Ryan Peters: Thumbs up to Mikie Sherrill. Thumbs down to Diane Allen.

By Rubashov

In a video paid for by Nick DeGregorio’s campaign for Congress, former Assemblyman Ryan Peters touts military experience as the preeminent qualification for public office. Peters, a former Navy SEAL, states: “There is simply no boardroom or classroom that tests you like a combat zone.”

Peters goes on to say, “You see things, and you’re put in situations… that test the core of who you are. Because ultimately… you will have to look into the eyes of our enemy and decide right then, right there, whether or not you have the strength to fight…”

The ancient Greeks might well agree with Peters. Military service and procreation were twin virtues revered by their civilization. Both were considered essential to the preservation of the city-state, and military service was compulsory. In Athens, for example, service was limited to a set period. In Sparta, it was for life.

But are Peters’ views relevant today? Is combat vet Tammy Duckworth more qualified to be President than was someone like Ronald Reagan? Peters appears to think so. Duckworth, an Army Lt. Colonel, lost both her legs to combat. She is currently the United States Senator from Illinois and a decidedly liberal Democrat. Is Peters suggesting that we ignore her positions on issues and vote for her based on her unquestionable military experience?

Should we have cast our votes for, say, John Kerry (Navy Lieutenant, winner of the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts) over George W. Bush? Peters seems to say “yes”.

The only Republican in the Legislature to vote for Democrat Governor Jim Florio's gun ban was a United States Marine (a Captain). Should Republicans have voted for him based on his military experience? Or should they have taken his anti-Second Amendment position into account?

The video features a clip of DeGregorio, a candidate for Congress in the 5th District, complaining that his Republican primary opponents have questioned his experience. Nick, who reached the rank of Major in the Marine Corps, is running a campaign largely based on his military service. On his campaign website, there are many paragraphs about what Nick did in the military, but there’s nothing about what he’d do in Congress. No issues page. No policies.

Nick compounded this by refusing to share his views with a panel of statewide conservative leaders that included Mayor Steve Lonegan; Marie Tasy (New Jersey Right to Life); Alex Roubian (2nd Amendment Society); Rev. Greg Quinlan (Center for Garden State Families); John Robert Carman (NJ Constitutional Republicans); and Josh Aikens (AriseNJ). Every other candidate for the GOP nomination in the 5th District participated, as did every candidate in the neighboring 7th District – including elected officials like Senator Tom Kean Jr. and Assemblyman Erik Peterson. Perhaps Nick hasn’t fully formed views on issues like taxation and abortion and the Second Amendment?

Whatever the reason for Nick’s reticence to share his ideas on issues, it does raise perfectly reasonable questions about what those ideas might be – or whether Nick has any ideas at all. In the video, Peters suggest anyone who questions a former combat veteran and candidate for public office should face cancellation for daring to do so. Peters states, “So, for any guy who puts on a suit, sits in an office, and says those who chose to put on a uniform and face down the barrel of a gun, that they don’t have experience – you sir, have no business representing anybody in Congress.”

This is quite an extreme statement and a species of that faux moral outrage one generally associates with the Left. Of course, all citizens – suit-wearing or not – have not only the right but the duty to question the experience of those who wish to represent them in Congress. To suggest that questioning certain people should result in the questioner being cancelled is irresponsible and absurd.

We wonder if Republicans will face the same admonishments from Democrats when Senator Duckworth runs for President in 2024? And we can’t help but wonder who Assemblyman Peters would have voted for last year, if Phil Murphy had run with Mikie Sherrill (retired Navy Lt. Commander and a combat helicopter pilot) against a Quaker pacifist like Diane Allen?

If we place the romance and emotional rhetoric to one side, it is clear to see there are many kinds of experiences that could be helpful in Congress. Having gone through a pandemic, perhaps a candidate with a medical background might be helpful? A career in medical research might even be more helpful. Would Peters suggest cancelling such a candidate if they dared ask Nick where he stood on the issues?

