The next time you hear a politician exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!" Ask yourself what does that really mean? Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Perhaps this little story will help clear up the issue.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, the ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement. Then one day, the owner of the establishment decided to give the steady customers a break.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80.

The group still wanted to continue paying their bill the way we pay our taxes. So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the percent of their normal contribution toward the tab, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. Pointing to the tenth man saying,” but he got $10!"

Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. This system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

Moral of the story – Keep requiring more and more taxes from the most productive, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Let’s hope the ATM machines had surveillance equipment that captured the images of people using the family’s bank card. Let’s also hope investigators strategically decided not to place a stop on the family’s account in an attempt to identify suspects or gain leads to the actual murderer(s). Star-Ledger article here, summary below

Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found stabbed to death inside their Jersey City home on Jan. 14. Investigators believe the family was killed the night of Jan. 11, although their bodies were not found until Jan. 14. That delay, authorities say, has made tracing the killers extremely difficult.

Each victim had been bound, gagged and stabbed in the throat. Investigators have determined they were killed with a knife that had been kept in the family's home. The family's furniture drawers had been rifled through, Armanious' wallet was found
empty near his body and the pocketbook of Sylvia Armanious was empty, authorities have said.

Yesterday, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said someone withdrew "thousands" of dollars from Armanious' bank account using his ATM card and secret password. The ATM card was used on "a number of different occasions" at banks in the Heights section of Jersey City, where the family lived, and in Midtown Manhattan.. The withdrawals continued for several days after news of the slayings was broadcast and splashed across front pages throughout the region.

Thousands of dollars were withdrawn from his account, though DeFazio would not disclose the exact total, the number of transactions, nor the banks involved. He also would not comment on whether investigators believe the person using the card was the same person, or people, who killed the family.

Many ATMs are equipped with video cameras, but DeFazio declined to say whether investigators had obtained photos or video of the person, or people, who used Armanious' card.

Church leaders and others in the Coptic community have speculated about a religious motive, saying they believe Armanious was targeted by Muslim extremists for criticizing Islam in Internet chat rooms.

"We have not been able to corroborate this Internet ... speculation," DeFazio said. "So I'm not going to say for sure that that is not involved, but I am going to say that we haven't been able to corroborate it and we have corroborated this monetary motive." Asked specifically about possible religious motive, DeFazio said, "It could still be. It could be a hybrid."

Authorities say the killers left behind no hate messages not did they desecrate Coptic Christian artifacts in the home or the traditional cross tattoos each family member had on their wrists.

DeFazio said investigators remain "guardedly optimistic" the killer or killers will be found.

This can't be good:

Going against a tradition among New Jersey governors that dates back to the early 1980s, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey has declined to release his income tax returns, according to a published report.

A spokesman for Codey said according to the terms of blind trust set up for the acting governor's insurance firm, the Olympic Agency, Codey does not even know when his tax return is filed.

We wonder if this a cover to allow Jon Corzine not to release his tax returns. We can hear it now, "not all candidates and Governors have released their tax returns"

Conventional wisdom has it that New Jersey is a “blue state” – both U.S. senate seats, majority of representatives in Congress, Governor and both houses of the state legislature – all controlled by the Democrats. The state even went for Kerry in the last presidential election.

Now we wonder, are the people of New Jersey happy with how the state is being run and how well they are represented at the federal level? Are Democrats doing an effective job for all New Jersey citizens? We would answer no, the state is not being represented or managed well.

New Jersey has a $4 billion budget deficit; highest property taxes in the country; far too many failing schools, even with the highest per student spending in the nation and receives 57¢ for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington – ranking dead last in the entire U.S.A.

How can we spend so much and have such meager returns? How is it possible for the people of New Jersey to return the same people or party's candidates to office, over and over again? It just doesn’t make sense.

Perhaps there are other measurements people might use to determine the effectiveness of New Jerseys' Democrat leaders – we’d like to hear them. There has got to be some reason for New Jersey’s “blue state” status.

Maybe the majority of the folks in New Jersey just “feel” the Democrat Party better reflects their positions, values and beliefs. It’s hard to believe and sad to think the majority of our fellow Jerseyans “feel” aligned with a party represented by Howard Dean. Here are just a few quotes from the new Chairman of the Democrat Party from the last several weeks. Does this man represent the beliefs of the majority of voters in New Jersey?

Dean told a crowd of party faithful in New York, “I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for….”

Dean told a group at a Hiebert [Kansas] fund-raiser that, “moderate Republicans can't stand these people (conservatives), because they're intolerant.

They don't think tolerance is a virtue," Dean said, adding: "I'm not going to have these right-wingers throw away our right to be tolerant." And concluding his backyard speech with a litany of Democratic values, he added: "This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good."

Is Dr. Dean a model of Democrat Party tolerance? Does he represent the thinking of Senators Corzine and Lautenberg, Governor Codey and all the other Democrats in the state? You read that last sentence about the struggle of good and evil – and we’re the good, you’d think he was referring to our country’s terrorist enemies. He’s not, Dean’s talking about those that don’t agree with him, non-Democrats. He’s talking about us.

It’s one thing to disagree about issues, policies, problems and solutions but, isn’t this going a bit too far? What the heck have we (non Democrats) done to drive the Chairman of the Democrat Party to consider us evil and to hate us? This level of hostility from a fellow American and we’re intolerant?

At some point don’t the Democrats need a little more to their play book than hurling insults, trying to “stop things”, a desire to spend more and raise taxes? Just sticking with the facts, can someone please explain how this agenda helps the majority of people?

