Governor Chris Christie: Well I think we have to look at the specifics of it, Terry, as to whether it’s going to be a good deal for the states or not. Here’s what I’m happy about. They finally did something. I mean, I don’t know, I’m like, I think most citizens in this country are, sitting around saying, ‘What the hell are they doing down there?’ And you know, they don’t talk to each other, they talk at each other, they’re worried more about talking to the cable TV stations than they are about talking to their colleague sitting to their right or to their left. President seemed to be absent for most of this, I mean if we ever did that in New Jersey we’d be run out of town on a rail. You look at what we’ve done in the first 18 months in New Jersey with divided government. You know, divided government is a challenge, but it’s not impossible. With divided government, we’ve gotten two budgets that have cut significant money from the expenditures it’s saved New Jersey. We’ve gotten a 2 percent property tax cap, we’ve reformed the interest arbitration system to keep property taxes down, we have put forward $132 billion dollars in savings for taxpayers over the next 30 years by reforming the pension and public health benefit system, to protect the pensions of those people who are collecting them and also to try to help to save the taxpayers. All this stuff has been done in divided government, because Senator Sweeney, Speaker Oliver, Senator Kean, Assemblyman DeCroce and I talk to each other, not at each other. So I’ll look at what the specifics are Terry when they come out, I think the members of Congress are still trying to get their arms around the specifics of the deal, and I’ll certainly comment on that when I get a better handle on it from the folks who look at this stuff for me in Washington. But I will say that I join, I’m sure hundreds of millions of Americans, to say I am relieved that the Congress and the President have finally gotten around to doing their jobs not a moment too soon, and I wish they would look more to the states for an example of how you can get this done. And whether it’s me in New Jersey with divided government, or that it’s Governor Cuomo across the river in New York with divided government, we’re both setting an example. So it’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s a leadership issue. And if you understand that, you know, your job is to lead and get things done, and not just to posture and pose in front of these cameras, then you actually get your job done, so I’m relieved that the President and Congress finally got to that this weekend, but I’m sure that Governor Cuomo and I would be happy to run a seminar for them anytime, to try to let them know how to get things done.
I didn’t write it, thus the quotes. Dan Jacobson didn’t write it either, but he’d be more likely to do so than I would.
I read the headline to my assistant, a 42 year old single mother, and asked her what it made her think of. Her answer was probably what you are thinking now, which was the same thing I thought of when I saw the headline.
The headline is from APP.com’s InJerseyMag. The sub-headline is worse:
“Jersey Shore housewives defy TV stereotype”
The related article is not terrible. It is about five dynamic Monmouth and Ocean County women who don’t live like the Jersey women portrayed on MTV or Bravo. It could have been a great piece highlighting role models healthier than Snookie for our region’s teenage and twenty something women . That was probably the writer’s intent. However, the context of the article created by the headlines defeated the purpose. Epic fail.
Toni Marie Angelini. APP.com is selling this photo at the linked article. I got it for free at Angelini's facebook page.
One of the women featured is Matawan Councilwoman Toni Marie Angelini.
While Angelini is real and she is spectacular, she is not a housewife! She’s an ex-wife!
Toni is single and available. Why is APP.com limiting her opportunities by highlighting her in an society piece about housewives? Even when APP tries to do something nice for a Repubican they manage to screw it up.
“I am the furthest there is from a housewife,” Angelini told MMM, “not that there is anything wrong with that.” In addition to raising her three children, running the Hazlet MVC office and serving on the Matawan Council, Toni is apparently a huge Seinfeld fan. She filled me on the Seinfeld origin of “They’re real and they’re spectacular.”
Toni is endowed with great talents. Not Teri Hatcher type talent so much, but equally as beautiful, if not more so. Every guy I know, married, single, straight or gay, who meets Toni and finds out that she is divorced wonders, “What was they guy thinking? Is he gay? Is she gay?” That last thought often leads to other wonderings I can’t print on a right wing blog.
“Oh my God, Art! That is going to be the new rumor now! Forget about it, I’m hanging up,” Toni said in reaction to those wonderings, “My feet are firmly planted in the straight column, not that there is anything wrong with feet that are not in the straight column.”
