I Heard a Forrester Ad Today. Finally!

I heard a Forrester ad on WABC today. It was good. The ad spoke about Corzine voting to raise taxes 133 times while in the Senate and how that's not going to change when he's Governor. But, right in the middle of the comercial, they have a line that says somethig like Corzine's ..."going to raise your property taxes."

A Governor can't raise your property taxes. It struck me as wrong. I wonder how many others thought that?

Tom Moran Has an Interesting Take on Corzine

Tom Moran has a good column on Jon Corzine and where he stood in the past on fiscal and social issues and where he stands now. link He talks about how six years ago, when Corzine ran for the Senate he was promising universal everything. Now, however, he has changed his tune appearing more fiscally conservative by not funding the SCC and changing the parameters of his health plan. The reality, however, and Corzine says it out loud. Corzine is for a progressive and active State Government. One that will never stop taking your money. Save a dollar is one place and he'll spend it in another.

Why doesn't Forrester start pounding on this guy?

Where's the Buzz?

The election season should be in full swing, yet the buzz being generated by Forrester seems more like one hand clapping. I live out in West Central New Jersey and I have not heard one Doug Forrester ad. I'm not privy to the strategy that the Forrester camp is using, but it seems to me that when your down 20 points in the polls you can't afford to keep your powder dry. I think he needs to get much more aggressive with his media campaign or we're going to end up with Corzine.

Corzine - Higher Ed Aid Focus is Wrong

In a recent discussion about higher education issues Jon Corzine said

"If we are of finite resources, I put the greater emphasis on aid grants than any of the others," he said. "If we keep those with limited resources from accessing to higher education, we are just perpetuating the status quo to who has opportunity in our society."

While this is a noble sentiment, one of the larger Higher Education issues in New Jersey is that we don't keep our best and brightest home. A large portion of the smartest high school seniors leave NJ for better known schools in other states. The reasons for this are many. Children want to leave for more "exotic" locals and our state schools have a reputation as being crowded with poor administrative services. But, one of the top reasons the best and brightest leave is financial. As a middle class, top achieving student in NJ the aid offered from Rutgers is small enough that any out of state school that offers a significant scholarship creates a situation where for a few thousand dollars more the student can go to a more elite school.

Once our children leave for other areas, they tend to stay and get jobs in those areas. The brain drain is significant.

The Left Should Be Ashamed of Itself

Cindy Sheehan:

"I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest."

Can't someone get her the help she desperately needs?

The Great Spending Spree

I rarely write on topics not related to New Jersey, but in light of Bush's spending plans as announced last night, I need to make a comment. George W. Bush is the biggest mistake that social and fiscal conservatives ever supported. He now has committed the taxpayers of this Country to three open ended, multi billion dollar initatives. $60 Billion for the Gulf Coast and we know that's going to grow, $100 Billion per year for the Iraq War which doesn't look like its going to end any day soon, and God only knows how much for pescriptions in the new non-means tested perscription plan.

Bush has never vetoed a bill. Not one! It seems like he will do anything to please everyone. He has no core convictions. Getting Bush elected by undermining Kerry will become known as the best move Hillary ever made.

What's in the Water at the Edison Police Headquarters

Wow!

...one police officer is back on the job after he was arrested, along with a friend, when witnesses reported seeing both of them naked in a window of an Ocean City, Md., hotel in late July, according to police. A Maryland judge dismissed the charges against officer David Salardino, 32, after he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and served one day of probation. Brian Rossmeyer, 28, of Edison, was cleared of all charges.

On Tuesday, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's office said three Edison police officers, including at least one supervisor, face disciplinary charges for attempting to cover up an accident involving an off-duty officer. Ionnis Mpletsakis, 26, of Edison, was charged with assault by auto and hindering apprehension for running away naked from a July 20 collision on Route 27 when his BMW struck a delivery truck.

One officer was suspended without pay and another was put on desk duty after they were charged with assault for getting into a barroom brawl while off- duty.

I just want to know what the idiot was thinking driving down the road naked.

If only Forrester Was Running Agianst Him!

Page Six Reports:

September 13, 2005 -- FORMER New Jersey Gov. and "Gay American" Jim McGreevey is so over his ex, former aide Golan Cipel. McGreevey, whose affair with Cipel caused him to step down as governor last year, was having a romantic dinner Sunday night at Maroons in Chelsea on West 16th Street. "I don't know who the guy is, but he was blond-haired, blue eyes, nice build — a very attractive typical Chelsea guy," said our source. link

Who's Advising Forrester?

Doug Forrester and Jon Corzine meet to court the Black vote link . Why was Forrester even there? In recent polls Forrester is behind Corzine by 20%. He only has 70% of his own party's vote. He has 6% of the black vote while Corzine has 67%. Does this numbskull actually think he can get a significant enough amount of the black vote to hurt Corzine? Why isn't he doing more to excite his own party? Forrester needs to get the remaining 30% of Republicans out to vote for him first!

Forrester Going in the Wrong direction

New Jersey Republicans could have picked a worse candidate to run against Jon Corzine. I just can't imagine who it would be. It seems that Doug has fallen to a 20 point deficit in a recent poll. link Forrester Is not getting his message out, if he actually has one. He is uninspiring at best. He is only getting 70% of the republican vote. This election is going to be a disaster for the repubs.

Michael Goodwin Puts Down a Whooping

During the past week I have grown so tired of the constant Bush bashing, race baiting and general pile on attitude of the media and Democratic Party. The venom that spews out from my TV makes it impossible to watch any coverage of the aftermath of Katrina. I read Michael Goodwins's column in the Daily News today and he put my thoughts into words so much better than I ever could.

On the racism charges:

"That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.

The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please."

On looting:

"That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.

It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.

New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year."

On New Orleans Police:

"That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are."

On New Orleans preparation plans put out by the Mayor a year earlier:

..."Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message."

It was refreshing.

Corzine Just can't Take the Pledge

In the face of rising gas prices, averaging an increase of $0.46 in the last week alone, Doug Forrester pledged not to raise the gas tax and challanged Corzine to do the same. Corzine, like any addicted personality (addicted to our tax dollars that is) just couldn't do it.

Corzine refused to rule out a gas tax boost, but acknowledged it has become a less attractive option.

"It was a lot easier to make this case, like, a-dollar-twenty-five ago than it is today," he said. Corzine reiterated his position that a tax increase would be a "last resort," adding, "It would be hard to justify at this point." link

Come on Jon! Your for the working man, right?

So Shines the Light of a Good Deed

I've been watching the Katrina coverage, with all of the negative news, blame gaming and the vile spewing of race baiters and it just depressed me. Yesterday I saw something that made me remember that there really are good people out there.

My neighbor who lives on a lightly traveled country road had set up a table with bright hand made signs, ballons and some coffee and doughnuts. The signs said he was collecting money for the releif effort. His little 3 year old son was out with him. He and his son stayed there from 8 AM till 6 PM. Nearly everone that went by stopped and donated. He collected nearly $500.00.

I'm sure he had as much to do yesterday as I did, but he took time to do something for others and at the same time teach his child a true lesson. Kudos!

A Lesson for NJ

Watching the coverage of the hurricane relief efforts on the Gulf Coast, I've been struck by how difficult it is for government to function even when they are prepared for a catastrophic event. This is a lesson we in New Jersey need to take to heart when speaking about terrorism and the efforts our politicians are making to be prepared for a terror attack.

In recent months the Star Ledger, myself, EnlightenNJ and many others have written about the disbursement of homeland security funds based on political motives or even more disturbing, NJ agencies not even using the money that is available.

More than once I've commented that New Jersey does not have a comprehensive state wide plan for handling a massive terror attack. It just makes sense to inform people where relief centers would be and to preposition food and water in nearby areas. I think if people knew that State officials were thinking of these matters and that the government was prepared, it would go a long way to prevent panic in case of an emergency.