New Tone Update: NJ Union Head Declares Gov. Christie, Anyone Opposed to Collective Bargaining Nazis

From the Star-Ledger:

In an explosive tirade that fired up some demonstrators and embarrassed others, a national union leader went nuclear on Gov. Chris Christie, calling him a Nazi over and over.

"Welcome to Nazi Germany," Christopher Shelton, a top official at the Communication Workers of America, told thousands of protesters today outside the Statehouse in Trenton. "The first thing that the Nazis and Adolf Hitler did was go after the unions."

Whole story.

Thanks to Bob Bowdon.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else was a Nazi?

[sage]

The singularity must be near.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You're one of my sockpuppets that got away from me a few years ago, aren't you?

[Lord Humungus]

Here a Nazi, There a Nazi
Everyone's a Nazi at least once.

[Offender]

Original Song Title: "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
Original Performer: Bobby McFerrin

Parody Song Title: "Don't Worry, Be Nazi"
Parody Written by: Offender

This is just a little joke.
You might sing it while you toke a toke.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.

Your enemies may give you trouble;
You laughing at them, their rage will double.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi (now).

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi.

"You jackboot thug!" That's what they said,
because you killed some bad guys dead.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.

Protestors say you group of hate:
You don't support the welfare state.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
(Look at me, I'm Nazi!)

Don't worry. Be Nazi.

(Here I give you my parody.
When you worry, sing it;
I make fun of them.)

Don't worry. Be Nazi.

They going to bash you for a while;
You say a thing, they scream "Seig Heil!"

Well, don't worry. Be Nazi.

Your colleagues say that you Hitler's spawn.
A few more years, and they soon be gone,

So don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi (now).

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi.

Don't worry. Be Nazi.
Don't worry, be Nazi.

Don't worry.
Don't worry, just screw it, be Nazi
Put a smile on your face.
Give'em one-finger salute just like this.
Don't worry.
Have a big laugh! They all idiots.
Don't worry, be Nazi.
(I'm not worried!)

[A Reflexive Kick]

Your mom?

[Almanian]

Josef Goebbels?

[Almanian]

Dr, Mengele?

[Almanian]

Golda Meir? Wait, no...I mean...

Hermann Goering?

[Jim]

My penis in a frock coat and derby hat?

[Almanian]

Now, that's funny. I don't care who you are.

[Comment Tater]

Agreed. [chortle]

[shocked_shocked]

A derby with a frock coat? Disgusting.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sage?

[Joe R.]

Those Nazis must have been pretty fucking efficient. Seems like I always hear a different thing was the first thing they did. That's a lot of firstin'.

[cc]

Anyone and everyone who's ever lived?

[MCab]

They sure gave a speech like a Nazi.

[Ted S.]

The authors of The Declaration of Independents?

[Ted Strout]

Ted Williams.

[Juice]

You know who really loved unions?

[sage]

You know who else was a Nazi?

[Fartriloquist]

Wait! I know this one!

Sheesh.

"In the future, everyone will be a Nazi for fifteen minutes." Use it freely, but just remember you read it here first.

[Xenocles]

+1

I was about to post that upthread, congratulations on the win.

[Fartriloquist]

I WON! I WON!

Wait, what do I get?

[Almanian]

Mike Godwin?

[Name Nomad]

I like how the crowd cheers after he says, "Welcome to Nazi Germany."

[JW]

That was moments before the Schutzstaffel ushered him offstage, never to be seen again, right?

[P Brooks]

They booed him off the stage, right?

RIGHT??????

[Jerry]

I assume all progressive bloggers are condemning this vitriolic speech at this very moment.

[Amakudari]

Giffords just got shot again.

[creighton]

Damn it. Does it automatically make me a bad person that this was the funniest thing I've read all day?

[Appalachian Australian]

And what about that Mussolini guy and the unions? Oh wait... he co-opted them. I think Mussolini started out as a union operative.

Nowadays they'd call him a "community organiser".

[Middle Age Crazy]

And weren't the Nazi's just eliminating the competition?

My understanding of the agreement in question is that it raises employee contributions by 1-1.5% of pay, minimum retirement age from 62 to 65, and freezes the COLA for retirees until the plans are better funded. In return, the state agrees to contribute billions to better fund the plans.