The point of the APP article, despite the disempowering and inaccurate headlines, was to portray Monmouth and Ocean women as intelligent, capable, productive , “real and spectacular.”
The point of this article is to affirm all of those things about Toni, and to provide a public service to any eligible guy who had an eye on Toni, saw the APP story, and was heartbroken about her being a “housewife.” The point is to make Toni’s phone ring.
As a car and truck dealer that frequents the Hazlet MVC office, I can attest to Toni’s abilities. The place runs much better since Toni took over from the Manalapan Democrat.
At first I thought the improved service might be because I’m a “powerful Republican blogger,” as Dan Jacobson likes to write. But the quality of service hasn’t changed since I started writing about Dan and publishing his work here. Dan is running for Assembly against Toni’s mother, Mary Pat.
I thought for sure I’d have to start taking my dealer work to Eatontown or Freehold after we (MMM readers) killed Mary Pat’s bill A3242. I was wrong. Mary Pat and her staff have not called me back since I broke the story about the bill that if passed would have allowed school personnell to question students about personal and private family matters without their parent’s consent, but the service at Hazlet MVC keeps getting better, even when there are computer problems.
Then I thought, maybe the service from Hazlet was lacking, for me, when the Manalapan Democrat was running the place because I’m a “powerful Republican blogger.” I suppose that is possible, but I don’t think so.
The give away that something has changed radically is the employees. They are happier and friendlier than at anytime since I’ve been doing business with the agency dating back to 1992 when it was in Matawan. Most people only go to MVC once per year, if that. The employees go everyday. Us dealers go weekly or more. I see more smiles now on both sides of the counter, employees and drivers, than at anytime over the last 19 years. The only thing that I can see has changed is the management.
Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper. While Toni Marie Angelini is “real and spectacular” she is not a housewife.
By Dan Jacobson, Originally published in the July 28th, 2011 edition of the triCityNews
I’m running as an Independent for the state Assembly. And I’m not about to kiss the Tea Party’s ass. No way.
But they shouldn’t be offended.
I’m not kissing anybody’s ass. I’m just calling it like I see it in this campaign – exactly as I’ve done at this newspaper for over a decade.
So all you Tea Party types, here’s what I’m about. Make your own call.
My beliefs are united by one thing – a knee-jerk reaction against the concentration of power, wherever it may be found. That includes government employee unions who use mandatory dues to elect those sitting across the bargaining table. That includes powerful corporations that get government favors instead of competing in the free market. It also includes big media – my disgust with the Gannett-owned Asbury Park Press is well-documented. And it includes political parties who order elected officials what to do. I recoil against it all.
Some key issues? I think school vouchers should be tried in poor urban school districts. I want competition between the public and private sectors to better the education system. And I support the recently-passed pension and health benefits reform bill as a step in the right direction, although its supporters in Trenton overstate its impact. (Of course, the bill – surprise, surprise – leaves unstated who will pay the taxes that it clearly requires. Wow, what courage. No wonder the pension system has been underfunded for 15 years.)
The mainstream media has tagged the Tea Party with such divisive figures as Sarah Palin (an idiot) and Michele Bachman (a wacko). The media calls them Tea Party favorites and Tea Party darlings, suggesting the movement is narrow, extremist and divisive. I just don’t see it that way.
The Tea Party movement has done a great service to this country by forcing the Republican Party back to its limited government principles. Voters need that option. The best example? Had the Tea Party been around before 2006, when the Republicans lost control of Congress, it would be a much different country today.
In 2006, conservative Republicans stayed home because the GOP was spending like crazy liberals – and that delivered the House and Senate majorities to the Democrats. That gave us Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The Tea Party movement would have prevented that. Under Tea Party pressure, Republicans would never have strayed so far from their limited government roots. Those that did would have been defeated in Republican primaries by Tea Party candidates. In that scenario, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would never have come to power. Conservative Republicans would have voted in 2006, continuing House and Senate Republican majorities.
