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February 2, 2012
Editorial, Opinions & Letters
Three Points to Ponder
Beginning with this issue, and recognizing we are on a glide path to what is likely to be the most fractured election in 150 years that will drill down to the local level, we will offer three opinions that will reflect concerns at the national, state, and local level.
Gross Negligence
The amount of debt generated through government spending this year has exceeded the total gross dollars produced by our economy for the first time; except during a world war. This shameless disregard for responsibility to the citizenry rests on the shoulders of every legislator and the President. The congress is obligated to prepare a budget and has the ultimate responsibility to submit it for approval and it has not done that. The President has done little to pressure his majority party to work with the minority in the senate to deal with the message the voters sent in the last election. The House Republicans, who were told by the citizens to stop spending, sidestepped their responsibility by approving a trillion dollar increase in the federal debt this week. Foolishly we are mortgaging our country to Chinese and world bankers while they put on a dog and pony show in an election year. An excellent antidote to negligence of the national media to do investigative journalism on behalf of the American people would be four very recent Bill Moyers’ interviews on Crony Capitalism and Wall Street control of our federal government that continues into this administration with the same intensity it had in the last. His interviews with David Stockman, Gretchen Morgenson, John Reed, and Byron Dorgan are a must see before you consider how you will vote in November.
Gov. Gorbett’s WAM
If you are from Philadelphia you know that “WAM” is the abbreviation for “Walking around money” that ward leaders and politicians of all stripes have passed out in cash for years on Election Day to guarantee outcomes. But this kind of WAM pales in comparison to the public dollars doled out without proper compliance through elected leaders to what appear on the surface to be legitimate developments that claim public interest and community rebuilding as their primary objective. For years the compliance portion of this distribution process has been sidestepped and much of the funding only goes to insiders and those developers who recycle large portions of those public dollars back to the very politicians who approved them. This process is known as “Pay-to-play” and is accepted practice by both parties and, sad to say, most voters; who feel the day may come when it works for them.
So it should be no surprise when Governor Corbett’s reform administration went back on a campaign promise to review and refuse state funding to projects started in the previous administration but were not yet funded and look for failures to comply in a timely manner with all required provisions. The plan was to cut off loosely crafted deals and help balance the state budget in the process.
Well, it did not quite work out that way. To his credit, Governor Corbett broke with tradition and presented a budget on time, but with the astounding deficit at $4 billion. Bear in mind that unlike the federal government, states cannot print money and must balance their budgets annually.
At the llth hour as the books were being closed in late December 2011, the Republican-dominated Senate and House, with the support of the governor, rammed through $1.6 billion in state funding RACP projects with $460 million of that targeted for Philadelphia area projects. Review and oversight with selective approval as promised vanished and the legislators were informed to “vote for all of it in one package or you may get nothing” we are told.
According to reliable sources as many as 90% of those applications for funding were deficient in some manner and the majority of them so much so that they should never have been approved. One would think with a $4 billion deficit facing them that a reform administration that had full control of both houses would have made those decisions as promised. I guess there must have been just as many “loose deals” in Republican districts as those in Democratic districts, so they took the easy road out and all those that applied the appropriate grease were rewarded.
Comcast alone got $30 million.
After all, the election is over.
The City Circles the Drain
Wake up voters, take off the blinders and stop rationalizing that a one party town delivers the goods in a more efficient manner while providing quality of life to the most at the lowest cost. Of course that has been the sell here since the late 1960s and now we have a voter registration that is about 88% to 12% in favor of the Democrats. To make it worse the so called “opposition Republicans” sold out years ago under what is unofficially known as the proportional patronage program where a number of Republicans can hold no-show or no-performance jobs they cannot be fired from for any reason. When this condition becomes that critical, then it is the obligation of the major news media to become the functional opposition party and challenge all that the corrupt machine doles out on a daily basis. Now this is where I tell you that machine actually funds the major newspaper in this city; the Inquirer, and so many of the other news sources are so in love with Mayor Nutter, David L. Cohen, and the others who run this city, that they often omit or back-page the more damaging information to those in elected leadership.
From the day Mayor Nutter took office we already were kicking the can of massive financial failure down the road with pension shortcomings, uncompleted union negotiations, funding a failing school system, losing millions in cozy contracts that a first year law student would reject, a tax system wholly out of balance, the city with the highest rate of poverty in the nation and now confirmed the murder capitol of the USA.
