LIBERTYandPROSPERITY.org UPDATE
1. ? ?Regular Breakfast Discussion this Saturday, August 4 from 9:30AM to 10:30AM at the Shore Diner. Tilton and Fire Roads in Egg Harbor Township. Regular radio program on 92.1FM heard in most of South Jersey Saturday 8AM to 9AM. ??Retired Judge Paul Porreca of Millville First will guest host for Seth Grossman who will be on vacation.?? Seth Grossman will be guest on Larry Trulli and Dan Klein radio programs on 1020AM (Ocean City) tomorrow, Monday, July 30 from 8AM to 10AM.
2. ??Conservative? Republican Governor Christie joins Big Union Democrat Senator President Steve Sweeney to bail out solar panels.??? Solar panels don?t even make sense in sunny southern states like Arizona.? They make no sense in northern, rainy, and snowy states like New Jersey.??? Solar panel owners only make money when state government forces Atlantic City Electric to pay $800 every time a solar panel produces $50 worth of electricity.?? In recent years, so many people installed solar panels to get this deal that Atlantic City Electric able to get all the?green? energy it was forced to pay for $180, every time solar? panels produced $50 worth of electricity.?? But solar panel owners and builders lobbied for new laws, and the legislature gave them what they wanted?guaranteed payments of $800 for every $50 worth of electricity they produce.
3. ?Forcing Atlantic City Electric (and all NJ electric companies) to pay $800 for $50 worth of ?green? energy (and a societal benefits fee that forces Atlantic City Electric buy old refrigerators and give free electricity to illegal immigrants) ?is why we got two big rate hikes in less than a year.?? Meanwhile, electricity is getting cheaper in every other state?thanks to cheap natural gas coming out of Pennsylvania.??? High electric bills are hurting Atlantic City casinos, and forcing jobs (Lenox China, Wheaton Industries, Ocean Spray Cranbury, Ford and GM auto assembly plants) out of New Jersey.??? Atlantic County Republican Assemblymen John Amodeo and Chris Brown joined Democrat Senators Jim Whelan, Jeff Van Drew, and Democrat Assemblymen Matt Milam, and Nelson Albano in voting for higher electric bills.
4. ?NJ State Trooper Rasanski wins high pension for disability.??? Rasanski was injured while driving ?Democrat Governor Corzine from the ?Pinky?s Corner radio program in Atlantic City to the Governor?s mansion in Princeton during April of 2007? for a nationally televised press conference with WABC talk show host Don Imus and the Rutgers Womens Basketball Team he had previously insulted.??? Because Corzine stayed too late on Pinky?s Corner, the Rasanski tried to do the 90 minute trip in less than an hour by traveling at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.???? The black box showed that the Governor?s SUV ?was going 91 miles per hour AFTER Rasanski slammed on the brakes.??? Rather than accept responsibility, Rasanski and the other state police driver at first tried to blame the accident on the innocent driver of a Ford pick-up truck who did nothing but try to get out of Rasanski?s way.
4. ?At that time, the New Jersey State Police ?and other local police departments had a culture of? high speed, reckless driving.? Two teenagers were killed? when a State Trooper sped through a stop sign in Marmora.? An elderly man was killed by a speeding Hamilton Township officer in Mays Landing.
5. ?Seth Grossman brought ?a citizens complaint against Rasanski and the other trooper driving behind him when no law enforcement agency brought charges within the 30 day period.?? But the complaint was dismissed by Galloway Township Municipal Court Judge Chris Brown, now a Republican State Assemblyman.?? Chris Brown ruled that ?there was no ?probable? cause? to believe any traffic laws had been violated?.???? Seth Grossman appealed, but the appeal was dismissed because only a municipal prosecutor has standing to appeal.?? Michele Verno was Galloway Township Prosecutor? at the time.
