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(08/06/92 9:00am)
One of the less debated of Bill Clinton's proposals involves his plan for guaranteeing a college education to anyone who wants it in exchange for a specified length of mandatory national service following graduation -- kind of like a combination of the GI Bill and the Peace Corps. This proposal, when joined with President Bush's Pet Issue For the Election Which Will Be Ignored in January, otherwise known as school-choice, provides some interesting ideas for our educational system. However, initially the Clinton plan begs some key questions which Mr. Clinton has yet to answer. For example, how will the mandatory service time of around two years be regulated and enforced? With all the bureaucracy floating around Washington already it seems as though the last thing we need is some monolithic national service program which will cost the government millions of dollars just to push the paperwork. In addition, we already have similar programs for medical students whereby the student gets his/her medical training paid and in return agrees to spend some time as a doctor in a poor, rural or inner-city community providing a public service. However, as a "60 Minutes" segment pointed out, many of these doctors shirk their responsibility in favor of the immediate pursuit of big bucks and never fulfill their end of the bargain. They are allowed to get away with it because enforcement is so difficult. Given the problems of just getting medical students to devote a year or two to a public clinic, just imagine trying to get a Wharton student to sacrifice two years on Wall Street doing (gasp!) community service. At the same time, the concept of providing every child with a college education while unleashing a yearly army of bright "volunteers" on the social services offices, the rest homes, the community crime fighting organizations etc. has a great deal of merit. While providing both a real and politically possible solution to the financial problems that face lower and middle class students who want to go to college, what the Clinton plan does not address is the lack of quality among our primary schools. America has the best colleges in the world; our educational problems lie in the fact that all too many of our students are unprepared to attend them even if they can afford to. On the other hand, President Bush is pushing a plan that will allow parents to choose private schools for their kids while receiving government aid, in the form of vouchers, to attend them. This is assuming their income is low enough to qualify (and the Bush/Reagan era has guaranteed that there will be plenty of qualifiers). The obvious beneficiaries of such a plan would not be the poor farmer's daughter in Wyoming where alternative schools simply wouldn't exist, but the welfare mother's son in Philadelphia and the likely Catholic school he would attend. This fact has the leftist crowd out in force screaming about separation of church and state. These are the same people who complain about manger scenes on town greens and menorahs at firehouses. They are also the same bunch that has dominated the Democratic Party for the last 20 years and have thus contributed more than any other factor to the 12-year horror show in the White House simply because they have failed to provide an acceptable alternative. Consequently, one must take their complaints with a grain of salt. The religious argument against school-choice misses the point. School-choice is not about Congress or anyone else establishing or promoting any kind of religion, but about about educating our children to succeed in our society, a task many public schools have simply failed to do. Many non-denominational private schools exist, and the only people who would have to attend Catholic schools would be people who chose them. One would think that the left would understand that word choice. The argument goes that if public schools are forced to compete for students they will be forced to upgrade their performance, and thus many parents will end up choosing the public schools anyway. While this claim does seem a little shaky, I must ask, what exactly have we got to lose? Our public schools are failures. Why not try the choice approach? Unfortunately, I am sure that Mr. Bush, whatever his personal convictions may be (if he actually has any), is only using the issue to gain votes, particularly since surveys show that around 40% of the people who voted Republican in 1988 were Catholic. Bush hopes that by pushing the double whammy of school-choice and abortion he can hold on to that support. No doubt that after the election however, he will forget all about the issue and continue on cruise control. Of course, school-choice would never get through the Democrats in Congress anyway, since they have to pay back the special interest groups that got them there. These include the NEA and the militant pro-choice groups who have decided that offending Catholics is a good way to gain support for their abortion position. (Here's a tip from a pro-choice Catholic: It's not. Superimposing Bob Casey's face over the Pope's may seem funny to some of the radical feminists who have commandeered the legitimate fight for legalized abortion, but politically it is just plain stupid and is a good example of why Democrats haven't been able to win the White House.) Hopefully Bill Clinton will see the wisdom of the Bush plan and will combine it with his own. Then we would have a real "Education President" who addresses both the problem of spiraling costs in higher education and a lack of fundamental learning in lower education. Brian Newberry is a senior Urban Studies and American History major from Wallingford, Connecticut and a former Daily Pennsylvanian senior photographer.
