibly in life-or-death situations that could involve fellow police officers or even innocent bystanders. That is when they gave me the devastating news that, because of my permanent disability, I could not return to being a police officer.
…
It is important to note that this decision was not based solely on the recommendation of my orthopedic surgeon. In fact, this determination was made by two independent doctors who were appointed by the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System Pension Board as well as an independent Medical Review Board which was also appointed by the Police and Firemen’s Pension Board.

YOUR PBA appointees won't let Dave back on the job as an officer. My statement is/was "Dave applied for, and tried to get out of the disability program so he could return to work". Unless you want to prove, not just accuse, that the letter tells a lie, I'd suggest my statement is more accurate than your accusations. And I do agree with Kelly, it would be nice if Dave refused one salary or the other, but he's not a breaking a law. If you don't like the law, lobby with your union buddies and change the law. Of course Joe DiVincenzo or Steve Sweeney or whatever other Democrats who are double-dipping aren't going to take your cries lightly, tread carefully taxpayer robbing PBA President.

And also As Kelly says: Touhy, you are an overpaid and under-worked loudmouth. You are also full of shit. NOW you mention David Rible's disability pension? For years David Rible has been collecting that disability pension and for years neither you or the PBA had anything to say about it. Why do you suppose that is? Why do you suppose you are suddenly interested in writing about the races that Rible runs?

...Answer Kelly please, I published your personal attacks against me, and my readers have valid questions for you. I think we've earned a response to your crying for giving you an outlet to be a loudmouth.

Private Property, Yeah Sure....

2011-07-13T11:30:00.003-04:00

7/10/11

Those of you following me or part of my Google+ Circles will have seen the results from my "little" Vegetable garden... which measures about 35ftx35ftand is full of Tomators, Cucumbers, Peppers, Green Beans and some basil and parsely and such ... and i have my little fruit trees (apples, pears, figs, plums, peaches, nectarines) .. and I'm going to add grape vines next year too....

Anyhow, I'm very proud of my little garden and fruit trees and enjoy digging in the dirt and growing my own fruits and veggies and I don't use any pesticides or fertilizers or growth hormones or anything on them so I can pretend they are better for me than the store purchased stuff.

And knowing my own enjoyment and pleasure with this process, I'm am just ANGRY beyond words over this story of a Michigan woman facing jail time for using her own property, her front lawn, for her garden.

7/8/11

I should note: I've been trying to convince my girlfriend to let me cut down a boring old tree that sits in the middle of my front yard so that I can plant even more tomatoes there, but she'll have none of that and wants her grass. My puppy agrees, grass and shade is the life.

Because I Just Don't Have Enough Permits or Background Checks Completed On Me Already

2011-07-08T09:03:00.005-04:00

While the US Government, under direction from Obama, Clinton and Holder, was busy giving out firearms to Mexican drug cartels, I was out obtaining the legal permits to purchase more firearms and attending training and safety classes for their use. But when it comes to obtaining a firearm in this state, it's never quite as easy as you'd expect a Constitutional right to be. Our friends over at Radio Free NJ had a nice blog entry covering the process a few years back, the process is a bit burdensome, and the local police always seem to create some problem or take as long as legally possible, for no reason, for what is supposed to be a basic right protected by the US Constitution. Imagine if you had to get the local police's arbitrary approval in order to write a letter to the editor of the local paper, I mean, words hurt, the police should make sure that your words aren't hurtful, just sayin'.

Just to give an idea of the number of times the US Government, or some state government has already done a background check on me, I have my NJ Firearms Purchaser's ID card. I had to get the background check, fingerprints, the police check in with two non-relatives who are supposed to vouch for my supreme greatness, or at least not call me a kook. I've already, in the past, obtained several handgun purchase permits which required their own round of background checks, fingerprints, etc. Since I don't pay taxes in other states, I also donated a few hundred dollars to the states of Florida, Virginia and Utah for non-resident firearms carry permits in those states, not that I ever plan to be in those states anyhow, but each of those requiring their own background check, fingerprints, etc. If I said that I've had 15 or more background checks done on me, that I know of, in the past 10 years for firearms permit reasons, I might still be under estimating.

So last night, all I wanted to do was to go pickup my new rifle, one that I've already paid for, had shipped to my FFL as the law requires, but because there was some rain and YOU PEOPLE can't drive in the rain, I got there just minutes after 8pm... and NICS was closed, so without yet another background check, no new rifle for poor ol' me. And surely, NICS is going to find something different this week than they did, literally, last week, or not... it's just a waste of my money to operate that system, the System Doesn't Work. I'd be willing to place a (legal) bet that last night while I was unable to pickup my rifle, more than one gang member obtained a firearm, from the US government, with a "Happy Holidays!" card signed "Barack Obama" included in the box.

The whole process stinks and I'll make the bold statement that not one of the non-sense gun laws that Lautenberg, Pallone or even Jersey Republicans have ever pushed has saved a life, lowered crime rates or prevented gang activity. Like all of the non-sense you deal with at the TSA just to board an air-plane, all of the gun laws are just do-nothing, feel-good, score-political-points non-sense. And did I mention that I gave hundreds of dollars to other states for permits I'll never use? I did? Right, because if NJ offered resident and non-resident carry permits, we'd have yet another revenue stream... of course my representatives in Trenton, true to Jersey form, would want to charge $500 for such a permit instead of the ~$100 like other states do.

..hopefully NICS doesn't find this in their background check when I try again to pickup my rfile today and deny me....

“FAST AND FURIOUS” BLOWS SKY-HIGH

2011-07-06T16:55:00.003-04:00

I doubt your local paper will cover the story.... they just won't get it if they try.

From: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/07/fast-and-furious-blows-sky-high.php

Read the letter to Eric Holder here: http://grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upload/ATF-07-05-11-CEG-Issa-letter-to-Holder-Melson-interview.pdf

Hilary Clinton, Charles Schumer and Frank Pallone will continue to blame legal, law-abiding gun owners for putting guns in the hands of Mexican gangs.

If you are somehow completely uninformed about Operation Fast And Furious, I guess the wiki page for Operation Fast And Furious is a fair place to start, read the citations for more/better information.

Supreme Court sides with NYRA in Video Game case

2011-06-28T09:47:00.003-04:00

From the National Youth Rights Association News Feed:

One of the most important campaigns NYRA has undertaken this year has finally ended. And ended the right way - in victory.

Today the US Supreme Court ruled that young people have a right to free speech that extends even to violent video games. States, such as California, cannot ban the sale of video games to young people, no matter how violent. In a forcefully worded 7-2 decision, Justice Scalia wrote a bold, unequivocal decision upholding the rights of young people to legally buy violent games.

Read the full decision here.

This is a historic Supreme Court decision which will be studied for decades and perhaps centuries to come. NYRA is proud to have played a pivotal role in this case. Together with our partners at the ACLU and the National Coalition Against Censorship we submitted an amicus brief to the Court laying out our case for free speech. Our brief cited young gamers themselves, including quotes we solicited on our blog about the political, cultural and artistic merits of video games. NYRA stayed true to our ideals of bringing the voice of young people to those in power. Read our amicus brief here.

Also, on November 2, during the oral argument of the case, NYRA organized a rally in front of the Supreme Court for Free Speech, Video Games and Youth Suffrage (as it was also election day). Check out info on the rally here.

This is a proud day for all supporters of free speech and youth rights.

LaRossa And Gallagher Expose Tony Fiore As A Republican

2011-06-16T21:56:00.003-04:00

Show Audio Availble Here

For those who didn’t listen and/or discount AM Radio/Internet Radio as an important and viable medium, let me add: I listened to the whole show, live, via the (free) “Tune In Radio” app on my Android phone and really enjoyed listening. In fact, I even sent Art a text message as feedback during the show, not realizing Art didn’t know it was me.

Anyhow, one of the [many] complaints I’ve had as a [Republican] voter is that every time I attend some breakfast, brunch, lunch, cocktail hour, dinner… I hear the same ol’ tired speech that goes something like this: “I’m X from Y. I thank you all for coming, especially [zinger at Z], lol! It’s great to be here in front of all of these wonderful Republicans and I look forward to serving you/having a wonderful year in YYYY as your A.”

Fast forward a few weeks, or months, and hour after hour of weekends volunteered, and I can’t even get a return call or email when I complain about some bad bill, not to point any fingers at any specific person or people of course.

So the complaint is simple and hopefully obvious; the candidates never seem to talk about *AN* issue as in one, nevermind multiple issues. It’s always “play it safe”, “keep it simple” and “don’t offend anyone”. I more than understand the reasoning, promote the feel good attitude, don’t alienate a voter on an issue, etc - but I’ve asked two repeatedly before and I’ve never found the answer, and will continue to ask “Where are Republicans talking about the issues?” and “How do I know you’re really a Republican?”

Well, LaRossa and Gallagher’s radio is the place where Republicans are talking and the answers are how I know Tony Fiore is really a Republican.

Kudos to Tony Fiore for having the fortitude to get on the radio and talk about actual issues, actual things he’s done or is doing. Whether I was alone listening or if there were a million listeners, who knows, but I now know for sure, Tony Fiore is a Republican. You can hear it in his voice, see it in his actions and get a feel for how he thinks about the issues and addresses the problems — he thinks like a Republican, and from what I can see he is working as a Republican. The benefits of Republican leadership to the people of Middletown seem to be clear, the question was asked “are other towns following Middletown’s lead”, sadly, the answer is no, and I suspect it’s because in many other towns, there are “Republicans”, rather that Republicans in office.

Anyhow, I certainly hope MMM readers take the time to tune-in next week and in future weeks. I’m going to make it a point to try to convince a few friends to listen, but more importantly, I’m going to suggest to a few “Republicans” that they contact Art and schedule an appearance on the show, see if and how they answer the questions… if they are really Republicans, and if they are willing and able to talk about the issues.

And if anyone is curious - my feedback during the show to Art was noting that Middletown, with 70K people and ~42sq mi has has less police officers than Long Branch, with 34K people and ~5sq mi.

Great job overall Art. The Weiner bit was a fun jab, but I certainly wouldn’t mind if you skipped the comedy segment to get another solid 12 minutes out of Tony.

It's 3am -- Crisis!

2011-06-16T04:20:00.004-04:00

Ok fine, it's 4:30am or so now.... but remember Hilary Clinton's 3AM ad? And if there was ever proof needed that I'm really nothing more than an AverageNoOne, this morning, night, whatever you want to call 3am, should be proof enough for you.

So my pup, Allie, a black Labrador Retriever who I love more than anything, wakes me up most every day at 2:30am on the dot, still, even at 5, to go out. I don't know if it's habit or she really needs to go outside, it doesn't phase me at this point because I'm used to it 5 years later and it's not like I really need sleep anyhow. Plus, being the Paranoid Android with OCD habits (maybe dogs really do take after their owners) that I am, I have my own habit for the situation too. I grab my 9mm, turn on the lights, peak outside to make sure there is nothing and noone there, turn off the alarm, let her out and try to spy on her through the window, firearm in hand, until I let her back in safely and turn the alarm back on, then I get a few more hours of sleep, simple... average?

But this morning, night, whatever, was different. Seconds after I let her out, I saw Allie bolt across the yard, then I saw something small run the opposite direction with her still in chase, then she was back at the door, head down... and smelling worse than .... a Democrat, a decaying body, infant poo, or any other terrible smell you can think of. That thing she was chasing was a skunk; it's sprayed her.

And being an AverageNoOne, there I was, 3am, scubbing my dog in a bathroom and trying not to vomit from the smell. An hour or so later, with some baking soda, peroxide and dish soap, she smells almost as good as a dog can be expected to smell. Unfortunately for yours truly, the smell of skunk has filled the house. Fabreze everywhere, candles burning, white vinegar mopped the floors, still stinks. Why bother trying to sleep?

And really, the worst part about it... I have a great little .22LR rifle, a skunk out in the yard.... and NJ laws that prohibit me from exterminating the filthy rodent. I'm pretty sure this is the same skunk that I've spotted in the past that seems to have made a home in an abandoned house up the street from me. I hadn't called City Code Enforcement on the owners of the property in the past over the presence of the skunk, mostly because I hate to think of how much tax dollars it'll cost me to have someone go over there and inspect, and condemn the house, nor do I really want the City of Long Branch to violate the owner's property rights.... but after this, I think I might lookup who the owner is... maybe give them a call and let them know about the skunk... I'll call them.... at 2:30am.

PS: This blog entry STINKS, literally. I'm sorry to bother you with it; I promised Random Thoughts.

Legislature, School Boards, Readying To Adapt Scamming Tactics To Gather Your Private Information

2011-06-15T10:41:00.002-04:00

... sponsored by Mary Pat Angelini.

http://www.moremonmouthmusings.net/2011/06/14/legislature-school-boards-readying-to-adapt-scamming-tactics-to-gather-your-private-information/

Lisa Jackson -- "First I destroy the Environment, Then I Destroy You"

2011-06-14T08:11:00.007-04:00

Our ~~good friend~~ former DEP cheif Lisa Jackson is back in the news. Our actual good friends at RadioFreeNJ have the story, "Lisa Jackson Likes You Unemployed".

For those who might not recognize the name, Lisa Jackson was the do nothing Corzine-administration DEP Commissioner. Obama hired Lisa Jackson, and Frank Pallone's wife, over at the EPA because neither is qualified for any real job and both like their government income while you and I pay the bills or are unemployed, or underemployed and overtaxed.

Tommy D also had a related story on his blog as did Art at MoreMonmouthMusings.

Anne Lewis Strategies, "Laugh At Us", We Are.

2011-06-10T23:02:00.007-04:00

When I made my little comment on Mr. Weiner's "Internet Consulting Services" payouts, I thought nothing of it aside from a throw away chuckle that he pays for some kind of "Internet Consulting Services", implying maybe that the consultant should have consulting him on better Internet nEtiquette. Well, it seems that based on traffic logs, the people at Anne Lewis Strategies may have found my blog. Welcome more new readers, and here is a laugh directly at Anne Lewis Strategies... They advertise:

Ability to laugh at oneself (and, at times, the company principals) is a must.

Supporting principals on the day-to-day management of overall
client relationship and satisfaction;

...Know how to use Twitter to build relationships and get satisfaction...

Ok fine, so maybe I added the last part of the job description, because it's funny and I like to laugh. Hopefully the people at Anne Lewis Strategies found my little blog funny enough to come back! I'll check the logs again later in the week. Surely, Weiner consulted with Anne Lewis Strategies before posting all of those pictures of himself holding onto his package in the house gym.

Here is the job description from 2009 as posted on google groups.... funny in that ironic way that the date on the job description was May 18, 2009. It is/was two years later, May 27th, that Weiner's now famous twitpic was sent. Again, if anyone knows what it is that Anne Lewis Strategies actually does, or claims to do, that is described as "Internet Consulting Services" at the rate of $11K in 3 months, do please tell, I'm always looking for business ideas, and I'll advise any client of mine not to take semi-nude photos of themselves and/or to post them online. A good business pitch, I hope Anne Lewis Strategies doesn't steal my idea.

JOB: Anne Lewis Strategies, LLC Account Assistant (DC)

Date: May 18, 2009

JOB: Account Assistant

EFFECTIVE: Immediately

LOCATION: Washington, DC

Anne Lewis Strategies, LLC, a strategic online communications
consulting firm, is seeking an Account Assistant to help support its
growing lists of accounts.

As part of the Anne Lewis Strategies team, the Account Assistant can
expect to be on the frontlines of the campaigns to protect and expand
Democratic majorities in the House, Senate and Governor’s Mansions,
and work with some of the nation's leading environmental, pro-choice
and non-profit organizations.

Candidate must have political experience and an interest in learning
online marketing, communications and fundraising strategies. Candidate
must be able to wear a number of hats, interface with clients
directly, and help company principals keep the trains running on time.

Candidate must be a self-starter with a good attitude. Ability to
laugh at oneself (and, at times, the company principals) is a must.

Successful candidates will be responsible for:

· Supporting principals on the day-to-day management of overall
client relationship and satisfaction;

· Drafting, editing, and publishing client-facing documents
including memos, agendas, proposals, and presentations;

· Acting as “first responder” on all client requests when
principals are not available. Tracking all client requests and
ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks;

· Working with clients to compile feedback as needed and help in
trafficking copy and creative for online campaigns;

· Owning overall company meeting calendar, including scheduling
meetings and setting up conference calls;

· Supporting business development efforts and participating in
new business pitches;

· Providing top-quality customer service to clients, including
regular reporting and invoicing.

