News
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- Written by: Darian Worden
- Category: Selected Blogs
Last week New Jersey Governor Chris Christie endorsed providing $875 million in state financial aid for the Xanadu entertainment and retail complex in the Meadowlands.
For those unfamiliar with Xanadu, Wikipedia has a representative picture of its ugly gigantism. The complex rises from the horizon appearing to be the result of a giant child who threw something together using mismatched Lego blocks. The gigantism is reminiscent of Marxist regimes trying to show off their grandeur in ways they don’t realize are ironic. If the project is ever completed, it will be one of the largest malls in the world.
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- Written by: Wes Benedict
- Category: Latest News
Dear Friend of Liberty,
The War in Afghanistan has dragged on for almost nine years. According to the Washington Post, there have been 1,189 American military deaths, which is more than two per week.
And of course, today's big news about WikiLeaks raises a lot of questions about whether we've been honestly told how badly the war is going.
I'm often asked how Libertarian candidates make a difference in cases where they don't win their election. We have over 150 candidates running for U.S. Representative, and over 20 for U.S. Senator.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A worthwhile exercise for citizen activists is to request their municipality's, school board's or other agency's legal services bills. These records permit citizens to know a) how much money the agency is spending on lawyers and b) a general idea of what the money is being spent on.
As an illustration, I submitted an OPRA request for invoices for legal services provided to the Plainfield (Union County) Board of Education for a three month period. I have placed those invoices, which span nearly forty pages, on the Internet here.
Here are some things that a citizen can learn from the invoices:
- That the Plainfield Board of Education paid a single law firm approximately $77,500 during a three month period in 2010. (Annualized, this calculates to approximately $310,000 per year).
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
FRENCHTOWN — An open government advocate thinks political favoritism could be behind the borough’s use of a defunct ordinance to reduce punishment for a man charged with shoplifting.
John Paff of Somerset, chair of the Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project, filed a state Open Public Records Act request June 21 for the release of Frenchtown Police Department records about the arrest of Bloomsbury resident Gennaro Mirabella, 41.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
In his 1944 work, The Road To Serfdom, F. A. Hayek noted the misuse of the words freedom and liberty:
"Freedom" and "Liberty" are now words so worn that one must hesitate to employ them to express the ideals for which they stood during that period.1
He was referring to the push towards socialism and how the socialist revolutionists were using these words while demanding state planning of every human economic interaction.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In a 25-page opinion issued on July 13, 2010, Union County Superior Court Judge Kathryn A. Brock ruled that while I am not entitled to a police surveillance video under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), I am entitled to it under the common law right of access.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
Voters in the Borough of Spring Lake Heights (Monmouth County) employed a little-used statutory mechanism to force the Borough Council to reconsider two ordinances that would have raised salaries for some Borough officers and employees. The purpose of this posting is to explain the mechanism so that voters in other municipalities can also avail themselves of it.
At issue are Ordinances 05-2010 and 06-2010, which were both enacted on June 14, 2010. The ordinances, respectively, sought to raise certain employee and officer salaries retroactively to January 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Letters to Editor
The following letter to the editor by NJLP member, Eric Hafner, was published in the Two River Times, The Examiner, and the Atlantic Highlands Herald.
Dear Editor,
Has anyone been able to keep track of how many gang-related shootings there have been in Monmouth County, so far this year?
Our elected officials are quick to give useless, politically correct answers to stopping the violent street gang epidemic, often by wasting your tax dollars on youth sports programs that do nothing to fight gangs.
Come devour Big Government!!
Hosted by NJLP Congressional Candidate Russ Conger
15 Conifer Court, Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Saturday, July 17th Noon (business meeting is at 1:00 PM)
Meet our Candidates!! Enjoy great food!!
Donation of at least $5 requested
Bring side dishes
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Right-To-Die Billboard Causes Uproar In N.J.
Final Exit Network Says It Provides Guidance To Adults With Painful Illnesses, But Many Residents Upset With Ad
HILLSIDE, N.J. (CBS)
This billboard on Route 22 in Hillside, N.J., has many people up in arms.
The message on a billboard in New Jersey is stirring up a lot of controversy.
It centers on whether a person suffering from a painful disease has the right to take his or her own life.
The billboard looms over a busy section of Route 22 in Hillside, facing the eastbound lanes. Some drivers said they are confused by the message.
The NJ Libertarian Party platform calls for "the repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide as infringement of the ultimate right of an individual to his or her own life." We congratulate the Final Exit Network on their billboard.
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- Written by: pugmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
Some years ago, on the Sean Hannity radio show, Mr. Hannity was interviewing KABC Los Angeles libertarian talk show host Larry Elder. Mr. Hannity asked at the time why was it that Libertarians, when running for political office, only get 3% of the vote. Mr. Elder was quick in his reply “The reason is because people fear freedom.” I was taken aback by that statement, but now I fully accept it. Americans, sadly, do fear freedom and what it entails.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Libertarian think tank, CATO, has recently released a bulletin, Immigrants and Crime: Perception vs. Reality, that finds crime among recent immigrants is less than or no higher than the rest of the population.
Data show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born, a pattern confirmed by a 2008 study of data from California.
The bulletin summarizes with:
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- Written by: pugmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
On the Fox Nation blog, a question was asked about the Founding Fathers. The question went like this: "What would the Founding Fathers think of Independence in America Today?" In my humble estimation, they would be very disappointed and rightfully so.
If they were alive today, the Founding Fathers would be saddened that the U.S. Constitution and other founding documents are not taught in schools anymore. They would be disappointed that the federal government has grown tremendously in size and scope. They would be disappointed that the United States has a federal income tax. They would be disappointed that the U.S. has career politicians. They would even be more disappointed that true liberalism has been replaced with a cancer known as progressivism.
Subcategories
NJ Libertarian Blog
Imported from NJ Libertarian News from the published feed
Videos
This is a page of various videos that we have either created or found interesting. Be sure to check out and follow our YouTube page.
Open Government Advocacy Project
The Open Government Advocacy Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. Articles posted here are a subset of the work of the committee. For more information visit the Open Government Advocacy Project blog.
If you would like to demand accountability and ensure that your local governing body or school board adheres to the Open Public Records Act we can help you request information from them. Contact John Paff, the project chair here.
Insight New Jersey
NJ government is huge and complex. Private industry is shrinking while the size and cost of government bureacracy continues to grow. The articles posted here provide a guide of the NJ State Government and can be used by citizens and candidates for office to evaluate what departments can be reduced drastically in size.
We'll start with just some of the departments and provide a breakdown on what they do (or purport to do), how many employees they have and how big their budget is.
Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project (“the Project”) seeks to get New Jersey municipalities to repeal loitering ordinances that should have been -- but were not -- repealed when the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice was enacted in 1979. The Project has successfully had loitering ordinances repealed in over 30 towns. For a summary listing of all the towns see Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project page.
Police Accountability Project
The Police Accountability Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to search out cases of police misconduct, file former Internal Affairs (IA) complaints when appropriate, and to publicize violations of rules and laws by the police. There may be other stories posted on the NJLP Police Internal Affairs Complaint Blog page.
If you would like to help or know of a case we should be looking at, contact the committee at
Legislative Affairs Committee
The Legislative Affairs Committee was created to allow a select core of Volunteers to take action on legislation and policies which directly affects the people of New Jersey.
[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]
Staff
Legislative Director and Committee Chair
Volunteers: