Remarks as prepared for delivery by incoming Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald Jan. 17, as the NJ Assembly reorganized for the 215th NJ Legislature:
I am truly honored to stand here before you today and to welcome both my colleagues of many years and the new members joining us here today.
Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Louis Greenwald. And the privilege of being selected by my friends and colleagues as your new Majority Leader of the 215th legislative body is underscored by the challenges facing our neighbors, friends and constituents all across New Jersey, even today.
Remarks as prepared for delivery by Speaker Sheila Oliver Jan. 17, as the NJ Assembly reorganized for the 215th NJ Legislature:
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, colleagues, friends and family − thank you very much for coming today and for your gracious and warm welcome.
On behalf of everyone sitting behind me, I want to offer our sincere gratitude to the people of New Jersey for the support and trust they have placed in us.
Last week the New Jersey General Assembly - and for that matter, the entire state of New Jersey - was struck by an inconceivable tragedy when we lost our friend Alex DeCroce.
We have mourned Alex ever since, and will never forget his great service to the people of our state. He was a gentleman, a statesman and a tireless advocate for what he believed was right. He was a fixture in the Assembly and it will be difficult to move on without him.
And as we mourn Alex, let's also take a moment to honor the memories of two other friends and public servants who served New Jersey with distinction: Assemblyman Peter Biondi who would have been serving his eighth term; and former Assemblywoman Carol Murphy.
On behalf of the New Jersey Assembly, I thank them all for their service. Let us all pause in a collective moment of silence in their honor.
Remarks as prepared for delivery by Senate President Steve Sweeney Jan. 17, as the NJ Senate reorganized for the 215th NJ Legislature:
Thank you. Thank you to all of my friends, my colleagues, and my family. It's because of your support - support through the difficult times New Jersey's faced in recent years-- that I'm here today.
I would be remiss if I did not thank Senators John Girgenti, Sean Kean and Andy Ciesla for their hard work, commitment and years of service to the Senate. I would also like to welcome our newest members: Senators Pou, Thompson and Holzapfel. It is an honor to have you here.
Of course, it is with a heavy heart that I address you today. Much has been said about our departed colleague Alex DeCroce, so there is little I could possibly add. I'll just say that we can't possibly fill the void his passing has left us, but we can do honor and justice to his memory by working together in a civil and courteous manner on the issues of the day. Rest in peace Alex and thank you for everything you have done for the people of New Jersey.
Being sworn in as Senate President is as humbling today as it was two years ago. Admittedly, there were some bumps in the road after that January day. You've read about the more colorful side of my vocabulary. You have seen the latest in designer ironworker sweatpants that I have sported from time to time.
President Obama's remarks today announcing a drawdown - to zero - of American troop presence in Iraq is not directly New Jersey news.
But more than 100 people with ties to New Jersey have died in the allied wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And at least 539 New Jerseyans died at the World Trade Center attack tied to both wars. For them, for NJ soldiers deployed in Iraq and veterans of 2 wars there, and for the $40 billion spent by NJ on the Iraq War, here is the speech ostensibly ending it, from the President:
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON ENDING THE WAR IN IRAQ
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
12:49 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end -- for the sake of our national security and to strengthen American leadership around the world. After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011.
The South Jersey political boss who Chris Christie once called 'criminal' before he was able - ever so able - to make mutually satisfying use of him is giving a talk tonight at The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
New Jersey has had for years a strong North and South pole of Democratic bossism, but only in the last few months have most voters noticed. And only in the last months has Norcross' rampant opportunism and interest in education hit the wider radar screen, placing him in NJEA's sites, FWIW.
Tonight, education is Norcross' topic at Rebovich's free event, open to the public: Urban Education and the Leadership Needed to Make it Happen. Expect to hear a lot about charter schools.
If you're going and you're wondering what to ask in the Q & A following Norcross' talk, we just got an anonymous fakester press release heavy-heavy on the snark. It's just political satire. But, damn. It's good political satire. And it just might give you some ideas what to ask Mr. Norcross.
