KUDOS TO FREE PRESS

Check this out from today's edition...

IN OUR OPINION
The painful truth about mayor's lies


The people won Wednesday when the state Supreme Court added its deciding voice to the now deafening legal chorus against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's ill-founded claim that you can cut private deals with public money. City tax dollars are not his to spend in secret. The people have a right to know how their money is being used.
And here is what the people should reasonably be able to conclude from the records made public after the high court ruling: Kilpatrick lied under oath during a trial about his relationship with Christine Beatty, then his chief of staff, and their plans to fire a police officer whose investigation was getting close to their affair. Beatty lied, too. Threatened with exposure by the discovery of their text messages, the mayor, aided by the city's corporation counsel and his own attorney, responded with an elaborate cover-up that involved settling the claims of three police officers against the city for $8.4 million in public funds and hiding forever the text messages.
The settlement as submitted to the City Council for approval said only that the payments -- more than $2 million above what a jury had awarded two of the officers -- were in Detroit's best interest. In a glaring show of disdain for taxpayers, the council and the city he serves, Kilpatrick intended to keep secret the real reason for the inflated settlement: protecting himself and Beatty from any consequences for their lies.
It was an incredibly audacious scheme, never meant to leave the room where it was hatched. It meant telling lies on top of lies, hiding evidence of a crime and perverting public money for personal benefit. No wonder the mayor fought so hard, and tied up so much of the time of city lawyers, to keep it private. This was never about principle; it was about protection.
The state Supreme Court was not impressed with the city's claim that things which come to light in the course of settling lawsuits are often kept private by mutual agreement of the parties. Those cases don't involve public money or public officials telling lies in that most public of places, a court of law.
Now, there must be consequences -- beyond the theatric apology the mayor offered the city in a televised address from his church. The legal system cannot allow itself to be so flagrantly disrespected by a high-profile public official. If this is not a matter of some consequence, then the law truly has little meaning in Detroit and Wayne County. Members of the City Council cannot allow themselves to be literally scammed by the mayor, not when they hold the power to remove him from office.
The people of Detroit, and the people who pay taxes to Detroit, should not tolerate this abuse of their hard-earned money by the chief executive of a city that struggles to keep street lights lit, fire stations staffed and children safe from drive-by shootings. They should not tolerate this abuse of a courtroom oath in a city that needs honest witnesses to tell the truth in criminal trials.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says he feels chosen by God to lead Detroit. What does he suppose God makes of all this?

MR. MAYOR, FOR DETROIT'S SAKE, JUST RESIGN

No one in their right mind will ever believe you, Kwame Kilpatrick, care about Detroit if you don't resign in the next 30 days. You've promised that you'll never stop working for Detroit. Kwame, you're working for yourself, come on. Man up. Gut check time. You made this mess. Just move on. You already said it was the right thing for Beatty to step down. Why was it right for her but wrong for you? You had more responsibility in this than she did. You were the mayor. She worked for you. How do you possibly lead after this? You committed a crime. You lied under oath. Wasn't it you who said you felt God had this mission for you to be mayor? Isn't that the same God of the bible you placed your hand upon when you swore in court to tell the truth? Kwame, really, just stop it. Trust me. God doesn't want you to be mayor. God doesn't want anything from you. Other than your resignation letter, neither do we.

KWAME IS SCREWED

FROM TODAY'S ONLINE FREE PRESS...

Updated 10 a.m.The Michigan Supreme Court refused today to take up Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s appeal in the text-messaging scandal.

