http://www.bethechangeinc.org/…

ServiceNation Summit Co-chairs:

• Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
  
• Caroline Kennedy, Vice-Chair, New York City Fund For Public Schools
  
• Bill Novelli, CEO, AARP
  
• Alma Powell, Chair, America’s Promise Alliance
  
• Rick Stengel, Managing Editor, TIME Magazine

ServiceNation Leadership Council:

• Andi Bernstein
• Tom A. Bernstein, President and Co-founder, Chelsea Piers
• Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor, New York, NY; Chairman, National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• Cory Booker, Mayor, Newark, NJ
• Richard H. Brodhead, President, Duke University
• Neil Bush, CEO, Global XS
• Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
• Mortimer Caplin, Former Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
• Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, Former U.S. Surgeon General
• Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation
• Richard Celeste, President, Colorado College
• Ray Chambers, Amelior Foundation
• Richard Cizik, Vice President, National Association of Evangelicals
• Glenn Close, Actress
• William Cohen, Former Secretary of Defense; Former U.S. Senator
• Janet Langhart Cohen, Author; Founder, Citizen Patriot Organization
• Scott Cowen, President, Tulane University
• Tom Daschle, Former U.S. Senator
• John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University
• Manny Diaz, Mayor, Miami, FL
• John Dilulio, Former Director, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; Author, The Godly Republic
• Melinda Doolittle, Recording Artist
• Paul Fireman, Founder, Reebok
• Al From, Founder and CEO, Democratic Leadership Council
• Susan Fuhrman, President, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Mark Gearan, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard University
• Michael Gerson, Columnist, The Washington Post
• Stephen Goldsmith, Former Mayor, Indianapolis, IN
• Jennifer Granholm, Governor, Michigan
• Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Theologian; Author, The Jewish Way; Founding President, Jewish Life Network
• Amy Gutmann, President, University of Pennsylvania
• Lee Hamilton, Former Congressman; Former Co-chair, 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group
• Jenny Chin Hansen, President, AARP
• Gary Hart, Former U.S. Senator
• Admiral James R. Hogg, USN (Ret), Director, Strategic Studies Group, Naval War College
• James J. Jensen
• Martin Luther King, III, Chairman, Realizing the Dream
• Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Public Schools
• Sherry Lansing, Founder, The Sherry Lansing Foundation
• Jim Leach, Former Congressman; John L. Weinberg Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow   Wilson School, Princeton University
• Anthony Marx, President, Amherst College
• Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman, American Red Cross
• Sam Nunn, Former U.S. Senator
• Michael Nutter, Mayor, Philadelphia, PA
• Martin O’Malley, Governor, Maryland
• Lt. General Dave R. Palmer, USA (Ret), Former Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; Author
• David Paterson, Governor, New York
• Kal Penn, Actor
• Gregg Petersmeyer, Former Assistant to the President; Director, Office of National Service under George H.W. Bush
• Peter G. Peterson, Founder and Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; Co-founder, Blackstone Group Management
• Rob Portman, Former Congressman; Former Director, Office of Management and Budget
• Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard University; Author
• Marc Racicot, Former Governor, Montana
• Susan Rice, Foreign Policy Advisor, Obama for America
• Bill Richardson, Governor, New Mexico
• David Shaw, Managing Partner, Black Point Group
• Rodney Slater, Former Secretary of Transportation; Chair, United Way of America
• Laurie M. Tisch, President, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
• Paul Vallas, Superintendent, New Orleans Recovery School District
• David Walker, President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
• Silda Wall, Founder, Children For Children
• Rick Warren, Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church; Author, A Purpose Driven Life
• Harris Wofford, Former U.S. Senator; Former CEO, Corporation for National & Community Service

Is it surprising that a large portion of those in support are directly or indirectly government bureaucrats?

http://www.nj.com/…

The napkins were creased neatly in their laps, the floral arrangements plunked squarely in the center of the two tables.

The guests — 21 Newark residents — chewed methodically, quietly and nervously through their three-course meal.

Sure, there was a faux pas here or there. One man speared his dinner roll as if it were a ribeye. Another woman shoveled too much food into her mouth.

But those blunders were corrected as Newark held its first-ever social etiquette class on fine dining.

The classes, offered for free by the city, steer residents through the dos and don’ts of dining at a five-star restaurant.

“Etiquette has been a lost art,” said J. Wesley Tann II, a former fashion designer who has been reintroducing fine manners across the region for more than a decade. “Ever since Dr. Spock wrote his book, people have gotten further and further away from etiquette.”

Granted, there are no five-star restaurants in Newark, a city where mayors have toasted the openings of an Applebee’s and a Subway sandwich franchise with fanfare and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

But refined manners, the city has decreed, are a fundamental life skill. And Newark is spending $9,300 for three separate classes for children, adults and seniors.

