Oliver North, US Troops Veterans Day Video

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Veterans Day

November 11 is the day every year since 1919 when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day.

In proclaiming the holdiay, Wilson said:

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

On Sunday evening, November 14, Monmouth County has a special opportunity to honor and support one of our own.  The family and friends of Army Spc Brendan Morocco will be hosting a Benefit Diner at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands.

On Easter Sunday April 12, 2009 while returning from a night mission in Iraq, Brendan was severely injured when his vehicle sustained a direct hit aby an explosive fired projectile. He lost both arms and legs and his carotid artery was severed.

The proceeds of the event will assist Brendan by supplementing the cost of his care, medical treatment and extraordinary expenses in continually improving the quality of his life, now and in the future, including adaptive housing.

The event starts at 3PM and goes until 8PM. There will be dinner, entertainment and a silent auction. The cost is $70 per person.

If you would like to attend, or make a donation, contact Diane Carnes at 732-389-4320 or Diane.Carnes @ MACB-ESI.com or Jean Marrocco at 732-290-0637 or JMARROCCO @ AOL.com

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The Asbury Park Press Is Unfair and Biased, Dishonest and Incompetent

By Art Gallagher

The Neptune Nudniks’ coverage of Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger’s job as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy, and the fact that he did not announce the job with great fanfare during the Middletown campaign for Township Committee demonstrates just how unfair and biased the Asbury Park Press is when you compare their coverage, or lack there of, to other stories of far more consequence.

All media outlets are biased. It is impossible not to be. We’re all human and have our point of view.  MMM proudly declares that we are fair and biased in our logo welcoming readers to the site.  Newspapers like the Asbury Park Press are disingenuous when they claim to be unbiased. The APP even claimed that they and other “real journalists” work hard to be unbiased in a editorial bashing the owners of FoxNews for donating $1 million dollars to conservative causes last summer.  I say FoxNews is more trustworthy.  At least they disclosed their owner’s bias.  The APP, and many many others persist with their facade that they are unbiased when their behavior clearly demonstrates otherwise.

With their article and editorial today, combined with Friday’s article and Bob Ingle’s blog post on Sunday, APP.com has  published 2547 words in four pieces on three separate days to the story of a volunteer Mayor who was appointed to a State job over the summer and did not make it an issue in his reelection campaign.

Contrast this to the news that Congressman Frank Pallone and three of his colleagues used their political influence to get the FDA to approve an unsafe medical device in exchange for campaign contributions.  The FDA reversed itself after an internal investigation.  The issue was national news for a few days.  But not for the Asbury Park Press and their sister papers that cover the 6th congressional district.  Three days after the Kansas City Star published the story of Pallone and his crooked cronies putting Americans’ health at risk in exchange for campaign cash, the APP published one article of 619 words with a pro-Pallone spin. Ingle added 194 words with the appropriate slant two days later.

The APP never covered Democratic Freeholder John D’Amico’s pay to play plea to Barbara McMorrow.  They had the story at least two days before I did.

The APP is unfair and biased in what they cover and it how they cover it.

The same reporter, Kevin Penton, wrote the Pallone/FDA story and the Scharfenberger stories. 

Referring to the report that exposed the Pallone/FDA scandal, Penton wrote “The report — the result of an investigation requested in May 2009 by three congressmen, including Pallone — does not specify who in Congress made the persistent inquiries.”  There was no further follow up published by Penton or anyone else from the APP.

Yet, Penton spent all day yesterday on the phone and on his computer keeping the Scharfenberger story alive. All those people Penton quoted in his article today…do you think they called him?  Do you think they were even aware that Scharfenberger is the Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy?  Of course not.  Penton made the story.  At least we know he has it in him to do some follow up.  It is too bad that he, and his bosses, are unfair and biased about the stories that they actually decide to put work into, as opposed to what they often do, which is regurgitate what the subjects of their “news” tell them.

Penton’s article and the editorial state that Scharfenberger was asked about his employment in October and did not mention the State job.  Neither Penton nor the editorial name the reporter.  Scharfenberger denies this. He told MMM that he had not spoken to Penton about his job since July, before he was hired by the Christie administration.  Penton has not responded to a phone call and an email from MMM to either verify or dispute Scharfenberger’s account.  Scharfenberger said he was very careful to be truthful during the campaign in how he answered inquiries about his employment with reporters and members of the public in general. 

Scharfenberger knew his state job was common knowledge in certain circles but he did not want it to become a campaign issue.  “What was I going to do, go around town saying ‘vote for me, the Governor thinks I’m so great he hired me’?”  “I did not want to use the job in my favor and I did not want the Democrats to use it against me.  I wanted the campaign to be about Middletown issues, not who I work for.”

Scharfenberger’s account is consistent with my experience.  I knew about Scharfenberger’s job in late August or early September.  I chose not to report it.   I did not find out about the job from Scharfenberger.  He was not happy when I asked him to confirm it.  He assumed I would report on it. 

