(This post has been updated to remain consistent with my posting at the Notebook.)

Yesterday’s move by the School Reform Commission to hire a Chief Recovery Officer who will be advised by an "outside team of experts" signals a potentially troubling path around both mission and process for the School District as it struggles to keep afloat amid fiscal chaos.

Local 1201 union president George Richezza, whose 2700 members have all received layoff notices, said what’s on many people’s minds: “What I see here is a dismantling of the public school system."

To be sure, no one can deny the District’s devastating financial situation. A $715 million deficit. $61 million to close by June. A projected $300+ million deficit to close in FY2013.

On top of all that was yesterday’s very important story that the city and school district had lost a state court appeal around property taxes that could result in $45 million less in tax revenue for the schools.

The current leadership of the SRC needs to take swift fiscal action. No one denies that. The fact that schools, school personnel, and classrooms have made and will need to continue to make compromises is also a given.

But here’s where the SRC leadership needs to act with caution.

I have been sitting on this, trying to write a response, but, Larry Platt did eventually respond to my email about Stu Bykofsky's sex-tourism column. While trying to write out a response to the email, the days rolled by, and I was busy being obnoxious with Rick Santorum. Leaving this hanging is unfair to Platt, so, I am going to just publish his response in full, with only minimial comment.

On the whole, I find the response-- while nice- dismissive and unresponsive to the real concerns the column raised.

First, again, my email to Platt:

Larry:

I (sincerely) apologize for asking this while the Daily News is taking the hit of the Bill Conlin morass, and, I find it encouraging that the paper is now also actively investigating Conlin and pursuing the story. But, I am writing mainly to follow up to Helen Gym's op-ed from this morning about Stu Bykofsky's column from last week.

While the timing might make this more painful for the paper, it seems that questions about the Bykofsky column are even more important this week than they were when the column ran. I am going to write something for our little blog, piggybacking on Helen's piece, but, I would like to ask the Daily News a few questions first (with the understanding that I will publish these in full on our blog). If there is someone more appropriate to ask, please forward this on to them.

The questions:

First, given the paper's experience over the last few days, would the Bykofsky column run if it were submitted today? If not, will the Daily News issue any statement about the efficacy of that column actually running? Obviously, running the piece by Helen is an important step, and shows some willingness to deal with this issue, but, this is not the same as the paper itself responding.

Second, Stu's column dances around whether he did or did not have sex with a Thai prostitute. In the submission process of this column, was Stu directly asked this by an editor? If this conversation did occur, was the column changed as a result of this discussion?

Third, will the Daily News issue corrections for the column? Obviously, the paper cannot run a 'correction' for the racist views of its columnist. But, the column did simply have factual errors. For example, Stu's assertion that 'there are no pimps in Thailand' is false, and refuted by any number of reports from Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and others which document that many prostitutes in Thailand are children, and in conditions resembling slavery (or, simply, slavery). It goes without saying that these children are not in slavery without someone... keeping them enslaved. Similarly, "each woman is an independent contractor" is false, for many of the same reasons, and this too could be easily refuted. If these corrections have been issued, and I missed them, please let me know.

Finally, and more fundamentally for the Daily News, is any view whatsoever appropriate for publication by its columnists? Stu's column danced around whether he did, or did not, in fact have sex with a Thai prostitute, and then referred to Asian women with bizarrely outmoded racial stereotypes. Is there any limit to what the Daily News would not publish along these lines? For example, would the Daily News run an entire column discussing how cheap Jews are?

Thanks in advance for your consideration. It goes without saying, but, one reason this kind of piece angers so many of us is that we greatly value the role of an active, vibrant local paper, generally, and of an institution like the Daily News generally specifically. So, when it publishes something this offensive and destructive, it sets off all kinds of alarms. As I said, I will put any answers in writing in full, and can wait until tomorrow if that is helpful.

Best,

Dan

He then responds:

Hey Dan,

Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you sooner — still digging out from the Conlin mess.

I take it your deadline has by now passed, but let me just respond to a couple of general points and you can do with this what you will.

First, there is no connection between Stu’s first-person observations about something he witnessed in Thailand and the Conlin tragedy. To suggest such a connection is to demean the victims who have come forward with their stories of Bill’s horrible misdeeds.

