Diane Thompson is running for Municipal Court Judge. She was a member of former quizzo squad Team Hater, so I knew she was good people. I asked her a few questions about the position and why she’s running:
1. What exactly are the duties of a municipal court judge?
Municipal Court, criminal division, is the court of original jurisdiction for nearly all preliminary hearings for felonies and homicides (cases involving juvenile victims are heard in juvenile court by Common Pleas judges.) MC judges hold trials for all misdemeanor criminal cases (crimes with punishments up to 5 years in jail, such as simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment, retail theft, dui, etc.) They also hear private criminal complaints. Civil division judges hear landlord – tenant cases, tax appeal cases, small claims up to $10,000, real estate tax cases, etc. MC judges work at the Criminal Justice Center at 1301 Filbert Street, at Municipal Court at 34 S. 11th Street, or at the individual police districts, such as 55th & Pine or Broad and Champlost.

2. Why are you interested in the position?
I like helping people. Many people who appear in Muncipal Court have no attorneys. (Defendants are appointed attorneys in criminal court, however.) Litigants want judges who know how to listen to their cases. I know how to listen. I believe that I have some ideas to alleviate the back log of cases. I would like to initiate more programs in MC court that would help with the non-violent drug crimes. Also, domestic violence cases are a big part of MC court. I have represented both victims and defendants in domestic violence cases and I believe that intervention is key to preventing more violence.

Continue reading “Vote for Diane Thompson!” →

Dunno if you caught it, but a few weeks ago Bill Moyers absolutely crushed the mainstream media and the pathetic job it did leading up to the War in Iraq. No tough questions for Bush, no coverage of huge antiwar demostrations, and sheer laziness abounded in the lead up to the war. This wasn’t surprising from the TV news, since explosions make for great ratings, and we’ve long since established that they are not in the “news business” but in the “ratings business”. But the Washington Post and New York Times also dropped the ball. The beauty of being in the media is that they can constantly attack Bush and friends for what they did before the war without having to judge their own performance leading up to the war. Anyways, I highly encourage you to take the time to watch this. Just click here and then click watch video. This is the best thing I’ve seen on TV in a while.

Part 1 – Rankings
1. Dwight Evans-No one has said a bad thing about Evans (Maybe because he’s so far down in the Polls) but I find nothing objectionable about him.
2. Tom Knox – I know. I know. Backstabber! Nasty! Worst dye job in the History of Mankind. He’s not the second best candidate. He’s (alas) the fourth least objectionable.
3. Tie Bob Brady & Chaka Fattah-One says he will. The other ain’t saying. But they’ll both raise taxes. Brady to pay for patronage; Fattah to pay for votes.
5. Last and least-Michael Nutter. The Drive-By Media endorsed him. STRKE ONE! The Business Killing Smoking Ban.
STRIKE TWO! He’ll raise Taxes too. These people can’t help themselves. STRIKE THREE! You’re Out!

Part 2 – Handicapping
The Socialists will vote for Nutter.
The Unions will vote for Brady
The others:
Whites – Knox
Blacks – Fattah and Evans

Part 3 – Prediction
18% to 24% of living voters will vote.
100% of dead voters will vote.
Brady’s in charge of the Vote Counters Hence he’ll get all the dead votes ergo he will win the Primary!

Part 4 – Other
The four Republicans still living in Philly will vote for What’s-His-Face AKA The Other Guy

Don’t know if you saw their tit for tat this past weekend, but it was pretty entertaining. And Geraldo gets a good diss in on Lou Dobbs while he’s at it..

I haven’t really talked a lot about politics lately. I haven’t needed to, because I could do a post about kittens and within minutes Palestra Jon and EE would be in a heated debate about whether or not kittens support the War in Iraq. But a few things came up this past month that are hard to ignore.

-Rush Limbaugh says that John Edwards made the announcement that his wife has cancer to try to jump start his campaign. Probably in a similar way that Rush uses Oxycontin to jump start his brain.

-Well, at least the leaders of right wing thought aren’t using terms like “faggot” to a room full of appreciative conservatives. Oh wait, never mind. Which raises the questions, “How much longer before Skeletor (above,with prominent adam’s apple) uses a hateful derogatory slur to describe Obama, and will conservatives applaud that as well?”

-Tom Delay says that anybody that thinks that liberals who think he is guilty of the campaign improprieties he was indicted for are akin to Hitler. Which upsets me. I always thought I was more of an Idi Amin type.

RELATED: Johnny hopes Ann Coulter is hit by bus.
RELATED: Johnny hopes Ann Coulter is eaten by wolves.
RELATED: Johnny hopes Ann Coulter is hit by train.
RELATED: Tom Delay hit by meteor.

Word on the street is that John Edwards swung by Barristers last night to watch the Duke-VCU game, and he and his entourage were cheering loudly when VCU hit that last second shot to win. A presidential candidate openly cheering against Duke? That is a guy I will go to the wall with. If he needs any volunteers for his campaign in Philly, tell him to look me up.

And you people thought the the War on Drugs was a complete failure. You couldn’t be more wrong.

Anybody for gettting up early on Saturday and going down to the Constitution Center? This looks pretty kool. From the Inky. Smerconish is kind of an idiot, but it would be nice to hear McCain, who I am a fan of.
Saturday morning, before the Army-Navy game, radio talker Michael Smerconish is bringing in one of his idols, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) – he’ll be rooting for Navy – for a town-hall meeting (topics: state of the nation, war in Iraq, the 2008 presidential race, the usual). The event starts at 9 a.m. at the National Constitution Center. The $12.10 ticket price (after his station, WPHT-1210) goes to the USO and includes admission to the center’s exhibits. (Reservations: 215-409-6700.)

Just wanted to say thank you! Wow, that Missouri race was extremely close, and who knows how many people who wouldn’t have voted otherwise decided to vote after you opened your fat mouth and shook your body in an attempt to humiliate a handicapped guy who happens to be pretty damn popular? Who knows how many people were leaning toward the Repubs until your drug addled brain thought it would be a good idea to mock the handicapped, and then rethought their decision? I’d have to guess that it’s more than the 2% of the voters who made the difference in the McCaskill-Talent race. And if Webb maintains his lead in VA, it will mean that your rampant stupidity will have cost the Republicans control of the Senate. So again, I say thank you!

I hope you don’t think you’ll be swept into the dustbin of history. Why, your legacy will never be forgotten. In fact, I hear that the dictionary is thinking of using your photo right beside the word “Failure”.