Let's all pray New Jersey is able to get rid of the "blues, assuming that it is still allowed.

Patrick Ruffini weighs in on the 2006 New Jersey race to replace Jon Corzine in the Senate. We hope this implies Corzine will lose his bid to become Governor in 2005 and will then retire from “public service” when his term expires.

We don’t see Lisa Beamer or Debra Burlingame running for the Senate and we can’t imagine the boys of New Jersey being open to the idea of stepping aside. We don’t know enough about either woman to know if they would make a good Senator but, it is not possible to represent New Jersey any less effectively then Corzine and Lautenberg.

The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate needs to be someone who can capture and own this sentiment in 2006. State Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. and Rep. Mike Ferguson are certainly capable alternatives, but would they shake up the race? Would they bring a single-minded focus to the issue of defeating terrorism, which is the prime mover in New Jersey?

That's why the GOP might consider drafting Lisa Beamer or Debra Burlingame, who have proven to be two of the most poised and graceful representatives of the 9/11 families. Beamer is the widow of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer, and the author of her own book Let's Roll! In a 2002 interview, she discussed the role her faith played in bringing her family through this wrenching period.

AARP bills itself as”a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people over 50.” Now check out the AARP’s blog roll – entire roll shown below.

The AARP has been attached to Jon Corzine’s hip as he has traveled around the state on his Social Security disinformation campaign. Nonpartisan? Who are they kidding?

Daily Kos
Donkey Rising
Dude, Where's my retirement?
Eschaton
Talking Points Memo
The Left Coaster
There Is No Crisis

Jon Corzine will be on Face The Nation tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. to discuss President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts.

We wonder who CBS will have on the show to correct the disinformation Corzine will undoubtedly spout to his follow citizens. We also wonder if CBS will provide equal time to a New Jersey Republican running for governor.

Jon Corzine’s press releases have gone from saying Corzine is “considered among his party's chief economic and finance experts” to calling himself “one of the nation’s foremost experts on the economy and financial markets.”

From here on out we will refer to Enlighten-NewJersey as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Senator John Corzine (D-NJ), the former C0-Chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Today, family and friends of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing victims will dedicate a temporary memorial on the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attack. The previous memorial was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Rescue workers managed to recover a piece of the original memorial, which was used to make the new one.

On February 26, 1993, a car bomb was planted in an underground garage below World Trade Center Tower One. The bomb, planted by Islamic terrorists with ties to Al Qaeda, exploded at 12:17 p.m., opening a 30 meter wide hole through 4 sublevels of concrete. Six people were killed and at least 1,040 others were injured.

Killed were Bob Kirkpatrick, 61, Steven Knapp, 47, and Bill Macko, 57, mechanical supervisors for the Port Authority and Monica Rodriguez Smith, Macko's secretary. The fifth and sixth victims were Wilfred Mercado, 37, who worked for the Windows on the World restaurant atop the North Tower and was checking in food deliveries in the basement, and John DiGiovanni, 45, a dental salesman who was in the parking garage when the bomb exploded.

More here, here

Let’s not forget the Iraq - al Qaeda connection to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

"There's no question Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties." U.S. intelligence officials, meanwhile, have confirmed that fact once again. Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was being harbored in Iraq; documents recently found in Tikrit indicate that Saddam provided Yasin with monthly payments and a home. According to federal authorities, the Ramzi Yousef-led terror cell that carried out the 1993 bombing received funding from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the 2001 attack.

President Bush has scheduled a town hall-style gathering in Westfield, N.J., to discuss his Social Security plan, this coming Friday at the Westfield Armory at 10:40 a.m.

We were so disgusted with the latest political corruption in New Jersey, we couldn’t even bring ourselves to do a post. It really wasn’t necessary given the great coverage by the Jersey blogger gang. Read the posts by DynamoBuzz, JerseyStyle. MisterSnitch, ParkwayRestStop, SluggoNeedsANap, more Sluggo, and Smadanek.

The second chapter in this story was just too Soprano like to pass up:

He called himself "Duke" and drove around in a flashy black Cadillac with two beefy guys. He hobnobbed with elected officials and government workers in Monmouth County, telling them he owned a demolition company, and did some illegal loansharking to boot.

Authorities say he eventually handed out envelopes of cash in return for the promise of government contracts.

But Robert "Duke" Steffer was actually cooperating with the FBI in its corruption investigation of public officials. In fact, when a reporter from The Star-Ledger of Newark knocked on the door of his Florida home Wednesday, Steffer answered it wearing a blue baseball cap with the letters "FBI" on the front.

Boy these guys running the New Jersey School Construction Corp are really taking cost cutting seriously. This is the agency that is supposed to mange an $8.6 billion budget to make repairs and build new schools for certain districts.

Jack Spencer, chief executive officer of the Schools Construction Corp., has already blown through $5.7 billion of the budgeted $8.6 billion and says he needs at least another $6 billion to get the job done. More on the subject here and here.

So now we learn the SSC is cutting costs to the bone - they're eliminating a $2 million advertising campaign. We suppose a "look what we're doing for you" campaign was to be mounted just in time for the elections in November. Are these people good stewards of taxpayer money? In the private sector these people would have been fired long ago. So few people pay attention and so it's business as usual - spend with abandon.

The School Construction Corp in charge of doling out $8.6 billion to build and improve schools in New Jersey - particularly in poor districts - is cutting its costs.