Experience should be the beginning of a candidate's story. It should not be a candidate's entire story.

This is not to place blame on Ryan and Nick alone, because they have not embraced this criterion on their own. They are victims of the political campaign industry’s consultant class. America might not manufacture anything anymore, but politics and government affairs and lobbying has never been bigger.

Today’s political consultants don’t think of a public servant or a statesman when they think of a candidate – they think of a Facebook celebrity. And that is what they seek to manufacture. A nice, plausible face with a good back story that produces the mandatory emotional “likes”. Candidates are admonished not to think or tell anybody where they stand on issues. In place of genuine thought, there is a script. Human concern is carefully choreographed. Image is all.

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

…

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

(Excerpts from “The Hollow Men”
by Thomas Stearns Eliot)

We disagree with these political consultants. We believe that issues matter to people. Issues motivate individual people to vote. Not categories designed by algorithms. Issues have meaning to people.

Take these folks in this video, for example. Are they “Soft Democrats” or “Swing” or any one of the other descriptors designed to make it easier to sell some technological shortcut to figuring out what is on people’s minds (short of having a discussion with them). To us, they appear unique, individual, and motivated by an issue that concerns them. Of course, we could be wrong. Watch the video. You describe them. Are they Republicans?

How would the sacred algorithms describe them?

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell

Is Erik Peterson more neo-anarchist than conservative?

By Rubashov

We used to think there were two kinds of elected conservative leaders: the helmsmen and the engineer. Both are necessary. The first charts a course in broad language and is aspirational. Think of a ship’s captain, all turned-out and resplendent, steering a course.

The second kind, the engineer, gets it done and moves us forward. Their domain is the caucus room – the engine room of government – where the hard business of making the machine turn is done. In a different setting, a famous Marine described them as the people with “instinct in their guts and blood on their boots.”

Of late, we are beginning to see the rise of a third variety of conservative “leader” – the celebrity. He or she most certainly has followers, but there is an underlying purposelessness to this “leader”. Aside from poses and postures, it is all hot air, mere image and gesture, a kind of luftman.

Last week, Assemblyman Erik Peterson strolled into Sussex County to attend the local GOP county committee’s congressional candidates' night. Peterson says the right things and hits the right notes, but mostly he’s against things. His call to repeal the gas tax found its mark and got an oafish grin from fellow Assemblyman Parker Space. But neither Peterson (or Space, for that matter) ever ventured an opinion on what the aftermath of such a move would look like.

They remind us of those reckless conservative “leaders” of yore – the ones who would irresponsibly talk about “blowing up Russia”. We’d think, “Sure boys, launch those nukes… but what then?”

Repealing the gas tax wouldn’t place a break on the rise in gas prices – because that’s all about national politics (President Joe Biden’s war on pipelines and oil companies) and international politics (a war between Russia and Ukraine, with NATO as a silent partner). But it would, almost instantaneously, bankrupt the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) here in New Jersey – and that would throw every county and local budget in the state into the red, necessitating a rise in property taxes to make up for it. What kind of rise? Try $400 to $500 a home. Year after year. And that’s just to pay for the road and bridge maintenance the TTF pays for now.

With the TTF bankrupt, the TTF’s debt would – by law – need to be paid for by New Jersey taxpayers. And then there are all those TAX CUTS that the engineers who fashioned the cog that kept the machine going got in return for a gas tax hike that was half that originally proposed. The Estate Tax would come roaring back, with all it’s devastating consequences to small businesses and family farms. So would taxes on retirees, small businesses, veterans, working people, and consumers. Maybe you are one of them?

Screw it all, say some of these new “conservative” leaders. Let government die, allow the machine to spit and sputter and clunk to its death. So what if the roads become unpassable and if one must say a prayer before crossing a bridge. Too bad for property taxpayers when someone is seriously injured because of an unmaintained street. And too bad for that person, now stuck in a wheelchair, and for their family. Who needs civilization?

