What I enjoyed about voting last week (besides the 3 minute commute to my polling place) was that I had a chance to vote for candidates that will have some level of impact on me and my immediate community. Again, as a guy who has been voting in Morris County for the last 15 years, the people that I’ve been voting for have largely not been the Mayors, Town Councilors, Board of Education members, State Legislators, and Congressmen who have a direct impact on the community where I actually live. Last Tuesday, the votes that I cast were different in that they have a direct relationship to my daily life.

And the American in me enjoys the fact that I get to vote in the first place! Unlike most folks out there, I enjoy voting for people from both sides of the aisle – which I did last Tuesday. One of the great things about this country is that we have a choice. Frankly, I wish we had more that two viable choices and I really wish that the Libertarian and Constitutional Parties would grow to become larger players in American politics. But that’s okay – the people are beginning to realize that there are more than two answers to every political question and that it’s not such a bad idea to get people with different ideas involved.

As for the results from last week’s elections, well I didn’t think it was any big surprise. Of course the Republicans were going to run away with the Senate and increase their lead in the House – the majority of the places and states in this country are center-right and every political map proves that point. Yes, the cities and urban areas vote heavily Democratic and that’s where the President has his most ardent supporters, but most of this country isn’t filled with cities and urban areas. Thus the results from last week are no big surprise.

Plus, I’m a big believer in divided government. We have a Democratic President and I think it’s a good idea to have a Republican Congress to check his power. I thought the same thing when President George W. Bush was in charge – a Democratic Congress was good for him to have to collaborate with the other side (which he did very well at the beginning of his first term as well). The biggest “check” that I think will come out of the Republican Congress is their ability to conduct fuller investigations in the Senate. The talking heads on television suggest that there are a variety of scandals brewing from Benghazi to the fast and furious gun running issue to immigration and now to the fact that there were blatant lies told to the American people in order to get the Affordable Care Act passed.

While those are all issues that deserve fuller investigations, what I’m looking forward to knowing more about is the IRS targeting scandal. Folks, if the accusations are true – that the IRS targeted individuals and groups that they disagreed with politically – then that is going to be the biggest scandal in the history of American politics up through our lifetimes, I guaranty it. This is the exact type of issue that the colonists rebelled against back in the late 1700s and it’s the exact type of issue that makes our government ineffective in the 2010s. So… that’s what I’m looking forward to from the new Congress: a true investigation into the IRS targeting scandal.

This fall (and for the first time since I’ve been teaching) I was scheduled to teach Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights for about an hour and fifteen minutes each night. Typically, I teach only Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday so this arrangement was new for me and definitely more of a challenge. However, at the last minute (late last week) my classes were rearranged and it turns out that instead of teaching each night of the week I’ll probably only wind up teaching on Tuesday and Friday mornings. This, of course, is a big change for me.

In order for me to be even able to teach the morning class I had to get approval from my job (which both my direct supervisor and the President of the company approved enthusiastically – they love that I teach). So once that was taken care of, I had to think about my schedule for the coming semester and I think that this could work out very well. You see, to date the university has only canceled my Monday / Wednesday class which means that there’s still a chance that I’ll be teaching on Tuesday / Thursday nights. I’m fine with that since the Tuesday / Thursday night class starts at 6:00pm and I’ll be home by 7:45pm each night (if not slightly earlier). That’s fine with me! Plus, I was thinking that what I might do is schedule myself to have meetings with clients for my day job on Tuesdays in the late morning and early afternoon. That way I can avoid traveling from West Long Branch to Trenton and then back to West Long Branch at night, you know? At least if I have meetings during the day, I can schedule them within a reasonable distance of Monmouth County and not drive myself crazy driving all over God’s Creation.

Anyway, that’s what the face-to-face teaching schedule is looking like for the coming semester. In addition to that, I might be teaching another few sections of online courses for the state’s online college. One way or another, I’ll certainly be pretty busy in the coming months…

However, I’m sick and tired of hearing the ignorant bullshit flowing out of people regarding the end result of these spending cuts. The biggest load of crap comes out of the legions of young professionals who will likely be let go because of these cuts. These morons spout on and on about how Governor Christie is costing them their jobs. Bullshit. First of all, anyone who spews this crap clearly doesn’t know how the government works and I strongly question whether or not they should be employed by a school district in the first place. Governor Christie is not costing you your job since he does not control local property taxes. Period. End of story. Done. No questions asked.

