That was Chris Christie on streaming radio yesterday, talking about teachers. Listen, and then I'll tell you what I think, as a newly-elected school board member:
Early on, in the conversation hosted by NJ School Board Association, he trotted out the now-debunked canard that only 17 tenured teachers have lost their jobs for poor performance. We know that many poor teachers are either weeded out by not getting hired for the third year, or by self-selection (leaving the profession). But it suits his purpose to blame tenure for poor teachers as if that's the real and only problem in poorly-functioning school districts. His plan is to continue evaluating teachers even after they have earned tenure. If they are rated "ineffective," then they lose tenure for the next year. They can earn it back, but that's not guaranteed. It's a great plan in his mind.
I suspect that Christie's real plan is to poison the well of teachers. Make teaching, or getting ahead in the profession, so difficult, that most new teachers won't see the value of the union. If joining becomes optional, then fewer and fewer will join and pay dues. He called union dues a "political slush fund." That's right, a political slush fund. So, reducing that fund will reduce the influence of the profession and allow the hedge fund managers to take over.
Special for night owls, this is audio from Minnesota Public Radio a couple days ago; New Jersey's Rush Holt, 5-time Jeopardy winner, physicist, and vanquisher of IBM's supercomputer talking in full paragraphs (which some congressmen never do) about the intersection of science and politics. He's talking to Andrew Hoffman, Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan (yeah, I didn't know what that was, either) and Brian Athey, professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at The University of Michigan and co-founder of Scientists and Engineers for America.
Reporter Michael Aron is there, looking glum. An NJN TV crew set up cameras to document their own future. There's some irony in all that. Because at this time, the NJ Senate Budget Committee is hearing testimony on the proposed sale of New Jersey Network to New York City's WNET.
As I'm writing this, NJ Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff is testifying, saying this decision was made to save NJ scads and scads of money.
On last night's Ask the Governor on 101.5, Chris Christie unloaded a particularly high degree of bullshit. I'm going to highlight the part about women's health funding, because ballsy Loretta Weinberg called in to personally lobby the governor.
"Loretta in Teaneck" comes on at 22:17, saying she hopes she finds a kinder, gentler governor this time (she does not). She lets him know she reintroduced the bill to restore $7.5 million state funding for women's health care, which he has thwarted, sidestepped and avoided allowing his Treasurer to explain why the Christie front office thinks funding is unworkable. As soon as Weinberg is off he phone (and Christie has the microphone to himself) he accuses Weinberg of wanting to run NJ "down a rat hole" with your money.
Christie's false claim that denying this funding - and making Weinberg and other legislative advocates come up with funding alternative after funding alternative, all of which he ignores - as not fiscally responsible is not credible. It's not that there is no money. It's about Christie's funding priorities, which means it's about Christie's political ideology (and not, as he claims, about Weinberg's). Even 101.5's Eric Scott seems to grasp this. He finds millions forcorporatewelfare. For glitzy casinos. For white elephant superdupermalls with 600-foot ski slopes (ironically by the same $400 million figure he blew with NJ's Race to the Top money). Christie's solution is largely to direct women seeking care to go to hospitals, an obviously non-efficient way to get care, and an unwanted overloaded of non-emergent patients in hospital ERs.
Click the arrow in screen's lower left, not the middle, to start video.
Christie arrives at 2:28 & starts speaking at 3:20.
Weinberg calls in at 2:28.
Sorry, I couldn't scrub the ads.
This is an account of a confusing and dramatic few moments in the State House yesterday. The aftermath was captured in an extraordinary audio clip of Sen. Loretta Weinberg - listen all the way through. - Rosi
In a moment much smaller yet reminiscent of Madison, Wisconsin circa February 28, 2011, Chris Christie ordered the state house closed to union members and their representatives. Ironically, this wasn't a mass protest but rather a scheduled set of appointments with State Senators and representatives.
Citing an unnamed, undated and unsigned policy, the Governor ordered citizens and union members turned away from entering the state house for a series of legitimately scheduled appointments to discuss the Governors recent attacks and acts against the members rights to bargain and negotiate healthcare benefits for their next contract.
Tonight at 8pm we have a debate on WBGO and NJN Radio between the three major candidates for governor. Then, stay locked on NJN Radio because the post debate show will feature our own Jason Springer. Michael Illlions will represent the conservative side. I'll just quote Illions:
I applaud NJN for reaching out to the 2 most popular blogs on the left and right and bring us on for our analysis and opinions, rather then then usual party hacks and/or campaign surrogates.
I know Jason will be great because he does such a great job on Blue Jersey Radio.
