As many as 700 arrested in Iowa illegal immigration raid at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant

POSTVILLE, Iowa — A raid by federal immigration officials at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant may have resulted in as many as 700 arrests, immigration officials said Monday

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex in northeast Iowa Monday morning to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, said Tim Counts, a Midwest ICE spokesman.

Agents are also executing a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States, he said.

Immigration officials told aides to Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, that they expect 600 to 700 arrests. About 1,000 to 1,050 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s employment services agency.

Chuck Larson, a truck driver for Agriprocessing, was in the plant when the agents arrived. “There has to be 100 of them,” he said of the agents.

Larson said the agents told workers to stay in place then separated them by asking those with identification to stand to the right and those with other papers, to stand to the left.

“There was plenty of hollering,” Larson said. “You couldn’t go anywhere.”

When asked who was separated, Larson said those standing in the group with other papers were all Hispanic

ICE spokesman Harold Ort in Postville did not confirm or deny that anyone had been detained, but went on to say that the children of those detained would be cared for and that “their caregiver situation will be addressed.”

“They were asked multiple times if they have any sole-caregiver issues or any childcare issues,” Ort said.

Aides to Braley said they have been told that “hundreds” of arrests are expected because the action is more of an “investigation” than an immigration raid, and specific individuals are being targeted for arrest as part of the investigation.

Counts described the events in Postville as a “single site operation.” He said he was not aware of any other immigration raids being conducted elsewhere Monday.

Postville Police Chief Michael Halse said he did not know anything about the raid until Monday morning.

Postville is a community of more than 2,500 people that includes natives of German and Norwegian heritage and newcomers who include Hasidic Jews from New York, plus immigrants from Mexico, Russian, Ukraine and many other countries.

The Agriprocessors plant, known as the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, is northeast Iowa’s largest employer.

About 200 Hasidic Jews arrived in Postville in 1987, when butcher Aaron Rubashkin of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood reopened a defunct meat-packing plant with his two sons, Sholom and Heshy, just outside the city limits. Business boomed at the plant, reviving the depressed economy while pitting the newcomers against the predominantly Lutheran community.

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said that the Postville immigration investigations were warranted despite concerns that federal official violated the constitutional rights of people in past raids.

“Remember our concern has not been about whether or not there should be raids,” Vilsack said. “It’s the way the raids have been conducted and the way in which American citizens’ rights have been violated by virtue of sort of a roundup process that’s used and what we think are inappropriate and unconstitutional actions on the part of immigration officials.”

Vilsack and others have alleged that immigration officials used humiliation, opposite-sex searches and long periods of secrecy in the Dec. 12, 2006, raids at Swift & Co. in Marshalltown, Iowa, where 90 people were arrested on immigration charges. UsaToday.com

Clinton holds big leads in West Virginia and Kentucky

Even as her campaign appears to be in its final stages, Hillary Clinton is headed for two sweeping victories in West Virginia and Kentucky, the next two states to weigh in on the prolonged Democratic presidential race.

According to new polls released Monday, Clinton holds a 34 point lead in West Virginia and a 27 point lead in Kentucky.

In West Virginia, which votes Tuesday, a Suffolk University Poll has Clinton drawing 60 percent of likely Democratic voters compared to Obama’s 24 percent. That poll also shows Clinton holds a 70 percent approval rating among West Virginia’s Democratic primary voters. Only half the state’s primary the state’s likely primary voters think Barack Obama can beat John McCain in a general election matchup.

In Kentucky, a Research 2000 poll shows Clinton winning 58 percent of the vote to Obama’s 31 percent. But despite Clinton’s strength in the state, the poll suggests John McCain would easily defeat both Democrats in November — the Arizona senator holds a 25 point advantage over Obama and a 12 point lead over Clinton. Kentucky is considered a solidly Republican state, though former President Bill Clinton carried it twice. The state’s primary is May 20.

It remains unclear how Clinton’s likely large wins in both states will affect the presidential race, given Obama’s significant lead in total delegates. Only 28 pledged delegates are at stake in West Virginia Tuesday, while 51 are up for grabs in Kentucky. Cnn

Death toll in China earthquake up to nearly 9,000

Cnn picture

CHENGDU, China (AP) — One of the worst earthquakes to hit China in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people Monday, trapped about 900 students under the rubble of their school and caused a toxic chemical leak, state media reported.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated a hilly region of small cities and towns in central China. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan province and more than 200 others were killed in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Sichuan province’s Beichuan county after the quake, raising fears that the overall death toll could increase sharply.

