VernonWeb

TC disorders?

2010-08-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

So is the Vernon TC swept away by the GOP strain of political hypochondria? With no Dems immediately on hand , it appears the TC is awash and adrift in a sea of paranoia and recrimination.
If there is to be any Taxpayer-inspired referendum, it should be a referendum to ABOLISH the town government itself.

The county does much of the heavy lifting nowadays, taking over many of what were once day-to-day town operations .

Let the Freeloaders be reconciled to their responsibilities and their accountability to the individual towns. Should be a smooth takeover, right? Just another group of GOP taxhaters!
Let the Freeholders be answerable to the municipal taxpayers for provision of services and protections and , oh yeah, scrambling for INVISIBLE crumbs from the Governor's table. Like him, the GOP Freeloaders HATE TAXES!

So hey, to rewrite Jersey's motto:
"Jersey towns and the loudmouth NoTaxTeabags - PERFECT TOGETHER!"

(pay taxes?! for dreadful workingclass children's schools? how cheap and common! They may even be, dare we say it, poor people!! Town services may only encourage them to stay here instead of moving away!)

So there you are: town governments are TOTALLY to blame for collecting taxes to pay for town services. They have got to go. Let the counties take control of everything!

2010-08-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

In 2005, the real hourly wage for production workers in America was approximately 8 percent lower than it was in 1973, while our national output (productivity) per hour is 55 percent higher. So it's dubious whether most Americans have gained even a penny in purchasing power since 1989.
This country's delusional Republican sockpuppets must be frustrated by their party's failed policy : smashing the unions was supposed to line bourgeois GOP pockets with silver and gold, but no!
The GOP kicked all working and middleclass people from the economic table as if they were stray dogs!

Meanwhile, in Germany, unions are resurging among kids who are highly skilled.
Why are kids in Germany paying dues voluntarily?

American educator John Dewey believed that schools should not just teach practical skills but explain why kids have to be political, to be citizens and yes, to get into labor movements to protect the skills they are acquiring.
Ironically, American middleclass folks have only one political motto anymore: "NoNewTaxes."

So the Europeans will continue to prosper and have good jobs and good living environments and self-respect while Americans fall deeper into social inequality and are subjected to Republican talk radio sockpuppets.

Town Center

2010-08-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

Little Notes on little things for a Vernon town center which might improve everyday life in this beautiful town:

1. We need more little shops.
WalMart and Dollarstores we have aplenty all around us (and everywhere in Generica!), megastores which we totally love btw, but we love little independent shops more.

Need we mention the senseless closing of R.J. Mars? Talk about ripping a town's heart out and kicking it across the county. Such cruelty - and in these perilous, sad economic times, Vernon lost the place where practically EVERYBODY grew up... plus, don't even think about the holidays with no R.J.Mars downtown...

2. we need little art galleries for sure. Vernon has so many artists - and galleries are ESSENTIAL to town center daytrippers who, btw, will seek out little retail food shops nearby.

3. we need reasonably priced litttle apartments. and not age-restricted "housing" (which btw is restrictive of all commerce - and vaguely unconstitutional)

4. If there must be another supermarket, the TC econdevs should try tirelessly to get a little Wegmans, which actually generates commerce and brings serious foodshoppers to town from near & far. Go read about Wegmans and see why we should get one where Mars used to be.
The tax proceeds of a Wegmans Grand Opening alone would pay the town's bills forever.

Book recommendation for long winter nights

2010-01-16T05:46:00.000-08:00

Empire of liberty : a history of the early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood

Such a great book! Awesome indeed! Huge, too - about 700 pages. Perfect size for long winter evenings by the fire.
Makes you realize how very little you knew about those mysterious years immediately (sort of) after George Washington was elected the first U.S. president.
It confirms our view that Washington was this country's best, most honorable president EVER.

Money, lost and found

2010-01-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

Lost money?
Maybe it’ll turn up somewhere on the street when the snow melts.
Just keep looking.

There is always more snow, however, God willing, and always more money to be lost.

New Year's Day 2010

2010-01-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

So there you are. 2009 is over. And here's Jan 1st,2010.
I am bored already, and I believe that the process of boredom is accelerated with each passing year.
Here in Vernon NJ we start the new year by lamenting the end of the last of the great little department/variety stores, RJ MARS.

It is really too bad. Why did it happen? You tell me. I don't think you can blame WalMart for this one.

Best Books

2009-09-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell
Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human, by Richard Wrangham
Cold: Adventures in The World's Frozen Places
by Bill Streever
The Unhealthy Truth:How Our Food Is Making Us Sick by Robyn O'Brien and Rachel Kranz

Read any of these books and feel your little grey cells proliferate. Read all of them and qualify as one of the Best Persons Anywhere.
None of these books are anything like what they seem!

Historic Insults

2009-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner
(about Ernest Hemingway).

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening but this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx