“Just, really a group of American Citizens”
“2 + 2 does not equal 5”
“We’re like missionaries.”
Posted: September 15th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Barbara Gonzalez, Tea Party | Tags: Barbara Gonzalez, Bayshore Tea Party, Tea Party | 10 Comments »No, I do not mean his “moderate” persona being a fraud in light of his radical record.
No, I do not mean his claim of support for Israel being a fraud in light of his working to strengthen its enemies.
I mean his claim, repeated often, by both his OWN campaign materials and by his sycophants in letters to the editor like that of self-loathing Democrat Vin Gopal published below.
Rush Holt is NOT a rocket scientist.
Why he insists on calling himself one is beyond me. Perhaps, it is simply the base insecurities that come from having never been successful in the private sector, and having never experienced the rewards of sacrifice and hard work. (This, by the way, disappoints his father no end.)
I am not a psychologist. I am, however, capable of basic research skills.
First, what is “rocket science”? Rocket science, put most simply, is aerospace engineering. It involves the study, design and construction of rocket-propelled craft. It involves aerodynamics, avionics, materials, and the science of propulsion. Junior, as his Dad and I call him when we speak about him, has no experience in any of those endeavors.
Junior’s history is readily available from his wikipedia entry, but if we look deeper, we find that he is, perhaps, a “Space Cadet”, but he is not a “Rocket Scientist”. He is most famous for his role as Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physic Lab, or PPPL. The PPPL is essentially a wholly funded government operation that studies cold fusion as a source of energy. It is, in fact, almost entirely funded by your tax dollars. Surprisingly, despite his nearly ten year term at PPPL, not a single rocket was ever launched from Princeton University. Of course, that is because they don’t do rocket science there, they do plasma physics.
So, unless Junior was working on an early version of the propulsion system for the Galactic Empire’s TIE Fighter (Twin Ion Engine) as described in the Star Wars movies, there is no current rocket science use for plasma physics. (It is not entirely implausible that Junior could be working for an Evil Empire, just not the Evil Empire of Darth Vader)
Prior to becoming the Assistant Director of the PPPL, Junior taught Physics, Public Policy and Religion at Swarthmore College. He also obtained his doctorate in…not rocket science, but physics. His doctoral thesis was universe altering. It was titled “Calcium Absorption Lines and Solar Activity: A Systematic Program of Observations”. As I am sure every reader knows, prominent calcium absorption lines can be an indicator of strong magnetic activity.
Impressive? Perhaps. Boring? Absolutely. But Rocket Science? Definitively no.
But why does this matter? He does have, after all, a Doctorate in Physics. He did teach religion and Public Policy. And he did serve as the Assistant Director at PPPL.
In his eight-plus years as Assistant Director at PPPL, Junior was passed over for promotion to Director three times. He was hired in 1989, and Ronald Davidson was hired as Director in 1991. In 1997 John A. Schmidt was hired as Interim Director, and later in 1997 Robert Goldston was hired as Director.
So those that knew him best, worked with him every day for eight years, not only did not think he was worthy of being named Director, he was not even worthy of being named Interim Director.
Finally, many know that Junior ran unsuccessfully for the 12th District Democratic nomination in 1996, only to lose out to Dave DelVecchio, Mayor for life of Lambertville, NJ. In 1998, Junior cakewalked to the nomination, and was elected in November, 1998, taking office in 1999. What is interesting is that his tenure at PPPL ended in 1997. There are UNCONFIRMED rumors that he was fired from PPPL, and since he was unemployed, they gave him the nomination as a consolation prize because nobody thought Mike Pappas could be beaten.
Unfortunately, our “Rocket Scientist” who got his Doctorate from staring at the Sun, was ushered into Congress to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”.
Now, that’s a fraud.
Posted: September 15th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Fred Lehlbach, Holt, Uncategorized | Tags: Fred Lehlbach, Rush Holt | 4 Comments »
There is now no question that the “Tea Party” is making an impact throughout the nation as they have already here in New Jersey, particularly in the 6th Congressional District.
Who are these people? The mainstream media and the NAACP would have you think that they are crazy radical racists. They are not.
There are those in both the Republican Party and in Tea Party groups that say the Tea Party is pursuing a hostile take over of the GOP. I don’t believe that to be the case either.
