Ridgewood Views

Higher Gas Prices .....The Obama Administration Wonders - Who Can We Blame Now

2012-02-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

When George Bush was President the Democrats didn’t have any problem blaming him for any increase in gas prices. In fact, here’s a look at what Nancy Pelosi had to say in 2008 …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday blamed the “two oil men in the White House,” President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and their Republican allies in Congress for gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon.

Pelosi said multiple initiatives intended to lower high energy costs have passed the Democratically controlled House only to “run into a brick wall” in the Senate because they did not receive the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

“The price of oil is attributed to two oil men in the White House and their protectors in the United States Senate,” Pelosi said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

What she doesn’t mention is how gas prices promptly fell to $1.60 by the end of 2008 – right about the time voters elected Barack Obama. But the price of gas has been increasing ever since. In fact under President Obama gas prices set a new record last month -- the most expensive January ever at U.S. gasoline pumps. Prices at the pump averaged $3.37 in January. In 2010, January gasoline prices averaged just $2.71 a gallon. And experts predict that gas will be around $4 by the begioning of this summer.

Who will Obama and his Administration blame now? Do you know that oil production on federally owned lands in the US is down 40%. Deep water drilling rigs that used to work in the Gulf of Mexico now work off the coast of Africa and Brazil.

None of Obama’s past statements or actions to reduce oil production matter now. As gas prices go up who will the Obama Administration blame for the increasing cost for fuel?

When bad news is good.........Obamanomics!

2012-02-08T06:54:00.000-05:00

According to Jay Carney, White House Press Sectary, 1.2 million people dropping out of the labor force in January can be seen as an "economic positive."

Yeah but for whom? It certainly was an economic positive for President Obama because those people no longer had to be counted as unemployed. That’s one way to improve the unemployment numbers – just make 1.2 million unemployed people vanish from the statistical database.

Only a politician could see it as a good thing when our labor participation rate hits a 30-year low.

The White House spin-masters are try to blame it on the fact that more young people are going to college and more old people are retiring. That a lot of college students starting school in January and a lot of old farts headed for Florida – 1.2 million of them, to be exact!

As Charles Krauthammer points out, “the Obama administration promised that the unemployment rate today would be approximately 5.8 percent – not 8.3 percent — if the $800 billion stimulus package were passed.” Where is the ObamaMedia to report THAT little goodie? Or how about this one: “Even if 250,000 jobs were created every month from now to the election, the unemployment rate will still hover near 8 percent.” Remember that no modern president has been re-elected with an unemployment rate above 7.2%.

Will Obama be the exception? I sure hope not!

Monthly private sector jobs losses and gains

2012-02-06T16:54:00.002-05:00

Here are some facts about our current unemployment situation.
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In January, 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! This is the largest absolute jump in 'Persons Not In Labor Force' on record...and biggest percentage jump in 30 years. (Zero Hedge). If these people, or a significant portion of them, were in the workforce without jobs the unemployment figure would be higher than 8.3%. So now you’re left with having to figure out whether or not you believe this many people actually said “the hell with it” in one month. Many experts are quite skeptical about this figure.

The report on Friday stated 12.8 million people remained unemployed – 43% of them for more than six months – and that another 8.2 million part-time workers couldn’t find full-time employment. (LA Times)
With the latest job gains, total payrolls in the nation stand about 5.6 million less than at the start of the recession in late 2007. (LA Times) Our population is growing every month and now we now have 5.6 million fewer jobs? Does this sound like a successful presidency?

If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population – people with jobs and people trying to find jobs -- was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office—65.7 percent then vs. 63.7 percent today—the U-3 unemployment rate would be 11.0 percent . (James Pethokoukis)

To give this some perspective, this means that since Obama has been in office, approximately 4.7 million people are no longer being counted towards the unemployment rate.

But let’s not go all the way back to January 2009. In January 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent with a participation rate of 64.2 percent. If that were the participation rate today, the unemployment rate would be 8.9 percent, instead of 8.3 percent. As an analysis from Hamilton Place Strategies concludes, “Most of the shift of the past year is due not to the improvement in the labor market, but the continued drop in participation in the labor force.” (James Pethokoukis)

Then there’s the broader, U-6 measure of unemployment which includes the discouraged plus part-timers who wish they had full time work. That unemployment rate is still a sky-high 15.1 percent. (James Pethokoukis)

So if you add up the number of people who are actually unemployed in the ObamaEconomy (12.7 million), the 4.7 million who have given up and dropped out of the labor force and then those who are underemployed, can’t find full-time work (10.5 million) …this means that there are about 28 million working age adults who can’t find work in the ObamaEconomy.

Don't expect the ObamaMedia to report these facts. But the fact is that Obama’s “success” is built upon the struggles of Americans who have given up or frustrated in the current economy.

Race and Politics

2012-02-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

Racial code words obscure real issues - By Juan Williams

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/juan-williams/207295-2012-racial-code-words-obscure-real-issue

What are these words?

Entitlement society
Poor work ethic
Food stamp president
Founding Fathers
Constitution

Williams says that using these words, particularly by Republican candidates, make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core “old-fashioned American values.”

It’s not only words, but issues that some individuals like to whine about: states’ rights and voter ID laws. Mention these issues as a conservative, and you are assumed to be a racist. Your concern has nothing to do with federalism or the original intention of our constitution. It is solely based on race.

Because President Obama's record in office is abysmal he has nothing to run on for reelection this year. He’s losing support in every single demographic group. Obama will attempt to bring black Americans back into the fold by convincing them that those who aren’t supportive of his reelection are, to put it simply, racist.

Congressional budget chief offers dim outlook on economic growth, jobs

2012-02-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf on Wednesday projected that economic growth will slow by next year and unemployment will rise before that -- a forecast that Rep. Paul Ryan called ominous, grim and alarming.

One of the factors that will expand future deficits is entitlements, such as Medicare, which will explode as the baby boomers retire.

Elmendorf explained that "the fundamental fiscal challenge during this decade and beyond remains the aging of the population and rising costs for health care. The number of people aged 65 or older will increase by one-third in the coming decade, substantially raising the costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid."

In addition, he said, the new federal health care overhaul will significantly increase the number of non-elderly people receiving assistance through federal health care programs, such as Medicaid.

All of that is likely to balloon current levels of debt.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/01/congressional-budget-chief-offers-dim-outlook-on-economic-growth-jobs/

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Substantially raising the costs of Social Security, - brought to you by FDR

Substantially raising the costs of Medicare and Medicaid - brought to you by LBJ

Unconstitutional Obamacare - will significantly increase the number of non-elderly people receiving assistance through federal health care programs, such as Medicaid.

Chris Christie Calls Reed Gusciora Numb Nuts Over Comparison to George Wallace

2012-01-31T11:41:00.000-05:00

What you should know about the income tax code

2012-01-30T05:57:00.001-05:00

The United States currently has the most progressive income tax system among all industrialized nations..... here are the facts;

The top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 38 percent of all the income taxes despite having just 20 percent of the income.
The top 10 percent of taxpayers pay 70 percent of the income tax while having just 46 percent of the income.
At the other end, the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers pay just 2.7 percent of the income tax while having 13 percent of the income.

The income tax has become much more progressive in the past 30 years, resulting in a situation in which a relatively small minority of taxpayers pay the bulk of the taxes, while most American pay little or any income tax. This is causing an increasing disconnect between benefits from government and what most citizens pay for. One result is a greater polarization in the political realm where a majority of citizens increasingly demand more government benefits for which they want others to pay.

Governor Christie: Imagine a New Jersey Where Your Taxes Go Down

2012-01-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

Should Capital Gains Tax Be Raised For Fairness

2012-01-26T06:13:00.000-05:00

During the Presidential campaign in 2008 Barack Obama said “ I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.” Considering the uproar now over Mitt Romney’s tax returns and the fact that he pays capital gains taxes at this 15% rate, it is only a matter of time before we hear cries to increase the capital gains tax.

But there is one small problem with that idea, history shows that raising the capital gains rate actually lowers government revenues, while decreasing the capital gains rate increases government revenues.

Here are just a few examples …

•Between 1968 and 1972 rates increased by 10 percentage points and revenues fell 21%.

•In 1978 the rate fell by 15 points from 35% to 20% and revenues increased by 46%.

•In 1986 the rate was raised by 8 points to 28% and by 1991 15% less revenue was being raised.

•In 1996 the rate was reduced by 8 points to 20% again and by 2000 revenues had grown by some 50%

•In 2003 the rate was cut to 15% and revenues grew by 45% over the following three years.

When presented with the specific example from the Clinton administration, Barack Obama replied with the quote from above. .

Right now we need to be encouraging investments to get the economy back on track. Start up small businesses are responsible for most new jobs in America, at least they were for a long stretch of our history. US experts agree that increasing capital gains taxes ‘significantly damages the economy.” and there isn't anything fair about that!

Governor Christie Calls for Referendum on Gay Marriage

2012-01-25T09:58:00.001-05:00

Northwest Bergen Mayors Association Applauds County Executive Donovans Veto of NWBCUA Stipends And Benefits

2012-01-24T09:46:00.002-05:00

Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan’s decision to strip part-time Commissioners of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority (NWBUA) of publicly paid stipends and health benefits has been unanimously endorsed by the region’s ten mayors.

According to Mayor Vince Barra of Allendale, President of the ten-member Northwest Bergen Mayors Association, “Our Mayors voted unanimously to support your action of vetoing the subject minutes. We fully concur with your decision that part time Commissioners should not receive benefits including health insurance and that such expenditures are totally unwarranted.”

He continued, “We applaud your concern that taxpayers should be required to shoulder such unreasonable expenditures particularly in these trying economic times.”

In addition to vetoing the Authority’s minutes, Ms. Donovan wrote to each Commissioner individually requesting that they forego compensation and publicly paid benefits or resign. Earlier, Ms. Donovan vetoed contracts and other expenditures that she deemed to be “excessive."

Barra said that his organization includes all of the member communities of NWBUA and noted that their residents pay 100% of the Authority’s expenditures.

County Executive Donovan thanked Mayor Barra and his colleagues for supporting fiscal restraint and said her administration is committed to working with the County’s mayors and other elected officials in holding down costs and cutting waste while assuring efficient delivery of services.

Obama Media helps Gingrich

2012-01-23T12:39:00.000-05:00

It seems as though John King may have unknowingly helped Newt, because if it wasn’t for that asinine question he asked Newt Gingrich at that debate in Charleston, the results in South Carolina may have turned out differently. There was a tremendous surge for Newt throughout the week, but that one question from John King really sealed the deal. The people were, to put it bluntly, completely fed up with the Obama Media and their out of left field questions.

Exit polls cited by the Wall Street Journal showed that “almost nine in 10 voters said debates were a factor in their decisions, while two-thirds said they were an important part of their decision. Mr. Gingrich won handily among those voters.”

Something else that the exit polls showed: Only 14% of likely South Carolina voters had a favorable opinion on the Obama Media, while 77% had an unfavorable opinion. So the combination of Newt’s debate performances and his jabs at what he so brilliantly refers to as the “elite media” during those debates played right into the hands of South Carolina voters.

