During the concert, most of the artists were giving shout outs to being in New York City. When Scrubs' Zach Braff stepped on stage, the New Jersey native said, "People keep saying this is New York, and I'm sick of it and tired of it. We're in the beautiful state of New Jersey!" The crowd screamed and cheered.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Live Earth - Update 3
I'm watching the replay of the Foo Fighters in London at the moment and checking out the media reports on the event. Of note, considering my earlier post, is that Zach Braff once again showed his love of his roots. From USA Today:
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Live Earth - Update 2
So, watching the London show I've enjoyed the intentional set design of having something recycled as the light fixtures. Australia had tires, London has oil drum lids. While one is a product of petroleum, the other is what's used to deliver it. Looks good.
I suppose as I'm getting ready to go pay almost $3 a gallon to fill my car, one of my continuing frustrations with the naysayers on climate change is their complete lack of economic patriotism. Oil prices have been cited as hurting small business, who Inc. Magazine cited as creating 60% of the new jobs in the nation last month. Don't believe in global warming, fine, then take a look at our sagging GDP growth and rising inflation.
Implementing these measures reduces oil consumption and saves money for families and businesses. The oil industry has told us time and again that they're not gouging because prices are based on supply and demand. More recently they've said they're not going to increase supply, so our only recourse is to reduce demand. Kind of like my doing the South Beach Diet, it's not about changing yourself for a short time (ex. drilling off the Jersey Coast), it's about changing your mindset. Individually, as families, and as a nation changing our mindset only has benefits.
There's a lot each of us can do in our own lives to save a few bucks here and a few bucks there, and it will add up. On a government level, any elected representative opposing implementing many of these measures is wasting taxpayer money making taxes higher than they need to be and our national debt worse. I don't know why that's not said more often, but it's the truth.
I suppose as I'm getting ready to go pay almost $3 a gallon to fill my car, one of my continuing frustrations with the naysayers on climate change is their complete lack of economic patriotism. Oil prices have been cited as hurting small business, who Inc. Magazine cited as creating 60% of the new jobs in the nation last month. Don't believe in global warming, fine, then take a look at our sagging GDP growth and rising inflation.
Implementing these measures reduces oil consumption and saves money for families and businesses. The oil industry has told us time and again that they're not gouging because prices are based on supply and demand. More recently they've said they're not going to increase supply, so our only recourse is to reduce demand. Kind of like my doing the South Beach Diet, it's not about changing yourself for a short time (ex. drilling off the Jersey Coast), it's about changing your mindset. Individually, as families, and as a nation changing our mindset only has benefits.
There's a lot each of us can do in our own lives to save a few bucks here and a few bucks there, and it will add up. On a government level, any elected representative opposing implementing many of these measures is wasting taxpayer money making taxes higher than they need to be and our national debt worse. I don't know why that's not said more often, but it's the truth.
Live Earth - Update
Ok, Missy Higgins just finished her set and she's good.
I'm less interested in seeing the crowd in between sets and seeing the films they're showing. However, I'm done for the night.
In the event I don't get back on here tomorrow, here's the things they're asking people to pledge to help improve the environment. Environmentalists seem to be particularly verbose, so for the naysayers out there let's put this another way; here are 10 ways you can save yourself a good amount of money.
Courtesy of Conservation International
Do your part to ensure a healthy planet by incorporating these ten simple actions into your everyday life.
1) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Look closely at labels when buying light bulbs. Those marked as CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. As a result, CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes, depending on your cost of electricity, the wattage size of the CFL, and the lamp's lifespan (manufacturers make CFLs that last 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 hours). The return on investment is 15 times higher than leaving your money in a bank account or the average return on Dows-Jones stock investments. CFLs also reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions and are safer because they burn at a lower temperature (160° F or less) than incandescent and halogen lights, which can burn at temperatures up to 500° F.
2) Turn down the thermostat just three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer. You can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
3) Inflate your car tires. When walking or biking isn't feasible, you can do something to better protect the Earth while driving. Take a step in the right direction by inflating your car tires. Pumping them up can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 7 cents per gallon. It's the right thing to do for your wallet and the right thing to do for the Earth.