Two years later, I voted for Barack Obama – John McCain simply didn’t have the temperament to be President. But it was a grim choice. I predicted in this space that a Democratic Congress with a Democratic President would be disastrous. Turns out I was right. What a different story it would have been – and a very good one – if Obama had faced a Republican Congress from day one in dealing with the economic crisis.
Think about that for a moment. Had the Tea Party been around before the 2006 election, the Republicans may have kept control of Congress. None of the nonsense we endured under Pelosi and Reid would have happened.
Obama and a Republican Congress from the start would have been great for this country. I love that we elected an African-American President whose father was a Muslim. You won’t see France doing that. Obama’s problem is his utter lack of experience in the private sector or feel for free market economics. Yet he had tremendous potential as a leader with a Republican Congress – they’d be a check on each other’s excesses. After all, Bill Clinton soared after Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took over Congress. Obama should have been a success. It’s a shame what happened.
Look, the Democrats are idiots on economic policy. We all know that. They’re clueless on how to fix a free market economy. Democrats are around to make sure this country doesn’t turn into a theocracy. That’s why we elect them. I’d rather not live in Iran, thank you.
So I blame the Republicans as much as anyone for today’s economic mess by straying from their limited government principles – and handing the Congress over to Reid and Pelosi back in 2006. That was a complete disaster for this country. A catastrophe. What a shame the Tea Party movement wasn’t around back then to stop it.
In that context, the Tea Party movement certainly doesn’t look extremist to me. Quite the opposite. I think the broad majority of people in our area, and in this country, would agree with my analysis: President Obama and a Republican Congress from the start would have been great for this country. Certainly much better than what we got.
The local people I know who support the Tea Party principles of limited government are almost all self-reliant, self-employed types who can’t stand political bullshit. Definitely my kind of folk. It’s a streak of economic libertarianism we share. (I also have a libertarian streak on social issues.)
As for endorsements from local Tea Party groups, I doubt I’ll get them. Nor do I particularly care – I want voters and groups to do whatever the hell they want. I know there’s one Tea Party group in Colts Neck, which is in the new 11th District where I’m running. We’ll see what they do.
Unfortunately, my suspicion is that the Republican Party will eventually co-opt these groups, which would be a shame. In addition, movements like this often collapse under their own weight as egos, personality conflicts and downright bizarre people end up dominating them. That’s when the political pros move in to defang or co-opt them. And finish them off.
But back to my campaign.
It’s not endorsements that are important to me. What I find very cool, however, is the positive response to my candidacy from people ranging from Tea Party supporters to Green Party supporters. That’s a helluva range. I love that!
It demonstrates an anti-establishment current that’s alive and well around here. It’s certainly right for these times. People want their elected to just tell them the truth – and not give them a line of bullshit to cover up some other political agenda everyone knows is being followed.
So Tea Party people, whoever you are, there you go. Make your own call in the voting booth!
(The 11th District where I’m running includes: Asbury Park, Long Branch, Red Bank, Ocean Township, Neptune, Neptune City, Interlaken, Deal, Allenhurst, Loch Arbour, West Long Branch, Eatontown, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls, Colts Neck, Freehold Township and Freehold Borough.)
Bloggers note: All candidates for any office are welcome to submit material for publication to MMM. So is anyone else. Send to Artvg @ aol.com.
The New York Timesis reporting that President Obama and House Speaker Boehner are close to stiking a that would enact substaintial spending cuts and seek future tax revenues through a tax overhaul:
The Obama administration has informed Democratic Congressional leaders that President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner were starting to close in on a major budget deal that would enact substantial spending cuts and seek future revenues through a tax overhaul, Congressional officials said Thursday.
With the government staring at a potential default in less than two weeks, the officials said the administration on Wednesday night notified top members of Congress that a bargain with Mr. Boehner could be imminent. The Congressional leaders, whose help Mr. Obama would need to bring a compromise forward, were told that the new revenue tied to the looming agreement to increase the debt limit by Aug. 2 would be produced in 2012 through a tax code rewrite that would lower individual and corporate rates, close loopholes, end tax breaks and make other adjustments to produce revenue gains.