Here are a few other interesting facts about Newt’s win in South Carolina. One third of voters said that beating Obama was the most important quality in a candidate, and, interestingly enough, more of those people voted for Gingrich than Romney. The most important issue for South Carolina voters was the economy, more so than voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Voters who said that their top issue was the economy voted in greater numbers for Newt. In fact, Newt won 88% of voters who characterized their family's economic situation as "holding steady" or "falling behind."

Newt Gingrich Highlights - CNN Debate in SC

2012-01-20T12:36:00.000-05:00

Gingrich nails Obama media lapdog at debate. Listen to the crowd respond....

SOPA was just a way for corporations to kill two birds with one stone.

2012-01-19T05:50:00.001-05:00

To stop online piracy...and destroy the 1st Amendment on the Internet in the process. Make no mistake they will eventually be successful with a form of SOPA because Internet 2 is just around the corner and Internet 2 implements censorship just by the nature of how it operates. The Internet is literally hated for what it has become by the people that own this planet.

Senator Jay Rockefeller- Internet should have never existed!

The reason they hate it is because the Internet allows the little people from around the globe to communicate. If you want to know the truth most of the reason why they want to shut down freedom of speech on the Internet is because of "conspiracy theories". No joke. The power elite are worried about people that dig up dirt on them. Just an FYI...the stuff they fear THE MOST is how congress runs, laws that you and I must live by don't apply to them, insider trading gets you and I jail time but is ok for them...this stuff being known by the little people threatens their entire agenda.

Newsweek Cover

2012-01-17T10:37:00.003-05:00

Have you’ve seen it. News magazines covers featuring Barack Obama on the cover. Newsweek though, has a caption. It says “Why are Obama’s Critics so Dumb?” The accompany article is by Obama supporter Andrew Sullivan, and it signals the beginning of an age-old Democrat theme in presidential elections: Conservatives are stupid, liberals are smart. Gerald Ford; clumsy and dumb. Ronald Reagan: dumb. George H.W. Bush, affable, but dumb. George W. Bush, dumb. Now if you are a critic of Barack Obama, you’re just dumb. What a surprise.

Americans rank economic woes

2012-01-16T10:06:00.001-05:00

A new Gallup poll shows that when it comes to our economy, most Americans are worried about jobs and unemployment.

Fortunately, 40% of Americans describe themselves as conservative, compared to 21% who describe themselves as liberals. So that leads me to believe that there are about twice as many people out there who do not subscribe to the Obama method of tackling job creation. Conservatives believe that if government just got out of the way of the private sector and let it tackle the jobs issue jobs would be created and unemployment numbers would improve. America’s private sector economy is what has brought this nation to be the world’s largest economy, a leader in innovation and a model for economic growth.

Obama has added over 45,696 pages to the federal registrar – more regulations getting in the way of job creation. He has proposed 408 government regulations that could have an economic impact of $100 million or more on businesses. Between this amount of regulation and the threat of tax increases, is it any wonder why business owners aren’t hiring new employees?

Second to jobs and the economy, people were worried about our national debt and the budget deficit. Just yesterday, Obama recently asked for another $1.2 trillion to raise our debt ceiling. Obama has incurred more national debt than George Washington to George H.W. Bush combined. He has increased the debt by 42% since taking office, to the current level of $15.1 trillion. According to the New York Times, “Debt held by the public, considered by many economists to be the more significant indicator, is 65 percent higher now than in January 2009.” Americans have a right to be worried that we are approaching the point of no return. We might be there already.

Chamber President Sets the Record Straight on the Ridgewood Blog

2012-01-13T15:22:00.004-05:00

In response to a story published on the Ridgewood Blog titled

BREAKING : Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce Rejects Paul Arohnson Endorsement

Which wrongly accused Councilman Paul Arohnson, Village Liaison with the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce, of seeking political re-election endorsement over other Councilmen. The article went on to claim Mr. Ed Sullivan as the advocate to have the Chamber back Paul Aronsohn. A supposed heated arguement ensued and the Chamber declined the request.

The fake article went on to state "Several of the Chamber are now reportedly seeking to replace Mr. Aronsohn as Liaison who is viewed by many as a failed career politician; insensitive to the needs of local residents and businesses."

Setting the Record Straight

Chamber President wrote on the Ridgewood Blog
Wow... I'm not a regular reader of this blog since I've heard you cannot believe some of the articles, and this article confirms that to me. The question brought up by a board member at our monthly meeting was... can the Chamber make any re-election or new endorsements? We reviewed the section in our bylaws forbidding political endorcements and we moved on. Hardly "heated discussion" and there was no absolutely no mention of Mr. Aronsohn or his performance as liason or council member. Seems like someone has an hidden agenda and is misinforming the public.

Tom Hillmann
Chamber of Commerce President

We agree with you Mr. Hillman The Ridgewood Blog does have an agenda. How well it is hidden could be argued though..... Looks to us like the Killion bought and paid for blog is trying to distort the facts once again!

Welcome to America - Vote for me - Here is someone elses money....

2012-01-13T07:25:00.000-05:00

There is no doubt that our tax code is riddled with loopholes; But should our tax code help those who are in this country illegally? This is a prime example of how politicians view our tax code as another way to buy votes. Is it any wonder why they will fight so vigorously to defend it when challenged with ideas like the FairTax?

We should all be outraged by the $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits given to illegal aliens just last year alone! Meanwhile, those who are working and not here illegally are carrying more of the burden than ever. The figure fluctuates between 37 and 40% -- that is the percentage of income taxes paid by the top 1% of taxpayers. Meanwhile, they are earning around 20% of the income.

The IRS made payments of $4.2 billion last year in refundable tax credits to illegal aliens, according to an audit by the Treasury’s Inspector General. “Refundable” tax credits are cash subsidies — federal outlays — given to people who don’t pay any income tax.

DNC Double Standard? - Michelle Malkin - Fox & Friends - 1-12-12

2012-01-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago, where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords -- who is doing really well, by the way, -- [was shot]. The discourse in America, the discourse in Congress in particular . . . has really changed, I'll tell you. I hesitate to place blame, but I have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and lack of civility with the growth of the Tea Party movement."
Debbie Wasserman Shultz

Americans Fear Obama Reelection 2-1: Survey

2012-01-11T10:54:00.000-05:00

Americans fear the reelection of President Barack Obama by a 2-1 margin, according to a recent US News survey, a result that shows the competitive nature of the race that's building even before a Republican nominee has been named.

"When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne," said a Washington Whispers column by Paul Bedard Monday. "Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren't forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office."

The magazine, in its New Year's poll, asked respondents what they feared most in 2012. By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans said Obama's reelection in November.

In all, just 16 percent said they fear Obama won't win a second term, while 33 percent said they worry that he will.
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/206458/americans_fear_obama_reelection_2-1:_survey.html

The Republican debate over the weekend

2012-01-10T06:21:00.002-05:00

The mainstream media made this a waste of time AGAIN. It seems that they are becoming more and more ridiculous with their questions, and this weekend was no exception, particularly the ABC debate on Saturday night.

Our Federal Government is growing at an alarming rate. Our entire Federal budget is on the cusp of being consumed by entitlement spending alone. Millions of Americans have simply given up looking for work and millions more have been under employed. We have more Americans on food stamps than at any time in our country's history. Gas prices are at record levels. We have a mad leader in Iran about to obtain nuclear capability while threatening to shut off one sixth of the world’s oil supply. We have businesses drowning in burdensome government regulations, fearful of higher taxes and the uncertainty of legislation like ObamaCare.

That is just a small sample of the issues Americans are facing, and it takes George Stephanopoulos, Diane Sawyer and producers at ABC over an hour to really get into the issue of the economy? What did they choose to talk about along the way?

Gay marriage

Ron Paul newsletters from 20 years ago

Which candidate is a real conservative

Iraq

Should a state be able to make contraceptives illegal?

What else would you be doing on a Saturday night?

Contraceptives? Yes, Former Clinton staff member turned journalist actually wasted valuable time with a completely asinine line of questioning about contraception: ......I’m talking about George Stephanopoulos, who spent almost five minutes grilling Mitt Romney over whether or not he agreed with a Supreme Court ruling from 1965 that bars states from banning contraception. Are you freaking kidding me?

If you want to see the debate and the stupid questions here you go......go ahead and waste your time if you like.

Chris Christie Responds to Accusation of Planted Questions

2012-01-09T12:24:00.002-05:00

The Ridgewood Blog - Smoke and Mirrors

2012-01-08T17:28:00.016-05:00

The staff of the Ridgewood blog really needs a reality check. Their article .....

The Village pulls through a very difficult year on its way to restoring long term financial sustainability

is a real nice puff piece. But did you notice not many "facts" were presented in this article.

Lets examine some of the smoke and mirrors by the Ridgewood Blog

Mr. Gabbert said "In 2011, we entered the year down 14 percent in total staff from a year earlier and working from a tighter budget than prior years."

If the Village has 200 employees a 14% reduction would be about 28 employees. If the average pay with benefits for those 28 employees is $80,000.00 then the 2011 budget would have had an additional $224,000.00 over the previous years budget in salary savings alone. But then you have to consider the tax increase from 2010 to 2011.

2010 Total Budget $41,825,453.14

2011 Total Budget $44,432,007.66

The property tax increase and taxes raised by fees represents a 6.23% raise in 2011. I am sure that many other town administrators that worked to meet the mandate by Governor Christie to only raise taxes by 2% would have loved to work with 6.2% increase. So Mr. Gabbert only had an additional $2,605,725.73 to work with, until we add the money from the 28 employees that were gone from 2010 then Mr. Gabbett had $2,829,725.73 over the 2010 budget. What were they saying about such a tight budget?

The article went on to defend Mr. Gabbert by saying...The Village manager was in the hot seat most of the year creating a lot of controversy working on cleaning up the financial mess created over the last 15 years.

The biggest things Mr. Gabbert was in the hot seat for were his unjustifiable and unwarranted 12% raise and his failure to do his job during the October snow storm. Yes, when you look at the facts Mr. Gabbert is not as the Ridgewood Blog would have you believe, a good Village Manager.

House Democrats blame GOP for lack of jobs

2012-01-07T13:48:00.001-05:00

On January 5th Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats held a press conference in the Capitol to highlight the GOP's one year anniversary leading the House of Representatives without a jobs agenda.

Chris Christie Unable To Stop 2012 Corzine Toll Increase

2012-01-07T09:11:00.007-05:00

Bergen County Freeholders Called Corrupt At December 2011 Meeting Over Pay to Play

2012-01-06T19:52:00.001-05:00

County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan Calls For Resignations At Utility Authority

2012-01-06T16:16:00.000-05:00

County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan has challenged the Commissioners of the Northwest Bergen Utilities Authority to either give up their annual stipends and health benefits or resign their positions. At the same time, Ms. Donovan vetoed salary increases for non-union, non-contractor and fixed annual employees of the Bergen County Utilities Authority. In her veto message Ms. Donovan said, “The County has repeatedly informed the BCUA that all such County employees shall not receive any wage increases during the economic crisis. All County Boards are adhering to this policy including the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority.” Earlier, Ms. Donovan vetoed salary increases proposed by the Northwest Utilities Authority. In individual letters to Commissioners of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority Ms. Donovan said, “While I appreciate the job you do, public service is something you chose to do not for financial reward, but for the sense of accomplishment that comes from serving your fellow citizens.” Ms. Donovan said that if the Commissioners attempted to receive stipends and benefits “I will have no choice but to accept your resignation as a Commissioner.” Ms. Donovan set a January 9, 2012 deadline for the Commissioners to comply with her order. Commissioners of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority are the last in the County to receive stipends and benefits. The Bergen County Utilities Authority abolished the practice twelve years ago.

