Is It January Yet?

Philadelphia made the national news reports once again; and once again, not for anything good. John F. Street, our beloved lame duck of a mayor, bless his heart, spent last Friday sitting in the rain since 3 AM, in line for a new iPhone with the rest of the techno geeks.

Big deal, right? Wrong. While in the larger scheme of things, Street’s gadget vigil doesn’t affect the city’s crime rate or tax base one iota, the public image of a chief executive in a city besieged with troubles sitting around waiting for a new phone got under many Philadelphians’ skin. To the mayor’s surprise, ordinary citizens got up in his face and gave him an earful, in full view of local and national news cameras.

One woman read Street the riot act for not being at his post during business hours. Identifying herself as a former city employee, she said that when she worked for the city, she couldn’t even leave her desk to run out to the dollar store, and yet he can sit here all night and all day on the taxpayers dime. Street seemed genuinely shocked that the woman would confront him face-to-face, and mumbled a lame-sounding defense about working while sitting in line, having sent his first official city-related e-mail at 4 AM.

The problem is that the mayor is right, but completely misses the point. Of course, he can do work from anywhere - using his handheld device to make calls, send and answer e-mails and faxes, and keep up with his appointment schedule. It’s perfectly logical that he could be productive and engaged in city business while sitting in the rain three blocks from City Hall. But we’re talking about public perceptions here, not practical reality.

In a city where the murder rate is rising faster than the summer temperatures, and where residents and tourists alike fear venturing anywhere outside of Center City, the chief executive cannot appear to be aloof or detached, a public image that has plagued Mayor Street throughout his administration. Especially now, though, in his waning days in office, polishing the mayor’s public image is vital.

As they’re packing up their offices and making way for a new administration, outgoing politicians spend most of their time thinking about their legacy. In the case of a big city mayor, he or she wants to believe that they’ve had a positive enough impact on their city, and on their constituents, to warrant a lifetime of goodwill and a monument after their death. No politician ever wants to leave office to overwhelming cries of “Good riddance!” from his citizens, but that’s exactly the prospect facing John F. Street.

Known for heeding no counsel but his own, we’ll probably never know whether Mayor Street discussed his marathon line sitting with aides, or whether they advised against it for all the reasons stated above. In the end, it doesn't matter. At this point, he's not governing the city, and probably doesn't care to. In the service, we called it FIGMO status, meaning Fuck It, Got My Orders. When a guy is that close to leaving, don't expect too much from him.

The upside for Street is that with his brand new iPhone, he can watch the You Tube footage of himself looking like a smacked ass while being berated by passersby, and with picture perfect color and clarity.

And Once Again, The Conversation

(Author's note: This post is dedicated to the memory of the late Rotan E. Lee, Esq., lawyer, educator, philosopher and friend. His spirit continues to encourage us to talk to, instead of about, each other. This post can also be found on the Ross Associates blog, Watercooler Whiners. Visit often.)

It's now noon Thursday, April 12, 2007, and the Don Imus public execution is in full swing. Imus, in case you've been in a cave for the past week, is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who made cruel, unflattering, and racially offensive remarks last Wednesday about the young women of Rutgers University's basketball team.

While showing footage of the previous night's championship game, which Rutgers lost to Tennessee 59-46, Imus and a sidekick referred to Rutgers' team as "hardcore hos" and "nappy headed hos". Noting the girls' toughness and numerous tattoos, Imus also compared them to the Memphis Grizzlies, an NBA team. Also mentioned was a comparison of both teams players to the Jigaboos vs. Wannabees from the Spike Lee movie "School Daze."

The fallout from Imus' comments was a bit slow in coming. Scattered complaints and protests prompted an on-air apology from the longtime host on Friday, but over the weekend, Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had picked up the banner calling for Imus' ouster, and by Monday morning the "Crucify him!" tsunami was flooding the offices of MSNBC, which simulcasts the 5 AM to 9 AM show for television. Calls for Imus' firing were also made to CBS and Viacom, the parent company of the show's radio syndication.

