Another Sad Day for the Men In Blue

Luckily, however, both policemen who were shot not only survived, but were treated & released with just leg wounds. Still, this string of brazen acts of violence on those who are sworn to protect the law abiding citizens has got to stop. Sure, simpler said than done, but action must be taken.

Vigils don't work, the 10,000 men fiasco did nothing, and putting controls on legal gun sales won't combat the illegal gun trade [if anything, it'll only hurt the people who actually wish to protect themselves from the scum trolling the streets]. What's sad is that the area that this latest shooting took place used to be a nice place and would have never seen such an act of violence.

Police said they were searching for a shooter described as a black man, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a black jacket and white shirt.

At about 8 p.m., Johnson said they believed the person responsible for the shooting was still inside the building.

Chopper 10 showed officers barricaded the area and surrounded several homes during their search.

Before 9 p.m., police used a megaphone to urge people inside a boarding house to come out. Several people -- perhaps as many as seven -- soon did and were taken for questioning.

A line of officers went into the boarding house, searched the surrounding area and later opened up the crime scene.

Detectives were continuing to question them and called in forensic investigators to take evidence from one of the people.

"Everybody who was in the house is now down at the homicide unit," Johnson said. "We haven't actually identified one person, but we feel as though the person who fired their weapon is in custody down at the homicide unit." - NBC 10

A "boarding house", otherwise known as a halfway house, which is a polite term for "our penal system is a joke, we can't hold onto all these criminals, so we'll just release some to people who don't care about rehabilitating criminals, but rather collecting benefits for housing them".

John Street and Ed Rendell should both be ashamed of the mess they've made of Philadelphia. The city spoke with their votes this past year by going for a change from the status quo by electing Nutter [the city would've been damned if Chakkah Fattah or Dwight Evans won]. Now the whole state of Pennsylvania needs to send a message to Rendell next year with sweeping changes from the status quo in the state legislature and representatives. The city Democrats and PA congressmen have played their fiddle as they've watched a great city burn.

There's Always A Silver Lining

Well, been a while for all... zero readers out there. Don't care, though - I'm determined to increase my readership levels by 100 to 200% [which would still be zero since... ah, nevermind].

Anyway, so I'm going to a one act play that a friend of mine wrote. It could be good - I mean, he's gotten some good feedback and all, but I've got tastes that are, well... different than the peer group to which I belong. So it's going to be an adventure, especially the post-show feedback that I'm sure I'll be prompted. I hope that it's a good show, but I've got to be prepared for the worst. Why? Cause I'm a pessimistic jerk, of course.

Do I just nod my head and say, "Yeah, it was, uh... good." Or do I give him an honest critique? Sure, I could always cop out and shift the blame to the actors and laud his script as Tony-award winning worthy... but what if it sucks? I mean, really, brutally just... "wow" bad? Am I obligated to save the world from further such vacuums of time and just end it? Or do I let it slide, not wanting to upset the balance of friendship...

Ah well, who knows, it could all be moot. I hope it's all moot. Please let it all be moot... Course, if it is bad and I am honest in my critiques there's a chance I won't have to endure the cost of tickets again. Ah, there's always a silver lining...

The Philadelphia Panopticon

So, as CBS3 reports, Philadelphia will litter the street sides with cameras,

Philadelphia will be getting 250 additional surveillance cameras in various locations throughout the city, Mayor Street announced Monday.

The announcement was made during a morning news conference at City Hall.

Street said it is a major expansion of the high-tech crime-fighting program which has already placed 18 cameras at 7th Street and Girard Avenue and other locations.

The expansion will cost nearly $10 million. But a Temple University professor said the cameras need to be out in the open to deter crime.

"If people are caught on cameras they just about always pled guilty," said Jerry Ratcliffe, Criminal Justice Professor at Temple University.

Ratcliff published a recent study for the Department of Justice looking at how effective surveillance cameras are at preventing crime. His findings included when trying to prevent violence crimes surveillance cameras are effective, but not as effective as they are in preventing more premeditating crimes like robbery.

"Crimes of violence are often instant. They are reactive. They're often crimes of passion and people don't think so clearly then," Ratcliffe said.

"People will get the message that the cameras are out there and if you intend to get involved in some kind of activity you better look around first and maybe rethink it," John Gaittens, Deputy Police Commissioner said.

Starting in a few weeks, the new additional cameras will first be installed in West Philadelphia near 52nd and Market Street.

"I envision cameras in just every district of the city down the road," Gaittens said.

The city has partnered with a private company to install and maintain the system. The city will designate a special committee to over see the system to make sure it is not abused.

The notion is that if there's always an eye on you, the idea of being watched and thus caught is deterrent enough to stop crime. It's the idea of the Panopticon and obviously is controversial. Sure, it might deter crime on that corner where the camera's on display to all... so, as a even semi-smart criminal, why not move down a couple of blocks to the uncovered corner? What's the solution then? More cameras? Canvas the city with every-watching eyes?

Well, no, but the way Philly implements the idea... yes, that would be the only solution. If the city were to really want the program to work, then it shouldn't announce what areas will get cameras or areas that already have it - as well as persuade the press to not list out the specific sites. This is the only way to make such an operation work - to have the PERCEPTION of being watched more to deter crime rather than the ASSURANCE of being filmed.