The political response to this is to install “frontier justice” where Mayor Nutter is taking on violent crime by offering a bounty upwards of $20,000 per conviction and other “fees for information” in order to stop the bloodshed. I would call it “The best law East of the Pecos”. Don’t get me wrong, we have allowed this city to deteriorate so far that martial law is around the corner for some neighborhoods. In that vein we have watched witnesses and their families executed with some regularity, including one last week. Areas of Philadelphia are in effect run by druglords and gangs a la Mexican/Columbian cities. Paying for information under conditions this bad is very dangerous territory, and may actually increase the bloodshed.
All of this of course continues to avoid admitting the obvious - - that we are the “Most Failed City” in the nation. Horrible family structure deterioration, a collapsed educational system, and lack of tiered opportunity that began as far back as 1968 have now all converged into this “Clockwork Orange” environment. For political insiders we build tax exempt and massively subsidized Comcast towers in the city to employ already comfortable suburbanites, while we drove most viable private blue and white collar businesses that employed folks at every level out of this city due to political shakedowns and one of the most oppressive tax policies for both businesses and individuals in the nation.
It is time we stopped rationalizing that manicuring around the edges and pumping more public money to insiders without transparency will do anything except make it worse.
Jim Foster, Editor/Publisher
Opinion: Making Primary Choices
Have you tuned into the Pennsylvania attorney general's race yet? I might as well ask, have you read a really first-rate book on peat moss lately? Truth is, I usually don't pay attention to a race like this until a month or two before a primary election. But not this year. No matter what the office, your humble servant will shape up as a well- informed voter and one very switched-on ward leader. Maybe not in that order, but yes, brilliance over bullshit, substance over style, if only for the rash and novel hell of it, if only for the thrill of getting things right.
Don't get me wrong. The Ninth Ward is forever tinkering with the process of vetting candidates out of a sense of guilt or optimism, or a mix of these. Just the same, every now and again we blot our copybook, endorsing someone with the brains of a Rolaid and the soul of a rotter. I've been burned lately and I don't like it. We supported a 2011 judicial candidate who, after his election, was unable to pass a state judicial qualifications test. Some say the test was difficult! Whatever the facts, I am embarrassed for me and our ward committee's lack of due diligence. From now on, here in the Ninth, there'll be a mandatory display of hands for all who come our way on candidates' show-and-tell night. Any of the hopefuls without opposable thumbs will be escorted to the door and given bus fare home.
Then there's the traffic court's Judge William "Willie" Singletary. We did not support him last year, but still it bears telling: Many other wards, probably most other wards, did. This is the guy who photocopied his, well, never mind, then scanned and emailed the image to a female colleague. His way of asking for a date? Was he trying to get in touch with his inner Anthony Weiner, or just having himself a high old time?
There have been embraces of other regrettable candidates. In last year's primary contests here in Philadelphia, it felt like there were a hundred names on the Democratic ballot. As a ward leader, you're constantly running into these people on the campaign trail. You start to take a liking to some. Blame human nature, the habit of fellow feeling. Ah, but that's when mistakes are made, as they say at the passive-voice Pentagon, and the semi-charming but comprehensively unqualified do sometimes slip through the cracks. My good friend Lou Agre, the hardhearted Roxborough and Manyunk ward leader, likes to warn that when it comes to candidates hustling for ward endorsements, "Don't name the puppies at the pound." Translation: Too often we become attached to candidates, too early and incautiously, owing mostly to the nonstop nudging of friends and others. Ideology or just plain political pressure makes for mischief too. So, I've made up my mind: I'm going with the most qualified candidates, hang the fellow feeling, the backslapping.
Which returns me to the Pennsylvania attorney general's race. Two Democrats running. One woman, one man. The woman is Kathleen Kane. A strong independent, 15-year Lackawanna County prosecutor. Willing to take on difficult cases with a fearless pursuit of justice. A highly sought- after authority on child abuse, interviewed lately on cable news outlets as an outspoken expert against disgraced Penn State coach Gerry Sandusky. Exactly the type of prosecutor needed to oversee such hideous cases.
