Weekly Update – December 12, 2009
REGULAR BREAKFAST DISCUSSION AT ATHENA DINER, NEW ROAD, NORTHFIELD: This Saturday, December 12, 2009: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM.
(Also live two-way talk every Saturday from 8AM to 9AM on 92.1FM Vineland. We are heard in most of South Jersey, Philly, and Delaware. The on-air call-in number is 856-696-0092.?Want to be a guest host? I will be away on Saturday December 26 and January 2. If you want to guest host one of those shows, please contact me at sethgrossman49@gmail.com.)
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. LAST CALL ON DECEMBER 15 BUS TO WASHINGTON, DC.?Our last chance to meet our U.S. Senators before they vote on ObamaCare. Chuck Urban of Absecon is Steve Lonegan co-ordinator for South Jersey. He will be with us this Saturday A.M. to give last minute instructions. Buses will leave at 7AM from the Shore Mall parking lot, in Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234, behind the closed Value City store (behind the bailed out Boscov?s store). Round-trip charter bus tickets are 30.00. To reserve your seat, contact Chuck Urban at kcurban@comcast.net or 609-517-5534. To learn more about the event, go to http://www.americansforprosperity.org/new-jersey or call 877-318-7226.
2. Next Wednesday, December 16 is the 226th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. About 7,000 people?half the adult population of Boston cheered as about 100 young men destroyed 90,000 pounds of tea from India, worth about $2 million today. For details on why they did it, and what the next step is for today?s Tea Party People, read my latest column in the Current-Gazette weekly newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, New Jersey at http://www.shorenewstoday.com/news.php?id=6213 or at www.libertyandprosperity.org.
3. Bernie Madoff victims may get half their money back! Investors in Bernie Madoff?s Ponzi scheme lost $19.4 billion. As soon as his scheme was discovered, Madoff was arrested, and his assets were seized. This week, Bankruptcy Trustee Irving Picard said he recovered $1.5 billion so far, and is suing for $15 billion more. Meanwhile, holders of preferred stock in the Ponzi scheme run by U.S. government agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will get nothing. The U.S. Government bailed out its own Ponzi scheme rather than shut it down. Both agencies are still giving out bad mortgages, doing deals with the same Wall Street banks, and losing billions of dollars. Taxpayers also bailed out the Chinese government and foreign banks who held Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds, and big U.S. banks that lost money on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. There was bailout money for everyone–except individual American investors.
4. The price of natural gas is coming down. But the South Jersey Gas Company is asking for an INCREASE from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The legal notice says the increase is needed to ?support Governor Corzine?s Economic Stimulus Plan?. This means building expensive union construction projects that are not yet needed. The BPU will hold its public hearing at the Atlantic County Library in Mays Landing (where we have Liberty at the Movies) on Tuesday, December 29, at 4PM. What a convenient day! How many people will show up? How do you think $150,000 per year BPU member, ex-Republican State Senator Nick Asselta, will vote on this increase?
5. The Press of Atlantic City did a lot of big stories on the government employee ?Gravy Train?. On December 1, it reported that retired Atlantic City Fire Chief Ben Brenner got $567,000 for unused sick leave in addition to his generous pension in 2006. Police Chief John Mooney got $249,000. Avalon Police Chief Stephen Sykes got $172,000, etc. On December 6, it reported: ?Public pensions typically double those in private sector? It also quoted an official of the Rutgers Bloustein School as stating ?the current situation may not be sustainable: The public sector is growing while theprovate sector that pays for the benefits is shrinking?. Ya think??? The New Jersey pension system has been a Ponzi scheme since benefits were increased in 2001 without collecting money to pay for them. The only solution? REPUDIATE ALL UNCONSTITUTIONAL DEBT THAT WAS NEVER APPROVED BY VOTERS!!!
6. What did newly elected Governor Chris Christie say about these reports on the government employee ?gravy train?? ?I had no idea, no idea that they were permitted to do that.?
7. Why didn’t the Press report on any of these issues last June, when Steve Lonegan was talking about them?
8. Atlantic County Republicans Dennis Levinson, John Amodeo, and Vince Polistina are against a CRDA plan to spend $16.5 million on projects that will benefit the ?Democrat political machine in Camden County?. They want that CRDA money to be spent in Atlantic County. In the past, CRDA money was spent on $100 million for a Boardwalk Hall that is rarely used, $3.5 million for Dante Hall and part of $15 million for a baseball stadium, and $1.5 million for a visitor center on the expressway that are now all closed. Why not end the CRDA slush fund, and let the casino money be used to lower everybody?s taxes?
9. Economic power is stronger than political power. For years, we said state government should use state taxes to pay for local governments or private arts and entertainment groups. We said federal taxes should pay for national projects, state taxes should pay for state projects, and local taxes should pay for local projects. How many times have year heard local officials say, ?Yes, we know this project is a big waste of money, but if we don?t spend it, the state/federal government will give that money to someone else?.
10. Liberty and Prosperity monthly business meeting: Monday, December 14 (2d Monday) at 6PM, Athena Diner, Northfield. All voting and non-voting members are welcome to attend. If you want to be a member, please contact me or any board member or officer. All prospective members must be nominated by the Board at a Board Meeting that takes place just before business meeting. Nominations are then discussed and voted on by the full membership at the next business meeting one month later.
11. MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS: Voting Members: $60 dues, Attend 3 business meetings per year, Work on one board approved project per year. Non-Voting Members: $30 per year, no attendance or volunteer requirements.
12. PERSONAL APOLOGIES TO ALL WHO APPLIED FOR THE PART-TIME SECRETARIAL POSITION: I thought I needed help when one of the part-time secretaries in my law office left to get a better paying government job. Unfortunately, business is so slow, there is not enough law office work to keep the other part-time secretary busy. I got a dozen applications, and everyone is well-qualified. I will be reviewing these applications with the Board on Monday to try to find a way to raise enough money to ut some of this talent to work for Liberty. Please be patient. We are all doing what we can as volunteers.
“Liberty and Prosperity 1776, Inc. is a non-profit, education organization. We are registered and recognized by both the State of New Jersey and the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. Our mission is to learn and teach why ‘Liberty and Prosperity’, New Jersey’s motto since 1776, is still true and relevant today — and how Americans can again be free and effective citizens.”
Seth Grossman, Executive Director, www.libertyandprosperity.org,
453 Shore Road, Somers Point, NJ 08244,
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
Tel. 609-927-7333.