NJ considering deposits for beverage containers

New Jerseyans may soon pay as much as 20 cents extra when buying beverages in bottles and cans as part of an effort to boost recycling and combat litter.

On Monday, the Assembly Environment Committee is scheduled to discuss a 10-cent deposit for bottles and cans less than 24 ounces and 20 cents for larger ones up to 3 liters. The bill would apply to juice, sport drinks, water, soda, wine and beer containers.

Consumers would get the money back by returning the container to newly created redemption centers or to retailers. NJ.com

Rabbi, priests, sheriffs support Passaic imam in court

A Jewish rabbi, Roman Catholic and Episcopalian priests, a federal prosecutor and two sherriffs took the witness stand today to heap praise upon a popular Muslim cleric as his attorneys began presenting their case for why he should not be deported.

Mohammad Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson faces deportation for allegedly failing to disclose on his 1996 green card application that he had been arrested and pleaded guilty to aiding the terrorist group Hamas in an Israeli military court three years earlier.

His attorneys argue that Qatanani was detained administratively, convicted in absentia and subject to interrogation tactics Israel’s top court later outlawed as torture.

Among the witnesses subpeonad by Qatatani’s lawyers was Assistant United States Attorney Charles McKenna, who described numerous trips to the Paterson mosque as part of an effort to create better understanding between law enforcement and the Muslim community.

As an example, he said investigators often interpreted the tendency of Muslim women to not look them in the eye as a sign of deceit. Through the dialogue at the mosque, they realized it is routine in Arab culture for women not to look men outside their family in the eye.

“It’s important for us to have leaders in the Islamic community who will be accepting of us and give us inroads in the community,” he said.

The sheriffs of two north Jersey counties echoed McKenna’s statements that the mosque’s open door policies had helped investigators become more familiar with cultural aspects of the Muslim community.

But they also described a more personal connection they had made through their cooperation with Qatanani.

“When I’m in his presence, and he does have a presence, this small, unassuming person, he doesn’t say “boo” but he gives me a better feeling of peace,” said Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire. “I feel better as a person to be with him.”

Jerry Speziale, the sheriff of Passaic County echoed McGuire’s testimony saying Qatatani “radiates peace.”

Christopher Brundage, one of two Department of Homeland Security attorneys serving as prosecutors in the case, pressed Speziale and McGuire, asking if they would have different opinions if they had known about Qatatani’s alleged ties to Hamas.

Speziale said he would need to see proof of the conviction himself. McGuire said, “It would surprise me,” but added, “it cannot change my mind about what I have observed.” NJ.com

New Jersey Trooper injured helping accident victim

State police say a trooper severed an artery helping a man get out of his truck after an accident off Route 80 in Allamuchy Township.

Sgt. Stephen Jones says Trooper Cesar Garces pulled into a rest area after a pick-up slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer around 2 a.m. today.

Jones says Garces used a flashlight to break the window of the pick-up truck so the driver could get out. The trooper sliced his wrist, severing the artery.

Garces and the driver, Paul Villano, were airlifted to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Garces underwent surgery and was released. Villano, whose condition isn’t known, is charged with driving while intoxicated. NJ.COM

Israel turned 60 today

 

Israel celebrated the 60th anniversary of its creation today with fireworks, air force flyovers and street parties, but the atmosphere of heady jubilation was marred by doubts over future security and prospects for peace with the Palestinians.

A security crackdown sealing off the West Bank and Gaza and marches by Palestinians marking the expulsion of some 760,000 inhabitants as part of what they regard as the “Nakba” – the catastrophe – was a stark reminder of the uncertain future of the Jewish State.

Across the country, Israelis held barbecues in backyards and public parks and attended parachute jumps, a Bible quiz, concerts and the inauguration of a footpath around the Sea of Galilee.

The Nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman, the first Jewish crew member on the international space station, sent a greeting from space to the people of Israel. “Every time the station flies over the state of Israel, I try to find a window, and it never fails to move me when I see the familiar outline of Israel coming toward us from over the horizon,” the American-born astronaut said

ISRAEL: Terrorists Kill 2 Israelis

Two Israelis were killed Friday morning when Palestinian terrorists opened fire at them in the Nitzane Shalom industrial complex near Tulkarm in the West Bank.Israel Defense Forces troops and police were at the scene and were searching for the shooters.

