New Jersey Pension Funds $54 BILLION "Short."
January 14, 2011 at 12:18 P.M. "Errors" inserted overnight will now be corrected. Only one "error" was inserted since yesterday evening. Dozens of essays appear to have been vandalized during the hours when my security system was disabled by (I believe) New Jersey government officials or attorneys and resources that "deactivated" my security system.
Over the past 24 hours I have made dozens of corrections of inserted "errors" and coped with deactivation of my security system made possible by criminal corruption in New Jersey. To speak of legality or ethics under these circumstances must mean that New Jersey officials have a great sense of humor. ("New Jersey's Joan Davis Murdered by the Mafia.")
January 13, 2011 at 5:03 P.M. My home computer's security system was deactivated and obstructed by hackers today. What a shock? At this time, my security system cannot be reactivated. I am unable to get on-line from my home computer. I do not know when, if ever, I will be able to get back on-line. Considering that I am paying a lot for my security system and Internet provider, I find this harassment a tad disturbing.
Perhaps Mr. Christie -- or someone in New Jersey -- does not like me. I have also paid for an ISBN number for a book that will not be distributed to book sellers in America. This all seems a little bit like theft. I will keep trying to reactivate my service in order to get back on-line. I am told that my writings are being published in "other" countries without censorship, including Cuba. If this is true, I am very grateful. "Errors" were inserted numerous times in these essays today. I am doing my best to make corrections as they are needed. ("How Censorship Works in America.")
January 13, 2011 at 1:14 P.M. I am still subjected to a great deal of computer crime and censorship to prevent writing and posting essays on-line. I will do my best to write from public computers later today. I cannot say how many writings have been disfigured through insertions of "errors" in texts in violation of copyright laws. I will do my best to make all corrections of alterations or defacements as soon as I become aware of them. ("How Censorship Works in America" and "What is it like to be plagiarized?")
Richard Perez-Pena, "Christie Calls for More Cuts and Big Changes to Schools," in The New York Times, January 12, 2011, at p. A19.
Winnie Hu, "Governor Thrusts New Jersey to Fore of an Education Fight," in The New York Times, January 13, 2011, at p. p. A24.
James C. McKinley, Jr., "Cuban Exile Lied to U.S., Prosecutor Tells Jury," in The New York Times, January 13, 2011, at p. A17. ("American Hypocrisy and Luis Posada Carriles.")
The Garden State's budget woes and newly charismatic Governor Christopher Christie were on display in the recent "State of the State" address in Trenton. Aside from the usual veiled invective -- moderated by the toned-down climate of rhetoric after the Arizona shootings -- there were some substantive points to notice in the governor's speech.
Mr. Christie, by failing to prevent these attacks against my writings you may encourage the use of similar tactics against others and worse methods against me in the future. I appreciate where your contributions come from, as a Republican, but this situation may be more important than future contributions. Furthermore, the inability to control public criminality by New Jersey officials and lawyers -- or their goons -- does not argue for your aptitude for national office. ("Will Christopher Christie End the Nightmare?")
Christie's one concession to Democrats was to say something nice about Corey Booker and Stephen Sweeney. The names of Bob Menendez and Richard J. Codey did not pass the governor's lips. Here is the bottom line as regards a budget and pension system heading towards bankruptcy:
"The details will become public when he proposes his budget next month, but some lawmakers are predicting a deficit as large as $54 BILLION short of what is needed to meet its obligations, [and the pension fund] could be out of money by the end of the decade."
Corruption and Turnpike racism are still out-of-control, together with a legal system and Supreme Court in New Jersey that are laughing stocks all over the country and in many parts of the world, including the on-line universe. No one doubts or denies that N.J.'s Supreme Court has collapsed into chaos and mutual backstabbing by justices at one another's throats in an intensely politicized environment. This was not always the case among Trenton's "Supremes."
The public censorship and computer crime -- I am still unable to perform necessary security maintenance on my computer -- as well as harassments intended to obstruct or prevent my home writing efforts, every day, suggests either an inability or unwillingness to control mafia influence on the mechanisms of power in the Garden State, including police departments. Until these fundamental features of government (police and courts) are brought under control, N.J. must be regarded as an "ethically failed jurisdiction." ("New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion" and "New Jersey's Judges Humiliate America.")
Criticisms concerning fundamental failures of the state system will remain true whatever the reader thinks of me or my opinions. Insults of me are irrelevant to this criticism and situation in New Jersey. The legal ethics process is no longer available as a weapon to silence or harm me. ("New Jersey's Failed Judiciary" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
Mr. Christie is correct to see the state teachers' union as part of the problem because of its close connection to the Democrat-mafia machine that continues to attempt to run the state. However, Christie is wrong to blame teachers exclusively -- or even primarily -- for the state's economic catastrophe. I blame New Jersey's legions of corrupt politicians for the nightmare that is Garden State finances.
