From the APP:
Sandy’s gift for 2013: Tax hikes
During the first two years of Matthew Doherty’s term as the mayor of Belmar, unwelcome outcomes came up zeroes: no layoffs, no gimmicks and, most important, no tax increases. But with his beachfront tax base decimated by superstorm Sandy, the Democratic mayor is pulling that feather from his cap for 2013. The borough will lose about $140,000 in revenue, he said.
“It’s going to be a salary-and-benefits year,” he said, meaning there will not be room in the budget for new vehicles, equipment or nonessential supplies.
“So it’s going to be lean, not because our expenses are so high, but because we’re losing so much revenue,” Doherty added. “And I think that’s the same of every municipality along the coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May.”
Unless the Federal Emergency Management Agency picks up the full tab for the Oct. 29 storm, that will at least be true up and down Monmouth and Ocean counties, experts and town officials said. Budgets will be lean in some departments but expanded in others, including for overtime and cleanup related to the Oct. 29 storm, and the costs will be reflected in next year’s tax bills. With no clarity on whether FEMA would up its reimbursement rate from 75 percent to 90 or even 100 percent, as requested, public officials’ anxiety waxed as the year waned.
“That’s the Grinch that stole Christmas,” said William G. Dressel Jr., executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. “Hopefully it won’t be a Grinch. Hopefully we’ll all receive pleasant news under our Christmas trees and the average taxpayer won’t be saddled with these costs.”
Good Morning New Jersey
Booker gearing up for a presidential bid?
From the Star Ledger:
Cory Booker calls gun control arguments ‘a false debate’ in TV appearance
During an appearance this morning on ABC’s news program “This Week,” Cory Booker lambasted what he called “a false debate” over gun control that has intensified in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.
…
“I don’t know if anybody here has seen somebody shot. I have,” Booker said during a round-table discussion on the show, hosted by George Stephanopoulos. “I don’t know if anybody here has had to put their hand in somebody’s chest and try to stop the bleeding so somebody doesn’t die. I have. And the what frustrates me about this debate is it’s a false debate. It’s a false debate.
“This is a convenient trick to try to divide our country more. Most of us in America, including gun owners, agree on things that would stop the kind of carnage that’s going on in cities all over America.”
“I’m tired of the political debates,” he added. “They’re not necessary. I’m tired of the ideological positions. We don’t even need to visit them. Let’s stick to the pragmatic center where all Americans believe the same thing and let’s pass legislation that would make America safer.”
Booker pushed for stronger background checks on people looking to purchase guns and said a key way to curb gun violence is to shut down secondary markets.
“I’m not afraid of law-abiding citizens who buy a gun,” he said. “Buy the guns you want. What the problem is in America right now is that a terrorist person who is on the no-fly list could go into the secondary market today and buy a weapon.”
“Criminals are killing people,” the mayor added. “Not law-abiding gun owners.”
Bah humbug. Shore will get cleaned out of ordinary people, then rebuild as a colony of the rich.
First, mf’er!
Just wait. There will be tea and crumpets at D’Jais, along with a dress code.
Here is a good piece from HuffPo that goes into a little bit more depth on the secondary market that Booker is talking about:
Private Gun Sale Loophole Creates Invisible Firearms Market, Prompts Calls For Reform
More than a decade ago, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates at Columbine High School using a semiautomatic rifle, pistol and shotguns they purchased through acquaintances who had visited a local gun show. There was no required record of the sale and no background check; just an exchange of cash and a handshake.
In March 2010, John Patrick Bedell strolled up to the Pentagon and started shooting at two police officers with a semiautomatic handgun. Months before the attack, he tried to buy a gun in California but was denied, after a background check showed he had a documented history of mental illness. So Bedell instead went to neighboring Nevada, where gun laws are more lenient, and bought a 9mm handgun from a private seller who didn’t have to check out his history.
Both incidents point to a major loophole in the nation’s system of regulating firearms, experts say: Private parties can buy and sell guns in many parts of the country with little or no scrutiny from state and federal authorities. Nearly 40 percent of gun transactions in America occur through so-called private party sales, creating a secondary firearms market that is largely invisible.