Officials at the SCC announced Wednesday that they would eliminate a $2 million advertising campaign and take other steps to reduce expenses. The agency on Wednesday approved an operating budget of $34.6 million for 2005 - $5 million less than last year.

Just thought you'd like to know:

Noon. NEW BRUNSWICK-ROUTE 18 REHABILITATION-New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere holds a briefing on the state's largest rehabilitation project this year, the $200 million rehabilitation of Route 18 in New Brunswick.
Location: New Jersey Turnpike Authority Headquarters, Board Room.

1:30 p.m. BRIDGEWATER-ROUTE 22 FUNDING-U.S. Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Mike Ferguson announce $3 million in federal funding for the Route 22 improvement project.
Location: Former PNC Bank, 1130 Route 22 E.

We've begun a new feature on Enlighten-New Jersey - Quote Of The Month. All readers are invited to submit quotes about New Jersey or statements made by a citizen of the Garden State. Quotes must have been made within in the past 30 days and be submitted with a link to a legitimate source for consideration.

All submissions must be posted in the comments section or sent to enlightenj@excite.com by no later than 11:59 pm of the last day of the month. All quotes including the name of the person or blog submitting the quote will be published the first day of the following month. The winner will be recognized with a special Enlighten-NewJersey award.

To kick things off, reader "Not Throwing Stones" has submitted the following quote.

"We cannot balance the budget on the backs of the traveling public and small-business people."
-- Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), in a letter to President Bush criticizing a federal proposal to raise airline ticket fees by $3.

The NJ Assembly passed a bill requiring NJ Transit to take over the Hudson River Ferry service should the private operator go under (no pun intended) and “reasonable” fares be maintained. The bill now goes to the NJ Senate for consideration.

Can New Jersey afford to take on transportation projects that serve so few people? Is it cost effective? The article excerpted below states the ferry serves 15,000 riders. That’s not correct – the ferry provides 15,000 rides. Most of them round trips, meaning about 7,500 people are using the ferry service.

Remember the River Line, where riders pay a one-way fare of $1.10, and New Jersey taxpayers pay $35.00. A reasonable fare, reasonable to whom?

Commuters who rely on ferries to get back and forth to work would be shielded from excessive fare increases or sudden service disruptions under a measure passed Thursday by the Assembly. The measure empowers NJ Transit to assume control of the New York Waterway ferry services if private ownership fails to provide New Jersey commuters with satisfactory service.

The bill, which now heads to the Senate, was prompted by a near shutdown late last year of the Hudson River ferry service, used by 15,000 daily riders. "We must ensure that as many people as possible have access to a comprehensive mass transit system at a reasonable price, and a quality ferry operation needs to be part of that equation," said Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, a co-sponsor of the bill. "A contingency plan needs to be put in place in the event new private ownership of New York Waterway ferries results in burdensome fares or less than optimum service for commuters."

The other side of the story:

NJ Transit may give NY Waterway a break on the lease payments that the struggling company has agreed to make on the new $53 million ferry terminal being built in Weehawken, officials said.

The Port Authority had been charging NY Waterway $50,000 a month. But the agency agreed to revise the payments as part of a deal that shifts the Hoboken Terminal routes to William Wachtel, a well-connected Manhattan lawyer.

Wachtel, who is buying 16 ferries from NY Waterway for $19.1 million, would have to pay less than half the current fee under the deal that may be approved by the Port Authority at its meeting Thursday.

A reader’s email got us to thinking again about the term “working families”. Politicians love this term, especially the Democrats. So what does this term mean?

When we first heard the phrase we thought in literal terms. Working families meant exactly that – families in which everyone works, kids included. Good hardworking people - mom and dad with full-time jobs and the kids, flipping burgers, working at the mall, etc.

However, somehow we knew we really hadn’t grasped the real meaning of the term, because when a Democrat spoke of “working families” there always seemed to be a sad story implied by the phase. Someone (usually a Republican) was hurting “working families”. So, we realized the term had to have a more specific meaning, because in our “working family” it was usually a Democrat behind the government policies that were hurting us.

We gave up on trying to figure it out, just put it out of our minds until a reader contacted Enlighten-New Jersey. Our reader tells us that about three weeks ago he sent an email to Senator Jon Corzine asking him for a clarification on the term “working families.” As of today, the Senator has not bothered to reply, not even an auto respond. When you read what he sent, you’ll understand why.

Dear Senator Corzine (Or Staff Member receiving this email),

I hope I’m not bothering you with what may seem like a trivial question. Last night a group of friends got to talking about Senator Corzine’s support for working families. During the conversation someone asked “What does the term “working families” mean? We all recognized we had heard the term often. We’ve heard the Senator and others use the phrase, but our group could not agree upon a common definition.

So my question - what does the term mean, at least what does the Senator mean when he speaks of working families? I’ll give you some examples of the confusion among my friends.

The group all decided I would not be included under their definition. I’m divorced and have no children – therefore, they believe I don’t fall within the working family category. Some believed there had to be at least two people in the household, some thought at least one person in the home had to be a child. Some thought retired couples didn’t count – no longer working and others thought you couldn’t make more than “X” amount of money. Most thought that at least one person in the home had to work and earn a paycheck.

I volunteered to email the Senator to clear up the confusion. Oh yea, my friends agreed on one other thing – the Senator’s staff would be too busy to answer our dumb question. So I now have $50 riding on the side I will receive more than a thank you auto respond. I hope you won’t let me down.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

P.S. I do work for a living.

