Here’s a stocking stuffer for your flying friends and family

4th Amendment Underwear

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First Lady Mary Pat Christie Launches A New Site

http://www.nj.gov/governor/firstlady

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Morning News

Christie sues to keep the $271 ARC money. Charges the feds are selectively demanding money back on cancelled projects.

Moodys: Christie’s plans for Atlantic City won’t help

After bloggers appear on NJN, support swells to save the station.

Senate President Sweeney says he’s a Reagan Democrat

Sipprelle wants a new GOP chairman in Mercer

How’s that new health care bill working out for you?  SEIU drops coverage for kids

Environmentalists oppose Senator Sean Kean’s bill: Wind turbine syndrome is a lot of hot air.

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Christie on Education

Governor Chris Christie is the keynote speaker at the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s  National Summit on Eduction Reform this evening.

The following are excerpts of his prepared remarks:

Excerpted Remarks of Governor Chris Christie

to the Foundation for Excellence in Education

 

November 30, 2010

 

…

I know this…I would not be standing here today if it wasn’t for the fact that my parents had the opportunity to send me to the public schools that gave me the best possible education I could have.

 

In each one of us, there is a certain God-given ability, but that God-given ability will only take us so far.

 

We need someone to nurture it and draw it out of us. We see this happening today in the best schools, in the best homes and with the best teachers and parents.

 

But it also has to happen each and every day in what are now the worst schools by nurturing children who do not come from the best homes.  We have to draw out and empower parents.  And we have to demand that the teachers, the principals and the administrators put these children first.

 

Not themselves.

 

If we do not do this…If we do not change what is happening in our mediocre and poor performing schools, then we are failing our children. And continuing to play the blame game and to make excuses only makes the adults feel better.

 

It does nothing for our children.

…

 

I’m going to fight as hard as I can against those who believe that what we’re fighting for is the status quo.

 

Because it is not acceptable to let a teacher who can’t teach stay in the classroom.  It is not acceptable that a child who is neglected in one of our schools must just accept it because of their zip code.  It is not acceptable that parents who can’t afford to send their children to a private school, or aren’t lucky enough to draw a good lottery number, have no choice but to be resigned to the fact that the difference between a successful future for their child and prison has already been predetermined.

 

No parent should ever have to stand up in that awful moment, with their child’s future on the line, and be powerless to change the outcome.  It is the terrible complacency of those who defend the status quo, those who accept these choices and circumstances for our children, that we must stand against.

 

This is the fight. It is not a Democratic fight. It is not a Republican fight.

 

This is a fight where Republicans and Democrats can stand united.  One where President Obama, Mayor Booker, Bill Gates and I can all stand in agreement.

It is a fight for our children.

 

And yes, sometimes the fight will be angry.  Sometimes the fight will be loud.  Sometimes the fight will draw tears. And still, sometimes the fight will require embrace.

 

There is nothing more important to the future of our country than this fight, because this is the fight that will define all of the other fights. This is why we all must have the stomach and the strength to take it on.

 …

 

We cannot let this moment pass us by.  We cannot let the enthusiasm and the intensity with which our leaders have been discussing education reform diminish.

…

 

Failure is not an option.  Which is why I would rather lose an election and lose my career, rather than look back and realize that I did not do enough, or that I put myself and my career ahead of the future lives of the children of New Jersey.

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Is WikiLeaks Obama’s Katrinia?

By Art Gallagher

Vasko Kohlmayer at American Thinker thinks it is, x 10.  Michael Harlin, also of American Thinker, says the leaks are a “game changer” for the 2012 Presidential election that GOP contenders should not waste.

I don’t get what all the fuss is about.

Is the bra size of Khadafi’s nurse and the fact that no one knows his routine like she does really a matter of national security?  Is anyone really surprised that Saudi Arabian leaders want the U.S. to neutralize Iran?  Better us than the Israelis they probably think.

Kohlmayer said,

The cables show something many have always known — that most so-called leaders and politicians are liars, schemers, crooks, egomaniacs, and incompetents.

Unfortunately, the above characterization applies also to this country’s government elites. The documents reveal these people’s duplicity and the fact that they cannot protect even their own internal data. But what would you expect of Hillary Clinton’s State Department? Would you expect it to be a well-oiled machine filled with people of high ability and integrity? But let’s not be unfair to Hillary Clinton. Government rarely does anything right. One wonders only why so many people still believe in it.

Yes, it is unfortunate that our leaders and politician are liars, schemers, crooks, egomaniacs and incompetents.  I didn’t need WikiLeaks to dump cables full of gossip to tell me that.  But I’m from New Jersey.

I could be proved wrong, but I don’t think this story has the legs the media elite thinks it does or that it is as earth shattering as the government elites apparently think it is.

It’s interesting to learn that our diplomats are keeping dossiers on their counterparts.  Maybe it is Jersey cynic in me, but I assume the counterparts in the diplomatic community are doing the same thing to our diplomats and leaders and have been for years.  Don’t you think that Russia, France or Israel had a file on Bill Clinton’s proclivities before Ken Starr’s grand jury found out about them?