I can’t opine on Tea Party groups in NY, NH, Alaska, Utah, Delaware or other places where they have toppled the GOP establishment in primaries. Here in Monmouth County NJ, the Tea Party is comprised of ordinary patriotic citizens who, many after years of complacency, have woken up and are making a difference. Most are political neophytes. They are changing the system as they learn it.
Last month Barbara Sagarese Gonzalez, the founder of the Bayshore Tea Party came to visit MMM. In this first installment of our conversation, Barbara tells us or how and why she started the group and discusses the accomplishments and challenges she and her friends have experienced so far in their quest to elect candidates to say they are for smaller government and mean it.
Posted: September 15th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Anna Little, Barbara Gonzalez, Tea Party | Tags: Barbara Gonzalez, Bayshore Tea Party | Comments Off on Who Is The Tea Party?
New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption
Part One
FILM INSIPIRED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING BOOK
TO BE RELEASED IN SELECT CLEARVIEW CINEMAS IN NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY
BEGINNING OCTOBER 22, 2010
NEW YORK, NY (September 14, 2010) – New Jersey Pictures announced today that THE SOPRANO STATE: NEW JERSEY’S CULTURE OF CORRUPTION PART ONE, a film produced by three-time Academy Award® nominee Steve Kalafer, his producing partner Bruce Raiffe and directed by Peter LeDonne, inspired by the New York Times Bestselling book by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, will be released in select Clearview Cinemas in New York City and New Jersey beginning Friday, October 22, 2010. The film will have its official premiere at Clearview’s Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, NY on Monday, October 18, 2010.
Envelopes of money exchanged for political favors. Cash paid for back-door deals. Construction contracts handed out for those who have to pay elected officials. Sound like an episode of “The Sopranos”? Worse. Welcome to what is arguably the most politically corrupt state in the USA … New Jersey. THE SOPRANO STATE takes viewers on a wild ride of political power and corruption that started when New Jersey was still a colony. The film exposes elected officials who ran on platforms promising to end political corruption, only to find themselves behind bars for doing exactly that.
THE SOPRANO STATE features interviews and commentary from the attorneys, politicians and journalists who were there – including current New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The film is narrated by Tony Darrow (“The Sopranos” & Goodfellas).
THE SOPRANO STATE has reunited a very successful team. It is executive produced by Kellie Pyffer. Kalafer, LeDonne and Pyffer, have teamed on the Academy Award-nominated films Curtain Call and Sister Rose’s Passion, winner Best Documentary Short at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival, both acquired by HBO, and on The Diary of Immaculee, which was honored at The 2006 Toronto film Festival’s “One By One” event.
The production team for THE SOPRANO STATE includes Steven Moskovic (Director of Photography), Daniel Raiffe (Associate Producer), Molly Williamson (Editor).
This film is not yet rated.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption” by veteran journalists Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure was published by St. Martin’s Press in February 2008 and became a New York Times Bestseller.
The book has been called “a page-turner. You start out laughing and end up pounding the table for reform” by Tom Curley at The Associated Press. “Looking for laughs at the expense of stupid criminals? Their nonfiction tale reads like a pay-per-view epic, hence the Tony title. Featured are real-life politicians, businessmen and mobsters who’ve less than gracefully nabbed headlines the past 30 years,” said the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald. And from Barnes & Noble, “If Garden State politicians were worried that The Sopranos would give Jersey a bad name, they would be mortified by the allegations in Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure’s revealing muckrake. Penned by two hardworking Trenton investigative reporters, The Soprano State paints a picture of widespread corruption that would embarrass even the Bada Bing! Crowd. Scandalously good.”
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Bob Ingle, Sandy McClure, Soprano State | Tags: Bob Ingle, Soprano State | Comments Off on THE SOPRANO STATE| Senate Candidate Sharron Angle to campaign and fundraise with Anna Little |
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Highlands, NJ – 9/14/10 – Mutually reinforcing their respective campaigns against two of the most liberal progressives in Congress assembled, Senate Candidate in Nevada, Sharron Angle, will join House Candidate Anna Little for a morning tea and afternoon lunch on Wednesday, September 15th in Red Bank and Atlantic Highlands, NJ, respectively.
Angle, locked in a dead heat with Harry Reid at 48% according to the most recent Rasmussen poll, won the Republican nomination for Senate in a three-way race on June 8th against opponents who had both greater name recognition and more money. Similarly, Little won the 6th District Republican nomination against an opponent with the party backing in all four 6th District counties and with a significant funding advantage. Both Angle and Little pulled off their upsets in large part because of tea party support. Like Angle, Anna Little recognizes that the tax-and-spend-and-spend-and-tax philosophy of Harry Reid and Frank Pallone is almost solely responsible for our stagnant, high unemployment and exploding national debt. Both women are committed to restoring necessary fiscal sanity to Washington through lower taxes, less spending and smaller Government. |
By Vin Gopal
This November, we’ll find the usual cast characters on the ballot: wall street millionaires, politically-connected lawyers and career politicians, all of whom will try to convince us that they know what is best for us. As a small business owner, I work 16 hours a day, battling to make payroll for my employees while fighting to keep prices low for my customers and clients. One member of Congress understands what small business owners go through every day. His name is Rush Holt and he is not a career politician, he is a rocket scientist turned college professor turned public servant. During his tenure in Congress, Representative Holt has had a far greater outreach into the small business community than any other member of Congress in the New Jersey delegation.
He feels our frustration and pain when we are working twice as many hours making half of what we used to two years ago. That is why he recently introduced the “Creating Jobs From Innovative Small Businesses Act of 2010” – legislation which would encourage small business investment by establishing a temporary 20 percent tax credit for investments in research-intensive small businesses. Last year, Representative Holt helped pass legislation in the House that would eliminate fees on SBA loans and increase loan guarantees to increase lending to small businesses. Month after month, Representative Holt is fighting for us in Congress.
As Labor Day passes and as the campaign season heats up, the last thing small business owners need is another wall street genius who claims he can fix all of our problems. We need someone who has walked the walk and that is Representative Rush Holt. As a private citizen and a proud small business owner, I urge Central Jersey residents to vote for Rush Holt, someone small business owners can count on and someone Wall Street can count against.
Vin Gopal serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce and is President of the Hazlet Business Owners Associations. He is the co-owner of Monitor Publications, which currently markets over 200 small businesses throughout Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. These views in this letter do not represent the position(s) of any of these organizations.
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Holt, Small Business, Vin Gopal | Tags: Rush Holt, Small Business, Vin Gopal | 4 Comments »
Detailed study shows Belmar spending $2.1 MILLION MORE for same services
September 14, 2010, BELMAR, NJ – Richard Wright, Jim Bean and Greg Dempsey, candidates for Mayor and Council here, have released a detailed study of Belmar’s municipal budget and resulting property taxes entitled, The Tax Escalation on Belmar Residents. The six-page report contains an in-depth comparison of the 2010 Belmar and Manasquan municipal budgets, and shows compelling data on Belmar’s municipal overspending and lack of fiscal management which has resulted in tax increases for the last seven years.
“By far, the biggest concern of Belmar residents is high property taxes,” says mayoral candidate Richard Wright. “We literally hear people say, ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to continue to live here because the taxes are so high,” he says.
“They always follow with, ‘I love Belmar, but I just can’t afford it when the taxes go up every year’,” he adds.
The study, available online at the team’s campaign website www.BetterBelmar.com, compares the municipal budgets of Belmar and Manasquan, two municipalities similar in demographics and geographics. Yet, the study reveals that by the end of fiscal 2010, Belmar will outspend neighboring Manasquan by $2.1 MILLION, even though Belmar is smaller, has fewer residents and brings in more revenue from non-tax sources.
“The lack of fiscal planning in Belmar is stunning,” says Jim Bean, a candidate for Belmar Borough Council. “With a young family like mine, I need to keep as much of my hard earned money as possible—NOT give it to the government.”
Running mate Greg Dempsey agrees. “People just can’t take any more. We have neighbors who have lost their jobs or are working two jobs just to keep up. They are spreading less income further to pay their bills, and rising taxes aren’t helping.”
Wright adds that the Republican teammates are the only candidates who possess the private-sector, real-world experience managing budgets, meeting payroll, and reducing operating expenses.
“When the rubber hits the road, we’re qualified. We have the practical experience to fix the financial problems facing Belmar,” he adds.
Wright is a retired financial executive who spent his career building growing companies and managing companies through contractions; Bean is an information technology director and efficiency expert who coordinates the needs of several companies at multiple locations; and Dempsey is a veteran account manager who negotiates international contracts and has supervised hundreds of employees. The team is highly qualified and sincerely passionate in their desire to make their hometown more affordable and taxpayer friendly.
Other results of the study include:
Wright says that Belmar’s problems are the results of many years of what he calls “small bad financial decisions,” which add up to “a very big fiscal problem.”