Qualifications:

· Passion for Democratic politics and progressive causes;

· At least one year experience working with non-profit or
political organizations;

· Excellent time management, planning, and troubleshooting skills;

· Attention to detail and ability to work under tight deadlines;

· Superior writing and analytical skills;

· HTML, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, or data base knowledge is a plus;

· Expertise in Microsoft Office with robust Excel and PowerPoint
skills, experience with Mac OS X a plus;

· Client management and/or political campaign experience a plus.

Please send your resume and cover letter to I...@annelewisllc.com

Gavrie Kullman
Anne Lewis Strategies
202.494.9161
Gav...@annelewisllc.com

20 Ways That The U.S. Economy Has Gotten Worse Since Barack Obama Became President

2011-06-10T10:49:00.001-04:00

As published at The American Dream.

The following are 20 ways that the U.S. economy has gotten even worse since Barack Obama became president....

#1 In January 2009, the official U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. Today it is 9.1 percent.

#2 When Barack Obama took office, the number of "long-term unemployed" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is up to 6.2 million.

#3 When Barack Obama first became president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $1.83. Today it is $3.79. This also affects the price of almost everything else that we buy.

#4 In April 2009, the average U.S. household spent approximately $201 on gasoline. In April 2011, the average U.S. household spent approximately $369on gasoline.

#5 According to an article in the Daily Mail, the cost of a Memorial Day cookout was 29 percent higher this year than it was last year.

#6 When Barack Obama was sworn in, there were nearly 32 million Americans on food stamps. Today, there are more than 44 million on food stamps.

#7 According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.

#8 When Barack Obama took office, the U.S. national debt was 10.6 trillion dollars. Today it is 14.3 trillion dollars.

#9 The federal government has borrowed 29,660 more dollars per household since Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus law two years ago.

#10 During Barack Obama's first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#11 The combined debt of the major GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Sallie Mae) has increased from 3.2 trillion in 2008 to 6.4 trillion in 2011. Thanks to George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress, U.S. taxpayers are standing behind that debt.

#12 Under Obama, the U.S. trade deficit continues to grow. The trade deficitwas about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009, and the 2011 trade deficit is expected to be even bigger.

#13 Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in all of U.S. history.

#14 Just since August, 2 million more Americans have left the labor force.

#15 In 2010, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure for the first time ever, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.

#16 The U.S. real estate crisis just continues to get worse. During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.

#17 The U.S. dollar has fallen by 17 percent compared to other major national currencies since 2009.

#18 Faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. Treasuries is rapidly declining. The mainstream news is not reporting on it much, but right now the Chinese are rapidly dumping U.S. government debt. That is not a good sign.

#19 When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs about $1500.

#20 Americans seem to be more pessimistic about the economy than ever. According to a brand new poll, 61 percent of Americans believe that they will not return to their "pre-recession" lifestyles until at least 2014.

aaa

Weiner's "Internet Consulting Services" -- $11,650 in Q1 -- Priceless!

2011-06-09T12:25:00.006-04:00

I was browsing Anthony Weiner's latest FEC report during my lunch break which you can browse here. filed 4/15/2011. I was mostly curious if Frank Pallone shared any donors/expenses with Mr. Weiner.

What I found made me giggle. Search Weiner's report for "Internet Consulting Services" There are 4 matches.

1-13-2011 -- $3150

2-17-2011 -- $2500

2-25-2011 -- $3000

3-22-2011 -- $3000

Think to "consultant" provided input on posting those photos to social networking sites? Maybe he should have consulted on that topic if he didn't. I wonder what services said internet consultant, "Anne Lewis Strategies", provided, their website is pretty poor, just a Google Sites page.

Have a look for yourself and share your odd or fun findings. The only other thing that bothers me is this one:

Charles B Rangel Legal Expense Trust -- $2000 -- so Mr. Weiner is defending the censured Rangle... classy.

“We’re going to support our unions”

2011-06-09T09:09:00.003-04:00

Not my words, but the words of Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Bergen according to the Worst News Paper Ever, the Asbury Park Press..

For the record, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson is SUPPOSED to be representing citizens of the State of NJ, not unions. More specifically, he is SUPPOSED to be representing NJ's 37th Legislative District, not unions.

Assemblyman Johnson serves on the Law and Public Safety Committee (as Chair). My fellow 2A supporters and defenders should note that Gordon Johnson, as chair of the Law and Public Safety Committee, is the guy to get rid of if we want to see the failed One Gun a Month theory thrown away.

Keith Jensen and Gregory John Aslanian are the Republican candidates in that district. I'll do some homework, maybe I'll be willing to take the drive up to Bergen to volunteer my time and efforts to help those opposing Johnson, who has here stated that he has no intention of supporting the taxpayers, just the unions.

MoreMonmouthMusings has a related story worth reading here.

%%UPDATE%%

This from politicker...

The GOP candidates for Assembly in District 37 are Keith Jensen of Fort Lee and John Aslanian of Englewood Cliffs. Jensen, 37, is a local entrepreneur who ran for the Republican nomination for Congress last year. He is also a U.S. Army veteran. Aslanian, 57, is a marketing and product development consultant for the health care industry and also ran for the Republican nomination for Congress in 2010 in District 9.

I can't seem to find a website/archive for a Keith Jensen. John Aslanian has this website and appears to be a Lonegan backed candidate, which I think is good.

Bloggers; And Our Little Battles Too

2011-06-08T10:07:00.007-04:00

Whoever is running the Blog over at Neptune Matters is doing a great job. I've even noted that it seems like Warren Lapp and some of the other Neptune Republicans have taken interest in the blog, despite the blog at times being less than friendly to Neptune Republicans. But one of the entries over there today, mixed with a snooze story at the WorstPaperEver, demonstrates the troubles of being a blogger, that are somehow worth it for the seldom and rare moments of vindication.

The people at Neptune Matters note, correctly:

Let Us Be Clear State That We Certainly Don’t Propose That We Are On The Scale Of, Or As Good As Andrew Breitbart & Other Bloggers Of His Stature…

We Know We Have A Long Way To Go Studying Under Their Collective Wings.

I couldn't agree more. I'm not likely to catch Frank Pallone doing something illegal from my little cube at work or by talking to my local voters who are reading the same news I'm reading and probably talking to less people than I'm talking to, but I can use those ideas and methods to dig and learn about my local issues, where it appears other's aren't doing the digging and reading. Neptune Matters goes on to write:

But This Kind Of Coverage They Offer Is Where We Need To Be Going In Order To Get To The Bottom Of Things Here In Neptune. “Something’s Gotta Give.”

Replace Neptune with Long Branch or any other city or state and the nail has been hit, hard. When Breitbart broke the story, he was attacked, personally. The name calling began and the mob went after him, not so different from when I call out local officials. For Breitbart, the moment of vindication has already come; for me, I believe time will prove my positions and opinions to be most inline with those of the so called silent majority. Although Joe Ferraina is innocent until proven guilty on those sex charges, time will tell, just as time will show his legacy in Long Branch to be a farce; his salary, benefits and retirement to be paid for by the next generation who are graduates of the sub-par system he ran. When the story broke on him, this log received several thousand hits from people searching for dirt on Joe, I was glad I can help, most people in Long Branch fear the man, and his "power", my blog is my own power to fight back, I have little else to fight with.

But there is more danger in being a blogger; I blog using my real name. These are my opinions and this is my outlet, I don't hide. Art Gallagher @ MoreMonmouthMusings certainly doesn't hide either and he does a great job standing by his opinions and beliefs despite the attacks he takes, and he takes far more abuse than little ol' me. Being as good as a Breitbart isn't so good, I'd prefer to be as good as Art. While I don't agree with their positions so I won't share their names or links to their blogs, I do read some of the local D leaning blogs written by people using their real names, I'm happy that they share their opinions and principles, even when I don't agree. Mostly, I'm just happy to see people living without fear of governments or anyone or thing else.

And further on bloggers, while I'm ALWAYS critical of anonymous bloggers and comments (I don't permit anonymous comments here), I can certainly understand why the guys at NeptuneMatters are keeping a lid on their identities, for now, because the Supreme Court ruling shows that the law isn't on our side, and it shouldn't be, I'm with TooMuchMedia (which is run by a former, or still but I haven't heard from him in YEARS, great friend of mine) -- us bloggers shouldn't be spreading complete fud, but if TheTruthHurts(TM) and HonestyIsTheBestPolicy(TM), then it was easy enough for TMM to tell the truth as defense, and it would be easy enough for any elected official, like Anthony Weiner, to prove the truth -- the problem of course being that it seems that most times, if elected officials tried to prove the truth, they'd incriminate themselves, and it would just vindicate us bloggers, which rarely happens, but feels great when it does happen. By remaining anonymous, it seems the Neptune Matters folks are somehow getting deeper info, probably being handed over unwittingly like candy even, it has it's benefits I suppose, some great historical Americans wrote anonymously, they eventually announced their identities, I suspect someday we'll know who runs Neptune Matters, for now, they are doing well as it is.

To be clear, we bloggers aren't journalists, at least I don't claim to be a jouralist. Some bloggers try to pass themselves off as such, in my opinion, it's foolish. We don't enjoy the benefits of hiding behind the corporate lawyers, a board of directors, some shareholders or an "editorial board" nor do most of us have the significant reader base and advertising network of a real journalist to fund our defense and separate the real, physical us from the character people see on TV or hear on the radio or read from in the paper. We don't have editors to check for grammEr...grammar, and spelling misssteaks nor do we have college interns [~~to sexually harass~~] to do the leg work for us. We have nothing more than our opinions, based on our little research, which is often hindered by sneaky local political ploys, and our little audience of readers, for which we are thankful for, and nothing more. Blogging, for me at least, has often been a lonely and frustrating road, but best of all, as great motivation, I generally believe that my often offensive opinions, statements and research will be vindicated in time. Despite the abuse I sometimes take for making my opinions known, when the people I choose to call out are finally caught with their proverbial pants down, or literally in some cases, it feels quite good, and shows the service provided.

In summary, heed the words over at NeptuneMatters, and I'll repeat them here:

But, it takes more than 100 or so page hits a day to get the “revolution” going. YOU must start spreading the word amongst your Neptunian friends.
...
However, if there is no one to do the real digging, what’s the result? Corruption and deceit festers. Taxpayer’s money gets wasted and people get hurt.
...
To Our Elected Officials & Administration. We Are Watching. It’s Only A Matter Of Time Before You Trip Up & People Finally See What You Are Up To & What You Are Getting Away With.

Again, thanks for continuing to read, loyal readers, and welcome to those who stumble across this little blog and take a read.

Another Good Reason To Love Chris Christie

2011-06-07T08:51:00.004-04:00

The guy has won me over, really. Call me a party hack or whatever you want to call me if you need to, but Christie is really doing a great job, in my book.

The latest is this headline "Christie cuts in health care spending panned by advocates" http://www.app.com/article/20110606/NJNEWS10/306060069/Christie-cuts-health-care-spending-panned-by-advocates?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

The story is essentially that the Gov is cutting $300 million in spending that benefits 23,000 state residents.

We Republicans scream and yell and complain when we spend $20K+ per pupil on education to get sub-par education. This cut by the Gov should be cutting about $13K per beneficiary ($300m / 23K), what's better is that we're cutting $13K in sub-par healthcare coverage and now these people will be free of a government system that forces them into sub-par healthcare facilities. I understand healthcare costs and treatments and prescription will bankrupt a person, but I for one don't want to be bankrupted paying taxes to fund that healthcare. I'm of the opinion that there are enough wealthy, charitable people in the world along with enough doctors and philanthropists who care about other people that voluntary, charity work will help those who really want help.

For me personally, when I talk about cuts in spending and smaller government, I'm talking about seeing the government make those cuts everywhere, in any and all departments that aren't "essential services", and I have to also say that what I personally consider essential may be even less than what the state defines as essential. Too often, We the People scream and yell and complain about our high taxes, then when the Man comes around to make a cut in our favorite program, we scream and kick and yell and demand that the government makes a cut somewhere else. Someone(s) is going to be upset at this cut, just as someone(s) will be upset at cuts in school budgets.... I'm won't be upset.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I am a strictly private sector worker, I have no vested interest in public employment, it doesn't pay my bills and I do not benefit from government programs. I honestly don't think I use any government programs (aside from DMV, and not by choice, and some local parks, but I'd just as well go enjoy the beach if it's wasn't so expensive, and I was allowed to bring my dog). There are groups who are upset at the idea of cuts to school budgets, groups upset with cuts to gov't healthcare programs, groups that are upset with cuts to UEZ zone, etc... but not me... make any real cut and I'm really happy.

I just wish that the Gov would cut some salaries and benefits of those union NJT railroad workers who provide nothing but late trains and sub-par public transportation services next. Just sayin'.

I speak for the Whole Republican Party* - depending on who you ask.

2011-06-06T21:28:00.012-04:00

Follow along for a minute.

I don't really follow any sports, I catch the evening news' 2 minutes of "sports" at the end of the telecast and I see the headline of the Sports section of the paper before I throw it into the "recycle" pile... BUT I'm a BIG Yankees fan, because I said I am. Further, not only am I a BIG Yankees fan, I'm now part of the team! How you ask? Well I signed a paper that confirms I'm a member of the Yankee team, it was that easy! No one checked my skill-set, no one asked why I'm a member of the Yankee team, no one asked if I know any Yankee team history or share the Yankee team's winning vision, Yankee leadership wanted more people on the Yankee team and accept any and all offers, no pre-qualification, come and go as you please, stand, or don't stand for anything. And it's great, once you're a member of the Yankee team, by signing a little paper and mailing it in, you can say things like "we won!" or "our captain is great" or "management needs to get their heads on straight!" or "we played great but came up short, we'll try harder next time" - you get to speak for the whole Yankee team and represent them to your friends, family and neighbors and because you're signed on as a member of the Yankee team, they know, or think, you speak for the Yankee team.

Now let me make a few edits....See where I'm going with this?

I don't really follow any politics, I catch the evening news' 2 minutes of "politics" at the end of the telecast and I see the headline of the Local section of the paper before I throw it into the "recycle" pile... BUT I'm a BIG Republican fan, because I said I am. Further, not only am I a BIG Republican fan, I'm now part of the team! How you ask? Well I signed a paper that confirms I'm a member of the Republican team, it was that easy! No one checked my skill-set, no one asked why I'm a member of the Republican team, no one asked if I know any Republican team history or share the Republican team's winning vision, Republican leadership wanted more people on the Republican team and accept any and all offers, no pre-qualification, come and go as you please, stand, or don't stand for anything. And it's great, once you're a member of the Republican team, by signing a little paper and mailing it in, you can say things like "we won!" or "our Governor is great" or "management needs to get their heads on straight!" or "we played great but came up short, we'll try harder next time" - you get to speak for the whole Republican team and represent them to your friends, family and neighbors and because you're signed on as a member of the Republican team, they know, or think, you speak for the Republican team.

Sadly, what I describe isn't far off of what I've found the local party structures to be, not just in Long Branch, but in many towns across NJ. Public [union] workers, who stand to receive significant unused vacation/sick payouts, including already overpaid railroad workers, are "Republicans". Discriminatory and wasteful UEZ directors and administrators who believe their local town shouldn't have to share the burden of a 7% sales tax like everyone else in the state are "Republicans". Pro-choice representatives who spend tax-payer money on health clinics that provide care to women, but not men, are "Republicans". Overzealous religious fanatics who want to impose their church's beliefs and morals rather than protect the freedoms granted to us by the Constitution are "Republicans". Local small business owners who have lived in town for decades and know everyone and just want the kids to "get off of their lawn" are "Republicans". And even me with all of the things I've said on my blog and stand for in person, make me a "Republican". Good or bad, no one seems to be checking the skill-set on any of us, I think the party is just happy to have us, sometimes.

And all of these people, self-included, all really exist in "our" party. And I say "our" party because by signing a voter registration card, you (probably, if you're reading this blog anyway) and I are part of the Republican team, and without any certifying us as good team member, we're now the guys. And don't be confused, I'm certain that the Democrats are no better. I'm certain from conversations with enough of them that most stand for nothing or are afraid to stand for anything.

And here in Long Branch, just like may other towns, many of these people exist and one vote, if that, made them the voice of the party, in their minds; typical mob mentality rules. "Republicans" are angry at me for standing up for Republican principles and going after those who I perceive to not be standing for Republican principles despite being in a position where they themselves claim to speak for the party, based on their one vote. I asked about Republican principles in an email to a Freeholder candidate, never recieved a reply. I asked the same question at a Freeholder candidate forum to the same candidate, and the candidate looked at me a bit confused, some in the audience didn't seem to think my questions about abortion and gun rights were important questions to ask a "Republican", they seemed to think less when I asked the question a second time to a second candidate, who gave a much better answer; you point me to a higher bar to have a candidate hurdle as a gauge.