Yep, a regular "Night of the Long Knives" there. Every member of the Christie administration should just say "one percent" when asked to comment by the press.

I've always been surprised at the poor quality of political theater delivered by union leadership. You'd think the rank-and-file would demand more for their dues.

[polishes monocle]

[Sudden]

as stated below:

Don't you know, Hitler's biggest atrocity was raising the Jews copay to $100 deutchmarks and taking away the Weimar-era COLAs they had won in collective bargaining

[A Bean Counter]

as stated below:

Hitler.

[Middle Age Crazy]

What's cool about this thread is that it's been "pre-Godwined".

[A Wry Wanker]

"They're handing out Hitler like Pez!"

[rather]

What would they call his mistress?

[Almanian]

"Mussolini's Mistress"

[rather]

Read Appalachian Australian|6.17.11 @ 4:51PM|#!!!

Bad Boy

[P Brooks]

Charles Lindbergh?

[Sudden]

Henry Ford?

[A Serious Man]

Walt Disney?

[Hugh Akston]

Nietzsche's Sister?

[Kevin]

Martin Heidegger?

[A Porn Connoisseur]

Ilsa?

[Anoynmous Coward]

Annette Schwarz?

[Ray]

Ok google who the hell is Annette Schw...holy shit wow that is a lot of stuff on her face right there...

[cowboy]

This whole thread is one of the many, many things I love about Reason's commentatorship

How about the "new tone" of libertarians, especially on this web site?

Juvenile hate mongering is not limited to those fucking communist morons, you know.

[Cytotoxic]

2/10 deflection. Best I could do.

[Hugh Akston]

Yeah Nick, calling your political opponent out on comparing their political opponents Nazis is exactly the same as calling your political opponents Nazis. And that's exactly the sort of thing the Nazis would have done.

Or something.

[Sparky]

Juvenile hate mongering knows no bounds!!! It will not be contained by the likes of you!!!

[dunphy]

all your juvenile hate mongering are belong to us!

[Anoynmous Coward]

Lame concern troll is lame.

[R C Dean]

Totally unrelated NY Post headline: Weiner Finally Yanks Himself.

It'll never get old, will it?

[juris imprudent]

Oh, it will wear out, eventually.

[Mr Blind as a Bat in da Belfry]

No, but we won't be able to see it.

[Southerner]

We've still got a few more jokes to go, such as the proposed 2012 Democrat dream ticket.

[Joe R.]

It won't wear out. But you might go blind.

[Mercurus]

No, it will only get bigger...

[Drax the Destroyer]

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised."

[Ska]

I expect nothing less from the Post.

[Troy]

No RC. And thank fucking god.

[Middle Age Crazy]

Not until Weiner jumps the shark.

[A Wry Wanker]

As long as he doesn't grow the beard!

[Anoynmous Coward]

Tony Weiner is like a drum. You can only beat it so much before it breaks.

[A Medical Opinion]

There are usually warning signs first, like sores and lesions, and painful or difficult urination.

[squishua]

Yeah, unions not getting their preferred pay/benefits package ranks right up there with gassing millions of jews. Uh-huh....

[Sudden]

Don't you know, Hitler's biggest atrocity was raising the Jews copay to $100 deutchmarks and taking away the Weimar-era COLAs they had won in collective bargaining.

Dude was simply heartless.

[squishua]

Imagine what they'll say when the Panzer factory is built in a right-to-work state.

[Sudden]

Obama will never let that happen. Remember, he has learned the lessons and will spare no expense in winning his war in North Africa.

[Lord Humungus]

it sounds silly, but I have a few friends on FB who actually believe this - at least to the point of telling everyone about it.

[JW]

It's silly that you haven't blocked or "unfriended" them.

I don't broadacast my politics on FB. I only ask the same in return.

[alan]

You should get as far away from that site as is possible if you care anything about retaining your humanity. That is where the zombie apocalypse begins.

[A Serious Man]

The irony is that Hitler and the Nazis used the corporatist model for running a state, just like the unions would prefer to be done, only in their favor. In both cases any individual that dissents is screwed.

[Au H20]

But that stupid poem I had to read in high school told me that they came for the Communists first.

So, all American unions are communist now?