Posted: July 21st, 2011 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Uncategorized | Comments Off on Obama, Boehner Close To Budget-Debt Deal
I just heard from Senate President Steven Sweeney’s office that he will not be calling into the radio show this afternoon.
I’m not surprised, but just a bit disappointed. I immediately extended an invitation for next week. We’ll see what happens.
The show starts at 5 and there’s lots to talk about. Sweeney’s remarks about Christie. The civil war in the Democratic party and what the liberals are saying about Sweeney. The budget cuts that Christie made last week.
We can even talk about the Not Guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial if you want to or Senator Jennifer Beck’s new positon on marriage equality if you want to.
This will be the first show that we don’t have a guest schedule since I joined Richard as co-host. Hopefully we will have callers.
The call in number is 609-447-0236. The show is WIFI 1460 AM on the radio and here on the Internet.
An investigation into the state’s largest teachers union finds that the Internal Revenue Service has an outstanding lien against the New Jersey Education Association for $56,730.31 in back taxes.
The lien involves unpaid taxes from as far back as 2005, though most of the teacher union’s unpaid taxes are from 2009 and 2010.
The federal tax lien was issued against the NJEA on December 7, 2010, and has been on file with the Passaic County Clerk’s office since December 21, 2010.
The investigation was conducted by Education Action Group with the assistance of Mark Kalinowski, founder of North New Jersey Tea Party Group which is based in Passaic County.
The NJEA recently settled two other IRS tax liens totaling $16,581. One of those tax liens involved $13,885.76 in unpaid taxes, going back to 2005 and 2006. That lien was released by the Passaic County Clerk’s office on January 6, 2011.
The other lien, totaling $2,696, was filed on October 13, 2010 and was released by the Union County Clerk’s office on May 3, 2011.
All told, the NJEA has been dragged its feet in paying $73,311 in federal taxes, even as union leaders never misses an opportunity to call for higher taxes on their fellow citizens. The NJEA recently aired a TV ad excoriating Gov. Chris Christie for giving “a tax break to millionaires” while cutting school funding.
The teachers union also opposed efforts to limit annual property tax increases to 2.9 percent.
But this investigation has revealed the NJEA’s hypocrisy on taxation.
“For years, the NJEA has championed higher taxes for most New Jersey residents,” said Kyle Olson, CEO of Education Action Group. “And for years, the NJEA hasn’t paid some of its obligations.
“The NJEA has a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ approach to paying taxes. That’s something for New Jersey taxpayers to keep in mind the next time they hear the NJEA call for a tax hike. The NJEA doesn’t miss an opportunity to lecture taxpayers about the need to pay more, but has the gall to carry tax liens.
“The hypocritical union has no place demanding taxpayers cough up more when it doesn’t even have its own financial house in order.”
(RED BANK, July 1) – With statewide elections in six months, the Bayshore Tea Party Group (BTPG) is actively evaluating candidates for county and state level office. BTPG will continue to evaluate candidates, and at this time announces its support for the following candidates:
Gary Rich, Republican, for Freeholder in Monmouth County
Shane Robinson, Republican, for Assembly in District 19
“The people spoke loud and clear last November,” said Barbara Gonzalez, founder of BTPG. “And we continue the effort in New Jersey to elect representatives who share with us the values that made this nation the greatest in the world.”
“There is no question that New Jersey’s tax structure is broken, our unemployment rate-now 9.4%–is absurdly high, our state economy is hurting, and New Jersey government at all levels is too big and too intrusive,” added Robert Gordon, BTPG President. “New Jersey people are suffering. We are dedicated to electing people who will stop the down-spiral, and put New Jersey back to work and back to prosperity.”
Gonzalez added, “Gary Rich and Shane Robinson share our constitutional, limited-government values. They clearly can help fix the problems we are facing. BTPG is happy to help them get to Freehold and Trenton, to help bring back the liberty and prosperity our residents deserve.”
The Bayshore Tea Party Group is part of the nationwide, grassroots Tea Party movement. Our mission is simple: (1) Limited Government; (2) Fiscal Responsibility, and (3) Free Markets. Find out more at our web site: www.bayshoreteaparty.org . Follow us on Twitter: @Bayshore_TParty.
