If you LOVE HOBOKEN, if you enjoy living here, if you want to MAKE HOBOKEN BETTER, if you have time for only one ACT OF GOOD this spring, PLEASE VOTE FOR REFORM and PURGE HOBOKEN of CORRUPTION on May 10th!
Hoboken's Reform movement is VERY CLOSE to purging corrupted City Council members who have ONCE AGAIN been exposed in FBI video tapes agreeing to the same kind of bribes and illegal quid pro quo arrangements that got former Mayors Russo and Cammaranno arrested, convicted, and imprisoned. Hoboken is so corrupt that those Mayors have still not paid us back for their crimes!
Yet Russo, his cousin Castellano, and their allies Mason, Giacchi, and Occhipinti still control City Council with an IRON FIST. They OPPOSE the growing REFORM MOVEMENT at every step.
How does this IMPACT YOU? Higher taxes, selective enforcement, crumbling infrastructure, corrupt politicians, two sets of rules (one for them, another for you), and other neglected city business while they all GET PAID and you get IGNORED.
YOUR simple act can CHANGE OUR CITY FOR GOOD!
Vote For Your Ward's Reform City Council Candidate on May 10th:
First Ward: Eric Kurta (1B)
Second Ward: Tom Greany (1B)
Third Ward: Greg Lincoln (1B)
Fourth Ward: Rami Pinchevsky (1A)
Fifth Ward: Peter Cunningham (1C)
Sixth Ward: Jen Giattino (1B)
For links to all reform candidates' web pages, please visit: http://tiny.cc/zsgci
Get the latest news about Hoboken's reform movement at: www.hobokenhorse.com
Discover the dark secrets of Hoboken corruption at: www.commonsensehoboken.blogspot.com
April 12, 2011
On Those Who Feign Our Friends Yet Are Not (Pamphlet #9)
WE THE REFORMERS must not believe the lies that come with the present campaign literature and debate puffery of the Aristocratic Members of Council who have done nothing for far too long but work to preserve their power, yet now claim themselves friends of OUR dear child, reform. Those Members of Council who pretend to be friends of ours may more appropriately be included within the following reprehensible descriptions. Those who have NEVER BEEN SUPPORTERS OF REFORM because they and their friends have profited and grown fat on the riches of Entitlement, those who have BETRAYED us by aligning themselves with other Aristocratic Members of Council who represent without shame the gluttonous Entitlement Class for selfish and egotistical purposes that are absent of concern for we residents, and those who KNOW NOTHING of the needs of the people of Hoboken and merely agreed to be bought by others, with money, cheap (or no) rent, influence and selfish plans, in their first attempt at a Council seat regardless of the position into which one is locked when aligning oneself in convenience with the forces of Family Rule.
First, you may read that the current City Council President Beth Mason offers credit and support to the blossoming movement of reform that grows this spring within City Hall, but these claims are not only FALSE, they are PERVERTED. City Council President Beth Mason was once the person who lead the attack against those in government who withheld information against the laws of the state, but more recently SHE HERSELF has been the one charged with knowingly and deliberately attempting to conceal her actions as she tosses and turns herself further and further into bed with the most despicable FAMILY RULE in Hoboken.
City Council President Beth Mason DESERTED and BETRAYED the brave rebels of REFORM when knowingly choosing to be aligned with the RUSSO FAMILY that RULES Hoboken's affordable housing waiting lists and still plots to once again take back more city control whenever we may exhale and turn a weak side. City Council President Beth Mason, once a strong advocate for reform, now endorses and is allied with a man who brags on FBI VIDEO to developers about "controlling" the Hoboken Housing Authority and providing free rent to his "friends". This week past, Council President Mason, once an outspoken steamroller against any and all appearances of improper political conduct but now just steam, effectively condoned the brazen corruption displayed by Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo on FBI VIDEO with a hollow resolution of reprimand not just to protect Ex-Council Vice-President Russo from the full political repercussions of his deplorable actions, but to protect HER FRAGILE AND DWINDLING POLITICAL POWER. She aims with this deflection to keep Mr. Russo as an ally so as to maintain her power, yet NO POWER, regardless of unearned riches or baseless braggadocio of business acumen, can control the selfish, wicked RUSSO FAMILY were they to once again commandeer, either directly or by proxy, the powers of City Council, especially not the irresponsible, reckless, and infantile management capabilities of Council President Beth Mason. If she can't manage a single City Council meeting, how can she manage Mr. Russo?
Secondly, Ex-Council Vice-President Russo has forcefully shoved all the way to and with power for years, ignoring the needs of residents except when they match with selfish goals of self-preservation, as he proudly bragged about in his full hour of disgusting FBI VIDEO released last week when he boasted in a sales pitch for outside developer campaign contributions, "You do for me, I do for you." Ex-Council Vice-President Russo has even been accused of shoving a fifty-nine year old man down to the ground while his father, Mayor of Hoboken at the time, trampled the man's camera for attempting to document the fact that the Mayor had illegally entered a polling place during active voting. This is the THUG who pretends to be gentle by pawning his wife and newborn child on a recently launched political website masquerading as a friendly family blog, yet shares meals with developers to sell out the city in an effort to swell his coffers with campaign contributions.
Ex-Council Vice-President Russo also now pretends to suddenly be devoted to bringing a park to the Third Ward, when for the entirety of his selfish, greed-inspired reign he has done nothing to further parks in the Third, instead pushing all sorts of OTHER developments at the expense of a new park. The only park, a tiny little corner water park, is all he has to show for his efforts all this time, yet brag of it he does now that "parks" is his deceptive platform. Surely after his actions depicted in the DAMNING FBI videos cause him to lose his position as Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee he can no longer call himself a budget hawk, but feigning parks advocacy when for so long he has nary mentioned the issue is just more disgusting, cold-heartedness from those who pretend to be friends of reform.
Witness today the brutish and blunt destruction inflicted upon the delicate movement of REFORM at each and every City Council meeting when Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo obliterates law and rule for no end but selfish, personal political gain. His objective is to sully the good work of the reform movement to bring these efforts down to his level. And this when power is still one step removed and limited to a brief period in time. Imagine, if you wish to frighten yourself into a sensible belief, the results of a full reign of this kind of terror! Or imagine not, and simply recall the HELL we endured when his FATHER would attend City Council meetings, leaning upon the railing when residents stood up to speak, and berating them for daring to question his judgment as Mayor. As he has proven in the recent FBI VIDEO, Michael Russo is a rotten apple lying very close by the tree of his corrupted and convicted father and vile, angry mother. He dares to call his actions just two years ago those of a "young man", yet he continued just this month to deny his wrongdoings and accuse those who challenged him on his actions "liars" until the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors released the DAMNING FBI VIDEO recordings that shocked and embarrassed us all with how villainous Mr. Russo can really be when behind closed doors and away from his City Council showboating. If he had any decency, he would at least leave his wife and child out of his shameless "politrickin", but instead he moves them front and center in a calculated measure to further feed the fire of his reckless political ambition.
Thirdly, Councilwoman Theresa Castellano feigns to be a friend of "the people" and support "constituent services", having claimed to pioneer so many good things such as "Zero Tolerance" legislation. Now, at a dire moment of desperation, she offers suspicious support to the reform movement by seeking common ground upon which to apparently stand beside us. DO NOT BE FOOLED by this fork-tongued snake in the grass! Her original placement on City Council was a means for her cousin and former Mayor Anthony Russo to control the First Ward, and now she votes in lockstep with her nephew Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo.
The lies of Councilwoman Castellano are frequent and her legislation is nothing more than a series of awards offered in advance of upcoming elections to trick the innocent voters into thinking that this poor excuse for a representative who does absolutely nothing of value between election seasons, is sincere and thoughtful of the residents of Hoboken. Simply read the recent flier sent by post where Councilwoman Theresa Castellano LIES ABOUT SUPPORTING a program she has repeatedly voted AGAINST! Or consider the lies she is telling constituents that others have been involved in the FBI VIDEOS when in fact, only her nephew has been exposed both in a recent publication and on video as agreeing to take $5,000 bribes. The objective here is to negate the astonishing actions of her nephew. The thoughts here are those of securing votes and nothing else, good governance be damned, and with no concern for truth or consistency.
Councilwoman Theresa Castellano is a blatant and documented liar in her own campaign literature, and she is further documented as lying to the community through her vote by supporting parks now that they are popular, but railing against more parks just a few years ago when she had the power to do so and was not attempting to fool the growing ranks of reformers into thinking she was anything but an enemy. This is no friend of reform, this is a fiend of self-preservation infatuated by the tender, dripping cutlets of entitlement. She could rid her shop of classless t-shirts and turn into butcher if not the metaphor were so vivid. Better yet, let us vote for her opponent and shut the doors of this arrogant FAMILY business.
Fourthly, Councilman Nino Giacchi dares to take the title of a "voice of reason", when every vote cast by him has also been in lockstep with the Aristocratic Entitlement Class Members of Council who obstruct, ignore, and neglect the laws and rules they claim to defend. Alas! The "voice of reason" is nothing more than the impotent voice of hypocrisy in its best effort to guise offal as focus. No, this is no friend of reform, this is the residue film of stagnant political carrion attempting to convince the unsuspecting that one who votes each and every time with the Entitlement Class patrons who now control the City Council will somehow show independence at some future time. Believe it, not. That is all need be said of this impostor.
Fifthly, current Fourth Ward Councilman Tim Occhipinti claims independence and a will to represent the common interests of that ward, yet a large number of unethical and tasteless actions immediately disqualify him from any relation or friendship with our efforts for reform. Councilman Occhipinti is currently being investigated by the New Jersey Attorney General's office for allegedly "purchasing" his council seat by paying hundreds more workers during the election than any other candidate, and moreover, having hundreds more absentee votes than any other election conducted in the State of New Jersey on that day. Furthermore, Councilman Occhipinti received large contributions from several sources related to major development interests in Hoboken, immediately moved after winning his election seat into a property owned by a major development interest in Hoboken, and was immediately, and with questionably little experience or knowledge of this issue, appointed to lead the city's redevelopment efforts by Council President Beth Mason, who coincidentally brags about the over $13,000 she unethically funneled into Councilman Occhipinti's campaign. More BETRAYAL of the reform movement. How so can these any be friend of ours, now or in future?
No, there are fewer friends on City Council now than there are foes of reform. Do not believe the papers, statements and literature that use deceptive words to suggest there is a relationship with reform. The only relationship is that of opposition, hate, and lust for power over the people who deserve to overthrow the Entitlement Class and pursue a new era of good governance and ethical conduct. WE THE REFORMERS must be above these lies and tricks.
First, you may read that the current City Council President Beth Mason offers credit and support to the blossoming movement of reform that grows this spring within City Hall, but these claims are not only FALSE, they are PERVERTED. City Council President Beth Mason was once the person who lead the attack against those in government who withheld information against the laws of the state, but more recently SHE HERSELF has been the one charged with knowingly and deliberately attempting to conceal her actions as she tosses and turns herself further and further into bed with the most despicable FAMILY RULE in Hoboken.
City Council President Beth Mason DESERTED and BETRAYED the brave rebels of REFORM when knowingly choosing to be aligned with the RUSSO FAMILY that RULES Hoboken's affordable housing waiting lists and still plots to once again take back more city control whenever we may exhale and turn a weak side. City Council President Beth Mason, once a strong advocate for reform, now endorses and is allied with a man who brags on FBI VIDEO to developers about "controlling" the Hoboken Housing Authority and providing free rent to his "friends". This week past, Council President Mason, once an outspoken steamroller against any and all appearances of improper political conduct but now just steam, effectively condoned the brazen corruption displayed by Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo on FBI VIDEO with a hollow resolution of reprimand not just to protect Ex-Council Vice-President Russo from the full political repercussions of his deplorable actions, but to protect HER FRAGILE AND DWINDLING POLITICAL POWER. She aims with this deflection to keep Mr. Russo as an ally so as to maintain her power, yet NO POWER, regardless of unearned riches or baseless braggadocio of business acumen, can control the selfish, wicked RUSSO FAMILY were they to once again commandeer, either directly or by proxy, the powers of City Council, especially not the irresponsible, reckless, and infantile management capabilities of Council President Beth Mason. If she can't manage a single City Council meeting, how can she manage Mr. Russo?
Secondly, Ex-Council Vice-President Russo has forcefully shoved all the way to and with power for years, ignoring the needs of residents except when they match with selfish goals of self-preservation, as he proudly bragged about in his full hour of disgusting FBI VIDEO released last week when he boasted in a sales pitch for outside developer campaign contributions, "You do for me, I do for you." Ex-Council Vice-President Russo has even been accused of shoving a fifty-nine year old man down to the ground while his father, Mayor of Hoboken at the time, trampled the man's camera for attempting to document the fact that the Mayor had illegally entered a polling place during active voting. This is the THUG who pretends to be gentle by pawning his wife and newborn child on a recently launched political website masquerading as a friendly family blog, yet shares meals with developers to sell out the city in an effort to swell his coffers with campaign contributions.