To our minds, this is not a conservative position. Dystopia was not what Ronald Reagan was thinking when he described his “shining city on a hill.” Ronald Reagan understood that freedom and liberty rested on maintaining civilization – not destroying it. Taxation is a necessary part of it, but conservatives insist on getting it right, not abolishing it to the point where we are back with open sewers in the streets.

People like Peterson seem to forget that the Dark Ages really did happen. There was Roman civilization and things like running water and baths… and then there was a thousand years of stink. We may have amnesia about a lot of things but let’s not forget that whiskey was once safer than water.

As Governor and President, Ronald Reagan taught us that “user taxes” are the fairest form of taxation. You pay for the roads and bridges you use. Period. That goes for all those out-of-staters too. The roads and bridges they use should not be paid for by the property taxpayers of New Jersey. That should be an easy thing to understand. It shouldn’t take an engineer to explain it to you, but apparently, it does.

President Reagan signed a gas tax increase.

In an upcoming installment, we will discuss Assemblyman Peterson’s role in installing the Highlands Act in its role as slave master to Northwest New Jersey property owners. Look for it soon.

Steve Lonegan endorsed by every NW NJ Legislator!

With today's announcement that Assemblymen John DiMaio and Erik Peterson, (both R-23) have both announced their support for conservative Republican Steve Lonegan in his campaign for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th District, Lonegan now has the backing of every legislator representing the Sussex and Warren counties portion of the 5th District. 

“Steve Lonegan has been a consistent conservative voice for Northwest Jersey,” said DiMaio, president of a general contracting firm.  “It's especially important to me that Steve understands the needs of small business owners who ultimately create jobs."

“Republicans believe in limited government and in empowering local governments -- which are most in tune with the people -- with the greatest responsibility," Peterson said.  "Steve has been a champion for lowering taxes and curtailing federal overreach."  

Both DiMaio and Peterson agreed that Lonegan's victory over Cory Booker in the Fifth Congressional District in the 2013 U.S. Senate election makes him the strongest candidate to take on and defeat Josh Gottheimer.

Earlier in the week, Assemblyman Parker Space and Assemblyman-elect Hal Wirths (both R-24) gave their support to Lonegan:

 “Steve Lonegan is a principled and unapologetic conservative who knows what the people of Sussex County believe,” Space said.  “No one would represent Northwest New Jersey more faithfully than Steve Lonegan.”

Wirths — a former New Jersey labor commissioner — said Lonegan’s focus on creating more high-paying jobs is especially important.

“Steve knows that America is strongest when Americans have opportunities for high-paying jobs,” Wirths said.  "Steve knows that good jobs provide a personal dignity that government programs never could.”

Lonegan’s campaign is focused on creating jobs, lowering taxes, and enacting term limits.

Space said the Lonegan agenda is just what North West New Jersey wants and what America needs.

“Congressmen Gottheimer is a far left ideologue masquerading as a moderate,” Space said.  “Whether on taxes, the second amendment, or the right to life, Josh is completely out of touch with the Fifth District — especially Sussex County.”

This is a view that has been echoed by Senators Mike Doherty (R-23) and Steve Oroho (R-24) who have both led in supporting Steve Lonegan for Congress.

“Steve Lonegan is the strongest and best candidate we can nominate in 2018 to take back the Fifth Congressional District,” Wirths added.  “He’s a solid, lifelong Republican who has been a tremendous standard bearer for our Party whenever we needed him.”

Lonegan has already been endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bergen County State Senator Gerry Cardinale, Mrs. Ann Kievit, President of the Northwest New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, Rev. Greg Quinlan, President of the Center for Garden State Families, on behalf of New Jersey for a Conservative Majority, Alexander Roubian, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS), United States Senator Ted Cruz, Warren County State Senator Mike Doherty, Sussex County Senator Steve Oroho, Passaic County Senator Joe Pennacchio, Assemblyman Parker Space, former Labor Commissioner (and Assemblyman-elect) Hal Wirths, and Sussex County State Committeewoman Jill Space.

