Christie's last big speech is a big flop

Many Harley-Davidson motorcycles are deliberately modified to make as much noise as possible, but many owners get away with it because they are cops and firefighters. See today's Road Warrior column. (Wikipedia)

What's not reported in The Record today is that Governor Christie is certain to lose his bid for a second term now that he has alienated so many middle-class voters during his first three years in office.

In his final State of the State speech on Tuesday, the GOP bully hitched his star to the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, determined not to look back on what many observers see as a series of major policy failures (A-1).

On Nov. 5, voters aren't likely to forget how:

Christie broke his 2009 campaign promise to lower local property taxes, failed to expand an overburdened mass-transit system, told the Big Lie of a "Jersey Comeback," cut numerous programs so he could veto modest tax surcharges on millionaires that would have raised $1 billion in new revenue; and doled out hundreds of millions in business tax breaks with little or no effect on the state's lagging economy.

More diarrhea

Editor Marty Gottlieb gives us yet another column from Staff Writer Charles Stile, who praises Christie's "political ingenuity" (A-1).

You could call Stile prolific, if his columns weren't so boring and so pro-Christie, and didn't smell like diarrhea.

Where are the ear plugs?

On the Local front today, Road Warrior John Cichowski makes an impassioned plea for more training of people who own motorcycles, but doesn't explain what this has to do with the commuting problems he's supposed to be writing about (L-1).

What he doesn't tell you is how many Harley-Davidson owners disturb everyone else by deliberately modifying their bikes to make as much noise as possible, and get away with it because they are cops and firefighters. 

And do Ninja bikers need more training so they can better terrorize motorists on highways by weaving in and out of traffic at insane speeds?

Fat people are sick people

An Opinion piece argues "fat people" are the targets of employment, health care, education and "public spaces" bias --  what author Abigail 
Saguy calls "unequal treatment based on stereotyping fat people as lazy, unmotivated, sloppy and lacking in self-discipline and competence" (A-9).

If that's so, how do two lifers at The Record -- head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Project Editor Tim Nostrand -- hold onto their jobs, despite their appearing "lazy" and "unmotivated" in their mission of providing comprehensive local news coverage? 

The article also ignores that "fat people" have more health problems, are out sick more and see more doctors than other employees, and paying for that raises health-insurance rates for everyone else.