There are many ways for America to compete in today's tough worldwide economic market. One of the most important is the effective utilization of our most precious resource - human capital.
The best way to exploit the nation's brainpower is education. That's why we spend billions of dollars to give our children (and adults) the skills and tools they need. But some students with disabilities have additional challenges in their path to a meaningful education. That's why I am a volunteer reader at Learning Ally in Princeton. And I was pleased today when Congressman Rush Holt paid a visit to speak with the staff and volunteers.
Prior to the Tea Party's assumption of control of the House of Representatives, much of the funding for this organization (which was then called Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) came from special appropriations, or "earmarks". Holt's opening remarks were, "I'm a big defender of earmarks. The term has gotten a bad name." He pointed out that even though federal spending originates and is legislated in Washington, the various agencies don't have the intimate knowledge of worthwhile projects in the districts, and that's why these earmarks came about. The elimination of earmarks by the current congress is a overreaction to things like the infamous "bridge to nowhere", but as an unintended result worthwhile endeavors are being shut out of federal dollars.
NJPP senior policy analyst Raymond Castro's reaction to the governor's veto message. Cross-posted from NJPP.org.
Gov. Christie's veto of the New Jersey Health Benefit Exchange Act is a major setback for the 1.3 million New Jerseyans who are uninsured and the thousands more who can't afford what little health coverage they have.
While two states already have an exchange and 12 states have moved ahead with efforts to establish an exchange, the fate of quality affordable health coverage in New Jersey lies in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. If the high court overturns the Affordable Care Act, the governor has no plan on how to solve the un-insurance crisis. No matter what the Supreme Court decides, more state leadership is urgently needed, as this crisis is threatening our state's health and economy.
Even if the Supreme Court upholds health care reform, Gov. Christie wants to change New Jersey's exchange in ways that will hurt consumers while benefiting the insurance industry.
Governor Christie vetoed the Health Insurance Exchange law, guaranteeing that 1.3 million New Jerseyans will not have any health insurance, and even more will be underinsured. It means hospitals will be paying more for charity care, and the quality of life in New Jersey will go down. This action solidifies the governor's unholy alliance with the extreme right wing of his party who value corporations over people.
Statement from Assemblyman Herb Conaway, MD, the prime sponsor of the bill:
"The governor has sent a clear message to the 1.3 million uninsured New Jerseyeans and the many others who are underinsured and struggle to afford their existing insurance. He doesn't care.
"This legislation would have made quality and affordable health care possible for every New Jersey resident. It would have positioned New Jersey to help working people and small businesses receive billions of dollars in available federal tax credits to purchase insurance coverage.
"Health care is not a commodity. No one should have to choose between their health and paying their bills. The exchange would have given individuals the ability to choose a health plan they could afford. It was supported by both houses, but more importantly, by an overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans worried about not being able to afford the health care services their families need.
"Today, their concerns fell on deaf ears. By vetoing this bill, Gov. Christie has failed New Jersey's uninsured residents, hurt New Jersey's chances of fully benefiting from federal health care reform and ignored the need to provide relief to hospitals for uncompensated care.
"I am disappointed that Gov. Christie put national political pressures ahead of the well-being of New Jersey. His actions have once again shown his complete disregard for our most vulnerable populations."
Chris Christie complains a lot about public sector worker's vacation days.
The NJ state constitution mandates that when the Governor leaves the state that he give up authority to the Lt. Governor (previously the Senate President) which means that a NJ Governor traveling out of state is on vacation.
Maybe if the Governor is traveling to Israel on a trade mission you could stretch to make the whole trip a work trip, but how about speaking to "committed conservatives" in DC, or stumping for embattled Wisconsin governors, or speaking for a presidential candidate, or hanging out at Disneyland, or etc., etc., etc.
If Christie is running the state from outside our borders then he is violating the state constitution. If he is not then he is taking an awful lot of vacation.
Less revenue means fewer funds to meet important needs. Christie based his budget on a wildly optimistic revenue forecast as S&P and others explained. Now Christie and the legislature will have to take a second look at proposed expenditures. And the likely result will be painful for too many.
Part of Christie's budget included the cost of a 10% across-the-board cut in personal income tax. This plan has been widely reviled as it offers a pittance in relief for most New Jerseyans but significant tax reduction for the wealthy. Democratic legislators have proposed a better and more popular plan. It provides a tax credit of 10 percent (in the Senate plan) or 20% (in the Assembly plan) for property taxes. The Democratic plan is certainly more equitable in the relief it provides. However, while individuals get a reduction in their income tax, there is little added incentive for municipalities to restrain their ever-increasing costs.