But I'm digressing as usual - the point is that many "Republicans" here, and probably elsewhere, often get "mad" at me for standing for what I believe to be Republican principles, likewise, I'm equally mad at them for claiming to be Republicans and then not standing for any Republican principles at all, or rather, not standing for ANY principles at all - just hiding in their own homes complaining to themselves in the mirror. They are mad that I voice my opinions and then I work to see that my opinions are known, I'm mad because they attack me as a person without standing for a principles of their own. And I think what hurts their feelings even more is I'm brave, or crazy, enough to use my real name and not hide behind some app.com anonymous screen name to voice my opinion, and THEN to top it off, I even try to convince apathetic Republican voters that SOMEONE is often bucking the system and TRYING to represent the Republican principles that they presumably stand-for and we need to work to remove the not-so-Republicans from the Republicans ranks rather than sit by and not vote and not be engaged in the process. And the sad truth is that MOST people in the party are actually good Republicans who really stand for good Republican principles, but for whatever reason, many don't make their voices heard, they hide behind anonymity, they hide in general and don't show their passion to making our local, state and federal representation "better".

In any case, I know I've been away from the blog for a while. Being a good Republican committeeman, I've distributed 500 Primary Election Remind postcards and refrigerator magnets to my Republican neighbors in my local district and neighbor districts over the past 4 weekends, rain and cold slowed me down along with some personal matters. And after I spent several weekends walking through Long Branch to rally voters, I voluntarily power-washed a woman in my district's house after I walked up to her in her driveway to hand out my wares and saw her trying to use a broom to remove some mold and fungus from her shingles. With "community organizer" skills like mine, I should join the other 500 "Republicans" running for President!

Anyhow, my blog is important, to me, and hopefully to you my readers. It has become a powerful way for me to tell my story and promote the principles that I stand for, and I believe Republicans endorse. My ramblings seem to attract a crowd. I've been asked, or rather told, to "keep the committee out of it" and to "go start your own party". I will not. Despite what some people may think, that I somehow speak for the party, I speak only for myself. My friends, family and neighbors ask and demand that I remain honest and true to the principles that I've always believed in and stand for, the principles I've voiced on this very blog and the principles that make me part of the Republican team. If you don't like what I have to say.... go start your own blog! And use your tax-payer funded union job income and unused sick time payouts to promote your own principles... if you have any principles because you certainly haven't demonstrated or told of any.

With Primary day upon us, I hope that I did enough work to energize voters to come out despite there being no contest, just to show their support for our party and our candidates. I think we have good candidates overall. I think if more people were willing to stand up for what they believe in, we'd have even better candidates. I made some phone calls to friends, family and Republicans who I've met through my door walks to see if any of the candidates or any of my fellow committee people, have reached out to them... I wasn't disappointed, only because I didn't expect anyone to make the effort, sad really... apathy makes sense, sometimes..

In any case, Tuesday June 7, 2011.... primary day... go vote!

PS. - Did you know "menorial" day just passed? The "boys and girls" were reminded... I forgot to pass the reminder along... Hope you had a memorable Memorial Day and remembered to thank a vet.

Gov Christie Touched Me, Appropriately. Long Branch Not So Much.

2011-05-18T22:01:00.005-04:00

With a HUGE thanks to Senator Jennifer Beck, State Committeewoman Christine Hanlon and next Mayor of Sea Bright JoAnn Kalaka-Adams for inviting me out to the Monmouth County Republican Committee Gala tonight... I need to add an additional thanks to one of the greatest, hardest working Republicans I've met in this county, and someone who I both admire and wish I could emulate, Wayne Powmanowski, President of the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club.

I was surfing the delicious snacks table, for a slice of apple pie that I shouldn't be eating anyway, when Wayne said "If you want to shake the Governor's hand, he's coming through those doors". All these years of running and working out paid off because, with apologies for cutting him off, I made it across the room before Wayne could finish whatever he was going to say next, muscled a few good folks out of my way, and then it happened.... Chris Christie walked in, shook my girlfriend's hand, then shook my hand. I thanked him for all of the hard work he's done for our state and he touched my shoulder and acknowledged me and my thanks. Yes, Gov. Chris Christie acknowledged my very existence, and, appropriately, touched me.

I've said it before it and I'll say it again - back in the primary days of '09, I was working hard for Team Lonegan and I really wasn't convinced that Christie had a plan or the ability to turn this state around; I was wrong. Despite a Democrat controlled legislature that has been fighting to maintain the past poor state of affairs in New Jersey rather than try something new to improve life in Jersey, Christie has already really made a positive impact on our state, halted a ship that was speeding towards disaster, and I am happy to have him as MY Governor, and I hope to work hard enough to bring a friendly enough legislature to Trenton to make his job easier, or at least remove the roadblock that the Democrats have been so that the ship won't just be halted, but will be pointed in the right direction.

And again, what I like most about Christie is his style. He is unapologetic, upfront and seemingly intentionally confrontational at times. He isn't trying to make friends, he's trying to right the ship, and he may hurt your feelings along the way, but he has a positive, bright vision of New Jersey in the future and he is working to make it happen. He has had his disagreements with Sean Kean and other Republicans - he doesn't hold back, even on "friends".

In a related note to the attitude and style Christie presents... tonight I was told that my comments on the Long Branch beach fees for youths were "mean-spirited" and not what was expected from a "friend". Let me say this much, I am happy to be friends with anyone, especially a Republican; and I am happy to support any and all Republican candidates either in Long Branch or beyond, but I am not going to allow friendships to be the excuse to why I don't confront those people over what appears to be out of control spending, over-taxation, extraordinarily high fees for services or just a failure do the best a Republican can be expected to do. If I allow "friends" to take advantage of my fellow taxpayers, and me, I'm failing my job as a committeeman and a citizen. There is clearly a spending problem in Long Branch if the growth in revenue over the past several years isn't enough to cover our expense to allow the public to walk or sit on our beaches. Be a Good Republican; fix the spending problems instead of being mad at me. I offer this:

“New Jersey does not have a tax problem, that we don’t have enough tax revenue. We have a spending and size of government problem, and we need to start saying “no.” And, today is another one of those examples of saying no.”

" I just don’t believe that if you spoke to a majority of people in New Jersey, they would say to you, “Yeah, you know what? The government does not have enough revenue to do the job. We just don’t send them enough money, let’s send them some more. Because, they don’t have enough. It’s not that they are spending it so wisely, they just don’t have enough money.” And, I don’t think the majority of New Jersians feel that way and I certainly don’t feel that way."

New Jersey Governer Chris Christie - May 20, 2010

Again, don't be mad at me if you want to claim Republican, and don't want to cut the spending... or be mad at me, keep over-spending other people's money, and I'll keep up my criticism.

Moron... More On Joseph Ferraina; Taxpayers, and Ladies, Beware!

2011-05-17T23:03:00.003-04:00

Always a bit late with the news, the Worst News Paper Ever, The Asbury Park Press, finally has a story up.

Among all of the other allegations in the complain, the easy one to check should be:

Russo also says in the complaint that Ferraina's office had a shower, bar and was soundproof and secure, making it a bordello.

A bar? As in one with alcohol, on school property? Paid for with taxpayer money? No alcohol on school property.

In some fairness, did taxpayers really pay for a special sound-proof room at Joe's demands, or is the general design/construction of the building such? Same with the shower, some extra expense/demand by Joe, or is/was the shower already in the building for some other purpose? We do have a shower in the main restroom at work because we have a gym in the building, not criminal, but it's also not the boss' secret special shower... more info needed, but again, seems easy enough to get the info on.

The other allegations may or may not be harder to prove but after speaking with some neighbors, the common theme seems to be "Jimmy, this isn't the first time!"

The hear-say/street talk tells of similar ALLEGED tales from a past gym teacher, a teacher in the pre-school program and possibly an athletic director. Word on the street is often wrong, and Joe is innocent until proven guilty. It'll be interesting to see if any of the above people from the word on the street stories come forward. If they do, I think the case becomes more clear, if they don't, I'm willing to believe Ferraina's side of the story, as much as I dislike him, until the facts are laid out and the proof is clear.

And since the APP only lists Joe's base salary as $242K, worth noting that the State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation's March 2006 report titled "Taxpayers Beware", these two items stand out:

* In the Long Branch School District, one administrator cashed in $108,000 in unused leave.

* Long Branch School District
Superintendent Joseph Ferraina
Base salary reported to DOE: $193,149.
Actual total compensation: $305,099.

Difference: $111,950 or 58.0 percent.
Compensation beyond base salary during 2004-05 included more than $78,461 for cashing in unused leave; $10,809 in stipends; $10,907 toward long-term health and disability insurance; $1,244 for unreimbursed medical expenses; and $11,529 in annuity payments.
From 1999 through 2004, Ferraina cashed in $108,100 in unused accumulated leave, and received $30,900 toward long-term health insurance, annuity payments totaling more than $43,200 and $36,000 in automobile stipends.
Ferraina was hired as superintendent of the Long Branch School District in May, 1998, under a multi-year contract. Within one year, however, the board of education revisited the pact, boosting its terms and provisions in the first of what would turn out to be a series of 10 separate amendments, modifications and revisions over the next five years. In each instance, Ferraina’s compensation and benefits increased significantly at
taxpayer expense.

SO BETWEEN 2006 AND 2011, JOE "EARNED" a $50K RAISE!

Remember this year's and past year's school budget? about 1200 people voted, 766 people approved the waste that is (or was) Joe Ferraina for the other 34,000+ people in the city. sad.

Long Branch's Former School Super - Joe Ferraina - Accused of Committing Sexual Offenses

2011-05-17T17:23:00.004-04:00

Long Branch Patch has the breaking story....

http://longbranch.patch.com/articles/former-long-branch-schools-employee-accuses-superintendent-of-committing-sexual-offenses?ncid=breaking_news

Superintendent Joe Ferraina denies all accusations

A former Long Branch Board of Education Secretary is suing the board and Superintendent of Schools Joe Ferraina, alleging several sexual offenses.

When contacted, Ferraina denied the secretary's allegations.

"I intend to defend myself vigorously against this unfounded accusation which was made in a press release in a civil suit in an effort to cause me personal harm and extract money," Ferraina said. "I intend to take this seriously, and we (Ferraina and the board of education) will be exonerating these malicious and hurtful charges."

In the lawsuit, the former employee claims these sexual offenses took place on multiple occasions in Ferraina's office during work hours. The employee said the first offense occurred in 2004 when Ferraina allegedly forced his way into the employee's apartment.

The complaint states that the employee had a "complete breakdown resulting from the actions of Ferraina," on May 17, 2010, and has been unable to work since.

The employee is seeking an unspecified amount of damages, claiming she suffered while working in a "hostile work environment created by Ferraina and the school board."

This is a breaking news story, check back later for more updates and details.

Readers here may remember/know that I've been quite unkind to Joe in the past for taking half a million a year in taxpayer money to put his name on a school that accepts students from out of the city and otherwise running a district that consistently fails to produce.

To the best of my knowledge, Ferraina officially retired at the end March of this year and there is/was a "celebration" (I believe to paid for by the school board but check for youself if you can, I don't have the info in front of me) scheduled for next month.

So What's YOUR little Local Committee Up To??

2011-05-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

As sent to me by a person who is registered as a Republican in Long Branch, and may or may not be on the County Committee because the chairman may or may not have made the appointment official.... I have no idea what email client the guy uses to send email but the formatting, as with all of his other emails, is how it is displayed on my screen which, in combination with the grammar, punctuation and spelling, makes the emails [less than] enjoyable to read.

Good Morning Boys and Girls. I will bring up Speaker Boehners comments/proposal on Spending and debt
limits at this pm"s meeting and suggest we vote on the concept.

You might want to note yesterday's Press article p16 and or the WSJ editorial of Tue. 5/10 editorial on the subject, consider this with the Greek situation as a backdrop.

looking forward to seeing you this pm.

I suppose a group of adults, elected to county committee, are the boys and girls he's writing to and the email wasn't sent in error.

So do tell, while my fellow committee people are tackling the costs and spending in a multi-trillion dollar federal budget, and comparing them to international budgets and affairs such as those in Greece, what is your silly little local committee doing, huh??

Probably some non-sense like talking about the primary election that is happening in 3 weeks, organizing a GOTV plan, attending, if not holding, fund raisers for candidates, designing/printing materials and canvassing your local districts. Pft, whatever.

You just leave the heavy lifting to the Long Branch Republican Committee... who is going to vote on the federal budget but was completely silent when I asked who would like to review the tiny little $40m or so Long Branch municipal budget or get involved with the BOE elections that 1200 people voted in. I guess the local budget is small potatoes when your going to tell the House Speaker what needs to be done to solve our nations woes.

Ohhh, feel free not to include me in that vote tonight, I'll be at the Jen Beck event showing my support for our candidates and I'll be distributing the postcard on the left and trying to help Republicans win an election and take control of the statehouse this weekend.

As I've said before, if you live in Long Branch and want to help Republicans get elected and help our party grow, shoot me an email jhogan [a.t.] longbranchrepublicans com or click the call me link on the left. Otherwise, that's what the Long Branch committee is up to. And check out the new Long Branch Republican Club website if you have time.

Gary Johnson / Ron Paul - South Carolina Debate Highlights

2011-05-11T21:18:00.000-04:00

*My* guys... (thanks to Eric for forwarding the Ron Paul link)

Gary Johnson:

Ron Paul:

Nice that Ron Paul isn't the only libertarian leaning Republican on the stage, hopefully with more Republicans advocating for real limited government principles, more people pay attention and get on board.

Long Branch to Charge Youths Beach Access Fee, Council Woman Recommends Violating Child Labor Law

2011-05-09T21:29:00.007-04:00

In years past, youths under 18 were permitted access to the [public] beach in Long Branch (a City that receives state and federal aide for beach replenishment projects, UEZ funding, Abbott school funding... a nice long list of handouts) for free.

In fact, a report from the NJ DEP under Corzine and Incompetent Lisa Jackson regarding the Public Trust Doctrine says on page 27:

Local regulatory authorities have the responsibility to address public access and
can do so in a variety ways.
...
Responsibilities:
...
Allow children to obtain access to municipally-owned land along tidal
waterways and their shores free of charge

So this year, the Long Branch City Council will be charing those 14-17 a daily beach access fee of $3/day, $30/season citing the cost to maintain the beach and the property tax cap in place that prevents them from raising taxes, and thus shirking that "Responsibility".

In fairness, that same document says that children are those under age 12, I guess we should be thankful?

In 2007, City of Long Branch raised $645,262.80 in beach badge sales, anticipated revenue was $375,00.

In 2008, City of Long Branch raised $784,845.45 in beach badge sales, anticipated revenue was $625,00.

In 2009, City of Long Branch raised $979,175.04 in beach badge sales, anticipated revenue was $700,000.

In 2010, City of Long Branch raised $1,303,020.04 in beach badge sales, anticipated revenue was $979,175.

In 2011, City of Long Branch municipal budget anticipates bringing in "only" $1,250,000, a drop for the first time in years I have data available for... seems dubious. I can only presume that the City Council is hoping to deter families from going to beach with their children, accounting for the loss in revenue? Or maybe since the beach badge claims to require ID, maybe they will be checking that those on the beach are LEGAL US Citizens and not just holding a Cracker Jack box ID?

Further, the City Council is raising existing fees, and adding the new $3 fee for youths, citing costs to operate the beach DESPITE BEACH REVENUE HAVING MORE THAN DOUBLED SINCE 2007!

So what does our "Republican" Councilwoman, and one of my fellow Republican Committee members, Joy Bastelli have to say about this?

Councilwoman Bastelli - "I think that many children in Long Branch, if they cant get a formal job, they certainly can cut grass, they certainly can baby sit." -- April 26, 2011 City Council Meeting.

The problem? Illegal in NJ -- HAVE A READ! Department of Labor and Workforce Development says:

12:58-3.2 Power driven machinery

(a) Minors under 16 years of age shall not be employed, permitted or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with power-driven machinery.

(b) "Power driven machinery" shall include:
Power tools, including but not limited to, power lawn mowers, power woodworking and metal working tools.

Just to drive the point home a little more -- According to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report, about 16,200 children younger than 19 were treated in doctors’ offices, clinics and emergency rooms for lawnmower-related injuries in 2007. Maybe we should keep the kids off of the lawn mowers and send them to the beach.... ohh wait, right, got it.

No that it would make up millions, or hundreds of thousands, but do take note that the City of Long Branch is still paying for pagers/cell phones for most City employees, including the police department, even though they spent $4m last year on an upgraded radios for the department so that officers wouldn't need cell phones and would have good radio coverage city wide.