Village incentive raises.... a good idea gone bad?

2012-01-05T06:36:00.003-05:00

Yesterday The Ridgewood Patch released "incentive" raises of various Village employees for 2010 and 2011. There are 21 employees who received compensation, ranging from $362 to $7,598. Mr. Gabbert stated in this article "The staff provided their accomplishments and general goals for the rest of ’11 and at that time most also mentioned ’12," "As Manager I met with each person and discussed performance, the goals, and the incentive increase. The maximum in any one year could have been up to 4%. I made the final determinations as to the amount of the incentive increase."

In the article one employee, who asked to remain anonymous stated "If the village manager likes you, you got a nice Christmas present," the worker told Patch. "If he didn't, you got bupkus or close to bupkus."

We were not surprised to learn when we spoke to a number of village employees and many agreed that this incentive bonus is based more on how much you kiss Gabberts rear end than on how well you do your job. One employee stated "the incentive raise is just another tool Gabbert can use to punish someone who doesn't march to his beat." As we spoke to employees we were very surprised to learn that Mr. Gabbert has used the power of his office to retaliate against employees that disagree with him. Clearly unprofessional for someone in a position of power and authority

If this is accurate, and we have no reason to believe that it isn't, the Village Council needs to investigate. If even one situation exists where the Village Manager used his position to retaliate against an employee Mr. Gabbert should be fired.

Democrats Use Fiscal Crisis As Weapon To Bash GOP

2011-12-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

Debt? Wasn't it just this past summer Republicans and Democrats nearly came to blows over raising the debt ceiling? Well, guess what — President Obama is back, asking for another $1.2 trillion. Are we being gamed here?

Coming just after Democrats in Congress threatened to close the government unless Republicans agreed to extend payroll tax cuts for two months, we're beginning to see a pattern: Democrats create a crisis, blame Republicans for it, then try to reap political benefits, but America isn't buying it.

Knowing full well their basic ideals and ideas don't sell, Democrats are intentionally manufacturing these minicrises, using people's fear of chaos and a compliant liberal media to blame the GOP for Democrats' own failures.

Democrats are building an ever larger and more oppressive government, ignoring the American people's expressed wishes — all the while saddling taxpayers with trillions more in debt, pushing us toward national bankruptcy and making it look like it's the Republicans' fault.

The voters have come to realize on their own, without help from the feckless GOP, how they're being played for chumps.

http://news.investors.com/Article/595987/201112271909/dems-create-chaos-for-political-advantage.htm

Is the Obama Boomlet Over?

2011-12-29T12:24:00.000-05:00

Over the last week or so, there has been a lot of news coverage of Barack Obama’s comeback in the polls. Scott Rasmussen wrote that he thought Obama’s rise was due to increasing optimism about the economy.

After all that hype, it appears that the Obama boomlet may have been overrated. In the Gallup Poll, Obama has dropped back to 44/48. In Rasmussen’s Approval Index, Obama, after a week or so of slightly less gloomy numbers, is back to an ice-cold.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/is-the-obama-boomlet-over.php

Eric Holder Claims Racism Responsible for Fast and Furious Criticism

2011-12-27T11:37:00.002-05:00

Buried in a recent New York Times profile of Attorney General Eric Holder is this revealing tidbit:

But Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics — not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers — were instead playing “Washington gotcha” games, portraying them as frequently “conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was” to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light.

Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few — the “more extreme segment” — were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” he said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”

So, under Holder the Justice Department gives thousands of guns to Mexican criminal gangs; this results in the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents (one of whom, Jaime Zapata, was Hispanic) and dozens of Mexican nationals; then Justice Department stonewalls and misleads in the ensuing investigations; and now Eric Holder claims that criticism of his conduct is fueled by racism? Yeaaaa Right.
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Merry Christmas to all......

2011-12-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

We would like to take this moment to wish our readers a Merry Christmas. We hope everyone enjoys their family gatherings and they are aware of and thankful for their blessings.

Susan and Andrew

Can they really be that stupid?

2011-12-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

Well.... I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Today I found a car in a parking lot with the bumper sticker like the one above. I felt like waiting for the driver and asking him/her why they support Obama. Actually, the better question would have been “Are you really that stupid?” Ignorant means you haven’t learned. Stupid means you can’t. Considering the state of our economy in 2008 you could be excused for voting for Obama the first time around … but to do it a second time?

You must either be living off the government in some manner or you’re just hopelessly out of your mind.

If this person hasn’t learned in the last three years that Barack Obama is the most incompetent, dangerous and un-American president we’ve ever seen; if they haven't learned that our Republic might well not survive another four more years under this man’s anti-capitalist class warfare rule, then they just can't be capable of absorbing and processing information. That’s the very definition of “stupid.”

Americas Biggest Threat

2011-12-21T12:32:00.000-05:00

Under Obama, Growing Percentage See Big Government as 'Biggest Threat'
(CNSNews.com)

While President Barack Obama has focused his rhetoric in recent weeks on depicting a reckless Wall Street and insufficiently taxed "millionaires and billionaires" as threats to the American middle class, a newly released Gallup poll indicates that Americans apparently have been coming to a different conclusion during Obama's presidency, with fewer people now seeing big business as the "biggest threat" to the country in the future and more seeing big government as the "biggest threat."
Interestingly, according to Gallup, fear of big business has been declining during the Obama years even among Democrats, while fear of big government has been climbing.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-under-obama-growing-percentage-see-big-government-biggest-threat

Barack Obama knows he has NOT solved our economic woes.....

2011-12-19T05:40:00.000-05:00

The start of our current mess was the housing bubble burst and the market crashed. Yea this occurred before Obama was elected But even though it wasn’t his fault, Americans chose him to clean up the mess. He knew, and America knew, full and well that it was going to be a big pile to handle but that this was his task. Even Obama said that “if I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

If you stand back and just consider that fact alone, you can come to the conclusion that Obama has failed. We hired him to do a certain task. He failed. In any private sector job, he would be fired. But in politics, his fate rests in the hands of millions of moochers and the dumb-masses. This is why voting is actually a very powerful tool, sometimes even a weapon. It is something that is given to someone and can be used to vote people into office that could directly affect you life. Those people may want to take more of your property (taxes) or they may want to tell you how to live your life (regulations).

It's all about Money Money Money, Stupid!

2011-12-16T14:44:00.000-05:00

Cut Federal entitlement spending...are you nuts! This is the line that politicians will scream when you try and touch entitlements. To many, mostly Democrats, these entitlements are all that they have left as a bribe for voters. These entitlements are used as a political weapon, “Vote for Dewey Screwem and he will take away your Medicare!” "Vote for John Doe and he will cut your Social Security". Even the slightest effort to reform is met with resistance. Just consider the following

According to the Government Accountability Office, in 2010 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported an estimate of “almost $48 billion in Medicare improper payments” and $22.5 billion for Medicaid. The causes of the improper payments include “include inadequate documentation, medically unnecessary services, coding errors, and payment calculation errors.”

How could anyone say that our entitlement programs aren’t in need of a serious overhaul after reading that information.

Or how about this recent report from John Stossel …

The U.S. Inspector General says many people who got $3,000 power wheelchairs you funded should not have gotten them. In some cases, the customer didn't need them. Others could have used a much cheaper device. In 52 percent of the cases, the Medicare claims were "insufficiently documented to determine whether the power wheelchairs were medically necessary." Medicare paid $700 million for the power wheelchairs anyway.

The Federal Government spending is simply out of control.

A Voters Guide To Republicans

2011-12-15T14:08:00.000-05:00

Americans do NOT want big government

2011-12-14T12:08:00.000-05:00

A new Gallup poll has found that 65% of Americans believe that big government is the biggest threat to our country. This is well above the 26% who are concerned about big business and the 8% who picked big labor. Divided among party lines, it is exactly what you would expect: 82% of Republicans said big government was their gravest concern compared to just 48% of Democrats. No surprise, considering that the Democrat Party is pretty much the party of food stamps, handouts and government dependency.

If this statistic is true, than Barack Obama should have no chance at re-election. Obama has taken the definition of big government and expanded it beyond all liberal expectations!

In less than three years, Barack Obama managed to increase the federal debt by $4.212 trillion--more than the total national debt of about $4.1672 trillion accumulated by all 41 presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.

The deficits generated under the Obama administration are the largest since the end of World War Two.

In 2011 alone, the Obama administration’s proposed and final rules have cost more than $230 billion and will most likely impose 120 million hours of paper-pushing on businesses.

And as if Dodd-Frank wasn’t bad enough, ObamaCare may well be one of the most iconic examples of big government. It will cost our economy trillions and bog down the private market with federal mandates and eventually take over the entire system.

On top of all of that, Obama has received more in campaign contributions from “big business” this year than any Republican presidential candidate.

I realize Barack Obama isn't the first big government president. In fact, George W. Bush was no slacker when it came to growing the size and power of the Federal Government . That ain't nothing since Obama has managed to take big government to that next level. And it will only continue to grow if we give him the chance. Has anything he said or done lead you to believe otherwise?

I cannot, and will never understand the people who will say that they don't want big government and then they turn around and cast a ballot for Barack Obama. These are clearly ignorant voters. Usually these are the single-issue voters.

Obama Kansas Speech

2011-12-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

How has Obama Made History?

2011-12-11T13:34:00.001-05:00

Gingrich: Obama "Wants To Get Equality By Bringing People Down"

2011-12-10T17:37:00.000-05:00

If you take the time to watch this interview with Newt Gingrich, you will understand why voters are flocking to him. He’s not afraid to take on President Obama, the ObamaMedia or the Democratic political elite. Here’s just one piece of that interview …

"I think we all have to recognize that the president is a student of Saul Alinsky. He represents a hard left radicalism. He is opposed to free enterprise. He is opposed to capitalism, he is opposed to virtually everything which made America great, and he keeps using wild rhetoric that is simply false."

Gingrich keeps referring to Obama as a Saul Alinksy radical. Do you know what he is talking about? If not, you need to educate yourself. Saul Alinksy was a community organizer; some consider him the modern founder of this profession that Barack Obama would eventually take up. He wrote the Book, I mean manual, for community organization “Rules for Radicals.” He’s a Marxist.who is also from Chicago.

Can it get any worse: Obama supposedly taught Alinsky workshops while community organizing in Chicago. What exactly would he be teaching? Well let’s take a look at a few passages from Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” shall we?

From Alinsky …
"The first step in community organization is community disorganization. The disruption of the present organization is the first step toward community organization. Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displace by new patterns.... All change means disorganization of the old and organization of the new."

Could this be what Obama meant by “change we can believe in” or “fundamental transformation?”

From Alinsky …
"An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent... He must create a mechanism that can drain off the underlying guilt for having accepted the previous situation for so long a time. Out of this mechanism, a new community organization arises....”

Dissatisfaction - discontent - class warfare - this is all sounding about right. This is what Newt is talking about. Barack Obama is a particular breed, manufactured by the Marxist organizers of Chicago. This is the political birth place of Barack Obama

Ridgewood Views will become a semi private blog begining January 1, 2012

2011-12-09T22:47:00.001-05:00

We have decided to make this blog a semi private blog beginning January of 2012. This change will eliminate all of the spam comments we receive on a daily basis. One benefit of this change is we can automatically post your comments without having to moderate them. To remain a reader of this blog you will need to log in before reading the blog and posting comments.