The high court, in a 7-0 decision, sent the case back to Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. to release the remaining confidential documents that went into last year’s $8.4-million settlement two police whistle-blower lawsuits. Colombo ordered the documents released on Feb. 5 pending the city’s appeal.
“There is no FOIA exemption for settlement agreements,” the court said in its decision, referring to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. “Moreover, a public body may not contract away its obligations under the FOIA.”
Justice Marilyn Kelly agreed with the decision, but said some of the transcript of a deposition Colombo allowed the Free Press to conduct with cops’ lawyer Michael Stefani was confidential. But because the city didn’t ask that it be redacted, Kelly said, the transcript also can be released.
Detroit Law Department chief John Johnson Jr. said he was disappointed with the decision.
“Opening up settlement information to public view will most certainly put a chilling effect on parties trying to settle case,” Johnson said in a statement.
“The city’s decision to appeal was based on the Michigan Court Rules and the sound legal principle of confidentiality for parties who seek to resolve lawsuits through the mediation process,” Johnson added. “This ruling discourages the city from entering into the time honored and cost effective process of mediation. Mediation resolves cases and saves the taxpayers millions of dollars.”
Johnson didn't indicate whether he would ask the high court to reconsider today’s ruling. He also could file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit, but legal experts doubted that would happen since the case doesn’t involve any federal issues.
Colombo is expected to release the documents today if the city doesn’t ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.
“This is complete vindication for the idea that public officials cannot lie under oath and go behind closed doors in secrecy to make decisions with so much public money in the balance,” said Free Press Editor Paul Anger. “The public’s right to know has been upheld.”
“The city ought to end this misbegotten legal battle and release the documents,” Anger said.
The Free Press filed a Michigan Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in January after the Law Department refused to release all of the settlement documents.
The settlement involved three cops who said they were forced out of their jobs for raising questions about the mayor’s security team, questions that might cause them to discover that he was having an extramarital affair with his then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.
Two of the cops won a $6.5-million jury verdict in one of the suits last September. Although the mayor vowed to appeal, he settled out of court in October for $8.4 million – $8 million for the two cops who went to trial and $400,000 for a third cop whose whistle-blower lawsuit was pending.
Late last month, the Free Press disclosed the existence of text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty showing that they lied under oath at the trial when they denied having an extramarital affair and gave misleading testimony about firing one of the cops.
The Law Department failed to tell the City Council about the text messages when it asked the body to approve the settlement.
On Feb. 5, Colombo ordered the release of all of the settlement documents and a transcript of a Free Press deposition Colombo authorized with the ex-cops’ lawyer, Mike Stefani.
Afterward, the Kilpatrick administration appealed unsuccessfully to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which upheld Colombo.
Along the way, the city gave up the fight on one document – a confidential Nov. 1 settlement agreement in which the cops and Stefani agreed to forfeit their settlement and legal fees if they ever divulged the existence of the text messages. They also agreed to alert the mayor if anyone ever asked about the text messages.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at or dashenfelter@freepress.com. Staff writer Joe Swickard contributed to this report.

KWAME AGAIN

From Detroit News...take a look at this:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/METRO/802260360

All one can say about that is take a look at this:

Kwame (noun)
Slang: Disparaging.
a.
a mentally retarded person.
b.
a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social retard.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!

When it comes to keeping you guys up to date with the old crew's personal news, this is as good as it gets. Our former producer and my very dear friend Beaver and his beautiful wife Cookie Crisp are expecting their first baby! How cool is that?! Beaver's gonna be a daddy! My take on this is moving that wallet to his front pocket made him much more fertile, and somehow the cold water shave technique didn't hurt either. Potential names if it's a boy...Luca Brasi, Sonny, Fredo, or Johnny Fontane...if it's a girl, Apollonia or Kay. I wish them all the best, but this is really going to cut into Beaver's golf time. Congrats guys!

CHICK FLICKS

The Oscars are tonight, also known as The Super Bowl For Chicks. This year's movies are so typically "academy" type movies I wonder if the ratings will be severely anemic. Lots of movies the academy sorts love but people who love real movies like Fight Club, Caddyshack and Night Of The Living Dead couldn't care less about.
HOWEVER...I must admit the only movie I saw that's up for anything is "Atonement". Wife wanted to see it. On the way to the theater she clued me in on what it was about. Then I find out it is a 'period piece'. A 'period piece' is a movie that human beings who have periods enjoy. But then I watched it. I gotta tell ya, it was pretty damn amazing. I mean it is no T-2, but what is? For what it was, it was incredibly well done. Some war thrown in for the guys. And Keira Knightley, for as thin as she is, is surprisingly bangable. Got me wondering how many other movies out there are chick flicks but aren't half bad?

