Tea Parties

To find a Tea Party near you visit this site.  Don’t miss the round buttons on the right for more information.  There are various speakers and events at each one.  Be aware that they are not all on July 4th, so check the dates carefully.

Proactive involvement is imperative to protect our country, the Constitution, and preservation of liberty and prosperity for future generations.  Here are a few ’samples’ of events.

Americans for Prosperity-NJ Tea Parties-July 4th

Join me [Steve Lonegan] this Saturday, July 4th, for the Taxpayer Tea Parties co-sponsored by Americans for Prosperity New Jersey. Our freedom is at stake– it is imperative to speak up and end this attack on our liberty. Join me at the

Jackson Tea Party
12pm – 3pm
(Scheduled to speak at 12:30 pm)
Kierych Memorial Drive Johnson Park
Jackson, NJ

Scotch Plains Tea Party
1pm – 4pm (Scheduled to speak at 2pm)
Brookside Park on Hetfield Ave
Scotch Plains, NJ

Summit Tea Party-July 3

Summit, New Jersey—Building on the significant success of this past April’s Tea Parties, which attracted an estimated 500,000 Americans at over 800 Tea Party events nationwide, New Jersey will kick off the first of its Independence Day Tea Parties, featuring several of the state’s most prominent conservative and libertarian leaders, this Friday July 3.

The first New Jersey Independence Day Tea Party will be held Friday July 3, 2009 from 3pm to 6pm at The Village Green at Maple and Broad Streets in Summit, New Jersey. Located across from the Summit Train Station, Summit’s Village Green is conveniently accessible from New York City and northern New Jersey locations by New Jersey Transit. Route 24 and I-78 are also easily accessible, as is public parking.

The event will feature several of New Jersey’s leading advocates of free market-based fiscal policies, including Michael Johns, a former White House speechwriter and Heritage Foundation policy analyst, Ken Kaplan, New Jersey’s Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate, and others.

“There is a strong feeling across the state that our nation and state are headed in the wrong direction, and beginning to lose the foundations of individual liberty that have made them beacons of global success,” said New Jersey Tea Party organizer Dan Silberstein of New Jersey Citizens for Liberty. “The Tea Party movement has been resisting the mammoth growth of our federal and state governments and pointing the way to more constructive alternatives designed to foster long-term economic growth and prosperity, he said.

Following the first round of Tea Party protests, held this past Tax Day (April 15), a national Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Americans (51 percent) viewed the Tea Party movement either “very favorably” or “favorably.”

The New Jersey Tea Party is open to the public, and admission is free.

New Jersey Budget talk

Party line budget signed

Whoopee, the NJ Legislature is gone for the summer.

The FY 2009-2010 $29 billion New Jersey Budget has been passed by the N.J. Senate & Assembly and was signed on June 29 by Governor Corzine.

As a result, taxes are increasing on cigarettes, wine, alcohol (excluding beer), lottery winnings in excess of $10,000, and a one-year increase to higher income families.  Property tax rebates have been scaled back, translating to a property tax increase for many.  Those making over $250,000 cannot deduct property taxes from their state tax filing, translating to an increase in income tax.  A 4% surcharge on incorporated businesses has been extended.  All these increased taxes will add $1.3 billion to the state ‘take’ from homeowners, workers, consumers, and businesses.

The new budget includes one-shot revenue fixes from federal stimulus money ($2.2 billion), the recent tax amnesty program, state workers adjustments, and deferments.

Here are the legislative votes.  Take note of who voted “yes” (most Democrats) to raise our taxes; and thank those who voted “no” (Republicans and some Democrats) for at least trying to defeat continued spending and tax increases.  (This paragraph was corrected.)

