News
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
While Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that “…no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” throughout history, there have been those elements in society that have attempted, and sometimes succeeded, in applying that which the Constitution strictly forbids.
In the presidential election of 1800, those elements applied the religious test to Thomas Jefferson in his contest with Aaron Burr solely because Jefferson was a Deist. In 1928, the test was applied to Al Smith because he was a Catholic. In 1960, the test was applied to John Fitzgerald Kennedy because he was also a Catholic. In 2011, these elements, in which a majority of them can be found in the mainstream press, are applying the test to Republican candidates Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
UPDATE: Julian has been sentenced to 145 days. He wishes to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction. See Julian's webpage for more information. Other places that are covering Julian's saga include George Donnelly's site and the Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund page. A fundraising effort has been started. If this money is not used for his defense all donations will be returned to the donors.
NJ Libertarian Candidate for NJ Assembly (district 37) and longtime freedom activist Julian Heicklen has been arrested in Florida for defying Judge Perry's Administrative Order banning pamphleting in or around the Orange or Osceola court houses. The below video has been provided by Orlando Cop Watch.
Judge Perry's unlawful order has been written about previously on this website.
Recently Libertarian activist Mark Schmidter was sentenced to 151 days for the same offense.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Police Accountability Project
I was contacted about this incident by one of the brothers and I passed the information on to CopBlock.org. Ademo made this video. The NJ Libertarian Party Police Accountability Project is investigating this further.
Previously Seaside Heights settled a suit for a similar arrest.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
I did a half-hour program regarding the NJLP projects on a program called "Mike and the Coach" that appeared on Bayonne's public access channel.
Part 1
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Youth volunteers are being sought to sit on a panel that meets with and judges youth offenders. Youth libertarians need to consider volunteering for this. As a volunteer you will have the opportunity to dismiss victimless crimes and help society. See article about it here.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Policy News
At our summer General Meeting the members present the NJLP voted to officially support Assembly Bill A4252. This bill decriminalizes the possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana. This bi-partisan bill was sponsored by Reed Gusciora (D) and Michael Carroll (R). As of this date 15 co-sponsors have signed onto the bill.
This bill is not perfect. The limit of 15 grams (approximately 1/2 ounce) is too low and "offenders" will still face $150 fine. It is a huge improvement to the current law. Offenders today face a criminal conviction with up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I have been informed by the Republican Club of Pennsauken Township (Camden County) that the Township is seeking to pass a very restrictive ordinance regulating the use of cameras to video record public Township Committee meetings.
One of the provisions of the proposed ordinance requires that citizens who record meetings, shall, at the end of the meeting, give the original recording to the Clerk for duplication and that the original can be picked up by the citizen within five business days of the meeting.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In an August 4, 2011 decision, Bergen County Superior Assignment Court Judge Peter E. Doyne considered, among other issues, the question of public officials using private e-mails to discuss public business. Judge Doyne ultimately concluded that using personal e-mail accounts for public business "appears highly questionable" and "order[ed] counsel for [the municipality] to circulate a memorandum among all pertinent Borough employees directing they use only their public e-mail accounts, rather than private accounts, when conducting town business."
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- Written by: Wes Benedict
- Category: Latest News
Dear Friend of Liberty,
I'm sure you have heard the news about the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating.
I'm not a finance expert, so I don't know exactly how important the downgrade itself is. I think it's one more sign of what Libertarians have known for a long time: the Democrats and Republicans have created a giant welfare-warfare state that is beginning to collapse under its own weight. And I see no sign that they are going to change their behavior.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
At its July 21, 2011 meeting, the Alloway Township Committee (Salem County) introduced an ordinance that will repeal the Township's loitering code. The repeal will be voted upon at the Township Committee's August 18, 2011 7 p.m. meeting at 49 South Greenwich Street. The repeal is being made in response to the New Jersey Libertarian Party's June 29, 2011 letter of request to Mayor Joseph F. Fedora.
For more information on the work of the NJLP Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project see this web page.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
NJLP members John Paff and Nena Carroll participate
in an anti-war protest in Highland Park, New Jersey on Saturday, July
23, 2011
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
The NJ Libertarian Party has returned to the Warped Tour Concert. We were last there in 2009. Warped Tour is a touring concert series featuring over sixty bands.
At both the Camden and the Oceanport we set up booth up alongside the Campaign For Liberty and the Ron Paul for President tables. We worked together to steer attendees to each others' booths.
Again we administered the World's Smallest Political Quiz to those who visited our booth.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
I just interviewed with Sarah Morrison for her "Core of the Matter" radio program on WVPH-FM in Piscataway.
The topics of conversation were the NJLP efforts regarding loitering laws, police accountability and governmental transparency.
The program will air on tomorrow, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, at 7 p.m. and can be heard in Central New Jersey on FM radio at 90.3 MHz or on-line at http://www.thecore.fm
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- Written by: William F Sihr
- Category: Latest News
As many of you are aware, the NJLP has been trying to reach out to the young people of this state, in order to convey our message to other Americans who are tired of government oppression. In an attempt to further this goal, the NJLP rented a booth at the Camden leg of this year’s Warped Tour. From roughly 11 A.M. until 7 P.M. our Chairman Jay Edgar, along with Members-at-Large Kevin Ferrizzi and myself, Bill Sihr talked to as many passersby as possible.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A good way for Libertarians to embark on getting involved in local government is to serve as a member of an appointed board. In order to find out what boards have vacancies, submit the following OPRA request to your municipal clerk:
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The NJ Open Government Taskforce is in the news so often that I can't keep up with posting everything they do. Thanks to the hard work of John Paff the following news articles mentioning the NJ Libertarian Party have appeared recently:
- Libertarian files disclosure complaint in Robbinsville
- Jersey City officials targeted by Libertarian Party chairman’s complaint
- Prosecutor checking Evesham e-mails for Sunshine Law violations
- Robbinsville mayor makes disclosure filing mandatory
- Advocate accusing Bloomfield officials of disclosure missteps
- Union Twp. may cancel its prohibitions of riots, loitering and offensive language
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Back in 2009 we reported on Officer Joseph Rios beating a homeless man for no apparent reason in Passaic.
Superior Court Judge Donald J. Volkert Jr. has acquitted Officer Rios of a police brutality charge. Now that he has been acquitted one may assume that he will receive back pay for the time he has been on leave.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
UPDATE: The video I posted was just uploaded last week, however I just learned that this is incident occured in 2008. A more informative video from the ACLU of NJ can be seen here. The Officer, Brian Sharif, was suspended however he currently works as a special officer for the Newark government schools.