Stroke On Newark

Secret Service: Detailed Look at '06 Turmoil - It's June 16, 2006. Steve Howards, a 55 year old environmental consultant, is visiting a shopping mall in Beaver Creek, Colorado with his seven year old son. Howards notices a commotion, spots Darth Cheney at its center, approaches, maybe taps Darth on the shoulder, tells Darth his policy in Iraq is disgusting and walks away. Ten minutes later the Secret Service arrests Howards for assault and deposit him in jail. When it's time to prosecute the five T-men turn into the 5 stooges, with conflicting stories about who said what when in the period between the incident and the arrest. Two of the agents claim that a third encouraged them to file a false report to justify the arrest. Howards is initially charged with harassment, not assault. Ultimately all charges are dropped and Howards sues the Secret Service agents, claiming civil rights and free speech violations.

There is absolutely no chance the Secret Service watched anyone assault Darth and let him walk away. If they did, the agents should be dismissed immediately. Not for the phony arrest or cover-up but for the most basic of failures - they did not protect the Vice President of the United States. So, if the 55 year old environmental consultant shopping with his seven year old son didn't assault Darth, what happened?

The T-men are giving conflicting testimony, but the one person who is saying absolutely nothing is Darth. Picture Darth after this incident. He's just been interrupted in the middle of an otherwise pleasant interaction with the loyal public. He's surprised, taken aback and, after a few minutes, angry. He growls quietly to Agent Reichle "Make sure that asshole never bothers me or anyone else again."

Collector Returns Art Italy Says Was Looted -Philanthropist Shelby White is "returning" ancient Greek and Etruscan art to Italy to resolve Italian claims that it was looted from archaeological sites. OK, maybe White bought some items of doubtful provenance, and maybe no one should get good title to stolen goods, no matter when and where they were stolen - but then why is Italy getting Greek artifacts? Are they more Italian because the Etruscans or the Romans stole them from the Greeks three thousand years ago instead of three hundred years ago?

Planning Newark's Next Big Step: An Apartment Tower Near the Arts Center - Developer Lawrence Goldman is now planning a commercial/residential development next to NJ/PAC. The skyline changing, upscale building, Newark's first residential construction in four decades, will include subsidized units for artists. The plan includes a boathouse for the Rutger's crew. Fantastic idea. Presumably the boathouse will serve the Newark campus (sadly, the New Brunswick campus no longer has a men's crew), but maybe it will offer prep and masters programs to Newark residents. Act now, Mayor Booker - you could be planning for Newark's Next Big Stroke.

You Had Me At Kamchatka

In Newark, The Mayor's Crusade Gets Personal - Corey Booker always seemed like a nice guy, but As Good As News had reservations. He's from New Jersey - that wasn't an insult, so am I, use the MySpace link to play the clip "So...New Jersey". He played football, but at least he was a lineman, not a wide receiver, and apparently he didn't have too many unreported concussions -Pac 10 All Academic at Stanford. As a student in England (OK, so he was a Rhodes Scholar - big deal, we already said he was a football player ), he went far above and beyond the call of duty in aiding another American student, a neighbor Booker didn't know really well, whose life had been suddenly and seriously disrupted by a debilitating back problem in the middle of a move. Booker graduated from law school, Yale law school, but nobody is perfect. He learned Yiddish. As a new mayor, Booker took on two students as mentees because they were busted for painting "Kill Booker" in a school hallway, and a third because he just tagged along to the first meeting. Best of all, Mayor Booker didn't use his mentees to grab some good PR, even when he was victimized by a vicious whispering campaign in the African-American community within Newark. He fights crime, creates jobs, looks for ways to make education work - he's Super Corey. All well and good, but As Good As News was only moderately impressed and still a little suspicious that Booker was too good to be true. Until today that is, when we discovered that Mayor Booker plays Risk. He probably even knows that if you control three strategic points, Kamchatka, North Africa and Iceland you can eventually hold North and South America while preventing anyone else from holding every continent except Australia. Newark is taking the first steps on a long climb, but Mayor Booker looks like he might hang in there. Let's think ahead to 2016, if we can just hold California, Florida and New York it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to grab the Presidency.

