the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Creativity and generosity

This evening in Philadelphia, my favorite music frontman will collect a little recognition for something non-musical. U2 singer Bono is about to receive the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in a ceremony I wish I could attend (though I absolutely cannot, for a variety of reasons).

The thing that has struck me about Bono’s humanitarian side is how willing he is to tackle huge issues, like third-world health and poverty. There are a few voices in the wilderness who still speak out against his effort, but I prefer those who bite off more than they can chew to those who merely sit in the corner criticizing idealism.

I, myself, am usually somewhere in between.

“Don’t admire people for their wealth, but for the creative and generous ways they put it to use.”
- H. Jackson Browne

Happy Monday (letters to the editor edition)

I wrote a letter to the editor this morning. I haven’t done that in a while, but I just couldn’t help myself. It was about politics, which I’ve been avoiding lately (at least in terms of my writing habit). I just shot off an email to the local paper regarding a “guest opinion” in this morning’s edition.

The reason I felt a need to respond was that if the editors of a newspaper are going to just hand out free space to any nut with half a clue, why shouldn’t I get in on the action too?

Not that there’s any real suspense involved, but I might divulge more details if they print my response. Or even if they don’t.

average social conscience

if you understood,
would that inspire action, or
just dismissive sighs?

Leading me all around in circles…

Been cringing at TV ads for various candidates, as well as trying to hide from the incessant mail campaigns. But to no avail.

It should go without saying that if you are a partisan who believes it’s only the ads for the other side that do this, then the guy in the above cartoon has got you pegged.

YouTube Tuesday: 7 days at minimum wage

This week, in honor of Halloween, a scary story about life at the bottom end of the payscale. It comes via Seven Days at Minimum Wage, a project focused on bringing the experiences of full-time minimum wage workers to light. Below is day one:

NLRB hearings on forced promotions

I almost broke my self-imposed rule (the one that keeps me from embedding music and videos on this site) to post a YouTube video of a segment I saw the other night on The Colbert Report. The video is a witty look at a current case before the National Labor Relations Board, one that deals with forced promotions by an employer to unilaterally re-title workers looking to join a union as “supervisors.” In so doing, the employer can effectively strip them of the right to be union members. [Read more →]

Sunday’s child

Sprouted early this a.m. to scrounge up the Sunday Inquirer, mostly because a little bird told me there’d be a column of interest to a local blogger like myself.

Turns out, Chris Satullo, the Inqy editorial page editor, ran a nice piece on Above Average Jane’s quest for answers to the civics question, “What’s our part of the bargain?” A well-deserved kudos to Jane for being one of the voices in the wilderness of blogging actually trying to initiate a real dialogue. (I’d say that’s why she rises to the top of my local blogroll in the sidebar, but it’s actually just an alphabetic coincidence.)

Satullo’s piece only annoys on one level, in that he does not credit the excerpts he pulls from some of the responses Jane received (which probably only registers with me because he pulled a whopping four words from my response for use as a convenient segue). But it’s still worth a look. I also encourage you to browse the responses to Jane’s question.

And in an aside, kudos to Chris Satullo, for correctly noting in the opening of his column that today, not July 4, is the actual anniversary of the decision to declare independence. (July 4 was simply the day the paperwork got filed, so to speak.)

And why is that last bit important? -just vanity I suppose. Though while I’m on that subject, I should probably give props to my mother on the 34th anniversary of what must have been 28 of the most difficult hours she’s ever endured. Way to go mom!

Citizen Chris (more on our part of the bargain)

First, thanks to Cziltang for emailing a link to me. It’s the Change Agents page from the website of the Maxim Institute in New Zealand. Some worthwhile suggestions to consider.

Then there’s this Sunday address from Inquirer Editorial Page Editor, Chris Satullo, written as an exhortation to new graduates, and worthy of being read by everyone:

… Each citizen of America is invited to take part in a superb experiment in self-governance and liberty. This is a noble charge. Why do so many treat it as a burden, a trifle?

People will spend hours on a Web site researching which MP3 player or hybrid golf club to buy – but claim to have no time to read up on what their government is doing in their names.

