Feb. 8, 2013 Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights? Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics Feb. 6, 2013 Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker Feb. 4, 2013 Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel? David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert Feb. 1, 2013 Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid? Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO) The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish January 30, 2013 Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day' America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans! Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown! Germany remembers Hitler rise to power Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats Ballot riles Guinness World Records The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin January 28, 2013 Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback' Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating? David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends David Clark Scott Lego Racism? The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south

Jewish World Review April 24, 2011/ 21 Nissan, 5771 The Bell May Toll for Jersey Toll Collectors By Arnold Ahlert http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It was one of those little stories, a three-sentence job on inside pages of last Saturday's local newspaper. But it illustrates a mentality that is so outrageous--yet so thoroughly typical of the government union mindset--it deserves far wider dissemination than it has received so far. Last Thursday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in which union workers were seeking to prevent New Jersey from privatizing toll collector jobs on the New Jersey Turnpike, unless those workers got the "right of first refusal" to keep their jobs. But it gets even better: the suit argued that privatization violates workers' First Amendment rights. As part of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's efforts to bring that state back from the brink of fiscal oblivion, privatization of some government operations has become part of the equation. In 2010, a governor's task force recommended that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which oversees New Jersey's two main toll roads--the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike--solicit bids from private companies to collect tolls. The move to privatization is itself to be a temporary measure, with the task force recommending an eventual system of all-electronic, cashless tolling. The force estimated an annual savings of between $35 million and $42.5 million when that system was fully implemented. The reaction of the union workers was predictable. "From the movie 'Wall Street,' it was said, greed…is good--and in our business, greed is another word for privatization," said Ray Stever, president of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council, an affiliate of the union that represents toll collectors. " Greed" was a rather an unfortunate choice of words. According to State Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson, chairman of the authority that oversees the Turnpike and Parkway, toll collectors with six years experience make approximately $65,000 a year--a figure which applies to about 90 percent of toll takers currently manning the roadways. Simpson further revealed that 70 percent of all drivers currently pay their tolls electronically, and that manual collecting costs the authority almost double. And then, as with so many public service employee contracts negotiated with little or no thought for the taxpaying public, there are the "perks:" work rules requiring two collectors to man a booth at all times; a $70 holiday bonus for working an unscheduled day on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve; bonuses and/or overtime for working one one's birthday; a $700 per year "uniform allowance;" the ability to "cash out" unused sick and vacation days; free E-ZPass transponders for employees to get to work; taxpayer-paid scholarships for employees' children; and a "separation bonus" of $500 per year for every year of service worked. An audit revealed even more devastating information. $43 million dollars was "wasted" on "unnecessary perks and bonuses" highlighted by one employee with a base salary of $73,469 who earned an eye-popping $321,985 when such payouts and bonuses were included. $30 million of the above total paid to employees in 2008 and 2009--without job performance being taken into consideration. $3.8 million a year wasted when employees were allowed to cash out the aforementioned unused sick and vacation days--in order to circumvent state law limiting the total payout to $15,000 upon retirement. And if that's not enough, toll dollars were even spent on an employee bowling league. (A place to practice union strikes, perhaps?) RECEIVE LIBERTY LOVING COLUMNISTS IN YOUR INBOX … FOR FREE! Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. Unsurprisingly, all of this explains why, according to NJ State Comptroller Matthew Boxer, tolls are scheduled to increase in 2012. "While tolls are going up, the Turnpike Authority is overpaying its employees, overpaying its management, overpaying for its health plan and overpaying for legal services," Boxer said in a statement. Franceline Ehret, president of International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local No.194, brought out the union crying towel. "Until you've done the job, you really don't understand what it is," she said. "You've got tractor-trailers and buses whizzing by. Your booth is shaking. … You're breathing fumes all day long. You have to deal with all the weather conditions," she said. And then she added the kicker. "It's very likely [current workers] going to be on the unemployment line and having to go on federal and state assistance," Ehret said. "They would much rather be productive." Ehret went on to point out that despite cash drawer shortages which cost more than $350,000 in 2010, losses in EZ Pass lanes were $10.1 million. Agency spokesman Thomas Feeney obliterated Ehret's argument. "We collect just under 75 percent of our toll money through E-ZPass, and our annual cost to operate the E-ZPass program is about $70 million," Feeney said. "Meanwhile we collect just over one-quarter of our tolls through cash, and our annual toll collection costs are $100 million." Reality check: add the $10 million in lost revenue to the $70 million total, and electronic collection--for three times as many collections as toll booth worker make--is still $20 million cheaper. Ms. Ehret and her fellow unionists have apparently seen the handwriting on the wall. They have offered $34 million in concessions and staff reductions in order to save their jobs. This was up from an initial offer of $16 million made in January. Among those concessions would be a $6000 salary cut for current collectors, a $50,000 per year cap on salaries for new employees, and the elimination of some of the aforementioned perks. The latest concessions offered were seemingly a tacit admission that a typical union tactic, aka attempted intimidation--as evidenced by a meeting in March where workers shouted down Transportation Commissioner Simpson and staged a 40-minute sit-in because they hadn't been given a firm date to negotiate their contract--is no longer effective. Then, the lawsuit. The First Amendment angle? The union claimed their free speech rights were violated because the Turnpike Authorityeliminated their right to first refusal to the private jobs when it released a request for proposal for potential bidders. The suit claimed this was done "in retaliation for the union speaking out against privatization and the workers sending applications to bidders for jobs." The Authority contended that the provision, along with union protests against privatization, as well as employees sending job applications to bidders, had discouraged prospective companies from seeking the contract. U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares apparently agreed--and then some. His one-page order dismissed the suit on Thursday "with prejudice," and denied the union's application for a preliminary injunction. The Turnpike Authority is expected to vote on privatization this Wednesday during their monthly meeting in Woodbridge. They will be considering whether to award a five-year contract to one of four companies that submitted proposals which would reportedly pay toll collectors around $25,000 per year, or accept the union's latest $34 million concession plan. Thus, the option comes down to paying 25K per year for new private workers, versus 50K a year for new government union workers, and/or 65K for current workers--perks, somewhat reduced, included. $500 per week versus $1000-$1300 (plus perks), for the "skill" of sticking one's hand out an opening, collecting money and making change. In a state with one of the highest per capita budget deficits in the nation. If this "decision" isn't the biggest no-brainer of the year so far, one would be hard-pressed to imagine what is. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment on JWR Contributor Arnold Ahlert's column, by clicking here. Previously: 04/19/11: From Medical Dependency to Dependency on the Welfare State 04/14/11: Trumping the Debate 04/06/11: It Takes a Bigot to Expose a Death Cult 04/04/11: Charlie and Snookie --- and Barack 03/30/11: ‘Disabling’ America, One Lawsuit at a Time 03/28/11: The MSM Kills the ‘Kill Team’ Story 03/23/11: Another Military Scandal 03/21/11: Barry, Joe, Helen and Wisconsin Teachers 03/16/11: The Inevitable Viability of Conservatism 03/14/11: Progressives in Their Own Words 03/09/11: $61 Billion in Cuts --- Vs. $223 Billion in One Month of Spending 03/07/11: Bean Bag B.S. 03/02/11: A ‘Green’ Catastrophe in the Making 02/28/11: Ain't Noting Like the Real Thing 02/23/11: Progressive Rot vs. the ROTC 02/21/11: Wisconsin: Progressivism in All its Ugly Glory 02/18/11: News reporters --- or Narrative Shapers? 02/16/11: The Presidents Budget Proposal: An Obamination of Progressive Profligacy 02/14/11: Only Another 9/11 Will Alter the Illegal Immigration Status Quo 02/10/11: Is O'Reilly losing his touch or is he just irresponsible? 02/07/11: Tossing Britain Under the Bus 02/03/11: Starving the World In Order to Save It 01/31/11: Walking the Middle East Tightrope 01/27/11: Small-scale Terrorist Attacks: Big Strategy? 01/24/11: Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation 01/20/11: An ‘Intimate’ Prime-time Interview 01/17/11: Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate 01/12/11: Twain vs. the Totalitarians 01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports? 01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral 01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start 12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back 12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron 12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track 12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience 12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There 12/13/10: Tech-No! 12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not 12/06/10: The ‘Unexpected’ Consequences of Progressivism 12/01/10: Leakers and Losers 11/29/10: ‘We Won’, Part One 11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution 11/17/10: Grope and Change 11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time 11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please 11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down 11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans 11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them 10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections 10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now 10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please 10/18/10: Healthcare: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vs. The Constitution 10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November 10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity 10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash 10/04/10: ‘Comprehensive’ Con Artists 09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November 09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances 09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: ‘I Won’ 09/20/10: Purging ‘Me First’ Politicians 09/17/10: No More ‘Lesser of Two Evils’ 09/15/10: ‘Recovery’ Arms Race 09/13/10: ‘Bigots’ in the Majority --- Again? 09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For 09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills 09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists 08/31/10: A ‘Dream’ Debased 08/25/10: American ‘Bigots’ Versus Media Propagandists 08/23/10: Recovery Bummer 08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals 08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President 08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect 08/11/10: A Far Better ‘National Discussion’ 08/09/10: It's ‘Only’ One Dead Nun 08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny 08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts 08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November 07/29/10: The United Cities of America 07/26/10: JournoList: ‘Coordinated’ Ideological Bankruptcy 07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way 07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe… 07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job 07/08/10: Extortionist Government 07/06/10: ‘Commerce Clause’ Totalitarians 07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA 06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President 06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption 06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border 06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief 06/16/10: Betraying Our Children 06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt? 06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare 06/01/10: Bill Maher's ‘Black’ President 05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero 05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico 05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism 05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido 05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will! 05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak 05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty? 05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It 04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo? 04/26/10: Son of Amnesty 04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns 04/20/10: Bashing Christians — Or Gays? 04/15/10: Personal Integri-‘tea’ 04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls 04/08/10: (Tea) Party On 04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity 04/02/10: Two For the Road 03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism 03/24/10: The Art of War 03/22/10: I Want My Country Back 03/18/10: A Perpetual Process 03/17/10: American Exhibitionists 03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity 03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot 02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road 02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy 01/27/10: ‘Roe-ing and Wade-ing’ Back to Reason 01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down 01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots 01/19/10: The Next Tea Party? 01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving 01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport 01/11/10: Secrets and Lies 01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry — or Rejecting Bullying? 01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread 01/04/10: Our ‘Wonderama’ Bureaucracy 12/30/09: A Day Off 12/28/09: Dangerous Myths 12/25/09: I, Me, Mine 12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas 12/21/09: My Opinon 12/18/09: The Party of Repeal 12/15/09: Privileged Exemption 11/30/09: ‘Settled’ Science and Unsettled Children 11/30/09: American Sharia Law 11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century 11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers 11/01/09: ‘Opting Out’ of Insanity? 10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required 10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR 10/21/09: Just Asking 10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality 10/14/09: News you can use … 10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness 10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency 09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness 09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels 09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized 09/08/09: ‘Truthers’ and Consequences 09/01/09: A ‘Paper Trail’ Challenge for the Mainstream Media 08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality 08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program © 2010, Arnold Ahlert

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