Christie erred in his budget forecast so there may well be further undesirable budget cuts, and any form of income tax reduction may now be in jeopardy. Furthermore, neither the Governor's nor the Democrats' income tax reduction proposals will make a significant dent in the underlying problems: persistent unemployment, weak housing market, slow growth in GDP, insufficient consumer demand, weak corporate investment and pernicious home rule. We are still awaiting the rising tide which raises all boats. Our easily distracted governor is not addressing the real problems, and much of the legislature's efforts are falling on deaf Executive Office ears where the mantra is to cut.
Preliminary figures show New Jersey's business and income tax collections for the crucial month of April have fallen short of expectations, according to a recent memorandum prepared by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
At the same time tax receipts are down and unemployment is almost a full point higher than the national average Chris Christie is running all over the country to speak to "committed conservatives," stumping for another state's governor in a recall election, and "relishing" a possible VP bid.
But all that aside, all his out-of-state trips when he should be here working at the job we elected him to, next week at a "town hall meeting" Christie will call someone a name and the media will fawn all over him once again.
Why? Because it just doesn't matter what he does. The guy makes Ronald Reagan look like old style NFL stickum.
In case anyone is confused, the "good looking girls" referenced in this clip are the media.
To say that Vice President Joe Biden's recent comments on Meet the Press "rippled the waters" of the marriage equality debate puts it mildly. In fact, by speaking his mind -- like only he can --Biden has thrust the issue into the Presidential Campaign fray, creating a bit of a media circus in the process.
Asked during an appearance on MSNBC whether he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in the United States, Arne Duncan gave a straight answer: "Yes I do."
Biden's nuanced thoughts on the matter followed by Duncan's emphatic "I do" are a stark contrast to President Obama's "incoherent stance on gay marriage (equality)."
But let's face it, Obama's not the only one likely wishing he could be left to privately "evolve" on the issue out of the campaign spotlight. Follow me below the fold where this gets Jersey-centric.
Since Chris Christie is always trying to put on a show, it's interesting to see when Mr. Entertainment's lines fall flat. That appears to be the case at the CATO dinner this past Friday night with this portion of his speech:
"It is a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the work of the Cato Institute and tonight's honoree Mao Yushi. People ask me why did you decide to accept this invitation on a Friday night, leave all that is exciting in New Jersey on a Friday night, come down here to this sleepy little hamlet, and speak before a small group of committed conservatives. It is really simple. It is because the Milton Friedman Award is being granted tonight."
Christie's "committed conservative" remark was reportedly not well received by the crowd. Yahoo News' Chris Moody reported there were audible groans:
And then there was this reaction:
The Daily Caller's Michelle Fields was also in attendance at the event and noticed a palpable tension in the room. "I think he was expecting big claps, but only a few people clapped and most of the room just looked really uncomfortable and groaned," she observed. "I spoke to some of the Cato scholars afterwards who told me that everyone at Cato was really upset and angry that he was invited and that Christie was so completely unaware of libertarian views."
It must be harder for Christie when he doesn't have the hand picked audience, at off times of the day, with his cheering section set up directly behind him on stage to get the reaction he was hoping for.
Governor Christie has bragged about his support for small business in New Jersey. One of the ways to ease the burden on small business is to bring down health insurance costs and still allow these businesses to attract employees by making health insurance affordable.
Recently the legislature passed a bill to implement health insurance exchanges in the state. While required by the Affordable Care Act, even if our activist Supreme Court rules against the desires of the American public (a decision is expected next month), the New Jersey act implementing health exchanges will bring down the cost of insurance in our state where 1.3 million people are uninsured, and even more are underinsured.
The governor has until Thursday to sign, veto, or conditionally veto the bill. Will he do the right thing, or will he succumb to his national political ambitions and placate the extreme right wing which has taken control of his party?
This afternoon, a coalition of health care advocates and small business owners held a press conference in Trenton. Two sponsors of the bill, Assemblymen Herb Conaway and Troy Singleton spoke along with a small high-tech business owner and a part-time Rutgers lecturer.
Apparently I was wrong. I've been writing for these past few weeks about ALEC and the access they have to influence legislation. But apparently, I'm just making a mountain out of a mole hill, or so they would have you believe according to their director of telecommunications and IT task force:
"If you don't mind me, if I can address this from a broader issue, you've touched on another great example. We have clearly over 800 pieces of model legislation, and they're all there. John, me, my other, the rest of the ALEC staff, even the ALEC board, we don't know who's reaching in and grabbing what. It's a library service to members, should they choose to want to use it. ... And they use it, and they don't even tell us, and they may not go on the floor and say this is ALEC legislation, they have to go through, you know, what, the bill becomes theirs, so we have no idea."