4) Turn down the hot water heater. Set your water heater to 130° F. While you're at it, turn down your house thermostat during the winter to 55° F when you go to bed or leave home. These simple actions can have enormous positive consequences, preventing the emission of more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of the year, while cutting your energy bill by more than 10 percent. And that's just from you! Get your friends on board, and the benefits will multiply.
5) Choose your seafood wisely. We can't afford to wait until 2008. The world's seafood will be entirely depleted by 2048, according to an early November report in the journal Science. That means the moment to shape up is now. By buying and eating certain types of seafood, you can discourage harmful fishing practices and avoid the more depleted or threatened species. Take a look at Seafood Choices Alliance or Seafood Watch to make smart choices.
6) Purchase EnergyStar-labeled appliances. EnergyStar products are among the top 25 percent most efficient and can provide a 30 percent return or better through lower utility bills.
7) Wash and rinse in cold water. If everyone in the United States alone switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- and more than $3 billion in energy costs, collectively. And what's more? Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.
8) Buy locally produced meats and produce. Sounds like a good idea, but you don't know where to start? Just type in your zip code on Local Harvest's website to see a list of farms and farmers' markets close to home, as well as nearby restaurants committed to supporting their neighbors. Buying locally produced food cuts out the middlemen and the vast amounts of energy required to get your products onto store shelves. Most produce in U.S. supermarkets travels an average 1,500 miles before it is sold!
9) Drink more water from reusable glassware. It's great for your bank account, your health, and your planet. The average American consumed more than 400 beverage bottles and cans in 2006, leaving behind wasted glass, plastic, steel, and aluminum. That adds up to excessive amounts of fossil fuels and hydropower for mining, processing, refining, shaping, shipping, storing, refrigerating, and disposing of those materials. Of course, changing your drinking habits both at home and at work is applicable to just about every other habit, as well. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
10) Walk, bike, and carpool. In the United States, the car represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. However, you don't have to give up your car for a healthier planet, just expand your transportation options. You can significantly reduce your emissions by commuting to work. Try combining trips to minimize emissions, which are greatest at the beginning of a journey before the engine has reached optimum temperature and efficiency. When purchasing your next car, make it a fuel-efficient one. Hybrid cars can get twice the fuel efficiency of the average new car, cut greenhouse gas emissions by half or more, and reduce urban air pollutants. Carpooling saves energy, cuts on additional pollution, and allows you to take a turn as a passenger instead of driving everyday. Car-sharing (not pooling) is available in numerous U.S. cities. Car-sharing enables you to rent a car just when you need it. Each car-share vehicle displaces four to eight privately held cars, requiring less parking area and creating less road congestion. If you live within an hour's bicycle ride to the office (~10 miles), consider biking to work one or more days a week
I'm less interested in seeing the crowd in between sets and seeing the films they're showing. However, I'm done for the night.
In the event I don't get back on here tomorrow, here's the things they're asking people to pledge to help improve the environment. Environmentalists seem to be particularly verbose, so for the naysayers out there let's put this another way; here are 10 ways you can save yourself a good amount of money.
Courtesy of Conservation International
Do your part to ensure a healthy planet by incorporating these ten simple actions into your everyday life.
1) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Look closely at labels when buying light bulbs. Those marked as CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. As a result, CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes, depending on your cost of electricity, the wattage size of the CFL, and the lamp's lifespan (manufacturers make CFLs that last 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 hours). The return on investment is 15 times higher than leaving your money in a bank account or the average return on Dows-Jones stock investments. CFLs also reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions and are safer because they burn at a lower temperature (160° F or less) than incandescent and halogen lights, which can burn at temperatures up to 500° F.
2) Turn down the thermostat just three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer. You can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
3) Inflate your car tires. When walking or biking isn't feasible, you can do something to better protect the Earth while driving. Take a step in the right direction by inflating your car tires. Pumping them up can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 7 cents per gallon. It's the right thing to do for your wallet and the right thing to do for the Earth.
