Rep. Cohen Lays Down The Law On Phillyblog

The statement before it was about someone having sex with Jannie Blackwell, so in this case I’d have to agree: Phillyblog is not for that type of discussion. I don’t know if anywhere is, really.

Getting a job in Blackwell’s office? [Phillyblog]

Phila. State Rep Has Not Murdered Anyone

I’ve poked fun at one Mark B. Cohen quite a few times here on this lil’ ol’ blog, but I like to think I have my limits.

For example, that treasure trove, Phillyblog, user TheAlderian — you can recognize him by his Will Ferrell avatar! — has, I think, gone past my limits.

In a thread Rep. Cohen started asking people if they had any friends of other races — of course! — the city’s murder rate came up and…

Again shame on you for being in denial, as a public leader you are directly culpable for the mass murder in this town and its ugliness. People are being murdered because of your lack of will and honesty.

Okay, for once, a defense of State Rep. Mark B. Cohen: I don’t think he’s a mass murderer. In fact, no, I am sure of it! Mark B. Cohen is not a murderer. Nor did he pull the trigger on 128 murders and, as such, is not “directly culpable.”

Do You Have Friends, or Try to Make Friends, of People of Different Races? [Phillyblog]

Mark B. Cohen Receives Greatest Known Honor

Messageboards usually give posters a title text and an avatar. Sometimes these are custom, sometimes they’re random and sometimes they’re due to the number of posts a person has.

Phillyblog has a Philly-specific set of titles, and today one State Representative was lucky enough to hit the 500-post count today:

Tonight, I have achieved water ice vendor status.

My initial reaction is that having left tastykake maker status, I hope it will be easier to lose weight. All those tastykakes around are mighty tempting. And having easier access to water ice is very helpful in the coming hot spring and summer months.

My more serious reaction is to thank the many posters on phillyblog, the moderators, and the founders for creating a wonderful medium for both discussion and information. I continue to believe that phillyblog, which now has about 13,600 members, will some day soon be the number two print medium in Philadelphia, second only to the Inquirer.

Yeah, those 13,600 members really have the Daily News worried, I’m sure.

On Achieving Water Ice Vendor Status [Phillyblog]

Mark B. Cohen Doesn’t Want You To Know He’s Secretly Funding Phillyblog’s Server Bills

Mark B. Cohen is back in the news! Yes! The voracious reader, extender of lifespans, hardcore Phillyblog supporter/Phillyblog Day proposer, Mayor of the Internet and — most importantly — one of Philadelphia Will Do’s People of the Year is now at it again, hoping he can find ways to stop you from knowing how he spends your money. (Please that Cohen spent $28,000 on books over two years; one of them was AOL For Dummies, clearly the most important thing for any legislator to read.)

In his column today on the “reforms” enacted by the state legislature, Daily News columnist John Baer notes Cohen’s lone dissent on a bill that would post House expense reports online:

My personal favorite, putting all expenses online, won commission approval by a vote of 23-1. The one “no” was Philly’s Mark Cohen, the Babe Ruth of spending, the king of per diems, he who built a personal library with taxpayer money. [...] Cohen says making expenses easily accessible provides “a wonderful source of gossip… reporters can write endless stories on this.”

I know, can you imagine the gossip? “Ooooh, did you hear what Mark B. Cohen did? He spent $28 on a lunch at Sizzler and expensed it!” “Ohmigod! I gotta call Tammy!”

John Baer | Harrisburg digging its way out of the muck [Daily News]
Archives: Mark B. Cohen

PWD People Of The Year: Mark B. Cohen

Pennsylvania state representative and Mayor of the Internet Mark B. Cohen is our penultimate POTY honoree, earning his spot by being the most committed of our lawmakers to two things: (1) Reading and (2) Phillyblog.

Mark Cohen first made news this year when the Inquirer revealed he had spent just over $28,000 of taxpayer money on books and magazines the past two years. All legal, of course, but one wondered what exactly The Zen of Gambling and AOL For Dummies were doing for his constituents.

In addition to his addictive book habit, Cohen is one of the greatest healers of our time, as he told the Daliy News: “All over the country, people live longer lives because of me.”

Although he’s a hard-working state representative, Cohen’s real role in life is Mayor of the Internet, a position he’s used to propose a “World Phillyblog Day” in honor of the local messageboard and announcing how Phillyblog has gotten his 1000th member.

You know how politicians tend to pander to the hip, young Internet crowd with podcasts done by their staffers or favorite songs on iTunes or whatever? Well give Cohen this: He most certainly does not pander in terms of the Internet. He is totally, 100 percent into Phillyblog and the Internet. Whether this is scarier than a politician who panders to the Internet crowd is a question to leave up to the gods.

Despite his taxing job as Internet mayor, Cohen also returned to his legislative position in the fall when he got into a war of words with Brian Tierney, who used his rhetorical skills to achieve literary domination.

For being so into reading, Phillyblog and seniority of newspaper workers, Mark B. Cohen is are one of the People of the Year. Okay, mainly for just being into Phillyblog.

Philadelphia Will Do People of the Year | The List So Far
Archives: Mark B. Cohen

Citizen Tierney, Internet Mayor Clash

As you may have heard already, the Newspaper Guild and management have reached a tentative agreement on non-economic issues, and won’t be striking anytime soon. (Cue long exhales from Byko et al.)

