George Norcross Tonight - plus (bonus) snark

Why... (0.00 / 0)

...is this announcement so late in coming?  I got a message through Facebook from Ben Dworkin weeks ago.  I wanted to post something at the time and several other times, but life intervened each and every time.  I can't believe that I am the only person who has known about this all this time.

Considering the growing hostility here towards Norcross/Sweeney and Adubato/Oliver, I would have thought that this would have been a great opportunity to put the Blue Jersey community's organizing muscle on display, but alas, this was just another missed opportunity?

Or do we just prefer talking about these bosses, but are not willing to actually confront them when given the chance, because we don't want to burn bridges to them and their acolytes completely?  Inquring minds would like to know.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 21:20:42 PM UTC

Sigh. (4.00 / 1)

No matter what we do, it's never enough, is it rachael'sdad?

Sorry we suck so, so bad.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 21:27:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Snark is a poor substitute... (1.00 / 1)

...for the truth.

Why not just answer the question?  I have known about this event for several weeks and admittedly failed to post anything about it, so this is just as much my failure as anybody's.  The only difference is that I do not run a blog that claims to be "all the news that slips from print".

How long have the front-page bloggers here known about this event?  Is there a reason why it wasn't posted earlier, especially considering how many people here write about Norcross et al?  If so, what was that reason?  It is interesting to note that the Norcross/Sweeney-Adubato/Oliver-Christie axis of evil's personal defender here, firstamend07, didn't bother to promote this event here so that we could all be witness to his boss's wisdom.  Is it because we are not the ideal target audience for his boss's evil message?

Considering how much bandwith went into the recent series of diaries about education reform, wouldn't it have been a logical next step to get as many people from the Blue Jersey community to attend this event and confront the man whose puppet will be part of the process to dismantle our state's public schools?  If not, why not?  Did Ben Dworkin ask you that you embargo promotion of this event to prevent the environment from becoming confrontational?  If so, why did you comply?

Of course, you don't owe me or anybody else an answer to these questions, but at the same time, I don't think that they are unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination.  Does anybody else?  We ask similar questions of the mainstream media all of the time.  Shouldn't blogs be subject to the same degree of scrutiny?

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 00:24:37 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

That wasn't snark. (0.00 / 0)

It was annoyance.

Starting a blog is easy, rachael'sdad. One this size should be a snap for you, since you know how to do everything better than we do. Just go get yourself a dozen or so of the smartest people you know as writers, they'll get the thing up, running and populated with posts for you - around their jobs, families and other obligations. And I'm sure you won't miss anything. Your judgement's obviously better than ours.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 01:48:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You can be annoyed... (1.00 / 1)

...all you want to, but you still haven't answered any of my questions.  Why not?  Are they so unreasonable?

Once again, we question the editorial decision-making process of the mainstream media all of the time.  Why is it wrong to ask the same question of blogs?

If I go to Ben Dworkin's Facebook page and look at a list of his friends, I am sure that I am going to find at least one (if not more) Blue Jersey front page blogger on the list.  Anyone on that list received the same info about this event when I did.

Was there a conscious decision made to wait until today to post this event or did it slip through the cracks?  If it is the former, what was the reasoning behind that decision?  If it is the latter, so be it.  As I wrote earlier, I had every intention to post about this when I first found out about it, but life intervened.

I think that the former is more likely than the latter, because if it was the latter, then you would have just admitted it.  No harm.  No foul.  But if it is the latter, then that opens up other questions that you clearly don't want to answer either.  Remember, the cover-up is often more damaging than what is being covered up.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 02:31:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cover up. (0.00 / 0)

Really. You just accused us of a cover up.

I've told you that everyone here contributes info, and commentary here around the many other things each one of us is responsible for. This week, that included every political reporter in the Western Hemisphere camped out in New Jersey drooling over the governor.  I guess I have to spell it out to you that we were a little busy, and not everything you consider important - or even that we consider important - gets the attention we'd want to give it.


It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 02:57:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're the one... (1.00 / 1)

...being defensive and evasive.  Generally, where there's smoke, there's fire, so yeah, it would be nice if you could spell it out for all of us.

Ben has been promoting this event for several weeks; well before this Christie silliness reached its peak.  You just had a weeklong series about education reform and now one of the Democratic bosses who is going to make sure that everything that Christie wants to do to shred our public schools gets passed has the gall to speak in public about it.