4) Turn down the hot water heater. Set your water heater to 130° F. While you're at it, turn down your house thermostat during the winter to 55° F when you go to bed or leave home. These simple actions can have enormous positive consequences, preventing the emission of more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of the year, while cutting your energy bill by more than 10 percent. And that's just from you! Get your friends on board, and the benefits will multiply.
5) Choose your seafood wisely. We can't afford to wait until 2008. The world's seafood will be entirely depleted by 2048, according to an early November report in the journal Science. That means the moment to shape up is now. By buying and eating certain types of seafood, you can discourage harmful fishing practices and avoid the more depleted or threatened species. Take a look at Seafood Choices Alliance or Seafood Watch to make smart choices.
6) Purchase EnergyStar-labeled appliances. EnergyStar products are among the top 25 percent most efficient and can provide a 30 percent return or better through lower utility bills.
7) Wash and rinse in cold water. If everyone in the United States alone switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- and more than $3 billion in energy costs, collectively. And what's more? Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.
8) Buy locally produced meats and produce. Sounds like a good idea, but you don't know where to start? Just type in your zip code on Local Harvest's website to see a list of farms and farmers' markets close to home, as well as nearby restaurants committed to supporting their neighbors. Buying locally produced food cuts out the middlemen and the vast amounts of energy required to get your products onto store shelves. Most produce in U.S. supermarkets travels an average 1,500 miles before it is sold!
9) Drink more water from reusable glassware. It's great for your bank account, your health, and your planet. The average American consumed more than 400 beverage bottles and cans in 2006, leaving behind wasted glass, plastic, steel, and aluminum. That adds up to excessive amounts of fossil fuels and hydropower for mining, processing, refining, shaping, shipping, storing, refrigerating, and disposing of those materials. Of course, changing your drinking habits both at home and at work is applicable to just about every other habit, as well. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
10) Walk, bike, and carpool. In the United States, the car represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. However, you don't have to give up your car for a healthier planet, just expand your transportation options. You can significantly reduce your emissions by commuting to work. Try combining trips to minimize emissions, which are greatest at the beginning of a journey before the engine has reached optimum temperature and efficiency. When purchasing your next car, make it a fuel-efficient one. Hybrid cars can get twice the fuel efficiency of the average new car, cut greenhouse gas emissions by half or more, and reduce urban air pollutants. Carpooling saves energy, cuts on additional pollution, and allows you to take a turn as a passenger instead of driving everyday. Car-sharing (not pooling) is available in numerous U.S. cities. Car-sharing enables you to rent a car just when you need it. Each car-share vehicle displaces four to eight privately held cars, requiring less parking area and creating less road congestion. If you live within an hour's bicycle ride to the office (~10 miles), consider biking to work one or more days a week
Live Earth - It's in NJ
So, I'm watching/listening to the Live Earth show from Australia while I'm working on another project. The band playing at the moment is Eskimo Joe. They're really good musicians and absolutely not helping me stay up as they're rather slow. There's no shot of me staying up for Wolfmother, which is what I could use at the moment.
MSN has the show times and line-ups here. Last time I checked, there are tickets still available to the show at Giants Stadium if you have a minimum of $200+ to blow per ticket (all the $100 variety are gone).
On another note, you can count me among those that's annoyed they refer to it as being Live Earth New York. Today, Corzine signed what many consider the toughest green house gas reduction bill in the United States, if not the world, with enforceable targets. Love the bill or hate the bill, it's New Jersey's bill and not New York's.
It was nice of Al Gore to show up at Corzine's signing, my guess is he might have noticed the signing wasn't in Flushing Meadows; or the Bronx; or Coney Island; or Staten Island; or Randall's Island; or Jones Beach; but in East Rutherford, which is in Bergen County, which is in New Jersey.
A little respect would be nice.
MSN has the show times and line-ups here. Last time I checked, there are tickets still available to the show at Giants Stadium if you have a minimum of $200+ to blow per ticket (all the $100 variety are gone).