According to the preliminary investigation, at least one terrorist arrived at one of the factories in the complex and opened fire at the two.

The gunmen initially intended to infiltrate Israel but returned to the industrial complex after they were unable to penetrate the security barrier, Army Radio reported.

The two men, Shimon Mizrachi, 53, of Bat Hefer and Eli Wasserman, 51, of Alfei Menashe, were declared dead by a Magen David Adom team that was called to the area. They were security guards at one of the factories.

Wasserman’s funeral is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. at the cemetery in Netanya. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Itzik Mimran, an MDA paramedic, was one of the first to arrive on the scene.

“When we arrived, there were two casualties,” he told Channel 10. “One of the senior medics reported that one of the casualties was dead and that another was wounded. We immediately initiated advanced resuscitation, but sadly he died.”

The two had weapons on their person, Mimran said.

The Nitzane Shalom complex was built in 1995. It houses nine factories that provide jobs to many Palestinians from the West Bank. Jewish.com

 

  

 

 

 

 

Passaic/Clifton Jewish Important numbers « Passaic – Clifton Jewish News

Passaic/Clifton Jewish Important numbers « Passaic – Clifton Jewish News

Public Discussions « Passaic – Clifton Jewish News

Public Discussions « Passaic – Clifton Jewish News

ISRAEL: Iran Accused of Smuggling Arms Into Gaza

The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)Iran has stepped up its efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip by using floatable devices it drops in the waters off the Gaza coast to be picked up by Palestinian fisherman, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post. Iran has stepped up its efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip by using floatable devices it drops in the waters off the Gaza coast to be picked up by Palestinian fisherman, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post.     According to defense officials, Iran is sending rockets and other advanced weaponry to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip by sea as well as via tunnels dug under the Philadelphi Corridor and connecting the Sinai peninsula with Rafah.   Officials said the navy is doing a fairly effective job in curbing the smuggling by sea, but there are some shipments Israeli forces did not intercept.   “They throw the weapons overboard in waterproof, sealed tubes, which then float into the Gaza waters and are picked up by fishermen,” one official said. “Sometimes navy boats intercept them, and sometimes they get through.”   In recent months, the Israel Defense Forces noticed an increase in Iranian-made weaponry in the Gaza Strip, including rockets and mortars. Terror groups in Gaza recently were equipped by Tehran with two types of mortar shells made in Iran: one 120mm with a range of 6.2 miles, like a Kassam rocket, and another with a range of 3.7 miles. Defense officials told the Post that in recent weeks thousands of mortars have been smuggled into Gaza. Officials in Jerusalem said some of the weaponry now in Gaza is far too large to have been smuggled through tunnels burrowed from Sinai into Gaza and that there was obviously an alternative route that was being used to smuggle weaponry into the area. In addition to providing weaponry, Iran is training Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, who have used the periodic openings at the Rafah Crossing with Egypt, as well as the collapse of the border with Egypt in January, to travel to Iran and train there in terror and guerrilla warfare. Officials said the weapons could take several routes from Iran to Egypt. One possibility is that the weapons are taken by boat from Iran to Egypt and then are smuggled into Gaza through tunnels or thrown into the waters off the coast and near the border. Another possible route is that the weapons are transferred by Iran to Syria, and then to Lebanon, where Hezbollah ships them by boat to Egypt. A branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards called the Quds (Jerusalem) Force is believed to be responsible for overseas operations, such as training Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists and providing them with weapons. Meanwhile, a full closure was imposed on Gaza and the West Bank at midnight Thursday for the duration of Pesach. A terror infiltration into the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Gaza was thwarted Thursday by the IDF. Military sources said three armed terrorists were spotted on their way to the crossing, the main conduit for food and medical supplies transferred to Gaza, and were intercepted by a force from the Bedouin Desert Battalion that was stationed nearby. One terrorist was killed and another was wounded in an ensuing gunfight. The foiled infiltration followed heavy violence Wednesday when three IDF soldiers and close to 20 Palestinians were killed in clashes in Gaza. On Thursday, 10 rockets were fired into Israel, including a Grad-model Katyusha rocket that hit an open field south of Netivot. No one was injured in the attacks. Earlier in the day, two Islamic Jihad operatives were shot dead in the West Bank town of Kabatiya near Jenin. The IDF said troops surrounded a home in which the operatives were hiding and called on them to come out. The suspects refused and were killed in an ensuing exchange of fire. 

