Quote of the week - "It is generally said that the Constitution dies a little bit each time Judge Sabo walks onto the bench." - An evaluation of the judge in the Abu Jamal case by Bruce Franzell, head of the Philadelphia Bar Association's commission that rates judicial performances.
Probably so - "I think Sabo should be elected to the judicial hall of fame."- Richard Costello, prez of Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, of which Sabo is an former member.
Someone to salute - Kim Sun-myung was released from a South Korean prison in August after doing 43 years, including solitary, beatings, and torture, for refusing to recant his support for North Korea. Taken on a tour of Seoul, he said, "These tall buildings are the labor of poor people. Did you ever see rich people digging on a construction site? The fight against poverty goes on."
Creamed chicken - A Virginia judge ruled that Marshall Lineberry was entitled to jobless benefits even though Volvo suspended him for fighting. Volvo has a person in a rooster costume to "playfully" hassle workers who are late. One day he went after Lineberry, who grabbed him by the gullet. The judge said the workers so hated the practice that someone else would have gone for the "rooster" if Lineberry hadn't.
How about passenger/crew life cycle? - A September 14 AP dispatch said: "With a patched-up computer and crossed fingers, federal aviation officials hoped for a better day at [Chicago's] O'Hare International Airport. For the sixth time in the past year, controller of a six-state air traffic region struggle...with a major computer failure." A fed explained that the primary computer, 25 to 30 years old, has "lived beyond its normal life cycle."
Enlightened blood-suckers- A recent socially concerned marketing book: Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research in the Public Interest. It grapples with "troublesome consumption issues such as substance abuse, grieving consumers and marketing to the poor." (We're not sure if "grieving consumers" are in mourning, or have a grievance.)
Be well - In 1988, Samuel Hernández had an operation in a Miami hospital for internal bleeding. The bleeding stopped, but not the pain. In 1990, he went back and the surgeon said it was gas. In 1993, an x-ray by another doctor showed a surgical towel had been left in his stomach. Hernandez is suing, charging negligence and cover-up
A really great society - In New York's impoverished South Bronx, hospitalization and death rates for asthma are eight times the national average. At one elementary school an estimated 40 percent of the children are afflicted. Assertedly, the most important factors are such pollutants as roach feces and body parts, and rodent urine. Doctors point to an area medical waste incinerator. Officials assure that it's safe.
Don't give him any ideas - A British mag claims the Queen of England is really "worth" $3.4 billion, not a mere $245 million. That's because she holds title to Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. An aide scoffed that this was ridiculous, asserting, "The Queen can no more sell Buckingham Palace...than President Clinton can sell the White House."