Weekly Update – 16 September, 2012

LIBERTYandPROSPERITY.org UPDATE

1.????????? Regular Breakfast Discussion this Saturday, Septembert 22, 2012 from 9:30AM to 10:30AM at the Shore Diner. Tilton and Fire Roads in Egg Harbor Township.? To observe?Constitution Day on September 17, we are showing segments of Hillsdale College presentations on U.S. Constitution before?each discussion.?? Seth Grossman will be unable to appear on Larry Trulli and Dan Klein radio programs on 1020AM (Ocean City) for the next two Mondays because of Jewish New Year and a court appearance.?? Bring a friend or family member to the next Breakfast.?? Liberty and Prosperity will pay the first ten dollars of?the check for?any South Jersey high school or college student attends one of our breakfasts for the first time.? We don?t expect you to attend every breakfast meeting, but you should attend one meeting every month or two.

2.????????? Thanks for making our Richard Somers ceremony and fundraiser such a success this year. Until?Liberty and Prosperity ?got together with Sally Hastings of the Somers Point Historical Society in 2005, Richard Somers had almost been forgotten.???? The Richard Somers story was especially important this year to point out why Muslims attacked and killed?Americans without cause starting in?1784, and what we had to do to stop them in 1801.??? Unfortunately, none of the highly publicized ceremonies two days later to remember the September 11, 2011 mass murders at the World Trade Center? and Pentagon?delivered that message.

3.????????? Even more?on the Revel Casino.??? When Wall Street’s?Morgan Stanley gave up on the Revel Casino after losing $1.2 billion on the project in 2009, then Governor Jon Corzine privately promised big campaign donors before the election that he would guarantee state backing to finish the project if he were re-elected.?? Corzine lost, but Republican Governor Chris Christie and Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney kept Corzine?s promise.?? The Revel Casino got a 20 year tax break from state and local government, and the State Economic Development Authority borrowed $400 million for the project that would repaid with the tax savings over the next 20 years.??? We just learned that the New Jersey State Government Pension Funds bought $200 million, or half of those bonds??? If the Revel doesn?t make its payments, the Pension Funds will have ?even less money for retired government workers.??? Are we the only ones who care?

4.??????????? New Jersey Teacher?s Union uses mandatory dues of all public school employees to support re-election of Democrats Barack Obama and Senator Bob Menendez.?? Every public school employee?including every teacher, janitor, and cafeteria employee is forced to pay roughly $1,000 to three unions each year?the National Union (NEA), State Union (NJEA) and a local union.?? These three unions use some of that money to send two or three newspapers to 195,000 active and retired public school employees each month.? The September newsletter urges all current and retired public school employees to visit http://www.njea.org and ?click the linke ??Pledge to be an Educator for Obama?. Imagine if Republicans tried to force all public employees to pay dues to an organization that helps elect Republicans in the same way!

5.??????????According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, a woman in Phoenix, Arizona was recently treated as an outpatient in the Emergency Room for a scorpion bite.?? The hospital billed $83,000.?? The insurance company paid $57,000, and the hospital is now claiming another $25,000 co-pay from the woman.?? The hospital charged $80,000 for two doses of an anti-venom drug it paid $7,500 for?a 1,000 percent mark-up.??? Now, to comply with Obama-care, many hospitals are taking over local doctor?s offices, and charging the same way.

6.???????????? Recenly, taxpayers spent roughly $7 million to renovate the old Landis Theater, in Vineland, and $8 million for the old Levoy Theater in Millville.?? In Somers Point, government officials gave city land and other money to fix up the old Gateway Theater by the public beach.?? But the Gateway was never built to be a theater!?? It was originally built as a warehouse.??? When movies were invented in 1910, the enterprising owner built seats and a stage, and showed silent movies to tourists there.???? When tourists starting going to better theaters in Atlantic City, the Gateway was used by amateur actors they went broke in the 1970?s.???? Now, Shore Medical Center is paying for ads asking for donations to bail out the Gateway promises.?? It promises to match ?any and all donations to the Gateway Playhouse, up to $100,000?.? Shore Medical Center claims to be a non-profit hospital, and its nurses claim they are underpaid.?? Where is Shore Medical Center getting money to bail out a failed theater that few people want.

