HAIFer Suspended from NASA for Partisan Blogging

[TheNiche]

JohnCoby got himself in the Chronicle and in Federal Computer Week magazine.

It's been a while since I've seen him post on here, but it was always ridiculously leftist and pretty inflamatory stuff. He probably does as much damage for his cause as not, really. And I know that HAIF has other NASA folks that have posted political opinions and probably on their time, but it doesn't surprise me at all that this one got singled out.

[ricco67]

I know, I was just thinking about 2112 not too long ago and how I haven't seen him in at least a year. Maybe he broke his addiction or gotten too busy.

Either that or the aliens finally caught him. I'm talking about the green ones and not the wet ones.

[editor]

I saw the story on Fark or Slashdot or somewhere, but never thought it might be a HAIFer. Eep!

[BryanS]

NASA's "limited personal use" policy really muddies the waters on these kinds of situations. Once you start asking/organizing for money, for any political activity - personal use or not - you've just but a big bull's eye on yourself. Once money or a personal business gets into picture, there is too much conflict at hand not to address the situation.

If you take a smoke break, you are on your personal time, but post to an internet forum that republicans/democrats have destroyed this country (right after or before the smoking portion of your break)... well... you were on your "personal time" - and not the gov't clock...

In any event... if you are person that works, at any job, and your boss wants you fired - all your employer has to do is pull internet logs and/or look at your time card and compare it to the actual time you worked (usually by them spying on you) - and then FIRED. "Time card fraud" ... "Internet violation" ... you name it.

[dbigtex56]

Left-leaning, right-leaning: JohnCoby's political leanings are irrelevant. Yet, Silverman's (Chronicle) article was more concerned with listing his affiliations than the question of whether the Hatch Act was violated. Contrast his article with Federal Computer Week's and ask yourself again, "Why do people have such a low opinion of the Chronicle?"

THe only purpose that could be served in describing JohnCoby's political slant is to show a pattern of uneven enforcement, and Mr. Silverman does not address that point.

[TJones]

I told him he was gonna get in trouble. Always listen to your Uncle TJ fellow HAIFers.

[ricco67]

I told him he was gonna get in trouble. Always listen to your Uncle TJ fellow HAIFers.

Except on saturday nights....then he's your "Aunt" or "Mistress" depending on his mood.

<runs>

[TJones]

Except on saturday nights....then he's your "Aunt" or "Mistress" depending on his mood.

<runs>

*cough*WEAK*cough* !

All I really remember about John was his rantings about the lemon lady and her condo and his trying to defend her. He was always talking crazy about Govt. I told him he was barking up the wrong trees.

[dbigtex56]

Many in Texas would rather watch their insurance rates double, their rights to the courts removed, their schools starved for resources, their gas rise above $3/gallon, and college costs soar by 33%, before they would vote for a Democrat.

He was always talking crazy about Govt.

$3/gallon gas?

Crazy talk!

[RedScare]

Looks like he went 4 for 5 to me. Gas at $3.81, college tuition is now up 54%, schools are in danger of going bankrupt within 2 years if funding is not fixed, and there are numerous examples of a person's right to trial being taken away in favor of arbitration, including complaints about homebuilders and credit card companies, to name just a few.

He was only about half right on the insurance. Car rates have dropped, but homeowners insurance has jumped in coastal areas...that is if they haven't dropped you altogether.

[Daniepwils]

Looks like he went 4 for 5 to me. Gas at $3.81, college tuition is now up 54%, schools are in danger of going bankrupt within 2 years if funding is not fixed, and there are numerous examples of a person's right to trial being taken away in favor of arbitration, including complaints about homebuilders and credit card companies, to name just a few.

He was only about half right on the insurance. Car rates have dropped, but homeowners insurance has jumped in coastal areas...that is if they haven't dropped you altogether.

Amen!

[TheNiche]

$3/gallon gas?

Crazy talk!

Hadn't most of that stuff already happened, more or less, when he said that?

[TJones]

Looks like he went 4 for 5 to me. Gas at $3.81, college tuition is now up 54%, schools are in danger of going bankrupt within 2 years if funding is not fixed, and there are numerous examples of a person's right to trial being taken away in favor of arbitration, including complaints about homebuilders and credit card companies, to name just a few.

He was only about half right on the insurance. Car rates have dropped, but homeowners insurance has jumped in coastal areas...that is if they haven't dropped you altogether.

Up 54% since what date ? When ?

Which school districts, only evidence I've seen is possibly Cy-Fair. But that's what happens when you build beyond your means and run out of money.

Are you referring to arbitration at the workplace ? You have a choice when it comes to arbitration in the work place, you have to sign a form for it. you can either sign it or not sign. Depends on how much you want the job I guess. I don't see that as taking away your right, I see it as a company protecting themselves from frivolous lawsuits and workmen's comp fraud. After the debacle of the 90's of how overcrowded our court system was and still is today from trial lawyers, and with desperate need for tort reform, that YOU would be in favor of arbitration over tying up your county's courts so you could get some work done, but I forgot that your ex-expertise was in trial lawyering, you used to run around with that crowd, my bad.

