Damn, I wish he had taken Obama with him instead!

Greek

What a great comeback to Feisty's comment -- I laughed out loud.

Booommmppp ! Booommmppp !! Booommmppp !!! Another one bites the dust............

In an email, Burton said he is going to partner with another White House aide, Sean Sweeney, to "start a firm focused on political and strategic consulting."

I highly suspect his job intention.....maybe....just maybe....he will wind up in Chicago with the rest of Obama's friends just prior to the Day of Rage, and then meet up with Gibbs, who is going to be on Mr. Obama's political campaign community organization group.

And, Mr. Obama has Emanuel and other political hacks (just notice some of the posters here) in the area.

What a deal !!!!

Looks to me like somebody didn't get the promotion he was counting on.

Well, double DAMN Amy! lol

Good one, Amy.

Amy, I hear there's a job opening at The White House.

I personally would like to see feisty in that position. I can see her now calling a reporter a "turd"!

Amy -

I'm sure there's always room for one more - but if you find out where they do get those "comfy ergonomic office chairs, would you let my boss know?

Did Burton ALWAYS know Gibbs? If not, then he worked for somebody he didn't know at all.

What troubles me more are those who cheer Christie because it means they have as much contempt for their hard-working neighbors, their children's teachers as does the likes of Governor Christie.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That would obviously include the majority of voters in NJ, as Cristie is implementing the very policies he campaigned on. He didn't pretend to be anything other than what he has been

I believe your assessment is less than accurate, or fair. I mean, Michelle Rhee has said the same things and tried to implement similar policies as chancellor of DC schools. if the people who elected him continue to approve his policies, and they are doing so in ever growing numbers,

Gov. Chris Christie's (R-N.J.) approval numbers continue to grow, a Farleigh Dickson University PublicMind poll found Tuesday.

The poll shows 51 percent approve of the governor, while 37 percent disapprove. It is a slight increase from a November poll, which showed a 49 percent approval rating for Christie, compared to a 39 percent disapproval rating.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/137565-poll-finds-small-increase-in-chris-christie-approval

Perhaps they don't share that view, and they are the ones who are the parents, teachers, union members, and the neighbors who will be directly affected.

No Jody. The reason we cheer Christie is because we in the private sector took a massive hit over the last couple of years. Personally I have not had a cost of living raise in that time. However, I am lucky in that I still have a job. Contrast to the public sector who we pay for. They still got cost of living raises, seniority raises and actually increased their total numbers even as the money to pay for it was falling through the floor. I know that local government workers work hard and are well educated but just like the rest of us the economy is suffering and I am not going to pay more of a smaller income so that they can maintain their standard of living.

The economic pie got smaller and I don't see why public sector workers should get a bigger slice.

Jody, just stop. Google the man, find the one where he blasts the teacher's union guy then come back and tell us all exactly what the union guy was advocating for, and Christie's response.

Really, I think you will find, should you decide to look up actual facts, is that it is the teachers and their union that has contempt for the students and the tax-payers.

From the December 3rd Philadelphia Inquirer:

"TRENTON – Gov. Christie rebuked Camden City Council on Friday for blaming his administration for the planned layoff of up to 383 city police officers, firefighters and other unionized municipal workers.

The cuts, approved by City Council on Thursday, would eliminate nearly half of the police and a third of the fire department in one of the nation's most dangerous and impoverished cities. Union leaders are discussing labor concessions with city leaders to avert some of the job losses, which would take effect Jan. 18.

It's easy for council members to blame someone else, Christie said a news conference. "But they're the ones who have been managing the city for all these years and put [workers] in the position they're in," he said.

Christie, a former U.S. Attorney, said Camden had seen a generation of corrupt and irresponsible managers that his former office had put in jail.

"Camden has to get its house in order," he said, noting that the state last week sent $69 million in transitional aid to Camden, more than any other city.

Though he said the state would not provide additional assistance, Christie praised Camden Mayor Dana Redd for taking hard steps to fix the city.

"For the first time in my memory we have a mayor of Camden who is looking at this in a responsible way and I look forward to being a partner with her, and helping in the ways we can," Christie said.

"But we are not going to have the taxpayers of New Jersey be an open checkbook for profligate municipalities," he said.

The state isn't "the mother or father of these municipalities, who every time they run out of money in college they call for another wire transfer," the governor said.

College? Forget college - in addition to losing half its police force, Camden just closed its last free library branch, too. A city of about 80,000 people has NO free library.

