Ocean City gained notoriety for its idiotic Blue Laws, which designated Sunday as a day of no driving, no ocean bathing, no retail sales of any kind, no recreational activities.  I guess the only thing you were allowed to do was go to church …oops, walk to church.  In 1985 and ’86, most of the remaining Blue Laws were finally repealed.  Amazingly, it was a very close vote.

Ocean City does still carry the torch outlawing liquor.  The town is “dry”, meaning no restaurants can serve alcohol and naturally there are no packaged goods stores.  Heck, you can’t even be seen in public drinking a beer.

So imagine the the gall of restaurant owners this winter in proposing permitting BYOB, which stands for Bring Your Own Booze.  They weren’t asking to sell beer, wine or liquor, just to allow customers to bring a bottle of wine to consume with dinner.  The nerve!

The backward temperance folks were outraged.  “Not while I’m mayor,” said the reigning mayor.  I was waiting for him to add, “You’ll have to pry the gavel from my cold, dead hands.”  The argument, of course, is that Ocean City is America’s “Greatest Seaside Family Resort” and the town would shrivel and die if alcohol of any sort is allowed.  How dare we subject little Johnny and Susie to have to sit in a restaurant while the adults at the next table each sip a glass of wine.  Blasphemy!

The debate will carry on this winter, but by spring no doubt the temperance clan will prevail.  In Ocean City, BYOB will still mean Bring Your Own Bible.

- Mountain Man

This year, rather than racial equality, I want to address violence.  They go hand in hand at times, but in reality violence is the downfall of mankind.  Maybe shortcoming is a more appropriate term.  Or both.

In my 20′s, when part of the back to the land movement, I bought a few dairy goats and started getting my own goat’s milk and cheese.  One thing always bothered me – the goats fought until they established a pecking order.  Then the alpha doe always picked on the rest, the beta doe picked on all but the alpha, and on and on down the line.  Why couldn’t they get along?  After all, they’re all dairy goats and they’re all in this together.

Then I had a revelation.  They’re just like humans.  We’re always fighting to establish dominance.  Except, sometimes we kill.  Goats, along with most mammal species, fight to establish dominance, but they rarely kill and then its usually accidental.  Humans kill with vigor, with purpose.

In 2009, there were 15,241 murders in the United States.  Sure, that was down from over 24,000 in both 1991 and 1993, but it’s still despicable.  The US also had a total of 1,313,398 violent crimes in 2009.  Are we that prone to acts of violence?  Are we a nation of people who are so far from the norm of a peaceful society that hurting another human being is no big deal?  Do we have so little value for someone else’s life?  Are we, as a society, totally insane?

In the world recently in one year India led with 37,700 murders.  Russia had 28,904, Colombia 26,539, South Africa 21,553, the US about 16,000, then Mexico with 13,144.  Good old Iceland was one of the most peaceful with just four murders.  There are currently eight wars in the world that record over 1,000 fatalities per year.  There are 24 other wars taking place, with ten of them registering between 10,000 and 200,000 deaths each since their inception.

I won’t throw any other numbers at you, since I think I’ve gotten my point across.  We are a violent species.  We kill indiscriminately.  We kill for power, we kill for profit.  Sometimes, we kill because we don’t like somebody’s looks, religion, color, or politics.  People beat up their spouses, their kids, their neighbors, their rivals, or someone who possesses something they want.  Sadly, sometimes people even kill just for kicks or to prove they’re macho to their peers.

So on MLK Day, I ask that violence end.  Only then, can we truly be called “human”.  Dr. King would agree.

- Mountain Man

First of all, it’s hard to not agree that the demographics do not support our weak economic state.  We have more and more people on Planet Earth.  In fact, the world’s population increases by nearly 80 million people each year.  That’s equivalent to over 1/4 of the USA’s current population, which is 310 million.  Today’s world population of 6,868,724,935 will hit the 7 billion mark before 2011 is over.  That’s a lot of consumers, a lot of people who need housing, clothing, and everyday staples of life.

