Declaration of Independence Reading On the Green in Morristown NJ

Millburn wasted time and money fighting Chai Center Synagogue

THURSDAY JUNE 13, 2013, 10:19 AM

THE ITEM OF MILLBURN AND SHORT HILLS

Town wasted time and money fighting Chai Center

Editor, The Item:
I attended the Millburn Zoning Board hearing in Feb of 2012 which denied the Chai Center its Synagogue use application. I was one of the town members who spoke publicly during that hearing.
I spoke not as a proximity neighbor to the 1 Jefferson St. address nor as a member of the Shul, which I am not. I spoke out as a town resident and taxpayer for 20 years now and as someone who has spent years battling the township on another constitutional dispute which I won 6-0 in the NJ Supreme Court. That litigation cost myself and the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, so I urged the township to work with Rabbi Bogomilsky, since their best negotiating position was at that 2012 hearing. At that very moment, the township could have gotten concessions from the rabbi in exchange for approval and while not everyone would have been completely satisfied, there would have been a fair and low cost resolution.
It was obvious that the town's three-acre zoning ordinance could never stand up to Constitutional scrutiny and the way they handled the Chai Center in this dispute was going to earn them some disdain from the courts. I pleaded with the zoning board to act in the taxpayers' best interest and grant approval with conditions. The zoning board and town council acted and continued to act in total disregard to the cost this whole affair and as a result, we should ask that they reimburse the township for their irresponsible decision making and all of them should submit the resignations immediately.
I hope Millburn Township isn't foolish enough to waste more taxpayer money on appeal of this ruling and the zoning board thinks more carefully of the consequences of their decisions when the Chai Center application comes before them again as directed by the court. This has cost taxpayers a significant amount of money to this point. How much will it cost when the U.S. Justice Department gets involved? But who knows what the zoning board will do, since they are not spending their own money.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/211387281_Letter__Town_wasted_time_and_money_fighting_Chai_Center.html

Background Story

http://www.northjersey.com/news/210096541_Judge_rules_in_favor_of_Chai_Center.html

http://www.northjersey.com/news/209516071_Federal_officials_looking_into_land_use_in_Millburn_Township.html

3 Presidents, Gun Free Zone, Dalai Lama

Illinois is a Big Windy Mess

Wilmette Breaon Article

Illinois Review Article

Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina are leaving Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends with the following letter.

Dear friends, As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of "The Land of Lincoln " state.

After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. But enough is enough. The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can't continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here.

I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen.

In 2012 we have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4th of our population. Don't blame the weather, because most of us love the 4 beautiful seasons of Illinois.

Illinois just sold still more bonds, and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds. Junk Bonds!

Illinois is ranked:
• 50th for fiscal policy
• 47th in job creation
• 1st in unfunded pension liabilities
• 2nd largest budget deficit
• 1st in failing schools
• 1st in bonded indebtedness
• Highest sales tax in the nation
• Most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat)

Five of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted. That is more than the other 49 states added together!

Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1,000 state and municipal employees indicted.

The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand-up comics. We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county, in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks.

A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire policemen and firemen!

Our Crook County corporate tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman, who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House (Speaker Mike Madigan), and the most senior alderman in Chicago, each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their clients tax assessments.

Cook County's property tax system is a disaster: The assessed value of our Chicago home was 50% higher than the sale price.

Our home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20%, and our local schools have still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes more than 20% next year.

The Illinois system is unfair and incompetent. In the Hill Country of Texas (near Austin and San Antonio ) we bought a gracious home on almost 2 acres with a swimming pool. It is new, will cost us around 40% of what our home in Wilmette just sold for, and the property taxes are a third of what they are here.

We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax, while Illinois just went up 67%.

Texas sales tax is half of ours, which is the highest in the nation.

Southern states are supportive of job producers, taxpayers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents.

Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them. I could go on, but enough is enough.

I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Titanic and I can see the icebergs right in front of us.

I will miss our friends a great deal. I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life. But it is time to go where there is honest, competent, and cost effective government.

We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets.

Our best wishes to all of you.

Cordially, Roger and Tina Keats

Gun Control The hypocracy of celebrities!

Bill Whittle Nails It: Every GOP Candidate Needs To Watch This

Bill Whittle Nails It: Every GOP Candidate Needs To Watch This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wgxlp2UJI5I

#Conservative thought #Romeny #Libya #Iran

Sony Action Cam Tracks Down Go Pro Hero: The First Hands on Review

By Matt Sweetwood, President, Unique Photo
Twitter: @MSweetwood  Email: matt@uniquephoto.com

The GoPro Hero created and defined the POV (Point of View) action video camera category. Sony, with today’s release of its Action Cam, advances and re-defines it. This pint sized video camera is a game changer at roughly the size of a 15-stick pack of Juicy Fruit gum and about the same weight.

