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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Watch Your Wallet When Driving Through These 10 States
With the first major driving holiday of the summer season approaching, we have analyzed the laws across the country to determine the best and the worst states when it comes to exploiting the motoring public.
These state rankings were calculated using seventeen criteria related to specific traffic laws, enforcement practices, and the treatment of traffic ticket defendants. The rankings are designed to provide guidance to travelers who do not want their vacation ruined by speed traps, arcane laws or “kangaroo” traffic courts.
Read the full article at National Motorists Association site...
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Candidates and Elections
At his desk in Parsippany, Kenneth Kaplan reviews talking points for his Libertarian Party campaign for governor.
Photo by Robert Wiener
Libertarian candidate’s fusion of Right and Left
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NJJN Staff WriterMay 21, 2009
Ask Kenneth Kaplan why he is the Libertarian Party’s candidate for governor of New Jersey and he’ll tell you he’s a “child of the ’60s” who “believes in individual liberties.”
In the category-defying case of the Libertarian Party, those range from doing away with most taxes and opposing gun control to approving same-sex marriage and legalizing the medical use of marijuana.
“Most Republicans and Democrats would say they believe in individual liberties, too, but they really don’t,” Kaplan said as he sat in his real estate office in Parsippany.
“They believe in bigger government that controls more and more of what we do, and I don’t believe in that. I believe in voluntary relationships between individuals rather than relationships imposed by the government.”
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
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Inspired by a posting at A Boring Blog, Trenton officials have officially changed the sign on the Lower Trenton Bridge.
NJ and California seem to be on parallel paths.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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There is this mindset among liberals, "moderates," some conservatives and a majority in the mainstream press that believe that the welfare state is a national blessing and that it works and helps citizens meet their needs. They also believe that it is noble and that it can be sustained. With a report that was recently released by the government pertaining toward Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid showing that it will face financial difficulties sooner than expected, and with the nation's deficit projected to become $10 trillion soon, it is very clear that this belief is an illusion. However, these individuals are not deterred. They will continue to peddle this fantasy to the detriment of the nation and to the detriment of its citizens. Though I am an optimist, one must wonder when these individuals will hit bottom and face reality. The moment of truth may be coming soon.
Excerpted from The Tax Foundation:
The trustees of Social Security and Medicare put out their annual report this week on the financial status of the two government programs. Medicare will be in the red this year, paying out more in benefits than it receives in tax revenue. (All Americans pay a 2.9% Medicare tax on their wages, half remitted by the employer and the other half withheld from the employee’s paycheck.) Social Security is still in the black but is expected to enter the red in 2016. (Americans pay a 12.4% Social Security tax on their wages up to an inflation-adjusted cap each year, again half remitted by employer and half withheld from paychecks.)
During Reason Weekend, the annual event held by the nonprofit that publishes [reason.org], The Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley, author of the recent book Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders, gave a spellbinding presentation about the myths surrounding immigration.
Riley walks through the history of German, Irish, and Mexican migrants in rich and compelling detail, deflating nativist hype while also complicating easy narratives about the United States as a mythic destination for all the wretched of the world.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
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In 1920–21, the United States faced a grave economic crisis, worse than the first year of the Great Depression. Double-digit unemployment and a 21 percent decline in production over the previous twelve months greeted the new president.
That president, the now-despised Warren G. Harding, told Americans that the bust following the artificial, credit-induced boom of the war years had to be faced up to, and that no government, however wise, could make it disappear:
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Not surprisingly, immigration warriors are using the swine flu outbreak to buttress their case for closing the borders to the outside world. In the process, they miss a big problem, however, one that I have raised for many years. If we’re going to have the government close the borders to people coming into the country to protect us from infectious diseases, then we’re going to have to also close the borders in the other direction, which means prohibiting Americans from traveling to other countries, where they can catch diseases and bring them back. And that necessarily will mean a lot of control and tyranny, as citizen of North Korea will attest.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Candidates and Elections
The hardest part of petitioning is overcoming the self-consciousness about doing it. Once you decide to get started, the rest is easy.
What You'll Need
- A properly filled out petition. Get the name(s) of the candidates right. On the "party or party principle" line, put "Libertarian Party."
- A ball-point pen. The ideal one that will write easily on non-horizontal surfaces, such as a Papermate Power Point. But a trusty Bic is okay.
- A clipboard.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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Political Scientist, David Easton, developed a formula concerning politics and government. It was called the "Input/Output Model." The "input" came when people demanded something from the governmental system and the "output" came when people got what they wanted. If the people of a state or country demanded so-called "Universal Health Care," for example, they usually got it. The same with other legislation designed to spend funds. The problem with this is that it evades very important questions It is here that that questions are never asked. People usually think it is "free" when the reality is that it is not. Someone pays for it.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NJ Libertarian Party Nominates Kenny Kaplan for Governor
New Brunswick, NJ - On Sunday, the NJ Libertarian Party State Committee unanimously selected Kenneth Kaplan to be the party’s candidate for Governor. Born in Newark, the 61 year old Kaplan grew up in West Orange but currently resides in Parsippany. He is a graduate from Brandeis University and NYU Law School. For twenty-two years, he was associated with the Archie Schwartz Company but currently serves as President of KenKap Realty Corp., a company he founded after a six year term at Edgerton Realty.
