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Rocknation

Rocknation's Journal
Rocknation's Journal
October 13, 2015

No time to read the entire "Christie Crime Digest?"

DU-er Laxman has digested it into a video!

And here's where you can find the entire DU Christie Crime Digest:

Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4 | Vol.5



rocktivity
October 8, 2015

Yes, a coding course would cost more (the state has a grant program I'm looking into)

But I what I think the county is really trying to accomplish is a pool of health attendant cannon fodder.

My research reveals that while the field is expected to explode as the population ages, it features long hours, physical/emotional stress, rock-bottom pay, and sky-high turnover. I hope I'm not coming across as snobbish: A health attendant certification can be parlayed into a nursing career; and you can rest assured that if I had no other qualifications, I would be actively accepting the fact that it would be better than nothing.

I just see taking the course as a waste of the marketable skills and experience that I do have, everyone's time, and the county's money.


rocktivity

September 8, 2015

This story puts a slightly different spin on things



First Coast News.com: Stanley, 40, began working for ExpressJet nearly three years ago. She later converted to Islam and only learned earlier this year that her faith prohibits her both from serving alcohol and consuming it. She approached a supervisor on June 1...Lena Masri, an attorney with the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said...(Stanley) was told to work out an arrangement with other flight attendants.

Well, there's the screwup: management left it to up Stanley to find coworkers to accommodate her voluntarily rather than issue a specific directive -- there was no formal accommodation from the airline! On the other hand, what could possibly go wrong?

"We know that this arrangement has worked beautifully and without incident and that it hasn't caused any undue burden on the airline," Masri said...(But) a co-worker filed a complaint on Aug. 2, saying Stanley was not fulfilling her duties. The complaint, which Masri characterized as "Islamophobic," also said Stanley had a book with "foreign writings" and wore a head scarf.

That's what could possibly go wrong -- co-workers deciding that having to do her work was a discriminatory and undue burden upon them. I hope the plaintiff was informed by management that Stanley's headdress was allowed, and that any employee can read anything they want as long at it's not on company time. But there's a very practical reason why Stanley should have been fired -- what is the airline supposed to do if she's the only attendant available to work a one-attendant flight?


rocktivity
August 23, 2015

And now for something completely...predictable

TMZ:
Justin Bieber has pulled the plug on a big event in Montreal Saturday, but only after the handwriting was on the wall -- the promoter wasn't paying him...

Bieber was scheduled to host an event at Beachclub, where he'd sing one or 2 songs and press the flesh. It's the same club where Kylie Jenner celebrated her 18th birthday and raked in $200K...(A)ccording to the contract Bieber's team signed with the promoter, they would pay Justin 1/2 of his appearance fee when the contract was signed and the other half 2 days before the event. We're told the contract was for "a couple of hundred thousand dollars."

We're told Justin got the first half but Thursday came and went but the balance never showed. Our sources say Justin's people contacted the promoters and were promised payment pronto, but it didn't happen.

Our Justin sources say the promoter had gone off the radar...A rep for Beachclub tells TMZ, "We are incredibly disappointed and upset by the lack of professionalism exhibited by Team Productions (the event's promoter) in violating their contract with Justin Bieber and disappointing the thousands of fans that were going to flock to Beachclub today."



rocktivity
August 8, 2015

Roger Stone!!! Damn, but he pops up in the weirdest places!

VillageVoice.com: ...Some of Stone's sordid history:

- exposed in the Watergate scandal for infiltrating the McGovern campaign

- registered as the agent for Ferdinand Marcos and a Bahamian prime minister alleged to be involved in the drug trade

- partnered with Lee Atwater, who conceived the Willie Horton race-baiting commercials for the Bush 1988 presidential campaign.

Stone has been a player in virtually every major GOP scandal, from aiding the contras to the mob shutdown of the Miami/Dade County canvassing board during the 2000 recount...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x166589
Roger Stone, an adviser to Carl Paladino, marched in the gay pride parade that the New York gubernatorial candidate has called a “a terrible thing.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5971409
His towel frontal pic here is from his Swinger advertisement during the Bob DOLE "Family Values" campaign, in which Rog asked for dudes to join him and Nikki in hot pursuits.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/sleeping-with-the-gop-6408419
Roger Stone, the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative...is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton...(They) are, in a sense, brothers under the skin, outlandish personalities too large to be bound by the constraints that govern the rest of us.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2376346
The hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the longtime GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard "memos." Anyone ever heard of him?

On edit:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/sources-roger-stone-quit-wasnt-fired-by-donald-trump-in-campaign-shakeup-121177.html
The two clashed after Stone – known universally in political circles as a Nixon-era “dirty trickster” – helped bring down Trump friend and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a prostitution scandal. But soon Stone and Trump were back and working together.