Guadagno won't "vote for Trump"

President Barack Obama can't bring himself to say the words "Islamic terrorism."  For Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, the words she can't say are "vote for Donald Trump."

But she's played fast and loose -- just like she did when it came time to tell voters where she stood on abortion.  Back when she was a candidate for the Assembly in 2007, Kim Guadagno assured party leaders that she was Pro-Life.  But when Chris Christie needed a Pro-Choice candidate for Lt. Governor as "balance" to his ticket, Guadagno quickly raised her hand and assured the world that she supported abortion. 

Of course, there are those who just LOVE Guadagno because -- after 2,473 days in office -- she's had an opinion other than the Governor's.  Unfortunately, it was "Red Shirt" leader Bill Spadea's.  That opinion was this:  That after 25 years of not raising revenue sufficient to pay for road and bridge maintenance, the state should continue to borrow just to cover the cost of the existing debt and that property tax increases should be used to fund actual transportation needs.

The cost to taxpayers of Guadagno's plan:  Property tax hikes of $574.00 each year.

We get a big kick out of so-called "conservatives" who say they support Guadagno.  Apparently, using future generations to subsidize cheap gas for today is more important to these "conservatives" than are the deaths of thousands of unborn children.  It is a scientific fact that after 20 weeks, these children feel pain, but that hasn't stopped New Jersey from remaining among an uncivilized remnant of nations (principally Communist China, Vietnam, and North Korea) that refuse to accept science.

Guadagno's latest loosey-goosey is to put out a robo-call saying that she supports the Republican ticket but without mentioning the word "Trump."  In this way she can tell liberal Democrats next year that she stands by her statement of October 9, 2016, about "not voting for Trump" (and thereby helping to elect rabidly pro-abortion Hillary Clinton and assure liberal control of the U.S. Supreme Court), while sliming GOP voters this year into thinking she's with them.  Everybody will be happy except the children.  The unborn will continue to die and those born will be handed the bill for the cheap gas subsidy that she's hoping will be her ticket to following Chris Christie into the Governor's office.

Guadagno's co-conspirator in this latest sham is none other than that flip-flopper in chief, Assemblyman Erik "Twister" Peterson.  The "Twister" (as he is known) can take a vote to support a ballot question in January and then act like he's never read it a few months later.  And he can sound just as convincing when he is talking out of either side of his mouth, swearing that both ways are "conservative."  Was he actually there when the vote was taken or is this a special talent?  Who knows?

Guadagno and Peterson should stop pandering to everyone -- especially the neo-fascist wing of the Alt-Right .  Pay attention to the debate, read, make up your mind, and then stick to it.  Yes, we know things change and there's always more information to be had, but a radio talk show isn't new information -- it is entertainment designed to sell vinyl siding, used cars, and suppositories of one sort or another. 

Political leaders and adults of any kind should avoid believing that listening to Bill Spadea takes the place of the serious, sober, consideration of rational policy.  The Spadea show is not only a poor substitute, it is no substitute at all.  Quite the opposite.

Guadagno, before she replaced Governor Christie with talk radio host Spadea.

On Q2 who is Spadea, Guadagno, Peterson listening to?

The "no camp" on Ballot Question 2 is a coalition that's more like a collection of misfits from Dr. Moreau's island of the damned.  You have everything from warmed-over Holocaust deniers, to Tea Partiers who claim that the Roman Catholic Pope is the anti-Christ, to Alt-Right "Red Shirts", to eccentric neo-Marxists without a party to call home. 

The latter includes a far-left couple from Essex County who have had a rather problematic relationship with local Democrats there and who now find their views embraced by alt-rightists like "Red Shirt" leader Bill Spadea.

