Sunday, October 14, 2007
Foo Dogs - It’s the economy, stupid
Early this week the Herald ran a puff piece about the two million dollar house that Paul Pedini, a vice president at Modern Continental, the company responsible for the Big Dig built incorporating steel and concrete scrap from the Central Artery demolition. The article mentioned that among the castoffs were two foo dogs that had been at the Chinatown Gate and have since been replaced as part of the contract.
The stories mentioned that the statues were gifts from Taiwan in 1982 - not exactly ancient history.
Herald muckraker Michelle McPhee is trying to make this out to be the Mayor Curley's Desk for the new century. She featured quotes from Amy Lung from the Chinese Progressive Agency who said "The Big Dig contractor has no connection to China, and no right to the statues" (although she didn't say that there was nothing wrong with the pair that went to the Kowloon Restaurant which does have a connection to China.) City Councilor Stephen Murphy said "They belong in Boston, not Lexington." And City Councilor Sam Yoon said "These statues obviously had great sentimental value to the Chinatown community." 
But the most recent article shows that sentimentality isn't what's most important. Yoon wants the statues auctioned with the proceeds going to the Chinatown crime watch: "By auctioning these statues, Mr. Pedini himself could be the highest bidder for them," he said. In other words, he doesn't care if the foo dogs are in Lexington, or if they belong to someone with no connection to China, as long as he gets the money.
Labels: BigDig, China, FooDog, News
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Saturday, October 06, 2007
You break it, it's yours
"You break it, it's yours", or as the lawyers say, "Strict liability".
Carol Gotbaum died in police custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Phoenix Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill defended his department saying in part: "Officers did everything they could to save the life of a citizen."
I suppose leaving her alone, and not putting her in the handcuffs that seem to be the cause of her death, or as the doctors say, "Primum non nocere" never occurred to them.
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