National Geographic

The wingnut fallout from this will be delicious.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has reimbursed the state for his helicopter ride to his son's baseball game.

The unapologetic governor on Thursday reimbursed the state $2,100 himself and $1,200 from the state Republican Party to cover the cost of two helicopter flights to see his oldest son, Andrew, star in two baseball tournament games. “Afterwards, he said to me, ‘Dad, thanks for coming,” Christie recalled at a news conference in Denville. Democrats had a less heart-warming response when learning of Christie’s use of a month-old, $12.5 million state police helicopter to shuttle him from the Statehouse to the ballpark. They have called for hearings to look into the governor’s personal use of the perk and called Christie a hypocrite for wasteful spending.

This is how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the fiscal hero to conservatives, attends his son's baseball games.

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.During the 5th inning, Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and left the game. During a pitching change, play was stopped for a couple of minutes while the helicopter took off.

Despite a media outcry, today Christie's spokesman defended the helicopter trip as "appropriate" and said the governor would not be reimbursing the state for its cost.

Can you say skank?  How 'bout old, New Jersey skank?  TMZ is reporting that this 48-year-old slut/psycho/fame-whore has signed a 3-year contract with Scores Gentleman's Club in New York for a live appearance and to appear on ScoresLive.com.  Just what the world needs - another stripper past her prime.  Hey, I guess it's what's aging slutbags do for a few bucks when they need to avoid food stamps.  She kinda reminds me of Jorge Posada.  They both know deep down inside it's time to walk away from the game gracefully, but they still think they have skills.  Hey honey, you're bein' dropped to ninth in the batting order and that's only until we can figure out a way to get out of this without embarassing everyone involved.  Your days of clutch hits and championships are long gone.  Walk away while you can before we have to replace those hips.  Bang.  Done.  Pay attention!  

I'd put my money on Amy, should Crazy Eyes dare agree to the challenge. But I'm not holding my breath on that ever happening.

One of the Rutgers students involved in the Tyler Clementi case has accepted a plea deal in return for agreeing to testify against Clementi's roommate.

Part of the deal requires Molly Wei, 19, of West Windsor to testify against Dharun Rhavi, the roommate of Tyler Clementi [left] who leaped off the George Washington Bridge last fall after learning he had been spied upon. Clementi, 18, was a Rutgers freshman and promising violinist. Wei pleaded not guilty in Middlesex County Superior Court on Friday to watching the webcast with Ravi and a judge accepted her application into a pretrial intervention program that could drop the two counts of invasion of privacy against her. In exchange for dismissing the charges, Wei must testify against Ravi, complete 300 hours of community service, undergo counseling on cyberbullying and take classes on dealing with people of alternative lifestyles.

Clementi's family approved of the plea arrangement, saying: "Actions have consequences. We wish Ms. Wei will become a person who will make better decisions, will help people and show kindness to those she comes in contact with."

A New Jersey immigration judge today temporarily halted the deportation of Henry Velandia, who is legally married to a U.S. citizen. This follows yesterday's move by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who vacated the decision to deport another gay man in the same situation.

Henry Velandia, who faces deportation to Venezuela, is petitioning to be allowed to remain in the U.S. as the spouse of U.S. citizen Josh Vandiver. Judge Alberto Riefkohl granted an adjournment of the case Friday in a Newark immigration court. At issue is who can be considered a spouse under federal law. Velandia is a 27-year-old professional salsa dancer and Vandiver is a 29-year-old graduate student at Princeton University. They were married last year in Connecticut, where same-sex marriage is legal.

GetEQUAL had staged a protest against the deportation outside the Newark courtroom.

Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey has been turned down in his first attempt to become an Episcopal priest. McGreevey, who resigned from office in 2004 after being forced to out himself, has been a seminary student since 2007. He converted from Catholicism shortly after his outing scandal.

Church leaders, who have long embraced gay parishioners and clergy, were bothered by McGreevey's bitter divorce, sources told The Post. "It was not being gay but for being a jackass -- [McGreevey] didn't come out of the whole divorce looking good," said a source with the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. Some leaders also were wary of McGreevey's sudden embrace of their faith after his scandal and feared the church was being used, the source added. After resigning as governor, "he was sort of looking for every angle to make a complete redo of his professional life," said another church source. "He ran to the church for some kind of cover, which isn't fully appropriate. Even if he's a good guy, he should wait five to 10 years to get over his issues."

Church sources tell the NY Post that it's not uncommon for first-time applicants to be denied.

The roommate of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi (left) was today indicted on hate crime charges stemming from the secret webcasting of Clementi having sex with another man. Clementi leaped from the George Washington Bridge last year after learning about the broadcast.

Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, was indicted on 15 counts including charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and tampering with evidence by a grand jury in Middlesex County, N.J. Prosecutors allege that not only did Ravi invade Clementi's privacy, but he tried to cover it up. Both Ravi and his alleged accomplice, former Rutgers student Molly Wei, are accused of filming Clementi during a "sexual encounter" in his dorm room with a man and then streaming it live on the Internet. Evidence against Wei has not yet been presented to a grand jury. Prosecutors allege that on Sept. 19 of last year, Ravi filmed Clementi with the purpose of intimidating him because of his sexual orientation. Ravi "disclosed a photograph, film, videotape, recording or other reproduction of the image of [Clementi]...whose intimate parts were exposed," the indictment reads. When Ravi became worried about being charged with a crime, he sent false tweets in an attempt "to mislead a public servant who was engaged in such proceeding or investigation," the indictment reads.

Clementi's parents have released a statement applauding today's charges.

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis will today announce his intention to run for the New Jersey Senate as a Democrat.

Lewis emailed a media advisory to reporters saying he will be giving a speech at 2 p.m. at the Old County Courthouse in Mt. Holly to "make an announcement regarding his political plans." Democrats have been in talks with Lewis about a potential state Senate run in the 8th Legislative District against incumbent Dawn Addiego (R-Burlington). Lewis, a 49-year-old Medford resident, has never run for office. The 8th District, where Lewis will run, leans Republican. But Democrats feel that a famous and wealthy candidate like Lewis could make the seat competitive.

Although he's one of the most famous athletes in the world, rumors about Lewis' sexuality have been blamed for his lack of post-Olympics endorsement deals. Lewis has always denied that he is gay.

He waited until the very last minute, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie this morning signed what is being hailed as the nation's most comprehensive anti-bullying legislation. Garden State Equality exults:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today signed the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, which enacts a new paradigm in America to counter school bullying and provides a template for anti-bullying laws in other U.S. states. The bill passed both houses of the New Jersey legislature on November 22, 2010 – by 73 to 1 in the Assembly and 30 to 0 in the Senate. Though New Jersey and 44 other states have had anti-bullying laws, experts say those laws have been based on a vague, loophole-riddled model that gives vast discretion to local school districts to do whatever they want or don’t want, and have lacked teeth to work in the real world. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights corrects that problem with a sweeping overhaul of New Jersey's current anti-bullying law, enacted in 2002.

“We are grateful to the prime sponsors, Assemblywomen Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Mary Pat Angelini, and Senators Barbara Buono, Diane Allen and Loretta Weinberg, for their leadership that brought Democrats and Republicans together rapidly,” said Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality. The overwhelmingly bipartisan support for this landmark legislation will give impetus to other states across America, whether they are blue or red, to adopt anti-bullying laws just like ours. The era of vagueness and loopholes in anti-bullying laws is over, and hope for our children has begun.”

The complete text of the law is here.