I've been nosing about reading arguments pro and con on broadcasting and free speech, and I stumbled upon the Free Press website, a great information source:
But, even better, there was a link on their home page to a website dedicated to the next auction of FM radio frequencies to non-profit community groups:
There are supposed to be full-power stations; there is copious details about what all is required at the website. There ARE, apparently, frequencies available in NJ -- I searched on my zip, 08629 -- nothing for Trenton, sorry -- but 07701 yielded the possibility of a station near Red Bank (good market, that!).
Another one bites the dust ... please see my earlier diary on how to contact advertisers on our own schlock-jock Jersey Guys program, and register your protest against racist, sexist hate speech on the public airwaves ...
CBS Radio announced this on a Saturday, naturally wishing to avoid any publicity, but it's shining the light under the rocks that causes these "entertainers" to scurry for cover ...
CBS Radio Pulls Show After D.J.s Prank Call to Chinese Restaurant
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 13, 2007
One month after the firing of radio host Don Imus, a pair of suspended New York shock jocks have been permanently pulled from the air by CBS Radio for a prank phone call rife with Asian stereotypes.
The Dog House with JV and Elvis, featuring Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, will no longer be broadcast, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo said yesterday.
Look, I'm not in favor of censorship. I'm not advocating these fools be silenced, only that advertisers be made aware of just what sort of stupidity they are financing. The marketplace will take care of the rest ... and these doofuses can go back to taking up space on the last stool at the corner bar, which is where in a prior day their deathless opinions would have found a ready audience. There they can free-speechify 'til they fall asleep with a Ballentine coaster for a pillow ... but the airwaves are public property and the use thereof a public trust. If Carton and Rossi have a right to spew racist, sexist crap, then we have a right to ask their advertisers to reconsider their sponsorship. NO censorship issue in my mind ...
Don Imus may be off the air, but his spirit lives on. Every day, the Jersey Guys on NJ 101.5 spread racist, sexist, bigoted, xenophobic and otherwise insensitive garbage through our public airwaves. Whether they actually believe their trash or are doing it just for ratings is irrelevant.
Their latest racist stunt called "La Cucha Gotcha" encourages listeners to turn in "friends, neighbors and 'anyone suspicious' to immigration authorities." There are people here illegally from all over the world, but they chose to name it after a Mexican song whose title means "cockroach." Assemblyman Caraballo said last month: "Scapegoating and stereotyping Latinos does nothing but give bigoted individuals a platform to make ethnic slurs and racist comments. It could even incite violence against Latinos. The campaign is clearly aimed at Hispanics. It describes us as bugs that must be squashed."
Thanks to pressure from Caraballo and several Hispanic organizations, advertisers are, uhhh... scurrying like cockroaches. So far, AT&T, Verizon, PSE&G, Dunkin' Donuts and the state of New Jersey have canceled their advertising from the Jersey Guys show, and the Star Ledger reports that "La Cucha Gotcha" campaign has been canceled more than a week before the planned Cinco de Mayo end date.
But none of this should come as a surprise, and as long as these clowns stay on the air it will continue to happen. Nobody appearing or advertising on their show can claim ignorance. They have a long record of hate.
2004: "The Jersey Guys advocate the bombing of Freehold "muster zones' where undocumented day laborers congregate in hopes of finding work."
September, 2004: Listeners are urged to call Six Flags Great Adventure and demand extra security at Muslim Day at Six Flags, implying that all people of this religious faith are terrorists.
January, 2005: The Jersey Guys ridicule Dick Codey's wife's post-partum depression: "What Governor Codey ought to do is approve the use of medical marijuana so women can have a joint and relax instead of putting their babies in a microwave. Then all they want to do is cook Doritos. Women who claim they suffer from this postpartum depression ... they must be crazy in the first place."
Advertisers pulling ads: Horizon Blue Cross, PSE&G and Flemington Car and Truck Country.
April, 2005: "[Craig] Carton attempted to incite violence towards people recovering from addictive illnesses by stating that he would burn down the homes of recovery patients, preferable with them in it, and shoot recovering patients in the head."
April, 2005: "Would you really vote for someone named Jun Choi?" Carton asked - pronouncing the candidate's name with a sped-up, high-pitched squeaky voice.
Egged on by Rossi, Carton proclaimed, "Here's the bottom line. No specific minority group or foreign group should ever, ever dictate the outcome of an American election. I don't care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an election, Americans should."
When a caller complained about the number of "Orientals" and "Indians" who have "taken over Edison," Carton sympathized by responding: "Damn Orientals and Indians! ? It's like you're a foreigner in your own country isn't it?"