More than three-quarters of states have no laws requiring background checks or documentation during private party sales, increasing the risk of weapons falling into the hands of convicted felons, juveniles or those who are mentally ill. As lawmakers in Washington examine gun control measures in the wake of last week’s school massacre in Connecticut, many advocates and researchers are pushing to extend federal regulations requiring background checks and registrations to private gun sales.
“Fixing this would be one of the single most important things we could do to address overall gun violence,” said David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “A lot of people don’t understand that this is the way the world works. It means that people who everybody agrees shouldn’t get guns have little trouble getting guns.”
Under the current system, federal law on gun purchases extends only to the first point of sale. Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to perform background checks on prospective buyers to screen out those with felony records, a history of domestic violence or mental illness and several other categories. Dealers are also required to keep detailed records of customers.
On private party sales, none of those restrictions apply under federal rules. States come up with their own laws governing the secondary gun market, and the restrictions vary widely, leaving an uneven patchwork of regulations from state to state.
Bah humbug. Shore will get cleaned out of ordinary people, then rebuild as a colony of the rich.
Isn’t it already? “Hey Mister, will you sell me your house for an ordinary man’s price?” “F*ck you Benny.”
I went to the shore in the 80s and 90s and there was no ordinary people there. As if gods white trash making machine lever got stuck and he dumped the overflow all in one place
grim says:
December 24, 2012 at 8:03 am
Bah humbug. Shore will get cleaned out of ordinary people, then rebuild as a colony of the rich.
Isn’t it already? “Hey Mister, will you sell me your house for an ordinary man’s price?” “F*ck you Benny.”
FBI Gun Background Check Database Missing Millions Of Records On Mentally Ill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/gun-mentally-ill_n_2346162.html
Who is a future senator that is not incontinent for $200 Alex?
grim says:
December 24, 2012 at 7:37 am
Booker gearing up for a presidential bid?
2: Like every pol, there’s some huge (activist) HF $$ backing Booker. The would-be king makers are actually disappointed Obama beat him to being the first black president.
The Bacon Club
When the companies behind monthly clubs started to look beyond fruit, flowers and other old-fashioned favorites, one of the most popular categories to emerge was bacon —the fatty, salty treat that’s America’s quintessential morning protein. Zingerman’s, the Michigan-based purveyor of all things great and gourmet, offers its own special take — a three-month club ($99) or a six-month one ($189) that features such specialty bacons as an Arkansas peppered bacon and a Tennessee dry-cured bacon. Bacon also figures prominently in another Zingerman’s monthly offering: the Forbidden Foods Club — as in “foods you’ve been warned off.” http://www.zingermans.com — By Charles Passy
Obama is an Oriole. Booker would be the first black president if he won.
relo says:
December 24, 2012 at 9:22 am
2: Like every pol, there’s some huge (activist) HF $$ backing Booker. The would-be king makers are actually disappointed Obama beat him to being the first black president.
JJ [11];
From the web page:
Each shipment contains 12 to 16 ounces of artisan bacon, bacon stories, histories and recipes.
3-mo. subscription: $99.00
6-mo. subscription: $189.00
That’s 1 Benjamin for 36 oz. (2-1/4 lb.) of “artisanally crafted” pig. A thin slice of bacon goes about an ounce; thick about 1.5 oz. I like bacon, but no bacon is worth $4 a slice. Their pricing wildly misses the mark for hitting bacon’s core market.
#13 moose
I paid more than $4 last time I went to Mark Josephs!
Go big – Duck fat is the new pork: http://www.dartagnan.com/51219/565588/Bacon/Uncured-Smoked-Duck-Bacon.html
Fry up the bacon first, and then fry up some fingerling potatoes and rosemary (or maybe some garlic) in the duck fat.
Two firefighters shot to death after responding to a house fire in NY http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/24/16125861-4-firefighters-shot-2-dead-after-responding-to-blaze?lite
Me: “Their pricing wildly misses the mark for hitting bacon’s core market.”