5. ?Originally, Rasanski was supposed to receive a reduced disability pension because his wrongful conduct caused? the accident.??? By getting his full pension, the Pension Board ruled that Rasanski?s driving was not wrongful conduct.?? The reason for the decision was not made public.
6. ?Learn the latest techniques in grass-roots politics.?? LibertyAndProsperity.org is an education organization, not a political one.? However, we urge every American to be more effective as a citizen by learning how successful political campaigns are run.? ?Americans for Prosperity is setting up a ?call center?? at in Galloway Township by Jimmie Leeds and Ptiney Roads ?to make calls to voters throughout South Jersey on varies issues that pertain to our basic principles.?? Volunteers will be needed to make calls several hours a day, for one or two days a week for the next three months.?? Please contact Seth Grossman at sethgrossman49@gmail.com or Dennis Mahon at dmahon1@yahoo.com or (609) 204-2511? if you would like to participate.
7. ?Mark Hutchinson of Mays Landing ?and Roger Stabile of Galloway ?represented us yesterday at the meeting of the newly formed Tea Party Congress in Bayside New Jersey on Saturday, July 28.??? Because we are a non-political, tax-exempt education organization, we cannot participate unless individual members? either form a new ?Liberty and Prosperity? Tea Party group?or joining an existing tea party group.??? The Tea Party Congress still did not resolve a big? problem we took up with its organizers two years ago.??? It is an association of ?tea party? groups.??? But what exactly is a ?tea party? group.??? Right now, any person can claim he or she is the leader of a ?tea party? group even if that person is the only member of the group, and even if the group never meets or does any activities.???? Unless the Tea Party Congress becomes a real association of real, organizations with real members,? structure, dues, and activities, is it worthwhile to be part of it???? Let?s talk about it.
8. ? August 15, 2012?Atlantic City Salutes Our Armed Forces Parade. We have been so successful in making people aware of our symbols of liberty?the wooden pike draped with the red liberty cap?that we have decided to march in the Atlantic City parade on August 15. This is a two mile march. We need at least two drummers and 24 marchers to be effective. ??But if we had 50 marchers, we would really make a statement!? Will you march with us? Do you need a tricolor sash, pike and liberty cap? Please contact Seth Grossman at sethgrossman49@gmail.com or Dennis Mahon at dmahon1@yahoo.com.
9. ?New? date and time ?Trevor Loudon of New Zealand.?? Loudon cannot be with us on August 29 as planned because he was invited to be at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.??? He will instead attend our breakfast meeting at 9:30 AM on Saturday morning, September 1 at the Shore Diner.?? The Shore Diner is at Tilton and Fire Roads by Parkway Exit 36 in Egg Harbor Township.?? We will have this program instead of our August movie. Loudon wrote ?Barack Obama and the Enemies Within?, a book often discussed by Glenn Beck.
10. ?Trevor Loudon said this to describe his views:? Trevor says, ?I?m a libertarian activist and political researcher from Christchurch New Zealand. I believe in freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. My ideal society is one in which government is confined to protecting its citizens from criminals and external enemies. I believe in working with all those who are moving in broadly the same direction.
11. ?Because of the importance of this speaker and limited seating, we request a minimum donation of $10 above the cost of breakfast ?(ordered off menu) to defray expenses for us and Mr. Loudon. We thank Brenda Roames of the Greenwich Tea Party Patriots for making this event possible. To learn more about Mr. Loudon, please go to http://www.trevorloudon.com/.
12. ? We need your help for our annual Richard Somers Day ceremony and fundraising event. Those radio ads are very effective, but we need your support in selling and buying tickets for this important event. Tickets this year will be $25 per person, $35 per couple, and includes dinner and cash bar at Gregory?s Bar and Restaurant in Somers Point. For details, go to http://www.