Being a citizen involves more than voting. Voting, lamentably, has become the most consumerlike activity of citizenship. Too many people judge candidates the same way they pick a Toyota dealer: Who’s offering me the cheapest deal?

To be a citizen is to claim your place in a whole that transcends private interests. To be a citizen is to safeguard a legacy of liberty for which millions have dreamed, labored and risked lives. Citizens should never let partisan quarrels dwarf the bond they share with each fellow citizen.

To be a citizen, you must learn to pay attention, to listen, to count to 10. You must learn the value of things on which no dollar value can be fixed. …(Read the rest of Satullo’s column)

Our part of the bargain (to salvage a decaying empire?)

First, a snippet from Jane:

… other than voting, what is our part of the bargain? What should we be doing during campaign season? If our candidates are elected, then what? Do we just sit around until the next election?

Our part of the bargain, for too many people, doesn’t even involve voting. For many millions of us, it goes no further than paying taxes, which seems to me like a foolish, and likely ineffective, way to squander your monetary contributions to Uncle Sam. But not only is the government doing its business with your money, it’s also doing it in your name. Perhaps that’s why Jane starts with the assumption that you’re voting. But voting, for too many of us who actually do vote, is often done as an isolated act, with a short attention span after the fact and usually even before.

That’s why we, as a public, have become so easy to fool. We pay little attention to the matters that affect our lives beyond the immediate concerns, even though those same nebulous matters tend to become more immediate concerns when ignored.

Worse, we authorize proxies to think for us, whether they be news commentators, political parties or even bloggers. It brings to mind something a teacher of mine once said: “When someone offers you the Cliff’s Notes for Shakespeare, do yourself a favor and read the play anyway.” Politics should be approached the same way. [Read more →]

So this means I’m legitimate?

Today’s Philadelphia Daily News carries a story about bloggers and politicians. In the same room. Specifically, it sheds a little light on a meeting held three weeks ago in State Senator Vince Fumo’s South Philly office.

The three local bloggers in attendance were Albert, Tulin and some guy with the same name as me.

As usual, Albert got most of the good lines in (as well as the prominent photo in the dead tree version of the story). I spent something like fifteen minutes answering questions and talking to the reporter about the meeting, and the only line I got in the whole story was about Carol Campbell being out of touch and not too tech-savvy.

I just hope that isn’t the most relevant thing I offered during the whole exchange, but I guess most my focus didn’t jibe with what the story was really about anyway. In reading local blog reactions to the story, I don’t get the impression most people have any idea what was really going on at the meeting.

Some people seem to think it was something of a coordinated strategy session, which it definitely was not. There were no agreements to promote unfiltered propaganda. What did occur was a tiny bit of dialogue, including suggestions on how to engage younger people in civic debate. There were even some criticisms, but overall, we kept it civil. It was actually a little more productive than I had expected going in.

Maybe I’ll tie some of those ideas into my response to Jane’s question, which I should be nailing down over the next day or so.

Civic curiosity: any takers?

Jane has an excellent conversation starter regarding what our civic duty is – at least that’s the way I read it. But don’t take my word for it when you can read it for yourself. Read it, and then respond for yourself if you have any thoughts on the subject. Jane will be attempting to catalogue the responses. (As I also will at Philly Future.)

I may be wrong, but I think most people who read my blog will have already given some thought to this topic, and I’m curious to see what you all think (yes, all six of you).

Decoration Day

Cziltang offers some fine recollections (and photos) on Memorial Day (a.k.a. Decoration Day). Every once in a while it’s good to remember that the day isn’t just about kicking off the summer season or getting a great deal at the mall.

Another item that struck me was this site which, among other things, pushes for a reinstatement of Memorial Day to May 30, instead of “the last Monday in May” (-found via ALa.)

And finally, a running tab of Philly area Memorial Day posts should accrue here.

Well, the first 20 words were sort of gracious…

There really wasn’t much to elicit a strong visceral reaction from me regarding this November’s PA-08 Congressional race. There wasn’t, until I read this. It’s Mike Fitzpatrick’s initial sucker punch for Patrick Murphy, hastily set up by less than two sentences of congratulations. Then came the nauseating phrase too many politicians with no military background like to parrot: yep, the old “cut-and-run” line.