7.?????????? Atlantic City doubles debt to borrow $102 million to give back to taxpayers, including several casinos, it overcharged with phony assessments.??? When used casinos like Trump Marina, Resorts, and the old AC Hilton were selling for $30 million, Atlantic City officials should have known that he could no longer tax these casinos as if they were still worth $400 million.??? But they collected the taxes and spent the money.?? Now the court ruled that these casinos are worth what everybody knew they were worth?and Atlantic City government has to give the money back.? Instead of cutting spending in half and keeping taxes stable, Atlantic City (with approval by Republican Governor Christie) is spending more, borrowing more, and raising taxes for the next 20 years.?? The only people who won?t pay big tax hikes are the Revel Casino, The Shops at the Walk, the Bass Sporting Goods Store, and Margaritaville, which all got special tax breaks. base their taxes on $300 million values.??(By the way, this rarely happens in states like Florida and North Carolina because the tax assessor adjusts tax assessments every year? based on changed market conditions.? In New Jersey, outdated assessments stay on the books for years, forcing property owners to bring expensive and time consuming appeals).

8.????????? Stockton College as Indoctrinate U:?? Stockton College spent $210 million of borrowed money for things like a new ?wow? student center, a failed synagogue in Woodbine, a failed library and opera house in Atlantic City, a failed golf course, restaurant, and hotel in Galloway, more buildings in Egg Harbor, Hammonton, Atlantic City, and Ocean County.?? To pay for this, it increases tuition by more than double inflation every year to $25,000 per? year.? More students than ever are graduating with big student loan debts.??? And because Stockton built on many of its parking lots, students and visitors are now getting expensive tickets for illegal parking.

9.????????? Stockton College is also spending money on political public opinion polls to benefit ?progressive? candidates and programs.

10.??? Stockton College observed ?Constitution Day? on September 17 by paying Anita Hill to talk about ?sexual harassment at the workplace?.

11.? Stockton College is also? setting up a ?Democracy Caf?? program of round-table discussions on ?political and civic issues? facing a democratic society?? According to its Press Release, ?the events are free and open to all?.?? The location is the Campus Cener Gallery East, ourside the Board of Trustees Room in the Campus Center in Pomona.?? We urge you to attend as many of these sessions as you can and present the ?Liberty and Prosperity? point of view.?? Please contact Seth Grossman at sethgrossman49@gmail.com or 609-927-7333 to pick up literature explaining our organization.

12.?? The events are scheduled as follows:?? Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas (But not? Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski) 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on Tuesday, September 18.?? Active Citizenship and Voting (Which does not including supporting a Tea Party takeover of the Republican Party):? October 2 from 12:30 PM to 2PM.??? Rewriting the Constitution (But not understanding and defending it)??? 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM on Octobetr 18.??? Election Edition (Fair and balanced?)? November 1 12:30pm to 2PM.??? Stockton College also scheduled discussions on the economy and health care?but not until AFTER the election.

13.???? In the past Stockton College spent large sums of money to indoctrinate its students in ?progressive? causes.??? They paid Michael Moore to discuss his movie ?Bowling for Coumbine? (But not? Denesh DeSouza for 2016, Obama?s America).?? They held special programs demanding ?civility in politics? when the Tea Party movement was loud and effective?but not when ?Occupy Wall Street? got loud and offensive.14.? Become a full voting member of LibertyAndProsperity.org! Dues are $60 per year, attend 3 business meetings each year, and work on at least one volunteer project each year. Or be a non-voting supporting member for just $30 per year, with no other commitment.

