July 05, 2006
"If you continue to burn down the herbs, we're gonna burn down the cane fields"
The above headline is a line in a reggae song by John Holt called "Police in Helicopters" about the govmint cracking down on the Rasta's "herb" growing. I got into a discussion with my friend MR about this song: 'who are they hurting burning down the cane fields? They're just destroying the livelihood of the people working in the fields. The people that own the cane fields will survive, the regular people will suffer.'
I feel sort of like that about the shutdown of New Jersey. Having just returned from 4 glorious days in America's playground, I can tell you that Donald Trump isn't going to be the one feeling the pinch of the casinos being closed down. The dealers, waitresses and general staff in the casinos--all of whom will not be paid-- are the ones who are going to suffer. It's bad for the state too, they're losing $1.3 million a day from casino revenue. Corzine may be acting like a businessman in shutting the state down to force through his tax hike, but he's acting like a callous, stupid businessman.
UPDATE: Enlighten NJ is all over the shutdown.
Posted by Karol at July 5, 2006 07:12 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: New+Jersey Governor+Corzine
Isn't this political suicide for Corzine?
Posted by: sam at July 5, 2006 11:52 AMIt should be but who knows? New Jersey is politically weird.
Posted by: Karol at July 5, 2006 12:11 PMin shutting the state down to force through his tax hike,
NJ constitution requires that the state be shutdown.
Posted by: Not Dawn Summers at July 5, 2006 12:15 PMNJ constitution requires that the state be shutdown.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some way around it. Many states operate without a budget being signed. If I was vacationing in NJ, I would be really pissed off.
Posted by: sam at July 5, 2006 12:28 PMFor the same reason why rioters burn down their own neighborhoods -- they're acting out of emotion, not logic.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at July 5, 2006 12:31 PMThe NJ Constitution was written in the College Ave. Gym. Maybe it's time to write another one.
Posted by: New York Hotlist at July 5, 2006 08:41 PM