Hatzolah E.M.S. Responding to Baby Born in a car.

Hatzolah of North Jersey as well as Hackensack Fire/E.M.S, Hackensack P.D, Hackensack Paramedics and N.J. State Police all responded to a call on RT 80 in Hackensack of a Mother about to give birth. Before anyone got on location the mother had given birth. The mother and the baby were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center. We at P.C.N.J wish a Mazel Tov to the Parents.

Feds: Ex-Army engineer slipped secrets to Israel

A former U.S. Army mechanical engineer at Picatinny Arsenal was charged today with slipping classified documents about nuclear weapons to the Israeli government in a plot that stretched back two cecades.

Federal prosecutors in New York said Ben-ami Kadish, 85, a U.S. citizen who worked at the Army base, took home classified documents for six years and let a member of the Israeli Consulate photograph them in his basement.

The documents included information about nuclear weapons, a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet, and the U.S. Patriot missile air defense system, they said.

Kadish is charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with four counts of conspiracy, including allegations that he disclosed U.S. national defense documents to the same Israeli Consulate member who received information from convicted Pentagon spy Jonathan Pollard.

Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, pleaded guilty when he was standing trial for transferring military secrets to Israel while working at the Pentagon. He is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

Bruce Goldstein, a lawyer for Kadish, had no immediate comment.

Calls requesting comment from the Israeli consulate in the U.S. were referred to Jerusalem, where Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said: “We know nothing about it. We have nothing to say.”

A criminal complaint said Kadish confessed to FBI agents on Sunday that he had given the Israeli between 50 and 100 classified documents and accepted no cash in return, only small gifts and occasional dinners for him and his family.

Kadish worked at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J. On numerous occasions between 1979 and 1985, the agent provided Kadish with lists of U.S. national defense classified documents he was interested in, according to the complaint. Kadish worked at the base from 1963 through 1990.

The complaint described a close relationship between the two men that continued beyond 1985, and included telephone and e-mail conversations exchanged as recently as Sunday.

The unidentified agent was described in the complaint as a one-time employee of Israeli Aircraft Industries, which since at least the late 1970s has been a defense manufacturing contractor for the Israeli government. The company is now known as Israeli Aerospace Industries.

From July 1980 through November 1985, the agent worked for the Israeli government as the consul for science affairs at the Israeli consulate in Manhattan and lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

The two men were introduced by Kadish’s brother, who at one time worked with the agent at the manufacturing plant in Israel.

The research center where Kadish worked on the Army base housed a library of documents, including many with classified information related to U.S. national defense. From 1979 through 1985, Kadish signed out at least 35 classified documents, according to the complaint.

Kadish told the FBI that he knew that one restricted document he provided to the agent included atomic-related information and that he did not have the required clearance to borrow it, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say the Israeli called Kadish on March 20 and told him to lie to federal law enforcement agents who were investigating possible espionage.

“Don’t say anything. Let them say whatever they want. You didn’t … do anything. … What happened 25 years ago? You didn’t remember anything,” the man allegedly told Kadish in Hebrew.

In addition to the spying counts, Kadish is charged with conspiring to hinder a communication with a law enforcement officer and conspiring to make a materially false statement to a law officer. Those charges stem from the March conversation.

The complaint noted that Pollard was charged in November 1985 with espionage-related offense after he provided classified information to the same Israeli worker, among other people.

The Israeli worker left the United States in November 1985 and has not returned, the complaint said. NorthJersey.com

Caution On Rt 21 Several Accident’s

Due to the snow there has been several accident’s on RT 21. Please use extreme caution while driving. The road’s are extremely hazardous.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad President Of Iran,says Israel will fall,

TEHRAN – Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his verbal attack on Israel today, saying its days are numbered and predicting that the “filthy Zionist entity” will fall sooner or later.

“I advise you to abandon the filthy Zionist entity which has reached the end of the line,” Ahmadinejad told world powers in a speech in the southern city of Bushehr carried live on the state television. “It has lost its reason to be and will sooner or later fall,” he said. “The ones who still support the criminal Zionists should know that the occupiers’ days are numbered.”

The Islamic republic considers Israel its arch enemy, along with the United States, and its hostility towards the Jewish state has deepened since Ahmadinejad became president in 2005.