Although small, this camera is no light-weight in terms of performance. Video rates include:  HQ 1080/30p, STD 720/30p, a surprisingly high quality VGA 480/30p, SLOW 720/60p and a SLOW 720/120p, the latter allowing for super-slow motion playback.  Throw in a Zeiss lens, image stabilization, 3+ hour battery life, a micro-SD memory card slot and a terrific Sony image processor and you have the world’s new leader in POV action video cameras. I also need to mention the interface, buttons, and hatches are easy to use and the built-in LCD is easy to read. I was given no instructions but still successfully mastered the intuitive menus in less than 30 seconds.

The excitement started for me early last spring when Sony invited me out to their San Diego HQ to see some of their new, soon to be released products. There, I had my first glimpse of the Action Cam. They even had some of the accessories laid out at that time, such as water proof housings, suction cup mounts, and an assortment of other straps and mounts for the various activities one uses a camera like this for.  I was particularly impressed to see one future accessory in particular, a detachable LCD screen that turns the Action Cam into a usable camcorder for everyday use.  One of the objections we hear frequently at Unique Photo during the sale of a POV camera is that the customer has to buy another video camera that has such a limited use. The ($99 proposed) LCD eliminates that objection.

Last week, Sony was kind enough to drop off a working beta-model of the Action Cam for me to take to a BMW club racing event at NJ Motorsports Park here in New Jersey.  The Action Cam’s first real-world racing test would be done in my BMW 1M on NJMP’s Lightning Raceway. So, with the battery fully charged, a 16GB Micro SD Card inside, my seat back bar-mount and the Action Cam’s waterproof housing and tripod mount, I was ready to shoot some auto racing POV action video.

In this first video the Action Cam is set on HQ 1080/30p.  

First impressions: The video is smooth, even over rough and bouncy conditions (image stabilization works!), and notice the dynamic range of the video. The dark interior, the speedometer (see if you can see it indicate 145mph), the sky, and the pavement are all rendered accurately. One problem other POV cameras have is their inability to adjust to quickly-changing light conditions; turn into the sun and the video becomes overexposed. The Sony Action Cam adjusts to the changing brightness conditions flawlessly.  One downside to this video mode is the 2GB file size limits one finds on SD cards which limits maximum video length to just under 18 minutes.

I have the Action Cam set to VGA 480/30p in this video. It is a full, 23-minute track session. 

The image quality is remarkable given the relatively low resolution setting and smaller file size. This setting is perfect for upload to YouTube and other web services, and for sharing over slow Internet connections. Not to brag, but sharing is something a race car driver likes to do when they make 20+ passes on the way to the checkered flag.

This final in-car video sample the Action Cam is set to STD 720/60p. 

It is unedited, so you can see some images from the still race car and the quality of the audio without wind noise. In my opinion, this is the ideal setting, providing the best balance between file size and quality. The quality of the video, even after I uploaded it to YouTube, is just awesome. Notice the colors, sharpness, and light adjustment as the car turns into the sun. The speedometer is perfectly readable.

Finally, for those of you using this video camera for applications like auto racing, Sony was thoughtful enough to build a small loop into the waterproof housing which allows for a safety cable. Most racing venues require objects mounted in a car to have 2 restraints. Clamp it on a seat back or roll bar using one of the various accessory mounts and also loop a wire cable through the housing as the second required restraint.

Quite frankly, there are not enough superlatives I can use to describe how much I enjoyed this new POV camera.  But wait; I’ve saved the Action Cam’s coolest feature for last! Because I had a beta model, I did not have the Android (iPhone, too) control software which will be available to download via the Google Play Store. This app allows you to control the settings of the Action Cam and see real-time video the camera is taking through its Zeiss lens. You can hold your Android device in your hand and see what the camera sees, wherever it’s mounted. That’s right, the Action Cam is the first POV Cam to use Wi-Fi for remote control and viewing! The possibilities for such an application are numerous to say the least.

In conclusion, if you want the device that is about to redefine the POV camera market , look no further than the pint-sized and dazzling Sony Action Cam. With configurations starting at $199, the Sony Action Cam has tracked down and passed all its competitors.

The Sony Action Cam and accessories will be available for purchase at www.UniquePhoto.com about the 3rd week of September.