On another note, you can count me among those that's annoyed they refer to it as being Live Earth New York. Today, Corzine signed what many consider the toughest green house gas reduction bill in the United States, if not the world, with enforceable targets. Love the bill or hate the bill, it's New Jersey's bill and not New York's.
It was nice of Al Gore to show up at Corzine's signing, my guess is he might have noticed the signing wasn't in Flushing Meadows; or the Bronx; or Coney Island; or Staten Island; or Randall's Island; or Jones Beach; but in East Rutherford, which is in Bergen County, which is in New Jersey.
A little respect would be nice.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Pre-Tax Commuting
For my 100th post, I've decided to cover something near and dear to my heart: Commuting Costs. After dropping the cash for my various monthly commuting passes today; I find myself once again wondering why the two-plus hours a day I spend on mass transit are not completely pre-tax cost. Currently, the limit on pre-tax transit benefits is set by Congress at $105 dollars. Here's the bit of the tax code that makes it possible:
For those that don't receive TransitChecks, or one of their cousins, the $105 is deducted in a pre-tax manner the same as contributions to a 401(k), flex account or health insurance premiums. For the hundreds of people that use the exact same methods of travel I do, our commute from our NJ Transit rail zone into lower Manhattan costs $426 dollars a month ($5,112 per year) including the mass transit and parking. Those that live further away from New York City pay even more. I know several people paying a few hundred dollars more.
That's no small chunk of change to be shelling out every month. It appears that the House is looking to expand the credit to $175, via HR 1300 (Title V, Sec. 501). On behalf of the tens of thousands of my fellow commuters, I'd like to say we appreciate that greatly. However, at the same time why not let us cover the whole thing pre-tax?
There are so many benefits to commuters, employers and taxpayers.
For commuters, it's more money in their pocket and a lower tax liability.
For employers, it's happy employees and a lower tax burden.
For taxpayers, assuming the benefit attracts more riders, it's less spent for highway repairs from heavy road usage and would push the mass transit systems closer to the black; thus reducing federal subsidies.
Those are just a few of the benefits, and there are so many more. It wouldn't be that hard to implement, because many transit benefit providers already send passes directly to employers for distribution. My co-workers receive their Metro-Cards directly from TransitChecks, who delivers them to our company, and I'm sure those who provide the service would have no problem tracking down my passes if they were completely covered.
Currently, New Jersey Representatives Steve Rothman, Donald Payne, Rush Holt and Albio Sires are co-sponsoring the entire Bill. At a bare minimum, I would hope the entire New Jersey Delegation could figure out how to word and co-sponsor an amendment to increase the ceiling. There is not a District in our state where some portion of the population doesn't use some form of mass transit. Pull in those Representatives from New York, Connecticut and the eastern part of Pennsylvania and you've got a powerful block of votes.
I realize that some of the Republican delegation will not vote for this particular bill regardless of how many voters they'll make happy. It's ok. They can vote for a full pre-tax amendment but vote against enacting the amended Bill; as Representative Scott Garrett did with his SOX compliance deadline extension amendment. They'll still get to send out the press release saying they supported bringing relief to commuters who are doing the right thing by using mass transit.
Contact your Rep and let them know you'd like the full amount pre-tax.
Contacting our Delegation:
01 Robert E. Andrews D
02 Frank A. LoBiondo R
03 Jim Saxton R
04 Christopher H. Smith R
05 Scott Garrett R
06 Frank Pallone Jr. D
07 Mike Ferguson R
08 Bill Pascrell Jr. D
09 Steven R. Rothman D
10 Donald M. Payne D
11 Rodney P. Frelinghuysen R
12 Rush D. Holt D
13 Albio Sires D
Qualified Transportation Fringe. For taxable years beginning in 2005, the monthly limitation under § 132(f)(2)(A) (regarding the aggregate fringe benefit exclusion amount for transportation in a commuter highway vehicle and any transit pass) is $105.
