Judy Green says you are too stupid to understand April Fools Day

"This LEO letter is as real as my commitment to ethics!"

The scandal surrounding Councilwoman Judy Green is something I have chosen not to write about because it makes my skull feel like it's going to explode. Sheer idiocy. Besides, there are plenty of better writers out there covering the madness.

But I feel like I have to say something about this news release I received today. The release, sent by Democratic caucus Communications Director Tony Hyatt, includes a comment by Green about this week's issue of LEO Weekly.

It is a yearly tradition at LEO to put out an April Fools issue that includes bogus news stories and letters to the editor.

Here's a copy of the release from Hyatt:

Green issues statement concerning “LEO FAKE Issue Letter”

Louisville – Metro Councilwoman Judith Green (D-1) has issued the following statement concerning a “fake” letter to the Editor that was included in the March 30th issue of LEO Weekly’s Annual Fake Issue.

“I have been made aware of a letter written in the LEO this week that has my name attached to it. While I understand that this is a yearly issue made up of false stories as part of an April Fool’s joke, too many people have contacted me believing this letter is authentic and was written by me.

I have not written nor have I instructed anyone to write a letter that is critical of the paper or any of its current or former reporters.

While I can understand the spirit of the “Fake” issue, I hope that in the future the publication will give serious thought to its choice of words with regard to current events because sometimes the public does not get the joke.”

Yes, Judy. Just as we are too stupid to realize this was a fake letter, you are too stupid to know when you have been caught red handed. Quit while you are ahead, and save the rest of us from the embarrassment of having you thrown out on your ass.

Have a safe weekend.

Special guest commentary: "Business as usual" not coming back

Note: The following is a special commentary from Louisville resident Amy Causey.

This evening I drove from my home in Fern Creek to Wish's Drug Store in Lyndon. It saves me big money on prescriptions. On the way there and back, I noted how many vacant store fronts I passed, especially on Hurstbourne Lane. I thought of the empty "big boxes" in Shelbyville Road Plaza--one of my favorite shopping centers--the Borders closing at the intersection of Taylorsville Road and Hurstbourne and other favorites too numerous to mention in formerly prosperous areas, and yet building is going on everywhere. I know there is a new mall planned for Bardstown Road outside the Gene Snyder Freeway in Fern Creek. I wonder what it will take for Louisville, along with the rest of the United States to wake up and recognize that "business as usual" is not coming back. When will we begin to realize when we have enough, and that "enough is as good as a feast"?

Detroit was once a major population center and economic engine in this country. Now we all know it is a pale shadow of its former power and glory. It is now significantly smaller than Louisville. Recently Detroit has begun to face up to the truth: the city can no longer hold out hope of rebuilding to its former size. The administration has begun downsizing: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1972926,00.html

The shrinking of our cities -the shrinking of the American Dream- is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Like cancer, alcoholism and global warming it will only destroy more and more until we stop ignoring it. Let's preserve and conserve what we can while we still have enough. Capitalism cannot continue in it's present form. If we fail to reform it, we stand the chance of being overtaken by a grim alternative by default.

If you would like to submit an opinion on an issue, please feel free to send it in for consideration. 

Clean air, good jobs. We can have both.

- Mayor Fischer has promised a fix for the sorry ass notification system existing today in Rubbertown that is supposed to alert residents to any danger emanating from nearby industry. The problem is, the residents have to call a line that has to be updated by the companies doing the emanating. That's like making people call the Weather Channel for a prerecorded message to find out exactly "where" the tornado is.

I hope they figure out a system that makes sense and is effective. Either that or, as some of us have proposed many times in the past, find the cash to buy out the residents of Rubbertown. If they can do it over airplane noise, they can do it over something like this.

The work there is hazardous and the production of some materials there puts the health of the neighbors at higher risk than normal. But these are good union jobs -the type we are fighting for- and that also has to be taken into account. The emission standards cannot be made so stringent that it forces the companies located there to move out to somewhere like Mexico, where there are no standards whatsoever. Clean air and good jobs...we can have both. Here's the story in case you missed it. [CJ]

- On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME.

On Monday April 4, unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, students and other progressive allies will host a range of community and workplace-focused actions. As part of this nationwide action, there will be a rally held downtown at 6th & Jefferson. The event begins at 5:30pm.

Join us in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for. It’s a day to show the power of our movement. We are one.

Monday news: Public meeting tonight for Southwest Greenways

- TONIGHT - Southwest Greenways Public Meeting at Fairdale Playtorium 6 to 7:30 PM. Need public input for new trails to connect neighborhoods to the Louisville Loop!

- Vegas odds say UK is the 8-5 favorite to win it all. [WHAS11]

- The insatiable greed continues with the Kentucky Derby Festival people. The Kentucky Center for the Arts had to cancel its annual fireworks party because of a dispute over Belvedere access. [Business First]

- Read about Jeffersonville's plan to build a canal to carry treated water to the Ohio river. Cheaper than underground pipes, the canal idea isn't unusual and has some benefits. But to whom? [LEO Weekly]