Weaver95

I’ve been following this story for a while now.  In a nutshell, what happened was this - a couple of judges got a whole lot of bribes from the private corporation running kiddie prisons in the state of Pennsylvania.  Bad news, right?  welll the corruption gets worse.  District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll wanted to put the kids back on trial.  See - it seems that old Musto girl is something of a ball busting ‘law and order’ type.  Or that’s what she wants us to all believe come election season.  But the State Supreme Court vacated the convictions because these judges blatantly violated the civil rights of the kids in question.  Musto knew that.  She *knew* that her office was complicit in this mess.  Perhaps not actively so but they knew the judges were ruling in favor of the prosecution so they looked the other way.  Musto Carroll has made quite the comfortable career locking up kids for crimes they did not commit.    And it took a Supreme Court ruling to get her to back off.

Now I know that some of you will make the claim that some of these kids did commit some of the crimes of which they were charged.  Granted, based just on statistical analysis alone at least SOME of these guys are guilty.  But the judges took bribes.  They sold their judgements.  Even if the kids might have been guilty, the corruption of the judicial process itself prevented a fair trial.  If we do not protect the integrity of the judicial process, then there is no reason for any of us to obey the law.  We might as well go back to lynch mobs and vigilante justice.  So even if a couple of these kids WERE guilty of some crime it doesn’t matter - even the guilty deserve a fair trial.  Since they didn’t get a fair shake, then the convictions must be overturned and the record expunged.  Because that’s how imp0rtant it is to protect the integrity of the justice system.

As for the rest of the people involved in this mess….most of them have yet to face any consequences for their actions.  The corporate guys haven’t even been charged yet.  The cops involved have walked away.  The prosecutors haven’t faced a single question about their actions.  The only people who’ve gone to jail are the judges themselves.  You have to wonder about that….these judges didn’t operate in a vaccuum.  They had cops hauling in kids left and right, the prosecutors stood there and watched as the judges blatantly violated court procedure and nobody did anything about it.  Why did the cops not question orders to bring in kids in a zero tolerance approach towards law enforcement?  Why did prosecutors ignore the ethics of their own profession and allow a fellow member of the bar violate the constitutional protections of defendants?  And why has nobody investigated how privately owned/operated prisons are run in this state?  Are there other people getting kickbacks?  Just how deep does the corruption run?  I have more questions than answers at this point, and I think that as a taxpayer I have a right to have those questions answered.

However, i’m just one guy.  True, i’ve got a blog.  But i’m one guy with a blog and maybe 5 readers.  None of us matter, not in the political process of this state anyway.  None of the questions we ask will matter.  Nobody in power will even hear them.  That said, i’ll continue to ask the questions.  Just because nothing I say matters doesn’t mean that the questions shouldn’t be asked.  Maybe eventually someone WILL hear, someone WILL listen.  And maybe we’ll get lucky and justice will eventually be done.

yup - ’tis true, we’re gonna see more layoffs here in Harrisburg.  Fast Eddie must really want to get himself shot…he didn’t pay state workers there for almost two months, now he’s going to start in with more layoffs.

I’ll bet Fast Eddie doesn’t lay off anyone in philly though.  Call me cynical if you must but Ed only seems to care about his buddies back home and doesn’t give a damn about the rest of the state.  He certainly doesn’t care about the state workers.  Or about infrastructure either for that matter - seriously Ed, what the hell is up with all the bridges around here?  they’re covered in rust stains and are badly in need of a new coat of paint.  I was driving back from Annapolis this weekend and every bridge I drove under had rust spots from stem to stern!

*sigh*

Why do we keep electing people like this?  You’d figure we’d be smart enough to avoid electing a phily street thug into office.  And then we act all surprised when he steals money from the piggy bank and screws up the budget every year.  wake the hell up people!  stop voting for philly Democrats!

Raise your hand if you’re still suprirsed…

Oh look, nobody did.  Le sigh.