Second, I think in the aftermath of Stu’s column, both in our paper and on philly.com, there has been some really valuable back and forth. In particular, there have been, as you point out, some important reporting addendums offered by readers that would have strengthened the column. (For example, placing Stu’s slice-of-life observations in the larger context of the human trafficking issue and quoting from UN reports before zeroing in on what he witnessed would have preemptively addressed many of the concerns now being raised.)

That said, I don’t think the evidence exists on the page for some of the conclusions being drawn from the column. He doesn’t promote the sex tourist trade, for example. Instead, as a number of philly.com commenters pointed out, he has penned a column about a “sad first impression he’s gotten about what life is like for one part of the Thai population.” Certainly, this expression of sadness may not square with the moral outrage you or I might have responded with, in which case I invite you to answer upsetting speech with more speech and write a letter that I’d be happy to publish. (As we’ve done a few times in the past week). As for “corrections,” I have yet to see any factual assertions requiring correction, though I’m happy to look at specifics. (As to the two you suggest, they are not, in fact, assertions made in the piece: Stu never posits that there “are no pimps in Thailand” or that prostitutes in Thailand are independent contractors. The paragraph in question actually refers only to the women — not children — who work in bars). So far, what I’ve heard from people wouldn’t qualify as corrections so much as additional information that would have provided a context for Stu’s slice of life peek at this world.

Finally, let me say that the days when publishing occurs solely upon publication are (thankfully) over. This piece — with its ongoing discourse — strikes me as an ultimately healthy, if occasionally messy, exercise. Our pages, and philly.com, will happily continue being a forum for readers to express their reactions and, yes, for columnists to sometimes piss off said readers. My old friend Nat Hentoff once wrote a great book called “Free Speech For Me, But Not For Thee” and it touched on the all-too-human instinct to want to silence those who offend us, rather than engage the argument. I invite you, and your readers, to engage.

Best,
LP

OK, so, I expected this for the most part. Let me just say one thing that I think is really, really, really ridiculous about the last paragraph-the 'all dialogue is good dialougue' canard. Basically, Platt absolves the paper absolves itself of any responsibility whatesover, because there is back and forth. In other words, we can say whatever crazy, destructive, criminal crap we want, because we allow people to respond... I just don't buy it.

Anyway, there it is. I will write some more about it- but, please give your thoughts below.

Governor Tom Corbett announced $157 million in state spending cuts this week to resolve a midyear revenue shortfall. This marks the fifth straight year of cuts to health care, education and human services.

Weak economic growth in the first half of the fiscal year contributed to lower-than-expected revenue, but the picture, in the short term, may not be as dire as that painted by the Governor. The state is carrying a half a billion dollars in reserve that more than covers the current revenue gap. And despite falling short of estimate, state revenues as of December 2011 are still ahead of collections a year ago. Every major tax has seen year-over-year growth, except for corporate tax collections (which account for more than half of the current revenue shortfall).

Actions taken by the Corbett administration and the General Assembly have contributed to the revenue shortfall. The decision last year to allow corporations to accelerate depreciation costs may be costing more than originally estimated, while doing little to improve the economic outlook. That, combined with the continued phase-out of the capital stock tax in 2012, will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Changes to the revenue estimate may also be playing a role. Estimating a larger share of revenue collections in the first half of the year and a smaller share in the second half of the year, may have contributed to the midyear shortfall and could set the stage for a stronger revenue showing between now and June.

By Edmund Mierzwinski and Alana Miller

Kudos to President Obama for standing up for consumers this week by making a recess appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The President’s action means that the CFPB now has all its powers to protect the public from unfair financial practices, whether by banks or other financial firms, such as payday lenders and credit bureaus.

Since July 21, the CFPB – a centerpiece of the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act – had been up and running, but only with partial powers. It is the nation’s first federal financial regulator with only one job – protecting consumers, including seniors, students and servicemembers, from unfair financial practices.

Now with a director in place, the CFPB has additional abilities that kick in, including the right to supervise payday lenders, mortgage companies, credit bureaus, debt collectors, private student lenders and other non-banks. It also now has additional powers over banks and credit card companies.

Along with civil rights, labor, senior and consumer groups, PennPIRG had long urged the Senate to confirm Cordray, the former Ohio Attorney General, to direct the CFPB. Recently, 37 state Attorneys General, on a bi-partisan basis, had sent a letter to the Senate urging confirmation.

Yet, at the behest of both the Wall Street banks and the payday lenders, some Senators had opposed confirmation of any CFPB director. 45 Senators, including Pennsylvania’s own Senator Toomey, had written the President in May and told him that they would block confirmation of any director until and unless the CFPB’s independence and authority were first restricted. Then, on December 8th, 45 Senators blocked Cordray’s nomination. They wanted the CFPB weak and powerless and with a tin cup in hand.

Last year I named Arlene Ackerman – and her penchant for making any and all news all about her – as my number one choice for the Top 10 education story of the year. Indeed, Dr. Ackerman did not fail to hit a homer in that category. 2011 was a year that made education watchers and opinion-makers of us all. Here’s my pitch for the best and worst moments on the (mostly) Philadelphia school scene.

Grinch of the Year: Arlene Ackerman
Her three year tenure was marked by a combination of ruthlessness (firing whistleblowers for example), profligacy ($40 million summer school anyone?) and neglect (ignoring cheating and violence in schools) – all while claiming sole rights to the voices of “the children.” She brought the District from its greatest wealth to the brink of financial collapse; drew national attention with a million dollar public buyout and filing for unemployment benefits; hired controversial underlings in P.R. and human resources who allegedly abused the powers of their office; and spearheaded a prejudiced response to racial violence at a local high school that earned the District a racial discrimination lawsuit from the U.S. Dept. of Justice. Within a week of her departure, she was urging parents to “vote with their feet” and flee the public schools she had helmed just a few days earlier. She relentlessly played race, gender and class politics to pit and divide communities and fomented a base of support known for hyperbolic, no-holds-barred rhetoric. Her Promise Academy effort may have been initially been well-intentioned but like most things under her watch, the execution was flawed, budget needs were not considered, and in the end hanging onto the effort became more about the Superintendent’s ego than sustainability of the program. She left as she came – with her reputation for bitter and reactionary politics solidly, and sadly, intact.
Runner-up: Gov. Tom Corbett for being the first governor in two decades to cut education spending in the Commonwealth – a billion dollars worth – at the same time he gunned for a costly voucher program, shielded the natural gas industry from taxation, and sat on a state surplus.

Worst Abdication of Responsibility: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on Chester-Upland School District
One of the state’s poorest districts, Chester-Upland became the experimental playground for an ideologically-driven state takeover in 2000 that forced EMOs and charters upon an already vulnerable community. Student walkouts and organized parent protests eventually drove out EMO operator Edison Schools and resulted in a state takeover of the original state takeover board. (Philadelphia activists studied Chester-Upland’s experience closely, and as a result succeeded in limiting and diversifying Philly’s EMO effort.) When the state ended its takeover, Chester-Upland’s resources and internal capacity had been effectively decimated. Last month, Chester-Upland begged for a state advance to keep itself running, a plea that the state rejected leaving the future of thousands of schoolchildren up in the air. Today teachers in Chester-Upland got their last payday and yet voted to continue working without a salary. Notably AWOL: the ideological politicos and educational operators who plundered the district in the name of reform.

Best Quote from an Unexpected Person: Newly installed SRC Commissioner Lorene Cary
SRC Commissioners appeared on WHYY’s Radio Times and in a discussion about vouchers, a commissioner remarked that the “devil is in the details and there are a lot of details.” To which Cary quipped, “There are a lot of devils."

Worst Charitable Effort: SRC Chair Robert “I’m just a volunteer” Archie.
When you’re out to lunch while a district goes bankrupt, engage in backroom wheeling and dealing that earn you an ethics slap on the wrist, and approve an atrocious contract extension that contributes to the million dollar buyout of your superintendent, playing that charitable line falls just a little flat.

SRC Chair Cuts Off Fox 29 Reporter: MyFoxPHILLY.com

Best Innovative Effort in Education: The “open campus” plan by Penn Manor, Hempfield, and Manheim Township High Schools.
The most promising rethinking of education came from, gasp, three “traditional” school districts in the Lancaster area which recently announced an effort to pool resources and create an “open campus” where high school students could take classes online and have flexible scheduling. The plan was designed to save jobs and was driven by the belief that “district teachers can deliver a better education program than anything offered by a cybercharter school.” Philadelphia’s education delegation should be heading to Lancaster, not Denver, for real ideas on how to expand a vision of educational delivery.

Worst Use of Poetry: Ackerman invoking “oil wells” and Maya Angelou
Former Supt. Arlene Ackerman drained the poignancy and inspiration out of Maya Angelou’s beloved poem “Still I Rise” and recited it as a bitter kiss-off to the public and her bosses.

Best Use of Poetry: The Daily News’Arlene Ackerman Haiku-Fest
Hey if you’re not crying, you might as well laugh with Haiku-Fest gems like this:
Let’s all Imagine
2014. We’ll still be
paying Ackerman.

On Wednesday, Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards will take office as Montgomery County Commissioners after winning the most important political race in the state in November. As you must know, this will be the first time in this history of the County that Democrats have controlled the County Commission.

At the same time Joe Hoeffel will be leaving public office, perhaps for the last time.

But everyone, from Josh and Leslie down, know that without the efforts of Joe Hoeffel, there would be no Democratic majority on the County Commission in Montgomery County. Without Joe, Allyson Schwartz would probably not be the member of Congress for the 13th Congressional district which includes a big part of Montgomery County and which Joe once represented. And many other Democratic public officials would not old the offices they do today.

Well! You should watch this!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I haven't felt this close to Rick Santorum since 1999, when I went to the Presidential Classroom in DC. I was a 17 year old punk, and when it was time to meet with our senator, and everyone fawned, I asked him why he helped fillibuster an anti-smoking bill that would have saved the lives of kids. (He said it was a 'free speech issue.' Ya know, it is free speech to help kids form lifelong addictions to cancer causing drugs! Even then, he was a true crusader for the rights of the people that matter.)

Rick Santorum and I don't agree on much. But, he agrees with me on one thing: His movement in the polls gives us the potential for great headlines:

Thanks to our former Senator Rick for putting up my tweet of this great Philly.com headline:

Santorum surges from behind in Iowa.

As of 8:00 AM, its still up on his twitter page.

(Oh, by the way, the actual story the headline comes from is worth a read.)

Ah, Santorum!

(For background, see this post from me, and Helen's column from yesterday.)

Yesterday, the Daily News ran Helen's wonderful op-ed on the horrible Stu Bykofsky sex tourism column.

But, even after Helen's column, there are some unanswered questions that need to be answered by the Daily News as to how this all happened, and what they plan to do about it. Last week the paper might have been able to shrug this off, and be happy with the increased page views they probably saw due to the controversy. But, now that one of their own has been forced into retirement for alleged sexual crimes against children, I don't think this can really go unanswered.

With that in mind, I wrote to Larry Platt, and asked him the questions that I think the Daily News should answer (and, I am sure there are more). He has not responded. If he does, I will post his answers in full.

The email:

From: Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg
Date: Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 11:15 AM
Subject: Questions about Stu Bykofsky Column
To: Larry Platt
Cc: Helen Gym

Larry:

I (sincerely) apologize for asking this while the Daily News is taking the hit of the Bill Conlin morass, and, I find it encouraging that the paper is now also actively investigating Conlin and pursuing the story. But, I am writing mainly to follow up to Helen Gym's op-ed from this morning about Stu Bykofsky's column from last week.

While the timing might make this more painful for the paper, it seems that questions about the Bykofsky column are even more important this week than they were when the column ran. I am going to write something for our little blog, piggybacking on Helen's piece, but, I would like to ask the Daily News a few questions first (with the understanding that I will publish these in full on our blog). If there is someone more appropriate to ask, please forward this on to them.

The questions:

First, given the paper's experience over the last few days, would the Bykofsky column run if it were submitted today? If not, will the Daily News issue any statement about the efficacy of that column actually running? Obviously, running the piece by Helen is an important step, and shows some willingness to deal with this issue, but, this is not the same as the paper itself responding.

Second, Stu's column dances around whether he did or did not have sex with a Thai prostitute. In the submission process of this column, was Stu directly asked this by an editor? If this conversation did occur, was the column changed as a result of this discussion?

Third, will the Daily News issue corrections for the column? Obviously, the paper cannot run a 'correction' for the racist views of its columnist. But, the column did simply have factual errors. For example, Stu's assertion that 'there are no pimps in Thailand' is false, and refuted by any number of reports from Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and others which document that many prostitutes in Thailand are children, and in conditions resembling slavery (or, simply, slavery). It goes without saying that these children are not in slavery without someone... keeping them enslaved. Similarly, "each woman is an independent contractor" is false, for many of the same reasons, and this too could be easily refuted. If these corrections have been issued, and I missed them, please let me know.

