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Which looked like something else (obligatory Married with Children reference)
He would have been a very good candidate, but he kept flip-flopping on running. He lost voter confidence because of that, and his ratings began to drop drastically.
and the voters in NJ rejected steve forbes who probably has more knowledge in his pinky than all of the NJ politicos combined have in their alleged brains
I wonder why you would say this, to him WE ALL have an IQ of about negative 50.
naw just the IQ of barney fife, why are you living way down there in ocean county? oh yeah the big city was too unsafe for your family, aren't those big town coppers good enough?
naw just the IQ of barney fife, why are you living way down there in ocean county? oh yeah the big city was too unsafe for your family, aren't those big town coppers good enough?
I lived there for over 35 years and it was time to move on and plan on retirement. I wish you would sell your overpriced shack in NJ and move permanently to your shack in Florida. This way you could annoy everyone with your holier than god, better than everyone attitude on the boards in the Jacksonville Forum instead of the NJ forum. Now that's one house I wish would sell in NJ. You preached about location,location,location I guess the location of your home in NJ wasn't on a road map for buyers to find.
For anyone pondering leaving, have you considered the promised land of Scranton, PA? LOL!
All kidding aside, I respect the OP's position. Why run away from your beloved home state just because it has some "issues?" I obviously love Scranton almost as much as my significant other, but it doesn't come without its grievous drawbacks (massively uneducated population, alcoholic-oriented culture, crumbling infrastructure, gloom-and-doomers, political strife, dreary weather, low wages, etc.) I'm still CHOOSING to put up with all of these annoyances in order to enjoy the benefits of living here (low crime, great schools, low congestion, growing arts/cultural scene, beautiful architecture and scenery, etc.), which more than account for the displeasures. Similarly I see New Jersey, the Garden State, as being in a similar situation as Scranton---having more positives than negatives but having a population that largely chooses to focus exclusively on the glass half-empty instead of the glass half-full.
As an outsider looking in, I'm envious of you folks in "Joisey!" You live in a state that supports civil equality through same-sex civil unions while PA might ban them as early as next year. You live in a state that has beautiful beaches on up to gorgeous hilly terrain in NWNJ. You have Princeton University, Hot Dog Johnny's, and proximity to two of the most exciting cities in our nation---Philadelphia and New York City. Your state is overwhelmingly open-minded and tolerant of different cultures, races, and sexual orientations, whereas here I feel the painful tinge of prejudice almost daily, including having to hear "Heath Ledger must have died of AIDS because ALL gay people should die of AIDS." You can live in some towns in NJ and be only a 90-minute drive from NYC, Philly, the beaches, or the Poconos (which are now losing their luster, but I digress). You have Atlantic City for world-class gaming. You have everything at your fingertips, yet the pessimists on this forum far outnumber the optimists, much like the pessimists on the Scranton forum far outnumber the optimists. It must be terrible to live your life waking up every day thinking "everything sucks." Even with all of the adversity I've faced in my life I couldn't be happier to be alive right now. Why not start focusing on your state's positives and what you can do to be loyal to NJ in order to SAVE it instead of just whining "NJ sucks so I'll move to NC until that sucks too."
I know this thread (as always) will garner me a lot of name-calling and nasty remarks from the usual suspects, but I just wanted to offer my insight into this very important issue of how if left unchecked pessimism can spread from person to person very quickly until it permeates itself throughout the core of your area. However, one can say the same about optimism, can they not? I've tried since mid-2006 to raise my pom-poms to get people to view Scranton as something other than a trash pit, and now I'm finally succeeding as I have some "allies" now on our sub-forum. Perhaps if you all attempt to skew the NJ forum from having a negative tilt to having a more uplifting one, you too will be able to turn the tables. It's just a little food for thought. I know I'm going to get flamed with "You're a stupid 21-year-old with no real life experience" comments, but I have ENOUGH life experience to realize that optimists attract people to them whilst pessimist repel them. When I was suicidal in high school NOBODY wanted to be near me. Now that I'm always cheery, upbeat, and ready to help others, I've become very popular socially to the point where I feel more secure in potentially leaping into a political career in Scranton in another 5-7 years. Don't sell yourselves short, Garden Staters! There's ALWAYS a silver lining to be found somewhere.
To run this state you have to pass muster with the corrupt urban machines and public employee unions.
Fiscal conservatives won't even get to 2nd base.
Do you honestly think this isn't the same everywhere though? I can't name one state that doesn't have a politician that views tax dollars as being "blank checks" to spend as they see fit because they think they know what is best for the greater good. Scranton, for example, is currently carrying a debt load in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! NJ is not unique in being cursed with politicians who have no financial accountability.