I’m not a full time journalist.  I haven’t taken a journalism course since I was in high school writing for Bear Facts, the Bergenfield High School newspaper.  Why did I know about Gerry’s job and full time journalists didn’t?  Google has this neat service called “Google Alert.”  Penton and the folks over in Neptune should check it out.   I received anecdotal confirmation of Gerry’s job before I asked him about it. 

I chose not to report about Scharfenberger’s job until after the election because, after observing the Middletown Democrats over the last 13 years I suspected they would distort it and make the campaign about it, rather than the issues facing Middletown.   Feel free to criticise me for not reporting it.  I told you I was fair and biased the moment you got here.  If you’re going to criticise me, please also credit me for my competence. The APP and the Middletown Democrats, and maybe even you, still wouldn’t know about Gerry’s job if I hadn’t reported it.

To prove that I am fair as well as biased, I now disclose that I am aware of two elected officials in Monmouth County, one Democrat and one Republican, who have full time state jobs and are still collecting their stipends from the municipalities that they serve.  The Democrat I found about last week.  The Republican this morning.  I’m not going to tell you who they are, at least not right now.  Now that they know that I know, they have a few days to do the right thing and heed the spirit of Governor Christie’s call for reform and only collect one government salary.   I also want to see if the Neptune Nudniks have what it takes to find out what I already know, or if they care.

There’s a video on YouTube which is a good analogy for how Scharfenberger handled his job during the campaign. You may have seen it already as it has over 6 million views.  Here it is:

In the video, consider Scharfenberger the quarterback and the Middletown Democrats and the Neptune Nudniks the yellow shirted defense.  Did the quarterback do anything illegal?  No.  Did he do anything unethical?  No.  Was he clever?  Yes.  Is clever bad?  If you laughed at the video, you don’t think so.

Had the yellow shirted defense been rigorous and paying attention, the quarterback would have looked like a fool.  As it was, and as it is in the case of Middletown and the APP, the nudniks are  foolish.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

By Chris Fotache  on facebook:

Chris Fotache

Obama has returned to Indonesia today. Wonder if he’ll find his birth certificate

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Here comes payback

By Art Gallagher

Governor Chris Christie is on the receiving end of some Chicago style political payback from the Obama administration machine.

With his rising national star power, and his “put up or shut up” message to the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Christie has become the strong spine of the Republican Party.  Obama needs to tarnish Christie’s image and weaken his spine if he is to co-opt the House Republicans into compromise.

Christie is clearly in the Obama machine’s opposition radar.  We saw that in August when they quickly released a video of NJ’s education delegation’s testimony defending the flawed “Race to the top” application as a rebuke to Christie placing the blame on the failed application on the U.S. Education Department.  That was Obama injecting himself into local politics and creating turmoil for the Governor.  Christie came out of the controversy stronger by launching his Reform tour throughout the State, with the facebook/Oprah splash and by hitting the campaign trail for Republicans nationally and locally with a back breaking schedule.

Yesterday we saw the news of a Justice Department audit that criticised Christie for overspending on travel, by $2,176 over 14 trips, while U.S. Attorney.  Today we see the news that the U.S Transporation Department sent cash strapped New Jersey a bill for $271 million, plus penalities and interest and an audit to follow looking for more, for federal money spent on the ARC project that Christie terminated last month.

Also today, we see a new Quinnipiac poll showing Christie’s approval ratings in NJ holding steady at 51%, while Obama’s disapproval ratings hit 50% for the first time.

The Quinnipiac poll also said that 61% of respondents said that Christie would not make a good President,that 60% say he will not run for President in 2012 and 67% think the Christie for President talk is political gossip.  With polls like these it is all in how word the question.  I interpret this poll to mean that over 60% of New Jersey voters are taking Christie at his word that he is not running in 2012 and his own assessment that he is not ready to be President.  I take the responses to mean that New Jersey wants Christie to finish the job he started here before moving on.

I would love to see the results of a poll that asked “Who is more qualified to be President?  A 2008 Barack Obama or a 2010 Chris Christie?

Christie will likely get stronger as a result of the latest Obama machine strike.  Keep an eye out for more anti-Christie news coming out of Washington, especially in the days following Christie appearances on national TV.

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Christie’s Travel As U.S. Attorney Criticised Again

In a reprise of an issue from last year’s gubernatorial campaign, Governor Chris Christie’s travel expenses while U.S. Attorney have been criticised in a Justice Department Audit.

The audit says Christie over spent by a total of $2,176 over 14 trips.  12 of those trips involved cases that earned the government $311 million in civil penalties.

I wonder how much the audit cost.

The Asbury Park Press has the story.  The APP gives the story much more prominent coverage than they did the ReGen story  that involved Senators Robert Menendex, Frank Lautenberg and Congressmen Frank Pallone and Steve Rothman pressuring the FDA to approve an unsafe medical device in exchange for campaign contributions.

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Freeholders set to approve $96 million guarantees

On the agenda for the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders on Tuesday night are 24 resolutions to authorize a total of $96,395,000, plus interest, in guarantees for bonds scheduled to be issued by various Monmouth County municipalities and authorities.