VillageVoice.com: Stone (has)...never been involved in a Democratic campaign, vowing publicly: "You can't work both sides of the street."

Well, morally speaking, that gives Stone a big leg up on Trump -- if you'll pardon the expression...


rocktivity
July 6, 2015

6. His campaign launch speech drew mixed reviews

a mix of getting caught in lies...

NJ.com: Christie said...that he has not raised taxes on New Jerseysans. That's not to say that taxpayers aren't paying more under his administration...(I)n 2010 Christie cut a tax credit on the working poor from 25 percent of the federal credit to 20 percent, a loss of about $117 for the average recipient...Christie's budget proposal for the current fiscal year included nearly two dozen taxes and fees...

ProPublica: When Christie signed his sixth budget on Friday, he reiterated his claim that his contributions to the state’s pensions have far outpaced those of his predecessors. As we pointed out in April, that’s only true if you exclude a $2.75 billion pension contribution by former Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Christie doesn’t count Whitman’s payment because it was made with borrowed money...

US News.com:
CHRISTIE: "We rolled up our sleeves and we went to work and we balanced six budgets in a row."

THE FACTS: He had no choice. The New Jersey constitution requires balanced budgets, as many states do, and they are achieved one way or the other, often with some accounting tricks.


...and psychoanalysis with a very poor prognosis

New York Times: It’s fundamentally nonsense. There are lines between brash and belligerent, between open and obnoxious, and, most important, between “telling it like it is” and not telling the truth. Mr. Christie crosses those lines all the time...

NJ. com: He has a silver tongue. But if you look closely, you can see that it is forked like a serpent's...(M)y warning to America: When Christie picks up the microphone, he speaks so clearly and forcefully that you assume genuine conviction is behind it.

GQ.com: "As far as what his temperament would be like if he were president, well, if Putin said something he didn’t like, he’d hang up and say, ’Give me the black box.’ And there goes Russia. Simple as that."

NorthJersey.com: He is not a man of subtlety and nuance. He is a fist-bumper, a forceful, loud, physical presence that fills a room in a way that is hard to ignore. His fuel is adrenaline, not reflection...His critics call him a bully. His supporters call him decisive. And now, if he becomes president, Chris Christie says he has the stuff that will unite a fractured nation. Really?



7. He and a rival candidate were guests of the Republican who lost the previous U.S. presidential election

CNN: What does one do at a presidential candidate slumber party? We'll likely never know exactly what happened at Mitt Romney's lakeside summer home in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where Chris Christie and Marco Rubio spent the night...

"What matters most to me is that he's a resource for me," said the New Jersey governor, who was an early backer of Romney's 2012 candidacy.

Romney...(said) he didn't give either candidates any advice on running. "These guys will make their own mistakes, Romney said. "Hopefully, they won't follow mine."

I'll try to put this as tactfully as possible, Governor Soprano: You have NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER being within NINETY-NINE MILES of EITHER of those men!!! Not Rubio, because he, too, is a presidential candidate and should not be privy to your campaign confidences (did you offer him a vice presidential slot?); and not Romney, because his presidential campaign featured such brilliant tactics as not showing his tax returns and suggesting that how he ran his businesses should not be a campaign issue. Political mentoring from Mitt Romney is like marriage counseling from king Henry The Eighth!


8. He spent Independence Day Leading A Parade In New Hampshire instead of in New Jersey (DailyKos):

[CENTER][/CENTER]

So ends the inaugural week of Christie's presidential run -- which should be the closest to a presidential inauguration that he'll ever get. But there is a bright side: he has nowhere to go BUT up...


rocktivity
July 6, 2015

Eisner is shocked -- SHOCKED!!! -- that less-than-beautiful women tend to be funnier?

The funniest women I grew up with rooted their humor (and success) in exploting either their inadequacies (Goldie Hawn, Joan Rivers, Marlo Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, Katey "Peg Bundy" Sagal, Juila Louis-Dreyfuss), their lack of desirability by men (Totie Fields, Phyllis Diller, Minnie Pearl, Moms Mabley, Patricia "Hyacinth Bucket" Routledge), or both (Roseanne, Mo'Nique, Lucille Ball, Jennifer "Edina Monsoon" Saunders, Fran "The Nanny" Drescher). The only woman I can think of who might qualify for Eisner's "highly beautiful, highly funny" category is Barbra "I Dream of Jeannie" Eden.

Just as Goldie says, she didn't start out in life as being beautiful -- she learned to "cure" her "ugliness" by getting others to join her in laughing at her. And I remember reading that when Gilda Radner was asked if she would rather be funny or glamorous, she replied, "Glamorous is too hard."