14.???????????????Make a special point of getting a copy of the Constitution and reading it during the week of Constitution Day, tomorrow, Monday, September 17.?? Please? read the rough draft of that column for the Current and Gazette weekly newspapers in Atlantic and Cape May Counties and forward your corrections and suggestions for improvement to Seth at sethgrossman49@gmail.com. Thanks.

15.?? ? Last Monday, September 17 was not only Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.?? It was also Constitution Day?the day the U.S. Constitution was approved by a special Constitutional Convention in 1787.

On July 4, 1776,? 56 delegates from thirteen English colonies in North American declared that each colony was an independent ?sovereign? state with its own government,? laws,? taxes, and armed forces
For the next 16 months those delegates then met and argued over how to? unite those thirteen states into one country strong enough to defeat the British Empire.
In November of 1777, they finally agreed on a document called the ?Articles of Confederation.? Each of the 13 states had a single vote in the new Congress.?? The only real power of Congress was to conduct foreign policy, declare ware, make peace, and raise and support a national army to supplement the state militias.?? It had no power to tax, and could only request the 13 independent state legislatures to pay their fair share of the national government.

But few did.?? For ten years, Congress took out loans it could not pay back, and paid its bills with paper ?Continental Dollars?.?? They were not backed by gold or silver and ?were not worth a Continental?.

George Washington was a genius for somehow keeping his army together for eight years.?? So were our ambassadors Ben Franklin and John Adams who somehow got the French and Dutch governments to loan us money.

When the war ended in 1783, Americans had an even bigger problem with the Articles of Confederation.

Most of? the 13 state governments imposed high taxes on goods from other states, along with high license and permit fees.? This crippled the economy, and caused hardship, anger, and even violence in many states.

The elites of England, France, and Spain gloated over the failure of the ?American Experiment? and made plans to pick up the pieces of our failed nation.? But they were disappointed.
In 1787, George Washington, now a private farm owner, urged all 13 state legislatures? to send delegates to Philadelphia and hold a convention to fix the Articles of Confederation.
Four months later, on September 17, 1787, those delegates agreed to replace the Articles of Confederation with a new ?Constitution? that would ?form a more perfect union?.???? When they ran into opposition, those delegates quickly recommend ten amendments, a ?Bill of Rights? that further limited the powers of the proposed new national government.

One year later, most states ratified the new Constitution with the Bill of Rights, and in 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected to be our first President.

The effect was dramatic.?? The economy boomed.?? People moved out of? corrupt, poorly run states like New York and Rhode Island with high taxes and oppressive regulations.?? They set up new businesses in states likew New Jersey low taxes and few restrictions.? Goods and people freely moved themselves and their merchandise throughout all the states and federal territories? from New Hampshire to Georgia without tariffs or passports.?? With a national government to protect them, Americans built ships that carried our products all over the world.

Although the 1787 Constitution permitted the continued enslavement of blacks in the southern states, Abraham? Lincoln?s carefully researched ?Cooper Union Speech of 1860, showed how most of the 39 Framers of the Constitution were committed to containing the evil of slavery to where it already existed, and ?putting it on a course towards its ultimate extinction?. See? http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm.

The Constitution is a short document written in simple language that is easy to understand.???? Until the ?Progressives? took over the schools 1930?s, it was required reading for every eighth grader.
Today, most students finish college without having ever read the Constitution.?? Last week, Stockton College observed ?Constitution Day? by paying Anita Hill to talk about ?Sexual Harassment at the Workplace?.

You should read the Constitution by going to http://www.heritage.org/constitution.? Or buy a copy for a dollar at my law office or at any libertyandprosperity.org fbreakfast meeting.
You will then understand? that Congress is supposed to deal only with national problems that can?t be handled by state and local governments

The? ?Commerce Clause? of the Article I, Section 8 was never intended to give Congress the power to ban local use of marijuana or sports betting?or to pay for local sand dunes, schools or fire engines.
It was instead intended to stop states like New Jersey and New York from crippling interstate commerce with taxes like the outrageous $12 tolls on the Hudson River bridges and tunnels.

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