De Knudson, Get Out of Town
Wednesday, April 6 – Day Five of the Dead Pope Crisis. To borrow from a classic Saturday Night Live skit, Pope John Paul George Ringo II is still dead.
I don’t mean to offend those of the Catholic faith (or any religion), but I’m tired of hearing about this man. It’s not like we didn’t know this was coming. After all, he has been extremely ill for quite some time.
It’s a shame that the world’s most powerful religious leader became the latest in the Laci Peterson/Robert Blake/Michael Jackson/Ashley Smith/Terri Schiavo never-ending cable news story. He deserved better than to be the focus of the swine who endlessly babble on our cable news, and local, channels.
I guess once Ms. Schiavo died, it was time for the networks to move on to the next story, and the Pope’s worsening condition fit the bill perfectly. Being the king of ultra-losers, I was scanning the dial Friday night endlessly looking for something to pass the time before mercifully passing out. When I saw that all three news channels had the same shot of the Vatican, I assumed he had passed. Unfortunately, so did Fox as they announced his death a mere 22 hours before it actually happened.
Despite the fact that he was still alive, the entire night was still devoted to that same shot. And when he finally did die the next day, we were treated to expert opinions from seemingly every Catholic in the world. KSFY followed their network’s 30 minute newscast on the Pope with an additional ten minutes of the same stories, accompanied by a token local reaction story.
Don’t get me wrong – it was obviously an important story and deserved attention. But the world didn’t stop turning. News continued to occur…unfortunately it was ignored. For example, there were a series of attacks at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Except for a couple of buried newspaper stories, there was little talk of this story. Yesterday, I did an informal poll and nobody was aware of these attacks.
Today’s rant, however, is not about the Pope. I’m here to give the boot to a city official that I have mentioned before but have never given her the benefit of a full-blown bitchfest. I thought that this person would have disappeared years ago, but somehow she still holds office.
What sent me over the edge was last week’s so-called press conference involving the controversy surrounding Mayor Munson’s contracts to complete Phillips to the Falls and Pasley Park. Well, it was supposed to be a press conference but his buddies, including the person I’m about to name, turned it into an organized pep rally. It reminded me of the sham town hall meetings that helped Bush win reelection last fall. Hell, everybody involved with the show last Thursday should apply for jobs with the Bush Administration.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Munson shouldn’t have his supporters showing their support during troubled times. But that’s not what a press conference is all about. Munson should have just read his statement, taken a couple of softball questions from the TV stations and a token “tough” question from the Argus, and met up with his buddies at Skelly’s.
One of the leaders of this sham, and easily the most quoted of these twits, is city council woman De Knudson. In her eyes, either there never was a problem or if there was it was everybody else’s fault. She can’t make up her mind. I guess love is blind. Or love of the status quo is blind.
Just weeks ago she was right next to Linda Barker in damning anybody that dared to have negative thoughts about the planned Event Center. I realize that I’m surrounded by people who disagree with me about this building, but even if you are 100% in favor of the project you have to allow for opposing viewpoints – especially when one is talking about tens of millions of dollars. There are valid questions about everything involved – from the formation and make-up of the task force to the location and funding. Just handing out rubber stamps to any of Munson’s ideas is a dangerous practice.
And that’s what Ms. Knudson is – a rubber stamp. Despite what another city council member told me about Munson (“he’s not sophisticated enough to have hoped for a rubber stamp”), she has yet to showcase an original idea. As for the Mayor’s current problems, her opinion is that the ends justify the means. Who cares what laws or procedures were broken? We got that two block parking lot entrance built, and that beautiful hot dog and chicken strips restaurant. After all, the City Council funded it months later. Well, they had no choice.
Now she doesn’t believe that we should even look into this controversy. She was the lone vote against an independent audit. I’ll bet she wouldn’t have that attitude if one of those nasty America-hating liberals were in charge.
I’m certainly not saying that some of the other city council members didn’t have ulterior motives in this controversy. My prediction is that at least one of them will not survive their next election. But didn’t our city need some young blood to shake things up a bit? Should our city continue to be run by a handful of crooked real estate agents and business leaders? I think not, and the best way to ensure our city’s future as a great place to live and work is to replace professional beaurucrats such as this twit. Maybe I’ll run against her. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Wednesday, April 6 – Day Five of the Dead Pope Crisis. To borrow from a classic Saturday Night Live skit, Pope John Paul George Ringo II is still dead.
