Charge dismissed against supporter ticketed for flying Donald Trump flags

WEST LONG BRANCH –In what is being hailed as a victory for free speech, a municipal court judge dismissed charges Wednesday against a West Long Branch man flying flags in support of Donald Trump. With his own lawyer and an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey at his side, Joseph Hornick left… Read the rest of this entry »

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Rible Defends Police Response To Summer Jam Riot

Assemblyman Dave Rible, R-Monmouth and Ocean, stood up for the New Jersey State Police’s response to rioting gate crashers at Sunday night’s Summer Jam at MetLife Stadium.

Assemblyman Dave Rible

Responding to ACLU of NJ Executive Director Udi Ofer’s call for the Attorney General to investigate the appropriate use of force at the event, Rible issued the following statement:

“It is irresponsible to call for an investigation into law enforcement officers who were simply doing the job they were asked to do, which was to break up an already ongoing riot and protect innocent bystanders,” Assemblyman Rible said. “We need to stop continuously placing the blame on our law enforcement and instead come together to show our support for those who were sworn in to protect and serve the public.”

Assemblyman Rible continued, “While there are certainly bad characters in every profession, we must not denigrate all of our law enforcement officers. In our increasingly dangerous world, we should not be undermining our officers’ ability to properly protect us and themselves. Instead, we need to target the bad actors who created this dangerous situation in the first place.”

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ACLU sues Christie administration over withheld Ebola documents

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MMM Year in Review – May

Seal Team 6 killed Osama Bin Laden.

Having lost the legislative map battle, Governor Christie made a deal with Senate President Stephen Sweeney over Supreme Court Justice nominees’ confirmation hearing.  In making the deal, six months before the general election, Christie implicitly conceded that the Democrats would retain control of the State Senate and the Sweeney would remain Senate President.

Howard Birdsall resigned as chairman of the Brookdale College board of trustees.

The world did not end.  The Rapture was rescheduled for October.

The State Supreme Court reaffirmed the Abbott decision, assuring that New Jersey’s educational system would remain racially segregated  and funded by the highest property taxes in the nation.

The Neptune Board of Education made a deal with the ACLU that prevented litigation and kept the high school graduation at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium.

Governor Christie pulled New Jersey out of the RGGI cap and trade scheme.

86 veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and their families attended a Survivors Reunion and Monument Rededication Ceremony at Thorne Middle School in Middletown.

Rutgers paid Snooki $32,000 to bestow her wisdom upon the student body. They paid retiring University president Richard McCormick $550,000 to take a year off and will pay him $335,000 per year to teach history when he returns.

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The Prodigal Nation

By Ernesto Cullari, also published in the December 15, 2011 edition of the triCityNews

I don’t know anything about football, except that I like cheerleaders and half-time shows. As for the game, it just gets in the way of my ability to appreciate those gracious and hardworking women on the field. With that said, I’m not even sure who this guy Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos is. What I am sure of is that he’s quickly becoming a legendary quarterback and, according to Tebow himself, he owes every one of his glorious game performances to Christ Jesus and to his teammates, facts that he is consistently quick to point out.

God is a funny topic, because for too many people in this nation God and His Son Jesus are offensive. Take former Broncos’ QB Jake Plummer for example. During a radio interview in November, with XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix, when asked about Tim Tebow, Plummer stated:

“Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he’d just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he’s a winner and I respect that about him,” remarked Plummer. “I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I’ll like him a little better. I don’t hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff….Like you know, I understand dude where you’re coming from…”

In a nation where people are quick to either pat themselves on the back for the smallest of achievements or deprecate (and likely medicate) themselves over their personal shortcomings and where celebrities and athletes wallow in vainglory, Tebow’s expression of faith in Jesus is humbling. When a person with such great accomplishments refuses to take the credit for himself first, but instead thanks God and his amazing teammates, it is a clear indication of where true glory, long-suffering and meaningful victory comes from. It all comes from the providence of God.

But we are a nation at war with God. Nothing is sacred. We have lost our greatness along with our reverence of God. Look at the evidence. We hate and abuse our greatest of His blessings, our children, by killing them in the womb. And those that survive, we degrade them by sexualizing them in our popular culture. In defiance man’s institutions vainly protect child abusers so as not to sully their reputations. Tim Tebow is a man who knows his place in the world and the value of his life’s blessings. By placing God first in his sights his victory on the field has proper perspective. He is careful to point out that God probably isn’t concerned about the outcome of Broncos’ football games, he acknowledges that God’s work through the faithful can accomplish many great things, least of which is a win on the field. Tebow knows that God is concerned with humility and character.