Apathy to the public crimes committed against me may result in an Arizona-like tragedy at the hands of a crazed Cuban-American Right-winger upset at the trial of Mr. Posada-Carriles. Such a tragedy victimizing me would have the effect of amplifying my accusations against New Jersey. Part of the problem is that people were permitted to get away with crimes for too long. Much of my argument against corruption, hypocrisy, and violations of legal ethics in Trenton has been proven by my adversaries' tactics. I am quite serene and determined to persist in my efforts. These unethical and criminal lawyers disapprove of my ethics and opinions. I disapprove of them and their opinions. ("New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead" and "Neil M. Cohen, Esq. and Conduct Unbecoming to the Legislature in New Jersey.")
Generations of politicians in Trenton combined corruption with ineptitude -- as Mr. Christie knows better than anyone! -- without facing the consequences of their actions. Jim McGreevey is the perfect example of what I describe. The entire state must pay the price for decades of neglect and blatant theft by politicians and lawyers. ("Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics" and "New Jersey's Politically Connected Lawyers on the Tit" then "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")
If teachers' performance will be evaluated by committees that will include lay people or politicians, then it is only fair to have elected officials and judges evaluated by committees of teachers who will grade them, publicly, based on performance rather than rhetoric. Thus far in his administration, Mr. Christie gets a "B." If tenure will be threatened, then terms of office should also be threatened (or shortened) based on judgments concerning performance or incompetence of politicians in office that can be made by teachers and others on a monthly basis. Think of all the money that could be saved on salaries -- often multiple salaries -- by getting rid of incompetent politicians. Would there be anyone left in Trenton? ("More Mafia Members Arrested in New Jersey.")
New Jerseyeans cannot rationally expect to continue underpaying teachers while also insisting that teachers obtain graduate degrees at their own expense, depriving them of their hard-earned pension funds, and "insisting" on excellence in schools as politicians cut taxes for the richest residents of the state.
Schools reflect all of the ills of society. If the legal system cannot cope with the effects of trauma and crime, why should we expect teachers to resolve such social and/or psychological problems while providing students in public schools with an education to match what is afforded to their counterparts in elite private schools coming from comfortable middle class homes? This expectation of our embattled public school teachers is absurd.
Americans cannot continue to overcompensate politicians -- in New Jersey they often draw multiple salaries -- while allowing for obvious incompetence in the handling of public funds to go unpunished. New Jersey's teachers' union is political. Everything in New Jersey is political. There is no way the union could be effective without being political. The issue for teachers is whether their union has become too close to one side in New Jersey -- namely, Democrats.
Nothing in New York comes close to New Jersey's disaster in the provision of public services. New York will never reach New Jersey levels of corruption because there are too many checks and balances, observers and monitors of public expenditures. People in New York are too aware of what is going on to tolerate blatant levels of theft as they seem to accept politicians stealing in New Jersey. When corruption happens in New York, people are arrested and go to prison. They should try more of that kind of prosecution in New Jersey. Tom Delay is a saint compared to many politicians in Trenton. I say this even though I am not a Republican. ("Mafia Influence in New Jersey Law and Politics" and "More Mafia Memebers Arrested in New Jersey.")
New Jersey requires drastic reforms of a still hopelessly tainted political process, a culture of corruption, greed, criminality and a boss-awarded favors system afflicting not schools so much as the entire political and legal structure. There is still way too much organized crime influence on the courts and among elected officials; too much secrecy; too many "unofficial" actions and perks that are denied publicly; too many cover-ups and unofficial manipulations of police power and politicians getting rich on mysteriously fortunate real estate deals. Children, old people, sick and working class residents of New Jersey cannot bear this burden much longer. It's fine with me if politicians continue to steal in Trenton, but not with the people stuck in New Jersey. ("Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks" and "Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")
"If the desire were there when voters went to the polls and enough 'public servants' had the guts to stand up for the people, disinfecting the sewer that is New Jersey politics would be relatively easy. Will corruption ever be under control? It's doubtful, despite the best journalism whose hard work keeps exposing the graft, and prosecutors like U.S. Attorney Christie" -- less so Christie's successor, Paul Fishman -- "who keep pursuing the crooks, and the efforts of whistle-blowers like Joe Patema, Ken Connolly, Michael Nappe, and Joseph Carruth, who spoke out for what's right and suffered the consequences."
Bob Ingle & Sandy McLure, The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption (New York: St. Martin's, 2008), p. 287. ("Jennifer Velez is a 'Dyke Magnet!'")
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