U. S. Tech Firms Help Squelch Freedom in Middle East

Thurgood Marshall, late Supreme Court Justice, on the 1st Amendment

Click here to view the Press Freedom Map, and you will see a world that is half colored in red.  It depicts countries which have severely restricted their citizens from enjoying freedom of the press and the use of the World Wide Web by employing U.S. designed and marketed Internet-blocking software.

This partitioning of freedom by country, as you can see from the map has created an East/West gulf in which entire continents – look at all those colored in red – are largely cut off from the rights which we enjoy in America under The First Amendment.

A quick glance shows a startling picture of the world, in which freedom of speech and of the press – while prevalent in locations such as North America, Western Europe, Australia, Japan, and South Korea – is heavily censored in many other parts of the globe.

Spring at the Capital’s Tidal Basin

Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin, yesterday.  (Photo/Bergeron)

When we drove into Washington, D.C., yesterday, it was to visit the Newseum on 

Pennsylvania Avenue.  

We also planned to check out the cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin, across from the Jefferson Memorial. 

Our main purpose, at least when we left the Schleckser home in Potomac, was to spend most of our time at the Newseum. 

As the name implies, it is a museum which houses a vast exhibit depicting the growth of news gathering and its dissemination to the public in every manner, from the early days of printing to our current – at times mind-numbing – array of media, Internet, and wireless forms of information.

To truly appreciate the graphical exhibits of how the distribution of news services grew in America, it can take a full day to enjoy and to absorb the wide variety of appealing and colorful displays. 

Crim Principal and Teachers Explain “Peer Buddy Program.”

Crim Principal, Mrs. Kerr, and Physical Education Teacher, Mr. Staudt

Tuesday evening, at the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education meeting in the conference room at the Wade Administration Building, the main topic seemed to be the passage of the district’s $129.5 million budget. 

There were no surprises, however, as that subject had pretty much been discussed and beaten down in prior meetings dating back to January.  The first round of the preliminary budget was first ready for presentation in December, 2010, even though it did not go before the public at that time.

Thus, the final budget version and the unanimous vote of approval by the Board on Tuesday, March 22, though not humdrum, was not unanticipated – that’s probably why a relatively small gathering of the public was present, and why nobody there came to the lectern to query the Board.

What I thought was the highlight of that meeting was a presentation by Mrs. Kerr, Principal of the Crim Elementary School, and two teachers, Mr. Staudt, a physical education teacher, and Mr. Nivison, a physical therapist.

Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Passes Final Budget

An assembly of about 25 gathered for tonight's meeting.

Following is a recap of two items relating to this evening’s regular meeting of the B-R BOE at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville.  The first item, the budget, was on the agenda.  The second item, negotiations, was not. 

2011-2012 School Budget.  Voting unanimously in the affirmative, the full Board passed a $129.5 million budget for the 2011-2012 school year which begins July 1^st, 2011.  Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael Schilder; and School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Peter Starrs, outlined a presentation which was, in essence, the same as the one given previously. 

In addition to the public budget information sessions already announced and still in progress at various schools in the district (see the school website for presentations still to occur), two more have been scheduled.

B-R BOE/Teacher Negotiations Continue; Board to Present Budget.

B-R BOE meets at John F. Kennedy school, Raritan, March 8, 2011

The negotiations team for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education last met with representatives of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (the teachers union) on March 8. No specific results from that meeting were announced.

Representing the School District on its negotiations team are Board President Jeffrey Brookner, Vice-President Evan Lerner, and Board Member Arvind Mathur. Board member Al Smith of Raritan consults with the team.

Mr. Brookner confirmed today that a professional negotiator, Anthony P. Sciarrillo, has been hired to advise the Board in its deliberations, as well as to participate in them. Mr. Sciarrillo is with the firm of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Couldn’t Help It!

Dear faithful readers, I hope that I’m not pushing my luck with you by providing another photo of a flower in quick succession from the other that appeared just a few days ago in the previous blog post. 

But I’m a sucker for the marvels of nature:  I spied a bee at work this afternoon, just after I had made several trips from the basement to get out my gardening tools. 

I was ready to begin trimming some of the perennial flowering shrubs which need to be cut down to allow fresh growth to take over in about six weeks:  That’s when I spotted the season’s first bee getting a jump on spring.

One of my mom’s favorite aphorisms was, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  I hope you like this one, so I’ll let it speak for itself.

Have a good weekend and take care of yourselves.  Thanks for reading.

(Click on the image for an enhanced view.)

A Beautiful Herald of Spring in Bridgewater.

Crocuses by the pin oak in the front yard.  (Image/Dick Bergeron)

Even if it’s just for a few moments, there are times when a person has to get away from the noise and conflict that we all tend to create for ourselves. The beauty of nature can help, because it has a way of quieting the soul from the dissonance of daily life.

Shortly after noon on Tuesday, after returning from a brisk walk and a long-overdue haircut, I secured the car in the driveway and decided to check on the status of the front-yard garden.