This evening, the President addressed a joint session of Congress to deliver a major speech on job creation. If you missed it, here's the video. After the jump, I'll post the full remarks as released to press before the speech. I'm catching up to the speech myself, so it's posted here without comment.
On August 1, while John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and their colleagues were threatening to shut down the government, Rush Holt gave a speech describing the budget debate as:
at its heart, a debate between two visions for America. One side envisions rebuilding our country, investing in jobs and education and infrastructure, and rising from the Great Recession as a stronger and more resilient Nation. The other side accepts a pessimistic vision of a weakened America with a shrunken government-a Nation hampered by deep cuts to the safety net and hobbled by a refusal to invest in our future.
I couldn't agree more. And, like the Honorable Representative from the 12th District, I hold with the former.
Here's the full text, after the jump, of his August 1, 2011 speech. It will be in the Congressional Record as soon as it is updated - assuming, of course, that funds will be budgeted for updating and maintaining the Congressional Record.
This isn't strictly New Jersey, but it's germane as hell when you consider that Gov. Christie is building a national future for himself on the backs of public employees in New Jersey. And Democrats and independents will want to know where the president stands - in clear opposition? Christie's making NJ the forefront - along with states like Wisconsin and Ohio - of a national GOP attempt to shift public thinking away from its historical support of union workers as the bedrock of the middle class to a belief that union workers are the people greedily stealing from and ruining the middle class. But unlike the leaders of those states, our governor has skillfully maneuvered that message - here, but especially nationally to movement conservatives hungry for his 2012 candidacy - into big-league GOP stardom. Is it presidential? He keeps demurring, but he does it like wallflower who can't stop lifting her skirts for all the boys to see. Especially the boys in Iowa.
But Barack Obama is the president. Blue Jersey, is the president's message strong enough, consistent enough, and clear enough to oppose the well-funded anti-union propaganda campaign of Gov. Christie and his disciples?
You tell me.
Here's a portion of Pres. Obama's remarks, yesterday at an outdoor Town Hall-style gathering at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, northern Iowa. The questioner is Bev Kromgezmi, a high school social studies teachers who taught some of the people in yesterday's crowd. His answer, after the jump.
THE PRESIDENT: How was she? Was she a good teacher? (Applause.) You got thumbs up.
Q What can I say?
THE PRESIDENT: What did you teach?
Q High school social studies.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's important stuff.
Q Many unions, especially public sector unions, helped you get elected in 2008. Those public sector unions and their members gained their salaries and benefits through collective bargaining. Recently, those benefits have been under attack. And I realize that this is a state issue mostly, but what can you do to help support collective bargaining in the states and, most of all, support the public sector unions, the middle class, many of whom are union members? Thank you. (Applause.)
This isn't strictly New Jersey, but it's germane as hell when you consider that Gov. Christie is building a national future for himself on the backs of public employees in New Jersey. And Democrats and independents will want to know where the president stands - in clear opposition? Christie's making NJ the forefront - along with states like Wisconsin and Ohio - of a national GOP attempt to shift public thinking away from its historical support of union workers as the bedrock of the middle class to a belief that union workers are the people greedily stealing from and ruining the middle class. But unlike the leaders of those states, our governor has skillfully maneuvered that message - here, but especially nationally to movement conservatives hungry for his 2012 candidacy - into big-league GOP stardom. Is it presidential? He keeps demurring, but he does it like wallflower who can't stop lifting her skirts for all the boys to see. Especially the boys in Iowa.
But Barack Obama is the president. Blue Jersey, is the president's message strong enough, consistent enough, and clear enough to oppose the well-funded anti-union propaganda campaign of Gov. Christie and his disciples?
You tell me.
