by InfotainMe
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Death Star 1, Alliance 0
Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational Battle Station! From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant rebellion.
If you’ve been away recently, just substitute “new council majority” for “Battle Station” and “reform” for “the Alliance” and you’re all caught up. It works just as well with Battle Station though. Or Death Star. Upgrading the rebellion from “insignificant” would be nice. But that will take some doing.
Recapping… After a rudderless performance by the council minority on the opening night for the new majority – the infamous meeting that featured a vindictive twit feigning anti-defamation outrage while an identically worded media smear was planted in Mason411 and the now thoroughly discredited NJDC – the emboldened junta sought to flex its muscles and express its smoldering contempt for the minority by demanding the instant review and adoption of re-written ordinances in the middle of the next meeting and introducing unadvertised new ones at the end. The end of your insignificant rebellion indeed.
Woke Up This Morning, Got Yourself A Gun
Insignificant rebellions are marked by a don’t-get-even-get-mad ethos, especially after set-backs. And so it was that much of the blogging day following the Castellano coup d’etat was taken up with a lively discussion of which historically offensive slurs can be used to describe the opposition and under what circumstances. Miles of it. Here’s a refrigerator magnet that may help: “None. Never.” This magnet can also be used to hold up the accumulating newspaper accounts of the final destruction of the Alliance.
I even participated in an extended quibble concerning Bajardi’s intelligence myself. Why, I’m not completely sure. But whatever else he is ethically, he’s not an idiot. It seemed counter-productive to contend otherwise.
Taking my side Henry David Thoreau tweeted, “The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things.” No moral component to intelligence, according to the prominent New England blogger who goes by the handle WaldenWonker.
Is it even it possible to insult the intelligence of one’s foes without being included in the insult oneself? After all if they’re so stupid… Or to look at it from another angle, you can tell a lot about a man by the rank of the devil sent to stop him. At least try to get yourself a sergeant.
It is only worth debating insomuch as we need to acknowledge who and what we are dealing with. Otherwise, it too is a waste of time as the weight of the clippings piling up under that refrigerator magnet begin to make it slide toward the floor.
But, as Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris would say, “This is us.” Quarreling, quibbling, Quixotic. Death Stars must dream of rebellions like ours.
Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears
Nevertheless whether or not we are ready for it, we are at a crossroads.
To anyone who can afford to be honest – and it is well understood from public and private attacks that many non-posting readers of this blog cannot afford it - clearly the law has been repetitively broken and in a pattern of activity rather than through hundreds of random incidents. Unless we are to believe the fairy tale of 600 campaign workers –that you know you never saw- for 1200 votes, here is the reality of the situation:
• A new councilperson sits before you as the knowing beneficiary of a criminal enterprise. That’s him third from the left on your screen.
• Another sits before you, second from the left, as a largest single financial enabler of that councilperson’s criminal enterprise - to the tune of $13,400.
• The council majority itself is now founded on this successful operation of this criminal enterprise; and it will now make 3 Zoning Board appointments in exercise of its ‘legal authority’.
• The 2011 council president owes her seat to this criminal enterprise.
It is not 1930, 40, or 50. And it is only months since the last mayor left town for prison. This is not simply corruption.
This is an absolute obscenity. A disgrace. A reason not to tell people where you live.
Oh, please do not tell me about the machine vote; instead, tell me who on the bridge in the Death Star did not know what was done to ensure victory in the 4th Ward. Further prove to me - -prove to yourself- that the margin of victory fully excludes bought votes. Did they pull a Nixon – cheat in a race they could have won without it? We do not really know. We only know they cheated – big time.
So - does this happy junta exhibit a shred of restraint in exercising powers gained through election practices any child could see through – practices which are under investigation by the Attorney General? Not exactly. Instead they spring a resolution -at midnight!- to change the rules so they can appoint a new president. Any guesses as to when they all decided on this gameplan? Shall we pretend it wasn’t tied to the 13 grand? Why not? We’re already pretending the government is legitimate.
Enough. They made their point.