For those that don't receive TransitChecks, or one of their cousins, the $105 is deducted in a pre-tax manner the same as contributions to a 401(k), flex account or health insurance premiums. For the hundreds of people that use the exact same methods of travel I do, our commute from our NJ Transit rail zone into lower Manhattan costs $426 dollars a month ($5,112 per year) including the mass transit and parking. Those that live further away from New York City pay even more. I know several people paying a few hundred dollars more.
That's no small chunk of change to be shelling out every month. It appears that the House is looking to expand the credit to $175, via HR 1300 (Title V, Sec. 501). On behalf of the tens of thousands of my fellow commuters, I'd like to say we appreciate that greatly. However, at the same time why not let us cover the whole thing pre-tax?
There are so many benefits to commuters, employers and taxpayers.
For commuters, it's more money in their pocket and a lower tax liability.
For employers, it's happy employees and a lower tax burden.
For taxpayers, assuming the benefit attracts more riders, it's less spent for highway repairs from heavy road usage and would push the mass transit systems closer to the black; thus reducing federal subsidies.
Those are just a few of the benefits, and there are so many more. It wouldn't be that hard to implement, because many transit benefit providers already send passes directly to employers for distribution. My co-workers receive their Metro-Cards directly from TransitChecks, who delivers them to our company, and I'm sure those who provide the service would have no problem tracking down my passes if they were completely covered.
Currently, New Jersey Representatives Steve Rothman, Donald Payne, Rush Holt and Albio Sires are co-sponsoring the entire Bill. At a bare minimum, I would hope the entire New Jersey Delegation could figure out how to word and co-sponsor an amendment to increase the ceiling. There is not a District in our state where some portion of the population doesn't use some form of mass transit. Pull in those Representatives from New York, Connecticut and the eastern part of Pennsylvania and you've got a powerful block of votes.
I realize that some of the Republican delegation will not vote for this particular bill regardless of how many voters they'll make happy. It's ok. They can vote for a full pre-tax amendment but vote against enacting the amended Bill; as Representative Scott Garrett did with his SOX compliance deadline extension amendment. They'll still get to send out the press release saying they supported bringing relief to commuters who are doing the right thing by using mass transit.
Contact your Rep and let them know you'd like the full amount pre-tax.
Contacting our Delegation:
01 Robert E. Andrews D
02 Frank A. LoBiondo R
03 Jim Saxton R
04 Christopher H. Smith R
05 Scott Garrett R
06 Frank Pallone Jr. D
07 Mike Ferguson R
08 Bill Pascrell Jr. D
09 Steven R. Rothman D
10 Donald M. Payne D
11 Rodney P. Frelinghuysen R
12 Rush D. Holt D
13 Albio Sires D
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Happy 4th, Everybody
If it's been a while, take a read. This is the soul of America.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Monday, July 2, 2007
God Bless Your Loyalty, DBeck
Even though I find myself a man without a party, I respect those who are loyal to their party and their party's public office holders. One such blogger is DBeck over at Red Jersey. S/he wrote a lengthy piece about how Representative Scott Garrett can help bring the Republicans in Bergen County back. When I argued that for the BCRO to make a comeback they needed to dump Garrett and Talarico, I wasn't joking. From DBeck's piece:
First off, Garrett is not Marge Roukema; nor does he want to be. People genuinely loved Marge, because they trusted her to do no harm. She voted Republican, but she wasn't going to be in lockstep with the leadership when they did things that would harm the families of our District. She was more pragmatic and infinitely less of an ideologue than Garrett. As opposed to Garrett's rigid partisan mentality that leads him to attack fellow Republicans, the voters here respected Marge for bi-partisanship and bucking authority when appropriate. Marge also didn't misrepresent her voting record. After two terms, people are starting to realize Garrett is no Marge.
It's (mostly) the social beliefs, DBeck.
