"The state appeals court has given the Corzine administration until Dec 31st to finalize a formula for determining how much affordable housing suburban and rural towns must provide"-NJ Star Ledger, Jun 27th

Excuse my ignorance, but someone please cite for me where in the US or NJ constitution the citizenry has a "right" to "affordable" housing?

"Can't deport 12 million illegal aliens!"
How many times have we heard this statement over the past few months? It's an opinion that is refuted by the historical facts.

President Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico.Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern border with Mexico was just as open and violated as it was today. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points north.President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents - less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol. Although there is little to no record of this operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. Bill Fulbright (D) of Arkansas. On June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" (any future operation would have to be given a new more polite name) began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Ad this is the important point - the country didn't have to deport every illegal, the vast majority that left, left voluntarily. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
This is an important point: when laws are enforced, everyone tends to obey them -and that includes those not previously arrested. What we have now is the opposite: immigration and border laws are not being enforced so millions aren't obeying them. By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
- There are now said to be 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated 85 percent are here illegally.

"Can't deport 12 million illegal aliens!"
How many times have we heard this statement over the past few months? It's an opinion that is refuted by the historical facts.

President Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico
Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern border with Mexico was just as open and violated as it was today. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points north.
President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents - less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.
Although there is little to no record of this operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. Bill Fulbright (D) of Arkansas. On June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" (any future operation would have to be given a new more polite name) began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Ad this is the important point - the country didn't have to deport every illegal, the vast majority that left, left voluntarily. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.
By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
This is an important point: when laws are enforced, everyone tends to obey them -and that includes those not previously arrested. What we have now is the opposite: immigration and border laws are not being enforced so millions aren't obeying them.
By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily
- There are now said to be 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated 85 percent are here illegally.

"The state appeals court has given the Corzine administration until Dec 31st to finalize a formula for determining how much affordable housing suburban and rural towns must provide"-NJ Star Ledger, Jun 27th

Excuse my ignorance, but someone please cite for me where in the US or NJ constitution the citizenry has a "right" to "affordable" housing?

While momentum has turned against the death penalty, new research should give us all pause...
Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.
The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations — pointing out flaws in the justice system — has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.
What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.
So far, the studies have had little impact on public policy. New Jersey’s commission on the death penalty this year dismissed the body of knowledge on deterrence as “inconclusive.”
“Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it,” said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. “The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect.”
‘The results are robust’A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. “The results are robust, they don’t really go away,” he said. “I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?”
Statistical studies like his are among a dozen papers since 2001 that capital punishment has deterrent effects. They all explore the same basic theory — if the cost of something (be it the purchase of an apple or the act of killing someone) becomes too high, people will change their behavior (forego apples or shy from murder).
Among the conclusions:
Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders per execution at three, five and 14).
The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over four years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.
Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, one murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.
In 2005, there were 16,692 cases of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter nationally. There were 60 executions.
So before we abolish the death penalty - which was NOT considered "cruel or unusual punishment" by the Founders of our country, we should allow the facts to be considered.