The more you know!

(okay, seriously, how the hell do you do the tm symbol in html?)

[Clich? Bandit]

It is an alt code Goldie. You are going to lose your nerd card if you aren't careful.
? = alt+0153
? = alt+0169

[Name Nomad]

A true nerd would access those through a compose key rather than some Windows nonsense.

[Almanian]

Oh, snap!

[Clich? Bandit]

touch?...however, in my defense, my employer restricts us to this satan spawned monstrosity that is Vista. It is easier for me to work within the leviathan than fight it.

[Clich? Bandit]

And for the record...My server is running Debian Lenny...I bet you use Redhat!
*spltztztzt*

[Apogee]

Hey! You know who else? was completely concerned with special ALT characters??

Jesus? ? - Nope

Alfred Hitchcock? ? - Nope

Copernicus? ? - Nope

--?
??? The Ancient Indians? - Nope
..?

[Syd Henderson]

Alfred Bester!

[Amakudari]

Fun nerd fact: You can now register domain names in Unicode.

Example:

?.net

That's a snowman.

[robc]

I was disappointed that it didnt exist when I clicked thru.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

What, you think the red and yellow in that banner is unintentional?

[P Brooks]

"Welcome to Nazi Germany,"

The guy who heads the Communication Workers of America, of all things, ought to have heard about Google Maps by now.

[JW]

What, maps made by those scabs at Google? Never!

[P Brooks]

Weiner Finally Yanks Himself.

If you want a job done right...

[?]

The first thing Hitler did after he zapped out of the bunker in his time machine was search the internet for "'the first thing Hitler did was,'" to find out where history would judge him to have erred, so he could zap back and fix it.
And Hitler was like WTF?

[Number 2]

The first thing Hitler did was go after the unions? In what parallel universe?

Here is what is truly amazing: I actually read the bill that has the unions all upset. Yes, it mandates increases in the amounts employees contribute to health care...for four years. After that, all such contributions are expressly subject to negotiation.

Better yet-this "union busting" bill creates multiple health and pension benefits committees consisting of equal numbers of gubernatorial and union appointees. These committees will be empowered to determine health benefits and pension benefits for public employees going forward - to the exclusion of the Legislature, non-union employees, and the taxpaying public.

If Christie is a Nazi union-buster, he has sure picked an odd way of going about it. He certainly seems to have left the foxes in the henhouse

[Anoynmous Coward]

I was under the impression that the first thing they did, once in power, was frame a Communist for setting the Reichstag on fire, then suspended habeas corpus so they could stamp out the competition.

Fucking history! How do they work?

[Pro Libertate]

Hitler went after the socialists, but that was because they were competition.

[creech]

We should encourage this douche to keep shouting that Christie is a Nazi.
Christie would never get the votes of those who believe it but surely will get the votes of those disgusted with such over the top rhetoric.

[Number 2]

More importantly, do these idiots really believe that the average New Jersey taxpayer sits up a night, worried that government workers aren't paid enough? Or that their extremely generous, taxpayer-funded benefits may be cut?

This is nothing more than one huge, taxpayer-funded temper tantrum.

[Patooey]

Really ?

I'm a Jersey boy, born and raised.

I've argued against all the slurs all these years.

I'm now ashamed to live here.

[Sudden]

I'm now ashamed to live here.

In theory, you should've been ashamed since at least the show Jersey Shore first aired.

[Patooey]

Naw.

Jersey Shore is a subcultural fact I've seen since 1980.

It's all youse guys who are titillated by it.

[rather]

I'd be more ashamed about Snooki/ Real Housewives to Jersey Shore/Mob Wives et al

[alan]

Interior Jersey is okay. I'd have no problem living in many 'burbs there that have the same amenities I'm used to. You'll never get crap from me 'cause you get plenty from the Suck Asses that border your state.

[Pro Libertate]

Color me your color, baby.
Color me for war.
Color me your color, Hitler.
I know who you are.
Come up off your colored chart.
I know where you're blitzing from.

Nazi! (Nazi!) on the line.
Nazi, Nazi any, anytime.
Nazi (Nazi) I'll arrive.
You can Nazi any day or night.
Nazi!

