Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

A) Carson doesnt work here anymore.

B) Chaos reigns at MTV Studios

C) The MTV XMAS party was insanity and while there was no sleeping, there were bed related activities, as well as nose related activities and impaired judgment beverages if the open bar from 7pm to 4 am variety. Yum.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

it's just too bad that good music doesn't reign supreme over at MTV. but i'm NOT knocking your job Mike. What I have heard you say you do...it's immensly respectable.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

carson works at my company now.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

MTV has its share of amusing reality shows, but clearly pop and Hip-Hop will never do it for me so the M in MTV is of little significance to me. The entire slew of the MTV Networks channels I work with includes a lot of fun and funny if not amusig shows... And of course there is the new Logo channel that is the first Gay cable network (that I dont really watch but it's a good step forward in the world).

Something I have noticed and cherish/appreciate immensely is, for the first time in my life I have not given a thought nor had any reason to even be aware or cautious about any sort of homophobia or any cause to even remember what it was like to always be somewhat aware of being treated or looked upon as different on a caily basis. Looking back at how terrified and/or alone/isolated those same things have made me feel, and to be constantly reminded of people's preconceptions and how I would consistently be anxiety ridden knowing that almost every new daily situation in my life could very well involve being classified and treated differently in some very subtle up through some blatantly obvious, at times quite aggressive. And more often than not felt nervous about having to always be prepared to prove myself in order to obtain the respect that others recieve automatically.

Being able to be yourself at all times, and not having the slightest concern or need to dread the chance of even being viewed or grouped by someone elses idea of who they think/assume you to be. Unfortunately I am overly-thankful for this simple yet powerfully calming & empowering level of personal respect because it is still a very rare scenario in the world and all over this country.

I dont want to blow this up as being revolutionary as it isnt really anything other than being treated as an adult, and as a human being; It's very sad for me to contemplate how mindblowingly night and day the difference in my faith in this life/world. How spiritually amazing I feel when I think that just from letting go of these fears that severely limited my capacity for optimism and my convictions in being able to always see possibilities that I all too quickly write off myself before even finishing the thought.

I am by far much happier than sad about my life and the profound personal realizations I have recently going over in my head. I am sad that I let this current world state get to me enough that I felt defeated by it so many times. And now looking at it from this angle, I still have more doubt than hope that my own country will honestly be anywhere close to being a place I could even try and be proud of. I cant begin to imagine how much fucking pain these kids in the newest generation could completely avoid ever having to feel just by having a bit of honest hope that is based on experience and confidence in one's own ability to correctly make their own individual decisions.

OK, that was a great thinking session that surprised me and was fueled in part by the shit eating grin danny howells planted on my face all of last night and is still there tonight.... :) One night that will always stick out as special and amazing, and for not only that, but also reminding me and renewing my faith in the fucking power of music, and the positively amazing human energy that you can be imparted with from the DJ without a single word spoken nor a single doubt of its sincerity......

Be well EVERYONE, and stop to think if you honestly havent paused to do so in a while

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

:Bingo:

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

Just like what Celeda said. "Just Be Yourself...And No One Else!!!"

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

strike is on.

[url]http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/[/url]

[url]http://www.fox5ny.com/_ezpost/data/32203.shtml[/url]

no one is a winner in this situation. people are advised to add another 2 hours for commute times across the bridges, and thats with all the crazy rules they came up with.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

just in time for the holidays :roll:

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...................................these muthafuckers had to strike. took me and extra hour and a half to get into manhatten, and only after calling a car, teaming up with 3 strangers, and driving into queens to shorten the commute.........

1. i am damn glad they are already in court and seriously hope the leadership gets jailed this afternoon as provided under the law.

2. im even more glad that bloomberg has already filed the lawsuit holding the union, its leadership and its employees under contempt and i fucking hope that the fines bankrupt the union(it should take 3 days to do so).

