Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

The breakfast of champions, Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale.

Why not get a healthy dose of Geek Crack. It’ll make you feel good.

I’m stealing this whole letter from Young Philly Politics. I don’t know anything about the group that produced this (perhaps they would be so kind as to raise a hand), but the letter seems right on target.

We are so pleased you have recognized Seth Williams as a great candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney. As former Assistant DAs in Philadelphia, we have first hand experience working with Seth. Without a doubt, Seth was one of the best leaders and innovators in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. It was a great blow to the morale in the DA’s Office when Seth left to pursue private practice. Seth was the person in management everyone could talk to about professional problems without fear of reprisal. Seth’s plan for community-based prosecution is sound. Having ADAs who handle cases from beginning to end will tighten the ties between communities, victims, cops and prosecutors. Seth also wants to hire and train the best possible candidates to be ADA’s — and then trust them to use their own sound judgment. This is a brilliant change from the current office policy where ADA’s are forced to prosecute every case to the fullest regardless of what common sense and good judgment call for. If we are truly interested in a better Philadelphia criminal justice system, we need to find time and money to help Seth Williams.

Former ADAs for Seth

I’m not the most political poster on this site; I leave that to Chris and David, but I was listening to the presidential press conference tonight while going about my other business.

Honestly, sometimes Bush just cracks me up. I know he grew up mostly in Texas, but seriously, who taught this man to speak? I’m accustomed to his verbal missteps, but he started talking about legal reform and “ass-bestos” lawsuits, with the emphasis clearly on “ass”, and I thought I was going to die.

So, just as an experiment, I decided to Google the word (well, not really a word) Ass-bestos.

The results appear to be a delightful combination of genuine misspellings, family names(?), and slanguage.

Enjoy!

I just finished my dinner, which included the yummiest low calorie/fat/point coleslaw. I modified a weight watchers recipe, but at least I’m saying where I got it from, so I think I’m OK from a legal standpoint. (Ahem, right Chris?)

Here are the approximately ingredients:

One bag cole slaw mix

1/2 cup non-fat mayonnaise

1/2 cup light sour cream (the original recipe calls for non-fat sour cream, but Whole Foods didn’t have any, so this is a good but slightly less healthy alternative)

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

If you make this with the non-fat sour cream, as opposed to the light, each 1/2 cup serving is 1 very tasty point. I didn’t calculate the points for the low fat sour cream, but I can guarantee, it’ll be fewer points and a lot tastier than the coleslaw that you get from the average deli counter.

This can also be made with 1 head of shredded cabbage, but in that case, you need to use 1 cup each of the fat free mayo and sour cream, and you should also add 2 grated carrots.

Have fun!

Last week, a good number of progressive Philadelphia bloggers discussed Seth William’s candidacy for District Attorney, asked you to consider his merits, and vote for him in the May 17^th primary (read more here). Today we are asking you to take the next logical step and volunteer some of your time to his candidacy.

Since the advent of political activism on the internet, there has been a great deal of discussion in our ranks with regards to what a Democratic candidate should really stand for, as well as the future of our party. In reviewing Seth William’s positions and experience, I’m confident that he is exactly the sort of reform-minded, innovative candidate that we’ve all been clamoring for. Sadly, Williams is not the sort of candidate who shows up in Philadelphia politics very often, and we owe it to our community to support him in any way possible. The most effective way most of us can lend our support, is to sign up as a volunteer. Get the campaign juices flowing and help get out the vote.

Sign up.

For more visit Young Philly Politics, Philly Future, Above Average Jane, Philly ,Swing State Project, America’s Hometown, and this Daily Kos Diary (Recommend if you are a member).

Additionally, Will Bunch has mentioned this effort but has not, and cannot, endorsed it. He makes a significant point about the what we’re up against.

I Just wanted to riff a little on the Young Philly Politics post I linked to earlier. One of the things you quickly become aware of, if you try to run a political site like this, is that discussing local politics is a bit like passing gas in an enclosed area — people run away and they may never come back.

That’s an unfortunate, if understandable, reaction. Most Americans will never have their lives effected as profoundly by national policy as they will by local policy, but at the same time they generally find local politics deadly boring. I would guess that most people’s interaction with government workers in this country is generally limited to encounters with police officers, public school teachers, and sanitation workers. They all serve functions which are vital to our society, and each is impacted by both federal, state, and local policy, though local is generally the overriding factor in both funding and policy.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m just as worked up about federal judicial appointments as anybody, and it’s a fight that must be engaged vigorously from the liberal side. The thing is, the election of something so unsexy as the District Attorney in one of our country’s largest cities is really a very big deal. The person elected to this post is empowered with a great deal of responsibility and power; their jurisdiction covers well over one million people directly and will, in reality, impact the lives of many millions more. That person’s responsibilities involve the protection of so many of the rights that we, as Americans, hold very close to our hearts. We have to make an informed, responsible choice. That is our duty as voters, and that’s why it’s so important to talk about, and become involved in local politics, regardless of the political sex appeal.

