"Occupy Wall Street" protests coming to NJ
Associated Press - October 4, 2011

JERSEY CITY, N.J. ? The "Occupy Wall Street" movement is coming to Wall Street West.

Demonstrators are planning to gather Thursday afternoon in front of the Goldman Sachs offices in Jersey City, in the heart of the city's financial district.

The area earned the nickname 'Wall Street West' after many global financial firms relocated to Jersey City in the wake of 9/11. The section of the city's downtown has many high rises, and is directly across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began Sept. 17 with a handful of protesters outside the New York Stock Exchange and have since spread to cities across the country. In addition to the Jersey City event at 2 p.m. Thursday, protesters plan to gather at the same time in front of the Statehouse in Trenton.

Like many participating in the protests, 22-year-old Eric Sundman of Chatham said he was motivated to join the growing movement after watching 700 protesters get arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge during the weekend. Sundman had been using social media to help organize the New Jersey protests, which he said are aimed at lawmakers and big corporations that Sundman says have helped cause the financial crisis, but have done little to stop it.

"I want the people of Goldman Sachs to realize that's our tax dollars we gave you during the crisis to bail you out," Sundman said. "But we're not seeing any of the thanks. We're not getting jobs, or help paying down our debts, like student loans or car payments."

A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the planned protest.

Jersey City Police Lt. Edgar Martinez said the city is prepared for the protests and is planning accordingly. He said as of Tuesday no one had applied for a permit to march, but the protesters would be allowed to gather as long as they didn't impede pedestrians or traffic.

"We don't anticipate any problems," Martinez said, "because we anticipate everything being orderly, and individuals adhering to the law while they're exercising their fundamental right to freedom of speech."

Two City Council bills now compete to put city seals on vehicles owned by Jersey City

Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Looks like Jersey City employees may have to drive around with city seals on their vehicles after all.

City Councilman-at-Large Ray Velazquez who refused to support Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop?s recent ordinance requiring city seals be placed on all non-emergency city vehicles plans to introduce a similar measure at tomorrow?s council meeting.

Fulop?s measure, which was offered to the council three or four times before a majority adopted it in August, was vetoed earlier this month by Mayor Jerramiah Healy after city attorneys said it was illegal.

But the same legal team is giving Velazquez?s proposal its stamp of approval, even though it is similar to Fulop?s proposal, and may even apply to more city vehicles. City officials insist there is a difference.

Fulop?s ordinance would have mandated city seals be placed on all non-emergency city vehicles; Velazquez?s proposal achieves similar ends by amending salary ordinances that provide vehicles as part of some employees? compensation.

The new salary ordinances would require the vehicles ?bear the city seal,? and would apply to cars given to council members, council aides, departmental heads and statutory employees.

Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis, in a Sept. 21 memo to the council, said Fulop?s ordinance usurped the mayor?s authority, while Velazquez?s proposal works within the limits of the council?s power.

Velazquez said he asked the administration to draft this ordinance after Healy vetoed Fulop?s similar measure.

?It?ll be a legal resolution, and at the same time sending a message to the mayor that we are taking this action,? he said.

Making things more complicated, a resolution on the same meeting?s agenda seeks to override Healy?s veto of Fulop?s ordinance. The ordinance was adopted 5-4, but Fulop would need to find a sixth vote to override the veto.

Asked to comment on Velazquez?s ordinance, Fulop called it a political stunt timed to benefit Velazquez in the November special election.

Velazquez is running to remain in his current seat, which he was appointed to after former council member Mariano Vega resigned in disgrace.

Velazquez?s ordinance will require two readings, a public hearing and then a 20-day waiting period before it?s enacted, Fulop noted.

?We can get this done next week if Ray votes for the veto override and sides with the taxpayer,? Fulop said about Velazquez in an e-mail.

Federal agency scrutinizing bid to build gas pipeline says environmental damages can be reduced

Wednesday, September 14, 2011
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The Spectra Energy gas pipeline proposed for parts of Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore Hoboken would result in some adverse environmental impacts that could be reduced to insignificant levels, according to a report by a federal agency.