Ahmadinejad has drawn the ire of the international community by calling for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map and describing the Nazi holocaust a “myth”.

His latest comments come as Iran faces a third round of United Nations sanctions over its controversial nuclear drive.

Jewish Votes Will Matter

Iowa and New Hampshire have spoken and shaken up the presidential races in both political parties. The contest between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will likely be decided in the 20 states in which primaries will be held on February 5. The Republican nomination contest may be more muddled with Huckabee, Giuliani, McCain and Romney all still in the mix – but it too will likely be resolved on February 5. What does this mean? Jewish votes will matter. Among the (too) many states holding primaries on Feb. 5: New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona and Tennessee all with substantial Jewish populations; most of whom are registered Democrats, but there are plenty of Republicans and Independents, and are known to turn out disproportionately to our percentage of the overall population.

While Senator Clinton has had more than a six year senate term to cultivate her relationships with American Jews and become the community “favorite,” Senator Obama has done his share of outreach to the community since he has burst on the scene as well. Thanks to his mayoralty in NYC, Rudy Giuliani certainly  in the community, but McCain can come on strong with a long record of support for Israel and Joe Lieberman in his corner (and potentially on his ticket?)

Bottom line: We expect a lot of phone calling, direct mailing, ads in your local Jewish papers, meetings with rabbis and showing up for bagels & lox in the coming weeks – and yes, this is good for the Jews. ou.org

Passaic N.J. Extreme Fog Alert

Dense Fog Advisory URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR EASTERN PASSAIC COUNTY VALID FROM THU NOV 22 2007 12:24 AM EST UNTIL THU NOV 22 2007 09:00 AM EST.

Scrambled eggs,anyone?

PERRIS, Calif. (AP) A truck loaded with 30,000 pounds of eggs overturned Monday, covering a rural road with a slippery layer of egg whites and yolks. No one was injured in Monday’s crash, which occurred about 10 miles east of Perris in Riverside County.

Authorities had to shut down the road for several hours so workers could remove broken eggs and clean the roadway. Officers are investigating what caused the big rig to overturn. Daily News

The largest Dreidel in the world

Basking Ridge, NJ – The largest Hanukkah dreidel in the world stands 18-feet tall in front of the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, generating stares and smiles from passers-by.

The dreidel has become a local landmark during the holiday season, rising over the busy intersection of Valley Road and King George Road.

“Hanukkah celebrates the victory of a rag-tag band of Jewish freedom fighters in a struggle against their Syrian-Greek oppressors more than 2,000 ago”, explained Rabbi Mendy Herson, director of Chabad of Greater Somerset County. “The Hellenists tried to outlaw Jewish spirituality, to take the soul out of Judaism. Tradition tells us that Jewish children would study the Torah in hiding. When anti-Jewish forces would find them, they would take out little tops – dreidels in Yiddish – and pretend they were just playing a children’s game. Hence the worldwide practice of playing with dreidels on Hannukah.” [courieronline]Vosizneias.com

Canada – Air Canada Reservations Glitch Creates Delays for 96,000 Passengers

Canada – Air Canada officials spent Friday trying to find the cause of a massive network failure that brought down the company’s reservation system, grounding flights and delaying thousands of travellers at airports across Canada and around the world.Air Canada’s operations ground to a halt when its central reservation system experienced a communication error. It was several hours before the airline was able to rectify the problem, resulting in the cancellation of flights and lengthy delays for an estimated 96,000 passengers as employees had to process boarding passes manually.

Howard Simons, a passenger from Cambridge, Ont., whose flight to Houston for a business trip was delayed, said he was worried about his inconvenience.
“I’m an Orthodox Jew. My Sabbath starts tonight. That means I can’t take a cab. I can’t travel. I can’t buy anything.” Vosizneias.com

Corzine willing to lose re-election to fix N.J.’s financial woes

ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Thursday said he’s willing to risk losing re-election by increasing highway tolls to try to resolve state fiscal woes.

The governor didn’t detail how much he wants tolls to increase, but said he plans to present a formal plan in January as part of his State of the State address.

Speaking at a League of Municipalities convention, Corzine, as he has throughout the year, detailed fiscal woes he claims bar the state from investing in key needs.  NorthJersey.com

“We will get one chance at a serious financial restructuring and it has to be done right,” Corzine said. “But you can take this to the bank — I will be bold in the name of progress.”