Here's a portion of Pres. Obama's remarks, yesterday at an outdoor Town Hall-style gathering at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, northern Iowa. The questioner is Bev Kromgezmi, a high school social studies teachers who taught some of the people in yesterday's crowd. His answer, after the jump.
THE PRESIDENT: How was she? Was she a good teacher? (Applause.) You got thumbs up.
Q What can I say?
THE PRESIDENT: What did you teach?
Q High school social studies.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's important stuff.
Q Many unions, especially public sector unions, helped you get elected in 2008. Those public sector unions and their members gained their salaries and benefits through collective bargaining. Recently, those benefits have been under attack. And I realize that this is a state issue mostly, but what can you do to help support collective bargaining in the states and, most of all, support the public sector unions, the middle class, many of whom are union members? Thank you. (Applause.)
A few minutes ago, we ran the Saturday speech of Sen. Bob Menendez, whose re-election looms in 2012. Here, now, is Sen. Frank Lautenberg, speaking on the Senate floor on the same day on the debt ceiling debate:
I missed it live but got about 10 emails during Sen. Bob Menendez' speech on the Senate floor Saturday night, that it was very good, and needed to be said. As the debt deal rollicks to a rocky end, we now have video of that speech. We'll have video of Senator Lautenberg's speech this weekend, next. Here is Senator Menendez:
Remarks by the President on Osama Bin Laden East Room, White House
11:35 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child's embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.
With the tragic mass murder in Arizona we have to ask the question, was this expected? The only answer can be that yes, it was.
Right wing politicians and pundits have created an atmosphere of hate and intolerance through their words and actions over the last few election cycles and now their words may have become manifest.
With Sarah Palin using a map with rifle scope targets to indicate areas where elections must be "Won at any cost" and using terms like "Don't Retreat, Reload!" With radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh calling for violent resistance and candidates like Sharon Angle claiming that if the elections don't swing in the direction of their candidates, that they would be forced to "explore 2nd amendment solutions."
We watched a campaign cycle following Barack Obama's election in which many right wing organizations and individuals promoted propaganda and statements that denigrated both him and those who voted for him. They used terms like "Traitor" and "Socialist" or "Nazi" in order to make the impression that they were somehow dangerous to or the enemies of America. At hundreds of rallies and town hall events across the country, people used racially charged images and words to build hatred and anger. They suggested that the violent overthrow of the standing government was somehow a patriotic concept being necessary if the upcoming elections didn't go in their favor.
Even in New Jersey, the level of anger and vitriol created by Chris Christie can be viewed as beyond civil. Using the bully pulpit to target civil service employees and teachers, berating and belittling people who disagree with him. Having people physically escorted to the stage to be glowered over and then physically removed from events when they have questioned his ideas and actions. This behavior promotes a perception that those on the other side are somehow insubstantial and less than deserving of respect and their right to be heard.
Listening to the callers into NJ 101.5 seething and raging about state workers and educators or the veiled suggestions by the on air personalities that the state would be better off if they were "Gone". All of this has contributed to a level of barely controlled fury that only needs a small spark to become wholesale violence.
Many public workers described a level of fear and uncertainty about their safety following the onset of Chris Christie's attacks and accusations. As he used terms like "Drug Pushers" to describe teachers and put the pains of New Jersey tax payers squarely on the shoulders of the public sector, how could he not see that he was dividing the people and creating two camps in a war? Listening to the words of his followers on NJ 101.5 defined the atmosphere with a disturbing clarity. He admitted that he was a listener and can't claim he wasn't aware of the impact his words were having. Quite the opposite, he relished and nurtured the situation with every town hall gathering and press conference.
There is a message to be discerned in the acts of those like Sarah Palin in the hours following the shootings in Arizona when she started having her images and remarks "Targeting" politicians on the Left with rifle scope icons and violent words scrubbed from her press releases and websites.
It may turn out that the Arizona gunman doesn't align himself with any political ideology, but that doesn't matter in regards to the hatred and anger that has become so central in the political discourse of the Right.