Chris Bowers asked last week for guesses as to why Philadelphia is so well represented in the lefty political blogosphere. I’m sure I’m not qualified to answer, but I’ll give it a stab nevertheless. I think we live in a place where the full potential of the United States is plain for all but the jaded to see, but the obvious exclusion from that very potential, which effects so many of our people confronts us as soon as we walk off our front stoops. I don’t know that I can explain this place or this time as anything, other than to hint at the unsung capacity for greatness as a community and city which exists here in the midst of great human suffering. I know that I can’t explain people who live here, regardless of political leanings, who do not care. The political process is very real here.

Forgive the mindless ramblings - I meant to write and revise more, but my wife insists I figure out what to do about dinner.

What Dan Says:

…Here is where Democratic ideas can flourish. Here is where we can have policy and politician incubators, so that when it is our time to lead again, we have a sense of what, and who, we need to see our collective vision for the Country succeed. This incubation happens on a State level (think Vermont giving insurance to all), or on a more local one (such as the City of Philadelphia providing affordable Wi-Fi to all City residents).

Democrats will always win in places like Philadelphia. But we need to ensure that these leaders are not only serving local needs, but understand that in the grand scheme of things, they are serving a much broader purpose: they, and their policies, are the future of the Democratic Party. Having patronage driven, vision-less, ineffective, and yeah -conservative- Democrats, representing us on local levels provides quite a dim vision for the future. Just the opposite, having local politicians who understand the need for reform, for engaging their community and for challenging the status quo, give us a future to look forward to. That is why we need to think big about the Mayoral race in 2007. And, much more pressing, why we need Seth Williams as District Attorney. He is the complete package- experienced, idea-driven, progressive, and simply a fundamentally decent man. We have a chance in three weeks to make a statement about what kind of City we want, and what kind of party we are, and I hope we do not blow it.

Go read the whole thing.

That’s odd:

The State Department announced last week that it was breaking with tradition in withholding the statistics on terrorist attacks from its congressionally mandated annual report. Critics said the move was designed to shield the government from questions about the success of its effort to combat terrorism by eliminating what amounted to the only year-to-year benchmark of progress.

Why the break with tradition, everything is going according to plan right?

The number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled last year, according to U.S. government figures, a sharp upswing in deadly attacks that the State Department has decided not to make public in its annual report on terrorism due to Congress this week.

Overall, the number of what the U.S. government considers “significant” attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides who were briefed on statistics covering incidents including the bloody school seizure in Russia and violence related to the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir.

Terrorist incidents in Iraq also dramatically increased, from 22 attacks to 198, or nine times the previous year’s total — a sensitive subset of the tally, given the Bush administration’s assertion that the situation there had stabilized significantly after the U.S. handover of political authority to an interim Iraqi government last summer

I assume that this goes back to the ancient theory that if you close your eyes tight enough, whatever it is that might be happening probably really isn’t. If you can’t see it, then it probably can’t see you, or something.

Yeah, I think I’ll pass. Go play with your own Legos kid.

I’ve always been a huge proponent of therapy. As in psychotherapy. I went to a therapist for a short time while I was in high school and found it to be a very beneficial experience. I never actually saw my diagnosis, if there even was one, but whatever I had went away just about as quickly as it came.

I survived college, occasionally I felt the urge to skip all my classes, stay in bed, and just wallow in misery. I did that a few times, but usually I could pull myself out of the doldrums by talking to one of my friends about whatever happened to be bothering me.

I haven’t been feeling so good lately and I’m not having much luck thinking myself out of the funk. In fact, thinking seems to be sucking me farther into whatever black hole I’m in.

What makes this different than other episodes of depression I’ve had is that I can’t really pinpoint a cause. Yes, my father’s death is contributing, as well as the end of the two relationships that I’ve written of before. All are factors, definitely, but I feel like something else is wrong. I feel incredibly alone, isolated even from people I consider my friends, and just not myself. I’ve never cared much for joining groups, but I’m trying to do the Weight Watchers thing and I hope the belly dancing class will also be a positive thing; if either activity yields a new friend or two, that would be a bonus. Right now, though, I have all too rare moments when I feel the warmth of the sun on my face; much more frequently, I feel surrounded by shadows and no matter where I go or what I do, I can’t seem to escape them.

Tonight the realization hit me. I can’t pull myself out of this alone. All my friends know me at “the strong one”, I can handle everything; but in the past few months, they have seen incredible moments of weakness, tears over things that I never cried over before(men), tears over the loss of my dad, tears over a movie about a goddamned robot who goes to the big city to make something of himself. Stuff that I normally shove desperately behind the facade was hanging out for everyone to see.

So, I’m going to quit yakking about it and I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. Hope to see you all on the bright side of the street someday soon.

While I’m as excited about judicial nominations, and the current battle over them, as just about anybody, I’d like to point out that the District Attorney of Philadelphia has a direct impact on the lives of one and a half million people and, most likely, many millions more. The election of the person to fill that role ought to consume just as much, if not more, passion. So much is at stake and this isn’t just a holding action - we have a great candidate in Seth Williams and we can win this one. Go out and win it.

