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Quick Hits
Submitted by Dan U-A on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 8:17am.
1) With life's craziness over the last week, I have not mentioned the Wilson Goode/Latrice Bryant/Fox News/KKK fiasco. (If you dont know what I am talking about, see here.) Today, finally, Bryant issued an apology. Sort of. She apologized to Goode and others for putting up the Fox= racist signs (but did not apologize, for example, to the reporter she called racist), and did not apologize for the actual issue at hand (time sheets saying she was working when she was not).
I like Wilson Goode, and the fact that he has a pretty ambitious economic development agenda. But this whole thing could have been handled pretty easily. They could have just said something like "I apologize and she apologizes for the time sheet issue. I assure you that my staffer generally works longer on average than 37.5 hours. However, we are taking steps to insure this type of thing never happens again." Instead, in a City where race is always waiting to stomp out everything else, she held up those dumb signs. I understand that if you find out a reporter has been stalking you that you feel like your privacy has been intruded on. But, the answer is just to deal with it, apologize, and not force City Council descend in to more and more craziness.
Of course, maybe Fox News should have sent Bryant a thank you card, given how many viewers she gave them.
2) The Knight Commission panel that I was on was cool. It is always flattering to be on a panel with people who have actually done stuff- like City Paper founder Bruce Schimmel, Philly Tribune reporter Irv Randolph and others. I pretty much did exactly what YPP user Steakums suggested, and told the story of our election returns. And, I prefaced it by saying that above all else, I think we are effective because in a City where some really stupid things go on, we can call them stupid.
The nicest thing about conferences like that is meeting people face to face, connecting names to faces, etc. And, in a development that I think will be pretty cool, both Paul Socolar of the Philly Public School Notebook and Todd Wolfson, of the Media Mobilizing Project, told me that they were launching blogs. Todd, for example, will be working with the Philly Student Union, labor and others to get a lot more community driven content out on the web.
3) The number of cops killed on Philly streets over the last two years is incredibly sad and disturbing. However, the answer cannot be for the Fraternal Order of Police to bully the judges of our city.
4) More on this issue later, but check out the Inquirer article on Chinatown's fear of Foxwoods. Personally, I am still waiting for the follow up to their "Casino may save Market East" article with a single piece of evidence that a casino has ever 'saved' or revitalized any urban area.
I'm not going to comment on
I'm not going to comment on (1) because it's totally stupid and everybody knows Miss Bryant now for what she is and has seen the FOX29 reports embarrassing her and Councilman Goode to no end.
But I think on number (3) Dan, you are flat wrong. Pennsylvania has long had trouble with its judges, especially in Philadelphia County, and justices who have checkered backgrounds permeate many different courts.
Our judges frustrate the public, but the public also continues retaining them because of the Ward System that we have.
Weren't you upset over the failure of CasiNO Free Philadelphia to get anywhere with the Penna Supreme Court?
Or at Traffic Court, with Judge Singletary making it to the bench [although I admit, he is on his BEST behavior thanks to the Daily News keeping an eye on his courtroom].
So why SHOULDN'T the FOP be angry at Pennsylvania justices and launch a campaign to tarnish certain justices when their retainment period comes up?
The People of Philadelphia keep re-electing many of these clowns to the bench; and if the public buys what the FOP sells, they will not vote to retain once they hear that Justice SoAndSo continues to let cop killers out on light sentences...
or in the case of one particular judge, having a differing definition of what RAPE is over the Philadelphia Bar Association (in the case of that judge, which I'll not mention her name here, she doesn't think rape applies to hookers).
At present, it is the People who put Pennsylvania justices on the bench and keep them there. I can't see how the FOP would be stepping out of bounds to launch a smear campaign against them to put their retainment in jeopardy when the Philadelphia Bar Association already comes out with "Who to Vote For" lists for each primary.
If the Philadelphia Bar comes out with Who to Vote for Lists, I don't see any reason why unions like the FOP can come out with "Who To Vote Against" lists.
Putting judges on the bench in this state is a popularity contest. Beauty pageants usually aren't pretty.
Babette Josephs was presented a proposal to her committee to fix this problem with how we elect judges, and like other reform efforts that make it to her desk, she killed it.
Why the blogosphere works
Editorialization by ridicule has a long and glorious tradition, and alternative news outlets like The Daily Show/Colbert Report and blogs have done a great deal to revitalize it. It's sort of sad to say, but the most effective answer to much of the political behavior we are confronted with is not to sign a petition or organize a march or boycott* but to gather together and say "Jesus, are you f---ing kidding me?"
At any rate, that is often the best place to begin.
(*standard caution for righteous outrage applies)
About Latrice Bryant
I got to know Latrice Bryant when she ran in the same race I did in 2004 for State Representative in the 198th district.
She's a serious political activist and an effective Council staff member. Knowing the kind of life that she and most other council staff members lead, I'm sure she works much more than the 37.5 hours per week required.
She's also made some mistakes recently for which she has apologized. I think this would be a good time to remember a great line Joe Waters used in his race for judge in 2007: It is important to know the difference someone who has had a bad day and someone who is a bad guy.
Latrice has had a bad week or two. But she is a good person.
Interesting to hear
I'm mostly just glad you never opted to post pictures of yourself in a "naughty nurse" Holloween costume, Marc.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.