3. i really am glad that the NYS district judge approved the double fines which now includes 25,000 a day PLUS two days pay for every day they strike. (i hope thier families stand behind them when you give up half a years pay for one day of striking. and yes i seriously hope that they enforce it and drive each of them to personal bankruptcy)

4. and if this continues for more than a day or two, one can only hope that the govener files suit in federal court to revoke thier union charter and do what regean did to the airtraffic controllers.

this sucks. its 20 degrees with wind chill of 9 and all of gotham is walking or sharing cabs with gridlock like i have never seen. at least when 9/11 happened everyone left the island, now everyone still has to get to the island and its even more of a cluster fuck. you should see the traffic outside the broklyn bridge.....

FUCK YOU TWU. i hope they break the union apart and you all get fucked.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

definately sounds like that is part of bloomberg's plan. the fines on this are going to be astronomical its going to hurt the union for sure. you would think that the union wasn't stupid enough to bankrupt itself on this, but maybe they didn't think the city was going to take it this far?

commute times already suck. this is just a joke.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

[quote=daveman] you would think that the union wasn't stupid enough to bankrupt itself on this, but maybe they didn't think the city was going to take it this far?

commute times already suck. this is just a joke.[/quote]

they were gonna strike anyway, a few weeks ago , toussaint took out a monster line of credit from a few banks on behalf of the union. pataki has already filed to have it blocked arguing that it is an attempt the circumcede the state law

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

you seriously wonder though if the workers themselves are all for this strike...

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I should seriously get in my car, drive down there and start charging for my own taxi service :lol: :lol:

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[quote=thesightless]..........

FUCK YOU TWU. i hope they break the union apart and you all get fucked.[/quote]

How do you feel about the MTA? Are they blameless?

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

no the MTA is to blame for waiting too long, they made more than enough concessions on pay rates giving them 10.5% over three years bringing the minimum salary up to 67,000 for driving a bus for 40 hours a week and overtime. all they asked was for 1% (6,700) of the salary to contribute to insurance, compensation and pentions and that would only be for new employees as of jan 1 06.

im damn glad the international union threw these assholes under the bus, going right to the courts themselves and testifying that the national union leader told toussaint NOT to strike. i really hope that the gov't revokes the charter like ronnie did with the air traffic controllers.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

judge just fined the transit union a million a day :shock:. i'm sure that is on top of the fines already established.

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10466982/[/url]

theres a link to the story. it also has a slideshow of pictures of the madness created.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

those fuckers must have been freezing walking across the bridge this morning

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

[QUOTE=daveman]judge just fined the transit union a million a day :shock:. i'm sure that is on top of the fines already established.

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10466982/[/url]

theres a link to the story. it also has a slideshow of pictures of the madness created.[/QUOTE]

[quote]At one subway booth, a handwritten sign read, "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!!"[/quote] :lol:

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

I had a blast blading into work this morning...damn cold though! And to begin weighing in on this topic, I just can't completely agree with much being said here.

I've had my issues with the MTA for a long time and they're nothing but Pataki's cronies. They derserve a swift kick in the nuts. A few reasons, how is it that everytime there's an election year those fuckers have a surplus and then they have to raise the rates the following year because of a deficit? Coincidence or cronyism?

This year one of the proposals on election day for city voters was a bond for the MTA to begin some work on a number of lines (including the second avenue line). Please explain why in the hell I need to give them even more money just for them to say a few days later that they have a surplus and that they'll be giving it back to the riders (which went mostly to tourists and shoppers and not everyday commuters). To me this was nothing other than a PR ploy so the MTYA looks better come union contract negotiations.

Last point I'll make, why can't the fuckin MTA manage themselves better? There's a goldmine to be made from properly organized advertising. The posters on subways are pisspoor and rarely replaced. How many times have you seen a poster for something that happened six months earlier. This is lost revenue that could towards paying employees more and/or having cheaper rides.

Not to say I'm happy about all of this, but there are two sides to a story and if this is what I've seen as just a commuter who follows politics, imagine the shit-talking the MTA's doing to the union...I mean seriously negotiating is not walking in at the last minute and saying here's our offer. That's not negotiating that's holding a gun to their heads which is what the mayor, governor and courts have done to the union.

rant over!

