American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
WaPo bulletin:
Chris Christie not running for president in 2012, source says
Christie has called a 1 pm press conference in Trenton to announce the decision.
We need him in NJ.
UPDATE, 1:03PM,
“New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”
Christie confirms he’s not running.
VIdeo:
Governor shoots down ‘Jersey Shore’ tax credit
Christie suspended the film tax credit program in 2010 to close a budget deficit, but the 2009 season still qualified for the credit.
“I have no interest in policing the content of such projects,” Christie said in a statement. “However, as chief executive I am duty-bound to ensure that taxpayers are not footing a $420,000 bill for a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the State and its citizens.”
To those of you who don’t live in New Jersey, please be advised that orange-dyed overexposed (in every meaning of the word) inebriated louts are the exception, not the rule, to the Garden State’s inhabitants.
Jersey Shore is awful enough that companies pay the orange-dyed “stars” not to use their products:
The Situation doesn’t usually require a lot of motivation to lose the shirt. But Abercrombie & Fitch wants him to go one further — the company has offered to pay “Jersey Shore” cast members to stop wearing clothes carrying their brand.
The preppy teen retailer said Tuesday it would pay a “substantial payment” to Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino or any cast member who stops wearing its clothing on the popular MTV reality show because the series is “contrary to the aspirational nature of the brand.”
Coach didn’t like Snooki carrying their purse to the bar, either.
Thank you, Governor Christie for ending the $420,000 Jersey Shore tax break.
And, A&F, you can pay me to not wear your clothes any time, too.
Cross-posted in The Green Room.
Rafael Correa’s in the vicinity because of the UN General Assembly, so the thought he would drop by Union City High School on Friday.
Not so, said the city’s residents:
“It is evident that President Correa has associated with Fidel and Raul Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela,” said Union City Mayor Brian Stack in a statement. “Even associating with such regimes sends a terrible message to the world and condones the many evils that have been imposed on the residents of those nations.”
“For these reasons, I refuse to welcome President Correa to Union City.”
The announcement by Stack comes a day after he met with Cuban exile leaders who were outraged after learning that Correa – who is in the New York/New Jersey region because of the United Nations General Assembly — was going to be featured at an Ecuadorian event at Union City High School on Friday.
The Cuban exiles pressed for Correa to be dis-invited because of what they denounced as his oppressive government in Ecuador and his support for the Communist regime in Cuba as well as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“The mayor said he was going to cancel the event,” said Sergio Gatria, an exile leader who was at the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Former Cuban Political Prisoners organization. “He said he had no idea that his was planned at the high school, and that as long as he’s mayor, no dictator, or sympathizer of dictators and terrorists, would be welcome to Union City.”
“Correa supports dictators, is an oppressive leader and hobnobs with [Iranian President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This man is a sworn enemy of the United States. It is an affront to this community to roll out the red carpet for someone like that.”
In Ecuador, 7 radio broadcasters face sanctions for airing freedom of expression debate. Earlier this month, Reporters Without Borders asked Correa to stop attacks on the press, and
that the Ecuadorean government address several facets of its media policy and the proposed communications law that would create a state media oligopoly and regulate the awarding and confiscation of radio and television broadcasting rights, and to cease making offensive statements about the press
Correa’s visit to UCHS had been arranged by Ecuadorian officials.
Oh yes,
Jim McGreevey, 54, is the spiritual counselor to 40 female inmates at the Hudson County Correctional Center.
Via The Feed.
New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Benefits Rollback for Work Force
New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a broad rollback of benefits for 750,000 government workers and retirees, the deepest cut in state and local costs in memory, in a major victory for Gov. Chris Christie and a once-unthinkable setback for the state’s powerful public employee unions.
The Assembly passed the bill 46 to 32, as Republicans and a few Democrats defied raucous protests by thousands of people whose chants, vowing electoral revenge, shook the State House. Leaders in the State Senate said their chamber, which had already passed a slightly different version of the bill, would approve the Assembly version on Monday. Mr. Christie, a Republican, was expected to sign the measure into law quickly.
It wasn’t simply “a few” Democrats. As Tom Blumer points out,
Given that the Assembly has 47 Democrats and 33 Republicans, it took more than “a few Democrats” to get the law passed in the Assembly by the 46-32 margin indicated. If all Republicans voted “yes,” 13 Democrats, or over a quarter of the total, also had to support the bill.
Indeed, both the Senate and the Assembly are controlled by Democrats, by 60% and 59%.
The legislation will sharply increase what state and local workers must contribute for their health insurance and pensions, suspend cost-of-living increases to retirees’ pension checks, raise retirement ages and curb the unions’ contract bargaining rights. It will save local and state governments $132 billion over the next 30 years, by the administration’s estimate, and give the troubled benefit systems a sounder financial footing, mostly by shifting costs onto workers.
Workers in the private sector have been doing that forever, and paying for the government workers’, too.
Senate president Steven Sweeney, Democrat, supported the bill.
The fight over benefits reflected both Mr. Christie’s ability to exploit the divisions among Democrats, through his alliances with more conservative Democratic party bosses and legislators, and his success at using the public-sector unions as a foil in his drive to shrink government spending. It has also allowed a nationally known but highly polarizing governor to claim the mantle of bipartisan conciliation, telling audiences that New Jersey is setting an example that other states and the federal government should follow.
The bill applies to all state government workers and
to a much larger number of county, town and school district workers, because most local governments participate in the state-run pension and health care systems.
Stacy and Jazz are amazed that the people of New Jersey may even be understanding the state’s dire fiscal situation.
Who knows, at this rate, maybe Americans will understand the nation’s dire fiscal situation.
The grey-haired lady, which the Star Ledger says is a “retired history teacher”?
WyBLog googled her,
She’s Co-Chair of the Government Relations Committee for the Hudson County Education Association (ie the Teachers’ Union).
One could only wish the reporters could actually, ehm, report.
Because nothing speaks about oppression like hyperbole and striking while paid by the taxpayers: NJ unions say Christie is Gaddafi. Paul Budline was at the demonstration and got it on video.
Gateway Pundit has the video:
I disrespectfully suggest that teachers who seriously liken Governor Christie to Moammar Khadafy and their own protests to the Egyptians facing down the Mubaraks are too ignorant to be charged with teaching our children. But judge for yourselves.
Possibly relevant point of interest: There are only 45 states with lower average teacher salaries than New Jersey. So, you know, I see where they are coming from.
And that’s for 180 days of work per year.
Help! I’m being repressed!