Ex-Council Vice-President Russo also now pretends to suddenly be devoted to bringing a park to the Third Ward, when for the entirety of his selfish, greed-inspired reign he has done nothing to further parks in the Third, instead pushing all sorts of OTHER developments at the expense of a new park. The only park, a tiny little corner water park, is all he has to show for his efforts all this time, yet brag of it he does now that "parks" is his deceptive platform. Surely after his actions depicted in the DAMNING FBI videos cause him to lose his position as Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee he can no longer call himself a budget hawk, but feigning parks advocacy when for so long he has nary mentioned the issue is just more disgusting, cold-heartedness from those who pretend to be friends of reform.
Witness today the brutish and blunt destruction inflicted upon the delicate movement of REFORM at each and every City Council meeting when Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo obliterates law and rule for no end but selfish, personal political gain. His objective is to sully the good work of the reform movement to bring these efforts down to his level. And this when power is still one step removed and limited to a brief period in time. Imagine, if you wish to frighten yourself into a sensible belief, the results of a full reign of this kind of terror! Or imagine not, and simply recall the HELL we endured when his FATHER would attend City Council meetings, leaning upon the railing when residents stood up to speak, and berating them for daring to question his judgment as Mayor. As he has proven in the recent FBI VIDEO, Michael Russo is a rotten apple lying very close by the tree of his corrupted and convicted father and vile, angry mother. He dares to call his actions just two years ago those of a "young man", yet he continued just this month to deny his wrongdoings and accuse those who challenged him on his actions "liars" until the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors released the DAMNING FBI VIDEO recordings that shocked and embarrassed us all with how villainous Mr. Russo can really be when behind closed doors and away from his City Council showboating. If he had any decency, he would at least leave his wife and child out of his shameless "politrickin", but instead he moves them front and center in a calculated measure to further feed the fire of his reckless political ambition.
Thirdly, Councilwoman Theresa Castellano feigns to be a friend of "the people" and support "constituent services", having claimed to pioneer so many good things such as "Zero Tolerance" legislation. Now, at a dire moment of desperation, she offers suspicious support to the reform movement by seeking common ground upon which to apparently stand beside us. DO NOT BE FOOLED by this fork-tongued snake in the grass! Her original placement on City Council was a means for her cousin and former Mayor Anthony Russo to control the First Ward, and now she votes in lockstep with her nephew Ex-Council Vice-President Michael Russo.
The lies of Councilwoman Castellano are frequent and her legislation is nothing more than a series of awards offered in advance of upcoming elections to trick the innocent voters into thinking that this poor excuse for a representative who does absolutely nothing of value between election seasons, is sincere and thoughtful of the residents of Hoboken. Simply read the recent flier sent by post where Councilwoman Theresa Castellano LIES ABOUT SUPPORTING a program she has repeatedly voted AGAINST! Or consider the lies she is telling constituents that others have been involved in the FBI VIDEOS when in fact, only her nephew has been exposed both in a recent publication and on video as agreeing to take $5,000 bribes. The objective here is to negate the astonishing actions of her nephew. The thoughts here are those of securing votes and nothing else, good governance be damned, and with no concern for truth or consistency.
Councilwoman Theresa Castellano is a blatant and documented liar in her own campaign literature, and she is further documented as lying to the community through her vote by supporting parks now that they are popular, but railing against more parks just a few years ago when she had the power to do so and was not attempting to fool the growing ranks of reformers into thinking she was anything but an enemy. This is no friend of reform, this is a fiend of self-preservation infatuated by the tender, dripping cutlets of entitlement. She could rid her shop of classless t-shirts and turn into butcher if not the metaphor were so vivid. Better yet, let us vote for her opponent and shut the doors of this arrogant FAMILY business.
Fourthly, Councilman Nino Giacchi dares to take the title of a "voice of reason", when every vote cast by him has also been in lockstep with the Aristocratic Entitlement Class Members of Council who obstruct, ignore, and neglect the laws and rules they claim to defend. Alas! The "voice of reason" is nothing more than the impotent voice of hypocrisy in its best effort to guise offal as focus. No, this is no friend of reform, this is the residue film of stagnant political carrion attempting to convince the unsuspecting that one who votes each and every time with the Entitlement Class patrons who now control the City Council will somehow show independence at some future time. Believe it, not. That is all need be said of this impostor.
Fifthly, current Fourth Ward Councilman Tim Occhipinti claims independence and a will to represent the common interests of that ward, yet a large number of unethical and tasteless actions immediately disqualify him from any relation or friendship with our efforts for reform. Councilman Occhipinti is currently being investigated by the New Jersey Attorney General's office for allegedly "purchasing" his council seat by paying hundreds more workers during the election than any other candidate, and moreover, having hundreds more absentee votes than any other election conducted in the State of New Jersey on that day. Furthermore, Councilman Occhipinti received large contributions from several sources related to major development interests in Hoboken, immediately moved after winning his election seat into a property owned by a major development interest in Hoboken, and was immediately, and with questionably little experience or knowledge of this issue, appointed to lead the city's redevelopment efforts by Council President Beth Mason, who coincidentally brags about the over $13,000 she unethically funneled into Councilman Occhipinti's campaign. More BETRAYAL of the reform movement. How so can these any be friend of ours, now or in future?
No, there are fewer friends on City Council now than there are foes of reform. Do not believe the papers, statements and literature that use deceptive words to suggest there is a relationship with reform. The only relationship is that of opposition, hate, and lust for power over the people who deserve to overthrow the Entitlement Class and pursue a new era of good governance and ethical conduct. WE THE REFORMERS must be above these lies and tricks.
April 2, 2011
Sleight Of Hand (Pamphlet #8)
Good neighbor, keep your eye on the hands of those who are corrupted. Do not be misled by their attempts to focus your attention on other issues. Council President Mason and Council Vice-President Russo are attempting to take our eyes from their exposure to corruption and poor ethics.
In just the last two weeks, Councilman Russo has been exposed for ignoring the fact that his father was receiving taxpayer funded health care for 8 years beyond the time when it was determined that he does not qualify, after being tried, convicted and jailed for taking bribes and embarrassing us all. In this same time it was learned that Councilman Russo met with the same FBI informant that gave bribes to ex-mayor and currently jailed Peter Cammaranno, and agreed to take at least $5,000. This is not speculation, dear neighbor, this is based on FBI recordings of a secret meeting in Jersey City where Councilman Russo was caught red handed on tape.
In the same week, Council President Mason came under fire when she and her blog site were connected to an illegal release of a police report, much to the anger and fury of Council Vice-President Russo, who has been up until now her close ally for all things anti-reform. That alliance is CRUMBLING as the Queen of Aristocracy proves she has no allegiance and no laws other than whatever it takes for her to win. She has sacrificed loyalty for royalty!
In the same week, apparently acting out against the power and family control of Council Vice-President Russo, Council President Mason mailed out a postcard in our 2nd Ward that highlights the illegal benefits received by Council Vice-President Russo's father. The anti-reform movement is in tatters. They are at their knees and attacking each other furiously. The end is nigh, but do not yet stray from our goal!
How then to take away the attention of this penultimate struggle? Council President Mason and Council Vice-President unleash their last hope, a demand for all records to conduct a desperate scouring of each and every electronic mail message ever sent by the mayor's confidential aid and information officer. Yes, they are now set to force a release of this information so that, in the final days before their last chance ever at public office comes upon them, they can hopefully extract some sound clip, some out-of-context sentence fragment, or anything, absolutely anything, that can be spun into a grand accusation of misconduct.
This, good Hobokenite, is called sleight of hand, and this is what Council President Mason and Council Vice-President are, in their downward spiral of political meaninglessness, attempting to do. Take time, take energy, take money, take ATTENTION from the important issues that plague our city for this selfish, personal, politically motivated final attempt at revenge. STAND UP and demand that the Members of Council vote this resolution down. SPEAK UP and tell the City Council to wear the thick skin they claim to have. WALK UP to the microphone this Wednesday evening and share your mind with these despicable, desperate, disgruntled children. Tell them you speak on behalf of honor, justice, and democracy! Tell them you're good buddies with T.Paine! YOUR VOICE is needed Wednesday, and YOUR VOTE is needed on May 10th.
In just the last two weeks, Councilman Russo has been exposed for ignoring the fact that his father was receiving taxpayer funded health care for 8 years beyond the time when it was determined that he does not qualify, after being tried, convicted and jailed for taking bribes and embarrassing us all. In this same time it was learned that Councilman Russo met with the same FBI informant that gave bribes to ex-mayor and currently jailed Peter Cammaranno, and agreed to take at least $5,000. This is not speculation, dear neighbor, this is based on FBI recordings of a secret meeting in Jersey City where Councilman Russo was caught red handed on tape.
In the same week, Council President Mason came under fire when she and her blog site were connected to an illegal release of a police report, much to the anger and fury of Council Vice-President Russo, who has been up until now her close ally for all things anti-reform. That alliance is CRUMBLING as the Queen of Aristocracy proves she has no allegiance and no laws other than whatever it takes for her to win. She has sacrificed loyalty for royalty!
In the same week, apparently acting out against the power and family control of Council Vice-President Russo, Council President Mason mailed out a postcard in our 2nd Ward that highlights the illegal benefits received by Council Vice-President Russo's father. The anti-reform movement is in tatters. They are at their knees and attacking each other furiously. The end is nigh, but do not yet stray from our goal!
How then to take away the attention of this penultimate struggle? Council President Mason and Council Vice-President unleash their last hope, a demand for all records to conduct a desperate scouring of each and every electronic mail message ever sent by the mayor's confidential aid and information officer. Yes, they are now set to force a release of this information so that, in the final days before their last chance ever at public office comes upon them, they can hopefully extract some sound clip, some out-of-context sentence fragment, or anything, absolutely anything, that can be spun into a grand accusation of misconduct.
This, good Hobokenite, is called sleight of hand, and this is what Council President Mason and Council Vice-President are, in their downward spiral of political meaninglessness, attempting to do. Take time, take energy, take money, take ATTENTION from the important issues that plague our city for this selfish, personal, politically motivated final attempt at revenge. STAND UP and demand that the Members of Council vote this resolution down. SPEAK UP and tell the City Council to wear the thick skin they claim to have. WALK UP to the microphone this Wednesday evening and share your mind with these despicable, desperate, disgruntled children. Tell them you speak on behalf of honor, justice, and democracy! Tell them you're good buddies with T.Paine! YOUR VOICE is needed Wednesday, and YOUR VOTE is needed on May 10th.
March 27, 2011
Hypocrisy, Inaction (Pamphlet #7)
If it were an earthy possibility that hypocrisy could take the shape of a pig, our council chambers would surely be the sullen quarters of a most stinking and squalid sty. For too long the entrenched Members of Council who legislate solely to preserve their inept positions in bold defiance to our outcry for reform and good governance have lazed in the filthy mud of impotent squalor. For too long the Entitlement Class leaders who peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie have done nothing for the public at large while striving to establish their importance to we who pay taxes. In INACTION, their calls for support are the height of HYPOCRISY.
First, they DARE to call themselves REFORM! NO! These stagnant tramplers of justice have done nothing for years - some for decades - and claim to be aligned with our dear child reform. They claim they have never been the majority! They claim they have always represented the weak and defenseless. LIES, do not trust these scoundrels! This, dear Hobokenite, is the most vile of HYPOCRISY, when those who have CONTROLLED EVERYTHING in this city for far too long feign to be the heroes of OUR reform. This, dear neighbor, is the putrid regurgitation of popular rhetoric while absolutely nothing that has not benefited the FAMILY RULE has been ignored by INACTION!
Secondly, majority Members of Council have, on countless occasions, insisted that they seek to improve the quality of life of ALL RESIDENTS, yet they confide only with those whom they qualify as members of "Old Hoboken" to save and preserve the legacy of FAMILY RULE over democracy. These Members of Council assemble campaign literature that presents themselves as having concern and support for OUR reform issues, yet there is no record to show this has ever been true. Consider the recent approval of bonds for parks. Councilwoman Castellano is on record - on taped video even - claiming that "Hoboken has enough parks", and dismisses OUR reformer efforts to improve the quality of life for all Hobokenites. Council Vice-President Russo, too, is quoted in the press several times over his many, many inactive years sitting on the Council favoring various forms of development over new parks. Yet now, when there is a desperate need to trick residents into voting for their form of political hyprocisy through inaction, a new contradictory vote is made to support the parks bond. What can be the rationale? Be it parks that are suddenly more of a necessity to these Members of Council, or perhaps be it votes?
Thirdly, majority Members of Council release statements to the press criticizing the implementation of policy for ensuring accuracy of information released to the public, characterizing this as "suppression", yet at every single meeting, the Council President attempts to stifle the voices of dissenting Members of Council and - what is even more appalling - members of the public. How can anyone other than a hypocrite insist on both things at once? And has not any Member of Council criticizing this policy ever READ the actual policy? Here it is for the liars who dare to fool us:
Fourthly, majority Members of Council demand that the city is not following good governance laws by citing a letter from the New Jersey Comptroller criticizing activities FROM A FORMER MAYOR, yet they regularly change or entirely ignore the rules of City Council to forcefully install a new council president, force through votes that have not been vetted appropriately, and disregard laws or requirements that are not in the interest of their political ambitions.