As far as mandatory flood insurance goes for coastal counties, you can thank Mother Nature for Katrina and Rita causing these increases, Coby was trying to blame the Govt. for the increase. Now I would blame the Govt. for putting me in a flood zone after 30 years of NOT being in one. This is one of the reasons why I am moving next month.

[TheNiche]

Oh, god...here we go.

OT. As usual. Start your own threads. This one is mine.

[TJones]

Oh, god...here we go.

OT. As usual. Start your own threads. This one is mine.

Sorry, I will stray, I mean STAY on topic here. I was just reading over some of Coby's old stuff. He had a huge "thing" for Perry homes, apparently he got stuck buying one and FORGOT to get an independant inspection done. No wonder the Shuttles have blown up, John Coby was apparently just "eyeing" it and giving the "thumbs up", because he was in a hurry to get back to his Blogasphere !

[ricco67]

Sorry, I will stray, I mean STAY on topic here. I was just reading over some of Coby's old stuff. He had a huge "thing" for Perry homes, apparently he got stuck buying one and OFRGOT to get an independant inspection done. No wonder the Shuttles have blown up, John Coby was apparently just "eyeing" it and giving the "thumbs up", because he was in a hurry to get back to his Blogasphere !

Looking back his posts were weird. Apparently he's still blogging and going off on some rant about one thing or another.

Damn bloggers, they need a life.

[Jeebus]

Oh, god...here we go.

OT. As usual. Start your own threads. This one is mine.

Good luck attempting to prove ownership of a virtual conversation.

[BryanS]

I haven't seen any of his posts on HAIF... but... this work, that he did, seems respectable, to me:

This video was posted in December of 2007. He was suspended from his job, for 180 days, starting March 30, 2008. Maybe he made too many waves? Someone in the legislature, or Perry, or TRCC... started poking around, perhaps after that KHOU interview... getting the dirt on him... and the next thing you know, you're suspended from your job. The timing sure does seem suspicious.

[TJones]

I haven't seen any of his posts on HAIF... but... this work, that he did, seems respectable, to me:

Bryan, what he would do here is throw a topic up, then let everyone else talk about it, and when he would get called out on his own words, he couldn't or wouldn't defend it. So he would spew stuff he couldn't back up, or place the blame on everyone else but himself for his problems. This was merely a place for him to vent, because it was the BEST houston thread out there. Apparently he was doing his venting on company time which is a big "no no" at NASA, obviously. But, someone may indeed have been after him, with as much ranting that he was doing. Someone could have very easily found his IP address and alerted someone who felt he was wasting time, when he should be working, especially with all the problems NASA has had in the last few years.

[ricco67]

I agree with a couple of posters. Maybe he was voicing his opinions to his coworkers and annoying them to the point where they started to look to see if he was wasting time in other forms as well.

You know, a simple investigation. He probably pissed off too many people.

[webdude]

I haven't seen any of his posts on HAIF... but... this work, that he did, seems respectable, to me:

This video was posted in December of 2007. He was suspended from his job, for 180 days, starting March 30, 2008. Maybe he made too many waves? Someone in the legislature, or Perry, or TRCC... started poking around, perhaps after that KHOU interview... getting the dirt on him... and the next thing you know, you're suspended from your job. The timing sure does seem suspicious.

I haven't read what he said either. Or I might have and not remember. Maybe he is as bad as described, but thanks to the video, it tells me there is more than meets the eye. At least he is doing something offline in addition to whining online. Most of us just whine online. And its easy to talk crap about someone when there are not here, and I suspect some of you just did not like what he said, and trying to trample his character to give yourselves merit. His actions just seem more genuine at this time. I would say activists are generally not well liked because they stand for something and do something about it. But yeah, blogging on company time is nono too.

EDIT, I went and read some of his posts. Just as I suspected, some of you simply can't stand his views and is now taking convenient potshots. He might really be an ass or ridiculous but that is just harder to believe when its the usual suspects making the case.

[editor]

I lean more toward Ricco's theory -- that he didn't confine his theories to the web and annoyed his co-workers. They were probably looking for a way to make him be a little more tactful around the office and didn't expect it to blow up like this.

At the last place I worked there was a guy like that. He was nice, except that he didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Not in a bad way, but in a polite way. He'd interrupt meetings to start long, loud rants against the Pope, or priests, or any religion. This was when we were having meetings about completely other things. He didn't seem to have any inner monologue.

Instead of posting on blogs all day at work, he'd shop for brides (union guy -- only had to work from 7-9:30 and could surf the rest of the day). First Ukrainian for a couple of months, then Russian, then Chinese. Most of the rest of us could see what he was doing because of the way the cube farm was arranged. Before we could formally bust him on it -- he actually married one!

Still, the point is that some people don't know when to shut up. Not everyone wants to hear about your theories, no matter how firmly you believe in them. You have to respect other people's space in an office.

[KinkaidAlum]

Hadn't most of that stuff already happened, more or less, when he said that?

I don't know about the insurance rates, but the price of gas in Southeast Texas in July of 2006 was around $2.72.

Additionally, since 2006, college costs have skyrocketed since the State Lege gave over pricing controls to the individual institutions. Nearly every school has had year over year costs increases since given that pricing freedom.