I don't know how many people copy the book they check out from the library and submit as their own work to a book store, but that seems to be what they're trying to sell here. That because someone takes their work and doesn't tell them they did it, it's ok. But according to Bloomberg, ALEC has much more knowledge of what is done with their work than they'd like to let on and it looks like they lied to Bloomberg to cover it up. Follow me below the fold for more.
"Once again, the governor finds himself in the midwest having to school those simple country folk on the way we do thinks back east. Thank goodness he's out there. They'd never figure out how to fabricate a 'comeback' with inflated claims and exaggerated statistics on their own."
"Don't assume anything because I have a similar last name".
That's how Senator Donald Norcross opened his remarks to a group of about 30 Camden citizens at a town hall meeting Saturday afternoon, sponsored by the Friends of Lanning Square School Coalition and the Camden City Education Reform Committee.
Of course, without explicitly saying so, Norcross was referring to the positions held by his brother, South Jersey power broker and education privatization advocate, George Norcross III.
Saturday's meeting brought together citizens and real reform advocates to discuss the seemingly elusive goal of improving Camden's public schools at a time when the Governor and his administration seem more interested in lining the pockets of private school entrepreneurs and giving tax breaks to the wealthy.
Senator Norcross tried to put distance between his position and that of his more powerful brother in discussing the path forward. The Senator was promoting the recently signed Urban Hope Act as a way to get a new school built in the Lanning Square area of Camden.
"I could sit down and negotiate with the Democratic leadership and the Democratically controlled legislature to try to come to an agreement on these cuts, or, thanks to New Jersey's unique Constitutional structure, cut spending through executive order," he said. ...
"The great thing about operating by executive order is, first, that I didn't have to tell anybody," Christie said.
Any Democratic legislators who get caught up in Christie's personality in the future should have this shoved in their faces.
Stephen King wrote an expletive laden piece decrying his fellow rich Americans who want to avoid paying their taxes. And he starts off with the words, "Chris Christie. . ."
Chris Christie may be (redacted), but he ain't Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey's governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey's newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett's observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn't fair. "He should just write a check and shut up," Christie responded, with his typical verve. "I'm tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he's got the ability to write a check-go ahead and write it." ...
I guess some of this mad right-wing love comes from the idea that in America, anyone can become a Rich Guy if he just works hard and saves his pennies. Mitt Romney has said, in effect, "I'm rich and I don't apologize for it." Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want-those who aren't blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money-is for you to acknowledge that you couldn't have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged. That it's not fair to ask the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden. Not fair? It's un-fucking-American is what it is. I don't want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share. That our civics classes never taught us that being American means that-sorry, kiddies-you're on your own. That those who have received much must be obligated to pay-not to give, not to "cut a check and shut up," in Governor Christie's words, but to pay-in the same proportion. That's called stepping up and not whining about it. That's called patriotism, a word the Tea Partiers love to throw around as long as it doesn't cost their beloved rich folks any money.
Blue Jersey's own Loretta will be named one of five 2012 Mothers of Achievement at a luncheon ceremony Friday in D.C.. And it was Francine who nominated her. Francine blogs at Mothering Heights and she is the mother of Loretta's grandkids Jonah and Shayna. Loretta's son Danny hosted a Garden State Equality party at his Hip and Humble store in Red Bank a few weeks ago.
The Senator has a leading role speaking out for and trying to protect legislatively the health and well-being of the women and families of this state, in the face of a governor who can't get her to go away, who implored the press to go after the Senator with a bat. She says this:
"On behalf of all New Jersey moms, at home in the Garden State and around the world - mothers struggling to find the balance between career and family, mothers who just want to make sure their kids get all the love and support they need to grow up to be healthy, productive adults - it will be my honor to accept one of the 2012 'Mother of Achievement' awards. The role of mothers in today's society is as important as it ever was, and the struggles in some ways are even greater.
Tonight on NJ 101.5, Chris Christie was asked about Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald's challenge to debate their respective tax cut proposals. It's a discussion the governor recently said he'd be glad to have but now clearly fears as evidenced by his refusal to actually have the debate. What did Governor Christie say about his change of heart?
"I know Lou is trying to make himself important, but he is who he is."
Forget that Christie said he welcomes the discussion. Forget that he has already accused Democrats of lying about their tax plan, making a debate the perfect forum for nailing them to the wall on their sordid plot. Forget that this is a guy who always brags about meaning what he says. Because apparently that only applies... Well, it's unclear.