A-4100
Senate votes
Allen, Diane B. – No (R-7)
Baroni, Bill – No (R-14)
Bateman, Christopher - No (R-16)
Beach, James – Yes (D-6)
Beck, Jennifer – No (R-12)
Bucco, Anthony R. - No (R-25)
Buono, Barbara – Yes (D-18)
Cardinale, Gerald – No (R-39)
Ciesla, Andrew R. - Not Voting  (R-10)
Codey, Richard J. – Yes (D-27)
Connors, Christopher J. – No (R-9)
Cunningham, Sandra B. - Yes (D-31)
Gill, Nia H. – Yes (D-34)
Girgenti, John A. – Yes (D-35)
Gordon, Robert M. - Yes (D-38)
Haines, Philip E. – No (R-8)
Karrow, Marcia A. – No (R-23)
Kean, Sean T. - No (R-11)
Kean, Thomas H., Jr. – No (R-21)
Kyrillos, Joseph M., Jr. – No (R-13)
Lesniak, Raymond J. - Yes (D-20)
Madden, Fred H., Jr. – Yes (D-4)
O’Toole, Kevin J. – No (R-40)
Oroho, Steven V. - No (R-24)
Pennacchio, Joseph – No (R-26)
Redd, Dana L. – Yes (D-5)
Rice, Ronald L. - Yes (D-28)
Ruiz, M. Teresa – Yes (D-29)
Sacco, Nicholas J. – Yes (D-32)
Sarlo, Paul A. - Yes (D-36)
Scutari, Nicholas P. – Yes (D-22)
Singer, Robert W. – No (R-30)
Smith, Bob - Yes (D-17)
Stack, Brian P. – Yes (D-33)
Sweeney, Stephen M. – Yes (D-3)
Turner, Shirley K. - Yes (D-15)
Van Drew, Jeff – No (D-1)
Vitale, Joseph F. – Yes (D-19)
Weinberg, Loretta – Yes (D-37)
Whelan, Jim – Yes (D-2)

Assembly votes
Addiego, Dawn Marie – No (R-8)
Albano, Nelson T. – No (D-1)
Amodeo, John F. - No (R-2)
Angelini, Mary Pat – No (R-11)
Barnes, Peter J., III – Yes (D-18)
Biondi, Peter J. - No (R-16)
Bramnick, Jon M. – No (R-21)
Burzichelli, John J. – Yes (D-3)
Caputo, Ralph R. - Yes (D-28)
Carroll, Michael Patrick – No (R-25)
Casagrande, Caroline – No (R-12)
Chiappone, Anthony - Yes (D-31)
Chiusano, Gary R. – No (R-24)
Chivukula, Upendra J. – Yes (D-17)
Conaway, Herb, Jr. - Yes (D-7)
Conners, Jack – Yes (D-7)
Coutinho, Albert – Yes (D-29)
Coyle, Denise M. – No (R-16)
Cruz-Perez, Nilsa – Yes (D-5)
Cryan, Joseph – Yes (D-20)
Dancer, Ronald S. - No (R-30)
DeAngelo, Wayne P. – Yes (D-14)
DeCroce, Alex – No (R-26)
DiMaio, John - No (R-23)
Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr. – Yes (D-18)
Doherty, Michael J. – No (R-23)
Egan, Joseph V. - Yes (D-17)
Evans, Elease – Yes (D-35)
Giblin, Thomas P. – Yes (D-34)
Green, Jerry - Yes (D-22)
Greenstein, Linda R. – Yes (D-14)
Greenwald, Louis D. – Yes (D-6)
Gusciora, Reed - Yes (D-15)
Handlin, Amy H. – No (R-13)
Holzapfel, James W. – No (R-10)
Jasey, Mila M. - Yes (D-27)
Johnson, Gordon M. – Yes (D-37)
Lampitt, Pamela R. – Yes (D-6)
Love, Sandra - Yes (D-4)
Malone, Joseph R., III – No (R-30)
McHose, Alison Littell – No (R-24)
McKeon, John F. - Yes (D-27)
Merkt, Richard A. – No (R-25)
Milam, Matthew W. – No (D-1)
Moriarty, Paul D. - Yes (D-4)
Munoz, Nancy F. – No (R-21)
O’Scanlon, Declan J., Jr. – No (R-12)
Oliver, Sheila Y. - Yes (D-34)
Polistina, Vincent J. – No (R-2)
Pou, Nellie – Yes (D-35)
Prieto, Vincent - Yes (D-32)
Quigley, Joan M. – Yes (D-32)
Quijano, Annette – Yes (D-20)
Ramos, Ruben J., Jr. - Yes (D-33)
Rible, David P. – No (R-11)
Riley, Celeste M. – Yes (D-3)
Roberts, Joseph J., Jr. - Yes (D-5)
Rodriguez, Caridad – Yes (D-33)
Rooney, John E. – No (R-39)
Rudder, Scott - No (R-8)
Rumana, Scott T. – No (R-40)
Rumpf, Brian E. – No (R-9)
Russo, David C. - No (R-40)
Scalera, Frederick – Yes (D-36)
Schaer, Gary S. – Yes (D-36)
Smith, L. Harvey – Yes (D-31)
Spencer, L. Grace – Yes (D-29)
Stender, Linda – Yes (D-22)
Thompson, Samuel D. - No (R-13)
Tucker, Cleopatra G. – Yes (D-28)
Vainieri Huttle, Valerie – Yes (D-37)
Van Pelt, Daniel M. - No  (R-9)
Vandervalk, Charlotte – No (R-39)
Vas, Joseph - Not Voting (D-19)
Voss, Joan M. - Yes (D-38)
Wagner, Connie – Yes (D-38)
Watson Coleman, Bonnie – Yes (D-15)
Webber, Jay - No (R-26)
Wisniewski, John S. – Yes (D-19)
Wolfe, David W. – No (R-10)

