Why not talk with the people who need insurance?

Members of the Borg family are listed among donors in a special room at Hackensack University Medical Center, above, and help from The Record's staff also is acknowledged, below. However, you won't find any Borgs listed with donors of $5 million and $10 million, only the Creamers and Sanzaris, respectively.

The Record's coverage of the many hospital construction projects that nearly obliterated its Hackensack neighborhood paled in comparison to the seemingly endless stories about The Valley Hospital's desire to build within its own borders in Ridgewood. As a non-profit, HUMC doesn't pay taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars in property it owns in Hackensack, shifting the burden to homeowners and businesses. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I'm troubled by all of the stories in The Record about the problem-plagued Web site for buying health insurance under the Affordable Care Act that don't quote any consumers.

Today's Page 1 "ANALYSIS" forces readers to plow through lots of words before they discover a box on the continuation page with real news they can use under the heading "Web alternatives" (A-1 and A-6).

For example, if you're not eligible for a subsidy, you can buy coverage directly from an insurer. And if your policy has been cancelled, you can renew it for one year, then ditch it when you find a better deal elsewhere (A-6).

I wish I knew that before my frustrating experience with the site, healthcare.gov, which asked me to send further documentation to the federal government before I can buy policies.

But in browsing the coverage available on the site, it appears I will be able to save about $100 a month on the two policies I buy now from North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, and a third purchased on the private market.

And those savings come with purchase of three of the best plans, referred to as "Platinum."

The NJMG letter to retirees cancelling two of my policies suggested coverage under the Affordable Care Act will cost more.

GOP noise

Today's story completely ignores a Republican campaign of misinformation about President Obama's signature health care plan that may be racially inspired.

It also lets off the hook Governor Christie and 35 other state leaders who refused to set up their own Web sites, throwing tens of millions onto the overburdened federal site.

Indian haters

Is anyone surprised by a movie that is being called a "hate crime" by North Jersey's Ramapough Indians (A-1)?

The historic screwing of Native Americans by whites includes settlement of the lawsuit that tried to get Ford Motor Co. to compensate the Ramapoughs for dumping in Ringwood that sickened or killed them.

An editorial in The Record urged them to give up their fight and accept the small, out-of-court deal.

Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Local news

Why is Robert Schroeder still a member of the state Assembly after allegedly stealing more than $1.8 million from other people and writing more than $3.4 million in bad checks (L-1)?

Did you see the glowing account of a new 23-store luxury wing at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus (L-7)?

The Record doesn't say whether security will be beefed up at the state's biggest mall to prevent a repeat of the Nov. 4 invasion by a gunman who committed suicide there.

After all, these are retailers "better known for their shops in Soho, Paris or Beverly Hills," sniffs Staff Writer Joan Verdon.

Are there any new stores or restaurants in your downtown? Don't expect a story in The Record.

Today's edition of The Record is a real snorefest

Observers argue whether Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza of The Record or Road Warrior John Cichowski is the laziest member of the Woodland Park newsroom, and which one of them modeled for this sculpture at Hackensack University Medical Center. Others say this is the reaction of most readers to today's front page from Editor Marty Gottlieb.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The only human element on The Record's front page today is the heart-breaking photo of children outside a Ridgewood church after services for Michael Feeney, who succumbed to bone cancer at age 10.

What kind of "battle" is it when cancer kills someone so young? I wish The Record and other media would stop using that silly term in headlines and stories (A-1).

More boring news

The rest of Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page today is boring institutional news -- about Rutgers, Hartz Mountain Industries and the National Football League -- and yet another A-1 column on Governor Christie's standing among GOP presidential contenders (A-1).

Actually, the story on offsetting the electricity used for the Super Bowl with "renewable energy credits" raises a question.

Why can't the NFL reach a deal with the state police to keep drunken fans off the road after every game in the Meadowlands?

And don't you wish The Record would report on immigration reform in terms of whether it would be good for the country, and not spin it for what it means politically to Christie and every other official?

Two embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Road litter

Given how little Road Warrior John Cichowski writes about NJ Transit's crowded trains and safety measures at stations to prevent pedestrian deaths, why is he tackling the train crash in New York that killed four (L-1)?

Cichowski's Sunday column on road projects was chiefly written to correct all the deficiencies of his previous, Nov. 24 column on the same subject, including missing completion dates.