Fifthly, in a recent debate on the issue of rent control, majority Members of Council rally behind the argument that "Perfect be not the enemy of good". Their argument being that the rent control amendments were not perfect, but they were a good start and should be voted on as a way to move forward. Good politics, that be, weeks before an election. Yet, in exactly the same meeting on a debate about anti-wheeling laws, the Council Vice-President Michael Russo argues that the amendments to this ordinance presented are not perfect, require a comprehensive and thorough effort, and must not return to Council for a vote until complete. Suddenly now, "Good be not the enemy of Perfect." But good politics again, that be, weeks before an election. Is this not the epitome of HYPOCRISY through inaction?
Sixthly, majority Members of Council announced months ago a so-called open space initiative, yet no legislation was ever presented, ONLY PROMISES. These same Members of Council voted down the mayor's bond request for park land acquisition after they failed to take action for many weeks after their announcement. They even go so far in their hypocrisy as to criticize the large amount of the mayor's bond request, yet in the next breath demand that they may in fact need a much larger bond, perhaps ten times as large! Insult to injury, at the very next City Council meeting, all of these opposition Members of Council, without explanation of a believable rationale, vote in favor of this bond request. More good politics and permanence for them. More hypocrisy is what we get.
And yet more unpleasant hypocrisy there is.
First, they DARE to call themselves REFORM! NO! These stagnant tramplers of justice have done nothing for years - some for decades - and claim to be aligned with our dear child reform. They claim they have never been the majority! They claim they have always represented the weak and defenseless. LIES, do not trust these scoundrels! This, dear Hobokenite, is the most vile of HYPOCRISY, when those who have CONTROLLED EVERYTHING in this city for far too long feign to be the heroes of OUR reform. This, dear neighbor, is the putrid regurgitation of popular rhetoric while absolutely nothing that has not benefited the FAMILY RULE has been ignored by INACTION!
Secondly, majority Members of Council have, on countless occasions, insisted that they seek to improve the quality of life of ALL RESIDENTS, yet they confide only with those whom they qualify as members of "Old Hoboken" to save and preserve the legacy of FAMILY RULE over democracy. These Members of Council assemble campaign literature that presents themselves as having concern and support for OUR reform issues, yet there is no record to show this has ever been true. Consider the recent approval of bonds for parks. Councilwoman Castellano is on record - on taped video even - claiming that "Hoboken has enough parks", and dismisses OUR reformer efforts to improve the quality of life for all Hobokenites. Council Vice-President Russo, too, is quoted in the press several times over his many, many inactive years sitting on the Council favoring various forms of development over new parks. Yet now, when there is a desperate need to trick residents into voting for their form of political hyprocisy through inaction, a new contradictory vote is made to support the parks bond. What can be the rationale? Be it parks that are suddenly more of a necessity to these Members of Council, or perhaps be it votes?
Thirdly, majority Members of Council release statements to the press criticizing the implementation of policy for ensuring accuracy of information released to the public, characterizing this as "suppression", yet at every single meeting, the Council President attempts to stifle the voices of dissenting Members of Council and - what is even more appalling - members of the public. How can anyone other than a hypocrite insist on both things at once? And has not any Member of Council criticizing this policy ever READ the actual policy? Here it is for the liars who dare to fool us:
"Employees, like all citizens, have a First Amendment right of free speech. On occasion, an employee's personal interest in an issue may be different from the City's position. When this occurs, employees are required to clearly state that their position is personal. Notification following a conversation or interview with the news media must be made the same day of contact. Notification of media contact must be made to the City's Business Administrator and the employee's immediate supervisor. Notification must be in person, by telephone, or by e-mail."
Fourthly, majority Members of Council demand that the city is not following good governance laws by citing a letter from the New Jersey Comptroller criticizing activities FROM A FORMER MAYOR, yet they regularly change or entirely ignore the rules of City Council to forcefully install a new council president, force through votes that have not been vetted appropriately, and disregard laws or requirements that are not in the interest of their political ambitions.
Fifthly, in a recent debate on the issue of rent control, majority Members of Council rally behind the argument that "Perfect be not the enemy of good". Their argument being that the rent control amendments were not perfect, but they were a good start and should be voted on as a way to move forward. Good politics, that be, weeks before an election. Yet, in exactly the same meeting on a debate about anti-wheeling laws, the Council Vice-President Michael Russo argues that the amendments to this ordinance presented are not perfect, require a comprehensive and thorough effort, and must not return to Council for a vote until complete. Suddenly now, "Good be not the enemy of Perfect." But good politics again, that be, weeks before an election. Is this not the epitome of HYPOCRISY through inaction?
Sixthly, majority Members of Council announced months ago a so-called open space initiative, yet no legislation was ever presented, ONLY PROMISES. These same Members of Council voted down the mayor's bond request for park land acquisition after they failed to take action for many weeks after their announcement. They even go so far in their hypocrisy as to criticize the large amount of the mayor's bond request, yet in the next breath demand that they may in fact need a much larger bond, perhaps ten times as large! Insult to injury, at the very next City Council meeting, all of these opposition Members of Council, without explanation of a believable rationale, vote in favor of this bond request. More good politics and permanence for them. More hypocrisy is what we get.
And yet more unpleasant hypocrisy there is.
- Council President Mason accuses the administration of being "sloppy" because an agenda is not organized to her liking, but then allows Council Vice-President Russo to introduce at the very last moment a revised emergency budget hand-written with pencil on a sheet of notebook paper:
- http://hobokenhorse.blogspot.com/2011/01/beth-mason-and-mike-russo-take-hoboken.html
- http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/11015934/article-Fiscal-incompetence-returns-to-Hoboken?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bj7Va2Cw14
- Council Vice-President Russo criticizes the administration and refuses to approve the costs for a director to attend a conference, yet votes "yes" for the costs for other city employees to attend a different conference:
- Council President Mason demands reimbursement for pay and health care benefits retroactively after campaigning that she refused these, and then criticizes another Member of Council for accepting health care benefits:
- Council President Mason insists on a lower budget and reduced spending yet when she finds, likely through polling, that the community wants parks she agrees to a bond, and increased spending, for $20 million.
- http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_stories_home/12142550/article---Hoboken-council-votes-to-introduce--101-7M-budget-and--20M-parks-bond--passes-controversial-rent-control-amendments----
- http://www.hobokenrevolt.com/profiles/blogs/budget-wars-and-beth-mason
- Council Vice-President Russo demands in 2008 that an investigation be done due to his findings of ex-employees inappropriately taking health benefits, yet it is recently revealed that at that time and for several more years before and after, he speaks nothing to the point that his own father - convicted felon for taking bribes and shaming our great city - was one of those people illegally receiving these health benefits! He has yet to provide documentation that prove his murky claims of ignorance.
- http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/zimmer-ends-benefit-payments-to-former-mayor-russo
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps4CmBwRuGE
- Council President Mason and Vice-President Russo demand that the administration reduce the budget by 15% but have fought against lay-offs that resulted in major budget reductions (and offer no real alternatives)
March 19, 2011
City Council At War With Truth, Law And Democracy (Pamphlet #6)
The current Members of Council who represent the so-called "new majority" have nothing to say but lies and distortions, watch them if you will. Can not any common person witness these meetings and understand that the posture is pretended, the debate is diatribe, the spirit is sunken? How be it so that for too long those who pretend to represent us have expended their energies on nothing substantial but to tear apart the honor and the respect of our city government? How be it so that the rules which dictate right and wrong, proper and improper, fair and unfair, are so regularly ignored and frequently twisted to clear the way for an agenda that defies ethic? How be it so that those who impose their neglect and selfishness upon us maintain the audacity to spout lies in public, without proof, and carry on without qualm?
We, fellow Hobokenite, are witnesses to the most egregious and insufferable abuse of authority possible in a legislative body. All their oars are set to overtake the springtime movement of reform so that the Entitlement Class may maintain their power and their seats from which control over the riches of our city are abused. We hear demands for information without a care to read it. We see posturing for justice without a care to succeed in it. We have before us no less than a wicked and deplorable WAR with truth, law, and democracy, all for the PERMANENCE and self-gain of the ARISTOCRATS who currently control City Council.
At war with truth, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing lies and treachery when in fact their lies and treachery are at every congress revealed. Consider how freely these lethargic usurpers declare untruths and, once the fact is stated, quickly move on to a new distraction. Consider how swiftly these corrupted marauders insist their friendship with OUR reform and include the successes of OUR patriots as their contributions.
At war with law, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing inappropriate and illegal actions when in fact their blatant disregard for the laws and rules of their positions are at every congress revealed. Consider the repeated interruptions by their appointed legal representation about procedure and proper conduct to the extent that the majority Members of Council were recently lectured by their legal counsel that since the new majority has grabbed power of the City Council, they have "...ignored the by-laws more than they have followed them!"
At war with democracy, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing deviations from our governmental structure when in fact their aristocratic totalitarianism is at every congress on display. Consider the various, morphing attempts to silence minority Members of Council, and increasingly, even THE PUBLIC at all times unless when the voices are in advance programmed. Consider the attempts to circumvent and avoid the laws of our city when they do not suit.
I ask you, dear neighbor, what has been accomplished by this new majority other than the swelling of bruises from lies beaten upon us? What successes have been enjoyed by this new majority - and by this is not meant the successes by OUR REFORM for which they grab credit - other than the slaying of rules and the sweeping of order from the dais? Where are the lockstep results of a lockstep unity other than the lockstep march towards moral obliteration?
Partial laws and minor gains will be lauded by them as feats of heroes. Will not they proclaim that rent control has been resolved? Who will hold Council President's feet to the fire on the fact that for nearly two years under her responsibility a change was not forthcoming, when during this time hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost in litigation? Will they not announce that police contracts are finalized and millions have been saved the Hoboken residents? Who will hold Council Vice-President to task for antagonizing the labor negotiations last fall forcing arbitration and face-saving? Will they not declare that redevelopment is proceeding for open space and parks, when majority Members of Council attempted just this month to stop all redevelopment progress on a minor procedural technicality? Who will reprimand the newest Councilman to cut his prepared political banter and take the time to learn the very basics of redevelopment law before assuming the chair of that critical subcommittee?
None other than the bitter fruits of political positioning are to be found in this otherwise spoiled garden, dear neighbor. Next to nothing has been accomplished to benefit the common residents of Hoboken that has not come from those REFORMERS who hang on during this tumultuous period of council chaos. No progress has been made other than desperate throes to project this majority in a righteous, yet false, light. No, there is nothing to find here in the way of legislative success when the moral compass has been demagentized by greed and graft. The City Council is exhausting itself in its war with truth, law and democracy. Will you, good neighbor, stand for more than these six months of miserable failure?
We, fellow Hobokenite, are witnesses to the most egregious and insufferable abuse of authority possible in a legislative body. All their oars are set to overtake the springtime movement of reform so that the Entitlement Class may maintain their power and their seats from which control over the riches of our city are abused. We hear demands for information without a care to read it. We see posturing for justice without a care to succeed in it. We have before us no less than a wicked and deplorable WAR with truth, law, and democracy, all for the PERMANENCE and self-gain of the ARISTOCRATS who currently control City Council.
At war with truth, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing lies and treachery when in fact their lies and treachery are at every congress revealed. Consider how freely these lethargic usurpers declare untruths and, once the fact is stated, quickly move on to a new distraction. Consider how swiftly these corrupted marauders insist their friendship with OUR reform and include the successes of OUR patriots as their contributions.
At war with law, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing inappropriate and illegal actions when in fact their blatant disregard for the laws and rules of their positions are at every congress revealed. Consider the repeated interruptions by their appointed legal representation about procedure and proper conduct to the extent that the majority Members of Council were recently lectured by their legal counsel that since the new majority has grabbed power of the City Council, they have "...ignored the by-laws more than they have followed them!"
At war with democracy, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing deviations from our governmental structure when in fact their aristocratic totalitarianism is at every congress on display. Consider the various, morphing attempts to silence minority Members of Council, and increasingly, even THE PUBLIC at all times unless when the voices are in advance programmed. Consider the attempts to circumvent and avoid the laws of our city when they do not suit.
I ask you, dear neighbor, what has been accomplished by this new majority other than the swelling of bruises from lies beaten upon us? What successes have been enjoyed by this new majority - and by this is not meant the successes by OUR REFORM for which they grab credit - other than the slaying of rules and the sweeping of order from the dais? Where are the lockstep results of a lockstep unity other than the lockstep march towards moral obliteration?
Partial laws and minor gains will be lauded by them as feats of heroes. Will not they proclaim that rent control has been resolved? Who will hold Council President's feet to the fire on the fact that for nearly two years under her responsibility a change was not forthcoming, when during this time hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost in litigation? Will they not announce that police contracts are finalized and millions have been saved the Hoboken residents? Who will hold Council Vice-President to task for antagonizing the labor negotiations last fall forcing arbitration and face-saving? Will they not declare that redevelopment is proceeding for open space and parks, when majority Members of Council attempted just this month to stop all redevelopment progress on a minor procedural technicality? Who will reprimand the newest Councilman to cut his prepared political banter and take the time to learn the very basics of redevelopment law before assuming the chair of that critical subcommittee?