Vastly experienced and, if successful in May, she would be the only woman running on the state-wide ballot in the fall with President Obama, bringing much needed balance to the ticket in our backwoods commonwealth. Then there’s Patrick Murphy, the likable former congressman from Bucks County and Iraqi war veteran with a valorously progressive resume. An early backer of one Senator Barack Obama in the early goings of the 2008 presidential primary pageant. Murphy's been an out-front supporter of gay rights in the military. However: he's never prosecuted a criminal in Pennsylvania or anywhere else, though he did spend four years in the navy's JAG command. So: He brings up the rear in the experience department.
The primary election is April 24. Lots of time to sort it all out, to get things right. The Pennsylvania Democratic Committee just made its statewide endorsements. No surprises here. Nothing to see here ladies and gentlemen. Move along please. The three candidates for reelection are President Obama, U.S. Senator Bob Casey and state treasurer Rob Mc Cord. No endorsement for attorney general. Oh, and there is a guy named Eugene De Pasquale. A four- year state representative from the city of York, he’s the party’s endorsed candidate for auditor general, as well as a spoiler of an all-Irish statewide ballot in November.
John O’Connell
9th Ward Democratic Party Leader
Armenian Genocide Denial Not New
Editor:
On January 23, 2012, the French Senate approved a measure that would criminalize the denial of the 1915 genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. France has already recognized the acts themselves as genocide, but the new bill would punish genocidal “denialists.” Mr. Ekin’s article is troubling in several respects, but most disturbing is his inability to grasp the reality of genocidal scholarship and his convoluted attempt to engage in genocidal denialism under the guise of preserving free speech. A history lesson seems in order.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, leaders of the Young Turk regime sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The outbreak of war provided the perfect opportunity to solve the “Armenian question.” The decision to annihilate the entire population came directly from the ruling triumvirate of ultra-nationalist Young Turks. By the time the killings had been completed, more than 1.5 million Armenians had been slaughtered, and the Armenian Question in Eastern Anatolia had been resolved.
The First World War ended in November 1918. Shortly before the War ended, Young Turk leaders abruptly resigned their government posts and fled to Germany, where they had been offered asylum. In the months that followed, repeated requests by Turkey’s new moderate government and the Allies were made asking Germany to extradite the Young Turks to stand trial on violating the laws of war. All such requests were refused.
Many governments, international organizations, and historians recognize the Armenian Massacres as “genocide.” For example, 42 of the 50 US states have made individual proclamations recognizing the events of 1915 as genocide. The Parliament of the State of New South Wales, Australia, passed a resolution in 1997 acknowledging and condemning the Armenian Genocide. In 2001, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and then, in 2004, the government of Canada itself, recognized the Armenian Genocide. In recent years, parliaments of several countries, including France and Switzerland, have formally recognized the events as genocide. Countries officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide include Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Moreover, prosecutions for genocide denialism are not new. On March 8, 2007, Turkish nationalist Doğu Perinçek became the first person convicted by a court of law for denying the Armenian Genocide, found guilty by a Swiss district court. Perinçek appealed the verdict, but the conviction was upheld by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on December 12, 2007.
The modern-day Turkish government denies that there was an Armenian genocide, claiming that Armenians were only removed from the eastern “war zone.” The Armenian Genocide, however, occurred all over Anatolia (present-day Turkey) and not just in the “war zone.” Deportations and killings occurred in the West, in and around Ismid and Broussa; in Central Turkey, in Ankara; in the Southwest, in and around Konia and Adana; in Central Anatolia, near Diyarbekir, Harpout, Marash, Sepastia, Shabin Kara-Hissar, and Ourfa; and on the Black Sea coast, in and around Trebizond, all of which were not part of a “war zone.” Only Erzeroum, Bitlis, and Van, in the East, were in the “war zone.”
Did the Turkish Government manifest the intent, through word or action, to commit atrocities against its Armenian population that today would be considered genocide? The consensus across the international community and among reputable legal experts, historians, and genocidal scholars, is yes. That there was no prosecutorial tribunal convened, at a time when the term “genocide” had not even been coined, is dispositive of nothing except an immature international criminal justice system. Mr. Ekin’s suggestion that a formal prosecution be necessary to evidence a genocidal event is fatally flawed, as it would, by definition, eliminate dozens of accepted genocides from historical consideration.