If you have any questions about how to log in please e-mail us and we will help you with the process.

National Radio Financial Talk Show Host Uses Offensive Word On His Talk Show

2011-12-09T18:36:00.001-05:00

Ridgewood Residents expected to riot over the use of the offensive word.

This offensive word (Pharisees) was mentioned on the Dave Ramsey show on November 11, 2011 and no one called his show to complain, no one wrote him letters, no one cried and carried on about the word being offensive. Considering that his show has over 5 Million listeners that is quite surprising. I bet someone who reads this blog will take offense to this word.

Maybe we will have to call the waaaambulance as Dave says when he has a caller crying on his show about how unfair things are..... for our Ridgewood friends.

Dave we agree with you 100% and we are also having fun with these miscreants and we enjoy reading the comments from these sick people on our blog.

Governor Chris Christie responds to hecklers

2011-12-08T07:51:00.000-05:00

During a speech promoting Mitt Romney's campaign, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heckled by protesters.

http://youtu.be/7U_4VxuvRik

Yellow Blog and it's bloggers respond to new group

2011-12-07T16:49:00.002-05:00

Village residents unsatisfied with their local government have formed a group with the goal of a leadership change, setting their sights on spring elections. Citizens for a Better Ridgewood have specific grievances with recent Village Council decisions and perceived infrastructural neglect, as well as formalizing both short-term and long-term goals. About 20 residents and local business owners attended the organizational meeting.

Click the link below to read the story on northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/topstories/ridgewood/135169158_Ridgewood_residents_plan_to_challenge_Village_Hall.html?page=all

It didn't take very long before the Yellow Blog posted this story and the comments began. The story was posted at 3:00 PM. The first comment was posted 8 minutes later as no doubt the blog administrator Foytlin alerted his readers by text, email and phone about the story.

Killion and company must not have much to do since they have time to post comments on the yellow blog. In less than an hour and a half there were 14 comments. It's funny to read the numbskull's comments over there, you can actually sense their desperation to try to stop this group.
`

Can You Spot Liberal Bias In The Media?

2011-12-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

Here we have two sets of headlines. One set is from January 2004. At that time the unemployment rate had dropped to 5.7%. President George W. Bush was just getting his reelection campaign started.

The other set of headlines is from last week, when we got the news that the U.S. unemployment rate had dropped 0.4%. This news came at the same time President Obama was getting his 2012 reelection campaign started
.
So below are the two sets of headlines. Can you tell me which was from 2004 and which was from last week? Each headline is a link so you can check the stories for yourself.

The President’s Jobless Recovery
Frustrated Job Seekers Cause Jobless Rate To Drop
Economy Adds Few New Jobs
Low Jobless Rate Reflects Lost Hope
US Jobless Rate Drops But For Wrong Reasons

Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.6% Raising Hopes
Jobless Rate Drop Could Boost Obama
Obama Gets Economic Indicator He Can Crow About
Good News On Job Front For Obama
Jobless Rate Lowest In 2.5 Years

Yea I know that wasn’t much of a test .. not with the Obama name spread across the place. But take a good look at the headlines to see how the news was treated.
Of particular interest are three of the headlines in the Bush column:

“Frustrated Job Seekers Cause Jobless Rate to Drop”
“Low Jobless Rate Reflects Lost Hope”
“US Jobless Rate Drops But For Wrong Reasons”

You see, when the unemployment rate dropped to 5.7% under Bush the stories indicate that 310,000 people had left the workforce. Since they were no longer either working or looking for jobs, they simply weren’t counted in the unemployment numbers.

But look at the headlines for 2011!!!! We have phrases like “Raising Hopes,” “Crow About,” “Good News,” and “Boost Obama.”

The unemployment rate drops to 5.7% under Bush and we see the words “Lost Hope”, “Frustrated Job Seekers” and “Jobless Recovery.”

But you will hear people say, over 310,000 people left the workforce when those Bush numbers were reported.” Well, yea, that right. But do you also know that the very same government stats that brought us the 8.6% unemployment rate that is “Raising Hopes” showed that 315,000 people left the workforce? Yea you can almost taste and smell the bias!

A 5.7% unemployment rate with 300,000 people leaving the workplace equals “Lost Hope.”
An 8.6% unemployment rate with 315,000 people leaving the workplace equals “Raising Hopes.”

Naa the media isn't biased or is it?

The latest video from Andrew Klavan - Wall Street On Trial

2011-12-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

Letters To The Editor Show Residents Are Not Happy With Village Manager Ken Gabbert

2011-12-05T07:41:00.009-05:00

In the last few weeks letters to the editor have been critical of the Village Manager. In case you may have missed one or two we have provided links to these letters below:

Village manager 'accountable' to Ridgewood Thursday, November 10, 2011

Snowstorm was mismanaged November 10, 2011

A Remembrance of Things Past: What a Difference a Week Makes November 14, 2011

Village cleanup services in decline November 25, 2011

Council needs to get itself together November 25, 2011

Resident Says Leaf Pickup Isn't Working December 1, 2011

‘taxes go up, services go down’ December 2, 2011

When will the Village Council realize that residents have lost confidence in Ken Gabbert? How many letters to the Editor or residents speaking at Village Council meetings is it going to take before the Council does what they were elected to do; represent the voters of the Village. Ken Gabbert was a poor choice when he was appointed Manager in November 2009 and he has proven that he is not able to manage the Village effectively.

It's time to move on. It's time for this Council to tell Ken Gabbert. Ken, we don't know how we are going to get along without you but beginning January 2012 we will no longer need your services.
`

Barack Obama's 2008 Campagin - A Campaign of Deception

2011-12-04T16:39:00.001-05:00

In a 2008 campaign speech, Barack Obama proclaimed: “I'll make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business. No more secrecy. That is a commitment that I make to you as president.”

Like many politicians including Obama, their actions do not fulfilling their promises. The latest bit of transparency news to come our way has to do with Operation Fast and Furious. Right now it looks like basic details is about all anyone can expect to get, thanks to the Obama administration which is now sealing court records of the details of the death of this U.S. Border patrol agent. So we have the most transparent administration in history locking up this information and throwing away the key, leaving the public and the media wondering exactly what role the Obama administration played in the death of this Border patrol agent.

But this dosen’t come as a shock, based on the history of the Obama administration thus far. Did you know that the federal government’s 35 largest agencies actually decreased the number of fulfilled FOIA requests by more than 12,400?

How’s this for irony: “The Obama administration censored 194 pages of internal e-mails about its Open Government Directive,” according to the Associated Press.

Within the first month of Obama’s administration, he was already granting waivers for his lobbyist ban.

The administration, according to insiders, has developed a reputation for “ruthlessly prosecuting whistleblowers.”

And remember the Black Panther voter intimidation case? The Obama administration illegally refused to comply with subpoenas and FOIA requests for information about why the case was dismissed by the Justice Department.

These are just some of the many examples that I could throw out to show how Barack Obama is full of crap. He campaigned on transparency but he has run the least transparent government, perhaps, in modern history.

He can run a campaign based on not being a tax and spend liberal, but he spends at record-shattering levels. I know it’s cliché but actions speak louder than words. Too bad that most of the American people don’t have time to follow up on his actions and simply rely on his words as their source of information. Ignorance is clearly is bliss.
`

Unemployment rate plummets while the stock market soars -- happy days are here again!!!

2011-12-02T15:43:00.001-05:00

If you believe that then you must believe in the tooth fairy. The DOW has gone up a considerable amount this week. I’m also sure you heard that this is a sure sign that our economy is really on the road to recovery thanks to the incredible brilliance and efforts of the world’s greatest economic mind, President Barack Obama.

Sorry … that’s not exactly what has happened here. Let’s try to make it simple.

Europe is on the ropes .. especially nations like Greece, Italy and Spain. Their social welfare state experiments have proven to be too expensive to sustain. The experiment with the Euro is pretty much doomed to failure and the so-called EuroZone is in real trouble. Why is this troubling for America?

To many American corporations earning as much as 50% or more of their profits overseas, a major disruption in the European economy will translate to our economy at home. This is bad news for a president running for reelection when the voters are focusing on the economy. So Obama puts the pressure on. . American dollars start flowing into the International Monetary Fund in increasing amounts; money that will be available for European bailouts. The world’s central banks have given European banks easier access to dollars easing credit for troubled national economies. In other words the problem has only been delayed. No reform. Just easier access to money. Investors see a window of opportunity for stock market earnings and rush to buy … the sell off will come later.

In the meantime Obama just hopes that he has managed to delay the inevitable in Europe until after the 2012 election.

SOMEONE'S GONNA PAY FOR ME & MY KIDS!!!

2011-12-01T15:44:00.003-05:00

Angel Adams - I Got 15 Kids & 3 Baby daddys. Somebody needs to pay for all my children..."

Barack Obama has officially set another record!

2011-11-30T10:02:00.003-05:00

No, this one is not a new spending record. This one is all about his approval ratings. The latest Gallup presidential job approval index shows that Barack Obama’s approval rating has actually dropped below that of Jimmy Carter’s, something everyone thought could never be done. This earns Obama the worst approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history.

But Mr. Obama need not worry, ..... He’ll still get about 95% of the black vote next year, along with all of the moochers and leaches as long as he continues to talk about taking money away from the evil high-achievers and give it to them. So … there’s hope. There’s always hope for Democrat. All you have to do is make more and more Americans dependent on the federal government.

I wish I could say that Obama’s re-election chances in 2012 are slim, but I just can’t. He he has been a horrible president, but he’s an awfully good campaigner. Plus, I’m afraid that these poll numbers show an overall frustration with government. Congress is also polling at historic lows. This may mean that a lot of folks in the middle simply don’t care, give up and will not show up to the polls in November.

The ones who will show up and support Obama are those with someone else’s money in the game – they have government benefits that need protecting and they want these politicians to follow through on their promises to seize more wealth from the evil rich people! This is what will be driving people to the polls to vote for a guy like Obama.

Here is something that is is truly amazing. Obama is running a campaign ad for some website called JoinObama.com. In the ad he says that his reelection is not going to depend on what he does. It will depend on what “you do.” Amazing, isn’t it? Obama telling us that it’s not up to him to do the things that would make Americans want to keep him in office for another four years. It’s up to his supporters to get out there and work for his reelection no matter what.

Has the Dependency Endgame Arrived? The Democrat campaign for 2012 orbits a grim singularity. by John Hayward

2011-11-29T09:25:00.001-05:00

Have we reached the point of no return, where Democrats can cobble together a political perpetual-motion machine from those who work for the State, those who depend upon the largesse of the State, and those who worship the State? I have the sense we’re a few elections away from the optimal launch date.

Obama’s excesses have jump-started this new political strategy out of desperation. The middle class is still too large, and too keenly aware that the Democrat future is a death trap. The methods necessary to cloud their senses in 2012 will be… what’s the word? Divisive.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47792

National Socialist Left is essentially looking for a time when the Liberty of choice will fall by the way side and the tyranny of collectivism will take over.