Yes, its true - the Democrats arranged the emergency funding bill in such a way as to make sure THEY got paid before the state workers did.  State workers, who’ve been caught up in this whole budget mess, have been showing up to work and not getting any paycheck at all.  After getting beat up in the press, the state legislature finally decided to do something about the pay situation…but they paid themselves first.  They all got their paychecks yesterday - state workers won’t get their paycheck until sometime next week.

Y’know, it’s the little things that tell you about someone.  It’s how someone (or an organization) acts on the smaller, less important things that can give you a clue about what that person or organization really thinks.  And what this incident tells me is that the local Democrats don’t give a damn about anyone other than themselves.  They made sure to take care of themselves, and ignored the fact that there are some state workers who are in some seriously bad trouble right at this moment.  Those people didn’t get any fiscal help - and they did nothing to deserve such shabby treatment at the hands of the Democrat party.  A party that is supposedly all about the working man - especially all about the UNION working man.

Remember this one people.  Remember this when the elections come around.

Yeah, but we already knew that.  However - in case you really needed more evidence of just how incompetent Ed Rendell is, Sestak announced his intentions to run a primary race against Arlen Specter.

As I’m sure you all know, one of the reasons Arlen jumped ship from the Republican party was specifically because Arlen knew he’d get his ass kicked in the Republican primary race.  Arlen was hoping to not have to face a primary race after he became a Democrat.  Ed Rendell has done his level best here at home to make sure Arlen got his wish…but Ed is an incompetent boob.  It’s taking all his efforts to royally screw up the budget, and he hasn’t been able to quash Sestak’s efforts to run a primary race against Arlen.

So it looks like the Democrats are going to have a primary race after all.  Which is a good thing, at least in my opinion.  Sad to say, it’s not all bad for Arlen - he’s going to have a lot of philly democrats voting for him in a Democrat primary, which wouldn’t have been the case if he were still a Republican.  But Arlen has a couple things working against him:

1. Arlen is an asshole.  He jumped ship in a blatantly cynical attempt to stay in office, not out of any noble sentiment or higher motive.

2. Arlen has a bunch of assholes on his side.  Ed Rendell is not a very popular guy right now.  And Ed has been the major player in supporting Arlen.  Even philly democrats can put that math together!

3. Sestak is very well motivated to succeed.  Arlen is old and tired.  you sometimes get the feeling that he’s still running for office because he just doesn’t know how to do anything else with his life.  Sestak though…he looks like he really wants the job.  He’s pushing hard to fight this primary race, and he’s planning to fight Toomey for the seat.  People could very well just decide to dump Arlen in favor of the guy who’s at least well motivated.

I should probably mention at this point that I despise Arlen.  In fact, I’d register Democrat specifically to vote against Arlen Specter if I wasn’t already a libertarian.  I consider Arlen a poster child for everything wrong with D.C. beltway insiders.  That said, i’m glad he’s going to face a tough primary race.  If Sestak topples Specter from his perch, I’d vote for the guy just because he finally got rid of old ‘magic bullet’ Specter for us.

The interesting thing in all of this, at least to me, is just how badly Ed Rendell dropped the ball.  With all the backing Ed had from the national party leadership (up to and including President Obama), it should have been stupidly simple to find a way to convince Sestak to drop his primary race challenge and negotiate a challenge free run for Arlen.  But Ed is not a diplomat.  That this race is going to happen at all is yet another monument to the incompetence of Ed Rendell’s leadership.

Ah well.  Sorry Fast Eddie.  Now the entire country knows how you can’t even keep your own house in order!  I wonder how you manage to sleep at night, knowing that the entire world thinks you’re an idiot?  The shame of it must burn like fire…

Look at this picture:

I can almost see him trying to fire Dark Side force bolts at the Legislature.