Look, going after corruption in government is never a bad idea. But I fail to see how decimating the police and fire departments and closing all the libraries is going to help the actual citizens of Camden in any way, nor is it anything to brag about. Anyone else ever driven around downtown Camden? If so, I doubt that "profligate municipality" is the first word that comes to mind. "War zone" is more like it.

I actually agree with Dangerfield that Christie is pretty much doing exactly what he said he would, and for that much he could be admired. It'll be interesting to see, though, how all this affects the fledgling tourist industry that includes the Camden Aquarium, the Riversharks baseball stadium, and the U.S.S. New Jersey battleship museum. No cops, no tourists. No tourists, no revenue. No revenue......well, let's see how "darling" that turns out over time.

There has been a precipitous decline in the use of public libraries nationwide because of the wide availability of the internet. Many cities/towns are reviewing the necessity of a library versus a county library. There is a big expense for little benefit to few people.

the thinker -

And that's understandable in many cities or towns, especially those that are largely upper or even middle class and most people can afford home computers and high-speed Internet service. Then there are mostly poverty-level places like Camden where the library might be the only computer access most people have. Actually, I myself live in a working-class suburb, and I probably wouldn't have my current job if I hadn't been able to use the computer at the local library to send out my resume a few years back. I still see other unemployed people there all the time doing the same thing - and our borough is way better off than Camden. I can see that consolidating branches may be a necessary evil in these times.....but eliminating them completely? Sorry, but I think that's a huge mistake.

Joanne - I agree that there are those that do make use of library facilities for many reasons. And I also agree that to completely eliminate them is a bad decision. However, most politicians don't take the time to consider cost/benefit analyses. They are in a hurry to move on to the next order of business whereas a consolidation of branches could provide benefit to many while not completely eliminating their access to those resources. Many times politicians consider things as all or nothing rather than tailoring. Unfortunately many of the citizens view it the same way but for other reasons. They think they should be the branch that stays open and let others travel to their branch rather than them traveling to another branch.

Congratulations on the productive use of your library resources.

the thinker -

Thanks for your response. I think that the last sentence in your paragraph is especially true, that most people would prefer that someone else's branch be the one that's eliminated rather than their own. While we all recognize the need for budget cuts these days, I always sort of get the sense that most people are in favor of whatever cuts only affect someone else instead of them. And yes, people in general and politicians in particular rarely take the time to see the big picture and the ramifications further down the line of what they're proposing.

Hey, I was just back at the library yesterday. Got three new books to keep me occupied this week for free - two hardbacks and a paperback - that would have cost me $50 or more at Borders or Barnes & Noble. And our libraries offer so much more - story time for kids. Book clubs. Used book sales. Art projects for kids. Losing them would just be using one more segment of "community" that we're losing too rapidly already.

Ah, well.....on that cheerful note......thanks for the discussion. Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Good points, June. Going after hard-working Americans makes no sense at all but it seems to be acceptable these days, it's become a sport--how sad.

Jody, just who do you suppose pays all the taxes that go to fund education? Might it be the very "hard-working Americans" that you refer to? Perhaps they like what Christie's doing?.

They raped and pillaged in NJ, here in California and all over. Just look at Bell, Ca. It's the same song, different location. Now the piper has come. And it's going to get a lot worse for those on the tit.

Oh, oh, Spanky, I know:

Property owners, teachers, union members, government employees,...

I can't conceive of ANYTHING going wrong with blaming the middle class for the ails of the state,...

People need to pay more attention to your State and Local Government than the Federal Government. When Bush Jr went into office, my land was valued at $256.000. Where they used to revalue the land in this state every 8 years, they cut it to every 4 years. Which meant double tax. Today this same land is valued at $844.000. When I went to the tax board about this, their answer was,"The Bush administration was't sending the money back to the States as they use to. When I toold them that,"If you people quit raising the State and County employees pay scale, that the people working and being paid by the tax money, are making more than the people paying the taxes. They requested that I leave.

they cut it to every 4 years. Which meant double tax.

Can you see my BULL$HIT flag waving? Revaluing land every four years does NOT automatically double the taxes. It means the assessors have the opportunity to re-assess twice as often as before. The value of your land is not based on the frequency of assessment.

You also need to go back and learn grade 2 math. Two times (double) 256 is not equal to 844.

Heck, there is ropey dope Alan out of his mental ward this morning. What is it? Racist day out is Mondays.