Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez pinning Sen. Joe Kyrillos
In her Bayshore Tea Party Perspective blog at APP.com, Bayshore Tea Party Group founder Barbara Gonzalez wrote today that members of the Tea Party are Republicans In Name Only.
Reacting to a derisive comment about the Tea Party by columnist Bernard Goldberg on last night’s O’Reilly Factor, Gonzalez wrote:
You see, we are Republicans in name only. Most of us are registered as Republicans, but over the last four or so years as the Tea Party movement, we have realized that we are not really what the GOP has become. With a 2 party system, we have been forced to chose the party that we are registered with.
Well, that was then…..and this is now
Gonzalez went on to implore Tea Party members to discipline the GOP establishment as they would discipline their children:
As we would do with our own children, we must be strong, hold our ground and mean what we say. Our children would be totally disobedient if we were as milk toast (sic) with disciplining them as we have been with our government officials.
Gonzalez does not want the Tea Party to comply with the GOP establishment and the media nominating a moderate for President in 2016.
Monmouth County Republican Chairman was appointed Acting Administrator of the Borough of Oceanport last week, replacing Phil Huhn, a former Neptune Township administrator, who had been holding the post since June when Kimberly Jungfer resigned as Borough Administrator and Clerk to take the same job in neighboring Little Silver.
Mayor Michael J. Mahon confirmed Bennett’s temporary appointment and declined to comment further.
Bennett, who also serves as the borough’s attorney, said he was in conversations with the governing body to become a full time employee as a attorney and administrator in January.
“It would be a win-win for everybody,” Bennett said, noting that the borough would save money in legal fees if he held both posts. He said he is not seeking pension credits or health benefits in the proposed position.
Governor Chris Christie and HUD Sec Shaun Donovan in Highlands, April 29, 2013
Now that Governor Chris Christie has completed his victory lap with appearances on all four network Sunday morning talk shows, the whole world thinks he’s running for president.
His presidential message of getting things done in a bi-partisan manner is compelling given the current national political environment. If the presidential election was next November, I think he would beat Hillary Clinton or any Democrat.
But the presidential election is in 2016. Before running for president Christie has a year or two governing New Jersey and a year, 2014, as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
2014 will be a busy year for Christie. In addition to the undefined “big things” he said he will accomplish in his second term, there are 36 gubernatorial seats (38 if you consider the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) up in ’14. 19 (20 if you count Guam) of those seats are currently held by Republicans.
In New Jersey, much of Christie’s first term agenda remains undone. Tax cuts, “the property tax toll kit,” civil service reform, education reform, reshaping the State Supreme Court, and gutting COAH are all incomplete. Rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy is his mission. Much of New Jersey is still hurting one year out from the storm.
If Christie can cross off most of his New Jersey agenda from his to do list, get the remaining Sandy survivors back into their homes, and pick up some gubernatorial seats next year, the 2016 Republican presidential primaries will not be much of a challenge. No other GOP contender would be able to match Christie’s “I can get the job done and I know how to win” message.
On Veterans’ Day, we honor all the men and women who have protected our country and fought for our way of life.
Photographer’s Mate 2nd class Joseph Sharp aboard the USS Forrestal in 1978
Today, I would like to especially thank the Vets of the post-Viet Nam era.
One of my most vivid memories from growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s was watching Mr. Hayes, a tough man and a Vet in my neighborhood, bawling his eyes out as his eldest son went off to Viet Nam. His son came home two years later, but he was different. There was no parade, as the war was still on and increasingly controversial. The younger Hayes was angry and seemingly damaged.
With pictures of casualties on the evening news every night, news of William Calley’s My Lai Massacre trial, the Kent State shootings and protests throughout the country, and witnessing how veterans of Viet Nam had come home changed, military service and the draft was feared by many. Young men went to college, got married and had children or fled to Canada to avoid being drafted into the war. Read the rest of this entry »
To a legislator, the difference between being in the majority and being in the minority is as consequential as the difference between being in office and being out of office. That is why my political life was transformed in November 1985 when, as a…
As New Jersey became the 14th state in the Union to license gay marriage, I am left wondering why and what is next. Will this judicial activism have any impact on churches? Some may think I am over reacting, but I fear that the church is 15-25 years away from being forced to perform same sex marriage or risk losing tax exemption for discrimination. A Pastor threating to close his church doors before doing so, is no threat at all.
If a church wants to continue to practice the Biblical definition of marriage, it needs to protect itself. I see a potential for litigation to force a church to marry same sex couples, as is already happening in England. Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, The gay plaintiff in the legal challenge in England said “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church.” It is a matter of time before American churches are also legally challenged.
Currently most churches will marry non-members in a religious ceremony at the church, this practice must end immediately and new policy implemented as soon as possible. I believe churches should have a policy to only marry members. In order to be a member each person must sign a statement of faith that includes acceptance of the Biblical definition of marriage. Anyone can attend the church but only members can be married in the church.
Kissing Brides, Heather Jensen and Amy Quinn, an Asbury Park Councilwoman, celebrate their marriage shortly after midnight on October 21. facebook photo
Assembly Minority Leader Lou Greenwald told The Star Ledger that Assembly Democrats are not likely to pass legislation that would protect clergy and religious organizations from being forced to perform same sex marriages and accommodate the ceremonies.
What’s less clear is what the Legislature is going to do about gay marriage. Right now, gay couples can get married in New Jersey. But that right hangs on a decision made at the Superior Court level, since the state Supreme Court never decided the case.
Lawmakers could try to override Christie’s 2012 veto of gay marriage legislation or write a new bill to encode it into law. Or they could do nothing — an option they say is looking more attractive.
Greenwald said the Assembly is leaning against an override because, even if they cobbled together the two-thirds majority they’d need to pull it off, a religious exemption provision that was inserted into the bill to win Republican support could actually restrict rights gay couples have under the court ruling.
“The answer probably is no,” Greenwald said of the override. “Right now in New Jersey, the opinion seems to be that we have the strongest marriage equality laws in the country.”
Early last year the New Jersey Legislature passed the Marriage Equality and Religious Exceptions Act which, if it had been signed by Governor Chris Christie, would have granted same sex couples the right to marry and recognized the First Amendment Right of clergy and religious societies, organizations and institutions not to solemnize gay marriage or provide space, goods, services, advantages or privileges for gay marriage ceremonies. The Act would have provided immunity from civil law suits against religious organizations that refused to accommodate gay marriages.
TRENTON — The word from Gov. Chris Christie’s office on the first floor of the Statehouse was heard loud and clear Thursday on the third floor, where Senate Republicans met in their caucus room overlooking the Delaware River. Time was up for Senate…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s ascent to the status of would-be savior of the national Republican Party started with one viral video – a clip of him telling my colleague, Star-Ledger Editorial Page Editor and columnist Tom Moran, “you must be the…
