Lonegan: “I’m blind. That’s not your problem”

Ben Dworkin, Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, introduces U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan. September 24, 2013

GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan took a break from bashing Newark Mayor Cory Booker and ObamaCare last night, and gently assaulted the psyches of the young Democratic students of Rider University in attendance at the University’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics Governing New Jersey presentation.

Lonegan’s personal story of raising a family and building a business in the 1980’s while going blind, was the context he set up to espouse his Libertarian philosophy and policies to the group of about 100 (mostly students) attending the event.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s quantitative easing policy of pumping $85 billion per month into the economy and keeping interest rates at record lows, was the focus of Lonegan’s remarks as he urged students to “play the hand you’re dealt” in life and avoid becoming dependent on government to solve their own, and society’s problems.

Lonegan shared how as a young man, he rejected a life of “being destined to the entitlement state”, of being sustained by disability benefits and food stamps, in order to build a successful life.  “Interest rates were 10-12 percent in the 80’s, yet I was able to build a successful business and employ a lot of people, ” the candidate said, “I couldn’t do that with today’s regulations and economic policies.”

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Trends Toward Greater Doctor Shortage Worry State Legislators

New Jersey policymakers looking to address a looming shortage of doctors in the state need to act quickly, as the problem appears to be getting worse and more quickly than predicted. More of the state’s medical residents are planning to leave the…

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Christie Opens 34% Lead: Quinnipiac

Governor Chris Christie is leading State Senator Barbara Buono  by 34%, 64-30, in his bid for a second term as New Jersey’s Governor, according to Quinnipiac University’s first poll of likely voters in the November 6 general election.

Christie leads 61 – 32 percent among women and 69 – 26 percent among men, 94 – 3 percent among Republicans and 69 – 23 percent among independent voters.  Even 35% of Democrats  intend to vote for the Republican governor.

Only 5 percent of likely voters are undecided and another 8 percent who name a candidate say there is a “good chance” they will change their mind in the next six weeks.

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Quinnipiac Poll: Lonegan Within 12 Points Of Booker

Booker has not made a public appearance in New Jersey since September 15

Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan has gained significant ground over the last two weeks in his quest to replace the late Frank Lautenberg in Washington, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released this morning.

Democratic nominee, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, leads Lonegan among likely voters by 12 points,, 53%-41%, with three weeks to go before the October 16 special election.

Booker had a 35% lead over Lonegan in an August 7 poll of registered voters.

In a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll two weeks ago of likely voters, Booker was leading Lonegan by 35%.

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Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark

Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark (via NJ.com)

NEWARK — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan glided up the red carpet, his wife at his side, and posed as the flash bulbs popped tonight. Then Lonegan, the former mayor of Bergen County’s Bogota, walked inside a Newark restaurant, into…

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RED BANK CHIEF STEVE MCCARTHY, DEAD AT 50

Chief Steve McCarthy at borough hall in November, 2011. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge) By JOHN T. WARD Red Bank Police Chief Steve McCarthy died Monday morning following an extended battle with cancer. He was 50 years old.McCarthy died at…

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N.J. legislators inching toward override of Christie’s gay marriage veto

N.J. legislators inching toward override of Christie’s gay marriage veto (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Under the din of a bustling election season, there’s a quiet movement afoot to make gay marriage a reality in New Jersey by the end of the year. Advocates have been working to convince state lawmakers — including a number of Republicans…

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Lonegan To Hold Red Carpet Fundraiser In Newark Tonight

Cory Booker is in Hollywood tonight where Jason Bourne and Batman are holding a big ticket fundraiser for the Superhero wannabe Senator.

GOP nominee Steve Lonegan is answering by holding a Red Carpet fundraiser in Newark, featuring stars from New Jersey — everyday people that make New Jersey a great place to live.

What: A Night with the Stars of New Jersey

 When: Monday, September 23, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

 Where: Kings Family Restaurant

557 Clinton Avenue

Newark, NJ 07108

 Guests will be wearing some of the latest styles from:

• Faded Glory
• Hanes
• Old Navy
• Levi’s

• And more!

Listen to Lonegan’s radio ad here.

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TO LIVE AND DIE IN ASBURY PARK … (Part One)

By Ernesto Cullari

Hardly a night goes by where I don’t hear the rumbling and winding of accelerated engines of police cars and their blaring sirens soaring up Cookman Ave, from the oceanfront toward the downtown area. I often wonder what tragic ending waits at the other end, where the fury of lights and sirens finally come to a crescendo. I was recently enjoying a beer and pizza with my brother at Johnny Mac’s one Friday night, when police cars from every direction converged on the West Side. I paused a moment to acknowledge that such a police response likely meant that someone’s son, someone’s grandson, someone’s brother was laying in a pool of his own blood, as a street that he once played on became the street that he would die upon.

The Asbury Park Sun reports that it was 20-year-old Tyrell Howard that was fatally killed that night. My heart, like your heart, breaks for him and his family. Too many kids are killing other kids in Asbury Park and in cities like ours and neither our families nor our communities are equipped with the proper means to slow the tide of death.

Unless we are willing to change what we demand from parents, unless we alter who educates and how we educate our children, unless we change how we police our neighborhoods and until we change who it is that we accept as role models for our children, we might as well accept that a certain percentage of our boys will simply die too young. At a time when many are about to throw their hands up in the air in defeat, I say it is a time to confront the violence within our community head on.

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Syria: yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

By BADER GEORGE QARMOUT

As the world contemplates what to do with Syria, I had the opportunity to speak to Shadi (last name withheld) and his mother and I asked them about what life was like in Syria before the Arab Spring, as well as other things. Shadi and his mother now live in a small town in northern New Jersey. Both Shadi and his mother were living in the US and went to visit Syria before the outbreak of the uprising in that country. They wanted to return to the US but could not and thus were stuck in the land of their birth in the midst of a revolution for 2 and ½ years. Finally Shadi and his mother were able to escape from Syria and come back to New Jersey in June of this year to live with relatives. I sat down with Shadi and his mother for over four hours to discuss Syria in detail.

I specifically asked what life was like in Syria before the revolution and how was the relationship between Muslims and Christians who make up 10% of the population? The answers I received were different than what you will hear in the mainstream media.   Shadi and his mother, who are Christians, were insistent that Christians and Muslims got along without any conflict priory to the revolution. Christians though a minority, had equal access to all the rights and privilege of social, academic, political, and financial aspects of Syrian society. I was told of a Syria that was getting better and more modernized under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad (Bashar-the-lion) as compared to his father’s stricter control. Bashar introduced or expanded private banking, private hospitalization, internet, cellphones and modern amenities to Syria. The Syrian government funds itself mostly from oil exports and has no personal income tax.

The catalyst of the Syrian revolution was in Daraa, in the southwest region of Syria near the Jordan border. A handful of teenagers were arrested for vandalism by Bashar-al-Assad’s cousin, Gen. Atef Najeeb.  The teenagers were brutally beaten and tortured by Gen. Najeeb’s men because they spray painted anti Assad and anti-government graffiti. When family members and tribal leaders came to Gen. Najeeb to secure the release of the 15 teenagers, the General refused and disrespected the tribal leaders and sent them home without releasing the teenagers. The Sunni residents of Daraa reacted with protest and demonstrations.  The overreaction by Gen. Najeeb was later apologized for by Bashar-al-Assad, but that was far too late, Syria was already on fire. The majority of the population of Daraa is Sunni as is over 60 percent of Syria, while Bashar-el-Assad is a member of a minority Shia subgroup called Alawites.

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