reality-based educator

So Wolf Blitzer's opens up the 5:00 PM hour of The Situation Room with a medium shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The traffic on the bridge is moving pretty good, better than it normally would be moving during an early Tuesday rush hour.

Wolf's voiceover?

"The transit strike in New York has created the 'gridlock of all gridlocks'".

Apparently he was quoting something Mayor Moneybags said earlier at a press conference. Nonetheless, in using the juicy Bloomberg quote, Wolf was making it sound like traffic on the bridge actually was "the gridlock of all gridlocks" when the pictures were saying something completely contradictory.

In fact, I've been through most of Midtown today and I have seen very little traffic, let alone the gridlock of all gridlocks.

Frankly, the city feels like a holiday today. There's less traffic, less noise, and fewer people.

I just walked through Times Square on the way home. There was no gridlock.

I also walked by the Lincoln Tunnel earlier today. There was no gridlock.

When I walked to work this morning through Times Square, past the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Penn Stattion and into Chelsea, there was no gridlock.

I'm currently looking out my window on 10th and 11th Avenues and the side streets in the mid-40's here in Midtown West. There is no gridlock.

But that's Wolf Blitzer for you. He never lets reality intrude upon a good voiceover tease.

And that's Mayor Moneybags for you too. He believes the meme should be "the TWU has placed the lives of New Yorkers at stake by creating the 'gridlock of all gridlocks' and they must be forced to pay." So he's doing everything he can to turn public opinion against the union, even lying about the reality of the traffic in the city.

I bet if Mayor Moneybags and Governor Bagman spent less time calling TWU members "murderers" and more time trying to negotiate a fair, reasonable contract or more time treating TWU workers with some respect, the TWU wouldn't have gone on strike at 3:00 AM this morning.

One of the main reasons why the TWU workers are so pissed is that they feel completely disrespected by the powers that be in both the city and the state.

As a New York City public school teacher, I know the feeling.

Every morning I wake up, open a newspaper and read something so vile, so negative, and so inaccurate about teachers that has been said by the mayor, the governor, the chancellor, a journalist, or a editorial writer that I want to tear somebody's throat out with my bare hands.

I bet many of the transit workers feel the same way.

I know that I would be more open to reform and concessions in contract negotiations and less militant if I didn't feel so vilified and disrespected by the mayor, governor, chancellor, et al.

I bet many transit workers feel the same way.

But instead of trying to make the situation better, the mayor continues to throw out accusations and fan the flames of discord, rich, arrogant union-busting billionaire fucker that he is.