A draft report issued Friday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the panel that must approve the plan to build the controversial 19.8-mile pipeline, concludes that Spectra could mitigate any environmental impacts with 32 dozen proposed measures.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, who opposes the pipeline based on safety concerns, wasn?t pleased with the report, which was issued one year to the day of the deadly gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif. Healy and other city officials have said they believe Hudson County is too densely populated for a gas pipeline.

The report summary ?does not address our primary concerns, which are the safety and security of our residents and the impact on the future development of our city,? Healy said in a statement.

The report, which runs for several hundred pages, suggests Spectra could minimize most environmental impacts by, among other measures, filing weekly status reports until all construction is finished, and developing a system for residents to lodge complaints about environmental problems.

Spectra spokeswoman Marylee Hanley noted that FERC?s report said there would be ?limited? adverse impacts to the environment resulting from the proposed pipeline.

?Spectra Energy will review the DEIS in detail and prepare comments to file with FERC during the 45-day comment period. We also encourage others to review and comment to FERC on the DEIS document,? she said.

FERC officials have said they don?t expect to make a final decision on the pipeline until next year.

Link to FERC Environmental Impact Statement

It means that if you protest in America you risk getting arrested, if you protest in other countries you risk getting shot.

The point is that Americans rarely protest and they should because the governemnt is spending out of control and we all pay for it. Govenemnt says they wont increase taxes but when tolls go up we all pay a "tax".

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/opi ... -911s-white-elephant.html

When people protest in America they can get arrested but not shot. Its sad that people in other countries risk getting shot by their government every day while Americans dont lift a finger to demand the govenment do the right thing.

Just how ?independent? is advisory panel on natural gas?
The Boston Globe
August 30, 2011

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/edi ... ory_panel_on_natural_gas/

JULIETTE KAYYEM?S Aug. 22 op-ed ?Re-thinking the fracking debate?? misses a crucial point. The Energy Department?s advisory panel on natural gas that recently released recommendations about how to improve the safety of hydraulic fracturing is not truly ?independent,?? as Kayyem contends. Six of its seven members, including chairman John Deutch, have current financial ties to the oil and natural gas industry.

Our organization is among 100 environmental, faith-based, and community groups from across the country that have called for adding local citizens and independent experts to the panel. Twenty-eight scientists and nearly 60 elected officials from New York, where the state is debating whether to allow high-volume fracking, have also written Energy Secretary Steven Chu to protest the panel?s lack of balance.

While the report included some positive recommendations, it is not surprising given the panel?s membership that the report failed to mention the legal exemptions the industry has carved from seven key federal health and environmental protection laws including the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Superfund. Closing these exemptions would be an important step forward to ensure that natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing are conducted safely.

Dusty Horwitt
Senior counsel
Environmental Working Group
Washington

You can have a party with drinking and catering on Ellis Island; you and your guests will be permitted to drive over the bridge from Liberty State Park and they can arrange fireworks. That is amazing, please invite me!

http://www.thestatueofliberty.com/ellis_event_home.html

According to an report published today the amout of federal bailout is $4.8 Trillion. Of that $2 Billion went directly to homeowners the rest to the crooks that caused this mess.

My question is when does the revolution begin?

Out of 150,000 tenured teachers in the last 10 years, only 17 have been dismissed for incompetence.
Chris Christie on Friday, April 29th, 2011 in a speech at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

http://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/ ... only-17-150000-tenured-n/

This is the link to live election results:

http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/cgi-bin/election.pl

I recently went to the same court in Weehawken for a ticket and it is the same deal as Jersey City and probably every city in NJ:

The prosecutor will call you in and make an offer to plead guilty to an another violation that comes with no points but a significantly higher fine. I recall a 250.00 fine with 2 point for speeding will cost 700.00 with no points. But if you plead guilty or loose the trial you will get a 200.00 yearly bill for 3 years from NJ in the mail which is a state surcharge. In addition to that your insurance rate will increase. If you take the plea bargain I think your insurance rate can still go up because the insurance companies know that you took a plea for a moving violation. The prosecutor told me they have NO leeway or discretion in the plea, its always the same due to NJ state guidelines.