Mostly, I'm just curious how our costs of maintenance have more than doubled since the city is not supposed to charge/receive more than it costs to maintain and operate the beaches. And I'm sure I'll get the nasty email or talk to from someone explaining why I'm wrong and why I don't have the facts straight, or twisted to their perspective.

PS - So maybe I am a bridge burner... I expect my party and those claiming to represent it to do "better"... and "better" in this case means not charging youths to use public beach space... or you can always stop with the age discrimination and charge them the $5s to get on the beach and grant the 14-17 years olds the right to vote, see how that works out for you.

Not to defend Pakistan, but remember Jaycee Dugard?

2011-05-05T08:55:00.003-04:00

I'm certainly not here to defend the government of Pakistan in any way, nor do I advocate for foreign aid, foreign intervention or anything else, however, I do want to share my $0.02 thoughts on the possibility/denial that Pakistan has been making regarding the whereabouts of Osama Bid Laden.

Separate story from a few years ago... Jaycee Dugard, 11, was kidnapped and held prisoner in a man's backyard in a well populated California town for 18 years. My trusty computer tells me that Antioch, CA is 38 miles outside of Oakland, CA, 80 miles from Sacramento, CA. Holly Bobo is still missing somewhere in TN and while I haven't seen the missing children pictures on the back of a milk carton lately, I'm sure there are plenty of missing children out there.

So while I'm normally the skeptic, especially of hostile foreign governments, it's just a little thing that came to mind and while I normally cut no slack to anyone for anything, I'll at least hold out judgement on Pakistan a little while longer and hopefully this serves as a wakeup call to the people and government there that terrorists are alive and well, even within their own borders, and all should remain vigilant.

Either way, a special thanks and congratulations to all of the active, retired and deceased service men and women of our armed forces and intelligence departments for finally getting Osama. Thank you.

Long Branch School Election Results

2011-04-27T22:10:00.002-04:00

With an incredible 1,286 total votes, the Long Branch BOE budget was APPROVED by a majority of voters; 766 YES votes, 520 NO votes. This should mean another fine year of students in Long Branch getting a sub-par education from underpaid teachers while school administrators continue to pull in the BigBucks. Long Branch teachers were all working the phones asking people to go vote "for their jobs"; I received two such calls but received no calls, door knocks, or printed materials from any BOE candidates. Word of mouth/neighbor research was the only source of (questionably accurate) information.

BOE election "winners" are:

James N. Parnell 910 26.16%

Allan Menkin 739 21.25%

Armand R. Zambrano, Jr. 665 19.12%

Congratulations to Jim Parnell and Allan Menkin.

As for Zambrano - I almost feel like there was some False Advertising here. Armand R. Zambrano was on the BOE, then got voted out, then got appointed back on to fill a vacancy, then had signs around town that read "Re-Elect Zambrano".... Re-Elect??? We didn't elect you in the first place, remember? Unfortunately, voters have been duped and we're stuck with a board member who is responsible for those ridiculous administrative salaries, and the number of administrators. Unfortunate, but at least the good news is that Joseph Ferraina has retired... good chance we'll see him again in a future mayoral election; hopefully voters remember to vote against the man who put his name on a school and took half a million a year in salary from taxpayers to run a school system that gets a failing grade year after year.

For the record -- there was absolutely no communication regarding the BOE elections or public question from the Long Branch Republican Chaiman. I asked for some involvement or direction several times to no avail. There has also been no involvement or communication from the Chairman or a fellow committee member who is also on city council despite some prodding. Hopefully they remember there is a primary election for state elections coming up... I've been working my local district, no communications from anyone if they are working theirs, but I doubt it. If you are in Long Branch and haven't heard from your local committeeman, please let me know (click the call me link on the left) and I'll get you in touch with them, or we'll run you for committee on the ballot next year.

Ron Paul vs Gary Johnson!

2011-04-26T14:19:00.002-04:00

Well now I'm looking forward to 2012 Presidential Runs by both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, two libertarian leaning Republicans with great stories and strong principles. If I had to vote tomorrow, as if any voting happens on a Wednesday.. oh wait.... I'd probably vote for Gary Johnson over Ron Paul. Not to be an ageist, but I just don't think I can find myself electing someone Paul's age as president. If there was an AverageNoOne Conservative Republican dream team, Johnson with Paul as a vice president would get me excited. I suspect it'll be a long and uphill battle for both Paul and Johnson and the major media outlets and party players will likely ignore their runs, but one can hope that they overcome the odds or that grassroots supporters will pickup the workload to support them.

Speaking of Carry Permits! I'm in love!

2011-04-08T10:29:00.002-04:00

What a story of hope for the good guys! An thug was shot dead by super hottie Meghan Brown after breaking into her home and assualting her male friend... who I may have to go assault, caveman style, so I can steal his chick! (It's an ironic joke, please don't email me about how offended you are). The 25-year-old Miss Tierra Verde shot and killed the criminal.

Some links to the story:

This one has some pictures and the list of crimes committed by this thug

http://pibillwarner.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/updated-photo-meghan-brown-and-bobby-planthaber-jr-defend-themselves-from-home-invasion-of-ex-con-dirtbag-albert-f-hill-with-deadly-force/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20046847-504083.html

Hey Liberals, Give Jeff Muller a Carry Permit!

2011-04-07T21:30:00.002-04:00

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/judge_denies_handgun_permit_fo.html

It's pretty simple really -- there are laws against kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment... and here in Jersey - carrying a firearm. Unfortunately for the law-abiding among us - criminals don't care what the law says and they break all of those laws. For many people, like Jeff Muller, the ability to carry a firearm for self-defense is not only a right, but a necessity in the face of such criminals. The liberal gun-control experiment has failed - gun crimes do not disappear when there is a prohibition on guns - rather the opposite is true - "one gun a month" hasn't helped either and the death of a Lakewood police officer should make that more clear as well.

As an example, and it's MSNBC of all place, read this story of a man with a carry permit vs an unsuspecting, gun wielding thug from Jersey.

I know Christie keeps telling us he doesn't plan to run for President, this year, but an executive order allowing CCW in NJ sure would raise his national profile among Republicans to the highest levels, and give gang members something to think about next time they want to execute three students or kidnap a pet store owner.

Mulling a run against Sean Kean... in the General Election!

2011-03-31T23:42:00.006-04:00

By James P. Hogan (As sent in a Letter to Chairman Victor V. Scudiery and the APP)

I'm a Republican. And I’ve decided to seriously run against Senator Sean Kean by first running in the Democratic primary.

Why not? I’d love to see what that forbidden land looks like. Like when this blog sent me to ?Howell Township to enjoy some open space. Running as a Democrat would be one hell of a expedition. I think it would be a blast.

Here’s my favorite angle to the Kean vs. Hogan story: If the contest were based solely on economic issues, he’d beat me in a Republican primary. And I’d lose him in a Democratic contest. I’m not kidding! It’s pretty wild.

For years, I’ve criticized the Democratic Party for being clueless on economic policy. Becoming a subsidiary of the unions destroyed us. We lost our independence, and the ability to shrink the government and reduce taxes when needed. That’s why angry Democrats write in calling me a Republican.

Conflicts with big labor predate my software-engineering career. I served 4 years in a public school in an Abbott District over 10 years ago. In my final year, I told the teachers that they should be tested for a sense of reality. That didn’t go over well. They endorsed my therapist's recommendations. And when I lost my mind in 2001, a local teacher's union ridiculed me for not having great health benefits at 1.5% of my inflated salary. Many in that union were angry because I refused to support a bloated school budget that overpaid them.

Now contrast that with Republican Sean Kean. Last week, Kean's biggest concern was addressing gang violence. Some of my best friends are reputable gang members! With that legislation, Sean will remove the ability of some of my voting base, who support me and the Democratic party. That was enough.

So why have I stayed registered as a Republican? Because I don’t want to live in an atheist world. That’s what the liberal left-wing of the Democratic Party represents - and they’re as powerful in the Democratic party as the unicorns in the Republicans Party. I just don’t like unicorns. While Democratic politicians claim they want to support the little guy, many will happily spend your tax money on taking away your boat or RV. Or tell a huge chunk of our population that their second amendment right doesn't exist.

Sean Kean’s vote against same-sex marriage last year is what really pissed me off. That’s what got me. It was a reasonable and rational vote based on the population that he represents. What non-sense. How dare he not cater to three voters in his district and ignore thousands of others? He's a poo-poo-head! Period.

But back to my kamikaze Democratic candidacy. Let’s get it all out. Over the years, I’ve also derided the Democratic Party as being totally unreasonable gay advocates and anti-gun nuts. With pro-choicers I’ve been more gentle (at least as far as I can remember). Because they’re motivated by promoting prositution. I just think the issue hurts our local escort industry. It’s between a woman and her pimp.

(And anti-gun nuts open fire! I would ignore that New Jersey has strict gun laws. Every cop I know tells me that criminals don't obey gun laws. But it makes more sense to promote anti-gun legislation and thus support gang violence and shootings to promote my agenda. So shoot away! I’m not running for federal office, but I'll pretend I can change the gun laws. Nor am I running for state Senate in Illinois. If I were, I wouldn't be wearing a bullet-proof vest right now because guns and gun crimes are illegal there.)

OK, so here’s my political situation:

I can never run again as a Republican. The leadership and I have a good 2 year history but I'd have to actually work hard and then be held accountable for my votes. Sorry, I just love repeating this, Democrats don't care if I waste money and promote gang violence.

Sure, I could run as an Independent in the general election but voters would ignore me. They ignore me already. It would be no fun and a waste of time. Plus, People care about the government wasting their money.

Yup, a kamikaze run in the Democratic primary as the most unconventional of insurgents makes sense. And by using the word "insurgent", I can align myself with "rebels" and maybe Obama will send me free guns (and he doesn't understand the debate about gun control, foreign policy and the dangers of foreign interventions.) which I can then ship to Mexico for a profit.

Could I win? Hell No!

But me running in a Democratic primary is nutty. I mean, this is crazy. I could actually be the only candidate that the Democratics even find who is willing to lose to Sean.

Help! Someone please stop me! Stop me, please! Stop me before I run again….as a Democrat!!

Anna Little's Campaign Still fund raising?

2011-03-31T11:43:00.004-04:00

I'm on lunch break, from work. But if I didn't have to work I'd really like to just spend my days campaigning for lower sales taxes, lower property taxes, elimination of the progressive income tax, elimination of liberal and wasteful government run programs like Obama-care and planned parenthood, elimination of gun control laws that don't prevent any crimes, maybe advocate for a lower voting age, advocate for changes to our school funding formulas and ciriculums, etc. Unfortunately, despite my good intentions and enthusiasm, I have to work a real job so that I can afford to pay for a house, a car, my own dog, my property taxes, etc and I've had to leave my well-intentioned dreams of changing the world for the better to the professionals.

Anyway, maybe unrelated to my silly story, I received the below email from Larry Cirignano who is/was Anna Little's campaign manager. I've never really spoken to Larry, not sure where/how he got my email address or why he thinks I've earned enough money in my day job to pay for Anna Little to skip work and go campaign. I really do like Anna Little as a person and I really do admire her work and dedication to spreading her message, but I have to think that MAYBE if "Anna does not have a lot of personal financial wealth" she should be focusing more on her employment/income and less on her campaign? I do hear rumor of a $250 event to go hear her sing at her house and I do also hear a rumor that maybe there are unpaid tabs at certain establishments and also rumors of campaign staffers who were never paid/reimbursed for some expenses, but they are all rumors and I have no proof or evidence of such things. Again, I like Anna Little and think she says the right things, at least at my 80% of the time expectation, I'm just not sure she DOES the right things, or has people around her doing the right things, at my expectation level. Lucky for her, my expectations and opinion don't mean much. :-)

from Larry Cirignano
to Larry Cirignano
date Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM
subject Can you help Anna Little with a FRIEND raiser?

As a member of Anna's Army I would like to enlist your support for Anna.

We need you to re-enlist.

Anna does not have a lot of personal financial wealth. She isn't going to buy her seat in Congress.

What she does have is a lot of energy, a stick to it personality and a no nonsense approach to fixing New Jersey and the Nation.

And Anna has YOU.

We need to show people that what Anna doesn't have in BIG donors she can make up for with lots of "Little" donors.

March 31st is a deadline for reporting how much Anna has raised for the first part of this year.

MORE important is that we show how MANY donors she has.

We need to show that we have lots of "LITTLE" donors.

Can you:

Re-enlist and send $5, $10 or more for the campaign? Frank Pallone started fundraising the day after the election.

Visit Anna's Facebook Page and ask your friends to sign up. We need to build her list of friends.

Thanks!
--
Larry Cirignano

PS Please make a donation on Anna Little's web site http://www.annalittleforcongress.com/paypal/donation2.html every "Little" bit helps

If you could please take a minute and share Anna's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/annalittleforcongress with your friends on Facebook.

--
Larry Cirignano
LarryVote@Gmail.com
202-306-6863

Without God I can't;without me God won't. St Augustine.

Christie cutting wasteful spending in Long Branch!

2011-03-29T08:10:00.003-04:00

In case anyone didn't see the news this morning:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/nj_gov_christie_vetoes_45k_mar.html

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed $45,700 in budgeted spending in the Long Branch Urban Enterprise Zone budget, calling the expenses "unnecessary."

The veto was for expenses related to marketing the city with promotional items like keychains and calendars.
“Such expenditures contradict my stated goals of fiscal prudence and are not critical to furthering the goals of the Long Branch Project,” Christie wrote in his veto letter. “For these reasons, I am compelled to veto the action which approved the Long Branch UEZ Marketing and Business Development Project 2011.”
The governor vetoed the following expenses:
• $14,000 for promotional items at “conventions, expositions and conferences,” including such things as pads, pens, notebooks, flashlights, key chains, tee shirts, letter openers, sanitizer, Frisbees and other promotional items
• $15,750 for “videography services” for recording “major car shows, cruise nights and concerts"
• $15,000 for the “layout, production, printing, mailing and postage of a “UEZ City Calendar”
• $700 for “refreshments such as donuts and coffee”
• $250 committed to “travel,” for unspecified individuals, to include “tolls, parking and gas”

Just for the record, I do believe that my Republican vice-chair (yes, we have one... really... no you've probably never met her and I suspect you never will either) is employed by the City of Long Branch and responsible for finances of the Long Branch UEZ. Curious; hopefully my fellow Long Branch Republican isn't spending wastefully.

Thank you for paying attention here Governor! BTW - our property tax increase looks to be closer to 4% than 2%. After exchanging some emails with her, I have faith that my other fellow Republican Committeewoman, and Long Branch Council member - Joy Bastelli, is working through the budget and looking for additional cuts to keep the property tax increases to a minimum.

Our Freeholder Candidates... And me!

2011-03-26T14:25:00.003-04:00

Our Freeholder candidates Lillian Burry and Gary Rich, with me, an Average No One....

Pictures from Japan

2011-03-18T17:07:00.004-04:00

These pictures were sent to me from a co-worker who got them from another co-worker who got them from one of our clients over in Japan. Very sad.

You'll have to browse the pictures on your own, I didn't thumbnail them or make a nice gallery because I'm lazy and busy at work.

Our system stinks, and your 6th Amendment Right doesn't exist

2011-03-14T09:32:00.006-04:00

http://www.app.com/article/20110313/NJNEWS/103130374/1004/NEWS01/NJ-Supreme-Court-decide-testimony-admissible-Calleia-murder-trial

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/webcast/webcast.htm

So much for a speedy trial.... it's been 6 years. And the first trial was already declared to be not "fair". And my friend, a good, hard working, well educated father and husband was sentenced to 50 years in jail for allegedly murdering his wife, while an admitted and known gang member with real eye witnesses to testify against him gets 10 years for murdering a 16 year old. Meanwhile, the dopes who comment at the APP website are already explaining how the rich people, like George, get away with everything because they own the system. Maybe they've never been imprisoned and accused a crime that they maintain their innocence in while the state holds a trial that is deemed "unfair", after a not so speedy 3 years behind bars just waiting for said sham of a trial to be held, and the fact remains that all of the money these people THINK that George had/has can't help him deal with a broken, slow and unfair judicial system.

Our system stinks, and your 6th Amendment Right doesn't exist.

PS - In case you're new here and wondering what I'm talking about, George Calleia was my workout partner/lifting buddy for a year or so back before October 2005. start here if you care. George is innocent until proven guilty and until he is proven guilty in a fair trial, he remains my friend and I believe he is innocent of all charges against him. It is incredibly sad that he has spent so much time behind bars waiting for a fair trial while lawyers suck up his money and his daughter grows up without him. I wrote back in June 2008 that I was glad things were over and I could move on -- the sad truth is that all of these years later, it's still not over. "Fair and speedy" is how they taught it in school.... Oh by they way, his bail is $3M... there is an 8th Amendment for that too but who's keeping track of all of these silly little amendment anyway....