Second, I’m sick of hearing these young “professionals” (and I use the term “professionals” lightly since if you read some of their online posts, they are anything but professional) bitch and moan about how education cuts lead to more students in each classroom and a lower quality of education. Folks, if you want to define what it means to be “brainwashed,” then try to follow this ridiculous train of logic. If you ever hear anyone saying this particular line of crap, then you automatically know that you’re hearing someone who either can’t think independently (and thus shouldn’t be a teacher) or you’re talking to someone who can’t make logical, financial connections (and thus shouldn’t be a teacher) or in some cases, you might be talking to someone who is a coward. I’ll explain.

The true cause of these young professionals losing their jobs is the excess and waste embedded in the current education system in New Jersey. There are administrators making six figures who are secretaries to assistants to secretaries to assistants, etc. There are administrators who are the second, third, or fourth assistant superintendent in some of these districts (completely unnecessary). There are administrators who don’t do shit, but collect a salary that should be going to a young teacher who actually wants to be around students. Any of these soon-to-be laid off teachers and young professionals that spew the bullshit false choices listed above, but do not scour the set up of their local school districts (and I mean look at each line in the budget as well as using Data Universe to find the salaries of the district administrators) is a coward. Just like the whole world knew that New Jersey spent too much money and this day was coming, the whole world knows that the excessive waste that goes on in New Jersey’s local governments and local school districts is unsustainable.

If you’re a young education professional who has either already been laid off or will be laid off, then I want to hear about your research into the local district and what you’ve uncovered in terms of waste. What percentage of a raise did your fellow teachers get in the last year (hint – anything other than 1% – 2% is excessive in this economy)? What about the administrators and their percentage raise? Where did that money come from when the economy grew at 0% last year (hint – the answer is increased local property taxes)? What about your administrators? Does your district have excess administrators that are taking up dollars from the budget that would have better been spent paying you and your teaching colleagues?

And here’s the key question – what did you do about what you found out?! The most that Governor Christie can do is advocate on your behalf and he’s doing that (I heard him say it with my own two ears at last week’s New Jersey Charter Schools Association conference). But what have YOU done to fight for what’s right? If your answer is, “Well, I complained that Governor Christie is costing me my job because he is costing me my job,” then you just don’t get it.

Further, if you work for a school district, then you have a government job. What did you expect to happen in a state where government spending has been out of control for over a decade?! And this wasn’t a big secret – everyone knew that government spending was out of control and that a day of reckoning was coming sooner rather than later. In fact, Governor Christie ran on a platform where he essentially said that he was going to bring this day of reckoning to New Jersey! Are some of these people who have now turned on Governor Christie so stupid that they didn’t think that he was actually going to do what he said he was going to do?!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate that some of my friends will be losing their jobs. I would never begrudge anyone a job or the ability to make a living – never. However, Governor Christie is doing exactly what he said he would do, which is exactly what New Jersey needs right now!

In recent years, we have allowed the problem to become bigger through a series of one-time gimmicks that have worsened our situation. This year, for example, some state employees will be given an 11% salary increase, at a cost of $300 million to the taxpayers, while many New Jerseyans are lucky to even have a job. Incredible.

Are you serious? How can any public employee justify an 11% salary increase when people are losing jobs in the private sector left and right? This is ridiculous. This is the type of public excesses that drove Jon “Money Bags” Corzine out of office and brought in a no-nonsense reformer like Chris Christie. An 11% salary increase in the midst of an economic mess? Talk about certain public employees being out of step with the economy…

$700 million in one-time revenues came in from granting amnesty to tax cheats in another gimmick that was used to paper over problems. As usual, our government spent it all in one year, and built that much more spending into the budget for this coming year, with no way to pay for it now or in the future. So too were federal stimulus funds for education irresponsibly spent all in one year — and then simply added into the budget, with no way to pay for it this year.

Some people are getting mad at Chris Christie for his strong budget address (not this voter, but others out there). Where is the outrage at the previous administrations (both Republican and Democrat) that have had these gigantic influxes of cash and doled the funds out without any long term planning? How many intelligent people get a raise at work or a bonus check and have their first thought immediately be, “How can I spend all of this money right away?!” One billion stimulus dollars spent for educational purposes by Jon Corzine as he tried to buy the election last year. Absolutely disgraceful. I wish he could be sued for his misuse of public (i.e. OUR) funds.