Now we know the real reason George Bush lead the nation to a war on terror and then expaned the mission into Iraq. Forget what you’ve heard about blood for oil, Haliburton, revenge for Poppy Bush, did we say Dick Cheney’s Haliburton - all wrong. Walter F. Roche Jr., investigative reporter for the LA Times, has uncovered the real reason. Bush’s “Uncle Bucky”.

Yep, you read that correctly. President Bush cooked up the whole war thing at a family reunion in Texas. The story begins in 2000, before “W” was elected.

Step one was to have “Uncle Bucky” wrangle a spot on the board of a company that supplies armor and other material to U.S. troops. Step two was to steal the presidential election. Step three was to antagonize the Muslim world to bring about a horrendous terrorist attack on the country. Step four was to keep the war going with “whatever it takes” – on into Iraq.

With the help of Karl Rove step five was launched – the creation of a hoo-ha over the lack of armor for the troops. Once everyone, including the press, was clamoring for more armor, Bush directed the Pentagon to purchase the material from “Uncle Bucky”. Orders flew in and “Uncle Bucky” was able to cash in some stock options, netting him a cool $450,000, because of the “war-related” profits that trickled down to ESSI. Now at long last we know the truth. Time to start a Congressional investigation.

Original Article via the Newark Star-Ledger

The Iraq war helped bring record earnings to St. Louis-based defense contractor Engineered Support Systems Inc., and new financial data show that the company's war-related profits have trickled down to a familiar family name -- Bush.

William H.T. "Bucky" Bush, uncle of the president and youngest brother of former President George H.W. Bush, cashed in on ESSI stock options last month with a net value of more than $450,000.

"Uncle Bucky," as he is known to the president, is on the board of the company that supplies armor and other material to U.S. troops. The company's stock prices have soared to record heights since the run-up to invasion, benefiting in part from contracts to rapidly refit fleets of military vehicles with extra armor.

William Bush exercised options on 8,438 shares of company stock Jan. 18, according to reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He acknowledged in an interview that the transaction was worth just over $450,000.

In an earnings report issued yesterday, the company disclosed net earnings for the first quarter ending Jan. 31 reached a record $20.6 million, while quarterly revenues hit $233.5 million, up 20 percent from a year ago. As a result, the company boosted its projected annual revenues to a range of $990 million to $1 billion.

William Bush, 66, a one-time St. Louis bank executive and head of an investment firm, joined the board in 2000, eight months before his nephew won the White House.

The president's uncle said in an interview that he never used his family connections to help the company win contracts.

"I don't make any calls to the 202 area code," he said, referring to Washington, D.C. He also said he sought legal advice before accepting appointment to the ESSI board to be certain there would be no problems.

Dan Kreher, vice president of industrial relations for ESSI, said Bush was one of several people added to the board about five years ago and was selected because he had "a long history of involvement in the local business community. We've known him for a long time."

"Having a Bush doesn't hurt," said Kreher, who acknowledged that the company is routinely engaged in Washington lobbying efforts. But, he said, Democrats, including a party fund-raiser, also serve on the panel.

We don't watch the show The Simple Life and don't suppose we ever will. Of course we have heard of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, even here behind the pinhole. There is no accounting for other's taste, but could someone explain how these two idiots and their producers thought an internship in a funeral home would be funny? Better yet, why would an owner of a funeral home open his doors to such tackiness? Really adds to New Jersey's reputation doesn't it?

Several viewers are horrified by Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's latest internship on "The Simple Life." Hilton and Richie worked at the Kohler Funeral Home funeral home in Wood-Ridge, NJ.

They spilled what seemed to be ashes on the floor and vacuumed them up, they filled in a grave while wearing fancy clothes and held a fake funeral. One viewer says it was "totally tacky." She tells the Record of Bergen County that her father's casket
was in the same room as the mock funeral.

Another woman says her "knees were shaking" while watching Hilton and Richie help an old couple shop for caskets.

According to John Podesta, the owner of Kohler Funeral Home a disclaimer at the end of the show said no human bodies were used in any of the scenes, but that failed to appease some viewers.

Podesta said he has received few complaints and would not have participated if he thought the episode would hurt the funeral home's reputation. He said the funeral home was not compensated for hosting the show's taping.

The water treatment complex in Totowa, where chemist Geetha Angara was found murdered earlier this month has no internal monitoring or security systems. Once an individual passes through a 10-foot-high gate, a uniformed guard and a surveillance camera, security measures stop. All employees have access to all buildings, with no doors requiring pass cards and no indoor video capturing their movements, workers and borough officials said.

"There are no secure doors. There's no card access. Even visitors from the outside can go anywhere," said Allen Del Vecchio, Totowa's fire marshal and emergency management coordinator and one of the first to respond to the missing persons call. "We walked that entire site without any problem at all."

That freedom of movement and lack of surveillance have complicated the work of detectives seeking to explain how senior chemist Geetha Angara wound up dead in an underground water tank - apparently at the hands of one of her co-workers.

Commission officials declined to say if security changes are planned for the site. A spokesman said PVWC, which directly supplies water for 17 North Jersey communities, has invested $70 million in recent years "to ensure the safety and security of our water supply."

Normally, a 50-pound, aluminum plate covers the tank opening. The plate is kept in place with about a dozen screws, Del Vecchio said. But he and several officers who went to search for Angara found the screws either broken off or missing, he said."There's no way that thing was screwed down," Del Vecchio said. Among conflicting points in the investigation is whether the panel was found in place or dislodged when workers first began searching for Angara.

