Talk about a bunch of dummies! Look, I don’t think that the entire crowd down there in Washington, DC over the last weekend were dumb people like you saw in that video. In fact, I know a few kids that went over to that rally and they are among the smartest young men that I’ve seen come through my fraternity. But I thought that this video should be posted to show everyone how easy it is to make a large “rally” out to be a bunch of crazy people and lunatics.

FOX News Projects a Christie Win

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – In an April 19 story about Gov. Chris Christie’s payroll, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he is spending nearly $2 million more on salaries a year than did his predecessor, former Gov. Jon Corzine.

Treasury Department figures show the correct higher amount is about $440,000.

Because the AP had incomplete figures for all those on Corzine’s payroll – some were paid by other departments but still worked for the governor – the AP also erroneously reported that twice as many people in Christie’s office earn $100,000 or more than they did in Corzine’s.

Treasury figures show 34 people making $100,000 or more in Christie’s office, compared with 24 for Corzine in April 2009.

Corzine had a payroll of $8.43 million for 118 people, not $7 million, according to Treasury figures. Christie has 117 employees, including himself, with a payroll of $8.86 million per year. Unlike his multimillionaire predecessor, Christie collects the $175,000 salary allowed under the law.

Based on those payroll figures, the average annual salary for Corzine staff in April 2009 was $71,440; the average under Christie is $75,726.

Contrary to what most folks might believe, the story here isn’t the disparity between the administrations and their salaries. No. The story here is that the Associated Press didn’t do any of their homework in publishing the initial story. And for New Jerseyans, the larger story here is uncovering even more of the half-truths from the Corzine administration. Here’s a guy who had no connection to the average New Jerseyan and was thrown out of office a few months ago. Yet, as time goes by and our state takes the common sense approach to balancing our budget, we are still uncovering the type of “politics” garbage that we all hated about Corzine and his crew.

Come on – how could the Corzine administration legitimately not have included these “mobility” (i.e. de facto) Governor’s office members in their original figures? That’s why Corzine isn’t Governor any more – New Jersey doesn’t want the double talk or the double speak any more.

And can someone at the Associated Press please learn a lesson from this story? How hard would it have been to look at the data behind the information submitted by the Corzine administration versus the information submitted by the Christie administration? Any high school student can master that level of “research” yet the public shouldn’t expect this from the Associated Press? Unacceptable.

Both Governor Jon Corzine and Chris Christie’s remarkable inability to give specific information on the details of their supposed plans to lower property taxes have left a filthy taste in the mouth of many New Jersey voters. All one needs to do is listen to any of the debates that these candidates have had over the last several weeks and you’ll be sick to your stomach.

Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided to listen to WBGO’s podcast of the last gubernatorial debate of this season, which occurred at their studios last Thursday. Hold on to your hats for this shocking revelation… it was more of the same! In fact, you can read a review of the debate from the mainstream media’s point of view at the New York Times website by clicking here.

The last few weeks of this year’s election cycle have been interesting as the Independent candidate Chris Daggett is gaining in the polls to the greater detriment of Christie, but now also to the detriment of Corzine. Much like what is going on in New York’s 23rd Congressional district, it appears that a third party candidate is going to spoil the New Jersey Governor’s race. Frankly, I’m glad that Daggett has decided to stay in the race and fight. New Jersey, and the entire nation, needs an alternative to the Republicans and the Democrats.

And in their article they made the following suggestion:

Since the beginning of March, CNN has fallen behind both the longtime ratings leader, Fox News Channel, which, as the voice of disaffected conservatives, again has an imposing lead, and the upstart MSNBC, which has tried to mirror Fox’s success by steering to the left.

CNN has even dipped behind its sister network HLN (formerly Headline News) on many occasions. Since the beginning of 2009, CNN has finished fourth in prime time among the cable news networks on 35 out of 84 weeknights.

The development raises an obvious question: With its rivals stoking prime time with high-octane political opinion and rant, can CNN compete effectively with a formula of news delivered more or less straight?

Alright, there are a couple of things here that need to be addressed and I’m annoyed that they need to be addressed because I’d prefer to comment on the actual article’s content, not the worldview of The New York Times. First of all, FOX News is not in the lead because it is the voice of disaffected conservatives (in fact, most studies show that more than half of their viewership consists of independent and democratic voters). It is in the lead for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is that they’ve managed to successfully marry entertainment and news as well as entertainment and commentary.

No one can watch Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, or Greta Van Susteren and suggest that they are not in the midst of some type of performance. O’Reilly has the American Culture quiz, for Pete’s sake! Hannity has the Great American Panel which introduces an X-Factor (usually an entertainer) into the show plus he’s got that Liberal Translator thing which is clearly a form of entertainment. And Van Susteren is constantly jumping out of planes or throwing out first pitches, plus she’s put together two new segments at the end of her show called “Best of the Rest” and “Last Call” to get people staying tuned. And I’m fine with all of this stuff because these shows are commentary and should show some personality. Nothing wrong with that on FOX or any other cable news channel.