Lebensraum for Germans, baby.
Lebensraum with love.
Blitz me in panzer tanks.
I'll never get enough.
Invasions come, I don't know why.
Lebensraum our alibi.

Nazi! (Nazi!) all the time.
Nazi, Nazi any, anytime.
Nazi (Nazi) I'll arrive.
When you're ready we can act like swine.
Nazi.

Ooh, he speaks the languages of love.
Ooh, amore, chiama mi (chiama mi).
Ooh, appelle-moi, mon cheri (appelle-moi).
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, anyway!
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any day!

Nazi! (Nazi!) in my life.
Nazi, Nazi any, anytime.
Nazi (Nazi) au revoir.
Nazi, Nazi for some overtime.
Nazi (Nazi) in my life.
Nazi, Nazi any sweet desire.
Nazi, Nazi for your Hitler's Hitler's alibi.
Nazi (Nazi) inner line.
Nazi, Nazi any anytime.
Nazi.
Oh, Nazi, ooh ooh ah.
Nazi in my life.
Nazi, Nazi any, anytime.

[Pro Libertate]

It was this or Bill Joel's "She's Always a Nazi to Me."

[Almanian]

Oh, I really like the Billy Joel song!

"...She fired up the ovens!
And burned all teh Joos!
But first she made sure
To save all their shoes and
She's alwaaaaaaays a Nazi
To meeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

[Pro Libertate]

And there's the classic, "Nazi, Nazi":

Nazi, Nazi, oh no,
Jews gotta go.
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said,
Nazi, Nazi, oh baby,
Jews gotta go.

Fine little Pole waits for me.
Catch a tank across Germany.
Drive that tank about, all alone,
Never know if I make it home.

[Middle Age Crazy]

You would choose Blondie, you Nazi.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, that angle occurred to me, too. Debbie Aryan is the lead singer, right?

Remember the Stones' "Nazi"?

But Nazi, I still love you, baby.
Ev'rywhere I look I see your schiss.
There ain't a fascist that comes close to you.
Come on Hitler, dry your eyes.
But Nazi, Nazi, ain't it good to be alive?
Nazi, Nazi, they can't say we never tried.

[xenia onatopp]

Well at least now I'll have something other than a David Bowie/Mick Jagger sex scene to think about when I hear that song; god knows that particular scenario was less than appealing even 35 years ago, even to a slash queen like me.

So not only is your lyrical prowess legendary, it's also a force for good.

[Troy]

I drove on the autobahn through Nuremburg once. Does that make me an honorary Nazi?

[Sudden]

Only if you did it while forcing others to take HSR through the Faterland

[Troy]

Actually, I was coming back from this concert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiLm6EtWl84

[rather]

Hmm, depends if you are Jewish, and if you yelled at the concert in German. You drove on the autobahn to see A Jew, and an Israeli Jew at that. Let me check with the SS

[rather]

Hmm, depends if you are Jewish, and if you yelled at the concert in German. You drove on the autobahn to see A Jew, and an Israeli Jew at that. Let me check with the SS

[Troy]

By the way, we have a date. Your place or mine?

[rather]

I'm time travelling, and we already had the date.

Remember we smoked at the Kiss concert? And then I blew you while you drove 120 on the autobahn?

Shit, was that your girlfriend? I thought all Germans had small dicks!

[Almanian]

Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn...

[shocked-shocked]

It's N?rnberg and the Autobahn doesn't go through it.

[alan]

Of course, there is a message that underlines Shelton's rant. 'Christie is a Nazi. Killing Christie is morally defensible.' Doubt if the thugs under Shelton failed to notice.

[A Hillbilly Boy]

Yes. Clearly the unspoken message was that some thugs will now go to work on Christie with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.

[alan]

That is the sublimated point of any accusation of Nazism. Someone please rid me of my enemies.

[A Diminutive Chicken]

How does that work out in practice? Is there quite a lot of this accused Nazi-offing that's being kept out of the press? Are there roaming bands of "thugs" who act as low-rent illiterate Nazi hunters? Why hasn't someone made a movie about this?

Or, alternatively, and I say this with all trepidation, you are completely full of shit? That in fact it is never read that way in reality, never acted upon, and despite your flights of fancy are not intended by their speakers to mean anything more or less than "this guy is as bad as a really bad famous guy from history! That's how much I don't like him, that if you dressed him up in a tutu and gave him a swastika I'd totally make fun! Not that I don't like crossdressers, but the other thing, certainly!"

