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Posts Tagged ‘new jersey’

Counterjihadist Derek Fenton Fights Back

by 1389AD ( 201 Comments › )
Filed under Censorship, Free Speech, Koran, September 11 at November 5th, 2010 - 9:16 pm

N.J. Conductor Who Burned Koran to Sue Over Firing

(h/t: Nevergiveup)

Published November 05, 2010|Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. — A former New Jersey train conductor fired two days after publicly burning pages from the Koran on Sept. 11 is expected to file a lawsuit Friday seeking reinstatement and monetary damages.

In its suit, the American Civil Liberties Union claims Derek Fenton’s constitutional right to free expression was violated by the dismissal. The suit seeks his reinstatement as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

Fenton burned part of the Koran to protest plans to build an Islamic center several blocks from the World Trade Center site. Police ushered him from the scene but he was not arrested.

NJ Transit said it fired him for violating its code of ethics.

Fenton “has the right to engage as a citizen in expressive activity about matters of public interest, including matters related to the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near Ground Zero,” the lawsuit alleges. “When he burned pages of the Koran on September 11, 2010, as a protest against the center, Fenton was exercising that right.”

NJ Transit’s code of ethics requires employees to give notice to an ethics liaison officer before participating in political activities. An employee can then participate in political activities so long as state or federal law or agency rules don’t explicitly prohibit them and “the activity doesn’t conflict with the employee’s official duties.”

It’s not known if Fenton gave notice of his plans. An NJ Transit spokeswoman said Thursday the agency wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.

Frank Corrado, an ACLU attorney handling the case, said the First Amendment doesn’t protect employees of private companies but it applies in Fenton’s case because NJ Transit is a quasi-public company created by state statute.

Read the rest.

Flying pigs

Maybe this is a “flying pig moment” in that the ACLU is finally helping to protect freedom of speech for the counterjihad, at least in this one instance. Up to now, the ACLU has rarely been on the side of the angels.

The take-home lesson

A business or organization that is supported by our tax dollars does not get to violate the US Constitution. It does not get to muzzle employees and contractors who wish to engage in Constitutionally-protected political speech on their own time. If their “code of ethics” infringes, then it must be updated to uphold the US Constitution and any applicable State Constitution. If the organization finds that too problematic, then it is time to detach it from the government teat.

Of course, that goes for NPR, PBS, CPB, NEA, and NEH as well. It’s up to us to get our elected Senators and Representatives to take immediate, effective steps to enforce that.


Originally published on 1389 Blog.


Jersey Shore Pics Evening Drinking thread

by Phantom Ace ( 111 Comments › )
Filed under Caption This, Open thread at May 15th, 2010 - 8:30 pm

Coldwarrior sent me these pics from his recent trip to the Jersey Shore.

This striper is too small…

Some Bass Ale in the cooler, Delaware bay side…the stripers were running.

Late day…tide running in.

(Coldwarrior sez: more pics to come later…)

Virgina Losses Spell Trouble For Blue Dog Democrats

by Phantom Ace ( 194 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Communism, Democratic Party, Economy, Elections 2009, Elections 2010, Liberal Fascism, Progressives at November 4th, 2009 - 7:41 am

Good Morning Blogmocracy Netizens! Thanks to the awesome work done by Mighty Conservative, we are new and improved. We all owe Mighty Conservative an applause for this awesome work!

The Progressive machine suffered a blow yesterday as the Republican Chris Christie defeated Radical Totalitarian Progressive John Corzine. It is in Virginia that the warning signs for the Progressive controlled Democratic Party are. Republican Robert McDonnell won Virginia by huge margins and the rest of the GOP ticket swept other state races. Just a year ago Barack Hussein Obama won Virginia by 5% and the Democrats picked up 3 House seats as well. Experts were saying Virginia was going Left, however last night shows that the gains made by the Democrats are in danger in Red States.