They do not respect the law or the community, let alone any of us or what we stand for. And they may well get away with it.
They want destruction. Let’s give it to them.
They Send One of Yours to the Hospital, You Send One of Theirs to the Morgue
Ah, yes, “the Chicago way”. I grew up in Cook County. Let’s just say I find Hudson County… familiar. Government of the boys, by the boys, and for the boys; citizens nearly out of faith appealing to judges nearly out of integrity; a freeholder and senior council members, any of whose faces could serve as a hood ornament on the gravy train. Sometimes I have to check my watch to make sure I’m in the right time zone.
Of course, we don’t actually get to send anyone to the morgue. But we can put two of them out of business - if we want to. And let the law deal with another one. We can do this by studying the closest representative we have to a Jedi Knight. Derek Jeter.
Other guys are faster, stronger, better fielders, better hitters. But everything Jeter does goes into winning the game. Everything. He never argues with an umpire more than necessary to get a call later in the game. He never tries to hit a homerun when he should be punching the ball to right field. He covers any base not already covered and goes after any ball in his zip code. He does not bring shame and unwanted attention to the team for off-field behavior. He just wins.
We need to do likewise. And we need to question any expense of energy that does not go into winning.
Blogging, said the culprit writing on a blog, is a very dubious pursuit. At its best it reminds you that you are part of something larger, it entertains, it helps shape opinion, and constructively engages differing opinions. But too often it is a waste of emotion without benefit. Empty emotional calories.
No one seriously questions whether an hour spent blogging is worth an hour spent registering voters, calling the state AG to express outrage at the 600 “workers” for 1200 votes, or talking to Hoboken’s vast bloc of low-information voters. And nothing would make the owner/operators of the Death Star happier than to know that you were pouring all your political energy into blogging with minimal attention to direct action. That is truly the dark side of the force. ”Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant…”
We have enough time, talent, and energy to establish a bullet-proof reform majority in May while making it clear to the Attorney General that we have had our fill of being a punchline in a political joke.
Any other outcome will be inexcusable. What are you prepared to do?
-
Death Star 1, Alliance 0
Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational Battle Station! From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant rebellion.
If you’ve been away recently, just substitute “new council majority” for “Battle Station” and “reform” for “the Alliance” and you’re all caught up. It works just as well with Battle Station though. Or Death Star. Upgrading the rebellion from “insignificant” would be nice. But that will take some doing.
Recapping… After a rudderless performance by the council minority on the opening night for the new majority – the infamous meeting that featured a vindictive twit feigning anti-defamation outrage while an identically worded media smear was planted in Mason411 and the now thoroughly discredited NJDC – the emboldened junta sought to flex its muscles and express its smoldering contempt for the minority by demanding the instant review and adoption of re-written ordinances in the middle of the next meeting and introducing unadvertised new ones at the end. The end of your insignificant rebellion indeed.
Woke Up This Morning, Got Yourself A Gun
Insignificant rebellions are marked by a don’t-get-even-get-mad ethos, especially after set-backs. And so it was that much of the blogging day following the Castellano coup d’etat was taken up with a lively discussion of which historically offensive slurs can be used to describe the opposition and under what circumstances. Miles of it. Here’s a refrigerator magnet that may help: “None. Never.” This magnet can also be used to hold up the accumulating newspaper accounts of the final destruction of the Alliance.
I even participated in an extended quibble concerning Bajardi’s intelligence myself. Why, I’m not completely sure. But whatever else he is ethically, he’s not an idiot. It seemed counter-productive to contend otherwise.
Taking my side Henry David Thoreau tweeted, “The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things.” No moral component to intelligence, according to the prominent New England blogger who goes by the handle WaldenWonker.
Is it even it possible to insult the intelligence of one’s foes without being included in the insult oneself? After all if they’re so stupid… Or to look at it from another angle, you can tell a lot about a man by the rank of the devil sent to stop him. At least try to get yourself a sergeant.
It is only worth debating insomuch as we need to acknowledge who and what we are dealing with. Otherwise, it too is a waste of time as the weight of the clippings piling up under that refrigerator magnet begin to make it slide toward the floor.