[sevo]

"this guy is as bad as a really bad famous guy from history!"

Yeah, but it doesn't carry quite the same level of derangement and the quote from the union thug.

[alan]

Or, alternatively, and I say this with all trepidation, you are completely full of shit?

Someone wet there Hello Kitty panties.

[alan]

Oh, and I love that sudden elevation of rhetorical style on display there. That occurs when a joint rise of dopamine and blood pressure are asserted when someone's mind is immerse in a desire to kill the object of one's disaffection. Admit it, you would love to kill me just as much as Shelton would love for some low level union thug with no direct connection to him to off Christie.

[An Arched Eyebrow]

The fact that you can read a murderous desire into someone's comment making fun of you in a lighthearted sort of way definitely puts a finger on the scale towards "full of shit".

Besides, my dopamine level is much more tightly correlated to the chocolate and ephedrine in my system than any desire to kill, fuck, laugh at, or paint little hearts on you. You know, the kind with the little arrows...

Oh, but I've said too much!

[alan]

Lol! Walk it back and pretend A Diminutive Chicken|6.17.11 @ 6:37PM wasn't a shit your pants moment. The roll is still unraveling at your feet, Smokey!

[A Soaked Tampon]

Walk what back? Just what the heck are you talking about? You made a flatly idiotic assertion about how calling someone a Nazi is code for putting a hit out on someone, and I called you on it (with a little mockery thrown in for color). Wait, hold on...you think that was a lot of mockery? Of uncommon intensity and virulence? That it was clearly and unarguably motivated by vein-pumping hatred for you?

Really?

Dude, this is the Internet. I care about you about as much as I care to suck on my namesake of the moment. (I mean, if it were frozen, maybe, and soaked in fruit juice and vodka, that might be something else...). I don't hate you so much as find your comments laughable and ripe for mockery. If you can't take a little ribbing, do something else with your time. Me, I'm stuck at work with nothing to do, and using you as a rhetorical pinata is at least fun for me.

[alan]

Saving face three hundred and fifty words at a time! However you rationalize it, what I said got under your skin. It did so because it is true.

[alan]

Me, I'm stuck at work with nothing to do, and using you as a rhetorical pinata is at least fun for me.

And I love these back patting self congratulating declarations of victory.

I tell you what. I'll get in my rhetorical go-cart, you get in yours. Now, down hill we go! Moosh! Moosh! Moosh! Weeee! I won! Wanna go again?

[A Bemused Gamer]

However you rationalize it, what I said got under your skin. It did so because it is true.

What you said made me laugh. It did so because it was stupid, in a hilariously earnest sort of way. I mean, you never did answer my question: has anyone ever acted consistently with your bizarre interpretation? Has anyone ever taken "that's guy's a Nazi!" to mean "kill him!"? One example?

And I love these back patting self congratulating declarations of victory.

Er, you must have learned a different way of "playing" Pinata than I did. See, in my day, you just take the Pinata and hit it with a stick, and eventually stuff would start falling out. Then, everyone's a winner! The way I see it, one piece of candy already fell out, so I might as well hit it to see if there's more.

Maybe you think you're playing a game to win or something, but me, I'm just hitting a brightly stuffed, hollow papier-m?ch? toy with a stick to see what else falls out. It's kinda like pulling the legs off of a bug, only with substantially less cruelty and mess.

[alan]

Wow. I was so hoping you would do that.

[alan]

I mean, I jokingly accuse you of eliminationist rhetoric, and you answer back with a long diatribe on beating me like a Pinata. Self awareness is just not your in your playbook, is it?

[SugarFree]

Don't feed the troll, alan. All it wants to do is jack off in your mouth.

[Pro Libertate]

Besides, Sarah Palin. Targets.

[alan]

Don't feed the troll, alan. All it wants to do is jack off in your mouth.

This thread went to the gutter long ago. I was just giving the back alley tranny a little feel up.

[alan]

Also, notice how it retreated into Above the Common Fray mode at 9:22AM. Sometimes I'm in the mood for reruns, even if I've seen them a hundred times already.