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

and to address the issues at hand, I don't pay anywhere close to 1% of my salary for health insurance (and this is even after it's consistently gone up over the last few years) and I work in the private sector not for government. Realize here that the government has the largest pool of employees to insure anywhere here and that allows them lower rates for insurance. The one issue the union needs to drop here is the BS age requirements, no one should be allowed to collect full benefits at 55 unless you're being shot at...

3-4% a year raise should be a given, that's what the cost of living tends to rise per year (if not more)...so in essence the MTA isn't giving much here

and with all this said, I'm still gonna call the union greedy fucks, but I'm just figuring highballing the MTA like that is the only way they could get anywhere near what reasonable terms should be...

just my two cents and together with the last rant you should have a nickel...

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I think you overcharged us for the first half.... :p seriously, it is good to hear someone weigh in on the other side, the media for the most part hasn't done so

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

ben speaks. tomorrow he shall rest.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

[QUOTE=Kobe]I think you overcharged us for the first half.... :p seriously, it is good to hear someone weigh in on the other side, the media for the most part hasn't done so[/QUOTE] well let's be honest here, the media has a vested interest against unions...let's not forget who works for them as well. There was an article that I had read a while back discussing the new york times and showing how they had never supported a single union strike in this country (though they're more than happy to cover union strikes and the ensuing unrest in non-friendly countries).

[QUOTE=thesightless]ben speaks. tomorrow he shall rest.[/QUOTE] rest not my dear friend...I bladed in again :)

at least I'm getting some exercise in ;)

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one thing though, you dont pay 1% to pentions b/c you and the lovely are attorneys. you're rich bitch.

however, i am so against the union. ben, go pull the SEC filings for the MTA, the surplus, which does exist and was created out of fraud, could be put to better use like renovating some stations, repairing trains, putting a bathroom in here and there or even fixing the air filtration systems in the stations. i mean, thier job isnt hard, and the retirement age should be upped. the only ppl i am for retiring early are the cops, firemen, ems, and ppl who earn it.

PS danny t friday at spirit.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

I hadn't said anything about how much they're paying to pensions (I realize I switched topics in the middle of that paragraph confusingly), I was referring to their health insurance contributions. Even before I became a lawyer, I hadn't paid that much for health insurance in a long time, if ever, and I've had some crumby ass jobs :evil:

I agree with you that much of the "surplus" money could be better spent on new construction and renovations, but the union do have a point when you recognize that the the MTA has a surplus partially for hiring less people and having the current employees perform more duties.

And as for the pension age, I'd say we're in complete agreement as I said earlier: [QUOTE]The one issue the union needs to drop here is the BS age requirements, no one should be allowed to collect full benefits at 55 unless you're being shot at...[/QUOTE] ;)

and lastly, not sure about DT...have a ridiculously busy weekend and after everything I've heard about Danny's crowd of late I'm not much encouraged anyways.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

yah.

on the 29th, alex and noah (holosound) are playing with the LES at Sol. imma be there. hope ya come.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

I'm planning on it :)

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hire new workers.......screw the workers not willing to work.....and dock their pay for the time off.......

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10555519/[/url]

union leaders are now encouraging striking workers to get back to work tommorow. although no real solution has been made.

according to something i read, today is the day that people had estimated that the fines to the union will make them bankrupt.

over the three days approx. 1 billion dollars was lost for the city economy.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

wait until all the civil suits are brought. every civic organization from the restauranteurs to the retailers to the subways stands should be filing law suits for lost revenues.

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new york city's transit strike has ended as of 2:30 pm local time.. back to normal in 12-18 hrs.

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How to take back the subways creatively and with blatant passive aggression towards strikers?

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There ya go Mike. Just like Ghandi!!!!

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

But without the diaper!

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

Exactly!

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Oops I crapped my pants!

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

[quote=miketpoto]How to take back the subways creatively and with blatant passive aggression towards strikers?[/quote]

do what i did this morning and just give them dirty looks and if they smirk, give em the finger and say fuck you.

Re: NYC - mass transit strike?

Yeah, but after I do that to my family, what should I do to the transit workers?