Nothing about Angara's life has suggested any reason why someone would want her dead, investigators say. There is no evidence that she had any enemies or a secret relationship. As senior chemist, she had no hiring or firing privileges, co-workers said, so workplace grudges seem unlikely. And with no signs of drug use at the crime scene, detectives consider it unlikely she came across a wayward addict.

Other than saying that Angara drowned and was not sexually abused, authorities have refused to disclose autopsy results. Co-workers say she was hard-working, friendly and never boasted about her credentials. "She didn't even want to be called 'doctor,' " one plant supervisor said."She didn't bring it up that she had a Ph.D. She just wanted to be 'Geetha."

More here.

Yesterday we posted about Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the 23 year old charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the Al Qaeda terrorist network. We also noted Abu Ali was a U.S. citizen and the valedictorian of his high school class.

Well, as they say, here’s the rest of the story. Abu Ali’s father has worked at the Saudi Embassy in Washington for more than 20 years in computer operations. The high school Abu Ali graduated from, at the head of the class, was the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school in Alexandria, Virginia subsidized by the Saudi government.

After studying engineering briefly at the University of Maryland, Abu Ali moved to Saudi Arabia in 2000 to study the Koran at the Islamic University of Medina. Tuition at the university is free and 8590 of the total enrolment has been allocated to non-Saudi students.

"After the devastating terrorist attack and murders of Sept. 11," said Paul J. McNulty, the United States attorney in Alexandria, Mr. Abu Ali "turned his back on America and joined the cause of Al Qaeda."

More here and here

The sheer volume of craziness going on in New Jersey, not to mention in the country, has left us in a state of paralysis, along with a bad case of writers block. This after our blood pressure was high enough to cause the casual observer to assume we had returned from vacation with a bad sunburn. A closer look revealed throbbing veins popping from our neck on up and nails being spit out every time we opened our mouths. This state is not conducive to writing.

Calm down and be rational, but where to begin. We start a post on one issue and twenty more catch our attention. We begin research on one, which leads us to another and the next thing you know we have become completely overwhelmed with about 20 posts in various states of readiness. So here we are, sitting in front of the keyboard alternating between mumbling to ourselves and ranting to anyone unlucky enough to pass by.

Instapudit once said "there are two downsides to blogging. One is that it can fill up your time, one five-minute chunk after another. The other -- much worse -- is that it forces you to pay attention to the news, which is usually depressing, infuriating, or frightening, or some combination of all three." Glenn Reynolds has captured our thoughts and mood precisely.

We have an acquaintance that does not follow the news and therefore, believes it would be inappropriate to vote, so she doesn’t. When asked about her lack of interest, she says she is much happier not knowing. In other words, ignorance is bliss. We happen to agree, people without a clue on issues or candidates should not vote. We wish every potential voter that hasn’t bothered to educate themselves would stay away from the polls. We’d all be much better off.

We also realize, more importantly, if no one paid attention to what’s going on we’d all be in real trouble, the kind that no one, no matter how hard they tried, would be able to ignore. It really is our duty as citizens to pay attention. This is the reason we started this blog, to force ourselves to pay attention and hopefully to provide information to others lacking the time to sort through all the clutter.

With that in mind, for at least the time being, we will keep blogging. If nothing else, we're learning a lot. Now, if we could only learn to clam down. Any tips or suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was charged today with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator discussed plans for Abu Ali to assassinate Bush. Abu Ali is charged with six counts and would face a maximum of 80 years in prison if convicted.

Abu Ali had been arrested and detained in Saudi Arabia after the May 2003 bombings in Riyadh, which killed 23 people, including nine Americans. A recent demand by the U.S. government to the Saudis to either charge Abu Ali or release him to the U.S, led to the transfer of custody.

Federal prosecutors have previously alleged Abu Ali had a relationship with some members of what has been called the "Virginia jihad network," whose members were charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization.

More than 100 supporters of Abu Ali crowded the courtroom and laughed when the charge was read aloud alleging that he conspired to assassinate Bush.

Abu Ali, a 23 year old U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance today in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. Ali was a former high school valedictorian in Virginia.

More here, here, here and here

We’ve been working on a post about Jon Corzine and his sudden interest in political ethics and ending pay-to-play in New Jersey. But someone else with far superior writing skills has covered the subject much better than we ever could. Just a little bit of our opinion before you get to the good stuff.

Typically when you give campaign contributions you choose a party or a candidate that supports your position on the major issues. Some give contributions in the hope a candidate’s position can be influenced through the donation. Wouldn’t you think with all the money he’s spent on “party building” Corzine could have pushed for some ethics reform if he really cared about the issue?

Of course it might have been a bit awkward for Corzine to buy their support and then demand they abandon their pay-to-play ways. Now that he looks a bit compromised on the issue, he’s all over it. We are discovering that the Senator is not very sincere in his public pronouncements. But you already knew that didn’t you?

Read Charles Webster’s column - Corzine cribbing from GOP’s playbook in the Trentonian. Snips below.

Corzine says he wants to clean up New Jersey politics and he insists he is the only man that can deliver.

Ol’ Jonnie is shopping a plan to put a stop to influence peddling, contract swaps for campaign donations and other assorted schemes better known as pay-to-play.That’s what voters in the Garden State want, but they have been looking for it to happen for a long while now.