The French proposal does not challenge the underlying existence of the Armenian genocide, but rather addresses what steps the international community should take to safeguard historical accuracy. A more appropriate debate would be whether the French law is an affront to those who value basic civil liberties. The punishments proposed are certainly not draconian. There is nothing inherently cruel about a short incarcerative sanction, and the law itself simply criminalizes a behavior as a way of preserving historical fact.
The proposed French law does not revisit the existence of the genocide. That issue has been decided. The international community generally, and the French legislature specifically, have taken the next step in genocide preservation. While I suspect that Turkish supporters will continue to ignore consensus and historical reality, I hope that, someday, they can overcome their intellectual crudeness and focus on those issues that are worthy of serious debate.
George Yacoubian
Armenian-Turkish Genocide Issue Still Roils
Dear Editor:
On January 23, 2012, the French Senate passed a controversial bill, which criminalizes the denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide” allegedly committed in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The measure, also approved last month by 50 out 577 deputies in the lower chamber of the French Parliament, mandates a maximum 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine and a year of imprisonment for those who deny the allegations. The French Senate’s approval came after the last week’s decision by its Commission of Laws that the bill was in violation of constitutional rights, including the freedom of expression. Subsequently, tens of thousands of French citizens of Turkish heritage marched through Paris to protest the draconian law.
The WW I era atrocities in Eastern Turkey were never tried under any competent international tribunal; the intent to exterminate Armenians was never established or proven; no court verdict characterizing the events in terms of the 1948 United Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide was issued. The mentioned UN convention is not retroactive and even the major Nazi war criminals were never tried under it, but rather under the Geneva (1864, 1929) and The Hague (1899, 1907) conventions on the laws of war. Hence, the French lawmakers are essentially reinventing the definition of genocide and criminalizing its denial in circumvention of a well established legal process.
Driven by an ethnocentric political agenda ahead of the election season, French lawmakers not only try to mock the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but also imagine themselves as expert historians. In contrast, according to a renowned expert of the Ottoman history, Professor Bernard Lewis of Princeton University, there was no “deliberate preconceived decision of the Ottoman government” to eliminate Armenians and the claim that the inter-communal warfare atrocities were a genocide constitutes only “the Armenian version of the history.” Besides Armenians, over 518,000 Turkish civilians were massacred during WW I in the same region by the armed bands of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the invading Russian forces led by officers of Armenian origin. Obsessed with the utopian ideal of carving a “Greater Armenia” from Eastern Anatolia and the South Caucasus, the ARF zealots sought to eradicate any non-Armenian presence in the provinces, where they were never a majority. None of these historical facts find their reflection in the French legislative bill.
Reminiscent of the medieval Inquisition, this controversial French legislation not only victimizes the liberty in favor of petty ethnic interests, but also threatens to damage France’s international standing. Specifically, along with the United States and Russia, France serves as a mediator of the OSCE Minsk Group on the resolution of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But this ethnic bias of French lawmakers convinced Azerbaijanis to start questioning the French mediation in the conflict, which is closely linked to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Additionally, the law may also become an epitaph to Nabucco gas project and to the dream of Europe’s energy security, in which Turkey and Azerbaijan are the key players.
I join members of the Pax Turcica Institute (PTI), Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC), Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) and all Turkic-Americans to denounce the draconian French law on the so-called “Armenian genocide” as an unlawful attack on the freedom of speech and a disgraceful act of historical revisionism.
Nurten Ekin
Thank You, Councilwoman Bass
Dear Editor,
I would like to share an experience with the Germantown Community that I had in court on January 24th. Cindy Bass, the new Councilperson for the 8th ward, came to a court hearing and forcefully advocated for Germantown. Her support resulted in fines being levied in a long-standing code violation case for the first time, and in a promise from the court to find a resolution quickly.
Many of you are aware of the derelict building on the corner of Coulter and Knox Streets. It has been the subject of litigation many times, with each case resulting in no improvement. Indeed, this paper has covered the building’s deteriorating condition and the efforts to have it restored twice before. The Daily News also had an article, calling it the “Ill Manor” at the end of last year. For those who live nearby, or who drive by it, the building’s condition is a visual reminder of how unresponsive Philadelphia has been to community concerns. The Penn Knox community has been actively and unsuccessfully working to have this once grand home restored for ten years.