*sigh*

So Fast Eddie isn’t happy about the budget. He’s real concerned, you see, that this whole mess is making him look bad.  Not that he cares though, as he is often quick to point out.  But it’s starting to crimp his style.  plus all the janitors keep pelting him with ho-hos every time he walks down the hallway.  Not to mention the fact that this budget mess has interrupted Ed’s ability to dash down to Philly, get a cheese steak and then pencil whip the speeding ticket through the system.  Do you know what’d happen if the people here in Harrisburg ever figured out just how many speeding tickets he’s gotten just in the past 6 weeks!?  Good thing we’ve all been distracted though, otherwise people might start to think Ed is a corrupt asshole.

All kidding aside though, Ed does have a lot of problems.  The longer this budget mess goes on the bigger the backlash will be against the Democrats.  The next Democratic candidate is going to have to deal with the toxic waste of Ed’s failed policies as part of their campaign and that’s just not something anyone in their right minds wants to have to handle.  And it’s complicating Ed’s ability to find a solution to Sestak and his push to run against Arlen Specter in a knock down/drag out DNC primary race.  So Ed’s getting it from all sides - the national party leaders are pushing him to bury Sestak in a coal mine somewhere, the local Democrats want a chance to kick Arlen out of the party AND the Republicans in Harrisburg are being insolent.  Not just insolent but Ed can’t just have them removed from the building and shot.

To be fair, most of Ed’s problems are self imposed.  Nothing in his career ever prepared him for dealing with an opposition party.  It’s not like there are any Republicans in Philadelphia.  So having to negotiate a budget with someone you can’t just bitch slap in a closed door meeting really cramps Ed’s style.  And believe me, he really WANTS to punch the lights out of the Republicans.  You can see it in his eyes - he wants to rip his shirt off and start beating the shit outta everyone in Harrisburg who doesn’t do exactly what he wants done.  Ed’s not a real big fan of the whole democracy thing, and he’s always been rather abusive.  As this budget mess continues and pressures mount, Ed’s getting squeezed and he really doesn’t know how to handle it.  I can’t say I feel sorry for the guy - I mean he’s managed to screw up every budget he’s ever been required to write.  That’s incompetence on a massive scale..I’m just sorry that the state workers are the ones who have to pay for Fast Eddie screwing up yet again.

Maybe this is a good thing though.  Maybe if enough people in the rest of the state feel as if they cannot trust anyone from philly, then maybe next election cycle we’ll get someone into office who isn’t a corrupt jackhole.  It could happen!  After all, Ed has cost people a lot of money.  And if there’s one thing people pay attention to, it’s someone who costs them money.  They might forget incompetent leadership, but take their money away from them and they sit up and pay attention to what you’re doing.  Here’s hoping someone finds a way to drive that point home next election cycle!

I caught this article over on Pennlive.com this morning.  Looks like the local polls are turning out pretty much the way I expected:

The poll found the Democratic governor’s rating had plummeted to 39 percent. That’s the lowest since he took office in 2003.

According to the poll, 90 percent of Pennsylvania voters think the inability of the governor and state Legislature to pass a budget by the June 30 deadline is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem. Rendell is most to blame for the budget stalemate, 30 percent of voters say, while 17 percent blame the Republicans in the Legislature; 11 percent blame the Democrats; and 28 percent blame everyone equally.

All good stuff really - it tells me a couple things about this budget mess.  For starters, it’s a good indication that Ed hasn’t been able to razzle-dazzle his way outta the mess he caused.  People don’t like Fast Eddie, they’re sick and tired of the philly democrats and of the type of government that Ed Rendell represents.  People can’t get rid of Eddie, but last time they were this pissed off, they DID get rid of a bunch of corrupt/arrogant Republicans.    So maybe that anger will translate into a better slate of candidates next election cycle.

