Dear Tommy -- No Veto, No Override Vote

by: huntsu

Thu Jul 07, 2011 at 08:06:01 PM EDT

The easiest way to keep from having to make hard votes like supporting the abusive and draconian cuts made by your Governor is to stand up to the bully and tell him to stop it already.

But you don't have the cajones, as you showed in the past.

We Can't Let Them Steal the Dream

by: Couch Potato Politics

Thu Apr 07, 2011 at 11:36:16 PM EDT

When a politician tells you that you don't need nor deserve a seat at the table where your working conditions, pay or benefits are decided, that politician can't be trusted and has no respect for history or blood shed by greater men and women.

Many of us spent last week remembering one of the men who paid the ultimate price for the rights and privileges so many of us have known for only four and a half decades and as we listen to people like Chris Christie favor the richest in the state over the suffering and daily struggles of the poor and middle class, I have to wonder if the clock has been turned back on us.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was fire-hosed, beaten and bled for the most basic rights and freedoms of black men and women throughout the country and, when that battle was finally won, he focused on the rights and freedoms of laborers, regardless of race, and died in that battle. Now we have a "New Conservative" movement seeking to erase his sacrifice.

It is no small thing to steal a person's freedom and the attacks on the working class in both the public and private sector can't be mistaken for anything but a theft of hard fought and earned rights and hard earned freedom. The freedom to be fairly compensated and treated in the workplace is a basic American value that can't be understated.

It was 43 years ago that public workers throughout the country were finally winning the right to collective bargaining and 43 years ago, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis where he was standing to support sanitation workers striking for the right to collective bargaining. After 43 years, the Dream is under renewed attack and the GOP darlings like Chris Christie (with the help of some disingenuous small "d" democrats like Stephen Sweeney) are leading the charge.

The same people that have fought against workers' rights in favor of corporate oppression for most of the 20th century are upping the ante in the 21st and stepping into fascist territory with draconian attacks and laws targeting basic workers' rights and freedoms and the full-fledged intent to destroy union representation in its last stronghold; the public sector.

What is sadder and, honestly, more pathetic in all of this is the middle-class, private-sector tax-payers cheering it on. They have been convinced that they are somehow separate and apart from their friends, neighbors and relatives who work in the public sector. That they will somehow benefit from the degradation of living and working conditions of the public workers. They completely miss the conventional wisdom on how reducing salaries and access to affordable benefits in fair negotiations will negatively impact fiscal conditions in their neighborhoods, negatively impact the tax base and reduce the incomes of small businesses. They are cheering their own eventual failure that will result from the attacks on collective bargaining.

When the Chris Christie's and Scott Walker's of the world finally succeed in smothering the dreams of the poor and middle class for the benefit and profit of only the richest, what will we have left? Will there be another Dr. King to take us to the mountaintop and share with us his dream or will he be another wage slave, working three jobs in sweatshop conditions just to survive, too tired to care and too oppressed to stand up? Will that be the final victory of the Republican agenda, to kill the dream, once and for all?

The First Lieutenant Governor: The Republican Stable

by: vincent solomeno

Mon Apr 27, 2009 at 09:00:00 AM EDT

Corzine, and whoever wins the GOP nomination on Primary Day, will also undertake the historic task of selecting an individual to run as their respective party's candidate to be the first Lieutenant Governor in New Jersey history.  Below the fold is a list of ten possible Republican contenders.  It is subjective and, more than anything, written to solicit the opinions of Blue Jersey readers on the strengths and weaknesses of each potential pick.  

Please click the headline, read on, comment away, and look out this Thursday for an analysis of potential Democratic choices for Lieutenant Governor.

Working Families

by: huntsu

Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 06:21:02 PM EST

Today he has this winner on PoliticsNJ.

"Republican Senators are ready to move forward forging a State budget that cuts spending without taking more from the pockets of working families."

Taking more from the pockets of working families is an allusion to tax increases or toll increases.  It's idiotic rhetoric that pretends there is no benefit for working families from government services, and the only thing that counts when looking at a budget is how many dollars are collected.

But Kean Jr. is more than happy to lay off state workers in order to achieve his budget goals, conveniently forgetting that state employees are part of "working families."

The fact is that working families benefit greatly from state and local government, and would be sorely hurt by reduction in services sought by Republicans such as environmental protections, public transportation, road improvements, and the like.

A perfect example is the fact that the Plainfield area is losing it's hospital because the state cannot afford to subsidize charity care any more.  The federal and state governments require hospitals to care for anyone who walks in the door, but won't pay for it.  As a result, no one in Plainfield whether they have insurance or not will have a hospital within easy travel distance.

But Kean Jr. never complained when charity care dollars were cut, and never stood up to demand that these hospitals be made whole for the state laws he is responsible for creating and changing.  But working families are going to have money taken from their pockets in increased travel costs, more negative health outcomes due to missed appointments, and other costs to having no local, quality health care.

But that doesn't matter, Tom, because it's not coming out of their pockets in taxes.  