“BECK TO CORZINE: BUDGET PUTS PORK AND PATRONAGE FIRST”

Press release:

Senator Challenges Corzine to Use Red Pen on Specific Line Items

Senator Jennifer Beck  (R-Monmouth) challenged Governor Corzine to use the line item veto power over at least five specific line items before signing the budget this afternoon.

Under the budget Governor Corzine is signing today, middle class taxpayers will pay an average of $1,200 more in taxes according to Rutgers economists.  1.2 million people will be kicked out of the property tax relief program according to the Office of Legislative Services.  And the budget raids an EMT Fund and the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund.

“When Governor Corzine signs the budget bill today, he is stating that taxpayers, volunteer medical technicians, and middle class folks who need help paying medical bills are less important than pork, patronage, and waste,”  said Beck “The Governor, at the very least, should remove the following spending items with the use of his veto power.”

1)  There remains $8,000,000 in pork under the line item “County Prosecutor Funding Initiative Pilot Program.”  This special appropriation was designed to benefit 4 counties (Essex, Hudson, Mercer, and Camden) and has continued every year for the past few years.

2)  Millions of dollars are set aside in the budget to pay politically appointed commissioners on various boards.  They get paid just enough to qualify for full pension credit even though their boards generally meet once per month.  For one of the boards, the Local Finance Board, there is also funding to provide the members with full health benefits.  The pay for these boards is unnecessary.  Many qualified folks would be willing to serve as volunteers.

3)  The Law  Revision Commission in Newark could be eliminated as it provides a function that could easily be performed by existing Office of Legislative Services staff.

4) Millions of dollars are set aside in the budget to pay the salary of nonunion political patronage appointments scattered throughout government in positions like government rep 1, government rep 2, government rep 3, confidential aid, etc.   In fact, more than 20 people have been hired to work in the Governor’s office within the past year and a half - several from campaigns or the State Democrat Committee.  But not only will Corzine not fire them, he is signing an agreement that he will not fire anyone while he is in office.

5)  More than $100 million remains in the politicized and mismanaged Special Municipal Aid Program - a program that just several years ago was funded with less than $40 million.  This program operated without so much as even an application until last year.  No written guidelines exist for the expenditure of funds.

The bill that takes over energy

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Cap & Trade, Energy bill, Global warming, Waxman-Markey Bill) will be before the U.S. Senate next for voting.  Below are videos that are filled with ammunition to formulate educated letters, emails, and place calls to the U.S. Senators.  These videos clearly show the onerous impact this bill would place on our country.

Clearly the majority of the Republicans in congress were against this bill, while the majority of the Democrats were either for it or being pressured by their party and the White House to vote for it. The bill was still being printed at 1:00 am on Fri. morning, and came up for a vote the same day. Certainly none of the representatives had time to read, much less comprehend, the negative effects it will have on our economy. Any way this bill is interpreted it will hurt Americans, either directly or through increased cost for goods as everything hinges on energy and this is an energy tax.

Energy compromises approximately 16% of the American economy, and this is simply a way for the Federal Government to take over that segment of the economy.

CAP & TRADE BILL, GOP MEMBERS STEP UP

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

The consequences of inaction

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Cap & Trade, Energy bill, Global warming, Waxman-Markey Bill) is over 1,200 pages.  We can bet that none of our U.S. House members have read this incomprehensible bill, but voted on it anyway.  This is not representation.

