New Jersey; a contender in America's Race to the Bottom

Last week New Jersey' leading newspaper conglomerate who's cornerstone print publication is the Star Ledger and online NJ.com announced massive layoffs in the wake of continuing decline in revenue and circulation.

The Question is WHY?

The Garden State
where yesterday's
Flower Children
became today's
Bloomin' Idiots

Is it the changes in technology that plagues the Star Ledger group?

Or is it that the people of New Jersey are finally turning their backs on the liberal propaganda that the Star Ledger is known to spread?

As a student of our nation economy I regularly read newspapers from coast to coast, the Sacramento Bee, the Oregonian, the Star Ledger, Santa Barbara Independent and the San Jose Mercury News.  I'm often shocked simply reviewing the headlines, often asking myself is this for real? I have to confirm the date the story lines are so void of substance. So many media sources skip the important stuff. Astounding at times how deceitful and  biased these large regional news sources can be.

Frankly I think it is good to see the demise of the liars. The economic landscape has been squandered and undermined by liberal media deceit. The lose of these  jobs are nothing compared to the ruinous economic events precipitated by decades of liberal lies.

The tripe and irrelevant drivel that makes it to their lead story lines is a testament to the the Star Ledgers failure and a contributor to a vast ignorance across large segments of NJ society.

Many people in New Jersey are detached from reality, vacant on the critical issues our nation faces. I wager few New Jersey residents are aware that their state is ranked as the most financially unstable in the country. Few know the state debt hit a record $40.4 Billion after rising 4.1 percent in 2013. Add to that their unfunded employee retirement liabilities which are estimated to be the highest of all the states on a per-capita basis. (This includes both the pension and "other" contracted retirement benefits.)

SCARY MIGRATION TREND 

Add to all that the fact that New Jersey is experiencing the highest outward migration of any state and, well it is not a pretty picture.

New Jersey's Poster Child; Jon Corzine
First he almost destroyed Goldman Sachs,
 then he added ruin onto New Jersey.
The third times the charm,
He led MF Global into bankruptcy
at a stunning pace and a billion
dollars disappeared at the same time.
I believe he is still facing charges on that.

The debts and excessive expenses that have grown to unmanageable levels will be born on the shoulders of a declining population. It could be even worse, in the last census period New Jersey lost a congressional seat. It is too early to know if that will happen again, but it may.

Once the spawning grounds of visionaries now left to the rot of a parasitic culture that feeds on corruption, thuggery and taxes. Bankrupt in morals and bankrupt financially.   A bifurcated society where the government and its corporatist cronies suck on the souls of those that chose to stay behind.

The ties that bind,
a generation so blind 

Yesterday's Flower Children turned into today's Bloomin' Idiots

A soul-less society that will feel the scorn of it's children.  It is far better to let New Jersey fail, let the death dealt by liberalism cleans the economy and the culture.

ARE BAILOUTS IMMORAL?

The "too big to fail" argument must end, PERIOD.  It should not be an acceptable concept,  it is not reflective of a balanced and healthy free market, in fact the existence of the premiss is evidence that there are improper inducements in the markets in the first place.

New Jersey can fail, Chicago can fail, LA can fail. California - maybe it is too big to fail and there are serious efforts to break it up. In fact Tim Draper the famous venture capitalist is working on qualifying a 6-state breakup concept to be on the 2016 ballot in California.  That will be interesting.

Good intentions with predictable bad results are bad choices, period. Criminal? Perhaps.

If New Jersey or any other state or company or bank is on the road to failure it must be left to fail. To do otherwise in light of all we know now should be considered a criminal act.

To Fairness Doctrine Naysayers: Support from RINOs

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

Graphic courtesy of CityPages

We now have the first Republican, Senator Richard Lugar, showing support for a Fairness Doctrine. Will Senators Olympia Snow, Chuck Hagel, and Susan Collins follow suit, and abandon any semblance of Conservatism? If ever there was an issue to be defended by Congress, Republican or Democrat, free speech is it.

We have one thing to remember and to fight for: a Fairness Doctrine is diametrically opposed to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It's that simple:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment (enactment, endowment, formation, setting-up) of religion, or prohibiting (forbidding, preventing, suppressing) the the free exercise (pursuit) thereof; or abridging (abbreviating, compressing, curtailing, decreasing, lessening, omitting) the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition (ask, call upon, request, seek, urge) the government for a redress (adjustment, amendment, rectification, reformation) of grievances (damages, injustices)

Senator Dennis Kucinich is on record saying that a Fairness Doctrine will aid in:

...achieving a free exchange and a multiplicity of ideas," and finally, with a new law, we will be able to determine "if there is a balanced and fair representation"

The First Amendment does not guarantee "balanced and fair representation." "Fair and balanced" has nothing to do with the First Amendment.

If Congress actually respects the First Amendment and makes "no law," but relies on the Federal Communications Commission to, again, institute a Fairness Doctrine - which would also abridge the First Amendment - is not law, but is a "regulation," what can we do about it? Take the FCC to court?