The only people who will be hurt by reduction in services and government programs will be the poor and working families.  The rich will be fine, and may even be better because there will be less oversight of their companies so they can screw workers and the environment without worrying about some government employee finding out.

The Republicans only care about taxes, because they only care about people who pay more in taxes than they receive from the government.  It is an unAmerican and disgusting viewpoint, and now the "moderate" Tom Kean Jr. is parroting it as well as any Rush Limbaugh dittohead.

His father must be proud.

Allen Gailes Jr.: You are our only hope.

by: quimbaya

Tue Jun 05, 2007 at 06:49:17 AM EDT

I am not sure how long this entry will be, so this is my essay topic:

Re-elect Charlotte Bennett Schoen for 2nd Ward Councilwoman in Englewood. Say no to Michael Wildes? puppets.

Vote Lieutenant Allen Gailes Jr., for Bergen County Sheriff. Say yes to diverse and independent government.

This is my conclusion:

Vote for the Real Bergen Democrats, Column 1. Vote for the Weinberg/Johnson/Huttle team.

Englewood Report Interviews Lt. Allen Gailes Jr.

Englewood Report Endorses Charlotte Bennett Schoen for Reelection

Bergen Grassroots Endorsements

Exhibit D: From noon to 8pm this day, you can support the Real Bergen Democrats candidates who are opposed by Boss Ferriero's hand-picked candidates in the June 5 primary. They are Englewood Council President Charlotte Bennett Schoen; Bergenfield Council incumbent Bruce Carlson, Timothy Driscoll for Mayor and Barry Doll for Council, and County Sheriff candidate Allen Gailes, Jr. All have the endorsement of Bergen Grassroots.

The polls open soon, so I have not had the time to write this in Spanish. I will add this post to my "to translate" list. And I should have probably written this post last night or maybe a couple nights ago, but I tend to procrastinate. But for the record, my two centavos.

There's a New Sheriff in Bergen County. (Meet Allen J. Gailes, Jr.)

by: lsanchez490

Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 02:40:49 AM EST

They're also big on preparing early. About  a year ago, Ferriero and McGuire held hands in victory.

Like Ferriero did Tuesday night. A drink in his hand, the victory party still raging at the Hasbrouck Heights Hilton, he grabbed Sherriff Leo McGuire by the arm and reminded him of his upcoming 2007 election race.
"Three hundred sixty-four days," he said told McGuire. "We started three hours ago."

The Bergen County Sheriff's Office must be free and independent of Joe Ferriero's lackeys. A stint as a councilman and police sergeant does not qualify you to be sheriff. And dressing up like a five star generalissimo feathered with an ever growing ensemble of glittery badges and medals from head to toe for every single camera in the county is not my definition of a man hard at work in law enforcement.

Twenty four years in the Bergen County Sheriff's Department are a testament to Allen Gailes' qualifications, experience, knowledge and dedication to our community. Lieutenant Allen Gailes, Jr. is the Sheriff that Bergen County deserves.

Bergen County and The 78th Birthday Celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

by: lsanchez490

Tue Jan 16, 2007 at 03:30:11 AM EST

Tonight I attended the 78th Birthday Celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The program was hosted by The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Observance Committee of Bergen County. The event was held at SMA Fathers (Society of African Missions) in Tenafly. The theme of the program was "Coming Together to Make the Dream a Reality" and the Keynote Speaker was the Reverend Lucius Walker.

Junior Takes Baby Steps to Rationality

by: huntsu

Sun Sep 03, 2006 at 09:11:38 AM EDT

But what compelled him to advocate publicly for a "fresh face" leading the troops, Mr. Kean said, were Mr. Rumsfeld’s recent remarks chiding critics of the war for "moral and intellectual confusion," and comparing them to those who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930’s.

"By engaging in that kind of rhetoric, this secretary has stepped over the line," Mr. Kean said.

Wow, what courage.  Suggesting that calling more than 60 percent of the American people Nazi appeasers is crossing the line.  Now that takes chutzpa.  I mean, next he'll even suggest that President Bush, the man who hired and refuses to fire Rumsfeld, is making an error.

Ummmm. No.

Mr. Kean stopped short of criticizing President Bush, other than saying he had not been "well served" by Mr. Rumsfeld. He says he does not support a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, because he thinks that could lead to a humanitarian crisis and destabilize the region.

Well, at least Kean is willing to take baby steps toward a rational position.  His opponent in the 2000 NJ7 Republican primary, Congressman Mike Ferguson, is unwilling to go even that far.

In an interview on cable news station RNN on Friday, Ferguson was specifically asked if Runsfeld "stepped over the line." 

Ferguson was unwilling to even address the issue, instead weaseling our playing word games with accountability and responsibility.

Those are his words, not my words.

Mike Ferguson just decided that it is OK when the man who is sixth in line for the Presidency calls the majority of his constituents fascist appeasers.  It doesn't warrant even a little recognition that this is a bad thing to say and should be apologized for.

More after the jump.