The NJ Blog

July 1966: Democratic Governor & Democratic Legislature impose sales tax at 3%. Next election: Democrats lose 19 seats in the Assembly.

March 1970: Republican Governor & Republican Legislature increase sales tax to 5%. Next election: Republicans lose 20 seats in Assembly.

July 1990: Democratic Governor & Democratic Legislature increase sales tax to 7%. Next election: Democrats lose 22 seats in Assembly and 10 seats in the Senate.

The ivy-covered Georgian Colonial boasts eight bedrooms, five fireplaces and four bathrooms. The neighborhood is home to several local politicians, including former Plainfield Mayor Al McWilliams and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union).

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The palatial home, which includes a solarium, a butler's pantry and in-ground swimming pool, sits on 1.7 acres and was originally built for a founder of the New York Stock Exchange. Its gardens were designed by the firm of noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who created Central Park.

The Daily News reports that a Staten Island man accidentally threw out his wife's 3.5 carat diamond ring, but was able to call the Department of Sanitation, who let him follow the truck to New Jersey (yes, yes, that's the smell).

Thomas Sypniewski Jr. was suspended for three days during his senior year in 2001 for wearing a T-shirt that listed blue-collar comedian Jeff Foxworthy's Top 10 reasons someone might be considered a redneck sports fan (Reason No. 4: Your bowling team has its own fight song).

District officials said the T-shirt violated the high school's anti-harassment policy, enforced in the wake of racial incidents in which students referring to themselves as "Hicks" and "Rednecks" harassed black students.

Sypniewski, now 23, dropped his lawsuit against the district last month, saying he was working as a union carpenter and had moved on with his life. He maintained, however, that he wore the shirt simply because he thought it was funny.

"We're concerned about where they are going to find the revenue. It shouldn't come from the backs of public workers."

Corrupt politicians, those unsavory symbols of New Jersey who have tarnished its national reputation, should not necessarily have to go to jail or lose a pension, the state's top law enforcement officer said Thursday.

"I oppose mandatory sentences," including jail time, said state Attorney General Zulima Farber at a Senate committee hearing. "I would oppose forfeiture."

The forfeiture would mean the loss of a pension by a politician or other public employee who had gone bad.

Farber, whose opposition to mandatory sentences is well-known, said it would be unfair, for example, to deny the pension of a 30-year government veteran who was corrupt in year 31.

If Democrats win back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November, U.S. Rep. Jim Moran said he would use his position in the majority to help funnel more funds to his Northern Virginia district.

Moran, D-8th, told those attending the Arlington County Democratic Committee's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner on June 9 that while he in theory might oppose the fiscal irresponsibility of “earmarks” - funneling money to projects in a member of Congress's district - he understands the value they have to constituents.

“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I'm going to earmark the shit out of it,” Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.

Wayne: I smell bacon. Do you smell bacon?

Garth: I definitely smell a pork product of some sort.

Robert C. Byrd became the longest serving U.S. senator in history Monday. And, with almost 48 years of service, he's not finished yet.

Byrd, D-W.Va., surpassed the record of Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and has spent 17,327 days in the body, where he's the epitome of an old-school senator.

The Cuban government cut off electricity to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana a week ago, and U.S. requests for power to be restored have gone unanswered, the State Department said Monday.

The facility has been operating with generator power.

Work at the mission continues, including interviews of refugees and outreach programs for the Cuban people, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"I would just say that the bullying tactics of the Castro regime aren't going to work," he added.

He said Cuban authorities also reduce the availability of water to the mission from time to time.

McCormack said he suspects that the decision to cut the power was in response to efforts by the mission to provide information to the Cuban people.

"That, of course, is not something that the Castro regime takes kindly to," he said.

The tiny state of Rhode Island still ranks rock bottom in terms of driving knowledge, according to a national test conducted by GMAC Insurance.

Oregon drivers answered the most questions correctly. The test revealed that about one in 11 licensed drivers in the United States would fail a state drivers test, according to GMAC Insurance.

Rhode Island ranked last year, also, with an average score of 77. Last year, Oregon's average score was 89, which still placed at the top of the rankings that year.

It's time for NYC to secede from this self-interested, anti-urban, unthinking country. The US of A-holes. Not only do we already give a lot more money in taxes than we get back, but then they shortchange us the money we need to protect ourselves. Watch what'll happen if there is another terrorist attack on NYC: people in Omaha, Louisville and everywhere else will hold candlelight vigils and say "We're all New Yorkers now," but then when money is apportioned for security, they'll want it all for themselves yet again. If we ask for our reasonable share, their internal John Rocker comes out and they wonder why they should bother to protect a city full of immigrants, queers, and liberals.

The mentality of this government and the people who elected it is perfectly summed up in a blog post I saw a few weeks ago that railed against people in NYC for saying it was "too soon" for United 93. These conservative jerks asserted that it was important to portray the heroism of the passengers on that flight because people "have forgotten about 9/11," and it called New Yorkers liberals and wimps. Meanwhile, we never have forgotten about 9/11. We live with it every damn day, because we were the ones who got attacked and who are in the biggest danger of getting attacked again. They're happy to use New York as a prop for their convention and their maudlin 9/11 tributes, but they don't live with the reality of that day's aftermath or the fear we all feel in the back of our minds every time we're on the subway or near Times Square or walking across one of the bridges.

Fuck this country. I'm proud to be a New Yorker, but not to be an American.

And as for Tightwad (you can always count on some malicious, ill-informed conservatives [that's redundant of course] commenting on Gothamist posts): the money isn't "for politicians." As the NYT article detailed, among other things, it's for police overtime for officers guarding all of the monuments and potential targets we do have. And that is needed. And as for the monument/icon thing, the entire island of Manhattan is an icon! How is that not obvious.