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New York, 12:07 PM
Sun Dec 20
11 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Novaload Novaload
    10/31/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    Biden was the most inscrutable choice, ever, for VP. Instead of "change" Obama brought out an old hack, who had trouble with both truth telling, even during the campaign, and with inserting his foot into his mouth. Oh, to know what kind of negotiation that was, to get him on the ticket---except, perhaps to allay terrified old white guys who feared a woman and a (half)black man on the ticket would bring on the apocalypse. #joebiden
     Reply
    Novaload was starred Novaload was unstarred
    Image of Thistledew Thistledew
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    apparently I am in the minority, but I love Joe Biden! I think he's like the lovable Steve Urkel of the White House. He comes in, says stupid stuff, knocks shit over, and is like "Did I do that?" Oh Joe. #joebiden
     Reply
    applejuice promoted this comment Thistledew was starred Thistledew was unstarred
    Image of ModestProposal ModestProposal
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    Joe Biden is everything thats wrong and fucked up with congress. This dope won his seat in the Senate when he was 29 and has never had another job until being VP. He has learned about as much about how the country works from his perch in DC as Palin learned about Russia from staring at it. He is walking proof we need term limits.

    And he doesn't drink. I don't trust people who don't drink, unless they've already been alcoholics. #joebiden
     Reply
    ModestProposal was starred ModestProposal was unstarred
    Image of Motoko Kusanagi Motoko Kusanagi
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    Why is it that I feel compelled to defend Gawker's subject matter against the editors/writers at least once a day lately?

    Either this new crop of staff writers is utterly fucked, or the editorial direction has taken a nosedive, or both.

    Is there some negative correlation between the quality of stories and the quality of AJAX/CSS? #joebiden
     Reply
    Motoko Kusanagi was starred Motoko Kusanagi was unstarred
    Image of romulus romulus
    10/30/09

    @Motoko Kusanagi: From where I'm standing, it would appear to be a positive correlation. It's a good day when I get tripped up by fewer than five unresponsive scripts, infinite waits for comments to load or what have you. #joebiden
     Reply
    Motoko Kusanagi promoted this comment romulus was starred romulus was unstarred
    Image of Motoko Kusanagi Motoko Kusanagi
    10/30/09

    @romulus: The site gets prettier, and the content gets lamer. Just callin it as I see it. #joebiden
     Reply
    Motoko Kusanagi was starred Motoko Kusanagi was unstarred
    Image of romulus romulus
    10/30/09

    @Motoko Kusanagi: Oh yeah, I didn't mean to quibble. I agree that the site gets fancier all the time, but features seem to break often. I should have added before that it could well be my OS and browser causing headaches most readers don't experience. And in all fairness, I haven't been reading long enough to judge contemporary content against the past. #joebiden
     Reply
    romulus was starred romulus was unstarred
    Image of meerkat meerkat
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    Not sure what point you're trying to make, Amrita... that you think Cheney's worldview makes some sense? That Cheney was initially popular, before everything he did brought his popularity rating to a low of 28%? I love it that Biden is willing to call a moron a moron. This is a ridiculous post. #joebiden
     Reply
    meerkat was starred meerkat was unstarred
    Image of sfBirdie sfBirdie
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    Oh, and if you're trying to poke fun at Vice Prez Biden for weeping during the debate when he spoke about his first wife and baby daughter who died, well then, that's just messed up. #joebiden
     Reply
    sfBirdie was starred sfBirdie was unstarred
    Image of Novaload Novaload
    10/31/09

    @Conchie Birdie: One might argue that it was the worst kind of political hackdom for him to bring them up expressly to show his "empathy" side and try to squeeze a tear out of his plastic-surgeryized eye slots. #joebiden
     Reply
    Novaload was starred Novaload was unstarred
    Image of sfBirdie sfBirdie
    10/30/09

    In reply to Nobody Loves Weepy VP Joe
    I'm absolutely NOT a supporter of ANYTHING Dick says... but, Good Lawwd, Biden, Bin Laden will always BE a part of the issue. I'm sorry, I guess if you had the prez saying this I could understand... but, uh, Joe? Nope.