As Governor, Kaplan’s priorities are to phase out the state income tax and reduce the size and cost of government. Addressing affordable housing is one way he plans to solve this problem. Kaplan offers a creative solution to the decade’s long quest to create affordable housing in New Jersey. He wants the state to enact legislation to supersede local zoning ordinances, removing zoning barriers.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Following is the text of a letter I sent to the Government Records Council today following up on my earlier requests for a rule change allowing records requestors to submit requests on either the agency's specific request form or the GRC's model request form. The letter, with attachments, is on-line HERE.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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When I was in college, I was taught that journalists were like Joe Friday from the television show “Dragnet.” All they cared about was “just the facts, madam” and nothing more. That may have been true once. It is no longer the case. Today many journalists put ideology ahead of the news and the profession has been the poorer for it. If one were to take a look at organs like the New York Times, The Star Ledger, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and other outlets, you can tell that there is very much of a liberal bias in how the news is reported. They will deny it and say that “bias is in the eye of the beholder,” as the late Peter Jennings did, but in surveys, in the journalists’ own words, in the choice of content, in the prominence of play, there is no denying this truth. It is because of this bias that people are going elsewhere to get their information whether on the internet, talk radio, other cable channels or elsewhere.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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It was Niccolo Machiavelli that wrote in "The Prince," that in order to do good you had to do evil. In the United States, and in the rest of the world, there have been politicians, dictators, judges, special interest group leaders and more, that have followed this teaching. They have justified wrong conduct in order to do, at least in their minds, "good works." For example, there have been many liberal and "moderate" politicians that have defended the growth and spending of government in order to "help the people." What they do not say, is that they are ignoring the Constitution and other laws with regards to limits on power. In order to justify this all, they say that the limits on power is "antiquated," "does not apply to today's society" or "belongs in the horse and buggy days." Franklin D. Roosevelt should be smiling on these folks.
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- Written by: Don Boudreaux
- Category: Letters to Editor
Here's a letter that I sent last night to U.S. News & World Report:
You report that President Obama today "challenged" his cabinet to "cut the budget by $100 million" ("Obama to Cabinet: Cut $100 Million from Budget," April 20). What courage. A President who proclaims the importance of making "hard choices" calls upon his government to trim away a whopping one thirty-six-thousandth of its projected expenditures for the year - or, alternatively reckoned, one twelve-thousandth of its projected budget deficit.
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- Category: Latest News
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| The Unknown Taxpayer made an appearance at the tea party on the Morristown Green. He was there representing the thousands of New Jerseyans who were afraid to show their faces in opposition to the IRS for fear of audits or harassment. |
Yesterday, members of the NJ Libertarian Party attended Tea Party Rallies across the state. The citizens of this state and the NJLP are outraged over the enormous growth of government at both the state and federal levels. The Bush-Obama bailouts are just the straw that has broken the camel's back.
The NJ Libertarian Party has held tax day demonstrations across the state every year since 1972. We are happy to see a revival of the same libertarian principles that our founders espoused and look forward to the day that government intrusions into our bedrooms, our relationship, and our wallets are rolled back by our elected leaders.
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- Category: Press Releases
Study from Nation's Largest Taxpayer Group Shows Individuals, Corps., Spending Nearly $300 Billion on Tax Compliance
(Alexandria, Va.) -- Complying with the nation's Tax Code now costs American families and businesses more time, money, and frustration than ever, according to the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union's (NTU) 11th annual study of tax complexity trends. Taxpayers using any of the 1040 tax form series will spend an average of 26.4 hours and $209 completing their returns for the most current tax year, up from 25.4 hours and $185 four years ago.
"Just in time for the Tax Day 'Tea Party' revolts being held around the country tomorrow is the unsurprising news that taxpayers are bedeviled by increasingly complex federal income tax regulations," NTU Senior Counselor and study author David Keating said. "If our study tells us anything, it's that Americans are ready to toss the U.S. Tax Code overboard and start anew with a simpler and more transparent version."
NTU has conducted comprehensive examinations of Tax Code complexity since 1999, providing historical trends of the burden on Americans to comply with IRS demands. Among 2009's findings:
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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There is nothing more intense and passionate than when men and women debate political, social, judicial, religious, philosophical and economic issues. Debates have a tenacity to raise voices, evoke feelings and raise the blood levels up a notch. They are also morally stimulating and, at least to me, morally fulfilling (what can I say, I like to joust).
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
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Over a period of years, I have witnessed the deterioration of the public discourse with regard to politics, social and economic issues and religion and so on. I have witnessed this with churches being attacked, because they oppose abortion or gay marriage; I have witnessed this in the colleges and universities, where invited speakers have been assaulted, heckled, spat upon, bum rushed and shouted down; I have seen this with the mainstream press, where if someone strays away from an individual, collective, editorial position, or even an ideological position, that person is tarred, feathered and personally attacked along with his or her family; and I have even seen this when a private citizen has been attacked and investigated solely because he or she dares ask a question of a politician regarding his or her position or policy.