It does not matter if you have a lawyer, they will make the same offer. And 98.6% of all lawyers will take the plea and not go for a trial. NOT worth getting a lawyer if you are going to plead guilty.

If you have made a deal like this anywhere in NJ in the past year you will be ineligible to take this offer.

The Judge I encountered in Weehawken is nasty do dont piss him off and dont go for a trial without a lawyer unless you are completely prepared and can prove your innocence because in traffic court you are guilty until proven innocent. And that judge will ALWAYS take the word of the officer (who has no notes and no recollection of you or the incident) over yours.

I believe that speeding tickets are winnable in court if you are willing to put in the effort and learn how others have won. It is because the technology can be fooled, is not always accurate and is subject to user error. But that involves discovery which is a process of getting information on the radar gun, calibration, case law, records on officer training, certifications, etc. If you have a lawyer do it the costs will be ridiculous.

Port Authority, and NJ Transit police ARE writing tickets, they have not in the past but everything has changed and they probably need to make money for the cities they work in.

Is May 16 -20 bike to work week again this year or did Mayor Healy cut this program from the budget?

No_ More_Socialism: LOL Do you think the BOE has a goal of improving education? If students are going to learn they need great teachers. I KNOW THAT MOST TEACHERS ARE GREAT, and it concerns me that the worst teachers, who are the few bad apples spoiling the entie bunch, are protected by tenure and none of the School Board candidates in Jersey City are opposed to tenure. I guess tenure is the live wire that will kill any candidate who opposes it becuause such a high percentage of teachers union members vote in this election.

One New Jersey union representative was even blunter about the work his organization does to keep bad teachers in the classroom, saying: ?I?ve gone in and defended teachers who shouldn?t even be pumping gas.?

In ten years, only about 47 out of 100,000 teachers were actually terminated from New Jersey?s schools.

I will be voting for:
GANGADIN
HARRISON-ARNOLD
ADAMES
NO on Public Question #1

By MICHELLE J. ROBINSON (PIX11) Staff reporter 2:22 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2011 BRENTWOOD, L.I.(PIX11).? Fire investigators say a gas leak triggered that huge explosion Sunday morning in Brentwood, that razed a house and could be heard and felt up to a circumference of seven-miles. No one was killed; but there were some minor injuries. They say the Suffolk County house on 4th Street was flattened, when it blew apart around 10:40 a.m.; no one was inside, since it was being renovated in preparation to be sold. Work was being done on the house as late as Friday. Investigators say the blast was so tremendous, debris was scattered all over the neighborhood. And according to the ambulance chief, 21 people were taken to the hospital, suffering from respiratory problems, high-blood pressure and anxiety. Police and fire officials used bomb-sniffing dogs to rule out a bomb, and employed thermal detection equipment to check the basement for victims. Meanwhile, reports say the local Red Cross is providing temporary housing for at least nine people, whose homes were seriously damaged in the explosion.  

In an effort to find out how this scam works I emailed the alleged scam artist to extract the information we went back and fourth and on this third email he spelled it out for me:

If you are ready to proceed with this transaction I will need to inform you with the steps on how this service works and how we can make it happen. You will only have to deposit to Globe-Shipping-LTD the first month of rent $865 so they can proceed with the shipping, and you can receive the keys and the contract. I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the keys and the contract signed by me right away. I will explain you step by step how this process will work:

1 - To start the process all I need is your full shipping info.
2 - I will go at Globe-Shipping-LTD to deposit the keys and the contract on your name as the intended receiver.
3 - Globe-Shipping-LTD will check the envelope to see if everything is in order and also the legal papers that will come along with the keys and proof of ownership.
4 - Globe-Shipping-LTD will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the keys and the papers in their custody and that I am the real owner of the apartment I am renting to you, in which you will also have all the instructions to complete the Western Union transfer to the Globe-Shipping-LTD Agent.
5 - At this point you will have to go to a Western Union Location and make a money deposit on the Globe-Shipping-LTD Agent Name for the amount we agreed, the total amount you shall deposit for the first month of rent. www.globe-shipping-ltd.all.co.uk
6 - After you make the deposit you will have to send the transfer information to Globe-Shipping-LTD.
7 - Globe-Shipping-LTD will verify the payment information and if everything is in order they will proceed with the delivery of the keys and the contract.
8 - After you receive the package, you will go and check the apartment and in 5 days you must contact Globe-Shipping-LTD to inform them if you keep the apt or not and if all is in order you will instruct Globe-Shipping-LTD to send me the information about the money deposit and I will be able to receive the funds. If you don`t like the apartment they will be sending the money back to you and you will send back the keys and contract. Also pay the Western Union transfer fees from the total amount you need to deposit and send the rest in balance.

Let me know if we can move forward and e-mail me all your full name and shipping information so we can proceed with this deal. lewis.donnds@hotmail.com

That dude from Chertoff Consulting wasted 30 minutes in the Caucus meeting telling us how they hired someone to simulate setting off a bomb over the pipeline and it did not rupture. What about the million other ways a pipeling can be sabatoged especially at the 3 venting stations that will release toxic gas? If a terrorist had a hammer and a lighter they could do some damage there.

It was determined that PSE&G caused the San Bruno, CA gas explosion by running too much pressure through the pipe and the motive was profit. Same thing happened with BP too much production for profit. Does anyone trust spectra with a pipe they say can handle more than 1000psi?

That Caucus was filmed by JC1TV using taxpayer money. It will look like a two hour infomercial promoting Spectra because 95% of the content is presented by Spectra. Half of what they said was a lie and the public interest was not represented on issues like danger, risk, hazard, pollution, traffic congestion, environmental impact, energy alternatives, property values, etc.

JC1TV will show the film on Comcast, is there any way to stop that from being aired? Can we get the film Gasland on that same comcast channel? Spectra is paying for TV commericals on Comcast, the City of Jersey City sponsored a Caucus meeting packed with false information from Spectra. Now they want to air a free Spectra infomercial.

If you get towed the thing to do is pay with American Express, Visa or MC. If the towing people say not accepted then immediately call the police and file a report and demand your care be released. At that point the tow operator will most likely accept your credit card.

The law requires that all tow operators in NJ accept credit cards. They cannot offer a discount for cash either, if they do call your credit card company and complain; thieir credit card privilages can be terminated.

Money woes force closure of NJ city's main library

The Huffington Post
February 10, 2011 04:35 PM EST

CAMDEN, N.J. ? The latest blow to the downtrodden city of Camden, N.J., is the closure of its downtown branch of the public library.

The main branch of the Camden Free Public Library is closing its doors Thursday. It's a victim of the same budget crisis that resulted in layoffs last month of nearly 400 city government employees, including almost half the police department and one-third of the firefighters.

Last summer, it looked as if all three of the city's branches might close. That was averted when the county library system agreed to take over one of the branches.

Camden is a city of 80,000 residents across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. It consistently ranks as one of the nation's most-impoverished cities. Most of its families don't own computers.

Leaking Gas Line Sparks Explosion, Inferno; 8 Homes Destroyed; Hundreds Of People EvacuatedBlast Felt Several Miles Away; Firefighters Battle Multi-Alarm Blaze

Jamie Peter | Web Producer
3:17 am EST February 10, 2011

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Firefighters from around Lehigh County are battling a multi-alarm fire that followed a gas explosion in the area of North 13th and West Allen streets in Allentown.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski told 69 News that the blast, which happened around 10:45 Wednesday night, was sparked by a leak of natural gas, although UGI has been unable to confirm that.

http://www.wfmz.com/lehighvalleynews/26813478/detail.html

October 18, 2010, 6:00 pm

You Can Photograph That Federal Building
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
The New York Times
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10 ... ph-that-federal-building/

The right of photographers to stand in a public place and take pictures of federal buildings has been upheld by a legal settlement reached in New York.

In the ever-escalating skirmishes between photographers and security agencies, the most significant battlefield is probably the public way ? streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas ? which has customarily been regarded as a vantage from which photography cannot and should not be barred.

Under the settlement, announced Monday by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Federal Protective Service said that it would inform its officers and employees in writing of the ?public?s general right to photograph the exterior of federal courthouses from publicly accessible spaces? and remind them that ?there are currently no general security regulations prohibiting exterior photography by individuals from publicly accessible spaces, absent a written local rule, regulation or order.?

