Mittens Takes Puerto Rico!

Mittens wins again! This one was easy to figure after Santorum tells the island to learn English. Yes, its probably best to learn English since it is the main language of the USA, but it did lack a bit of respect for the culture. So Mittens was definitely a shew-in after that little verbal barf. But how the hell did Gingrich, the man of rotating wives, come in ahead of Ron Paul??? That baffles me. Now if Mittens goes all the way, what impact will his blunders have when the dems start the real campaign? He stated he wasn't concerned about the very poor. (Good to know a future Prez will care so much) He offered Gov Perry a $10,000 bet on national TV. (Nice to know he can blow $10 grand like that- for some people it's a year's salary.) He told voters in Florida he was unemployed. (Mittens is worth over $200 million--gee, maybe that's why he doesn't need a job?) He blasted Obama for one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history. (Oooooo, did he forget about Iraq, Afghanistan...) Hmmmm, I could go on but I can't. I'm still picturing him zipping down the highway with the dog strapped to the top of the car. (Common sense or animal cruelty?)

New Jersey Governor says he will veto the bill allowing gays to marry because....well, I'm not really sure of his reasons. I'm not sure he can articulate any.
He wants to put it on the ballot. Because we all know the Emancipation Proclamation, women's right to vote and all the other civil rights issues would have come to be had they been put on the ballot, right?
Wikipedia defines bigot as; A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs. The predominant usage in modern English refers to persons hostile to those of differing sex, race, ethnicity, religious belief or spirituality, nationality, language, sexual orientation, and age; and to those from a different region, with non-normative gender identity, those who are homeless, and those with various medical disorders, particularly behavioural and addictive disorders. Forms of bigotry may have a related ideology or world views. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. described bigots with the following quote: "The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract."[1]
Hmmmmm, if the label fits....apply to New Jersey Governor.

Monmouth County Schools

There they go....Most of the towns in Monmouth County have moved their School elections to the November election. This saves each town thousands of dollars. The few towns left will have until February 17th to make their decision. Some are just waiting for the next board meeting to vote on it so it will probably be a done deal for the whole county.
The one thing I'm concerned about is the fact that this move is not well publicized. Even if the people don't realize that April has passed without a school board election, and this does happen to people not involved with the schools, November my still have problems. It's a presidential election year so the polls are going to be busy. And now people are walking into the voting booth and being faced with all these extra candidates and questions on the screen.
Please tell me they have a plan to get the news out about the importance of reading your sample ballot BEFORE entering the polling booth. Make your decisions at home and go in an informed voter who isn't going to tie up the process.
Or better yet get a mail in ballot and do it at home. There you can take your time and not hold up the line.

School Board Elections???

Gov Christie signed into law the option of moving the Annual april School Board election to November. Towns have the ability to opt in or out and stay in April. If they move to November then, as long as their budget is at or under the cap the budget doesn't go on the ballot. Drawbacks? The taxpayers may not want it to be at cap or however much the tax is raised. If they opt to stay in April then the budget is on the ballot and voter's have the say. Drawback? The more towns that opt out and go to November the bigger the cost of the April election will be to the towns that stay in April. All expenses for the election that were split between the towns under the county election divisions will now be split by however many stay in April. Example: Monmouth County has 53 municipalities. So they split the towns election expense 53 ways. Now if half these towns go to November then the remaining 26 or so will have to split the cost, thereby making the option to stay in April more expensive for the taxpayers. It will be interesting to see how many towns opt out. Another plus would be the November election always has a bigger turnout so more people will vote for the School Board Issues. What's up in your town.

Get Up and Do Something

The biggest problem with politics today is not the politicians. They are merely entertainment while they try to insult each other as they pump themselves up. Its been going on for two hundred years and it's going to keep going. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. The biggest problem is the uninformed voter. When it's time to vote do your homework. Find out what the candidate really stands for and make an informed decision before you cast that vote. It doesn't matter who they're married to, what school they went to or if they are from your home state. None of those reasons are good enough to get your vote. What are they going to do about taxes? Cut them? Ask how. What about health care? Do we lose what we have? Add to it? How will it be paid for? Can we do something about these humoungus student loans in an economy with no jobs? We bailed out the banks now how about bailing out these hard working kids who stepped into the worst job market since the Great Depression? Whatever you care about should be addressed by the candidate. If they can't give you an answer, they don't deserve your vote. End of conversation. Vote with your head.

Ebooks Rock!

Brookdale College, Are you proud?

Yesterday's Asbury Park Press had an article stating exactly what the President of Brookdale College in Lincroft NJ made each year. The peasants are outraged!
Base Salary = $216,000.
Country Club Membership = $ ? (Plus yearly updates)
Tuition Reimbursement to private college for his two kids = $267,676. (so far. What? Couldn't they go to Brookdale?)
Travel expenses for his wife = $ ? No numbers on how much this cost.
Ford Expedition = $42,815.
Housing Allowance = $ 1,500. per month
Yearly bonuses = $10,000 to 15,000 per year.

All total this guy probably makes at least $300,000. a year.
So I think I should ask my boss for a housing allowance. All this time I thought I was supposed to pay for that out of my base salary but hey! maybe I was wrong? What else would my base salary be for anyway?
And a Ford Expedition? What? He couldn't drive a Hyundai and save a few bucks for tuition?
Travel expenses for his wife? Really? Just leave her home! Why are students paying for her free ride?
And then there's the country club. Really? This was a necessary part of his contract? Yeah, lets get this clown a country club membership so...for....wait, I'm thinking...there has to be some reason somewhere that the Brookdale Board of Trustee's thought this was a necessity in the contract. Either that or they had a big brain fart and just put it in there for shits and giggles.
Shheesh!
This all came to light when the Pres of Brookdale made a comment about the Freeholders cutting aide to the college. Freeholder John Curley decided to investigate for himself and discovered that Brookdale's Pres was cleaning up at the taxpayer's expense.
Congrats John Curley! Good job.
Now we need the Brookdale Board of Trustees to do their job. Renegotiate this contract and take out all the fluff. If the pres gets another job just wave goodbye and find someone else from the job pool of over a million qualified applicants. I'd bet they have someone there at Brookdale that would do the job for just the salary without all the perks.
The Brookdale Board of Trustees should be ashamed of themselves for this misuse of funds. They've abused the trust that students and parents have placed in them to do the right thing.
This morning the Trustees voted not to push through the 8.2% tuition increase. Too bad they had to be EMBARRASSED into making the right choice.