CHECKING IN

I was away for a few days in Florida this past week so for those who sent emails thinking I dropped off the face of the earth...no, I did not. Just the English speaking part of the earth. Oh my God, I understand little Havana and the cultural influences in different parts of the country, but it STILL pisses me off when I'm in Miami airport and the very first thing I hear is a p.a. announcement in Spanish. I remember living in Southern California for awhile, and as a white guy in my neighborhood I was a minority. So Mexican was my neighborhood that you walked into the post office and they had these scales to weigh your packages yourself to figure out postage, and the default setting was in Spanish. You actually had to press some buttons to put it INTO ENGLISH. Ah well.
Missed my kids terribly for the few days I was gone. I'll be here this week but next weekend I'll be out of state for about a month. Just pleasure. Taking my kids to an island on the Gulf Coast. March weather here still stinks, and while I have the time off to do it it'll be nice to play with them on the beach every day. Won't get an opportunity like this again so I'm taking advantage of the time. Even though I won't be checking in here much at all for the month of March, if I get some show news that I can actually share I promise I will! '09 is coming. I hope you'll remember us.

MANWHORING

...for Jay the Cable Guy and Supersize Scott.
First, Supersize Scott is doing something pretty cool, just for the fun and love of it. He's doing his own podcast...let's just hope he eventually re-tells his "I was sitting my fat ass on the toilet in my trailer when the floor gave way and I had to crawl out from underneath the trailer with my pants around my ankles" story...and if you want to check it out it is THIS Sunday Feb. 17th at 6pm live so anyone can call in, too...find it at www.blogtalkradio.com/supersize
He's a good guy so go easy on him!

Then there's Jay the Cable Guy who in addition to his hobbies of wrestling, marrying, and trying out for every reality show known to man, he’s also lead singer in a band now called Decades Later. Jay says their first time out sucked because he had a cold, overmedicated himself, and by the fourth song his voice gave out – DOH!- so this will be their first time out where he can actually sing. Catch Decades Later at The Fat Iguana in Madison Heights next Friday Feb. 22nd. It’s at 27101 Dequindre, just north of 11 Mile. They go on about 10pm there’s NO cover at the door. www.myspace.com/decadeslater
also check out www.myspace.com/eddievenom

3:46 AM

I'M SO F'ING PISSED AND DISAPPOINTED!
This thing was going to be huge. WAS. It was never going to be attempted before, and Doyle was involved, Nicole Salem was involved. We couldn't get Rudy. Somehow Terry Lieberman got involved in this project. And now it has all fallen apart and come undone and it is NOT going to happen and I couldn't be more upset! I am SO sad and pissed off that this thing is now NOT going to happen and I just found out this minute that it is NOT going to happen.
And I am so sorry to report to you guys it is NOT happening.
We had this unprecedented deal that we along with I think it was 87 people in the lower half of this thing, were all set to go on this trip like the night before or something. It starts beneath the water. Either a volcano or the launch system. Above the water right near a beach and this huge grandstand filled with people was this launch pad. And the craft started with a lower and upper portion. Lower was about 40 people. Upper was another 87. All open air. Top row was this dude drinking beer out of a big ass red Budweiser bucket. Above that came this enclosed thing we were supposed to be sitting inside. Next to all this and also part of the craft was a house. One of these 87 will be living in this house later. The explosion, for launch, was going to be HUGE. It would come the next morning, and we would all be launched into space. F'ING SPACE! Coolest shit ever! The single largest, heaviest craft to ever be launched into space! Extremely high risk shit. Co-operative venture between broadcasters, private industry, NASA. Anyway, of course I just woke up realize none of it is actually happening now and I could NOT BE MORE PISSED OFF! Damn EVERYTHING! WTF! WHY! WHY WHY WHY!!! F!

KWAME FOR MAYOR

He won't step down, even though he says Beatty-the-bed-buddy did the right thing in stepping down. Curious. A few days ago the Free Press did a piece on his defending staying put. In it he speaks not only of staying put but running for re-election. Can you believe this clown? His quote:
"There's an election in 2009, people have an opportunity to make a decision, but I will make a case at that point, too, why I'm the best person for the job."
Sadder yet that he could win. Too many people in Detroit continue in their role as abused wife so to speak. You have the power to get rid of this guy and you won't do it. His supporters turn a blind eye no matter how horrible his actions. Amazing. I was talking with a friend who saw a local report on this and they did some man-in-the-street Q & A and asked some dude in a barber shop about Kwame. His answer was along the lines of "Hell yeah I'd vote for him again! In fact if the man needs some money I'll give the man my money!"