I know the Distinguished Gentleman from my home district has a baby face, but does that mean he has to act like an eight year old? Until Fitzpatrick became the latest to trot out this pathetic schoolyard line, I harbored no ill thoughts toward him. As of this idiotic statement, respect for him is going to be much harder for me to muster.

I know people who have served overseas in various periods of conflict. Some of them display all the chest-thumping bravado of politicians like George W. Bush. Others sound a more cautious tone, eerily similar to those often accused of wanting to cut and run. I try to always respect the views of those who’ve stepped into harm’s way for this country, even when I disagree with them. Why can’t Mike Fitzpatrick do the same?

(News of the press release reached me via Jane)

So tired

I’ve been neglecting this space for a couple days, but despite my weariness, I wanted to note that my previous post unwittingly underscores the fact that hell can freeze over from time to time, as two of the top members of PA’s legislature lost their re-election bids in Tuesday’s primary.

Paul Lang on local politics

Paul Lang, the Democratic candidate for State Senate in my neck of the woods, makes a case for local political involvement at The Huffington Post.

Thanks to Jane and Albert for highlighting this so even I would notice.

Politicking and re-zoning to honor the dead

First, it’s worth noting to people who live in my Congressional district (PA-08) that the two Democratic challengers, Patrick Murphy and Andy Warren, were on Radio Times yesterday, in an hour-long semi-debate. (Listen via RealAudio)

I had an opinion on this race going in, but now that I’ve heard the debate, I’m not so sure. It’s not like I can vote in the primary anyway, but the likelihood is I’ll be voting for one of these guys in November, so my eye’s still on it.

Meanwhile, amidst a flurry of candidate denouncements of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, 8th district incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick had a guest opinion published in today’s Bucks County Courier Times. He claims some disagreement with Rumsfeld, but the gist of it is Rumsfeld and the President are the ones who have to decide if Rummy should go. (I wanted to link to it, but as of right now PhillyBurbs editor Karl Smith tells me that editorials and guest opinions are not available online.)

And in other items from the local paper…

there’s this article on the veterans cemetery/Toll Brothers re-zoning controversy:

UPPER MAKEFIELD - In a move to force Toll Brothers to the table — development plans in hand — the Upper Makefield supervisors Wednesday withdrew a land rezoning ordinance that would allow the veterans cemetery and a proposed 210 Toll homes to progress.

Applause from several dozen residents in attendance followed the 4-1 approval. Supervisor Vice Chairman Robert West cast the lone no vote. Before doing so, West urged the board and the residents to stay the course and said that by not doing so, individuals would “make ourselves look rather stupid.” Delaying the process jeopardized the cemetery, West said, because the Department of Veterans Affairs must spend its funding within the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. …(read the full article)

I understand the citizen opposition to the re-zoning deal Toll Brothers is trying to get. If you grew up here, you might understand it too.

Valerie McDonald Roberts

Greg at Keystone Politics interviews Valerie McDonald Roberts, a Democrat running for Lt. Governor this year. Very thorough, very well done. Read it if you want some perspective on candidates in PA beyond just those being blessed by the party machines.

Committeeperson Challenges — toward whom?

Albert writes of two pieces of correspondence he came across yesterday. Both of them have to do with challenging newcomers vying for committee seats in the Philadelphia Democratic Party.

It would be a reasonable question to ask if the party leaders are merely assuming that all newcomers to the committee election scene are tools of outside political forces. Or are they able to differentiate between the progressives and the pretenders?

Note: I’m not a Democrat, but the dynamics of this matter still interest (and concern) me quite a bit. If you’re a Democrat living in Philly, it should concern you even more.

More Darfur

“For the last year, I’ve been banging my head against the wall. It’s like screaming in a dream, and no sound comes out.”
-Marine Captain Brian Steidle (on the ongoing tragedy of Darfur)

www.SaveDarfur.org

A New Committee Candidate in Ward 5 Division 8?

As Karl notes, Albert has decided to run for Committeeperson, Ward 5 Division 8.