[The Absolute Truth]

All it wants to do is jack off in your mouth.

Sugarless, unless it's dressed as a clown and bawling its eyes out I don't want it within a hundred feet of my cock.

Honestly, I'm surprised at you!

[Ellen]

Will nobody rid me of this turbulent governor?

[cynical]

Wha? A) Union thugs don't need any incentive other than $$$ to whack someone, and B) if he was trying to provoke murder, he must have been calling on Mossad.

[Lenny]

Well that poem was pretty clear. First they came for the communists then the trade unionists.

[Anoynmous Coward]

Any politician who stands up against collective bargaining, in this state or any other, is not a Democrat," Shelton said. "They're Nazis, goddamn it."

Point 1: So if you're not a Democrat, then you are automatically a Nazi? Good to know.

Point 2: What, if any difference, is there between a cartel of labor, and a cartel of any other good or service in the market?

[Jim]

Notice how he said, "stands up to". Essentially admitting that they're bullies.

[wildbillnj]

To be fair, some of the Democrats are apparently Nazis, too. I don't recall if he specifically named senate president Steve Sweeney (former head of an industrial union in private industry), but Sweeney and several other Democrats who have cooperated with Christie on this reform have been blasted by the unions who formerly supported them.

The really fun part is that there is so little commentary from the Governor's side, at least in bombastic rally form. The only voice shouting in this debate is the voice of the public unions, and every time they talk they burn themselves even worse. They're losing the case (not that they had one) all on their own.

[Mike M.]

I love this guy Christie more and more every day; he's driving the scum around the bend even more than Sarah Palin is.

The other day some loser asked him something like if he felt any embarrassment about sending his kids to private school, and his perfect response was "I pay a boatload of property taxes, so why don't you mind your own damn business."

[A Youthful Indiscretion]

Yeah, a guy who punts on a simple question like "is evolution true?" is exactly the sort of bravery I look for in an elected official.

[alan]

Got a sizzling hot 6.5 ounces of who gives a fuck on the grill out back. You can share it with Mr. Shelton, that is if you are not too embarrassed to be associated with him and his ilk.

[A Literate Snob]

Someone who can't even hold forth on a simple question of fact because *the right answer* might irritate the sensibilities of people who would otherwise be allies but *the wrong answer* would show him to be a fucking moron is exactly the sort of weak, mewling, vacillating scum that should be kept far away from power.

[alan]

Because Paleo versus Cosmo arguments were so fucking productive the first time around in 2008, random anon dude is here to bring it all back for everyone who didn't get enough the first time around.

Awesome. I hope it goes to 500 in the thread count.

[A Pointed Jab]

The question could have been about gravity for all I care; the point is if there were a sizable number of GOPers who were fuzzy on the whole evidence for gravity thing and preferred to go with a Biblically-"inspired" model that inferred gravity is what happens when God forgets to hold stuff up, and he couldn't be bothered to nonetheless say the obvious truth in the face of offending said morons, he's a coward. Plain and simple.

A person who cannot bring themselves to say what they know to be true when it becomes inconvenient is contemptible. I don't like cowards who pursue power. Do you?

[alan]

Starting with Mike M. this is 7 working to that total. At this point I guess I'm suppose to ask the obvious question. Okay. How is evolution in anyway relevant to his job, and how has he not shown some balls within his constituted duties? Okay. It's asked. Your turn. Ball is rolling. Feel free to interject anybody as this thread slides into oblivion.

[An Orange Pixiestick]

Presumably the governor would have to sign or veto any legislation at the state level that impacts school policy, including curricular issues and restrictions.

So, if he's willing to deflect when nothing's on the line, how will he act when some dipshit shoves through legislation that declares, I dunno, that Pi is '3', that marijuana is the number one killer of black people under 16, or that there is actually controversy on any level in the scientific community about evolution? Does it matter, do you think?

And if we don't know what he thinks about clearly settled scientific questions, what are we to think of his scientific acumen when it intersects his state's energy, environment, and economic policies in more complicated ways? Will he listen to experts and take their analysis into account, or simply do what the loudest subsection of his constituency want him to do? Could that possibly matter?

