I was just reading the latest installment of Goldberg's Folly [1] - Were 'governmentwatcher' posts made by same user as 'lawmiss'? [2] - the stranger-than-fiction real-time reality showing of the persecution of Judge Saffold [3] by the editor of the region's monopoly newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer... and I finally saw revealed the smoking gun the PD couldn't keep under the mattress any longer, as this matter went before the state Supreme Court, and is headed to civil trial [4]... it turns out this case is all about who gets the wishbone at the Saffold family Thanksgiving dinner... Judge Saffold or her not-kissing-cousin, PD columnist Phillip Morris...
Yes, buried wayyyy down at the end of paragraph 22 of this boring, rambling 28 paragraph article on the matter of the Plain Dealer "exposing" Judge Saffold as an Internet criminal of some sort (still not clear what is her supposed crime) it is revealed a Plain Dealer columnist - Phillip Morris - is the cousin of Judge Saffold... thus related to the outspoken daughter of Judge Saffold, who says she has posted comments on Cleveland.com as "Lawmiss", which the PD "outed" as attributed to Judge Saffold.... as the PD referenced "comments posted March 19 about a column written by Morris, Saffold's cousin."
If this is the case, the cousin of Judge Saffold has been covering her cases and justice for the Cleveland Plain Dealer without the public realizing he is so politically connected. It certainly explains why Morris has a job - and it explains how a comment on Cleveland.com could be so revealing about a family member of a reporter as to cause the newspaper to think it may make sense to break the trust of all readers, and perhaps break laws.... they thought they had a bigger scoop that would sell more papers in the long run... they thought they had a mole to the inside Turkey-talk of a Judge's Thanksgiving Roundtable, at their editors table...
But the information from an informant is only as good as the informant.
Perhaps the Saffolds saw Morris sneaking through their underwear drawers...
Now knowing that Morris is related to the Saffolds, and so has had access to the judge's purse and briefcase, literally, I have new concerns about the integrity of his newspaper and their claims surrounding this matter.
What if Morris has some family issues and has used his access to the cleveland.com databases and his Pulitzer-prize-candidate investigative skills to bark up the wrong family tree?!?!
What would be an appropriate conclusion to such an unreal reality show?
Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead.
Which old witch?
The Wicked Witch!
Which old witch?
Who's on First?
Links:
[1] http://realneo.us/content/prickly-ethical-issues-commenters-plain-dealer
[2] http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/clevelandcom_users_spot_simila.html
[3] http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/judge_shirley_strickland_saffo_2.html
[4] http://realneo.us/content/citizens-vs-pd-plaintiffs-demand-trial-jury-maximum-number-jurors-permitted