Garrett is true to his beliefs, however many of those beliefs fly in the face of the moderate or classic conservative mindset of so many here in Bergen. The hard right turn of the national agenda by the Republicans has already been cited by Stuart Rothenberg and others as being a problem for the BCRO. Making Garrett the poster child for the BCRO would put local candidates in his spotlight: Intelligent design in public schools? Global warming doesn't exist? Terri Schiavo? What about reaching out to theocracy proponents or contributing website content that brings in advertising dollars to pay for the bandwidth to host murder fantasies? I'm sure most would agree that this is what the BCRO doesn't need, and Papa Joe would like nothing more than to see it happen.
Garrett is who Garrett is, and although he has his ardent backers, the more time he spends in office the less people in Bergen seem to like him. It really has very little to do with some bias against him or conservatives. It has to do with those votes he makes on our behalf where he is among 5-17% of the House voting against a bill. Ten years of tax cuts for small businesses, he votes no. Restoring funds to community policing programs, he votes no. Renewing the Voting Rights Act, he votes no. Reducing interest on student loans, he votes no. The list goes on.
Garrett almost lost Bergen in '06, and the Dems are going to have a field day reporting his voting record against so many of the issues so many moderates and classic conservatives support. Many Republicans and Republican leaning independents still vote for Garrett because they don't want to lose the seat, not because they support him personally. The longer he serves, and the more super minority votes he makes, the less support he's going to have. As a loyal campaign staffer, I respect DBeck believing this is the man who can help save the BCRO. However, I couldn't disagree more.
Clearly Ridgewood voters are losing confidence that the Republicans stand for what they believe in, but we can win them back with the right message.
Another fact is that the home base of Marge Roukema voted for the bumbling, McGreeveyite Rotarian Democrat Paul Ahronsohn over an incumbent GOP congressman by a margin of 4,814 to 3,820! This margin is probably partly frustration with Iraq and other issues, but it also means that work is cut out for Republicans. Yet I believe we can rise to the challenge.
First off, Garrett is not Marge Roukema; nor does he want to be. People genuinely loved Marge, because they trusted her to do no harm. She voted Republican, but she wasn't going to be in lockstep with the leadership when they did things that would harm the families of our District. She was more pragmatic and infinitely less of an ideologue than Garrett. As opposed to Garrett's rigid partisan mentality that leads him to attack fellow Republicans, the voters here respected Marge for bi-partisanship and bucking authority when appropriate. Marge also didn't misrepresent her voting record. After two terms, people are starting to realize Garrett is no Marge.
His stands on the economic and national security issues of the day are with the voters in these towns and against the welfare state values many in the NJ Democratic Party support, but sadly the Ferriero-Cryan regime has tried to define the Congressman as an extremist which is not the case.
It's (mostly) the social beliefs, DBeck.
Garrett is true to his beliefs, however many of those beliefs fly in the face of the moderate or classic conservative mindset of so many here in Bergen. The hard right turn of the national agenda by the Republicans has already been cited by Stuart Rothenberg and others as being a problem for the BCRO. Making Garrett the poster child for the BCRO would put local candidates in his spotlight: Intelligent design in public schools? Global warming doesn't exist? Terri Schiavo? What about reaching out to theocracy proponents or contributing website content that brings in advertising dollars to pay for the bandwidth to host murder fantasies? I'm sure most would agree that this is what the BCRO doesn't need, and Papa Joe would like nothing more than to see it happen.
Garrett is who Garrett is, and although he has his ardent backers, the more time he spends in office the less people in Bergen seem to like him. It really has very little to do with some bias against him or conservatives. It has to do with those votes he makes on our behalf where he is among 5-17% of the House voting against a bill. Ten years of tax cuts for small businesses, he votes no. Restoring funds to community policing programs, he votes no. Renewing the Voting Rights Act, he votes no. Reducing interest on student loans, he votes no. The list goes on.
Garrett almost lost Bergen in '06, and the Dems are going to have a field day reporting his voting record against so many of the issues so many moderates and classic conservatives support. Many Republicans and Republican leaning independents still vote for Garrett because they don't want to lose the seat, not because they support him personally. The longer he serves, and the more super minority votes he makes, the less support he's going to have. As a loyal campaign staffer, I respect DBeck believing this is the man who can help save the BCRO. However, I couldn't disagree more.
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