[alan]

Experts over those who actually fund the schools. Hmmm. Whose opinion should actually counts? Since that is essentially unsolvable, does it really matter, and sense it doesn't, should we not go ahead and defund the public school system?

The answer to that is obvious, so what Christie has to say on evolution is an irrelevant side issue.

[alan]

'since', 'sense', fuck! My cover is blown.

[A Tiny Aneurysm]

Along with your occipital lobe, apparently. Seriously, that comment made negative sense, of the 'not even wrong' variety.

[alan]

Honestly, given your opinion of the governor begins and ends with how he answered a question irrelevant to his executive duties, I didn't expect you to get it.

[sevo]

A Literate Snob|6.17.11 @ 6:39PM|#
"Someone who can't even hold forth on a simple question of fact because *the right answer* might irritate the sensibilities of people who would otherwise be allies but *the wrong answer* would show him to be a fucking moron is exactly the sort of weak, mewling, vacillating scum that should be kept far away from power."

I'd have a lot more sympathy for your view if you could point to a single politco who says "Are you CRAZY?!" when someone asks if they believe in a sky-daddy.
Until then, I'll take a waffler who tries not to bankrupt us over the waffler who doesn't.

[A Short Memory]

Well, Gary Johnson did out himself as an agnostic in that profile piece in TNR a few months back (TNR:"Do you believe in Jesus?" GJ:"I believe he existed." [smirk]), and Pete Stark is an out-and-proud atheist who serves in Congress.

Besides, there are plenty of theists who believe that evolution is both true and acknowledge it as the scientific consensus (strangely enough, these two things are often linked).

[sevo]

"Well, Gary Johnson did out himself as an agnostic in that profile piece in TNR a few months back (TNR:"Do you believe in Jesus?" GJ:"I believe he existed." [smirk]),..."
Yeah, and if he's nominated, I'll vote GOP for the first time. But let's just say he holds a lot of views that probably make him un-electable.

"and Pete Stark is an out-and-proud atheist who serves in Congress."
Great! A partisan statist in a gerrymandered district who finally admitted to being a non-bleever. Real nerve, there.
I'll take the waffler who knows we're bankrupt.

"Besides, there are plenty of theists who believe that evolution is both true and acknowledge it as the scientific consensus (strangely enough, these two things are often linked)."
I see. Superstition is OK so long as they don't hit *your* hot button.

[An Internet Mindreader]

Superstition is OK so long as it doesn't get its greasy paws on public policy. Some people juggle baby geese, and who am I to judge? (Goslings, they were juggled!) If someone passed a law confiscating goslings from geese farmers because of their occupational fetish, then that would be right out.

[Number 2]

This is hilarious...The bill was a compromise that Christie worked out with the State Senate President, Democrat Steve Sweeney. Now the NJEA is running ads accusing Sweeney of being the tool of Political Bosses who want to hurt schoolteachers. Wow.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Let's face it. If Christie were one of the big Nazis he'd be Goering, not Hitler.

[sevo]

Why Goering? He spent most of his time juiced and politiking.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Because he's the only Nazi with a fair chance of taking Christie in a Sumo competition?

Besides, it takes balls to fight the unions as hard as Christie is doing. And Hitler only had one ball. Goering had two, though very small.

And I understand Himmler had something similar.

[sevo]

I'll counter Seyss-Inquart. But I really don't know about his anatomy...

[xenia onatopp]

Now I know what ditty is going to be running through my brain all weekend; that one's even more insidious than It's A Small World After All. Thanks for that.

[Tulpa]

Unless it was a misprint on that trick question in Trivial Pursuit, Hitler had two testicles.

[xenia onatopp]

To the best of my knowledge you are correct, and I have never lost a game of Trivial Pursuit. I also doubt that Dr Goebbels was a castrato, but art is art and history is history, and as a song it works just fine as is.

[cynical]

But Goebbels has no balls at all...

[MNG]

Good Lord I hope Hit and Runners are'nt casting stones at someone for an (admittedly hyperbolic and silly) Godwin seeing as how this site has more Godwins in the average thread than a family reunion hosted by Mary Shelley.

[alan]

So nice of you to just show up.

[cynical]

Fuck off, slaver.