The big news is that Corzine’s ideas are nothing new. In fact, Corzine’s ideas are ripped right out of the Republicans’ playbook.You got it! Corzine stole GOP ideas and is now shopping them around as his own.Call it stealing, call it plagiarism, call knowing a good idea when he sees one, but don’t forget to call it exactly what it is -- and that’s downright dishonest.

Republican lawmakers Rick Merkt and Michael Patrick Carroll already have a bill introduced to create a new elected office of state comptroller. If Corzine is sincere about wanting to see that post created he needs to get Assembly Speaker Albio Sires and Assembly Majority Leader Joe Roberts off their collective duffs and tell them to post the bill for a vote.

By the way, Jon, If you can’t find the bill on that long list of "ideas," reference it as ACR 55.And as for that pay-to-play ban you say you want to see in place, well, same thing applies here. There are already bills introduced in the Legislature to get the dirty deed banned, but they’re collecting dust over in the Democrats’ Twilight Zone.

Bill Baroni, Kevin O’Toole and Tom Kean, Jr. all have bills pending that will stop pay-to-play dead in its tracks. But good old boys Sires and Roberts keep moving the bills to the bottom of the pile.You want to be the Democrats’ leader in New Jersey? Well, get those guys in line first, everything else will fall into place.

So Jon, it’s nice to see you’re finally playing the ethics reform card.But I’m sorry to inform you that you’re a little late in the game. Eight million dollars in donations from you and Mommy over the last five years does buy you a bye. If you want to be governor, you’ll have to come up with a sharper game plan.In the meantime, the Republicans are waiting to see their bills passed. All you have to do is make the call.

In a speech Friday night Bill Keller, the executive editor of the NYT, provided his opinion on bloggers and the reason the public’s trust in journalists is at its lowest point in decades. Read the summary below, the entire article here.

Funny we thought bloggers and blog readers were among the largest consumers of news. Oh well just for fun - as you read this summary of Keller’s remarks, substitute any derivation of the word “blog” with the “New York Times” and make the same substitution with the word “public”. Any ring of truth? More of our attempt at humor here.

Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, gave a speech this past Friday that focused on the struggle of print journalism to maintain its relevance in the face of constant cable news updates, increased blogging, and failures in credibility.

Keller noted that, according to a recent opinion poll, the public’s trust in journalists is at its lowest point in decades. He attributed this in part to the increasingly polarized nature of the American public, who look to the press for support of their viewpoints.

Keller also sees “blogging,” or online writing that blurs news and commentary, as a mixed blessing. While he celebrated the blogger’s ability to uncover breaking news, he noted that a blog’s inherent bias might be detrimental to the reader. “A blog is still a view of the world through a pinhole,” he said, noting that it can sometimes fall as low as being a “one man circle jerk.”

“There is a pressure to feel well informed without ever confronting an opinion that confronts your prejudices,” he said of blog readers.

Apparently Jon Corzine has come around to our evaluation of his performance as Senator. Admitting he has accomplished nothing during his time in the Senate, he has decided to redefine success. Corzine says, "Sometimes the things you stop are more important than the things you do". Okay, so how did the Senator do at “stopping things”? According to the Star-Ledger, even by this measure Corzine’s a failure.

Most of Corzine’s efforts have “been spent opposing President Bush on economic, social and foreign policy. He voted against the administration's tax cuts, the war in Iraq, the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the ban on partial birth abortion and the Medicare prescription drug bill.” So, we can safely say Corzine is not very effective at “stopping things.”

Corzine has said he’s been against Bush's tax cuts, preferring smaller, more targeted tax reductions for the middle class and the poor. That’s interesting because the “poor” aren’t paying any federal income taxes. The most recent Bush tax cuts increased the number of tax filers paying zero federal income tax by 3.8 million, to a record 40 million.

Nearly 10 million tax filers have been taken off the tax rolls because of the last three Bush tax cuts. Nearly 30 percent of the roughly 133 million tax filers this year will pay no income tax. In addition to these income tax filers that pay no tax, 14 million individuals or households do not earn enough to file a tax return. Overall, some 58 million households pay no federal income tax.

In fact, low-income families not only pay no federal income tax, they receive checks back from the government as a result of the "refundable" portion of the child credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). While most Americans think of a "refund" as getting money back because you overpaid your taxes to the IRS, in the case of low-income families, it means you get a check back because you don’t owe any tax.

We also wonder about Corzine’s identification of the middle class requiring “targeted tax reductions.” What income level places a person or family in the middle class in the mind of Senator Corzine? An income starting at $68,000 places you in the top 20% of all federal income taxpayers in the United States. In New Jersey, $68,000 doesn’t go very far given the state’s high cost of living, the state’s gross income tax and of course the highest property taxes in the nation.

As we have written before, Jon Corzine’s federal income tax philosophy hurts New Jersey taxpayers more than those in any other state. Thankfully, Senator Corzine was a failure at “stopping things” or the taxpayers in New Jersey would really be in a world of hurt.

Do the citizens of New Jersey really want a man with Jon Corzine’s tax and spend voting record and philosophy as Governor? Imagine the plans a Governor Corzine might implement to “solve” New Jersey’s budget gap and property tax woes. Hopefully voters will learn the facts before they vote for another disaster in the making.

There is hope. In a recent survey, 20 % of New Jerseyans believe Corzine has no major accomplishments and 45 % credited the Senator with minor ones. Survey’s have also shown New Jersey voters give Corzine a 59 % approval rating, apparently thankful that he has not accomplished anything on his agenda in the U.S. Senate.