“Belmar’s are the types of problems faced by many businesses I have worked with over my career. Correcting the overspending and lax management involves sitting down with all the interested parties, understanding what is really happening and deciding the best way to achieve efficiency without diminishing critical services,” he says. “We can fix this if the voters give us the opportunity.”
For a complete copy of the study The Tax Escalation on Belmar Residents, log on to www.BetterBelmar.com.
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Belmar | Tags: Belmar, Greg Dempsey, Jim Bean, Richard Wright | Comments Off on WRIGHT, BEAN & DEMPSEY FIND GROSS OVERSPENDING IN BELMAR’S BUDGET
Freeholder John D’Amico may have something to show for during his term in office, thanks to his close ties to Trenton Democrats.
Flippy, as he is affectionately referred to behind his back by everyone at the Hall of Records and on Republican leaning blogs, because of his ever changing positions, really doesn’t have much to run on as he asks voters for another three year term this fall. His attempt to transform Monmouth County into Bergen County with beaches and to increase the size of Monmouth County government so that he could hire friends of Joe Cryan to high paid low responsibility jobs was thwarted during the one year the Democrats had the majority in Freehold because former Freeholder Barbara McMorrow was more interested in doing the right thing for the taxpayers than she was in doing what she was told by the bosses.
D’Amico’s signature issues for his term as Freeholder were to be creating the office of County Inspector General, a new level of bureaucracy to do what the Freeholders and the Prosecutors office should already be doing and changing the name “Freeholder” to “County Commissioner.”
Fortunately, the Inspector General idea didn’t go anywhere. But now, thanks to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Flippy might get his wish for a business card that says “County Commissioner” instead of “Freeholder.”
Sweeney is sponsoring legislation that would change “board of chosen freeholders” to “board of county commissioners” and “chosen freeholder” to “county commissioner” in new sections of law and revisions to current law. The proposed legislation would also require counties to change the terms on their websites.
Won’t that improve the quality of your life? Won’t that make New Jersey a better place to live? I wonder how much it will cost for this legislation to make its way through the legislature to the Governor’s desk. I wonder how much it would cost to implement should it become law. Hold off on ordering new stationary.
New Jersey is the only state with the office called Freeholder. D’Amico wants it changed so that when he travels on the taxpayers dime to national and regional conferences of county office holders he doesn’t have to explain what a Freeholder is. Democrats have said that they want to retire the name because it is antiquated and hearkens back to a day when only white men who owned land free and clear, Freeholders, could be elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders.
While we’re at it maybe we should reconsider the names of other offices too.
Depending on their form of government, municipalities either have councils or committees. It should really be one or the other or another name all together. Another name is probably better because there are councils and committees in government that are not governing bodies of towns. In Chicago these office holders are called Aldermen. That doesn’t work any more than Freeholder does, maybe its worse because it is gender specific.
The office of Senator dates back to the Roman Empire. Thanks to the Star Wars movies we know the office will endure for many millenniums into the future, so it would really be a waste of time to change that one.
What about “Vice?” We have a Vice President. The Navy has Vice Admirals. But “vice” means activity that is immoral or degrading, like you would find people seeking in the Adult Services section. Clearly we should change the name of those offices. I mean if we can’t use the terms “idiot” or “retarded” in our laws, certainly we should not be calling such powerful people Vice. What should call them instead?
Chris Christie is the first Governor that I can remember that actually governs. Let’s leave that one alone until he becomes President.
This could go on and on and on. I don’t see the point in changing the names of these offices. What difference does it really make? After all is said and done, we are still going to call D’Amico “Flippy.”
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: County Commissioner, Flippy, Freeholder, John D'Amico | Tags: County Commissioner, Flippy, Freeholder, John D'Amico | 2 Comments »
You are cordially invited to…
A Cocktail Reception benefitting
Scott Sipprelle
With Special Guest
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno
Friday, September 24th from 6:00 – 8:00pm
Rumson Country Club
163 Rumson Road, Rumson, NJ
Donation: $500
Please RSVP to:
[email protected] or 609 902-2038
Please click below for the official Reply Card:
http://www.supportscott2010.com/docs/lgreply.pdf
PAID FOR BY SIPPRELLE FOR CONGRESS
Posted: September 14th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Kim Guadagno, Scott Sipprelle | Comments Off on© Copyright 2026 | MoreMonmouthMusings | All Rights Reserved