Elephants in the Room not talking about the Elephants in the Room

2011-03-11T12:19:00.004-05:00

I do my best to be fair, honest and accurate, even when if it'll cost me a friendly smile and hello from an otherwise friendly and familiar face, which is why I'd like to point out that some Elephants (Republicans) in the room at last night's Ocean Township Freeholder Candidate Forum didn't seem very interested, enthusiastic or concerned with seriously talking about some of the "Elephants In the Room".

For me those Elephants, in no particular are:

1) The cost of public schools, especially in Monmouth County's Abbott districts

2) firm Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion stances

3) firm opposition to NJ's confusing, backwards and not working Gun Laws

Bob Walsh, Howell Mayor and Freeholder Candidate, spoke of his township's budget, his big ol' town that is the second largest municipality in Monmouth County with 53,000 people and 62(or 64) sq miles, 400+ miles of roadway, some huge parks covering 110 acres with 20 soccer fields and 5 softball fields (and I've taken my dog over to another huge park with 4 or 5 baseball fields and a hockey rink)... and his township's budget is a "mere" $44 million. So I ask Bob, I say something along the lines of "Bob, you have a budget of $44M for above figures, what can the county do, or what should be done, to address the problem that Asbury Park, with 4000 or so students has a school budget of $96M, more than double your entire town! Or Long Branch with a school budget of $88M, double your entire town? Yet the County has schools like CHS and High Tech high that provide a great education at a much lower cost?" I had high expectations, or at least hoped that Bob would give some thought to the question and try to come up with a great answer. I like Bob - I wrote about him before and suggested he has a Christie quality to him, it showed in his response to me which was "Elect more Republicans!". Umm, ok Bob, I try to do that - and cute Christie like response that made some people giggle - but now I'm asking you, a Republican, what you could do about it? Fine, I'd elect a Republican, and then what, they deflect the answer too? I have to admit, Bob tells a great story, he's a likable guy and I really like him, but the Elephants in the Room have to think and talk about the Elephants in the room. We're pinching for $3 million of $469m on the ENTIRE county budget while we're spending $96M in one LITTLE town, and Bob didn't seem to want to really think about the question and think about a real solution to our school budgets or try seriously address the issue, I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but I expected different. And I get it, it's a state/supreme court issue that a Freeholder MAYBE can't really do anything about, but someone has to start talking, rally the locals, do something, or we're all just ignoring the Elephant in the Room that is sucking money from all of our pockets faster than we can earn it.

The second Elephant in the Room was 2A Rights/Right To Life which I'll combine since I asked them as a two part question. I'd hope that my own personal ad in the Lincoln Day Ad Book makes my own position undoubtedly and obviously clear on 2A rights. I asked George Newberry the questions a month or more ago and he gave me an honest, immediate and very positive answer on where he stands and he stands where Republican voters expect the Republican party to be. So I asked the same question to both Gary Rich and Andrew Lucas last night, along the lines of "Where do you stand or will you make a statement on your beliefs in the Right To Life? And are you a current NRA or GOA member? Where do you stand on 2A rights?"; I asked Gary first. Gary took a pause, a long pause, as if I was asking some difficult and shocking question. Maybe others didn't perceive the pause as being as long as I did, but I hoped for and expected a response to such a simple question to be like a natural reflex. Gary simply said he was pro-life and then Gary said something about firearms, I don't know what, he seems to know firearms exist, I don't think he understands that people (like me) actually have a real concern for our rights and expect Republicans to stand with us. Based on his answer, I guess he opposes NJ's restrictive and seemingly unconstitutional gun laws and stands with gun-owners, but the answer didn't seem clear and confident, I don't think Gary has ever been to a shooting range or otherwise seem a firearm aside from being presented as some evil weapon on TV, like most Jersians. I asked Lucas the same basic question. Andrew addressed the firearms half first simply saying he has respect for firearms having grown up on a farm where coyotes still roam and attack the livestock; he didn't explicitly say anything about the confusing maze of laws and regulations, lack of carry permits, one gun a month, etc, I'm not totally sure where he stands but I think he at least understands its a real issue. Lucas then told a very funny story about the birth of his child and confidently stated his is pro-life, which would make several local voters very happy to go vote for him.

I said it last night and prefaced my questions with it -- I know these aren't necessary issues that Freeholders have an immediate say over, but for me and many Republican voters who I can count on to vote in every primary, these are benchmark issues and SOME voters care about these issues as some gauge of Republicans who are asking for their vote. Overall, I still think we have four very capable, very qualified, very intelligent Freeholder candidates and I like what all of them have to say, I just wish a few would stop ignoring the Elephant in the Room.

On Private Property Rights

2011-03-03T23:40:00.003-05:00

The below was submitted, and picked up, by the NeptuneMatters Blog. Again, I'm not a huge fan or supporter of anonymous bloggers, but the guy/girl/group over there seem to be doing a reasonable job of talking about their town's issue and clearly are paying attention at their city hall meetings and following township (Naptune) matters, something more should do. My submission was regarding their Boat & RV issue, but more on private property rights and you can read on the neptune matters site here, or I'll copy/paste below, all just my $0.02, I'm no lawyer or expert in property laws nor do I know about a "master plan", etc to take it for what it's worth, the ramblings of an averagenonone...

It has been with great interest that I’ve followed the Boat & RV ordinance issue in Neptune, not because I live in Neptune and not because I own a boat or an RV, but because I, like you, simply own private property; or private property that I at least want to believe is my own, for my own uses and needs. It’s private property which I legally and fairly purchased, in accordance with the law, from a previous private property owner and private property that I pay (significant) property taxes to inhabit and own. More importantly, it is my private property that I use to store my other privately owned possessions like my legally licensed and legally registered automobiles, at a fee to the Sate, and private property where I house my legally licensed and registered pet, for a fee to the City of Long Branch, and where I store all of my other private possessions, that I paid a 7% sales tax to the State to own.

My private property is, or should be, mine and your private property is, or should be, yours and you and I should have no fears that that a local government can dictate how we use our property so long as our use doesn’t impede on our neighbor’s use of their own private property, or the public’s right of way.

True, we need to be realistic about your private property rights, For example, I can be convinced, easily, that your car shouldn’t stick out of your driveway and block the side walk because I don’t want to walk in the street to get around your bumper, just as I can be convinced that you shouldn’t build a cell tower, that casts a shadow on my garden two blocks away, in your yard nor should you play Pink Floyd music so loud at 2am that you break my windows and wake me up, not that I’m opposed to waking up to Pink Floyd’s music of course.

But the Boat & RV ordinance being pushed by Neptune Democrats caught my interest because it goes beyond such reasonable limits of private property regulations and laws. It essentially tells boat & RV owners that their other private property, for which the State permits and collects a fee and the Federal government regulates and permits on its roadways and in it's waters, is not wanted in Neptune. Just for a second as something to think about, replace “Boats and RV” with “Tomato plants” and imagine if the township said “you can’t plant a tomato within 10ft of your property line” and you can begin to understand the dangerous and invasive road Neptune is headed down.

Why “only” a 10 ft setback on tomato plants? Why not a 15 feet setback? Really, why permit people to keep boats and RVs, or tomato plants, on their property at all? You think your RV looks great and it’s a hobby you enjoy; and I think my tomato plants look and taste great, but my neighbor thinks my plants attract bugs and rodents and are thus an eyesore. Before you know it, the law becomes “your dog is too close to my property line and the smell of an apple pie cooling in your window triggered my allergies so all should be regulated, to better my quality of life,” so to hell with your enjoyment of life. What’s happening in Neptune to boat and RV owners is indeed that dangerous slippery slope where how you use your private property becomes a circumstance of mob-mentality; and Niemoller would deliver his famous statement as “First they came for the boat & RV owners….”. If you own private property, you should be concerned.

But what’s happening in Neptune Township should also alarm everyone across the State for other reasons as well. Not only is this going to set a terrible precedent for private property rights, but it has the potential to really damage the State’s revenue stream that comes from registration and licensing of boats and RVs as well, not to mention potentially removing the license and permit fees collected for the seemingly related fishing hobby. In Neptune Township's selfish quest to rule your private property and get your boat stored in their marina, many boat and RV owners may be forced to sell their private property simply because they can’t use their private property for their own private needs.

Potential new owners might opt to buy into some other hobby and the State’s revenue will slip away. Having lived in this state long enough to recognize that if revenue slips in some area, it just, traditionally, means more new taxes or fees in some other area to make up for the loss. Such has been life in Jersey.

The Neptune Democrats who are pushing this invasive ordinance are the same people who claimed in the past election to stand for the middle-class working families in Neptune, yet they will regulate ownership of private property (boats and RVs) to those wealthy folks who own significantly large pieces of land, or the wealthy folks who can afford to store their private property on someone else’s larger property or the wealthy folks who can pay and laugh off the fines and court fees, while leaving the majority of people in Neptune, who are typical, average income, middle-class private property owners with 50x50 lots, no place to store their own private property. So much for sticking up for the poor, as I saw a few boats in the mid-town area. Don’t think boat and RV owners only live in Shark River Hills, they live all across the Township and would seem to have varying levels of income and own varying sizes of property. Not to mention, Neptune Democrats will cut off a much needed State government revenue stream at a time when that revenue is much needed and because the revenue generated by those few boat & RV owners will need to be collected in some other way, which probably means higher local property taxes, on the middle-class guy who never owned a boat or RV, or paid a fee to license and register one, to begin with.

It’s easy to sit back and do nothing if you don’t own a boat or RV, believe that the issue doesn’t affect you, but I urge all of you Neptunians who care about your private property rights, and/or your property taxes, to stand up to the Neptune Democrats and fight back against this ordinance. You not only would be helping yourselves, but you would be helping middle-class private property owners across the state to retain their private property rights, and keep their property taxes a little lower, not to mention reminding governments that private property owners have rights, and will fight for their rights.

Kudos to some Non-Cowards

2011-03-02T23:15:00.004-05:00

Normally, I make a point to call out COWARDS so today I thank and congratulate some fellow non-cowards (not heros, just non-cowards) for saving a life and Doing The Right Thing. The Worst News Paper Ever writes the story as "4 men pull Beachwood man from burning car on Parkway"; the tragedy of the story is:

Matthew Graichen, 27, of Surf Avenue in Beachwood, apparently lost consciousness and crashed his vehicle in the wooded area near milepost 88.2 off the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway around 12:39 p.m. Tuesday, according to Capt. Frank Davis, a State Police spokesman.

From the story:

Belleville Deputy Police Chief John Mailot, a Toms River resident, and another unidentified man were the first two on the scene, Mailot said. The two men called 911 and then attempted to get Graichen out of the burning vehicle, Mailot said.
...
Richard J. Clifton Jr. of Toms River, a lieutenant with the Berkeley Township Underwater Search and Rescue Squad was headed north on the Garden State Parkway when he came upon the scene, he said.
...
Clifton and a fourth unidentified man joined Mailot and the other man to pull Graichen from the burning vehicle just before the vehicle was engulfed in flames, Mailot and Clifton said.

Kudos, non-cowards, and thanks.

Take note the rest of you cowards, who I'm sure number in the hundreds, and I'm sure were too worried about being 5 minutes late to your non-sense minimum wage jobs in some awful office with bad fabric cube walls, and bad florescent lights, to stop and help save a life. Do The Right Thing.

Thoughts on the Western Monmouth Freeholder Candidate Forum

2011-02-27T21:53:00.004-05:00

For the record, I offer the picture of me on the left with Freeholder Lillian Burry and Freeholder Candidate Gary Rich (Thanks Rhoda!) as proof I was in attendance bright and early Saturday morning at the Western Monmouth Freeholder Candidate Forum in Manalapan. "Erik" was not in attendance to the best of my knowledge so as he spews his non-sense in anonymity, please consider he/she may not be very well informed.

Also, before I get into my notes, do know a fellow event-attendee (whose name I'll withhold the name since I'm not he wants his name posted... but he's Wilma's husband *wink wink*) thanked me for this -- using my real name online. I introduce myself to people I know, and don't know, as James Hogan-Long Branch, using the same real name I use here and I'm as blunt and honest in person as I am when I write; I don't hide, I don't try to force people to agree with me or preach but I certainly don't hide and the things I say and the things I type online are the things I'll say in a room of people as well. If you did hear me introduced by any other name, I blame "Uncle John", aka John Costigan, who introduces me to people by my Irish name "Shamus", which I find oddly humorous in the sense that "Shamus" is slang for a private investigator and I do like to think part of my responsibility to local voters and readers here is to investigate the goings on of our party and report back. "Shamus" it is John!

So on to the event. The event was very well attended. I didn't try to take an actual head count but I would estimate 40-50 people in attendance. If my number is off, I would say it's more likely to be off in the low direction and there were more than that. It wasn't just numbers, it was a "who's-who" of numbers. Freeholders Clifton, Burry, and Curley were all in attendance as well as Sheriff Golden, who led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Surrogate Rosemarie Peters who is up for re-election this year. Former Freeholder Anna Little was also in attendance and many of the usual names and faces I see at most county events were all in attendance. If there is or was bad blood between anyone, I didn't see it and can confirm there were no shouting matches or fist fights, no one had to be asked to leave and, to the best of my knowledge and what I saw, no one was vocally rude or disrespectful to any of the candidates or other party members. I can also confirm that I asked several people if there was a fix that I could get in on and all had the same response "if there is a fix, I don't know about it!". Again, I saw no backroom deals, payoffs, bribes or other pressure from anyone to support anything. The whole forum and process from my perspective was very fair and open and I didn't see anyone turned away and denied the opportunity to have their platform heard as I perceived my case in 2008.

The forum itself was moderated by Millstone Municipal Chairman Steve Lambros, who really seemed to go out of his way to make sure that the event was fair. The format allowed for a 20 minute Q&A session with each candidate while the other candidates were out of the room. Each candidate was given 2 minutes to introduce themselves, asked the same six questions and given 2 1/2 minutes to answer each question. Any time left over/not used for questions was given as more free talking time at the end of the Q&A session. At the forum and to the best of my knowledge, the potential candidates in alphabetical order, the same order they were heard from, are:

Andrew Lucas - Manalapan Mayor

George Newberry - Wall Township Counsel/Former Mayor

Gary Rich - Spring Lake Township Counsel

Bob Walsh - Howell Township Mayor

Being oddly and rarely unprepared (without a good notepad) I didn't write down each of the six questions or make specific notes on the answers so I only offer these very general opinions and urge those interested in learning more to attend the next candidate forum which I believe is March 10th in Ocean Township. If you need more information, let me know and I'll get all of the details and post here.

Andew Lucas -- I was very impressed with Andew Lucas' ability to think about each question and give a reasonable and rational answer. He has a very professional look about him and speaks in a way which sounds like he knows what he's talking about and you should listen. While that may sound vague - for those of you who have met me, you'll know I'm a terrible public speaker - lots of uhhs and umms, I stutter... none of that with Lucas - he speaks very sure and very confident of what he says. The one thing I did note is that Lucas seems to have a very academic/predicable approach to politics. I believe he was the only one who named exact departments and items to cut, which may or not be reasonable/possible and in the best interest of the people, or he could have already done the research and be correct. I just don't know, but he seemed very confident (which can be good or bad) in his opinions and maybe promising to gut or change specific department will turn off certain groups of voters and/or set him up for failure if those departments simply can not really be downsized or cut.

Bonus Factor: Lucas has won his election in Manalapan, which he claims is a 2:1 D town 3 times. Lucas may really bring new/extra votes to the line in the general election and help the races at the top of the ticket or any municipal races that end up below him.

George Newberry - I posted my notes on Newberry before. I really like the guy. I think he gives well thought-out answers and really understands the dynamics between people and issues well. However, and again, not to be negative, Newberry really came across as "boring" for lack of a better term and "not boring" isn't something you can teach. I'm boring, I know. Also, a few times he was speaking with his hands in his pockets, which means very little to me but body language says a lot to some people and hands in the pockets means hiding something. Again, I do want to stress, I really believe that Newberry has a very realistic grasp on the issues and a solid approach to addressing the issues, I'm just not sure he has that "it" factor like a John Curly or a Tom Arnone, who really stands out in a crowd.

Bonus Factor: Newberry has firm support from people I see working hard and working often. IMO, half or more of the people in attendance were there because Newberry sent a postcard inviting people there. This should not be overlooked. Newberry is the candidate who, IMO, can help the upticket and down ticket races the most with his campaign efforts assuming the funding for mailers he seems to have now is there later on and assuming the hard workers I see in his camp continue to be hardworkers.