[MCab]

1) For every job I had, from frying chicken in high school, to doing lab work, to being a realtor, not ONCE did I ever consider ANY of my co-workers some sort of brother/sister/spiritual equivalent. They were all places where I do work and get paid. I don't see how that makes the member of some sort of secret decoder ring society.

2) The more I see these union types, the more I think of "Papa" from the movie "Munich:" "In my despair I have fathered madmen who dress like factory workers but never do manual labor, who read nonsense and spout pompous bullshit about Algerians and, and who love nothing, not Algerians or French or flesh and blood or anything living." May not be an exact fit, but my point is it really seems these union types just care about being in control and not really about their causes.

[wildbillnj]

Bingo! Bingo! Finally we have a winner!

Exactly correct. All they care about is control. It has nothing to do with the deal, or the contracts, or the promises, and it certainly has NOTHING to do with The Children.

For decades, they have OWNED the senate and assembly, and they have been able to suck money out of the public treasury as if it was their own cash stored under a mattress. That hegemony is finally being challenged - successfully - and they throw a tantrum.

Ever watch Super Nanny? When she puts a whiny brat on the time-out chair, and he gets up, and she puts him back (and lather-rinse-repeat-as-needed...) - that's all about control. The kid thinks he's in control until she takes charge of the situation. Same thing here. They're lashing out just like the spoiled brats in the time out chair.

[Michael R. Brown]

No doubt it is heavy-handed of me to remind the esteemed union leader that what he says about the National Socialists is completely false. See the Nazi Labor Front. They were quite happy with big, NLRB-style unions.

[MCab]

National Socialist German WORKERS Party

[MNG]

The Nazi Labor Front was what was forced on the unions (via force and terror) that pre-existed it, it was essentially a massive company union with government support. That many trade unionists died opposing it should tell you something.

[MNG]

In their determination to remove all sources of opposition, the NSDAP leaders turned their attention to the trade unions, the churches and the Jews. In April, 1933, Hitler ordered the late defendant Ley, who was then staff director of the political organisation of the NSDAP, " to take over the trade unions." Most of the trade unions of Germany were joined together in two large federations, the " Free Trade Unions " and the " Christian Trade Unions." Unions outside these two large federations contained only 15 per cent. of the total union membership. On the 21st April, 1933, Ley issued an NSDAP directive announcing a " co-ordination action" to be carried out on the 2nd May against the Free Trade Unions.

The directive ordered that SA and SS men were to be employed in the planned .' occupation of trade union properties and for the taking into protective custody of personalities who come into question." At the conclusion of the action the official NSDAP press service reported that the National Socialist Factory Cells Organisation had "eliminated the old leadership of Free Trade Unions" and taken over the leadership them selves. Similarly, on the 3rd May, 1933, the NSDAP press service announced that the Christian trade unions " have unconditionally subordinated themselves to the leadership of Adolf Hitler." In place of the trade unions the Nazi Government set up a German Labour Front (DAF), controlled by the NSDAP, and which, in practice, all workers in Germany were compelled to join. The chairmen of the unions were taken into custody and were subjected to ill-treatment, ranging from assault and battery to murder.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrar.....egime.html

[Kreel Sarloo]

Anyone who doesn't believe that American unions routinely use force and intimidation has never worked in a union workplace.

[dunphy]

as a public employee and union member who gleefully sucks the public teat in all its juicy goodness let me just say-... Shelton, you are a histrionic ass!

[Raccman]

Spoken like the ignorant scumbag you are !

[Esteban]

I love union ball busting! Bring it on Chris.

[Mr. FIFY]

Shoulda read that civility memo, union boss guy.

[Res Publica Americana]

New Jersey isn't even a state anymore. It's a toxic dump, much like the pool of battery acid in my cousin's garage.

[glitchus]

Actually Hitler started out in the German Workers Party and embraced socialism, but only for the Aryan race. He eventually did shut down the other trade unions as he didn't want them competing with his National Socialist (NAZI) party. So you see, Hitler was really a socialist union thug all along.

[FDR (The Nazi)]

http://www.intellectualtakeout.....g-public-s

"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress."

"Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable."

[windshear]

Well, roaches don't like Raid. What else is new?

[Major Hochstetter]

Klemperer / Banner 2012!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Heroes

[scarpe Nike Store]

is good