That aside though, it really sucks to be a state worker this summer.  Through no fault of their own, they’re not getting paid.  Good, bad or indifferent - they don’t get a paycheck because their boss (Ed Rendell) has decided to yet again play politics with the state budget.  I cannot believe that there won’t be some sort of political backlash as a result of Ed’s actions.  It’s human nature to get pissed off when someone hoses your paycheck and I don’t see a lot of saintly people over in state government.  Having to show up to work on a couple of beautiful summer days and NOT get paid for it would really tick me off.  I’m honest enough to admit I’d be looking for a little payback once things were back to normal.  So if I were Ed, I’d make sure to be extra careful when speeding up and down the turnpike.  He’s pissed off a LOT of people, and state workers aren’t in the mood to cover for him right now.  If he’s got any skeleton’s in the closet they might just accidentally on purpose pop out.

Fix the budget Ed.  Paybacks are a bitch.

Philadelphia pisses me the hell off. Read this, it’ll piss you off as well.

Lawless was standing at the counter of the store, at Comly Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, smiling and chatting with the clerk, when she was grabbed from behind and violently pushed back with a police officer’s gun in her face.

Snickering aside, this woman was brutally assaulted by a philly cop.  Then the cop charged HER with assault.  Charges were filed, this woman was on her way to jail…and then along comes the video evidence, proving the cop was in the wrong.  Ah, but it gets better!

The [store]clerk on duty the night that Lopez confronted Lawless told investigators that three times after the incident, police officers spoke with him about the security tape and that two asked if he would erase it.

An Internal Affairs investigation found no misconduct among officers who spoke with the clerk about the tape.

The cop buddies asked the clerk to ERASE THE EVIDENCE!  And IA found nothing wrong with that.  Nothing at all wrong with destruction of evidence.  Just…erase the tape, sweep it under the rug.  fuggetaboutit, here have a cheese steak.

At a preliminary hearing four days later, Officer Lopez testified that he’d come into the store and ordered Lawless and the three young men with her to the floor, and that “she freaked out, started punching, slapping and kicking me multiple times.”

Based on the officer’s testimony, Judge Robert Blasi ordered that the case proceed to trial.

So the cop lies under oath, files false charges, arranges for destruction of evidence…and then:

But four days later, investigators from Internal Affairs got the store’s surveillance video of the incident, and things changed quickly.

Lopez was assigned to desk duty and his weapon was removed.

Wow dude - that’s harsh.  He had to turn over his weapon and fly a desk.  ooooo!  I’ll bet his self esteem was bruised too.  however, Officer Lopez did finally come to Jesus:

At the end of his interview with Internal Affairs, Lopez was asked if he would like to add anything that would assist the investigation.

“I would like to have used better judgment that night,” the officer said.

well i’m certainly glad we’ve cleared THAT up!  thanks for all that stellar police work there Officer!  you’ve certainly restored my confidence in the justice system of the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania!

I dunno guys:  rising unemployment, people getting kicked off public assistance, Vince Fumo getting a slap on the wrist and now philly cops who see nothing wrong with framing someone just because they can.  I’m starting to think that those bunker dwelling gun nuts up in Perry County have a point.  And I *hate* agreeing with them weirdo militia types.

I’ve held off writing about old Vince Fumo.  I have a good reason though - this one had me steamed!  Vince definitely beat the rap! Convicted on 137 counts of fraud and he gets 4.5 years in prison.

4.5 years.

Had vince been found with 15 ounces of pot, he’d be facing a mandatory minimum jail term of at least 5 years.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter had said sentencing guidelines call for the Philadelphia Democrat to get about 11 to 14 years. Today, Buckwalter reduced Fumo’s sentence based on his public service.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what was call ‘justice’ here in Pennsylvania.  Political connections and some campaign contributions to grease the wheels and you can take an 11 year sentence and reduce it to four and a half years.  oh sure, Vince has to pay a fine too…but hey, he can just give back the money he stole and it’s all good.

So you can guess why I took my time writing something about this story.  It’s a disgrace, it’s disgusting, it’s a mockery of justice…take your pick.  But what really outrages me is that nobody seems to care.  My coworkers seem unaware, the press seems to have glossed over this incident.  Even bloggers around here are more interested in the budget crisis than Vince beating the odds.

*sigh*

I think I’ll get some coffee and go for a walk.