The biggest needs in the world are potable water, food, health care, education, and alternative energy.  Incredibly, an estimated 1.7 billion folks in the world live off the grid, meaning they have no electricity or other utilities we take for granted.

Okay, that’s a lot of numbers, but what do they mean?  Are you thinking what I’m thinking? 

Our world economies can gear up by providing water, food, health care, education and alternative energy to the world.  Just imagine if the 14 countries with the biggest economies turned their production toward meeting these needs.  The world leaders I’m talking about are the US, China, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Russia, India, Spain, Australia, and Mexico.  The unemployment rates in these countries would drastically drop, putting perhaps 50-100 million people back to work.  That would create boom times not only in these 14 countries, but all countries. 

The standard of living in the 50 poorest countries would rise to unthought of heights.  Since these 50 countries also have the highest fertility rates, health care and education would result in a “zero growth” population gain.  Couples would be subsidized and forced to have just two children, just like some countries already do.  We need to stabilize our population and make predictions of 11 billion people by 2050 mute.

Sure, you’re thinking how are we gonna pay for this?  Who’ll pay the farmers to grow more crops, the manufacturers to make windmills and solar cells and water pumps and desalination plants and medicine and so on?

That’s where capitalism comes in.  The infusion of new jobs saving the world would fuel the growth of everything from more restaurants and retailers to the manufacture of more cars and TVs.  Production would boom.  Personal wealth would skyrocket.  Everyone would get a piece of the pie.  Including the tax man, who could use the tenfold or more increase in tax revenue to fund the manufacture startups.

The only variable is timing.  Everything has to start at once.  “Instant Prosperity” I’ll call it.  So let’s pick a day.  I nominate Monday, June 4, 2012 as Prosperity Day.  That’ll give us over a year to get ready to gear up.  The night before, the world sets off fireworks.  On Monday morning, we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

- Mountain Man

But there is a way to cut taxes and maintain services.  That solution involves slashing government waste. 

On The Heritage Foundation website, we discovered the following facts concerning the 2008 national budget:  $92 billion spent on corporate welfare; $25 billion annually spent to maintain vacant properties; 22% of all federal programs, costing $123 billion, had no positive impact;  nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards are improper, fraudulent, or embezzled;  health care fraud equals $60 billion annually; and 95 Pentagon weapons systems totaled $295 billion in cost overruns.

Those are the biggest boondoggles.  There’s hundreds more “little” ones, such as:

$2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly; $3.9 million to reaarange desks and offices at the SEC; $998,798 to ship two 19 cent washers from SC to Texas but a “mere” $293,451 to ship one 19 cent washer from SC to Florida;  $146 million extra a year because federal employees won’t fly “coach”; $126 million to enhance the Kennedy name; $200,000 for tattoo removal in Mission Hills, Cal; $500,000 to paint a salmon on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 707;  $2.4 billion on 10 new jets the Pentagon refuses to use;  $3 billion to pump sand onto beaches that washes right back into the ocean; and $2 billion for farmers not to farm their land. 

There are so many more examples of abuse – yes, it is abuse – that it is downright disgusting.   So while the average American scrimps and saves and lives on a budget, the government, its employees, and folks seeking government aid are robbing us blind.  When do we say “enough is enough”?

- Mountain Man

COAH came into existence in the late 1970′s as a result of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mt. Laurel Decision, which basically said that municipalities cannot zone against low and moderate-income housing and must supply affordable housing.  COAH set quotas for each of the state’s 567 (now 566) municipalities.

The quota system was unfair to many municipalities, setting unrealistically high numbers for some towns.  Here in Cape May County, Middle Township is still required to offer 932 more affordable units by 2018 and Upper Township still owes over 500.  It’s unrealistic and puts a heavy burden on taxpayers, who must fund new schools and services to meet the demand of so many new residences.

Senate Bill S1, sponsored by Raymond Lesniak and Christopher Bateman, and its companion State Assembly bill A2057, would abolish COAH.  It would also do away with State-imposed calculations of affordable housing needs.  Instead, it would permit municipalities to determine their own needs.  The State Planning Commission would assist towns in facilitating opportunities for affordable housing.