All across America this Christmas season public schools, city halls and other public settings, once adorned with heartwarming reminders of the Lord’s birth are carefully obscuring any indication of it. Schools no longer celebrate Christmas they celebrate the winter festival. We once were a nation that revered God for blessing us with Liberty. However, groups like the ACLU and others have turned us into a nation that fears litigation over outward expressions of the very traditions and practices that made us a great. A nation without its culture is no more. The indivisible has become divisible.

One of the forefathers of Conservatism, Christopher Dawson once wrote, “It is the religious force which supplies the cohesive force which unifies a society and a culture…a society which has lost its religion becomes sooner or later a society which has lost its culture.”

Take this from a guy who hasn’t been to church on time in a decade. I sit in the last row, in the seat closest to the door and most of the time I forget my Bible in the trunk of my car. We are a nation of ungrateful, profligate spenders with our hands out looking for a piece of someone else’s glory. From the self-righteous Occupy Wall Streeters to the Wall Streeters themselves who willingly received taxpayer bailout money all the way down to little ol’ me, it’s time we kept our hands to ourselves and thanked God as one nation for what we do have.

By putting God back into our culture, back into our daily conversations and back into our moral fabric all things (a great many wonderful things) will once again be possible.

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Did The ACLU Provoke An Outbreak Of Religious Expression?

We’ll find out tonight during the Neptune High School graduation ceremony at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium.

In case you missed it, the ACLU threaten to sue the Neptune Board of Education seeking to compel the end of the 70 year old tradition of holding the high school graduation at the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s glorious historical 3000 seat venue that hosts religious services and well as secular events.

Granny Breslow felt uncomfortable by the religious imagery, the convocation and hymns at her grand daughter’s graduation last year and contacted the ACLU to put a stop to it.   Rather than litigate, the Neptune Board of Education negotiated a comprise that required no convocation, that religious banners in the auditorium would be covered and that the cross on the auditorium will not be lit before or during the ceremony.

The tradition was spared but many in the community were outraged that one out of town malcontent could bully the Board of Ed in to altering the ceremony at all.  Many felt the Board should not have complied with any of the ACLU’s demands.

In the facebook group that was created to rally public support to keep the graduation at the Great Auditorium, much of the chatter since the deal was made with the ACLU has focused on bringing religious expression into the graduation ceremony.  There has been talk of community members wearing necklaces with lit crosses and breaking out in prayer before, during and after the ceremony.

MMM supports the community members in making authentic religious expressions. They should avoid the temptation to hijack the graduation by turning it into an angry protest.  Keep the focus on celebrating the accomplishments and the futures of the graduating high school seniors.

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Kudos To The Neptune Board Of Education

By Art Gallagher

We have been hard on the Neptune Board of Education over their choice to negotiate with the ACLU over the use of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s Great Auditorium as the venue for their high school graduation.  We would have preferred that Neptune, or anybody, stand up to the over reaching ACLU and their cowardly client.  We continue to believe that there are winnable legal arguments, right arguments, that the use of the Great Auditorium is not a violation of the first amendment required separation of church and state.

We don’t agree that covering the religious signs and symbols at the venue protects the rights of someone who does not agree with the message.  We don’t believe that if someone feels like an outsider that their rights have been violated.  We don’t believe that an ecumenical prayer to begin or end a ceremony or the singing of a hymn makes a civic ceremony a religious service.

We would love to see the ACLU crushed in court or to scamper away at the sight of a leader who would stand up to their bullying tactics.

However, in this case we believe the Neptune Board of Education and Superintendent David Mooij performed admirably for their community.   As we were reminded this week with the Abbott Ruling, we have an arrogant, activist and dysfunctional judiciary in this state and country.  As strong as their arguments would have been, there is a good chance that the Neptune board could have lost in court and the 70 year tradition of holding their graduation in the Great Auditorium could have been over.   Such a result would have been most unfortunate for the community of Neptune.  It appears that the Neptune board and Mooij were able to avoid that result.   For avoiding that result and preserving the tradition they are to be commended.

We continue to have one major issue with the conduct of the board and administration in Neptune; their policy of protecting the identity of the ACLU’s client.  The grumpy granny’s identity should be an easily searchable matter of public record.  Her name should have appeared in the minutes of the Neptune Board of Education meeting last July when she first publically raised the issue.  Instead, she was identified as “a member of the public.”

The woman who felt like an outsider at her grandchild’s graduation last year and concluded that her rights were violated should have gone to therapy rather than threaten to go to court.  She knows she’s an outsider.  By hiding her identity with the cooperation of the Neptune board and the ACLU she confirmed that she’s a sneaky outsider without the courage of her convictions to withstand public scorn and scrutiny.

