Free Will is the root of all evil…

We live in such a schizophrenic world.

And, it’s each individual’s unique array of opinions that is the DNA of this mass-schizophrenia.

With so many issues dividing us, so many individual interests to appease, what’s a global society to do?

I think that it all boils down to free-will and and how free-will forms our opinions.

If God had wanted, He could have made us all love Him and He could have also made us all get along.

But He clearly did not do this when He created free-will.

For without free-will our love for Him and each other would be wonderful but meaningless.

Is being forced to love the same as loving through your own free-will?

For love to be true, there has to be free-will.

And so, this thing we call free-will seems to be at the root of all of our problems and stands in the way of so many things in so many ways.

The list is too long to even start.

Is free-will therefore evil?

Is free-will the Devil?

I guess it’s all how it’s used…

My Future Exodus

I feel as though we are on the verge of a mass-migration.

This migration is going to consist of people who have stopped being upwardly mobile that feel as though the dam is cracking and its time to go.

The change in thinking is in large part thanks to the Great Recession.

We now have downsized incomes, downsized credit lines and meanwhile local governments keep raising the ante.

Of course people with children want their schools to be the best.

And it turns out that people with children end up taking the political reigns of their communities.

And, people with children can always justify spending money when it benefits the children.

This includes having state of the art facilities, top-notch teachers and environments that are intended to replace the nurturing that they themselves continuosly fail to provide their children.

I don’t blame the children.

Collectively we do need to provide great opportunity for all children and also care for each and every one of them no matter what their individual “issue” may be.

And, no matter what the cost!

Which is why people with children will tend to migrate towards these high tax areas in order to give their children everything that they deserve; which they do! Willingly!

This migration in turn drives up the taxes in those areas even more and then the ante goes up once again.

And as the ante goes up, people will fold.

When I fold I’m going to go where the land is cheap, the taxes are low and thanks to technology, where I can still get every television channel and a cell phone signal and where I can do all of my shopping via the Internet with next day delivery.

Why don’t I go now?

Because my son is still in school.

The Legend of JoJo the Jackrabbit

Once upon a time in a big field west of a large forest, a Jackrabbit named JoJo grew up in a lush Strawberry patch. JoJo was a very lucky Jackrabbit who came from a wonderful family that was always very nice to him but JoJo turned out to be a bit of a wild rabbit, hopping around from place to place and usually getting into some sort of mischief….

Not far from the Strawberry patch where JoJo grew up, was a Rasberry patch where a girl bunny rabbit grew up named BeeKee. She was also a really lucky rabbit from another great family and like JoJo she too was a bit of wild rabbit at times but the two of them never met even though they played in the same field for all of their childhood.

Amazingly enough, JoJo and BeeKee even went to the same elementary rabbit school but never knew each other and they were only one grade apart for over 7 years until JoJo got sent away to bad rabbit reform school. JoJo even knew some of BeeKees friends, but he didn’t know BeeKee at all.

When JoJo was young a young rabbit, he had big dreams. JoJo thought that he was going to grow up to be a rich rabbit and that everything was going to be easy in life. All JoJo wanted to do was to set out and see the countryside and happen upon his fortune.

BeeKee, on the other hand was content with living in the field and was happy staying at home and being with all of the rabbit friends that she had grown up with. BeeKee had lots of really good friends and the longer that she stayed in the field, the more friends that she made. She was a great friend to have too, because she always cared about her friends and they cared about her too.

JoJo on the other hand, didn’t have many friends around home since he was not interested in staying in the field. His friends were all from faraway places making him want to get out of the field as much as possible.

So there they were, growing up so close to one another and yet never knowing one another.

During one of his journeys away from the field, JoJo met a bunny that he thought he wanted to start a family with. He married the bunny but there was a lot of trouble in the place where they settled. They did have a wonderful little boy leveret (which is a baby rabbit in case you didn’t know) that JoJo adored more than anything else in the entire world. But JoJo’s bad bunny ways and his wanderlust to see the countryside didn’t quite fit in with the way that his son’s mother wanted things to be, so she and JoJo decided to part ways.

Meanwhile, back in the field, Beekee was busy making even more friends.