My next problem with the view presented by The New York Times is the idea that MSNBC is an upstart company. Are you kidding me? They were a failed cable news outlet before FOX News was even an idea! The biggest problem on MSNBC right now is the unchecked hatred that they allow to spew on their airwaves, not that they have competition from CNN or FOX News. The difference between CNN and FOX News and the folks over at MSNBC is that they allow completely absurd statements to be made without a strong counterpoint. You absolutely will not find that on O’Reilly’s FOX News show, political leanings aside.

The other problem at MSNBC is talent. Who the hell wants to watch Keith Olberman? The man is a failed ESPN broadcaster and MSNBC gives him his own show? What’s next? The Money Hour with Bernie Madoff? Give me a break.

And the problem with CNN is that they cannot fathom that their opinions are anything other than 100% correct and middle of the road. Look, CNN leans left; not hard-left or hateful like MSNBC, but they do lean left. And the thing is – they don’t get it. For example, I posted a few days ago about that crazy woman reporter from CNN that attended one of the tea parties and was so self-centered that she claimed the tea parties were anti-CNN! Ha! Can you imagine that?!

I’ve seen FOX News reporters go into rallies that truly WERE anti-FOX News and present a set of fair questions to the protesters. Maybe the best thing for CNN, MSNBC, and even The New York Times to do is sit down and actually watch a few hours of FOX News for a change.

Update: The real, straight shooting numbers on who is really winning (“hammering the competition” is more like it) in the ratings war are available at NewsMax.com.

New Jersey transportation officials say a year-old state law banning cell phone use while driving has resulted in nearly 109,000 summonses issued in the past 11 months.

That’s almost double the amount of tickets handed out during the previous five years for the offense.

A state law signed on March 1 last year makes talking on hand-held cell phones while driving a primary offense. That means police are now able to stop motorists just for talking on the phone.

Division of Highway Safety director Pam Fischer says the primary law is making a difference, resulting in about 10,000 tickets a month.

New Jersey is among four states and the District of Columbia that have made using a cell phone while driving a primary offense.

Alright. I call bullshit on this law “working.” What measure, exactly is being used to judge whether or not this law is working? Go ahead – go back and reread the article and tell me how we know the new law is working. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Did you see anything? More tickets being written? Yeah, okay. And? What does this prove? Nothing!

I hate this type of crap because today’s society is so consumed with doing a million things in a day that it is a rare thing to read and critically review information that is presented to us by the media. This is the main reason why the mainstream media is garbage and there is a rising class of entertainment-as-real-news that is taking over the ratings.

Most people will read this post on My FOX NY and just read the headline and scan for a quote from someone official affirming or refuting the headline. In other words, there are probably masses of people out there who saw this bogus article and now, in passing, would comment that the cell phone ban in New Jersey is working. Let’s shed some reality on this situation…

Nearly everyone in New Jersey has a cell phone crammed in their ear while they are driving or their thumbs are going a mile a minute texting away in traffic. Don’t deny it, my fellow Garden Staters – you know that you’re guilty of this in the car. Don’t deny it! And that includes some of the worst offenders – our law enforcement officers!

Anyway, this cell phone ban is not working. And for the love of God, just because more tickets are being written does not mean that a piece of legislation is success! Just like most of the other traffic-related laws on New Jersey’s books, this cell phone ban is yet another way for local municipalities to raise more money off of the already broken backs of our overtaxed population.

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

As a presidential candidate, Obama criticized the detention center that human rights groups and many in the international community widely condemned for harsh treatment of prisoners during the Bush administration. The military has defended its actions, saying prisoners have been treated humanely since the center was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The report found the camp to be in compliance with the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3, the international rules that require the humane treatment of prisoners taken in unconventional armed conflicts, like the war on terrorism. The camp’s controversial force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strikes was also found to be compliant with the Geneva guidelines, a second government official confirmed.

I can appreciate that Obama will probably read this report and change his position during the election on whether or not Guantanamo is/was a humane place to keep prisoners. In fact, I would assume that the President is privy to higher levels of information now that he’s the Commander in Chief and that, in this role, he knows things about Guantanamo that we will never know about. I get it – he’s the President, he should know those things.

But what gets me is that you’ll never hear about this story being covered en masse by the mainstream media. You’ll never hear the political extremists come back and say, “Oh golly. Looks like we goofed on that whole ‘inhumane’ thing down at Guantanamo Bay. Our bad!” Not going to happen. However, if this report for President Obama proved the opposite – that Guantanamo was a disaster and that it was an inhumane place to keep prisoners – then you’d have people calling for President Bush’s head right now!

Isn’t that annoying? Isn’t it annoying that we have extremists in the mainstream who will call for the prosecution of a President based solely on their own ideas and thoughts? However, when those ideas and thoughts are proven wrong by the administration of their favorite son, the extremists won’t turn around and say, “Wow. We were mistaken. Our apologies.”

