Friday, May 14, 2010

In Lieu of Friday's TED Talk: Gov. Christie of New Jersey

I am exercising my prerogative to replace the usual Friday TED talk here with this absolute gem of a video showing both the media, the citizens of New Jersey, and all voters far and wide how refreshing it can be to have a person in office who speaks the unvarnished truth, and who speaks it plainly. I give you, without further ado, Governor Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey -- who announces to the media that there is a new style of politician in town:



Gov Christie responds to query about his 'confrontational tone'














8 comments:

  1. YES !!!
    About time someone said it like it is.

    Hint ....... decent Anglicans, time to stop being "polite" and "politically correct" and "so, so nice" ad nauseam ...... just get the show on the road.
    Real "love" is not always warm, fuzzy, and "peachy keen"; sometimes it MUST be tough as nails and then some.

    Enough of the insanity in the episcopal church and in the anglican communion.

    Time for decent folks to form a new communion. End of story .......... and
    time for decent citizens of the United States of America to reclaim our country.

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  2. Sorry. I'm not his biggest fan right now. After taking office in January he said he would cut our local school funding 15% and then in March annouced it was 51%. And I have two special needs kids. So, not his biggest fan right now.

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  3. This video is taking off like crazy! I have seen it at half a dozen sites yesterday! People are truly fascinated with a straight talking politician (somewhat like Palin) because the concept is so rare.

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  4. Sarah,

    part of the problem is that New Jersey really has no money. The budget deficit is over $10 BILLION dollars.

    I remember when I lived in NJ and there was a surplus every year.

    The NJ property owner is paying the highest property tax in the nation.

    While I understand that in January he said a cut of 15% would be made, after seeing how bad the situation really is, I can understand how that rate was increased.

    However, this is from the budget document that was released by the governor:

    Funding Education Without Federal Stimulus Dollars. Faced with the loss of $1.2 billion in federal
    stimulus funding (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds) that was used to balance the Fiscal
    2010 Budget, this year’s spending plan dedicates almost $70 million more of State funds to education aid
    than last year. Still, the loss of most federal stimulus funds will mean that total aid to New Jersey’s school
    districts will fall by $820 million. Great care was taken to ensure that no school district will lose more in
    formula aid than 4.99% of its original Fiscal 2010 Budget.


    The cuts were not all his doing, no federal dollars coming in, and no other source to get that money.

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  5. I don't know why people back home are buying the Christie farce, though.

    True, there is no money. So someone has to start doing the cutting.

    But: that federal stimulus money was New Jersey money. We pay the most in federal taxes of any state and get back the least. This is "per dollar", meaning for every dollar we send to Washington, only 60 cents comes back to New Jersey.

    Chris Christie has to knock off the Reaganomics about tax cuts for the rich, and just level with people. His Republican buddies of the South suck up all the federal money out of New Jersey, and as such, it requires painful cuts so the Southern boys can keep their military bases, massive federal contractor deals and farm subsidies, cheapo Tennessee Valley electric and big fat Earned Income Credit checks.

    The South has always been a slave society, and now the Northern taxpayers are the slaves.

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  6. Hoofin, your ignorance is truly profound! I have lived in NJ, and I know very well where the problems of NJ come from; they are all to be found right there within the borders of NJ. Most of them are spelled U-N-I-O-N-S.

    It is always easier to blame someone else, but you would do well to look at your own house first. That is where the problems really are.

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  7. There have been far, far too many days on which I thought I would not live long enough to hear an elected official for a partisan office speak as forthrightly as Christie does in this video. If his actions match his frank words, then all we need is about 535 more like him (i.e., the sum of President, VP, 100 Senators, 425 Congressmen, 49 Governors and 50 Lieutenant Governors).


    Pax et bonum,
    Keith Töpfer

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  8. Dr. D said:

    Hoofin, your ignorance is truly profound!

    Dr. D, no, your ignorance is the profound. New Jersey is quite often run out of the Princeton Public Affairs Group, the #1 lobbying firm in New Jersey.

    http://www.ppag.com/

    Not the unions. "PPAG". They own Christie. Just ask Dale Florio.

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