So, even though JoJo hated to leave his son, he went back out into the wilderness to wonder around some more. He had fun for a few months but then realized that being close to his son was the only important thing in life so he found a nearby hole to crawl into and set up camp. Fortunately, it was back in the field where he grew up, and not far from where his son was living.

Things got pretty boring in his rabbit hole so JoJo decided to head out and visit a cave that he used to hang out at when he was a younger rabbit. It was a big cave where lots of bunnies would go called Chrones Cavern. When JoJo’s mother heard that he was hanging out at Chrone’s Cavern she wasn’t very happy. She had heard that there were a lot of Biker bunnies that hung out there and even though that used to be true, the bad Biker Bunnies had long since left and the place had turned into quite the respectable establishment.

So, as JoJo would go to Chrones Cavern, he met BeeKee for the first time. He thought BeeKee was very nice and she would always listened attentively to his tale of woe. She listened to him tell her how he had wanted to wonder off and make his fortune and see the countryside but now he realized that there were much more important things than money and that his son bunny came first.

Apparently BeeKee thought that these were fine qualities in a JackRabbit and she continued to talk to JoJo and be his friend. If he had been a shallow rabbit at one time in his life, to her he seemed like he had changed.

One day, when BeeKee and her friends had destroyed the hole that they were living in with all the social gathering they had there, BeeKee asked all of her friends frp, Chrones Cavern to help her move to a new rabbit hole in the next town over which was owned by a police rabbit friend of hers. She asked JoJo if he could help too, but he couldn’t because he had his son that night and he didn’t want to miss any time with him.

Feeling sorry that he couldn’t help out, JoJo bought BeeKee a housewarming gift, which BeeKee must have thought was very sweet because she invited him over to her new rabbit hole for a really nice dinner of carrots and cauliflower.

Being a bachelor rabbit again, JoJo jumped at the opportunity and seeing what a wonderful dinner BeeKee had prepared he thought that he had died and gone to rabbit heaven.

That night as JoJo left, he rubbed noses which BeeKee to show her how much he appreciated the amount of care that must have gone into making that dinner.

And from that night forward, they became the best of friends and JoJo knew that BeeKee was a very special rabbit for she always let JoJo do the things he needed to do and be with his son. Over time she became good friends with JoJo’s son as well.

So, as the months rolled by and the friendship grew, it grew into much more. Slowly at first, but it just kept growing.

It wasn’t always easy…and JoJo had a lot of things to worry about during those early years but BeeKee was always there for him.

It took a while for JoJo to get things together, but BeeKee knew that if she let JoJo do what JoJo needed to do, that he was really a pretty good rabbit deep down inside and worth sticking around for.

And so JoJo fell in love with BeeKee and knew that he had found a rabbit that loved him for who he was, that would let him travel the countryside when he needed to and who even helped out with his son when he was away.

And even though BeeKee had never traveled much before she met JoJo, she started to travel to far away places with him so that he could get it out his system and she quickly learned that going places was really fun too and now they do it all the time.

She also found JoJo funny.

The other rabbits didn’t know that JoJo was a funny rabbit when he wanted to be; but BeeKee knew.

So now, JoJo and BeeKee have the best of both worlds. They live close to the Strawberry Patch and the Raspberry Patch where they grew up, they are close to JoJo’s son, which is so important to both of them, and they travel to far away places and always have lots of fun.

And after 10 years of being the best of friends they decided to get married and to spend the rest of their lives together hopping around, rabbit foot in rabbit foot, looking for adventure wherever they go.

 So, the moral of this story?

Is, you don’t need to look very far to find love. Sometimes it’s right next to you and you never even see it. But, when you least expect it, there it is. Right where you’ve been all along.

American drivers need to move over and get out of the way!

I have grown tired of seeing people of all ages, sexes, races and creeds plodding along in the far left and middle lanes as if no one else on the road had anyplace better to be than behind them.  Is it ignorance, arrogance, obstinacy, or something else? Regardless, it seems to personify the American mentality of no-one-else-matters-but-me.

Granted they may be doing the speed limit, but they are certainly not following the law.