CHRIS Christie’s gutsy win in New Jersey puts the arrogant big spender Jon Corzine in his place. But it is the election in Virginia that probably has more to say to marginal Democratic congressmen considering how to vote on health-care reform.

Obviously, Christie’s victory is a body blow to Obama after Corzine outspent the Republican by five-to-one and the president put on a serious push for the incumbent. Corzine’s defeat sends a message that the nation is moving sharply against Obama.

But Virginia results are the most important. More than 80 Democratic congressmen and twenty senators come from states that John McCain carried in 2008. For them, the sudden switch in Virginia, a swing state that Obama actually carried, heralds tough political times ahead.

Read the rest.

The Blue Dog Democrats represent Districts that normally would be Republicans. They made these gains in 2006 and 2008, thanks to the Progressive Alinsky style attacks on Bush and the Republican Party. They also claimed to be fiscal Conservatives, but their record in Congress shows that is not the case. The Blue Dogs voted for the Debt-Porkulus package, thus exposing them as Progressives in disguised.

A vote for Obamacare will spell the end of their careers and loss of their seats. Virginia is a warning to the Red State Democrats that if they continue down the Progressives Path, they will be voted out in 2010.

“Creative Wording” Memo Scandal Brewing for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine

by tqcincinnatus ( 258 Comments › )
Filed under Democratic Party, Politics at October 15th, 2009 - 2:34 pm

Here’s hoping that this is the final nail in the coffin for the re-election campaign of possibly the most corrupt governor New Jersey has ever had (and that’s saying a lot!),

Governor Jon Corzine’s Chief of Staff Mark Matzen recently sent out a memo to state workers that urged them to write borderline false statements in support of the Governor’s failed policies that were supposed to create jobs in New Jersey, but has led to the highest rate of unemployment in New Jersey’s recent history.   This week, in New Jersey, unemployment climbed to 9.8%, but the Corzine campaign team urged state workers to forge ahead with the crafting of “creative” messages.  

The messages, drafted by state workers, to aid the Corzine campaign in his reelection bid are intended to be used as political propoganda to mislead the public into thinking Corzine’s policies are having positive effects on the state of employment in New Jersey.

In the memo, Matzen admittedly confesses “I know that it may be a stretch for some of you, but please be creative”, urging the state workers to write creative marketing material for the Corzine team’s campaign.    All of this is being done at the expense of taxpayers.   While state workers should be working hard to restore jobs, they have been instructed by Matzen to instead figure out ways to make New Jersey’s current financial dire straits seem appealing to voters.

Matzen’s memo suggests a gross misappropriation of state workers and resources and could prove a costly measure for taxpayers who are now funding the Corzine campaign through taxes paid to state workers urged to work on the project. 

Todd Porter said of this memo “It amazes me how low Corzine has gone to garner support. Since he’s unable to create jobs, he’s forcing state working to fabricate stories, or else they might end up like the rest of us, unemployed and clamoring for Jon Corzine’s head.”     Porter represents the Jackson Township Republican Club which has been strongly behind the effort to “Take Back New Jersey”.

Wonderful.  A sitting governor, encouraging state workers to lie about his record, on the taxpayers’ dime.  Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  Democrats routinely lie.  They lie and lie and lie.  How do you know a leftist Democrat is lying?  He’s awake and breathing, because even if he’s not actually saying anything, you can be sure he’s hard at work thinking of a lie to tell.   This is doubly true of the completely and indescribably corrupt Democrat political machine that dominates the state of New Jersey.

New Jersey is one of the most over-taxed, over-regulated, under-employed states in the union – and the governor is spending the peoples’ hard-earned money in a campaign to get himself re-elected by lying.  Classic, truly classic.  Instead of trying to bring jobs back into the state by implementing rational economic policies, we have a pure political hit job in action.  Why doesn’t Corzine just go all the way and send out a memo asking all state employees to get in touch with their mafia contacts about “leaning” on known Christie supporters? 

C’mon New Jersey, time to toss Corzine in N’rk Bay once and for all!