Over the course of two decades, time and again the State has borrowed to pay its every day bills. You wouldn’t do that in your own home, and we shouldn’t do that with your tax dollars. The result is overwhelming. Outstanding direct debt has ballooned from $3.9 billion in 1989 to $33.9 billion last year. And total debt, including all obligations, has tripled from $17 billion to over $51 billion, just since 2002. Our debt is equal to an obligation of $4,100 for each and every man, woman, and child in this state 130% higher than in 2002.

Damn right we wouldn’t do it in our own homes, but if you DID do that in your own home, you might find yourself on your ass with no roof over your head. When you spend money like an idiot, bad things happen. At least Chris Christie has the political fortitude to say that in public and to add that he intends to make the system right. And I don’t know about you folks, but adding $30 billion in direct state debt over a 21 year period is absolutely unacceptable, damn it.

That is bad enough, but as you know, more than half of what the State spends every year is sent to local governments, in the form of aid for municipal government and school districts. And local government has exercised even less control. Spending at the local government level has risen 69% since 2001.

How many times have I railed away on this blog about the need to remove the corruption at the local level? Enough is enough of people pocketing a few thousand here and a few thousand there. Enough is enough with people getting hired who are unqualified or are politically associated or blood related to local politicians. Enough is enough with property taxes increasing to maintain a bloated local school system that doles out an unbelievable amount of cash to unnecessary school administrators (take a look at what goes on in Camden). Enough is enough already, damn it.

Even now, in the depths of a great economic crisis, local governments and school boards can’t hold back on the pressure that comes from the public sector unions. What is the proof? While New Jersey’s private sector lost 121,000 jobs just in 2009, New Jersey’s local governments added 11,300 new municipal and school employees. 11,300 new government employees paid for by your taxes just this last year. 11,300 new employees added while you are struggling to keep your job and pay the bills. We must give the voters the tools to stop the madness and stop it this year.

If reading that last paragraph doesn’t piss you off, then you must not really give a shit about what’s going on in our state. And I made that last line bold to make a point that most citizens don’t understand. The Governor is NOT the one who can destroy the corruption at the local level – the corruption that might exist in your hometown or in a local school board. YOU ARE THE ONES WHO NEED TO BUST THAT CORRUPTION! That’s it! That’s the key! The Governor is going to give you the tools to get it done, but the action has to come from you! In other words, the most the Governor can do to actually make the policy changes that are necessary at the local level is advocate on our behalf and he’s doing that day in and day out. It is up to US, at citizens of our local municipalities, to make sure that our elected officials do what is right. And if you don’t have the guts to stand up and make your local elected officials do what is right, then you deserve whatever you get.

We have worked to ensure that no school district in New Jersey will face a reduction in aid that is greater than 5% of their school budget– so school districts will face a budget cut that is 4% less than the cut in state spending as a whole. During a crisis worsened by the election year foolishness of our predecessors, we keep school aid cuts at less than state spending cuts.

Make no bones about it, folks – Governor Christie is doing the right thing here. If anyone can’t live within a budget that, in this economy, has revenue reduced by 4% – 5%, then they are living too far outside of their means. No one is going after teachers – teachers are awesome and they do a job that is truly a service to the public good. No one denies that at all. However, do you really need all of the excess administrators making six figure salaries at the district level? Of course not. I go on Facebook and I see all of my young friends who are teachers that are bashing Christie because they are probably going to lose their jobs and I have three immediate thoughts:

First, much of the grammar and spelling in these Facebook updates are horrendous (let alone crude) and I don’t want New Jersey’s kids learning from these morons (who I really all love, but if you can’t spell “Governor” or if you attack Christie for being fat, then you shouldn’t be a teacher, period).

Second, most of the stuff I’m reading in their Facebook updates are nothing more than rehashed propaganda and lies from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA aka the “Teacher’s Union”). This tells me that my younger friends are brainwashed.