The following is a summary of the Star-Ledger report referred to above. The entire article may be read here.

During four years in the U.S. Senate, New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine has compiled a voting record that places him firmly in his party's liberal wing. The National Journal, a respected weekly magazine that covers Washington politics, recently rated Corzine's voting record as the fourth most liberal in the Senate.

But the liberal label may not be a major handicap in a state that in recent years elected Jim McGreevey Governor returned Frank Lautenberg to the Senate and voted for John Kerry for President.

Corzine received 100 percent rankings from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Conference on Civil Rights, the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence and the AFL-CIO. He also received an 84 percent ranking from League of Conservation Voters and 95 percent from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Corzine's positions have brought him low ratings from conservative and business-oriented interest groups. In 2003, he received zero ratings from the Christian Coalition and the National Federation of Independent Business. He received a 27 percent score from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 17 percent from the National Taxpayers Union and 15 percent from the American Conservative Union.

But the liberal label may not be a major handicap in a state that in recent years elected Jim McGreevey governor, returned Frank Lautenberg to the Senate and voted for John Kerry for President.

Much of Corzine's energy since January 2001 also has been spent opposing President Bush on economic, social and foreign policy. He voted against the administration's tax cuts, the war in Iraq, the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the ban on partial birth abortion and the Medicare prescription drug bill. He is now a leading critic of Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security.

"There are very few senators who have voted more consistently against President Bush. He is in very select company with Sens. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California -- people who are on the party's left wing," said Rutgers political science professor Ross Baker, an expert on the Senate.

Corzine said he has been "consistent in trying to work for the state" on a variety of issues including housing, education, transportation and health care by "taking a thoughtful approach" and "not trying to demagogue things."

The senator said he is "most proud" of his vote against the Iraq war, and many of his other votes against Bush policies he believes were not good for the country. Sometimes the things you stop are more important than the things you do," he said.

Throughout his tenure, Corzine has been a vocal opponent of Bush's tax cuts, saying he would prefer smaller, more targeted tax reductions for the middle class and the poor while putting money into increased aid for state governments and shoring up Medicare and Social Security.

However, only 16 percent of those surveyed credited Corzine with major accomplishments as a Senator, while 45 percent said he had minor ones and 20 percent said he had no real accomplishments.

Corzine, in fact, devoted considerable time during 2003 and 2004 to an unsuccessful effort to win back Democratic control of the Senate. He recruited candidates and raised $86 million as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but the Republicans ended up increasing their majority from 51 seats to 55 in the November elections.

While state issues such as the budget gap, rising property taxes and calls for government reform may dominate this year's gubernatorial race, Corzine's record in Washington likely will become campaign fodder, New Jersey Republican Party Chairman Tom Wilson said.

"I am hard-pressed to find anything he has done in Washington to improve the life of the average New Jerseyan," Wilson said.

George Washington's Biography

We’re from the government and we’re here to help. Just ask the residents of Pleasureland, NJ how government help is working out for their community. [Summary below, article here]

An Army Corps of Engineers' project to reduce flooding along the Ramapo River now causes an inch or two of rain to flood the homes and streets of Pleasureland. Last month, 1.2 inches of rain caused the worst flooding the area has seen since Hurricane Floyd.

What’s causing this to happen? Several years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers began a $21.6 million, three-phase project to reduce flooding along the Ramapo. The federal government contributed $19.6 million, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection chipped in $2 million.

Phases 1 and 2 of the project called for widening and deepening almost two miles of the Ramapo River and creating an eight-acre wetland in Potosh Lake. Once those phases were complete, the Army Corps started phase 3, installing flood-control gates last year at the Pompton Lake Dam.

Most of the overflow coming through the dam had to be obstructed to accomplish that task. Since then, water traveling downstream reverses when it hits the restriction at the dam. It's called a backwater effect. "The lake essentially moves upstream," said John O'Connor, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers. This little snag causes the flooding in Pleasureland.

Pleasureland Councilman Jim Geraghty told residents the corps miscalculated when it constructed a model of the project. He said that led the agency to falsely assume there would be little to no flooding during the dam work, despite the widening and deepening of the river beforehand. "The model does not reflect reality," Geraghty said.

"We're now at a crisis situation," said Lew Levy, chairman of the flood commission and a resident of Lakeview Drive. As the snow melts and the spring rains come, "it's going to be catastrophic," he said. Levy says the Corps has been less than responsive to residents' complaints. "When they started [the project], a lot of us said, 'It's backwards. Don't move the water here first."

The Corps is considering several options, but won't have an answer until the end of the month. The options include using existing water supply facilities or modifying the spillway. In the meantime, Oakland's Office of Emergency Management is developing an evacuation plan for the area - something that hasn't been needed in the more than 50 years that Pleasureland has existed.

When it comes time to evacuate, a borough-owned dump truck would be used to shuttle residents to higher ground. Then they would board a bus and be transferred to the first-aid squad on Ramapo Valley Road. At that point, residents would be on their own. Emergency personnel said that residents should arrange ahead of time for friends or family to pick them up at the first-aid squad.

It will be interesting to see Acting Governor Codey‘s priorities in the budget he unveils for the state of New Jersey next month. Be prepared because it won’t be pretty and the usual battle between the taxpayers versus the tax receivers will truly get underway.