Gary Rich - STAND OUT OF THE DAY. Without a doubt, Gary Rich was the standout candidate of this group with his ability to answer the questions and demonstrate a real firm grasp of both people and politics and be exciting and fun and professional and a real commanding presence. Do note that this is Rich's third time running for Freeholder and so I would say that if he couldn't outshine the new comers on their first County Freeholder Forum, I'd of been surprised. The only downside that I see for Rich is that he comes from a very small shore town where Republicans have lost two seats in the past two years and Rich has lost past Freeholder races. I'd be curious/concerned how much support he can really build and if he'd be able to pull in additional votes to help others on the line or if he'd just be along for the ride.

Bonus Factor: Again, Rich really stands out as the guy in the group who knows how to talk and be exciting and still stick to principles. He also has some good name recognition from past county wide races. On issues alone, at this point, Rich would be my choice (as if I mattered), but again, the general population may not vote on issues alone and if Rich can't get his message out and can't win in his hometown, where he stands on the issues might not even matter if he won't be able to win county wide.

Bob Walsh - This guy has "it". Art at MMM posted a link to this story about Chris Christie, read it (it's long) and then come back, please. In the Lonegan vs Christie days, I was on team Lonegan because Lonegan seemed to be talking about the issues. He seemed to understand the issues and have some ideas to solve some problems. Meanwhile Christie just stuck to a very specific general theme and told stories to relate to people and get their support and I've said it before and I'll say it again, Christie has really won me over with his attitude, bluntness and approach to dealing with people and issues. Bob Walsh is NOT Chris Christie, but Bob Walsh seems to have a VERY similar style to Christie. Walsh doesn't look or sound like the other candidates when he speaks, he doesn't always give a direct answer that exudes confidence and understanding of the issue at hand. But what he seemed to do was be able to relate a personal anecdote that demonstrated that he's aware of the issue and faces the same issues and understands both sides of the proverbial coin and then gives a vague high-level answer. I'd really love to look for Walsh to sharpen his tone and appearance and be our candidate, but I'm not sure others will see, or even agree, with the likeness in approach to Christie that I see or think is there nor can I be sure that Walsh will be able to sell himself and build the grass-roots support like Christie did.

Bonus Factor: Howell is huge and Howell has some very dedicated, hardworking people who I'm certain will work extra hard for their local candidate. Walsh recently/still has some personal family issues that he is dealing with but he seems to be dedicated to public service and is a very likable, relatable guy. If others see the likeness to Christie, that I think is there, expect Walsh to gain traction fast with the people who supported Christie, and there are plenty of them and grow a solid supporting cast of workers.

So all of that is my $0.02. We have four GREAT candidates for Freeholder which demonstrates the growing depth on the Republican bench. We also had a very civilized, well run, fair forum for all of the candidates to present their opinions and while I could tell from the expressions and interest on some faces in the crowd as some candidates spoke that some minds well already made up before anyone said a word, the forum itself was very fair and well organized. There were no "gotcha" questions and certainly no "fix" in place for anyone.

And most important, as I said when I wrote about Newberry, it will be interesting to see who Lillian Burry would like to run with, and while some county committee members or chairs might disagree with me, I think her opinion on who gets the line with her, is more important than my personal opinion just as it'll be interesting to see if John Curly and/or Arnone and Clifton get behind any specific candidate because who they work with and who joins the face of the Republican Freeholder Board will have a direct impact on them in their next election cycle.

March 10th is another day, my opinion and recommendation to my chairman is still undecided, not that my chairman has to vote my way at the screening committee or my fellow committee members will agree with anything I say or think.

Where else would you get USA Leather?

2011-02-17T12:03:00.005-05:00

This picture was sent to me by a good friend who saw the tag on his neighbor's jacket while helping the neighbor out with some computer tasks.

In maybe not so unrelated news, Donald Trump wants to be your president and wants to put a 25% tax on China made crap.

Chatting with George Newberry at the LBRC Meeting Thursday Night

2011-02-11T13:27:00.006-05:00

Maybe I'm offending the Highlands Republican Club for blogging this, or violating some other non-existant by-laws, but George Newberry, who is exploring his options and looking to challenge Amy Mallet for her Freeholder seat was a guest at the Long Branch Republican Committee's monthly meeting Thursday night. George is the first of hopefully many candidates to come meet with us and hopefully more will follow.

My personal notes on George are below, hopefully I'll have a chance to have a similar chat with any other possible candidates prior to my chairman going to vote for one and hopefully my notes are accurate. If something doesn't sound correct, assume *I* got it wrong, not George and give him a call to discuss the issue; he seems to be a very open and honest guy. My notes below pickup following the prayer/invocation of the meeting (my chairman doesn't begin meetings with a Pledge of Allegiance....)

So my chairman mostly ignored George (and Christine Hanlon, who is our Monmouth County State Committee Rep) and just plowed ahead into reviewing a district map/voter lists to try to fill seats, which is an effort that has been ongoing, with no progress from them for months (I did bring on three new committee members Thursday night, hopefully I'll bring 3 more on next meeting).

So while they were reviewing maps instead of talking to Christine or George, I asked George about the two (seemingly minor) issues that I/others had but seemed to fester in comments on Art's blog:
1) Why the same PO box as the Lincoln Day event?
A) George formed an ELEC account for his "testing the waters"/exploratory committee and Mary Fran Lane is his treasurer. The PO box DOES NOT belong to the county committee but is a PO box owned/used by Mary Fran/John.

From what George went on to say, Mary Fran is the treasurer for various other candidates (and I think the county?). Having heard his explanation, it really seems like a complete non-issue and makes perfect sense. I'm not sure if/why/how anyone would hold this against him, that is, I'm not sure that George using a respected and reputable treasurer (or the county using a respected and reputable treasurer) is a bad thing.

2) What with the Union tie to IBEW local 400, where Eric Houghtaling of Neptune Democrat fame is also a member?
A) George has been a member for 25+ years, and knows of Eric, but George is a Republican. He said he's been through their meetings and propaganda but his brain is wired Republican and their "persuasion committee" has not persuaded him in 30 years. He cites his life-long Republican registration/votes and elections. He also (maybe rightly?) notes that via his union tie, he may be able to bring labor votes to the Republican line that traditionally go to Ds.

Aside from those questions, he was also asked about towns receiving State Aid (ie, towns taking taxpayer money gathered by the state and then re-distributed), and if he accepts that aid? George explained the roots of most of that state aide as being the Public Utility Franchise Tax where JCP&L/NJNG/etc have substations, etc in town and those taxes USED to be paid to the town and then spent in town, now those taxes are collected by the state and then paid back to the town, in the form of state aide. I think overall he says to accept that state aid because it's aid due to the town anyway. Seems reasonable to me, but again, maybe I need to do more research to confirm this is the real case/story. So i'd say George is ok with state aid, but would prefer if local taxes stayed local.

He was also asked about County Parks/Seven Presidents OceanFront Park (in Long Branch)/beach access. He didn't get into County parks, he told me it's a bigger topic he'll research and we can talk about another night, but he seemed to be of the opinion that the towns have to collect beach badge fees to cover the cost of beach cleanup/moving sand, etc. LB used to have a few places where you can get onto the beach for free, those places no longer exist, so as a local/town issue, many people are annoyed at the taxes they pay, and they pay the "use tax"/badge fee to get on the beach. I'm not sure that George addressed the fact that LB taxes DO go to the beach area, and the badge money/"use tax" helps that - but clearly even people in LB who don't use the beach are paying for it, where people a town over in Eatontown or whatever that don't use the beach aren't paying for it in their taxes, or paying the use tax. So I'd say that George accepts the cost to use/fund the public beaches - I'd be curious to talk to him again/get more information on the costs/usage of county parks (one thing I forgot to note is that at the Wolf Hill County Dog Park -- the park "closes" at 8... because I guess at night dogs could damage the grass or something? seems silly to close the dog park but maybe there is good reason, I just don't know)

And, most important to me, he was asked about his position, even though it doesn't seem like it's an issue that the Freeholders could address (unless maybe the Freeholders could somehow get the Sheriff's department to handle permit issues instead of the state police?) on 2A rights. George is an NRA member, or at least gets the American Rifleman magazine which he had handy, he's been to the NRA headquarters/range in VA, seems to be a gun owner, and/or used to be a gun owner and generally he seems to understand how/why Right To Carry is not only a fundamental right, but is also useful in addressing crimes. I'd noted to George that as municipalities cut police budgets, the police unions are suggesting that the budget/staff cuts "put the public in danger" and explain how they'd be unable to do their jobs, which leads me to think that my own safety and security is my responsibility and the police can't do it, which lead us to a brief discussion on the Castle Doctrine, etc. I also noted to George that there is no public shooting range in Monmouth County, but there is the private police academy range (I think??). George notes that part of the issue in NJ is that guns have been banned/regulated so much and for so long that the general perception is that they must be bad and it's a perception issue that is difficult to overcome. Overall, George seems to be a very pro-2A candidate, which means a lot to me and a few people in my local district.

He was also asked about the always popular county jail costs/issue - that is cost to house federal inmates "at a loss". George (again, maybe rightly, I don't know the answer) notes that if federal inmates weren't housed there (even at a loss), then the cells remain empty and are just be a bigger loss as they'd be bringing in no income, but there would be some expense to maintain those cells/staff for them. He also noted the always popular option/calls for privatizing corrections officers at the jail but again (seemingly rightly) notes that there is (officially or unofficially) information obtained by corrections officers, passed on to the sheriff, passed on to other law enforcement agencies and acted on. George notes that private workers may not be as comfortable cooperating with law enforcement. So I'd say George is AGAINST privatizing the county jail.

George was also asked if he's spoken to the other freeholders about being their running mate/fellow board member. George said he had a very positive meeting with Lillian Burry but we didn't talk specifics of those talks/meetings. He said he's worked closely with Tom Arnone in the past when Tom was mayor of Neptune City. He hasn't met/talked to John Curly. For the record, I REALLY like John Curly as a person and as a representative and the things John seems to stand for so John Curley's opinion/willingness to work with George is important to me. George did say something about working with or talking with Rob Clifton but I don't remember the answer/details and didn't take good notes. I'll leave it up to others to obtain George and/or Rob's relationship if they are interested.

As other random notes, George overall seems like a reasonable and rational individual. He carries pocket Constitutions and hands them out which I think says something positive. He has nice business cards which gives a very professional appearance. He also seems to have some older, classic cars and a classic truck so being a car-guy, I share some interests with him.

Hopefully our LB muni chairman reaches out to any other interested parties/candidates for offices and invites them to the next meeting as it will be the last meeting before the screening committee votes, which I'm told is scheduled for March 26. It'd be nice to see/think that any potential candidates will reach out to the committees and the CC people will get a chance to ask their questions, do their own reviews and provide fact based input to their chairman, who should vote in accordance with the CC members. OR, if the nominating process becomes "open", then I'd hope that the CC people have the opportunity so that they can vote based on facts, not vote based on George using a PO box that matches the lincoln day po box, or being a union member.

The Armed Citizen! Will NJ ever pass a Castle Doctrine?

2011-02-02T11:18:00.004-05:00

I smiled when I read this story about Jack Crawford, a 72 year old man from Florida who was attacked in his own home by three bat wielding young men. Mr. Crawford pulled his .22 pistol and shot two of the three men who were trying to illegally enter his home and cause him harm, as well as, presumably, rob him of his possessions.

Mr. Crawford is quoted as saying "They're lucky I let them live," he said. "The next time I'll kill them.". I for one hope there is no next time and these three criminals head to jail for a long time, and if they are ever let out, hopefully, they have learned their lesson and don't try again. But since that hope seems unreasonably optimistic, I'll also hope that Mr. Crawford gets himself a 9mm, or maybe even a .45.

For the record, Mr. Crawford is protected by Florida's Castle Doctrine. The Castle Doctrine effectively establishes your rights on four basic issues.

First, it generally establishes that an intruder in your home is there to cause death or great bodily harm to you and you may use any manner of force, including deadly force, against said person.

Second, it establishes you have no "duty to retreat". Technically, here in New Jersey, an armed home owner is expected to run away and leave his home to be ransacked by criminals.

Third, it establishes that use of said force against a criminal can not be prosecuted. Ie, if these three thugs return to Mr. Crawford's home and he murders the criminals, Mr. Crawford can not be charged with murder in their deaths.

Not unrelated, and Forth, it establishes that criminals and their families can not sue the would-be victim for injuring or killing the criminal.

NJ does not currently have a Castle Doctrine law established. Currently, in NJ, the law states that you are expected to "retreat to a safe place" and allow your home, your castle to be invaded.

Hopefully one of our Assemblyman will sponsor legislation to adopt a Castle Doctrine.

The full story, for future reference is this:

A 15-year-old boy charged in the baseball-bat beating of a 72-year-old man wiped away tears with a paper towel on Monday as a judge set his bond at $200,000 and told him he could face life in prison.

The boy, Earl Benard, is one of three accused in the armed invasion of Ferry Pass resident Jack Crawford's home Saturday night.

Crawford allegedly was holding a .22-caliber pistol when the three knocked on the door, then tried to force their way in.

Curtis Crenshaw, 18, and Nathaniel Nichols, 17, were both shot. Crenshaw was treated and released from Baptist Hospital; Nichols remains hospitalized.

Only last month, Benard was before Circuit Judge Ed Nickinson, accused of violating his probation on a litany of charges ranging from battery to burglary.

"We ask for high bond," Assistant State Attorney Marjorie Anders told Nickinson on Monday, noting Benard's already lengthy court record.

Benard's sniffles echoed over the courtroom's sensitive public address system. His mother was present for the hearing; she declined to comment afterward.

Benard is due back in court on Feb. 18 and is to be charged as an adult.

Across town at adult court in the M.C. Blanchard Judicial Building, Crenshaw appeared before Circuit Judge Michael Allen.

He held his hand to his left rib cage, where he had been shot. The judge set his bond at $300,000 and ordered him returned to court Feb. 24.

Allen noted three burglary arrests on Crenshaw's juvenile record that date back to 2008.

Nichols appeared before Nickinson via teleconference from the hospital. He's under guard there and will go to jail upon his release.

The three are accused of forcing their way into Crawford's home in the 3300 block of Raines Street about 8:50 p.m. Saturday and hitting him in the head with the bat.

After the shooting, they ran away.

About 40 minutes later, Adam Simoneaux, 25, identified as Crenshaw's and Nichols' roommate, and Haley Nida, 18, dropped Nichols and Crenshaw off at Baptist Hospital for treatment of the gunshot wounds, arrest reports say.

Nida and Simoneaux told investigators that they received a phone call that Nichols and Crenshaw were shot and needed to go to the hospital.

Despite being near Sacred Heart Hospital, they took their bleeding friends to Baptist Hospital more than five miles away, Pensacola police Capt. Paul Kelly said.

The two wounded suspects told investigators they were robbed and shot near the Days Inn motel, a story that was quickly dispelled, Kelly said.

Kelly said an investigation into the events leading up to the home invasion is continuing.

Crenshaw's mother, Louise White, appeared at her son's hearing. She said she didn't approve of her son's current living situation but can't control him at 18.

The three suspects all are charged with armed home invasion robbery and aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65.

On Monday, Crawford, a tough-talking former truck driver, sported a large gash, held together with staples from the top of his head to the middle of his forehead.

He was wearing more than a dozen gold rings on his hands and several gold chains around his neck. Asked whether he thought all of that gold made him a robbery target, he shrugged his shoulders.

"They're lucky I let them live," he said. "The next time I'll kill them."

Today's Battle Damage Report & More People Are Cowards

2011-01-27T09:53:00.006-05:00

As noted in the past, I always shovel my driveway and sidewalk and do the same for my older neighbor. But this morning was different since the neighbor purchased a 13.5HP 30" snowblowing monster after the last storm with the agreement that I'd put the gas in it and operate it and he'd store it in his big, oversized garage. Unfortunately, by the time I got outside this morning, the neighbor's wife's sister had already managed to get her big ol' RWD Mercury giant of a car stuck side ways in the middle of the driveway blocking the lower half from the top half and the wife was apparently going to be late for a doctor's appointment so my plan to not shovel was foiled as I had to dig the Mercury out, then snow blow around it. For the record, I am certainly happy with the availability of that snow blower in my own old age so I cleaned up the neighbor's driveway, my driveway, then did two other neighbor's walkways, quick and painless and I did the other two neighbor's walkways without being asked or begged, and not because I had to, but simply because it seems to Right Thing to Do.... which leads me to a follow up of People Are Cowards.