What is clear is that this is a man who clearly thinks that he is important, far more so than some puny legislator (who is also the Assembly Majority Leader). What a nobody! And if you're not even a legislator - let's say you're just some guy or gal working a job and feeding yourself, perhaps a family too - well then it's even less likely Chris Christie wants to hear from you. I mean, you're not even the governor or anything.
Just this morning, Common Cause - read more in the New York Times about their research work on ALEC - sent email urging NJ members to ask NJ AG Jeffrey Chiesa to investigate whether ALEC is a corporate lobby improperly registered as a tax-exempt body. I'll say 'Fat chance' Chiesa investigates that, but go ahead and ask. Meanwhile, here's what's going down in Jersey, or isn't ...
- promoted by Rosi
April has been a busy month on the ALEC front around the country. So far, 28 lawmakers have ended their ties with ALEC this month alone, but take a look and you'll see something is missing from the list:
So the word in the public health dental community is that the NJ legislature tabled January's fluoridation bill (sponsored in part by Blue Jersey's Senator Loretta Weinberg) because Gov Christie threatened to veto it, saying that fluoridating NJ's water is "too expensive" a proposition.
Some of you may be lucky enough that your community already fluoridates your water on a local level (Atlantic city, some other municipalities), and you've had fewer cavities and not even realized it. Others of you may have had parents who forced you to take fluoride rinses when you were little, or continue to use fluoridated toothpaste now, and so you have benefited from fluoride while paying out of pocket for its minor expense.
The fact that something as mundane as fluoridating our water is at all controversial means that as concerned progressive citizens, we need to speak out in favor of community water fluoridation. If you're so inspired, you can start by signing this petition and telling your friends and colleagues to sign it also.
Stay tuned for more on fluoride, and other dental health topics :-)
If the USSR still existed, Governor Christie's "town hall" meetings would be the envy of the Communist regime's Propaganda Ministry. Funded by the state and with enough half-truths to make the information seem reliable, Christie's approach is not fundamentally different than that of the failed Soviet regime - and it has to stop.
Since the beginning of the Republic, elected executives have used the "bully pulpit" to advance their agendas. But Christie has mastered this forum to the point where these gatherings provide good entertainment but little substantive discussion - the type of give-and-take that a traditional town hall meeting is supposed to promote.
The Governor has every right to bash his political opponents. His First Amendment rights allow him to call an assemblywoman "a jerk" and urge the press to "take a bat" to a member of the Senate leadership. The voters can judge his character based on his behavior and language.
But the governor does not have the right to spew his political propaganda on the taxpayer's dime. These "town hall" meetings are not inexpensive. There are costs for transportation, security, facility rental, and most egregiously, the governor's cadre of videographers, bloggers, and tweeters who continue to politicize the one-sided messages coming from the Tsar of Trenton. And the background wallpaper of GOP elected officials and acolytes just adds to the partisan tone of these events that we are paying for.
So far, Christie has held 75 of these propaganda sessions. I've attended a couple of them myself, although given that they are held during the day, I wonder how many middle-class working people have been shut out of the discussions.
The idea is a good one if it is allowed to play out the right way. Allowing ordinary citizens to question their leader directly is a good concept. But how many ordinary citizens have the courage of someone like Marie Corfield to take on the bully-in-chief directly?
Christie loves attention and loves confrontation, so this misuse of taxpayer funds will continue. But there's a way to right these wrongs. Let the so-called "town halls" continue, but make them true town halls. Christie should invite a member of the Democratic leadership to join him at each one of these events. Let the public hear a debate instead of propaganda. Allowing the opposing party an equal opportunity to present its views is the American way.
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Prior to the Tea Party's assumption of control of the House of Representatives, much of the funding for this organization (which was then called Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) came from special appropriations, or "earmarks". Holt's opening remarks were, "I'm a big defender of earmarks. The term has gotten a bad name." He pointed out that even though federal spending originates and is legislated in Washington, the various agencies don't have the intimate knowledge of worthwhile projects in the districts, and that's why these earmarks came about. The elimination of earmarks by the current congress is a overreaction to things like the infamous "bridge to nowhere", but as an unintended result worthwhile endeavors are being shut out of federal dollars.
That's how Senator Donald Norcross opened his remarks to a group of about 30 Camden citizens at a town hall meeting Saturday afternoon, sponsored by the Friends of Lanning Square School Coalition and the Camden City Education Reform Committee.
If the USSR still existed, Governor Christie's "town hall" meetings would be the envy of the Communist regime's Propaganda Ministry. Funded by the state and with enough half-truths to make the information seem reliable, Christie's approach is not fundamentally different than that of the failed Soviet regime - and it has to stop.