Business as usual, but wouldn’t you think basic government services, such as road maintenance and construction, would escape the cost cutting axe? Apparently government programs that benefit all citizens are not priorities for Codey and his fellow Democrats.

Based upon a Star-Ledger report, Acting Governor Codey is willing to slash $120 million for improvements to local roads and bridges from his new budget. This action would cost New Jersey Taxpayers an additional $120 million in lost federal matching funds. Thankfully the law requires the state to set aside a minimum of $30 million dollars for local roads; otherwise nothing would be allocated in Codey’s budget for these projects.

New Jersey should be maximizing opportunities for federal matching funds for necessary state infrastructure projects. Instead we expect to see Acting Governor Codey’s budget increase funding for projects that benefit special interest groups and add a whole laundry list of new programs he deems far more important than investing in critical infrastructure.

Desperate to find money for major projects, the New Jersey Department of Transportation may eliminate $120 million earmarked for improvements to local roads and bridges, state officials say. Cutting those "local aid" grants also would jeopardize $120 million in federal matching funds for towns and counties, unless local governments were able to put up the cash themselves.

"If they pull the plug on this, the only way these projects would get done is through the local property taxes," said Peter Palmer, chairman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and a Somerset County freeholder.

The DOT's preliminary $2.6 billion capital budget includes $270 million for local aid projects. About $30 million of that total is set aside under state law and cannot be reduced. But $120 million is provided by the state transportation trust fund, and that allocation is not protected by law. The rest of the local aid money comes from the federal government, which has agreed to match the $120 million provided by the state.

Dr. Esha Khoshnu, a New Jersey psychiatrist traveling to San Diego to attend a conference apparently became frustrated with airport personnel. While changing planes in Phoenix, Khoshnu got testy at a Mesa Airlines ticket counter, saying, "If I had a bomb, you wouldn't find it."

Airport personnel responded by detaining Khoshnu for questioning. After questioning the Doctor, FBI investigators reportedly cleared her to take a later flight to San Diego. Unfortunately, her suitcase got past security and was loaded onto Khoshnu’s original flight.

The airliner containing Khoshnu’s suitcase made a routine landing at Lindbergh Field in San Diego but, the pilot was instructed to taxi to a remote area of the airport, where about 35 passengers were taken off the plane and escorted onto two buses.

Members of the San Diego Fire Department's bomb squad searched the plane but found no explosives, officials said. They removed the woman's suitcase and inspected it in an open area on the grounds of the airport, finding nothing suspicious. But taking no chances, they blew up the bag with an explosive charge and then doused it with water.

Authorities in Phoenix said Khoshnu is not going to be charged with a crime but that she may have to pay for the search and destruction of her luggage, which could cost about $10,000.

Dr. Khoshnu has been practicing psychiatry since finishing training at Yale University in 1993 and has extensive training/experience in crisis intervention. She has long-term interests in recognizing and treating the special needs of women. More on the story here and here.

Former Governor Jim Florio may have been voted out of office, but that hasn’t kept him off New Jersey’s payroll. Shortly after leaving office, Florio has been listed as a full-time employee of Rutgers University at annual salary of $90,947, plus a generous state benefits package. As an added bonus, his state pension will be boosted by his time at Rutgers.

Florio moonlights at Rutgers downtown New Brunswick campus as a "university professor", teaching one class, with 10 students, that meets for just under two hours on Mondays. Part-time instructors at the state university make about $3,300 per course and receive no benefits.

James W. Hughes, Dean of the university's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy says “Florio provides full-time value for the school, smoothing the way and otherwise making introductions when the school needs to deal with state agencies and corporate donors.”

In addition to his Rutgers job, Florio is chairman and CEO of Xspand, a tax-lien collection firm with several lucrative municipal contracts in New Jersey. The former Governor also is associated with the New York law firm of Fischbein Badillo Wagner Harding, known for its lobbying prowess.

An Outrage That Deserves Your Attention and Action

This is an incredibly sad story of a Livingston, New Jersey man dead in his home for over nine months before he was discovered. Unable to find any relatives, Essex County appointed an administrator to oversee Fred Hagmann’s estate and to provide the man a proper burial. The proper burial did not include a plaque or tombstone to mark Hagmann’s burial spot, even though the State of New Jersey absorbed all of his assets.

This is complexly outrageous and unacceptable. How dare the state take the man’s estate, apparently in excess of $250,000, and not buy an appropriate grave marker for the man’s burial plot. We hope if you are as outraged as we are, you take some action to have this ultimate injustice rectified. Here is the web page for Essex County and a Google search produces this result for Attorney Howard Waxman with an office in Newark.

A summary of the story below, the entire article here.

Fred Hagmann, 76 had been dead for at least nine months when he was found by police in his home in Livingston, New Jersey. No one missed him. He had no relatives and no friends. He didn't even bother to leave home to cash an estimated $235,000 worth of Social Security and pension checks police found scattered around the one-story Cape Cod he bought in 1961.

Police believe Hagmann died around Christmas of 2003, judging from one of the last pieces of mail he opened -- a greeting card from Thomas Green, a former colleague at Schering-Plough. Green, 85, has not spoken to Hagmann for years, but sent Christmas cards every year because he felt indebted to the man. On a snowy night in December, 1960, Hagmann drove through a storm to be by Green's side after his youngest daughter died unexpectedly.

"He was one of the first ones to come to the house and tried to be of assistance to me," said Green, a Scotch Plains resident. "He was like that with everybody." Hagmann, he said, was a very quiet man, but he was well-liked because of his work et