9-9-9 The Movie - Slaying the Tax Monster

2011-11-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

Dear Patriots and Supporters,

My “9-9-9 Plan” will put Americans back to work and jumpstart this economy.

I am proud to announce that my campaign has just released “9-9-9 The Movie" to help spread the simple message of my "9-9-9 Plan” to every voter in America.

Americans know that the current tax system is broken. It suffocates American business growth and is a leading cause for our slow economic recovery over the past few years.

So, what would happen if we scrapped all 82,000 pages of the current tax code and simplified things with my "9-9-9 Plan"?

With the “9-9-9 Plan" the economy would accelerate faster than Barrack Obama on his way out of town.

We would add two trillion dollars to GDP, and create six million jobs.

Business investment would increase by a third.

Wages would go up 10%, at the same time federal revenues would go up 15%.

Please donate whatever you can today...

...and tell your friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and everyone in your address book about my new movie! Help spread the word and help us get America working again!

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Herman Cain

Reader Looks At Pedestrain Crossings in Ridgewood and Greenwich CT

2011-11-27T10:30:00.007-05:00

I thought I'd submit a photograph taken earlier this year up in Greenwich CT. It shows a mid block crosswalk in front of the Greenwich CT town hall. When I drive around Greenwich, I get the distinct impression that the town and police department take pedestrian safety VERY seriously and I will be ticketed if I break the law, period.

The message is loud and clear up there. Ridgewood by comparison seems far more concerned with maintaining the traffic flow of cars.

Notice several things in this photograph:

The crosswalk itself is clearly marked.

They have a movable sign in the street which clearly states "State Law - STOP - For Pedestrians in Crosswalk"

This sign has a font size that allows it to be read and understood from quite a distance.

The movable sign is where it's supposed to be (novel idea), not on the sidewalk, down the block, in the bushes, etc…

There is a second permanent sign affixed to a dedicated pole - wow what a brilliant idea…. I sign that’s there even over the winter when the streets need to be plowed of snow.

Notice the two orange flashers just above that permanent sign? Those are activated by one of these crosswalk buttons on the pole!

The permanent sign is approximately 18"x24" - You absolutely CAN'T miss that sign or what it says even from a significant distance away.

The center street lines form a tear drop shape that funnels the traffic down to one lane in each direction at the crosswalk.

This is designed to reduce the risk of one driver stopping for a pedestrian in the crosswalk and a second driver swerving around and hitting the pedestrian.

In my opinion this image clearly shows a marked difference in priorities between two fairly similar towns. It's very clear that the town of Greenwich has thought about AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ACTUALLY acted on the issue of pedestrian safety in a proactive way.

Compare this image to ANY intersection in the CBD or the rest of Ridgewood. Unfortunately Ridgewoods signage and traffic flow patterns are a DEADLY joke in comparison.

The answer to the pedestrian fatality issue in Ridgewood is simple but requires some money from taxpayers and refocused effort from the PD. The town needs to give drivers the clear message that pedestrian safety laws will be strictly enforced. Oh, and YES, pedestrians must follow the law as well.

Tickets for jaywalking, etc should be handed out as well.

What issue should the Village Council focus on next?

2011-11-25T21:01:00.002-05:00

Now that the Valley Hospital issue is off the table, at least for a while, what should the Village Council focus on next? Many readers have spoken about the pedestrian and car problem in the business district.The Village has had a horrendous history with an unusual number of pedestrians being struck by cars. Why is Ridgewood experiencing a higher than normal instance of pedestrians being struck by cars? What can be done to stop or reduce this problem? It appears by the comments being made here and other places this issue should be a high priority for the Council.

The Super Committtee Failure

2011-11-25T10:40:00.001-05:00

Many people don't realize the fact that the Super Committee wasn’t even talking about real cuts in the size and scope of our federal government. All that was being asked of them was to grow the federal government a little bit slower but not really reduce spending, just don’t increase it quite as fast! Here’s the bottom line: Should we raise taxes so that government spending can grow by more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years?

The real reason that we are sitting in this position is because Congress has failed in its duty of passing a budget. How many Constitutional responsibilities does the congress really have? This is a primary one, and they they failed to accomplish it! It has been well over 900 days since Congress has passed a budget. Republicans have had control of the House for a little over 300 of those days. It seems silly to suddenly blame our inability to reconcile on budget matters when the Democrats had plenty of time to do things without a Republican House .. but the Democrats chose not to because it wasn’t politically expedient.

So now we are going to see both sides try to blame each other for the failure of the super committee. Both sides will make claims and hope their attack in the minds of the American people .. in other words, who will Americans ultimately blame? While the ultimate loser is the American people.

2011-11-24T06:21:00.000-05:00

We hope everyone has a happy and joyful Thanksgiving with their family, friends and loved ones.

Andrew and Susan

Council Votes No To Valley Renewal

2011-11-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

The Village Council voted unanimously this evening against the H zone Ordinance proposed by the Planning Board.

Obama on Being a One-Term President, Solyndra

2011-11-21T17:11:00.002-05:00

Obama says that Americans are not better off than they were four years ago. More precisely, he says:

George Stephanopoulos, ABC News: "And a lot of anger out there. There's so many people who simply don't think they're better off than they were four years ago. How do you convince them that they are?

Barack Obama: "Well, I don't think they're better off than they were four years ago. They're not better off than they were before Lehman's collapse, before the financial crisis, before this extraordinary recession that we're going through. I think that what we've seen is that we've been able to make steady progress to stabilize the economy, but the unemployment rate is still way too high. And that's why it's so critical for us to make sure that we are taking every action we can take to put people back to work."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02opbu7tcHw&feature=player_detailpage
`

Super Failure of the Supercommittee

2011-11-21T16:55:00.000-05:00

The Supercommittee, the group our power politicians came up to do some budget trimming is not going to meet their deadline this week. This was no surprise. This committee was designed to fail. And the spending cuts – or sequestration, as they call it – will not happen. They will be legislated out of existence before they go into effect in 2013.

And we the taxpayer, will hear from both parties as they give us their spin on this failure. The Democrats will say that the Republicans were insistent on cutting entitlements. The fact is it will be virtually impossible to bring our budget under control without entitlement reform, and that reform can certainly take place without hurting seniors or those approaching their retirement years. But the Democrats aren’t about to give up on this campaign tact.

The Republicans will blame the Democrats for their insistence on tax increases (on the rich who Democrats say don't pay their fair share) and refusal to reign in entitlements. Right on both counts.

And while we are listening to whining Democrats, just ask yourself, with Obama increasing federal spending by over 25% since he took office, why can’t we find some way, anyway, to cut spending – if only by three percent – now?

Tax increases? Are you kidding me? Do you cure alcoholism by pouring the drunk another glass of whisky?

Has Mayor Killion Takes His Defense Of Gabberts 12% Raise To The Ridgewood Blog?

2011-11-20T09:28:00.003-05:00

If you attended or watched the August 10, 2011 you heard our Mayor defend the 12% salary increase for Village Manager Ken Gabbert by saying:

Mayor Killion said that none of the Council Members objected to union members getting pay raises of 3%; however, there are objections to the pay raises of non-union and management personnel. Dr. Gabbert has been with the Village for nearly two years and has had to address a lot of problems left by the previous Village Manager who made $191,260 plus a $7,500 bonus. In 2009, the former Village Manager received a $5,000 bonus bringing his compensation to over $200,000. Mayor Killion said that the Village Manager inherited a lot of problems and financial difficulties and he is surprised that no one complained about the former Village Manager’s salary in 2009. Mayor Killion indicated his support of the resolution.

Click here to read the August 10, 2011 meeting minutes.

Yesterday the Ridgewood Blog posted the topic for discussion below. Sure sounds alot like what our Mayor said back on August 10, 2011. Has our Mayor resorted to posting on blogs to defend Manager Gabbert? Sure looks like that to us. What would cause Mayor Killion to do this.....only one thing we can think of, he is still taking heat over this outragous pay raise.

Whats all the fuss about Ken Gabbert ?the staff of the Ridgewood blog

(RIDGEWOOD- NJ ) So with all the fuss about who gets paid what at the Village Hall we thought we would take a look at Village managers of years past for a comparison .

Funny thing is that with all the complaining about Ken Gabbert ,we found much to our surprise that the previous Village Manager Jim Ten Hoeve got paid more... much more.

And while we have the ut most respect for Mr. Ten Hove ,his checkered tenure was filled with multiply indiscretions and dalliances with Village property as well as some suggest the precedent of allowing Ridgewood Taxi to operate in an unlicensed and under insured status. Funny thing is we never heard all the screaming and yelling about him ?

Nor did we hear any of this screaming and yelling during the $9 million dollar Village Hall fiasco , especially now that we are once again being asked to pay even more to fix the over priced second rate job that was original done.

Its seems when the wind of public opinion blows to strongly in one direction there is usually something more going on. Perhaps certain candidates along with the "the usual suspects of big spenders(of your money), in town , labor and special interests have a different agenda, their agenda.

Pay Facts :

Jim Ten Hoeve

Date of Hire as Village Manager: July 1, 2004 (was Acting Village Manager from 10/1/03 through 6/30/04)

2007 - Received a 5% salary increase, effective 7/1/07 salary was $173,478; bonus was $12,500 (not in base)

2008 - Received a 5% salary increase, effective 7/1/08 salary was $182,152; bonus was $7,500 (not in base)

2009 - Received no salary increase, salary remained at $182,152; bonus was $5,000 (not in base); retired 5/31/09

Ken Gabbert

Date of Hire as Village Manager: November 2, 2009

2009 - Salary $165,000

2010 - Received a $25,000 annual stipend pro-rated from 4/14/10 through 12/31/10
Effective 11/2/10 received an $8,000 bonus out of a pool of money for bonuses for Management and Non-union employees, which was applied to his base pay, so effective 11/2/10, his salary was $173,000 (4.6% salary increase)

2011 - Effective 1/1/11, salary was $185,000 (6.5% salary increase)

Resident Suggests Replacing Killion and Wellinghurst And A Petition Recall Of Riche & Walsh

2011-11-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

Once the Village Council makes it decision on the Valley Renewal there is no reason to keep Rich or Walsh. (Rich is probably going to disgrace himself again by voting for the Planning Board Ordinance after having misled the CCR). Hopefully without this issue, the Village can come together.
Killion is not stupid enough to run again. Wellinghaus has proved himself to be an absolute zero.
Therefor I suggest that immediately after the Valley decision is made, and in accordance with Killion's suggestion, petitions should be circulated to recall both Rich and Walsh. I feel enough signatures will be gathered that when the election comes all five seats on the Council will be avaiable. And even if the petitions fall short, both of these Council members understand how unhappy we are with them, and will choose to resign.
The most important issue and the one upon which all the candidates should be judged is keeping the Village Manager. The mere fact that he can attend Council Meetings and listen to what is said about him and how he is running the Village and still take his inflated pay check is a disgrace.

Three and a Half Days

2011-11-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

The Occupy Wall Street protesters are complaining about everything from corporations to having to repay student loans. Is America the victim of its own success? Have we created a generation of self-entitled cry babies? Is it time to make these people spend three and half days in the woods so that they can appreciate what capitalism has given them?

Barack Obama believes that America has gotten lazy

2011-11-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

The fact is that the policies of our federal government has forced the United States down to #9 on the Index of Economic Freedom. We continue to slide down that list, while countries like Canada have now surpassed us. What this means is that America is looking less and less enticing as a place to start a business. Take a look at the explanation by the Index of Economic Freedom....