The bill would require municipalities to re-examine their master plan and adopt an ordinance that provides an opportunity for an appropriate variety and choice of housing.  They must show that they have complied with their obligations under the Fair Housing Act.  Any municipality not enacting ordinances by December 31, 2011, would be required to have any developers set aside 20% of their project for low or moderate or work force housing.

What does all this mean?  COAH and its assigned numbers of affordable housing units will be put to rest.  But municipalities aren’t off the hook.  They must still offer affordable housing, but on their own terms, not Trenton’s.

-Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

The battle between environmentalists looking to preserve the trees and loggers looking at profits and jobs has been going on for a century, and the fight intensified beginning in the 1960s.  It’s an emotional issue, with both sides resorting to vandalism or violence at times to protect what they believe is right.

National Geographic ran a feature article in October, 2009 about the redwoods and their future.  It was a politically-correct, safe article.  As is NatGeo’s philosophy, they strongly presented both sides while not taking a stand. 

Here is an interesting Letter to the Editor that I just read this morning in my new February issue of NatGeo, written and submitted by John Ruch of Boston, giving his views of the validity of the redwood article’s points.

“Regarding your paean to capitalist “forest management” as the solution to saving redwoods, forests already have a manager.  It’s nature itself, which has a head start of hundreds of millions of years on our wisdom.  Conservation has become hubristic meddling, capitalism still is barely tamed greed, and the unholy alliance of the two is a scam masquerading as hipster realpolitik.

“Here’s the truth:  Redwood lumber is not a vital resource.  It is a luxury item that no one has any need or right to cut.  The key to an ecological future is reducing our own population by three-quarters, not turning even more people into luxury-slurping consumers.  The key to ending global warming is paying people who don’t drive cars at all, not paying forest companies.  And anybody who kills any living thing more than a thousand years old is simply a jerk.  Your article used the word “cut” a lot.  What it meant is “kill”.”

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

The Supreme Court set us back a few decades last week when a 5-4 decision okayed companies and unions ability to spend freely on ads that promote or target particular candidates by name.  It also lifts a ban on corporate and union-paid issue-based ads in the final days of a campaign.

How easy is it now going to be for a politician to climb into bed with special interests?  Quite.  If not, their opponent just might and then steal the election.  It’s a field day for graft.

President Obama lashed out at the decision over the weekend.  “We don’t need to give any more voice to the powerful interests that already drown out the voices of everyday Americans,” he said.  “And we don’t intend to.”

The White House will attempt to legislate away the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision, which basically used the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech” as the reason to allow these transgressions against decency.  The House of Representatives and Senate must approve any bills on the subject before Obama could sign it into law.

The White House has a number of measures it is proposing: require the approval of a majority of shareholders before a corporation can run a political ad;  require the CEO to appear at the end of the ad;  limit the ad spending of corporations who received bailout money;  and/or limit privileges that come with corporate status concerning political ads.

If this Supreme Court ruling is allowed to stand, any candidate that stood for environmental or social issues would likely be squashed by the big businesses whose profits would be trimmed. 

Isn’t democracy grand?

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

The GOP resurrection all started in Virginia on November 3, 2009 when Bob McDonnell, the former state Attorney General, trounced Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds by a 59% to 41% margin in the gubernatorial race.  It was the biggest margin of victory in the Commonwealth since 1961.  McDonnell, who took the oath of office last Saturday, replaced Democratic governor Tim Kaine.

That same fateful November election saw Republican Chris Christie knock off incumbent New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine by 87,000 votes in a race that was almost too close to call.  It was the largest margin of victory for a first-time Republican in the Garden State since 1969.  Christie, like his Virginia counterpart, was a former Attorney General (US).  Similarly, both states now have two Democratic senators and a new rookie Republican governor.

Christie was inaugurated yesterday.  While emphasizing that he was in Trenton to implement “change”, he put his finger on the problem in New Jersey politics.  “Too much time has been spent assigning blame instead of accepting responsibility,” he said.