Things may seem brighter in NC, for example, but as soon as the costs of sprawl catch up to them, you'll see property taxes there going through the roof as well to finance new schools, new roads, new public services and infrastructures, etc. Higher taxes equate to more dollars to be fumbled by our illustrious politicians. You really can't escape this.
I myself have been looking incessantly for a like-minded area that is blessed with a nice mix of fiscal conservatives AND social liberals, but I have yet to find it. If anyone knows of such a place, please let me know!
To run this state you have to pass muster with the corrupt urban machines and public employee unions.
Fiscal conservatives won't even get to 2nd base.
This is a fatual statement unfortunately but correctly stated. If Mickey Mouse or Goofy ran on the dem ticket they would win in a landslide. I was guilty of both being from an urban dem machine and being from a large public employee union.
Do you honestly think this isn't the same everywhere though? I can't name one state that doesn't have a politician that views tax dollars as being "blank checks" to spend as they see fit because they think they know what is best for the greater good. Scranton, for example, is currently carrying a debt load in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! NJ is not unique in being cursed with politicians who have no financial accountability.
Things may seem brighter in NC, for example, but as soon as the costs of sprawl catch up to them, you'll see property taxes there going through the roof as well to finance new schools, new roads, new public services and infrastructures, etc. Higher taxes equate to more dollars to be fumbled by our illustrious politicians. You really can't escape this.
I myself have been looking incessantly for a like-minded area that is blessed with a nice mix of fiscal conservatives AND social liberals, but I have yet to find it. If anyone knows of such a place, please let me know!
No, it's not the same everywhere.
Again, NJ's level and costs of corruption are unparalleled in most, if not all, other states. The US attorney's office will back that up.
Factor in the inordinate amount of influence the public unions and urban machines have over the entire state, you end up where we are now.
And, we are in bad, I mean real bad, fiscal shape.
When retired (and not retired unfortunately) literally have to leave their home state just because of the costs associated with running it, something is dreadfully wrong.
Things like tasty hot-dogs and allowing gays to get married don't pay the bills and a big part of grownup life is about paying bills.
I'm one of the fortunate ones. I can afford to live here, in the style that I deem acceptable, as long as I'm working.
But many cannot, as shown by their leaving, and that's terrible.
NJ's voting habits don't indicate any real desire to change things so it's understandable that people will venture out for newer, different and possibly better pastures.
Hey, it could be worse. At least they can leave unlike, say, Cubans.
As an outsider looking in, I'm envious of you folks in "Joisey!" You live in a state that supports civil equality through same-sex civil unions while PA might ban them as early as next year. You live in a state that has beautiful beaches on up to gorgeous hilly terrain in NWNJ. You have Princeton University, Hot Dog Johnny's, and proximity to two of the most exciting cities in our nation---Philadelphia and New York City. Your state is overwhelmingly open-minded and tolerant of different cultures, races, and sexual orientations, whereas here I feel the painful tinge of prejudice almost daily, including having to hear "Heath Ledger must have died of AIDS because ALL gay people should die of AIDS." You can live in some towns in NJ and be only a 90-minute drive from NYC, Philly, the beaches, or the Poconos (which are now losing their luster, but I digress). You have Atlantic City for world-class gaming. You have everything at your fingertips, yet the pessimists on this forum far outnumber the optimists, much like the pessimists on the Scranton forum far outnumber the optimists. It must be terrible to live your life waking up every day thinking "everything sucks." Even with all of the adversity I've faced in my life I couldn't be happier to be alive right now. Why not start focusing on your state's positives and what you can do to be loyal to NJ in order to SAVE it instead of just whining "NJ sucks so I'll move to NC until that sucks too."
I agree with every positive assessment you have made about NJ. I've lived here my entire life and LOVE IT for all the reasons you mention. I've always thought NJ got a bad rap that it didn't deserve. I'd love to stay! Problem is, I just can't afford to. The price of everything has gone up to the point where something has to give. The $8,000/year property taxes we're paying have always been a burden, but they become an unbearable burden now because so much of our income is going to food, and fuel and the other necessities that we have about nothing left after we pay for necessities. What good is living in a place where you have all these great things at your fingertips when you can't afford to visit them because you have no recreation money left after you pay for the necessities.
Something has to give and for us, it's property taxes. We can't very well give up groceries.
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LOL!
You can live in some towns in NJ and be only a 90-minute drive from NYC, Philly, the beaches, or the Poconos (which are now losing their luster, but I digress). You have Atlantic City for world-class gaming. You have everything at your fingertips, yet the pessimists on this forum far outnumber the optimists, much like the pessimists on the Scranton forum far outnumber the optimists. It must be terrible to live your life waking up every day thinking "everything sucks." 
Don't sell yourselves short, Garden Staters! There's ALWAYS a silver lining to be found somewhere. 
Scranton, for example, is currently carrying a debt load in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! NJ is not unique in being cursed with politicians who have no financial accountability.
