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Just like New York City had "The Rent's Too Damn High" Mayoral candidate, it seems only fair that neighboring New Jersey has a 'Property Taxes Too Damn High' Gubernatorial candidate. Property taxes are sort of like the holy-grail in New Jersey politics, and each and every election cycle seems to be more and more reminiscent of Mark Twain's pontificating on the weather: "Everybody talks about property taxes, but nobody does anything about it."

Christie may pride himself on being a fiscal conservative, but the fact remains that property taxes have gone up 18.7 percent during his reign as Governor. Although growth has been slow, the cutting of state tax relief programs is to blame.

According to the  state Department of Community Affairs, the average New Jersey property tax bill grew to a record high of $7,885 in 2012. That pertinent data is clear-cut evidence that property taxes have actually gone up during Christie's reign The most expensive taxes for homeowners came out of Bergen and Passaic Counties, totaling $10,477 and $9,184.

The newly released data comes at a time where Christie is spending millions of out of state money to convince voters that he deserves a second term. Perhaps that explains why long shot Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono is trying to shift the focus on the net property tax burden New Jersey homeowners now face, factoring in property tax relief cuts Christie enacted in 2010, with only a partial restoration of funding since then. Back in 2009 when he was just candidate himself, Christie vowed to boost funding for what was then a property tax rebate. But facing the realities of actual governance, Christie and democrats gutted the Homestead program and changed it from a rebate to a credit.

“The Christie administration has now confirmed what millions of New Jerseyans already know — the governor has an abysmal record on reducing the property tax burden for working and middle-class families,” said Barbara Buono in a statement. (North Jersey.com)

The plucky Christie challenger has evidently launched a website where voters can put in their own towns to calculate precisely how much she thinks Christie’s property tax policies are costing them.

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SPECIAL COMMENTARY

New York, Maryland and Delaware now all have legalized same-sex marriage, meaning that New Jersey is the lone bigot amid a sandwich of tolerance. And if there has been one thing Christie has been consistent about, it's been his love of sandwiches. So for a state that claims to be the Garden State, we really seems to hate fruit. Who knows, maybe the governor thinks that legalizing same-sex marriage means he will have to leave his wife and marry another dude.

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Disgruntled residents of New Jersey just got another reason to relocate to Delaware as the state recently became the 11th state to allow gays the right to be just as miserable. You really know things are bad when Delaware has same-sex marriage before New Jersey does.

On Tuesday, the State Senate offered the final approval to a bill authorizing same-sex marriage following intense debate. The vote now sends the bill to Democratic Gov. Jack Markell, who has promised to sign it. Although the bill doesn't afford gay couples any more rights than they presently have under civil unions, it allows them the dignity of marriage. Well, whatever dignity is left after so-called "family values" conservatives such as Mark Sanford, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich did to marriage what Steven Seagal has done to acting.

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COMMENTARY

New Jersey's blustery Governor has gotten flak in the past for his Bluto-like tirades against public employees and ex-marines, but criticizing the guy for smashing a spider?  In the time it took me to write that sentence, many people probably just crushed the eight-legged creepers.

PETA, famous for its ability to take totally frivolous acts way too seriously, didn't reach its usual level of feigned outrage after a video surfaced online showing the gargantuan governor crushing a spider before a group of fourth graders, but it did still feel the need to respond to the Governor. Maybe the spider had union affiliations?

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COMMENTARY

Gov. Chris Christie can’t win for losing when it comes to his weight.

Ever since he stepped onto the public stage as the Garden State’s top executive, Christie’s weight has been on the front burner for his detractors. The issue of his weight has even made Dave Letterman’s Top Ten list; making the Jersey Boy governor the butt of fat jokes.

Some even suggested his weight was one reason he didn’t seek the Republican presidential bid for 2012. In April, he was invited to spend one day at a fat camp to learn the ropes of eating and living healthy.

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One man's desire to view porn at a public library in Montville, N.J. is causing a potentially legal migraine for the Library. Who knows, maybe the man's house is outfitted to look like a library so he doesn't know the difference.

It seems the library patron's actions in viewing pornography on a public computer at the Montville Township Public Library not only elicited complaints from other patrons, who were vexed by the graphic images, but also has prompted employees to question what they are legally able to do about it.

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COMMENTARY

Whether it's a much needed light-hearted fodder to provide solace following the seemingly biohazzard-level 4 story that is the Boston Bombers, news outlets showed their never-ending obsession of pointless "gotcha moments" in order to ascribe the suffix 'gate' to something.

A variety of media outlets have reported on Christie's apparent lie at a town hall meeting in which he falsely told a 4-year-old boy that Scooby-Doo was his favorite show growing up. The Star Ledger then proceeded to report on how the show didn't exist when the 50-year-old  governor was four-years old. Well, there goes Christie's presidential aspirations since he's bound to get recalled over this complete and utter abuse of power. Where's Judy Miller when you need her to report on such a bombshell.

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NOW THAT'S FUNNY

In a new effort to curb obesity, researchers at Texas Christian University tried showing diners how much exercise would be required to burn off a specific item on a menu, hoping that this would encourage healthier habits when it comes to choosing food. 

Subjects in the study were shown one of three different menus: one with a calorie count for each item, one regular menu, and one menu that listed how much brisk walking would be required to burn off the item once you ate it.  For instance, a double cheeseburger would necessitate two hours of brisk walking to burn off.

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COMMENTARY

The upcoming Bergen Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence rally on Sunday (April 21) is an attempt by well-meaning individuals to address a serious problem in our society. However, the approach is naive and counterproductive.

The coalition says that the majority of people “support common sense legislation to prevent homicides, suicides and mass murder.”

One sure way to reduce “gun violence” in America is to decriminalize such drugs as marijuana and narcotics. In one stroke, gang violence would end in inner cities, where heavily armed drug dealers protect their turf, causing death and destruction in their communities.

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COMMENTARY

After it was revealed that the Boston Marathon bombers originated from the breakaway republic of Chechnya, the entire nation was asking itself one important question: When will we nuke the Czech Republic? But seriously, even though Americans' knowledge of geography is questionable and some think Canada is "northern Ohio,", one Republican Senator appears to be using the isolated incident to potentially derail immigration reform.

"Given the events of this week, it is important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system," Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said. (Reuters)