Yesterday also marked the end of the Democratic reign of one of Massachusetts’ Senate seats.  Since John F. Kennedy defeated Henry Cabot Lodge in a big upset back in 1952, the Bay State has been decidedly Democratic.  When Kennedy won the Presidential election in 1960, the seat was passed to a Democratic family friend, who then stepped aside in an pre-arrangement to secede to Ted Kennedy in 1962.  Teddy, who held the Senate job for over 46 years, was unable to directly take the seat from brother John in ’60 because he wasn’t yet 30 years old.  This youngest Kennedy son passed away last summer.

The Senatorial election yesterday went to Republican Scott Brown, a former State Senator, who routed Democratic Attorney General (sound familiar?) Martha Coakley.  The combination of Coakley’s lack of charisma and poor campaign strategy was her undoing.  Brown, who once trailed in the polls by 30% and then as recently as two weeks ago by 15%, took 52% of the popular vote.

The vote was also a reflection of the fallout from the Obama presidency, which ran on a platform of being an agent of change but so far has been decidedly ineffective.  An all too-familar ring of a presidential candidate being a “Washington outsider” resonates with voters, but the reality is usually that once they set up shop inside the Beltway they get sucked into “politics as usual”.  They find that compromise and cutting deals is a survival tool.

Saving the best for last, the Massachusetts election was also perhaps a yardstick for the popularity of the universal health care reform being presented to the American people.  Brown will now cast the deciding 41st vote in the Senate against the bill, effectively putting the issue to rest for a while.

Maybe it’s time for the Obama administration to focus on the issue that Americans care most about – the economy and jobs.

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

State Senator Raymond Lesniak recently introduced bill S3167, which would indeed legalize such popular games as poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps, slot machines, and more.  With New Jersey’s distinction of having the toughest gambling laws in the United States, implementing the on-line form seems a natural and comforting fit.

Currently, there are thousands of global internet gambling sites.  They are illegal in New Jersey, in part because there is no way for the state gaming commission to determine whether these games offer fair odds.  Many who do still gamble illegally on the internet complain of not being able to collect their winnings.  Would you trust a gambling site located in the Philippines or Bulgaria?

The other reason they are not legal in New Jersey is rather obvious – Atlantic City.  The state’s 11 casinos generated $3.9 billion in revenue in 2009.  While down from $5.2 billion in record-setting 2006, it still is a major contributor to state coffers.

The new internet gambling bill, if eventually made into law, would require all gaming companies to be headquartered around Atlantic City.  The New Jersey Casino Control Commission, also based in AC, would be able to monitor the new companies, plus develop “technical standards for approval of software, computers and other gaming equipment used to conduct internet wagering, including mechanical, electrical or program reliablility, security against tampering, the comprehensibility of wagering, …. blah, blah, blah.”   Did you get all that?

Internet site operators would pay $200,000 the first year for a license, with a $100,000 annual renewal.  They’d also pay a $100,000 non-refundable deposit and another $100,000 towards treating compulsive gambling.  They’d fork over a 20% tax to the casino revenue fund and another tax would give money to the New Jersey Racing Commission.  No wonder so many groups are salivating over the prospect of internet gambling.

AC Mayor Lorenzo Langford spoke in favor of the internet gambling concept, while casino operators seem concerned that the bill might allow video lottery terminals (VLT’s) and slot machines at the state’s race tracks.  The AC casinos are currently paying the horseracing industry $90 million over three years in an agreement that bans VLT’s from tracks.

With New Jersey’s perilious money situation, internet gambling seems like a good revenue producer.  The AC casinos will survive because, let’s face it, you don’t have the glitz of the casinos and shows and entertainers and restaurants sitting at home on your computer.  And you can bet that the 11 casinos will be the first in line to get those new internet gaming licenses.  They see the possibilities!

- Mountain Man and City Girl   http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ  http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

But it’s Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC in front of 200,000 people, that will forever define his legacy.  It was named the top speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars.

Here are a few excerpts that are worth revisiting:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”

So on this chilly Monday in January, take time to reflect on the inhumanity that once pervaded our land.  And be relieved that, for the most part, that injustice has been rectified.  Thanks, Dr. King.

- Mountain Man and City Girl

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ  http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com