(07/23/92 9:00am)
Ed Rendell seems to be one of the most popular men in Philadelphia. Why? Here was a guy who was the epitomie of a "pol," the very species all Americans supposedly detest. Fast Eddie he was nicknamed, yet he still won an enormous victory, both in the primary and in November. Granted he set forth some very good ideas about how to start solving the city's problems and that his opponets were less than inspiring, but I think there was more to "Fast Eddie's" win than that. To put it bluntly, I think Ed Rendell won a huge victory in large part due to the fact that many people in this city could picture themselves sitting down with the guy, kicking back and downing a few brews while watching the Eagles blow yet another playoff game. In contrast our beloved and most exalted leader, King George, and his Vice-Jester are obviously completely out of touch with all forms of reality. Clearly Bush and Quayle have no concept about what it means to be layed off, or to collect unemployment, or to suffer the humiliation of living on the street. These facts are certrainly not news to most of you, as has been pointed out in poll after poll. What goes overlooked however is how deeply unconnected our chief executive and his sidekick are in spirit to the American people. A few weeks ago, feeling the peer pressure from his opponets, George Bush made his first appearence on a talk show. When George made his decision to appear he was quoted as referring to it as one of those "weird morning shows." "Weird morning shows"? Perhaps strictly speaking George was right, but I have a feeling that wasn't what he was referring to. No, I think that our man of the people has probably never seen the Today show or Good Morning America or anything else the majority of his "constituients" watches. I don't think that this lack of knowledge concerning pop culture is a product of a generation gap either. Danny boy is the same age as my father. He could be George's son. J. Danforth grew up in the sixties and even though when every one else in his generation was going off to Vietnam he was at home making tea for mummy, he is still a baby boomer in technical terms. This fact hasn't helped him though. For example, one of the most incredible things I have read in a long time was an interview last spring with Marilyn Quayle in T.V. Guide. Asked what kinds of television programming the Quayle's watched, Danny's wife reported that they generally saw all three network news shows, the McNeil/Lehrer Report, Face the Nation, and CNN. She added that sometimes on Friday nights she and her four children (Oops, I mean she, Dan and their three children) will rent a movie. That was about it. No, she said, they never watch the Tonight Show. Geeks. I wondered if she were joking. Do you know a single person who has never seen a sitcom? Do you know anyone who doesn't, at least occasionally, watch the Simpsons, or Cheers, or Cosby, or at least Full House? How about Hawaii 5-0 or Hogan Heroes for god sakes? A baseball game? Maybe an old episode of Mash? When Danny boy attacked that evil perverter of American values, Murphy Brown, even he admitted that he has never seen the show. Hell, I read Newsweek, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, two daily newspapers. I would call myself a political junkie but hey; there is more to life. I still find plenty of time to watch old Police Squad episodes and go to the movies. I don't consider myself too different from the average American (whoever that is). In other words, I have a life. (If you disagree on that point you can call me at home.) While I take a take a strong interest in government, poltics and international affairs, I don't spend every waking moment worrying about the trade deficit or how to manipulate the press, nor do I think it is healthy to do so. Unfortunately, some people obviously do, and we have a word for them: geeks. Let's face it, Bush and Quayle are geeks, and the reason that the media does not pick up on this fact is because they are all geeks too. What does Dan Rather do on his time off? Do you think he reads the latest book by Jackie Collins? I bet if you collected all the big name media types and every member of Congress and the Bush Administration and gave them a cultural literacy test nearly all of them would fail miserably. The problem is that we often only have a choice between geeks. Take Michael Dukakis. Remember when on national TV he responded to that asinine question of whether he would support the death penalty if his wife were raped by reciting textbook bullshit about being sworn to do his duty? Even my father, an honest to God 60's liberal went bonkers and still blaims that one stupid answer for costing the Democrats the '88 election. Come on Mike. Any real American would have first