There are 397 regulations and 1,060 mandates that will add enormous cost to our daily lives, on top of a growth of government to ‘oversee’ and administer the intricate details.  As you gaze (details are too blurry to read) at this massive chart, understand that each red dot is a regulation and each blue dot represents a mandate.

The yellow box is the bureaucratic system that each of the 397 regulations would undergo.

The 1,060 mandates will affect our lives on a daily basis in the form of increased costs on practically every service and commodity.  Some of the increases will be direct, such as energy costs.  Others will be indirect and exponential.   Distribution of products passes through a number of channels before reaching us and each will be passing on the extra costs.

Below is a speech by Congressman Mike Pence, given prior to the June 26 House vote, urging American Citizens to get involved in stopping the Waxman-Markey Bill.  The wise will heed the advice of Pence.  If each of us does not get more proactively involved in our government, we will suffer the consequences of our inaction.

Republican Cap & Trade sellouts

I couldn’t have put it better than Mark Levin, “The 8 Republicans Who Gave America the Finger”.

U.S. Congressman Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ-02)
U.S. Congressman Leonard Lance (R-NJ-07)
U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ-04)
U.S. Congressman John McHugh (R-NY-23)
U.S. Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE)
U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL-10)
U.S. Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA-8)
U.S. Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA-45)

I will keep both eyes on when the vote will be put before the U.S. Senate.

Here are the links to my prior posts for more information. 1.)  2.)  3.)  4.) 5.)

National care at what price?

 U.S. Congressman Dave Camp (R-Michigan) discusses his concerns with the Democrats’ proposed national health care bill at the Ways & Means Health Care Hearing.

Enormous energy bill being fast tracked

Voting set for Friday by the house on Climate Change Bill (Also known as Energy Bill, Global Warming, Cap & Trade, Waxman-Markey Bill).  This bill will cost us consumers tons of money as even admitted by President Obama.  Take action by clicking here and entering your zip code to tell your Member of Congress to vote NO on H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill.

Petition against government control of our health care

Americans for Prosperity has launched a site where we can sign a petition against a national takeover of our health care.   If this plan goes through we will be under even more mandated controls and costs forced down from government.

Here are some facts from their site.

You Are a Cost, and Washington Could Decide If Your Life Is Worth Saving Democrats in Congress have an ambitious agenda, and they haven’t figured out how to pay for it yet. One way the government could “control costs” for health care is by deciding that only certain treatments could be available and only certain patients could get treatment. This is how they do it in Great Britain. Their nationalized health care system withholds new cancer drugs from patients if it decides the drugs cost too much.

We already have a government council that is charged with comparing medical treatments. It’s critical that our government doesn’t get into the business of denying treatments based on cost. We can’t have Washington bureaucrats telling us our grandparents are too old or too sick to receive the life-saving care they need.

We can’t have cost-cutting that comes at the expense of American lives.

The stimulus bill that became law earlier in 2009 created the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, funded comparative effectiveness research with more than $1 billion, and already gave the government complete access to our most private health information without our permission, with a database mandated by 2014.

You Could Be Forced to Buy the Insurance the Government Mandates

Most of the so-called reform plans being considered will require every American to buy a health insurance plan approved by the government or pay a penalty fee. Politicians will use the government’s power to impose penalties to force people to buy the plans that suit their interests, not yours.

Small Businesses Will Be Hit Hard

Most of the so-called reform plans would force even small businesses to pay for health insurance for employees—with politicians deciding which plans qualify. Failing to do so will result in penalties and fines—which will kill jobs and put some companies who can’t afford to pay out of business.

More Taxes for Everyone

Washington politicians who want to take over health care have yet to explain how they are going to pay for the trillions of dollars that “free” health care will cost taxpayers. Every option being considered is bad news for hard-working Americans, and would punish those with low incomes:
1. A Value Added Tax (VAT), a form of national sales tax, of 10% - 25%.
2. Taxing existing health care benefits for employees and their families—despite President Obama’s campaign promise not to tax health benefits.
3. New excise taxes on “sugary soft drinks,” alcohol, energy, and other politically incorrect products and services.
4. Taxing the 8 million Americans who currently have Health Savings Accounts – money they have worked hard to save for their health care.

For more information you can view my two prior posts on national health care here and here.