Are we repeating the mistakes of Vietnam?

I want to share some material from newsman Bob Schieffer’s recent book “Face the Nation”. On page 87 he quotes President Nixon’s chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman commenting to the President on the implications of the printing of the “Pentagon Papers” in the NY Times the day before - “Out of the gobbledygook, comes a very clear thing … you can’t trust the government, you can not believe what they say and you can’t rely on their judgment. And, the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America is badly hurt by this because it shows that people do things the President wants to do even though it is wrong and the President can be wrong.”

The “Pentagon Papers” was a top-secret government document that was released to the press by Daniel Ellsberg, a think tank analyst and a Vietnam veteran, that detailed the decision making process of policy makers in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who had taken the county to war in Vietnam. The report indicated that time and again, over years of the war, those government officials lied to us. The favorable reports of real progress and achievement were in direct contradiction of the facts and in what they themselves truly knew and believed. We all know the results of that deception.

Sound familiar?

We are constantly hearing conflicting reports of success in Iraq, but all we see are more of our kids and Iraq citizens dieing, enormous amounts of money being spent, no relief from high gasoline prices, and lots of money being made by defense contractors and Exxon. However we see no near end of the war, which has already lasted longer then WW II, in sight! And we really do not have a clear and believable reason for continuing.

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:

Jay Leno: "It's getting pretty nasty out there on the campaign trail. This week, Hillary Clinton referred to Vice President Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. And today, he demanded an apology -- not Dick Cheney, Darth Vader."

Jay Leno: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "'There are 300 million people in America with many different points of view.' As opposed to Iran, which has 70 million people who aren't allowed any point of view."

Until next time.

Ben

BB Downtown Gets Money To Help Restart After Flood

Bound Brook's downtown business community received some welcome aide from unexpected sources. Not from where you would most expect - not from government sources - but from fellow businessmen.

Grainger, a Fortune 500 company and a perennial member of Fortune magazine's Most Admired Companies list provided $1,515.15 checks to individual Bound Brook, NJ Business entities on Main Street that suffered catastrophic losses during the April 15, 2007 flood. Among criteria for receiving the funds was the likelihood of continued presence in Bound Brook.Partnering with Grainger was the Somerset Business Partnership that awarded these same businesses a one year paid membership in the Partnership.Video clips of the presentation at the Van Horne Plaza downtown can be viewed by scrolling down to the two screens below and clicking on each clip.
Until next time
Ben

Jay Leno: "Well, the Republicans had their 789th debate last night. The big issue, of course, was the war in Iraq, and the candidates were split over it. Some Republicans were in favor of it. The other Republicans were really, really in favor of it”

Bound Brook Police Department National Night Out Against Crime

The Bound Brook Police Department hosted this year's National Night Out Against Crime at Codrington Park. It is really a good community "meet your neighbor" event. There were plenty of kids enjoying the activities accompanied by quite a few adults. The food and drink was plentiful - they wanted to be certain that they did not run out of food like the previous year - and no one was disappointed. The police Department is to be commended for doing this for our community.

Everyone was super friendly and the Police Dept seemed to have ample volunteer helpers. The police were also signing up neighborhood watch activists and had a table loaded with crime prevention brochures and a manual for neighborhood watch procedures. I urge all citizens to contact the Bound Brook Police Department to get more information about the program. Citizen safety and security is a major concern for all of us, particularly in light of the recent accounts of home break-ins and increased crime in nearby communities, (thankfully, Bound Brook has not been targeted) but prevention is better than correction!

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:

Jay Leno: "It seems a brain-injured man who had been in a coma for the last six years, is now awake, eating and speaking with his family. In fact, you know what you call a man who has been in a coma for the last six years? 'Mr. President.'"

Until Till next time - Ben

June 7, 2007

You gotta see it to believe it!
At 8:00 AM this morning I looked up into the sky and viewed the above scene over our Bound Brook.

Looked like the morning rush hour in the sky. We have all heard the complaints about airplane flight patterns and how they would create annoying noise (and possibly potential harm) – but I never could grasp the extent of the problem that they were talking about.

I did some research and turned up the “New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise”(NJCAAN) and looking at the maps on their website -à http://www.njcaan.org/ I discovered that we are very near the heavy traffic routes and directly under the incoming traffic holding patterns. NJCAAN is a volunteer citizens group working to address airport and airplane noise pollution by promoting:

• Aircraft routes that limit flights over residential area; and



• 
  The use of quieter Stage 3 and Stage 4 aircraft.

NJCAAN's airspace proposals rely on the use of industrial areas, ocean airspace, higher altitudes and other procedures for noise abatement. These proposals bring significant relief to over one million citizens affected by aircraft noise from Newark International Airport; to Bergen and Passaic County residents affected by LaGuardia International Airport; and to Monmouth and Ocean County residents affected by Kennedy International Airport.

NJCAAN believes that the FAA never seriously considered Ocean Routing and deliberately excluded it from a broader redesign alternative. In addition, the FAA completely excluded identifying noise abatement procedures to be included with its alternatives in the draft report for the project. As a result, it completely ignored the public's number one concern: AIRCRAFT NOISE ABATEMENT.

It never bothered me, but my son Dave lives in San Diego and is right under a flight path. Several times a day the noise overhead is so bad you cannot talk on the telephone! I recall thinking that I could never live in that place.

Seems like the critics might have something to be concerned about. This situation bears watching! (I couldn’t resist!)

Any Volunteers?

It would really be great if at least 1 of the 11,000 Bound Brook citizens would volunteer to keep an eye on the situation for us and alert our government officials and us when it may become necessary to take some action to ward off any increasing problems. Contact me and I will explain what you could do and get you “Official representative” status. It should not take much of your time and it would be an easy way to perform a public service.

The Latest From Late Night Comedians

Jay Leno - "Scooter Libby has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, even though he is a good friend of Vice President Dick Cheney. Hey, he got off easy. Cheney's other friend got shot in the face."

Until next time - Ben

Today I start my first attempt at creating and maintaining a blog. I intend to comment about the political scene, what is happening in government, and what we as a political party in Bound Brook are doing.

I am happy to see our first successful 2007 campaign event come to a successful conclusion with the official Democratic Party nomination of our candidate for Mayor of Bound Brook - Javier Vasquez. I personally feel comfortable with a man as dedicated to serving Bound Brook as Javier. He is the only current councilman who we see at almost all public events in town. He has demonstrated a willingness to study issues and actually take action - not just fill a seat at the council table. He is always respectful and courteous and I can not imagine him ever embarrassing us or being argumentative, combative or abusive. He simply is interested in meeting his responsibilities and truly cares. That's the kind of person that I want looking after our interests as our Mayor.

Until - next time, Ben