The government’s recent spending spree has led to fragile business confidence and crushing public debt. Interventionist responses to the economic slowdown have eroded economic freedom and long-term competitiveness.

Ongoing regulatory changes, coupled with fading confidence in the direction of government policies, discourage entrepreneurship and dynamic investment within the private sector.

Here's one Wall Street Worker's answer to the Occupy Wall Street Mob

2011-11-15T09:36:00.001-05:00

We are Wall Street. It's our job to make money. Whether it's a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn't matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable.

I didn't hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone's 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, it’s (sic) not a problem until you lose. I've never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.

Well, now the market crapped out, & even though it has come back somewhat, the government and the average Joes are still looking for a scapegoat. God knows there has to be one for everything. Well, here we are.

Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you're only going to hurt yourselves. What's going to happen when we can't find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We're going to take yours.

We get up at 5am & work till 10pm or later. We're used to not getting up to pee when we have a position. We don't take an hour or more for a lunch break. We don't demand a union. We don't retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we'll eat that.

For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We're going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America. Say goodbye to your overtime and double time and a half. I'll be hitting grounders to the high school baseball team for $5k extra a summer, thank you very much.

So now that we're going to be making $85k a year without upside, Joe Mainstreet is going to have his revenge, right? Wrong! Guess what: we're going to stop buying the new 80k car, we aren't going to leave the 35 percent tip at our business dinners anymore. No more free rides on our backs. We're going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars with a garden hose in our driveways. Our money was your money. You spent it. When our money dries up, so does yours.

The difference is, you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it. The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee might get their way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but it's really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat a**es land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom.

We aren't dinosaurs. We are smarter and more vicious than that, and we are going to survive. The question is, now that Obama & his administration are making Joe Mainstreet our food supply...will he? And will they?

Was The Crown Victoria Police Car The Best Choice For The Village?

2011-11-13T20:13:00.003-05:00

At the November 9, 2011 Village Council meeting our Council approved the purchase of the more expensive Crown Victoria Police Car with a V8 that gets 2 to 3 miles per gallon less than the Chevy Impala Police Car with a V6, both of which are on the New Jersey State Contract. The Village could have saved $4,317.93 by buying the Chevy Impala, not to mention the savings benefit of 2 to 3 miles more per gallon. In addition to the base cost of the car, equipment such as lights, radios, siren, computer, radar units and the labor to have this equipment installed on the new car can cost as much as $10,000.00.

T-0098

POLICE VEHICLES, SEDANS, FRONT/REAR

WHEEL DRIVE

Click on the link below to go to the NJ Division of Purchase and Property to see the entire web page above

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t0098_09-x-20229.shtml

T-2776

POLICE VEHICLES: SEDANS AND SPORT

UTILITY VEHICLES

Click on the link below to go to the NJ Division of Purchase and Property to see the entire web page above
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t2776_11-x-21827.shtml

Resident Asks Council What Can Be Done To Rescind Village Manager's 12% Pay Raise

2011-11-11T19:02:00.001-05:00

Village Manager Ken Gabbert Explains to The Village Council Why He Missed OEM Meetings During The Halloween Weekend Storm

2011-11-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

Resident Questions Council About Managers Absence During Storm & Salary Increase

2011-11-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

Village Council Meeting - November 9, 2011

Will November 2012 Be The End Of A Failed Presidency?

2011-11-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

We have less than one year until the 2012 election. I am that convinced this election could make or break our Republic. We simply cannot survive another four years of Barack Obama in the White House.

Today, only 18% of Americans say that they are better off than when Barack Obama took office. So much for the hope and change. Back in February 2009, Obama told MSNBC that if he doesn’t have our economy back in decent shape in three years, “then there’s going to be a one term proposition.” It’s been three years since he was elected and just look at where our economy stands.

The biggest boost to our economy that Obama could ever provide would be for him to announce that he is not be seeking re-election for President of the United States. You would see an immediate boost in the stock market and in economic activity. I believe that companies with expansion plans would start hiring in days. It would help even more if he would take Dodd/Frank and ObamaCare with him.

Some people may think I am crazy but then I’m not the only one who feels this way. According to the latest Gallup polls, voters in 12 key swing states “substantially” feel that a generic Republican candidate for president would do a better job than Obama of handling the federal deficit and debt, and are slightly more likely to prefer the Republican on the issue of unemployment.

Here are a few reasons why …

Spending

Obama has managed to increase the enormous spending habits of George Bush by nearly 25%. From a historical perspective, the federal deficit in Reagan's final year in office was 2.9% of GDP. It is now more than three times that size. When it comes to our debt, Bush increased our national debt $4.9 trillion over eight years. Meanwhile, Obama managed to increase our debt over $4.2 trillion in less than three years. In fact, any day now, we will hit out $15 trillion debt milestone. Who will be paying for this debt? Your children and your grandchildren.

Unemployment

Things aren’t looking so good for people who are searching for jobs. The Federal government economists and private analysts have all revised downward their projections for economic growth and unemployment. Three months ago, it was believed that we may head into the 2012 election with an unemployment rate slightly below 8%. Now, it looks more like 8.5-8.7% unemployment through next year. Some economists don’t even believe the picture to be that Rosy, predicting 9% unemployment for five more years. If hiring continues at this minimum pace, our country would not return to full employment until 2023! A labor department official testified that if we continue to add jobs at 80,000 per month (like we did in October), that we would “never” return to a full employment rate.

Barack Obama has proven to be incapable of creating private sector jobs. Despite what his administration, campaign and other Democrats would like you to believe, this has nothing to do with stubborn Republicans. We seem to forget that Democrats had control of the House and Senate as well as the White House until January of THIS year! What was stopping Democrats from creating jobs before then? The answer is clearly nothing.

Wall Street

For all the talk of the evils of Wall Street, one should note that Wall Street is doing better under the Class Warrior and Chief than ever before. Obama’s children are upset that Wall Street (the 1%) is doing so well while they (the 99%) “suffer.”

The largest banks are larger today than when Obama took office and are returning to the level of profits they were making before the depths of the financial crisis in 2008, according to government data.
Wall Street firms , either independent companies or the high-flying trading arms of banks, are doing even better. They’ve made more profit in the first 21 / 2 years of the Obama administration than they did during the entire Bush administration, industry data show.
Since Obama became president, the largest, $100 billion-plus banks, which were at the center of the financial crisis, have grown in size by 10 percent.

No wonder. When you have the government and the taxpayers to bail you out of bad decisions, how hard can it be to make money? As they said, privatize the gains, socialize the losses. Time for this to stop as well. Maybe the failure of MFCapital will be a trend … being responsible for your own mistakes.

Taxes

After twenty years of economic malaise, Ronald Reagan led this nation to economic prosperity. Part of his strategy included reducing marginal income tax rates from 70% to 28%. In the years that followed, 21 million new jobs were created, GDP growth went from negative 0.3% to growing 4.1% and unemployment dropped from 7.1% to 5.5%. Barack Obama seems intent on implementing the entirely opposite strategy. He wants to increase taxes (Bush tax cuts expire, millionaires surtax) and use class warfare as weapon to redistribute wealth.

After it is all said and done Obama will be a one term President by his own hand.

National Alert System Test

2011-11-08T12:25:00.001-05:00

Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System

Wednesday, November 9 at 2:00 PM EST

FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test on November 9, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

Herman Cain in the spot light!

2011-11-04T14:33:00.000-04:00

The latest Rasmussen polls show Herman Cain still leading the GOP pack with 26% of the vote. Mitt Romney follows with 23% and Newt Gingrich with 14%.

What about the allegations against Herman Cain? Here are some of the latest updates …

Over a period of just three and a half days, NBC, CBS and ABC devoted an incredible 50 stories to the allegations against Herman Cain. In contrast, over a similar period these networks mostly ignored far more substantial and serious scandals relating to Bill Clinton.

How big is the discrepancy? The Herman Cain campaign is now considering legal action against Politico.

The National Restaurant Association’s chairman during Herman Cain’s tenure says that the sexual harassment allegations are merely “a hatchet job.”

Did Mayor Killion Violate the Falkner Act?

2011-11-04T12:20:00.001-04:00

Killion statement at the 2:28 time stamp :

" Just to answer your question I was there and I think that was the I directed Dylan to do the website and we talked about ahh putting out the reverse.....

I have a few questions Mr. Mayor

1) Is it not a violation of the Falkner act for a Mayor or Councilperson to direct any employee to do anything.

2) Who was in charge of this meeting in Mr. Gabberts absence, You?

3) Was the entire Council aware that Mr. Gabbert was not available to do his job during this emergency?

4) And finally, what was more important than running the emergency operations of the Village that prevented Mr. Gabbert from doing what he is well paid to do?
`

Councilman Aronsohn Questions Village Manager about missing important Village Management meetings during weekend storm

2011-11-03T08:30:00.001-04:00

Village Manager does everything he can to avoid answering Councilman Aronshon's questions. Mayor Killion tries to minimize the fact that the Village Manager was missing at the Ridgewood meetings. Could it be that our Village Manager, who also serves as Mayor of Upper Saddle River, was managing things in Upper Saddle River and NOT in Ridgewood.

Who really pays the lions share of income taxes?

2011-11-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

Income Taxes have become a hot topic of debate lately, thanks to Obama’s Occupy Wall Street Mobs --- these idiots don't know the first thing about taxes. They complain that the rich don't pay enough taxes.... their knowledge begins and ends with this: The rich need to pay more taxes.

You’ll see their signs, “eat the rich” or “make them pay.” So if you are unfortunate enough to engage with one of Obama’s children, be armed with the latest facts on the rich and taxes. From Michael Walsh at National Review:

In tax year 2009, the top 1 percent of filers — those “millionaires and billionaires” with adjusted gross annual incomes of more $343,927 whom the Occupy Wall Street rabble is demonizing — paid nearly 37 percent of federal income taxes.

The top 10 percent with incomes over $112,124 (say, a New York City cop and a teacher filing jointly) paid more than 70 percent of income taxes.

The top 50 percent (starting with impressive income of over $32,396) paid nearly 98 percent of all federal taxes.

Here are a few more interesting stats from the Tax Foundation … :

In 2009, the top 1 percent of taxpayers—1,379,822 of them—paid more than the bottom 90% combined. Geographically, this is equivalent to a city the size of San Antonio, TX paying more in income taxes than every person living west of the Mississippi.

Likewise, the top 0.1 percent—138,000 taxpayers—paid a greater share than the bottom 75%. In other words, a city the size of Dayton, OH would have paid more than a country the size of Germany.

But don't try to confuse Obama and the Occupy Wall Street Mobs with the facts. The wealth envy campaign is based on hate, not facts.

PSE&G fall storm update: Oct. 31, 2011 at 12 p.m.

2011-10-31T16:10:00.002-04:00

-- PSE&G has restored power to 70 percent of the half million customers impacted by the storm.
-- The number of customers without power is about 190,000 at this time, with crews continuing to work around the clock to restore service.
-- The company expects to have 95 percent of its customers restored by midnight Wednesday.
-- Counties most affected include Bergen (87,000), Essex (62,700) and Passaic (9,800) due to the extensive amount of tree and power line damage.
-- PSE&G has 237 crews and 212 tree crews working around the clock to restore power. In addition to its own crews, the utility has arranged for 60 crews from utilities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, to assist in the restoration effort as well as 119 mutual aid and contractor crews.