I don’t mean to offend those of the Catholic faith (or any religion), but I’m tired of hearing about this man. It’s not like we didn’t know this was coming. After all, he has been extremely ill for quite some time.
It’s a shame that the world’s most powerful religious leader became the latest in the Laci Peterson/Robert Blake/Michael Jackson/Ashley Smith/Terri Schiavo never-ending cable news story. He deserved better than to be the focus of the swine who endlessly babble on our cable news, and local, channels.
I guess once Ms. Schiavo died, it was time for the networks to move on to the next story, and the Pope’s worsening condition fit the bill perfectly. Being the king of ultra-losers, I was scanning the dial Friday night endlessly looking for something to pass the time before mercifully passing out. When I saw that all three news channels had the same shot of the Vatican, I assumed he had passed. Unfortunately, so did Fox as they announced his death a mere 22 hours before it actually happened.
Despite the fact that he was still alive, the entire night was still devoted to that same shot. And when he finally did die the next day, we were treated to expert opinions from seemingly every Catholic in the world. KSFY followed their network’s 30 minute newscast on the Pope with an additional ten minutes of the same stories, accompanied by a token local reaction story.
Don’t get me wrong – it was obviously an important story and deserved attention. But the world didn’t stop turning. News continued to occur…unfortunately it was ignored. For example, there were a series of attacks at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Except for a couple of buried newspaper stories, there was little talk of this story. Yesterday, I did an informal poll and nobody was aware of these attacks.
Today’s rant, however, is not about the Pope. I’m here to give the boot to a city official that I have mentioned before but have never given her the benefit of a full-blown bitchfest. I thought that this person would have disappeared years ago, but somehow she still holds office.
What sent me over the edge was last week’s so-called press conference involving the controversy surrounding Mayor Munson’s contracts to complete Phillips to the Falls and Pasley Park. Well, it was supposed to be a press conference but his buddies, including the person I’m about to name, turned it into an organized pep rally. It reminded me of the sham town hall meetings that helped Bush win reelection last fall. Hell, everybody involved with the show last Thursday should apply for jobs with the Bush Administration.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Munson shouldn’t have his supporters showing their support during troubled times. But that’s not what a press conference is all about. Munson should have just read his statement, taken a couple of softball questions from the TV stations and a token “tough” question from the Argus, and met up with his buddies at Skelly’s.
One of the leaders of this sham, and easily the most quoted of these twits, is city council woman De Knudson. In her eyes, either there never was a problem or if there was it was everybody else’s fault. She can’t make up her mind. I guess love is blind. Or love of the status quo is blind.
Just weeks ago she was right next to Linda Barker in damning anybody that dared to have negative thoughts about the planned Event Center. I realize that I’m surrounded by people who disagree with me about this building, but even if you are 100% in favor of the project you have to allow for opposing viewpoints – especially when one is talking about tens of millions of dollars. There are valid questions about everything involved – from the formation and make-up of the task force to the location and funding. Just handing out rubber stamps to any of Munson’s ideas is a dangerous practice.
And that’s what Ms. Knudson is – a rubber stamp. Despite what another city council member told me about Munson (“he’s not sophisticated enough to have hoped for a rubber stamp”), she has yet to showcase an original idea. As for the Mayor’s current problems, her opinion is that the ends justify the means. Who cares what laws or procedures were broken? We got that two block parking lot entrance built, and that beautiful hot dog and chicken strips restaurant. After all, the City Council funded it months later. Well, they had no choice.
Now she doesn’t believe that we should even look into this controversy. She was the lone vote against an independent audit. I’ll bet she wouldn’t have that attitude if one of those nasty America-hating liberals were in charge.
I’m certainly not saying that some of the other city council members didn’t have ulterior motives in this controversy. My prediction is that at least one of them will not survive their next election. But didn’t our city need some young blood to shake things up a bit? Should our city continue to be run by a handful of crooked real estate agents and business leaders? I think not, and the best way to ensure our city’s future as a great place to live and work is to replace professional beaurucrats such as this twit. Maybe I’ll run against her. Wouldn’t that be fun?
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