For my activist readers, let's attempt to find out where Snow, Collins and Hagel stand on this issue. If you are a constituent of one of the three and get a statement, please leave it here in comments or blog about it and send a link.

Email Senator Lugar: (R-IN)
Phone: 202-224-4814, Fax: 202-228-0360

Email Senator Collins (R-ME)
Phone: 202-224-2523, Fax: 202-224--2693

Email Senator Snow (R-ME)
Phone: 202-224-5344 and 800-432-1599, Fax: 202-224-1946

Email Senator Hagel (R-NE)
202-224-4224, Fax: 202-224-5213

Visit VoteSmart for all the pertinent information and background about you Congressman

Please read the following excellent report from Martin at Blogbat who was sitting at the table with Senator Richard Lugar:

*****

Senator Lugar Hints at Support for "Fairness Doctrine"
by Martin at Blogbat.com

Last week I [and] other World Affairs Council members had the chance to meet with Indiana Senator Richard Lugar at the Capitol.

During our visit with the Indiana Republican on 7 November, he seemed to offer his support for a revived “Fairness Doctrine” tailored to target only one viewpoint – that of the comparatively modest talk radio industry. On the topic of such legislation, Lugar seemed sympathetic to the significant hostility among the left towards what he called “irresponsible” “right wing” radio, using catch-phrases right out of the Idiots Guide to Liberalism, intimating that talk radio was somehow a rogue entity that merely stirred up the common people to the consternation of all-knowing legislators. (Never mind the rogue entity on Capitol Hill that is attempting to usurp the Constitution.)

Senator Lugar first greeted each of us and was extremely friendly and cordial, before taking his usual seat (now that the Democrats are in power) in the Senate Foreign Relations committee room, as we each grabbed a chair – I wound up with the honor of holding down the chair of genuine conservative Louisiana Senator David Vitter. Senator Lugar then gave us a quick run-down of things like the international financial crisis, his own biography, and the in-coming administration before taking questions. During much of this, much that was said was nothing notable or new. The senator is indeed truly likable man and I must say I can see why, politics aside, he has been as successful in the Senate as he has been. However, unfortunately, beyond personality and congeniality, the Senator and millions of Americans part ways – and do so on numerous issues. However, Lugar, who voted in favor of an amendment in the 2007 Defense Authorization bill sponsored by Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman that would have killed such a censorship doctrine’s revival, is also known, as a Rockefeller Republican for among other things most recently ganging up with Ted Kennedy against the American people during the Amnesty war of 2006. Now that it seems safe for him to do so, he appears to be reversing his position on the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” as well.

Lugar’s language was strong and even harsh as he laid out the argument in favor of conservative radio censorship, as if he were a schoolmaster educating his children about the danger of alligators and why we need to trap them. As he sat in his seat sipping water from a glass with an emblem that read, “United States Senate”, Senator Lugar seemed to offer what was hardly a fair and balanced assessment of the state of media bias of his own. Instead, he seemed to ape the utterly false meme that talk radio was some giant politically unified monster for which there was no real counterweight.

Read more from Martin at Blogbat.us

*****

Related:
The Fairness Doctrine: What You May Not Know

Background:
What the FCC and the Media Has in Mind for You and
TheFairness Doctrine: A Chilling Effect,
and then a brush-up on the The Fairness Doctrine, The First Amendment and all that.

Venezuelans Fight the Loss of Free Press

Originally posted at Maggie's Notebook


World freedoms dwindle as Danny Glover steps-in and cozies-up with Chavez, snatching the Bolivars right out of the hands of the people.

Venezuelans are in the streets fighting for free press. Their dictator, Hugo Chavez, has taken-down the most popular television station there, and replaced it with a state-sponsored station.

Glover thumbed his nose at Venezuelan liberties (he need not worry, American troops are protecting his) and aligned himself with deep pockets and dictators, revealing his true lack of concern for freedom, for the poor and the down-trodden.

Glover snagged his $20-$30 Million (depending on whose reporting you believe) before Venezuelan actors, anchors, agents, writers, camera crews, and grips lost their jobs. Three thousand people out of work and a station operating for 53 years is gone. Glover will make two movies in Venezuela, but no, the jobs for those in television will not be replaced by Glover's ventures. On Glover's love of America:

Glover was a signatory to "The Conscience of the World," a public letter signed by 160 artists which condemned the War in Iraq, and pledged support for the Communist dictatorship of Cuba. He also supports the Maoist group Not In Our Name (NION), which "pledges resistance to endless war, detentions and roundups, [and] attacks on civil liberties," and is directed by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

As Glover attempts to add legitimacy to dictatorships, Chavez controls the military, the legislature, the courts, most private industry, including our American oil companies - he also controls former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

For thoughts on loss of free speech in Russia, read Russians Mourn the Loss of Free Press

This a day to remember just how precious are our freedoms and to fiercely battle back against those who would hastily feed the gators, hoping they will eat him last.

A closing thought on how we make freedom ours:

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free. Clarence Darrow

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Free Press, Free Speech, Fidel Castro, Cuba, Memorial Day, Dictators