Last week, Bill Spadea had leftwing Democrat Peter Humphreys on his show to explain why he and Spadea are opposing Ballot Question 2.  Spadea described Humphreys, who is a lawyer, as a "financial expert".

Here's the deal.  If you want to know where a person is coming from, follow the money.  Where does Humphreys put his money when he donates to candidates for public office?  Well, the answer is simple:  Left-liberal Democrats.

What kind of Democrats?  Humphreys and his wife have contributed to John Kerry for President, Barack Obama for President, Obama-Biden, Hillary Clinton for President, Robert Menendez for Senate, Frank Lautenberg for Senate, Linda Stender for Congress, Donald Payne for Congress, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee... need we go on?

This is who Bill Spadea gets his "expert" financial advice from  on policy questions, such as Ballot Question 2.  And not only Spadea, but more mainstream characters like Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and Assemblyman Erik Peterson are ever eager to lap up the swill put out by these career lefties. 

Spadea, Guadagno, and Peterson are ignoring the words of real experts, like the Reason Foundation’s Baruch Feigenbaum, who studies transportation policy for a living.  Speaking of the TTF deal, Professor Feigenbaum said:  “The best change the bill made was introducing an amendment to constitutionally guarantee that all gas tax revenue funds transportation purposes ONLY.  In the past the Christie administration has used gas tax revenue to balance the general budget. This is a violation of the users-pay/users-benefit trust fund that transportation policy is based on and should NEVER occur.  New Jersey residents are strongly encouraged to vote for the amendment (Ballot Question 2).”

Did it never occur to anyone that the reason left-liberals like Humphreys want Ballot Question 2 to fail is so they can use the revenue from the gas tax for the kinds of social programs they think are important -- like more money for Planned Parenthood, COAH housing, gun buy-back programs, needle-exchange programs, and such?  Lt. Governor Guadagno is an openly avowed liberal on social issues, but it's a surprise to find her wanting to turn over the money from the gas tax to the whims of the Democrat legislative majority in Trenton.

While it may be expected for some of the more freakish characters who have emerged from this debate to act out as baboons would -- to see mainstream Republicans, chased in circles by fear, agree to articulate their pursuers' demands, is something new.  Again it's Guadagno, having rejected Trump while embracing the Big Lies of the Alt-Right, who is the most notable headshake here.

The "no camp" on Ballot Question 2 has argued their case with as much energy and common sense as this fellow has:

Come Wednesday, November 9th, if the Democrat majority has the power to spend the gas tax money on left-liberal programs that have nothing to do with transportation, we will have the likes of Guadagno and Peterson to blame

NJ GOP must fight Red-Shirt Fascism

On Friday night, a couple members of Bill Spadea's Red-Shirt movement held a "rally" at the former headquarters of the notorious American National Socialist Bund.  For some strange reason, instead of demolishing the former Camp Nordland, the town leaders of Andover Township have maintained the building that hosted numerous Nazi, Fascist, and Ku Klux Klan rallies in the 1930's.  Sussex County historian Wayne McCabe has written a book about the goings on at "the barn at Lake Iliff in Andover Township."

The Red-Shirts were voicing their opposition to Ballot Question 2, which simply states:

A "yes" vote supports this proposal to dedicate all revenue from gas taxes to transportation projects.

A "no" vote opposes this proposal, thus devoting the same levels of revenue to transportation projects.

The non-partisan organization ballotpedia.org provides the following details:

Amendment design

Question 2 would create a constitutional requirement that all revenue derived from taxes on motor fuels be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).[1] Currently, only 10.5 cents of the gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is required to be deposited into the TTF.

