Weekly Update – March 6, 2010

Weekly Update – March 6, 2010

BREAKFAST DISCUSSION THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010 AND EVERY SATURDAY AT ATHENA DINER, NEW ROAD, NORTHFIELD: 9:30 AM TO 10:30 AM. Join our Meetup.com group, http://www.meetup.com/LibertyandPros…ndar/12466536/.

(Also live two way talk every Saturday from 8 to 9AM on 92.1FM Radio, heard in most of South Jersey. The on-air call-in number is 856-696-0092. New Seth Grossman essay online. Look for it soon at http://www.libertyandprosperity.org/…article&id=552 or http://shorenewstoday.com.

IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING, MONDAY, MARCH 8 at 6PM at Athena Diner. All paid up members for 2010 may attend and speak. Only paid up voting members can vote. Non-voting members simply pay $30 per year. Voting members pay $60, must attend at least three business meetings per year, and must work on at least one designated project. Please join, pay your dues, or upgrade your status today!

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:

1. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THE PAUL MULSHINE WINE & CHEESE EVENT A SUCCESS. We sold roughly 50 tickets and raised about $4,500. Paul Mulshine was an excellent speaker and everybody learned something. Mulshine also wrote about us and our battle against the $400 million government bailouts of the Morgan Stanley casino project in Atlantic City. His columns are at http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/index.html. UNITE-HERE Local 54 President Bob McDevitt also attended and gave details.

2. BUT WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER. If everyone who says they support us had helped just a little more, we could have easily sold 30 more tickets and raised another $3,000. The bad economy is only partly to blame. The real problem is that too many Americans want to blessings of liberty without doing any work for them. And so the other side gets its message out with hundreds of thousands of dollars given by people who want contracts, jobs, and favors in return. We offer nothing but ?liberty and justice for all?. At one time, most Americans understood the huge value of our merchandise?do you? It is not to late to pay your dues or make a last minute donation, even if you did not attend the event.

3. We were hoping to have $12,000 to $15,000 in our treasury by now?we only have roughly $9,500. But this is more than we had before. And we are very efficient. And we need much less money than the other side because it is much cheaper to tell the truth than lies. At Monday?s business meeting, we will decide how to best apply the funds we do have to spread our message.

4. Today is the deadline for filing for local elected School Boards. April 15 is the deadline for candidates for Congress, freeholder, township committee, and other county and local public office. April 15 is also the deadline for the ?county committees? of both the Republican and Democratic parties. If our side would spend more time recruiting, preparing, and helping candidates for these offices, and less time going to tea parties in Washington, things would change a lot quicker. Getting elected to public office requires skill and experience, just like going into combat, or any competitive sport. The only way to acquire those skills is to get out of your seat, and enter the arena. Even if you lose the first time, the skill and experience you gain will be well worth it. And by being in the arena, you will win much more respect from the people in power than you have just complaining on talk radio.

5. STATE SENATE CHANGES LAW TO ELIMINATE LOCAL REFERENDUMS FOR ?REDEVELOPMENT?. Most towns with commission, city manager, or mayor-council governments allow citizens to require voter approval of any ordinance if 10% of the voters sign a petition. In January, 1,700 voters signed petitions to force a vote on the Morgan Stanley Casino bailout. Four days later, Democratic Senators Jim Whelan, Steve Sweeney, and Ray Lesniak together with Republican Assemblymen Vince Polistina and John Amodeo introduced special legislation to knock out the petitions, and take the right of all citizens in New Jersey to force referendums on any ?redevelopment? projects. Senator Whelan said that once the politicians and developers make a deal, ?a deal is a deal that cannot be subject to the whim of people?. On Monday, February 22, 2010, the full State Senate approved the law as an ?emergency?. No public notice was given that the Senate would hear the matter that day, and most Senators had no idea what they voted on. The next step? We are holding a demonstration outside the corporate offices of Morgan Stanley in Jersey City this Wednesday, at 1PM. Please contact me if you want to participate. Seth Grossmasn 609-927-7333. For details on this whole issue, go to http://nomorganstanleybailout.org.

6. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: A letter published in the Press of Atlantic City urged casinos to get more business by again offering free parking. But this is no longer possible. State government needs to collect $5 from every car parked at the casinos to pay back money it borrowed 10 years ago for ?redevelopment? 10 years ago. Also, the Trump Castle Casino has been up for sale for more than a year. It got no takers for $327 million. Last week someone offered $75 million. The Tropicana is also up for sale for about $400 million. But government permits and labor unions are making the Morgan Stanley Casino cost $2.2 billion?with $400 million paid for by taxpayers! The politicians say taxpayers must help build the new Morgan Stanley Casino for ?economic development?. But if we lose four casinos when the new Morgan Stanley Casino opens, what do taxpayers gain? Senator Whelan says Atlantic City must build something new. But wouldn?t all of the existing casinos build something new if they got $400 million from the government?

7. Petition to recall U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. If it were Constitutional, it would be almost impossible. For 80 years, New Jersey laws allowed voters in many cities to force recall elections with petitions signed by ?25% of voters who voted in the previous election?. But in the 1990?s, Republican Governor Christie Whitman changed the requirement to ?25% of voters on the registration books.? Since less than half the people on voter actually vote. Many don?t even exist?they signed up just to get cheap car insurance, homestead rebates, etc. It is almost impossible for any recall petition to succeed with this new law. But even so, does the U.S. Constitution allow the recall of a U.S. Senator under a STATE law? Three Sections of the Constitution apply. Article I, Section 3 gives U.S. Senators 6 year terms. Article VI makes the U.S. Constitution the Supreme Law of the Land. The 17th Amendment of 1913 has U.S. Senators chosen by vote of the people, rather than state legislatures. Can a U.S. Senator be removed from office before the end of his 6 year term under a state recall law? You don?t have to be a lawyer or a judge to know the answer–Just read the Constitution!

8. ATLANTIC COUNTY FREEHOLDERS VOTE 7-2 TO GIVE ATLANTIC COUNTY UTILITIES AUTHORITY A TRASH MONOPOLY. But this was only on first reading. The final vote will take place on March 9.

9. ALWAYS BAD CHOICES??? The newspaper headline read??X School District must choose between higher taxes, or larger class sizes?. But isn?t there a third choice? Low taxes, small class sizes, and fewer administrators and lower salaries and pensions for teachers and administrators? The headline read ?Galloway Township to lay off 14 police officers? and the story talked about a choice between higher taxes or fewer police. But why not reduce salaries, pay hikes, and pensions for police officers? If most taxpayers are now earning less and have no pensions, why should we pay higher taxes or get less service so our ?public servants? live better than we do?

“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.”

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, not attendance or volunteer requirements

Seth Grossman, Executive Director, www.libertyandprosperity.org,
453 Shore Road, Somers Point, NJ 08244,
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
Tel. 609-927-7333.

  • Seth Grossman

    Seth Grossman is executive director of Liberty And Prosperity, which he co-founded in 2003. It promotes American liberty and limited constitutional government through weekly radio and in-person discussions, its website, email newsletters and various events. Seth Grossman is also a general practice lawyer.

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