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The Right to Treatment Protects All of Us

Twenty years after the closing of Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, thoughts on Parkland, Florida.

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

In 1966, Chief Judge Bazelon of the D.C. Appellate Court reviewed a lower court decision where the judge had said, “My jurisdiction is limited to determining whether [the patient] has recovered his sanity. I don’t think I have a right to consider whether he is getting enough treatment.”

Chief Judge Bazelon stated, “Absent treatment, the hospital is transformed into a penitentiary where one could be held indefinitely for no convicted offense.”

He then went on to note that in 1964 Congress had passed the Hospitalization of the Mentally Ill Act which provides, in part, “A person hospitalized in a public hospital for a mental illness shall, during his hospitalization, be entitled to medical and psychiatric care and treatment.”

He defined that requisite care by saying, “According to leading experts ‘psychiatric care and treatment’ includes not only the contacts with psychiatrists but also activities and contacts with the hospital staff designed to cure or improve the patient.”

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Posted: February 15th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Guns, Opinion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments »

Best Hurricane Irma photos, videos and quips from social media

Much of New Jersey showed its support for Florida while it was beset by Hurricane Irma Saturday and Sunday, including Gov. Chris Christie. Everyone in NJ understands how Floridians feel tonight. We have sent NJSP, NJ Nat’l Guard & NJ utility men. We stand with you today & always — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) September 10, 2017… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: September 10th, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Media, News, Social Media | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

New Jersey Task Force Heads to Florida for Hurricane Operations

nj-hurricance-matthew-task-forceBy New Jersey State Police

Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, announced the deployment of 80 members of New Jersey Task Force 1 to assist with search and rescue operations as Hurricane Matthew moves closer into Florida. The highly trained team comprised of police, fire, and emergency medical personnel arrived at Joint… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: October 7th, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: New Jersey, News | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on New Jersey Task Force Heads to Florida for Hurricane Operations

Tricky Ethical Questions Jeb Bush Must Answer

assetContent (4)The collapse of InnoVida Holdings LLC in 2011 didn’t get much traction in the media. Except in South Florida, where a small group of investors lost more than $40 million on a scheme to market hurricane- and earthquake-resistant homes assembled from prefabricated plastic panels. The company CEO had promised a highly publicized roll-out in Haiti followed… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 20th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2016 Presidential Politics, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage expires Jan. 6 � or not

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MIAMI — Facing an apparent Jan. 6 deadline to start marrying same-sex couples in Florida, county clerks throughout the state have gotten mixed messages about whether they need to obey a federal judge’s ruling that the state gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional. Come Jan. 6, Florida may become the 36th state in which same-sex couples can get… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 6th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage expires Jan. 6 � or not

Chris Christie huddles with top GOP donors in Florida

Chris Christie huddles with top GOP donors in Florida (via NJ.com)

NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. — Gov. Chris Christie spent the afternoon with an elite group of Republican donors at the seaside home of Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone. Two black SUVs entered the lush golfing community called Lost Tree Village, where…

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Posted: January 19th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2016 Presidential Politics, Chris Christie | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chris Christie huddles with top GOP donors in Florida

Quinnipiac: Obama leading in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

90% of likely voters have made up their minds in the crucial swing states

Posted: August 1st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 Presidential Politics, Quinnipiac poll | Tags: , , , , , | 28 Comments »

Raising Income, Sales Taxes Didn’t Lower Property Taxes

By Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande

What do Florida, New Hampshire and Washington state have in common?

They’re among nine states that not only weathered the worst economic recession of our generation, but found ways to make their economies stronger, attract new people and create jobs when the rest of the nation floundered.

From 2001 to 2010, these nine states saw employment increase by 5.4 percent when the rest of the country remained stagnant.

What do these states have in common that allows them to grow jobs during horrific economic times?

No income tax.

In New Jersey, we’re on our way to replicating the job-creating economic successes of these “prime nine” states, even though we’re still among the “maligned nine” states with the highest income taxes.

The tax-free states grew employment by 5.4 percent, while tax-heavy states saw jobs decline by 1.7 percent.

That’s why Gov. Christie is proposing to cut income taxes for everyone. It will keep money in people’s pockets and help bring back the jobs that disappeared last decade as Trenton taxed and spent the state into economic ruin.

