NJ Budget

Gov Christie wants ways to cut the state budget. He is planning on taking $ 800 million from education, while giving those making over $ 400,000 a year a tax break. He says he may "sell" the names of the rest stops on the NJ Turnpike. How about this idea governor? Privatize all the rest stops in the state by leasing them out. The new owners could then charge people who stop to use the services. Meters for cars would be a start. The bathrooms could all be coin operated with a higher charge for those who have to have a bowel movement. Let the new owners charge whatever the market will bear for gas (you know, free market is the way to go). A charge could be placed on walking your dog, and a second charge for a "doggie bag" for you know what. The charges for food and coffee could be greatly increased; this could actually help New Jerseyians (and others) lose weight. For those motorists who would resist paying the fee to use the rest stops, the state could increase the fine for stopping along the roadway. This would be a form of liquid littering, and of course littering is illegal. Another benefit of this plan is that the new operators of the rest stops-being private companies-could hire who ever they want. Illegal aliens would be happy to get the work, just don't ask them a question you want an English reply to.

A second option would be for the governor to remove all the signs with his name on them; we should not be paying for his personal publicity. In addition he should remove all those pictures of himself inside the rest stops. The one I visited this past week had a picture of the governor that took up an entire wall.

US dollars in Iraq

Parade Magazine reports on a question it was asked about "billions of US dollars that went missing in Iraq". The answer they provided was, one, it "remains a mystery", two, the money was counterfeit, three, Saddam stole it and lastly, "it's easier to describe the creation of the universe than to sort out that lost money". What a bullshit answer. If Parade Magazine wanted to they could have researched it further and come up with a more complete answer. Seems like media bias to me; and certainly not a liberal one. Is it possible that military/defense spending allows for more money to be stolen by more people than any other type of government spending?

Torture and our Allies

According to The Recond on 3/10/10, the former head of the British spy agency-MI5-said that "US intelligence agencies mislead key allies...about its mistreatment of suspected terrorists...". Eliza Manningham-Buller retired in 2007 and is now in the House of Lords said "...the US deliberately suppressed details of its harsh handling of some detainees, including accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". This news item-of two paragraphs-appeared on page A-11 on an inside column. It seems the press was trying to hide the story. It is safe to say that our enemies don't trust us; now it seems are friends may have reason not to either.

(Source "British official says US misled allies". Around the World section. The Record 3/10/10).

PS. Would it be truthful to replace "misled" with "lied"?

Money and Congress

The Senate Banking Committee has taken $ 72,753,647 from the "FIRE" section (finance, insurance and real estate) business. The 14 democrats got $ 50,295,559 with Dodd getting $ 13 mil and Schumer $ 15 mil. The 10 republicans got $ 22,459,088. Only democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin got less than 6 figures at $ 73,950. This money was received since 1989. The information comes form "OpenSecrets.org" as reported by The Washington Spectator on 3/1/10. How can these politicans be expected to decide objectively on issues affecting these industries?

Defense Spending

The American Friends Service Committee reports that the "US spent $ 976,121,986,000 on the military in 2008, including budgeted funds and 'special supplements' like the one to pay for the war in Iraq. That's $ 1.9 million spent every single minute for war and so-called defense". There fund-raiser letter opened a campaign to raise $ 1.9 million for One Minute for Peace. This figure comes from a newsletter from AFSC I received a few months ago; there was no date on the letter. Some research will be required to check on the $ 976 billion number. It does seem high.

Texas GOP primary

Governor Rick Perry has beaten Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the nomination of the Republican party for governor of the state. Of interest is the showing of the "tea party" candidate for that office. Debra Medina got 18 % of the vote and was a disappointment to the "tea party" folks. It did not help her cause when she appeared on the radio show of Glenn Beck and said "some very good arguments" could be made "that the US was involved in the 2001 attacks that took down the World Trade Center and killed some 3000 people".

(Source: "Perry turns away Hutchison to capture GOP nomination" by Kelley Shannon of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 3/3/10).