Weekly Update – November 28, 2009
REGULAR BREAKFAST DISCUSSION AT ATHENA DINER, 1515 NEW ROAD (Between Mill and Tilton Roads), NORTHFIELD: This Saturday, November 28: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM.
When you see the Liberty flag with the rattlesnake flying from a Liberty pole draped with a red Liberty Cap in front of the Diner, you know we are meeting inside!
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Before the breakfast, join our live, two-way radio program every Saturday morning on 92.1FM Vineland from 8AM to 9AM. The station is heard clearly in most of South Jersey and much of Philadelphia and Delaware as well. The on-air call-in number is 856-696-0092.
2. Spread the word. Everyone who comes to one of our breakfast discussions tells me that they always learn at least one important and interesting new fact they did not know before. But why keep it to ourselves? Make a point of writing one letter to the editor of your daily and weekly paper each month. Call the talk radio shows. WOND 1400AM except for Pinky?s Corner is 609-927-1100. Pinky is 609-344-1211. (The number given last week was off by one number). Harry Hurley on WIBG 1020AM is (609)398-1020. To be most effective with a letter and a talk-radio call: (1) Be prepared?know your message, deliver it, and close. (2) Introduce your point, give two or three sentences to back up your point, restate your point. Letters should be less than 250 words. On-air phone calls should be less then two minutes. Of course, if the host is interested in your topic and wants to continue the conversation, know your topic well enough so you can continue the conversation.
3. Are you ready, willing, or able to be a candidate for public office? Don?t even think about it, if you have not yet called an on-air talk program, and published a letter in your local newspaper! That would be like going into combat without got through basic training first!
4. The 2010 elections will be held next November. But the party primaries are June 8. The deadlines for filing petitions are around April 5. Party conventions are in March. Serious candidates start campaigning in January. Most political leaders meet the weekend after Thanksgiving to put their tickets together. Most ordinary citizens don?t even think about 2010 elections until 2010?which is why most ordinary citizens don?t have much of a say in government.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! You can read my published essay in this week?s Current and Gazette Weekly Newspapers in Atlantic and Cape May Counties at http://www.shorenewstoday.com/news.php?id=5918. To understand Thanksgiving as an American holiday, you must understand what the Pilgrims gave this country. They contracted to settle near established English colonies in Virginia, but changed course when they were on the ship. They sailed far north to Massachusetts–600 miles from the nearest English settlement. This left them free to run their own colony the way they wanted. Before landing, the settlers made a Constitution, on how the new settlement would be run. All laws would be ?just and equal?, and made with the consent of the majority of the residents. Of the 102 original settlers, 49 died from bad food during the first nine months. But after their first harvest in America, most settlers were better fed, healthier, and more prosperous than they had ever been in England. Liberty brought them prosperity.
6. Now, we no longer have liberty in America. Republicans and Democrats no longer demand that all laws be ?just and equal?. Instead they promise special deals to the people who get them elected. And when less ?liberty and justice for all? and more ?special favors for a few? cause more poverty and hardship, what do they do? They make even more laws that give more special favors to a few, which makes things even worse! As so many conservatives flock to Sarah Palin, we should ask: Did Sarah Palin ever mention any words like liberty, Constitution, or just and equal laws applied to everyone?
7. ?And a group led by Morgan Stanley is going forward, perhaps unwisely, with construction of the $2 billion Revel casino-hotel.? Baron?s Financial Magazine: November 21, 2009. For the full article, go to http://athebeach.blogspot.com/.
8. Morgan Stanley so far got $5 billion in bailout money from China–$10 billion in TARP money from the US Treasury. How much more was Morgan Stanley promised to finish this ?political? project? Democrat Corzine promised to help the project. Republican Christie promised to help the project. Atlantic City borrowed $56 million to help the project last summer. Next week, Atlantic City will vote to borrow $150 million more, in a complicated deal that will be mostly paid by County taxpayers. What if after all this, the Morgan Stanley Revel Casino loses money? Will the government let it fail? Or will the government get into the casino business? Af if the Revel Casino succeeds, will it knock four other casinos out of business?
9. The old Dante Hall opera house, a money losing failure since it first opened in Atlantic City?s Italian neighborhood in 1922, is closing again. Even in 1922, most Italian-Americans preferred Boardwalk entertainment. The project just spent $3.5 million from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, and generous ?donations? from the Tropicana Casino, which needed friends in government lately. Now, Dante Hall is looking for a new bailout from Stockton College. Stockton recently hiked tuititions, and bailed out the old Atlantic City Library and Cape May County Ponderlodge.
10. Local 54, which represents hotel and restaurant employees, agreed to a 5 year wage freeze with the Seaview Hotel and Country Club in Galloway Township. The union just agreed to a wage freeze with Atlantic City casinos. Most people who don?t work for the government are making less money now or are losing their jobs. So why are all government employees getting 4.2% increases for the next three years?
11. Because of the bad economy, I was overwhelmed with applicants for a 5 hour part time clerical position with Liberty and Prosperity. Some applicants were as far away as Mount Holly! Unfortunately, business at my law office has declined so much in the past few months that my remaining part time secretary may be able to do the work. There are several options, and I will consult with the Board at our December meeting on what to do. If you applied, please be patient.
12. Liberty at the Movies: The screening of ?The Great Global Warming Swindle? brought 29 people out on a wet and miserable Monday night, including several new faces. We will not have a screening in December. Liberty and the Movies will resume in January.
13. Liberty and Prosperity straw poll? Do you want candidates who believe in American Liberty on the ballot next November? Then you should help good Liberty candidates with the primary election next June. But how do you find out about good Liberty candidates? And if you want to be a candidate, how do you get support? To run in the June primary, you must file your petitions by the first week of next April, which means serious candidates should start preparing now! Liberty and Prosperity may sponsor a ?Straw Poll? in South Jersey next February if there is enough interest. Are you interested enough to help? If so, please contact me about this project as soon as possible.
14. The Infrastructure Project: Who runs your local government? Do you know the names of your local mayor, council/committee/commission members? Do you know when their terms are up? Do you have their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses so you can contact them if you wanted to? Do you know the members of your local school boards, and their contact information? Do you know when their terms are up? If you are a Democrat, do you know the names and phone numbers of the county committee members for your district? If you are a Republican, do you know how to reach your county committee members? If you are an informed and effective citizen you should know this information? Can you take the time to find out this information for your town, and then forward that information to me at grossman@snip.net? So far, only a handful of our members have responded.
15. Liberty and Prosperity Lawnsigns and Billboards: We are now designing 4? x 8? large lawnsigns that say: ?No Liberty?No Prosperity, LibertyandProsperity.org, (609) 927-7333. If you own any land along a well travelled road, please contact us, and give us permission to post one of those signs there. We also posted our meetings on www.meetup.com. If you can help get our message and meeting notices on other networking sites, please let me know. Thanks.
“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.”
16. We need your help. We need your money and your time. We need you to be a member and help decide what projects we should work on.
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.