But on Sunday, The Addled Commuter only supplied the years, not the months or anything more precise, and continued to make his readers sound stupid:

"What kind of  construction is being done that takes two-plus months of traffic tie-ups?"

That's from Leigh Kurtz, a Clifton resident who must have moved to New Jersey from the moon. 

Two months is nothing. Delays caused by road repairs are quantified in years, not months. And we're prisoners in our cars, because mass transit operates at capacity.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior column needs a complete overhaul

Check out Governor Christie's official house organ

Welcome to the lower level of the George Washington Bridge, where closure of a single lane on Monday made an 11 a.m. trip to Manhattan feel like the rush hour. Many native New Jerseyans refer to the lower level as Martha Washington.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Saying to hell with their pretense of objectivity, The Record's editors today kicked off Governor Christie's unofficial campaign for the White House.

Close to half of today's front-page is devoted to mini profiles of "Team Christie" -- a lawyer, public relations and campaign strategists, and others who helped him get elected in New Jersey.

The story is by Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, whose unabashed affection for the GOP bully during his recent campaign for a second term has many readers thinking of her as the Bride of Frankenstein (A-1).

Hayes claims these Christie loyalists won't talk about anything -- "even their success in helping him win twice in a blue state."

That's probably because Christie's campaign, and especially his TV ads, were filled with half-truths, omissions and lies, and The Record and other media winked at what a lousy job he has done since he took office in January 2010.

Fiscal disaster

That can be seen is another story on Page 1 today, reporting New Jersey may be able to collect $200 million in annual sales tax revenue from Amazon.com and other online retailers (A-1).

But given Chirstie's voodoo economics, $200 million is chump change that will do nothing to lift the state out of its fiscal mess.

The only glimmer of hope for Democrats is that Michael DeHaime, Maria Comella and other Christie loyalists once worked for such GOP turkeys as John McCain, Sarah Palin and Rudolph Giuliani.

More space is wasted on A-1 today for a sports column by Tara "The Vagina Monologue" Sullivan.

Not Pat Nixon

On A-2, the editors acknowledge another major screw-up, this time in the photo caption on Sunday's Better Living front.

Chef Claude Baills is shown with former President Richard Nixon and the chef's wife, children and mother, but the caption identified the mother, Therese, as "Pat Nixon."

You'd think six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton would have caught the error.

Dysfunctional Dems

On A-3 today, Christie has a point that Democrats in the Legislature, including John Wisniewski and Loretta Weinberg, seem to "have nothing to do" except complain about the closure of Fort Lee toll lanes on the upper level of the GWB in early September.

The story reports Fort Lee has three toll lanes to the bridge, but there is a fourth to the lower level, which was unaffected by the September closures.

I'd like to see Weinberg and Wisniewski and other Democrats get their act together, especially after their shameless lack of support for state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, in the gubernatorial election.

Bitch about this

Democrats shouldn't be bitching about the closure of a few toll lanes. 

They should be slamming Christie for rubber stamping exorbitant toll hikes, killing the Hudson River rail tunnels and failing to push the Port Authority to expand mass transit.

Local yokels

Readers only have to take one look at the enormous photo of Ridgewood's Christmas tree on L-1 today to know they'll find little local news in the section.

I guess Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza didn't have much left after giving Editor Marty Gottlieb a story on huge payments to municipal workers in Hackensack and other towns for unused sick and vacation time (A-1).

The Record's Local section has ignored Main Street in favor of lavish coverage of mall retailers on Page 1 and in the Business pages.

Second looks

In the adoring Sunday profile of Claude and Dolores Baills of The Chef's Table in Franklin Lakes, Staff Writer Elisa Ung notes North Jersey's "dwindling supply of classic French restaurants run by old-school chefs."

What she doesn't explain is that classic French cooking --  with its reliance on butter, heavy cream and other unhealthy animal fats -- has been largely repudiated by the majority of restaurant goers seeking healthier food.

Does anybody feel sorry for Kevin and Cheri Smith, who squandered $3.8 million of a $5 million windfall to build a home in Franklin Lakes, only to lose it to foreclosure (Sunday Real Estate cover)?

With so many other New Jersey foreclosures to choose from, why pick this couple?