said they would rip the guy's lungs out and then proceeded to tell the reporter what an absolutley stupid question he had just asked. Unfortunately, the Duke was even more out of touch with reality than Bush. His personality must have been surgically removed at birth and stored in a deep freezer. Ronald Reagan was so popular simply because he was not a geek. People could relate to him and he to them. The anguish in Bush's face every time he makes a political appearence away from party fund raisers compared to Ronnie's jolly smile says it all. Bill Clinton seems to realize all of this. I don't know if he's a geek too, but every time he takes out his saxaphone and plays some jazz for the crowd he shows that he recognizes the importance of being in touch with the people. Of course many media types sneer at his showmanship, accusing him of lacking substance and ignoring the "tough questions." They only prove how isolated they are themselves. There is no greater bastion of unjustified snobbery in America than the media. Look, every time someone points out how shallow George Bush is when it comes to taking a stand on anything they are 100% on the money, but that's only half of the coin. People seem to ignore how important it is to understand and connect with those one is trying to lead. Pop culture - T.V., movies, music etc. helps bring this country together, and I don't think anyone, Democrat or Republican, who cannot relate to that culture in at least a minimal way should have the audacity to call himself our leader. We do not need a philosopher king. Brian Newberry is a senior Urban Studies and American History major from Wallingford, Connecticut and a former senior photographer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
(07/02/92 9:00am)
Picture yourself in the world of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Imagine walking around the dank and dismal Chicago stockyards, surrounded by the nervous mooing of the cattle being led to the killing field, the grunts of men working twelve hour shifts who never have the time or money to do anything fun in life, and the dark shadows of the slaughter houses with their foul stench of death. Above it all, one thing, one emotion, one feeling stands out - The smell of fear. Can you imagine it? If so, you have just experienced what it is like to take the LSAT. Yes, I am a survivor. On a recent Monday afternoon I too joined the many who have taken the Last Stupid Admission Test and made it out alive and with my sanity intact. I have to be honest. I have never been one to get too excited about these standardized tests. I have never taken any kind of prep course and the night before my SAT I stayed up to 1 a.m. watching the Red Sox lose in extra innings. During that little bit of high school hell I viewed in fascination as normally sane and intelligent people turned into quivering blobs of jelly because they belived their life was on the line. I also experienced, for what I thought was the last time, the utter paranoia of the Educational Testing Service. After it was over I thought I'd seen it all as far as test taking goes, but nothing prepared me for the LSAT. I woke up the morning of the test actually happy that I had to take it. Before you pass me off as being out of my mind realize that it meant I didn't have to go to work all day. I actually had a three day weekend and it felt good until I reminded myself that I wasn't getting paid either. Since I make about $50 per day I figured that for the privilage of subjecting myself to institutional tourture I was essentially shelling out $120 including the testing fee. To this end I would like to extend my everlasting gratitude to the ETS for scheduling their summer test date on a Monday rather than a Saturday. I'm sure whoever was responsible for that decision must have been a banker in a previous life. When I arrived at the testing sight, the luxurious Wharton school, (I felt so honored just to be let in the door without a Wharton sticker affixed to my PENNcard that I almost searched out Dean Gerrity's office so I could kiss his feet and bless him for allowing one so unworthy to enter the sacred halls. Fortunately I came to my senses.) Anyhow, once inside, I encountered the most uptight group of people I had ever seen in my life. People watching the beginning of the Gulf War on TV were more relaxed. Hell, I've seen finance majors at the resume drop more relaxed than this bunch was. After finding out the proper room to be in, I took a seat and looked around. I didn't really know anyone there since the majority were students from other schools so I just observed the goings-on. The goings-on consisted of people nervously twiddling their thumbs and playing with their hair - the usual signs of nervousness except you could have cut