Finally, and more fundamentally for the Daily News, is any view whatsoever appropriate for publication by its columnists? Stu's column danced around whether he did, or did not, in fact have sex with a Thai prostitute, and then referred to Asian women with bizarrely outmoded racial stereotypes. Is there any limit to what the Daily News would not publish along these lines? For example, would the Daily News run an entire column discussing how cheap Jews are?

Thanks in advance for your consideration. It goes without saying, but, one reason this kind of piece angers so many of us is that we greatly value the role of an active, vibrant local paper, generally, and of an institution like the Daily News generally specifically. So, when it publishes something this offensive and destructive, it sets off all kinds of alarms. As I said, I will put any answers in writing in full, and can wait until tomorrow if that is helpful.

Best,

Dan

No response so far...

In the meantime, lets remember what officials from the Daily News said in the wake of the Conlin accusations:

“I can’t even begin to express the shock, sadness and outrage I feel by what Bill Conlin is alleged to have done,” said Daily News editor Larry Platt Tuesday.

“I am sickened by these allegations,” added Gregory J. Osberg, CEO of Philadelphia Media Network, which owns both the Inquirer and the Daily News.

“We have always taken tremendous pride in the ethical and moral standards we operate from at Philadelphia Media Network.”

Moral standards? Sorry, that will continue to ring hollow when the Daily News publishes factually incorrect, racial stereotype laced, amoral columns that meander through the pros and cons of having sex with children.

A child does not magically lose her humanity because she lives in Thailand. It is time for the Daily News to start explaining how this type of thing is acceptable journalism.

Thanks to Azavea, the web-based software design firm that developed the Redistricting the Nation project, we now have the demographics of the old and new Pennsylvania congressional districts.

The first congressional district, represented by Bob Brady, has the most dramatic change in racial composition of any of the state's 19 congressional districts. Brady's district is currently 31.8% White and 48.0% black. His new district will be 46.9% white and 35.5% black. (The Asian and Latino percentages have changed very little.)

Across the state, most of the changes in racial composition were relatively small—generally no more than a few percentage points. The only other district which had significant change was the 14th congressional district, which contains the entire city of Pittsburgh. In the 14th, the percentage of white voters was 69.4% % in the old district, 77.37% in the new; the percentage of black voters was 24.5% in the old district, 16.53% in the new. The shift in racial composition in the 14th is not as dramatic as in the first congressional district and it does not change the racial dynamics of the race. The 14th district was and remains a district which favors the election of a white candidate. The first district has gone from a district which was very favorable terrain for a black candidate to one in which a black candidate would be significantly less competitive.

News reports suggested that Brady may have had something to do with this. Cris Brennan reported in the Daily News on 8/20/11:

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of the Democratic City Committee in Philadelphia, says that one hot rumor circulating in Harrisburg about his 1st Congressional District is way off the mark.

... do so now.

The Daily News, like many papers, has passionately decried the abuse of vulnerable children by a child predator in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. There should be no double standard when one of its own columnists witnesses, then justifies, acts of comparable magnitude and casts it as a "journey" of healing.

Federal law prohibits sex tourism. Laws in Thailand prohibit prostitution. Nothing could be more stark than the hypocrisy of a columnist known for ranting about illegal crossings into the United States simultaneously crossing national borders to leer about illegal activity - all the while ducking and weaving about whether he himself engaged in such acts.

It isn't OK in State College, Pa. It's equally sickening to crow about it in Thailand.

Meanwhile, I sent Larry Platt, Editor of DN a list of follow up questions, building on this. I will post them, along with any response, tomorrow.

A blog post by Sharon Ward, originally published at Third and State.

Governor Tom Corbett will announce a new budgetary freeze before the end of the year to help resolve what the administration expects to be a $500 million revenue shortfall, according to Budget Secretary Charles Zogby, who gave the annual mid-year budget briefing on Tuesday.

Secretary Zogby painted a grim picture, as expected. The current revenue shortfall of $345 million could grow even beyond the $500 million current estimate, according to Zogby, and growth in mandatory spending for pensions, debt service and the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) will contribute to a budget for 2012-13 that is short about $750 million.

The Commonwealth plans to resolve the revenue gap with additional cuts. The secretary did not anticipate having "any revenue options" on the table and said he would look for further cuts in "waste, fraud and abuse" in DPW, controlling growth in corrections spending, and scaling back capital spending to make up the difference.

He did acknowledge that the Governor would rather reduce prisons than schools or higher ed and that making cuts was not something the administration relishes — suggesting that the work advocates have done this year may be penetrating.

In a nutshell, the persistently anemic economy is hurting tax collections, and growth in 2012 will be lower than previously estimated, making the 2012-13 budget more difficult than one would expect coming out of a recession.

Secretary Zogby rightly identified areas of built-in growth that will contribute to a structural budget deficit moving forward.

Ah, press release journalism.

As the proprieter of a blog-- even a tiny little one like this-- you get sent many press releases, usually from a 'new media consultant,' letting you know of a very important product announcement, or report that was issued.

I guess we know who was emailing yesterday, because it appears that a horrible Big Industry group named "The American Tort Reform Association" issued a report calling Philadelphia Courts 'hellholes.' And, our local media, including the Inquirer and Philebrity, ate it up, copied some text, and voila, Big Tobacco and co. gets what it paid for, under these ridiculous headlines:

Philebrity: "Philadelphia Is Nation’s Top “Judicial Hellhole” For 2nd Year In A Row"
Inquirer: Top ‘judicial hellhole’ is Philadelphia, study says."

The articles that follow have the same amount of critical analysis as the headlines.

The Inquirer, today:

Flames leap from the gavel on the cover of a new report that declares Philadelphia No. 1 among the nation's "Judicial Hellholes."

...

The report, released Wednesday, focuses on perceived abuses in civil courts, not criminal ones, and comes from the American Tort Reform Foundation, which represents businesses, municipalities and professional associations.

The article then details all of the problems that this mysterious professional group has found.

Amount of analysis about the group behind the report? Zero.

Amount of analysis about the conclusions behind the report. Zero.

And then there was Philebrity, yesterday, talking about the same report. I mean, you can call something press release journalism, but, uh, seriously, read the press release, and then read what Philebrity published.

Press release:

Philadelphia hosts a disproportionate share of Pennsylvania’s lawsuits and, as demonstrated by the report, forum shopping for plaintiff-friendly courts within the state is primarily a “Philly phenomenon.” Of greatest concern is the Complex Litigation Center (CLC) in Philadelphia, where judges have actively sought to attract personal injury lawyers from across the state and the country.

Philebrity:

The report said Philadelphia, “‘hosts a disproportionate share of Pennsylvania’s lawsuits’ and … forum shopping for plaintiff-friendly courts within the state is primarily a ‘Philly phenomenon.’ Of greatest concern is the Complex Litigation Center in Philadelphia, where judges have actively sought to attract personal injury lawyers from across the state and the country.” Ouch again.

Ouchie! He links to the full report, which he promises is "a big-time bummer," and ends the post. (What would you put the odds at that he read the report? I am going to guess about 1 percent. Bummer!)

The full extent of any critical analysis in either article/post is... well, there isn't any.

However, both the substance of the report and who actually published it should make anyone think twice about simply passing it off as news.

First, who published it? Well, I broke out the google, and found that this faux grassroots group has been funded by those true protectors of American society, Dow Chemical, Exxon and the like. What else could you find out about them in the interweb tubes? How about that one thing this group does is file amicus briefs in the Supreme Court on behalf of everyone's favorite little guy, Big Tobacco.

Ok, then, so clearly a source we should trust.

What about the conclusions of the report itself? Ironically, one of the things that Sweeney and the Inquirer highlight from the report as 'bad' is that Philly has a complex litigation center, which aims to handle cases in under two years. The horrors!

Could you guess why it is a 'bad' thing for these guys to have cases settle reach a conclusion in two years? Because the strategy of big companies who have done horrible things is often to simply destroy plaintiffs by fighting and fighting and fighting, for as long as possible at as much of a cost to the Plaintiffs as possible. (See, for example, how Merck fought against claims that Vioxx caused heart attacks and strokes, and that Merck knew it would happen...) In other words, Philadelphia tries- in some small way- to bring cases to a conclusion within a few years, and as a result, big industry cannot properly crush them under a sea of lawyers. Ouch, again!

"Tort reform" is a joke. Yes, there are bad plaintiff's lawyers out there, just like there are bad teachers, policemen, baseball players, crossing guards and bakers. However, this 'reform' is nothing more than a way to shift wealth from consumers to horrible companies-- including the supporters of this stupid, transparent report.