To answer your question, it does matter, because Eisner doesn't seem to realize that his "problem" finding beautiful, funny women is caused by what Dr. Bell Hooks calls capitalist patriarchy -- a fancy way of saying that Eisner does not fret about highly attractive, highly funny MEN being in equally short supply. From Fran Leibowitz:

"The cultural values (of humor) are male: For a woman to say a man is funny is the equivalent of a man saying that a woman is pretty. Also, humor is largely aggressive and pre-emptive, and what's more male than that?"

Beautiful women don't HAVE to invest in being funny -- or smart, or brave, or competent, or good leaders, or talented, or even particularly sexy: why knock yourself out if your beauty can win you male approval (and access to their wealth and power) just as easily?


rocktivity
July 1, 2015

4. He's lost control of his campaign slogan's Twitter hashtag

https://twitter.com/hashtag/tellingItLikeItIs

- I will tell it like it is, you're an angry fat man who needs anger management courses

- Christie sold out the people of NJ to Exxon. He couldn't care less about us...or you.

- Of course he's lying;His lips are moving.

- Chris Christie has a 31% approval rating, and is the most unpopular governor in the nation!

- "I have a bad economic record."

- Remember when @GovChristie helped hundreds of thousands w/o power instead of running for office? Neither does S. Jersey

- You're a crook, a scam, and an embarrassment to my state. Did you have to check w/Norcross before you ran?


5. He's Been Endorsed By A Governor Who is (Also?) Looking At Corruption Charges

NorthJersey.com: Governor Christie received his first major endorsement...(from Governor) Paul LePage, a Maine conservative with a fiery persona that rivals Christie's..." (T)he only difference I see between Chris Christie and I -- he's a little bit shy. I'm gonna work with him for the next year, bring him out of his shell.”

The Rachel Maddow Show:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/maine-legislators-lose-patience-with-lepage-473966147865

Bangor Daily News: Members of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to start a formal investigation into whether Gov. Paul LePage illegally or unethically used taxpayer money to force Good Will-Hinckley to fire House Speaker Mark Eve...

LePage’s legal counsel argued in a letter to the committee that...th(eir) Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability...lacks any authority to investigate the governor...OPEGA Director Beth Ashcroft disagrees...the probe by her agency would involve tracking the flow of taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit organization. “We are not going to be drawing any conclusions about whether the governor exercised his authority appropriately or not...That would be for others to decide.”

NorthJersey.com: A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee said...“The first major endorsement Governor Christie receives after announcing he’s running for president is from a governor who is facing impeachment threats for his role in exacting retribution upon a political adversary...Can't say we're surprised.”

At least LePage had enough class to ADMIT that he threatened to withhold federal funding to a charter school if they hired a Democratic rival...maybe he really CAN teach Christie a few things about personal accountability...


rocktivity
June 30, 2015

George Balanchine said a ballet dancer's skin should be the color of a peeled apple

Well, you know what happens to the color of peeled apples after a while...Balanchine via The Dance Theater of Harlem, which has been doing classical ballet since 1969.



Congrats, Misty -- but would this be happening if your skin was the color of roast coffee?


rocktivity

June 30, 2015

And let the Crew Christie Presidental Campaign screwups begin!

1. His campaign launch draws as many supporters as protestors:

North Jersey.com: Governor Christie launched his long-awaited presidential campaign Tuesday...(before) a crowd of about 1,000 inside Livingston High School, his alma mater...

North Jersey.com: More than a thousand demonstrators - mostly dressed in red and carrying banners and signs - congregated on the front lawn outside Livingston High School Tuesday morning to protest Governor Christie announcing his presidential bid...


2. He uses campaign music by someone who's supporting a candidate from the opposing party:

Asbury Park Press: Christie, who announced his candidacy for president at Livingston High School on Tuesday, June 30, walked to the school's podium to We Weren't Born to Follow. After the announcement, the rocker's Have A Nice Day and Who Says You Can't Go Home were played as exit music...

Asbury Park Press: Hillary Clinton attended a fundraiser hosted by Jon Bon Jovi at the Molly Pitcher Inn (June 30)...which donors...attend(ed) for campaign donations...Attendees tweeted from the event, including photos of Clinton speaking and Bon Jovi playing guitar...


3. He Gets a "Not From The Onion" award from the New York Times:

With two pillars of his presidential run — his record and his judgment — looking wobblier than ever, Mr. Christie must build a campaign around his most raw and prodigious asset: his personality...


But shouldn't that be "his personality DEFECTS"? Anyway, we're off the the races!


rocktivity

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