Peter Schiff Speaks for 1 Percent at Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-31T12:46:00.000-04:00

Is Barack Obama still standing behind his drum-beating Occupy Wall Street OWS mob? Oh yea!

On Friday, Obama’s biggest supporter Jay Carney said: “The president has said that he understands peoples’ frustration, he understands that those frustrations are felt very broadly by the American people — at least those frustrations that have to do with the fact that the economy isn’t strong enough, the fact that unemployment is too high and the fact that Washington is dysfunctional.”

I find this a bit strange … I can't recall Obama ever stating that he understood the frustrations of the Tea Partiers. Can it be that I missed that one. I don't think so.....

On the campaign trail last week, Obama adopted the 1% talking point into his dialogue on the rich needing to pay their fair share in order to kick-start job creation.

The problem for Obama is that the longer his mob is allowed to kick and scream and beat their drums, the more unruly they become the more their actions will start to reflect back on Obama himself and the Democrats. It is way too easy to come up stories, day after day, about these mobs and their antics …

Occupy Madison Loses Permit Because Protesters were "Publicly Masturbating"
Occupiers In Phoenix Hand Out Fliers Instructing People When To Shoot “Fascist” Police Officers…
Occupy Wall Street Protester Threatens Fox 5 News Reporter
Fiend attacks 'Occupy' protester in her tent
Occupy Denver Protester Tries To Knock Police Officer Off His Motorcycle…
Occupy Wall Street: “If We Fail, This Civilization That Is Known As America Will Collapse, It Will Turn Into a Police State”…
OccupyChicago Occupies City Hall: 'Revolution Will Require Collapsing the American Government'
Occupy DC to secede from the United States?

In the words of Nancy Pelosi, “God bless them.”

The movement is also reflecting poorly on the ObamaMedia. It has become fairly apparent that the ObamaMedia is not only more willing to cover Obama’s mobs than they were the Tea Partiers, but they are more likely to have positive or at least sympathetic coverage of the children. You can take a look at the study right here …

The bottom line is that Obama’s mobs don’t have a clue how to grow our economy. I doubt that most of them, Obama included, have ever written a pay check. I doubt that most of them actually pay federal income taxes which would make them part of the 47% of Americans who do not pay any federal income taxes. I doubt that most of them could even tell you the difference between capitalism, socialism and fascism.

You’ll enjoy this video of a self-proclaimed 1%er interviewing one of Obama’s supporters in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. Some of these individuals have valid points of concerns but are too ignorant to realize that they are directing their anger toward the wrong people. Others just resort to name calling or sheer idiocy.

PSE&G fall storm update: Oct. 31, 2011 at 9 a.m

2011-10-31T10:11:00.000-04:00

PSE&G has restored power to 70 percent of the half million customers impacted by the storm.

The number of customers without power is about 145,000 at this time, with crews continuing to work around the clock to restore service.
The company expects to have 95 percent of its customers restored by midnight Wednesday.
Counties most affected include Bergen (66,000), Essex (46,500) and Passaic (10,900) due to the extensive amount of tree and power damage.
PSE&G has 150 crews and 212 tree crews working around the clock to restore power. In addition to its own crews, the utility has arranged for 60 crews from utilities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, to assist in the restoration effort as well as 100 contractor crews.

HALLOWEEN SAFETY:
THERE ARE MANY DOWNED WIRES IN PARTS OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY. IF PARENTS PERMIT CHILDREN TO TRICK OR TREAT TODAY, THEY SHOULD EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION, SUPERVISE THE CHILDREN, AND ALLOW THEM TO BE OUT ONLY DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS.

Downed wires should always be considered “live.” STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOWNED LINES. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything with which it might be in contact. To report a downed wire or other visible equipment damage, call 1-800-436-PSEG (7734). Provide the street as well as the nearest cross street.
Check on the safety of your elderly neighbors. See if they are safe and if they need extra blankets or other help. Contact local officials if assistance is needed.
Caution: Do not try to use a gas oven or range to heat a room. The appliance will deplete oxygen from the air, causing asphyxiation or deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
Also be cautious when using space heaters. Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions and heed warning labels. Be sure all members of the household understand how to operate space heaters safely.

PSE&G fall storm update: Oct. 30, 2011 at 9:30 p.m.

2011-10-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

Safety First:-- Whether you call it Mischief Night, Goosey Night or Cabbage Night, tonight is a dangerous night for children to engage in this pre-Halloween ritual. There are many downed wires that may not be visible at night. Children and teens should stay in tonight for their safety and the safety of others and parents should ensure they do so.

-- If parents allow their children to trick or treat it should be limited to daylight hours and done with extreme caution. Parents should supervise children at all times and educate them about the dangers of downed power lines.

-- -- Downed wires should always be considered “live.” STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOWNED LINES. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything that it might be in contact with. To report a downed wire and other visible equipment damage, call 1-800-436-PSEG and tell PSE&G the nearest cross street.

-- Check in on your elderly neighbors to see if they are alright and to see if they need extra blankets or additional assistance. Contact local officials if assistance is needed.

-- Do not try to use a gas oven or range to heat a room. The appliance will deplete oxygen from the air, causing asphyxiation or deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.

-- Be cautious when using space heaters. Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions and heed warning labels. Be sure all members of the household understand how to operate space heaters safely.

Outage Update:

-- The number of customers without power is about 260,000 at this time, with crews continuing to work around the clock to restore service.

-- The majority of outages are in Bergen County (about 104,900), Essex County (90,000) and Passaic County (21,800) due to the extensive amount of tree and power line damage.

-- PSE&G is using every available resource, including 160 out-of-state utility and contractor crews.

-- Customers are reminded to stay away from downed power lines.

-- To report a power outage, call PSE&G’s Customer Service line: 1-800-436-PSEG.

-- Electric crews work to restore power to the largest numbers of customers first, taking into account “priority” customers, such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and sewer facilities, communications facilities (TV, radio, and telephone), and customers on life-sustaining medical equipment. At the same time, the utility restores power to homes and businesses, starting with the circuits serving the largest number of customers.

PSE&G fall storm update: Oct. 29, 2011 at 10:00 p.m.

2011-10-30T08:03:00.000-04:00

PSE&G is reporting about 341,000 customers without power because of the storm. Counties with the most outages include Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union and Middlesex.
Because of the number of damaged trees and downed power lines, the utility is advising that full restoration may not occur until Wednesday.

PSE&G fall storm update: Oct. 29, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.

2011-10-29T21:27:00.000-04:00

The number of PSE&G customers without power due to the wet, heavy snow and extensive tree damage is about 350,000, with most of the outages in the company’s northern and central counties including Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Union. The utility provides electric service to 2.2 million customers.

The state’s largest electric and gas utility has extra personnel and supplies on hand to assure that storm-related emergencies are handled safely and promptly.

Even so, customers should be prepared for potentially lengthy outages. Crews will begin to restore service once the weather conditions improve and it is safe to work on overhead electric lines. The snow and fallen trees have made traveling treacherous.

Downed wires should always be considered “live.” STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOWNED LINES. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything that it might be in contact with. To report a downed wire and other visible equipment damage, call 1-800-436-PSEG and tell PSE&G the nearest cross street.

To report a power outage, call PSE&G’s Customer Service line: 1-800-436-PSEG.

Electric crews work to restore power to the largest numbers of customers first, taking into account “priority” customers, such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and sewer facilities, communications facilities (TV, radio, and telephone), and customers on life-sustaining medical equipment. At the same time, the utility restores power to homes and businesses, starting with the circuits serving the largest number of customers.

The NEW Hope and Change!

2011-10-28T13:02:00.000-04:00

The Occupy Movement is Obama's Movement

2011-10-27T18:07:00.000-04:00

President Obama should be very proud. The entire occupy movement belongs to him and his wealth envy croud the Democrats. It is a leftist, anti-wealth, anti-capitalist movement inspired by Obama’s class warfare rhetoric over the past three years. These childish and ignorant know-it-alls actually believe that the rich don’t pay taxes and that Wall Street is to blame for our financial crisis.

When you tell them that people who earn over $380,000 a year earn about 18.9% of all earned income, but pay nearly 40% of all income taxes, they give you that brook trout look (mouth hanging open with glassy eyes). When you tell them that the Republicans tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but were blocked by Democrats ,principally Barney Frank, no less than four times over the past ten years, they look at you with the face of complete incomprehension.

We have a president who despises capitalism. The protesters echo that. We have a president who believes that wealth belongs to the government, and that the government is the ultimate decider on how it will be distributed. The occutards echo that.

In some respects it would be sad to see the occupy movement end. These children are constant reminder of the inevitable results of Obama’s class warfare efforts and what is sure to be a pure wealth-envy class warfare campaign.

Occupy Wall Street Trust Fund Baby Ranting

2011-10-26T08:51:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the rant from Conan the Occupier in New York City. If you haven’t seen it yet here it is.... His name is Edward T. Hall III, and he’s a grad student at Columbia in NYC. If you have trouble understanding this idiot as he cries and screams, let me help you with a partial translation. The theme: He doesn’t seem to like rich people. He’s referring to the people in the business high-rises surrounding Zuccotti Park …

“F—k these people up there. F—k these A$$holes and their f—king yachts. They aren’t (unintelligible) and they are not in our f—king country. They are not American. Get them the f—k out of here. Get them the f—k out of here ‘cause this is ours. This is liberty plaza.”

Now bear in mind that through this entire rant this kid is crying and screaming at the top of his lungs. Also bear in mind that this kid is a trust fund baby. He has wealthy parents and has neither had, nor will he have for some time to come the necessity of working to sustain himself. He’s a professional student … now with some actual teaching responsibilities at Columbia.

“We can’t wait.”

2011-10-25T17:28:00.000-04:00

Obama apparently can no longer wait for Congress to act, so he is taking things into his own hands. How, well he is on another campaign trip! Yes, campaign trip where he has rolled out his latest slogan: “We can’t wait.”

Obama explains, "We can't wait for Congress to act, so we're going to take the steps that we can take.” Will those steps be within the Constitution? That remains to be seen. Surely you don’t think that Obama has any respect for our Constitution, do you? He’s a RULER, remember?

The ruler makes the rules not the Constitution. For some Democrats recently, that doesn’t seem to be an issue any more. The constitution is simply an obstacle in their way of achieving Obama’s version of the American Dream. Obama is right … we can’t wait.

We Can’t Wait for the private sector to create jobs for Americans ready to work.
We Can’t Wait for a president with respect for our Constitution.
We Can’t Wait for a president with an appreciation of the power of the free market.
We Can’t Wait to have a president who does not eat, breathe and sleep with labor unions.
We Can’t Wait to bring spending back in line

Oh well .. you get the idea. I guess the bottom line is that "We Can’t Wait" to correct the massive error America made four years ago. We introduced a virus into the bloodstream of governance … and now the voters are cure.

Occupy Wall Street Mob Update

2011-10-24T19:46:00.001-04:00

Here is a look at what the Occupy Wall Street Mobs were up to this weekend … Their socialist and communist handlers must be proud of what their useful idiots are doing.

