DOOMSDAY DOOMSDAY! - Eliminating Libraries, Less Cops, and NO COURTS?!

Mayor Nutter is somewhere between a brilliant politician using Machiavellian techniques, and a man who is trying to get his way by making threats that would, in the end, hurt the very people he was elected to help and make better.

Nutter is in between a rock and a hard place with the Philadelphia City Budget. Despite the cries and protests from residents last year, Nutter not only has Libraries on the chopping block, he has them up front, ready to shut them down in a heartbeat if the PA State Budget doesn't get approved.

But to a much more important and scarier end, he wants to shut down the Philadelphia Court System.

WHAT THE HELL?!

The problem with this is actually very simple: It is next to impossible to do that. Why? Largely because his Plan C budget, the "Doomsday Budget", isn't legal. He has no legal right to shut down the Philadelphia Court System, and it has been decried by critics as being nothing more than a scare tactic.

So lets get this straight: We have a Mayor who is threatening his citizens with no legal system in his city if his budget doesn't get approved. At the same time, other cities and states have faced similar problems but have made other cuts in other places. Nutter is simply using a scare tactic to get what he wants, which is a pension freeze and a 1% raise in the city Sales Tax for "only 5 years".

When I ran for office, I kept saying the same thing over and over again: I want long-term solutions for long-term problems. You can't just put a band-aid on something and hope it works, you need something that will have a long-term effect.

The thing that urkes me the most is the fact that, while Philadelphia got money from the Stimulus earlier this year... does anyone know where it went? What happened to the money?! All I've seen so far is that they re-paved some streets that really didn't need it! We got over $700 MILLION!

So what should Nutter do? How does he save Philadelphia from fiscal collapse and make sure he can actually deliver on his promise? The Committee of Seventy says it best:

The proposals include reducing the cost and size of city government; fixing how property taxes are assessed; evaluating the need and functions of the city's four independently elected row offices; consolidating city housing agencies; and improving the 311 call system to generate greater savings.

Is it going to be easy? No, but, really, this needs to happen and it needs to happen NOW.

Status of the Blog: Update

Hello one and all!

Sorry about the lack in posts overall as of late. Things on my end have been incredibly busy, and I wanted to at least make a statement about where this blog is and where it is going.

First, no, there are no plans to stop this blog at all. The lack of posts lately as well as more of a focus on arts is just where my mind is right now.

Second, it's important for me to note that the reason for the current direction IS largely because of the fact that I've done a ton of art-related things. I've spent the last month cranking out work for an audition for a TV show and an art show this coming Friday. On top of that, I'm preparing for a convention in September and ANOTHER art show in October. I'm also trying to get stuff together for a possible calendar and a comic book within this month. Its safe to say, things are hectic.

So, to a degree, this blog is going to be less active this month than usual. Sorry about that. I'm going to TRY and start writing again, and who knows, maybe 8-Album Mind will return. I'm literally am right where I left-off and it would be cool to get back to it.

So that's it. Look for more posts soon!

If a Pro-Bike Group Posts a Pro-Bike Story... Oh God, It MUST be True!

Philebrity posted a story that got to me:

New Prevailing Wisdom: In Philly, A Bike Will Get You There Quicker Nearly Every Time

Here’s something they don’t tell you: Who plans the route?

For the last 4 years, the Bicycle Coalition stages a race against a car and a SEPTA bus. Every year, the bike wins.

Am I the only one who is going to call bullshit on this “study” and this “story”?

This is like getting a press release from some group like the PMRC in the 80’s, quoting it verbatim, then holding it up like some grand truth! “Motley Crue are evil!” “Bikes beat cars!”

I’d rather see a non-partial study done, a non-partial race, and see who wins. If a PRO-BIKE group holds a race and a BIKE CONSTANTLY WINS, doesn’t that seem odd and fishy? Doesn’t seem that the smart thing to do would be to not report this story as fact and, instead, call it for what it is: A publicity stunt that doesn’t prove a point, but reasserts what people want to hear and what the group in charge wanted to see.

SWINE FLU - Beware The Pandemic! Poster

SWINE FLU - Beware The Pandemic! by LuvataciousSkull

As of 4/29/2009, Swine Flu has been upgraded to a Level 5 Disease by WHO, which is a step away from a full-blown pandemic. In the eyes of myself, and many others around the country, this entire situation is overblown and a joke. At least, hopefully its all this will be.