What a sad commentary on the loud voices…

For example, I’ve been looking at the voter results in my hometown of Mount Arlington (obsessively so). The Constitution Party received 2 votes in my hometown out of a total of 2,536 votes case. Repeat: they received 2 votes. Honestly, that’s not too bad! Mount Arlington isn’t too big and for a third party to pull any votes is impressive. Write-ins received 14 votes, Ralph Nader had 13, the Libertarians had 5 votes, the list goes on. In total, third parties received 41 votes or 1.6% of the vote.

Again, that’s not totally bad in this type of election, but if the third parties want to do better then they should be building a stronger base at the local level. For example, there were 4,387 votes cast for the Mount Arlington Borough Council (you get to cast two votes, which means a total of 5,072 votes could have been cast – some voters obviously chose not to vote for Borough Council or only cast one vote). I have to imagine that if a third party really wants to make an impact, they would spend a good deal of time and money at the lowest level of government and try to win these smaller elections. You win the local election for Mayor or Town Council or whatever, prove that your policies work at the local level, then try to expand to other local municipalities or to the county level (depending where you are in the United States).

The Republicans won in Mount Arlington and from what I can see, they’ve done a fine job of leading. They were handed the short end of the stick thanks to Governor Money Bags’ new anti-small town policies, but they’re managing. That said, their leading candidate received 24.34% of the votes cast. A third party should be able to meet that percentage if they wage a good campaign.

Or maybe there are other reasons why third parties aren’t making it in America. If I were running a third party, I’d choose a few small towns across America and use them as examples for why my party should be elected to higher offices. Hell, I’d even look at taking in disenfranchised members of the Republicans or Democrats and use them as the candidates for my party! Why not use those folks who already have name recognition and some type of rapport with the public?

But I would do more. I would hold voter registration drives and be sure to get those people who have never registered or never thought of registering. Go door to door if necessary and have unregistered voters fill out a voter registration form at the same time as they fill out an absentee ballot request. Put them on that perpetual absentee ballot program and tell them that it means they can literally vote from home – so long as they drop the ballot in the mail in time. If it’s legal (and I don’t know if it is), drop them some simple, uncomplicated campaign propaganda. Get them a button or a bumper sticker or something.

It just seems to me that third parties aren’t utilizing these very simple tactics in order to take a foothold at the smallest levels of American society. Again, maybe they are doing these things in places other than New Jersey and I don’t see it, but I have to think that third parties could be doing a better job of getting the word out about their existence and their platforms.

America has a serious problem with its media sources and unless the people come together to fight this garbage, we’re in for some bad times. You see, the media has grown to help frame the world-at-large for the public. This is true for all aspects of the world from international wars to local trade to elections and more. Listening to the Democratic and Republican debates on CNN this week and reading the New York Times this morning made something abundantly clear – the upcoming Presidential race is NOT being framed in any meaningful manner by many of America’s media sources.

Example: This morning in the New York Times, a piece ran on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy currently enforced by the United States military. The piece focused on the two drastically different responses given by the Republican and Democratic candidates. Every Democrat raised his or her hand that they would repeal the current policy and let gays and lesbians serve openly. Every Republican candidate did NOT raise his hand when asked if they would repeal the policy.

From the New York Times:

The issue flared anew because it came up in this week’s debates, not because of any big new campaign initiative on either side. But aside from policy considerations, there is a political rationale for the Democrats’ stance: Gay men and lesbians make up an important part of the Democratic Party’s political and fund-raising base, and voters in general are increasingly tolerant on gay issues related to employment and discrimination, analysts say. While gay marriage remains deeply divisive, allowing openly gay men and lesbians to serve in time of war has a far more centrist appeal, advocates and analysts say.

This newspaper, which is quickly becoming irrelevant on many issues that the majority of Americans care about, managed to pump out a 1,000+ word article on this “issue” which it readily admits is not a major one for this campaign. Well then why did you waste your time and effort on this crap, New York Times? Better yet – why did the idiots at CNN decide to throw this question into their debate when there are MUCH more pressing issues in America today?

What issues are more pressing? How about the fact that FEMA is a bigger disaster than some of the natural disasters it is sent to clean up?! There was not one question in the entire Republican or Democratic debates about how the candidates would have handled the clean-up of a natural disaster the size and scope of Katrina.

But the lunatics at CNN ask about gays in the military? And we’re supposed to believe that they’re not being pressured to ask these ridiculous, completely-out-of-touch with reality questions by far-left extremists? Give me a break.

And the entire issue is one that many homosexuals could care less about. Sure, they’d like to openly serve in the military, but good Lord – they’re serving the country right NOW! You don’t see straight soldiers demanding that they be allowed to define their sexuality. You know why? Because it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the job at hand!

CNN making this an issue – and the New York Times covering it – pushes these two once-mighty media establishments deeper into the abyss.