None other than the bitter fruits of political positioning are to be found in this otherwise spoiled garden, dear neighbor. Next to nothing has been accomplished to benefit the common residents of Hoboken that has not come from those REFORMERS who hang on during this tumultuous period of council chaos. No progress has been made other than desperate throes to project this majority in a righteous, yet false, light. No, there is nothing to find here in the way of legislative success when the moral compass has been demagentized by greed and graft. The City Council is exhausting itself in its war with truth, law and democracy. Will you, good neighbor, stand for more than these six months of miserable failure?
March 11, 2011
Apathy Will Get You Nowhere (Pamphlet #5)
Your trip to work STANDING ROOM ONLY? Your RENT TOO HIGH in a poorly constructed building? Your WATERFRONT CRUMBLING into the Hudson? Your PLAYING FIELDS none to find? Your SCHOOLS AWFUL?
You are not alone! Look around, fellow Hobokenite, at those who join you each day to and from our bustling little city. They too PAY A HIGH PRICE to live in Hoboken yet suffer the same injustices as you. The injustice is the failure to return to you what YOU DESERVE for the price you pay to live here. The mistake is an attempt to lay blame for these injustices on the blossoming movement of REFORM taking hold in City Hall.
Do you know why you get nothing, neighbor? The truth is hard, but the fact is very plain. YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT CONSIDERED by those in power focused on self-preservation! Worse even, you are intentionally ignored! You are neglected by those who have HELD ON TO POWER FOR TOO LONG in our government. Your concerns are not relevant to them because they have chosen to PRIORITIZE OTHERS who do one thing far, far better than you. They dependably offer their vote while you say nothing. You get nothing for your costly contributions because those who are elected to serve you don't know who you are, have never heard from you, and generally think YOU DO NOT AND WILL NOT VOTE.
So I ask, dear neighbor, on this are they wrong? Have you spoken your concerns in their ear? Have you expressed your desire to receive more than the residue of their hand outs? Have you demanded anything from your elected representatives? Do you know who represents you? Do you trust them? Do you know of their prior actions? Do you have faith in them to do right? Have you spoken your mind through your intent to vote? Have you even registered yourself for the right? DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
If you will agree that you have not been heard nor even listened to, then let me be the first to propose that APATHY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE. Say you are too busy and you will get nothing. Say you are not interested in local politics and expect more neglect. Say you have other more important things to do and know that no one will come to your aide. Yet, aide will come and go elsewhere.
If you want to be heard, if you want to be represented, if you want your fair share of the riches of Hoboken, NOW IS THE TIME to act. The REVOLUTION HAS COME! The reform of Hoboken city government is underway! Purge the ENTITLEMENT CLASS ARISTOCRATS who have stuffed themselves and their supporters at your expense. They are extremely vulnerable to your vote.
A fresh, untainted reform candidate with a mind to focus on your concerns is challenging the entrenched, corrupted Members of Council that feign to represent you. A shift towards good, balanced government that listens to your voice is within your reach. Will you stand alongside your neglected neighbors to VOTE FOR REFORM, or will you just keep standing in line for the same apathetic bus? Weigh carefully, young Hobokenite, you have the whole packed commute to decide! To act, pick your reform/good governance candidate here and VOTE FOR REFORM!
http://thehobokenjournal.blogspot.com/p/city-council-candidates-page-good.html
You are not alone! Look around, fellow Hobokenite, at those who join you each day to and from our bustling little city. They too PAY A HIGH PRICE to live in Hoboken yet suffer the same injustices as you. The injustice is the failure to return to you what YOU DESERVE for the price you pay to live here. The mistake is an attempt to lay blame for these injustices on the blossoming movement of REFORM taking hold in City Hall.
Do you know why you get nothing, neighbor? The truth is hard, but the fact is very plain. YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT CONSIDERED by those in power focused on self-preservation! Worse even, you are intentionally ignored! You are neglected by those who have HELD ON TO POWER FOR TOO LONG in our government. Your concerns are not relevant to them because they have chosen to PRIORITIZE OTHERS who do one thing far, far better than you. They dependably offer their vote while you say nothing. You get nothing for your costly contributions because those who are elected to serve you don't know who you are, have never heard from you, and generally think YOU DO NOT AND WILL NOT VOTE.
So I ask, dear neighbor, on this are they wrong? Have you spoken your concerns in their ear? Have you expressed your desire to receive more than the residue of their hand outs? Have you demanded anything from your elected representatives? Do you know who represents you? Do you trust them? Do you know of their prior actions? Do you have faith in them to do right? Have you spoken your mind through your intent to vote? Have you even registered yourself for the right? DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
If you will agree that you have not been heard nor even listened to, then let me be the first to propose that APATHY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE. Say you are too busy and you will get nothing. Say you are not interested in local politics and expect more neglect. Say you have other more important things to do and know that no one will come to your aide. Yet, aide will come and go elsewhere.
If you want to be heard, if you want to be represented, if you want your fair share of the riches of Hoboken, NOW IS THE TIME to act. The REVOLUTION HAS COME! The reform of Hoboken city government is underway! Purge the ENTITLEMENT CLASS ARISTOCRATS who have stuffed themselves and their supporters at your expense. They are extremely vulnerable to your vote.
A fresh, untainted reform candidate with a mind to focus on your concerns is challenging the entrenched, corrupted Members of Council that feign to represent you. A shift towards good, balanced government that listens to your voice is within your reach. Will you stand alongside your neglected neighbors to VOTE FOR REFORM, or will you just keep standing in line for the same apathetic bus? Weigh carefully, young Hobokenite, you have the whole packed commute to decide! To act, pick your reform/good governance candidate here and VOTE FOR REFORM!
http://thehobokenjournal.blogspot.com/p/city-council-candidates-page-good.html
March 6, 2011
On Democracy and Family Rule (Pamphlet #4)
Think you, kind neighbor, that T.Paine might regularly employ the terms "modern aristocracy", "Entitlement Class", and "inheritance" in these pamphlets without reasonable cause? Have you perhaps innocently presumed that the intent for such words is merely to incite vivid imagery where far less provoking nomenclature be appropriate? Then behold, for the purposes of elucidation, that beyond what upstanding championship of democratic governance you may come to expect from those who control the hundreds of millions of dollars collected by our city for decades, the presumed rules of government in which we honest Americans believe and to which we pledge allegiance have not, in any discernible form imaginable, been the rules by which our fine but fouled city has been governed for far too long. Exaggerated are these words not, for the sacred principles of good governance and fairness to all Hobokenites have been held hostage for far too long and no other means but that of exact description can do justice where, heretofore, none has been done. In fact, where the expectation is that our leaders have operated under the conspicuous guidance of fair DEMOCRATIC RULE, the reality is that those who controlled the city for so long, and those who yearn to once again seize upon its purse strings, have done so under an aristocratic, obscure, prowling system of FAMILY RULE.
Does it surprise you to learn that the legacy of former mayors, some of whose brethren and progeny still maintain a seat on the current City Council, carries on in the desire and constant influence from these current majority Members of Council, leaders of such an Delphian aristocracy? Does it surprise you that decades of Hoboken governance is founded, frighteningly, upon an ulterior system of rules which cannot be found in any state manual instructing means by which local government shall run? Does it surprise you to learn that our fair city has heretofore functioned on such a system so perverse that it rivals stories portrayed in film and fiction? Does it surprise you to learn that this wretched system has kept so many in stronghold or fear that they remain compelled to support it or risk losing all footing in their current life station, when and if the cruel powers would regain control of the city? Have you care, good neighbor, to learn more?
Journey, if you will, for some moments to explore the evils and treachery that have plagued Hoboken's government for far too long. Strong exterior forces and funds have propped the more powerful and the most merciless over the needy and helpless, creating aristocratic overlords and a beholden proletariat who, after such long a time oppressed by this other system, know pitifully little of the proper democratic process to which they are legally entitled. Rather than a democratic system of rules and repercussions clearly scribed and consistently applied, as is found throughout our great country and mandated more specifically by state law, an enigmatic, dark system of favors and debts ruthlessly executed and indiscriminately issued has festered mostly unchecked from within the walls of City Hall. Though this malevolent system now slowly suffocates under the squeeze of a growing reform movement, the desperate throws of the current majority Members of Council are fixed on regaining control of City Hall and creeping quietly back to an underworld economy of debts owed and favors given that are never forgotten in such a system, thereby spoiling the possibility of eschewing Hoboken's bane of corruption.
“Explain yourself, T.Paine!” you declare, “For we are a strong community with a proud history and our good residents have endured too much to be cast in such a light with no proof!” Without haste, friend, shall I make the case for why we have found ourselves on the verge of a RETURN TO FAMILY RULE!
First, consider how emphatically the majority Members of Council who lead the Entitlement Class continue to peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie. This, my friend, is done subversively to remind all those who have participated (or whose families have participated) and gained favors or perhaps prospered from the Family Rule system that they are yet still indebted and must not turn their backs or face retribution once and if power is regained. More on this in Pamphlet #1,"Old Hoboken Is A Lie."
Second, consider how frightfully challenging it has been these odd months for the new majority Members of Council to abide by common body rules, avoid stepping upon their own toes with hypocrisy, and prevent spoiling their seemingly righteous words with contradictory corrupted actions. It is no less conspicuous than swine feigning swans that these new majority Members of Council, SELF-INTERESTED USURPERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC PROCESS, wherefore years employing the masked rules of an ulterior system, have absolutely no knowledge of conducting the legal proceedings of a legitimate, functioning City Council. That body's very inability to even attempt to manage itself without exposing insensitivity to democracy and an unwillingness to serve the community at large demonstrates how corrupted it be, and, it exposes those same Members of Council to the unavoidable proof of how unfamiliar each is with abiding the laws relevant to run a local American government. More on this in Pamphlet #2, "City Council, Corrupted."
Third, consider how contemptuously these same majority Members of Council presume that they shall inherit the seats in which they have sat but done next to nothing to benefit and improve the future of our city. In a Family Rule the modern aristocracy make no mistake to expect an hereditary succession, as has occurred for far too long already in so many offices of City Hall. In fact, one must be none but troubled to consider the parallels between the concurrently teetering nation of Libya, its leaders and brethren installed throughout that government, and the way in which such powers and positions are mirrored so much the same here at home.
Take pride, we may, in that our nation may better consist of authoritative seats cured of nepotism, yet shudder, we must, in that our local government reeks of the endemic rot induced by Family Rule. More on this in Pamphlet #3, "Hoboken Shall Not Be Inherited."
Fourth, consider how rife the clan is that aprons the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class with multiple generations of thugs and windbags abandoned by the relentless merits of progress, lost in the murk of uselessness, and searching for a place to apply their primitive, ruffian, anachronistic tutelage. Have you witnessed how regularly your allies of reform and grass-roots inspired advocates speak in tones of enlightened debate in quest of truth and fact while the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class and their subservient lackeys speak in convoluted bits of witty snipe, aggressive intimidation and outright vandalism in an attempt to insulate their unsubstantiated, vituperative diatribe? This is by no method an implication of inferior mental capacity; rather, there is an intentional technique here employed with much intelligence and for good purpose. It must then be asked, in what form of good governance is it necessary to surround oneself with delinquent, hoodlum, goonish malefactors trained in the arts of filthy-mouth and physical threat? At least it can be said in pride and confidence that such ramparts are not needed in American democracy. Mayn't we all readily concede the fact that the brute is a coarse, unsophisticated tool not of democracy but of Family Rule?
Fifth, consider how the individuals who supported, endorsed, and funded the campaigns of former corrupt officials are by and large the exact same lot who now converge to lay siege upon our budding springtime movement of reform. Witness their exasperated balk whenever this subject is raised, how furious they become when reminded of the stinking beds of corruption from which they rise each morn and the greasy tables of graft from which they feed each eventide. The hypocrisy is never more glaring than at these moments when THEY insist it some matter of primitive simplification to group THEM with THOSE who were once cheered by THEY as heroes but now exposed by WE AND LAW as CRIMINALS. It is duly granted that one can not categorically be made guilty by association, but must it be asked in plain word at what point of recurring affinity does acquaintance turn to accomplice? The majority Members of Council who antagonize our fledgling efforts at reform insist they be independent and fight for justice, yet they hail from a history of repeated, chronic association with the very deposed despots who were convicted in democratic courts of law to have misled, lied, conspired, stolen, taken bribes, shamed, embarrassed, betrayed, and NOT REPAID us all! What is it other than Family Rule that, time and again, unites them and, exasperatingly, permits them to believe they have been forgiven of their debts?
Let us now use some common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not be just the one convicted who dealt in the misdeeds leading to imprisonment. And let us use some more common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not likely be just the small sums of bribery and promise admitted or revealed in adjudication that comprise the totality of the crimes actually committed. And let us use even more common sense to further acknowledge that not even innocent fools, if justice, democratic right and a DESIRE FOR REFORM were the motives, would attempt to assemble the same sullied team and the same disingenuous core supporters of those who were convicted for indicted acts of CORRUPTION. And let us again use common sense to acknowledge that there must be some ulterior motive that forces these same individuals to align in an incongruous and illogical UNITY not just once but over again despite their shallow protests of self-representation and independence. Why, should it not then be common sense that such incongruous and illogical unity is due to a force stronger than that of concord, strategy or logic? Why, in plain truth, is it not also then, by common sense deduction, anything more obvious than bonds that supersede pact, friendship, logic, or temporary strategic alliance?