As New Jersey law requires:

On a multi-lane roadway, motorists must drive in the lane nearest to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway when the lane is available for travel, except when overtaking another vehicle or in preparation for a left turn. (N.J.S.A. 39:4-88)

And so, with much of our police effort focused on speeders and on people that drive while talking on their cell phones, I propose enforcing the law that already exists about staying to the right and do so just as vigorously as the others. Besides raising untold amounts of revenue, we could help rid the roadways of much of their congestion. 

Perhaps we can humble a few of those road hogs at the same time.

Possible Sale of Former Elm Street School Considered

(Reprinted with Permission)

After comments were made on March 23 by Superintendent Margaret Dolan about the possible sale of the Board of Education’s Headquarters on Elm Street, formerly the Elm Street Middle School and one-time High School, ideas have been bandied about concerning the possible uses of the property.

At a recent social gathering of local residents, ideas about what to do with the property ranged from low income housing, luxury condominiums and even to use the property for the long awaited parking deck project. As the conversation continued long into the evening, the debate got heated when people discussed losing the original structure and its historic importance to the community and its residents.

“We need low income housing in town” said one guest anonymously in fear of reprisal from other residents who he assumes would be vehemently opposed. “We spend so much money on our Mount Laurel obligation it’s about time we try to lessen that burden.” They added that Westfield’s homogeneous socio economic composition could be enhanced by letting working class families live in the center of town.

“That guy is nuts” commented another member. “What we need are luxury condominiums for senior citizens since they don’t have kids in school and they can afford to pay the already high taxes that Westfield has.” The idea of relieving the property taxes in town by converting a non-tax-paying property into a ratable seemed to be very popular with most attendees. By converting the property into a tax paying parcel the property could easily generate an additional million or more dollars per year that could feed the Board of Ed or other municipal agencies.

“Knowing this town they’ll take the money and hire more meter maids” said one person who obviously had no love for meter maids.

Putting a Parking Deck on the location could be a good use of the property commented a few people particularly in light of the Super Stop & Shop that plans to come to the intersection across the street. It is estimated that the Super Shop & Shop will bring an additional 500 to 1000 cars to the area per day and will strain an already overstressed parking environment.

One resident of Elm Street already has plans to capitalize on the new Super Market by setting up thier own private parking lot in their back yard. They anticipate making enough money in a year to pay at least part of their annual property tax liablity.

One commentator stated that coverting the school property into a for-profit parking lot could generate rent for the town as well as property taxes and would also allow the town to avoid the cost of building it themselves.  By putting the deck at that location it would encourage foot traffic through the town as people walked to the train station which should be good for the local businesses commented another.

“It’s such a pretty building with so much history” said a former teacher who worked there for many years in the 60s and 70s. People don’t know that there used to be a tunnel that went over to the playing fields that was filled in after it started to fall apart.  “It needs to be set aside as part of Historic Westfield.”

“It’s all about the Education Budget and those lifetime medical benefits” shouted someone from the back of the room.

No matter what happens to the property it’s clear that Westfield has a very large ditch to dig itself out of regarding its Board of Education Budget. “Since most teachers are unwilling to give into any concessions and would rather see the children suffer and lose out on their educations, it’s unlikely that the ditch will get filled in” said an unemployed bank executive who has been on unemployment for the last year. He added, “If our taxes go any higher I’ll be forced to move to someplace like Garwood or Kenilworth and have my children resent me for the rest of their lives” which was met by a collective sympathetic groan by everyone in the room.

Whatever happens, this is surely only the beginning of the debate.

Westfield Residents Take Back Their Town!

Another story that I came across…

Angry Westfield residents have decided to do something once and for all about the unruly children that have taken over Mindowaskin Park as well as other iconic landmarks of their beloved town. Starting next Friday night members of the Westfield Evermore Society for Unequivocally Controlling Kids will be placing individuals in Mindowaskin Park and other locations known for adolescent malfeasance. The sentries will be armed with cell phones and cameras in order to catch any children that are committing crimes such as smoking, drinking, reckless skateboarding as well as any other heinous activities too vile to mention.