It would be really helpful if our local media stopped accepting things like this, lock, stock and barrel. Phillip Morris, Big Pharma and their friends really don't need the help.

In August, in one of his xenophobic, anti-immigrant rants, Stu Bykofsky argued against humane immigration policy for the city:

Some ideas are too simple for the high-minded to comprehend. Illegal immigration is illegal. They don't seem to get it.

Stu Byskofsky, man of laws!

Fast forward to today, where Sheriff Bykofsky let fly a rambling, bizarre column about his friend’s fun times with sex tourism in Thailand. In it, Stu says this:

My journey reconnected me with my college friend Paul DeCeglie, who ran here to something, not from something. It's now his permanent home.

He ran to weather he liked, a lower cost of living, a laid-back Thai lifestyle and low-cost, no-guilt sex.

Ah, what?

He continues:

An endless supply of girls with no marketable skills, but rentable bodies, heads for cities to work in the sex trade. Although prostitution is officially "illegal," it flourishes and Thais tolerate it.

So, to recap: Sheriff Bykofsky doesn’t care if a poor Mexican was sleeping on a dirt floor or if NAFTA destroyed much of the ability of Mexican farmers to earn a living farming, making them "head for cities" to work really hard to make their lives better. He doesn’t care that immigrants- undocumented and documented- are now revitalizing entire sections of Philadelphia. He doesn't care if families are being ripped in half. Laws are laws!

However, when an illegal but accepted practice involves Stu’s college pal having his way with vulnerable Thai women? Pass the blue pills, because this sex is guilt free, baby!

Next, re-read this passage:

If you want contradictions, Thailand doesn't disappoint.

DeCeglie finds Thais simultaneously friendly and infuriating, polite and cunning, sometimes shiftless and lacking intellectual curiosity. He'd been inviting me to visit for a long time, and for a long time I couldn't or wouldn't. Finally, to help heal, I ran here.

Thai women tend to be slim, with soft features and thick black hair.

Does the Daily News even have editors anymore? Did they really read this and say “sounds good!”?

Let’s have a little thought exercise here. Take that above passage, and instead of his friend authoritatively discussing Thai people, imagine him instead describing Africans as ‘shiftless and lacking intellectual curiosity.’

How would that be received?

Or, instead imagine Stu channeling his ‘friend’s’ visit to Israel, saying something a little like this:

Israelis are walking contradictions. They are both a generous people and stingy with their money. Their women are pretty, with prominent noses and dark, olive skin.

Would either of those fly? I don't think so. Stu would be fired. Yet he gets away with the above, because it is apparently more socially acceptable to use bizarre, crazy, racist imagery when discussing Asians, or Mexican immigrants.

How does this continue to happen? It is time for the Daily News to answer why this man still has a column, and how something this horrible even made the paper's pages. Stu Bykofsky, friend of sex tourists everywhere, needs to be relieved of duty.

The Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus
135 S. 19th Street Suite 200
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
215-568-4990
gmgilman@igc.org

December 9, 2011

Rudy Garcia, Chancellor
John Savoth, Chancellor Elect
Richard Seidel, Chair, Judicial Commission
Ken Shear, Phila. Bar Association

Re: Judicial Recommendations
Dear Sirs:

I am the Chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus and the Chair of Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks. These are both organizations of citizens interested in local politics who try to make reasoned, educated decisions when they enter the voting booth. As such, we may interview certain candidates or hold open forums to explore candidates’ positions or demeanor. But as you know, this is extremely difficult when it comes to judicial candidates.

We are terribly concerned about how the Philadelphia Bar Association has been making determinations of recommendation for judicial candidates as many of our members attribute significance to the Bar’s conclusions. I understand that your explanation for the endorsement of Thomas Nocella in the recent general election was partly due to a short time to process his candidacy and partly because he had previously been recommended by the Bar when he ran previously. Both of those explanations are problematic. It would be better not to make a determination if your committee does not have sufficient time to do a proper consideration of the candidate’s qualifications. I would hope that you also would reconsider your policy that a recommendation stands for three years as new information is likely to prove fruitful in many situations. I also cannot understand how Mr. Nocella received a positive recommendation in 2009 when there was already substantial evidence of seriously inappropriate behavior by him that could have been uncovered by your committee.