the tension with a stick of butter. Then the comedy began. I have often wondered why the Educational Testing Service takes itself so seriously. I used to believe it was because the tests were so important that super-secret precautions were necessary to prevent anyone from cheating and therefore the ETS was justified in doing Gestapo imitations. Of course I also used to believe that colleges actually chose their student bodies primarily on academic merit but hey, we all have our childhood fantasies. Anyway, after observing the mental state of most of the people in that testing room I don't possibly see how anybody could think that the test results will actually tell them anything about any particular individual except how neatly they can fill in little ovals while envisioning a a future flipping burgers at McDeath. My new theory about the ETS involves inertia. You see, like other huge, bloated, unproductive buracracies the ETS takes itself so seriously because that is the only way it can justify its exsistance to itself. It may have started out with good intentions but it got lost somewhere along the way and only its forward momentum keeps it going. Examples of such worthless but self-important organizations abound - the CIA, Bush/Quayle'92, the Undergraduate Assembly, the Regional Science department etc. Any outside person with no political baggage would be able to look at ETS for the perposterous joke it is. Yet, it exists and it rules students lives, and so I found myself being fingerprinted so that I could take a five hour test which reminded me of Games Magazine and which was supposed to tell law school admissions officers what kind of lawyer I will become after three years at their institution. Naturally the preliminaries for the test took almost as long as the test itself and by the time everyone was through being treated like an accused criminal it seemed like it was time to eat dinner. Fortunately we had a nice procter. She realized the pressure that everyone was feeling and she informed us that she would not enforce the food and drink ban proscribed by the ETS guardians, but only if "none of you object, because if someone does I'll have to enforce it because I can't have anyone complaining that I bent the rules," (No! not that!) "Now, does anyone object?" I truly would have loved to see the stares of hatred that would have been directed at anyone who objected. Can you imagine that? "Yes Maam, I object. The sounds of people slurping sodas will distract me from the grave task at hand. I insist that you follow the rules and... Ow!!! Hey! Who threw the shoe at me!" Unfortunately nobody did. I suppose most people, like myself, either had food and weren't going to follow the rules anyway or they were so freaked out that their brains were in another dimension. Once the test got started time flew by. The highlight came at the end when it was time for the writing sample. We all received official Law School Admission Test pens to write with! and we got to keep them! I felt so special. We didn't even have to share them! And to think, it only cost $70. I know I will treasure mine forever. After the test was over did everyone go home and grab a brew? No, everyone stood in the hallway and talked about the test. In fact, when the other room got out before us they did this too and very generously included me in their multiple conversations right outside the door. Personally I just went and got a cheesesteak. All of these standardized tests with the little circles should just be abolished. They don't prove a damn thing and their only function is too make the ETS and the prep course people rich. If the educational establishment of this country really wants to test its students they ought to take a cue form the rest of the civilized world and institute mandatory exams which actually test students' knowledge rather than their alleged ability - or maybe the educational establishment is just afraid that the country will use the tests to judge them and not their students. Can you spell potato?
(06/18/92 9:00am)
A dark and lonely figure rises from his resting place, the pre-dawn aurora from the rising sun having cast its glow on his tired and drawn face awakening him from his nightly dreams of cheering crowds and 90% approval ratings. He makes his way to the bathroom. "Good Morning George," comes the familliar admonishing voice. "Oh, not you again. Didn't I tell the Secret Service to get rid of you?" "Yes, you did. After they finished laughing they reminded you that such an act would be contradicting their mission since it would entail getting rid of you too. It isn't easy to eliminate your conscience, though I must commend you. You've done better then most." "Oh shut up. Look, I don't need this every morning. It's bad enough that so many