"Phil’s Spin Zone" returns to more serious political commentaries...

After months of research, interviews, and stiff resistance from the Bush administration, the 9/11 Commission released their final report yesterday. They concluded, "This was a failure of policy, management, capability and above all a failure of imagination." Rather than going after individuals, many government agencies were blamed including both the Clinton and Bush administrations. The commission issued many recommendations that they believe will improve our intelligence capabilities and I believe those recommendations should be taken seriously and implemented as soon as possible. Unfortunately, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said that there wouldn’t be time to consider the changes until next year. How is it possible that in the face of all these color coded threat warnings, that Hastert and others can be so indifferent to our shortcomings? That he dismisses the commission’s recommendations as "another layer of bureaucracy" ignores the fact that this was a bipartisan commission that explored every angle of the 9-11 tragedy to the fullest extent. They are legitimate and they deserve the trust and respect of the U.S. Congress.

Today is the 1-Year anniversary of James Davis’ assassination. Davis was a Brooklyn City Council Member who was murdered last year inside of City Hall by a deranged member of his entourage. I admired Davis and was fortunate to have met him on three occassions. The first time was shortly after his election to the City Council. I was eating lunch in a Fort Greene diner when he came in to shake hands and introduce himself. The second time was at a Parks ribbon cutting event where I took pictures of him going down the slides. The last time I saw him was at Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City address at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. His assassination last year was shocking and has led to enhanced security measures inside of City Hall.