By protecting the woman’s identity the board and administration put their 70 year tradition that means a great deal to the community at risk. Fortunately things worked out for the present and future Neptune graduates.  Unfortunately those students also learned a lesson in the power of cowardice and complicity.

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Why Are The Neptune Pantywaists Hiding The Identity Of The Complainant?

Why is the media cooperating?

By Art Gallagher

The controversy over the venue for the Neptune High School graduation started last July when “a member of the public” objected to the venue on religious reasons at a workshop meeting of the board.   Minutes of the school board meeting do not say who the person is.

A member of the Neptune Board of Education refused to reveal the name of the person, siting board policy.

Media reports in the APP and on News Channel 4 have said that the complainant is a “non-district woman,” and the grandmother of a student who graduated last year. 

Blogfinger, who otherwise has done a very good job covering the story, including publishing a timeline of the district’s communication with the ACLU, is also protecting the ornery granny’s identity.

Even members of the facebook group that is rallying public support to keep they traditional graduation at the Great Auditorium are withholding the name of the grandmother.

I don’t get it.  Commenting anonymously on a blog is one thing.  Threatening legal action anonymously, and having that threat taken seriously is another.

MMM is going to find the identity of the ACLU’s client in this case.  We will publish it when we do.  If you know who it is, please post as much information as you have it in the comments.

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Neptune Board Holds Pep Rally for Great Auditorium Graduation

Blogfinger is reporting that the Neptune Board of Education met with approximately 200 students, parents and residents last night to discuss the ACLU’s threat to file suit over use of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s Great Auditorium for the high school’s graduation.

Board President John Daniels said that the board “is one hundred percent behind the cause of this event….to continue at the Great Auditorium.”

Superintendent David Mooij said that no lawsuit has been filed, that the negotiations continue with the ACLU and that other venues for the graduation, including the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, will be considered if the ACLU gets an injunction against holding the graduation at the same venue where it has been held for six decades or more.

Mooij encouraged those at the meeting to rally public support for the traditional graduation by writing letters to the editor and speaking out at other forums, yet said that “the legal arguments will determine the outcome” rather than public sentiment.

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Neptune Pantywaists Caving To The ACLU

By Art Gallagher

The pantywaists running the Neptune school district are caving to the ACLU without a fight.  What a bunch of kittens.  Kittens, kittens, kittens.

As reported in the Asbury Park Press, the ACLU wants the Neptune school district to break a 60 year tradition of holding their high school graduation in the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s (GOD’S SQUARE MILE AT THE JERSEY SHORE), Great Auditorium.

The ACLU hasn’t filed suit.  The are jawboning the kittens into compliance with the threat of a suit.

The ACLU is arguing that the graduation being held at a religious venue with crosses is a violation of the first amendment separation of church and state.  

If the sight of a cross at a secular event violates the separation of church and state, then school buses should be prohibited from driving past churches, synagogues or mosques for fear that a student will see a religious symbol while being transported at government expense.

The ACLU’s chief bully, state legal director Ed Barocas told the APP, “They are making it uncomfortable for non-Christians to appreciate their child’s graduation.  It gives the impression that there are certain people that are insiders and others who are outsiders.”

Well, there are certain people who are insiders and others who are outsiders. That has nothing to do with religion.  Anyone who has a problem with that, like Barocas, is an outsider and a loser. Next he’ll be wanting to do away with football and cheerleading.

The head pantywaist, Superintendent David “Kitten” Mooij, has already caved to certain of bully Barocas’ demands.  He has removed the convocation and the singing of “Onward Christian Soldiers” from the program. Bully Barocas is not satsified, he wants the graduation held somewhere other than the 3000 seat auditorium.

Bully Barocas is all wet and Kitten Mooij should stand up to him.  Let the bully sue.  Kitten Mooij is probably worried about the legal fees.  He should ask the NJEA for help, they burnt $6 million on political ads last year that made absolutely no difference.  The NJEA would get more good will from defending the kittens of Neptune than they will from their silly TV and newspaper ads bashing Governor Christie.

The Great Auditorium is building, an auditorium.  It holds both religious and secular events.  Tim Conway, Tony Bennet, Paul Anka and Frank Sinatra, JR are performing their in August.  There is a Doo Wop Extravaganza scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

There has to be an attorney somewhere who can win this case, if there is a case.

If kittens like Mooij keep caving every time the ACLU calls, just because they call and the kittens don’t think they can pay for a fight, then the ACLU will always win and keep being a bully.

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