The two sides still have yet to reach an agreement on pensions, but it appears there won’t be a strike. (The photos of myself will return to the newsroom.) Steve Volk is still blogging at The Daily Strike, in case you want to catch up.

But just when you thought that the denouement could somehow be more boring than actual negotiations, who steps in but the Mayor of the Internet, State Rep. Mark B. Cohen!

Cohen sent a letter to management supporting the Newspaper Guild. Dissection of the memo — and Brian Tierney’s incredible sentence — after the jump.

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I Read Phillyblog So You Don’t Have To: Smoking Ban

With Mayor Street’s sudden enforcement of the smoking ban earlier this week, the Phillyblog forums predictably exploded in a cloud of nicotine, tar, tobacco and Surgeon General’s warnings. (Joe Camel, sadly, did not make it.)

For this week’s second installment of I Read Phillyblog So You Don’t Have To, it’s going to be an all smoking ban edition! (If you really enjoyed The Press Releases I Get In My Inbox — and, really, who didn’t enjoy that earth-shattering event — I just moved it to Friday, in honor of it being an info dump, and Friday not ever having anything going on.) After the jump, an attempt to parse just what PB is thinking about the smoking ban. (I didn’t even include the photos people were posting of George Burns, Einstein and FDR smoking to prove that smoking is great.) There’ll also be a non-smoking ban related Thread! Of! The! Week!

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Worst. Idea. Ever.

Our state’s most well-read legislator, Rep. Mark B. Cohen, in a post on Phillyblog titled, “Phillyblog Day? Why Not?“:

Today, I have learned recently, is World Blog Day. In a previous thread started by Surfdog, I have have previously all phillybloggers a happy world blog day, full of wisdom, health and happiness.

Phillyblog will soon get its 10,000th member. As I write this, phillyblog has 9,356 members–up from a little more than 700 when I first joined in October, 2003. A minute ago, there were almost eight times as many guests looking at our conversations than there were members. That could mean–we need more information to be certain–that our community is now in excess of 75,000 people counting members and guests.

I have great confidence that soon–say by December 31, 2010–there will be more members of phillyblog than there will be paid subscribers to the Philadelphia Daily News. The last Daily News paid circulation figure is 116,500. That circulation figure will almost certainly continue its slow decline, while our membership will almost certainly continue its regular geometric increases.

So I think we need a phillyblog day. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives and its members are–among other things, of course–in the habit of proclaiming days, weeks, and months for worthwhile Pennsylvania organizations interested in such promotional help. The organizations virtually always choose the date themselves; the Pennsylvania legislature can name any specific date as any number of official days. The same is true with weeks and months, of course.

So when should phillyblog day be? Why should it be that day? And what should we do to celebrate when that day comes?

Ahh, yes, Phillyblog day, when the citizens of Philadelphia will celebrate by talking about where to find the cutest girls in the Northeast, by complaining about a headshop in G-Ho and by blowing up the Gallery.

Actually, that last part doesn’t sound so bad.

Phillyblog Day? Why Not? [Phillyblog]
Archives: Mark B. Cohen

State Rep. Mark Cohen Is The Angel Of Life

I touched on this earlier today, but let’s go back to John Baer’s column on State Rep. Mark B. Cohen in today’s Daily News.

Cohen has been a representative for 32 years, is the third highest-ranking Democrat and loves his stipends: $46K in per diems, $28K for books and magazines. (And he didn’t even review AOL For Dummies for us!) But, he defends his record and says he’s proud of pushing organ donor awareness in the 1990s:

“All over the country, people live longer lives because of me,” Cohen says.

Strangely, Cohen did not mention “humility” as one of his accomplishments while in office.

John Baer | Rep. Cohen: Unopposed, unrestrained, unapologetic [Daily News]
Earlier today: Abridged ‘Daily News’ Columnists

Made Possible With A Grant From Taxpayers Like You

Yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer — or “The SUNDAY Inquirer” if you get that weird early edition — had a fronted a city story about Rep. Mark B. Cohen, a state legislator since 1974. Turns out Cohen’s gotten a little too comfy in his slot, since he spent $28,200 of taxpayer money on books last two years.

The paper reports that in 2004 and 2005, Cohen actually spent more himself than the four schools in his legislative district. He bought over 800 books, which would equate more than a book a day. Some of the books purchased included Clinton and Me — a book we can only assume is a sequel to Marley and Me — Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America.

Cohen defended his book bill — as well as his $3,050 magazine and newspaper bill — by saying this: “I try very hard to be informed on current events. I’m holding myself to standards of excellence. I’m interested in knowing whatever I can about national issues. National issues affect Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is part of the nation.”

Wow! Pennsylvania is part of the nation? I bet he learned that from a book! The Inquirer even asked this “voracious reader” for some book suggestions, and he said Stupid White Men by Michael Moore (for liberals) and Who’s Looking Out for You? by Bill O’Reilly (for conservatives).

So, despite acquiring over 800 books in a two-year period, Rep. Cohen still hasn’t bought himself any taste.

Some of you may be wondering why Cohen has been able to bill over $20,000 in books the past two years to the state. I’ll tell you why: He needs them to represent our community! For example, two of the books he purchased were AOL For Dummies and The Zen of Gambling.

Let’s do a little legislative fantasy and figure out how these two books helped Mark B. Cohen do his job…

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