The Wall Street Journal recently called legislative proposals in other states to cut the income tax good “long-term growth” and attempts to use additional income tax revenue to relieve property taxes “short-term politics.”

It’s not even good short-term politics. Remember what happened to Jon Corzine in 2009 when he raised income taxes? He was one of nearly 120,000 New Jerseyans who lost a job that year.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who knew something about emerging from horrific economic times, once said: “Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.”

New Jersey has repeatedly tried raising taxes to relieve property taxes. It has never worked. In fact, the income tax itself began as a way to reduce property taxes. Do you know anyone whose property taxes went down since 1976?

New Jersey lost an entire decade (and 156,000 jobs) proving you can’t lower one tax by raising another. Taxes increased by $11 billion from 2002 to 2009, and nearly every time they increased a tax, Trenton politicians promised it would relieve property taxes, yet the property tax burden increased 6 percent per year and 60 percent cumulatively from 2002 to 2010.

Remember when Trenton politicians shut down the state to raise the sales tax in 2006 to offer “historic” levels of property tax relief? It didn’t work. The higher sales tax remains, but the property tax relief was history after just one year.

We need to stop doing what doesn’t work. That’s why we ended those failed tactics and launched the most aggressive and effective assault on property taxes in New Jersey history.

We put a tight cap on property taxes, saved property taxpayers $120 billion over the next 30 years through pension and health care reform, and we are working to do more, such as ending the payout for workers’ unused sick and vacation time and allowing towns to save money by opting out of Civil Service.

Our comprehensive approach to tax reform has businesses and homeowners optimistic about our state’s future for the first time in several years.

If we continue to do what has been working, we will continue to create more private-sector jobs in addition to the 60,000 that have been added in the past two years.

Adding jobs won’t just improve our unemployment rate, but likely will achieve precisely what short-sighted critics of Gov. Chris Christie’s income tax cut say it won’t: property tax relief.

Raising other taxes has not lowered property taxes, but reducing the income tax may because it will keep forcing government to spend within its means while encouraging businesses to create jobs in New Jersey.

More businesses and jobs in our economy means a greater share of the tax burden is shifted away from property taxpayers.

Many other states have seen the wisdom of low income tax rates. They know that reducing the income tax burden creates jobs and builds a strong economic foundation. I’m eager to see New Jersey follow suit.

In the last two years, New Jersey has added more than 62,000 private-sector jobs. And our Economic Outlook Rank has improved from 48th to 45th this year, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Our plan to make New Jersey affordable and create jobs is working. We can’t stop doing what is working. We need to do more.

Posted: March 9th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Art Gallagher, Caroline Casagrande, Taxes | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

NY Times Calls Romney Winner Of Florida Primary

The New York Times called the Florida GOP presidential primary for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at the moment the polls closed in the western part of the state.

As of 8:29 pm EST, with 63% of the results reported, Romney leads former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 47%  to 31%.  Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has 13.2% of the preliminary count and Texas Congressman Ron Paul 6.9%.

The Times reported that Santorum, the winner of the Iowa caucuses has started running ads in Nevada targeting Gingrich’s Tea Party support, saying the Speaker’s policies, including support of Wall Street bailouts mirror those of another former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and President Barack Obama.

Posted: January 31st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 Presidential Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Gingrich Preparing for New Jersey Primary. Romney’s Lead in Florida Restored

Buoyed by his stunning victory in South Carolina, New Gingrich is preparing for a nomination process that could extend into the summer.

Calls have gone out to conservative activists throughout New Jersey looking for grassroots networks to get out the vote for the former Speaker of the House in the Garden State’s  June presidential primary. 

The Gingrich campaign is advertising on cable television in New Jersey.

But the Gingrich campaign may be getting ahead of itself.  After leading the polls in Florida immediately after his South Carolina victory, Gingrich has fallen back to second place, behind Mitt Romney, in the Rasmussen Poll conducted last night.

According to Rasmussen, Romney has restored his lead in Florida back to where it was before Gingrich’s South Carolina win on Saturday.   Romney is supported by 39% of likely voters to Gingrich’s 31%.  Rick Santorum is favored by 12% and Ron Paul has the support of 9% of those expected to vote on Tuesday.  Only 7% are undecided.

Posted: January 26th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 Presidential Politics | Tags: , , , , , , | 14 Comments »