This has become our political reality. For the hard Right, it isn't about who's right or wrong anymore but rather about who can incubate the anger and hatred to swing the argument in their favor or scare the other side away from the polls.
We have to demand better from our representatives and refute the hatred that is being used to promote campaigns and ideologies.
In seeking a range of informed and varied opinions and taking the time to carefully work through them, it is clear that President Obama understands the meaning of war, the lives that are at stake and the impact it has on thousands of families here at home. I know that he thought deeply about those risks and weighed them against the risk posed by threats to our homeland that remain in Afghanistan before coming to his decision.
I will not make a final judgment on this plan until I have had a chance to reflect upon it fully and, just as importantly, draw critical information from Admiral Mullen, Secretary Gates and Secretary Clinton, who we will have in front of the Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. From the time I voted against authorizing the Iraq War, I have said that our focus should have instead remained on the base of operations for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda - the terrorists who killed 3,000 people on our homeland in 2001 and are eager to kill more innocent Americans. That base is now the area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. I believe if we had not lost our focus by diverting troops and resources to Iraq, we could have captured or killed bin Laden and exterminated al Qaeda by now.
Though we lost precious strategic advantages and international support in the years since, I still believe today that we must finish the job by capturing or killing bin Laden and dismantling al Qaeda. I do not, however, believe that acting as a national police force for Afghanistan on an indefinite basis is worthwhile - American troops will be killed unnecessarily and it will further drain our national budget during an economic recession. Therefore, my preference has been toward a targeted military operation that emphasizes counter-terrorism and focuses on routing al Qaeda, rather than engaging in other flare-ups around Afghanistan. This strategy goes hand-in-hand with what I have insisted upon in our Pakistan policy, which is more pressure on the Pakistanis to go after the terrorists on their side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
I will measure the president's plan and the testimony that will be presented before the Foreign Relations Committee on the basis of these principles, and based on that, I will make a final assessment of the plan. As always, our thoughts and prayers are with our troops currently serving in harm's way.
Text as prepared for delivery, of tonight's televised speech, live beginning 8pm from West Point. Consider this an Open Thread, as you watch the President's speech - Rosi Efthim
Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan - the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my Administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It is an honor for me to do so here - at West Point - where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country.
To address these issues, it is important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place. We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, nineteen men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of the passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more.
(Grassroots organizations face these artificial impediments to speech all the time. Say it with me everyone: "We do not need to buy insurance to exercise our First Amendment rights." Remember that, and tell a friend. - promoted by noweeman)
When it comes to giving people the third degree over their First Amendment rights, Newark is second to none.
Take our ongoing soap opera over speech permits (with soundtrack). . .
The long and winding road
In late 2004, the ACLU-NJ filed a lawsuit against the city for violating the free speech rights of the People's Organization for Progress (POP) and New Jersey Peace Action.
We identified two constitutional problems. First, the City required anyone who wanted to distribute leaflets to get special dispensation from the police chief, who was empowered to determine whether the applicant was "of good moral character." (Ahem.)
Second, the City required anyone who wanted to hold a march to secure a $1 million insurance policy and indemnify the city from harm or damage. (You know how rowdy peace protestors can get.)
Insurance requirements like this, though patently unconstitutional, are a common government tactic for squelching unwelcome speech. How many grassroots groups can obtain $1 million worth of insurance coverage in order to march down Broad Street? Who knows how to get insurance? Who can afford it?
Naturally, we won in court and the city agreed to stop both practices.
But when ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas and I put the agreement to the test - well, don't let me spoil the story....
I've been reading about the Democratic Party's decision to make Civil Rights part of its Platform in 1948. Hubert Humphrey originally was reluctant to give the speech about adding it to the platform, as he was not completely convinced that it should be a priority, but he thankfully changed his mind. The speech he gave was one of the greatest speeches made by an American, ever.
The speech is about how in order for us to for justice abroad we need to be for it at home.
