GOP tries to screw well-off seniors

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A Medicare card.

To avoid taxing millionaires and other wealthy supporters, House Republicans OK'd a payroll tax cut that would be paid for in part by higher Medicare premiums for seniors who earn more than $80,000 a year.

Of course, there's no mention of Medicare in the news story that runs in The Record today, and interim Editor Doug Clancy made sure you'd have to search for it (A-5).


More crime news


Clancy chose crime news for the fourth day in a row to lead the GOP-friendly daily, bringing readers the breathtaking news that an ex-cop accused of murder failed drug tests during probation (A-1). What a bad guy he must be.


The photo in the middle of the front page is from Parksville, N.Y. Is that near Park Ridge, Palisades Park or Park and Ride? 


It's hard to believe there were no North Jersey images worthy of Clancy's A-1.


Clancy seems more comfortable dramatizing police and fire news than an investigative piece on a Bergen County insider by Staff Writer Jeffs Pillets or former Gov. Jon Corzine's latest shucking and jiving about $1.2 billion in client funds. 


Temper tantrum


What about Governor Christie's style of leadership -- retaliating against state Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex (A-4). Why isn't that on Page 1?


"When Christie doesn't get his way, he stomps his feet and terminates people just to show he's boss," a Democratic leader noted.


Also on A-4, a photo caption by Editor Liz Houlton's news copy desk incorrectly calls an unusually large airplane designed to carry spaceships a "giant spaceship."


When is someone going to slap former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky as hard as possible across the face to bring him back to the reality of the molesting charges against him (A-9)?


He ducked out of a court hearing, where he would have faced accusers, saying he intends "to fight for four quarters."


You won't find any Hackensack municipal or school news in the Local section today, but you will find another column by Road Warrior John Cichowski on the parents of teen drivers (L-1).

More Christie pros than Christie foes

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Sen. Richard J. Codey attacks Governor Christie's "sound-bite budget."

The Record continues to do Governor Christie's dirty work today by publishing three columns that favor his divisive budget and tax policies and only one that opposes them.  

Meanwhile, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin continues his silence on the middle-class war Christie is trying to ignite.

The Republican Raging Bull's attempt to divide the state's middle class cries out for man-on-the-street interviews, but Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes don't give a shit about what you and other readers think. 

Isn't that what letters to the editor are for? Sykes shouts, before her shrieks of laughter echo across the Woodland Park newsroom.

In a column that starts on the front of Opinion, Sen. Richard J. Codey, a Democrat who served as governor in 2004-06, writes:

"Reforms are needed, but to try and achieve them by pitting New Jerseyans against New Jerseyans and trying to provide scapegoats and create smokescreens is not the way to obtain them.
"Your property taxes are up because this administration has drastically cut your education dollars.
"Your property taxes are up because this administration has drastically cut your municipal aid.
"Your property taxes are up because this administration continues a commitment to placing the burden of our state’s recovery on the shoulders of the middle class while giving a pass to the state’s wealthiest and providing more and more business tax breaks to corporations.
"So while the governor would like to tell you it is because of a union, just remember, the average public employee makes $56,000 – certainly not living the life of luxury."

'On the money: A sound-bite budget'

Columnist Mike Kelly's anti-union piece on the front of Opinion comes from a reporter who never found himself screwed by Scandale or his other supervisors -- unlike his black and Hispanic counterparts.

Eye on The Record bestows its first Black Hole Awards to Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski, Kelly and Doblin, in that order. Their gimmick-filled column writing is exceeded only by their poor reporting skills.

Flights of fancy

"Your Money's Worth" Columnist Kevin DeMarrais devotes an entire column to the tale of a wealthy businesswoman's attempt to repair her reputation. 

Unfortunately, his report is insensitive to residents of Hackensack and other towns near Teterboro Airport whose quality of life is ruined by relentless noise from the $10 million to $50 million business jets she sells.

Blind tasting

Go to Better Living for a good laugh over Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's report on meals that will be eaten in the dark at an Emerson restaurant.

She has been reviewing restaurants for the paper since 2007 -- and has turned a blind eye to harmful additives in meat and poultry, artificially colored farmed fish and artery clogging ingredients in the desserts she obsesses over.