The settlement, filed on Friday, ended a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security by Antonio Musumeci, 29, of Edgewater, N.J. He was arrested Nov. 9, 2009, as he videotaped a demonstrator in front of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street. His principal camera was confiscated but he recorded the encounter on a second camera. On two later occasions, he was also threatened with arrest.

The protective service, which guards buildings and properties that are owned by or leased to the federal government, is part of the homeland security agency.

?This settlement secures the public?s First Amendment right to use cameras in public spaces without being harassed,? said a statement issued by Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Musumeci in Federal District Court.

On behalf of the Federal Protective Service, Michael Keegan, the chief of public and legislative affairs, said in a statement that the ?settlement of Mr. Musumeci?s lawsuit clarifies that protecting public safety is fully compatible with the need to grant public access to federal facilities, including photography of the exterior of federal buildings.?

At issue in the case was a federal regulation that was cited in the arrest of Mr. Musumeci but that seems ? on the face of it ? not to have prohibited what he was doing. It says, in part, that ?persons entering in or on federal property may take photographs? of ?building entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors or auditoriums for news purposes.? Mr. Musumeci told the arresting officers that he worked for the radio talk program Free Talk Live. He was given a ticket and released on the spot. His account appeared on his Blog of Bile.

As part of the settlement, the Federal Protective Service said it construed the regulation ?not to prohibit individuals from photographing (including motion photography) the exterior of federal courthouses from publicly accessible spaces.?

Christopher T. Dunn, the associate legal director of the civil liberties union and lead counsel in the case, said in a telephone interview that the settlement could be interpreted to apply to any federal building anywhere in the country under the aegis of the protective service. Because the regulation speaks broadly of federal property ? not only courthouses ? Mr. Dunn said the settlement was ?tantamount to a recognition that there is no restriction on the photography of federal buildings from public places.?

http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/about/

Gasland the movie is now playing at the IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street | (212) 924-7771

Purchase tickets online:
http://www.ifccenter.com/films/gasland

Thu, Sep 16 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Fri, Sep 17 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Sat, Sep 18 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Sun, Sep 19 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Mon, Sep 20 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Tue, Sep 21 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Wed, Sep 22 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM
Thu, Sep 23 at: 11:45 AM, 2:05 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:30 PM

Filmmakers in person Wed 9/15 & Thu 9/16 at 7:00 & 9:30pm! A natural-gas drilling boom has swept across the United States in recent years, as the Halliburton-developed drilling technology of ?fracking? has unlocked a ?Saudi Arabia of natural gas? just beneath us. But is the method safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he decides to investigate, embarking upon a cross-country odyssey. He uncovers a trail of secrets, lies and contamination?from unexplained illnesses to flammable tap water?in this expose of a new country called GASLAND.

NR, 107 Minutes USA, 2010
Official Website: www.gaslandthemovie.com

Its such a bogus issue that is consuming mindless people into hysteria. One crazy guy with a cult of 50 zombie followers want to burn the koran and the whole world knows about it.

The US is making its larget arms sale ever to Saudi Arabia.
A dozen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

The government of Saudi Arabia is evil and their record on equality and human rights is poor. Yet the main stream media hardly reports on any real issue compared to the amout of coverage they waste on bullshit.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/ame ... 9/201091312118406560.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09 ... congressional-notice.html

I am sick of this Not In My Back Yard mentality. I am against increasing Natural Gas capacity PERIOD. This is contratry to the nations energy policy that dictates increasing capacity of gas, oil, nuclear, etc.

This is a federal policy issue - your federal governmet subsidises fossil fuel. Natural Gas is nasty, toxic, destroys the environment no matter where the pipline is located. But sadly people will celebrate it as a miracle if we get that thing moved out of JC and under the NY Harbor.

Lets get this thing eliminated, off the drawing board. Call your congressman and senator to tell them to stop the fossil fuel subsidies and start funding clean energy.

http://www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/politics_ffs.pdf

Here is a reminder how Epps robbed the schools in 2006

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... pe=&topic_id=5151&forum=6