Yes, dear neighbor and advocate for reform, the will is so strong and the attraction is so great among THEY WHO CONSPIRE to overtake our emergent morn of good governance because this tie that binds they who peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie, the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement, and the foot soldiers betrothed thereto, none of whom find a faith in democracy relevant, is one of a more profound yet less puritanical rule. This tie that binds them is one that defies common logic and overthrows the democratic laws of our land. This tie that binds them is unarguably an extension of the same connexion that allows one to overlook flaw and defect in sibling and progeny, even beyond laws broken and ethics eschewed. Yes, fellow Hobokenite, this tie that binds them is indisputably that of a deeper, covetous law than that followed by you and I. Yes, this tie that binds them is unequivocally that of FAMILY RULE.
Does it surprise you to learn that the legacy of former mayors, some of whose brethren and progeny still maintain a seat on the current City Council, carries on in the desire and constant influence from these current majority Members of Council, leaders of such an Delphian aristocracy? Does it surprise you that decades of Hoboken governance is founded, frighteningly, upon an ulterior system of rules which cannot be found in any state manual instructing means by which local government shall run? Does it surprise you to learn that our fair city has heretofore functioned on such a system so perverse that it rivals stories portrayed in film and fiction? Does it surprise you to learn that this wretched system has kept so many in stronghold or fear that they remain compelled to support it or risk losing all footing in their current life station, when and if the cruel powers would regain control of the city? Have you care, good neighbor, to learn more?
Journey, if you will, for some moments to explore the evils and treachery that have plagued Hoboken's government for far too long. Strong exterior forces and funds have propped the more powerful and the most merciless over the needy and helpless, creating aristocratic overlords and a beholden proletariat who, after such long a time oppressed by this other system, know pitifully little of the proper democratic process to which they are legally entitled. Rather than a democratic system of rules and repercussions clearly scribed and consistently applied, as is found throughout our great country and mandated more specifically by state law, an enigmatic, dark system of favors and debts ruthlessly executed and indiscriminately issued has festered mostly unchecked from within the walls of City Hall. Though this malevolent system now slowly suffocates under the squeeze of a growing reform movement, the desperate throws of the current majority Members of Council are fixed on regaining control of City Hall and creeping quietly back to an underworld economy of debts owed and favors given that are never forgotten in such a system, thereby spoiling the possibility of eschewing Hoboken's bane of corruption.
“Explain yourself, T.Paine!” you declare, “For we are a strong community with a proud history and our good residents have endured too much to be cast in such a light with no proof!” Without haste, friend, shall I make the case for why we have found ourselves on the verge of a RETURN TO FAMILY RULE!
First, consider how emphatically the majority Members of Council who lead the Entitlement Class continue to peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie. This, my friend, is done subversively to remind all those who have participated (or whose families have participated) and gained favors or perhaps prospered from the Family Rule system that they are yet still indebted and must not turn their backs or face retribution once and if power is regained. More on this in Pamphlet #1,"Old Hoboken Is A Lie."
Second, consider how frightfully challenging it has been these odd months for the new majority Members of Council to abide by common body rules, avoid stepping upon their own toes with hypocrisy, and prevent spoiling their seemingly righteous words with contradictory corrupted actions. It is no less conspicuous than swine feigning swans that these new majority Members of Council, SELF-INTERESTED USURPERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC PROCESS, wherefore years employing the masked rules of an ulterior system, have absolutely no knowledge of conducting the legal proceedings of a legitimate, functioning City Council. That body's very inability to even attempt to manage itself without exposing insensitivity to democracy and an unwillingness to serve the community at large demonstrates how corrupted it be, and, it exposes those same Members of Council to the unavoidable proof of how unfamiliar each is with abiding the laws relevant to run a local American government. More on this in Pamphlet #2, "City Council, Corrupted."
Third, consider how contemptuously these same majority Members of Council presume that they shall inherit the seats in which they have sat but done next to nothing to benefit and improve the future of our city. In a Family Rule the modern aristocracy make no mistake to expect an hereditary succession, as has occurred for far too long already in so many offices of City Hall. In fact, one must be none but troubled to consider the parallels between the concurrently teetering nation of Libya, its leaders and brethren installed throughout that government, and the way in which such powers and positions are mirrored so much the same here at home.
Take pride, we may, in that our nation may better consist of authoritative seats cured of nepotism, yet shudder, we must, in that our local government reeks of the endemic rot induced by Family Rule. More on this in Pamphlet #3, "Hoboken Shall Not Be Inherited."
Fourth, consider how rife the clan is that aprons the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class with multiple generations of thugs and windbags abandoned by the relentless merits of progress, lost in the murk of uselessness, and searching for a place to apply their primitive, ruffian, anachronistic tutelage. Have you witnessed how regularly your allies of reform and grass-roots inspired advocates speak in tones of enlightened debate in quest of truth and fact while the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class and their subservient lackeys speak in convoluted bits of witty snipe, aggressive intimidation and outright vandalism in an attempt to insulate their unsubstantiated, vituperative diatribe? This is by no method an implication of inferior mental capacity; rather, there is an intentional technique here employed with much intelligence and for good purpose. It must then be asked, in what form of good governance is it necessary to surround oneself with delinquent, hoodlum, goonish malefactors trained in the arts of filthy-mouth and physical threat? At least it can be said in pride and confidence that such ramparts are not needed in American democracy. Mayn't we all readily concede the fact that the brute is a coarse, unsophisticated tool not of democracy but of Family Rule?
Fifth, consider how the individuals who supported, endorsed, and funded the campaigns of former corrupt officials are by and large the exact same lot who now converge to lay siege upon our budding springtime movement of reform. Witness their exasperated balk whenever this subject is raised, how furious they become when reminded of the stinking beds of corruption from which they rise each morn and the greasy tables of graft from which they feed each eventide. The hypocrisy is never more glaring than at these moments when THEY insist it some matter of primitive simplification to group THEM with THOSE who were once cheered by THEY as heroes but now exposed by WE AND LAW as CRIMINALS. It is duly granted that one can not categorically be made guilty by association, but must it be asked in plain word at what point of recurring affinity does acquaintance turn to accomplice? The majority Members of Council who antagonize our fledgling efforts at reform insist they be independent and fight for justice, yet they hail from a history of repeated, chronic association with the very deposed despots who were convicted in democratic courts of law to have misled, lied, conspired, stolen, taken bribes, shamed, embarrassed, betrayed, and NOT REPAID us all! What is it other than Family Rule that, time and again, unites them and, exasperatingly, permits them to believe they have been forgiven of their debts?
Let us now use some common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not be just the one convicted who dealt in the misdeeds leading to imprisonment. And let us use some more common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not likely be just the small sums of bribery and promise admitted or revealed in adjudication that comprise the totality of the crimes actually committed. And let us use even more common sense to further acknowledge that not even innocent fools, if justice, democratic right and a DESIRE FOR REFORM were the motives, would attempt to assemble the same sullied team and the same disingenuous core supporters of those who were convicted for indicted acts of CORRUPTION. And let us again use common sense to acknowledge that there must be some ulterior motive that forces these same individuals to align in an incongruous and illogical UNITY not just once but over again despite their shallow protests of self-representation and independence. Why, should it not then be common sense that such incongruous and illogical unity is due to a force stronger than that of concord, strategy or logic? Why, in plain truth, is it not also then, by common sense deduction, anything more obvious than bonds that supersede pact, friendship, logic, or temporary strategic alliance?
Yes, dear neighbor and advocate for reform, the will is so strong and the attraction is so great among THEY WHO CONSPIRE to overtake our emergent morn of good governance because this tie that binds they who peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie, the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement, and the foot soldiers betrothed thereto, none of whom find a faith in democracy relevant, is one of a more profound yet less puritanical rule. This tie that binds them is one that defies common logic and overthrows the democratic laws of our land. This tie that binds them is unarguably an extension of the same connexion that allows one to overlook flaw and defect in sibling and progeny, even beyond laws broken and ethics eschewed. Yes, fellow Hobokenite, this tie that binds them is indisputably that of a deeper, covetous law than that followed by you and I. Yes, this tie that binds them is unequivocally that of FAMILY RULE.
March 1, 2011
Hoboken Shall Not Be Inherited (Pamphlet #3)
It is an incomparable disgrace to witness the so-called "Entitlement Class" of modern aristocrats who now control the City Council unabashedly admit to an expectation of keeping that control as it were their fathers' right to pass the house on to the child. One of the many contemptuous notions of Hoboken's Entitlement Class is that they feel they are deserving of the keys to the city (and more importantly the city's coffers) because, they contend, to have suffered through the hard times, or because, more egregiously, their families have maintained such control for so many years.
Listen to them talk of their family names like Old World nobility as if the thieves who have sullied Hoboken's name for their own benefit only could possibly own of anything that were noble. Defend their reputations they do, praising the brethren, CONVICTED FELONS WHO STOLE MILLIONS FROM OUR CITY, as if they had committed minor mistakes since then repented. Is it repentance to never pay back what you owe the residents of our fine city? Is it repentance to avoid fines and penalties costs with lies and shifting of real estate to other family members? Is it repentance to disgrace our city with selfish motives and to continue to play politics vicariously through disingenuous progeny? Ignore the graft and corruption they do, speaking of the brief, good moments ("But we plowed the snow, did we not?") while forgetting the painful, suffering, corrupt era that has spoiled so much of the potential of our fine city.
Has it not occurred to you, dear neighbor, that they themselves, through years of mismanagement and SELF-SERVING GOVERNANCE, have caused so much hard times upon so many others? Consider rent control stagnant for decades and still incomplete because the politics are too divisive, infrastructure crumbling due to neglect when attention was turned instead to lining pockets, overdevelopment with little to no benefit to the community at large so long as campaign contributions were secure (have we a community pool yet, but still the same name dares to ask for even more?), and does not this despicable list continue on with many other displeasing counts of irresponsibility heretofore unresolved?
To inherit implies the right and dues of permanent ownership within a family. Yet in Hoboken, as it is understandably surprising to discover, we do indeed govern under the PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY, if T.Paine were to be so bold as to associate the tainted reigns of mayors past with that illustrious term. There is no permanent right to ownership of our government, is there not? And there most certainly is no nobility of which to claim such right, correct? In fact, the only inheritance that is truly begot all of us is in the costs of decades of mismanagement resultant of the ERA OF CORRUPTION that still permeates the ranks of City Hall, and most notably, City Council.
The fundamental belief in "hereditary succession" among some Members of Council and their cherished Entitlement Class must be flawed because these selfish peddlers of the "Old Hoboken" lie have all but lost their control of the riches of our city and are now in a last desperate throw to regain their hold. We, the tired but resilient keepers of governmental reform, have effected all but the last stamping out of the shameful past that some Members of Council have the audacity to praise when it criticized. Needed is but one final blow to these thieves, their installed puppets, and their ex-reformer Madam financier, TRAITOR TO US ALL, to finally and completely turn the tides of our beautiful city towards a bright and promising future. As the kingdoms of Europe were torn down and transformed into modern democracies, the cause being the oppression of the proletariat, we too must tear down the remaining strongholds of the modern aristocracy that disdainfully cares for only their own at the expense of we the many. Where are you this eve, dear neighbor?
Now is the time to take notice of the corruption that has ruined our fortunes and stalled our progress. Now is the time to end the budget manipulation that occurs when those who have entrenched themselves for too long in the seats of the City Council make no effort but that which promises to preserve themselves and the desperate dependents who feast upon the bounty of their control. Now is the time to act on your disgust and remove the selfish aristocrats of the Entitlement Class. Now is the time to voice your opinion in every commentary on every medium, share your contempt for the dishonesty and treachery, and rally your neighbors to join this final encounter with the dark past. Now is the time to speak aloud the voice of reform and reason. No, Hoboken shall not be inherited! Take them down with your voice, remove them with your vote!
Listen to them talk of their family names like Old World nobility as if the thieves who have sullied Hoboken's name for their own benefit only could possibly own of anything that were noble. Defend their reputations they do, praising the brethren, CONVICTED FELONS WHO STOLE MILLIONS FROM OUR CITY, as if they had committed minor mistakes since then repented. Is it repentance to never pay back what you owe the residents of our fine city? Is it repentance to avoid fines and penalties costs with lies and shifting of real estate to other family members? Is it repentance to disgrace our city with selfish motives and to continue to play politics vicariously through disingenuous progeny? Ignore the graft and corruption they do, speaking of the brief, good moments ("But we plowed the snow, did we not?") while forgetting the painful, suffering, corrupt era that has spoiled so much of the potential of our fine city.