The Democratic Corzine is up for re-election in 2009, but said, “Make no mistake. I am willing to risk losing my job if that’s necessary to set our fiscal house in order and get New Jersey out from the debt burden constraining our future.”

Corzine has discussed finding ways to make more money off state properties such as toll roads.

On Thursday, Corzine also said he wants to establish new limits on state borrowing. The state constitution bars the state from borrowing money without voter approval, but courts have allowed independent state agencies to borrow without voter consent.

Corzine didn’t detail the new limits, but said they were key.

“I don’t want to clean the manure out of the barn, only to have someone else fill it back up,” Corzine said.

Drivers entering NYC will have to pay higher tolls under new plan

The Port Authority plans to contribute another $1 billion toward the construction of a second commuter rail tunnel to Manhattan, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.

The agency’s Board of Commissioners will unveil the plan during its 2 p.m. meeting Thursday when it is expected to propose raising tolls on Hudson River crossings from $6 to $8 during peak hours.

Motorists would pay $6 during off-peak hours, and PATH riders would pay 50 cents more, or $2, per trip under the agency’s plan. E-ZPass users would lose the $1 discount they get during peak hours, Port Authority officials said.

Peak hours are 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 8 p.m. on weekends.

The bi-state agency said it needs more money to pay for capital projects and escalating security costs that have tripled since 2000.

But it doesn’t need the extra cash to pay for increasing its contribution toward NJ Transit’s Trans-Hudson Tunnel project from $2 billion to $3 billion, said authority spokesman Marc LaVorgna. The Port Authority wants to demonstrate to the federal government that it is “serious” about building the tunnel, construction for which is expected to begin in 2009 and be completed in 2016, LaVorgna said.

Earlier this year, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority unanimously approved Governor Corzine’s plan to swap $1 billion in federal funding expected for roads to help build the $7.2 billion project.

New Jersey had already committed $500 million toward the project that NJTransit officials say will relieve traffic congestion on the state’s roads. Federal funding is expected to pay for the rest of the work.

“We’re a full partner in the project and when you demonstrate this level of local commitment [to the federal government], it shows you’re serious about the project,” LaVorgna said. By TOM DAVIS NorthJersey.com

Arab Births Down, Jewish Births Up: No Demographic Threat

 

(IsraelNN.com) Recent statistics presented by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) and the World Bank confirm the assessment of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG)  that the demographic balance in the Land of Israel is not a threat to the Jewish majority at all; in fact, predictions of Arab population growth in the Palestinian Authority have been grossly overstated, with Jewish birthrates in pre-1967 Israel consistently increasing and Arab birthrates consistently dropping.

‘Demography is a Strategic Asset’ 
In an article by AIDRG lead researcher Yoram Ettinger, in conjunction with Bennett Zimmerman, Michael Wise and Roberta Seid, the team present what they consider to be the “bottom line” of their statistical study:

“Israel’s demographic establishment has been dramatically wrong: Demography constitutes a strategic asset, not a liability.”

“The claim that Jews are doomed to become a minority, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, is in direct contradiction of demographic reality. Such a claim has yielded demographic fatalism, which has dominated Israel’s academic, media, political and security sectors. It has become a basis for critical national security decisions. However, demographic fatalism is a suicidal prescription – especially in the Middle East – and it has been nurtured by grossly erroneous assumptions. Grossly erroneous assumptions produce grossly erroneous policies.

“There is a demographic problem, but it is not lethal. Moreover, the demographic momentum is Jewish and not Arab…. Anyone contending that there is a demographic machete at the throat of the Jewish State is either drastically mistaken or outrageously misleading!”

The AIDRG article appeared in the October edition of Mabat, a publication of Israel’s Intelligence Center.

7 die after Hamas fires on Arafat rally

Palestinian Fatah supporters take part in a rally to mark the third anniversary of the death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Gaza November 12, 2007. Gunfire killed at least five people on Monday at a Fatah memorial rally for Arafat that drew hundreds of thousands of supporters of the defeated faction in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, a medic said. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

Passaic News Site Is Now Back Up Forever.

Passaic News site is now back up for good. We have found a strong team willing to post True News in Passaic And Clifton. We now have a team of 12 people working around the clock to keep this site going . We Thank our 100s of Passaic/Clifton residents who have asked us to reopen.

Reader Submitted Article – Illegal Aliens Reason For Our High Taxes?

From our In-box

The Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of PCJN or of its staff. Everyone is welcome to share their opinions with our readers via the comments system or by submitting articles.