Look, I hate to bring race into this, but Kwame does it all the time under the code word "Detroiters", and it begs the question. Would a white mayor who did all these things be getting such a free pass? A leader should serve as a living example of the best people can be, not the worst people can be...something to look up to, to aspire to. This "one of us" mentality gets you nowhere but where you already are. No matter the race, I'm talking just actions. But back to it...do look at the race a moment. Did you ever see the movie "A Time To Kill"? Samuel L. Jackson plays a man who's little girl is picked up on a dirt road by a bunch of racist redneck bastards in a pickup truck, and she's savagely beaten and raped and left for dead on the side of the road like so much garbage. Samuel L. Jackson goes after them. What father wouldn't? And HE gets put on trial. Mathew McConaughey plays his lawyer, and throughout the trial he has to battle to get the white jury to see their own deeply buried racism and how it is affecting their judgement and he of course is very limited in doing this...until the closing arguments. He asks the jurors to close their eyes and imagine this little girl, walking along the road, innocent, bothering no one, and then as the jurors oblige and close their eyes he goes on to desrcibe the horrible crimes committed to her. The brutality. The beating. The rape. The unanswered pleading. Discarding her like she is nothing in a ditch, assuming she's dead. Just a horrible, unthinkable atrocity. Then he says, "Now, imagine she's white." Eyes snap open. That instant made them realize that sadly they looked upon the crime differently when the race was changed in their minds.
All I'm saying is you have to look at the crime and not the race. But Detroit, if you're having a hard time doing that...
imagine the mayor is white.

TOTALLY STUPID

...but I thought this was really cool. Apologies if you've seen this before, but check this out. This would be one cool way to win a beer in a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtJDB2XqhM

SOME UPDATES

Sorry I haven't posted anything here in a few days. It has been a busy time with the kids and yes a couple of business meetings. I continue to meet people around town who miss the show terribly, but I'm sure not as much as we miss you guys. Oh, speaking of which, hi to Sue at Cameron's Steakhouse in Birmingham. Some of the people I meet and some of the email I get say things that make me realize it is time to re-establish what happened with the show. No, we didn't get fired. That one makes me laugh because it is so the opposite of what went down. CBS actually wanted us for a longer time than we were willing to commit to after all the changes they brought down and, in my opinion, the bad direction the company was taking on a local level. Bill and I decided for the good of the show and our careers that it was time to move on even if it meant either leaving for a new city or waiting out this year long non-compete. That's the other thing that people have asked about...when are you getting back on the air? Where are you working now? We are in talks about several opportunities at present, but the short answer is right now there is no show, and there will not be a show in this calendar year of 2008 in the city of Detroit because we had a one year non-compete clause in our CBS contract that won't allow us to work here for one year after leaving the company. So it is a very difficult time, especially with family, wrestling with decisions such as taking on a new city and uprooting them or toughing it out and trying to stay.
People still asking about Beaver and Rudy, even though I've already posted updates about them I guess not everything gets read, so let me say again Beaver is doing fine but is out of the business now. He's working, but not in radio, which must kill him because you all know what a friendly people person he was, very in touch with his emotions and such. (cough cough NOT cough)
Nicole Salem is still doing traffic reports, but she never was employed directly by CBS so they didn't have the opportunity to fire her. She works for Metro, and does traffic still for the afternoon shifts not only on 97.1 but on other stations now as well. She's doing fine. Still can't spell cat, but is doing fine.
Then there's Rudy. You may have read about the awful way in which he was fired...but let's put that behind us for it was probably a blessing in disguise. His entertainment career is really taking off. No, not his band Mindcandy. I'm referring to his work as a pitchman for World of Warcraft. Perhaps you've seen other celebrities endorsing the game, such as Mr. T...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpk1dklm5GE&NR=1

Or this one by Verne Troyer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3En1M4SNn98

Well look who's gotten big time work. Yes, no kidding, our own Rudy Desantis in his own World of Warcraft ad...check it out...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vFpwEenU9J0

Congratulations Rudy, don't forget the little people. Well, not little like that, oh nevermind.