"I don't like the fact that they crowd the goddamn black jack tables in Atlantic City with their little chain smoking and little pocket protectors. 'Ching chong, ching chong, ching, chong.'"
Advertisers pulling ads: Hyundai, Cingular, Applebees, Bank of America, Bombardier Recreational Products
June, 2006: The Jersey Guys "out" over a dozen supposedly "closeted" New Jersey politicians.
February, 2007: What started out as "harmless" banter morphed into the "Jersey Guys," the afternoon jock shocks, calling me [Senator Raymond Lesniak] a "gay Polack" politician and quickly turned into vicious religious hatred. The on-air incident demonstrated that starting down the road of bigotry only leads to the depths of hell. [...]
The Polack bashing then took a particularly ugly turn when one of the 101.5 jocks said half the Polacks became Nazis to kill Jews, a sentiment that kindles hatred and opens old wounds that the Jewish and Catholic communities have worked so hard to heal, Poland being a predominantly Catholic nation.
The Jersey Guys can claim they are equal opportunity because they wont discriminate against discriminating. Their targets include Muslims, Latinos, Asians, Indians, women, gays, those with mental illness or substance addictions, etc.
In 2005, Congressman Steve Rothman wrote the FCC to denounce the racist hosts and New Jersey's Senate voted to censure them. When they ridiculed Acting Governor Codey's wife, he confronted Carton saying "I wish I weren't governor. I'd take you out."
Two years later, Dick Codey and other elected officials continue to call into and support their show. This is at least the third time in three years that companies are pulling ads due to the show's content. Sometimes, the Jersey Guys even apologized for their racism and promised to change. PSE&G apparently believed them because this is the second time they're pulling ads - the first was in 2005.
Benjamin Franklin famously said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The history of hate is unmistakably clear. New Jersey's leaders must decide whether they will continue to support and enable this behavior or whether they will take a stand against unmitigated hate before they are "surprised" once again.
I almost never listen to New Jersey 101.5, but when a friend called and told me that Dennis Malloy of "Dennis and Judy" was discussing Corzine's signing of the transgender civil rights bill into law yesterday, I couldn't resist tuning in.
After about five minutes of hearing this right-wing boob expound on how "Comrade Corzine" was preventing business owners from freely discriminating against anyone they don't like, being the loudmouth transgender radio host I am, I just couldn't stand it anymore and picked up the phone...
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
....
Tom Kean Jr. Stock fraud investigations. War profiteering in Iraq. Trading votes for corporate contributions.
No wonder he attacks his opponent. Pro-war, pro-Bush Tom Kean Jr.’s glass house of deceit is shattered.
If anyone had any worries that Linda Stender was just going to take what Mike Ferguson dished out and not fight back hard, the new radio ad she unleashed today [mp3] should change that notion! Ferguson tried to be clever in his ads calling his opponent, "Linda Stender is a Spender" but the fact is that in Congress Ferguson has voted for record spending, record deficits and record debt.
Linda isn't afraid to point this out, or the fact that Ferguson is trying to hide his record behind clever attack ads. And that gas prices and gas company profits have risen while Ferguson gave tax breaks to oil barons. It's good to hear a competitor like Linda get on the air early and aggressively.
Plus, help spread the word by forwarding the .mp3 of the ad out to all your friends.
You can help keep the pressure on by writing letters to the editor on this and other issues related to Mike Ferguson. The Courier News is at letters@c-n.com, the Home News Tribune at letters@thnt.com, the Star Ledger at eletters@starledger.com, or the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com. More local and weekly publications can be found at Dump Mike Letters.
Track recent changes at Air America with this handy chart.
WFMU's Beware of the Blog gives a long-winded and sorta confusing take on Air America's move to the right (perhaps literally as well as figuratively) as it slides to 1600. Al I care about is that the station's signal will be even weaker on my car stereo.
(We're doing this simply as a public service. It may cause your eyes to bleed or burn, but the pain is temporary and should distract you from the budget mess for at least a few minutes. - promoted by jmelli)
Is this whole state shutdown just pissing you off to no end? Don't you want to gamble, stand in line at the DMV and watch busloads of New Yorkers invade your favorite state park as you seek some peace & quiet? Blue Jersey readers deserve a diversion.
To that end, I give you...
For the record, that's Rush Limbaugh planting a kiss on "24" actress Mary Lynn Rajskub.
The Menendez campaign just released their first radio ad of the campaign which features audio from the Senator's primary night acceptance speech. This is what the campaign calls a "positive" ad. Uh huh. I guess by NJ politics standards it is. Transcript of the ad is below. Click to play:
