Comments on: Paving Incumbency, Plus: Examining The Church Scandal

By: city hall smoker

city hall smoker — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:37:09 +0000

TC, you forgot #3: “I am going to clean house and get rid of the dead weight.” Bullshit. The past 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of political, do-nothing, unqualified employees. Maybe Lennie should do a comparison of the 2000 budget and the 2010 budget. It will be fun to compare which depts got downsized and which ones got upsized.

By: bridgeportnow

bridgeportnow — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:24:14 +0000

“Bridgeport Now” Tue at 8pm on Ch 88.
Some stories we are following for tomorrow’s program.

Achievement First Bridgeport improves students
Black Rock gets 37 new low-income housing units
Black Rock Train station bridge to nowhere
BOE wants city to pay up for city school events $500k
Ellsworth Park Bathroom controversy
Ferry move to East End
Pleasure Beach demolition of houses
Zoning new rules in Bridgeport on Jan 1, 2010

If you haven’t tuned in for a while due to shaky camera, please be advised that production values have improved. We fired that last camera operator.

By: town committee

town committee — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:04:04 +0000

I see the Catholic Bishops, Politicians and the populace in general afraid to confront issues that are before them. They tell people what they think they want to hear. I venture to say if the sex-abuse issues were faced early on it might have saved some young person a lifetime of hell. Instead it was buried and people (Bishops and such) figured it would go away. Lay people refused to believe the truth about the sex abuse.
Today’s society does not want to be told the truth, they don’t want to know the truth. Often the truth is hard to deal with and makes people confront things they would rather ignore.
Politicians from a local level to a federal level are all accomplished liars. If they told the truth on a variety of subjects they would not get elected. Here are 2 examples of what every single politician has stated and will continue to state because the voting public buys this bullshit.
1. I am not going to raise your taxes.
2. I am going to improve education.
EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY HAS HAD THEIR TAXES RAISED IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER.
EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY IS LAGGING BEHIND MANY OTHER COUNTRIES. WE ARE WAY DOWN THE LIST ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.
Sooner or later the truth always comes out and when it does everyone acts like it was the greatest revelation since the 10 commandments.
The truth is always easy to remember it’s the lies that are hard to remember.

By: town committee

town committee — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:46:45 +0000

I get your point and it’s well stated. I see the parallels as you point out.

By: BEACON2

BEACON2 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:22:16 +0000

TC: You post a comprehensive list and do so in an entertaining way.

I believe that the Church sexual abuse scandal goes deeper than priest gropes, diddles or rapes of female child or adolescent boy, though that is what happened too many times over the years without judicial review.

You indicate that this is the focus of only a specific group.

I would ask that you stretch your thinking a bit and consider that had the Bishops of the Diocese of Bridgeport been more upstanding with their regard of criminal law, Canon Law, and plain human sensitivity when they heard rumors, inklings or stories of priestly abuse, they would not have mismanaged the immoral behavior of priests so badly.

Were they able to get away with it? Are they getting away with it? Is that the mentality of City leaders who run for office, many of whom have been raised as Catholics, and adopted to survive in the political arena? Does a person in elected or appointed office do something to gain money, goods, maintain or enhance power, repay a debt burden and fail to see that their job mission is in conflict? Is information about the act or behavior out in the open, posted in a transparent way, and something for which the worker/volunteer is accountable to the public?

Well, it hasn’t been so within the Diocese of Bridgeport governance structure, obviously. And it seems that many recent Mayors have operated in the same royal fashion. When a conflict presents itself, it frequently is referred to legal to go with the regal attitude. That destroys the trust of the people and returns us to “Don’t know and don’t care” public sensibility. And that so contributes to municipal destruction that it must be addressed and resisted wherever it surfaces in the territory.

Church scandal revelations are not your principal area of concern. But do you see how the infection can spread from an institution that preaches moral authority (and gets away with depravity) to people who operate in another local governance structure? And the real shame of it is that Bishop Curtis, Bishop Egan, and Bishop Lori were not local residents when they were sent here by Rome to run things the way that Vatican City intended … secretly, without any possible pushback mechanisms for wrongs done and never, never fully admitting that mistakes of fact, errors in judgment, and the fear of scandal, grounded management hypocrisy.
See any parallels between City of Bridgeport and Diocese of Bridgeport? Again, thanks for your municipal insight!

By: Bob Fredericks

Bob Fredericks — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:42:17 +0000

Good post from my neighbor John Marshall Lee. Great list from TC. I’d add one: The many unindicted co-conspirators and other assorted Testacrats who somehow escaped federal prosecution and prison time in the Ganim corruption scandals, remaining free to scheme and steal another day. You know who you are.

By: enlightened

enlightened — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:16:47 +0000

TC:

Fear not! It is the holiday season. People are either playing games with the kids, visiting relatives, or thinking about jumping off bridges.

Cheer up old friend. Your position as an epicure of Bridgeport bullshit remains needed, wanted, secure. Where else but OIB may the Finch administration go to discover if their bullshit is first rate, or in need of more seasoning? Is their bullshit firm and steaming, or drippy and gelid?

You would not want our mayor to be accused of passing off second-rate bullshit to the citizens of Bridgeport. He has standards to meet. After all, he must stand for secretary of state this coming year. We would not have Mayor Finch pass off anything but first-rate bullshit to the citizens of Connecticut.

The press office needs to know if mere horseshit can be substituted for bullshit. They are paid great sums of money to evaluate these things. Even more in these budget-conscious times, elected leaders and their advisers need to know if the more thrifty human waste can be substituted for horseshit or bullshit.

That is a lot of shit to consider.

I’m sure Mayor Finch is grateful for all the shit he can get from us.