The “Safe Haven” resolution passed by the Passaic City Council is an outrage and an affront to the law abiding, tax paying American citizens of Passaic.

See
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxOTU0MTEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz

or
http://passaicnews.wordpress.com/

Many Passaic taxpayers are being crushed by oppressive New Jersey taxes, and illegal alien gang crime is spreading around the country. The US Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs to be constitutional. American born children who attend private schools receive almost nothing from NJ, while NJ spends about $20,000 per year to educate each illegal alien child!

Lets demand that our elected city councilmen post answers on the PassaicJews forum to the following questions:

1. Which city and/or county services and programs are now open for use by all persons, including illegal aliens?

2. What is the total cost to the City of Passaic and Passaic County for all these city services and programs?

3. Approximately how many illegal alien immigrants are residing in Passaic?

4. Are Passaic police inquiring about the immigration status of arrested persons, and are they then reporting illegal alien criminals to the Federal immigration enforcement authorities?

5. Approximately how many illegal alien gang members are residing in Passaic?

6. Which illegal alien gangs are known to be operating in Passaic, and what is being done to arrest and/or deport them?

Please email these Passaic City Councilmen and demand answers to the above questions:

gschaer@cityofpassaicnj.gov
cmunk@cityofpassaicnj.gov
dschwartz@cityofpassaicnj.gov

If Jews intend to survive in an increasingly hostile world, then lets start following the wisdom of our own Jewish sages -
“THE LAW OF THE LAND IS LAW” – Baba Kama 113a, Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), Choshen Mishpat Chpt. 369.

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Web Links:

Illegal Alien Crime Waves
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51424

“In Passaic, we have MS-13 (Al-Quada connected illegal alien terror gang)”
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY5NjY2MjcmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0

NJ’s Costly Immigrant Burden
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-08-29sm.html

Costs of Illegal Immigration to New Jerseyites
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_njcosts

Passaic attorney nixes bid in scandal’s wake

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 By MEREDITH MANDELL HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC — Gary Schaer’s attempt to hire a special counsel to represent the City Council in the wake of the mayor’s arrest in a statewide sting was thwarted by a city attorney’s legal opinion.

On Tuesday, Councilman Gerry Fernandez said the city attorney looked at case law and advised against appointing a special counsel. Sheri Siegelbaum, the city attorney, refused Tuesday to comment for this story.

Fernandez said the council did not take a vote at a special meeting Monday called by Schaer, the council president, which ended within five minutes.

“The city council tried to hire special counsel and they weren’t allowed to,” Fernandez said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Schaer wanted to hire an “independent attorney” to advise the City Council as federal agents look into dealings that Mayor Samuel Rivera, Councilman Marcellus Jackson and former Councilman Jonathan Soto had with contractors.

Rivera, Jackson and Soto were arrested Sept. 6 on charges of bribery and extortion. Soto was a councilman from July 2003 to July 2007.Schaer and four other council members present at Monday’s meeting did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday. Jackson was absent from the meeting.

Last week, Schaer announced at a regular council meeting that the city should hire the independent lawyer.

Some critics said that hiring another attorney would be a waste of money and that Schaer was taking political advantage of Rivera’s arrest. Schaer also is a state assemblyman who faces re-election in November.

Rivera, Jackson and Soto allegedly took thousands of dollars in bribes from FBI undercover agents posing as insurance brokers. The bribes were in exchange for getting the city to enter into a contract with the insurance brokers. Rivera is alleged to have said to undercover agents “I can get four (council) votes easy, easy, easy.”

The council approved a resolution proposed by Soto in December that allowed insurance brokers to offer medical spending accounts to city employees without going through the “fair and open” bidding process required by city ordinance for agreements costing more than $17,500.

Passaic’s ‘haven’ status hailed

Saturday, September 15, 2007

 

By MEREDITH MANDELL

HERALD NEWS

 

PASSAIC — Immigration advocates Friday praised the passage by the City Council of a resolution that declares the city a “safe haven” for immigrants.

“I think this is very good, because Passaic is a city of immigrants,” Tamara Morales, vice president of Casa Puebla, a Mexican-American social activist group in Passaic, said in Spanish. “They have made the city better, businesses are growing, people are renting apartments, real estate has gone up, there’s more money circulating in the city and more construction.”