Charlie Rose Broadcast With General Hayden

If you all get the chance, make sure to tune into Charlie Rose if it's rebroadcasted from tonight's [10/22/07] program. While I don't agree with Rose's own politics or even the way he needled Gen. Hayden from a leftist perspective [otherwise known as "absolute in their own mind"], his prodding did show that the leader of the Central Intelligence Agency can hold his own in a debate and not look foolish [re: one George Tenet]. For those wanting a transcript, Talking Points Memo has it down for you. Check it out.

Nothing Really, Just Keepin' Active

Like the topic said, not much to say - actually packing up to spend the weekend in DC again [hey, I've paid for October's rent and I'll be damned that I won't get my money's worth!]. Hopefully there's not too much imbibed as I'd like to remember my last weekend in the Capitol [at least, for a year].

Just Some Scattered Thoughts

Another day, another dollar...

Kind of looked for apartments in the city today, but I didn't have the passion or care, I guess, to do any looking. I know, "Pick up the Philadelphia Weekly and look at the ads and just get one". I don't know, don't want to be pressured into getting some shanty shack that infested, so I'll wait until my ideal place comes. Probably the worst thing that could have ever happened to me has been apartmentratings.com - even though I know 90% of the opinions listed are from jilted tenets or slimy management posing as happy tenets, I take the site to heart. So whenever I see "mice" or "roach" listed, I just cross off the place entirely... which doesn't help when you want to get a place in a high rise...

Anyway, on to those scattered thoughts:
- People, please don't smack your lips when you eat in a public place. I was sitting in a food court, quietly eating my lunch while reading the paper when this... I'll call him ill-mannered person sits to the table behind me. Now, it's just a couple minutes before 11AM [I like to eat lunch then when it's not rush hour - I've got a mini-phobia of eating with others], so the floor's rather quiet. Next thing I know, I hear the incessant and vile sound of this piece of... "work" smacking his lips as he slobbers his way through his Chinese food. It was disgusting to listen to and ruined my lunch time [boo whoo, I know, but still]. So please, don't smack your lips when eating - it's vile.

- On the train back, I looked on to North Philly, at all the abandoned buildings and wondered why the city hasn't just leveled these relics? I know there's a cost, but someone has to own these pieces of land - old factories, empty houses, etc. Now, I always held the opinion that the city should just lay pavement over all of North Philly and rebuild it, but I know there's an issue with the people living there, of course [pay them just above market-value and move on]. Speed up the gentrification of these areas by taking away the blight - and not just the wrecked cars on the corners as our "fair" mayor set out to do [and even that he failed]. It may piss off a minority of the population, but it would benefit the majority of the city. Sadly, all that is based on a city with a person at the helm who knows a thing or two of finances and management... Maybe Nutter can do it, but until they clean house of the dead weight in City Council as well, I highly doubt it.

Introduction

Well, here I am, back in Philadelphia... Actually, I've been in Philly since September 24th and was swept up in Phillies Phever, so this is a delayed "Hello World". I figured that since I've got some time on my side, I'd try my hand at blogging for a bit... [For those ellipse-haters, you can tune out since I use them... frequently... Oh, and bracket-haters? Yeah, I use brackets, not parenthesis. They just look nicer.]

I'm Twenty-something male Penn State grad who hasn't lived in Philly full time since graduating high school [LaSalle College High School proud]. Spent most of my time up in University Park while there... even an extra year of "super senioring" just to eek out more of that college experience. Love the place, wouldn't mind living there in State College until, of course, I started loathing the fact that I wouldn't be a student there anymore. Anyway, from there I went to be a part of the working masses...

Except, instead of being a corporate cog, I was one of those loafing government workers. I won't say what area of the government I worked in since, well, I probably shouldn't. The important thing is that I enjoyed it, even if I did have to live in the soulless vacuum known as the DC Metro Area. So transient, so lifeless - the people, you could just see it their eyes. Nothing there. But I did enjoy it and felt like I wasn't just chasing a buck like many of my peers. So what did I do?

Well, I joined those dollar-chasers and took a job back in Philly this past September for one of the big corporations still in the city [that narrows it down a large bit]. Why did I do that? Am I masochist for moving back to Philly? I mean, DC's got one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation! It's got a nice, young crowd! Even it's nightlife rivals that of Philly! Well, I don't know, I had an itch and felt I needed to scratch it, you know?

I don't have any dependents, still all liquid assets, and I had that pang to move back to my birthplace... at least for a trial period. I needed to see what was it like to live in Philly, experience it, and then decide in a year whether or not to go back to my ol' sweet govvy job [which I can get back rather readily for reasons I won't go into here].

So, all in all, that's the story. My first steps were to start my job [which I did already - I'll post on that coming up] and find an apartment [currently living with the folks, which is why this is labeled "Bustleton" and not some swank CC location - no, I do not want to live in the Great Northeast for this trial run!]. Finding an apartment... heh, that's been an adventure...

Anyway, I'm out...

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