The Road Warrior column on finding a Black Friday parking space at the mall said nothing about the opening of a new, high-tech garage at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus.

Signs and green lights tell drivers where to find vacant spaces in the four-deck structure, according to a Dec. 11 story in The Record.

Staff Writer John Cichowski not only re-used anecdotes, quotes and advice from a similar column in 2012, he quoted drivers saying the stupidest things.

Conrad Macina of Mount Arlington is quoted as saying he "won't even go to the malls to buy gum during the Thanksgiving holidays." Who would?

Teaneck's Jane Abraham prefers to spend, what, $25, $30 or $40, even with discounts, to park and shop in Manhattan? 

Is she out of her mind? Does she also prefer to pay sales tax on clothing in Manhattan?

What these and other readers who pepper Cichowski with e-mails have in common is that they love to see their names in print.

For that, other readers have to suffer their insufferable advice, because Cichowski refuses to do the legwork he should be doing for his silly column.

Columnist re-used anecdotes, quotes from a year ago

Work continues on the NJ Transit train station on Anderson Street in Hackensack, above and below. When completed, the station will have the first waiting room for city commuters in many years.

How much did NJ Transit save by using a smaller sign that required the abbreviation of Anderson Street? Now, commuters freeze their you-know-whats off while waiting in bus shelters, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

A seemingly innocent Record column with advice about getting a Black Friday parking space at the mall hid a multitude of journalistic sins.

Chief among them is that Staff Writer John Cichowski lifted the people, quotes and advice in Friday's L-1 column from a year-old Road Warrior piece on the same subject.

Hello again, Amy

The veteran reporter took several short cuts to avoid actually leaving the office and interviewing shoppers for their experiences and advice.

On Friday, he reported the experience of  "Amy Strauss and her cousin," whose car was blocked by two drivers competing for her space -- just as he did in his 2012 column.

Even the quote from Strauss was lifted word-for-word from the year-old column.

On Friday's continuation page, he cited a study on which car colors are most attractive to thieves -- in the Netherlands, not mall-rich Paramus.

All of the flaws in Friday's column are revealed on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers in The Record.

Stale Road Warrior column given new life

A concerned reader's e-mail listing the errors, distortions and other problems has been sent to everyone from Vice President/General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg to Editor Marty Gottlieb to Cichowksi's assignment editor to the addled reporter himself.

Another recipient of the e-mail is Production Editor Liz Houlton, the six-figure copy and news desk supervisor whose job it is to fact-check Cichowski's columns. 

Today's paper

The only items on today's front page of any real interest to readers is a brief reporting truckers hit with big toll hikes on the GWB and other crossings "may no longer be willing to take runs through the New York metro area" (A-1 and L-1).

I can't wait. Good riddance to all those lead-footed truckers who seem intent on rolling over your car, if you dare drive only 5 mph or 10 mph over the limit on Route 80 and other highways.

Other stories on Page 1 -- on the Affordable Health Care Web site, the decades-old protest by religious crackpots at an Englewood abortion clinic, and Governor Christie's laughable tax-cut plan -- are the kind of manufactured controversies the media specializes in.

Check out the correction of Thursday's A-1 screw-up the editors missed (A-2). LOL.

More bad journalism

Cichowski is back on the Local front today with his second column on road projects, which somehow escaped his attention until last week (L-1).

In contrast to the millions of words The Record's editors commission on shopping malls and big retailers, a story on Small Business Saturday was written by a single reporter interviewing shoppers in one downtown, Englewood (L-3).

Sorry, Charlie, the wealthy Borg publishing family tells downtown merchants in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns, if you don't advertise with us, you can go to hell when it comes time for news coverage.

Another Kelly turd

What would Sunday be without another column from the desperate Mike Kelly?

Today's Opinion front piece is Kelly's third attempt to link poor Richard Shoop of Teaneck to the mass shooting that killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn. (O-1).

Shoop, you'll recall, is the 20-year-old pizzeria worker who took advantage of the pathetic lack of security at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus on Nov. 4, and committed suicide.

Before he shot himself in the head, he fired randomly, but wasn't aiming at shoppers.

Don't make Kelly's column the last thing you read in today's Sunday edition.

If you do, you won't be able to get the column photo and Kelly's shit-eating grin out of your mind.