Imus went on Reverend Sharpton's radio show Monday afternoon, still apologizing profusely and vowing to change the tone and tenor of his on-air banter. Contrite and chastened, the 67-year old Broadcasting Hall of Famer spent the next 48 hours sincerely kissing the butts of any and all who could have possibly been offended, especially the Rutgers team and their coach. If he though the act of penance was going to save his position, if not his standing, he underestimated the depth of ill feeling generated by his comments.

Both MSNBC and CBS made the decision to suspend Imus' show for two weeks, seeking to quiet the discontent while giving themselves a chance to re-evaluate how they'd go forward. That evaluation was made for them, and rather immediately, by the show's sponsors, who pulled out in droves starting Tuesday afternoon. Once Staples, Proctor & Gamble, SmithKline, Geico and the other advertisers informed the network of their intent to abandon their sponsorships of Imus' show, MSNBC's course was clear. Imus was removed from the network immediately. Reverend Jackson has vowed protests of CBS until the network follows suit. So far, CBS has promised to wait until after the two-week suspension to make a further evaluation, but the situation is changing minute by minute. Perhaps between the time this post is written and published, new developments will have occurred. One interesting side note is that on the very day Imus was given the boot, all charges were dropped against the three white Duke University lacrosse players accused of raping and assaulting a stripper hired to entertain at their frat house. The stripper's story finally unraveled, and while the college students' lives were returned to them, their reputations can never be fully restored. There is little doubt that these stories will be linked for the next several weeks.

The situation, such as it is, is a lot bigger than Don Imus, or one crude and unkind comment from a radio host who has made a long and lucrative career out of crude and unkind comments.

The hope, expressed by most people who have made their opinions known on the subject, is that Imusgate will produce a long-needed national dialogue on race relations in America.

A few questions white folks have been asking in the wake of the Imus uproar: Why is it that African-Americans, from comics to rappers to the guy in the street, can denigrate black women in public forums while other races must constantly censor their language for even the most unintentional slight? Does not this degree of hypocrisy call on the African-American community to take steps to clean up its own house in regard to the use of derogatory language? Does equality mean acceptance of a double standard of public behavior when the subject is race?

African-Americans, on the other hand have a few questions of their own: How is it possible that in 2007 we're still dealing with the same ridiculous matters of simple human dignity that were called for (and mostly won) 40 and 50 years ago? How long will the still-overwhelmingly white media bombard the airwaves with the Imuses, Limbaughs, and Savages without providing a forum for the other side? When will the majority accept and admit to the institutional racism that has become the subtle replacement for Jim Crow?

So today, on television and radio stations all over the country, the clarion call goes out for a national dialogue on race and race relations - members of races talking to each other instead of at or about each other. A serious dialogue among critically-thinking adults, as opposed to a Jerry Springer-like shoutfest, which is a lot easier to pull off.

Can we do it? Should we? Are white people prepared to face serious truths about their continued, if subconscious, role in the subjugation of minorities for fun and profit? Are black people willing to hold up a mirror to their own communities, admitting that for years they've been complicit in their own destruction? Can the races ever view each other without suspicion, and what would it take just to get to that point? Is honest dialogue even possible?

It's a huge undertaking. There will be more hurt feelings, and more anger. Is America ready?

The Chain of Command

I spent six years in the United States Coast Guard. Yes, I know... the ugly runt of America's armed services. Right out of boot camp I was assigned to the Cutter Cape York, a 95-foot patrol boat out of Key West, Florida. I've got a lot of stories and will tell them at the drop of a hat, but not now.

What was drummed into our heads, especially in basic training, was an all-consuming reverence for the chain of command. The chain is everything. It is a continuous, identifiable line of accountability from the deck swabby or infantry grunt all the way up to the President of the United States. That's why they call the president Commander In Chief. He is accountable for everything that happens down the chain, which includes the disgraceful conditions not only at Walter Reed, but at VA hospitals across the country.