The Freeholders meet tomorrow, Tuesday November 9 at 2 PM for their workshop meeting and again at 7 PM for their regular meeting.  Both meetings are scheduled to take place in the Freeholders’ Meeting Room, Hall of Records, 1 East Main Street, 2nd floor, Freehold.

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Kyrillos Bill to Expand Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grants Advances

“With New Jersey’s unemployment rate at 9.4%, state government must use all tools at its disposal to create and retain jobs,” said Senator Kyrillos. “I am proud to join Governor Christie’s efforts to make New Jersey more affordable for job creators by sponsoring this bi-partisan piece of legislation with Senator Madden. Our proposal increases the tax credits available to employers who wish to invest in our great state and expands eligibility for the program. By reducing the corporate and insurance tax burden on job creators, we can change the business climate in New Jersey and put people back to work. Far too many of our friends and neighbors are in search of meaningful employment, and we must do everything possible to motivate job opportunities and the state’s economy.”

BRRAG provides credits against corporate taxes levied on businesses for those employers that retain jobs scheduled for elimination, expand operations, or relocate from another state to New Jersey. Senator Kyrillos’s bill eliminates various caps and restrictions on BRRAG grants in an effort to expand eligibility and participation under the program. In addition, the proposed changes would allow participating businesses to utilize credits for capital purchases under certain circumstances. The plan is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on November 15, 2010.

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The National Park Service Seeks Input On The Future Of Ft. Hancock

Message from The National Park Service

Sandy Hook is a Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area (GNRA). The National Park Service of the GNRA will conduct a series of Open Houses in our area, as a way to solicit your input about the future of Fort Hancock, and the park in general. As they collect material to help formulate their General Operating Plan (GMP), which will guide the park for the next 20 years, your thoughts and ideas will make a difference. We hope you will attend one of the following Open Houses for an informal opportunity to meet the NPS planning team, get more information about Gateway, and share your ideas and comments.

OPEN HOUSES

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9

2:00 – 8:00pm

Monmouth University

McGill Commons, Clubroom 107 and 108

400 Cedar Avenue

West Long Branch, NJ

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

2:00 – 8:00pm

Brookdale Community College

Warner Student Life Center, Navesink 1

765 Newman Springs Road

Lincroft, NJ

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16

2:00 – 8:00pm

Monmouth Beach Cultural Center

128 Ocean Avenue

Monmouth Beach, NJ

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Blogging Out Hunger

MoreMonmouthMusings is excited to participate in the 2nd Blogging out Hunger campaign to help raise awareness and donations for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. The campaign is lead by the JerseyBites blog.

Two years ago when we spearheaded the first ever “blog burst” (as they are sometimes called) we really didn’t know what to expect.  Needless to say,we were amazed by the enthusiasm and eagerness by so many bloggers to get involved.  By the end of the day of December 15th, we had over 122 bloggers who had posted about the Community FoodBank’s desperate need for donations.

This year, we are hoping for even more bloggers to jump on board and help us spread the news about the 20th Anniversary of the FoodBank’s “Check out Hunger” campaign which is going on now through December.  Check-Out Hunger is an annual awareness campaign and fund raiser for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey which actually began in New Jersey and is now run at supermarket chains across the northeast.  I know you have seen those tickets at the check out counters of your local grocery stores. Please don’t ignore them. The Community FoodBank of New Jersey reports that need for nutritious food is up 30-40 percent at its partner agencies (soup kitchens, pantries, shelters, etc) this year.

In 2009 Check-Out Hunger crossed the $2 Million plateau for the first time. The campaign raised $2,093,086 for food banks across the state. Since 1992, millions of people have supported the program at food markets and online at www.checkouthungernj.org.

Participating food markets include A&P, Food Basics, Foodtown, Kings, Pathmark, Shop Rite, Super Fresh, Wawa, and Wegmans.

Please make it a point to donate during the Holiday Season to the Check Out Hunger campaign.  With so many New Jersey residents out of work, this season is going to be particularly hard on families and demanding on the hunger relief programs in our state.

Also, please visit the blogs below to check out their “Check out Hunger” posts.  This list will continue to grow as the day goes on. So, feel free to check in often.  And, Bloggers, feel free to jump on board even if you didn’t commit to participate.  Just send a link to your post to info (at) jersey bites.com and we’ll get you listed.

Participating Blogs:

JerseySmarts.com

RadomCravings

GServo.com

Mamasick.com

NJTrees.com

JustAnotherDistraction.com

John & Lisa are Eating in South Jersey

ThisFullHouse.com

Jersey Girl Cooks

Roxy’s Best Of… New Jersey

Roxiticus Desperate Housewives:

Roxy’s Bay Head Blog

Middletown Comfort Inn Blog

Tommyeats.com

Family Friends and Food

SableMinded.com

Goodies From Mom

Welcome To My Planet

Food Allure

Red Bank Limo Blog

Lifes a Balancing Act

LeafyGreen.info

The Ridgewood Blog

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