A Mr. Robert Help has been the most vocal about the offenses and wants to close the park altogether.

In support of Mr. Help, an employee of the Westfield Municipal department has spoken anonymously on the subject and stated, “Those kids are out of control! They hide in the bushes, they share a pack of cigarettes between 15 kids and they overflow the recycle bins with empty beer cans and bottles and they don’t even care that they often put their garbage in the same bins as the recyclables”.

“We simply can’t close the Park because a couple of kids want to be kids.” said Henrietta Tolerenta who grew up in town. “I remember when we were kids and we did the exact same thing. Only, when we got caught, the cops made you pour out your beer and threaten to call your folks if you didn’t scatter all at once which we did and we would go find someplace better to hang out like somebody’s house whose parents were away.”

The Westfield Police Department did not respond to phone calls about the allegations but an officer was seen sleeping in their car near the area where the activities have been occurring in an apparent stake out.

“Given the close proximity of the Police Station to the activity it seems as though it could be better controlled if there was a real need to control it” said one passerby. “The fact that most of the kids are from town and that Westfield has been sued in the past for harassing the children by some of the more prominent parents could be one reason why the police have not acted.”

If the members of the Evermore Society have their way, they are going to post the names and picture of each child they catch on their new website entitled seethembeforecollege.com which is intended to give colleges a real time perspective of the things that their applicants may be doing.

“We’ll have them in court for slander” said one father of a teenager who has had trouble with the Evermore Society in the past. “Just because my child wants to have fun doesn’t mean that some group of do-gooders can hurt their chances of an Ivy League education.”

Another concerned parent has stated that they will be there to offer support to the children by offering them something to eat while they try to get drunk. In their words “Children just need a little guidance. It’s not like they have a bartender to cut them off like adults do. By offering them food we’ll help teach them how to drink more responsibly.”

And so, the debate heats up! Will the ultra conservatives like Mr. Help prevail and see that that the town closes places like Mindowaskin in order to curtail juvenile delinquency?

Or, will the parents of these ultra-coddled, soft and spoiled children continue to let their kids run wild in the streets?

Only time will tell!

A follow up story will be available after Friday night’s surveillance initiative.

J’apprends le Français

Yes, it’s true. I am doing my best to learn French. I have been listening to Pimsleur religiously in the car back and forth to my new job at ADP in Dayton, New Jersey.

The commute really isn’t that bad since I hop on the Parkway South to the Turnpike South and my office is right off of Exit 8A. With the Turnpike moving along like the German Autobahn, I get there in no time.

What this extra hour a day has afforded me is a great time to practice speaking French but learning it this way has not taught me how to read or write French at all. I’m not worried about that since I do not have any plans of reading it or writing it anyway as my goal is to simply learn enough French to converse better when Kerry and I travel back to France or perhaps up to Quebec in the hopefully near future. Once I learn that much French I’m going to learn the same basic material in German.

One of my newest learning tools has been working out quite nicely. I found a website that is France’s equivalent to our QVC or Home Shopping Network. Besides being an excellent way to watch TV in French and being able to figure out the subject matter very easily, the women are all supermodels and make the time spent learning rather fun.

The other Internet resource that I am really enjoying is the Anneberg program French in Action that has 52 half hour videos that are likewise done completely in French but in such a way that they are really easy to follow and learn. It uses the Capretz method of French Immersion. The storyline is rather cheesy but its cute. There are scenes where the guy keeps hitting on the girl relentlessly until she says “absolument pas” and storms away!

My goal is to spend at least 30 minutes a day watching or listening to the French language being spoken even though I do not understand what they are saying. I am able to pull out words or phrases that I do understand and then I seem able to figure out a few words around the ones that I understand.

Au revoir!

Let’s Advertise This More

This is what happens when someone gets caught buying guns illegally for someone else. I hope that they make an example of this event because if they do, they might not have to make it so hard for law-abiding citizens to exercise their own rights.

Buying a gun for someone else that should not own a gun should be an even more severely punished crime than it is now! Furthermore, if the gun is later found to have been used in a crime, then the straw purchaser should be held responsible for the crime as if they did it themselves.

I bet it wouldn’t happen anymore.