people hate me - I have to face that every day - but this is unfair. I wouldn't do this to you if you were the one who had to sleep with Barbara all night." "But George, you forget, I'm you. I sleep with Barbara all night, every night. Well, except for that time when..." "Hey! Be quiet! Don't let that slip. My God, if Geraldo ever found out about that I'd be villified." "Most of the country is already villifying you." "I meant the ones who aren't, those who fall for that family values thing." "Do you mean the Jim Bakker followers or the Jimmy Swaggert defenders?" "Oh stop it." "Look George, enough of this banter, we go through this every day. Now I, I mean we, have been doing some serious thinking. I realize that this is unusual for us but bear with me, I want to ask you a serious question." "Not now, I'm trying to shav... Ow! Goddammit!" "Tsk tsk George. What if baby Danforth heard that kind of language from you? He'd set you up next to Murphy Brown as the First Couple of moral depravation. You really must be more careful. Make sure you have that scratch covered with some make-up before you go out or else the people of this country might start to think that their President is human. Now listen, I want to know: Why are you, I mean we, running for President?" "What kind of stupid question is that?" "Is it really that stupid? I mean don't Americans have the right to know why you are seeking the Presidency? I suppose it is only because you already have the job, but I don't think that's a good enough reason either for you to run or for anyone to vote for you." "Of course that's not the only reason! There are plenty of good reasons why I'm running for President!" "Such as?" "Well, uh..." "I'm waiting." "Um, well... I have more experience than anyone else alive who is still eligible to run except for Ford and that liberal Democrat bozo, Carter." "Actually, the last I checked, that liberal Democrat bozo was out helping to raise money and build homes for poor people. You might even call him a point of light. But, back to you. You say you have experience but tell me, what accomplishments can you point to?" "Well, I won the Gulf War." "Hmmmm... I don't know if I'd repeat that too often until well after Saddam is six feet under. Watching his smiling face in Democratic attack ads this fall might have a disturbing affect on voters if they keep getting reminded of your "victory" In fact, if you wish to discuss family values it almost looks like you and Saddam were set to get married before you backed out and started bombing him. Lack of committment I'd say." "Hey, that's a cheap shot!" "So were Willy Horton and Boston Harbor. But anyway, what else have you done? Excuse me, what else have you done that was beneficial to America?" "Well, I uh... The defecit is... Oh, no can't talk about that, um... I bailed out the... the... bank things, can't think of what what they're called just now but... well, that wasn't to good either... Dan Quayle... No, um, the recession was not... well actually... I appointed two more undistinguished justices to the Sanguine Court..." "You mean Supreme Court?" "Oh, of course, slip of the tongue that's all, ha ha. I know! I got it! I forced the Democrats to finally nominate someone who is intelligent, articulate and not a liberal!" "Score one for you. All right, you really haven't done anything yet except blame Congress for all the problems of the universe and manage to annoy the rest of the world while placating your buddies in industry with your environmental policies. We know that much, but I think the real question George old boy is what will you do in your second term? What do you stand for anyway?" "Truth, Justice and the American Way." "Be serious." "I am." "You don't expect people to believe that do you?" "They did last time." "Yeah, I guess they did. Good point. Listen, I know you're going to do anything to get yourself reelected, but why? Don't you have any principals except your own political survival?" "Um..." "Do you have any agenda whatsoever except to cap your resume and spend the next four years able to fly around the world at taxpayer expense? George, why are you running? Give me one good reason why anyone, aside from your personal friends, Democrat or Republican, should vote for you in November?" "I uh... I'm not a demogauge like Ross Perot who pretends he is holier than thou." "So what? That's like saying we should vote for Mussolini over Hitler because Mussolini is less psychotic. Look, you already sold your soul to the minority right-wing of your party in order to gain a title and some prestige, while selling out most of the American people in the process. Do you have to do it again?" "Enough already. The fact is I want to be President because I... I... oh, just get lost will you?" "I already am."