    That being said, why are we posting crap from Fox News anyway - I thought we weren't supposed to take this stuff seriously?
    #joebiden
     Reply
    sfBirdie was starred sfBirdie was unstarred
    Image of Carol Gardens Carol Gardens
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    You lie. They do not eat at Olive Garden. They go to the lodge to flirt.
     Reply
    Carol Gardens was starred Carol Gardens was unstarred
    Image of Carol Gardens Carol Gardens
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    On the other hand, they qualify for unemployment--UNLIKE true freelancers.
     Reply
    Carol Gardens was starred Carol Gardens was unstarred
    Image of Carol Gardens Carol Gardens
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    The thing is...most MTV permalancers are paid on a W-2, not a 1099. They work on premises, usually 5 days a week (or more), fill out a timesheet, use company desks, computers, and supplies, etc. etc. and most likely MTV is their ONLY client. That is why MTV is skating on thin ice with these people. It is rather amazing that they have not gotten in trouble until now. That is NOT freelancing. That is why they are trying to avoid "conversion" into full-time with benefits by forcing them to take breaks.
     Reply
    Carol Gardens was starred Carol Gardens was unstarred
    Image of Perhaps Not Perhaps Not
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    A question for a servicey type: if, hypothetically, I was a "permalancer" - someone who had been employed by a temp agency for going on two years and did all the work of a regular employee and then some - where are the laws saying that this is not cool and my bosses should fucking shit or get off the pot?


    Purely as a thought experiment, you understand.

     Reply
    Perhaps Not was starred Perhaps Not was unstarred
    Image of Kari's Favorite Mark Kari's Favorite Mark
    04/09/09

    @Perhaps Not: I'm going to post some stuff here so you don't have to click onto websites that might cause suspicion with your 'employer.' Bottom-line is, yeah, you're an employee. When jobs are plenty, the government probably doesn't care so much, becuase even if you were misclassified you can still find a job elsewhere is you're laid off and the government is collecting lots of fees from employers so they don't need the money they would get if you had been classified as an employee. But now the reverse is true: the NYS unemployment fund is borrowing money to pay all the claims and probably wants as much money as it can get from employers, so they'll be more likely to question an employer's classification of you as an independent contractor.
     Reply
    Kari's Favorite Mark was starred Kari's Favorite Mark was unstarred
    Image of Perhaps Not Perhaps Not
    04/09/09

    @formerly it takes a lot to laugh: How does one, say, encourage them to do so?
     Reply
    Perhaps Not was starred Perhaps Not was unstarred
    Image of badasscat badasscat
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    Ok, it *can't* just be me for whom the reply button isn't working... I've deleted cookies, cleared cache, everything I can think of. It just puts me back at the top of the page when I click it.


    Anyway...


    @Botswana Meat Commission FC:


    The trick is these people were never "hired" in the first place. That's what "freelance" means, which is their technical designation. There's certainly no law that says anybody has to follow through on an offer of work when one is promised, if no contract is signed. The only way these people would have a leg to stand on is if they had a signed statement of work.


    Being freelance also means either you or the employer can terminate employment at any time for any reason. That's mostly true of regular employees too, but there are some exceptions, at least, for regular employees. Some people like that freedom in a good economy, because if they don't feel like going in to work anymore, they just stop going and find something else. But obviously, the balance of power shifts in a bad economy.


    I was freelance at my company for a year when I started... luckily I did get converted to staff. But when my company got bought out about six months ago, basically all of the freelancers were either summarily dismissed or at best converted to independent contractors working from home (which sounds cool to me, but isn't a full-time gig).

     Reply
    badasscat was starred badasscat was unstarred
    Image of oohthatgirl oohthatgirl
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    Actually, this is pretty standard practice with all the major networks, NBC, ABC, CBS...they've been doing the 9/3 month dance for years. Look into Disney's history and you'll find a similar battle with their contractors. It's a labor law to have to convert freelancers into staff or provide benefits after they worked x amount of hours.


    MTV just took longer to comply and their implementation is probably the worst I've ever seen. And to top it off, many of the freelancers at MTV are ill equipped to work anywhere else so they get mad when they are...you know....unemployed.

     Reply
    oohthatgirl was starred oohthatgirl was unstarred
    Image of LatestBy LatestBy
    04/09/09

    @oohthatgirl: Add Time Inc to that list too.
     Reply
    LatestBy was starred LatestBy was unstarred
    Image of Poodle_Heart Poodle_Heart
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    i thought they fixed this after the protests


    guess not


    call the labor cops -- this is clearly awful. this is why unions were invented

     Reply
    Poodle_Heart was starred Poodle_Heart was unstarred
    Image of TallulahSkankhead TallulahSkankhead
    04/09/09

    In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
    I think Ezra Pound, today, would rail against permalancing even more than he did usary.
     Reply
    TallulahSkankhead was starred TallulahSkankhead was unstarred
    Image of BadUncle BadUncle
    04/09/09

    @TallulahSkankhead: And blaming the Jews, all the same.
     Reply
    BadUncle was starred BadUncle was unstarred
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