Fab: “I paid more than $4 last time I went to Mark Josephs!”
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution rests.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
JJ, I know that place well, it is in Ann Arbor, yes it is expensive and it kind of sucks. When I was in college I had heard I could get a real NY deli style pastrami sandwich there, not even close and like $13 or $14 for a thin little sandwich. Food in Ann Arbor largely sucks and I cannot imagine they actually have a mail order business now at zingermans, in NY or NJ they would have lasted a few months.
Grim duck fat is the shit.
jcer,
that’s pretty common. In all the other states outside of the Northeast, there are these ridiculously popular joints that the locals swear by. Then when you go there, it reminds you of an average sandwich joint you hit up on the way to a Giants game.
jj (7)-
Others have “peace on Earth, goodwill to men”. We at NJRER have this gem:
“I went to the shore in the 80s and 90s and there was no ordinary people there. As if gods white trash making machine lever got stuck and he dumped the overflow all in one place”
Making pie crust with lard is the shit.
When I used to travel all the time for work, I was amazed at all the cities where Pizza Hut was considered the best around.
Lard is so under used today, damn vegetarians!
I find it funny the media presents short people as normal. 22 years ago I dated a girl born and bred in Long Beach NY. Met her in January dated her a few months. OMG the crowd of folks that hung out in Long Beach back then in winter, bikers, druggies, slackards, unemployed construction workers, shady cops and firemen mixed in with crooked town workers.
Long Beach today even post Sandy is 100% nicer. Same can be said for shore, far rockaway etc.
Hamptons was nice back then still. In fact folks in NJ used to get summer homes in the Hamptons as the Jersey short around 1980 to 1998 was pretty cheesy.
Ernest Money says:
December 24, 2012 at 12:14 pm
jj (7)-
Others have “peace on Earth, goodwill to men”. We at NJRER have this gem:
“I went to the shore in the 80s and 90s and there was no ordinary people there. As if gods white trash making machine lever got stuck and he dumped the overflow all in one place
When I used to travel all the time for work, I was amazed at all the cities where Pizza Hut was considered the best around.
I’ve often theorized that the per capita ratio of shit chain restaurants in the midwest was the reason they were all so damn fat. What, 2100 calories worth of Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits BEFORE the appetizers isn’t normal?
(I shouldn’t talk, I make my biscuits with lard)
Thing is, when you make biscuits with lard, you can eat one of them and be satisfied.
Delicious lard!
Bacon fat, butter, and coconut oil is the new health food. New Year’s resolution is to kick out the sugars and starches. Nobody would eat a stick of butter on vegetables or meat, but throw it in a muffin or slice of cake or biscuit and it’s gone in a couple minutes.
Merry Christmas everyone (even you Stu and gator–mazel tov btw)
Humbug.
Merry Christmas Sir!
Merry Christmas everyone I’m in north Carolina hope you all get snow
Still remember driving in 2004 on the Ohio Turnpike in the distant south Cleveland suburbs and passing a sign for Panera proud touting……”voted best bread in the Cleveland area”……combination WTF? / OMG!
Ben says:
December 24, 2012 at 11:48 am
jcer, that’s pretty common. In all the other states outside of the Northeast, there are these ridiculously popular joints that the locals swear by. Then when you go there, it reminds you of an average sandwich joint you hit up on the way to a Giants game.
[31]. Ernest
Lest you forget, you supplied all the holiday cheer.
Hi everyone, Merry Christmas. I love you all as Ozzy would say.
Merry Christmas to all. Despite my objections, my living room is filled with items from the Guangdong Province. Makes me puke. More worthless non-appreciating items to step-on, put batteries in, dump in a landfill. Guess I’m just showing my age.
My XMas gift is repurposed this year from 1967. It’s got a ‘blackface’ but it’s no Al Jolson . Ah to find these old gems. So sweet is the sound.
Board Q: going rate on 30-year mortgage and any good recommendations for an originator used in NJ during the last 6 months or so?
Hi all , Merry Christmas!
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