Has it not occurred to you, dear neighbor, that they themselves, through years of mismanagement and SELF-SERVING GOVERNANCE, have caused so much hard times upon so many others? Consider rent control stagnant for decades and still incomplete because the politics are too divisive, infrastructure crumbling due to neglect when attention was turned instead to lining pockets, overdevelopment with little to no benefit to the community at large so long as campaign contributions were secure (have we a community pool yet, but still the same name dares to ask for even more?), and does not this despicable list continue on with many other displeasing counts of irresponsibility heretofore unresolved?
To inherit implies the right and dues of permanent ownership within a family. Yet in Hoboken, as it is understandably surprising to discover, we do indeed govern under the PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY, if T.Paine were to be so bold as to associate the tainted reigns of mayors past with that illustrious term. There is no permanent right to ownership of our government, is there not? And there most certainly is no nobility of which to claim such right, correct? In fact, the only inheritance that is truly begot all of us is in the costs of decades of mismanagement resultant of the ERA OF CORRUPTION that still permeates the ranks of City Hall, and most notably, City Council.
The fundamental belief in "hereditary succession" among some Members of Council and their cherished Entitlement Class must be flawed because these selfish peddlers of the "Old Hoboken" lie have all but lost their control of the riches of our city and are now in a last desperate throw to regain their hold. We, the tired but resilient keepers of governmental reform, have effected all but the last stamping out of the shameful past that some Members of Council have the audacity to praise when it criticized. Needed is but one final blow to these thieves, their installed puppets, and their ex-reformer Madam financier, TRAITOR TO US ALL, to finally and completely turn the tides of our beautiful city towards a bright and promising future. As the kingdoms of Europe were torn down and transformed into modern democracies, the cause being the oppression of the proletariat, we too must tear down the remaining strongholds of the modern aristocracy that disdainfully cares for only their own at the expense of we the many. Where are you this eve, dear neighbor?
Now is the time to take notice of the corruption that has ruined our fortunes and stalled our progress. Now is the time to end the budget manipulation that occurs when those who have entrenched themselves for too long in the seats of the City Council make no effort but that which promises to preserve themselves and the desperate dependents who feast upon the bounty of their control. Now is the time to act on your disgust and remove the selfish aristocrats of the Entitlement Class. Now is the time to voice your opinion in every commentary on every medium, share your contempt for the dishonesty and treachery, and rally your neighbors to join this final encounter with the dark past. Now is the time to speak aloud the voice of reform and reason. No, Hoboken shall not be inherited! Take them down with your voice, remove them with your vote!
February 23, 2011
City Council, Corrupted! (Pamphlet #2)
Nothing is more vile to the Hoboken resident than the rotting stench of moral fiber. Yet that is exactly what one must inhale each and every time the Hoboken City Council calls itself to order. I ask, fellow neighbor, have you recently tormented yourself with an encounter of this borderline farcical committee of the whole? If your answer is in the negative, then I implore you take exposure of the deplorable state of our most highly esteemed governing body. But, it is, perhaps, more steam than esteem, and such a very wicked steam at that!
Watch from home on public channel, take part in the live stream where fellow citizens along with you gasp in virtual horror, or fully take measure of your daring to feel the misery of a shattered government with an uncomfortable seat in the pews of our desecrated chambers every fortnight, being the first and third Wednesday of each month. You have paid dearly for this privilege, after all.
What could one expect to learn from subjecting oneself to such an horror? Dear neighbor, T.Paine does not endeavor to entitle this pamphlet in vain! Surely expect to witness, for which you and I have contributed our taxes to entertain, nothing less than the social spectacle of a City Council that regularly operates yet consistently fails to function! And worse, our City Council has as of late entirely managed to twist itself into a selfish, irrelevant, vile corpse of a limp, motionless body. Behold, but please do hold your nose!
If we residents of a proud city were to search for the source of the cancer that has set in to consume the substance that once made the City Council a limber body, to what can we attribute the embarrassing crumbling of our legislature? My dear friend, surely you have already turned wise to my questions of rhetoric! Yes, again, the title tells the truth, for our City Council is plagued by the onset of decay from being corrupted.
“Explain yourself, T.Paine!” you declare, “For we are a strong community with a proud history and our numbers are dependably growing all the while!” Without haste, friend, shall I make the case for why we have found ourselves with a CORRUPTED LEGISLATIVE BODY! First, recall, if you will, the argument of Pamphlet #1 “Old Hoboken Is A Lie”, wherein the author concludes that the treacherous manipulation of the innocent resident by way of the “Old Hoboken” lie is an undefined fabrication of our city's modern aristocracy, the so-called “Entitlement Class”. They, who believe an unspecified time endured here or family control of our city's coffers ENTITLE them to continued, perpetual, and unlimited subsidy and priority before the rest of us, have also presumed themselves to be positioned high above you and I. That first pamphlet also identifies the lustful heart of the Entitlement Class aristocrats to be positioned at the dais of the City Council; wherewith, does not the potential to fondle the swollen purse strings of our city reside in the authority of that vaunted body?
Found there, are they, and insistently for far too long! On the founding of our nation, in 1775, your faithful T.Paine vividly declared that the individuals chosen for a representative democracy must regularly be rotated whence was said:
“...because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERENED.”
Now, my Hoboken neighbor will surely attest to the logical nature of this concept of rotation! For the effect of success, health, and happiness, must not we cause in all kind of metaphor to till the soil, open the windows, visit new places, discuss varied subjects, even change undergarments!
Over the course of ten years time, this city has seen its greatest growth in prosperity coupled to its most horrendous plummet in fiscal imprudence. Indeed our cup runneth over, yet the MISMANAGEMENT WAS RIFE beyond reproach. All the while, the promises and commitments to the community of the entrenched Members of Council ring hollow. Examine the arguments for exposing the DESIRE FOR PERMANENCE by which various Members of Council have permitted themselves lie fallow without substantial action or service to anyone but themselves and their entitled brethren, and discover how putrid is the odor when public officials fail to cleanse.
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Endowment:
Do not endeavor, humble neighbor, to unbury the original platform of such an historic creature as the corrupted Members of Council. Perhaps it is nothing of issue that these individuals are so closely related in family, and that multiple others of the same family are also securely employed by we taxpayers. T.Paine need only rely on that coincidence for its face value.
In truth, it is not necessary to go beyond a few City Council meetings to see the confusing stagnation that has become of the persons who, despite a vote in unblemished lockstep with their patron Entitlement Class masterminds, once and still yet somehow declare themselves as an independent voice. “I will vote consistently as I always have,” declares one with pomp and pride when given the floor, until alignment with one's political faction of the day, rather than an original policy stance, necessitates an unabashed shift. Thenceforth, let the obscure, unsubstantial rationalization pour in advance of a contradictory mark in the clerk's ledger.
Perhaps more consistent is the complete absence of a policy stance whatsoever in exchange for a consistent commitment to offer up any and all gifts within their powers to the loyal and the bequeathed. Independent indeed! If that is to mean, free from the obligations of a well run city government in exchange for a continuously well run re-election campaign.
The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE is well shared amongst the modern aristocratic leadership of the Entitled Class: Speak the circuitous message, shoot with a clever snipe, and oscillate dependably in the context of friendly local advocate to obtain the election day returns from which a happy constituency is made, good of the city be damned to the good of the vote. To such a state, how does one arrive? Ride aboard the gravy train of entitlement and be sure to grab up alongside you all those who promise to serve and pledge faithful allegiance!
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Strategic Stagnation:
Some Members of Council have managed to walk the tight wire of careful allegiance where others have slipped off in poorer form. In recent months, calmer demeanor and quieter tone may have lulled some to think on certain Members of Council a moderate or unaligned. This could be true if it were not that for every vote cast by the Council majority the same vote tips the balance in their favor. It, in fact, reliably makes the majority.
Consider, neighbor, campaign promises espoused by the strategically stagnant in 2007, to:
“...continue to be fiscally conservative by not relying on one-shot revenues, limiting expenditures, and providing [an] efficient government,”
Yet the mayor supported and endorsed by the same from whom this was promised leaves a legacy of doing just the opposite! And therein lies the crux of a stagnant tenure: allegiance consistently, with the rare divergence on trivialities to maintain the condescending hypocrisy of an independent proclaim. There is, in fact, no independence from the HEIRS TO ENTITLEMENT, Sir. And there is no circumventing the obligations to the MODERN ARISTOCRACY.
On the fringe, rarely quoted, the RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to hide behind the boisterous and accomplish next to nothing. In other words, stay out of the fray. Meddle with the trimmings, Sir, but fool us not with a claim to autonomy! I then ask, wherein does the priority lay when little done does a stagnant representative make?
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Feigning A Champion:
Despite being convicted by the FBI for taking bribes, some Members of Council share in the stock of a mayoral legacy notorious for ignoring Hoboken residents but for self-gain, which undoubtedly included awarding countless city jobs in return for support and votes, resulting in a bloated city payroll that, to this day, represents over two-thirds of the city's annual budget. So large is this cost, that all the taxes collected from we residents can not cover all payroll costs. Yet, every time a mayor endeavors to responsibly shrink staffing to reasonable levels, the champion pretender takes to the streets with a rabble-rousing mantra that colors a mayor cruel and fashions this Member of Council the protector, nay, PATRON of all residents. The poor community result, in fact, is primarily protection of HIS job and increased taxes to the residents. Surely those few who were to lose their jobs would also benefit, but wherein does the general public benefit from such strategy? Alas, after all this time, the goals and aspirations of some Members of Council have not changed, and more importantly, have gone nowhere. Stay the feigned champion, yet do nothing much for the city as a whole.
Consider, in 2003, the statements of a newly elected Member of Council on a "champion" platform:
“...that he does not have any intentions of laying off "rank and file" employees but would seek after eliminating high priced political contracts, cutting two director positions, and freeze the salaries of the mayor, directors and City Council.”
"[The Mayor] tries to play the hero but in reality it's his out of control spending and insufficient management that is really putting these jobs in jeopardy,"
Now I ask of you neighbor, does this cry sound familiar? Why is it not in fact EXACTLY the same impotent diatribe spouted to this very day! What use is the word without the action to back it up? And after all this time, would not one have had the opportunity to make good on such assertions? Perhaps the trouble being that focus was fixed elsewhere on enrichment via exclusive public contracts for family, protection of loyal friend and family with tenured public positions, and ensuring a subsidized residence for self and defamed progentors in so-called “workforce” housing while simultaneously aspiring to drive the ultimate of luxury vehicles and maintaining an extravagant second home on the shores of Jersey?
Or perhaps we are mistaken, unfairly dwelling on but one topic and failing to credit the activities that would extract purported champions of Hoboken from the proverbial stagnant swamp of SUBSIDIZED ENTITLEMENT? To that end, but consider other ambitions excerpted from the same post-election article where the feigned champion:
“...proposes to build a neighborhood 400 car parking facility at the old 'Mercury Building' site, at 722 Grand Street.”
"...is in favor of using the Hoboken High School lot for a large scale affording housing development [yet] the school district plans on using that site for an elementary school and open space.”
So, in 2003, the feigned champion espouses a platform of at least two instances AGAINST open space in favor of popular causes of the day, yet in 2011, the opposite argument is now made on a platform FOR open space. And what has been accomplished in the seven years time between? There has been NO MOVEMENT on this front, friends.
The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to boisterously position oneself as the hero of the day unconcerned if the morrow require a complete reversal of position. Does it need further explaining that when one walks up one stair and then down it again the end is the same as the beginning? There is no champion other than the champion of SELF FULFILLMENT. The seat is as stagnant as 722 Grand Street remains today!
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Treachery:
To the end is left the most vulgar of stagnation; that is, when it is not a matter of time nor even the object of outward ingratiation to feed one's family and followers of entitlement, but of a self-obsessed vanity that leads one in pursuit of entitlement (and here is meant mostly the “title” part) ends by any and all means necessary, including the complete abandonment of morals, principle, and honest support of reform.
Do not think, fellow resident, that the vulgar plague of our governing legislature is limited to only those who have embedded themselves years ago at the spout of the city's frothing coffers. No, the most vivid and lascivious example of our City Council being corrupted – in the definitive sense of the word - is the manner by which those deceptively installed pretend to still carry the mantle of reform, yet align themselves with the very legions by whom true government reform in Hoboken has for so long been stifled.
To be assured how much of a reversal former advocates for open government have taken, witness only this month Members' of Council selfish efforts to spoil the objectivity of a well-respected good government group by cashing in on a yet fading reformer reputation and urging their hands in distancing themselves from the very policies that brought them said respect. I ask you, was this action in the spirit of open government or open chequebook? While the ultimate decision and actions of that group are undoubtedly made by itself, can anyone argue that they were entirely independent of the constant railing and tantrum that has become the more regular disposition of the increasingly tyrannical ex-reformer?
Add upon that mounting heap of unbecoming conduct a unilateral sweep at recent City Council meetings where the procedures change to suit the needs, the rules are blatantly disobeyed in full display, and reminders from legal representation about the need for consistent protocol are altogether ignored. All in the lockstep ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE OF ENTITLEMENT, mind you, did not object to these deviations from rule of law. Nay, each one looked down and hoped to move swiftly away from each divergent act.