The resolution, approved Tuesday in a 6-0 vote, prohibits city officials from asking residents about their immigration status. Residents can get access, without fear of unnecessary interrogation, to all of the city’s services — including mental health and drug counseling, food vouchers for infant children and hospital emergency rooms.

The symbolic resolution comes in the wake of fears that a tide of anti-immigrant sentiment is rising in New Jersey.

Last month, state Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a directive instructing law enforcement personnel to inquire about the immigration status of individuals who are arrested on serious criminal charges. The decision came after the arrest of suspects in the killing of three college students in Newark. One was an illegal immigrant.

The city’s resolution is similar to the so-called “sanctuary” order adopted in Prospect Park earlier this year. Borough Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was the first in Passaic County to declare that all immigrants were entitled to borough services regardless of their status.

Norberto Curitomai, president of the Paterson-based Immigrant Rights Defense Committee of New Jersey, said he believes the measure will calm fears among many in the undocumented community, who are reluctant to deal with city officials, fearful about reporting a crime or a slumlord.

“They made it clear that the city’s services and assistance programs will be open, without import as to a person’s resident status,” he said.

None of the City Council members returned calls for comment Friday.

Mayor Samuel Rivera said Friday he was pleased the resolution was approved because immigrants “are human beings and they deserve the primary services.”

Last year, Rivera proposed opening a day-laborer center on Parker Avenue in front of The Home Depot. The center was seen as a compromise in the wake of resident complaints about the day laborers littering and loitering on the streets and public outcry over police ticketing the violators.

The day-laborer dispute in Passaic reflected heightening tensions in towns across New Jersey.

Earlier this year in Morristown, Mayor Donald Cresitello proposed deputizing local police officers as federal immigration agents. Cresitello applied without success to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security for admission into a program that trains police officers on handling immigration matters and gives them the authority to file civil immigration charges.

Some residents Friday said the Passaic resolution was long overdue because immigrants — whether legal or not — have boosted the city’s economy.

“If all the illegal immigrants were released tomorrow we would belly up and we would become another Camden,” said Jose “Alex” Ybarra, who contracts with Passaic as a translator in Municipal Court.

Other residents believed that illegals should not have access to city services because they are not paying taxes.

“They pull in these gorgeous vans and they come with the best of baby carriages,” said resident Willa Daniels, of the immigrants she sees waiting in line for the WIC program, a supplemental nutrition program for low-income mothers and their children.

“We are being overtaxed because these people are getting a benefit without working for it.”

 

Mayor Rivera issues Veiled threat to expose Gary Schaer’s own Illegal Behavior

For those who can read between the lines, this is from an article in the Herald News. Complete article available by clicking “Read the rest of this entry” below.

Rivera said that Schaer had no legal right to call for a special counsel.

“So he wants to play games. Let him play games,” Rivera said. “He is a person that shouldn’t be striving for a more intense investigation.”

For complete article, including other people blasting Gary Schaer, click here:

Politicians, Including Passaic’s City Council President, Continue to Hold Two Elected Positions Despite Legislation Prohibiting Such Conduct, Due to being “Grandfathered” in.

THE RECORD EDITORIAL – September 7, 2007

NOTWITHSTANDING his recent stumbling on other matters of ethics, Governor Corzine did mark some real progress on good government this week: He signed a bill that eventually will prohibit the state’s politicians from holding more than one elected office.

Now those exempted from the law should join the state’s ethical consensus by choosing one office and losing the other.

New Jersey’s current dual officeholders have escaped the provisions of the new law in a much-criticized political compromise, which grandfathers those holding two offices as of Feb. 1. Even so, these officials now face ethical exile in their own state. As their numbers inexorably dwindle, their positions can only become more untenable.

Officials holding more than one elected office have the clearest conflict of interest imaginable. They exacerbate the state’s tendency toward parochialism, encouraging state spending on local pork projects. And they consolidate power in a semi-permanent political class, reducing opportunities for newcomers.

Among the North Jersey legislators holding a second office are Democratic state Sen. Paul Sarlo, the mayor of Wood-Ridge; Democratic Assemblymen Gordon Johnson, an Englewood city councilman; and Gary Schaer, the Passaic City Council president. An astounding four of the seven Bergen County freeholders also hold elected municipal offices, as does one Passaic County freeholder (all of them Democrats).

Who will be the last pariah hanging on to his or her dual offices like some kind of proto-ethical museum specimen? The race to the bottom is on.