Yeah… cause this will make Brick City a better place.

http://wcbstv.com/…

NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) - The sputtering economy has caused an increase in prices of many staples including gasoline, rice, ice cream, even beer. Now some lawmakers in New Jersey are considering taking food taxes a step further and install a proverbial “sin” tax on fast food.

Yes, the idea of marking up your favorite fast food burger or pack of fries is actually being tossed around, and it’s not settling well with many residents.

“They’re taxing everything. Now you’re gonna tax fast food? That’s crazy,” said Newark resident Miriam Robertson.

Added Livingston resident Tina Abrahamian: “No one wants to be taxed. I mean, it’s a necessity to eat and people need to eat and with everything skyrocketing, that’s the last thing we want to tax.”

The thought of taxing a Big Mac or a Wendy’s burger came up at a New Jersey Hospital Association meeting where Gov. Jon S. Corzine was asked if it could be an option to help fund struggling hospitals. At the meeting, he reportedly called it a “constructive suggestion.”

A spokesperson for the governor, however, told CBS 2 on Wednesday:

“The governor is open to reasonable solutions to help solve our financing problems, but there are no plans for any fast food tax.”

State Sen. Richard Codey has been quoted as saying a tax on fast food “is a tax on the poor.” And plenty of residents agree.

“[It cost] $12.86 for [fries] and this little chicken wrap, and they want to tax that? You’re serious?” asked Newark resident Saladine Fuller. “If they raise it, I’ll stop buying it.”

Still, some say taxing fast food isn’t such a bad idea.

“I think this country has gone too much in the direction of fast and unhealthy food, and if people are taxed they may terminate that and turn toward more healthy foods,” said West Orange resident Maureen Felix.

For now, the fast food tax is just an idea. Detroit lawmakers once toyed with it, but it never passed into law.

Mental note… Maureen Felix of West Orange is an authoritarian.

This is so very retarded. Fast food is not cheap. It’s just easy. But so is the Qwiki Mart and Starbucks and DD. Will they tax that too? How about a progressive tax on the density of energy. That way we all are incentivized to eat cardboard and celery. They are simply looking for money and since fast food has been demonized its an easy target. If they need money why not they use some of it from their monopoly gambling ring or layoff some of those make work bureaucrats they have? Why not just stop fucking around and let the market decide where the money should flow? If a hospital is failing it should be left to fail. It’s a failed program and needs to be replaced.

This morning on CNN:

And then at 1PM he was signing his new book at the 100 Broadway Borders book store. I arrived at 1PM with my copies of “The Revolution: A Manifesto” and “A Foreign Policy of Freedom.” The place was packed. They had sold out of The Revolution before I got there. He came in just after I did through the front door. Waited over an hour and a half in line. The Borders employees said they had never seen so many people for a book signing… including Greenspan. The line started on the third floor and went around the main walkway straight for two bends and then snaked through at least a dozen rows of books. I’ve no idea where it ended. They were letting 15 people at a time go down to the second floor where there was likely 40 people waiting. That’s where the table was set up for Paul. They didn’t allow for personalizing the signing because there was just too many people.

He’s going to be in Newark, NJ tonight at 6PM or so to do a fundraising for Murray Sabrin. I wasn’t in the mood to head down to Brick City but a few of the NYC Ron Paul Meetup members I saw are planning on going.

Update:

From Ron Paul’s publisher: “The signing [in NYC] was pretty remarkable. Sold out of 530 books before he even got there. More than 850 people showed up…2nd biggest signing in that store besides Bill Clinton. Incredible!”

Ron Paul on Judge Napolitano’s Radio Show: Part 1 and Part 2

From the Associated Press:

NEWARK, N.J. - Bartenders can be responsible for drunken drivers who visit their establishment even if they do not consume any alcohol there, a state appellate court ruled yesterday in a move that lawyers said expanded the duties of tavern operators.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel found that the estate of a man killed when his drunk friend drove off the Garden State Parkway can sue the Cape May bar they visited before the accident.

The driver, Frederick Nesbitt III, 19, was not served alcohol at the bar, but he had been drinking beforehand with the friend, James A. Hamby, 21.

The AP article continues and detours into he-said-she-said between the drunk driver and the waitress. That aside, the court’s ruling could have some scary implications for business operators. Now, not only will bartenders be required to keep a tab of how much you order under their watch, but they will be expected to gauge how drunk you are when you walked in the door. Short of everyone blowing a breathalyzer before entering any business with a liquor license, how does the court expect this to work? Nevermind that the bartender had nothing to do with intoxication off premises, social behavior has to be the worse metric to use.