And then, dear neighbor, the need to justify self-interested actions overstepped the need to uphold the march of reform. The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to parse the content so it suits to fit, blurt the erroneous statement so attentions are diverted, and argue in prepared statement that if wrong was done in the past, then wrong should be acceptable to continue on in future!
If there is a God in heaven, where, oh where, have we arrived but not at the very ditch of rotting moral fiber? Turn the proverbial soil upon it my friend before we are all dragged there down! Is not the cast that, by its words, claims independence and the caste that, by their actions, claim entitlement one in the same? In all this is argued to you, dear neighbor, that a politician need not secure ANY PROGRESS if the objective is to stay put. And stay put they all have for far too long. The distance from the true needs of the constituency has lengthened to beyond the horizon, while the depth of political trickery has buried the original causes and intentions of the representatives.
We no longer have genuine individuals who confidently connect to our needs; rather, we suffer the misery of a misguided and out of touch legislature that pushes an AGENDA OF SELF FULFILLMENT at the expense (and such expense is meant figurative and literal) of the very constituents to whom they took the oath of service.
Patriots, believers in democracy, and supporters of reform in Hoboken, we must unite and take action! We must eject the limp corpses of elected officials who are still yet fiery red with the fury of self-fulfillment. You and I must together UNITE AND RESIST those who silently claim to believe themselves entitled to the fruits that are due all of us in reasoned moderation based on sound policy. We must do this or watch Hoboken plummet back into the wicked, evil, corrupt ways of the past.
No, "Old Hoboken" is a lie, and the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement- or the foot soldier betrothed thereto - who stops you on the street, in the deli, or at the polls to convince you otherwise in hopes of your vote, is a liar.
No, City Council is corrupted, and it must be purged this Spring of the putrid, unscrupulous members who once promised to represent all our best interests but have since then taken the twisted path of self-preservation by endowment, strategic stagnation, feigning a champion, and treachery!
Watch from home on public channel, take part in the live stream where fellow citizens along with you gasp in virtual horror, or fully take measure of your daring to feel the misery of a shattered government with an uncomfortable seat in the pews of our desecrated chambers every fortnight, being the first and third Wednesday of each month. You have paid dearly for this privilege, after all.
What could one expect to learn from subjecting oneself to such an horror? Dear neighbor, T.Paine does not endeavor to entitle this pamphlet in vain! Surely expect to witness, for which you and I have contributed our taxes to entertain, nothing less than the social spectacle of a City Council that regularly operates yet consistently fails to function! And worse, our City Council has as of late entirely managed to twist itself into a selfish, irrelevant, vile corpse of a limp, motionless body. Behold, but please do hold your nose!
If we residents of a proud city were to search for the source of the cancer that has set in to consume the substance that once made the City Council a limber body, to what can we attribute the embarrassing crumbling of our legislature? My dear friend, surely you have already turned wise to my questions of rhetoric! Yes, again, the title tells the truth, for our City Council is plagued by the onset of decay from being corrupted.
“Explain yourself, T.Paine!” you declare, “For we are a strong community with a proud history and our numbers are dependably growing all the while!” Without haste, friend, shall I make the case for why we have found ourselves with a CORRUPTED LEGISLATIVE BODY! First, recall, if you will, the argument of Pamphlet #1 “Old Hoboken Is A Lie”, wherein the author concludes that the treacherous manipulation of the innocent resident by way of the “Old Hoboken” lie is an undefined fabrication of our city's modern aristocracy, the so-called “Entitlement Class”. They, who believe an unspecified time endured here or family control of our city's coffers ENTITLE them to continued, perpetual, and unlimited subsidy and priority before the rest of us, have also presumed themselves to be positioned high above you and I. That first pamphlet also identifies the lustful heart of the Entitlement Class aristocrats to be positioned at the dais of the City Council; wherewith, does not the potential to fondle the swollen purse strings of our city reside in the authority of that vaunted body?
Found there, are they, and insistently for far too long! On the founding of our nation, in 1775, your faithful T.Paine vividly declared that the individuals chosen for a representative democracy must regularly be rotated whence was said:
“...because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERENED.”
Now, my Hoboken neighbor will surely attest to the logical nature of this concept of rotation! For the effect of success, health, and happiness, must not we cause in all kind of metaphor to till the soil, open the windows, visit new places, discuss varied subjects, even change undergarments!
Over the course of ten years time, this city has seen its greatest growth in prosperity coupled to its most horrendous plummet in fiscal imprudence. Indeed our cup runneth over, yet the MISMANAGEMENT WAS RIFE beyond reproach. All the while, the promises and commitments to the community of the entrenched Members of Council ring hollow. Examine the arguments for exposing the DESIRE FOR PERMANENCE by which various Members of Council have permitted themselves lie fallow without substantial action or service to anyone but themselves and their entitled brethren, and discover how putrid is the odor when public officials fail to cleanse.
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Endowment:
Do not endeavor, humble neighbor, to unbury the original platform of such an historic creature as the corrupted Members of Council. Perhaps it is nothing of issue that these individuals are so closely related in family, and that multiple others of the same family are also securely employed by we taxpayers. T.Paine need only rely on that coincidence for its face value.
In truth, it is not necessary to go beyond a few City Council meetings to see the confusing stagnation that has become of the persons who, despite a vote in unblemished lockstep with their patron Entitlement Class masterminds, once and still yet somehow declare themselves as an independent voice. “I will vote consistently as I always have,” declares one with pomp and pride when given the floor, until alignment with one's political faction of the day, rather than an original policy stance, necessitates an unabashed shift. Thenceforth, let the obscure, unsubstantial rationalization pour in advance of a contradictory mark in the clerk's ledger.
Perhaps more consistent is the complete absence of a policy stance whatsoever in exchange for a consistent commitment to offer up any and all gifts within their powers to the loyal and the bequeathed. Independent indeed! If that is to mean, free from the obligations of a well run city government in exchange for a continuously well run re-election campaign.
The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE is well shared amongst the modern aristocratic leadership of the Entitled Class: Speak the circuitous message, shoot with a clever snipe, and oscillate dependably in the context of friendly local advocate to obtain the election day returns from which a happy constituency is made, good of the city be damned to the good of the vote. To such a state, how does one arrive? Ride aboard the gravy train of entitlement and be sure to grab up alongside you all those who promise to serve and pledge faithful allegiance!
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Strategic Stagnation:
Some Members of Council have managed to walk the tight wire of careful allegiance where others have slipped off in poorer form. In recent months, calmer demeanor and quieter tone may have lulled some to think on certain Members of Council a moderate or unaligned. This could be true if it were not that for every vote cast by the Council majority the same vote tips the balance in their favor. It, in fact, reliably makes the majority.
Consider, neighbor, campaign promises espoused by the strategically stagnant in 2007, to:
“...continue to be fiscally conservative by not relying on one-shot revenues, limiting expenditures, and providing [an] efficient government,”
Yet the mayor supported and endorsed by the same from whom this was promised leaves a legacy of doing just the opposite! And therein lies the crux of a stagnant tenure: allegiance consistently, with the rare divergence on trivialities to maintain the condescending hypocrisy of an independent proclaim. There is, in fact, no independence from the HEIRS TO ENTITLEMENT, Sir. And there is no circumventing the obligations to the MODERN ARISTOCRACY.
On the fringe, rarely quoted, the RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to hide behind the boisterous and accomplish next to nothing. In other words, stay out of the fray. Meddle with the trimmings, Sir, but fool us not with a claim to autonomy! I then ask, wherein does the priority lay when little done does a stagnant representative make?
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Feigning A Champion:
Despite being convicted by the FBI for taking bribes, some Members of Council share in the stock of a mayoral legacy notorious for ignoring Hoboken residents but for self-gain, which undoubtedly included awarding countless city jobs in return for support and votes, resulting in a bloated city payroll that, to this day, represents over two-thirds of the city's annual budget. So large is this cost, that all the taxes collected from we residents can not cover all payroll costs. Yet, every time a mayor endeavors to responsibly shrink staffing to reasonable levels, the champion pretender takes to the streets with a rabble-rousing mantra that colors a mayor cruel and fashions this Member of Council the protector, nay, PATRON of all residents. The poor community result, in fact, is primarily protection of HIS job and increased taxes to the residents. Surely those few who were to lose their jobs would also benefit, but wherein does the general public benefit from such strategy? Alas, after all this time, the goals and aspirations of some Members of Council have not changed, and more importantly, have gone nowhere. Stay the feigned champion, yet do nothing much for the city as a whole.
Consider, in 2003, the statements of a newly elected Member of Council on a "champion" platform:
“...that he does not have any intentions of laying off "rank and file" employees but would seek after eliminating high priced political contracts, cutting two director positions, and freeze the salaries of the mayor, directors and City Council.”
"[The Mayor] tries to play the hero but in reality it's his out of control spending and insufficient management that is really putting these jobs in jeopardy,"
Now I ask of you neighbor, does this cry sound familiar? Why is it not in fact EXACTLY the same impotent diatribe spouted to this very day! What use is the word without the action to back it up? And after all this time, would not one have had the opportunity to make good on such assertions? Perhaps the trouble being that focus was fixed elsewhere on enrichment via exclusive public contracts for family, protection of loyal friend and family with tenured public positions, and ensuring a subsidized residence for self and defamed progentors in so-called “workforce” housing while simultaneously aspiring to drive the ultimate of luxury vehicles and maintaining an extravagant second home on the shores of Jersey?
Or perhaps we are mistaken, unfairly dwelling on but one topic and failing to credit the activities that would extract purported champions of Hoboken from the proverbial stagnant swamp of SUBSIDIZED ENTITLEMENT? To that end, but consider other ambitions excerpted from the same post-election article where the feigned champion:
“...proposes to build a neighborhood 400 car parking facility at the old 'Mercury Building' site, at 722 Grand Street.”
"...is in favor of using the Hoboken High School lot for a large scale affording housing development [yet] the school district plans on using that site for an elementary school and open space.”
So, in 2003, the feigned champion espouses a platform of at least two instances AGAINST open space in favor of popular causes of the day, yet in 2011, the opposite argument is now made on a platform FOR open space. And what has been accomplished in the seven years time between? There has been NO MOVEMENT on this front, friends.
The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to boisterously position oneself as the hero of the day unconcerned if the morrow require a complete reversal of position. Does it need further explaining that when one walks up one stair and then down it again the end is the same as the beginning? There is no champion other than the champion of SELF FULFILLMENT. The seat is as stagnant as 722 Grand Street remains today!
An Argument For Exposing The Desire For Permanence By Treachery:
To the end is left the most vulgar of stagnation; that is, when it is not a matter of time nor even the object of outward ingratiation to feed one's family and followers of entitlement, but of a self-obsessed vanity that leads one in pursuit of entitlement (and here is meant mostly the “title” part) ends by any and all means necessary, including the complete abandonment of morals, principle, and honest support of reform.
Do not think, fellow resident, that the vulgar plague of our governing legislature is limited to only those who have embedded themselves years ago at the spout of the city's frothing coffers. No, the most vivid and lascivious example of our City Council being corrupted – in the definitive sense of the word - is the manner by which those deceptively installed pretend to still carry the mantle of reform, yet align themselves with the very legions by whom true government reform in Hoboken has for so long been stifled.
To be assured how much of a reversal former advocates for open government have taken, witness only this month Members' of Council selfish efforts to spoil the objectivity of a well-respected good government group by cashing in on a yet fading reformer reputation and urging their hands in distancing themselves from the very policies that brought them said respect. I ask you, was this action in the spirit of open government or open chequebook? While the ultimate decision and actions of that group are undoubtedly made by itself, can anyone argue that they were entirely independent of the constant railing and tantrum that has become the more regular disposition of the increasingly tyrannical ex-reformer?
Add upon that mounting heap of unbecoming conduct a unilateral sweep at recent City Council meetings where the procedures change to suit the needs, the rules are blatantly disobeyed in full display, and reminders from legal representation about the need for consistent protocol are altogether ignored. All in the lockstep ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE OF ENTITLEMENT, mind you, did not object to these deviations from rule of law. Nay, each one looked down and hoped to move swiftly away from each divergent act.
And then, dear neighbor, the need to justify self-interested actions overstepped the need to uphold the march of reform. The RECIPE FOR PERMANENCE here is to parse the content so it suits to fit, blurt the erroneous statement so attentions are diverted, and argue in prepared statement that if wrong was done in the past, then wrong should be acceptable to continue on in future!
If there is a God in heaven, where, oh where, have we arrived but not at the very ditch of rotting moral fiber? Turn the proverbial soil upon it my friend before we are all dragged there down! Is not the cast that, by its words, claims independence and the caste that, by their actions, claim entitlement one in the same? In all this is argued to you, dear neighbor, that a politician need not secure ANY PROGRESS if the objective is to stay put. And stay put they all have for far too long. The distance from the true needs of the constituency has lengthened to beyond the horizon, while the depth of political trickery has buried the original causes and intentions of the representatives.
We no longer have genuine individuals who confidently connect to our needs; rather, we suffer the misery of a misguided and out of touch legislature that pushes an AGENDA OF SELF FULFILLMENT at the expense (and such expense is meant figurative and literal) of the very constituents to whom they took the oath of service.