If you believe in this Occupy NJ/Wall Street nonsense, then it seems reasonable to expect that you would similarly try to get the Blue Jersey community to have its presence felt at this event, which leads me to one last question.  Is this blog a means to an end or an end unto itself?

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 05:45:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bertin would you please shut the fuck up? N/t? (4.00 / 1)

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 11:33:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Answer the questions... (1.00 / 1)

...and I would be glad to.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 13:11:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hm (4.00 / 1)

Since you knew about the event and didn't write about it because of "life" etc., how do we know it is not in fact YOU who helped facilitate a cover-up and now deflect blame with your excuse of not having enough time?

Sound absurd?  

"We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior." - Friedrich Durrenmatt

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by: KendalJames @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 13:35:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

quite absurd (0.00 / 0)

I am just one unemployed person who is trying to become employed.  The most that I can do is visit Blue Jersey from time to time, when I take a break from job-hunting, to see what is going on and share some insights and opinions.

I don't run a blog that claims to be "all the news that slips from print", which just had an extensive series on education reform and has a critical mass of readers/writers who hate Norcross et al as much as I do and probably would have jumped at the opportunity to confront him.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Fri Oct 07, 2011 at 02:57:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Childish (0.00 / 0)

I thought this was a discussion about George Norcross and his efforts to reform New Jersey education.

It seems that there are many on this site who are taking themselves way to seriously.

Can you leave your ego in the other room please.

I was ready to defend Mr. Norcross and I find out that no one here is discussing him!

There used to be some pretty good give and take before so many started to take themselves too seriously.

I hope we can get back to intelligent discourse and not self serving blurts.

For the record I believe Norcross is on to something here.

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by: firstamend07 @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 10:17:44 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Exporting Camden's educational model? (0.00 / 0)

NO THANKS!

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 11:32:51 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

What is left to say about Norcross? (0.00 / 0)

He was "miraculously" one of the few political bosses in NJ to not be indicted, much less convicted, for his numerous acts of corruption.  I don't remember Team Christie even investigating him, despite someone getting him to admit on tape that he had Jon Corzine and other politicians bought and paid for.

A couple of months before the 2009 gubernatorial election, he and his good buddy Steve Adubato engineer a takeover of the legislative leadership and then suppress the Corzine turnout so that he loses to the guy who should have sent him to jail but didn't.

Before the Christie-Norcross/Sweeney-Adubato/Oliver axis of evil even assume control officially, they scuttle marriage equality and then upon taking power pass draconian budgets and other terrible legislation under the guise of bipartisanship, concentrating their power and fueling the development of the Christie myth that culminated in his flirtation with a possible run for President.

Finally, during the upcoming lame duck session, the aforementioned axis of evil will pass educational "reform" legislation that will irreparably damage our public schools.

Considering how much bandwith has been spent on this site, discussing this disturbing dynamic as well as a lengthy series on educational reform, one would have thought that since the people here are such big fans of direct action and street protests, that there would have been some interest on the part of site management to encourage people to go to this event and tell Norcross what the Blue Jersey community thinks about him.

When this doesn't happen until a few hours before the start of the event, I inquire as to the reasons and get nothing but hostility and snark in return despite the fact that similar questions have been regularly asked throughout the blogosphere about the mainstream media?  Should we not expect the same degree of accountability and scrutiny of the blogosphere or is the blogosphere above reproach?

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 13:32:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Best. Tweet. Today: (0.00 / 0)

From Courier Post political writer Jane Roh:

@Jane_Roh
Sweet, @bluejersey gets that the fake George Norcross release is fake. Had to explain that > once today. bit.ly/oIB4w6

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 21:30:53 PM UTC

Norcross is an idiot (0.00 / 0)

Why not he Campbell's Soup company? Why not PSE&G? Why not our great institutions of higher learning," he said.

Yes, because they have such expertise in education.  Not to mention the corporatizing of what should be a public undertaking.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 16:36:45 PM UTC

Someone should have made a citizen's arrest (0.00 / 0)

And hauled that crook's ass to jail.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 16:37:21 PM UTC

Maybe... (0.00 / 0)

...if there was a large contingent of Blue Jersey people there, we could have tarred and feathered him and run him out of Lawrenceville on a rail.  However, that would have taken some advance notice and planning.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Fri Oct 07, 2011 at 02:37:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]