This is a Federal Offense!

Westfield NJ Woman Gets 15 Years For Aiding Killer

WESTFIELD LEADER– A Westfield woman was charged last month with making false statements to purchase a firearm for a person who was prohibited from possessing it, announced United States Attorney Michael Levy.

Emily Joy Gross, 24, has been charged with one count of making false statements in connection with the purchase of a firearm, and one count of aiding and abetting a prohibited person to possess a firearm.

According to news reports, Daniel Autenrieth, 31, led police on a 40-mile highway chase, from outside Easton, Pa. to the Poconos, after Autenrieth kidnapped his nine-year-old son at gunpoint from the boy’s mother at her townhouse in Nazareth, Pa. following an argument. Autenrieth shot and killed Pennsylvania State Trooper Joshua Miller, 34, and wounded a second trooper with the pistol allegedly purchased by Gross, police said. Autenrieth was killed during a shooting exchange with troopers who rescued the child at the start of the gun battle.

The child’s mother reportedly had an order of protection against Autenrieth. Because of the order, Autenrieth was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

The United States Attorney’s Office for Eastern Pennsylvania alleges that on May 29, Gross purchased a Taurus nine-millimeter pistol and ammunition from a store in Hamburg, Pa. Authorities said Gross falsely stated that she was living at an address in Pennsylvania when, in fact, she was living in Westfield.

In addition, Gross has been charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of the firearm by a person who was prohibited from possessing any firearm under federal law because he was subject to a Protection From Abuse Order.

If convicted, Gross could face a maximum possible sentence of 15 years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

East Bound and Down!

Like Smokey and The Bandit Kerry and I joined a convoy last weekend and although we weren’t hauling contraband Coors Beer, what we were hauling made us feel just as giddy!

We were hauling puppies!

We have recently joined up with a group that moves dogs around the country from kill-shelters to non-kill shelters and to foster homes. I never even knew that this was going on until speaking with a White Shepherd Rescue that has now approved us to be a foster home.

Kerry and I were both nervous at first not knowing what to expect but everything turned out great. We picked up our load (each dog referred to by weight) at a parking lot in Center Valley where we got them from a convoy of other vehicles who had arrived only minutes earlier from some spot further South.

We had a “40 pounder” and two “20 pounders”. One of the 20 pounders named Roger really caught Kerry’s eye but we were told it was bad transport etiquette to ask to keep one of your transport dogs. We still thought about it though…

At the stop in Pennsylvania we chatted about the dogs with the other drivers, loaded the dogs in our truck that was filled with cages and followed another car with 5 dogs in it North and East.

Not knowing that we needed slip leashes one of the members of the earlier transport team was nice enough to give Kerry and me a dozen new leashes still in their package wishing us good luck as the newest members of the group. We could tell this was a friendly bunch!

Our drive was only an hour or so North and East to Lafayette New Jersey to a very humble shelter named Father John’s Animal House. Everyone was thrilled when we arrived including the dogs and we felt great that our little friends were safe from the kill shelter that they left hopefully far behind.

It has invigorated Kerry and me to do more of this and we have already agreed to make another run next weekend from Basking Ridge New Jersey up to Bloomingdale New Jersey. Just a 30-minute ride for us but what will hopefully turn into a lifetime for a few little dogs in search of a home.

Helping dogs is becoming a true avocation and the feeling that it gives in return is well worth the effort. If anyone would like to get involved, please email me and I’ll let you know when the next run is.

How do people do it?

How do they push their pets, in this case two dogs, out the door and onto the street?

A friend of ours just called and said her friend picked up two dogs in Scotch Plains and took them to a vet only to find out that they were chipped. When she got the owner’s name and address from the chips, she showed up at their house expecting a happy reunion.

Instead, the owner said that they are going through a divorce and “quite frankly I opened up the door and kicked them out”.

Well, I’ll tell you what I feel like doing right now but this is a family oriented site.

So instead of risking possible incarceration, we’re manning the phones and trying to find a place for these dogs to go until we can assess the situation and find them homes.

Unbelievable!

What goes around comes around though…I hope the lawyers take all their money!