Philly Polticis: The Good, The Bad, and the STUPID!

The Good:

1. Ballot Battles! 

Milton Street, despite most likely forging his petitions as well as not even living in Philly, was somehow approved to be on the ballot. The upside? The Nutter Campaign is battling his petition and residency! I was recently harassed by one of his petitioners before the deadline (I'll leave it there, maybe tell the story one day soon), and on top of the fact that I don't think he should be elgible to run at all... Well, it's a red-letter day for me!


Czar, pardon me, City Councilman Darrell Clake has just had his petition challenged as well! You may know Darrell Clarke as the City Councilperson from the 5th District who's chief accomplishment's are trying to track when you buy cigarettes, alcohol, and Sharpie Markers, wanted to ban Satellite Dishes, passed a hate crime bill that was simply redundant and pointless, as well tried to pass a promoters bill that would have harmed Philly only because he didn't like the fact he couldn't park closer to his house. 


His petition is being challenged by his only challenger, Suzanne Carn, who's husband is former state Rep. Andrew Carn. I hope it works and we see Clarke have to pack his bags and go!


2. The Corrupt Establishment Is LEAVING!


Councilpersons Joan L. Krajewski , Donna Reed Miller, Frank DiCicco, and Anna Verna are GONE! Their done! Retired! Adios! For the record, I met Anna once when I was running, and she was very nice, same with Frank DiCicco who tried to help me lower the age requirement. That aside, politically, I am glad to see all four of these people go. We need some fresh blood in City Council, and a more progressive governing body to challenge Nutter!

The Bad: 

1. The Philadelphia Republican's can't seem to get their stuff together!


WHAT THE HELL?! Come on, it's wide open! You're up against someone who promised hope and change, and instead all we got were new tax ideas that were terrible and stupid and treated us like kids! He lied to the city about stopping casinos! The guy is as popular as a wet sock, but no one is really challenging him because, frankly, who wants this mess?! The Democrats in Philly are about as progressive as a donkey stuck in mud, and the best the Republican's can do is somebody no one's heard of?!
 
 Plus, they never even bothered to give me a call or send me an e-mail! I'm on Facebook! Call me!


2. Charles Ramsey might be leaving. 

Even though I was tough as hell on the guy before he got here, I have to admit, he's done a good job, and he's tried his damnedest to try and clean up the local police department. If he goes, hopefully we'll get someone who's just as good, if not better.


The STUPID: 

Simply put: The fact that Milton Street was allowed to get on the ballot without the Election Office VERIFYING everything first! WHAT THE HELL!

Oh: And ANYONE who thinks Milton running is "entertaining"! What the hell is wrong with the people in media thinking it's a GOOD thing? The guy's a criminal, a jerk, and an incompetent politician!

Patrick of Digital Ferret Fights Back for all Home Owners!!!

Patrick has let me show my work at Digital Ferret a few times, and I consider the man a pal and a great guy to do business with. So when I heard about this, I couldn't be happier:

"It's not clear how this story will turn out, but right now Patrick Rodgers is living a pay-back fantasy probably shared by millions of struggling U.S. homeowners.

Frustrated by a dispute with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and by his inability to get answers to questions, the West Philadelphia homeowner took the mortgage company to court last fall.

When Wells Fargo still didn't respond, Rodgers got a $1,000 default judgment against it for failing to answer his formal questions, as required by a federal law called the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

And when the mortgage company didn't pay - does something sound familiar? - Rodgers turned to Philadelphia's sheriff."

Read the full story on Philly.com!

Also, I want to note that the one thing that is getting lost in all of this is that Patrick owns and tuns Digital Ferret. The place is AWESOME! Spread the word!

MUBARAK IS GONE! EGYPT IS FREE!!!!!

We now cut live to the celebrations, already in progress:

PRO Al-Jazeera Protest - Thursday, February 10th - 7PM!!!

From the wire:

When:
Thursday, February 10, 2011 7:00 PM


Where:
Free Library of Philadelphia
1701 John F Kennedy Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA


Message from Al Jazeera -  
 "The past month has shown us something that America can no longer ignore: millions of Americans want to watch our channel and better understand our region, and too many are deprived of that opportunity." - Wadah Khanfar, director general of the Al Jazeera Network

As I wrote in the past, I firmly believe we need this in the U.S., and Comcast should carry it. So spread the word and come out and show your support!!!!

Tag any tweets, photos, and videos with #AJEMeetups in reference to this!

Milton Street is Running For Mayor. Again.

All I have to say is this: No.

Why? WHY IS HE RUNNING AGAIN? 

Didn't he learn anything?

At any rate, I'm not planning anything. I plan on staying home and voting against him. He doesn't have a chance. At all.

The Curious Case of Lewis Harris, Jr.

In 2007 while I was trying to run for Mayor of Philadelphia, I took a chance of trying to become the nominee for the Green Party of Philadelphia. I had run into someone during my petition drive who turned me onto the group, and asked if I would speak to the group at the next meeting, which I gladly agreed to do. I went to the meeting, gave a speech, and it was pretty well received.

