November 10, 2009

More national courtroom exposure for Racine -- oh, joy

As if Racine hasn't had enough national exposure from miserable court cases -- Gary Becker's upcoming trial and the SC Johnson trucking scam come immediately to mind, neither one of them over -- on Thursday we get another round.

Oh, joy.

This time, it involves hairless cats and rambunctious chihuahuas, the starting point of an angry dispute between two former friends. The venue: the Judge Joe Brown show, which bills itself as the No. 2 syndicated courtroom show and tells us it's been on the air for 11 years. No, we never heard of it either, but a check of local TV listings shows "It's Joe time" every weekday at 3 and 3:30 p.m. on WITI-TV, Fox 6 in Milwaukee, two episodes daily -- right before Judge Judy, who we have heard of (but never watch either.)

Judge Joe Brown's PR aparatus gives us this summary of "our" episode, which will be broadcast on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m.:
"Dawn Talos, 31, left, is suing her ex-friend, Nicole Brainerd, 29,, right, for $350. Talos claims she loaned the defendant $300 which the defendant refuses to repay after they had a falling out regarding pet sitting. Brainerd claims she paid back most of the loan and gave the rest to her daughter after the plaintiff canceled a pet sitting job with her."
Reminds us of the famous quote by David Frost: "Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home." If this kind of "entertainment" is your cup of tea... well, enjoy. Please don't tell us how it all comes out.

Actually, minimal Goog-search reveals that Judge Joe Brown has an interesting backstory , although whether this is a positive recommendation is up for debate.To quote Wikipedia:

Brown became the first African-American prosecutor in the city of Memphis...before becoming a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, TN. Brown was thrust into the national spotlight while presiding over James Earl Ray's last appeal of Ray's conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King. Brown was removed from the reopened investigation of King's murder due to alleged bias—former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia wrote that Brown told her and the Congressional Black Caucus unequivocally, that the so-called murder rifle was not the weapon that killed Martin Luther King, Jr....It was during this time that Judge Brown came to the attention of the producers of Judge Judy.

16 comments:

  1. If you don't want to promote Racine in a negative light - then why are you doing just that?

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  2. The commentaries by these so called journalists and I use the term loosely gentlemen is a joke. Journalist are supposed to report things without bias so the reader can make their own judgment, anything else is called an editorial which is what this paper seems to be about. That and painting the city and its leaders in a negative light whenever you get the chance no matter whom they are, granted I will agree some should get that negative attention but not everyone in government is a bad person as you make them out to be.

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  3. I always say the world is going nuts and this is proof. I never watch Judge Joe because he talks for the suers. He puts words in their mouths. I turn on Jepordy (spelling) but I like Judge Judy. TV is my second occupation, so I consider myself a connoisseur. TV is 'entertainment" so watching Racineites on Judge Joe should be very amusing. No I am not going to watch.

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  4. Goog-search?

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  5. The Becker trial will provide Racine with a great opportunity to showcase itself to the nation. You can't buy that kind of publicity. Think of all the artists who will flock here once they know that smoking a jay with the right people will get you $40,000 or more. Plus, if you keep it on the down low, you might even get some kiddie porn.

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  6. Sorry for the double post, but I just thought of this: does anyone know what's going on with Uncle Milty? I promised to eat my hat on Monument Square if he served any hard time, so should I be marinating some headgear?

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  7. I don't see any problem with this article. This is a blog site and not a bonafide news source. It is completely up to Pete and Dustin how they present an article and whether or not they promote a biased slant to it. Even though they are liberal and I am conservative, we often agree on some issues. In this case, I agree with their "Oh, joy" theme. It's pathetic how much negative news comes out of Racine as opposed to good news. But, their theme slant had NOTHING to do with the court case issue.

    Anon 7:55, I wish you would stick with the issue rather than post YOUR "commentary" on Pete and Dustin's journalism. Can you name one media outlet today that doesn't throw a slant on the news?

    Concerning the issue, if I was judging the case, I would ask if they agree that there was a verbal agreement, and if not, were there were any witnesses to their verbal agreement. If not, I would ask to see receipts for any monies paid. If not, I would throw the case out.

    OrbsCorbs, I'm missing something here; what's this "Uncle Milty" thing?

    Anon 11:30, "Goog-search" is short for searching the internet via Google's search engine.

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  8. Graham, I believe the blogger's issue is that the Racinepost does indeed try, and claims to be, a legitimate news source.

    I would have no complaints with them either if they acknowledged they were just another opinionated blogsite. However, they want to be acknowledged as a true news source - hence the problem.

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. Graham, my issue is indeed that the Post claims to be a worthy news source to compete with the Journal Times when in fact I find it to be nothing more than editorials. Pete and Dustin have every right to post whatever opinion they wish that is there right (well within reason like everything else) but when it is referred to as factual news is my issue its opinion.

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  11. Anon 4:00 & 9:46, it would appear that we're all seeing the same thing from different views; none of which are wrong. Go figure.

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  12. Ugh I can't believe Madame Zoltar posted some words of wisdom and it was deleted!

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  13. Anon 1:29 Can you read? It clearly says:

    "Mme. Zoltar said... This post has been removed by the author. 11/11/2009 4:35 PM "

    That's an automatic response generated by Blogger, not by the administrators.

    Madame giveth; Madame taketh away.

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  14. Uh, Madame Z was channelling me but forgot to remove her name from the comment. I was just gonna explain that Milty is Milton E. Morris, former transportation director of SC Johnson. Now that's he's been convicted, he's "cooperating" with the authorities (I believe that's code for the fix is in) and his sentencing is continually postponed, apparently in the hope that we'll forget about it.

    In these dark, dismal, uncertain times, it's reassuring to know that money and power will still buy "justice" in the USA. You have a choice in our great land of opportunity: you can stick up a store and ruin your life, or you can go to school and grow up to be a pork chop businessman who embezzles enough money to start a third world country, then live out your life in ease and luxury while those you damaged suffer endlessly.

    Gee, that's kind of a metaphor for the whole Racine experience, isn't it? Party on!

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  15. Uh, Madame Z was channelling me but forgot to remove her name from the comment. I was just gonna explain that Milty is Milton E. Morris, former transportation director of SC Johnson. Now that's he's been convicted, he's "cooperating" with the authorities (I believe that's code for the fix is in) and his sentencing is continually postponed, apparently in the hope that we'll forget about it.

    In these dark, dismal, uncertain times, it's reassuring to know that money and power will still buy "justice" in the USA. You have a choice in our great land of opportunity: you can stick up a store and ruin your life, or you can go to school and grow up to be a pork chop businessman who embezzles enough money to start a third world country, then live out your life in ease and luxury while those you damaged suffer endlessly.

    Gee, that's kind of a metaphor for the whole Racine experience, isn't it? Party on!

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  16. Well all I know is that the whole show is fake and the plaintiff even said she lied on national t.v. to get a free trip to hollywood. Do your research and you will see she has several lawsuits over the last few years.
    Can you say sue happy???

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