Patriots, believers in democracy, and supporters of reform in Hoboken, we must unite and take action! We must eject the limp corpses of elected officials who are still yet fiery red with the fury of self-fulfillment. You and I must together UNITE AND RESIST those who silently claim to believe themselves entitled to the fruits that are due all of us in reasoned moderation based on sound policy. We must do this or watch Hoboken plummet back into the wicked, evil, corrupt ways of the past.
No, "Old Hoboken" is a lie, and the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement- or the foot soldier betrothed thereto - who stops you on the street, in the deli, or at the polls to convince you otherwise in hopes of your vote, is a liar.
No, City Council is corrupted, and it must be purged this Spring of the putrid, unscrupulous members who once promised to represent all our best interests but have since then taken the twisted path of self-preservation by endowment, strategic stagnation, feigning a champion, and treachery!
February 14, 2011
Old Hoboken Is A Lie (Pamphlet #1)
There is no such thing as "Old Hoboken". It is as clear as the day is bright that there simply cannot be an "Old Hoboken". If it were true, where does one draw the line between old and new? Are you "Old Hoboken" only if you were born and raised here? If so, then yuppie infants must be "Old Hoboken" and residents who lived here through six mayors but their first few years elsewhere are disqualified. Are you "Old Hoboken" if you have an ethnic last name, or if you went to High School here, or if your parents lived through the burning of their tenement homes by property owners bent on driving them out while the city government looked the other way? Who's to say? And who's to tell you that you are or are not "Old Hoboken"?
The people who attempt to divide us and make us enemies with this lie pretend "Old Hoboken" exists, but they will never give you a proper, unbending definition, because the truth of the term lay not in your loyalty to our fair city; rather, the definition lay in whether or not you support THEM.
If "Old Hoboken" exists at all, it is just as that - will you support WITHOUT DEFINITION those who preach that "Old Hoboken" must be protected and preserved. Beware Citizens! Those who approach you to peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie embarrass your dignity and toy with your heartstrings to their advantage and for their lust of power.
So what is the real harbinger that divides our wonderful city? T.Paine believes the true division that motivates the solicitors of the "Old Hoboken" lie is much less prideful and much more egregious. It is a belief that was once before stamped out when this great nation was first made independent from the disingenuous monarchies of the Old World, but has crept back in to our city over decades of political decay until "Old Hoboken" was run just the same as the kingdoms of the Old World. Those kingdoms took the fruits of the people's labor and enriched the elite few who were of aristocratic lineage, or to whom were willed to support and pledge faith and allegiance.
Yes, the true division is a belief that is categorically anti-American and anti-democratic. In a word, the division of our city is an archaic, aristocratic belief in ENTITLEMENT. Those who cruelly tempt the faithful notions of honest citizens with the "Old Hoboken" lie believe they are part of an elite minority that deserves to collect and control the riches of our great city simply because they've either controlled city government or managed to climb up into some position of power through its most corrupt era. They brazenly take from us all without concern, and subsidize the lives of themselves, their families, and those who support them in the absence of fair policy.
The so-called "Entitlement Class" believes that because they have managed to gain this power, they are unquestionably entitled to hold on to it and do with it what they will, at the great expense of the masses who pay taxes and wonder how a city so rich can suffer through so much misery and misdirection.
With corrupt roots so deep, not even the 2003 arrest of a mayor at the core of that new aristocracy and responsible for much of that misery could halt the harm to the city. That family, perverted by an undemocratic belief in entitlement, enriched itself through graft, trading contracts for campaign contributions and side deals whose impact would last for decades. Even the apparent incidental benefits to the citizens, such as an expanded but decrepit waterfront and privatized but unmaintained water infrastructure system, still serve as an expensive reminder of the ongoing legacy of corruption that has spoiled and distracted the advancement of our beautiful city.
That mayor's son, now seeking to regain a throne of totalitarian rule, is a skilled charlatan who carries the torch for the father, but he is not alone in his treacherous endeavor. No, he is backed by a dense legacy of embedded family within Hoboken's government. With him on the City Council is his father's cousin who frequently espouses the "Old Hoboken" lie. His brother and her husband serve on the police force, while his uncle is Chief Financial Officer. Around that nucleus of power are the soldiers and their families that have invested so much into Hoboken's OTHER SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT and sing the colorful melody of greener pastures whence they regain their power. Take care fellow Hobokenite! A family dynasty installed through nepotism rather than merit endures and, crouching like a tiger waiting to pounce, positions itself for the upcoming opportunity to devastate the yearling fawn of reform that has only but recently felt the warmth of a healthful spring sun and yet matured so much.
The aristocratic notions of Hoboken's wretched Entitlement Class are nothing short of the same wicked mentality that was overthrown by revolutions throughout the world a century ago, returned in a masked form that pretends to be a familiar democratic government yet is far from that pretense.
To find the most callous and committed leaders of the Entitlement Class, look no further than the entrenched members of City Council who desperately cling to their remaining positions of power with an eye to return to their aristocratic-minded reign. When they successfully installed a young, charismatic leader in 2009, it was feared that the revolution of reform would suffer a major, if not terminal, loss. “...they get ground into powder.” said he at that time about his adversaries.
The mentality of the Entitlement Class has always been, is vividly now, and always will be of that mode. But those who are steeped in greed and self-interest are also often careless and rarely learn from past mistakes. Despite the arrest of that previous mayor in 2003 for nearly identical crimes against us all, this new leader of the Entitlement Class was almost instantly exposed for taking bribes from developers and dethroned. They of that entitled way of thought were then nearly squashed by the dramatic and true revolution of reform that has advanced our city further in less than two years than our city has moved in two decades under the regimes of entitlement. But, with the financial backing of a disgraceful and pride-bent traitor who once claimed to wave the banner of reform herself, the Entitlement Class has recently rallied so that they now have majority control of City Council. They are preparing for an onslaught this Spring to stamp out the fragile revolution of reform. Where will you stand fellow Hobokenite?
Those who believe the “Old Hoboken” lie are but pawns of the much smaller and self-interested Entitlement Class. “Support them...”, they proffer in gross disregard to the laws of our nation and the fundamental philosophies of our democratic system, “...and you will be rewarded for your allegiance with gifts of subsidy beyond merit,” while the balance of our city is propped to appear living until all of that Entitlement Class are done feeding from the trough.
But how much will be enough, and for how long must you pledge allegiance to a monarch and a system that flaunts itself in the face of all that is American? Unfortunate it is that so many good Hobokenites are fooled into believing the "Old Hoboken" lie, and thinking that they are a part of a seemingly righteous clique when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. What is fortunate, though, is that we are so many and the peddlers of the "Old Hoboken" lie are but a small, misguided few. Only your will to act is needed to make the purge.
Patriots, believers in democracy, and supporters of reform in Hoboken, we must unite and take action! All of us must stand guard against those who try to split us with the emotional yet illegitimate mantra of the "Old Hoboken" lie. You and I must together unite and resist those who silently claim to believe themselves entitled to the fruits that are due all of us in reasoned moderation based on sound policy. We must do this or watch Hoboken plummet back into the wicked, evil, corrupt ways of the past. No, "Old Hoboken" is a lie, and the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement- or the foot soldier betrothed thereto - who stops you on the street, in the deli, or at the polls to convince you otherwise in hopes of your vote, is a liar.
The people who attempt to divide us and make us enemies with this lie pretend "Old Hoboken" exists, but they will never give you a proper, unbending definition, because the truth of the term lay not in your loyalty to our fair city; rather, the definition lay in whether or not you support THEM.
If "Old Hoboken" exists at all, it is just as that - will you support WITHOUT DEFINITION those who preach that "Old Hoboken" must be protected and preserved. Beware Citizens! Those who approach you to peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie embarrass your dignity and toy with your heartstrings to their advantage and for their lust of power.
So what is the real harbinger that divides our wonderful city? T.Paine believes the true division that motivates the solicitors of the "Old Hoboken" lie is much less prideful and much more egregious. It is a belief that was once before stamped out when this great nation was first made independent from the disingenuous monarchies of the Old World, but has crept back in to our city over decades of political decay until "Old Hoboken" was run just the same as the kingdoms of the Old World. Those kingdoms took the fruits of the people's labor and enriched the elite few who were of aristocratic lineage, or to whom were willed to support and pledge faith and allegiance.
Yes, the true division is a belief that is categorically anti-American and anti-democratic. In a word, the division of our city is an archaic, aristocratic belief in ENTITLEMENT. Those who cruelly tempt the faithful notions of honest citizens with the "Old Hoboken" lie believe they are part of an elite minority that deserves to collect and control the riches of our great city simply because they've either controlled city government or managed to climb up into some position of power through its most corrupt era. They brazenly take from us all without concern, and subsidize the lives of themselves, their families, and those who support them in the absence of fair policy.
The so-called "Entitlement Class" believes that because they have managed to gain this power, they are unquestionably entitled to hold on to it and do with it what they will, at the great expense of the masses who pay taxes and wonder how a city so rich can suffer through so much misery and misdirection.
With corrupt roots so deep, not even the 2003 arrest of a mayor at the core of that new aristocracy and responsible for much of that misery could halt the harm to the city. That family, perverted by an undemocratic belief in entitlement, enriched itself through graft, trading contracts for campaign contributions and side deals whose impact would last for decades. Even the apparent incidental benefits to the citizens, such as an expanded but decrepit waterfront and privatized but unmaintained water infrastructure system, still serve as an expensive reminder of the ongoing legacy of corruption that has spoiled and distracted the advancement of our beautiful city.
That mayor's son, now seeking to regain a throne of totalitarian rule, is a skilled charlatan who carries the torch for the father, but he is not alone in his treacherous endeavor. No, he is backed by a dense legacy of embedded family within Hoboken's government. With him on the City Council is his father's cousin who frequently espouses the "Old Hoboken" lie. His brother and her husband serve on the police force, while his uncle is Chief Financial Officer. Around that nucleus of power are the soldiers and their families that have invested so much into Hoboken's OTHER SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT and sing the colorful melody of greener pastures whence they regain their power. Take care fellow Hobokenite! A family dynasty installed through nepotism rather than merit endures and, crouching like a tiger waiting to pounce, positions itself for the upcoming opportunity to devastate the yearling fawn of reform that has only but recently felt the warmth of a healthful spring sun and yet matured so much.
The aristocratic notions of Hoboken's wretched Entitlement Class are nothing short of the same wicked mentality that was overthrown by revolutions throughout the world a century ago, returned in a masked form that pretends to be a familiar democratic government yet is far from that pretense.
To find the most callous and committed leaders of the Entitlement Class, look no further than the entrenched members of City Council who desperately cling to their remaining positions of power with an eye to return to their aristocratic-minded reign. When they successfully installed a young, charismatic leader in 2009, it was feared that the revolution of reform would suffer a major, if not terminal, loss. “...they get ground into powder.” said he at that time about his adversaries.
The mentality of the Entitlement Class has always been, is vividly now, and always will be of that mode. But those who are steeped in greed and self-interest are also often careless and rarely learn from past mistakes. Despite the arrest of that previous mayor in 2003 for nearly identical crimes against us all, this new leader of the Entitlement Class was almost instantly exposed for taking bribes from developers and dethroned. They of that entitled way of thought were then nearly squashed by the dramatic and true revolution of reform that has advanced our city further in less than two years than our city has moved in two decades under the regimes of entitlement. But, with the financial backing of a disgraceful and pride-bent traitor who once claimed to wave the banner of reform herself, the Entitlement Class has recently rallied so that they now have majority control of City Council. They are preparing for an onslaught this Spring to stamp out the fragile revolution of reform. Where will you stand fellow Hobokenite?
Those who believe the “Old Hoboken” lie are but pawns of the much smaller and self-interested Entitlement Class. “Support them...”, they proffer in gross disregard to the laws of our nation and the fundamental philosophies of our democratic system, “...and you will be rewarded for your allegiance with gifts of subsidy beyond merit,” while the balance of our city is propped to appear living until all of that Entitlement Class are done feeding from the trough.
But how much will be enough, and for how long must you pledge allegiance to a monarch and a system that flaunts itself in the face of all that is American? Unfortunate it is that so many good Hobokenites are fooled into believing the "Old Hoboken" lie, and thinking that they are a part of a seemingly righteous clique when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. What is fortunate, though, is that we are so many and the peddlers of the "Old Hoboken" lie are but a small, misguided few. Only your will to act is needed to make the purge.
Patriots, believers in democracy, and supporters of reform in Hoboken, we must unite and take action! All of us must stand guard against those who try to split us with the emotional yet illegitimate mantra of the "Old Hoboken" lie. You and I must together unite and resist those who silently claim to believe themselves entitled to the fruits that are due all of us in reasoned moderation based on sound policy. We must do this or watch Hoboken plummet back into the wicked, evil, corrupt ways of the past. No, "Old Hoboken" is a lie, and the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement- or the foot soldier betrothed thereto - who stops you on the street, in the deli, or at the polls to convince you otherwise in hopes of your vote, is a liar.
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