But, as Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris would say, “This is us.” Quarreling, quibbling, Quixotic. Death Stars must dream of rebellions like ours.
Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears
Nevertheless whether or not we are ready for it, we are at a crossroads.
To anyone who can afford to be honest – and it is well understood from public and private attacks that many non-posting readers of this blog cannot afford it - clearly the law has been repetitively broken and in a pattern of activity rather than through hundreds of random incidents. Unless we are to believe the fairy tale of 600 campaign workers –that you know you never saw- for 1200 votes, here is the reality of the situation:
• A new councilperson sits before you as the knowing beneficiary of a criminal enterprise. That’s him third from the left on your screen.
• Another sits before you, second from the left, as a largest single financial enabler of that councilperson’s criminal enterprise - to the tune of $13,400.
• The council majority itself is now founded on this successful operation of this criminal enterprise; and it will now make 3 Zoning Board appointments in exercise of its ‘legal authority’.
• The 2011 council president owes her seat to this criminal enterprise.
It is not 1930, 40, or 50. And it is only months since the last mayor left town for prison. This is not simply corruption.
This is an absolute obscenity. A disgrace. A reason not to tell people where you live.
Oh, please do not tell me about the machine vote; instead, tell me who on the bridge in the Death Star did not know what was done to ensure victory in the 4th Ward. Further prove to me - -prove to yourself- that the margin of victory fully excludes bought votes. Did they pull a Nixon – cheat in a race they could have won without it? We do not really know. We only know they cheated – big time.
So - does this happy junta exhibit a shred of restraint in exercising powers gained through election practices any child could see through – practices which are under investigation by the Attorney General? Not exactly. Instead they spring a resolution -at midnight!- to change the rules so they can appoint a new president. Any guesses as to when they all decided on this gameplan? Shall we pretend it wasn’t tied to the 13 grand? Why not? We’re already pretending the government is legitimate.
Enough. They made their point.
They do not respect the law or the community, let alone any of us or what we stand for. And they may well get away with it.
They want destruction. Let’s give it to them.
They Send One of Yours to the Hospital, You Send One of Theirs to the Morgue
Ah, yes, “the Chicago way”. I grew up in Cook County. Let’s just say I find Hudson County… familiar. Government of the boys, by the boys, and for the boys; citizens nearly out of faith appealing to judges nearly out of integrity; a freeholder and senior council members, any of whose faces could serve as a hood ornament on the gravy train. Sometimes I have to check my watch to make sure I’m in the right time zone.
Of course, we don’t actually get to send anyone to the morgue. But we can put two of them out of business - if we want to. And let the law deal with another one. We can do this by studying the closest representative we have to a Jedi Knight. Derek Jeter.
Other guys are faster, stronger, better fielders, better hitters. But everything Jeter does goes into winning the game. Everything. He never argues with an umpire more than necessary to get a call later in the game. He never tries to hit a homerun when he should be punching the ball to right field. He covers any base not already covered and goes after any ball in his zip code. He does not bring shame and unwanted attention to the team for off-field behavior. He just wins.
We need to do likewise. And we need to question any expense of energy that does not go into winning.
Blogging, said the culprit writing on a blog, is a very dubious pursuit. At its best it reminds you that you are part of something larger, it entertains, it helps shape opinion, and constructively engages differing opinions. But too often it is a waste of emotion without benefit. Empty emotional calories.
No one seriously questions whether an hour spent blogging is worth an hour spent registering voters, calling the state AG to express outrage at the 600 “workers” for 1200 votes, or talking to Hoboken’s vast bloc of low-information voters. And nothing would make the owner/operators of the Death Star happier than to know that you were pouring all your political energy into blogging with minimal attention to direct action. That is truly the dark side of the force. ”Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant…”
We have enough time, talent, and energy to establish a bullet-proof reform majority in May while making it clear to the Attorney General that we have had our fill of being a punchline in a political joke.
Any other outcome will be inexcusable. What are you prepared to do?
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