Third and finally, these folks are misdirecting their anger. Getting angry at Chris Christie is the dumb man’s argument. Think of a moron saying, “He going to cut funding and, uhhh, he then cut my salary and, ummm, I no job.” Idiots. You want to get mad at someone? You want to get angry at someone? Go get your school district’s budget and find out where money is being wasted. Teachers are certainly NOT wasting money. But how many school districts have three and four Assistant Principals and Vice Principals? How many Board Secretary subordinates are there making $5,000 here or $10,000 there? If you serve on a school board, are you not inherently accepting a job that is a volunteer position? Why do some school board members get stipends?

You want to get mad at someone and you want to direct your anger somewhere? Direct that anger towards the fat cats that might exist in your own districts. Direct that anger toward the few school districts in this state that exist, but have no actual schools in their super small towns (for the rest of the nation reading this entry, yes – we have that in New Jersey).

I LOVE when citizens get fired up over their government, but don’t be ignorant about your anger. Direct your anger to the right place – to the local and county-level excesses that the Governor cannot single-handedly change because he’s not a king (or at least think he is a king like President Obama does).

The leaders of the union who represent these teachers, however, have used their political muscle to set up two classes of citizens in New Jersey: those who enjoy rich public benefits and those who pay for them. That has created a system that cannot be sustained a system fueled by mandatory dues of more than $700 a year taken out of every one of the nearly 200,000 teachers’ paychecks.

Political muscle fueled by intimidation tactics, political bullying and smears of public officials who dare to disagree. This conduct has set up an unfair system. Is it fair to have any public employees getting 4-5% salary increases every year, even when inflation is zero %, paid for by citizens struggling to survive? It is fair to have New Jersey taxpayers foot the bill for 100% of the health insurance costs of teachers and their families from the day they are hired until the day they die? Is it fair that teachers have a better, richer health plan than even state workers and pay absolutely nothing for it?

I believe rank and file teachers know this is not fair and that we can no longer afford to burden our taxpayers with these costs and runaway taxes. The union bosses will tell you, as they always have each time their empire is threatened, that they are protecting our children. This tired song has grown old and inaccurate. Is the way our children learn affected by whether the union gets free family health insurance for life for its members? Does a child learn more if the union gets 5% taxpayer funded raises every year for its members? This is nonsensical and self-serving and we all know it.

You tell ’em, Governor Christie! Enough is enough with this absolute abomination of a system! Get ’em, Christie! This is why we voted you into office!

So I ask those of you in the legislature, and all of the citizens of our state, to join me — in pitching in, in working together — not only to share in the sacrifices we must make today, but in forging the path to a better tomorrow. The journey starts today, and I know it will be worth the effort.

I’m with this Governor. We need these reforms NOW (we actually needed them a decade ago, but we have to make the changes now to get the ball rolling). Battling against the entrenched education interests is the first step. Let’s get this state going in the right direction again so we can afford tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Second, most of the people in Times Square seem to be tourists. This prompted one of my roommates and I to comment that all of the real New Yorkers are probably watching (and laughing) from the comfort of a local bar or their own homes! But thank God for those tourists bringing their economic power to the City. Tourists help keep local economies afloat and all local people thank tourists for their purchases!

Finally, I included “prosperous” in the title of this post because I really do hope that 2010 and the entire coming decade is a prosperous one for all of my family members, friends, and readers of this blog. The last decade saw too many people lose a lot of money in a variety of markets. First the technology and “.com” bubble burst and then the housing bubble exploded a few years later. In the past few years the stock market went on a slide, though it seems to be recovering. There are many people out there – myself included – who managed to make the best of these situations and actually wound up in a much better financial position than before these crises! But there are far too many people who are suffering economically, physically, and mentally so I hope that the wealth of prosperity and happiness (and so much more) come to more people in the next ten years.

As for the rest of today – sit back, relax, and enjoy the day off!

Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The “Empowerment Experiment” is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey.

“We kind of enjoy the sacrifice because we get to make the point … but I am going without stuff and I am frustrated on a daily basis,” Maggie Anderson said. “It’s like, my people have been here 400 years and we don’t even have a Walgreens to show for it.”

You know, this is a pretty interesting commentary on some of the larger market forces at work right now. If you can look past the purpose for which the article was written (one ethnic group supporting itself through commerce), then you have a larger story about how commerce, itself, needs to change.