So I hit the shower, eat my breakfast, drop my girlfriend off at work and am making my way to work and just as I'm coming down Rt35S in front of the Monmouth Mall, a man (maybe mid-late 20s) in a big old school Cadillac T-boned a younger gal (maybe around the same age) in her little Saab 9.3 Sports Sedan at the intersection in front of the White Castle over there. The six cars in front of me, all driven by Cowards, just continued on their merry way as if nothing had just happened in front of them. The lines of cars on the jug handles coming to/from the Mall, also driven by Cowards, remained in line at the red light and none thought to get out of their cars to offer some assistance. Once the light turned green, those Cowards drove on by as well.

Needless to say, trying to Do The Right Thing, I turned the hazard lights on, stopped (in a travel lane because the shoulder wasn't plowed) and ran over to check on the two drivers and try to help. The man didn't have a cell phone and hadn't called for help, or to tell a friend. He had a bloody nose that looked broken to me but I'm not doctor (in fact if I could share the things in life I'm afraid of it's needles and blood) and he was coherent and walking and generally seemed fine although he didn't seem interested in standing off to the side of the road and insisted on wondering through the intersection. I tried to talk him over to the side of the road but he was having none of it and I wasn't going to stand in the middle of the highway while Cowards sped by. So I ran over the Saab and the girl had just stumbled out of her car, airbags all deployed, side smashed in. She had some cuts on her face but otherwise seemed to be ok and was on the phone with her mother, but also didn't call the police/first aid. So I called 911 from my phone, gave the location, quick description of the people and injuries and the 911 operator thanked me and hung up. I grabbed the phone from the hysterical girl who was still talking to her mother to let the mother know that the girl seemed ok but the car was trashed and po-lease were on their way. Seconds later the Eatontown Police were on the scene (have to say, they were fast and showed up in numbers). I reminded the young girl to be polite and courteous to the officers and that cursing at them the way she was at me wasn't going to help her cause at this point. Once the officer got to her I just let another officer know I didn't witness the accident first hand, I was the one who called it in and I was the one blocking a lane of traffic and the (not so friendly) officer just told me "ok, you can just go". Well you're welcome and off to work and on with my day I went... which is what all of you other Cowards who all drove past had done.....

As noted last time I called everyone else in the world a Coward...

So don't be mad at me for calling you a coward, be mad at yourselves for being cowards, and maybe next time you see someone trying to Do The Right Thing, maybe a good start would be to help out and not just stand around, being a coward.

Another Absurd NJ Gun Law Story

2011-01-26T19:16:00.004-05:00

Fresh off of the heels of Chris Christie doing the right and commuting the prison sentence of Brian Aitken, here is another story of a law-abiding citizen being convicted on gun charges due to NJ's confusing and backwards gun laws.

Oceanport News: Monmouth Park Task Force Report for 1/20/11

2011-01-20T21:58:00.004-05:00

The below was sent by our good friend and neighbor in Oceanport, Councilman Joseph Irace. As an immediate neighbor to Monmouth Park here in Long Branch District 10, the success or failure of Monmouth Park has a direct impact on local voters as well as local businesses, jobs, tourism and taxes in my own district. I continue to agree with Councilman Irace that permitting Monmouth Park to expand it's "Shore Destination" status by adding slots/video poker/table games, more restaurants, hotel/meeting space, etc would be a good thing for the area financially speaking, and would ensure that the track remains viable to continue to fund and pay for the retention basin project needed to put an end to runoff pollution in the river and cleanup any left over environmental damage.

Councilman Irace's report is below:

On Monday January 10th our Monmouth Park Task Force met to discuss the future of Monmouth Park as it pertains to the recent Hanson Report Part 2. Our Task Force meeting was attended by a varied cross section of members including two former New Jersey State Senators, a horse veterinarian, thoroughbred owners, and concerned Oceanport residents. The meeting was very specific and our participants quite vocal and knowledgeable. Our Task Force once again maintained the position that VLT’s, slot machines, or an all out gaming casino in the Meadowlands is the only way to protect horse racing in New Jersey. All the surrounding states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland now have some form of gaming at their race tracks. This uneven playing field enables our competitors to lure New Jersey horseman out of State with larger purses and better quality horse racing.

Knowing the current legislative posture in New Jersey and knowing that gaming is not coming to the Meadowlands this year, our Task Force was once again proactive in seeking solutions to get us through 2011 and beyond. Among the suggestions were: working with Monmouth Park to seek alternative revenue streams such as a boardwalk type facility in the picnic area, upscale restaurants, concerts, retail boutiques and perhaps even a hotel. Anything to make Monmouth Park more desirable as an asset to the State, not just for horse racing, but as a destination place
in the heart of the Jersey Shore.

The Task Force continues to ask for the actual financials of Monmouth Park, not of the full New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, of which Monmouth Park belongs. Are the numbers the State uses correct when they say the facility loses $6 million? We do not think so and would like to see the empirical evidence.

We continue to be concerned with the possible veto of a bipartisan bill approved in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly that would enable horse racing to not only survive, but to thrive. It is important to remember that horse racing contributes 7,000 jobs, $110 million in federal, state and local taxes, and 57,000 acres of working agricultural landscape and open space to New Jersey.

Our Governing Body and our Task Force will continue to lobby our elected officials on behalf of Monmouth Park. It is important not only to Oceanport and Monmouth County, but to the state of New Jersey as well.

Joseph Irace
Councilman
Borough of Oceanport

Resurrecting an Old Entry

2011-01-17T15:06:00.002-05:00

The original entry and comment is here.

I normally wouldn't read or publish an anonymous comment but clearly this is a somewhat reasonable response from someone who appears to know something, or rather wants to believe somethings that they've heard.

Let me first say that time after time, event after event, and town after town and street after street, I see the same two, maybe three or four, dozen folks working hard for the party, that's it. As I've said before, if hundreds or thousands of people are actively working to destroy the party and our nation, they are doing it without me because I just haven't see the guys in dark suits and glasses in back rooms. I'll also note that I have yet to see or meet Diane Gooch at an event that I've attended -- in fairness, some elected people I purposely ignore and don't bother trying to say hello to and then I avoid them when they approach; but I can at least confirm that I saw them in attendance. I can also state that Mrs. Gooch hasn't made any threats to me or anyone I know or at least no one I personally know has told me first hand of such threats and so I leave it to you to tell me exactly which events she may have actually attended to conduct her thuggery so that I can avoid such events in the future.

So let me try to address your concerns as best I can from my perspective.

1) "I bought my shot". In complete honesty, I just don't care. In 2004 Sylvester ran, no one cared. I didn't get involved to make a difference at that point in my life but for today, let's just say "whos that??". In 2006, LeAnn ran - I like LeAnn and did my small part locally to try to help her -- she was an averagenoone with no chance but she cared and wanted to run, good for her, but really, she was keeping the slot full because no one else cared about what Pallone was doing and was willing to put their name on the ballot next to his. In 2008, it was clear that Bob McLeod would have the nomination and in my opinion, he didn't care so much and was just filling the hole in the ballot. I ran because Pallone is a terrible representative and no one in the party seemed to care or be trying to do something about it or even run a good candidate. I got to know Bob a small bit and I really like the guy and he's far more reasonable and rational that I had given him credit for, but he did nothing, not a thing, to even try to win the Congressional race or try to get people talking about how bad Pallone was for NJ and our nation and I'll stand by what I've said -- bad candidate for Congress.

So if in 2010, Gooch really cared so much to run that she was willing/claiming that she'd self-fund and she's fighting to get the party line, GOOD. It's better than the horseshit candidates we've had in years past. At least the ballot wouldn't have had a name just to have a name like we had in previous years.

2) Re: Threats. No I didn't know this. Did you report this to the proper election law authorities? I'm not 100% sure who that would be but certainly I'll be glad to find out and help you along if there is any evidence of such campaign donations being forced on people, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to to ask someone to make anything other than a voluntary donation. Further, again, I generally see the same people over and over again -- none of them have ever mentioned that they were forced to give a donation or forced to nominate Gooch. I know of at least one person who tried to nominate Little, and this person is still an active and very well liked member of the party that I see time and time again. I can also say that no one ever approached me and/or has ever tried to force me to make a donation or vote for anyone, if they do, I'll certainly blast them here and on the streets of Long Branch for it. Now it could be because I'm such a nice guy, and I'm a poor slob from Long Branch, or it could be because it just doesn't happen the way you describe, I can't be sure which.

Regarding yearly contributors -- money contributors don't nominate candidates the chairman/committee does and again, I still see the same folks over and over again, I don't think too many have disappeared for doing anything to aid Mrs. Little and if the committee members/chairs are the problem, it seems like many committee seats are empty, otehrs get filled with one or two votes, get on the committee. And for that matter, I worked my own local district for Little in the primary and my local district swung 70% to 30% in favor of Anna Little, no one has kicked me out of the party, yet -- but I'm sure it's coming so I'll pack my bags and thank the locals later today.I worked my district and neighboring districts for all of the R candidates in the general election, Gooch and her supporters haven't threatened me, yet. If they do, again, I'll gladly report here and around town. I'll continue to support the candidates that I think are the good candidates in the primary and then support the R candidates in the general election. It is possible that I'll happen to think the party line was given to the better candidate in the future and I'll be supporting the line or I may support an off the line candidate, time will tell.

3) More money for a congressional campaign would be great, Gooch (claimed) to have more money, did you vote for her just because she had more money? I bet a lot of people did, and if you believe money was the answer to getting rid of Pallone, don't be mad at other people who agreed with you and voted for Gooch, because she had money.

I donated my few $s, and I do mean a few ($50 or so) to Mrs. Little's campaign and then I spent my own money to campaign for her and the other candidates in Long Branch because despite my donations there was little to no active campaigning happening (by any of the candidates) in Long Branch. Little eventually came to town with the Tea Party Oct 30, planted signs everywhere, knocked on U doors and then Rs I spoke to told me "the candidate doesn't even campaign here!" and the local voters were right -- Little and her campaign never contacted most of the Rs and at least here in Long Branch, the other committee people are useless and didn't contact the Rs for her.

Further, Mrs. Little had a full staff of people to work for her and do her fundraising, I think they did a great job dealing with the cards they were dealt and they did a reasonable job of raising funds for a candidate in a district where the incumbent was expected to win. And of course Pallone had more money, he's been in office for 22+ years building up that war chest; it would be foolish to think any Republican candidate who isn't a self-made millionaire willing to spend their own millions could somehow raise $4 million to compete. If more money was the answer, Gooch was the answer. I wasn't going to vote for Gooch in a primary for her 2A position alone, but truth be told, it was clear then that the candidate with a real best shot to win, because more money PROBABLY would have done the trick, was probably Gooch.

4) As for 2012 -- I'll say this much, I sure hope that come primary time, we have at least one candidate who WANTS to run and WANTS to win and WANTS to do the door knocking and fundraising and WANTS to take on Pallone and his war chest and his friends at the APP because that would be much better than having another Bellow/McLeod/etc to just fill the ballot and make no honest effort to win. If we have another noone on the ballot in 2012, you'll be as mad as I was back in 2008, maybe you'll try to run for office and get involved to make a difference.

5) You call it sucking up to the chairman, I call it acknowledging that maybe I had it wrong and the people I keep seeing over and over again aren't so bad -- if you haven't, and based on the accusations, I'm not sure you have, I surely suggest that you get involved and find out for yourself if such things you've suggested really happen the way you perceive them to happen. Again, from what I can see, and from what I know, they haven't happened, yet. Could I be wrong? Sure, I've been wrong once or twice in my life, but it doesn't change the fact that the same people you are accusing of being such terrible people seem to be the same people who do the real work for the party and it's candidates and those are the same people I see over and over and none of them have ever indicated to me that are being forced to volunteer for the party or any candidates.

Christie on Tenure

2011-01-15T20:44:00.007-05:00

With a hat-tip to our 2A friend, the extraordinarily knowledgeable, Tom at RadioFreeNJ.

My rough translation follows:

Teacher: your allegations that good teachers can not be let go. It is false.

Gov. Christie: bad teachers can not be let go

Teacher: bad teachers can be let go. I have seen it happen.

Gov Christie: Really?

Teacher: Yes I have and I take great offense at your comment. There are bad politicians I'd like to see let go.

Gov Christie: Good then go to the polls and vote.

Teacher: But that's ok too. My question to you...

Gov Christie: No it's no ok. It's not ok because bad politicians, you should vote them out too except you don't have to go through 5 years of legal fights, hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to get rid of bad politicians.

Gov Christie: The worst part of your statement is that you know it's true. you know that the rules are setup, the rules that are setup on tenure are to get people, and to get people fired are so onerous and so difficult that school leaders won't even try because it's too expensive, it's too onerous and it fails.

I have to say, as someone who way back in the day supported Lonegan in the primary for Governor, I'm certainly happy with the way things have turned out, and are continuing to turnout, with Chris Christie at the helm. The ship we call New Jersey didn't take on all of this water from one or two little pin-holes, and I for one certainly never expected Christie to even plug the holes, never mind pump out the water and save the ship, but he certainly seems to be going after the largest gaping holes, and making an honest effort to save the ship, and I certainly appreciate and like his style of addressing the issues and the people who spout such non-sense at him.

PS: I personally know it's not easy but can someone close to Chris Christie PLEASE help him to lose some weight for his own health and well-being? If someone close to him can't help, I extend this open offer to the Gov to come use my own *little* personal home gym to use any day of the week. Call me selfish, but I want to see good people like Chris Christie around for a long time doing the work for our party and that means living a healthy lifestyle, which again, I know isn't easy. As some of my readers know and others may not, I speak from experience here. WAY back in 1999/2000ish, while a full time student at Rutgers and a full time software engineer in a cube farm, I was, for lack of a more accurate term, a HUGE FAT ASS myself reaching a high weight of about 285lbs, mostly sitting around work, or school and eating fast food in between. It wasn't easy, but I changed my eating habits, started doing some exercise, and I lost over 100lbs and got to a low of 171lbs in about a year's time. Here in 2011, now celebrating 10 years of healthy living, I walk around reasonably fit and in shape at about 205lbs which is how you see me around today and how most people know and remember me. I'm not here to attack Christie for being overweight, I just wish he'd get on the right track for his own health so that he can continue to be a workhorse for our party for decades to come; it wouldn't hurt to be around and healthy for his wife and kids either. I'm no certified personal trainer, but again, you're welcome in my gym any time Mr. Christie and you've certainly won me over a supporter.

"Price of a Free Society"

2011-01-10T22:16:00.003-05:00

My girlfriend and I listen to the Today show while we eat breakfast every morning. This clip aired live while we eating this morning and I actually stopped eating, went back on the DVR and confirmed that I heard correctly.

John Green, the father of 9 year old Christina Green who was murder by a lunatic this weekend in Arizona.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is the text from the transcript of the video:

well, there's always been something special about Christina and, you know, the way she came into the world, on 9/11 and the way she left the world yesterday is obviously one that everybody else will remember. We're going to remember her for the nine years we had her and she was a beautiful, vibrant, young girl. It shouldn't happen in this country or anywhere else. But, you know, it's a free society, we're going to be subject to people like this. So I prefer this to the alternative.

In this heart breaking and tragic incident, that is an important message by a brave father with a great sense of perspective, and indeed, fitting with the tie-in to 9/11.

Since 9/11, we have sacrificed so many freedoms, ask anyone at the TSA or who has flown on an airplane about that. Here in New Jersey, we have "One Gun A Month" laws, but the crime report just released shows that gun crimes are up, not down.

Despite this tragedy, we should all refrain from sacrificing more freedoms and rights as we have done since 9/11 and instead, try to see the world from the perspective of John Green, that is, from the perspective that it is better to be free, than live in a totalitarian police state.

I have no children of my own, I can't begin to imagine the pain Mr. Green might be feeling, but my sympathies, for as best as I can understand his loss, are with him and his family and I for one appreciate his perspective and I do certainly wish that if anything good can possibly come from tragedy, it will be his message -- that we can not sacrifice our free society.

It might also serve as a reminder of these famous quotes

"Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" -- Patrick Henry

"Live Free or Die" -- John Stark

"He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither" -- Ben Franklin

PS. Frank Lautenberg banning "hi-capacity" magazines, that the rest of us simply call "standard capacity" magazines will do nothing to make us safer, or allow us to enjoy more freedom. Frank Pallone will likely get behind Launtenberg and fail to understand, or even think about, the message John Green has delivered.

NJ Snow Storm Thoughts

2010-12-29T10:24:00.003-05:00

Warning.. foul language.... but hey, at least no nudity... just some incredibly white legs.

In case anyone cares, I did my part and shoveled myself out yesterday and then shoveled the walk to my elderly's neighbor's front door. I then shoveled out a few cars stuck on my street and helped two other neighbors get their walks cleared as well. I usually shovel my neighbor's 100ft long driveway for him as well but I just don't have the energy to clear the 3-6ft drifts that are piled up there, honestly, the snow will melt in a few days time anyhow.