Karl Growing Old at Home?

A Grass Roots Effort to Grow Old at Home - This story features an elderly couple who remains in their Georgetown home thanks to a mutual aid society with the neighbors. Nothing to do with Rove, but you have to love the way the headline about "growing old at home' is placed directly under the photo of W kissing Karl goodbye on page 1 of the hard copy NY Times.

Rove resigns as Bush Aide - The blogosphere is abuzz with speculation on why Karl resigned. The mystery of the fired AGs may be a real problem for Karl, , or just a nuisance. His stated reason, he is doing it for his family, is being dismissed too lightly. It's not the time - as every Blue blogger has noted, why wait until your son leaves for college to head home- but it might be the money. Karl has been a public servant for many years and he is not getting any younger. A successful book and some lucrative consulting work on the 2008 campaign could help him set his family up for life.

Sweatology - The Human Cooling System is Leaky, but it's Efficient - Why does Nixon automatically come to mind when we need a photo of sweat? The science page story on sweatology puts Dick in a whole new perspective - he was actually cool because he perspired so profusely - take that hippie scum.

After Killings, Sense of Unity Surprises Newark -Tragic murder of college bound Newark students unites a city that was turning on it's Mayor. Corey Booker's genuine grief and commitment connected with a community in mourning and forced the Sharpe James brigade of petty pols to hold its collective tongue, at least for now. The complaints and gossip will resurface soon, but Booker may have just established a personal relationship with the community that can endure the sniping.

Scooter Unchained as Cory beset by Gnats

Terrorist MDs snared in London bomb plot - finally, now we understand why bombs left in Mercedes not Yugos.

W commutes Scooter sentence and As Good As News cheers. Those up in arms need to look at the big picture. First, commutation formally announces the death of the Cheney-Rove-W administration. Immigration loss and polls below sea level were death knell, but with the commutation even W concedes there will be no comeback. Unfortunately W's sole remaining effort to build a legacy seems to be friendship with Vlad Putin - Hitler not available? Second, commutation is no panacea for Scooter. He gets to keep his felony conviction, his quarter million dollar fine, his two year probation, his lost reputation and his lost license to practice law - just no end to the perks when you swear an oath of fealty to Darth Cheney. This might leave enough incentive for Scooter to line up a deal for a tell-all book if he loses his appeal. Third, Scooter devoted his life to public service, most of it before going to the dark side. He did not out Valerie Plame, he said "I don't remember" under oath to protect his boss and colleagues. Sentencing judge pointed to high office as justification for severe sentence. High office giveth prison term, high office taketh away prison term - Scooter is paying a big price here even without time in stir.

Cory Booker is the right person in the right place at the wrong time. Newark has all the ingredients to rebuild a vibrant city - highway, air, water and rail access second to none, a location minutes away from NYC, a cluster of college campuses, a new ball park and arts center, and developers foaming at the mouth. Mayor Booker is smart, dedicated, charismatic and has some credentials. Sadly for Booker, Mayors Gibson and James ran Newark as a patronage cookie jar for so long the grass roots pols don't even know anything else is possible. Ridiculous rumor campaign smacks of desperation, but seems to work anyway. Wake up Newark voters. Government is supposed to provide services, not feather bed jobs for every political hack. Newark government has taken a city with the assets to be Utopia and turned it into a poverty and homicide stricken Inferno. Why listen to rumors from the sore losers who created the mess Booker is trying to fix. Unfortunately for Cory Booker, the top priority of the old guard is recapturing a spot on the payroll, and the payroll needs to shrink before Newark can grow. Sorry Cory, looks like it may be the mayor after the mayor after James who gets to preside over Newark renaissance, but good luck anyway.