Save the date for our seventh annual Comedy Night, benefiting the Piscataway GOP 2008 campaign. For more details:

“It was and sounded like an arrogant statement from an out-of-touch elitist,” LaPierre said. “Senator Obama opposes people having guns in their homes for self-defense while he and his family enjoy armed professional security around the clock. And no matter how much she tries to tell her story right now, Hillary Clinton was the most anti-gun first lady in the most anti-Second Amendment administration in American history." - NRA Executive VP Wayne LaPierre

By GREGORY J. VOLPE • GANNETT STATE BUREAU • May 9, 2008

TRENTON —The battle over a plan to provide scholarships in eight New Jersey cities so parents can choose their child's school had its first public skirmish on Thursday and was approved by a legislative panel before an overflow crowd that filled three rooms.

Advocates for such a program have been blocked for years until Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, recrafted the bill to focus on its possible economic benefits, which gave it a hearing before his Senate Economic Growth Committee, which approved it 3-1.
The measure, S-1607, would give $6,000 grants to 4,000 poor children to attend another public or private school. Business groups, which back the bill, would fund the scholarships through donations that count as tax credits. The five-year pilot program would be available to children in Camden, Elizabeth, Lakewood, Newark, Orange, Paterson, Trenton and Jersey City, which was added to the proposal Monday.

Proponents say the measure would extend a lifeline to the poor and minorities stuck in failing urban schools who can't afford private education, while saving taxpayers money by keeping children out of public schools, which are more costly.

Critics called it a voucher program that would take much-needed funds from public schools to educate a handful without guarantee of better education. The program would divert $24 million from state coffers in its first year, $120 million in its fifth and $360 million combined over five years, but not necessarily from money slated for education.

"This legislation doesn't take one dollar from public education," Lesniak said.

Critics weren't convinced.

"We are facing deep budget cuts in programs and deep cuts in services, and yet this proposition would take another $360 million out of the state's treasury over the next five years to send a handful of students in (eight) districts to private and religious schools," said Joyce Powell, president of the New Jersey Education Association.

"We don't give tax subsidies to someone who decides to shop at Barnes & Noble and not go to the public library to pick up a book," said Sean W. Hadley of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.

Walter C. Farrell Jr., a professor at the University of North Carolina who has studied similar programs in Florida, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., said they don't improve education.

"The principal effect of these scholarship voucher programs has been to preserve existing private religious schools, primarily Catholic, in the cities and the states where they had been established," Farrell said.

Lesniak said keeping private schools afloat — when many are closing — is not a bad thing.

"If we don't do this, the cost for taxpayers would be three times as much, if not more," he said. "They've been closing and will continue to close, putting a greater burden on taxpayers and also on the need for additional school construction."

Two Republicans joined Lesniak to vote for the measure.

"To not try something different is, in fact, to make a sweeping statement that everything in our urban schools is going well," Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, said. "And as we know, that is not the case."

While the battle often touched upon interjecting competition into public education, supporters said it's not about hurting public education but seeks to give educational opportunity to the disadvantaged.

"This legislation is not anti-public school," said the Rev. Reginald Jackson of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey. "It is pro-quality education."

The lone vote against the bill was cast by Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, a Catholic school graduate, who cited the state's financial problems and said the program targets too few pupils.

"I believe in scholarships, but businesses should be doing this on their own accord," Ruiz said. "We shouldn't do this at the expense of tax credits at a time when the state of New Jersey is counting on every dollar."

The measure heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for consideration.

"Tax increases for the rich don't do anything for the people in the middle and lower classes. In fact, it hurts them, but they're supposed to feel good about it because somebody else is getting soaked, and 'I want them to hurt like I hurt!'" - Rush Limbaugh

Taxes under Clinton 1999
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750

Taxes under Bush 2008
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250

It is amazing how many people that fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever. If Obama or Hillary are elected, they both say they will repeal the Bush tax cuts.

You can go to the Tax Foundation web site and check tax rates back to about 1913.

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened?


Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

The next time you hear a politician use a billion dollars in a casual manner, think about those nine zeros.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no human walked on the earth.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our goverment is spending our tax dollars.

"I'm older than dirt, I've got more scars than Frankenstein, but I've learned a few things along the way." - John McCain

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” - William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925 - 2008)