"Of Bugs & Men"

Well the bid for the Mayor of Philly has taken an ugly veer. Mayor John Street is up for reelection against Sam Katz (who looks like a former professor of mine) Katz had a very slim chance to win. Before the controversy hit (I will get to that later) I spoke to Duke’s girlfriend who is a South Philly native and wanted to see if she followed the election or had anything to say about it. She basically told me that it didn’t make a difference because Street was going to be elected by the African-American communities in Philly based solely on the color of his skin. That is a shame if works either way.

In all fairness ALMOST LITTERALLY all the white people are voting for Katz, in the 90 percent and about 90 percent of the black people will vote for Street. There is no denying that the city is easily one of the most racially divided cities in the US. When it comes to the voting anyway, but one can assume that these feelings could easily run deeper in every day life.

Well the election took an unexpected turn this past week when it John Street found out his office was being bugged. At first no one knew who was doing it, but it was later turned it was the FBI and he was under investigation. This investigation has been going back for quite awhile apparently. I don’t know that Street regularly sweeps his office for bugs but we later learned that some of his electronic information devices were taken by authorities before he made public that his office was bugged. So he knew something was up, and his speech the day off was bit of an act.

Now I don’t know if the FBI wanted him to find it or if they were just stupid and didn’t expect him to comb his office after sending up flags that he is under investigation. He claims that nothing racists, illegal or curse words are ever said in his office and they must only have really boring tapes. The FBI said that he is not exactly the “target” but has “something” to do with the investigation. Meaning it could be someone or several people in his administration are subject of the investigation. It didn’t take long before Street questioned the timing of the investigation. He cries racism and that the investigation is politically motivated.

This was a great move. He makes himself look like the victim and it worked! He is running away with the election and more African Americans are going to vote now just because of they think he is getting a raw deal. One man (suppoedly a Republician) admitted in the Inquirer that he is pretty much going to vote for Street out of spite at this point. Race isn’t important according to Street. He just works well with everyone. Well here is an often forgotten quote from awhile back. It took me awhile to even find the exact quote on the internet.

“LET ME TELL YOU: The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don't you let nobody fool you; we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love. We are in charge! We are in charge!"”


Um. Okay now replace Brothers and Sisters with Whites and give it to a white politician and you have a ruined career. I mean that quote is full of gloating and anger it appears. I don’t recall him having to attend “diversity” or “sensitivity” classes. I am still waiting for the article on TEMRINUS titled “Street is a Total Bastard” but I have a better chance of seeing the Flyers win the cup before I die. In all fairness he did admit to me once out at the bar that he thought it was pretty racist. I just think its sad people are buying this BS. If he really thinks its being done to get rid of a black mayor than he at best is a hypocrite. I hate the fact that comments like that are allowed buy African Americans. Am I offended by the comments? Not really he was merely stating a fact about who he surrounds himself around I guess. I just hate that there was very little outcry about it, if he was white he would have had to resign.

I am not down for spreading intolerance and hate no matter who does it. Lots of debates were made after that Rush comment about ending racism. Letting people Like Street have license to make comments like that because of year of mistakes in the past of the treatment of their ancestors is just plain wrong. It breeds MORE racism from whites. Just fuel for the fire.


So back to current events; the investigation will go well after the election. I don’t know how bad timing it was for this to be revealed. Wouldn’t the people of Philly want to know that their mayor was under investigation? I guess not. It MIGHT have some baring on if someone casts his vote. I know if I would have voted for Street and found out a month later he had done some dirty deeds I would be a bit miffed thinking It was unfair not knowing that potential problem. Recalls could become a common trend. It isn’t out of right field either some people have accused Street of helping his buddies and brother ( an incompetent) out by giving them city jobs. Of course it like that a lot in politics, but still. Its thought at this point that it is realated to giving contracts to people.

I think a low point in mind for Street was when he decided to give a business loan to a drug dealer. He claimed he had entrepreneur spirit and just disliked working that why he had to turn to selling drugs. Poor guy couldn’t take orders and that’s why he sold drugs out of necessity. He claimed at the time he was former drug dealer and one could argue he was giving him a 2nd shot. However people immediately wrote into the Daily News and said he was still pretty much still in the business. Meanwhile a couple who lived in Philly for years, and did everything by the law wrote in and were trying for years to get a loan to start kick start their dream. A deli in the City. They didn’t get it. Maybe they should have been selling crack to school children until their ship came in. It might have helped if they were “brothers” or “sisters”.

Thinks have gotten hotter than Pat's Cheesesteak bettween the two. The campaigns have gotten ugly. Street is bringing up a lawsuit of against Katz from one of his business partners. Katz downplayed it making it a dead issue.

Without a miracle for Katz you might as well put a fork in him. He is as done as the vet. As for Street to be fair and balanced nothing has been proven yet. So he has that going for him, which is nice. It could get interesting.