Does it need to revert to an ethnicity-based economy? No, not at all. I don’t think that path is the right one by any means. However, I think the story in the article is showing how the economy needs to become more locally-based – especially in the food industry. In essence, the experiment to buy from those of a single race should spread outside of ethnicity and race and become a larger push for consumers to consume only foods that are grown locally, to use doctors and other professionals who are locally based, and to move purchases away from what might always be a convenient option (going to the local big box store to buy grapes imported from Ecuador) to what might be a better option for your health and the fragile local economy.

Anyway, I think that this is an interesting concept and while I wouldn’t support expanding this idea in a race-based format, I would support a larger push for supporting local businesses. Something to think about.

They’re a pretty good option for those parents living in an area where they do not trust the local district and cannot afford private school for their kids.

What has always amazed me about charter schools in New Jersey, though, is how they are placed so far behind the starting line and yet still achieve the success that they achieve. Alexis King, the founder and lead person of Hope Academy Charter School in Asbury Park, puts it best in a recent op-ed:

The original New Jersey law called for charter public schools to receive 90 percent of funding for each child in a traditional district school. This has not happened across the board. Statewide in New Jersey’s 62 charter public schools, children are funded on average at 78 percent and in some schools as low as 65 percent of district school funding.

But for Hope Academy, where we teach children in kindergarten through eighth grade, the state has reduced funding in the proposed state budget from about $14,000 per child this year to less than $12,000, even though it provides nearly $26,000 per child in Asbury Park’s district schools. So for us the ratio is now less than 50 percent and barely half of what the original charter school law says our children should have.

There are a few different things going on here. First, I’d prefer to leave the conversation about whether or not more money should be spent on urban students than suburban students. To a large degree, I think the answer is clearly “no,” but such a simplistic response doesn’t take into account all of the complexities of the current school funding formula.

Second, and more importantly and germane to this conversation, is the fact that a quality school like Hope Academy is getting their funding cut to such a dramatic degree. Unreal. It’s hard to imagine that this is allowed to take place in a state that is so liberal that it’s supreme court has suggested that each student has a right to an equal education (where is that in the Constitution again?). For such a progressive state, this is shocking.

This conversation, though, will likely be overshadowed by the fact that the entire school funding formula has been the focus of debate. Personally, I think the entire school funding formula needs radical change from the bottom up.

Granted, I don’t think that we are taxed without being represented, but we are definitely subjected to expenses (i.e. uses of our tax dollars) with which the majority of Americans would disagree. For example, when there is poverty in America, I’m confident that a majority of Americans would support using tax dollars to alleviate American poverty before alleviating poverty in other countries. That’s a random example, I know.

Anyway, keep an eye on the media to see if they have any coverage of these “Tea Party” events.

If you want to get involved, remember to download the flyer to read the details and drop off locations. Also, I suggest that you all remember that there are a wide variety of children looking for toys during Christmas – not just the young ones. Gifts of footballs, basketballs, sports jerseys, video games, and books are also greatly appreciated. Please give to the best of your budgeted ability – even in tough economic times we should all remember those who are less well off than we might be.

Plus, I know the people at MURC and I know that this is an excellent program. Give it a shot this Christmas season!

Professor John Buzza has brought the Monmouth University Center for Entrepreneurship and students together with the RedeemHer Organization to open the thrift store. All proceeds from the store will be donated to the nonprofit organization RedeemHer.

Monmouth University students from Buzza’s entrepreneurship class are helping RedeemHer open the thrift store in Neptune, called Second Chances. The students and members of RedeemHer are involved in all aspects of the project, including creating a business plan, decorating, floor plans, sorting through donations, installing walls, public relations, marketing and staffing.

Wait. What? Is this an article that talks about how Monmouth University students are HELPING the community?! You know, from time to time I blog about the bias in the media, but that’s usually at a national level. There is also a bias in local media that is inherently anti-college student – but I’m sure you can understand why, right? Why would a newspaper – which is a dying breed to begin with – write articles that are pro-college students when the vast majority of those people living around college areas don’t like the off-campus population? It only makes sense that newspapers would be anti-college students, right?

Anyway, I’m glad that the Atlanticville has stepped out of the bunch and printed an article that praises some of the noteworthy work being completed by this particular class. This sounds like a good nonprofit organization and I’m sure that the students are getting one heck of an education by helping to build the business. Very impressive work on behalf of Monmouth University and a good article by the Atlanticville.

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!