(06/11/92 9:00am)
It was the best of times;it was the worst of times. Well... that's half right anyway. Moving into a new apartment is not a great deal of fun. In fact, it is an inconveinence of the first degree; an experience that consumes a great deal of time while giving very little satisfaction. The more uncouth among us might even say that it is a downright pain in the ass. In any case, it is an experience I urge all of you to avoid as much as possible. Packing all of one's belongings in cardboard boxes, removing osters from walls, dismantiling the leaborate and painstakeingly constructed extension cord system you so proudly completed just a year ago. These are all activities which bring tears to your eyes, not because of sadness for the past you are leaving behind, but because of the koweledge that within the next two days you are going to have to unpack all that you have just put away. This includes the now tangled knot of extension cords which, in accordence with the First Rule of Electrical Socket Placement in New Apartments, will be one short of the number that you need in your new place, causing you to rush out to Marty's and spend half a day waiting in line while you are strip-searched to make sure you aren't making off with any of that oh so valuable Marty's merchendise. But, I digress. A few weeks before moving into my new place I called Heckyll and Jeckyll and requested electrical service beginning June 1 and also to have my phone line transferred June 1 while exercising my option to keep it at my old location for thirty days. I didn't think these were particularly difficult requests and apparently neither did the Customer Service people on the phone who assured me that "Everything will be taken care of." and of course asked "Are you satisfied with the result of your call sir?" Unfortunately I was to hear those words all too many times in the next few days. What I had forgotten was that Heckyll and Jeckyll had received Doctorate degrees from Buracracy University. In fact I had once heard a rumor that Heckyll taught a course called Metropolitan Public Utilities - Patronage and Ineffciency or How to Drive People to the Suburbs. I had known other graduates from this prestigious school including most notably Voter Registration at City Hall and of course my own dear employer, the University of Pennsylvania, but none of them had advanced beyond the Master's program. As you might have guessed, when I returned home from work June 1, I had no power and no phone. As it turns out the phone company came by around 7 PM and hooked up the phone, but in the meantime I used a pay phone, (one of the ones in front of Billybobs that are made by that alleged telephone company in Havertown which can't even afford a normal taped operator's voice but has to use one that sounds like the ship's computer on the old Star Trek, and eerily enough makes phones that resemble the cheesy sets of the old show as well) to call Heckyll. "Sorry, it is after 5 and this is the emergency number so we cannot help you, call back tomorrow," they said. Tomrorow came. At 8 a.m., from a pay phone in 30th Street Station while I awaited my commuter train to Trenton, I called Jeckyll because although they installed my new line, they disconnected my old one. "Oh, we're sorry, we'll take care of that right away." I called Heckyll. "Oh, we're sorry, we'll take care of that right away." I got home that night and guess what? No electricity and... no phone at all! I returned to the pay phones from hell and placed a couple of calls. Jeckyll: "There was apparently some kind of screw-up in Central Office so we can't clear up your phone until tomorrow, sorry." Heckyll: "According to our records your power should be on, did you check the master switch at the meter?" I would have, except there wasn't any. I told this to Heckyll. "Well, we're sorry but we cannot help you. Try calling back tomorrow." Suspecting the switch was in the basement I called my landlord the next day from work. They checked and said they didn't see any switch. (Never trust your landlord to do anything right except keep track of the day when your rent is due.) After enough daytime long-distance calls from Trenton to service the national debt, I finally got a committment out of Heckyll to send an emergency truck that night. The guy came, said my meter was on and that the switch must be in the basement. After calling a very unhappy (but well-off) landlord three times, the electrician came out, went downstairs and discovered that someone had rewired the master switch boxes and had been getting away with pirating electricity out of my apartment for quite a long time - Ah, the honesty of Penn students. To be fair to Bell of Pa. they did reattach my phone promptly and even called me at home to check and make sure everything was working - three days after it was supposed to be. PECO on the other hand was nothing but a problem. With the exception of one Miss Becker, all of the people I talked with seemed singularly disinterested in helping me. But hey, why should they really care? They're a government agency - in Philadelphia no less, the national capital of patronage and corruption - and they have no reason to care. The frustrating part about the whole affair is that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Centralized buracracy of any kind is the worst enemy of the customer, be it the government, the University or General Motors. The moral of this story is simple: There isn't one. If you're dealing with a monopoly and they screw you over then too bad. There isn't a damn thing you can do about it. Now don't you feel good? Brian Newberry is a senior Urban Studies and American History major from Wallingford, Connecticut and a former senior photographer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