The current case, on code violations, was filed in December of 2010, and the condition, through eight prolonged hearings, has not improved much. Mayor Nutter’s recent blight initiative, and his well publicized statement that neighborhoods “Don’t have to take it anymore” did not seem to apply here. There was a reasonable suspicion that this case, too, would close with nothing changing, except for more deterioration. The expected fines were not used in this case, and it did seem as if the hearings would go on forever, and as the building continued to crumble, it would become another lost piece of Germantown history.
A change happened when Miss Bass attended the hearing. In a well informed statement, she told the judge that it was time to move the matter along and to get to a resolution. She made it clear that she intended to follow this case and to pursue blight vigorously throughout her district, speaking for all of Germantown.
The effect on the judge hearing this case, Bradley Moss, was immediate: $10,000 in fines were levied, and there was a new sense of urgency in the judge’s rulings. Excuses by the owner’s attorney for not complying with previous orders, which were accepted before, were no longer tolerated. Ms. Bass’s advocacy made the change in this case, and foretells a new era for Penn Knox and for all of Germantown. It seems as if we finally have a friend in City Hall.
Thank you, Councilwoman Bass!
Julie Baranauskas
Philadelphia
A Veteran’s Plea To Sen. Patrick Toomey
Editor:
During the Vietnam War era, hundreds of thousands of Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard joined forces to fight in this war. After 30 plus years, I ask Senator Toomey (R-PA) to now join forces with veterans of that war who are sick with diseases.
Nearly all those who served, either were in-country or at sea and in the air. They were poisoned with agent orange dioxin. Agent orange, a herbicide used in Vietnam, a defoliant was sprayed by hand, tanker truck and aircraft.
Those who served in-country who made claim to the Veterans Affairs (VA), receive disability compensation for presumptive exposure to agent orange, Those who served at sea and in the air do not receive VA disability compensation, because they did not have boots-on-ground Vietnam.
713 Naval ships, designated by the Secretary of the Navy, operated in the coastal waters of Vietnam. Sailors and airmen, likewise were poisoned by agent orange dioxin.
Presently, there is a Senate Bill S. 1629 The Agent Orange Equity Act of 2011 pending in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. In a letter I received from Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) he stated, “I am supporting this Bill.” This Act would extend presumptive coverage to certain Vietnam veterans called blue water veterans who served up to 12 miles offshore. Presumptive coverage would lift the burden of proving direct exposure to agent orange of our veterans.”
I am asking Senator Patrick Toomey (R-PA) to co-sponsor Senate Bill S. 1629 with Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) in bipartisanship.
I further ask citizens of Pennsylvania to write or call or E-mail Senator Toomey (R-PA), Phone # (215) 241-1090 or (202) 224-4254. Address: 502 Hart Senate Bldg., Washington, DC 20510 or E-Mail his web form www.toomeysenate.gov Ask him to Co-sponsor Senate Bill S. 1629 with Senator Casey (D-PA).
John J. Bury
US Navy/retired
Media, Pa.
“A-ployed”
Editor
I was looking at a cartoon the other day by the progressive cartoonist, McFadden, wherein an unemployed worker’s ‘to do’ list read as follows: “apply for jobs, visit food pantry, cry.” Cry??? Look, it’s a terrible thing to be out of work. But where’s the anger?
Much of the world is in revolt against injustice. Just look at the ‘Arab Spring’, workers marching throughout Europe…Greece, England, Portugal, etc., not to say our own “Occupy Movement” here.
Meanwhile the American working class with 9 million unemployed seeking work and 5 million no longer looking, U.S. corporations sit on billions in cash refusing to hire.
Why aren’t our unemployed marching on and “occupying Washington?” With all the millions out of work across the country, surely they could organize enough- say 1000-to go down there and make statement! 1000 out of all the millions?? The support they would get from the general population with food, shelter, clothing, transportation, etc. would be fantastic.
A recent article in The Nation magazine said, “The unemployed don’t see protest as a fruitful pursuit---yet.” Why not?
Of course, the cash loaded corporations love it all. No one is forcing them to do anything, no one. Just pleas for them to “please hire,” which they ignore. Oh, yes, don’t mess with their “freedom” to do or NOT do as they see fit.
Ain’t the “free market” wonderful?
Lawrence H. Geller