My speech, in general, was about how people who have been in politics for forever and a day tend to forget why they became public servants int he first place, and how over time they've been corrupted by the power and the need to secure their spot every chance they get. How, in the end, they care less about helping people and more about everything else.

After the speech, I met the two people the Green Party was already running, one of whom was City-Commissioner candidate Lewis Harris, Jr.

Lewis reminded me of someone I already knew; the type of person who had lived through more things than I could ever know, growing up in a time when segregation was legal and when being tough meant more than anything. He also reminded me of the type of person who was in politics for forever and a day. He put his arm around me, much like Milton Street did when I went to protest him, and said, "Here's my card, man. Give me a call. We'll talk, get you started, and one day we'll get you into office, get you started on the path."

I could tell immediately what he meant; Do what I want, or you won't go anywhere. I declined.

Months passed. The other person they had considered to be their nominee started to fade away, and I came to monthly meetings from March until August. By the last one I went to, the kind and welcoming nature that Lewis and the other person had shown was gone. They didn't see me as one of "them." Not just a non-Green Party member, but not a "team player". I didn't want to play the game of cow-towing to people I didn't feel I could trust. In turn, they used their influence in the party as board members to vote against naming me the nominee.

The Green Party lost all elections that year.

Fast-forward to 2011. A special election was held in the 185th District for a vacant seat. Up for election was the widow Maria Donatucci and... Lewis Harris, Jr for the Republican Party?

Yes, Lewis had popped-out again and was now a Republican. Not only that, but he wanted to be a State Representative! During the election, his website offered little if anything on a platform, and simply highlighted his accomplishments and accolades. The election fell during the massive snow storm, and in the end saw very, very low turn-out.


Maria Donatucci won with 94% of the vote!

Lewis Harris, Jr,  to me, doesn't seem to be focused on people. Based on the few times I've met him, talked and dealt with him, and the fact that he has gone from Republican Coordinator for Sam Katz in North Philly, to Vice Chair of the Green Party, to running as a Republican State Rep to now running for Traffic Court, can you blame me?

The Case for Al Jazeera in the U.S.A.

THIS is the Al Jazeera English: Live Stream.

As I post this, they are doing virtually 24/7 coverage about the revolution in Egypt. It is simply amazing!

For the past week, I've gotten my first actual look at Al Jazeera. In America, the network is often portrayed as al-Queda's voice, a way for their message to get out and radicalize Arabs. The reality, after what I've seen, is the complete obvious. It is smart, they ask tough and incredibly hard questions, and they don't take the government line at any time.

While CNN and MSNBC will simply cow-toe to their guests, rarely doing their job of fishing out the truth in a sea of lies, Al Jazeera actually does non-stop. I haven't seen any pointless stories about a squirrel on water-skis, nothing about some pointless sports game... just NEWS. Non-stop news!

The sad thing is that virtually no one in the United States carries it. In fact, except for a few places, including Washington D.C., there is a virtual black-out of it. Like I said before, its been portrayed as a terrorist network. This, despite the fact that multiple U.S. politicians have appeared on this network in the past week alone!

Look, it's basically just good TV. It's smart, its interesting, and the graphics are neat, too. The case for Al Jazeera in the USA is actually very simple; They're covering the things no one else does, and what many networks  are afraid to cover. They're fair, they're honest, and to a large degree entirely balanced. If they are the anti-Fox News, its only because of their nearly tireless pursuit of the truth!

If you agree, PLEASE come out to a meetup dedicated to getting it in the USA! February 10th!

"First Amendment Remedies" is Catching On!

Remember when I posted we needed more "First Amendment Remedies"? Looks like the phrase is catching on:

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

Kick. Ass.

Gizmodo, io9, and entire GAWKER Network's new Beta Design!

I was trying to get to io9 earlier and was greeted with this:

Same for Gawker:

So it looks like they've decided to re-design all their sites to this new format. My 2 cents? I LIKE THE OLD ONE!

EDIT: Turns out they're already live. Damn. I thought I had a scoop... well, the new design SUCKS!!!

Today's Weather? Out of the Sun...

Tell me this song doesn't describe this morning:



Motorhead "Out Of The Sun"

The wind is cold where I live,
The blizzard is my home,
Snow and ice and loaded dice, the Wizard lives alone,
The wind is cold where I live, white and cold, and clean,
White and cold and bought and sold and heartbreak in between,
And so we shall see what is done is done, undone.
Trees are stone where I live, leaves of razor steel,
High and low and ice and snow, broken on the wheel,
Trees are stone where I live, flowers made of glass,
Cold and white and wrong and right and voices from the past.
And all our yesterdays are now undone.
Out of the sun

Frozen and insane, I alone remain,
Held in the vice of my disdain,
There is now way that anyone will ever,
Make me warm again.