I know this stuff doesn’t have the sex appeal of the Presidential election, or even a congressional race, but it effects the lives, in a very direct and important way, of a lot of people. Get yourself involved in whatever way you can.

I’m just curious, since I’m not very well informed on these things, would the United States have any strategic interest in the Middle East were it not for our dependance on oil? Would we really have any further need to engage in political meddling? Would anybody, not just us but anybody, feel the need to prop up, then topple petty despots left penniless because they have nothing left to sell but vacation packages? Would we be so deep in this hole if we had a tax system which rewarded development in walkable urban areas, supported by existing mass transit systems, rather than encouraging growth in the farthest flung exurbs? Could we possibly do this just a little bit better?

I had the not so unique pleasure of receiving one of those delightful emails today which encourages people to wear red on Fridays to support the troops. Whatever. I deleted it when I got to a bit about the “silent majority” who believe such and such and we really all ought to get solidarity or something. There really is nothing quite like invoking Nixon to make you drop whatever the hell you were doing and get in line I suppose. Anyway, not to be overly dismissive, as whatever misguided person or group is behind this is probably well intentioned if overly thick, but in terms of worthless ideas this is right up there with ultra light cigarettes and yellow ribbon magnets. It accomplishes nothing, other than to fool your own self into calm complacency and self satisfaction over some very urgent matters.

A whole new generation of soldiers will be, and are already, coming home from protracted combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, facing all of the same serious difficulties that every generation of soldiers has faced. A great number face physical debilitation of the most awful sort, and will require lifelong treatment. More still will be faced with serious psychological damage and will also, in many cases, require lifelong treatment if they are to avoid the fates of so many who came before them; post traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction, clinical depression, and homelessness to name a few. Wearing red on Friday or slapping a magnet on your bumper does nothing to address these needs.

What is needed is a serious attitude to create, and fund, a comprehensive program to deal with some very serious needs. Funds need to be allocated to the programs that administer to the physical and psychological needs of combat veterans and the Veteran’s Administration needs to be ramped up for the onslaught if we are to avoid a full out tragedy. Given the current lack of seriousness around this issue, I’m not inclined to be hopeful. Anyway, forget wearing red and forget the stupid magnet, you have two Senators and one Congressperson. Give them a call. Probably worthless as well, I know.

Via Young Philly Politics, The Inky has a biographical write up on Seth Williams this morning. Not much new here, but the attention helps. Go have a look:

Pointing to court statistics that show more than 50 percent of Philadelphia’s felony charges are thrown out of court before trial, Williams proposes a detailed community-based redeployment of the prosecutor’s office: assistant prosecutors would be based in geographic zones of the city, and the same prosecutor would handle each case from arraignment through trial. This would minimize the chances of a case falling through the cracks and would cut down on dismissals based on poor preparation or missing witnesses, Williams argues.

When he began campaigning in earnest several months ago, many political leaders in the city wondered, Who is this upstart? After all, Williams had no history in Philadelphia politics.

“Some people say I should wait four more years. I say, why? For who? For what?” Williams said. “This is about the victims of crime.”

Now the political establishment knows who he is.

Don’t forget to Volunteer, Donate, and Vote.

For some reason, I really seem to like what Chris Satullo has to say.

To be honest, we probably need a complete overhaul of the power structure of the Democratic party in Philadelphia so that corruption can’t continue to thrive and eventually drive our city into the ground. I think we might be hearing more about this in the future, but I’ll leave that discussion to the experts.

My only hope is that Chris Satullo’s bad mood assertion isn’t right.

“People aren’t looking to end the sordid deal-making; they’re just looking to get cut in on the next deal.”

Are people really only offended by corruption because they’re not getting a piece of the action?

I hope he’s wrong, but I don’t really think so. Can you tell that I’m slowly losing faith in humanity?

If you plan on reading just one thing today, it really ought to be this.

Here are the shocking results of yet another study that I’d classify as fairly obvious.

People have been abusing painkillers for a long, long time. My ex-boyfriend has been clean from abusing them for over 13 years, but he actually lied and cheated for his own painkillers, rather than “borrowing” them from his parents.

Kids today are just getting smarter. How long have teenagers been raiding their parents liquor cabinets? And we couldn’t have expected this to happen?

Sorry about the nonsense with the silly digital effect, but my wife insisted that I not show another picture of my desk until it has been cleaned just a little. This, naturally, provided little motivation to actually clean the damn thing.

If you can make out what kind of beer that is, I might give you a jelly bean the next time we meet.

I just can’t help myself. I’m such a complete sucker for animal stories and this one is just wonderful. A river otter was recently observed in the Schuykill River near the fish ladder. The experts are saying this means that the Schuylkill River is getting cleaner, apparently clean enough to attract the fish that the river otters like to eat.

Go here to check out the rest of the story, still photos, and video.