Transportation Trust Fund

Question 2 would require all revenue from tax revenues on motor fuels to be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). The TTF was designed to fund the Department of Transportation and NJ Transit, which then use the revenue for transportation-related projects.[2]

Question 2 and the gas tax

Question 2 was intended to complement a gas tax increase. The amendment itself does not increase the gas tax.[3][4] On September 30, 2016, Gov. Christie (R) and the Democratic-controlled state legislature agreed to increase the gas tax 23 cents per gallon. As part of the agreement, the estate tax was eliminated, the Earned Income Tax Credit was increased, a tax deduction for veterans was created, and the state sales tax will be reduced from 7 to 6.625 percent in 2018.[5] Question 2 would guarantee that revenue from the additional 23 cents gas tax and the existing 10.5 cents gas tax to the Transportation Trust Fund.[6] Gov. Christie signed the bill on October 14, 2016.[7]

Americans for Prosperity, a leader in its opposition to the gas tax increase, supports the passage of Ballot Question 2:

"Americans for Prosperity supports the ballot measure and constitutionally dedicating the remaining revenues collected from the tax on diesel and the petro tax to the transportation fund. At the same time, AFP wants voters to be clear that this referendum does not authorize a gas tax increase, nor does it in any way resolve the transportation challenges the state is facing. The remaining revenue from these two taxes amounts to less than $30 million, a mere fraction of the $1.2 billion collected for the TTF last year. Americans for Prosperity is steadfast in our opposition to a gas tax hike. We continue to urge lawmakers to pursue reforms to rein in wasteful spending and to ensure our transportation dollars are used solely for our roads and bridges."

Ballot Question 2 is the latest BIG LIE seized upon by Red-Shirt founder Bill Spadea for the purposes of (1) increasing his value to the Townsquare Media Corporation, owners of radio station NJ 101.5; and (2) stirring up mistrust, anger, and rage against government and existing political parties for the furtherance of the Fascist Red-Shirt Movement. 

Spadea's argument appears to be that the tax cuts in the Tax Restructuring program (eliminating the estate tax, the tax cut on retirement income for most New Jersey seniors, the sales tax cut, the $3,000 personal income tax exemption for veterans, and the earned income tax credit for low-paid workers) will take revenue that is needed for pension payments for public employee unions. Spadea speciously argues that a vote on Ballot Question 2 would leave "teachers without proper funding".

First of all, this is nonsense and based on some entirely false premise that the Red-Shirt leader cooked up in his head.  Second, it is essentially a left-wing argument, one made by Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan, at odds with the political spectrum Spadea and the other Red-Shirts claim to represent. But then again, they didn't call it national socialism for nothing!

The anger is the thing.  Getting listeners to act out in an emotional rage is what Spadea's mission is and the level of sometimes violent rage he's built up is truly remarkable.  The foul and pornographic language, the threats of violence against legislators and their families posted on social media, have been breathtaking. 

Townsquare Media permits Spadea to spew hatred against people who use public transportation as though they were a lower form of human being -- and his Red-Shirt followers (and some elected officials) lap it up.  As a salesman, politician, and movement leader, Spadea appears to know more about transportation engineering than civil engineers and planners, who explain the common sense fact that public mass transportation removes millions of cars from the road that would otherwise be clogging said roads and adding to road wear and lengthening commuting time.

Spadea's latest argument against putting the money from the gas tax into a lock-box for road and bridge repair is that capital projects should be purchased up front instead of being financed over the life of the project.  That would be like buying a house or a car for cash.  Few can afford to do that and taxpayers cannot afford to see their property taxes go up to pay for a new bridge up front  Capital borrowing spreads the cost out over the life of the bridge. 

It's common sense but common sense is not what Bill Spadea and his Red-Shirters are about.  They want anger, they want rage, they want fear, they want hate... and increasingly, they are succeeding.

Spadea's rants have so frightened Assemblyman Erik Peterson, that last week his office put out a press release stating "Peterson has consistently opposed these measures" while apparently forgetting that he voted to put the Question on the ballot in January of this year:

ACR1 Amends State Constitution to dedicate all State revenues from motor fuels and petroleum products gross receipts tax to transportation system.