I tried to get to work around 11 yesterday (Tuesday) but about 4.5 hours later, I'd managed to get nowhere as Locust Ave in West Long Branch hadn't been plowed/was one lane in most parts with a van stuck/blocking the road. Then Rt35S at the Monmouth Mall was closed, couldn't make the left at Wyckoff or Hope Rd and Rt36 was barely one "lane" of moving traffic in each direction with the "lane" being a winding road between abandoned cars and trucks along the way, a car hauler had gotten stuck about a half mile or so in front of me which didn't help my cause. The ramps to/from Rt18 were all closed and it appeared the ramp to parkway south/express lanes was also closed. None of the Jersey Jug Handles were plowed and most people were just (trying) to make the illegal lefts across the highway or making u-turns where needed.

I then tried to take my elderly neighbor around the corner to 7-11 last night around 4:30 to get some milk and bread, because that's what everyone needs when it snows, but since everyone needs their milk and bread in the snow, they were all out. We tried to get over to ShopRight in West Long Branch but made it just beyond Oceanport Ave before we came to a stop for about an hour. It then took us another 45 minutes to get to Broadway -- BP station also had no milk/bread so I picked up the GF at work across the street and we headed back in the direction of home.. another hour later and a stop at QuickCheck on Broadway and the neighbor had his milk but had to settle for some healthy boxed donuts over bread. I got a lottery ticket for my good deeds, if I won I'm investing in snow making machines and a front loaded. I'll make my own hills.

For the record, I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think the cities/states did way too much this storm despite the incredibly poor conditions on the roads. Being the week after a big holiday and before the New Year, I'd bet most service related businesses weren't doing too much this week anyhow, the retail stores all seem to be claiming they made mega-bucks this shopping season, and for the cost to pretend to clean up, remove snow, pay overtime, pay diesel fuel, tow cars, destroy cars, etc we'd of probably been better off just having a State of Emergency declared for the week, no cars/buses/trucks/etc allowed on the roads, pay the public works types their usual 8 hours to work cleanup during normal hours and just tell everyone to stay home and enjoy the time off. I'm certain that the snow will be gone and melted in a few days anyhow not to mention it would have saved a lot of people the aggravation of getting nowhere fast or being told by their boss they HAD to be at work while it was nearly impossible to get there. If there was a real emergency somewhere that first aid or the fire department had to get to, just send the few front loaders in front of the emergency crew and things would have worked out just the same, if it was an emergency that required the police, same deal... just seems like a lot of time and money wasted to move snow that will be gone soon enough anyhow.

FWIW - a plow didn't come down my street until early yesterday morning. It took a manhole cover with it that has been called in to the city - someone came and put a bigger cone in place over the little orange one my neighbor put beside the hole. I'll add the cost of missing manhole covers to the cleanup effort's cost as well.

Also, ~~Santa~~ UPS man did just deliver something to me... maybe my Christmas gift that LAPoliceGear couldn't seem to deliver since Black Friday. I'll never order from them again and I've been a loyal customer for years. This is the 3rd time I've waited well over a month for something they claim to have in stock. I had already cancelled half of this order because their website doesn't indicate something is out of stock and then when I call, I get told "maybe February", meanwhile, I get emails from them telling me about a great sale on the items I'm waiting for... which means anyone else who ordered thinking they were getting a great deal and a gift for Christmas was getting the shaft as well. La Police Gear is just a poorly run company with a terrible website and terrible customer service and this capitalist will be shopping elsewhere.

Mary Pat Angelini has Sent ME a Christmas Card!

2010-12-24T12:30:00.005-05:00

Wow. As an update to my previous blog entry about cards, I feel an obligation to note that I was honored to receive a Christmas card in the mail this afternoon, Christmas Eve, from *MY ASSEMBLYWOMAN*, The Honorable Mrs. Mary Pat Angelini.

To judge fairly as I did to the other cards/senders, the card is a casual Hallmark style Christmas card, no picture or Republican logo or anything "political" about it and it is HAND SIGNED by "Mary Pat Angelini / District 11, Assembly". (Side Note: the hand signing thing is an important item to me because it demonstrates the extra few seconds invested in each person's card as well as, hopefully, a look at the name the card is being sent to. I hand signed my name in black Sharpie marker on the back of each of my 70ish cards that I mailed) Overall, it is well done and clearly identifies the sender and appear as a legitimate acknowledgement of the holiday over a political advertisement, I just hope that Mrs. Angelini didn't just see my blog post and send me alone a card, but I hope that she sent a card to other committee members, volunteers and the good Republicans among us as well. If not, then don't I feel special (and a bit of a goof for complaining to get a card), and hopefully Mrs. Angelini continues and expands the holiday tradition in the coming years.

Again, I personally think that mailing a card is a (money wise) cheap and great little motivator and team building tool to acknowledge and thank the supporting cast who otherwise go unnoticed; as long as the card is sincere rather than a solicitation like Anna Little's card, it is appreciated. Thank you again Mrs. Angelini, and a Merry Christmas to you and you family and all of my other blog readers here.

..for the record.. Mr. Frank Pallone still didn't send me a card.... I doubt he will. If he does, I'll make a special note of it here...

A Good Leader Sets A Good Example :: Judging the Cards

2010-12-22T09:25:00.006-05:00

I seem to have earned myself a [bad] reputation for a being a bit overly critical most of the time, maybe even more of a complainer than a reasonable critic even, but I've always said that I at least try to give credit where credit is due. So today I'd like to visit the few Christmas/Holiday cards that I received in the mail from fellow Republicans as well as my own [lame] postcard to my local district.

For the record, I mailed my card, a rather simple out of the box/off the shelf $50 worth of a Staples print job and some postage for about 70 people, before I received anyone else's cards. I probably don't HAVE to mail a card to my local Republicans as a lowly committeeman, but I do anyhow since it seems to be the right thing to do, and in a past Republican seminar, either Joe Oxley or Steve Lonegan or some other prominent Republican leader explained such little things as being great party building tools. So I didn't have a good example at the time to work from and just did my best, which is all I ever really try to do, and sent my little "Happy Holidays" postcard with a little note/thank you on the back. (As you can see, I'm one of those people who is on team "Happy Holidays" over team "Merry Christmas" I'll offer my explanation/rational to anyone who would care to consider my opinion rather than just argue the point with me)

So then a few days later, I received a very nicely done, very professional and simple Christmas card from Monmouth County Republican Chairman Joe Oxley. The card is a plush elephant with a Republican logo/Santa hat on the front and short little message inside thanking the volunteers and party members. Joe's name and title are clear and overall this is a GREAT card. It is also another example of GREAT leadership; doing simple little things like this mean a lot to me and help keep me motivated and involved and I suspect it does the same for others. If there is one additional thing I can say, it's that Joe seems to follow his own advise well -- practice what you preach I guess is the saying. Again, I'm pretty sure it was Oxley who suggested cards at a past seminar, but it could have been Lonegan or any of the other hosts -- my memory is poor, but that he follows through on that kind of action is, again, GREAT. Thanks Joe! I hung Joe's card along with all of my other cards.

It was about a week later when I received a solicitation for donations masked as a Christmas card from Anna Little. Click the link and read *ALL* of Art's words in the original post, it's about all I thought the card and sentiment was worth... nothing. I was actually so annoyed and offended by it that I tore the card up and tossed it in the trash as just another silly solicitation rather than a genuine "thank you"/Christmas wish. If you're one of the people who might be mad at me for being on team "Happy Holidays", then surely you don't want to see this Christmas card/solicitation or you should be really mad.

The only other Republican card I received was from Dave Rible. Now, I personally have some problems with Dave Rible's record and am a known critic of him, however, I will say this much, Dave seems to be a stand-up guy on a personal level. I'm sure the issues I have with him, namely his anti-gun record and his personal income situation, have some kind of reasonable explanations (just like I can offer what I think is a reasonable explanation for team "Happy Holidays") and in fairness, I haven't done my part to talk to Dave personally about those differences, but his card was a simple picture of him with his wife and child. Professional looking picture, short and simple message. If I were to offer my critical $0.02, it's simply that my girlfriend didn't immediately recognize the guy, the name, etc and in the tiniest of black text on a dark green background was the "paid for by"... Assemblyman Rible. I hung Dave's card along with all of my other cards.

For the record, I haven't received a card from the Long Branch chairman, or vice-chair for that matter. ~~I also didn't receive a card from my other Assembly member, Mary Pat Angelini. She doesn't seem to know who I am I guess~~Mary Pat Angelini EVEN SENT ME A CARD; no worries, despite that Art seems to think I'm an Average Some One, I still believe that I'm just an Average No One just doing my little thing in my little part of the big world.

So anyhow, that's my lousy contribution to the card discussion this year. I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas as the birth of Jesus has a joyous day and I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas as the annual arrival of a fat man in a red suit bearing China made gifts also enjoys their day with family and friends. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, hopefully all of your other holidays this year were full of joy and happiness or whatever you're supposed to feel on those days and I hope the coming year brings us all some joy, happiness and Republican victories at the polls!

Advise From Gov. Christie to the Long Branch Committee

2010-12-10T22:32:00.004-05:00

Ok, so Christie didn't say this directly to the Long Branch committee last night, but it holds true here in town and I'd have to double check, but I do believe I said the same basic line, not quite as well, last night to the committee. Here is Christie's line:

It is extraordinarily important that we all stand up for the principles we believe in, but also recognize that we are sent here to get the work done that the people have sent us here to do. Video of Chris Christie

I couldn't have said it better myself Gov, really. I tried, but I'm not a great speech giver or writer; I'm not even good or mediocre at it for that matter, but I try and am passionate and (perhaps overly and bluntly) honest in my delivery. Directly off of my notes/bulleted items to hit last night in my pitch for votes for chairman, which I knew the outcome of before I even arrived, my line was (or should have been):

When each of us volunteered by a self-write in for committee and not asking the clerk or chairman Oxley to remove us, we agreed to do the work of a committeeman and have an obligation to the Republican voters in our local districts and an obligation to the Republican party to do the work we were elected to do. We as voters would not, or should not, tolerate our elected representatives failing to do the work we elect them for, and we should lead by example and not fail at our own jobs.

Hopefully it came out that way, or close enough to, and I think it did. I don't think any of the other committee members were listening or I'd ask them. I saw a few rolling their eyes and covering their faces instead of showing any signs of basic courtesy. Then again, the new chairman didn't even stand to make his "speech" nor did he even take the time to thank our distinguished guests, which included the county chairman Joe Oxley and the municipal chairwoman from Sea Bright, Marianne McKenzie, who both volunteered their time and knowledge to come help us.

I wish our new Long Branch chairman the best of luck in organizing and establishing the party's presence here, unfortunately, I don't think my fellow committee members, or the chairman, recognize that they were elected to work and simply believe it is their job to hold a title, and hand out titles to friends. As a Republican, I don't believe in taking, or giving, handouts and doing either of those is a disservice to the people who elected you to work and represent their Republican values. In my opinion, without a chairman that can lead by example, and without a committee full of people willing to work, this new committee is not likely to succeed, where success can only be measured by voter registration and voter turnout.

I'll be continuing to do my work; I still have an obligation to the Republican party, to voters in my district and to myself and I will continue to fulfill that obligation to the best of my ability, or even a little more. As always, do write me or call me if a committeeman in your district or city is failing to do their work, and when possible I'll continue to volunteer wherever and whenever I can.

Long Branch has a (new) Chair

2010-12-09T22:40:00.001-05:00

By a whopping 7 to 2 vote, the Long Branch Republican Committee elected Ray Patsky over James Hogan for muni chair. Beth Cook was uncontested for vice chair and was elected with one objection, from James Hogan. More tomorrow.

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A Random Observation of Semantics

2010-12-07T10:27:00.002-05:00

I don't have the time to say too much on the topic of the "Bush tax cuts" but I wanted to share this (interesting to me) observation I had made while listening to the radio.

Republican speaking: "... $250 thousand dollars a year ..."

Democrat speaking: "... quarter million dollars a year ..."

It's an interesting and curious application of semantics. I bet plenty of people just hear "million" and think "rich" without even realizing the numbers are exactly the same, but that the two sides use different words for the same number says something about who and what their party believes.

Along these same lines, I read a headline in the APP, which is the Worst News Paper Ever, this weekend stating something the affect of "1 in 3 people have a flu shot". Consider this alternative "only 1/3rd of the people have a flu shot", or another one "2/3rds of the people don't have a flu shot". Again, all the same, and depending on your perspective and view of the issue, I'd bet the different words will change your reaction to the scoop.

James Hogan's Random Thoughts

NJ22AS Files Appeal to Force State Police to Disclose Gun Documents

Bob concedes

Results....486

At least 487 @ convention

Bob Walsh For Freeholder

Security Theater On Display

Gary Johnson Runs as 3rd Party/Libertarian Party Candidate

Welcome Home Troops, Thanks

Tea Party Leader Arrested After Attempting to Check in With Gun at Airport

What I was thinking, said in a More Gooder Way

National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act

Gary saying "winning"

Still winning.

BiWinning!

Election Day Message From President Pomanowski

WHAT IF WE ASKED A PUBLIC QUESTION AND NOBODY CARED

NRA Grades for 2011 NJ State District 11 Candidates

Bayshore Tea Party Group Endorses Herman Cain for President of United States of America

Worst. !News Paper. Ever.

$7,000 Taxpayer Dollars and 158 Fewer Guns Means More Future Victims

He's Just Getting Started!

Some Last Minute Supplies

Early Hurricane Damage Report: Branch Down!

I'm Prepared!

The Future Delivered Now: Rick Perry Will Be Elected President in 2012

Danger in Long Branch!

Oh, Nuts!

Conviction, Not Compromise! (Ron Paul's First 2012 TV Ad)

Long Branch Police Captain Gil Horrach Makes Up New Laws

Rible Ensures All Police Pensions Will Be Funded, One Idiot Complains

Private Property, Yeah Sure....

Because I Just Don't Have Enough Permits or Background Checks Completed On Me Already

“FAST AND FURIOUS” BLOWS SKY-HIGH

Supreme Court sides with NYRA in Video Game case

LaRossa And Gallagher Expose Tony Fiore As A Republican

It's 3am -- Crisis!

Legislature, School Boards, Readying To Adapt Scamming Tactics To Gather Your Private Information

Lisa Jackson -- "First I destroy the Environment, Then I Destroy You"

Anne Lewis Strategies, "Laugh At Us", We Are.

20 Ways That The U.S. Economy Has Gotten Worse Since Barack Obama Became President

Weiner's "Internet Consulting Services" -- $11,650 in Q1 -- Priceless!

“We’re going to support our unions”

Bloggers; And Our Little Battles Too

Another Good Reason To Love Chris Christie

I speak for the Whole Republican Party* - depending on who you ask.

Gov Christie Touched Me, Appropriately. Long Branch Not So Much.

Moron... More On Joseph Ferraina; Taxpayers, and Ladies, Beware!

Long Branch's Former School Super - Joe Ferraina - Accused of Committing Sexual Offenses

So What's YOUR little Local Committee Up To??

Gary Johnson / Ron Paul - South Carolina Debate Highlights

Long Branch to Charge Youths Beach Access Fee, Council Woman Recommends Violating Child Labor Law

Not to defend Pakistan, but remember Jaycee Dugard?

Long Branch School Election Results

Ron Paul vs Gary Johnson!

Speaking of Carry Permits! I'm in love!

Hey Liberals, Give Jeff Muller a Carry Permit!

Mulling a run against Sean Kean... in the General Election!

Anna Little's Campaign Still fund raising?

Christie cutting wasteful spending in Long Branch!

Our Freeholder Candidates... And me!

Pictures from Japan

Our system stinks, and your 6th Amendment Right doesn't exist

Elephants in the Room not talking about the Elephants in the Room

On Private Property Rights

Kudos to some Non-Cowards

Thoughts on the Western Monmouth Freeholder Candidate Forum

Where else would you get USA Leather?

Chatting with George Newberry at the LBRC Meeting Thursday Night

The Armed Citizen! Will NJ ever pass a Castle Doctrine?

Today's Battle Damage Report & More People Are Cowards

Another Absurd NJ Gun Law Story

Oceanport News: Monmouth Park Task Force Report for 1/20/11

Resurrecting an Old Entry

Christie on Tenure

"Price of a Free Society"

NJ Snow Storm Thoughts

Mary Pat Angelini has Sent *ME* a Christmas Card!

A Good Leader Sets A Good Example :: Judging the Cards

Advise From Gov. Christie to the Long Branch Committee

Mary Pat Angelini has Sent ME a Christmas Card!