Glenn Beck said the WikiLeaks don’t contain any new information, but that they are contributing to the perfect storm of anarchy and chaos that will cause the collapse of the free world.  If there is nothing new, why anarchy and chaos?  I need to put my tin foil cap on to understand the rest of what Beck said.

So far we are fortunate that the material that WikiLeaks has released is nothing new. It’s more entertaining than Jon Corzine’s email exchanges with Carla Katz.  What is distressing is that Jon and Carla’s email was more secure than our state secrets.  What is distressing is that our government can shut down websites that are selling counterfeit goods but can’t protect its electronic communications from a private in Baghdad pretending to listen to Lady Gaga.

The WikiLeaks cable dump will not be Obama’s Katrina.  The cable dump is not a “game changer” favoring the GOP in the 2012 Presidential election, nor should it be.  This issue will blow over before Christmas. The GOP should keep focused on the economy, the size of government and taxes and spending.

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Will WikiLeaks Cost Hillary The State Department?

David Corn makes the case at Politics Daily.

If Hillary Clinton leaves the Obama administration, would she challenge the President in a 2012 primary, like Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter in 1980?

A credible primary challenge would increase significantly increase the odds that Obama is a one term President.

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Fort Hancock Developer Evicted From Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook Partners, LLC has been evicted from the three buildings it retained control over after its MasterLease with the National Park Service to rehabilitate Fort Hancock was terminated.  The former park headquarters, the theater and the chapel were subject to the separate lease that Sandy Hook Parnters defaulted on in October.

The park service changed the locks on the buildings on November 24, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.

Sandy Hook Partners was chosen from a pool of 20 applicants to rehabilitate Fort Hancock in 2001.  There plan faced strong opposition from the late Judith Stanley Coleman who formed Save Sandy Hook to oppose the private redevelopment of the fort.  The Sandy Hook Partners master lease was terminated last year when the firm failed to secure financing for their plan after six extensions to the agreement.

Congressman Frank Pallone supported private redevelopment before joining the opposition.  He and Congressman Rush Holt are now urging the Park Service to lease the 36 rundown buildings to non-profits on a building by building basis and not as part of an overall rehabilitation effort.

That won’t work either.  If Fort Hancock is to remain a historic landmark and open to the public, federal funding is the only viable option to restore the buildings.  Pallone did not have the clout to make that happen during the Clinton administration nor during the first two years of the Obama administration.  Not only is it unlikely that he can get funding for it now that he is soon to be a minority member of Congress, he’s not even trying.

In the meantime the buildings continue to deteriorate.  It is very likely that they will continue to decline, unless Pallone can prevail on Senators Robert Menendez and/or Frank Lautenberg to secure funding for rehabilitation.

As the Park Service seeks public input on the future of the fort, they should also consider turning it over to the military….either the adjoining Coast Guard station or to the Earle Naval Weapons Station.

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Newark Police Union Leader Chooses Layoffs Over Negotiation, Puts A City At Risk

Newark Fraternal Order of Police President Derrick Hatcher cut off negotiations with Mayor Cory Booker on Monday, forcing 167 police layoffs, according to a reports in the Star Ledger and Bloomberg.com.

Hatcher did not allow his rank and file to vote of the Mayor’s proposals.

Bloomberg quoted union Vice President Walter Melvin blaming the spike in violence in Newark over the Thanksgiving weekend on the impending layoffs:

“The criminal element out there realized this and believed it had already happened,” he said in a telephone interview following Booker’s announcement. “It’s a fallacy to think public safety is not going to be an issue here. Any thinking, logical person can see that.”

That’s right. The police union knowingly chose no sacrifice for its senior members over the jobs of its junior members and over public safety.

This is a perfect example why union membership is inappropriate for government workers.  The union leadership now has more impact on public safety in Newark than the Mayor and the police department leadership does.

Booker is closing a $89 million budget deficit. $9.5 million of the deficit will come from the police layoff.  400 civilian employees are also being laid off in Newark.

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Put this book on your Christmas list

America’s public-sector unions have transformed the landscape of our political system with major implications for taxpayers. In Shakedown, Steven Malanga shows how unions have aligned themselves with politicians and activists to grow government and increase public spending. The bill for this growth is now coming due, and Malanga chronicles how it has all but bankrupted once-rich states like New Jersey and California. From undermining welfare reform in the 1990’s to the War on Poverty to slashing mortgage standards, Malanga provides a comprehensive summary of how these groups impact you and why we need constructive change more than ever.

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TOOLKIT PRESENTATION SCHEDULED IN COLTS NECK FOR DECEMBER 8TH

Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande will be hosting the fourth in a series of informational sessions on Governor Christie’s Property Tax Reform Toolkit on Wednesday, December 8^th at the regular meeting of the Colts Neck Township Committee at 7:30 p.m

Similar informational presentations have taken place throughout the 12^th District in Marlboro, Tinton Falls, and Manalapan. The Legislators give a presentation on how enacting these reforms will benefit municipalities, followed by a question and answer period. All area residents are encouraged to attend and learn more about how these proposed reforms will help make New jersey a more affordable place to live.

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