It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ...

Recently we came across this account of a visit with Member of Congress Louise Slaughter:

At 82, she has beautiful skin and the spry and spunk of those 30 years her junior; walking towards the conference room, I had to practically run to keep up with her.

--Kellene Paul, Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Blog, 8/10/2012

Then this:

For crying out loud already get off Louise Slaughter’s age!   I just saw her at the Democrat’s [sic] Annual Family Picnic. This phenomenal woman has the energy of a teenager and the mental clarity of a 35 year old.

--Kellene Paul, Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Blog, 8/28/2012

Now, today, Mustard Street has received from a first-time correspondent the following account:

"Your wallet.   Now."   The mugger pushed me up against the wall, knife at my throat.   Worse than physical assault was terror of the unknown:   what might he do?

Strong men cowered at the alley's entrance, yards away.   "We can't help her now."   "No," stammered the other.   "We have our own safety to think of."

Senses dimming with despair, resigned, my focus narrowed to the rhythmic thrumming of an air conditioner in a window floors above:   ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.

And then, a rustling.   A gleam of light.   Brisk movement.   As if in one mighty stride, before me bounded Representative Louise Slaughter.   With that faint, fleeting smile playing about her lips, for a moment she faced my assailant, erect and motionless, biceps rippling.   With one nimble judo chop to the solar plexus she floored the attacker, his face contorted in a rictus of agony.

"EF'N YEW TRAH INNYTHANG WITH THIS WOMAN AGAYIN AH'LL SLAHCE YEW INTO HAWG BACON!," she bellowed at the twitching specimen of human tissue that moments before had been a fit and toned young man.

I hadn't even a moment to express my thanks.   Casting the curbside cowards a look of acerbic contempt, the supple octogenarian vaulted from the alley -- and into the record book of heroes.

Shaking, I returned to the office at Broad and Exchange to record this remarkable occurrence.

-- Lea Keenpull

We present the narrative as received.   Internal evidence suggests this communication could be the work of a writer at a different venue, perhaps seeking, for so extraordinary a story, a platform for publication with broader audience and greater credibility.   "Lea Keenpull" has about it the sound of a nom de plume, perhaps an anagram.   Nevertheless, we respect Ms. Keenpull's privacy and hope that she may provide additional work for consideration by our readers.

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Grass Admits that It's Green

The New York Times's outgoing Public Editor admits:   Yep, we're biased.

Across the paper’s many departments . . . so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.
As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects.

Now tell us something we don't know.

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Money Talks. [Something Else] Walks.

August 15

Democrat and Chronicle's lead editorial headline:

"Do More to Get a grip on Gun Violence"

August 16

Democrat and Chronicle advertising supplement for sporting goods store headlined   "First Shot," advertising 19 guns for sale -- at bargain prices! -- including semi-automatic rifle with 10-round magazine, and sundry boxes of ammo.

And nothing wrong with that, to be sure.   Just a reminder that the D&C is a business, run to earn profits for the corporation in Virginia that owns it.   Its editors' sole accountability is to that corporation, not to the residents of Rochester, Monroe County or western New York.   Remember that when its editors pontificate about how our community should be run.

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Slaughter: Part of Washington's Problem

Reading through the D&C's contributors' write-ups after the Slaughter interview something interesting appeared. Kellene Paul wrote, in part:

"...On the other hand, if a subject was broached that she felt unprepared to answer like the LDC’s (Local Development Corporations) that her opponent has been accused of misusing, she simply said she needed time to research it so she could give a more informed response. My mother calls that the “no fillers or fluff approach,” which means she does not use ready-made answers to pacify her audience.

In a political sea of venomous vipers, Louise is One Tough Cookie!"

Maggie Brooks' campaign manager subsequently pointed out that Louise apparently does have a stance on LDC's. He wrote:

What an embarrassing Louise Slaughter sycophant. Kellene - if you want to fawn over Mrs. Slaughter, that is your business, but at least do your homework.

Your claim is that Mrs. Slaughter "...felt unprepared to answer [questions] like the LDC's that her opponent has been accused of misusing....she does not use ready-made answers to pacify her audience."

Let's take a look at her website posting from June 1st:
"Maggie Brooks has driven Monroe County into $389 million worth of debt,” said Campaign Manager Liam Fitzsimmons. “Rather than tell local taxpayers the truth, Maggie Brooks has expanded the improper use of Local Development Corporations to hide hundreds of millions of dollars worth of additional debt and provide her campaign donors and political allies with jobs. Now, Maggie Brooks wants to bring this abysmal and self-serving record to Washington."

By your definition, without understanding an issue Mrs. Slaughter made an unabashedly nasty political attack. About as close to a "venomous viper" as I've seen in Washington.

To the Slaughter campaign:   Why is Louise tossing around nasty accusations if she hasn't researched the issue?   Her behavior is another example of what's wrong with Washington.

Link to D&C Article

Link to Slaughter's post

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D&C Editorial Board: Coordinate Your Lies!

From a Guest Contributor:

In the Democrat & Chronicle's ongoing effort to help Louise Slaughter win re-election, the paper's editorial folks need to coordinate their stories better.

Here are three posts on the paper's blog by three D&C editorial board members, each writing about the same event:   Slaughter's visit with the Editorial Board.

From Jim Lawrence's blog post:

"And while she was moving slower than usual, you would too if you’d broken you femur bone just six months ago. And that would likely be the case even if you weren’t 83 years old as she is."

From Jane Sutter's blog post:

"She’s using a couple of colorful canes and walking slower than she used to..."

From Kellene Paul's blog post:

"At 82, she has beautiful skin and the spry and spunk of those 30 years her junior; walking towards the conference room, I had to practically run to keep up with her."

Wow!   Usain Bolt, get out of the way!

I doubt this is simply two different opinions about the measure of walking speed as perceived by the naked eye.

Now, if the conspiracy theorists out there think Ms. Paul is a Slaughter campaign plant on the editorial board to get favorable coverage for the spunky octogenarian ... forget about it.   You'll find that theory in the dictionary, under the word "superfluous."

The D&C is a principal organ of the Slaughter campaign.   As we approach Labor Day, watch for its systematic sliming of Maggie Brooks to begin, coordinated with, or at least playing off of, strategically-timed manueverings of state-level Democratic politicians.  

But the D&C editorialists can avoid insulting the public's intelligence if they'll at least coordinate their lies with each other before deploying them at large.

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You Didn't Win That

Democrat and Chronicle editors object to the Monroe County Sheriff's office hiring deputies based on successful exam scores rather than the color of their skin.   To assure complete transparency, Sheriff O'Flynn's office publishes the results of these civil service exams.   This assures applicants and the public of fairness in hiring.

The editors prefer the City of Rochester's approach:   hiring on the basis of race, with test scores a closely-kept secret.   Scores must be secret, lest the gaping disparity between hiring and exam results become a public embarrassment.   This is the uniform practice among institutions that buy into the "diversity" racket.

What we liked about the editorial was its appearance during the Olympics.   It highlights a problem.

People of non-color comprise but a minority of the world population.   Yet athletes -- both non-white and white -- from majority-white countries win a disproportionately high number of Olympic gold medals.   As of this morning, such countries have won 153 gold medals.   Only 81 gold medals have been bagged by all other countries.   That includes gold medals won by Asian nations; without them, the number reduces to 23.   Twenty-three for the rest of the world entirely!

This reflects mostly the relative affluence among countries.   Wealthier nations tend to produce more medalists, of all ethnic backgrounds and ancestries.   More access to training, less time working and more time to practice, more sponsorships, etc.   Still, as with police hiring, we're focusing on outcomes among countries.

We must make Olympic gold medal awards more inclusive country-by-country and thus more representative of the world community (to paraphrase the D&C editors).   Therefore  .  .  .

Abby Wambach, please hand over the US soccer team's gold medal.   We'll give it to one of the countries you beat.

Michael Phelps, don't think you're taking those home.   Besides, isn't there a point where a person has enough gold medals?

Gabby Douglas, you get to keep yours.   So does Usain Bolt.   But the most sacred rule of "affirmative action" makes scores and track times top secret.   No one will know whether you won gold on merit, or because of the happenstance of the color of the skin you were born with.   Pity.

If the Olympic Committee puts its best foot forward to make results more inclusive, in four years the D&C editors -- wherever they're working after the paper stops publishing -- can applaud an Olympics whose winning countries look like the world.

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Great Insights into City Hall's Feelings on Diversity

Thank you to Christine Fien for pulling back the curtain a bit on City Hall's feelings on diversity in City News.

So the Mayor just wants to put a “face of color” on the new hires in the RPD and RFD to fool people in the city into believing that the RPD and RFD are “one of them”?

The Mayor is also quoted as saying, “I’ve got to get people in here who can qualify for these jobs and are prepared for them.”   “I suppose you could say that if I took some guy off the corner of Conkey and Clifford, he would know more about that neighborhood. But I can’t get him in to be a policeman in today’s environment. You have to have a whole bunch of things to qualify and, quite frankly, we need that, because we’re putting a lot of faith and confidence in these people.”

So what does that mean exactly Mayor Richards? You don't trust the people who live near Conkey and Clifford? Does it have to do with skin color, upbringing, or just being a part of that neighborhood? I can see why many people in the city have fear and animosity towards City Hall, as Lovely Warren indicated. City Hall openly admits they don't trust them. Seems like a mutual feeling.

What would be the reaction of a Republican spewed this garbage?

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Imagine If Sarah Palin Said This

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House.

Said Pelosi,"I swear this happened. . ."

But a left-wing Democrat said it, so complete silence from the palace-guard legacy media.

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The Situation, Summarized

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Allegations of Pederasty Against Harry Reid

Reid says he got a call from somebody he can't name who told him something he can't verify that reflects badly on Mitt Romney.   But he is making it public anyway.   And that the burden's on Romney to disprove the charge.

Now come allegations, of similar character, that the cranky old Senator from Nevada is a pederast.   See, Harry?   Anybody can play this game!

Google "harry reid pederasty" for more.

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The Republicans Are Too “Clubby:” “The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks!”

From Andy Rau's "City Blog" at the D&C:

On Sunday, the D&C’s editorial board issued their latest installment of “The blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of Republicans!”

•   •   •  
Through the democratic process, the voters have installed a Republican majority in the county legislature, NOT a monopoly, as exists within the City of Rochester. The county legislators from the city districts mirror the political composition of the elected officials in Citygov: they are Democrats. Once again, this illustrates the urban-suburban split, with Republicans for the most part representing the suburbs and the Democrats Rochester. Once again, this is by the choice of the voters.

Admittedly, there have been some “swing districts, usually on the border of the city and the suburbs.” The 26th LD, for instance, has gone back and forth over the years between Republicans and Democrats, but I don’t recall the D&C applauding THAT fact.

And telling the Republican majority of the county legislature that they MUST cooperate with the Democratic minority for the betterment of “the Community of Monroe” ( that term again ) will fall on deaf ears simply because the voters who installed them like it that way. Just like in Rochester.

Unlike Citygov, there is at least debate in the county legislature.

Well worth reading in its entirety.

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