13. ? 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. ? ?Liberty brings happiness as well as prosperity.??? And taking away freedom creates anger and violence.????? Read Seth Grossman?s draft column for the Current and Gazette weekly newspapers in Atlantic and Cape May Counties below. ?Do you see a connection between ?a new generation of Americans raised by ?progressives? ?without freedom— and ng a new generation who will do anything–including mass murder to rebel? ? Please forward your corrections and suggestions for improvement to Seth at sethgrossman49@gmail.com. Thanks.
?I am a sick man.? I am a spiteful man.?? I believe my liver is diseased.??? However, I don?t consult a doctor for it, though I respect medicine and doctors.?? No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite.? I am well aware that I cannot ?pay back? the doctors by not consulting them, and that I am only injuring myself.??? But still, if I don?t consult a doctor, it is from spite.?? My liver is bad.?? Well let it get worse!??? Fyodor Dostoevsky, ?Notes from the Underground? , 1864
I read that passage as a college freshman 45 years ago.? But few college professors today teach the writings of Dostoevsky–or of any European male ? that fail to attack racism, sexism, colonialism, destruction of the environment or other supposed evils of? America.? culture.??? Dostoevsky?s writings are actually offensive to ?progressives? because they ridicule the whole ?progressive? idea of using government to transform society.
Dostoevsky wrote that government can never transform society? because it is made up of too many human beings who refuse to be transformed.?? They love their freedom so much that they will make their own choices in spite of the bad consequences?and often BECAUSE of them.
Dostoevsky grew up at a time when most educated Europeans believed in new ?progressive?, socialist, or communist forms of government that would transform society to eliminate war, conflict, poverty, and injustice.
Their new government would be run by experts who would use science and technology to assign everyone to the job they did best, and provide everyone with a good home and enough food, clothing, transportation, and health care.??? Once everyone had everything he or she ?needed?, there would be no more war, violence, murder, or theft between nations or classes.
The symbol of this new, progressive world was a huge exhibition hall of glass and steel which was built as the main attraction of the first Worlds Fair in London, England in 1851.?? It? was called the ?Palace of Crystal?.? Millions of visitors from every nation and social class in Europe came there to enjoy fine dining, shopping, and entertainment? together all year round, regardless of the weather.
But Dostoevsky wrote this vision of a future world was an absurd fantasy.??? He wrote? that some people were evil.??? Others valued their independence and? free-will more than comfort and safety.?? ??These people would find a ?perfect? society so boring they would smash the Palace of Crystal out of spite.
Today?s ?progressives? dismiss the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States as outdated documents written by out-of-touch rich white men, (including some slave-owners) when most people lived on farms.
Yet those ?Founding Fathers?,? like Dostoevsky, had a much better? understanding of the nature of human beings.???? That is why they made a written Constitution to? give our government a very limited purpose?to secure? ?life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? for each individual.
The ?progressive? ideas praised by today?s college professors brought the most brutal and destructive wars, revolutions, and mass murders to
the most advanced nations of Europe just as Dostoevsky predicted.? Meanwhile, our ?old fashioned?? principles of liberty kept those most of those evils away from America.?? The only real exception was the Civil War.?? But as Abraham Lincoln said, that was America?s just punishment for being too slow to recognize that the principles of our Declaration of Independence applied to blacks as well as whites.
Dostoesky?s ideas on human nature may explain certain paradoxes that puzzle ?progressives? today.??? Why are more kids smoking and using drugs when there are so many laws and indoctrination against them.?? Why is their more bullying, prejudice, and anger, when there are so many laws and programs against them?
I have no idea why James Holmes went on his killing spree in Colorado.? Was he an isolated madman, who nobody (other than other armed patrons in that theater) could have stopped??? Or is he the ?normal? product of the? first generation of Americans raised by ?progressives? in a brave new world without liberty.?? Where nobody is free to offend anyone, or to excel, or win, or fail and lose.?? Or start up a new business without already having the wealth or connections to get the needed permits, tax breaks, and other special deals from the government.?? Where everyone must obey rules made by others? that make no sense, so they can live happily ever after in that politically correct and green ?Crystal Palace? the government built for them?