Session Voting:
Asm.  1/11/2016-  3RDG FINAL PASSAGE   -  Yes {75}  No {0}  Not Voting {4}  Abstains {0}

Peterson, Erik - Yes

What a knucklehead!

But that's how it is now.  Emotion trumps reason.  The Big Lie conquers factual truth.  Fear makes people forget their own voting records.  And anger, rage, and hate are the order of the day.  We have been here before, as this footage from a speech by an American Brown-Shirt leader in Madison Square Garden reminds us.  Yes, we have been here before and we have defeated the forces of rage and have survived. 

Peterson dumps on GOP admin under Christie

When the genuinely deceitful want to ignore something they make the claim that it is "unknowable."  On Thursday, Assemblyman Erik Peterson was on the Bill Spadea spewfest and between the two of them they couldn't muster the brainpower to have a mature, deliberate conversation regarding the findings and the differences between the Reason Foundation study and the Rutgers University study into New Jersey's road construction costs.  Here, read both studies for yourself:

https://reason.org/files/21st_annual_highway_report.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/publicat/2016studyconopmaint.pdf

First off, anyone claiming to believe that every position held by the Reason Foundation is infallible should know that in 2005, Reason changed its position on global warming, arguing:  "Anyone still holding onto the idea that there is no global warming ought to hang it up.  All data sets—satellite, surface, and balloon—have been pointing to rising global temperatures."   

Spadea, who exhibited the same verbal diarrhea he was known for as a political candidate, failed to give his brain a chance to absorb the data he was shouting about.   Did both Spadea and Peterson skip that science class at Cherry Hill East? 

Come on boys, our grandfathers lived in the time of Einstein, we live in the time of Hawking, do you really want us to buy your b.s. that while the universe may be knowable, the cost of constructing a highway in New Jersey is unquantifiable by modern science?  You people have either purposefully failed to apply yourselves or you are idiots and not fit to hold the jobs that you do.

If Bill Spadea is too dense to read and comprehend what is contained in the studies, he shouldn't have an equally stupid politician on his show to join him in obnoxious primate behavior, he should ask the writers of each study to come on and explain it.  That's if, of course, Spadea would stop hooting and hollering long enough to let them get a word in.

One remarkable aspect of the show -- and that's what it is, a show -- was the way in which these two "Republicans" blithely trashed the current Republican administration in New Jersey.  It sounded more like a discussion between two Democrat candidates for Governor than two GOPers.

Spadea announced that Governor Christie's property tax cap was a complete failure, claiming that his property taxes had gone up "twenty percent the last few years" under Christie.  We're looking into this claim and others made by Spadea, don't you worry. 

Not to be outdone, Assemblyman Peterson took a dump on the GOP Christie administration's handling of the state's roads and bridges these last 6 years and 6 months.  He told the NJ 101.5 audience that the Governor's people had no idea what they were doing and that they were completely unprofessional (aka not run like a business).  Peterson called the Christie administration "embarrassing" and added that it should be "embarrassed." 

Assemblyman Peterson then came up with his own figure for the cost-per-mile of a road in New Jersey:  $1 million, which he claimed came from the Department of Transportation.   He said that half of that cost was due to state required "studies and different types of engineering stuff."  Stuff?  Yeah, that's a technical term.

The Assemblyman doesn't appear to understand the federal requirement tied to transportation grants that mandates "prevailing wage" laws be obeyed.  But it is his (and Spadea's) attitude towards blue-collar workers that was most cringe worthy.  To them, it's quite alright that a lawyer be paid $400 an hour to practice his dubious profession, but it's a national outrage that a heavy equipment operator earn $60,000 a year for doing a far more important job.  Let's face it, when the blue-collar guy is finished, we have a road, a thing of value.  When the lawyer is through, we have a headache, a pile of bullshit, and a bill.