(07/18/91 9:00am)
and MICHAEL SIROLLY The Big Bambino. The Cisco Kid. Supercop. Hizzoner. During his 70 years in Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo has been called a lot of names -- some of them affectionate, and a great number of them insulting. But although the aggressive and imposing former mayor was both loved and hated, respected and feared, no one ever disputed his love for Philadelphia. And as he was pronounced dead two days ago at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, an era in Philadelphia history died with him. Rizzo collapsed in an office washroom in his Center City campaign headquarters Tuesday afternoon while preparing to eat lunch. According to a chronology of events released by the hospital, Philadelphia Fire Rescue contacted the hospital's emergency department at 1:45 p.m. to warn the unit of Rizzo's arrival. Emergency teams administered the drug epinephrine, employed a pacemaker and administered electrical countershock in their attempts to revive him. All efforts ultimately failed and Rizzo was pronounced dead of "massive cardiac arrest" at 2:12 p.m. Health problems were infrequent for Rizzo, and campaign workers said he seemed in perfect health prior to his death. Despite his age, Rizzo maintained a full schedule of campaign speeches and appearances in his most recent attempt to recapture the mayor's office. However, Rizzo will partially be remembered for campaigning from a bed in Hahnemann Hospital after he sustained injuries in a fall a month before his successful 1975 election to a second term as mayor. But Rizzo became famous, and infamous, for his periods of strength rather than his times of weakness -- a reputation exemplified by the police commissioner's 1969 appearance at a formal dinner with a billy club stuffed under his tuxedo and cummerbund. Scappo il capo, Italian for "break heads," was the phrase Rizzo once employed to describe his philosophy for dealing with criminals. But while heading the city's police department, his administration was also plagued by charges of police brutality. Rizzo's temper always flared when questioned about the use of excessive force. In an April interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Rizzo strongly decried the behavior of Los Angeles police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. "That set police departments everywhere back," Rizzo said. "It made my blood run cold." He also repeated faced charges of discrimination against blacks and homosexuals, accusations which he fiercely denied. "My background wouldn't permit me to be a bigot or a racist because I came from very humble beginnings and I came from parents that came here and were the victims of prejudices," Rizzo said in a 1987 interview with the DP. "Not only that, I bought my first home when I got married. The people in that neighborhood circulated a petition not to sell it to me because I was an Italian-American. OK? So I get tired of hearing that nonsense." The son of an Italian immigrant, Rizzo was born October 23, 1920, in south Philadelphia. After only completing school through the eighth grade, he went on to serve in the Navy before beginning a 28-year career as a police officer at the age of 22. It was at about this time he met the woman who would be his wife of almost half a century, Carmella, with whom he would father two children. He rose through the ranks to become police commissioner, and was known for his success in putting down riots during the turbulent 1960s. His popularity carried him through to a landslide victory as the Democratic candidate in the 1971 mayor's race. Rizzo served as the city's mayor for two terms from 1971 to 1979, when Philadelphia voters rejected his attempt to change the city charter to permit re-election for a third straight term. And in 1976, voters lauched a massive effort to oust the mayor from office when, after his re-election, he revealed a $100 million city deficit and enacted the largest tax increase in Philadelphia history. Opponents secured over 200,000 signatures in support of a recall, but the petition was rejected by the state Supreme Court. Rizzo never claimed to be a mathematician. "I get confused by figures over 100," he once said. After stepping down in 1979, he went on to run in each succeeding mayoral election. In 1983, he lost in the Democratic primary to future mayor Wilson Goode, and in 1987, after switching to the Republican party, he was narrowly defeated by Goode again in the general election. But to his friends and supporters, he was still known as "Mr. Mayor" -- a title he would once again seek this year. While his most recent bid was perceived by many analysts as just another doomed effort in a string of attempts to recapture the mayor's office, his surprising come-from-behind victory in the May primary demonstrated that he still had both a loyal following and formidible political clout. According to campaign officials, Rizzo was confident he could beat Democratic nominee Edward Rendell in November's election. It was his latest opponent who summed up the feelings of both Rizzo supporters and detractors as they reacted to news of his death. "I was shocked and saddened to hear of former Mayor Frank Rizzo's sudden death," Rendell said in a statement. "All Philadelphians, whatever their political affiliations, will feel his passing as a tremendous loss to the city he loved so much." Rizzo will go down in Philadelphia history as the mayor who often offended but never minced words, and always let people know where they stood. In a 1987 interview, however, he said that he would prefer to be rembembered for his contributions rather than confrontations. "I would like to be remembered as a man who tried and did his best and made lives a little bit better for the people that he was sworn to protect," he said.