It is still quite somnolescent and weary from the effects of winter.  Nevertheless, at least one butterfly plant seemed to have shown early signs of greening in its bottom branches.  I think that it’s just teasing me with remnants from last fall.

About half of the plantings out front need to be cut close to the ground to make room for the new flowering growth that I am hoping for, come May and June.  I’ll start on those welcome outdoor chores soon, perhaps by the weekend, if favorable temperatures and clear skies prevail. 

Bridgewater Township Council Unanimously Passes Ordinance Affecting Mosque Plans

Mr. Norgalis presides over Bridgewater Council meeting.

At a special public meeting held in the auditorium of the Bridgewater-Raritan High school Tuesday evening, the Bridgewater Township Council, after hearing over three hours of comments from the public, passed an ordinance specifying which Bridgewater roadways are appropriate locations along which to site “country clubs, open air clubs, houses of worship, and schools,” based on the quality of site access.

The bottom line is that this zoning ordinance alters the Municipal Code in such a way that the backers of plans to build a Mosque on the site of the former Redwood Inn on Mountaintop Road in Bridgewater will have to regroup. 

They will either have to petition the Zoning Board for an exception to the zoning ordinance passed Tuesday evening, or they will have to seek another location in Bridgewater that meets the site requirements specified in the newly enacted ordinance.

Wisconsin: “Ground Zero” for Public Employee Unions?

TV Journalist among teachers. (Fox News screen shot by Bergeron.)

Hardly.   At least not until Jesse Jackson showed up in Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, to join the ranks of protesting teachers who congregated both inside and outside of that state’s capitol building. 

With his usual flair for over-dramatizing a situation, Jackson stood in the middle of a crowd – before a TV mike – and declared Madison to be “Ground Zero” for the union cause.

The term “Ground Zero” is an expression that should be reserved for cataclysmic events, after which few people are left standing or alive.  If Jackson doubts that, he should reflect upon the disaster which befell the occupants of the World Trade Towers on 9/11.

B-R BOE Contest Expands to 7 Candidates Vying for 3 Seats

All of my prognostications that the April 27^th School Board election for the choosing of candidates would be a quiet, uncontested event were wrong!

Since my last midday post, two other people have filed their papers:  Ann Marie Mead is contesting incumbent Al Smith for his seat representing Raritan; while Elizabeth Eisinger Lande of Bridgewater has added her name to those of Lisa Giranda and Barbara Kane, all three of whom are seeking to squeeze into two Bridgewater seats now occupied by incumbents Evan Lerner and Arthur Mathur.

Except for the incumbents who presented their papers in early to mid-February to the Board Secretary, all four challengers presented their nominating petitions today, the deadline for filing.

 As requested, I received a call from the office of Peter Starrs at the close of business today, confirming that these Bridgewater and Raritan residents constitute the final count of candidates for the B-R School Board. 

Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Contest Gains Momentum

In a last-minute move which may have caught veteran insiders and Board observers by surprise, Lisa Giranda and Barbara Kane have thrown their hats into the ring today as candidates representing Bridgewater on the B-R BOE.

Giranda is a former member of that Board, and Kane is a recently retired educator whose last position was as a supervisor of math and science within the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. 

Those two characteristics place them outside the usual profile of candidates.  It makes them strong contenders, because Giranda brings prior inside knowledge of how a board of education works, while Kane’s entire career as an educator has been within this school district.

New Jersey’s Money Well is Dry; yet the Pumping Continues.

When the money is no longer there, it simply is no longer there.  This has become painfully obvious as governmental entities attempt to bring state, local, and school board budgets under control, and away from their unsustainably high growth trend.

A person would have to have been in solitary isolation, away from TV, newspapers, and the Internet not to have been bombarded by the news of fiscal chaos in many of our large states, much of which is related to underfunded public pension and benefit plans.  In New Jersey, such plans are reported to be in the red by tens of billions, with no imminent consensus for improvement.

The blame game is in full swing, as Garden State politicians point at each other and, in some instances, at the public labor unions themselves. The unions, not without cause, accuse Trenton of not having adequately funded their public pension plans for years.

State Aid Prompts BR-BOE to Increase Budget; Taxes Increase

Steve Beatty, teachers' union head, asks for clarification of teacher stipends.

When Dr. Michael Schilder, Superintendent of Schools, gave the final version of the Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget for the fiscal year 2011-2012 at last night’s Board meeting, his mood was much lighter and upbeat than the somber presentation of January 25, during which he put forth a tentative budget of $127.9 million.  That number projected that state aid would be lowered by $807,933.

Last night, reflecting Trenton’s announcement of a $1,331,546 increase in state aid, together with the addition of several other fund items outlined in a PowerPoint slide under “Budget Reconciliation,” Schilder and the Budget Committee came forward with a final proposal of $129.5 million. 

That’s an increase of $1.6 million, or 1.3% from the prior tentative budget of $127.9 million.  The Board approved the upwardly revised $129.5 million, and you can expect to vote on it in April.