Occupy San Francisco: Let People Print Own Money
More American Flag Desecration From The Wall Street Occupiers….
Moonbat Mom Of The Year Abandons Banker Husband, Four Children To Join Wall Street Occupiers…
Protesters Occupy GE CEO Jeff Immelt's Connecticut Front Lawn
Occupy Oakland: It’s This “F’ed-Up System That Makes Us Racist And Violent”…
Occupy Dayton: “F’ The Military, F’ Your Flag And F’ The Police”…
Econ. Professor Explains to Occupy Crowd How Marxist America Will Work

I sure hope that they keep it up! I hope they are undeterred by the cold weather. The longer their ignorance is on display, the more Americans will realize that we need to elect someone in 2012 who knows how to shut these people up by getting them a paycheck, rather than pandering to their ill-conceived ideals of wealth redistribution.

The economy - Where did it all go wrong?

2011-10-24T07:18:00.000-04:00

When China & North Korea on your side, you can be positive something has gone horribly wrong. But this is now the claim to fame of the Occupy Wall Street mob. The Wall Street Journal reports …

North Korea’s state news agency weighed in on the Occupy Wall Street protests Thursday, highlighting the “stern judgment” of “millions of people” against a capitalist system that “brings exploitation, oppression, unemployment and poverty to the popular masses.” …
With no apparent sense of irony, The Korean Central News Agency says that in capitalist society “1% of privileged class is granted all preferential treatment while 99% of working masses are forced into poverty and death.” …
In the final few paragraphs, the report appears to start channeling Karl Marx in predicting the decline and ultimate fall of the “exploiting class” under the weight of “the socio-class contradiction of capitalism.”
“The end of capitalism is one of inevitabilities of history,” it signs off.

The Chinese, North Koreans and many other nations around this world are excited at the thought of the United States fading as an economic superpower. And the confusing part is we are doing this to ourselves. That’s what makes this all so tragic. We elected a community organizer to be the President of the United States at a time when our economy was in need of life support. Instead of letting Americans do what they do best, Barack Obama’s go-to response was to increase the size and scope of government and oppress the private sector with regulations, failed stimulus plans and more deficit spending. Thanks to Obama there will be more misery on the way.....

2011-10-18T21:47:00.001-04:00

Herman Cain on the Road to the White House

2011-10-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

Today Herman Cain is the only Republican candidate that beats Barack Obama in a head-to-head match-up: Cain attracting 43% support, while Obama earns 41%.

The latest Insider-Advantage poll shows Herman Cain leading in Iowa with 26% of the vote. Second is Romney with 18% support.

There is an enthusiasm gap between potential Republican voters and potential Democrat voters.

In a CNN-ORC International poll, 62% of self-identified Republicans were extremely or very enthusiastic about voting for president, while only 48% of Democrats said the same thing.

We support you Herman!

The plain truth...

2011-10-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

The longer the Occupy Wall Street aimless children continue with their protests, the longer Americans have to see the face of liberal stupidity, or in some cases, ignorance. Just take a look at some of the recent antics of the protesting crowd …

OWS - Objective: World Socialism - Best summary of all!

Does the Occupy Wall Street help or hurt Obama?

2011-10-14T14:28:00.001-04:00

Republicans couldn’t ask for a better group of campaigners against Barack Obama than the various “occupy” protests going as long as possible. The ObamaMedia is trying to promote the protests with commentary on how the nation is starting to embrace the causes represented by the protesters. Is that so? Can anyone tell me what part of the Occupier’s agenda is resonating?

Are Americans rallying around the idea of a $20 minimum wage?
How about the OWS's demand for a guaranteed annual living wage income for every American whether or not they’re working.
Maybe this is what is resonating with America. Open borders so all people can live and work wherever they want to.
If not the “open borders” how about the “free college education” is that bringing America to the Occupier’s doorsteps.
Wait I've got it! It’s the “forgiveness of all debt on the entire planet period” demand.

For the most part these occupiers are idealistic Burger King (I want it my way and I want it now) brats who have really never had to stand on their own two feet at any time in their lives. They are being co-opted by experienced activists from labor, ecological, socialist, and communist groups who see weak minds ripe for exploitation. We’ve seen demonstrations like this before. As George Will writes:

“From 1965 through 1968 the left found its voice and style in consciousness-raising demonstrations and disruptions. In November 1968, the nation, its consciousness raised, elected Richard Nixon President and gave 56.9 percent of the popular vote to Nixon or George Wallace. Republicans won four of the next five presidential elections.”

I sure hope these protests continue. We need more video of occupiers telling America I want someone to pay for my college because I want it or that for every dollar individuals pay in income tax “corporations only pay 25 cents. I know this because I read it on-line.”

These occupiers are the best campaigners the Republicans could possily have right now. Keep it up and keep the spotlight on them. It can only get better.

The Ten Cannots

2011-10-14T12:28:00.000-04:00

An outspoken political conservative, Rev. Boetcker is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots that emphasizes freedom and responsibility of the individual on himself.

Originally published in 1916, it is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. The error apparently stems from a leaflet printed in 1942 by a conservative political organization called the Committee for Constitutional Government. The leaflet bore the title "Lincoln on Limitations" and contained some genuine Lincoln quotations on one side and the "Ten Cannots" on the other, with the attributions switched.

The mistake of crediting Lincoln for "The Ten Cannots" has been repeated many times since, notably by Ronald Reagan in his address to the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston.

There are several minor variants of the pamphlet in circulation, but the most commonly accepted version appears below:

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

“Throw me a bone, pay my tuition!”

2011-10-13T12:47:00.001-04:00

If you don't have any idea what the Occupy Wall Street Mob wants just watch this video. Go ahead. It’s short. It will be worth it, but by the end you will be left with a feeling that something is seriously wrong. That feeling will be the concern for the future of your children .. not to mention the future of our Republic.

The occupy wall street mob are mad at the wrong people!

2011-10-11T16:19:00.002-04:00

The Occupy Wall Street children are upset with Wall Street. They should be even more upset with politicians being “bought” by Wall Street. So what type of politician should the Occupy Wall Street children be protesting …

The politician who has received more money from Wall Street than any other over the past 20 years.

The politician who has received more money from Bank of American than any other candidate dating back to 1991.

The politician who racked up $8.9 million from 56 bundlers in the securities and investment industry.

The politician who had 20% of total campaign funds coming directly from Wall Street.

The politician who, in one election, racked up $15.8 million from executives at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, UBS AG, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley.

Oh wait, that politician would be Barack Obama.
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Ridgewood PBA Charity Dinner‏

2011-10-11T08:46:00.000-04:00

The Ridgewood P.B.A. (Local #20), which is comprised solely of members of
the Ridgewood Police Dept. will be hosting a charity dinner to benefit one
of our residents and her family. Haley Tyrrell is a student at Ben Franklin
Middle School in Ridgewood. Haley has been battling a rare and aggressive
form of bone cancer. During this time, she has gone through many treatments
and medical procedures, including the amputation of her right leg.
Unfortunately, medical insurance does not cover the cost of advanced
prosthetics which a young, growing person will need for the rest of her
life. This dinner will be held in hopes of raising money for Haley and her
family.

The Dinner will be held at The Estate at Florentine Gardens on Thursday,
October 13, 2011. Ticket's are $75 and include a cocktail hour, dinner, and
a premium open bar. There will be plenty of door prizes, a 50/50, and
more. Entertainment will be provided by local band HAWK which includes
members of the "Dad's Night Band".

Tickets can be purchased by visiting the police department's front desk (2nd
floor of village hall) at 131 N. Maple Avenue., by emailing
ridgewoodpba@gmail.com, or calling 201-638-2946.

Monetary donations, door prize donations, and table sponsorships are greatly
appreciated. A table sponsorship is $250 and the business or family name of
the sponsor will be displayed at a table showing support.
Checks payable to "Ridgewood P.B.A. Charity"

Occupy Atlanta Silences Civil Rights Hero John Lewis!

2011-10-10T13:36:00.000-04:00

This is a video of the “Occupy Atlanta” branch of the “Occupy Wall Street group.

We have the “occupy Atlanta” children gathered at a park. Congressman John Lewis shows up to address the crowd. Now I’m no fan of Congressman Lewis’ politics, but the man is a true hero. This is a guy who submitted to beatings by white segregationists during the civil rights battles. He deserves the respect of every living American … including the mindless children in this occupy Atlanta crowd.

Herman Cain on the Road to the White House

2011-10-07T11:09:00.000-04:00

The latest Zogby polls released yesterday show that Herman Cain has opened up a 20% lead over Mitt Romney among likely Republican primary voters. Herman holds the lead with 38% of the vote, Mitt Romney is second with 18% and Ron Paul and Rick Perry are tied for third with 12% each. When matched up against Barack Obama, Herman Cain win by a 46%-44% margin, while Obama is one-point ahead of Romney, 41%-40%.

In other news, Herman Cain says that he would definitely consider an invitation to run as the eventual nominee’s vice president, except if the nominee turns out to be …

Go Herman....

More Government - More Debt - More Moochers!

2011-10-06T18:06:00.000-04:00

The Obama administration passed another fiscal milestone this week, according to new data released by the Treasury Department. As of the close of business on Oct. 3, the total national debt was $14,837,099,271,196.71—up about $44.8 billion from Sept. 30.
That means that in the less-than-three-years Obama has been in office, the federal debt has increased by $4.212 trillion--more than the total national debt of about $4.1672 trillion accumulated by all 41 U.S. presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.

Obama has racked up more debt in just three years than all other presidents from George to George (H). By 2013, Obama will have increased debt by 23% after just four years—more than George Bush’s total eight-year increase of 21% and well more than either of the two Bush terms.
This means that just during Obama’s Administration the federal government has borrowed an ADDITIONAL $35,835 for every American household. It gets worse. If Obama continues to grow the size of government at this rate, by the time his 1st term is over, he would have borrowed an additional $53,000 for every American household. If you want to look at it this way, that’s $66,000 for each full-time private sector worker.

Where is all of this money going? The answer is simple, the government, which growing exponentially, while borrowing huge sums that your grandchildren will one day be responsible for paying. The problem is, a shrinking portion of your grand children will be responsible for carrying this load. This is because we are becoming more dependent on government than ever before. Last year broke another record for Obama: Nearly half, 48.5%, of the population lived in a household that received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2010, according to Census data.
So half of America lives in a household that is sucking off the government teat. This coincides with this statistic: Some 46.4% of households will pay no federal income tax this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. That’s up from 39.9% in 2007, the year the recession began. Meanwhile, 60% of all income taxes are paid by just 5% of U.S. households.

So the tax base is shrinking while the lazy, useless class of government moochers is growing. Don’t you see that the problem here is not the fact that rich people are not paying enough? The fact is that there is little incentive to grow the size of the pie and create more taxpayers, because being a government moocher has become too easy, too convenient and glorified by Democrats who rely on the dependent moocher class for votes.

Wall Street Protesters Demands

2011-10-04T14:42:00.004-04:00

The protesters occupying Wall Street have come up with a proposed list of their demands. Here is the list:

Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.

Demand four: Free college education.

Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.

Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.

Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.

Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.
Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.

Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.

Let’s send the Occupy Wall Street crowd to Iran for a few years and let's see how these demands work out for them.

We should make this column by Peter Ferrara required reading for all of the dumb Libs occupying Wall Street: Economic Growth, Not Income Redistribution, Is What Helps Us All.