- The Mayor...
- Stuff I am reading from around the interwebs
- Supreme Court Hands Tom Corbett an Enourmous Amount of Power to Protect Pennsylvanians. Will he Use it?
- ONE GETS LIFT-OFF ON GLOBAL RECRUITMENT DRIVE AS U2 360 WORLD TOUR OPENS
- The Shrinking of our Shrinking: Will Philly Grow Next Year?
- Don't Cut Loose World's Poorest
- Franken Wins
- Federal Court Enjoins Confidentiality Provision of Ethics Act. Philly Repercussions to Follow?
- Workers Report Back from Fight for Healthcare for All
- Watch out world, here we come
Blackwell Introduces Anti-War Resolution
Submitted by Ray Murphy on Tue, 04/25/2006 - 9:22am.
Jannie Blackwell has introduced a resolution in City Council asking for an immediate withdraw of all troops from Iraq. John Baer wrote up his praise for Blackwell's bill better than i could, so I want to simply refer everyone to his column here.
According to the National Priorities Project, the war in Iraq has so far cost Philadelphia tax-payers over $1.01 billion. That's literally 1/3 of our city's annual budget. Think how much money could have been loaned to small business start-ups, how many rec centers could have been opened, how many new books could have been bought for libraries, how much new public transit infrastructure could have been built, or how we could have finally implemented weekly recycling, to name just a few items, with that kind of money.
Click "read more" below to learn why this is a good thing, and how we can make similar bills and resolutions pass in the next year.
Blackwell certainly is not going out on a limb to introduce this--Philadelphians overwhelmingly agree that we should be out of Iraq--but Blackwell is demonstrating how City Council members can use their power to influence state and federal leaders and also connect the dots between local and national issues (for an electorate that often forgets there is anything else to vote for besides presidential candidates).
I am sure this resolution, is the beginning of a long series of bills and resolutions to be introduced in the next year, as a part of re-election anxiety on the part of Council members. As progressives, and as Philadelphians, we need to be on top of our game, and use this desire on the part of Council members to rebuild their electoral base, to our advantage.
In other words, let's get cracking again (and this blog is as good of a place as any) and start proposing and talking about new ideas to make Philadelphia a better place to live. Perhaps others, like Blackwell, will respond to majoratarian support for progressive ideas and actually codify them into law.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Stupid and Great
Resolutions are meaningless and aren't "laws"; they are purely symbolic. So, the vote on this resolution will reveal that Philly is against the war, which of course we are. Other than that, zero real impact on policy, other than the pusuasive effect it might have in the national dialog about when to end this terrible war.
As a means of generating voter turnout in the November elections so that the evil one can be defeated, this is a great mechanism.
Stop all the talking
Well Liz if Jannie is so bad why don't you run against her next year?
Jannie Blackwell does not have to hype her public presence, people know who she is and most people know the job she does.
How come when Angel Ortiz had a similar resolution passed a couple years back it wasn't a political ploy to try and save his job which he ended up losing anyway to Juan Ramos?
If Jannie is a rat then run against her next year and she who gets the cheese.
Twisted world of "DanielUA"
It does make perfect sense when one calls their council person a rat, and criticize the person instead of their actions. If I want to critized City Councilman O'Neill since he is my councilperson based on what he votes for, or what he doesn't vote for that is fine.
But to get into name calling and to challenge if a person is doing their job then yes you need to be prepared to step up and run for office yourself.
Well, I don't think Blackwell
Well, I don't think Blackwell thinks this is going to single handedly bring the troops home. And I am pretty sure she understands it is symbolic.
But, I think this is a really good idea.
Yes, "of course" Philly is against the war, but as you acknowledge, getting it on the record is important, and can have a demonstrable impact on the national debate. And, frankly, it will be great to see what these numbers actually are.
The world according to "Rob",
The world according to "Rob", where you can only critcize your City Councilperson if you are prepared to actually run for office yourself. Makes perfect sense! And leads to wonderful accountability.
Well, maybe by your logic you
Well, maybe by your logic you should... start you own blog?
You can write piece after piece about how young people should sit down, accept a government that they think has to improve now, and wait their turn.
Waste not, Waste not
It's ok to be against the excessive spending of taxpayer money for a cause that you disagree with. But, I have a probem with initiating legislation just to make a point.
Where is all the outrage about wasting taxpayer money on making a resolution that will have no effect on policy? There small towns in Vermont who have already made these resolutions. Big Deal!
Complain as much as you want about U.S. foreign policy. Stop wasting taxpayer dollars just so the newspaper can print that "Philly is against the war."
To support the wasting of taxpayer dollars for do-nothing legislation that is basically protesting the wasting of taxpayer dollars for a war, is hypocritical.
My $0.02.
I Know
I was responding to the post's celebration of this resolution as if it marked a turning point for progressive politics in Philadelphia. It's a great way to get people to the polls - good stuff. But the source is one of the worst, most opportunistic politicians we've got.
Campaign Ploy
Janie is up for re-election in one year. Lately she has been beefing up the PR and her public presence. There are alot of liberals in her district who aren't comfortable with her total acceptance and promotion of the pay-to-play culture in Philly, and who are very hungry for a more honest candidate to run against her. She typically runs unoppossed. As a constituent of her's, I see this as nothing more than an attempt to try to gain some cred with the white liberals in the district who have started to smell the rat that she is.
As for the revelance this will have on Bush's forign policy- Philly voters are completly off his radar- we could pass a resolution in support of his impeachment and I doubt he would even blink.
The only symbolism in this act is that Janie is up to politics as usual. Don't believe the hype.
The liberals in Janie Blackwe
The liberals in Janie Blackwell's district don't have nearly enough votes to do anything. Besides, there are a lot of liberals (like Ray) who support Blackwell and think she is doing a very good job.