Considering how often this film is being used by the Nutter campaign as a fundraising and messaging tool, I thought it would be good to link everyone to a pretty good discussion going on about it over at YPP.
If you ever do get a chance to see it, look for me and my 15 frames of fame! Yes, my screen time was literally a half of a second. If you're registered over at YPP feel free to join in the discussion. If not, comment away here!
And Ray, if you happen to read this, just remember that one of the biggest pieces of evidence to "contextualize" this film is to remember that the filmmaker is a big supporter of Sam Katz... as well as a pretty talented guy.
Comments (7)
Point well taken on Tigre Hill's political leanings.
My thoughts on Ray's points:
1) The bug is reported to have been "discovered" by an FBI agent who's related to Commissioner Johnson (his son, I believe). I can only speculate, but I can't imagine that the mayor would actually want that bug to remain in his office once he found out about it (which is most likely why it was removed). My only question is: how did the news about the bug's discovery and removal get leaked to the media?
2) See my previous comments. I only saw the movie once, but I'm not sure that you can really say it "acts" in any particular way about the reason for making the bug public. It merely shows cuts from some interviews. If there's information the film left out, somebody (Ray?) should be able to fill in the blanks, one would think.
3) The point isn't whether the conspiracy theory was believable to the average voter, that's pretty obvious, given the results (I, being a fairly uninformed voter and newcomer to the city at the time, found it plausible). The point is whether our leaders should've believed it and whether they should've perpetuated it (and, yes, started it) the way they did. Was that responsible leadership?
4) So it's Ok to lie as long as it benefits the Democratic party? How partisan can a voter get?
5) How many Katz supporters were racists? Wow, I'm not even going to comment on this one.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 22, 2007 11:37 AM
One more thing:
In the first comment, Dan UA (aka danielua, aka whatever else he goes by) accuses San Katz of being "convicted of swindling his business partners." Does anyone know if this is true? As far as I know, they filed a civil lawsuit against him that was thrown out by a judge. I'll have to look that up.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 22, 2007 4:18 PM
Ah, thanks. Well, that might be the first factual criticism of the film that I've heard (or come up with myself) since, if memory serves me correctly, I think it leads the viewer to believe that the lawsuit was thrown out... do you know if the ruling happened before or after the film was released?
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 22, 2007 4:45 PM
The movie was released officially for the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival. There was a special screening of a rough cut version a few months before.
The Guys Whose Names I Forget v. Katz decision was definitely handed down before that.
This is from a May 20, 2004 Inquirer article for which I didn't want to pay $2.95:
Katz told to repay investors millions
In ordering the businessman to return $2.1 million from a rink project, a Del. judge said pitches had been fraudulent.
Sam Katz, the three-time unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, has been ordered to repay $2.1 million to partners in a failed skating rink development project. A Delaware judge also found that Katz and his firm, Community Sports Partners, had "fraudulently" misrepresented key information used to attract the investment. "Clearly, we feel vindicated," said William M. Kronenberg III, one of three investors who filed the civil suit..."
Posted by Dan | January 22, 2007 11:19 PM
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
BTW, there's a very interesting entry about Ray's post on the Attytood blog. I think my respect for that blog just went up a couple notches.
http://www.attytood.com/2007/01/the_shame_of_2003_wont_die.html
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 23, 2007 12:04 PM
Young Philly Politics has really gone off the deep end lately. In many respects, alot of the policies that bloggers on YPP are calling for are already being implemented by the status quo of the machine and have been for decades (i.e. social services are the answer to everything, reguardless of whether they are accountable to any standards or have any money to fund them). Exactly the kind of policies that have driven this city into the hole.
I think that the founders of YPP are afraid to admit that the only reason they (Dan, Ray, etc..) started railing against the machine in the first place is because it was shutting them out of a political carreer, not because they actually disagreed with it's policies. I would especially note their unashamed defense of Fattah's attempt to obtain exemption from campaign finance limits. If being a progressive means swallowing corruption for the sake of a candidate who may or may not follow through on his rhetoric for helping the poor, than I say, progressives be damned. (Liberals too if thats you want to call it). I want a reformer. I believe that if we change the rules of the game, then the results will change. Ray, Dan, etc seem more obsessed with the cult of personality style of change. ("Only Fattah is an 'authentic' progressive, only he can save us") This might make sense in poor latin american countries fighting off impearialism. But in one of the biggest cities in America, the only thing we are fighting off is our own self-doubt. Doubt, that is, that we can do better, even it means sacrificing our heroes to do it.
Posted by YPP = SRHA (Self Righteous Hot Air) | January 24, 2007 3:35 PM
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