Now let's get to our Commander In Chief's greatest failure. I believe that history will judge George W. Bush primarily on the basis of the war in Iraq, and history will not be kind. First, he and his administration, if you believe a single word out of their lying mouths, were fed bad intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities, and acted, they say, on what was the accepted wisdom from the people who spy on the world for a living. Why don't I believe it? Simple. If your cause is just, you don't have to crush doubters into frightened silence. The White House, presumably under the direct supervision of Number Two in the Chain of Command Dick Cheney, pimp slapped Joe Wilson for daring to whisper that the Emperor has no clothes. The low rent bastards went after the man's wife, for crying out loud. That action alone tells you that they don't believe this bullshit themselves, and are fighting desperately to protect a lie.

Even if you are a Bush fan, and have somehow convinced yourself that this war is somehow peripherally, convolutedly connected with the attack on 9/11, you can't be happy with what's going on over there now. Again, from a historical standpoint, if this is his response to a vicious frontal attack, then it's an embarrassment. It's an aimless, pointless exercise in bungled strategy. 'Shock and Awe' my ass.

We've blasted away half of Iraq, plunged the country into civil war (with us in the middle), and aren't any closer to getting out of there than we were a year ago this time. And this is after we punched a bunch of holes into Saddam's sons and the old man himself was hanged on You Tube.
Now President Bush is shocked, shocked that a new Democratic congress, elected by a country sick of listening to bullshit, would withhold funding and start demanding end dates. How could these guys not have seen it coming? Are they really that dim, or do they only excel at crushing their fellow countrymen and the Constitution?

Who elected this gang who can't shoot straight? In the case of Dick Cheney, you can take that literally. Perhaps if he had gone to war himself instead of hiding under his dorm bed, he might be more familiar with firearms. Now he and his boss, who proudly served in the Texas Air National Guard once in a while, occupy the top two spots in the chain of command, those symbols of patriotism and sacrifice to whom all servicemen aspire. President Bush's smiling portrait hangs in every administration building of every U.S. base, fort, camp, airbase and station of every service branch everywhere in the world, including VA hospitals.

He owes something to every man and woman who looks up at that portrait. So far, it is a debt unpaid.

Batman for Mayor

If you live in Philadelphia, you're already inundated with daily spoutings from the half dozen or so guys jockeying for position in the May primary for mayor. Michael Nutter, Chaka Fattah, Dwight Evans, and Tom Knox have already declared their candidacies and hit the ground running, while Bob Brady is expected to announce within the week.

Knox, with some $5 million of his own dough to spend, is the first to hit the TV airwaves in a series of slick, well-put together commercials designed to answer the voters' burning question of just who the hell is Tom Knox.

The overarching early campaign issue, unsurprisingly, is crime. There were 406 homicides in Philadelphia in 2006, and crime tops every issue poll. People are tired of living in fear of thugs, and afraid to even speak out, since witnesses who testify in this town have an alarmingly short life expectancy. We need someone who won't coddle criminals - someone who understands the meaning of justice. We need someone who understands that nothing effects a city's quality of life like fear of crime, and whose love for the city is surpassed only by his hatred of evildoers.

We need... Batman.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Chronicle of the Fall of Western Civilization.

I'm Daryl Gale, host and creator of this blog. By trade I'm a journalist, newspaper columnist, radio talk show host and public affairs consultant. Even with all that on my plate, I still felt the need to create an additional forum for my ideas and rantings, and offer that forum to others who share the same interests.

So what will I be writing about here? Politics, world news, local news from my hometown of Philadelphia, PA, education, sports, public relations, and anything else that confirms my steadfast belief that we're going to Hell in a handbasket. We'll expose the policies, pundits, paid-off politicians, and complicit media conspirators who make daily contributions to the fall of civilization, and civility.

Grab some coffee, grit your teeth, and get ready to shake your head ruefully. It's the Apocalype. It's Armageddon. The Barbarians are at the gates, and we're all too busy playing with our cell phones and IPods, or distracted by spinning car rims and reality television.

If it's truly the fall of Western Civilization, we might as well have fun on the way out.